TED Talks with English transcript

15:59

TEDMED 2013

Peter Attia: Is the obesity crisis hiding a bigger problem?

2013-04-054,258,278 views

Readability: 4.6

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As a young surgeon, Peter Attia felt contempt for a patient with diabetes. She was overweight, he thought, and thus responsible for the fact that she needed a foot amputation. But years later, Attia received an unpleasant medical surprise that led him to wonder: is our understanding of diabetes right? Could the precursors to diabetes cause obesity, and not the other way around? A look at how assumptions may be leading us to wage the wrong medical war.

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14:40

TEDxDanubia

Margaret Heffernan: The dangers of willful blindness

2013-03-221,773,982 views

Readability: 3.7

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Gayla Benefield was just doing her job -- until she uncovered an awful secret about her hometown that meant its mortality rate was 80 times higher than anywhere else in the US. But when she tried to tell people about it, she learned an even more shocking truth: People didn't want to know. In a talk that's part history lesson, part call-to-action, Margaret Heffernan demonstrates the danger of willful blindness, and praises ordinary people like Benefield who are willing to speak up.

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13:46

TEDGlobal 2013

Lesley Hazleton: The doubt essential to faith

2013-06-121,660,357 views

Readability: 4.7

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When Lesley Hazleton was writing a biography of Muhammad, she was struck by something: The night he received the revelation of the Koran, according to early accounts, his first reaction was doubt, awe, even fear. And yet this experience became the bedrock of his belief. Hazleton calls for a new appreciation of doubt and questioning as the foundation of faith -- and an end to fundamentalism of all kinds.

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13:52

TEDGlobal 2013

Joseph Kim: The family I lost in North Korea. And the family I gained.

2013-06-132,657,148 views

Readability: 2.8

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A refugee now living in the US, Joseph Kim tells the story of his life in North Korea during the famine years. He's begun to create a new life -- but he still searches for the family he lost.

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09:34

TEDGlobal 2013

Juliana Rotich: Meet BRCK, Internet access built for Africa

2013-06-11665,111 views

Readability: 4.7

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Tech communities are booming all over Africa, says Nairobi-based Juliana Rotich, cofounder of the open-source software Ushahidi. But it remains challenging to get and stay connected in a region with frequent blackouts and spotty Internet hookups. So Rotich and friends developed BRCK, offering resilient connectivity for the developing world.

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17:40

TEDxSydney

Paul Pholeros: How to reduce poverty? Fix homes

2013-05-041,402,141 views

Readability: 3.3

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In 1985, architect Paul Pholeros was challenged to "stop people getting sick" in a small indigenous community in south Australia. And it meant thinking way beyond medicine. In this sparky, interactive talk, Pholeros shares his work with Healthabitat, which works to reduce poverty through practical design fixes -- in Australia and beyond.

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17:02

TEDGlobal 2013

Didier Sornette: How we can predict the next financial crisis

2013-06-111,527,005 views

Readability: 5.1

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The 2007-2008 financial crisis, you might think, was an unpredictable one-time crash. But Didier Sornette and his Financial Crisis Observatory have plotted a set of early warning signs for unstable, growing systems, tracking the moment when any bubble is about to pop. (And he's seeing it happen again, right now.)

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14:17

TEDGlobal 2013

Manal al-Sharif: A Saudi woman who dared to drive

2013-06-111,659,001 views

Readability: 3.9

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There's no actual law against women driving in Saudi Arabia. But it's forbidden. Two years ago, Manal al-Sharif decided to encourage women to drive by doing so -- and filming herself for YouTube. Hear her story of what happened next.

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13:21

TEDGlobal 2013

Daniel Suarez: The kill decision shouldn't belong to a robot

2013-06-111,946,706 views

Readability: 5.9

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As a novelist, Daniel Suarez spins dystopian tales of the future. But on the TEDGlobal stage, he talks us through a real-life scenario we all need to know more about: the rise of autonomous robotic weapons of war. Advanced drones, automated weapons and AI-powered intelligence-gathering tools, he suggests, could take the decision to make war out of the hands of humans.

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20:07

TEDGlobal 2013

George Papandreou: Imagine a European democracy without borders

2013-06-11796,547 views

Readability: 5

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Greece has been the poster child for European economic crisis, but former Prime Minister George Papandreou wonders if it's just a preview of what's to come. “Our democracies," he says, "are trapped by systems that are too big to fail, or more accurately, too big to control” -- while "politicians like me have lost the trust of their peoples." How to solve it? Have citizens re-engage more directly in a new democratic bargain.

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16:09

TEDGlobal 2013

Raffaello D'Andrea: The astounding athletic power of quadcopters

2013-06-1012,409,728 views

Readability: 4.7

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In a robot lab at TEDGlobal, Raffaello D'Andrea demos his flying quadcopters: robots that think like athletes, solving physical problems with algorithms that help them learn. In a series of nifty demos, D'Andrea show drones that play catch, balance and make decisions together -- and watch out for an I-want-this-now demo of Kinect-controlled quads.

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03:27

TED2013

Camille Seaman: Photos from a storm chaser

2013-02-282,031,635 views

Readability: 3.9

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Photographer Camille Seaman has been chasing storms for 5 years. In this talk she shows stunning, surreal photos of the heavens in tumult.

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09:57

TED2013

Rodney Brooks: Why we will rely on robots

2013-02-261,424,847 views

Readability: 3.4

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Scaremongers play on the idea that robots will simply replace people on the job. In fact, they can become our essential collaborators, freeing us up to spend time on less mundane and mechanical challenges. Rodney Brooks points out how valuable this could be as the number of working-age adults drops and the number of retirees swells. He introduces us to Baxter, the robot with eyes that move and arms that react to touch, which could work alongside an aging population -- and learn to help them at home, too.

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08:22

TED2012

Al Vernacchio: Sex needs a new metaphor. Here's one ...

2012-03-022,110,982 views

Readability: 3.8

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For some reason, says educator Al Vernacchio, the metaphors for talking about sex in the US all come from baseball -- scoring, getting to first base, etc. The problem is, this frames sex as a competition, with a winner and a loser. Instead, he suggests a new metaphor, one that's more about shared pleasure, discussion and agreement, fulfillment and enjoyment. Let's talk about … pizza.

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10:56

TED2013

Martin Villeneuve: How I made an impossible film

2013-02-27986,678 views

Readability: 3.6

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Canadian filmmaker Martin Villeneuve talks about "Mars et Avril," the sci-fi spectacular he made with virtually no money over a seven-year stretch. In this charming talk, he explains the various ways he overcame financial and logistical constraints to produce his unique and inventive vision of the future.

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14:26

TED2013

Andrew McAfee: What will future jobs look like?

2013-02-284,442,966 views

Readability: 4.4

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Economist Andrew McAfee suggests that, yes, probably, droids will take our jobs -- or at least the kinds of jobs we know now. In this far-seeing talk, he thinks through what future jobs might look like, and how to educate coming generations to hold them.

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14:39

TED2013

Denise Herzing: Could we speak the language of dolphins?

2013-02-271,536,620 views

Readability: 4.2

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For 28 years, Denise Herzing has spent five months each summer living with a pod of Atlantic spotted dolphins, following three generations of family relationships and behaviors. It's clear they are communicating with one another -- but is it language? Could humans use it too? She shares a fascinating new experiment to test this idea.

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12:47

TED2013

Anas Aremeyaw Anas: How I named, shamed and jailed

2013-02-281,503,386 views

Readability: 3.9

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Journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas has broken dozens of stories of corruption and organized crime all over Ghana -- without ever revealing his identity. In this talk (in which his face remains hidden) Anas shows grisly footage from some of his investigations and demonstrates the importance of facing injustice.

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23:28

TEDMED 2013

Andrew Solomon: Love, no matter what

2013-04-244,969,430 views

Readability: 3.6

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What is it like to raise a child who's different from you in some fundamental way (like a prodigy, or a differently abled kid, or a criminal)? In this quietly moving talk, writer Andrew Solomon shares what he learned from talking to dozens of parents -- asking them: What's the line between unconditional love and unconditional acceptance?

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06:17

TED2013

Lisa Bu: How books can open your mind

2013-02-284,963,279 views

Readability: 4.1

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What happens when a dream you've held since childhood ... doesn't come true? As Lisa Bu adjusted to a new life in the United States, she turned to books to expand her mind and create a new path for herself. She shares her unique approach to reading in this lovely, personal talk about the magic of books.

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08:12

TED2013

Alex Laskey: How behavioral science can lower your energy bill

2013-02-281,182,944 views

Readability: 3.9

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What's a proven way to lower your energy costs? Would you believe: learning what your neighbor pays. Alex Laskey shows how a quirk of human behavior can make us all better, wiser energy users, with lower bills to prove it.

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17:41

TEDxFiDiWomen

Jackson Katz: Violence against women -- it's a men's issue

2012-11-302,252,948 views

Readability: 4.2

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Domestic violence and sexual abuse are often called "women's issues." But in this bold, blunt talk, Jackson Katz points out that these are intrinsically men's issues -- and shows how these violent behaviors are tied to definitions of manhood. A clarion call for us all -- women and men -- to call out unacceptable behavior and be leaders of change.

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18:33

TEDSalon NY2013

Paola Antonelli: Why I brought Pac-Man to MoMA

2013-05-161,000,810 views

Readability: 4.2

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When the Museum of Modern Art's senior curator of architecture and design announced the acquisition of 14 video games in 2012, "all hell broke loose." In this far-ranging, entertaining, and deeply insightful talk, Paola Antonelli explains why she's delighted to challenge preconceived ideas about art and galleries, and describes her burning wish to help establish a broader understanding of design.

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10:23

TEDxDeExtinction

Hendrik Poinar: Bring back the woolly mammoth!

2013-03-151,086,263 views

Readability: 5.4

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It’s the dream of kids all around the world to see giant beasts walk the Earth again. Could -- and should -- that dream be realized? Hendrik Poinar talks about the next big thing: the quest to engineer a creature that looks very much like our furry friend, the woolly mammoth. The first step, to sequence the woolly genome, is nearly complete. And it’s huge.

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12:42

TED2013

Ji-Hae Park: The violin, and my dark night of the soul

2013-02-273,927,756 views

Readability: 3.7

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In her quest to become a world-famous violinist, Ji-Hae Park fell into a severe depression. Only music was able to lift her out again -- showing her that her goal needn’t be to play lofty concert halls, but instead to bring the wonder of the instrument to as many people as possible.

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13:12

TED2013

Alastair Parvin: Architecture for the people by the people

2013-02-271,585,117 views

Readability: 4.3

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Designer Alastair Parvin presents a simple but provocative idea: what if, instead of architects creating buildings for those who can afford to commission them, regular citizens could design and build their own houses? The concept is at the heart of WikiHouse, an open source construction kit that means just about anyone can build a house, anywhere.

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10:02

TED2013

Phil Hansen: Embrace the shake

2013-02-262,458,448 views

Readability: 4

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In art school, Phil Hansen developed an unruly tremor in his hand that kept him from creating the pointillist drawings he loved. Hansen was devastated, floating without a sense of purpose. Until a neurologist made a simple suggestion: embrace this limitation ... and transcend it.

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17:20

TED2013

Peter Singer: The why and how of effective altruism

2013-03-011,880,611 views

Readability: 3.8

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If you're lucky enough to live without want, it's a natural impulse to be altruistic to others. But, asks philosopher Peter Singer, what's the most effective way to give? He talks through some surprising thought experiments to help you balance emotion and practicality -- and make the biggest impact with whatever you can share. NOTE: Starting at 0:30, this talk contains 30 seconds of graphic footage.

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07:16

TED2013

Sergey Brin: Why Google Glass?

2013-02-272,115,013 views

Readability: 3.1

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It's not a demo, more of a philosophical argument: Why did Sergey Brin and his team at Google want to build an eye-mounted camera/computer, codenamed Glass? Onstage at TED2013, Brin calls for a new way of seeing our relationship with our mobile computers -- not hunched over a screen but meeting the world heads-up.

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06:04

TED2013

Judy MacDonald Johnston: Prepare for a good end of life

2013-02-271,595,161 views

Readability: 3.4

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Thinking about death is frightening, but planning ahead is practical and leaves more room for peace of mind in our final days. In a solemn, thoughtful talk, Judy MacDonald Johnston shares 5 practices for planning for a good end of life.

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