Summary Of Clint Smith's 2014 TED Talk

The text my partner and I were originally going to analyze was Robb Willer’s Ted Talk called How to have better political conversations. We decided not do analyze his speech however we did take inspiration from it. The text we analyzed in the end were article titles posted on The Washington Post written by a variety of people.

lifestyle or have the best genetics possible to living to be a hundred years old. Buettner states

It is important to appreciate the current nature and status of the world because there are individuals who laid the appropriate foundation for it. As Michael Specter’s TED Talk on The Danger of Science Denial, he outlined the challenges that might emanate from science denial. There are reason that ought to be checked critically since they affect the current and future generation and these include health, wealth, mobility, opportunity and declining rates of diseases. It is critically clear that Specter performs a very relevant and excellent job to the desired audience by discussing emphatically on important issues that affect the current world. He poses a challenge to the audience to basically look at the world at its normality despite looking at it from skepticism side of it. The skepticism tend to affect the smart decision technique in the modern society as it relates to The Danger of Science Denial. He logically asks the Americans and international TED talk fans to analyze effectively the desired big picture besides both logical and ethical picture. He asked the audience to emphatically compare the pictures broadly and identify the worst picture. This could assist the audience to come up with the right decision regarding their perception of current world to the future generation.

David Camarillo, in his speech at Ted, explains what a concussion is and why helmets do not prevent them. Camarillo, a former football player, has suffered concussions from football as well as biking. Camarillo aspires for a helmet that will prevent concussions and make risky activities safe. Camarillo adequately explains to his audience what a concussion is and why helmets do not prevent them through familiarity with the subject, awareness of audience concerns, and examples and illustrations.

In “Why I keep speaking up, even when people mock my accent,” Safwat Saleem, shows his passion and his courageous side when speaking in his Ted Talk, describing the main idea of there not being such a thing of normalcy, as well as arguing that individuals should be confident and accept who they are from their special qualities. Agreeing with Saleem (2016), however to also consider it has become common in today’s society to want to be normal. Therefore many people would not agree with wanting to be exactly known as quote on quote ‘normal’ but they may want to assimilate to norms because that person is or may be in a unique way socially accepted.

In this TED talk, the speaker is Joshua Foer, he start's the talk by having the audience close there eyes, and imagine themselves standing in their doorway. Next, he has them visualize a group of nudist bikers heading straight for the door, imaging them crashing into the front door. Then, he says to imagine stepping into your foyer, and to appreciate the light shining down on cookie monster sitting on a tan talking horse. Head into your living room, and picture Britney spears dancing on your coffee table, he then goes on to have you imagine walking into your kitchen, the floor is a yellow brick road, then you and see Dorothy, and the tin man coming towards you.

Speaking out on injustice against another group or person can involve protecting those who are in the need of help and to protect yourself. In “an open letter to silent yale” by Nicole Angela Tinson explained the issues she was facing but also those around her. She states “The racism, both explicit and implicit,

Spokesperson and leader of the Civil rights, Marther Luther King Jr., once said, “the ultimate tradegy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”Oppression has, is, and always will be part of a society and there will always be oppressors; however, it is up to the individuals being oppressed to speak up and end the oppression that occurs in a community, it is there job to identify the rights and wrongs and not let the cycle of oppression continue, it is their obligation to speak up and act, it is under their accountability to terminate oppression and not let it snare them. In the book Black Boy by Richard Wright and “Overcoming Obstacles: What Oprah Winfrey Learned From Her Childhood

Although the primary utilization of this book is centered on the psychological aspects of racial dialogues viz. “race talk,” it also exposes the irrational fears, attitudes, and beliefs, inherent in our (The United States) society. It is about the persistent avoidance of honest dialogues on race that may uncover the true inequalities and injustices inflicted on people of color. What talking about race does is open the dialogue and allow a view of the lived experience of those who suffer from oppression. It potentially grasps these experiences and presents the possibility of moving the reader from a perceived nonracist being into the realm of antiracism.

August 28, 1963 (Eidenmuller) marked a very important day in history that had an impact not only on America, but the whole world. On this day, Martin Luther King Jr. presented his well known I Have a Dream speech that aimed to eliminate racism, inequality and discrimination. He strongly believed that one day people would put their differences aside and come together. So, what happened to that dream? Along with other equality initiative ideas, they rarely make it past the idea stages or end in the actual eradication result. It is clear to us that even after 51 years, our societies still struggle with accepting full equality. Within those 51 years we have made a mass amount of progress but, a common thought would be that after this long the issue should have been eradicated. Two essays that can be used as an example of proof that racial inequality still exists in our society are, Black Men in Public Spaces by Brent Staples and Who Shot Johnny? by Debra Dickerson. In these essays, both provide solid evidence to support their main goal with the use of different writing styles, tone, and rhetorical devices to display how African Americans are perceived and treated by society.

What particularly resonated with me about Leslie Williams’ speech was the discussion about uncomfortable conversations about privilege and recognizing our own biases. By describing her personal experiences, Leslie Williams emphasized that students of color, LGBTQIA+ students, disabled students, and others often feel uncomfortable and isolated because of their identities. Although many students feel uncomfortable speaking about these topics, admitting that we are privileged, and recognizing that we grow up with different biases, other students feel this discomfort every day and aren’t able to escape it after Day of Dialogue ends. Although I often feel uncomfortable admitting my own privilege, I think it is important to acknowledge that some of us have the privilege to avoid these awkward conversations when they make us uncomfortable while other students have to live with this discomfort every day. Avoiding these conversations not only limits our capacity for change, but also our own understanding of how our identities are shaped by society. Though uncomfortable, these are necessary conversations that push us to reflect on our own experiences, admit our own biases, and have effective conversations in order to create more equality on campus.

When it comes to choice it always seems to be a love hate relationship: we hate making them, but we can’t live without them. Anyone can all look back to a time in our lives where they wish someone could just pick for us, or times when we wish there were more to choose from. All Americans have many choices, and it is such a part of our daily lives that we don’t even realize it. Barry Schwartz and Sheena Iyengar‘s TED talks bring up interesting ideas about choice, how people deal with them and their affects. They both state that although choice is good, it can also have negative effects. Schwartz explains what most people believe and experience with choice, while Iyengar shows cultural differences in choice making. Both Schwartz and Iyengar

The TED Talk video that I watched was Why do we sleep by Russel Foster. This TED talk was about why we need sleep and how getting less than the suggested amount affects the brain. There are three main reasons why we need sleep; restoration, energy conservation, and brain function. Only certain genes are turned on when you sleep so you need to sleep in order for those genes to turn on and allow you other genes to be restored, while sleeping you save about 110 calories, sleep helps enhance creativity, and your brain is less likely to retain information if you’re sleep deprived and trying to cram information. On average a teen needs 9 hours of sleep, in the 1950s the average teen was getting 8 hours of sleep, today on average teens are getting 5 hours of sleep, which is half the amount that we need. If you’re not receiving the amount of sleep that you need your body will uncountable got into micro-sleeping which will happen to at least 31% of drivers in their lifetime.

The ted talk “The Linguistic Genius of Babies” by Kuhl (2010) tells about babies are genius on language learning, and shows some results of research as proof of this idea. The article “Learning a Language as an Adult” by Pakenham, McEntire, and Williams (2013) shows an idea about the “critical period hypothesis”, children during this period learn much better than people older than this age, especially in pronunciation, because their brain activities are different than adults during this time. Personally, I totally believe the idea of children younger learn better, because the scientific research and data are shown to audiences, and they are persuasive enough. And I do see proof in my life, like four of my Korean friends who came China around

In Martin Seligman’s TED talk, he explains the values of positive psychology’s impact on creating happier lives. In 2000, Martin Seligman created a new field of psychology called Positive Psychology. This field of positive psychology is the study of positive traits and behaviors that can contribute to a positive “happier” life. In Seligman’s TED talk, The New Positive Era of Psychology, he categorizes positive lives into three categories. The Pleasant life, the life of engagement, and the meaningful life. But before he begins his speech, he explains the negative actions taken by psychology when treating people.