Ted Talk Summary

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.

At TEDxBroadway Ellen Isaacs discusses ethnography. She starts off engaging her audience with an example of old and new computer technology. Where new technology is more visual and easier to use and that people often take it for granted. That computer scientist such as Doug Engelbart and Alan Kay and other influential people wanted to make technology more easier and accessible to use. The evolution of the original giant and heavy computers to the smaller and more conviene computers known today. And then she started discussing another example. Of a ethnographer who invented a new technology and observed how people used it. The men in the observation video were struggling to make copies with her invention. It was difficult and

This Tedx talk was by Ron Espiritu, an educator of ethnic, Chicano and African American studies for high school students in south Los Angeles. He has found that ethnic studies is empowering, liberating and transformative for young people. Ron talks about researchers finding that ethnic studies has positive academic and social results for students of all races and ethnic backgrounds. He talks about his grandmother being forced to wear a sign on her chest saying she won't speak Spanish. I never knew that schools were against different languages to this extent. I thought it was acceptable to speak different languages, I was very wrong. Ron goes on to talk about his mother who used her mother as an inspiration. He talks about his mother becoming

“Stop trying to be good people.” It is only human to be biased. However, the problem begins when we allow our bigotry to manifest into an obstacle that hinders us from genuinely getting to know people. Long time diversity lawyer, Verna Myers, in her 2014 Ted Talk, “How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them” discusses the implicit biases we may obtain when it comes to race, specifically black men. Myers purpose is quite like the cliché phrase “Face your fears.” Her goal is to impress upon us that we all have biases (conscious or unconscious). We just have to be aware of them and face them head on, so that problems such as racism, can be resolved. Throughout the Ted Talk, Verna Myers utilizes an admonishing

An article written by Kendra Cherry states, “By nurturing positive emotions, even in the face of terrible events, people can reap both short-term and long-term rewards, including managing stress levels, lessening depression, and building coping skills that will serve them well in the future” (Cherry). Optimism has allowed for people to deal with conflicts in a healthy way. Neuroscientist Tali Sharot in her book The Science of Optimism: Why We’re Hard-Wired for Hope argues that optimism provides an adaptive advantage. According to her, “Expecting our future to be good reduces stress and anxiety, which is good for our health. Researchers studying heart attack patients have found that optimists were more likely than nonoptimistic patients to take vitamins, eat low-fat diets, and exercise, thereby reducing their overall coronary risk” (Popova). Dealing with conflicts positively is better for your health and it decreases bad health

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 cognitive neuroscientist Tali Sharot shared with us the concept of optimism bias and the research that she has been doing on the very topic. She spoke about it as being an illusion. Her description of optimism bias is that we tend to think we will have more positive things happen in our life than bad one. We overestimate the good and underestimate the bad. Optimism bias is something that people throughout the world experience from young to old people. She gave marriage as an example of this kind of bias and stated that forty percent of people that get married will get a divorce but people who just got married will say that there it is unlikely they will end up divorcing. Despite the facts people

Some people argue that happiness helps make good decisions because happy people strive for the best result. David states, “[Positive emotions] help build vital social, physical, and cognitive resources that lead to positive outcomes and affiliations” (124). David points out that with the right amount of positivity, people make good judgments. The author acknowledges that happiness can have benefits, but she states that too much happiness could hurt human development because the mind does not consider the consequences of an action. Julie Norem, a psychology professor, points out, “’If you’re a pessimist who really thinks through in detail what might go wrong, that’s a strategy that’s likely to work very well for you’” (qtd. in Wallis). She explains

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

A major reason I would love to attend Harvard is their strong belief in analyzing obstacles in unique ways. After watching the TED Talk titled “What is so special about the human brain?” by Suzana Herculano-Houzel, I sparked an interest in the Biological effects cooking played in evolution. When further researching this I was able to come across Richard Wrangham, Ruth B. Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University. After finding Wrangham’s email I took the initiative and shot him an email. Wrangham was able to answer questions of mine and also told me to check out his book. Aside from this, Wrangham gave me the contact information of Herculano-Houzel where I was able to ask her more questions about her research. Though

Optimism is another trait or attribute displayed by Type Bs, Cs, and hardy personalities (see below). Optimists are more inclined to appraise situations as challenging, whereas Type A personalities will appraise the same situation as a threat. Optimists tend to focus on what they can do to change or improve a stressful situation, rather than what they are unable to do. They are content in what they do accomplish, and do not focus on their failures (Schafer, 2000; Morris & Maisto, 2005).

Kate Simonds’ Ted Talk speaks out the truth of inequity towards young people, especially on teens in regards of voicing and expressing their thoughts and ideas without being neglected. It discusses the challenges of teens’ voice being heard due to the societal perception towards the insignificance of young people’s voice as they are labeled as “naive and ignorant”. Kate Simonds’ stated on her Ted talk that “the only qualification to being a TED speaker is to have an idea. An idea you think is worth spreading” which she stated to be a problem due to her age of 17 which will lead to her idea being accounted to be worthless. To further emphasize her point of unfairness, She added humor on her speech saying “you’re only respecting me because I’m on this stage. Maybe it’s because you like my extremely high heels” which somewhat makes her acceptable to the society to be heard of as she wears “high heels” which can represent maturity because it is most common and norms for an adult to wear heels. Her introduction was well executed as she was able to outline and introduce the problem, thus, leading her to state her opinion on her thesis that “any idea should be respected no matter the age of who it comes from.” Furthermore, she discusses how unfairness towards teens are present in many different situations where adults neglect and don't respect her voice and it was stated that “according to a Life Science article from 2008, that because [she’s] a teenager, [she] can’t experience empathy which is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” Also, argues that students are being looked down upon and she talks about the expectations from students such as following the system education and how they are not expected to oblige. Overall, this discusses how young people are often told “You don’t get it, you’re 17. You don’t deserve to have the control over what you learn” this statement is contributing factors to why many voices are often unheard because others are ignorant.