http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzGkqG9BtYA
This guy starts his actual talking point around 2:40 in. Before that he is sharing a bit about himself, which isn't totally worthless, but not really why I watched.
The basic idea is that 25% of people feel fundamentally different than others. Oddly, he says both groups feel like their view on the subject (whether people feel the same or different than each other) is universal. I thought that was interesting. Also, I liked his quote from George Bernard Shaw: "...The unreasonable man persists in adapting the world to himself. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people." He then goes on to discuss how the two groups of people can communicate more effectively with each other, which becomes the main point. So overall, the video isn't that great, but I liked those couple quotes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXUh3wNnFrw
Again, this speech wasn't fantastic all the way through. He begins by talking about his grandfather, how he died early, prompting him to really focus on living a good life, because people don't always live to 80 or whatever they think they'll live to. His points are:
1) Thinking about ourselves as innately special (how parents raise their kids these days) leads to entitlement, separation, and makes us scared of failure (because it means we won't be living up to our "special" categorization). Furthermore, specialness isn't enough without hard work, so we shouldn't worry about it.
2) We are all seen as crazy to someone. Also, officially, 46% of people get diagnosed with mental illness. But crazy people make good leaders in times of crisis, because they're so used to shit hitting the fan that it doesn't faze them. Depressed people are better at sympathizing. Manics are productive because they don't sleep. MLK Jr. and Gandhi both attempted suicide. So we should be proud of our craziness.
3) Confirmation bias is bad. An interesting study shows that people are so desperate to have made the right decision they will down-vote the alternative they didn't choose for no good reason (little surprise there).
4) We worry about the wrong things. Common activities are more likely to kill us than extreme things that get news coverage. We are terrible at risk assessment. Again, Nike has it right. Just do it.
5) 27% of americans have a bachelor's degree, 42% never read another book after graduating, 80% of households don't purchase a book in a given year. Stupid in, stupid out.
6) After $75,000 per household, happiness is not increased. Having the means to live is different than having meaning to live for.
7) Humans are twice as upset about a loss as they are happy about a gain, so we make excuses not to pursue dreams.
I like most of these. Also, now you don't have to watch the video, because I'm pretty sure I covered just about everything. I don't know if you're catching on, but it really seems like there's this theme of just getting off your ass and doing something. Also, not being afraid of messing up recurs regularly.
I'm going to go out of order to avoid the ones I feel will force me to write things I'm not sure I'm ready for. So here are some cool Ted Talks. It's too late for me to think about the serious stuff right now. (Excuses)
For those interested in cycling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07o-TASvIxY
This guy investigates the ramifications of helmet requirements.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhey6x8CRe8
While I'm in North Carolina, maybe I should pick one of these crazy trikes up.
For those interested in being inspired:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0td5aw1KXA
This woman was born with a brain problem. She was able to design exercises to overcome it. It's called neuroplasticity, and it is awesome.
For those interested in people who are great at speaking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ln-TNw6zt4
This guy is hilarious. His talk is great. There's not much more to say.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX2btaDOBK8
Same with this guy. I'm not sure I really agree with everything, but he's so good at talking! I also feel like the point he's making is so generic that he could have applied it to anything. It seems to me like he might be just jumping on the nutrition bandwagon because people are concerned about the obesity problem.
For people more interested in poetry than Ted Talks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwNiYFlHmWs
The mic is a bit distorted, but oh man, was this a powerful performance. Sometimes I wonder if I could write this sort of thing if the experience hadn't actually happened to me. I'm not trying to say this guy did. It certainly doesn't feel that way. But I am always looking for topics, and stuff like this just doesn't occur to me because I have so little experience with it. Am I even allowed to try? Would that make me a liar, or just a writer? I can't make up my mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-F_Pu8Yyd8
Some of this seemed really good. I like the self-reference and honesty for sure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEGaNSWc0jY
How could I not include this here after hearing it? I mean, he talks about trouble sleeping and how a girl helps him out. I can sympathize. Man, do I miss that.
I'll probably pick up on this similar note tomorrow. For now, I'm going to try to fall asleep. Thanks for reading!
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