Here are some things I used to believe: The power of the free market comes from competition If you are nice to someone, you will be rewarded commensurately A penny saved is a penny earned The more scarce something is the more valuable it is I no longer believe these statements to be true.  To understand...

In what turned out to be the most popular TED talk of all time, Ken Robinson asked us to wake up and smell the coffee: our system of education is stuck in the Industrial Revolution where it was invented.  Moreover, it’s killing creativity, crushing spirits, and preparing students, not for success and...

Recently I learned from two separate people how the Obama campaign won the 2008 presidential election and it’s fascinating.  Basically everyone who was a part of it learned the “campaign narrative” structure and delivered their personal message to spread the gospel: The Story of Me: why...

For the background to this post, start with part 1.  The follow up is here: part 3, part 4. In a subsequent post, I’ll talk about some lessons we’ve learned.  In the mean time, what questions would you have, either as a prospective investor or investee in the above...

Use the arrows that appear if you hover over the bottom right of the Prezi.  You may want to expand to full screen first. All feedback welcome.  If you like this, what subject would you like to see addressed next using...

Remember Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize Wish?  Well tonight is the prime time season premiere of his Food Revolution show on ABC.  The Huffington Post called Undercover Boss the most subversive show in America, and I can’t disagree.  But in terms of importance to the future of America (and by...

Here are the slides from his talk. My favorites are 3, 4, 8, 10, 15, 19, 21, 23, 26, 28, 29, 35, 37, 38, 53, 66, 68. Kevin Kelly View more presentations from...

This was one of my favorites of the...

In listening to this account of Hemant Lakhani, convicted in 2005 of illegal arms dealing, I was reminded of another This American Life episode about Brandon Darby.  Underlying both stories are accounts of seemingly incompetent, misguided, would-be bad guys who were actualized on a path of evildoing by...

This was one of the most important and encouraging talks of this year’s TED...

Short but brilliant TED talk by Joachim de Posada.  I love the economic point he makes at the...

This is a precursor to Singularity sort of...

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The import of this talk goes way beyond the specific and stunning work that Bassler and her team have done on quorum sensing.  In my mind, this is the prototype for good biological...

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Rafe posted this TED talk by Willie Smits without much commentary. I would like to add some.  When I first started watching, I thought, “Wow, you can make a lot of hay out of simply applying Econ 101.”  This was in response to the fact that they bought the former rainforest land in question,...

If you liked this talk (as I do), check out Ariely’s 3 irrational lessons from the Bernie Madoff...

Oh, and re-grow the rainforrest, strengthen the social, political and economic climate, save endangered species and increase biodiversity and resilliance all at the same time without any...

One of my favorite talks of TED 2009 was from Tim Berners-Lee, the man often credited with (actually) inventing the Web.  He’s been going on for quite a while about the coming of the “semantic web” and how it will be even bigger than the current web in terms of impact.  But until his TED...

My other favorites were these: Tim Berners-Lee Bonnie Bassler Rosamund Zander Willie Smits Dan Ariely Liz Coleman I’ll post their talks when they come out, but you can check them out from the program guide in the mean time. What were your...

Okay, this is cool.  Be sure to watch to the...

Here’s a contest model for spurring innovation that I’d like to explore: 50 participatns ante a pre-determined amount of money Each participant submits original work (of a pre-determined type) Each participant votes for one winner (other than themselves) Winner gets the money ...

As we approach the inauguration of a new leader who trying to be truly post-partisan, I think Jonathan Haidt’s TED brilliant talk is apropos: ...

In a previous post I asked what you thought this was: Here is the same system at different resolutions (lowest to highest): ...

For those who liked all of the TED talks that I posted earlier this year, you might want to attend TED Global 2009.  Guaranteed to blow your...