Group items tagged

"What makes you, you? Is it how you think of yourself, how others think of you, or something else entirely? At TEDxYouth@Manchester, Julian Baggini draws from philosophy and neuroscience to give a surprising answer."

"What can mathematics say about history? According to TED Fellow Jean-Baptiste Michel, quite a lot. From changes to language to the deadliness of wars, he shows how digitized history is just starting to reveal deep underlying patterns. Jean-Baptiste Michel looks at how we can use large volumes of data to better understand our world."

"The controversial website WikiLeaks collects and posts highly classified documents and video. Founder Julian Assange, who's reportedly being sought for questioning by US authorities, talks to TED's Chris Anderson about how the site operates, what it has accomplished -- and what drives him. The interview includes graphic footage of a recent US airstrike in Baghdad."

Is Wikileaks a force for good? Should some information remain classified or should everything be made available to everyone? Are secrets unethical?

I think it's good, although it slightly mixes up our nice distinction between sense perception and perception in general, and she actual says "we see things not as they are but as we are" at one point. The title "The Truth in the Lie" evokes one of the current essay titles, and it has a lot to say about ethics 'n stuff.

"Beau Lotto's color games puzzle your vision, but they also spotlight what you can't normally see: how your brain works. This fun, first-hand look at your own versatile sense of sight reveals how evolution tints your perception of what's really out there."