tedtalk

TEDTalk: Maya Beiser(s) and her cello(s)

Cellist Maya Beiser plays a gorgeous eight-part modern etude with seven copies of herself, and segues into a meditative music/video hybrid -- using tech to create endless possibilities for transformative sound. Music is Steve Reich's "Cello Counterpoint," with video from Bill Morrison, then David Lang's "World to Come," with video by Irit Batsry.

Marcin Jakubowski: Open-sourced blueprints for civilization

Using wikis and digital fabrication tools, TED Fellow Marcin Jakubowski is open-sourcing the blueprints for 50 farm machines, allowing anyone to build their own tractor or harvester from scratch. And that's only the first step in a project to write an instruction set for an entire self-sustaining village (starting cost: $10,000).

[TEDTalk] Joachim de Posada says, Don’t eat the marshmallow yet – how to predict future success

In this short talk from TED U, Joachim de Posada shares a landmark experiment on delayed gratification -- and how it can predict future success. The test involves giving a little child one piece of marshmallow and informing that if in 15 minutes the marshmallow will still not be eaten, the child will get another one. The extremely cute videos of tempted children and the simple, but powerful message make this Talk one of the most unforgettable ones.

[TED Talk] Naturally 7 beatboxes a whole band – Hip Hop and R&B with a twist

Love Hip Hop and R&B? Then this video is for you. Naturally 7 sung their way on TED Talk’s stage when they performed their song “Fly Baby.” No, there weren’t any instruments or band. Instead, they used their own vocals to compose a good rhythm. Beatboxing or “vocal play,” as they call it, is one of the things the group is very good at; it paved a way for them to be more creative and unique among any other Hip Hop and R&B groups.

[TEDTalk] Golan Levin makes art that looks back at you

Golan Levin is an artist and an engineer. Wait, what? Artist and engineer? Isn't it kind of an odd mix? Well, Levin realizes that and revels in the fact. The man has worked as an academic at the prestigious MIT as well as a computer technology and software engineer. Nowadays though, he spends a lot of his time as a performance artist, using his background as an engineer to fuse technology and art in his amazing work. Levin's philosophy is pretty straightforward: art should be a way for us to discover ourselves. One way to go about it is to create art and interact with it using one's body and voice.

[TEDTalk] Benjamin Wallace: Does Happiness Have A Price Tag?

Can happiness be bought? This is a question for the ages. One can give an empty philosophical answer or one can be like Ted Wallace---try the most expensive and coveted things in the world and give the answer straight up. He's tasted some of the world's most costly and rarest wine, richest steak, fragrant truffles, outrageously priced coffee, smoothest car, and state-of-the-art bed and toilet seat, among other things. If you're a human being, you don't want to miss this short, humorous yet very informative talk on our civilization's most cherished goals: money and happiness. More so, you'd want to know if those two things are indeed synonymous.