Summary: Doom and gloom on current capitalism.

No solution is proposed.

Perhaps things are so bad that progress is just to realise things will not automatically get better, as politicians seem to promise lately.

Video link

Summary: A call for a new enlightenment

Here is an interesting idea: we need a new enlightenment!

My summary: Progress since the enlightenment is centred around what we can achieve. The main means have been science/technology, markets and bureaucracy. However:

1. Science/technology and markets do something because they can, being indifferent to general good.

2. Bureaucracy puts rules above ends.

The talk argues it is equally important to discuss and understand what we aim to achieve. Which is defined by ethics, and can be approached by the humanities.

Video link.

Snowden on stage with the creator of the world wide web. Great interview.

Video link

Here is a good 20 min of your time well spent.

Amongst the ideas discussed are that

1. the modern idea of human equality generates envy

2. meritocracy generates judgment and

3. the sooner we realise we cannot have everything, the sooner we can define our own success, hopefully based on our, rather than our parents, ideals.

Finally someone captures what has been annoying me about TED.

Placebo politics, marketing at the cost of complexity and ideology that prevents connection with the real world.

The fact it is given at TEDx makes it more memorable.

Link.

This is a video on the various times Yannis Boutaris faced fear. Interesting stories, and a way of speaking that is unusual for a politician.

Unfortunately there are no English subtitles.