Conversation

It’s becoming increasingly clear that for a fragile few years, the grand narrative of the world flowed through TED talks
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The very idea that a glossy premium mediocre marquee event had the cultural authority and brand equity surplus to spawn a little extended universe of budget events seems bizarre now
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Oh shit had no idea. Of course there was an Epstein extended universe crossover event. I can kinda see why people can get sucked into believing in vast pedo conspiracies. The cultural industrial complex was a real hydra at its peak. Pale shadow now. t.co/xeQRyG4VZF
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I got a couple of TEDx invites but never did one. Kinda glad now. I liked a few talks but overall the CIC triggered my bs detector too much. It was a sort of high-grading scam. A few quality talks like say Hans Rosling, and the rest would BIRG. Mostly ideas not worth spreading.
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This sort of headline reflects a continuing TED era hangover. You do *not* want to lead with an appeal to “expert” authority in 2022 if you want to be taken seriously. You lead with the substance.
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There’s a whole new post-Weirding set of emerging norms on what actually establishes grand-narrative credibility. It’s still possible, but credentials, marquee gloss and circle-jerk self-congratulation by clubby academics and mutually certified experts ain’t it.
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There’s an interesting emerging pattern of having a substantial big idea AND an instinct for tapping into a live zeitgeist current without degenerating into populist clickbaiting that seems to work, but can’t immediately think of a great example. Threading that needle is tough.
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Replying to
I once spoke at an Economist event. Might have been the closest I ever got to Mt. Doom aka Davos. Was fun. Martha Stewart was there, post jail.
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I still see “TEDx speaker” in people’s profiles. Same energy as “3x startup exits” or “investor” with no details 🤔 Feels very 2015
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All conferences had TED-envy then. I spoke at 3-4 events that all in hindsight were taking cues from TED. Learned that I have nothing worthwhile to say in the <20 min range and just end up feeling guilty about the carbon to fly to venues. I don’t do anything under 20min now.
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By 2024 there will be a cozyweb industrial complex. There will be invisible hydra orgs that secretly find a bunch of discords and little meetups that all seem unrelated but are all part of the same underground fever dream. Cthulhu ftaghn!
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