What better way to spend a public holiday than to watch TED talks?
OK my reasons aren’t that pure, I have a huge backlog of these on my computer and I’m running out of space…
But as I’m clearing through all these, I figured I’d share my thoughts about them and recommend the good ones. TED Talks are all good just some connect with me more.
Edit: This will be a multi-part post as I just realized there are just too many for 1 day…
Deeyah Khan: What we don’t know about Europe’s Muslim kids
Deeyah talks about her troubles fitting in to society’s expectations and how many others struggle with fitting in as well as facing abuse, racism, discrimination, and even family expectations.
A few of these kind of connected with me. Being in a Chinese family, we’re expected to excel and be successful. I remember when I was a kid, my dad especially would say things like “so and so got into …, did …, is making …, owns a home, got married, etc.”
Though unlike Deeyah’s cases, I am grateful my parents overall are a bit more understanding. Given my health issues, I guess I sort of got granted an exemption from Asian Exceptionalism.
Although on the other hand, they did try. When I was a younger, they said I should get a Finance degree. I was always looking towards CS but being respectful of their opinion, I went to business school. Well I graduated but actually went back into tech although didn’t have the background to get into Google. What I concluded and what they finally agreed with was given my health issues, I should just do what I want/makes me happy instead of trying to do what they planned.
And I guess they learnt their lesson, an expensive one, but they let my younger brother do what he wanted which happens to also be CS.
But the other part is with the US now so divided, nothing gets done and it’s a similar picture where one group doesn’t understand the other, can’t work together anymore. It’s either us or them. I’m tired of all the politics and politicians that seem to just be self interested. But I’m not sure what I can do about it…
In the end, and probably for the worse, I can only do the same and focus on making the best of what I have…
This actually reminds me of another TED Talk (Short-termism is killing us)
The problems we’re facing are inter-generational, our choices will not only impact us but also future generations. However, we, moreover politicians and corporations, only care about ourselves and the immediate impact.
Anyway back to my original point… as she also concludes, the best option is to just be yourself… but may still need a lot of work to get society to accept it... I’m still having a lot of difficulties myself
These little girls with their superpowers are showing the way forward towards a society that we need to build together, a society that includes and supports, rather than reject our kids
And I’ll just add my 2 cents: …and each other
Caleb Barlow: Where is cybercrime really coming from?
The title speaks for itself. Caleb gives a good primer on the state of cybercrimes on the DarkNet. Sort of interesting if you’re a techie.
Simply put, we need to be open and collaborative
TL;DR: to beat cyber-criminals, the security industry needs to change and learn to work together and share information so new attack techniques can be quickly preempted.
Jeanne Gang: Buildings that blend nature and city
The title I feel is actually a bit of a misnomer. She talks mostly about designing buildings that engage the public and increase social interaction and trust, and create communities that include everyone.
Robb Willer: How to have better political conversations
Yet another one on polarization but this gives some insights showing that we may not be that different after all, just that we need to re-frame the conversation.
If you want to persuade someone on some policy, it’s helpful to connect that policy to their underlying moral values
