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Varlan Allan

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Is Ted losing it's edge by allowing conversations to be led by possibly unqualified/underqualified individuals?

Over the past year I have become witness to the same questions over and over and to me they have very little value left as topics of serious insight and debate or questioning. I feel without Expert participation and coordination that the conversations section is being weakened for those who are looking for more than crowd-sourced advice or answers to specific problems. A good initiative might be to have a few Experts ask some questions of the ted community which they do not yet have the answers for and have a Ted Rep or someone track via a hierarchy chart, the findings and progress of the conversation. Give me your thoughts if you agree or not. Maybe it could be made into a separate category?

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  • Liam Hollands

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    Jun 24 2012: Correct me if i am wrong but isn't the whole idea of Ted to hear thoughts or answer questions from anyone whether they are deemed qualified or not?
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    Don Wesley 50+

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    Jun 19 2012: Hi Varlan, I am just screwing up my courage, to reveal to myself and here, what I think as I write. Years ago before the internet I would have needed my body to get to a conversation like this. See the beauty in this meeting place.Those who come to conversation without personal integrity and without "Pride" will fall away.

    1) I think the idea behind your question is worthy of examination, because I feel many conversations reveal "thinking or thought abnormalities." Call them personalities if you like.
    2) For me your question is too broad; it will deliver more questions than giving you answers.
    3) My own background is in the Sciences, and not in the Arts; I am good at solving complex and complicated problems. My friends in the Arts are far better at reducing the ideas to the manageable level and asking questions which are answerable.
    4) The answers which follow, must be studied to reveal those worthy of debate.This process takes time and patience.
    5) Far too many conversations seem like recorded tapes, being replayed over and over again by the same groups.
    6) The conversations do reveal the story and the story behind story of each participant.
    7) Profiles [if revealed] tell us about the individuals mission and integrity
    8) The whole collections of profiles tells us something; both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, about this group called TED in conversation open to the public. To me it contributes to our knowledge a little bit. Is it serious or at the extreme an adult playground. I do believe it is a work in progress.
    9) Will TED adapt; will humanity survive, that maybe is the real story! I promise to do my part to make it a powerhouse for good and kindness. I will thrive on wise feedback.

    Don [From the Silent Generation]

    • Varlan Allan 10+

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      Jun 19 2012: Thanks for the Feedback Don, it is nice hearing from The silent generation. And you make some very valid point. I especially like the points dealing with personalities and integrity.
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    Krisztián Pintér 200+

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    TED Translator
    Jun 18 2012: in addition to my earlier point, i would add that speakers themselves often "cross the line" and go against the mainstream view.

    Luca Turin and Sugata Mitra are two examples.
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    Robert Winner 50+

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    Jun 18 2012: Since you posted this conversation the answer would depend on do you consider yourself Unqualified or underqualified to lead this conversation?

    All the best. Bob

    • Varlan Allan 10+

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      Jun 18 2012: Well, i feel that I have been on Ted long enough and have read through enough conversations to believe myself qualified to ask the question. But what i'm suggesting is having more conversations started by people with more than the average joe's thoughts. Not that Joe's aren't needed but often their topics have no structure and lead often to where many would assume, many going round in circles, but I would like to see more come out of the conversations than just words. Something that can lead to a greater outcome than just talking about it.
      Thanks for the comment Rob.
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        Robert Winner 50+

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        Jun 18 2012: Perhaps the answer would be to have a thread to TED speakers to be able to comment and recieve a response to their talk. I think that TED conversations are just that ... a place for the common Joe to enjoy his 15 minutes of pseudo fame. Some enter with a extreme mindset and others a legitimate question. In either case the TED community is their means of validating or learning from others experiences. My field of expertise would really limit my participation in conversations. However, my life experiences I offer as considerations.

        How would you know if the person was an expert and not writing from Cliff's notes. Naw ... I think the design was set up by TED to allow us to converse and filter what responses we recieve.

        By the way thanks for recieving the comment in gest as I intended it to be.

        All the best. Bob.

        • Varlan Allan 10+

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          Jun 18 2012: I agree quite a bit with your "personal 15 minutes of fame" idea. That was one reason why I believe some people use TedConversations. :D
          Not a bad thing but just saying.
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          Don Wesley 50+

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          Jun 19 2012: Hi Robert,
          Please accept a bit of feed-back; be serious and not funny.
          And remember "Pride goeth before the fall."
          I think a bit of humour in a Talk adds value.
          Teasing between two in a conversation of many is maybe impolite

  • Varlan Allan 10+

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    Jun 18 2012: Yeah, I hope everyone understands that I'm not talking about just having experts participate, but have them initiate some topics related to their research or questions they have yet to answer and then the ted community can give much needed outside view and opinion. Thanks to everyone for giving your comments.
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    Krisztián Pintér 200+

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    TED Translator
    Jun 18 2012: many topics discussed have no experts at all. or they only have self-proclaimed experts. example: global warming. we basically know bits and pieces, but we have a lot of "experts" that claim to know numbers down to exact percentage. or financial meltdown and failure of our systems. "experts" disagree with each other, and they all disagree with common sense and facts. the last thing we need is enforced privilege of people wearing fine hats.
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    Rafi Amin 20+

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    Jun 18 2012: Unqualified individuals thinks completely from a different angle compared to qualified. These unqualified thoughts results creativity & completely new ideas.

    Lots of creative things can be achieved from things we now consider useless or trash.
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      Salim Solaiman 50+

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      Jun 18 2012: I agree.....that's why in some brain stroming session or idea generation session there is a practice of keeping someone NAIVE about the subject matter...

      If we take KIDs to be unqualified/underqualified (which they are in normal sense) they often comes up with question that most qualified person (if there is any) fails to answer..........
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    Allan Macdougall 30+

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    Jun 18 2012: Although experts are experts for good reason, sometimes their intense focus on a single subject means that the broader context and repercussions of their expertise is lost.

    Because of this, I personally value the opinions of both experts and generalists together as a recipe for good debate - in other words, not allowing one at the expense of the other.

    Dominance of narrow expertise can lead to a culture of elitism and inappropriateness as an influential worldview, in the absence of the wider context in which to temper it.
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    Salim Solaiman 50+

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    Jun 18 2012: Who will be that qualified person to judge someone to be unqualified / underqualified ?
    How s/he will do that & with what authority?

    Understand your point about repetition of questions....which can be resolved if TEDster before opening up the question / idea / debate do a little bit search .....(though I am not sure how easy it will be to do such search here)

    Other solution can be , any member who notices the repetition can notify the poster by giving the link of previous discussion.....

    There is saying that "no question is dumb"....with which I agree to great extent..
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    edward long 100+

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    Jun 18 2012: As an eminently unqualified/underqualified individual in just about every subject other than Christianity and Mechanical Design, I profit greatly by having my contributions run the gauntlet of the TED Conversations community. The process regularly reminds me that my high view of my own opinions is often biased and in need of reassessment. The academic or professional qualifications of community members is truly of little interest to me. I know pretense when I read it, and if I don't it is easy enough to verify information to whatever level of precision I desire. I think the average TEDster is sufficiently discerning to recognize twaddle and drivel. It is a valuable opportunity to have a bona fide expert participating in discussing ideas, questions and debates, but I think it would be a mistake to require such expert participation. Thank you!
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