Brandon Boyd: 9 eye-opening talks

Philosopher-comedian Emily Levine talks (hilariously) about science, math, society and the way everything connects. She's a brilliant trickster, poking holes in our fixed ideas and bringing hidden truths to light. Settle in and let her ping your brain.

TED2002, Filmed Feb 2002, Posted Apr 2009

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Jill Bolte Taylor got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions -- motion, speech, self-awareness -- shut down one by one. An astonishing story.

TED2008, Filmed Feb 2008, Posted Mar 2008

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Here's a powerful provocation from artist Jae Rhim Lee. Can we commit our bodies to a cleaner, greener Earth, even after death? Naturally -- using a special burial suit seeded with pollution-gobbling mushrooms. Yes, this just might be the strangest TEDTalk you'll ever see ...

TEDGlobal 2011, Filmed Jul 2011, Posted Oct 2011

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What if human consciousness isn't the end-all and be-all of Darwinism? What if we are all just pawns in corn's clever strategy game to rule the Earth? Author Michael Pollan asks us to see the world from a plant's-eye view.

TED2007, Filmed Mar 2007, Posted Feb 2008

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In this wide-ranging, thought-provoking talk, Kevin Kelly muses on what technology means in our lives -- from its impact at the personal level to its place in the cosmos. (Filmed at TEDxAmsterdam.)

TEDxAmsterdam, Filmed Nov 2009, Posted Feb 2010

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Psychologist Jonathan Haidt asks a simple, but difficult question: why do we search for self-transcendence? Why do we attempt to lose ourselves? In a tour through the science of evolution by group selection, he proposes a provocative answer.

TED2012, Filmed Feb 2012, Posted Mar 2012

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Hacker and writer Joshua Klein is fascinated by crows. (Notice the gleam of intelligence in their little black eyes?) After a long amateur study of corvid behavior, he's come up with an elegant thought experiment: a machine that could form a new bond between animal and human.

TED2008, Filmed Mar 2008, Posted May 2008

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Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

TED2006, Filmed Feb 2006, Posted Jun 2006

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Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

TED2009, Filmed Feb 2009, Posted Feb 2009

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