Why we have an emotional connection to robots
Kate Darling / Robot ethicist
How to spot a well-designed flag

TED Talk: Why your city's flag could be the worst designed thing you've never noticed

How to tap into our collective empathy

Playlist: These TED Talks advocate for creating bridges of compassion and understanding

Newest Talks

  1. Why we have an emotional connection to robots
  2. The key to a better malaria vaccine
  3. Let's protect the oceans like national parks
  4. How whistle-blowers shape history
  5. What baby boomers can learn from millennials at work -- and vice versa
  6. What Americans agree on when it comes to health

Trending

  1. What's it like to be a robot?
  2. A country with no water
  3. What intelligent machines can learn from a school of fish
  4. Maps that show us who we are (not just where we are)
  5. The kill decision shouldn't belong to a robot
  6. These robots come to the rescue after a disaster

Recommended today

  1. How I learned to read -- and trade stocks -- in prison
  2. Why sneakers are a great investment
  3. Bitcoin. Sweat. Tide. Meet the future of branded currency.
  4. What if we replaced politicians with randomly selected people?
  5. There's no such thing as not voting
  6. Photos from a storm chaser

Explore playlists

TED-Ed lessons: feed your curiosity

  1. What if cracks in concrete could fix themselves?
  2. Why should you read "Waiting for Godot"?
  3. History through the eyes of a chicken
  4. Can you solve the killer robo-ants riddle?
  5. The fascinating science of phantom limbs
  6. Everything you need to know to read "The Canterbury Tales"

responsibility

  1. Our loss of wisdom
  2. To solve the world's biggest problems, invest in women and girls
  3. The business benefits of doing good
  4. Responsibility matters
  5. The case for letting business solve social problems
  6. Your company's data could help end world hunger

Heard on TED Radio Hour

  1. What if we ended the injustice of bail?
  2. Chimps have feelings and thoughts. They should also have rights
  3. What if we replaced politicians with randomly selected people?
  4. How to put the power of law in people's hands
  5. Your brain hallucinates your conscious reality
  6. Are you human?

Saving, spending, risking: smart TEDx talks about money

  1. What playing Monopoly with real money taught me about my kids--and humanity
  2. Why I defend women's inheritance rights
  3. We need to help women close the retirement savings gap
  4. Why we take financial risks
  5. A new way to think about inheritance
  6. Let's get honest about our money problems

take a tech break

  1. We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads
  2. A funny look at the unintended consequences of technology
  3. How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day
  4. Your social media "likes" expose more than you think
  5. The era of blind faith in big data must end
  6. What moral decisions should driverless cars make?

future visions

  1. What would happen if we upload our brains to computers?
  2. A sci-fi vision of love from a 318-year-old hologram
  3. What a world without prisons could look like
  4. Can we create new senses for humans?
  5. A glimpse of the future through an augmented reality headset
  6. My daughter, my wife, our robot, and the quest for immortality

What should I do with my life?

  1. Why you will fail to have a great career
  2. How great leaders inspire action
  3. Why some of us don't have one true calling
  4. How to find work you love
  5. Before I die I want to ...
  6. Should you live for your résumé ... or your eulogy?

About TED

TED is a nonpartisan nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks. TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 110 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.