Ideas worth spreading

Trial, error and the God complex

2,226,667 views | Tim Harford • TEDGlobal 2011

Economics writer Tim Harford studies complex systems -- and finds a surprising link among the successful ones: they were built through trial and error. In this sparkling talk from TEDGlobal 2011, he asks us to embrace our randomness and start making better mistakes.

Economics writer Tim Harford studies complex systems -- and finds a surprising link among the successful ones: they were built through trial and error. In this sparkling talk from TEDGlobal 2011, he asks us to embrace our randomness and start making better mistakes.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

Tim Harford

Economist, journalist, broadcaster

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This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.