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Comment by mattnewport | Hacker News Reader

TED talks are getting to be a counter-signal of credibility.

TED Talks lost their luster long ago when they turned into regional self-hosted events with less and less quality checks and more speakers doing sales and promotions.

I thought that was supposed to be the difference between TED and TEDx. TEDx being the one lacking most any credibility.

TEDx isn't really about credibility though.

The talks I've seen out of TEDx tend to be more "this is interesting" rather than "this is 100% the truth about ____". I think most TEDx events take themselves less seriously, which results in fewer speakers that think they are the end-all-be-all of some topic. Where as TED events seem to try to get the "foremost expert on ____", even if the entire area of _____ is mostly quackery.

Though really I think the pompousness is proportional to size and has (almost) nothing to do with TED vs TEDx. Anecdotally, the fairly large TEDxGlasgow had a lot more wankiness than the quite small TEDxUbud.

I feel like they've been that way for over a decade at the very least. While I may be ignorant of such, I know of no outcomes of TED talks that led to new developments or progress or breakthroughs. The astronomical cost of attendance allows some wealthy people to intellectually slum when --given their resources-- they could already be involved in remarkable efforts.

TED talks were never a good signal of credibility.

They've been that way for over a decade now

I only still remember one TED talk I watched. The rest vanished from memory.

https://www.ted.com/talks/terry_moore_how_to_tie_your_shoes

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