Thought Garage

By all measures, the rise of China as one of the leading global economic power houses of the world is a great success story.  And by all estimates, China will become the largest economy sooner than the rest of the world is comfortable accepting it. So, isn’t China, then officially the largest living success stories of communism? Watch this great TED talk by Eric Li, a venture capitalist, I bet,  your understanding of China will never be the same. And so does your understanding of efficacy of democracy. Eric X. Li : A tale of two political systems I can’t resist the temptation of comparing the largest living democracy, India,  with tens of parties at the helm and the largest living communist country, China, and for all practical purposes a dual party system in the US and its current political gridlock, only to realize that the point Eric Li made is quite reverberating. Unfortunately, while China can easily replicate the best of the rest of the world in terms of  ...

Schools used to be all about learning by doing until Industrial age shook them off. Well, we must go back to the roots of true meaning of education by trying exactly the same again. And enough evidence and efforts to prove why we must. http://www.ted.com Some kids learn by listening; others learn by doing. Geoff Mulgan gives a short introduction to the Studio School, a new kind of school in the UK where small teams of kids learn by working on projects that are, as Mulgan puts it, "for real."

For the first time, David Blaine shares his story about breaking the world record for holding his breath at TEDMED. Simply amazing!

"God Complex" is a strange word but quite a pervasive feeling. Believe it nor,  we all have it. Not just a little, but quite in abundance. A little humility is all we need to will help us to experiment and innovate. Incredible talk. 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.

Another wonderful TED Talk. Most of us will do anything to avoid being wrong. But what if we're wrong about that? "Wrongologist" Kathryn Schulz makes a compelling case for not just admitting but embracing our fallibility. The most shocking and totally pervasive is this 'series of unfortunate assumptions' when some one doesn't agree with you.

You must have watched those brilliant animations Hans Rosling of the world of statistics to understand the deeper meaning of numbers and various issues.  If you are awestruck and inspired by his talks, you may love this 1 hour documentary on ‘ The Joy of Stats ’. Hans Rosling says there’s nothing boring about stats, and then goes on to prove it. A one-hour long documentary produced by Wingspan Productions and broadcast by BBC, 2010.

You may have looked at so many different numbers about the world or read news reports, watched umpteen TV Shows, but nothing explains the deeper connections between the health and wealth of a nation like this inspiring talk by Hans Rosling .

Just watched Dan Cobley: What physics taught me about marketing - Dan Cobley (2010) on Active Player . Physics and marketing don't seem to have much in common, but Dan Cobley is passionate about both. He brings these unlikely bedfellows together using Newton's second law, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, the scientific method and the second law of thermodynamics to explain the fundamental theories of branding. Source : Dan Cobley: What physics taught me about marketing - Dan Cobley (2010) from TEDTalks ( Feed ) via Active Player

Just watched Seth Priebatsch: The game layer on top of the world - Seth Priebatsch (2010) on Active Player . By now, we're used to letting Facebook and Twitter capture our social lives on the web -- building a "social layer" on top of the real world. At TEDxBoston, Seth Priebatsch looks at the next layer in progress: the "game layer," a pervasive net of behavior-steering game dynamics that will reshape education and commerce. Source : Seth Priebatsch: The game layer on top of the world - Seth Priebatsch (2010) from TEDTalks ( Feed ) via Active Player

Just watched David McCandless: The beauty of data visualization - David McCandless (2010) on Active Player . David McCandless turns complex data sets (like worldwide military spending, media buzz, Facebook status updates) into beautiful, simple diagrams that tease out unseen patterns and connections. Good design, he suggests, is the best way to navigate information glut -- and it may just change the way we see the world. Source : David McCandless: The beauty of data visualization - David McCandless (2010) from TEDTalks ( Feed ) via Active Player

Just watched Daniel Kahneman: The riddle of experience vs. memory - Daniel Kahneman (2010) on Active Player . Using examples from vacations to colonoscopies, Nobel laureate and founder of behavioral economics Daniel Kahneman reveals how our "experiencing selves" and our "remembering selves" perceive happiness differently. This new insight has profound implications for economics, public policy -- and our own self-awareness. Source : Daniel Kahneman: The riddle of experience vs. memory - Daniel Kahneman (2010) from TEDTalks ( Feed ) via Active Player

  Kiran Bir Sethi shows how her groundbreaking Riverside School in India teaches kids life's most valuable lesson: "I can." Watch her students take local issues into their own hands, lead other young people, even educate their parents. Such a simple and inspiring motto : “One Idea. One Week. One Billion lives to change.”

Its a wonderful talk.  Most of our current problems can be solved just by changing our behavior instead of waiting for that great new technology.  Its not that people don’t know what is good for them, but they are not compelled to take any action. Marketing can sure help.

Stumbled upon this great talk on ‘perception’ while browsing for a TED India talk. I simply loved it. The most interesting part of the talk is an example in the talk (one of the best and simplest) that illustrate how Marketers play with perception to sell products.  Each one of us understand ‘perception’ to an extent. But this is quite unbelievable. “Advertising adds value to a product by changing our perception, rather than the product itself.” TED Talk : Rory Sutherland: Life lessons from an ad man Now when you see an ad (any ad for that matter) next time, I bet, your ‘perception’ will be quite ……… not the same as ever.