Comments on: Is TED ‘Elistist’? Thoughts from TEDxNaperville Curator, Arthur Zards

By: David Metcalfe

David Metcalfe — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:52:25 +0000

Ha, Michael, well sometimes notoriety is as good as anything right? What about the TEDx & online TEDTalks, do you think this alters the ‘elitism’ that might be implied by the high ticket price for the event?

Autom, that’s a good idea. A sort of TED retrospective to recap and analyze the development/movement of the effect that TED’s ‘ideas worth spreading’ have on the broader culture? Are you saying in some ways simply the fact that those who are involved in TED are those who are more active in their pursuits due to society’s tendency towards stagnation they are defacto “elites”?

It does seem that the time it takes critiquing the elitism of TED is time spent not being creative or developing alternatives to TED that provide the same level of engagement amongst creative folks. A lot of work went in to building TED into what it is today. I’m not sure people really grasp what it takes to put on something of that scale with the quality of people that it draws.

By: autom

autom — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:35:40 +0000

no TED is not elitist; at best, TED may be esoteric.

simply put, those who potentially feel alienated by TED, what TED is about and aims to achieve, are likely the ones who don’t *get* the value associated with creative convergence on a grand, diverse scale.

emphasis on ‘creative’ because the event is in fact an experience of creating (or engendering the creative process as part of a broader mindset) through sharing and synthesis.

back to ‘esoteric’ - by dint of how i am even expressing my POV on the matter *may*, for argument’s sake, predefine my stance as ‘elitist’ - but only because one who may be quick to point a finger and say ‘elitist’ likely either doesn’t know what he/she really means or is simply expressing their sense of alienation.

if experiences like TED were truly meant for mass public consumption, then stratified or hierarchical divisions among everyone’s level of awareness wouldn’t exist..we’d all actually *get* what TED is..sadly, this is the way our society is structured.

perhaps what needs to be further explored (or be made more visible/showcased to the broader public) are the gems of ideas, processes, approaches, theories, critical thinking etc. that have all been distilled from all the TEDs.

then perhaps the perception of TED by some will move away from “elitist” even away from “esoteric” and more towards “educational”

got plenty of pennies in my corner..my 2 cents

By: Michael J. Trout

Michael J. Trout — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:00:33 +0000

The value of TED is the Ideas it spreads… I love TED talks and all TEDsters. I was even accepted to attend this July’s TEDs Global Conference, and even paid the high asking price — up until I pissed off Bruno for publicly sharing his emails and became the first ever “to be Tedster” to be booted ‘). It will make a great intro when I am eventually invited to talk. When something costs $4500 to attend a 3 day conference it’s hard to say you are NOT elitists. So I can completely get where the elitism sentiments come from… TED Global is held in Oxford… possibly the most elitist places in the world… so I would stop defending TEDs elitism and point out the simple fact of the rule of 80/20. 80% is done by the 20% elite and get over it.

btw, TED, eSingularity is an idea worth spreading…. ‘p

Michael Trout
EDUIT.org
Founder eSingularity ™…