The TED Interview

Thanks Chris (and team) for your hard work, this podcast is now firmly in my weekly list of must listen to’s. One question I wish you had asked during the June 2 episode (end of 50yr stagnation with Tyler Cowen), was this : Tyler is optimistic that we are now entering a period of growth, great! But he couldn’t adequately explain why the IT revolution we just went though (and are still in) did not produce the productivity increase that was seen during the baby boomer generation .. I wonder if it’s because these new revolutions don’t actually invent something new, they just improve on old things, for example, yes it’s convenient to have WhatsApp , but our parents generation (I am in my 30s) had phones and that was almost as good. Like wise, the green revolution, while necessary, is not creating something new, it’s just replacing one form of energy with another. So while cheap energy (oil) spawned the industrial revolution, the green shift shouldn’t be expected to result in the same stimulus to the economy/society, because we’re not creating something where once there was nothing, as with oil/coal, but rather substituting one for the other (something we would never do by the way if it weren’t for climate change, which goes to show we don’t actually want to switch, we have to).. In contrast, bio tech has the potential to create something new, and therefore I agree with Tyler that this may indeed be a source of real progress.. but the green energy shift is more of a drag than a stimulus, it’s necessary, but not going to make our day to day lives better (other than save the planet hah.. ) but it’s not like society gets a new toy to play with that makes us all happier, it’s just replacing one for another, at great cost I might add. A similar argument can be made to a lot of new age innovations, compare Uber with the invention of a dish washer.. which really helps society more? Same goes for electric cars, ‘yay we have electric cars’, but really it doesn’t help anyone on a day to day basis more than a regular car does, and yet it’s valued and considered a huge innovation .. I guess my point is that maybe the low hanging fruit of innovation has been picked already, and now we can expect only modest incremental changes (and thus low growth) compared with the past. Law of diminishing returns comes to mind.. I hope I’m wrong, and I hope Tyler is right… anyway I wish this had been covered in episode. But generally loved the episode and the series .. thanks !

Lively and entertaining interviews with the best of the TED series. Highly recommended!

Hi, I like the informal format of the last few weeks. I only listen to Krista Tipet’s unedited versions on the On Being podcast, it is more real. Please don’t over-produce your talks. Thanks 💖

At the core, we as humans are social beings who live in groups. Yet this influential podcast frequently promotes “educated” economists who believe in modern selfish myths such as freedom and individual rights. I am half-Chinese with a mother who was born in Beijing. Pushing back against my Western education, understanding and committing to the responsibilities I have to my family, community, and society has brought great joy to my life. If you could share more stories of selfless scholars who understand that we are just a small part of this beautiful natural world that would be greatly appreciated.