has no clothes on, but when he is walking down the street naked, it's just tough for some people not to declare the obvious. He is not suggesting that the ideas are without value - he's in the business of providing ideas, after all, but the fact that they are reduced to edutainment. They aren't just simplifying them so they can be explained to Einstein's 6 year old, but they are seriously modifying them and leaving large chunks of very important stuff out because, well, because that's how you do entertainment.
His critique is not without merit, because there is nothing in the display, the show, that tells people that the idea they are seeing is the product of years of sweat, blood, pain, hardship, and math (four letter word), and likely means more of the same for it to be developed further, to have a real impact and change things in a large and meaningful way. If they would end their talks with "I hope you enjoyed it, but both you and I know you aren't going to do the work it needs to move forward, and there is a whole country out there bent on taking s all back back to the 1800's and there aren't enough of you to change that, and anyway, unless you own a condo in Abu Dhabi you probably don't have enough money to make a meaningful contribution to this. But if you do, see me after..." then it might be a little less what he says and more towards the ideal it seems to strive for.
It is that failing which causes him to see it as more of a circus than a serious effort. It's hard for me not to like what he said. Without critiques, how do you know something is valuable or accurate? He did them a service, to get people to think about this, which is likely why they put him on the stage. It might make for better services...I mean presentations.
There is no reason not to continue, but they could replace their current format with a tMail (TEDmail?) and some powerpoint slides, send them out once every 6 weeks or so, linked to youtube. That would allow for even more dissemination of the ideas, and reduce a bunch of environmental impact from people traveling to these things. Viewers could vote periodically, and then hold a conference with the top 6 most likely to stand a chance of being implemented, ideas that might really change the world, every 2 years or so, assuming they are still around. But lot's of people enjoy going to church, so perhaps not...
That said, I would have to look up the guy's name, but one presentation I thought was particularly good was the big fella that raises tilapia in the greenhouse, teaches kids about sustainability, and is pretty much running a nearly self-sustainable farm on an urban lot (lots of people doing it now, but he kid of brought it to the forefront for many). That's important, because it may well be the future of fast food. (Not being that facetious), and, frankly, we would eat better and contribute less money to chains owned by private equity funds if we could have those every square mile or so. But then we need the time and skills to prepare such food, and you can't do that and ride a bus back and forth to work, or perhaps even work at Walmart..see, there we go, the details we leave out, else it wouldn't be entertaining.
But I still think that's a good idea.
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