Apart from diluting the brand of the increasingly less-legitimate TED conference (more pop stars than ever this year!), TEDx conferences allow any city that wants one to organize its own little get together and have participants feel they’re part of something special.
What bothers me most about the TEDx series is that it’s taken the word creative for advantage and just applied it over everything. In the email below, I’ve replaced every instance of creative with “horseshit.” My original attempt was to just remove the word “creative” and to ask if you felt the remaining piece sounded at all interesting, but this should cover both uses. Gone is the goal of speakers from Technology Entertainment and Design, and in comes, well, just about any local “Entrepreneur” who wants to tell you that his business is going to take over (sorry, I mean save) the world, but with very little substance to back it up beyond a plan mostly containing hope and good vibes. It’s an opportunity for self-promoters to pretend that they’re doing more than talking to a free audience who is all buying in to the the myth of expertise and vision. People lose their rationality when someone stands on an elevated stage.
So here goes:
“Cultivating the [Horseshit] Economy”. It will be an incredible opportunity to be inspired by leading [Horseshit] professionals, technology experts, entrepreneurs and business and cultural leaders from across the city and around the globe, and learn how they are driving the [Horseshit] economy. Built around the unique TED Talks format, themes will include [Horseshit] entrepreneurship, [Horseshit] sustainability and [Horseshit]technologies. Not only will you hear about innovative programs and projects, but you’ll also gain the tangible tools to make them happen within your organizations, businesses and communities.
[Horseshit] Entrepreneurship - At the intersection of [Horseshit] and innovation is opportunity. Where there is opportunity, there are entrepreneurs building companies and working towards social change.
[Horseshit] Sustainability – Sustainability has become part of every industry from design to green technologies. We’ll explore concepts and emerging practices that are reducing negative impact on the environment.
[Horseshit] Technologies - [Horseshit] technologies are shaping the future of the global [Horseshit] economy. We’ll explore emerging technologies that are impacting successful [Horseshit] economy growth.”
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So what happens when you remove the horseshit? By removing the mentions of ‘creativity’ you’re left with a meeting about Entrepreneurship, Sustainability, and Technology, and still far too many buzzwords about the always-vague innovation, or the always-mentioned and rarely-implemented “sustainability” movement. Try to get a show of hands of everyone who is against “sustainability” or “innovation”- they’re easy pap that everyone can rally behind without having to think about making it a daily reality.
But hey, maybe there’s a chance someone will actually be doing something with it, and not just talking about the horseshit process of horseshit thinking.
