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The Friday Fillip: Big Ideas, Small Screen
On Slaw we’ve pointed you to TED videos from time to time, and quite rightly: TED is a cornucopia of stimulating ideas. But here in Ontario we’ve got an online collection of thought-provoking videos that are equally worth your time. TVO offers up fifty or so excerpts from the last couple of years of its programming under the title of Big Ideas. Herewith a more or less random selection of these videos, just to give you an idea of what’s in store, if you’re shopping:
- Sara Seager on Exoplanets the Search for Habitable Worlds
- Simon Winchester on Joseph Needham, The Man Who Loved China
- William R. Newman on Why Did Isaac Newton Believe in Alchemy
- Rod Carley on Theatre in the 21st Century
- Michael Persinger on Just Suppose You Could Know What Others Are Thinking: No More Secrets
- Craig Kaplan on Mathematical Art and Artistic Mathematicians
- Daniel C. Dennett on What Should Replace Religions?
Now, I know this isn’t fare at the lighter end of the spectrum, which is usually the case in a Friday Fillip, but neither is it law, you’ll notice. And a change is as good as a rest sometimes. Right?
Thank you for the post Simon. I’ve been reading Slaw for a while and this is a great break from all the law related articles. I tried to watch a little bit of all the videos that you posted (I wish I had enough time to watch them beginning to end) and I would recommend people to watch Michael Persinger’s video. It’s very interesting.
On another note, Ted presentations are still top notch.