<story><title>The Church of TED</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/opinion/sunday/the-church-of-ted.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>cs702</author><text>&amp;quot;TED, with its airy promises, sounds a lot like a secular religion ... The TED style, with its promise of progress, is as manipulative as the orthodoxies it is intended to upset.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Many (though not all!) TED presentations showcase individuals who think highly of themselves explaining in digestible soundbites how they&amp;#x27;re going to make the world a better place, in front of live audiences who have a high opinion of themselves, for video distribution to online audiences who want to think highly of themselves.&lt;p&gt;It may not be a religion, but TED definitely has a cult-ish feel to it.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>milesf</author><text>Heard this quip somewhere:&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;    If, on appropriate occasions, the members tell, enjoy,
    trade, and&amp;#x2F;or devise transgressively funny jokes about
    their denomination, it’s a church.

    If such jokes reliably meet with stifling social
    disapproval, it’s a cult.
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
This works for TED as well. I find some TED talks to be really useful. Others not so much. Just like every other group gathering whether it be a conference, educational institution, club, or whatever.&lt;p&gt;Think critically about everything.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Church of TED</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/opinion/sunday/the-church-of-ted.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>cs702</author><text>&amp;quot;TED, with its airy promises, sounds a lot like a secular religion ... The TED style, with its promise of progress, is as manipulative as the orthodoxies it is intended to upset.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Many (though not all!) TED presentations showcase individuals who think highly of themselves explaining in digestible soundbites how they&amp;#x27;re going to make the world a better place, in front of live audiences who have a high opinion of themselves, for video distribution to online audiences who want to think highly of themselves.&lt;p&gt;It may not be a religion, but TED definitely has a cult-ish feel to it.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>cheatsheet</author><text>Can&amp;#x27;t you frame every social organization in this kind of light? Stuff that people spend their lives on - they make it sound simple so other people understand it - this forms a &amp;#x27;social group dynamic&amp;#x27; through the action of communication or information transfer. If other people understand it, then they participate and contribute to the growth of &amp;#x27;stuff&amp;#x27;.</text></comment>