Watching TED talks was one of the greatest experience of using Internet. However, in recent years, I began to see more and more garbage TRASH talks that get a lot of attention. There are real experts and there are real-snake oil sales. Remember the old fairy tale of 3 little pigs. The people knock on your door may dress pretty and want to give you an apple, they are in fact wolves with poison apples. If you are not vigilant enough, you will be eaten. Better be careful, then sorry. It's your own life.
A. Here I want to show a good example of a real expert and a real good TED talk:
How to identify a real expert?
- His/her talk included several different studies and examples. (Lots of peer reviews.)
- He/she is very sincere and honest. (Look into their eyes.)
- His/her conclusions are something we kinda know already but too difficult to change.
B. Here I want to show a good example of a real snake-oil saleswoman and a real TRASH talk:
How to identify a snake-oil salesperson?
- The source of study is limited to only one study, one lab or one person. (No peer review.)
- He/she can appear very smooth, enthusiastic and humorous. (Look is deceiving.)
- His/her conclusion and findings are too good to be true.
MY ANALYSIS:
Both on the subject of healthy aging. The first expert focus on diet and exercise. The 2nd expert focus on social and vaccines. We already know about diet and exercise and they are hard to do. But the 2nd expert is only there to confuse people. Her hidden messages are exercise and diet are not important; therefore, keep eating and buying all the unhealthy food. Obviously, she is a paid speaker from the meat and dairy industry. Could her claim to be true though? Her entire speech was based on one study which probably was funded by the industry. If she could include more studies and more test result, her talk would become more believable. As listeners, we should always count how many peer reviews and how many sources of study. Otherwise, it is a TRASH talk.
Could she be right though? Social interaction can indeed be the most important factor for healthy aging. Well, do more tests, get more results from different studies and show us the proof. Until then, it is a TRASH talk.
We live in an imperfect world. We need to be vigilant and be smart at pointing out where are the poison apples. The industry, the money, the status quo may not put your interests first because their objective is to move the money from your pockets to their pockets. Companies & corporations do not have a moral duty. They exist only to make money.
Do you have any tips and ideas on how to spot truth and lie? With so much information giving to us, how we should we know which one to believe? What is your analysis of above two videos? Please comment below.