TED Radio Hour
Based on TED Talks given by
very interesting speakers, each show is centered on a common theme – such as
happiness, innovation, power, or unexplainable connections – and includes in
depth conversations with the speakers of the TED Talks. See more at the TED
Radio Hour website .
Audio Time: 9
min 28 sec
Level:
Advanced
Vocabulary: To help
learners fully understand the audio and transcript, most vocabulary that might
be unknown for this lesson’s level is provided. Vocab in bold is more useful for learners at the
lesson’s target level. Try to choose 8 to 10 new words to learn from the story
(in general, it’s best to try to learn no more than 8-10 new words a day).
Definitions
are written with the help of various sources including Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s
Dictionary
Susceptible:
easily
affected, influenced, or harmed by something.
Hominid: A group
of animals that include apes and humans.
Rustle: to make a soft, light sound because parts of
something are touching or rubbing against each other.
Darwin award: An award for removing yourself from humanity’s
gene pool by not reproducing (either by death or intentionally not having
children), and therefore, helping humanity’s evolution. This usually includes
people who kill themselves by doing very stupid things.
Propensity: a
strong natural tendency to do something.
Gene pool: all of
the genes in a particular group of people or animals.
Default: used to
describe something that happens or is done when nothing else has been done or
can be done.
Primate: any
member of the group of animals that includes human beings, apes, and monkeys.
To con: a
dishonest trick that is done to get someone's money.
Psychic: used to
describe strange mental powers and abilities (such as the ability to predict
the future, to know what other people are thinking, or to receive messages from
dead people) that cannot be explained by natural laws.
Tell: (noun) an
unconscious behavior that can give information to an observant opponent,
usually used in card games like poker.
Kick in: to begin
to work or to have an effect.
Stand
point: a way in which something is thought about or considered;
point of view.
Bias: a
tendency to believe that some people, ideas, etc., are better than others that
usually results in treating some people unfairly.
To exaggerate: to
think of or describe something as larger or greater than it really is.
To muffle: to make
(a sound) quieter.
To bombard: to hit
or attack (something or someone) constantly or repeatedly.
Temporal lobes: a part of the brain.
Wacky: amusing
and very strange.
Curmudgeon: a
person (especially an old man) who is easily annoyed or angered and who often
complains.
Eccentric: tending
to act in strange or unusual ways.
Language Tips: Useful
expressions
To connect the dots: to
join (two or more things) together; to think of (something or someone) as being
related to or involved with another person, thing, event, or idea; or to prove
or show that one thing is related to another thing.
“…we are
pattern seeking primates. We connect the dots - A is connected to B, B is
connected to C and sometimes A really is connected to B and that's called
association learning. We find patterns. We make those connections.”
It was
hard solve the robbery, but, with the evidence they had, the detectives
connected the dots and caught the thief.
To a certain extent: used to indicate the degree to which
something exists, happens, or is true.
“…life is
full of failure. And the entrepreneur is never going to exceed if he doesn't
deceive himself to a certain extent in what's called the optimism bias where
you tend to think things are going to go better than they really will.”
To a
certain extent, other hominids like apes are our relatives, since we share a
common ancestor that lived millions of years ago.
Order of magnitude: the approximate size of something, especially
measured in powers of 10.
“…entrepreneurs….
They all exaggerate by like an order of magnitude how likely they are to be
successful and in a way you sort of have to do that because most people that
start businesses - they fail.”
Our
galaxy is bigger than our solar system by many orders of magnitude.
Discussion
questions:
1. What are some kinds of unbelievable things that people
believe?
2. Do you or someone you know believe any of these things?
3. Do you agree with the speaker’s theory about why people
believe unbelievable things?
4. What are the advantages and disadvantages to easily
believing things and being more open minded?
5. What the most interesting thing you learned from this story?
6. Is it important to have some skepticism towards beliefs?
7. How can we practice skepticism and examine beliefs?
8. What the right balance between being open minded and being
skeptical?