TED (conference) - Controversies and Criticism

Controversies and Criticism

Sarah Silverman

TED drew some controversy in 2010 when comedian Sarah Silverman was invited to speak at the conference, and in response to her speech about adopting a "retarded" child, TED organizer Chris Anderson posted to his Twitter account, "I know I shouldn’t say this about one of my own speakers, but I thought Sarah Silverman was god-awful ..." Anderson later deleted his tweet, but Silverman responded via her Twitter account "Kudos to for making TED an unsafe haven for all! You're a barnacle of mediocrity on Bill Gates' asshole." Anderson apologized for his tweet on his Posterous account, but also wrote "Call me stuffy, but I still think humor about terminally ill 'retarded' kids is an acquired taste ... And not a taste I personally want to acquire."

Nassim Taleb

Nassim Taleb accused TED of intellectual dishonesty and lack of substance in the latest edition of The Black Swan (2010). He calls TED a "monstrosity that turns scientists and thinkers into low-level entertainers, like circus performers." Taleb spoke at TED2008. He claimed that the curators did not initially post his talk "warning about the financial crisis" on their website on purely cosmetic grounds.

Sarah Lacy

Sarah Lacy of BusinessWeek and TechCrunch has criticized TED with claims of elitism. Lacy cites TED's $6,000 ticket price, poor treatment of less important attendees, and such events as a friend being "de-invited to TED after quitting an ostensibly prestigious San Francisco job" as evidence of her claims. Independent blogger Robert Scoble described her stance as motivated by jealousy. Lacy did credit TED for moving the event to a larger venue in Long Beach and posting videos of its talks online for free.

Nick Hanauer

TED attracted controversy when it chose not to link venture capitalist Nick Hanauer's speech at TED university on their website. The speech analysed the top rate of tax versus unemployment and economic equality. In a private email to Hanauer, Chris Anderson commented on his decision, noting: "Nick, I personally share your disgust at the growth in inequality in the US, and would love to have found a way to give people a clearer mindset on the issue, without stoking a tedious partisan rehash of all the arguments we hear every day in the mainstream media. Alas, my judgement is that publishing your talk would not meet that goal." Anderson later pointed out that TED only posts one talk every day, selected from many. Forbes Staff writer Bruce Upbin described Hanauer's talk as "shoddy and dumb".