TEDxperiments: creating scientific knowledge in TEDx | Gerry Garbulsky | TEDxRíodelaPlataED
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0:00 - 0:03You have just been subjected
to a scientific experiment. -
0:19 - 0:20Ha, ha, ha!
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0:22 - 0:27We are trying to pose a question
and the question here was: -
0:27 - 0:32What is the best strategy
to solve this kind of problems? -
0:33 - 0:37You all solved two problems,
on sheet number 1 and 3, -
0:37 - 0:41but different things happened
for each of you on sheet 2. -
0:42 - 0:48We offered some of you a possible strategy
to solve this kind of problems. -
0:48 - 0:51We told you how you can
think this problem. -
0:51 - 0:56We asked others to think
how they solved the first problem. -
0:56 - 1:02To reflect: what methodology did you use?
How did you face the problem? -
1:02 - 1:07To the third group among you
we asked you to just relax, -
1:07 - 1:11to close your eyes, breathe,
and calm down for a while. -
1:12 - 1:14And then, you all solved
the second problem. -
1:15 - 1:18The question we want to answer is:
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1:18 - 1:22which of these 3 groups was better
at solving the second problem? -
1:23 - 1:29Which of these three possible strategies
is better to solve these problems. -
1:30 - 1:31Isn't it great?
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1:31 - 1:32(Laughter)
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1:32 - 1:34I love this.
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1:34 - 1:36(Applause)
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1:39 - 1:44Imagine teachers, with all that passion,
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1:44 - 1:48that energy, that wisdom, and experience,
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1:48 - 1:51if we could provide them
with a scientific view -
1:51 - 1:53of what works and what doesn't.
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1:53 - 1:56Which things work better than others.
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1:56 - 2:00And it's not that difficult,
we just did it in 10 minutes. -
2:00 - 2:03It's going to take us a couple
of weeks to process all this, -
2:03 - 2:05but it wasn't that long.
-
2:07 - 2:11We hypothesize which may be the answer.
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2:11 - 2:14Our hypothesis is that perhaps
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2:14 - 2:19to reflect on how we solved
the problem the first time, -
2:19 - 2:25can make us better to solve
a similar problem the second time. -
2:26 - 2:31But the truth is, the answer is:
we do not know. -
2:31 - 2:37And that is what's great about
this type of scientific experiments. -
2:37 - 2:41It let us ask questions on things
that are very important for us, -
2:41 - 2:44but for which we don't know the answer.
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2:46 - 2:48This is the idea of what we do.
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2:48 - 2:50We call it TEDxperiments,
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2:50 - 2:53it's something we started
two years ago in this same room, -
2:53 - 2:57and we already did TEDxperiments
in two TEDxRíodelaPlata events. -
2:57 - 3:00This is the fifth experiment we'll do,
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3:00 - 3:04and within a few weeks
we're going to share the results. -
3:04 - 3:06But let me show you...
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3:08 - 3:11some things that happened two years ago.
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3:11 - 3:16We did an experiment where we wanted
to see what was the effect -
3:16 - 3:18when one person tells another one
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3:18 - 3:22something that is important to the former,
and the latter doesn't care. -
3:22 - 3:25I don't know if this ever happened to you.
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3:25 - 3:26(Laughter)
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3:27 - 3:31Then we did the following: we handed them
out envelopes like we did today. -
3:31 - 3:34To the odd rows,
the note in the envelope said, -
3:34 - 3:39"You are going to tell a story
that is important in your lives." -
3:39 - 3:41While the even rows were instructed,
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3:41 - 3:45"You will listen," but not the same way
to everyone like today. -
3:45 - 3:48Some had to pay a lot of attention,
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3:48 - 3:51not to take their eyes off the person.
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3:51 - 3:56The others were asked
to totally ignore them, -
3:56 - 3:59to check their cellphones,
to do other things, etc. -
3:59 - 4:01And after that we asked questions.
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4:01 - 4:04"What did you feel?"
"About your own story?" -
4:04 - 4:06"How's your self-esteem?" and such things.
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4:06 - 4:08And amazing things happened.
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4:08 - 4:12In particular, around that row,
there was a lady sitting. -
4:12 - 4:15She attended the event with her daughter
and her grandchildren. -
4:16 - 4:18And she had to tell a story.
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4:18 - 4:21The person in the back row
she was telling the story to, -
4:21 - 4:25was a boy of 12 she didn't met before.
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4:25 - 4:28And his instructions were to ignore her.
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4:30 - 4:33She began her story passionately,
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4:33 - 4:37she was moved by her own history,
but this kid wasn't caring at all. -
4:37 - 4:38(Laughter)
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4:39 - 4:43He began to feel bad about himself
because he had this contradiction, -
4:43 - 4:47he was listening to the story
and beginning to be moved by it, -
4:47 - 4:49but he wanted to follow the rules as well.
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4:50 - 4:53The rest of the four minutes
were very uncomfortable. -
4:53 - 4:57She obviously didn't know
he had to follow this instruction. -
4:57 - 5:02She hated him, he hated himself,
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5:02 - 5:09the 4 minutes were over
and when we revealed what had happened, -
5:09 - 5:13she turned around, they hugged,
and they both started to cry. -
5:15 - 5:17An interesting thing of this experiment
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5:17 - 5:21is that of all the experiments
we did so far, it was the first one -
5:21 - 5:22where we found something new,
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5:22 - 5:26something the scientific community
didn't know about. -
5:27 - 5:29This is not a game,
we are creating knowledge. -
5:29 - 5:32And we sent it for publication.
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5:32 - 5:37It was just accepted in a worldwide,
top notch science magazine, -
5:37 - 5:41and this is the article's title
that will soon be published; -
5:41 - 5:45and the TEDxperiments team published it.
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5:45 - 5:47Let's give it to them because it is...
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5:48 - 5:49(Applause)
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5:58 - 6:00The title is a bit cryptic, right?
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6:00 - 6:05It's in English, so I said, well,
what if we typed it in the browser... -
6:05 - 6:07[Google Translator]
(Laughter) -
6:08 - 6:12And when I typed it in the Translator,
something like this read, -
6:12 - 6:14[It bothers me that you check your phone
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6:14 - 6:17and don't pay me attention
when I'm talking.] -
6:17 - 6:18(Laughter)
(Applause) -
6:25 - 6:28Last year, when we held our event
in October, that very, very large event, -
6:28 - 6:30the world's largest TEDx,
-
6:30 - 6:33we did another experiment,
this time, with 10,000 people. -
6:33 - 6:38We asked all these 10,000 people
to play thumb wars in couples. -
6:39 - 6:42Sometimes with eyes closed,
and we'd give them different instructions. -
6:42 - 6:45And we wanted to test
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6:45 - 6:48our capacity to cooperate vs. to compete.
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6:48 - 6:54If we are able to cooperate or not,
when cooperation is the best strategy. -
6:54 - 6:56And it turns out that, in many cases,
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6:56 - 6:59we end up competing when it's unnecessary,
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6:59 - 7:02when the best for all is to collaborate.
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7:02 - 7:05And that also gave a result
that is being processed, -
7:05 - 7:07and it will probably, hopefully,
become another article -
7:07 - 7:11that will contribute to human knowledge.
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7:11 - 7:16But here so far, we were keeping the data.
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7:16 - 7:18Now we decided to launch this.
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7:18 - 7:22And the TEDxperiments website
went online today. -
7:22 - 7:25The idea of this site is to make public
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7:25 - 7:29the results of all the experiments
we did so far. -
7:29 - 7:32Of the 4 we did until yesterday,
3 were already uploaded, -
7:32 - 7:34the fourth will be uploaded there soon.
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7:34 - 7:39And you can see it in:
tedxriodelaplata.org/tedxperiments -
7:39 - 7:42today when you come back home.
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7:43 - 7:49This fills me with joy
because we believe that in these events -
7:49 - 7:52is good to come and listen
to ideas and learn; -
7:52 - 7:55maybe sometimes we have a new idea
when we listen to other ideas. -
7:55 - 7:59But given the amazing community we are,
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7:59 - 8:01why not also create new knowledge?
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8:01 - 8:04Knowledge that is relevant,
in this case for education; -
8:04 - 8:06for how we communicate and how we relate.
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8:06 - 8:12I invite you all to have
a critical eye, to ask questions, -
8:12 - 8:16and to try to validate them
in a way they become irrefutable. -
8:16 - 8:21So they can help others learn
and teach in a different way. -
8:21 - 8:23Thank you.
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8:23 - 8:24(Applause)
- Title:
- TEDxperiments: creating scientific knowledge in TEDx | Gerry Garbulsky | TEDxRíodelaPlataED
- Description:
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This talk is a TEDx event organized independently from the TED conferences.
TEDxperiments is an initiative that brings game and science together. In TEDxRíodelaPlata we have the goal of making TEDx events also a space for the creation of knowledge, where each attendee can discover by their own experience. In TEDx events, a select group of speakers spread their ideas to a massive and enthusiastic audience. Gerry Garbulsky is TEDxRíodelaPlata organizer, TEDx Ambassador for South America, columnist at the radio show "Basta de Todo" and founder of "El Mundo de las Ideas". Gerry holds a degree in Physics (UBA) and a Ph.D. in Materials Science (MIT). For 13 years he was a consultant at BCG on issues of business strategy in different countries.
- Video Language:
- Spanish
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 08:37