*long

This video has been flagged as being at least 10 minutes in length - declared long by Eklek.

Watched this right after Charlie's interview with the Dalai Lama. great juxtaposition. Stoll reminds me of a friend long gone. HPA

don't miss NOVA's take on Stoll's 'spy' history.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

Kookiest TED talk yet.

*promote

Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Saturday, March 29th, 2008 4:39pm PDT - promote requested by jwray.

Yeah, that yellow vitamin water is some pretty funky stuff.

OMG NEVER BOWLED. Seriously, this guy should've stuck to any number of topics he's actually worked with, and stayed out of sociology or any other field where he ends up sounding like a retard.

It doesn't matter if they've never bowled. What he's talking about is the phenomenon that kids are, younger and younger, interacting via technology and not directly. If he sounds like a retard to you for suggesting that kids should do things together, cooperatively and competitively, without technology, then you should really, really go bowling.

Holy shit. The dude needs to lay off the cocaine.

Ugh. He was consistently venturing into the realm of interesting topics and then immediately leaving them... and yeah, children interacting through technology instead of directly does have implications, but they are absolutely not obvious, regardless of your experience level, and are certainly worthy of discussion.

So that was disappointing.

I'd like those 18 minutes back.

@SaNdMaN: Cocaine's a hell of a drug.

What a horrible presentation. There's a difference between agile and frenetic.

Jill Bolte Taylor gave a much better presentation at this conference and it hasn't gotten as many votes.

[BTW, I'm guessing Asperger's Syndrome - not cocaine. Or maybe both.]

I personally don't understand the negative comments being received about his talk. I find the man incredibly interesting, and entertaining, which is precisely what most intellectuals and scientists need to be. To know that he's teaching eighth grade science, puts a smile on my face, because if I had him as my grade school science teacher, I'd probably be finished my post graduate studies by now, instead of just re-kindling my love of the scientific process.

He is entirely right when he mentions that he doesn't do the "read chapter seven in the text and do questions, etc, etc". That fails our kids nowadays. Carl Sagan even spoke of this folly in the education system. It doesn't teach the wonderful nature of science, nor does it condition the mind for critial thinking. It locks it into this mode of repetitve work, and no allowing for imaginitive, scientific, expression through their work.

I also agree that computers are too prevalent in the school systems, when I was in school the computers ended up being more of a hinderance than a help, and this was when they were coming into schools with more force. We stopped working together in groups, bouncing ideas off one another, the class became less and less cohesive, and ended up secluding some students from others. And in my opinion that is a major loss for the kids.

More hands on work is needed, less "do this excersize, and repeat" stuff. Unfortunately, I fear it all goes back to what George Carlin said when I'm thinking in my completely negative and paranoid, conspiracy minded ways:

"They don't want a society of people capable of critical thinking, what they want is a society of people just smart enough to run the machines and do the paper-work, but just dumb enough to not realise how badly they're getting fscked in the ass."

All kids should have the opportunity to pursue a higher intellectual learning process, not just those who stumble into the wonders of the scientific fields. Seems like more and more these days you only hear about the "gifted" or the "genius" kids that make it out with PhDs, and research grants. The rest... Well, I work in a distribution warehouse driving heavy machinery, and now doing online and at home courses to get into an Astrophysics program, and it's not as fun as it sounds.

I believe the objection some have to Stoll is that his whimsical nature seems to make him not the most responsible source of information.

There's certainly diversity in humans' need for personal interaction ('going bowling together') but Stoll doesn't seem to have learned from his prediction in his 1996 book, Silicon Snake Oil, that the whole internet thing would never really take off (p. 90). See his humorously inaccurate similar 1995 Newsweek article here.

In particular, he seems vulnerable to confusing his personal normatives with his factual predictions (should vs. is). His heart might be in the right place, but it's always risky to bet against technology or science.

I love this guy. I remember watching him in the past but I can't place where.

Raigen, I got more out of your post than I did out of Stoll's entire presentation.

My main problem with this talk is that Clifford seems to be performing an act and not giving a talk, which I found quite distracting. I would be fine with the presentation if Clifford was geniunly as hyperactive and scattered as he comes across in this video. But from watching his other talks, his persona in this video seems so far removed from his actual self that the whole talk comes across as disingenuous. Sure, every talk needs a certain amount of showmanship, a certain amount of flair to enhance its reception. But Clifford emphasizes style way more than the content of his talk; its the kind of performance one would expect from Robin Williams if he was asked to portray John Nash in a remake of A Beautiful Mind.

Well, geeze, a lot of negativity here. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I too think that maybe he's a little too anti computers etc. as he's coming from the point of view of someone who grew up without them. I may as well say 'No oscilloscopes in schools' but he had them, so he can see the intrinsic value in them. (I have one in my garage).

But other than that, he speaks some truth, he jumps around a lot... but mostly, he entertained me... and one doesn't always need anything deeper than that.

His Klein bottle page, by the way, is here. I'd seen the page around for a long time, and almost immediately connected it with him as soon as he mentioned them. It's quite entertaining to read through.

Upvote for making me appreciate my intelligence, and that i'm not that super-smart, can't function properly in society kind of person.

The guy's a little fucking annoying. Yep I said it.

This post has been removed from the Obscure channel by channel owner Farhad2000. Please review the FAQ to learn about appropriate channel assignments.

I laughed a couple of times, and I learned to measure the speed of sound, what the hell do you people want from an 18 minute lecture, a blowjob while you're watching?

I'd just like the guy to stop jumping around like that. There is a very low probability he's sincerely expressing his natural exuberance. If so, more power to him. It seems a little manipulative to me, like he's trying to portray something, create a persona for himself... the guy who's so brilliant he can't contain it... wank wank wank don't mean to be a hater.

** in hindsight, what Pro said.

This guy is like a real life mad scientist!

He's actually quite interesting considering all the things he's done in his lifetime as well as his stance on computers since he's VERY knowlegable in computer security. He reminds me of Doc in Back to the Future. I was waiting for him to talk about gigawatts.