Is life really that complex? | Hannah Fry | TEDxUCL

[@kenmacallister]

Hannah Fry's passion for math is contagious, and she really has a gift for explaining complex concepts with clarity.

[@Haeze]

I am completely in love with Hannah Fry.

[@davidh2541]

I love her more!!

[@alexanderd.7995]

We all are, my friend, we all are

[@TommyShlong]

Get in line bub

[@cleitonnicolaudasilva8295]

So am i! She is great

[@electromatic138]

Yay

[@TheKyotoEffect]

Hannah has grown so much in her talks. She seems nervous in this one, but if you watch her other talks, you see how confident and calm she is. It’s wonderful.

[@baz_sh]

I love Hannah Fry and how she can distill complicated topics and present them in an accessible and interesting way to pretty much any audience. She is a truly remarkable woman.

[@charlesissleepy]

hannah fry is best clickbait

[@neilwilson5785]

Statistically, Fortnite Battle Royale You won't believe number six, Instant Karma, SJW, are a bit more clickbait, but hey.

[@LucianAdonis]

Her goal is to define the real complexity of human life, of all aspects of it, in the simplest form possible. Likewise, she's trying to explain that just because it is complex does not mean it is impossible to understand. She's giving you a range of information that all apply to the same base subject. People underestimate how truly complex life is, and how broad the subject of "life" can really be. She's just wrapping it up for us who would otherwise never think about it.

[@sleepyeyeguy]

Law of large numbers seems to be the key here. Randomness is a highly structured phenomenon as it will always play out the probabilities. This is some fascinating research!

[@YardenFlash]

“I’m Hannah Fry, the badass”.

[@missionpupa]

Such a good intro

[@alihijazi4451]

And she's absolutely right about that

[@JohnJohnson-ok4gf]

Hannah is the definition of A Beautiful Mind.

[@shmufle]

I definitely trained my brain to work like this and it has been very helpful in understanding things. I wish more people would do the same.

[@swiresfv]

I just fell in love with Math.

[@RobbyBoy167]

no you don't

[@Belioyt]

It's maths

[@nothanks330]

canon event

[@daolchang]

Hannah's posh is perfectly authoritative to these social issues and as soon as you finnish all or her vids about the rioting mechanisms in urban contexts are incredible puzzles for behavior solutions with a solid human rights vs security balanced approach

[@secretlifeofarockrock3826]

Best first 20s on TED I've seen so far. +1 for 3:25. +10 for the accent.

[@dirtmodeler2923]

I don't think i'd ever get tired of hearing her talk...

[@TioDeive]

She's just brilliant.

[@Kiffaanngissuseq]

these analogies are really interesting!

[@SpaghettiEnterprises]

Ah yes, of course. We must all employ guard leopards to deter burglars. Thank you mathematics.

[@earlgrey2130]

I don't know where your problem is people. The topic is absolutely interesting, she does a very good presentation and it actually is about scientific facts, not just some emotional bullshit like it sometimes happens at Ted.

[@TheConglomo]

It all comes down to scale. Anything can be extremely simple OR extremely complex at the same time. It depends on how detailed of a perspective you decide to observe something from.

[@latinca0]

The beauty of science :-) Thx Hannah!

[@aaronclark2599]

Do freckles follow this same pattern that riots and leopard spots do?

[@angeladawn805]

Judging by the antics of the Weasley twins, I'd say yes!

[@dragoncurveenthusiast]

As a female scientist myself it saddens me how many of the comments are about her looks and how few are about the topic. Even those that mention her intelligence - that''s not the reason she was on that stage. And if it was me, I know I would learn to hate compliments on my looks when they are taking away from what I'm talking about. And yes, I do realize the irony that this is now one of those comments about her looks.

[@AllanBrunoPetersen]

Filter it out, for it is just noise. :)

[@dragoncurveenthusiast]

In that case, I'd like to complain about the signal to noise ratio :-D

[@azka1912]

What if her looks is what makes some people spend a minute with a topic they'd never otherwise approach? Also, don't you better enjoy a nice meal if it's also visually great? ... thinking of which, I should take a break after 3 hrs of youtube...

[@Dubickimus]

someone had to say it. thank you.

[@ForTomorrowToday]

that last line, hahaha! Its so true that I watch math videos just for Hannah. I was watching numberphile before this and this popped up at the end. I must say she likes burglary research

[@thomaskingschillerlein7843]

I m flattered. thk u.

[@somerando7191]

She seems to be connecting things that don't necessarily follow. Humans, especially the bright ones, sometime seek patterns to a fault. Some of the similarities mentioned were, at best, vague.

[@LECityLECLEC]

Brilliant arguments by analogy!

[@DustinRodriguez1_0]

A generalized understanding of complexity would be so profound in its effect upon humanity that I don't believe we can even begin to guess at it. It would be like asking someone a few decades before the birth of Euler what they thought the impact of widespread availability of computers would be. Things which we would think are impossible or would assume must be magical would become commonplace.

[@JohnBastardSnow]

We all think that we make rational decisions and make rational choices. The truth is that the most decisions we make doesn't even enter our conscious awareness. And when we do choose consciously, the result of our choice depends on what experience we had. But where does an experience come from?It comes from environment. "deterministic machines" just feels worse comparing to "free minds that have the whole world open for them" I'm aware enough to know that I'm a dependent part of a larger system.

[@Redflowers9]

very very good, opened my eyes

[@mrtyalcin]

Great video. Interesting approach. Thx!

[@Mellyrian]

She is awesome. Math is awesome. Why have we never met before?

[@NoZAutonomy]

Mellyrian because you're a nobody breh, so are we all here

[@kuba85rdg]

fair enough- statistics and patterns help, but it's not so simple to just 'apply what we know'. Models can be introduced, but their accuracy will depend on the people applying, analysing and learning from mistakes and that would take decades for every single issue she describes! Good idea, though, someone give her a medal :)

[@TheNoodlyAppendage]

Was expecting a video on biology, but this was good too.

[@Sniiper1995]

point is, some things are easy to model and some things need a deeper combination of models.

[@ak2agent47]

1.British accent 2.Redhead/ginger head 3.Beautiful 4.Geeky. SO MUCH WIN

[@rodrigocientista]

She is gorgeous, but mathematics is of incomparable beauty.

[@rasker3955]

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[@cryora]

So it's basically like the study of Chaos and Game Theory.

[@cryora]

memyself oh ok, I've never really heard of complexity. I've taken a dynamical systems course since I've watched this vid so I know a bit more about chaos. But all I know about complexity is that it's complicated or complex numbers.

[@whowereweagain]

there are logics (or semiotics if you will) setting the rules for how any living system will interact with externality at every location where such interaction occurs. we lack a theoretical framework, let alone anything that can be applied for most of them with obvious incomplete exceptions including genetics and linguistics

[@albertbatfinder5240]

90% of the comments are about Hannah Fry’s titian beauty. Including this one.

[@Lightbluefire]

isnt it just correlation...I dont understand how the leopard spots and hot spots are directly connected...

[@meriemlaifa]

So nice and cool . Thanks

[@igykalen]

Also there's a difference between knowing something and understanding it. Common sense told us that objects will fall to the ground when dropped. Yet truly understanding it on a mathematical level is how we were able to get to the moon and a million more things. I suppose that could all be considered a waste of time and energy though.

[@EasyFunAITraining]

Perhaps this is how intuition works. We see strange new things and immediately have a sense of how said strange, new thing might work. It's like pattern seeking maybe. Also, she's so pretty. *-*

[@AceTycho]

9:00 trifecta love it

[@TylerGleasonCares]

She talks so fast that my heart began to race just listening...

[@JasonParmar]

Amazing talk

[@MrKioup]

I love her personality

[@erentheca]

The question remains then: who would you trust to do the taking and redistributing of resources? How would you know who to trust with a task of such extreme magnitude? Would rich people then also be motivated to buy favors from those who are entrusted to take resources? What stops those who are in the job of taking resources from siphoning off those resources for themselves and their friends?

[@sxsxpl]

Great person and great voice :)

[@danielfrei6213]

i did a paper and it's got sums in it. maths is fun!

[@ak2agent47]

And I'd care why? Can't you just admire her personality and enjoy this good TedX video? Anyways, here's my 2 cents for you to live life good- #1 never hope for stuff you can't achieve or won't work hard enough to achieve #2 taking your life's frustrations out in a comment on KZbin won't get you laid. Alrighty.. :D

[@BuenoExcellente123]

10:00 "Thank you!" and whoosh, she's gone. :)

[@HeavyMetalMouse]

1) People are already working on the problem of the root causes of these kinds of things. That's for the sociologists, the psychologists, the activists, the political science folks, etc. If you are someone else who wants to work on the problem from another angle - say the angle of prediction and response - and the tool you are most used to using is mathematical modeling, then this is what you do. It is less about 'why' and more about 'how'. And knowing *how* helps those trying to explain *why*.

[@NikiDorian]

Life is as complicated as each one of us wants it to be!

[@blak4001]

I love her voice :-)

[@LitongX1]

Great talk on ted as usual :)

[@randomelectronicsanddispla1765]

I don't Ted talks. But it's Hannah Fry!

[@Wuxos31]

Life is as fair as u create it! World is big and it always evolve. You saying JUST TAKE IT... doesnt do anything. Then go, take it! Oh you cant? Ofcourse not, not now, cause if u could you already changed the world. World is never right or wrong, good or bad, its always situation, an act, and just how we(individuals - YOU, ME) manage to deal with that act at that moment, knowing what is the rightest thing to do from your own perspective - that makes difference. The world is how YOU create IT :)

[@MehdiHusain]

As always, there's a corollary question : whose hands will it be in ? If these tools were available for dictators, well…

[@darren.davies3957]

Mehdi Husain , inequality is the virus she's helping to punish the victims

[@KeithDraws]

LOL all governments are fronts dictators.

[@macrovigilance]

Planes do sometimes fall out of the sky (for a variety of reasons. Two of them being: Wind sheer and Bird Strike!)

[@glenmeyer3871]

This was way to short. She is so good and interesting it seems she barely got started and she was done. I hope she does more Teds on the subject, but I think any she would wow on what ever idea she spoke of.

[@maximhar]

Right. What makes you think the too rich don't deserve what they got, and similarly, the too poor don't deserve to be poor? It would be very shallow to victimize all poor people and vilify all the rich folk.

[@LaiPt]

This is true to an extent, we can also learn a lot from bio-mimicry. It's a great way to visualize, gain insight and ideas but should not be taken in with absolute certainty.

[@Fatooshafull21]

Amaaaazing !!!!!!!

[@jouneymanwizard]

We are getting closer. Someday Hari Seldon will be among us.

[@iancmcintyre]

Great speech

[@MattOGormanSmith]

A slide of Dave Lister holding a 4 pack of lager would've got a free laugh out of a British audience.

[@osakadaiyoh]

Especially for dummies. Hannah, she's gorgeous. That's what matters.

[@TheSidMachinery]

I know her from some other youtubevideos... I cant really remember the channelname though. Probably from the Royal Institution videos? Can anybody help me out?

[@gonzalgagui]

right!

[@hingedelephant]

Britlab. Numberphile.

[@RobbyBoy167]

yep numberphile. rock paper and lizards

[@sirknight4981]

She has been featured on numberphile but I feel like you're referencing objectivity.

[@sidthounao]

Its a good one but the headline is misleading in my opinion.

[@NameofaYouTubeChannel]

This is a fantastic speech (and not just because the speaker is attractive).

[@007MrYang]

Incredible!

[@captain0310]

Agree 100% and it is not complex, however, the flaw is the human beings who fails to execute accordingly.

[@Mrymena]

The modelling of rioting might be interesting if we want to observe how riots break out and eventually die off. However I think if the authorities start using it as a tool to better manage or contain such events, it might lose its effectiveness. It is possible that once we start to tinker with the variables (where police should be deployed), the model will fail, much like many economic policies

[@muthukumaranl]

Nicely presented in a crisp manner....i have always felt nature has answers hidden in plain sight in simple things even for the most complex of problems..it seems to me that its in the 'design' of evolution where certain patterns develop & get reused or built upon much like software..maths is one sense to perceive this..but there are others..

[@suklocharankisku116]

Awesome!!! Nice Theory.,.,., I hope we can make more accurate model of human behaviour..,,,.,

[@master1140]

Hari Seldon

[@M3Lucky]

Geoff Knott wat

[@be1tube]

+M3Lucky An important character in Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" novels who had mathematical models that allowed him to predict certain aspects of the future under certain circumstances.

[@fennisdembo34]

^ this

[@Φοίβος-ΘωμάςΔημητρίου]

That's a good reference right there

[@Kenji314159]

It's so hot when intelligent women talk in this accent :D Either way, an interesting talk, I went to a course about pedestrian flow and it's great to put that into that larger context she's explaining.

[@ruhapshesgone5907]

wow, when is was about 11 i heard of a word called principles, didn't know i was ahead of my time

[@chrispistofferson2975]

And don't forget, she knows about motorsport aerodynamics.

[@fuldagermany]

Pretty and brilliant ...

[@RazedinBlacklight]

Ok, this woman is officially epic.

[@affablegiraffable]

Can the same tools be used to relieve the racial tension that gave the riots impetus? I feel like were using the right tools for the wrong purpose.

[@EvenTheDogAgrees]

These things are already used against the population. Governments, in general, are not interested in maximising happiness of the people they govern. But they're very interested in knowing where the tipping point lies between a generally unhappy populace, and one that breaks out into riots, so that they can stay a couple of away from the line that will lead to disaster when crossed.

[@DustinRodriguez1_0]

Probably, but no one wants to solve THOSE problems. Every society that has a large gap between rich and poor has a high rate of violent crime. Every one, everywhere, through all history. But most people want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to maintain a large gap between rich and poor and somehow exert enough control on the poor to prevent the natural violence and strife from threatening the rich. Historically, such attempts do not end well. For either economic strata.

[@Achrononmaster]

That's misinformation +"Dustin Rodriguez"...most people DO want to solve those problems. Your mistake is in leaving out "rich" and "care"... a statistically correct statement might be: "most wealthy people do not care to solve those problems." Also, those problems have a fairly obvious solution, which is profit sharing, workplace democracy and nonpartisan truly representative government. All such things are possible, and Hannah Fry's branch of mathematics even points out how it could happen, which would be by mass social movements when enough people realise how to solve the problems does not require a PhD and when they en masse get fed up enough with the status quo (partisan political corruption, bought mainstream media, crony capitalism etc.) Also, have to agree with +"affablegiraffable", but the question is clearly answered in the affirmative, most social unrest "problems" have root causes in poverty and disenfranchisement, and so the solutions are obvious and we damn well are using the statistical sciences Fry ad others have developed in a fairly inefficient way by trying to fix the outcomes instead of the symptoms. Perhaps Hannah fry and colleagues need a few lessons in sociology.

[@DustinRodriguez1_0]

Can you support your claim that the non-wealthy support reducing economic disparity? Any time any effort is made to adopt policies which could result in reduced economic disparity in the US at least, the poor scream even louder than the rich do (admittedly usually because they are manipulated like the rich, like the investment bankers that started the Tea Party movement to oppose measures that might threaten the rich). And even beyond the whole problem of the poor seeing themselves as 'temporarily embarrassed millionaires', people generally are very willing to harm themselves in order to prevent anyone else from benefitting in a way they see as 'unfair'. (Look into research on 'The Ultimatum Game' to see details about that)

[@Achrononmaster]

The evidence is all over the place, just read a few comments on alternative news media. People support reducing inequality for sure, they do not often agree on the methods. Also, plenty of wealthy people support reducing economic disparities, they recognise it as destabilizing. Read any books by non-Chicago school economists. This is distinct from policies people do not like that might effect the change in disparity they seek (read "What's the Matter with Kansas" by Thomas Franks). Also, there is a lot of misinformation and propaganda surrounding policies that would reduce inequality, such as more socialist leaning policy, higher tax on capital gains, etc., all of which has been demonized and made to seem popular by one of the most failed systems ever (quasi free market capitalism). And before anyone flames me that socialism was tried and failed a lot earlier (Soviet/Eastern Bloc) that was obviously not socialism, the Soviet Union was more right wing than people want to admit, and it was anti-socialist and almost completely facist. So the policies many sensible people think are needed have never really been tried for any long term without being undermined by the rich and powerful. Sorry this is a bit off-topic, from "life is complex?"

[@igykalen]

She doesn't go that far. Just the math that can be used to predict when and where these events will crop up to stop them before they get out of hand. "Our approach can demonstrate why certain areas of the city were at higher risk than others and help determine which policing strategies may have resulted in a swifter resolution to the unrest." She did mention being able to predict the next stock market crash and similar ideas, which is what this math could potentially help with.

[@mastrake]

If we can predict human behavior in aggregate, how is that we can't predict the next stock market crash?

[@georgib0y]

Psicohistory, I guess this is the prediction from Asimov! :D But I find interesting the idea of pattern among Rioters, also life is not as Random as it look like it! :)

[@rekuplex]

Hari Seldon's psychohistory beginnings! :)

[@angeladawn805]

Lots of information to convey in a very short amount of time. Bravo, as usual. Top tip: subscribers, search for her less hurried presentations (even the casual Rock-Paper-Scissors one) and be prepared for cognative stimulation and to fall in love. You're welcome ;)

[@seeingdragons4319]

This is the first time I've seen her noticeably nervous.

[@Heatstreak86]

I wish i knew about this while I was in undergrad >.>

[@andrewc2768]

weather prediction is usually less than 50% accurate. You need a better yardstick

[@alaadamfree]

brilliant

[@masterbaiter5533]

This is what I want to make my area of expertise of. Because everything that is happening can be found happening somewhere else, which coincides with my theory of everything and feeds into my nihilism. I always did like redheads, but in the end, what choice do i have.

[@ArtVandelay99]

After watching this I'm left with the question "So, overall, what are you saying?!", and "Why did I spend 10 minutes watching this?". I guess I was hoping that it'd start to make sense at some point just because it's a TED talk! Lesson learned.

[@etmichel]

Can't we just really like the pretty red head? and that accent, very charming, I don't even know what she was talking about, but I enjoyed it:)

[@DynamicSphinx]

I agree. There are plenty of idiots around the world who just don't understand what it took for most wealthy people to become successful. Yes, some may be crooks, but the overwhelming majority of successful people deserves it. Instead of hating on the successful, people need to stop being so jealous and weak minded, take responsibility, work hard and take risks. They are not children anymore and need to stop expecting things handed down to them all the time undeservedly.

[@qedqubit]

hey ! she said 'morphogenesis' twice ! (at roughly 5:40) if that is the same 'morphogenetic' word that got Rupert Shelldrake's TEDx talk censored because of pseudoscience, maybe the science board ought to be consistent, and move this video to that special place where they put Rupert and Graham Hancock's talks. (no i don't really want that, but science & scientists ought to be consistent, so does TED)

[@maggies7236]

Is this agent based modeling?

[@Pictoru2]

two words: chaos theory; you can predict human behavior as much as you can predict weather

[@paulbennett2284]

My ideal woman - beautiful, redhead, maths expert, Monopoly fan! Etc.

[@guyfawkes999]

2:56 And algoritms?