When ideas have sex | Matt Ridley

www.ted.com At TEDGlobal 2010, author Matt Ridley shows how, throughout history, the engine of human progress has been the meeting and mating of ideas to make new ideas. It's not important how clever individuals are, he says; what really matters is how smart the collective brain is.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

[@dartek14]

This is poetry. Matt is truly able to peel back the layers of onion and tell us what it looks like from the inside. Wonderful correct questions within observations without boastful conclusions. A true window into the Human collective mind.

[@AuthorMattRidley]

Thanks

[@mileszakow7100]

amogus

[@neilallender8150]

💚

[@adonirammccarthy3994]

Listening to this at the end of 2022, it is strikingly clear that the ability for human beings to communicate freely and respectfully with one another is our civilizations most valuable asset. I find myself living in an age where it seems my fellow human beings are all ideologically hacking away at one another, fraying the fragile strands of cooperation, the benefits of which we've only just begun to reap. that we as a species have only just begun to reap the benefits of.

[@CavalieriTom]

It’s fundamental to remind the need of freedom and voluntary transactions between individuals.

[@fenderstratguy]

Super thoughtful, persuasive, and ultimately, uplifting. 10/10!!

[@8jsimone]

Wow. never thought I would be watching this in my spare time as a 20 year old. this was awesome to listen to

[@1648357]

This speech makes me feel very humble as an individual.

[@jahlile007]

Greetings from Mexico Dr. Ridley, this talk will be seen by my trade law students tomorrow in class, thanks!!

[@edwinmorenomarun6404]

One of my favorite Ted talk

[@Sondre7]

My favorite ted talk! There have been so many pessimistic technoaverse talks lately. TED, if you can hear me: more of this!

[@ekananda9591]

Matt Ridley, thanks for sharing. This is the best ted talk video

[@HowTheWorldWorks]

The brilliance of Ridley is his ability to advocate in favor of Capitalism and Free Markets without actually saying Capitalism or Free Markets.

[@BuyRetweetsOnline]

love this talk..

[@blindside70]

Matt Ridley never fails to write or say something interesting, he is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers

[@coolgreyoneabby]

Excellent video. Glad to see an alternate viewpoint opposed to the the typical gloom and doom of many predicting the future. Thanks TED.

[@socrates704]

Matt Ridley's Red Queen brought me here.. The talk sent me to The Rational Optimist.. 2 of the best books I've ever read..

[@vladmordekeiser1054]

A TED Talk that shows the wonders of the free market. Now I have seen everything...

[@Avinashkumar-de1wq]

Incredible thought on idea.. I love it..

[@xit1254]

Brilliant lecture!

[@fushey]

Matt Ridely is refreshingly rational thinker in a pessimistic world. Cant wait to start his book Rational Optimist

[@GreeNinjja]

Brilliant idea that rings a lot of bells, that i have heard from a lot of people from all walks of life.

[@holdmybeer]

I really like talks like this, well done Matt Ridley.

[@daveyg07]

Awesome talk. He has a true understanding of how the individual - seeking their own self-interest - collaborates with other individuals seeking their own interests, and together form social order, civilization, and prosperity. None of those things can come from centralized planning by the "elites". It must all come from the spontaneous order of individuals, forming together, the beautiful collective whole.

[@egbekunkarena1187]

Saw the future of decentralized communities 12year ahead

[@Krounz44]

finally, a great talk after long time!

[@renegaed]

wow what a brilliant lecturer

[@88HaZZarD88]

One of the best TED talks

[@TunnelSnakes_Rule]

Excellent, very thought provoking.

[@bavwill]

This channel gets better and better.

[@lannyseraphimthomas6453]

miss this kind of ted talks

[@albertoleiva5203]

I liked this video. Human evolution through the mix of ideas during its history.

[@nublex]

simply brilliant!

[@KaiChong]

Its always something so obvious thats brilliant

[@vlasevmovement]

I would like this 10 times if I could!

[@preetsutariya1664]

8 likes 2 more

[@XxmattitudexX]

possibly the best ted talk i have ever seen

[@DataSmithy]

The relvancy of this talk to the global supply line shortages of 2020 is worth talking about.

[@yuriythebest]

the Intel add on the end is extremely well placed

[@DrRiq]

FEE (foundation for economic education) brought me here

[@Volound]

i like this guy. i decide whether or not to watch ted talks judging by how many views they have after half an hour. thanks guys :)

[@ductuslupus87]

You will love it. I have read it and I loved it.

[@Th3Wab3]

the amazing thing when it comes to human advancement is, when we have more able minds and bodies contributing the greater and swifter advancements are created... consider a world where everyone has the chance to pursue complex problems and technical interests.. as well as social issues etc.. those periods of greater knowledge and freedom are where humanity is at it's best...

[@StringsCrusader]

This was extremely interesting.

[@saerain]

I want to thank Matt Ridley for being one of too few people fighting against this idea we've had for thousands of years that we're driving ourselves to extinction. It flies way over too many people's heads that humanity is always better off than it was ten years before. Individual persons, industries, cities, or nations can have their own declines, but the whole is continuously accelerating its rate of advancement, and nothing short of an asteroid impact can stop it.

[@blakeaross]

This is new clothing for volumes of Hegel's writing exploring the dialectic dynamic.

[@ParaglidingManiac]

Interesting speech.

[@leeroynaggins]

This made me feel better...

[@sushicartman01]

Just Amazing!

[@freesk8]

Marvelous talk!!!

[@stevao]

Really enjoyed it, much less depressing than the last few. The Red queen is also a great read if you're a fan of Ridley.

[@BreakDownize]

Brilliant !

[@JohnFleshman]

Damnit! I was trying to say I have read that series twice now and this talk made me think of Douglas Adams books immediately.

[@yuriythebest]

excellent vid!

[@cryora]

5:54 Pick up artist spotted with goatee. He looks so amazed at what he is hearing.

[@wagelaborandcapital]

"I Pencil" was a great essay - I read it in my business and finance class lol

[@Nachoachountacho]

Agustin Etchebarne recomendó este video y es excelente!

[@Pushtrak]

Very good vid.

[@KnightsofEmerald]

Nice talk

[@DataSmithy]

As intellectuals, we see this growth of specialization through out history, and think this is the way to be. However, it is often the generalists in our society, that can actually see and understand connections and common themes across disciplines that actually invent new technologies, vs improve existing ones.

[@reecejobling206]

Wow. true!

[@01234567893172]

Tribe of mentors by Tim Ferriss brought me here.

[@Yesrly1]

Awesome!

[@saadasim]

The word "intercourse" has two meaning - the well known one but it also means social discourse. Good talk.

[@Orf]

5:30 good point

[@Finiras]

being able to do it and knowing how to do it are 2 different things

[@JohnVandivier]

Great!

[@ductuslupus87]

This mans book, The Rational optomist. has inspired me to study economics.

[@sashakid]

Briliant!

[@shlarl]

@littlebier8 " In the end, everyone benefits." That's the optimistic (utopic?) reasonning I tried (too briefly) to challenge - or at least to shed light on. Not everyone benefits equally, and some quite obviously are worst off. Many exemples of this and won't get into a youtube debate. But thanks for the comment!

[@gtbsaraiva]

Impressive

[@VirgilBlackgold]

@psarmstr May I add that, as long as we don't have a common second language, our rate of progress and exchange of ideas will be slower, more expensive, and more cumbersome as people fail to understand each other. I've read studies on Esperanto (the neutral international language) that show that it can be learned by everyone in 6 months, because its grammar is so logical. If everybody had a common (easy and neutral) second language, all would be able to communicate without language barriers.

[@edoardodepiccoli3004]

standing ovation from home

[@nyeoki]

@kevinth66 I agree on some points but he said they don't trade "fairly", not that they don't trade at all.

[@AlJay0032]

More people is better, we should strive to reach 100 billion people.

[@jonix123john3]

what a friend we have i

[@GrimSoul66]

@Saerain My comment wasn't regarding that. But for argument sake our understanding of it has become a little more main stream in the past few.

[@yahooo985]

Tribe of mentors

[@51MontyPython]

Wow, simply amazing....and hard to believe that his guy is even a Brit.

[@cbentleywatson]

Aren't you listening to a ted talk? Literally the motto is "ideas worth spreading".

[@CurtHowland]

@theiamania Couldn't agree more. Copyright is massively destructive, by preventing the building upon ideas.

[@ericv00]

Didn't like the start, but this talk got really good.

[@dudepal187]

@beesleeper Why? He has written some of the most classic books in biology and his reasons for optimism seem very backed up by facts.

[@mohamedfouad1309]

Matt ❤️

[@Heartwood256]

Good video. :)

[@jarduli]

love love love!

[@ibraheem2555]

this is completely true, no body knows nothing, but accumulation,

[@jamsrandorjbatbayar3652]

came from Tribe of Mentors and it was worth

[@freesk8]

@ljarnill He says in the video that it isn't always this simple. He goes on to talk about Neandrathals not doing this. His point is that specialization leads to gains for all.

[@Edward306]

that was good :D

[@LeonidasGGG]

I loved this speech - the human race as become 'one-organism'.

[@teapot55]

The Mouse thing was good. I just know how to buy one

[@user-bi6ct9qv5r]

簡單來說，專業分工和交易使人類進步。

[@haradrel82]

@VirgilBlackgold The problem is that ideas create new things, new things needs new words to fully be understood, new things might create new concepts that needs new words to be understood. It's not so simple and logical after a bit of innovation.

[@jonix123john3]

sometimes in life things don't work the way it been plan... ..

[@Sprangeful]

Sent here by Xkore!

[@veilen]

@justincase80634 Copyright has two crucial properties: - to make sure that people specializing in creating ideas can make a living, - to not restrict the spreading of ideas through human culture (this video nicely tells you why). Unfortunately today enforced copyright law is seriously flawed: - it practically protects monopolies that trade ideas, not the creators, - it restricts spreading of ideas in a way that endangers, ironically, the creating of new ones.

[@ductuslupus87]

One of the best books I have ever read is "The rational Optomist". read that book. See, ideas having sex.

[@malcolmbryant]

@GrimSoul66 Jusr viewed your channel and the vid about Hypatia/Library of Alexandria etc. Excellent.

[@DarwinsBeerReviews]

So... Can we have trade liberalization?

[@Riellysdad]

This is a near perfection explanation and validation of the indespensible need for total free market capitalism. For these ideas to spread,join and spawn new inovations to benefit us all we must have free minds, free trade and security of our person and property under Objective law. Only true free market Capitalism offers that.

[@simontutek5945]

Capitalism is not the same as free trade. Free trade existed thousands of years before invesments, money, stock market, laws, ... Sadly accumulation of resources is more and more restricting trade and often keeps resources stashed away from markets.

[@Th3Wab3]

@neoaeonian i think the point you raise is valid but i think it is important to make the distinction that more enfranchised and intelligent free people are also necessary... having a slave class or gender based suppression don't really help the society... i think more access to knowledge for more people is a huge catalyst to ingenuity..

[@chessfan6]

@kevinth66 where have you seen an animal exchange something with another that is not part of its colony?? The main idea that humans have a combined intelligence which is greater than the sum of the parts is an awesome one. You shouldn't criticize the whole video just because one example was not to your taste.

[@MartinWillett]

@NewgroundsOwnSBB Damn, I wish I had thought of that!

[@Orf]

15:10 "The collective brain"