How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day

From the TED.com YouTube channel: A handful of people working at a handful of tech companies steer the thoughts of billions of people every day, says design thinker Tristan Harris. From Facebook notifications to Snapstreaks to YouTube autoplays, they’re all competing for one thing: your attention. Harris shares how these companies prey on our psychology for their own profit and calls for a design renaissance in which our tech instead encourages us to live out the timeline we want.
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What if your arguments don’t add up?

From the TED.com YouTube channel: Dr. Niro Sivanathan will talk about how a cognitive quirk in the evaluation of information holds important implications for how to communicate to ensure our messages are effective and influential. Dr Niro Sivanathan is an Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at LBS, where he speaks, teaches and consults on topics of influence, negotiations and decision-making. His research, published in top Science, Management and Psychology journals, explores how our psychological experience with status and power influences our judgements, decisions and behaviour.
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Surveillance Capitalism (educational video)

From the ideacity YouTube channel: Wade Davis, Anthropologist, Writer, Photographer & Filmmaker, speaks at ideacity’s 20th anniversary conference on surveillance in a session called “Democracy & Freedom of Speech vs. Disinformation in the Age of Surveillance.”  He looks at how the new digital age has changed the world from an anthropologist’s point of view.

Heartbeat - A Celebration of International Farm Workers (educational video)

This video created by the Canadian Horticultural Council tells a compelling story of the international workers who contribute so much to the economy in Canada while lifting their families out of poverty in countries like Mexico, Jamaica and Guatemala.

3 ways businesses can fight sex trafficking

From the TED.com YouTube channel: Sex buying doesn’t just happen late at night on street corners in the shady part of town — it also happens online, in the middle of the workday, using company equipment and resources. With this problem comes an opportunity, says attorney Nikki Clifton, because it means that the business community is in a unique position to educate and mobilize their employees to fight sex trafficking. In an honest talk, Clifton outlines how businesses can help, from setting clear policies to hiring survivors.
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Getting Free Of Self-Importance Is The Key To Happiness

From the TEDx.com YouTube channel: At TEDxMiddlebury 2013 Polly Young-Eisendrath discusses the idea that we can control and manage our lives as counter to our happiness. After considering the true meaning of happiness, Polly highlights several uniquely human emotions—shame, guilt, envy, and jealousy—that pose as obstacles to this happiness and offers solutions to overcome these emotions.

Polly Young-Eisendrath is a speaker, writer, Jungian analyst and mindfulness teacher. She is a long-time practitioner of Zen Buddhism and Vipassana in the tradition of Shinzen Young (in which she is a certified teacher). She has published many chapters and articles on Buddhism, psychotherapy, spirituality, resilience and Jung’s psychology. She is also Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Vermont and in independent clinical practice in central Vermont. Her 14 published books have been translated into more than 20 languages, including “The Self-Esteem Trap,” “The Resilient Spirit,” “Women and Desire,” and “The Cambridge Companion to Jung.” Polly is working on a spiritual memoir called “Love Broken Open.”
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What a 15-year-old meth addict taught me about leadership

From the TEDx YouTube Channel: How do you lead someone who knows what they need to do to change their life but—despite all your help—isn’t going to do it?

Brian Fretwell was confronted with this scenario repeatedly during his time as a teacher in the chemical addictions unit of a juvenile corrections facility. The honesty of a 15-year-old meth addict, and the wisdom of a mentor, reframed Brian’s definition and practice of leadership. Brian Fretwell helps people realize their value. He began his professional career as a teacher in juvenile corrections, empowering disenfranchised kids to do things they didn’t believe they could. From the Australian Outback to the Arctic Circle, today Brian teaches individuals, teams, and companies how to draw out their hidden potential. He got an MBA, ran a 100-mile ultra-marathon, overcame his fear of flying, and wrote a book because he didn’t think he could do any of them—and being a hypocrite isn’t his style.
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Human trafficking is all around you. This is how it works

From the TED.comYouTube channel: Behind the everyday bargains we all love — the $10 manicure, the unlimited shrimp buffet — is a hidden world of people bought and sold to keep those prices at rock bottom. Noy Thrupkaew investigates the human trafficking industry – which flourishes in the US and Europe, as well as developing countries – and shows us the human faces behind the illegal labor that feeds global consumers.
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Why we need to end the era of orphanages

From the TED.com YouTube channel: Could it be wrong to help children in need by starting an orphanage? In this eye-opening talk about the bad consequences of good intentions, Tara Winkler speaks out against the spread of orphanages in developing countries, caused in part by foreign donors, and details the harm done to children when they are separated from their families and left to grow up in institutions.
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Activism needs introverts (inspirational video)

From the TED.com YouTube channel: For the introverts among us, traditional forms activism like marches, protests and door-to-door canvassing can be intimidating and stressful. Take it from Sarah Corbett, a former professional campaigner and self-proclaimed introvert. She introduces us to “craftivism,” a quieter form of activism that uses handicrafts as a way to get people to slow down and think deeply about the issues they’re facing, all while engaging the public more gently. Who says an embroidered handkerchief can’t change the world?
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