I was kicked out from TEDx event for saying water-fuelled car is a scam

http://svedic.org/skepticism/i-was-kicked-out-from-tedx-event-for-saying-water-fuelled-car-is-a-scam

by ZeljkoS • 13 years ago

124 21 13 years ago

Why not just let TED know about this? Like you say, if there are pseudo-science talks at a TEDx event, TED will want to know and get involved.

epistasis• 13 years ago

Regarding the "just" in your sentence, it seems to be more responsible to let the TEDx organizers know first, as he has done, in case it was a mistake. Contacting TED now makes sense.

veemjeem• 13 years ago

I've always thought TEDx were entrepreneurs/inventors hawking their own stuff anyway, so I never bother watching any of their videos. This example just made it more obvious that TEDx is mostly a waste of time.

mikecupcake• 13 years ago

Every couple of weeks there'll be a new TEDtalk that I'd previously seen on TEDx. Definitely worth a look there.

sliverstorm3• 13 years ago

Maybe because this keeps happening. A little publicity helps put a little pressure on to avoid further future embarrassment.

dvanduzer3• 13 years ago

The most important thing about this story is that in -- checks -- Croatia, there isn't a single bigger event that is as accessible to the author as TEDxZagreb.

TED will get involved, but they will protect their brand. Not smart Croatians.

dvanduzer3• 13 years ago

TEDx events get kicked out of TED all the time for this.

adwf2• 13 years ago

This isn't the first time this has happened, shoddy "science" at a TEDx event. How long until people start saying that TEDx is the actual scam?

It's a shame because I love TED itself. They've tried regulating better, but I just can't see a way out for them except closing TEDx down completely and coming up with something else. The TEDx reputation is already destroyed.

sliverstorm3• 13 years ago

What could be done is closer curation of TEDx events, rather than simply leasing out the name & format to whomever. This would decrease the number of TEDx events you could hold, and probably also make them more expensive to host- but maybe that could be a good thing.

adwf2• 13 years ago

Yeah, but that's what I thought they were doing after the whole Randy Powell incident - look it up, embarrassing...

I hope they try harder to audit the TEDx events. The main TED events are usually so inspiring, it's a shame to have it tarnished like this.

shiftpgdn• 13 years ago

The whole TED operation comes across as some sort of crazy scam to prey on academics. Just check out Eddie Huang's account of being a TED fellow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hwLMBdnbXk

baddox• 13 years ago

I wonder if, at the end of the day, TED has some objective or at least repeatable method of determining whether a talk constitutes "pseudoscience." Obviously, the speakers themselves won't consider their own talk to constitute pseudoscience, and neither will the speakers' supporters, so does it just come down to a numbers game? Or does TED defer the judgement to a list of sources (perhaps people or journals) which is considers "legitimate science"?

dvanduzer3• 13 years ago

TEDx is an exercise in distributed management.

So far, they are slightly average in most regards.

sliverstorm3• 13 years ago

TED has very little involvement in TEDx. The TEDx organizer, who is NOT a TED representative, is responsible for screening.

Which has always kind of surprised me, because I always suspected that kind of arms-length involvement would wind up with TEDx running the TED name into the mud.

ada1981• 13 years ago

The event organizer sounds like a real fampoonza.

ilamont• 13 years ago

because Ivan Jakobović with all his profitable international inventions was working at low-level technician at high school for agriculture. Don’t worry, he is not teaching, because he never finished college.

Jakobović seems like a crank, but is this criticism really necessary? "Not finishing college" or "low-level technician" should never be reasons to put down someone. People such as Jobs (college dropout, former fruit picker), Wozniak (once a low-level engineer), Einstein (patent clerk) and others are recognized as great contributors to science and technology. Quick show of hands: How many people on HN didn't finish college or have dreary day jobs while working on something exciting or innovative on the side?

There are already many reasons to condemn Jakobović. Not having the right credentials and background shouldn't be included on the list.

ZeljkoS2• 13 years ago

"Not finishing college" or "low-level technician" should never be reasons to put down someone.

You are completely right, education or job are not the reason to put down anyone. I wanted to point out that if someone approaches you with the biggest inventions in the century but has no credentials, you would be skeptical, wouldn't you? However, you are right, I could said that point much better.

dromidas• 13 years ago

A college degree is not really more than a vetting credential, at least not in the last 15 years. Most people I went to college with were idiots, all a degree says is that they are persistent idiots.

MaysonL• 13 years ago

Interesting that a Tedx event in Zagreb this Friday is still being touted on Ted.com, with a link to an Ivan Jakobović "water engine" video.

ZeljkoS2• 13 years ago

Thanks for noticing. I took the screenshot: http://svedic.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/TEDxPageWaterEn...

pdkl95• 13 years ago

"We need to protect speaker reputation..."

...followed immediately by list of glowing adoration that ends up dancing from point to point. While the True Believer has been been known to make posts like this, it really has more of the feel of a /salesman/.

"Nobody was reading Wikipedia links, organizers were only seeing that I am calling 'their' speaker a scammer."

Many true believers (at least from my experience) will look at the links, and initially make up some sort of defence, which often takes the form of arguing why those references suddenly don't apply or don't are excusable. It's only after they realize they can't argue against it that the entire subject becomes taboo.

The used-car salesman, however, will suddenly find new ways to not talk about that Big Defect even though they know all about it.

These organizers are on the take, or at least profiting form the situation personally in some way. It's possible they don't even realize it.

Fortunately, given the comments about TED shutting down similar situations, it looks like this particular problem is not going to persist. Even better: if the talks are "water engine" quality, refunding your ticket was probably a blessing.

I was kicked out from TEDx event for saying water-fuelled car is a scam

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