Reality Upgrade

Once again behavioral economist Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational, asks why we do what we do. In this lecture for TED, Dan Ariely describes a series of very interesting social experiments that try to find out how and why we cheat, and explores the implications of the results. He focuses on Enron, and the cheating that happened there, but he also applies the results across the rest of the stock market, and on our personal lives.

If the video does not work, you can also find it here, at TED.com.

To continue our weekly series of TED videos, check out this great lecture by Juan Enriquez about the future of human evolution.

With the technology of genetics and robotics advancing by amazing leaps and bounds, Juan Enriquez talks about the possibility of humans taking control of our own evolution, and what that could mean for the future of the world.

If the video does not work for some reason, check it out here.

This is a fantastic video about the true nature of freedom of choice, or rather our shocking lack thereof. As Dan says, we are good at coping with our physical constraints…stairs, clothes, etc. But we are not so good at dealing with, or even acknowledging, our mental constraints.

Dan Ariely is the author of Predictably Irrational, a great book that I am reading right now, and which I highly recommend.

If the video below does not work for some reason, the original is at TED.com

This is a great video about the surprising science of motivation by career analyst Dan Pink, thanks to one of my favorite websites, TED.

This video is only about 18 minutes long, and is a must for anyone who owns, manages, or ever plans on managing a business.

If you have any trouble playing the video, click here for the original on the TED website.