Best TED talks

Jon Ronson, author of The Psychopath Test, looks at the grey area between crazy and sane.

Stephen Wolfram wants to use computation to build a theory of everything.

David Christian's Big History stretches from the big bang to today.

Stewart Brand proclaims four environmental heresies, praises squatter cities and promotes the long now.

Dan Gilbert asks why are we happy when we have mistaken expectations.

Philip Howard says we should take back responsibility for doing the right thing.

Hans Rosling on religions and babies, good news about child mortality and global population growth, says let my dataset change your mindset, shows the best stats you've ever seen, reveals new insights on poverty and AIDS, praises washing machines.

Emily Oster flips our thinking on AIDS in Africa. Elizabeth Pisani does the same for AIDS prevention.

Evelyn Glennie explains how to listen. Julian Treasure gives 5 ways to improve our listening.

Clay Shirky introduces a new kind of gift based on surplus energy and generosity. This is one.

Esther Duflo on social experiments to fight poverty.

Emily Pilloton on teaching design for change.

Ben Goldacre: Battling Bad Science

Temple Grandin says the world needs all kinds of minds.

Seth Priebatsch plans games to motivate many activities.

Deb Roy studied language learning but ended up with a culture critique.

George Smoot on the design of the universe.

Julian Assange of WikiLeaks shines light on bad behavior.

Larry Lessig says the law is strangling creativity.

Geoffrey West on the growth of cities.

Dan Barber tells how he fell in love with a fish and a parable about foie gras.

Erin McKean redefines the dictionary; she's CEO of wordnik; a recent interview here.

Those are Dick Heiser's favorites. Here are some more favorites from others:

http://traviswright.com/best-ted-talks/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/best-ted-talks

http://www.funkmeyers.com/a-guide-to-the-best-10-ted-talks-ever/

http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/20-best-ted-talks-of-all-time-106629/?singlepage=1

http://under30ceo.com/top-25-ted-talks-you-must-watch-amazing-inspiring-and-unique/