On Finding Work You Love

~Follow your bliss. (Joseph Campbell)

~You’ve got to find what you love. (Steve Jobs)

~Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for the love of it.  (Henry David Thoreau.)

~The above statements are bullshit. (Me)

What's Wrong with TED Talks

~I, and many people, think it's way past time to take a step back and ask some serious questions about the intellectual viability of things like TED.

~My TED talk is not about my work or my new book – the usual spiel – but about TED itself, what it is and why it doesn't work.

The first reason is over-simplification.

~Let me tell you a story. I was at a presentation that a friend, an astrophysicist, gave to a potential donor. I thought the presentation was lucid and compelling (and I'm a professor of visual arts here at UC San Diego so at the end of the day, I know really nothing about astrophysics). After the talk the sponsor said to him, "you know what, I'm gonna pass because I just don't feel inspired ...you should be more like Malcolm Gladwell."

At this point I kind of lost it. Can you imagine?