[Video Link] I wasn’t expecting David Brooks’ talk at TED2011, about the failures of politicians to make good policy decisions, to be as funny and insightful as it was. After all, as one commenter at TED.com’s website said of Brooks, “this is the same guy who accused Harry Ried of wearing a tin-foil hat and communing with extra-terrestrials just because Ried accused Bush of fabricating reasons to invade Iraq.” Politics aside, Brooks’ talk was one of my favorites at TED.
Tapping into the findings of his latest book, NYTimes columnist David Brooks unpacks new insights into human nature from the cognitive sciences — insights with massive implications for economics and politics as well as our own self-knowledge. In a talk full of humor, he shows how you can’t hope to understand humans as separate individuals making choices based on their conscious awareness.
TED2011: David Brooks — The Social Animal