@Benedikt Your point about not just going for the “cream of the crop” is well taken. My asking for recommendations of what people _personally_ consider the best talk was exactly because of that reason. My problem with “Most Popular” ratings is that they become self-reinforcing categories. Once videos/books/games/movies/posts/… are popular, they become more popular, not necessarily because they are better, but because they have the numbers on their side. Especially with inspirational videos like TED talks, where the value is very much in the eye of many different individual beholders, such ratings don’t seem to do justice to the quality of the talks. It’s really yet another variation of “The Long Tail”, this time not with respect to commercial, but life changing goals.

I agree that adding a theme of “what I am looking for” could make it easier for people to recommend talks or to decide whether they might be interested in joining a video night. However, I was (in this case) not after learning about some particular topic. Instead, I was hoping to feel connected to people I don’t know by sharing in their excitement and sense of inspiration. Something like having an “invisible conversation” where you connect and bond, but in this case without any direct interaction.

Frankly, I was a bit overwhelmed by the number of suggestions I received. I had expected a couple, maybe 5 recommendations. Instead, I got many dozens (thank you all!) My plan now is a variation on your theme: instead of watching all TED talks (I still have a life to live :-)), I plan to watch all of the talks people suggested to me, with friends preferably, the rest by myself.

I am quite excited about this topic. I think as a global society we are still at the beginning of truly seeing the value of “mashups”, not as technological gimmick, but as an intricate fabric of ideas, content, conversations, workflows, and, most importantly, a shared sense of values and purpose. Such “idea mashups”, and the actions they generate are helping to redefine our world. In the case of TED one person’s talk may be another person’s start of a new life, the inspiration for a dying organization to revive its mission statement, or perhaps even a catalyst for a mass movement of citizens who have had enough of their irresponsible leaders.

TED: thank you for making this service freely available, I think you’re doing something very profound for humanity!