Keren Elazari: Hackers – The Internet’s Immune System

‘For the past three decades, hackers have done a lot of things, but they have also impacted civil liberties, innovation and Internet freedom, so I think it’s time we take a good look at how we choose to portray them, because if we keep expecting them to be the bad guys, how can they be the heroes too?’

Level	Goals	Themes
Upper-intermediate	Cleft sentences	Hacking & Hacktivism
Advanced	Technology vocabulary	The Internet
		Technology

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Chris Kluwe: How augmented reality will change sports and build empathy

‘I believe we can use augmented reality as a way to foster more empathy within the human species itself, by literally showing someone what it looks like to walk a mile in another person’s shoes.’

Level	Goals	Themes
Intermediate	Future time clauses	Technology & Ethics
Upper-intermediate	Technology & business vocab	Sports & business
Advanced		Equality & empathy

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Patricia Ryan: Don’t insist on English

“If you can’t think a thought, you are stuck. But if another language can think that thought, then, by cooperating, we can achieve and learn so much more.”

Level	Goals	Themes
Upper-intermediate	The Second Conditional	The English language
Advanced	Vocabulary	Globalization & Cultural Loss
Proficiency	Discussion	Education

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Jennifer Golbeck: The curly fry conundrum – Why social media “likes” say more than you might think

“It’s sometimes said of Facebook that the users aren’t the customer, they’re the product. And so how do you get a company to cede control of their main asset back to the users? It’s possible, but I don’t think it’s something that we’re going to see change quickly.” 

Level	Goals	Themes
Upper-intermediate	More discourse markers	Data & Privacy
Advanced	Vocabulary	Monetizing the Internet

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Derek Sivers: Weird or just different? (Teens)

“There’s a flip side to everything,” the saying goes, and in 2 minutes, Derek Sivers shows this is true in a few ways you might not expect.

Through his new project, MuckWork, Derek Sivers wants to lessen the burdens (and boredom) of creative people.

Level	Goals	Themes
Pre-intermediate (high)	Modals of speculation	Cultural difference
Intermediate	Modals of deduction	Innovation and inspiration
Teens	Discussion	Creativity

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Alisa Miller and Kirk Citron: Does the way we think about news and media need to change?

“My point is this: In the long run, some news stories are more important than others.” 

“The real question: is this distorted worldview what we want for Americans in our increasingly interconnected world? I know we can do better. And can we afford not to? Thank you.”

Level	Goals	Themes
Intermediate	News & Journalism vocabulary	News and media
Upper-intermediate	Idioms	Journalism
Advanced	Discussion & debate

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Peter Saul: Let’s talk about dying

This is a quote from Dame Cicely Saunders, whom I met when I was a medical student. She founded the hospice movement. And she said, “You matter because you are, and you matter to the last moment of your life.” And I firmly believe that that’s the message that we have to carry forward.

Level	Goals	Themes
Intermediate	Present Perfect Revision	Death and dying
Upper-intermediate	Contrasting Clauses	Euthanasia
Advanced		Ethics

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Andras Forgacs: Leather and meat without killing animals

“We can design new materials, new products, and new facilities. We need to move past just killing animals as a resource to something more civilized and evolved. Perhaps we are ready for something literally and figuratively more cultured.”

Level	Goals	Themes
Intermediate	Could revision	Vegetarianism
Upper-intermediate	Vocab	Food industry

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Margaret Gould Stewart: How YouTube thinks about copyright

“So, if you’re in the audience today, or maybe you’re watching this talk in some other time or place, you are a participant in the digital rights ecosystem. Whether you’re an artist, a technologist, a lawyer or a fan, the handling of copyright directly impacts your life.” 

Level	Goals	Themes
Intermediate	Reading skills	Copyright
Upper-intermediate	Critical analysis	Ethics
	Persuasive language	Online business

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Sam Harris: Science can answer moral questions

“It seems to me patently obvious that we can no more respect and tolerate vast differences in notions of human well-being than we can respect or tolerate vast differences in the notions about how disease spreads, or in the safety standards of buildings and airplanes.”

Level	Goals	Themes
Advanced	Mixed conditionals	Morals and ethics
Proficiency	Modal verbs of obligation	Cultural difference
Fluent	Academic debate	Religion and philosophy

NB: Possibly controversial talk depending on the nature of your class.

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