Maria Bezaitis: The surprising need for strangeness

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[holleey]

the message of "embrace diverse people" is very valuable and can have a profound impact on someones live. furthermore, many people are not consciously aware of it. apparently Maria doesn't managed to explain that well to the broad audience of youtube, however, this absolutely does not justify the condescending attitude many people show in the comment section. none of you wasted any second of his/her live watching this talk.

[socmaniam]

A lot to say in 8 minutes.The point is – to be an effective businessman, job seeker, missionary, etc – or merely want to have a good time on a Friday night – then success is heightened by a larger network of people – especially strangers.

She is talking about things that could trigger out of the box thinking to be able to discover new things that you might like or need.

Eg like meeting strangers that are out of your comfort zone and not dismiss them so easily because they might teach you something.

[wildcat]

I agree with your premise as it is how I see the dynamics of my interactions others; expedient rather than intimate. My mind has become the dominate force which drives my need for fresh knowledge, therefore people either close or distant decide will support or negate my intention no matter how wonderful or nice a human being I really am. Especially within the realm of higher learning, technology, and job sourcing. MOOT ??? No doubt.

[bgoodfella]

Many people hardly reach out of their comfort zone so they never experience good relationship outside of their intellectual walls. They become highly predictable and boring. They may still seek enlightenment but fail. I go with you into that endeavor. Buddha has always been a strong source of hope. Namaste strangers.

[SPHChow]

I enjoyed this talk, I thought she had an interesting idea to express. It wasn't just about how we need to talk to strangers more (Which I think most people are getting out of this), it's about involving technology and using it to help us be able talk to a person whether a friend or a "stranger" that we need in that particular instance of time. This will in-turn introduce a strangeness to us that will help us grow as a person. Why do people think this is a poor concept for TED talk to show?

[manasupadhyay]

[1:23PM, 9/28/2015] Manas: Maria Bezaitis describes the importance of strangeness. Everybody needs some form of strangeness in his or her lives because this is how we learn. By being around people who are not like ourselves, we are able to learn from their behaviors, which are categorized by strange since it is not familiar behavior to ourselves. On a developmental scale, children must learn what is typical and atypical behavior, which is exemplified through the phrase, “Don’t talk to strangers”

[peterjosephtrinidad]

It’s wonderful and gives great learning in our life.

[joannamarierogue]

Agreed. It definitely needed to be expanded upon.

[RedBunnyFromMars]

I completely agree. It's kind of thesisless, and just reiterates what most of us already know. Went to TEDx UofT and actually heard some AWESOME talks, I'd be so upset if they don't make it on....

[wildcat]

"People are always a combination of close and distant from people in terms of collecting the information we need." Strangeness being explained as a positive principle of communication and forming new relations is a fantastic dynamic of thought, behavior, and action.

[Crazee]

Don't talk to strangers is more for kids though because most kids don't have the same intuitiveness adults tend to have.

[LouisMikellides]

Great lecture!! Many points are proven true!! Well Done Maria!

[mollietickle]

i think things change and society follows. we dont have to make a decision to change society. itll shape itself around the mediums we have to perceive and experience the world

[guybrushthreepwood]

I get this feeling that the world is moving on, and has left this lady behind.

[roidroid]

I took this in context of a way to manage our very large and strange collection of online contacts. Organising it in terms of how strange someone is, how different they are to us, and thus how good they will be to give us new and original suggestions to our problems. Organising contacts is hard!

[SteveIdeas]

This talk would have been immensely more powerful, to me at least, had she mentioned that every relationship you ever have begins with strangeness. Just a thought.

[qthefirsttimelord]

Thank you, Maria, fantastic discussion!

Stumbleupon doesn't have an 'all categories' feature, and forces you to select from a restrictive list of topics. I thought woudn't it be cool to introduce concepts and ideas I'd never thought of into my life based on other's choices? Chances are I'd probably dismiss much of what was given to me, which is ok, but I was hoping for ideas from others...

[trishj]

great concept for Intel to be working on - I get pissed off with data driven analytics categorising me (as I was yesterday!), and yes it is hard finding people that you interact with on a daily basis expressing their ideas that are "outside the square"

[rheytalks]

I sort of got lost in this talk...she kept on talking about technology...when I thought she should focus more on changing perceptions with caution...I understand she was talking about how it can "break" the rigidity of a society's norms...but she never really goes in depth...seems like she was dancing around the subject/objective of her talk