
I was kicked out from TEDx event for saying water-fuelled car is a scam - ZeljkoS
http://svedic.org/skepticism/i-was-kicked-out-from-tedx-event-for-saying-water-fuelled-car-is-a-scam
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ilamont
_because Ivan Jakobović with all his profitable international inventions was
working at low-level technician at high school for agriculture. Don’t worry,
he is not teaching, because he never finished college._

Jakobović seems like a crank, but is this criticism really necessary? "Not
finishing college" or "low-level technician" should never be reasons to put
down someone. People such as Jobs (college dropout, former fruit picker),
Wozniak (once a low-level engineer), Einstein (patent clerk) and others are
recognized as great contributors to science and technology. Quick show of
hands: How many people on HN didn't finish college or have dreary day jobs
while working on something exciting or innovative on the side?

There are already many reasons to condemn Jakobović. Not having the right
credentials and background shouldn't be included on the list.

~~~
ZeljkoS
> "Not finishing college" or "low-level technician" should never be reasons to
> put down someone.

You are completely right, education or job are not the reason to put down
anyone. I wanted to point out that if someone approaches you with the biggest
inventions in the century but has no credentials, you would be skeptical,
wouldn't you? However, you are right, I could said that point much better.

~~~
dromidas
A college degree is not really more than a vetting credential, at least not in
the last 15 years. Most people I went to college with were idiots, all a
degree says is that they are persistent idiots.

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adwf
This isn't the first time this has happened, shoddy "science" at a TEDx event.
How long until people start saying that TEDx is the actual scam?

It's a shame because I love TED itself. They've tried regulating better, but I
just can't see a way out for them except closing TEDx down completely and
coming up with something else. The TEDx reputation is already destroyed.

~~~
sliverstorm
What _could_ be done is closer curation of TEDx events, rather than simply
leasing out the name & format to whomever. This would decrease the number of
TEDx events you could hold, and probably also make them more expensive to
host- but maybe that could be a good thing.

~~~
adwf
Yeah, but that's what I thought they were doing after the whole Randy Powell
incident - look it up, embarrassing...

I hope they try harder to audit the TEDx events. The main TED events are
usually so inspiring, it's a shame to have it tarnished like this.

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dvanduzer
TEDx events get kicked out of TED all the time for this.

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AndrewWorsnop
Why not just let TED know about this? Like you say, if there are pseudo-
science talks at a TEDx event, TED will want to know and get involved.

~~~
veemjeem
I've always thought TEDx were entrepreneurs/inventors hawking their own stuff
anyway, so I never bother watching any of their videos. This example just made
it more obvious that TEDx is mostly a waste of time.

~~~
mikecupcake
Every couple of weeks there'll be a new TEDtalk that I'd previously seen on
TEDx. Definitely worth a look there.

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pdkl95
"We need to protect speaker reputation..."

...followed immediately by list of glowing adoration that ends up dancing from
point to point. While the True Believer has been been known to make posts like
this, it really has more of the feel of a /salesman/.

"Nobody was reading Wikipedia links, organizers were only seeing that I am
calling 'their' speaker a scammer."

Many true believers (at least from my experience) will _look_ at the links,
and initially make up some sort of defence, which often takes the form of
arguing why those references suddenly don't apply or don't are excusable. It's
only after they realize they can't argue against it that the entire subject
becomes taboo.

The used-car salesman, however, will suddenly find new ways to not talk about
that Big Defect even though they know all about it.

These organizers are on the take, or at least profiting form the situation
personally in some way. It's possible they don't even realize it.

Fortunately, given the comments about TED shutting down similar situations, it
looks like this particular problem is not going to persist. Even better: if
the talks are "water engine" quality, refunding your ticket was probably a
blessing.

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baddox
I wonder if, at the end of the day, TED has some objective or at least
repeatable method of determining whether a talk constitutes "pseudoscience."
Obviously, the speakers themselves won't consider their own talk to constitute
pseudoscience, and neither will the speakers' supporters, so does it just come
down to a numbers game? Or does TED defer the judgement to a list of sources
(perhaps people or journals) which is considers "legitimate science"?

~~~
sliverstorm
TED has very little involvement in TEDx. The TEDx organizer, who is NOT a TED
representative, is responsible for screening.

Which has always kind of surprised me, because I always suspected that kind of
arms-length involvement would wind up with TEDx running the TED name into the
mud.

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MaysonL
Interesting that a Tedx event in Zagreb this Friday is still being touted on
Ted.com, with a link to an Ivan Jakobović "water engine" video.

~~~
ZeljkoS
Thanks for noticing. I took the screenshot: [http://svedic.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/09/TEDxPageWaterEn...](http://svedic.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/09/TEDxPageWaterEngine-1024x770.png)

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ada1981
The event organizer sounds like a real fampoonza.

