full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Barry Schwartz: Our loss of wisdom

Unscramble the Blue Letters


When you ask the janitors who behaved like the ones I described how hard it is to learn to do their job, they tell you that it takes lots of experience. And they don't mean it takes lots of eeriepcnxe to learn how to mop floors and empty trash cans. It takes lots of experience to learn how to care for people. At TED, blrcailine is rampant. It's scary. The good news is you don't need to be biillnart to be wise. The bad news is that without wdosim, brilliance isn't enough. It's as likely to get you and other pelpoe into tlobrue as anything else. (Applause)

Now, I hope that we all know this. There's a sense in which it's obvious, and yet, let me tell you a little srtoy. It's a story about lemonade. A dad and his seven-year-old son were watcnihg a Detroit Tigers game at the ballpark. His son asked him for some lemonade and Dad went to the concession stand to buy it. All they had was Mike's Hard Lemonade, which was five percent alcohol. Dad, being an academic, had no idea that Mike's Hard Lemonade caoenitnd alcohol. So he brought it back. And the kid was drinking it, and a security gurad sttpeod it, and called the police, who called an ambulance that rushed to the ballpark, whisked the kid to the hpasotil. The emergency room aanrsetecid that the kid had no alochol in his blood. And they were ready to let the kid go.

Open Cloze


When you ask the janitors who behaved like the ones I described how hard it is to learn to do their job, they tell you that it takes lots of experience. And they don't mean it takes lots of __________ to learn how to mop floors and empty trash cans. It takes lots of experience to learn how to care for people. At TED, __________ is rampant. It's scary. The good news is you don't need to be _________ to be wise. The bad news is that without ______, brilliance isn't enough. It's as likely to get you and other ______ into _______ as anything else. (Applause)

Now, I hope that we all know this. There's a sense in which it's obvious, and yet, let me tell you a little _____. It's a story about lemonade. A dad and his seven-year-old son were ________ a Detroit Tigers game at the ballpark. His son asked him for some lemonade and Dad went to the concession stand to buy it. All they had was Mike's Hard Lemonade, which was five percent alcohol. Dad, being an academic, had no idea that Mike's Hard Lemonade _________ alcohol. So he brought it back. And the kid was drinking it, and a security _____ _______ it, and called the police, who called an ambulance that rushed to the ballpark, whisked the kid to the ________. The emergency room ___________ that the kid had no _______ in his blood. And they were ready to let the kid go.

Solution


  1. alcohol
  2. trouble
  3. people
  4. guard
  5. wisdom
  6. watching
  7. brilliance
  8. ascertained
  9. hospital
  10. spotted
  11. experience
  12. brilliant
  13. story
  14. contained

Original Text


When you ask the janitors who behaved like the ones I described how hard it is to learn to do their job, they tell you that it takes lots of experience. And they don't mean it takes lots of experience to learn how to mop floors and empty trash cans. It takes lots of experience to learn how to care for people. At TED, brilliance is rampant. It's scary. The good news is you don't need to be brilliant to be wise. The bad news is that without wisdom, brilliance isn't enough. It's as likely to get you and other people into trouble as anything else. (Applause)

Now, I hope that we all know this. There's a sense in which it's obvious, and yet, let me tell you a little story. It's a story about lemonade. A dad and his seven-year-old son were watching a Detroit Tigers game at the ballpark. His son asked him for some lemonade and Dad went to the concession stand to buy it. All they had was Mike's Hard Lemonade, which was five percent alcohol. Dad, being an academic, had no idea that Mike's Hard Lemonade contained alcohol. So he brought it back. And the kid was drinking it, and a security guard spotted it, and called the police, who called an ambulance that rushed to the ballpark, whisked the kid to the hospital. The emergency room ascertained that the kid had no alcohol in his blood. And they were ready to let the kid go.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
wise person 5
moral skill 4
takes lots 3
nuclear waste 3
moral heroes 3
barack obama 2
obama appealed 2
current financial 2
financial crisis 2
job description 2
human beings 2
jazz musicians 2
waste dump 2
ordinary heroes 2
job descriptions 2
moral work 2
paying attention 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
current financial crisis 2
nuclear waste dump 2

Important Words


  1. academic
  2. alcohol
  3. ambulance
  4. applause
  5. ascertained
  6. asked
  7. bad
  8. ballpark
  9. behaved
  10. blood
  11. brilliance
  12. brilliant
  13. brought
  14. buy
  15. called
  16. cans
  17. care
  18. concession
  19. contained
  20. dad
  21. detroit
  22. drinking
  23. emergency
  24. empty
  25. experience
  26. floors
  27. game
  28. good
  29. guard
  30. hard
  31. hope
  32. hospital
  33. idea
  34. janitors
  35. job
  36. kid
  37. learn
  38. lemonade
  39. lots
  40. mop
  41. news
  42. obvious
  43. people
  44. percent
  45. police
  46. rampant
  47. ready
  48. room
  49. rushed
  50. scary
  51. security
  52. sense
  53. son
  54. spotted
  55. stand
  56. story
  57. takes
  58. ted
  59. tigers
  60. trash
  61. trouble
  62. watching
  63. whisked
  64. wisdom
  65. wise