full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Shankar Vedantam: You don't actually know what your future self wants

Unscramble the Blue Letters


(Applause)

When we pass laws, we often do so with an intent of making a better crutony, improving our country. But any country that's been around for a few decades has numerous laws on the books that made pfrceet sense when they were crtafed -- in fact, that were seen as eenenlhitgd when they were crafted -- and today, they seem antiquated or absurd, or even unconscionable. And all of these examples stem from the same problem, which is that we imagine that we rpeeesrnt the end of history. That the future is only going to be more of the same.

I have three pieces of advice on how to wrestle with this wicked poerblm. And it is a wicked problem, because all of us snepd so much of our lives trying to make our future selves happy. We don't stop to ask, "Is it possible that in 20 or 30 years, our future selves are going to look back at us with bewilderment, with resentment. That our future selves will ask us, "What made you possibly think that that is what I would want?"

Open Cloze


(Applause)

When we pass laws, we often do so with an intent of making a better _______, improving our country. But any country that's been around for a few decades has numerous laws on the books that made _______ sense when they were _______ -- in fact, that were seen as ___________ when they were crafted -- and today, they seem antiquated or absurd, or even unconscionable. And all of these examples stem from the same problem, which is that we imagine that we _________ the end of history. That the future is only going to be more of the same.

I have three pieces of advice on how to wrestle with this wicked _______. And it is a wicked problem, because all of us _____ so much of our lives trying to make our future selves happy. We don't stop to ask, "Is it possible that in 20 or 30 years, our future selves are going to look back at us with bewilderment, with resentment. That our future selves will ask us, "What made you possibly think that that is what I would want?"

Solution


  1. enlightened
  2. perfect
  3. represent
  4. spend
  5. country
  6. crafted
  7. problem

Original Text


(Applause)

When we pass laws, we often do so with an intent of making a better country, improving our country. But any country that's been around for a few decades has numerous laws on the books that made perfect sense when they were crafted -- in fact, that were seen as enlightened when they were crafted -- and today, they seem antiquated or absurd, or even unconscionable. And all of these examples stem from the same problem, which is that we imagine that we represent the end of history. That the future is only going to be more of the same.

I have three pieces of advice on how to wrestle with this wicked problem. And it is a wicked problem, because all of us spend so much of our lives trying to make our future selves happy. We don't stop to ask, "Is it possible that in 20 or 30 years, our future selves are going to look back at us with bewilderment, with resentment. That our future selves will ask us, "What made you possibly think that that is what I would want?"

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
profound consequences 2
stephanie rinka 2
ethical problem 2
spend time 2


Important Words


  1. absurd
  2. advice
  3. antiquated
  4. applause
  5. bewilderment
  6. books
  7. country
  8. crafted
  9. decades
  10. enlightened
  11. examples
  12. fact
  13. future
  14. happy
  15. history
  16. imagine
  17. improving
  18. intent
  19. laws
  20. lives
  21. making
  22. numerous
  23. pass
  24. perfect
  25. pieces
  26. possibly
  27. problem
  28. represent
  29. resentment
  30. sense
  31. spend
  32. stem
  33. stop
  34. today
  35. unconscionable
  36. wicked
  37. wrestle
  38. years