Monica Lewinsky: The price of shame

Monica Lewinsky: The price of shame

In 1998, says Monica Lewinsky, “I was Patient Zero of losing a personal reputation on a global scale almost instantaneously.” Today, the kind of online public shaming she went through has become constant — and can turn deadly. In a brave talk, she takes a look at our “culture of humiliation,” in which online shame equals dollar signs, and demands a different way.

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Vincent Cochetel was held hostage for 317 days in 1998, while working for the UN High Commissioner on Refugees in Chechnya. For the first time, he recounts the experience — from what it was like to live in a dark, underground chamber, chained to his bed, to the unexpected conversations he had with his captors. With lyricism and power, he explains why he continues his work today. Since 2000, attacks on humanitarian aid workers have tripled — and he wonders what that rise may signal to the world. Watch »

 

As humans, we can perceive less than a ten-trillionth of all light waves. “Our experience of reality,” says neuroscientist David Eagleman, “is constrained by our biology.” He wants to change that. His research into our brain processes has led him to create new interfaces — such as a sensory vest — to take in previously unseen information about the world around us. Watch »

 

What we think of as 3D printing, says Joseph DeSimone, is really just 2D printing over and over … slowly. Onstage at TED2015, he unveils a bold new technique — inspired, yes, by Terminator 2 — that’s 25 to 100 times faster, and creates smooth, strong parts. Could it finally help to fulfill the tremendous promise of 3D printing? Watch »

 

Everybody knows that most women go a little crazy right before they get their period, that their reproductive hormones cause their emotions to fluctuate wildly. Except: There’s very little scientific consensus about premenstrual syndrome. Says psychologist Robyn Stein DeLuca, science doesn’t agree on the definition, cause, treatment or even existence of PMS. She explores what we know and don’t know about it — and why the popular myth has persisted. Watch »

Quote of the Week

March 22, 2015 Public humiliation as a blood sport has to stop. We need to return to a long-held value of compassion and empathy.”

Monica Lewinsky

The price of shame