On Thursday 23rd February, the final of the 2023 TED Talks Competition was held in The Garnett Room. The four finalists gave fascinating and challenging talks, evincing real intelligence, poise and courage, with two of the speakers conducting live experiments upon the audience.
The winner, Catriona M spoke with real vim and wit on the Corrupted Blood phenomenon in World of Warcraft and the failure of stochastic algorithms to predict behaviour in the pandemic, while Wilf G, a close second, proved, in a live experiment, the suggestibility and vulnerability of the audience to nudge theory. In equal third, Olivia M challenged us with an bold experiment on whether music has the capacity to transmit its message without context, and Edo Q argued for the continued importance of the punk musical genre, playing us through some of the shifting trends and its enduring legacy.
Our congratulations go to them all for providing a thoroughly entertaining and intellectually arresting evening.
Steve Clayton, Head of Lower Sixth Scholars
