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Why you should make useless things | Simone Giertz
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Why you should make useless things | Simone Giertz

New Section

In this section, the speaker introduces herself and discusses the concept of dealing with nervousness on stage in a new way.

Introducing New Method for Dealing with Nervousness

  • The speaker, Simone, questions the traditional method of picturing the audience naked to reduce nervousness.
  • She presents a unique shirt with googly eyes to create a balance in eye contact between her and the audience.
  • Simone shares her approach of inventing solutions to problems, like creating a toothbrush helmet as a quirky invention.

Inventing Useless Machines

Simone delves into her journey of inventing useless machines and how it has impacted her life positively.

Impact of Useless Machine Inventions

  • The speaker reflects on how her toothbrush helmet invention changed her life despite not being practical.
  • She discusses transitioning into becoming an inventor of useless machines and carving out a niche for herself on the internet.

Overcoming Performance Anxiety Through Invention

Simone shares how building quirky machines helped her overcome performance anxiety and find enthusiasm in learning.

Coping Mechanism for Performance Anxiety

  • Despite not having an engineering background, she found solace in building robots as a way to combat performance anxiety.
  • By embracing failure and focusing on building things that might fail, she discovered a smart way to learn without pressure.

The speaker discusses how identifying problems leads to creative solutions through useless machine inventions.

Problem-Solving Approach

  • Simone explains that addressing challenges, such as nervousness during talks, inspires her to create innovative solutions like a device that hands you water.

New Section

In this section, the speaker demonstrates using a robotic arm to interact with objects like popcorn and a glass of water.

Interacting with Objects

  • Demonstrates placing snacks on the robotic arm.
  • Adjusting the height of the arm by shrugging.
  • Shows interaction with a glass of water.

New Section

The speaker continues interacting with the robotic arm, showcasing its capabilities and some challenges faced during the demonstration.

Showcasing Capabilities

  • Handling slight shaking while operating the machine.
  • Robot experiencing stage fright and getting stuck briefly.

New Section

The speaker reflects on the deeper meaning behind their engineering creations and shares insights about joy, humility, and learning through making useless things.

Reflection on Engineering Creations

  • Acknowledges joy and humility in engineering creations.
Channel: TED
Video description

In this joyful, heartfelt talk featuring demos of her wonderfully wacky creations, Simone Giertz shares her craft: making useless robots. Her inventions -- designed to chop vegetables, cut hair, apply lipstick and more -- rarely (if ever) succeed, and that's the point. "The true beauty of making useless things [is] this acknowledgment that you don't always know what the best answer is," Giertz says. "It turns off that voice in your head that tells you that you know exactly how the world works. Maybe a toothbrush helmet isn't the answer, but at least you're asking the question." Check out more TED Talks: http://www.ted.com The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. Follow TED on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TEDTalks Like TED on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TED Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/TED