Every time I get exposed to the TED radio hour, I think how the popularity of even such vapid, simplistic ideas shows how hungry people are for knowledge. If only TED's underlying philosophy wasn't neoliberalism...it's such propaganda packaged as research

Okay, I had to go see what other people have written about this. First up, this one is good http://www.alternet.org/story/155527/why_ted_is_a_massive%252C_money-soaked_orgy_of_self-congratulatory_futurism%3famp

"No one on the TED stage talks about solving complex social problems through government policy, taxes on the wealthy, or electoral reform" https://www.mintpressnews.com/MyMPN/13-examples-of-ted-talks-nuclear-neoliberalism/

"If we want transformation, we have to slog through the hard stuff (history, economics, philosophy, art, ambiguities, contradictions). Bracketing it off to the side to focus just on technology, or just on innovation, actually prevents transformation"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/30/we-need-to-talk-about-ted

"TED’s dominant political idea is the denial of politics–a refusal to acknowledge any real power struggle in public life" https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/the-politics-of-ted

"There are no questions here: in the cult of TED, everything is awesome and inspirational, and ideas aren’t supposed to be challenged" https://www.newstatesman.com/martin-robbins/2012/09/trouble-ted-talks

do they get translated? or is it an entirely separate set of speakers?

Oh man, LinkedIn is an even more shallow level... if that's even possible... haven't been on there in months. Have you seen this parody? https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/this-is-a-generic-linkedin-rant

Right. It's like this dogged insistence that "life is so simple when you have insights from STEM fields!" delivered with constant amazement and forced optimism

Yes! Have you seen the Onion Talks parody of finding the biggest rock? It's spot on