The TED Talk I liked was called “What Makes a Good Life? Lessons from the Longest Study on Happiness. I liked it because it’s a non-political and beneficial topic. There is little negativity and the man speaks in an eloquent and easy to follow style. His visual aids are appealing and helpful and provide a great amount of context with a solid introduction. It’s nothing super fancy and follows a model that many other TED Talks follow. He also builds ethos in a surprising way and shows that he has authority on the topic. He uses repetition in an impactful way and just hits you with surprising information every time. There are funny parts and there are sad ones. It’s a very well made TED Talk and leaves a very impactful message.

For my unit two projects, I wanted to talk about a topic that I think more people need to look at. My topics were going to be related to Marxism, a vilified ideology that most people misunderstand. Even those who claim to be Marxists barely even know what they are talking about. I wanted to discuss how Marxism views history. It sees it as a series of paradigm shifts and studies the world in a material lens. The paradigm shifts that are analyzed in Marxist theory explain why the world is like what is today and explains a viable alternative and potential future for humans. I think the topic maybe too broad but it is something that I think is very valuable. I want to challenge myself and write something impactful. Rather than writing about something small and trivial, I want to leave people in a different state of mind. I want people to try rethinking how they thought before and I think this topic could truly show people a different perspective.

Alternatively, I was considering writing about conspiracies and why there are so many. I could write about shifts in science and rejection in science. I was also considering religion and world politics. I’m not dead set on anything, so any thoughts, ideas, or criticisms would be much appreciated.