Chris Anderson, curator of TED since 2002, expanded the platform from a conference focused on technology, entertainment, and design to include a wide range of topics. TED's online talks, launched in 2006, have become globally popular, with over one billion annual views. Anderson introduced TEDx, allowing local events, and TED-Ed, offering free educational resources. Through these initiatives, TED has reached millions worldwide, promoting ideas worth spreading.
(Excerpt and summary from the TED website: https://www.ted.com/speakers/chris_anderson_ted)
Based on his experiences and being a witness to the power of generosity, he wrote the book Infectious Generosity: The Ultimate Idea Worth Spreading. In this book, he describes why infectious generosity’s time has come, how everyone can play a part in being generous, and gives the readers an image of a world filled with generosity.
For your reference, it’s better to watch the first and second videos below in advance to grasp a general concept of the main idea in this book.
1. It's Time for Infectious Generosity. Here's How | Chris Anderson | TED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1ouTj1BQec&t=44s
2.《慷慨的感染力》：TED 總裁最值得分享的終極想法，即將改變全世界 (Introduction of this book in Chinese)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgx2FMM13P8&t=705s
3.TED’s Chris Anderson Shares Why Generosity Is The Ultimate ‘Idea Worth Spreading’ | The View
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7tacXOsgo0
Session 1
One example in the book “The Mystery Experiment” is great evidence of powerful generosity. In 2019, a married couple in the TED community made an investment windfall. They decided to give away a good proportion of it: $2 million in a creative way—that is, selected a wide-ranging group of 200 people from 7 countries and gave away anonymously to strangers, $10,000 at a time. They could spend it however they wanted with two major rules:
- 1. It has to be spent over the next three months.
2. They had to report back on what they spent it on.
The outcome was amazing! On average, only a third of the money was spent on their own purposes, while the rest was devoted to friends, family members, and outside causes. This is convincing evidence against the so-called rational agent theory of economics. Among those strangers, Lydia Tarigan gave 5 million to a colleague she knew less well who had recently been diagnosed with cancer. Also, she donated millions of rupiah to the World Wildlife Fund, etc.
Q2. What are your thoughts on her actions? Do you agree with the way she spent the money? Why or why not?
Q3. If you were in Lydia’s position as described in the article, would you promote your charitable actions online? For example, would you share what you’ve done for charity through the internet or social media? What are the pros and cons of making such actions public?
However, there was another powerful scientific finding: further evidence of the strong correlation between generosity and happiness. According to a paper by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), it’s estimated that the anonymous couple’s donation had effectively created a more than 200x multiple of the amount of happiness that their $2 million could ever have given them personally.
Q4. Have you ever experienced the joy of giving something valuable (e.g., money, food, objects, materials, etc.) to others and felt happy as a result? Please share your experience.
Session 2
According to the book, there are six ways to give that aren’t about money: Attention, Bridging, Knowledge, Connection, Hospitality, and Enchantment.
- 1.Shift Attention: All generosity starts from our willingness to stop focusing on ourselves and pay attention to someone else and their needs.
2.Build Bridging: A willingness to reach out to those with whom we’re in conflict.
3.Share Knowledge: If you possess knowledge that others may benefit from, consider how you could share it to create ripple effects.
4.Enable Connection: one of the most important forms of viral generosity is to help people connect with others.
5.Extend Hospitality: You don’t need the Internet for this one. Hospitality taps into our deepest instincts for connection to one another. Through hosting Jeffersonian Dinner, (so-called Whole-Table Dinners), which are anchored by a single conversation thread, you can encourage people to open up, to move away from opinion and toward feeling.
6.Create Enchantment: Everyone with a creative spirit, especially artists of any kind—musicians, painters, photographers, can bring us finally to a form of infectious generosity. (e.g. Community mural)
Q2. Mrbeast, a famous Youtuber with more than 300 million subscribers, makes exaggerated videos to spread kindness and generous movements. (FYI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ2ifmkGGus) Do you approve of this kind of form to express the concept of generosity? Do you have any creative way to come up in your mind to show your generosity?
Q3. Humans are often considered genetically selfish, yet we are capable of developing generosity. Have you ever shown generosity towards someone you consider your enemy or dislike? How did you do this?
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Agenda:
3:45 ~ 4:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
4:00 ~ 4:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
4:10 ~ 4:50pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
4:50 ~ 5:10pm Summarization (20 mins)
5:10 ~ 5:15pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 10 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
5:15 ~ 5:55pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
6:00 ~ 6:20pm Summarization (20 mins)
6:20 ~ 6:30pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements
Meeting Date: As shown on the Subject Line
Meeting Time: 4:00pm – 6:30pm
Meeting Venue: 丹堤咖啡 Dante Coffee (Minimum Order $85)
Address: 台北市濟南路三段25號[MAP]-捷運忠孝新生站3號出口步行3分鐘
Important Notes:
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2. We suggest that participants read the articles and think about the questions in advance.
3. Newcomers should prepare a two-to-three-minute self-introduction in English to deliver when called upon by the host before the start of the discussion. The host may also ask you to give brief feedback about the meeting after the meeting.
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Ms. Tarigan may not be rich, but she made good uses of the money out of generosity.
