Connect with us

Science & Technology

Why Does Uncertainty Bother Us So Much? | Adam Kucharski | TED

Why do we find it easier to trust some concepts and ideas over others? Mathematician and TED Fellow Adam Kucharski explores the science of uncertainty, revealing how the very human need for explanation shapes trust in science, fear of technology and belief in conspiracy theories. (Recorded at TEDxLondon on January 26, 2025) Join us in…

Published

on

Why do we find it easier to trust some concepts and ideas over others? Mathematician and TED Fellow Adam Kucharski explores the science of uncertainty, revealing how the very human need for explanation shapes trust in science, fear of technology and belief in conspiracy theories. (Recorded at TEDxLondon on January 26, 2025)

Join us in person at a TED conference:
Become a TED Member to support our mission:
Subscribe to a TED newsletter.

Follow TED!
X:
Instagram:
Facebook:
LinkedIn:
TikTok:

The TED Talks channel features talks, performances and original series from the world’s leading thinkers and doers. Subscribe to our channel for videos on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.

Watch more:

TED’s videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy: . For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at

#TED #TEDTalks #Science

Continue Reading
Advertisement
22 Comments

22 Comments

  1. @Jasenskiditorere

    August 11, 2025 at 11:07 am

    came here for thing, stayed for everything 😚🍒

  2. @Sofianapuigig

    August 11, 2025 at 11:12 am

    was not expecting to enjoy this but here we are 🧡💖

  3. @achmadhanifmardinsyah5825

    August 11, 2025 at 11:13 am

    I feel same, i craving Information and give dopamine. Get burnout for studying then cant sleep 🙂

  4. @PomPonn-f2i

    August 11, 2025 at 11:19 am

    ♥ 👀

  5. @grantlauzon5237

    August 11, 2025 at 11:52 am

    And they’ll never leave.

  6. @Jaishreeram-ly2jm

    August 11, 2025 at 11:52 am

    This will blow up in the next ten years .I will visit it in in 2035 probably.

  7. @mrfalleo

    August 11, 2025 at 11:55 am

    Humans, know nothing and the universe does not bend to our knees. We are just a chaotic bioproduct of the universe.

  8. @West1010

    August 11, 2025 at 12:04 pm

    Women love uncertainty when it comes to relationships.

  9. @Ludiotic

    August 11, 2025 at 12:14 pm

    One of the other challenges is that a complex truth can make us feel stupid, and the idea of deferring to an expert we don’t yet trust makes us feel vulnerable. It’s why a lot of conspiracy theories (and creation myths) are so attractive – “this person did it” is something we can always wrap our heads around, so we don’t feel threatened by the complexity.

    It’s so hard to actively suspend certainty that I’m not surprised we’re surrounded by theories.

    • @mmdrodrigues

      August 11, 2025 at 7:00 pm

      Would you rather not be surrounded by theories ? They essentially equate to human progress and for every conspiracy there is potentially one correct conspiracy theory ..

      Too bad people don’t even understand that the term was used as a pejorative, by the CIA for them to curtail questions about Oswald acting alone or not. I’m glad he’s a doctor and not a scientist. I don’t use doctors much nowadays, most of them are completely locked in their assumed knowledge..and yet the world is sicker each day.

  10. @etchasketch222

    August 11, 2025 at 12:43 pm

    What’s the TLDW?

    • @QuintFoxGPT

      August 11, 2025 at 2:09 pm

      * Complex Technologies and Lack of Explanation: The speaker highlights several examples where we trust technology without a complete understanding of why it works:
      * Aerodynamics: Common explanations for why airplanes fly don’t cover all scenarios.
      * Medical Technologies: The exact mechanisms behind defibrillation and general anesthesia are still not entirely clear.
      * Self-driving Cars: A major concern is not understanding the decision-making process of autonomous machines.
      * Computer-aided Proofs: The first major mathematical theorem proven by a computer forced mathematicians to accept a proof they couldn’t verify by hand.
      * The Shift from Explanation to Prediction: In many fields, the focus has moved to prediction because it’s an easier problem than finding a full explanation. This becomes problematic in areas like the justice system, where algorithms predict future crimes without explaining the underlying reasons.
      * The Role of Explanation in Conspiracy Theories: A lack of clear explanations can create a void that conspiracy theories fill. These theories often provide simple, all-encompassing explanations for complex events.
      * The Importance of Acknowledging the Human Need for Explanation: The speaker argues that it’s crucial for scientists and experts to not just state what is true but also explain why it’s true. As the world becomes more complex, individuals need to find new ways to evaluate claims and trust experts.
      The video concludes by emphasizing the need to bridge the gap between knowing “what is happening” and understanding “why it’s happening.”

    • @maxinedowns8013

      August 11, 2025 at 4:46 pm

      Too Long Didn’t Watch.

  11. @TheBestLifeMindsetWithShelly

    August 11, 2025 at 12:56 pm

    Fascinating topic. Our brains crave certainty, even if it’s false—sometimes we’d rather have a wrong answer than sit with the unknown.🩷

  12. @Bluth53

    August 11, 2025 at 12:59 pm

    The topic and content are quite good, but the presentation and pronunciation could be improved.

  13. @QuintFoxGPT

    August 11, 2025 at 2:08 pm

    * 00:04 – The Airplane Riddle
    * 00:49 – The Mystery of Defibrillation
    * 01:01 – The Unexplained Anesthesia
    * 02:03 – The Problem with Self-Driving Cars
    * 02:55 – The Computer-Aided Proof
    * 05:52 – Algorithms in the Justice System
    * 08:16 – The Appeal of Conspiracy Theories
    * 10:09 – Conclusion

    • @gallahaggis

      August 11, 2025 at 9:10 pm

      gake and fay

  14. @meloz1246

    August 11, 2025 at 2:23 pm

    The price tags are still on every piece of his apparel

  15. @mmdrodrigues

    August 11, 2025 at 6:57 pm

    Logical fallacy…. He is guilty of what he accuses the theorists of, wanting to defend his point and not be open minded to evolve his position …. 😂 The irony is delicious, but lost on him of course….

    Too bad doctors weren’t open to understanding that sun and exercise and not being in home prison would have been a better approach ..

    Too bad they weren’t open minded (lol, as if that was the root cause…) to the possibility that the vaccines didn’t stop transmission like they repeated as nauseaum.

    This won’t age well, and if it does, we’ll be in 1984..

  16. @8888Rik

    August 12, 2025 at 11:21 am

    I dearly wish this had been much longer. As a scientist with a deep background in philosophy (and math), I think a great deal about the need that we all have for explanation, and I used to discuss this when I was a statistics lecturer at a University. People may get the math of statistical correlations, but they need specific, causal mechanisms as well, especially when the event in question happens to *them*, specifically and directly, from automobile accidents to cancer. It seems to be a psychological epistemic necessity.

  17. @DeborahMarchantPoet

    August 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    Why? We can go deeper. Naturally experiencing uncertainty, the easily threatened & easily death anxiety triggered brain, falsely believes it is invincible and will live forever. It continually attempts to ward off thoughts of death that are non-consciously triggered by uncertainty and confusion.

  18. @tesoroart1825

    August 12, 2025 at 9:27 pm

    The stage backdrop at TEDxLondon, with a design placed in the center that resembles the Japanese Rising Sun flag, was used by the Japanese military during World War II. In many parts of East Asia, it is associated with Japan’s imperial history and wartime actions, and is considered offensive by some. I found it surprising to see here

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Science & Technology

Sam Altman isn’t the only one who wants to pump the brakes on AI | Equity Podcast

After years of pushing full speed ahead on AI, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says maybe it’s time for the AI industry to “pace” itself. The comments came just days after one of OpenAI’s own models broke out of its test environment and got tangled up in a breach at Hugging Face — though as Equity’s…

Published

on

After years of pushing full speed ahead on AI, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says maybe it’s time for the AI industry to “pace” itself. The comments came just days after one of OpenAI’s own models broke out of its test environment and got tangled up in a breach at Hugging Face — though as Equity’s hosts point out, sloppy security seems to have been just as much to blame as the model itself. And Altman’s not alone in this stance: both OpenAI and Anthropic have come out in support of a petition echoing that same message.

On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane dig into whether the industry is ready to pump the brakes or just temporarily spooked, and who’s on the hook when a model goes rogue.

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

1:18 Zoox gets its robotaxi exemption

2:11 Sam Altman calls for pacing the frontier

6:01 The Hugging Face hack, dissected

10:12 Responsibility, regulation, and the Elon Musk wildcard

13:29 Librarians teaching people to unplug from AI

15:16 Prentice: a new AI lab raises at a $1B valuation

16:46 Amazon files for its own satellite-to-phone network

18:42 SpaceX, Blue Origin, and the launch-business angle

23:48 Pangram raises $9M to detect AI slop

29:23 DoorDash builds its own delivery drones

33:24 Outro

Continue Reading

CNET

This Robot Has Smart… Skin?! | What The Future

Meet Gene.01, a new humanoid robot from Generative Bionics. It’s embedded with “smart” sensors that track proximity and touch. Watch the full video on our channel. Video Credits Host: Jesse Orrall Videographer: Celso Bulgatti Editor: Jon Gomez Add CNET as a trusted news source Never miss a deal again! See CNET’s browser extension 👉 Check…

Published

on

Meet Gene.01, a new humanoid robot from Generative Bionics. It’s embedded with “smart” sensors that track proximity and touch. Watch the full video on our channel.

Video Credits
Host: Jesse Orrall
Videographer: Celso Bulgatti
Editor: Jon Gomez

Add CNET as a trusted news source
Never miss a deal again! See CNET’s browser extension 👉
Check out CNET’s Amazon Storefront:
Subscribe to CNET on YouTube:
Follow us on TikTok:
Follow us on Instagram:
Follow us on Bluesky:
Like us on Facebook:
CNET’s AI Atlas:
Follow us on X:
Visit CNET.com:

#robotics #humanoidrobot #generativebionics #robot #whatthefuture

Continue Reading

CNET

Google DeepMind Demos Gemini Robotics 2 Doing Household Chores, and We Can’t Wait for the Future!

Google DeepMind released a series of videos demonstrating Gemini Robotics 2 utilizing the Apptronik Apollo 2 Humanoid Robot working alongside the Franka F3 Duo Dual-Arm System robot, and it looks like I won’t be doing too many household chores in the near future. You can read more about Google DeepMind on CNET.com Google DeepMind Will…

Published

on

Google DeepMind released a series of videos demonstrating Gemini Robotics 2 utilizing the Apptronik Apollo 2 Humanoid Robot working alongside the Franka F3 Duo Dual-Arm System robot, and it looks like I won’t be doing too many household chores in the near future.

You can read more about Google DeepMind on CNET.com
Google DeepMind Will Train AI Models on the MMORPG Eve Online

0:00 Apollo Intro
0:07 Apollo putting away items in specific places
0:56 Gemini Robotics 2 Multi-Robot Collaboration
1:07 Duo’s Dual-Arm System putting away tools
2:04 Apollo’s Intelligent Whole Body Control
3:34 Apollo’s Advanced Dexterity

Video Credits
Producer/Editor: Stephen Beacham
Source:

Add CNET as a trusted news source
Never miss a deal again! See CNET’s browser extension 👉
Check out CNET’s Amazon Storefront:
Subscribe to CNET on YouTube:
Follow us on TikTok:
Follow us on Instagram:
Follow us on Bluesky:
Like us on Facebook:
CNET’s AI Atlas:
Follow us on X:
Visit CNET.com:

#robot #google #ai #googledeepmind #robotics #machinelearning

Continue Reading

Trending