Something I've been wondering for a while and this seems like a pretty good place to start -- I've never watched a TED talk. I've probably read an article or two about them, when they were new, but I don't remember the content. What are they? Why are they popular? Is it more than a buzzword? They're like ... a short documentary? An expert gets in front of a camera and talks, like those weird-history videos we used to get in high school when the teacher was too hungover to make it? I have never understood the appeal or unique market share of this idea. How did they hook the internet demographic so completely? Why will people sit and watch a TED talk on something when a solid longform arstechnica or wired article already exists? Any thoughts welcome.