Wade Davis Ted Talk Analysis

Wade Davis makes a very important point within his Ted Talk speech, that although may seem obvious to some isn’t so obvious to perhaps a large portion of the population. The point that I’m referring to is the concept that the technological advancements in the Western world, aren’t a measure of progress above the indigenous or so-called “primitive” groups of people and their own approaches to life and the human experience. Davis uses the example of a pyramid, citing that there isn’t a pyramid of progress where a Western country takes the top reigning position and the so-called “primitive” groups of people rest at the bottom of the pyramid (Davis 2008). In other words, one type of society isn’t more progressive or advanced than another simply based on the implementation of modern comforts. I find that this point is relevant to the notion of having biases.
We all have various forms of bias that stem from our own experiences and inherited values in life, which places …show more content…
Davis compares the wealth of knowledge that the Hokulea people have of the ocean, to the people who discovered how to successfully land a man on the moon. Davis goes on to reference Buddhist people from Tibet, speaking primarily about a woman who has spent over 55 years in the same room. Rather than thinking of the woman as being crazy for her actions, he had learned information about the four-fold path and seen her as enlightened. There are several other cultural groups that Davis mentions within his speech, where he discusses their cultural rituals and belief systems. Each cultural group is vastly different, from the Peruvian people to the Inuit people. Each cultural group views life and the world differently, and hence, they have human experiences that are divergent from larger populations. None of these human experiences or ways of living is correct or incorrect in this

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