Episode description

A few months ago I flew to Vancouver to give a talk at TED2024 in Vancouver. I'd call something like this a "bucket list" item, except I never actually imagined it was something I'd get to do. The invitation was more like a monster surprise, a major career achievement, and a really fun way to spread the word about what we're doing here at Tangle.

Anyway, when I made the trip, we announced it in the newsletter. Predictably, thousands of readers asked about how to watch or listen to the TED talk, so we decided to highlight the video in the newsletter once the final version was released. It took a few months, but my talk has finally been published.

In it, I discuss Tangle’s mission, the work we are doing, and the current state of U.S. polarization. Anyone who reads Tangle should find it interesting, so we’re sharing the talk with everyone here in lieu of a regular newsletter. While you're there, I ask that you please leave a comment (tell people to go read Tangle!) or "like" the video, which will boost it in the YouTube algorithm and hopefully encourage TED to promote it. These simple actions will drive new readers to Tangle and would be very helpful for us.

Finally, I want to give a special shoutout to a few people: Tangle Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, who wrote the first draft of the talk and deserves much of the credit for how well it turned out. Cloe Shasha Brooks from TED, who helped us refine and edit it several times over — she is incredibly good at her job, and also a regular Tangle reader, which makes me like her even more. And Chris Anderson, the president of TED, who shared some of our initial coverage of the war in Gaza and then responded to my direct message on Twitter, which is how I ended up getting involved with TED. You guys all rock, and I appreciate you.

As always, if you have thoughts about anything we write or that I say, feel free to let us know. But most of all: Please engage with the video and then share it, which will help us spread the word about Tangle!

You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠. You can watch my TED Talk here.

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Our podcast is written by Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Jon Lall. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75. 

Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Will Kaback, Bailey Saul, Sean Brady, and produced in conjunction with Tangle’s social media manager Magdalena Bokowa, who also created our logo.

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