Simone Giertz: Why you should make useless things | TED Talk
In this joyful, heartfelt talk featuring demos of her wonderfully wacky creations, Simone Giertz shares her craft: making useless robots. Her inventions -- designed to chop vegetables, cut hair, apply lipstick and more -- rarely (if ever) succeed, and that's the point. "The true beauty of making useless things [is] this acknowledgment that you don't always know what the best answer is," Giertz says. "It turns off that voice in your head that tells you that you know exactly how the world works. Maybe a toothbrush helmet isn't the answer, but at least you're asking the question."
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Ajouté le
5 mars 2026
Situation associée
Public
learner
Niveaux scolaires
Maternelle–12e année (Terminale)
Type de page
Video
Mots-clés
TED talks technology design robots creativity demo personal growth comedy
Introduction
Simone Giertz: The Value of Useless Inventions
- Speaker: Simone Giertz
- Event: TED2018 (April 2018)
- Core Concept: The practice of building "useless robots" that often fail to perform their intended tasks (e.g., chopping vegetables, cutting hair, applying lipstick).
- Key Philosophy: Creating useless objects serves as a creative exercise that challenges the assumption that one already knows the "best answer" to a problem.
- Takeaway: Embracing failure and absurdity helps silence the internal critic and encourages curiosity, experimentation, and asking new questions rather than seeking immediate efficiency.
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