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À partir d’avant-hierTED Blog

A world view: Talks from day 1 of TEDWomen 2023

TEDWomen editorial director Pat Mitchell, activist, filmmaker and entrepreneur Maya Penn and TED’s head of curation Helen Walters host Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

TEDWomen 2023 kicked off in its new home of Atlanta, Georgia with a moving and wide-ranging session of talks and performances about the future of global democracy, the pursuit of freedom in Russia and Ukraine, the path to recovery for survivors and more.

The event: Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023, hosted by TEDWomen editorial director Pat Mitchell, TED’s head of curation Helen Walters and activist, filmmaker and entrepreneur Maya Penn

When and where: Wednesday, October 11, 2023, at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia

Speakers: Yordanos Eyoel, Irina Karamanos Adrian, Oleksandra Matviichuk, Jane Ferguson, Dasha Navalnaya, Ava DuVernay, Christine Schuler Deschryver, Chris Anderson

The Merian Ensemble performs at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Music: Introduced by Atlanta Symphony Orchestra music director Nathalie Stutzmann, chamber music group The Merian Ensemble open the week with an evocative and transporting performance of Nicole Chamberlain’s “Atalanta” for flute, oboe, bass clarinet, harp and viola.

Democracy entrepreneur Yordanos Eyoel speaks at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

It’s not news that democracy is under attack globally. In order to encourage new democracies (and protect established ones), we need more than robust institutions — we need grassroots action, says democracy entrepreneur Yordanos Eyoel, who explores innovative ways to nurture nascent pro-democracy groups wherever they’re threatened.

Former First Lady of Chile Irina Karamanos Adrian speaks at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

As a feminist, Irina Karamanos Adrian was not thrilled to become Chile’s First Lady. She shares how she overturned the position’s institutionalized responsibilities in an effort to make them more transparent, asserting that it’s undemocratic for an unelected position to have such power.

Human rights defender Oleksandra Matviichuk speaks at SESSION 1 at TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward. October 11-13, 2023, Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

How do we defend people’s freedom and dignity against authoritarianism, asks human rights lawyer Oleksandra Matviichuk. In the face of Russian troops occupying Ukraine, she emphasizes the extraordinary capabilities of ordinary people — and urges us all to stand together.

War reporter Jane Ferguson speaks at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Women journalists shape the way the world sees wars, says war reporter Jane Ferguson. Illuminating the historic impact of female-led reporting, she highlights the perspective-broadening power of humanizing stories from war zones.

Corruption fighter Dasha Navalnaya speaks at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Dasha Navalnaya is the daughter of an important man: Alexey Navalny, the leader of the Russian opposition and one of Vladimir Putin’s top critics. She shares the story of her father’s poisoning and imprisonment — and why Russians need your help to bring down Putin’s authoritarian regime.

TEDWomen editorial director Pat Mitchell and writer, producer and filmmaker Ava DuVernay speak at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

In conversation with TEDWomen editorial director Pat Mitchell, writer, producer and filmmaker Ava DuVernay discusses how she turned Caste — Isabel Wilkerson’s Pulitzer-Prize winning nonfiction analysis of race in the US — into Origin, a gripping narrative film exploring both the book’s thesis and the author’s life story.

Human rights activist Christine Schuler Deschryver speaks at SESSION 1 at TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward. October 11-13, 2023, Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Human rights activist Christine Schuler Deschryver shares how her organization, City of Hope, is modeling a new recovery program for women survivors of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one that allows women to reclaim their bodies while developing skills to become future community leaders.

Head of TED Chris Anderson speaks at Session 1 at TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

We’re well aware of how quickly hate and misinformation go viral. But in a one-of-a-kind preview of his upcoming book, head of TED Chris Anderson argues generosity can be infectious as well — creating powerful ripple effects that help us thrive.

Dance group Mahogany-N-Motion performs at Session 1 at TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Closing performance: Mahogany-N-Motion, a student-run women’s dance group from Spelman College — a historically Black liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia — close out the session with an energetic, drumline-infused performance that brought the TEDWomen crowd to its feet.

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Lessons: Notes from Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit 2023

TED’s Lindsay Levin and MP David Lammy host Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Nick Hagen / TED)

What lessons are already available to us as we tackle climate change? For Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit 2023, science, solutions and the role of industry in stemming the threat of the climate emergency took center stage.

The event: Talks from Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit 2023, hosted by TED’s Lindsay Levin and David Lammy, Member of Parliament for Tottenham, England and Shadow Foreign Secretary

When and where: Wednesday, July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan

Speakers: Jonathan Foley, Emma Nehrenheim, Cedrik Neike, Susan Lozier, Morten Bo Christiansen, Bo Cerup-Simonsen, Mike Duggan, Laprisha Berry Daniels

Climate solutions scientist Jonathan Foley speaks at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

To solve climate change, the International Monetary Fund estimates that the global community needs to invest between three and six trillion dollars annually in climate solutions. Where should that money go and which projects should we fund? Jonathan Foley, executive director of Project Drawdown, uses a science-based framework to outline a plan for investing with maximum impact. First, we need to prioritize immediate actions with cumulative benefits, like stopping deforestation and cutting methane leaks. Next, we should focus our spending on cutting carbon emissions now over investing in distant high-tech solutions. Third, we must prioritize geographical hotspots with an outsized effect on climate change, like the Amazon rainforest or high-emission factories. And finally, we should invest in solutions that benefit people’s well-being, promote food security and increase access to clean water and sanitation.

Battery recycler Emma Nehrenheim speaks at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Batteries will be fundamental to powering a sustainable world — but only if we don’t repeat the same mistakes of past industrialization, says battery recycler Emma Nehrenheim. She outlines the environmentally intensive impact of battery production — particularly from the extraction of minerals for lithium-ion batteries, which provide energy for electric vehicles and other key aspects of life — and proposes a shift towards a circular battery economy that uses and reuses already existing materials, vastly reducing the industry’s carbon footprint and need for mineral extraction.

Sustainable business leader Cedrik Neike speaks at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

We are running out of time to save our planet from climate change — and the metaverse can help. Using virtual tools like AI to cheat time in the real world, Cedrik Neike explains how “digital twin technology” (think simulated giga factories that are one-for-one digital copies of real ones) can help solve real-world problems more efficiently by providing a digital space to test solutions, without pollution. Using the example of virtually ideating the production of safer and faster-charging batteries and then bringing those learnings to the physical world, Neike points to the potential of industrial metaverses to revolutionize industries and redesign entire cities — from transportation, agriculture and housing — addressing massive challenges and avoiding the creation of excess waste at the same time.

Oceanographer Susan Lozier speaks at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Oceanographer Susan Lozier dives into the importance of the ocean’s natural circulation, which overturns water in a way that naturally captures carbon and regulates global temperatures. She shares the incredible research being done internationally to track changes in this overturn, as warming global temperatures could slow the circulation, lessen carbon uptake and increase the rate of climate-related disasters. While a collapse in this age-old system isn’t likely until 2100, Lozier warns of the dangers faced by future generations if we don’t change course now, calling for climate action to lower temperatures within the next 10 years.

SVP of A.P. Moller – Maersk Morten Bo Christiansen and TED’s Lindsay Levin speak at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Nick Hagen / TED)

As leader of the decarbonization team for A.P. Moller – Maersk, Morten Bo Christiansen is drawing an organizational roadmap to net zero that could help transform the global shipping industry. In conversation with TED’s Lindsay Levin, Christiansen shares his company’s ambitious goal to decarbonize their heavy-emitting business by 2040, highlighting how they’ve started implementing solutions like using green methanol as fuel in their container ships and deploying electric trucks in the US. He also points out the challenges in scaling green fuel production, price issues due to the high cost of green fuels and the need for collaborations across the value chain to manage these obstacles. Despite these challenges, Christiansen remains optimistic, making the case that the added cost to consumers for using green shipping methods is far outweighed by the urgently needed environmental benefits.

Shipping decarbonizer Bo Cerup-Simonsen speaks at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

In conversation with TED’s Lindsay Levin, Bo Cerup-Simonsen, CEO of the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, discusses the essential role of their center in orchestrating systemic, global collaboration to tackle large-scale environmental challenges. Discussing the center’s origins, purpose and the strides it’s made in technological, commercial and regulatory spaces, Cerup-Simonsen highlights the push towards green alternatives, like green methanol and ammonia, in global shipping. Through tangible initiatives like “green corridors,” which enable end-to-end zero-carbon shipping between selected ports, they’re fostering cross-industry collaboration to accelerate the green transition and sharing lessons learned in combating the uncertainty hindering decisive action from companies and nations.

Mayor of Detroit Mike Duggan speaks at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Nick Hagen / TED)

Mike Duggan is serving his third term as mayor of Detroit, and he’s dead set on building the city’s climate responsiveness. His proposal is a unique one: to transform blighted, vacant lots into solar farms throughout the city. He describes how, with the buy-in of Detroiters themselves, he plans to start building these farms in different neighborhoods with the aim of powering all of Detroit’s municipal buildings and cleaning up dilapidated, vacant land from the city’s manufacturing past.

Public health social worker Laprisha Berry Daniels speaks at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Nick Hagen / TED)

Like many cities, Detroit is already feeling the effects of climate change. In the past 10 years, two major floods have cost the city more than a billion dollars in damages. The challenge of climate change may be daunting, but human beings have moved from place to place and adapted to changes in climate (both environmental and social) throughout history. For inspiration, public health social worker Laprisha Berry Daniels mines the survival strategies her grandparents learned after leaving the Jim Crow South to settle in Detroit. The climate crisis may be unprecedented, but Daniels says we can still prepare for it by embracing the lessons of the past. First, we must accept the reality of climate change and prepare for it. Second, we should embrace the power of mutual aid. Lastly, we should empower communities to adapt through community-led planning.

SVP of A.P. Moller – Maersk Morten Bo Christiansen and TED’s Lindsay Levin speak at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED )

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Celebrating the unbridled power of imagination: Notes on Session 11 of TED2023

Poet Sarah Kay co-hosts Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Session 11 of TED2023 was a celebration of the unbridled power of imagination. What is imagination, exactly? According to poet and session co-host Sarah Kay, it’s the ability to notice, see and observe what is — and then to dream, build and expand on what is not but could be. Eight speakers and one performer led the way in doing just that for this classically eclectic evening session.

The event: Talks from Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility, hosted by poet Sarah Kay and TED’s head of curation Helen Walters

When and where: Thursday, April 20, 2023, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Lonneke Gordijn, Vinu Daniel, Misan Harriman, Melissa Villaseñor, Imran Chaudhri, Lucas Rizzotto, Ersin Han Ersin

Opening poem: Poet Sarah Kay shares some of the amazing things she sees “wandering the streets of Bewilderville” in New York City, encouraging us all “to pick up when the universe calls.”

Performance: A self-described “dance floor demon,” singer-songwriter Tolliver rocks the house with a performance of “Say What” and “I’m Nervous.”

The talks in brief:

Experiential artist Lonneke Gordijn speaks at Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Nature is never static, says experiential artist Lonneke Gordijn, whose work with creative partner Ralph Nauta is informed by that principle. Together they’ve created artworks that evoke nature and border on magic, founding Studio Drift to tap into the world’s mysteries. Gordijn describes Shylight, an installation of lights that float down from the ceiling, opening and closing, interacting like flowers, and how it became an ongoing art piece exploring different mechanisms and rhythms that spark different reactions in their audience. Fascinated by murmurations (creatures going places, leaderless, moving together), Gordijin shares the evolving process of their research-backed, software-driven environmental art piece made of a building-sized swarm of drones that flew across the desert at Burning Man, enchanting all. Unexpectedly, she reveals a massive block of concrete hiding in the shadows of the TED Theater, as — like magic — it becomes weightless and begins to float over Gordijn … over the audience … almost like it came to life and was trying to find its way back home.

Vinu Daniel speaks at Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

What if we could put waste to work building a better world? Climate-responsive architect Vinu Daniel is doing exactly that, having developed new, natural building techniques that utilize local, discarded materials such as plastic, tires and mud to create magnificent yet utilitarian spaces. His design firm, Wallmakers, builds dreamlike homes, schools and more that blend with the landscape, showing what’s possible when we build with our planet in mind.

Misan Harriman speaks at Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Given a warm video introduction by his friend, Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, arts advocate Misan Harriman‘s love for rich cultural experiences was ignited in his youth by the internet. It was an “endless library of the extraordinary,” he says, especially for a dyslexic Nigerian boy like himself who felt under-stimulated in his boarding school classes. Harriman went from observer of content to artist after he saw an image of Coretta Scott King at the funeral of her late husband Martin Luther King Jr. — it showed him that photography had the power to expose the work we need to do in this life. When George Floyd was murdered, Harriman took his camera to the protests that erupted in London and captured one of the greatest civil rights movements in our lifetimes — and Martin Luther King III shared one of his images on social media and millions saw what his work illuminated. Pointing to the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa, he urges us all to take an unflinching look at what needs to be done in the world around us — and then do something.

Melissa Villaseñor Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

While Saturday Night Live alum Melissa Villaseñor earned comedic success through her uncanny celebrity impressions, too often she felt the laughs weren’t for her but rather for the characters. She shares how she learned to combine personal vulnerability with her classic voice bits (think: Sandra Bullock, Britney Spears, Dolly Parton and many more), centering her identity and family story on stage. Through her touching, hilarious journey, Villaseñor encourages everyone to be themselves and believe in their dreams — even if you don’t know what to do after you achieve them.

Imran Chaudhri speaks at Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

From the desktop computer to the laptop to the smarthphone to the smartwatch, in recent decades our devices have grown smaller and more powerful. User experience visionary and Humane cofounder Imran Chaudhri says the next step in this progression will be far more radical. Using the power of AI, our devices will disappear completely, and the human-technology relationship will become “screenless, seamless and sensing.” To make his point, Chaudhri previews his company’s unreleased device, which sits in his breast pocket and can translate his words — and voice — into French, ask for local shopping suggestions and assess if a chocolate bar meets his dietary restrictions. He forecasts a future where AI-powered tech will do away with screens, helping us to be more present and efficient in our everyday lives.

Lucas Rizzotto speaks at Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

What is the relationship between art and technology? In the past, says mixed reality experiential artist Lucas Rizzotto, artists often imagined new realities that engineers later built (think of the influence of sci-fi writers, for instance). But as powerful technology grows more accessible, Rizzotto wants to reverse this formula by encouraging artists to express themselves through technology — because it’s perspective, even more than technical skill, that leads to a vision worth creating. He shares how his own free-ranging exploration has led to various unexpected and delightful innovations: a suit you can play like an instrument and a game for lonely people now being adapted as group therapy. “When you take the technology we don’t understand and approach it as an artist, you do things a conventional engineer would never do,” Rizzotto says.

Ersin Han Ersin speaks at Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

What’s it like to be a tree — to host a vast web of relationships that anchor an entire ecosystem? In a mind-blowing talk, artist Ersin Han Ersin asks us to step into a giant sequoia tree, peering through its bark into the tapestry of life within. He gives a tour of his multisensory, mixed-reality installations — co-created with the art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast along with teams of scientists, programmers, structural engineers and more — and shares how they explore the concept of umwelt, or the unique sensory world of different organisms. The work is an effort to rethink the primordial relationship between plants, animals and fungi — and to dismantle the myth of human separation from the natural world. “We are as much trees as trees are us,” he says.

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New “TED Radio Hour” three-part series explores “Mind, Body, Spirit”

Par : TED Staff

For millennia, humans have debated the connection between the mind, body and spirit. But today, the phrase sounds trite — a hallmark of the #selfcare industry. Over three episodes of this special series on TED Radio Hour, TED speakers will investigate fresh perspectives on how we think, move and feel.

In the first hour: the mind. The brain is the most complex organ in the human body. It gives us control over our bodies and shapes our thoughts, memories and emotions. But how? And can we coach ourselves to think better? The series kicks off with an investigation into the different ways we think and understand the world, what new brain-computer interfaces could do for sharing our thoughts and a story about taming that voice in our head that makes us miserable. Plus, a poem about preparing your mind to be more open to creative ideas. Mind-blowing stuff? Hell yes. Guests explore the internal and external influences on our minds, including animal behaviorist and autism activist Temple Grandin, podcast host and meditation advocate Dan Harris, neurointerventionist Tom Oxley and poet Sarah Kay.

The second hour focuses on the body. We know it’s important to listen to our bodies and trust how we feel, but it’s not always easy. In part 2 of our series, TED speakers explore ideas about movement, pleasure and rest. Guests include choreographer Ryan Heffington, news anchor Lee Thomas, aerialist Adie Delaney and therapist KC Davis.

In the third and final episode we hear from speakers who’ve found unique ways to rekindle the human spirit and, as the saying goes, stay “true” to themselves. Guests include author, researcher and podcaster Tania Lunar, renowned artist JR and serial entrepreneur Artur Sychov. Their challenges include invasions of privacy, incarceration, exile and simply facing human mortality. Their tactics? Sidestepping linear time with innovation, embracing uncertainty by incorporating surprise into our daily lives and using beauty to overwhelm the ugly side of humanity. Their stories will spark your zest for life, too.

You can get all three episodes of our “Mind, Body, Spirit” series, as well as more episodes of TED Radio Hour, on Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Imagination: Notes from Session 10 of TED2022

A trio of dancers perform Nina McNeely’s “Once There Was III” at Session 10 of TED2022: A New Era on April 13, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

The wondrous, expansive, absurd creativity of humanity was on full display at Session 10 of TED2022, which featured seven brilliant speakers, one deeply beautiful and imaginative performance and a much-needed comedic interlude.

The event: Talks from Session 10 of TED2022, hosted by TED’s Helen Walters

When and where: Wednesday, April 13, 2022, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Anil Ananthaswamy, Sutu, Gina Gutierrez, Dan Widmaier, Tiffani Ashley Bell, Anicka Yi, JR

Performance: A talented trio of dancers brought choreographer and creative director Nina McNeely’s contemporary dance piece “Once There Was III” to life. The performance featured a mesmerizing combination of choreography, music and projection mapping.

Comedy: Comedian Pardis Parker made his return to the TED stage with a lively stand-up routine, quipping on Canadian etiquette, the mind-boggling wealth of billionaires and the real secret to leaving a legacy (hint: it involves candy).

Pardis Parker speaks at SESSION 10 at TED2022: A New Era. April 10-14, 2022, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED

The talks in brief:

Anil Ananthaswamy speaks at Session 10 of TED2022: A New Era and April 13, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Stacie McChesney / TED)

Anil Ananthaswamy, science writer

Big idea: Experiences of “altered selves” — from schizophrenia to Alzheimer’s to foreign limb syndrome — challenge our most basic assumptions about the self.

How? The self is a slippery subject, says science writer Anil Ananthaswamy. If you ask yourself, “Who am I?” you’ll most likely answer in the form of a story. Yet people with Alzheimer’s disease lose the capacity to tell accurate stories about themselves, and still their sense of self remains. What about the body? Surely, our embodied selves are integral to who we are. But people with foreign limb syndrome often see their own body parts as horrendous and unfamiliar, and they retain a sense of self. Similarly, many view agency as integral to the self, but not everyone feels this way. People with schizophrenia, for example, don’t always feel like the agent of their actions — so, even without a sense of agency, the experiencing self persists. In light of these diverse human experiences, Ananthaswamy considers the constructed nature of the self and calls for empathy for those experiencing “altered selves.”


Stuart Sutu Campbell speaks at Session 10 at TED2022: A New Era on April 13, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Sutu, multimedia artist

Big idea: We can use metaverse technology to create digital art that enhances and enriches our physical spaces.

How? When many people imagine our metaverse future, they envision a reality where they’ll spend more and more of their lives at home, online and interfacing with others through a digital avatar. But if you’re anything like augmented reality designer Sutu, you don’t want to be stuck inside staring at screens anymore. Sutu’s work shows us how digital art and digital experiences can heighten our experiences of community, creativity and connection in the real world. He introduces us to the LovePunks, a group of young people (and five grandmas) in Western Australia with whom he created a videogame and a digital comic by first getting dressed up, making costumes, painting faces, building sets and brainstorming stories by acting them out. He also shares how he and augmented reality programmer Lukas Karluk started covering the world in augmented art and sharing these tools with other digital artists. (They even AR- hacked The New York Times!) Finally, Sutu invited the TED audience to create a digital doodle that he then wove into a magical metaverse tapestry, delighting even the most techno-hesitant among us.


Gina Gutierrez speaks at Session 10 at TED2022: A New Era on April 13, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Gina Gutierrez, sexual wellness storyteller

Big idea: The next time you notice you haven’t been in the mood for sex in a while, try some exercises to engage your sexual imagination.

How? The brain is our biggest sex organ, but we often forget about the importance of imagination when it comes to our sex lives, says Gina Gutierrez. As the founder of audio-erotica company Dipsea, Gutierrez wants to remind us of the mind’s power to stoke arousal and desire. Dipsea creates immersive audio stories designed to turn women on. For those who aren’t ready to dive into audio-erotica, she shares some tips to activate your sexual imagination on your own, including settling down before you fantasize (as you might before a meditation) and tapping into your senses. Gutierrez then recommends conjuring a scenario from memory or inventing an entirely new one before imagining an appealing person and how they might approach you. Whatever brings you and your brain pleasure works.


Dan Widmaier speaks at Session 10 at TED2022: A New Era on April 13, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Dan Widmaier, biomaterials investigator

Big Idea: We can transform the environmental impact of the fashion industry by replacing unsustainable materials with natural ones, like spider silk and mushrooms. 

How? While pursuing his PhD in chemistry and chemical biology, Dan Widmaier fell in love with the strength and durability of spider silk. From there blossomed a love for all nature-based materials, which he believes can replace the unsustainable, non-biodegradable materials currently used in the fashion industry. He began working to create an alternative leather product that could mimic cowhide’s dense collagen structures, which is what makes leather so strong and flexible. Looking to nature, he discovered that mushrooms contain stringy, fibrous strands called mycelium that are remarkably similar to the collagen in cowhide. He then set up a factory where he could grow and harvest mycelium at scale, and many prototypes later, Mylo — a beautiful, functional and sustainable leather-like material — was born. Mylo requires significantly less space and resources to grow than cattle, and the facilities they are grown in are powered entirely by renewable energy. It can take decades for new materials to go mainstream in the fashion industry, but due to the accelerating impact of climate change, Widmaier knows we can’t afford to wait. He launched the Mylo Consortium, a group of fashion brands including Lululemon, Stella McCartney, Kering and Adida to bring Mylo out of the lab and into the hands of designers — and ultimately, into your closet. The sustainable materials revolution is here; innovators across the world are designing green alternatives for the fashion industry. “This is our roadmap: we went looking to nature for a better alternative to leather and found mycelium hiding in plain sight,” Widmaier says. “Fashion has a golden opportunity to lead the charge to live with nature instead of against it.”


Tiffani Ashley Bell speaks at Session 10 at TED2022: A New Era on April 13, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Stacie McChesney / TED)

Tiffani Ashley Bell, humanitarian programmer

Big idea: One small idea helped pay $1 million in water bills. To fight injustice, channel your outrage into simple, obvious solutions.

How? A few summers ago, Tiffani Ashley Bell learned that tens of thousands of people were facing water shut-offs in Detroit, and she decided to take action. Channeling her outrage at a system that punished Black and brown people for being poor, she attacked Detroit’s shut-off problem in the “smallest, simplest, most obvious: way possible. Using her skills as a programmer, Bell built a platform that helped strangers directly pay struggling Detroiters’ water bills. As of today, Bell’s non-profit The Human Utility has helped more than 5,000 people with $1 million dollars in water bill payments across the US. “I’m not here to tell you benevolent strangers working from home in their pajamas should replace systemic change,” Bell says. “But if you feel appalled by a problem you see in the world, start small and start simple. What change do you have the time, resources or skills to realize?”


Anicka Yi speaks at Session 10 at TED2022: A New Era on April 13, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Stacie McChesney / TED)

Anicka Yi, conceptual artist

Big idea: Modern tech designers mostly craft machines to emphasize their cold, digital forms and functions. What if we instead designed our devices to resemble and behave like biological entities? Anicka Yi imagines a world built on a symbiotic relationship between humans and our tools — a world where we connect with technology, rather than become alienated from it.

How? Taking cues from soft robotics and designs from nature, Anicka Yi and her team created what she describes as “an aquarium of machines” at London’s Tate Modern, building lighter-than-air robots that could freely roam the museum space and interact directly with visitors as autonomous life forms. Amongst machines that resemble life forms, we might feel a sense of awe rather than fear — a sense that these machines are fellow creatures, rather than alien beings. “What if our machines could be more than just our tools, and instead, a new type of companion species?” Yi asks. “What would it feel like to live in the world with machines that could live in the wild and evolve on their own?”


JR speaks at SESSION 10 at TED2022: A New Era. April 10-14, 2022, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED

JR, artist

Big idea: Famed for his enormous black and white portraits that tell stories and adorn surfaces from the Louvre to the favelas of Brazil, JR continues to tackle ambitious projects — most recently, a massive mural at a supermax prison in California that tells the stories of those confined inside its walls.

How? Granted unprecedented access to a California maximum-security prison, muralist JR set out to photograph and record the stories of a group of inmate volunteers — and then paste their enormous paper group portrait on the floor of the prison’s exercise yard. Viewed from above using drones (which many prisoners had never seen before), inmates were able to connect with themselves and the outside world from a new perspective — and many of them reaped positive impacts they never deemed possible. “Art can change things … but can it change the world, or can it change a man?” JR asks. “Before you answer that question, think: at some point in your life, have you changed? And if you did, why can’t they?”

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Wellbeing: Notes from Session 6 of TED2022

Attendees gather at Session 6 of TED2022: A New Era on April 12, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Stacie McChesney / TED)

The feeling of wellbeing has been in short supply the last couple years. In Session 6 of TED2022, we took a crack at restocking that supply — featuring a return of Bill Gates to the TED stage (talking about how to make COVID the last pandemic), a compelling case for the four-day work week and much more.

The event: Talks from TED2022, Session 6: Wellbeing, hosted by TED’s Helen Walters and Whitney Pennington Rodgers

When and where: Tuesday, April 12, 2022, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Bill Gates, Jason W. Chin, Juliet Schor, Sergiu P. Pasca, Bevy Smith, Shankar Vedantam

The talk in brief:

Bill Gates speaks at Session 6 of TED2022: A New Era on April 12, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Stacie McChesney / TED)

Bill Gates, technologist, philanthropist

Big idea: We can make COVID-19 the last pandemic.

How? COVID has killed millions, upended economies and increased inequity. Now we must seize the opportunity to learn from it and ensure everyone has a chance to live a healthy and productive life. Taking lessons from ancient Rome, where a devastating fire led Emperor Augustus to create a permanent firefighting organization, Gates thinks we need to invest in and practice pandemic prevention through the creation of a global fast-response pandemic-fighting outfit could get to the epicenter of newly detected pandemics in a matter of days, not months, with the right tools and resources. He calls it the GERM team (GERM = Global Epidemic Response & Mobilization): a full-time group made up of specialists in epidemiology, data science, logistics and more whose mission is to stop outbreaks before they become pandemics. Like firefighters, the GERM team would constantly drill to make sure they could respond quickly and work to improve local health systems in the absence of burgeoning outbreaks and new pathogens. Their goal would be to stop an outbreak within 100 days — a goal which, had it been achieved with COVID, would have stopped 98 percent of the death associated with the disease. In addition to GERM, better diagnostics, infection-blocking tools and easier-to-distribute vaccines will be key to stopping the next pandemic. Finally, and most expensive, we need to invest in improved health systems. The cost to prevent the next pandemic will be tens of billions of dollars, a massive sum but far less than the estimated 14 trillion dollar cost of COVID. “We need to spend billions in order to save trillions,” Gates says.


Jason W. Chin speaks at Session 6 of TED2022: A New Era on April 12, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Jason W. Chin, synthetic biologist

Big Idea:  Making a virus-resistant organism by reprogramming the genetic code is not just about stopping the spread of disease — it’s about making a sustainable, circular bio-economy based on nature.

How? The universal DNA code used to make proteins in all life forms and viruses is something we can exploit in multiple applications: from virus-resistant crops to improved drugs to cleaner manufacturing. Jason Chin began with the question, “Does all life need multiple synonymous codons to encode a single amino acid?” and completely replaced and compressed the genetic code of an E.Coli cell, creating the largest synthetic genome ever made. The resulting live cell no longer had the code or machinery that would allow a virus to read its code or depend on it for its own replication, showing that rewriting genetic code could be a route to creating broadly virus-resistant life. Further, by adding synthetic DNA deleted from the genome back into the cell alongside new, engineered translational machinery that reads it, Chin can program cells to make new molecules, or polymers, used to make plastics, materials and drugs including antibiotics, anti-tumor agents. These polymers could enable low-energy, renewable processes — a favorable alternative to plastics derived from crude oil. By reprogramming the universal genetic code, Chin seeks to unlock pathway to closed-loop, low-energy, cellular manufacturing processes. “By taking inspiration from nature and building on the powerful paradigms nature has created, we have the opportunity to build the sustainable industries of the future,” he says.


Juliet Schor speaks at Session 6 of TED2022: A New Era on April 12, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Juliet Schor, economist

Big idea: A four-day week sounds great. But is it realistic?

The answer: Actually, yes — and it not only benefits workers but also companies and society writ large, says Juliet Schor. For almost a decade, companies and governments have been experimenting by offering shorter work hours without pay cuts. The result? Employees are less stressed, value their jobs more, have better lives outside of work — and get as much done in four days than they did in five. As for companies, Schor shares evidence that they’re benefiting from lower turnover, higher-quality applicants and savings on health care. What’s more, shorter work hours reduces carbon emissions: if people are commuting to and spending less time at the office, everybody’s carbon footprint goes down. Schor admits that it’s not feasible for everyone to take advantage of a compressed four-day work week — namely public school teachers and frontline health care workers. But pandemic-driven anxiety and burnout call for brave new experimentation in how we work and live.


Sergiu P. Pasca speaks at Session 6 of TED2022: A New Era on April 12, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Sergiu P. Pasca, neuroscientist

Big Idea: By growing live neural circuits of the human brain in lab settings, we can gain new insight into human biology and usher in a new era of brain disorder research and treatment.

How? Though we’ve studied how the human brain functions through the brains of other animals, the intricate workings of the human brain — and human brain disorders — remain a mystery. This could all change thanks to new research on brain organoids, which are living cellular clumps of neural tissue. Brain organoids are grown by turning skin cells into stem cells, then instructing those stem cells to organize into brain-related structures. Organoids can then be combined into assembloids, creating miniature living circuits that help us better understand how brain biology and activity works. Developing treatments for brain disorders like autism and schizophrenia is especially difficult because we aren’t able to access or replicate live brain tissue from patients — until now. By growing and studying these neural circuits, we can revolutionize our understanding of human brain function, evolution and disease.


Bevy Smith speaks at Session 6 of TED2022: A New Era on April 12, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Stacie McChesney / TED)

Bevy Smith, pop culture queen

Big idea: Life gets greater, later.

How? It takes getting to know yourself and settling for nothing less, says Bevy Smith. Once a globe-trotting fashion advertising executive, she realized that while she had succeeded in the traditional sense, she had also settled for a life and persona that didn’t reflect her true self. Her revelation (or “Bevelation”) pushed her to reconsider how settling for cliché goals can be insidious and lead to unhappiness, spurring a renewed life of world travel, cultural immersion, rediscovering the selfhood she had repressed and embracing the art of extending grace to others. Smith recognizes that while her mother’s strength and clarity of self throughout her own life helped give her a blueprint on where to start, she also asked herself three questions that she hopes will help anyone looking to foster positive growth. First: Who am I at my core? Delve deep into yourself to excavate your personhood. Second: How am I being perceived? Be honest with your behaviors and how you affect the people around you. And third: How would I like to be perceived? Do the work and show up for yourself in ways most authentic to pursuing a better life and you’ll love the person who comes forward. Better to bloom late than not at all.


 

Shankar Vedantam speaks at Session 6 of TED2022: A New Era on April 12, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Shankar Vedantam, journalist, podcast host

Big idea: The predictions we make about our lives tend to be largely misguided because, as we grow and evolve, we chart paths for ourselves that are inevitably different from what we once envisioned. By embracing discomfort, being humble and finding the courage to embark on new adventures, we could work proactively to curate the best version of our future selves.

How? It’s tempting to imagine that the person looking back at you in the mirror many years from now is immediately recognizable, with all your hopes, desires and dreams still intact — but Shankar Vedantam believes this way of thinking can be misleading. It’s what he describes as the “illusion of continuity”: the idea that our future will be much like the present, with little to no change. Vedantam explains that when we have a change of heart about anything — from our career trajectory to end-of-life care — there’s a lot more at play than we think. Our ever-changing psychological make-up and the plasticity of our brains means we’re constantly evolving — and so, too, are our wants and needs. The illusion of continuity plays out in larger contexts, too: spouses, politicians and defenders of the law often make lasting proclamations and commitments which, with time, grow incompatible with the realities of the future. So how do we tackle this problem? Vedantam makes three suggestions that could help us rise to the occasion. First, accept and welcome change and constantly seek out new ventures and relationships. Second, practice humility, making space for new perspectives that we may have disagreed with in the past. And finally, face challenges bravely, confident that we can develop the skills and abilities to overcome them in the future. “If you can practice these things, your future self will look back and say thank you,” he says.

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Intelligence: Notes from Session 3 of TED2022

TED’s head of curation Helen Walters hosts Session 3 of TED2022: A New Era on April 11, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

The quest to better understand human intelligence — and to build more advanced artificial intelligence — is complex, knotty and exhilarating. In a wonderfully eclectic session, seven speakers explored the concept of intelligence as it applies to everything from a brain-computer interface to dragonflies, AI-powered art and meditation.

The event: Talks from TED2022, Session 3: Intelligence, hosted by TED’s Helen Walters

When and where: Monday, April 11, 2022, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Tom Oxley, Frances S. Chance, Andrew Ng, Holly Herndon, Dan Harris, Sofia Crespo, Jeanette Winterson

The talk in brief:

Tom Oxley speaks at Session 3 of TED2022: A New Era on April 11, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Bret Hartman / TED)

Tom Oxley, neurotech entrepreneur

Big idea: A revolutionary, scalable way for those with paralysis and disability to communicate — directly with their minds.

How? At the end of 2021, Tom Oxley surrendered his Twitter to a paralysis patient so that he could tweet thoughts directly from his brain — literally, no finger movement involved — thanks to a tiny implant. Don’t worry: Oxley agrees not everyone should be allowed to post on social media directly from their brain. But for people with paralysis and disability, being able to text using a brain-computer interface (BCI) could be a life-changing privilege. With implants connected to screens via Bluetooth, the device is invisible to the outside world and its keyboard navigated with clicks directly coming from brainwaves. One of the biggest requests patients had before the BCI was for ways to reconnect with their loved ones through text, email, social media and control over their smartphone. But in its current stage, the BCI requires open-brain surgery and has an expiration date due to the brain’s rejection of the implant over time. So Oxley and his team redesigned the way in which the BCI collects crucial feedback from the brain — through a specially designed stent that sits in the bloodstream instead of an implant adhered to the tissue. Paired with an antenna inserted into the chest, the device communicates raw brainwaves to external devices such as a smartphone and translates and reassigns existing brain signals into relevant digital gestures. What does this mean for the future of humanity? Far out, sci-fi wonders made fact. But right now? Restoring the lives of those with disability and paralysis who feel trapped, giving them autonomy, independence and, most important, dignity.


Frances S. Chance speaks at Session 3 of TED2022: A New Era on April 11, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Bret Hartman / TED)

Frances S. Chance, computational neuroscientist

Big idea: By studying and replicating the natural neurological specialities of insects, we can make great advancements in AI technology.

How? The human brain is incredibly complex: we each have 86 billion unique neurons in our brains that are constantly communicating with each other. When designing AI technology, it might make sense to look first to our own brains as the model, but Frances S. Chance believes we can gain much by thinking a lot smaller. Using VR technology, she studies African dung beetles, Sahara desert ants and dragonflies, because each is a natural expert in a different vital task. For example, dragonflies capture an astonishing 95 percent of the prey they hunt thanks to their innate talent at interception, or aiming for where the prey will be rather than where it is at any given moment. Chance has developed a model of this particular neural circuit that enables dragonflies to hunt so accurately and quickly, and she believes that if we can identify how these neurons function together, we can better understand how all brains make calculations and problem solve. This could have far-reaching effects for the field of AI — for instance, she imagines we could one day upgrade our GPS systems with Sahara desert ants’ remarkable navigation skills or create tiny drones that function like dragonflies for backyard mosquito reduction. The world of insects may be small, but the potential positive impact of insect-inspired AI on human technology could be enormous.


Andrew Ng, AI visionary

Big idea: Everyone — not just highly trained computer scientists and engineers at large tech companies — should have the opportunity to write the future of AI.

Why? AI systems are expensive to build and often require many highly skilled engineers (and millions of dollars) to maintain. Large tech companies have been better than anyone else at making that kind of investment pay off, but Andrew Ng thinks it’s time to change that. Gone are the days of needing huge data sets and thousands of lines of code to create effective AI, he says, as now just a few data points could help small business owners — like the half a million independent restaurants in the US — make decisions that will benefit their businesses. What would it be like if smaller, local businesses, had access to AI technology? Ng sees benefits in demand forecasting, product placement and supply chain and quality control, to name a few — all stemming from just a few data points uploaded to a custom system that knows what to look for. For example, a t-shirt manufacturer training a system to recognize tears in fabric would only need a few pictures and instructions to create a system capable of scanning a company’s entire inventory, helping them stop defective products from ever reaching shelves. “In the coming era for AI, we’ll be able to empower every individual to build AI systems for themselves,” Ng says.


Holly Herndon performs at Session 3 of TED2022: A New Era on April 11, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Bret Hartman / TED)

Holly Herndon, multidisciplinary artist

Big idea: “Spawning,” the 21st-century corollary of sampling, gives musicians the ability to perform as somebody else based on AI-trained information about them.

How? Using a machine learning process called timbre transfer, musician Holly Herndon trained an AI on hours of her singing to create a digital twin of her voice. Known as Holly+, this twin can sing songs in Hendon’s voice that she herself has never before sung — and in languages she doesn’t speak. She muses about the potential of using another person’s voice as your instrument, a musical tradition she’s named “spawning,” and invites us to consider both its perils for intellectual property and its wild possibilities. Seattle-based musician and songwriter Pher joins her onstage for a mind-blowing demonstration of this new technology. Singing into two microphones — one that amplified his natural voice and another that mapped his voice onto a live version of Holly+ — Pher performs an epic, one-person duet of his song “Murky.”


Dan Harris speaks at Session 3 of TED2022: A New Era on April 11, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Dan Harris, meditation advocate

Big idea: Meditation, and becoming your own supportive coach, can silence your inner demons and help you become a more loving person.

How? Have you ever been stuck in a “toilet vortex”? That’s how Dan Harris describes the feeling of taking out your self-criticisms on others. After spending more than two decades as an anchor for ABC News, an on-air panic attack sent his life in a new direction. Harris overcame his skepticism to embrace meditation, and now he explores how to quiet that inner critic with quiet reflection and positive self-talk. After a particularly scathing 360 review from his friends and colleagues, he took a chance on loving-kindness meditation, even if he wasn’t into all the touchy-feely stuff. We all take our trips down the toilet vortex, Harris says, but he hopes he can get you to engage in what he calls the “cheesy upward spiral” instead. In his experience, it’s made him a better colleague and communicator. “Self-love, properly understood not as narcissism but as having your own back, is not selfish,” he says. “It makes you better at loving other people.”


Sofia Crespo speaks at SESSION 3 at TED2022: A New Era. April 10-14, 2022, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Bret Hartman / TED

Sofia Crespo, neural artist

Big idea: By merging AI and art, artists can create work alongside technology that helps us imagine and render the unknown — and reconnect with our own natural world.

How? Sofia Crespo’s artwork uses AI to envision and create creatures that are both familiar and strange, such as insects with elephant trunks, birds with petals for necks. Humans have always created artistic renditions of the unknown — in the Middle Ages, illustrators would often draw the exhilarating creatures described by explorers who had returned from expeditions. These artistic renditions looked like hybrid animals, much like Crespo’s art. AI, she says, helps her explore the boundaries of what she can imagine. The AI distills and rearranges patterns, leading to stunning images of animals that look like they were lifted from myth. For her project Artificial Natural History, Crespo fed thousands of illustrations from natural history archives to a neural network, which then designed new 3D variations of the images. The animals looked mysteriously realistic, which led Crespo to design their anatomy and scientific definitions. This inspired her latest project, Artificial Remnants, which seeks to celebrate the natural diversity of Earth and highlight endangered animals that don’t receive as much attention. Using text-based prompts, Crespo tasked a neural network trained with millions of images of the natural world to generate 3D renditions of actual endangered creatures, resulting in incredible mash-ups of natural elements. Crespo believes that these chimeras can help us expand our imagination about the ecosystems we live in. Though we may not spend our lives exploring new lands on risky expeditions, our imaginations are boundless — and AI can help us bring those ideas to life.


Jeanette Winterson speaks at Session 3 of TED2022: A New Era on April 11, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Jeanette Winterson, writer

Big idea: We have the chance to change human nature for the better.

How? Believe it or not, through AI — but not the “geeks will inherit the earth” kind, says Jeanette Winterson. When she talks about AI, she means “alternative intelligence”: a blurring of the boundaries between human and machine, leaving both changed for the better. From this perspective, the wildly diverse possibilities for machine learning and computing power — like the creation of “hybrid humans” whose brains are linked to the internet (and each other) — provides an opportunity for humanity to break away from “us vs. them” binary thinking and step into a new age of cooperation. It’s a thrilling vision of the future, but first the whole world would need to come together — working across race and gender, the sciences and the arts — to bring this alternative intelligence to life.

The TED Theater at TED2022: A New Era on April 11, 2021 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Stacie McChesney / TED)

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The talks of TED@BCG 2022

The world is facing an unprecedented pace of change. In a day of talks and performances, a diverse group of experts explore how to stay ahead of the curve — covering everything from the value of purpose in business to the democratization of storytelling and the exciting potential of human-AI collaboration.

The event: TED@BCG 2022 is the twelfth event TED and Boston Consulting Group have co-hosted to spotlight leading thinkers from around the globe. Hosted by TED’s Head of Partnerships Lisa Choi Owens, with opening remarks from Christoph Schweizer, CEO of BCG.

Special feature: For this event, TED reached out to five past speakers (all brilliant business leaders) and asked them one question: What idea in business is not being embraced fast enough? The five speakers — Margaret Heffernan, Angela Duckworth, Danielle Moss, Jacqueline Novogratz and Tim Leberecht — gave diverse, enlightening answers.

Music: Singer-songwriter Lex Land treats the audience to a performance of her Texas mid-century swing.

The talks in brief:

Ashley M. Grice speaks at TED@BCG at the TED World Theater in New York City on February 17, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Ashley M. Grice, purpose expert

Big idea: Purpose can embed meaning and authenticity into every aspect of a company, from the top floor to the shop floor. 

How? Ashley M. Grice thinks a lot about how companies can live and breathe their “why.” Different from mission statements or visions, which naturally change over time, a company’s “why” (or purpose) is timeless and impacts its entire ethos. She shares the example of a flight attendant who went above and beyond by thoughtfully giving Grice extra snacks on a busy day, a kind gesture that reflected the airline’s culture of purpose. Sharing useful advice for businesses, Grice details three important things to know about making purpose part of your company’s muscle memory: 1) Be authentic and uphold values; 2) Purpose exists in the crossroads of idealism and realism — and it’s supposed to be uncomfortable; 3) Purpose must impact every layer of a company, from a CEO’s strategy to middle management’s decision-making to frontline workers’ visibility. By continuously reflecting on the journey to purpose, it becomes the norm — and everyone’s role is important. 


Shervin Khodabandeh speaks at TED@BCG at the TED World Theater in New York City on February 17, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Shervin Khodabandeh, human and AI visionary

Big idea: We often think of artificial intelligence as technology that will one day replace human skill sets — but AI alone can’t solve all our problems. What if, instead of overinvesting in advanced algorithms, we combined the data-driven strengths of AI with the unique capabilities of human thinking? Shervin Khodabandeh shows how fostering a symbiotic relationship between people and AI creates more financial value for companies, a happier workforce and an ideal middle ground upon which challenging problems can be solved.

How? Even though companies across the world spend billions of dollars building AI capabilities, Khodabandeh says that only about ten percent of them see meaningful returns on their investments. He believes that one way to solve this problem is to use AI in conjunction with the creativity, judgment, empathy and ethics that humans offer. But how exactly can companies achieve mutually beneficial human-AI relationships? First, Kodabandeh says companies should identify the unique role AI systems could play in their organization — not simply as replacements for humans but as illuminators of innovative solutions or recommenders to improve decision-making. Next, companies should take advantage of feedback loops, through which humans and AI can learn from each other. Finally, they should use this knowledge to determine which combination of human-AI roles and skills best suits specific business needs. When that happens, an organization’s overall rate of learning increases, making it more agile, resilient and adaptable. “It is the human touch that will bring out the best in AI,” Kodabandeh says.


Ken Chenault in conversation with TED current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers at TED@BCG at the TED World Theater in New York City on February 17, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Ken Chenault, business leader, in conversation with Whitney Pennington Rodgers, TED current affairs curator

Big idea: During times of crisis, leaders have a responsibility to inspire hope, remain grounded in core values and, ultimately, serve and empower the people they lead. 

How? “The best leaders recognize that leadership is both a responsibility and a privilege,” says Ken Chenault, who believes that if you want to lead, you have to be willing to serve. This mindset is especially crucial during times of crisis, when people depend on leaders to perform two key responsibilities: contextualizing challenges and emphasizing the potential to overcome them. Chenault says that one of the most important leadership strategies a company can have is understanding how to empower the people it serves — from employees and customers to investors and stakeholders. Working with organizations like General Catalyst, which centers technology in building companies, and OneTen, which helps Black Americans secure family-sustaining careers, he advocates for responsible innovation: a principle that says companies can and should meet the needs of their followers in an inclusive way, while making investments in new technologies. By upholding their integrity, fostering creative change and challenging the status quo, leaders have the opportunity to transform the workforce and give people opportunities to embark on their own leadership journeys.


Hyeonmi Kim speaks at TED@BCG at the TED World Theater in New York City on February 17, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Hyeonmi Kim, strategy consultant 

Big idea: The next great stories are coming from the bizarre and fantastical world of webtoons.

How? Pop culture is changing with a different kind of storytelling, says Hyeonmi Kim. They’re called webtoons: stories told using comic-like illustrations that are published in short segments (usually on a weekly basis) and meant to be read on a smartphone in five to ten minutes. Originating in Korea, webtoons have leapt out of niche platforms and onto the big screen, as with Netflix’s Hellbound, which hit the platform’s top ten list in 2022 after being released as webtoon in South Korea in 2019. Kim sees webtoons as a democratization of storytelling — anyone can share a story and find an audience — and an opportunity for up-and-coming creators to potentially hit on big-time success. What’s more, webtoons are breaking through mainstream media’s closed ecosystem of scriptwriters, where the same writers script (suspiciously similar) blockbusters, laying down a fresh pipeline of rich, varied storytelling. “The writers are diverse and creative, and so are their stories,” Kim says.


Bernhard Kowatsch speaks at TED@BCG at the TED World Theater in New York City on February 17, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Bernhard Kowatsch, social entrepreneur

Big idea: Big global challenges are no different than global business challenges.

How? Why do we think so traditionally about some of the world’s biggest challenges? Bernhard Kowatsch points to issues like global hunger, for example. After he and his business partner developed a successful app for easily donating meals to hungry children around the world, Kowatsch was inspired to do more. The opportunity arrived in leading the World Food Programme’s Innovation Accelerator, replicating what Silicon Valley does well but for global social good — in this case, supporting start-up and non-profit innovations worldwide and helping them scale successfully to disrupt hunger. Since 2015, the program has positively impacted the lives of more than eight million people, doubling year over year with initiatives such as Building Blocks (a blockchain-supported way for aid organizations to provide food to refugees) and the invention of a machine that fortifies flour with nutrients. Kowatsch asks: Can accelerated innovation and technology help tackle some of the world’s issues? He absolutely believes so — and has the evidence to prove it. The only barrier now is our own thinking.

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What Now … for health and happiness? Notes from Session 2 of TEDWomen 2021

Sex educator and podcaster Kaz speaks at TEDWomen 2021: What Now? on December 2, 2021 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

For Session 2 of TEDWomen 2021, seven speakers shared ideas and insights on everything from mental health and family structures to how to uplift personal and collective dignity.

The event: TEDWomen 2021: Session 2, hosted by TED’s head of curation Helen Walters in Palm Springs, California on December 2, 2021

Speakers: Charles C. Daniels, Jr., Smita Sharma, Zarlasht Halaimzai, Kaz, Francisca Mutapi and Diana Adams

Musical comedian Marcia Belsky performs at TEDWomen 2021: What Now? on December 2, 2021 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)

Music and comedy: For a bit of comic relief, Marcia Belsky has some fun with a song about scrolling back through a date’s Instagram feed as well as “100 Tampons,” which lampoons NASA’s notorious decision to provide astronaut Sally Ride with an egregious supply of tampons for her six-day trip to the space in 1983. “And they asked: Will that be enough?” she sings.

The talks in brief:

Scholar and therapist Charles C. Daniels, Jr. speaks at TEDWomen 2021: What Now? on December 2, 2021 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)

Charles C. Daniels, Jr., scholar, therapist

Big idea: In order to be present and connected to their children, fathers need to learn and be empowered to parent themselves. 

How? An estimated 10 million children in the US see their fathers less than once a month, and research has shown that poverty rates, emotional and behavioral issues and school dropout and crime rates all increase when kids inconsistently see their fathers. Sharing his personal journey, Charles C. Daniels, Jr. recounts the profound impact of not seeing his own father — and explores the complex reasons a parent could have for not being there. The reasons that don’t get talked about are the ones that exacerbate the problem, he explains. That’s why he created Father’s UpLift, an organization that helps dads love, forgive and heal themselves and their children. They work with fathers to navigate shame, guilt and other challenges through group therapy, mentorship, coaching and support. Daniels, Jr. helps fathers reconnect with their kid and learn how to parent themselves so they, in turn, can be better parents.


Photojournalist and visual storyteller Smita Sharma speaks at TEDWomen 2021: What Now? on December 2, 2021 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)

Smita Sharma, TED Fellow, photojournalist, visual storyteller

Big idea: Throughout the world, women are cast aside as unworthy of education or self-determination, relegated to tasks of parenting, household duties — and, sometimes, trafficked or enslaved. Through her moving photographs, Smita Sharma shares their stories.

How? By blending into her subjects’ lives and communities (sometimes under the guise of a researcher on “female hygiene,” something men are typically loathe to discuss), Smita Sharma gains the trust of her subjects: women born into poverty who are denied education, become victims of abduction, sexual violence or child marriage. With their consent, Sharma creates powerful visual narratives that depict these forgotten lives with grace and compassion, and that seek to inspire action around systemic issues of gender inequality.


Writer and advocate for refugee rights Zarlasht Halaimzai speaks at TEDWomen 2021: What Now? on December 2, 2021 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)

Zarlasht Halaimzai, writer, advocate for refugee rights

Big idea: Understanding the emotional fallout of violence and displacement is more important than ever.

Why? As a child growing up in Afghanistan, Zarlasht Halaimzai was surrounded by violence. She vividly recalls her grandmother trying to shepherd her family to safety as rockets fell around them, and the overwhelming sense of fear that pervaded her life. The violence forced Halaimzai and her family to leave their home — and when the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 1996, her family sought asylum in the UK, beginning a new life. Now almost three decades later, Halaimzai is an advocate for refugee rights, working to help others overcome the devastation of war and the trauma of feeling expendable. Estimates suggest that today there are more than 84 million forcibly displaced people and 420 million children growing up in places where violence is the norm. Living under the threat of constant violence affects people even when they manage to get out, she says, leaving a terrible legacy on their bodies, minds, spirits and social bonds. With the Amna, Halaimzai uses art, mindfulness, dancing and storytelling to make sense of violence and the experience of being forced from your home, recognizing trauma and building community. The situation is bleak but not hopeless, she says, and there are things we can all do to participate in change. It’s time to demand governments stop investing in mass destruction. “Every vote that we cast should be against weapons of mass destruction, against automation of war,” she says. And she asks us to protect asylum seekers and to be good neighbors to displaced people who join our communities.


Kaz, TED Fellow, sex educator, podcaster

Big idea: Let’s create safe spaces for sex education (no shame or judgment allowed!) and build a curriculum to educate young people on consent.

Why? The best way to raise adults with healthy sexual habits is to teach kids about consent early — before sex is even a topic of conversation, says sex educator and TED Fellow Kaz. This would look like teaching kids that everything associated with their bodies can be negotiated, whether it’s a hug from grandma or asking permission to play tag with someone on the playground. A native of Kenya, Kaz experienced firsthand the detrimental effects of incompetent sex education. Her school’s curriculum centered shame, disturbing imagery and abstinence, leaving her and her peers largely without useful knowledge on consent, pleasure, communication, relationships and what healthy sexual behavior looks like. Now, she seeks to bring this “taboo” topic out of darkness because, as she says, the more we talk about sex, the safer and better it becomes for everyone.


Francisca Mutapi, global health researcher

Question: What’s going on with the Omicron COVID-19 variant?

Answer: There’s nothing unusual or unexpected about the COVID-19 virus mutating, says Francisca Mutapi: variants will continue to arise from all across the globe. The key is to ensure our mitigation strategies are sustainable and proportionate to the crisis. This includes all the usual suspects: making potentially high-transmission areas safer; ramping up and normalizing regular testing, as opposed to implementing travel restrictions and bans (which are largely ineffective); increasing vaccine uptake through education; and, as always, wearing face masks and washing hands.


Attorney and LGBTQIA advocate Diana Adams speaks at TEDWomen 2021: What Now? on December 2, 2021 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Diana Adams, attorney, LGBTQIA advocate

Big idea: Laws should protect all forms of family — including “chosen family” (family we aren’t biologically related to) — and not just nuclear family.

Why? The majority of people in the US are not living in nuclear families with a spouse and kids — yet this is treated like it’s a bad thing. As a divorce lawyer, Diana Adams knows that marriage comes with more than a thousand benefits under federal law, from health insurance to better tax rates. “Our laws should move away from the idea that there is only one ideal family form and value all families as they exist,” says Adams. Advocating for more inclusive laws that also support LGBTQIA, polyamorous triads or quads, co-parents and domestic partnerships, Adams explains how a more expansive view of family would strengthen all relationships. This belief is why they founded the nonprofit Chosen Family Law Center, which works to change the law so it protects the entire spectrum of what a family could look like. “My definition of family is people committed to being there for each other no matter what,” Adams says.

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Free to Dream: TED Talks in partnership with American Family Insurance

Resistance Revival Chorus performs at TED Salon: Free to Dream, presented in partnership with American Family Insurance at the TED World Theater in New York on November 17, 2021. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

We all deserve the right to dream and to pursue better, richer and fuller lives. In fact, this ideal is often referred to as the American Dream. And yet, the country’s criminal justice system denies many people the freedom to truly dream — even after they have been technically “freed” from incarceration. In an evening of talks, four speakers and a performer challenged the definition of the word “freedom” and laid out new ideas for how to engage in systems change, close equity gaps and reimagine what it means to be free to dream.

The event: TED Salon: Free to Dream, curated and hosted by Whitney Pennington Rodgers, in partnership with American Family Insurance

Opening remarks: Bill Westrate, president and CEO-elect of American Family Insurance, welcomes the audience to the salon.

Music: A soaring musical interlude from The Resistance Revival Chorus, a collective of women artists and activists who use their voices to amplify freedom, justice reform and the power of dreaming.

Reuben Jonathan Miller speaks at TED Salon: Free to Dream, presented in partnership with American Family Insurance at the TED World Theater in New York on November 17, 2021. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Reuben Jonathan Miller, sociologist, writer

Big idea: For the nearly 20 million Americans with a felony record, punishment doesn’t end with a prison sentence. We need to embrace the politics of radical hospitality, where we make a place in society for all people, even those who’ve done harm.

How? When a previously incarcerated person comes home, they return to a hostile world — what Reuben Jonathan Miller calls an alternate legal reality. In the United States, more than 44,000 laws and policies dictate where a person with a felony record can live, what jobs they can hold, how they can spend their time and whether or not they can vote or see their kids. As a sociologist, Miller has spent more than two decades “following the people we’ve learned to be afraid of.” For people like a man Miller calls Jimmy, who was released from prison into Detroit, punishment never ends. Miller explains how the terms of Jimmy’s release required that he find housing, report to his parole officer for weekly drug screenings, complete a workforce development program and get a job — without providing him with any resources or support. His mother wanted him to come home, but he couldn’t even sleep on her couch because landlords can evict families for housing relatives with criminal records. What’s the solution? How do we end perpetual punishment? We need to change the laws, Miller says, but we also need to change our commitments. He points to Ronald Simpson Bey as someone who models the politics of radical hospitality. Bey spent 27 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, and since he’s come home has become one of the nation’s leading advocates for justice. When a 14-year-old boy murdered his son, Bey even advocated on behalf of the boy to ensure that he would be tried as a minor, giving the boy a second chance in life. As Miller says, people like Bey help us imagine alternatives for the formerly incarcerated; they invite us “to help remake the world, so we all belong, simply because we’re fully human participants in a human community.”


Nyra Jordan speaks at TED Salon: Free to Dream, presented in partnership with American Family Insurance at the TED World Theater in New York on November 17, 2021. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Nyra Jordan, social impact investor

Big idea: Corporations can engage in justice reform by making it easier to hire someone with a criminal record.

How? Corporate commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) often leave out people impacted by the criminal justice system, even though employment is one of the best ways to prevent someone from returning to prison. As social impact investment director for American Family Insurance, Nyra Jordan has pioneered fair chance hiring for people with a criminal record. Under her leadership, the company eliminated any “check here if you have a criminal record” boxes from their job applications and started including programs that train incarcerated individuals in their talent pipeline. Now, she shares four steps to implement fair chance hiring at your company.  First, she says, hire based on skills. If a person has the skills they need for the job, then a gap in their resume for time spent in prison shouldn’t matter. Second, make sure there’s a clear path for promotion for justice-impacted individuals. Third, help justice-impacted employees adjust to your corporate culture. And last, include criminal justice education and anti-bias training as part of your company’s DEI strategy to ensure a positive work environment for all fair chance hires. Someone who’s been involved in the criminal justice system can very much be a qualified candidate. “For many reasons, they might end up being your most motivated, most dedicated, most hard-working employees because their stakes are so much higher,” Jordan says.


Brittany K. Barnett speaks at TED Salon: Free to Dream, presented in partnership with American Family Insurance at the TED World Theater in New York on November 17, 2021. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Brittany K. Barnett, attorney, entrepreneur, author

Big idea: The freedom journey doesn’t end when someone is released from prison. In many ways, it begins. True liberation must include a vision for restoring, investing in and nurturing the creative ingenuity of justice-impacted people.

How? Brittany K. Barnett realizes that we cannot rely on the glacially slow legislative process, or on lawmakers indifferent to those suffering behind bars. Instead, she champions “sustainable liberation” — a concept by which economic freedom, equity and access to resources and capital opens doors for incarcerated creatives to impact their communities both inside and outside of prison walls. In addition to numerous initiatives investing in the businesses of the formerly incarcerated, Barnett and her clients cofounded the Buried Alive project — a joint effort fighting to free those snared by outdated drug laws. Through these programs, Barnett helps restore the dreams of those whose lives have been shattered by prison. “When we lose sight of the humanity of those we unjustly sentence, we lose sight of all of the brilliance they might bring into the world,” she says.


Nick Turner speaks with TED curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers at TED Salon: Free to Dream, presented in partnership with American Family Insurance at the TED World Theater in New York on November 17, 2021. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Nick Turner, president and director of Vera Institute of Justice, interviewed by TED current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers

Big idea: With the Vera Institute, Nick Turner seeks to transform the “criminal legal system” — referred to as such because the so-called “criminal justice system” does not dispense justice. Instead, this system feeds America’s oppressive legacy of racial injustice, established through centuries of slavery and “Black Codes.” Disguised by euphemisms such as “War on Crime,” rather than fixing social problems, our current legal system preserves racial divides and economic inequities. 

How? Democracy can do better than this, Turner says. We must shrink the system, make it less brutal and ensure that there is “some modicum of justice that is provided.” Among other initiatives, the Vera Institute helped overturn the congressionally imposed ban on Pell grants for incarcerated students, which extended to 20,000 students the opportunity to earn a degree. There’s a lot of work to do to build a just justice system, Turner says, but it’s crucial that we recognize the humanity of those caught in it, rather than bow to our fear of violent crime (which police and prisons do relatively little to minimize).

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Rethinking: Notes from Session 5 of Countdown Summit

Head of TED Chris Anderson and David Lammy, Member of Parliament for Tottenham, England, host Session 5 of the TED Countdown Summit on October 14, 2021 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

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To take on the climate crisis, we’re in for some big rethinking — in how we live, work, eat and move forward with solutions that make livelihoods more equitable for everyone, no matter their location or background. The speakers of Countdown Summit Session 5 dig in deep to examine what can be rethought, reworked and revolutionized to make create a turning point in building a just, climate-focused future.

The event: Countdown Summit: Session 5, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson and David Lammy, Member of Parliament for Tottenham, England, at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland on Thursday, October 14, 2021

Speakers: Al Gore, Gavin McCormick, Chibeze Ezekiel, Lucie Pinson, Nili Gilbert, Jack Dangermond and Dawn Lippert

Performance: Prominent members of the Scottish indie-folk scene Hannah Fisher and Sorren Maclean perform two beautiful, transportive songs — and call attention to the dire need for marine conservation.

Food for thought: One of the keys of reducing emissions is eating less meat, and the Countdown Summit is at the forefront attempting to go full-scale vegan. The conference’s head chef Derek Sarno gives mindful yet appetizing insights into why he made the switch to veganism — and what it means to have a plant-based and environmentally friendly diet.

The talks in brief:

Climate advocate and Nobel laureate Al Gore speaks at Session 5 of the TED Countdown Summit on October 14, 2021 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Al Gore, climate advocate and Nobel laureate

Big idea: The climate crisis is the most serious manifestation of an underlying collision between human civilization as we know it and the planet’s ecological systems.

Why? The system most in jeopardy today because of climate change is the very thin shell of atmosphere surrounding our planet. We dump millions of tons of human-made pollution into as if it were an open sewer, the majority of it being fossil fuel emissions, trapping the heat equivalent of 600,000 Hiroshima-class atomic bombs exploding everyday, says climate advocate and Nobel laureate Al Gore. This desecration of the planet is leading to record heat indexes, anomalous extreme climate events (think: fires, floods and atmospheric tsunamis) and increasingly uninhabitable lands and oceans across the world. And this is just a hint at what’s to come. Gore draws undeniable parallels between the climate crisis and COVID-19 pandemic to show how quickly things can change for the worse when ignoring obvious signs — and the frustrating questions that arise when obvious solutions are not implemented equitably. Right now, the sustainability revolution is the biggest investment opportunity in the world. We need the scale of the industrial revolution coupled with the speed of the digital revolution, Gore says, and we need reforms in the current version of capitalism to get there. A net-zero future is within reach, but first we need to flip that mental switch to truly understanding that we can stop the climate crisis. “This is the biggest emergent social movement in all of history,” Gore declares. “If anybody thinks that we don’t have the political will, remember that political will itself is a renewable resource.”


Gavin McCormick speaks at Session 5 of the TED Countdown Summit on October 14, 2021 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Gavin McCormick, high-tech environmental activist

Big idea: Everybody knows that human activity is driving climate change. While governments track their own emissions, is there a way for third parties to track individual polluters?

How? By leveraging existing technology to track the carbon footprints of specific industries, green tech pioneer Gavin McCormick is helping provide tools for policymakers to zero in on the world’s worst emission culprits. As it turns out, very little is known about where human emissions are coming from. Typically self-reported by the polluters themselves, greenhouse gas data is at best an estimate of our “emissions inventory.” Without good data, it’s tough to know how to cure our climate problems. Partnering with a coalition of NGOs, tech companies and even Al Gore, McCormick’s company WattTime has helped create Climate TRACE, a global, transparent and accessible emissions tracking system that uses satellite imagery and AI to hunt down emissions — whether they’re coming from coal plants, factory farms or ocean-going vessels — and transparently report on them.


Chibeze Ezekiel, climate inclusion activist

Big idea: Africa needs new energy sources to fuel its development, but the continent should invest in renewable energy instead of cheap, polluting alternatives like coal.

Why? About 600 million people in Africa still don’t have reliable access to electricity. As a member of the Strategic Youth Network for Development in Ghana, Chibeze Ezekiel agrees that Africa needs energy, but does not believe that coal is the answer for the long-term development of Africa. In 2013, Ghana’s government began planning the construction of the country’s first coal power plant. While the project would have created many new jobs, Ezekiel knew the plant’s wastewater, ash and mercury emissions posed severe health and environmental risks to the local population. He worked with the impacted communities to discuss the consequences of the plan before launching a media campaign against it — and, to his surprise, it worked. Ghana abandoned plans to build the plant and has since decided to prioritize investments in renewable energy. As Ezekiel says, “Development and clean, breathable air should not be mutually exclusive.”


Lucie Pinson speaks at Session 5 of the TED Countdown Summit on October 14, 2021 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Lucie Pinson, financial responsibility campaigner

Big idea: Pollution has a driving force: money. To cut the problem off at the source, you have to start with banks and insurance companies.

How? When we think about pollution and climate change, we usually think of puffs of black smoke rising above coal plants or oil and gas drills digging deep into the Earth. These images haunt us — but the picture is more complex, says financial responsibility campaigner Lucie Pinson. She works to decarbonize finance, convincing banks and insurance companies to stop funding or insuring fossil fuel projects and, in the process, halting development on new fossil fuel projects. She explains her three-part playbook to stop money going into dirty energy: first, make demands that are specific, measurable, achievable and time-bound; second, accept any reason for action (e.g., you might not convince a suite of finance executives of the moral necessity to stop drilling, but you can convince them of the risk to their reputations); and third, engage in what Pinson calls “collaborative blackmailing” — like publishing a bombshell report on new coal plant financing unless the bank agrees to pull out. It’s time to do more than just voting with your wallet and switching over to ethical banking; we need to join together to demand a better from banks and insurers everywhere.


“Emissions anywhere mean warming everywhere,” says investment decarbonization expert Nili Gilbert. She speaks at Session 5 of the TED Countdown Summit on October 14, 2021 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Nili Gilbert, investment decarbonization expert

Big Idea: We need to decarbonize the economy we currently have and invest in a new, net-zero economy now.

How? Bringing science to finance, investment decarbonization expert Nili Gilbert wants to decarbonize the real world — not just investment portfolios. That’s a costly endeavor — net-zero carbon emissions will demand $3-5 trillion per year between now and 2050, she explains. How can we make this possible? First, Gilbert says, we need to fund transformation in every sector, from “light” (like healthcare) to “heavy” (like infrastructure). Next, climate inequality must be addressed with decarbonization goals in mind. As Gilbert says, “Greenhouse gases don’t hover in any one country. Emissions anywhere mean warming everywhere.” Markets can be a tool for positive change, but solutions need to be oriented to the reality of climate change.


Jack Dangermond, Geographic Information Systems pioneer

Big idea: If humanity is going to survive as a species, we need to understand — and map — every corner of the Earth.

How? We’re going to have to leverage every last byte of information we can gather about our natural and built environments. Very soon, web-based interconnected technologies will be able to map literally everything that happens on Earth, allowing us to create a geographic information system (GIS) for the entire planet — a “nervous system for a more sustainable future,” as Jack Dangermond puts it. By seeing where we’re going and mapping out alternate paths to get there, we can create a global, holistic vision of a sustainable future that’s not confined to the borders of our own countries.


Dawn Lippert speaks at Session 5 of the TED Countdown Summit on October 14, 2021 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Dawn Lippert, investment and community leader

Big idea: Technology is only half of the solution when it comes to climate change — investing in the communities where those technologies will be scaled and deployed is just as important.

Why? Last year, investors poured nearly half a trillion dollars into breakthrough decarbonization technologies, but only around $9 billion in funding went to community-based climate solutions. At the Elemental Excelerator, Dawn Lippert and her mentor Maurice Kaya are working to rebalance the equation, bringing community investment more in line with investments in tech. What exactly does community investment look like? “What I mean is investing in nonprofits, in education and in hiring locally — so that we actually have the capacity in local places to implement technologies,” Lippert says. Taking the example of concrete, one of the most abundantly consumed materials on the planet, Lippert explains how she helped fund a startup that introduces captured CO2 into the process of creating concrete — a breakthrough technology that could transform one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions into a carbon sink. But developing cool new technology wasn’t enough; she also worked with governments to create demand for this new concrete by passing a resolution to prefer low-carbon concrete in all new projects. In another project in Hawaii, Lippert helped bridge the gap between a nonprofit seeking to address water pollution on reefs, beaches and fishponds and a startup that turns polluted water into clean electricity, helping the two sides to speak the same language to achieve a shared goal. “For any of these new solutions to work for climate, they have to have at least these two ingredients: the technology that scales and the relationships and empathy that we share,” she says.

Mark your calendar: Tune in to the Countdown Global Livestream on October 30, 2021. This virtual event will lay out a credible and realistic pathway to a zero-carbon future. Save the date.

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Imagining: Notes from Session 2 of Countdown Summit

Hosts Christiana Figueres and Bruno Giussani welcome the audience to Session 2 of the TED Countdown Summit on October 13, 2021 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

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There’s a lot of information on what we’re doing wrong when it comes to climate, and what the world would look like if we keep up the damage. But there’s very little information on what life could look like if we all did our job to repair the planet.

At Session 2 of the Countdown Summit, seven speakers stretched our imaginations — envisioning what it will take to create a different, better future and exactly how far (or close) we are from realizing it.

The event: Countdown Summit: Session 2, hosted by Paris Climate Agreement architect Christiana Figueres and TED’s Bruno Giussani, with facilitation by Leaders’ Quest’s Jayma Pau and Carolina Moeller, at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland on Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Speakers: Solomon Goldstein-Rose, Tzeporah Berman, Dan Jørgensen, Vandana Singh, Enric Sala, Thomas Crowther, Nicola Sturgeon

The talks in brief:

Solomon Goldstein-Rose, climate author

Big idea: To really power our grid from clean energy, we must build more production capacity than we think we need — a lot more. Although many estimates show that we need two and a half times more green production than we currently have, Solomon Goldstein-Rose says we need five times that: a grand total of 12 times today’s clean energy production. Where can we get all this power?

An answer: To go net-negative (not net-zero), to electrify everything with renewables in all parts of the world (not just the wealthy ones) and to power things that can’t be electrified (like airplanes), climate author Solomon Goldstein-Rose affirms that we need more than a green revolution in production. To get where we need to go, the world needs an entirely new electricity grid. As he puts it, we should be “building new things that we’ve barely ever built before, in massive amounts, to create a new system entirely.” Although it’s a tall order, the benefits of such a transformation go far beyond survival: if we can reimagine our power production, we will also create a healthier, cleaner and more prosperous world for everyone.


Tzeporah Berman makes the case for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to stop all new exploration of oil and gas. She speaks at Session 2 of the TED Countdown Summit on October 13, 2021 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Bret Hartman / TED)

Tzeporah Berman, environmental campaigner

Big Idea: The fossil fuel industry has gone largely unregulated. It’s time to wind down its rampant production with a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty for the future of our planet.

How? As climate policy experts negotiate policies set to reduce carbon emissions, the fossil fuel industry continues to grow and pollute for the sake of oil, gas and coal, says environmental campaigner Tzeporah Berman. “Our governments are only regulating emissions and not production of fossil fuels,” she says. As a decades-long advocate for the protection of Canada’s Great Northern Forest, Berman has spent years reaching out to CEOs of oil companies and studying climate policies and has come to a crucial conclusion: without a single mention of “fossil fuels” in the 2015 Paris Agreement, fossil fuel production has escaped regulation. “We are currently on track today to produce 120 percent more fossil fuels in the next decade than the world should burn to stay below 1.5 degrees,” she says. It’s time to stop relying on future technologies that are not yet at scale to solve the problems we’re facing today and begin curbing destructive processes now. The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty can help us get there.


Dan Jørgensen, Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities of Denmark

Big idea: Wind energy will be the cornerstone of the green transformation the world needs.

How? Over the last two decades, the wind energy industry has grown at a dizzying pace. (Fun fact: one wind turbine’s single rotation generates enough electricity to charge 1,314 cell phones.) Building off of this exponential growth, Dan Jørgensen, Denmark’s Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities, lays out his country’s decision to cut 70 percent of its emissions by 2030 and close down the nation’s oil industry by 2050. Their aim is to direct all investment and innovation towards a fossil-free future and create the world’s first “energy islands”:” think scaled-up wind farms that can generate enough electricity for 10 million European households. Offshore wind power could supply the world’s entire electricity demand 18 times over, Jørgensen says, making it a true game-changer in the fight against climate change.


Vandana Singh, one of four Climate Imagination Fellows, shares a short sci-fi story at Session 2 of the TED Countdown Summit on October 13, 2021 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Vandana Singh, climate imagination fellow

Big idea: Science and speculative fiction can support new narratives about our climate future — and inspire action instead of dread.

How? Earlier this year, Countdown partnered with the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University and to create the Climate Imagination Fellowship. In collaboration with ClimateWorks and the United Nations, the fellowship aims to support visionary thinkers who engage with the climate crisis by imagining vibrant futures. Speculative fiction writer and physics professor Vandana Singh is one of four inaugural Climate Imagination Fellows. On the TED stage, she shares an excerpt from her latest work: a captivating tale of how collective dreaming could help humans recognize our interdependence with the planet — and take action to protect it.


Enric Sala, marine ecologist

Big idea: As a diver in the 1970s, Enric Sala saw once-lush oceanscapes reduced to underwater deserts — but later, in marine preserves like the Medes Islands in Spain and Cabo Pulmo in Mexico, he also witnessed the ocean’s power to rejuvenate itself when left to its own natural devices. Could “rewilding” the planet help us restore biodiversity and reduce the impacts of climate change?

How? Marine preserves demonstrate how quickly the environment — land or sea — can rebound from the ravages of overuse and global warming. Trees, grasslands, kelp forests and the biodiversity they shelter are our best weapons against climate change, says marine ecologist Enric Sala — but only work if we allow them to do their work undisturbed by human activity. At present, only seven percent of Earth’s oceans and less than a fifth of land are protected as wilderness. In 2018, Sala and his colleagues at National Geographic partnered with the Wyss Institute to target the biodiversity powerhouses most worth preserving, with the aim of “30 by 30”: rewilding 30 percent of the Earth’s surface and of the ocean floor by 2030.


Thomas Crowther, ecosystem ecology professor

Big Idea: An online, open-data platform to support and connect the global restoration movement can bring transparency to humanity’s footprint on the planet. 

How? There are hundreds of thousands of local communities, Indigenous populations and more working to protect and revitalize nature — making connectivity between these efforts of utmost importance. Enter Restor, a powerful platform in development that ecosystem ecology professor Thomas Crowther describes as “a Google Maps for restoration.” With about 72,000 sites in its database, Restor holds information about thousands of projects around the world, across every imaginable ecosystem, available to explore, learn about and connect with. Crowther gives a tour of this incredible tool, showing how you can learn about native species, environmental conditions and geology to try and predict information about local ecologies. And he shares his vision for the future of Restor and a world where, thanks to data collection, supply chains become so transparent that consumers can know the exact environmental impact of products before they ever leave the store.


First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon speaks at Session 2 of the TED Countdown Summit on October 13, 2021 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland

Big idea: When we talk about tackling climate change, it’s often about bigger countries like the US or China. We must recognize the ambition, leadership and action of small countries, too.

Why? Small countries have no time for small objectives, says First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon. For example, countries like Himalayan nation of Bhutan are leading the way towards a positive climate future, with 130 countries now following in its footsteps towards carbon neutrality; or the tiny island nation of Fiji, which played host the UN climate conference in 2017. Scotland has a special responsibility, considering its rich industrial history, to offset its disproportionate contributions to climate change. And it’s already made big steps, Sturgeon says, like decarbonizing faster than any other G20 nation and establishing a climate justice fund. When large countries fail to act, it’s the smaller regions, states and nations that keep the climate action momentum going — but that can’t always be the case. Countries of all shapes and sizes must step up to the challenge. “We cannot allow our size to be something that we hide behind when it comes to tackling climate change,” she says. “We must think big in our ambition. We must act big in what we do, and we must be big when it comes to the impact we make.”

Mark your calendar: Tune in to the Countdown Global Livestream on October 30, 2021. This virtual event will lay out a credible and realistic pathway to a zero-carbon future. Save the date.

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Shaping the future: Notes from the TED Fellows Session of TEDMonterey

“Sensor data can change the game by providing a common source of truth that enables coordinated action required to maintain life-saving equipment,” says Nithya Ramanathan during the Fellows Session at TEDMonterey: The Case for Optimism on August 2, 2021. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

The TED Fellows are known to be a range of multifaceted souls, making possible the impossible. The eight speakers and one performance on stage at TEDMonterey exemplified this year’s (and every year’s) cohort of amazing people shaping the future and rising to the challenge of making the world better than it’s been left.

The event: TEDMonterey: Fellows Session, hosted by TED’s Shoham Arad and Lily James Olds on Monday, August 2, 2021

Speakers: Daniel Alexander Jones, Tom Osborn, Jenna C. Lester, Alicia Chong Rodriguez, Jim Chuchu, Germán Santillán, Lei Li, Nithya Ramanathan

In a breathtaking performance, Daniel Alexander Jones opens the TED Fellows Session at TEDMonterey: The Case for Optimism on August 2, 2021. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Opening the session, performance artist and writer Daniel Alexander Jones evoked the spirit of the Civil Rights Movement with an abridged, rousing performance of the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and closed with a holistic, poetic summary of the talks and the spirit they contained.


Tom Osborn, mental health innovator

Big idea: In areas with limited access to psychologists and psychiatrists, youth trained in evidence-based mental health care can provide support for their peers.

How? Growing up in rural Kenya, Osborn faced enormous pressure to succeed in school and chart a path out of poverty for his family. He suffered from symptoms he now recognizes as anxiety and depression but went without any resources to help him navigate these difficult emotions. As an adult, Osborn works to ensure that the youth in Kenya today have access to mental health support through his organization, the Shamiri Institute. With too few clinicians to serve the population (only two for every one million citizens), the organization trains 18 to 22-year-old Kenyans to deliver evidence-based mental healthcare to their peers. Youth treated through the institute pay under two dollars a session and have already reported reductions in symptoms of anxiety and depression. As Osborn looks to the future, he hopes to use this community-first, youth-oriented model as a template to help kids across the globe lead successful, independent lives.


The harmful patterns and limited scope of diagnosis taught in textbooks and perpetuated in classes around dark skin must end, says Jenna C. Lester during the Fellows Session at TEDMonterey: The Case for Optimism on August 2, 2021. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Jenna C. Lester, dermatologist

Big idea: Dermatologists need to get comfortable with all types of skin colors — and that starts with changing what they learn.

How? Just under half of new dermatologists admit they don’t feel comfortable identifying health issues that make themselves known via skin indicators — such as Lyme disease’s “bullseye” — that may show up differently on darker skin. Lester believes this discomfort leads to poorer health outcomes for people with dark skin and proves ultimately detrimental to the patient-physician relationship. So, she founded the Skin of Color Clinic, a program on a mission to help doctors unlearn the harmful patterns and limited scope of diagnosis taught in textbooks and perpetuated in classes around dark skin. She hopes that with her efforts, combined with other similar initiatives around the US, to right the equilibrium of over- and underrepresentation in the dermatological field so that everyone — no matter their skin tone — can have access to quality health and wellness.


Introducing a smart bra that can track and support women’s heart health, Alicia Chong Rodriguez aims to close the gender gap in cardiovascular research. She speaks at TEDMonterey: The Case for Optimism on August 2, 2021. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Alicia Chong Rodriguez, health care technology entrepreneur

Big idea: A smart bra that can track and support women’s heart health.

How? About 44 million women in the US live with heart disease, but helpful data is severely lacking. Why? Because most cardiovascular research is performed on men, resulting in therapies largely designed for male bodies. Rodriguez wants to close that data gap — with a bra. By wearing an everyday bra fit with special biomarker sensors, life-saving data could be gathered continuously in real time. The sensors track heart rhythm, breathing, temperature, posture and movement and update this information to the wearer’s records — so that doctors can understand their health better with troves of information to back it up. By simply wearing a bra, she says, we could close the data divide and finally usher women’s health care into the 21st century.


Jim Chuchu, filmmaker

Big idea: Stolen African art and artifacts showcased around the world should be returned to museums and cultural institutions on the African continent.

Why? Why are stolen African artifacts still in the possession of Western museums? Chuchu reminds us, many of these cultural artifacts wound up in cities like London and New York because they were looted by colonial forces. Working to return Kenya’s material heritage to the country, he and the International Inventories Programme, an organization he co-founded, are rectifying these injustices. They have created a database of cultural objects held outside of Kenya — locating over 32,000 items so far. Beyond tracking these precious artifacts, Chuchu also hopes to start a public conversation about the morality of holding stolen African art in foreign institutions. “We’re asking for the return of our objects,” he says, “to help us remember who we are.”


Germán Santillán, cultural chocolatier

Big idea: By training a new generation in Indigenous cacao cultivation and culinary methods, Germán Santillán is helping revive the culinary tradition of Oaxacan chocolate.

How? The Mixtec people in Oaxaca, Mexico have been cultivating and consuming chocolate — in ceremonies like marriage or politics — for over 800 years. However, in Mexico today, four out of five chocolate bars are produced using foreign cocoa. Santillán grew up in a Mixtec village in Oaxaca and watched as ancient Mixtec methods long-used to grow cocoa beans and prepare chocolate fell out of use. To revive the rich culinary tradition of chocolate in his region, Santillán and a small group of locals started Oaxacanita Chocolate. Unlike commercial chocolate bars, their Oaxacan chocolate uses native cocoa beans and traditional farming and roasting methods. Not only does their company produce a delicious product, but it has also helped boost his region economically and train a new generation of farmers and cooks in once-disappearing Indigenous techniques. It’s a powerful reminder of how Indigenous knowledge and practices can thrive in a modern context.


 

Lei Li shows how cutting-edge photoacoustic imagery will transform the way we see inside our bodies to detect, track and diagnose disease, during the Fellows Session at TEDMonterey: The Case for Optimism on August 2, 2021. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Lei Li, medical imaging innovator

Big idea: Advanced imaging using light and sound will transform how we see inside our bodies, elevating our ability to detect, track and diagnose disease.

How? The foundation of advanced photoacoustic imaging converts light energy into sound energy, also known as the photoacoustic effect. The process goes like this: Li and his team pulse painless, gentle lasers into living tissue (in this example, he used a mouse), which absorbs the light and rises in temperature, leading to the generation of acoustic waves — or sound — that medical sensors interpret into a high-resolution image. Li shows how the clarity and detail of these images far exceeds those produced by a traditional MRI, CT scan or ultrasound. The applicability of this technology is wide-reaching, from breast cancer diagnosis and human brain imaging to potentially steering medicine-delivering microrobots inside our bodies. Photoacoustic imaging is a fast-growing research field, he says, and the promise for global health is reason enough to sound-off.


Nithya Ramanathan, technologist

Big Idea: Smart sensors are a game changer when it comes to preserving life-saving vaccines.

How? After life-saving technology is deployed to countries with limited infrastructure, Ramanathan realized it is often left unsupported from thereon. Take vaccines for example, if they get too hot or cold on their journey or in storage, they could be ruined before use. Ramanathan talks through real-world examples — one case in particular took place in Stanford Children’s Hospital, where a refrigerator malfunctioning for 8 months meant that over 1,500 kids needed to be re-vaccinated — and the stakes are even higher now with COVID-19. Her solution? Smart sensors in refrigerators where vaccines are stored that monitor temperatures and send out alerts when they are unsafe — as well as data on the best routes to use in an emergency. Ramanathan and her team at Nexleaf, a non-profit she co-founded, have implemented this scalable, cost-effective and vital technology in thousands of locations in Asia and Africa. These simple yet extremely effective tools show what is possible when we invest in collecting and utilizing data.

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Editor’s Picks: A (non-exhaustive) list of our favorite TED Talks of 2020

As we usher out 2020 — the (enter superlative of your choice) year — let’s take a moment to look back before we close the door for good. What captured our imaginations, reflected our emotions and sparked our hope for a better tomorrow? From the wisdom of Dolly Parton to the life-saving potential of snail venom to the transformative work of antiracism, here are some of the TED Talks that stayed with us as the world shifted beneath our feet.

Why do people distrust vaccines? Anthropologist Heidi Larson describes how medical rumors originate, spread and fuel resistance to vaccines worldwide.

Host of Radiolab Jad Abumrad gives a captivating talk on truth, difference, storytelling — and Dolly Parton.

A more equal world starts with you. Yes, it’s that simple, says equity advocate Nita Mosby Tyler.

Housewife-turned-politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya shares a beautiful meditation on the link between fearlessness and freedom.

Backed by the real, often-untold story of Rosa Parks, professor David Ikard makes a compelling case for the power and importance of historical accuracy.

Racism makes our economy worse — and not just for people of color. Public policy expert Heather C. McGhee offers a crucial rethink on how we can create a more prosperous world for all.

In a talk that’s part cultural love letter, part history lesson, France Villarta details the legacy of gender fluidity in his native Philippines — and emphasizes the universal beauty of all people, regardless of society’s labels.

For the poor and vulnerable, the health impacts of climate change are already here. Physician Cheryl Holder calls on doctors, politicians and others to build a health care system that incorporates economic and social justice.

Venom can kill … or it can cure. A fascinating talk from marine chemical biologist Mandë Holford on the potential of animal venom to treat human diseases.

Why has there been so little mention of saving Black lives from the climate emergency? David Lammy, a Member of Parliament for Tottenham, England, talks about the link between climate justice and racial justice.

“It shouldn’t be an act of feminism to know how your body works,” says gynecologist and author Jen Gunter. The era of menstrual taboos is over.

Scientists predict climate change will displace more than 180 million people by 2100. Disaster recovery lawyer Colette Pichon Battle lays out how to prepare for this looming crisis of “climate migration.”

In a talk brimming with original illustrations and animations, visual artist Oliver Jeffers offers observations on the “beautiful, fragile drama of human civilization.”

Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge, calls on us all to rise to our greatest challenge ever: the “Earthshots,” a set of ambitious objectives to repair the planet.

If you: do laundry, are (or have been) pregnant, shop for your household or do similar labor, then by GDP standards, you’re unproductive. Economist Marilyn Waring explains her vision for a better way to measure growth.

The fossil fuel industry is waiting for someone else to pay for climate change. Climate science scholar Myles Allen shares a bold plan for the oil and gas companies responsible for the climate crisis to clean up the mess they made — and reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

Just like the rest of 2020, the aftermath of the US presidential election was unprecedented. Learn why the concession speech is one of the most important safeguards for democracy in this prescient talk from lawyer and political commentator Van Jones.

The way we’ve been doing business is hurting us and the environment. What’s the fix? Economist Rebecca Henderson calls for a reimagined capitalism where companies pay for the climate damage they cause.

Author and historian Ibram X. Kendi explains how the concept of antiracism can help you actively uproot injustice and inequality in the world — and replace it with love.

A stunning talk and performance from theater artist Daniel Alexander Jones on how coming undone can be the first step toward transformation.

How do we eradicate racial bias? Psychologist Jennifer L. Eberhardt explores how interrupting and adding friction to our thought processes could address the unfair targeting Black people face at all levels of society.

“Complete silence is very addictive,” says Rebecca Knill, a writer who has cochlear implants that enable her to hear. With humor and charm, she explores the evolution of assistive listening technology — and how we could build a more inclusive world.

Starbucks COO Rosalind G. Brewer invites business leaders to rethink what it takes to create a truly inclusive workplace — and lays out how to bring real, grassroots change to boardrooms and communities alike.

It takes more than rhetoric or elegance to win a dispute. US Supreme Court litigator Neal Katyal shares stories of some of his most impactful cases — and the key to crafting a persuasive and successful argument in (and out of) court.

Get the inside story behind Thomas Crowther’s headline-making research on reforestation — and the platform he created to help restore the biodiversity of Earth, everywhere.

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Transformation: A day of future-forward talks in partnership with Brightline Initiative

Ricardo Vargas, executive director of Brightline Initiative, welcomes the audience to TEDSalon: Transformation — a virtual event featuring talks on the future of business, society and the planet. (Photo courtesy of TED)

The world is in a state of flux. Humanity is undertaking aggressive climate action, technology is rapidly evolving and the very nature of human connection is being reconfigured. At every corner of the globe, people are shaking up the old and plotting to revolutionize in big, bold ways. At this salon hosted on TED’s virtual event platform, four speakers and a performer explored how transformation will define and change the future of business, society and the planet.

The event: TED Salon: Transformation, a virtual gathering hosted by TED technology curator Simone Ross and senior curator Cyndi Stivers, presented in partnership with Brightline Initiative, with opening remarks from Brightline Initiative executive director Ricardo Vargas.

Singer-songwriter Falana performs her version of “soul fusion” at TEDSalon: Transformation, in partnership with Brightline Initiative, on November 18, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Music: Singer-songwriter Falana, who splits her time between Lagos, Toronto and London, performs “Send Down the Rain” from within the auditorium of the Alliance Française of Lagos — a “soul fusion” of jazz, afro beat and R&B.

The talks in brief:

“Maps are a form of storytelling,” says photographer Tawanda Kanhema. He speaks at TEDSalon: Transformation, in partnership with Brightline Initiative, on November 18, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Tawanda Kanhema, photographer, digital strategist    

Big idea: Huge swaths of the African continent are unmapped by the apps we take for granted in the West. This might mean you can’t zoom in on a specific address in Zimbabwe — but it might also mean that it’s difficult to deliver food or vaccines to unmapped areas sorely in need of them. Is it possible to get these communities on the map and ramp up the digital representation of Africa?

How? Tawanda Kanhema began his journey to build maps by combining existing software and data, mounting a hi-res camera on his car, a helicopter and his own body in order to photograph communities missing from digital maps. But one person can only do so much, and many places remain invisible. Kanhema shows how we can leverage existing tech to illuminate every corner of the land.

From “smart dust” to DNA-collecting swabs, journalist Sharon Weinberger takes us inside the massive (and unregulated) world of surveillance tech. She speaks at TEDSalon: Transformation, in partnership with Brightline Initiative, on November 18, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Sharon Weinberger, journalist, author

Big idea: The growing, multibillion-dollar market for surveillance technologies is largely unregulated. Sharon Weinberger believes it should be regulated — and that surveillance tools should be classified as a weapon.

How? Weinberger leads her talk with a chilling story of a colleague who travelled the world selling governments technological tools to spy on people, like a “caller ID” that can identify and locate people by voiceprint no matter what phone they’re using. From “smart dust” — micro-tracking devices the size of specks of dust — to surreptitious DNA-collecting swabs, everyone from governments to hacking companies are getting in on the trade of these surveillance tools. To curb this burgeoning marketplace, Weinberger proposes that we recognize data mining and surveillance tools as the weapons they are.

What does innovation really mean? And are all ideas good? Author and entrepreneur Alex Osterwalder offers some answers at TEDSalon: Transformation, in partnership with Brightline Initiative, on November 18, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Alex Osterwalder, author, entrepreneur

Big idea: We might be intimidated by the biographies of amazing entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, but each one of those narratives holds something we can use to enrich our own success stories. Alex Osterwalder shows us a cunningly designed business model that could help us all become disruptors, even if we don’t have the technical know-how to become inventors.

How? Osterwalder introduces the Business Model Canvas, a visual tool that helps would-be entrepreneurs find and communicate with their customers, identify assets and partners and figure out how much their idea is going to cost (and potentially earn). And while the entrepreneurial path is full of risks, Osterwalder’s model can help minimize potential pitfalls and enable pivoting at a product’s earliest stages — and scaling when it’s exactly the right time. “Innovation, entrepreneurship and disruption is not about the creative genius,” he says. “It’s increasingly a profession, a discipline that you can learn.”

Geographic information systems pioneer Jack Dangermond shares the vision behind a Geospatial Nervous System, in conversation with TED technology curator Simone Ross. They speak at TEDSalon: Transformation, in partnership with Brightline Initiative, on November 18, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Jack Dangermond, geographic information systems pioneer, in conversation with TED technology curator Simone Ross

Big idea: Since the dawn of civilization, humans have visualized solutions to problems in much the same way we look at maps, spreading arrays of information on top of each other and discovering new connections between the layers. In the digital age, geographic information systems (GIS) help decision-makers map complex data on a macro scale, facilitating delivery of everything from retail products (like Starbucks finding exactly the right corner to build on) to disease control (think of linking cancer outbreaks to environmental hazards like pollution). Call it a “Geospatial Nervous System.”

How? Jack Dangermond is the founder of Esri, the world’s dominant GIS company. Starting with work on digitizing maps at the dawn of the tech era, it now builds large-scale tools that tie resources from across the globe together to help its users find and understand hidden connections between data points. Its clients range from NGOs to large corporations, but most of its users are in the public sector, and literally “running the world.” It’s Dangermond’s dream to build a web-based, Geospatial Nervous System to help us use tech to improve a world stricken by natural crises like the coronavirus pandemic — with even bigger crises like climate change looming close behind.

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Beauty everywhere: Notes from Session 6 of TED2020

Par : Ann Powers

We’re six weeks into TED2020! For session 6: a celebration of beauty on every level, from planet-trekking feats of engineering to art that deeply examines our past, present, future — and much more.

Planetary scientist Elizabeth “Zibi” Turtle shows off the work behind Dragonfly: a rotorcraft being developed to explore Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, by air. She speaks at TED2020: Uncharted on June 25, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Elizabeth “Zibi” Turtle, planetary scientist 

Big idea: The Dragonfly Mission, set to launch in 2026, will study Titan, the largest moon orbiting Saturn. Through this mission, scientists may discover the secrets of the solar system’s origin, the history of life on Earth — and even the potential for life beyond our planet.

How? Launched in 1997, the Cassini-Huygens Mission provided scientists with incredible information about Titan, a water-based moon with remarkable similarities to Earth. We learned that Titan’s geography includes sand dunes, craters and mountains, and that vast oceans of water — perhaps 10 times as large as Earth’s total supply — lie deep underneath Titan’s surface. In many ways, Titan is the closest parallel to pre-life, early Earth, Elizabeth Turtle explains. The Cassini-Huygens Mission ended in 2017, and now hundreds of scientists across the world are working on the Dragonfly Mission, which will dramatically expand our knowledge of Titan. Unlike the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, Dragonfly will live within Titan’s atmosphere, flying across the moon to gather samples and study its chemical makeup, weather and geography. The data Dragonfly sends back may bring us closer to thrilling discoveries on the makeup of the solar system, the habitability of other planets and the beginnings of life itself. “Dragonfly is a search for greater understanding — not just of Titan and the mysteries of our solar system, but of our own origins,” Turtle says.


“Do you think human creativity matters?” asks actor, writer and director Ethan Hawke. He gives us his compelling answer at TED2020: Uncharted on June 25, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Ethan Hawke, actor, writer, director

Big idea: Creativity isn’t a luxury; it’s vital to the human experience.

How? We often struggle to give ourselves permission to be creative because we’re all a little suspect of our own talent, says Ethan Hawke. Recounting his own journey of creative discovery over a 30-year career in acting — along with the beauty he sees in everyday moments with his family — Hawke encourages us to reframe this counterproductive definition of human creativity. Creative expression has nothing to do with talent, he says, but rather is a process of learning who you are and how you connect to other people. Instead of giving in to the pull of old habits and avoiding new experiences — maybe you’re hesitant to enroll in that poetry course or cook that complicated 20-step recipe — Hawke urges us to engage in a rich variety of creative outlets and, most importantly, embrace feeling foolish along the way. “I think most of us really want to offer the world something of quality, something that the world will consider good or important — and that’s really the enemy,” Hawke says. “Because it’s not up to us whether what we do is any good. And if history has taught us anything, the world is an extremely unreliable critic. So, you have to ask yourself, do you think human creativity matters?”


Singer-songwriter and multiinstrumentalist Bob Schneider performs for TED2020: Uncharted on June 25, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Keeping the beauty of the session flowing, singer-songwriter Bob Schneider performs “Joey’s Song,” “The Other Side” and “Lorena.”


“We have thousands of years of ancient knowledge that we just need to listen to and allow it to expand our thinking about designing symbiotically with nature,” says architect Julia Watson. “By listening, we’ll only become wiser and ready for those 21st-century challenges that we know will endanger our people and our planet.” She speaks at TED2020: Uncharted on June 25, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Julia Watson, architect, landscape designer, author

Big idea: Ancient Indigenous technology can teach us how to design with nature, instead of against it, when facing challenges. We just need to look and listen. 

How? In her global search for ancient design systems and solutions, Julia Watson has encountered wondrous innovations to counter climate challenges that we all can learn from. “High-tech solutions are definitely going to help us solve some of these problems, but in our rush towards the future, we tend to forget about the past in other parts of the world,” she says. Watson takes us to the villages of Khasi, India, where people have built living bridges woven from ancient roots that strengthen over time to enable travel when monsoon season hits. She introduces us to a water-based civilization in the Mesopotamian Marshlands, where for 6,000 years, the Maʻdān people have lived on manmade islands built from harvested reeds. And she shows us a floating African city in Benin, where buildings are stilted above flooded land. “I’m an architect, and I’ve been trained to seek solutions in permanence, concrete, steel, glass. These are all used to build a fortress against nature,” Watson says. “But my search for ancient systems and Indigenous technologies has been different. It’s been inspired by an idea that we can seed creativity in crisis.”


TED Fellow and theater artist Daniel Alexander Jones lights up the stage at TED2020: Uncharted on June 25, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

TED Fellow and theater artist Daniel Alexander Jones lights up the (virtual) stage by channeling Jomama Jones, a mystical alter ego who shares some much-needed wisdom. “What if I told you, ‘You will surprise yourself’?” Jomama asks. “What if I told you, ‘You will be brave enough’?”


“It takes creativity to be able to imagine a future that is so different from the one before you,” says artist Titus Kaphar. He speaks at TED2020: Uncharted on June 25, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Titus Kaphar, artist

Big idea: Beauty can open our hearts to difficult conversations.

How? A painting’s color, form or composition pulls you in, functioning as a kind of Trojan horse out of which difficult conversations can emerge, says artist Titus Kaphar. (See for yourself in his unforgettable live workshop from TED2017.) Two weeks after George Floyd’s death and the Movement for Black Lives protests that followed, Kaphar reflects on his evolution as an artist and takes us on a tour of his work — from The Jerome Project, which examines the US criminal justice system through the lens of 18th- and 19th-century American portraiture, to his newest series, From a Tropical Space, a haunting body of work about Black mothers whose children have disappeared. In addition to painting, Kaphar shares the work and idea behind NXTHVN, an arts incubator and creative community for young people in his hometown of Dixwell, Connecticut. “It takes creativity to be able to imagine a future that is so different from the one before you,” he says.

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Conversations on rebuilding a healthy economy: Week 1 of TED2020

To kick off TED2020, leaders in business, finance and public health joined the TED community for lean-forward conversations to answer the question: “What now?” Below, a recap of the fascinating insights they shared.

“If you don’t like the pandemic, you are not going to like the climate crisis,” says Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. She speaks with head of TED Chris Anderson at TED2020: Uncharted on May 18, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Big idea: The coronavirus pandemic shattered the global economy. To put the pieces back together, we need to make sure money is going to countries that need it the most — and that we rebuild financial systems that are resilient to shocks.

How? Kristalina Georgieva is encouraging an attitude of determined optimism to lead the world toward recovery and renewal amid the economic fallout of COVID-19. The IMF has one trillion dollars to lend — it’s now deploying these funds to areas hardest hit by the pandemic, particularly in developing countries, and it’s also put a debt moratorium into effect for the poorest countries. Georgieva admits recovery is not going to be quick, but she thinks that countries can emerge from this “great transformation” stronger than before if they build resilient, disciplined financial systems. Within the next ten years, she hopes to see positive shifts towards digital transformation, more equitable social safety nets and green recovery. And as the environment recovers while the world grinds to a halt, she urges leaders to maintain low carbon footprints — particularly since the pandemic foreshadows the devastation of global warming. “If you don’t like the pandemic, you are not going to like the climate crisis,” Georgieva says. Watch the interview on TED.com »


“I’m a big believer in capitalism. I think it’s in many ways the best economic system that I know of, but like everything, it needs an upgrade. It needs tuning,” says Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal. He speaks with TED business curators Corey Hajim at TED2020: Uncharted on May 19, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Dan Schulman, President and CEO of PayPal

Big idea: Employee satisfaction and consumer trust are key to building the economy back better.

How? A company’s biggest competitive advantage is its workforce, says Dan Schulman, explaining how PayPal instituted a massive reorientation of compensation to meet the needs of its employees during the pandemic. The ripple of benefits of this shift have included increased productivity, financial health and more trust. Building further on the concept of trust, Schulman traces how the pandemic has transformed the managing and moving of money — and how it will require consumers to renew their focus on privacy and security. And he shares thoughts on the new roles of corporations and CEOs, the cashless economy and the future of capitalism. “I’m a big believer in capitalism. I think it’s in many ways the best economic system that I know of, but like everything, it needs an upgrade. It needs tuning,” Schulman says. “For vulnerable populations, just because you pay at the market [rate] doesn’t mean that they have financial health or financial wellness. And I think everyone should know whether or not their employees have the wherewithal to be able to save, to withstand financial shocks and then really understand what you can do about it.”


Biologist Uri Alon shares a thought-provoking idea on how we could get back to work: a two-week cycle of four days at work followed by 10 days of lockdown, which would cut the virus’s reproductive rate. He speaks with head of TED Chris Anderson at TED2020: Uncharted on May 20, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Uri Alon, Biologist

Big idea: We might be able to get back to work by exploiting one of the coronavirus’s key weaknesses. 

How? By adopting a two-week cycle of four days at work followed by 10 days of lockdown, bringing the virus’s reproductive rate (R₀ or R naught) below one. The approach is built around the virus’s latent period: the three-day delay (on average) between when a person gets infected and when they start spreading the virus to others. So even if a person got sick at work, they’d reach their peak infectious period while in lockdown, limiting the virus’s spread — and helping us avoid another surge. What would this approach mean for productivity? Alon says that by staggering shifts, with groups alternating their four-day work weeks, some industries could maintain (or even exceed) their current output. And having a predictable schedule would give people the ability to maximize the effectiveness of their in-office work days, using the days in lockdown for more focused, individual work. The approach can be adopted at the company, city or regional level, and it’s already catching on, notably in schools in Austria.


“The secret sauce here is good, solid public health practice … this one was a bad one, but it’s not the last one,” says Georges C. Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association. He speaks with TED science curator David Biello at TED2020: Uncharted on May 20, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Georges C. Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association

Big Idea: We need to invest in a robust public health care system to lead us out of the coronavirus pandemic and prevent the next outbreak.

How: The coronavirus pandemic has tested the public health systems of every country around the world — and, for many, exposed shortcomings. Georges C. Benjamin details how citizens, businesses and leaders can put public health first and build a better health structure to prevent the next crisis. He envisions a well-staffed and equipped governmental public health entity that runs on up-to-date technology to track and relay information in real time, helping to identify, contain, mitigate and eliminate new diseases. Looking to countries that have successfully lowered infection rates, such as South Korea, he emphasizes the importance of early and rapid testing, contact tracing, self-isolation and quarantining. Our priority, he says, should be testing essential workers and preparing now for a spike of cases during the summer hurricane and fall flu seasons.The secret sauce here is good, solid public health practice,” Benjamin says. “We should not be looking for any mysticism or anyone to come save us with a special pill … because this one was a bad one, but it’s not the last one.”

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The Big Rethink: Notes from Session 3 of TEDSummit 2019

Par : Ann Powers

Marco Tempest and his quadcopters perform a mind-bending display that feels equal parts science and magic at TEDSummit: A Community Beyond Borders, July 23, 2019, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Bret Hartman / TED)

In an incredible session, speakers and performers laid out the biggest problems facing the world — from political and economic catastrophe to rising violence and deepfakes — and some new thinking on solutions.

The event: TEDSummit 2019, Session 3: The Big Rethink, hosted by Corey Hajim and Cyndi Stivers

When and where: Tuesday, July 23, 2019, 5pm BST, at the Edinburgh Convention Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland

Speakers: George Monbiot, Nick Hanauer, Raghuram Rajan, Marco Tempest, Rachel Kleinfeld, Danielle Citron, Patrick Chappatte

Music: KT Tunstall sharing how she found her signature sound and playing her hits “Miniature Disasters,” “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” and “Suddenly I See.”

The talks in brief:

“We are a society of altruists, but we are governed by psychopaths,” says George Monbiot. He speaks at TEDSummit: A Community Beyond Borders, July 23, 2019, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

George Monbiot, investigative journalist and self-described “professional troublemaker”

Big idea: To get out of the political mess we’re in, we need a new story that captures the minds of people across fault lines.

Why? “Welcome to neoliberalism, the zombie doctrine that never seems to die,” says George Monbiot. We have been induced by politicians and economists into accepting an ideology of extreme competition and individualism, weakening the social bonds that make our lives worth living. And despite the 2008 financial crisis, which exposed the blatant shortcomings of neoliberalism, it still dominates our lives. Why? We haven’t yet produced a new story to replace it — a new narrative to help us make sense of the present and guide the future. So, Monbiot proposes his own: the “politics of belonging,” founded on the belief that most people are fundamentally altruistic, empathetic and socially minded. If we can tap into our fundamental urge to cooperate — namely, by building generous, inclusive communities around the shared sphere of the commons — we can build a better world. With a new story to light the way, we just might make it there.

Quote of the talk: “We are a society of altruists, but we are governed by psychopaths.”


Nick Hanauer, entrepreneur and venture capitalist.

Big idea: Economics has ceased to be a rational science in the service of the “greater good” of society. It’s time to ditch neoliberal economics and create tools that address inequality and injustice.

How? Today, under the banner of unfettered growth through lower taxes, fewer regulations, and lower wages, economics has become a tool that enforces the growing gap between the rich and poor. Nick Hanauer thinks that we must recognize that our society functions not because it’s a ruthless competition between its economically fittest members but because cooperation between people and institutions produces innovation. Competition shouldn’t be between the powerful at the expense of everyone else but between ideas battling it out in a well-managed marketplace in which everyone can participate.

Quote of the talk: “Successful economies are not jungles, they’re gardens — which is to say that markets, like gardens, must be tended … Unconstrained by social norms or democratic regulation, markets inevitably create more problems than they solve.”


Raghuram Rajan shares his idea for “inclusive localism” — giving communities the tools to turn themselves around while establishing standards tp prevent discrimination and corruption — at TEDSummit: A Community Beyond Borders, July 23, 2019, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Raghuram Rajan, economist and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India

Big idea: As markets grow and governments focus on solving economic problems from the top-down, small communities and neighborhoods are losing their voices — and their livelihoods. But if nations lack the tools to address local problems, it’s time to turn to grass-roots communities for solutions.

How? Raghuram Rajan believes that nations must exercise “inclusive localism”: giving communities the tools to turn themselves around while establishing standards tp prevent discrimination and corruption. As local leaders step forward, citizens become active, and communities receive needed resources from philanthropists and through economic incentives, neighborhoods will thrive and rebuild their social fabric.

Quote of the talk: “What we really need [are] bottom-up policies devised by the community itself to repair the links between the local community and the national — as well as thriving international — economies.”


Marco Tempest, cyber illusionist

Big idea: Illusions that set our imaginations soaring are created when magic and science come together.

Why? “Is it possible to create illusions in a world where technology makes anything possible?” asks techno-magician Marco Tempest, as he interacts with his group of small flying machines called quadcopters. The drones dance around him, reacting buoyantly to his gestures and making it easy to anthropomorphize or attribute personality traits. Tempest’s buzzing buddies swerve, hover and pause, moving in formation as he orchestrates them. His mind-bending display will have you asking yourself: Was that science or magic? Maybe it’s both.

Quote to remember: “Magicians are interesting, their illusions accomplish what technology cannot, but what happens when the technology of today seems almost magical?”


Rachel Kleinfeld, democracy advisor and author

Big idea: It’s possible to quell violence — in the wider world and in our own backyards — with democracy and a lot of political TLC.

How? Compassion-concentrated action. We need to dispel the idea that some people deserve violence because of where they live, the communities they’re a part of or their socio-economic background. Kleinfeld calls this particular, inequality-based vein of violence “privilege violence,” explaining how it evolves in stages and the ways we can eradicate it. By deprogramming how we view violence and its origins and victims, we can move forward and build safer, more secure societies.

Quote of the talk: “The most important thing we can do is abandon the notion that some lives are just worth less than others.”


“Not only do we believe fakes, we are starting to doubt the truth,” says Danielle Citron, revealing the threat deepfakes pose to the truth and democracy. She speaks at TEDSummit: A Community Beyond Borders, July 23, 2019, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Danielle Citron, professor of law and deepfake scholar

Big idea: Deepfakes — machine learning technology used to manipulate or fabricate audio and video content — can cause significant harm to individuals and society. We need a comprehensive legislative and educational approach to the problem.

How? The use of deepfake technology to manipulate video and audio for malicious purposes — whether it’s to stoke violence against minorities or to defame politicians and journalists — is becoming ubiquitous. With tools being made more accessible and their products more realistic, what becomes of that key ingredient for democratic processes: the truth? As Danielle Citron points out, “Not only do we believe fakes, we are starting to doubt the truth.” The fix, she suggests, cannot be merely technological. Legislation worldwide must be tailored to fighting digital impersonations that invade privacy and ruin lives. Educational initiatives are needed to teach the media how to identify fakes, persuade law enforcement that the perpetrators are worth prosecuting and convince the public at large that the future of democracy really is at stake.

Quote of the talk: “Technologists expect that advances in AI will soon make it impossible to distinguish a fake video and a real one. How can truths emerge in a deepfake ridden ‘marketplace of ideas?’ Will we take the path of least resistance and just believe what we want to believe, truth be damned?”


“Freedom of expression is not incompatible with dialogue and listening to each other, but it is incompatible with intolerance,” says editorial cartoonist Patrick Chappatte. He speaks at TEDSummit: A Community Beyond Borders, July 23, 2019, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Patrick Chappatte, editorial cartoonist and graphic journalist

Big idea: We need humor like we need the air we breathe. We shouldn’t risk compromising our freedom of speech by censoring ourselves in the name of political correctness.

How? Our social media-saturated world is both a blessing and a curse for political cartoonists like Patrick Chappatte, whose satirical work can go viral while also making them, and the publications they work for, a target. Be it a prison sentence, firing or the outright dissolution of cartoon features in newspapers, editorial cartoonists worldwide are increasingly penalized for their art. Chappatte emphasizes the importance of the art form in political discourse by guiding us through 20 years of editorial cartoons that are equal parts humorous and caustic. In an age where social media platforms often provide places for fury instead of debate, he suggests that traditional media shouldn’t shy away from these online kingdoms, and neither should we. Now is the time to resist preventative self-censorship; if we don’t, we risk waking up in a sanitized world without freedom of expression.

Quote of the talk: “Freedom of expression is not incompatible with dialogue and listening to each other, but it is incompatible with intolerance.”

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Rethink: A night of talks in partnership with Brightline Initiative

Par : Daryl Chen

If we want to do things differently, where do we begin? Curators Corey Hajim and Alex Moura host TED Salon: “Rethink,” in partnership with Brightline Initiative at the TED World Theater in New York City on June 6, 2019. (Photo: Dian Lofton / TED)

The event: TED Salon: “Rethink,” hosted by TED business curator Corey Hajim and TED tech curator Alex Moura

When and where: Thursday, June 6, 2019, at the TED World Theater in New York City

The partner: Brightline Initiative, with Brightline executive director Ricardo Vargas warming up the audience with opening remarks

Music: Dark pop bangers from the Bloom Twins

The Bloom Twins, sisters Anna and Sofia Kuprienko, perform their special brand of “dark pop” at TED Salon: “Rethink,” in partnership with Brightline Initiative. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

The talks in brief:

Heidi Grant, social psychologist, chief science officer of the Neuroleadership Institute and associate director of Columbia University’s Motivation Science Center  

  • Big idea: Asking for help can be awkward and embarrassing, but we all need to get comfortable with doing it.
    The most important thing about asking for help is to do it — out loud, explicitly, directly. Grant provides four tips to ensure that your ask will get a yes. First, be clear about what kind of help you need. No one wants to give “bad” help, so if they don’t understand what you’re looking for, they probably won’t respond. Next, avoid disclaimers, apologies and bribes — no prefacing your ask with, “I really hate to do this” or offering to pay for assistance, which makes others feel uneasy and self-conscious. Third, don’t ask for help over email or text, because it’s too easy for someone to say “no” electronically; do it face-to-face or in a phone call. And last, follow up after and tell the other person exactly how their help benefited you.
  • Quote of the talk: “The reality of modern work and modern life is that nobody does it alone. Nobody succeeds in a vacuum. More than ever, we actually do have to rely on other people, on their support and their collaboration, in order to be successful.”

Stuart Oda, urban farm innovator, cofounder and CEO of Alesca Life

  • Big idea: The future of farming is looking up — literally.
    Recent innovations in food production technology allows us to grow up — 40 stories, even — rather than across, like in traditional farming. The efficiency of this vertical method lessens the amount of soil, water, physical space and chemical pesticides used to generate year-round yields of quality vegetables, for less money and more peace of mind. Oda shares a vision for a not-too-distant future where indoor farms are integrated seamlessly into cityscapes, food deserts no longer exist, and nutrition for all reigns supreme.
  • Fun fact: In 2050, our global population is projected to reach 9.8 billion. We’ll need to grow more food in the next 30 to 40 years than in the previous 10,000 years combined to compensate.

Efosa Ojomo researches global prosperity, analyzing why and how corruption arises. He discusses how we could potentially eliminate it by investing in businesses focused on wiping out scarcity. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Efosa Ojomo, global prosperity researcher and senior fellow at Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation

  • Big idea: We can eliminate corruption by investing in innovative businesses that target scarce products.
    Conventional thinking about reducing corruption goes like this: in order to eliminate it, you put laws in place, development inspires investment, and the economy booms. Prosperity researcher Efosa Ojomo thinks we have this equation backwards. Through years of researching what makes societies prosperous, he’s found that the best way to stem corruption is to encourage investment in businesses that can wipe out the scarcity that spurs coercion, extortion and fraud. “Corruption, especially for most people in poor countries, is a workaround. It’s a utility in a place where there are fewer options to solve a problem. It’s their best solution to the problem of scarcity,” Ojomo says. Entrepreneurs who address scarcity in corruption-ridden regions could potentially eliminate it across entire sectors of markets, he explains. Take, for example, Mo Ibraham, the founder of mobile telecommunications company Celtel. His highly criticized idea to create an African cellular carrier put affordable cell phones in several sub-Saharan African countries for the first time, and today nearly every country there has its own carrier. It’s “market-creating innovations” like these that ignite major economic progress — and make corruption obsolete.
  • Quote of talk: “Societies don’t develop because they’ve reduced corruption; they’re able to reduce corruption because they’ve developed.”

Shannon Lee, podcaster and actress

  • Big idea: Shannon Lee’s famous father Bruce Lee died when she was only four years old, yet she still treasures his philosophy of self-actualization: how to be yourself in the best way possible.
    Our lives benefit when we can connect our “why” (our passions and purpose) to our “what” (our jobs, homes and hobbies). But how to do it? Like a martial artist, Lee says: by finding the connecting “how” that consistently and confidently expresses our values. If we show kindness and love in one part of our life yet behave harshly in another, then we are fragmented — and we cannot progress gracefully from our “why” to our “what.” To illustrate this philosophy, Lee asks the audience to consider the question, “How are you?” Or rather, “How can I fully be me?”
  • Quote of the talk: “There were not multiple Bruce Lees: there was not private and public Bruce Lee, or teacher Bruce Lee and actor Bruce Lee and family-man Bruce Lee. There was just one, unified, total Bruce Lee.”

When’s the last time you ate more, and exercised less, than you should? Dan Ariely explores why we make certain decisions — and how we can change our behavior for the better. (Photo: Dian Lofton / TED)

Dan Ariely, behavioral economist and author of Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations

  • Big idea: To change people’s behavior, you can’t just give them information on what they should do. You have to actually change the environment in which they’re making decisions.
    To bridge the gap between a current behavior and a desired behavior, you must first reduce the friction, or remove the little obstacles and annoyances between those two endpoints. Then you need to think broadly about what new motivations you could bring into that person’s life. Financial literacy is great, for instance, but the positive impact of such information wears off after a few days. What else could be done to help people put more away for a rainy day? You could ask their kids to send a weekly text reminding them to save money, or you could give them some kind of visual reminder — perhaps a coin — to help even more. There’s a lot we can do to spark behavioral change, Ariely says. The key is to get creative and experiment with the ways we do it.
  • Quote of the talk: “Social science has made lots of strides, and the basic insight is … the right way is not to change people — it’s to change the environment.”

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A new malaria vaccine begins testing in Malawi and more TED news

Faith Osier speaks during Fellows Session at TED2018 – The Age of Amazement in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED

The TED community is brimming with new projects and updates. Below, a few highlights.

Malaria vaccine begins wide-scale testing in Malawi. RTS,S — the only malaria vaccine to successfully pass clinical trials — will be made available to 360,000 children in Kenya, Malawi and Ghana in the first round of implementation testing. Immunologist Faith Osier spoke to the Sierra Leone Times about the process and next steps for her work, tracking the efficacy and potential side effects of the vaccine, the results of which are expected in 3-5 years. “While we wait, the scientific effort to develop a more effective vaccine will continue as vigorously as ever,” she said. “Researchers like myself are energized by the limited success of the current vaccine and are convinced that we can do better.” (Watch Osier’s TED Talk.)

A new set of clean standards for the final frontier. Space environmentalist Moriba Jah and space engineer Danielle Wood will join an international team of scientists to design the Space Sustainability Rating (SSR), a new system to help reduce space debris. The SSR plans to create and distribute guidelines and models to space tech manufacturers to encourage low-waste production and highlight the importance of sustainability. “We need to ensure that the environment around Earth is as free as possible from trash left over from previous missions,” Wood said in a statement. “Creating the Space Sustainability Rating with our collaborators is one key step to ensure that all countries continue to increase the benefits we receive from space technology.” (Watch Wood’s TED Talk.)

TEDsters honored at 2019 Webby Awards. Climate change advocate Greta Thunberg and anti-bullying activist Monica Lewinsky were among those honored by this year’s Webby Awards. Lewinsky received the Webby Award for Best Influencer Endorsements on behalf of her campaign, #DefyTheName. Thunberg was given the Special Achievement Webby Social Movement of the Year to recognize her work in climate activism, including her #FridaysForFuture campaign, School Strike for Climate and for “igniting a global movement for climate justice led by youth activists, and for using the Internet to draw the world’s attention to the urgent issue of climate change,“ according to a statement on the Webby Awards website. (Check out the full lineup of winners and watch Thunberg’s and Lewinsky’s TED Talks.)

Meet 2019’s Stephen Hawking Science Medal Awardee. For his work promoting and furthering space travel, entrepreneur Elon Musk has been awarded the Stephen Hawking Science Medal by biennial science festival STARMUS. Other 2019 honorees include musician Brian Eno and the film Apollo 11. Musk will be presented the award by astrophysicist and Queen guitarist Brian May for “his astounding accomplishments in space travel and for humanity.” The winners will receive their medals in June at the STARMUS Science Communications Festival in Zurich. (Watch Musk’s latest TED Talk.)

Vanity Fair profiles Brené Brown. On the heels of her groundbreaking Netflix special, vulnerability researcher Brené Brown spoke to Vanity Fair about how success has changed her life — and how she wants to help change yours. Brown’s TED Talks, books and new Netflix special encourage people to embrace vulnerability as vital superpowers, instead of bottling it up in fear. (Watch Brown’s TED Talks on vulnerability and on shame.)

Have a news item to share? Write us at contact@ted.com and you may see it included in this round-up.

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Wonder: Notes from Session 11 of TED2019

Par : Daryl Chen
Richard Bona performs at TED2019

Multi-instrumental genius, Grammy winner and songwriter Richard Bona held the audience spellbound at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, April 18, 2019, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Bret Hartman / TED

Session 11 of TED2019 amazed, enriched, inspired and dazzled — diving deep into the creative process, exploring what it’s like to be a living artwork and soaring into deep space.

The event: Talks and performances from TED2019, Session 11: Wonder, hosted by TED’s Helen Walters and Kelly Stoetzel

When and where: Thursday, April 18, 2019, 5pm, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC

Speakers: Beau Lotto with performers from Cirque du Soleil, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jon Gray, Daniel Lismore, Richard Bona, Es Devlin and Juna Kollmeier

Music: Multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Richard Bona, mesmerizing the audience with his “magic voodoo machine” — weaving beautiful vocal loops into a mesh of sound

Beau Lotto, neuroscientist, accompanied by performers and artists from Cirque du Soleil

  • Big idea: Awe is more than an experience; it’s a physiological state of mind, one that could positively influence how we approach conflict and uncertainty.
  • How? Humans possess a fundamental need for closure that, when unmet, often turns to conflict-heavy emotions like fear and anger. The antidote may be one of our most profound perceptual experiences: awe. Lotto and his team recorded the brain activity of 280 people before, during and after watching a Cirque du Soleil performance, discovering promising insights. In a state of awe, research shows that humans experience more connection to others and more comfort with uncertainty and risk-taking. These behaviors demonstrate that a significant shift in how we approach conflict is possible — with humility and courage, seeking to understand rather than convince. Read how this talk was co-created by Beau Lotto’s Lab of Misfits and the Cirque du Soleil.
  • Quote of the talk: “Awe is neither positive nor negative. What’s really important is the context in which you create awe.”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, actor, filmmaker and founder of HITRECORD

  • Big idea: If your creativity is driven by a desire to get attention, you’re never going to be creatively fulfilled. What drives truly fulfilling creativity? Paying attention.
  • How? Social media platforms are fueled by getting attention, and more and more people are becoming experts at it — turning creativity from a joyous expression into a means to an end. But while Joseph Gordon-Levitt certainly knows what it feels like to get attention — he’s been in show business since he was 6, after all — he realized that the opposite feeling, paying attention, is the real essence of creativity. He describes the feeling of being locked in with another actor — thinking about and reacting only to what they’re doing, eliminating thoughts about himself. So get out there and collaborate, he says. Read more about Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s talk here.
  • Quote of the talk: “It’s like a pavlovian magic spell: ​rolling, speed, marker ​(clap)​, set and action​. Something happens to me, I can’t even help it. My attention narrows. And everything else in the world, anything else that might be bothering, or that might otherwise grab my attention, it all goes away.”
Jon Gray speaks at TED2019

“We decided the world needed some Bronx seasoning on it”: The founder of Ghetto Gastro, Jon Gray, speaks at TED2019: Bigger Than Us. April 18, 2019, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED

Jon Gray, designer, food lover, entrepreneur and cofounder of Ghetto Gastro

  • Big idea: We can bring people together, connect cultures and break stereotypes through food.
  • How? Jon Gray is a founder of Ghetto Gastro, a collective based in the Bronx that works at the intersection of food, art and design. Their goal is to craft products and experiences that challenge perceptions. At first, Gray and his co-creators aimed to bring the Bronx to the wider world. Hosting an event in Tokyo, for example, they served a Caribbean patty made with Japanese Wagyu beef and shio kombu — taking a Bronx staple and adding international flair. Now Ghetto Gastro is bringing the world to the Bronx. The first step: their recently opened “idea kitchen” — a space where they can foster a concentration of cultural and financial capital in their neighborhood.
  • Quote of the talk: “Breaking bread has always allowed me to break the mold and connect with people.”
Daniel Lismore speaks at TED2019

“These artworks are me”: Daniel Lismore talks about his life as a work of art, created anew each morning. He speaks at TED2019: Bigger Than Us. April 15 – 19, 2019, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED

Daniel Lismore, London-based artist who lives his life as art, styling elaborate ensembles that mix haute couture, vintage fabrics, found objects, ethnic jewelry, beadwork, embroidery and more

  • Big idea: We can all make ourselves into walking masterpieces. While it takes courage — and a lot of accessories — to do so, the reward is being able to express our true selves.
  • How? Drawing from a massive, 6,000-piece collection that occupies a 40-foot container, three storage units and 30 IKEA boxes, Lismore creates himself anew every day. His materials range from beer cans and plastic crystals to diamonds, royal silks and 2,000-year-old Roman rings. And he builds his outfits from instinct, piling pieces on until — like a fashion-forward Goldilocks — everything feels just right.
  • Quote of the talk: “I have come to realize that confidence is a concept you can choose. I have come to realize that authenticity is necessary and it’s powerful. I have spent time trying to be like other people; it didn’t work. it’s a lot of hard work not being yourself.”
Es Devlin speaks at TED2019

“So much of what I make is fake. It’s an illusion. And yet every artist works in pursuit of communicating something that’s true.” Artist and stage designer Es Devlin speaks at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, April 18, 2019, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Bret Hartman / TED

Es Devlin, artist and stage designer

  • Big idea: Art is about communication and expression, and designers have the power to foster lasting connections and deep empathy with their work.
  • How? Es Devlin weaves boundless thinking into her stunning stage designs, emphasizing empathy, intimacy and connection for the performers and the audience. As a set designer for some of the world’s most iconic performers and events — including Beyoncé’s Formation tour, Adele’s first live concert in five years, U2 and Kanye West, among many others — Devlin dives into the heart of each performer’s work. She sculpts visual masterpieces that reflect the shape and sound of each artist she works with. Audiences come to shows for connection and intimacy, Devlin says, and it’s the task of set designers, directors and artists to deliver it for the fans.
  • Quote of the talk: “Most of what I’ve made over the last 25 years doesn’t exist anymore — but our work endures in memories, in synaptic sculptures in the minds of those who were once present in the audience.”

Juna Kollmeier, astrophysicist

  • Big idea: Mapping the observable universe is … a pretty epic proposition. But it’s actually humanly achievable.
  • How? We’ve been mapping the stars for thousands of years, but the Sloan Digital Sky Survey is on a special mission: to create the most detailed three-dimensional maps of the universe ever made. Led by Kollmeier, the project divides the sky into three “mappers” that it documents: galaxies, black holes and stars. Our own Milky Way galaxy has 250 billion(ish) stars. “That is a number that doesn’t make practical sense to pretty much anybody,” says Kollmeier. We’re not going to map all of those anytime soon. But galaxies? We’re getting there. On our current trajectory, we’ll map every large galaxy in the observable universe by 2060, she says.
  • Quote of the talk: “Black holes are among the most perplexing objects in the universe. Why? Because they are literally just math incarnate in a physical form that we barely understand.”
Juna Kollmeier speaks at TED2019

“Stars are exploding all the time. Black holes are growing all the time. There is a new sky every night”: Astronomer Juna Kollmeier speaks at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, April 18, 2019, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Bret Hartman / TED

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Jon Gray speaks at TED2019

Daniel Lismore speaks at TED2019

Es Devlin speaks at TED2019

Juna Kollmeier speaks at TED2019

Possibility: Notes from Session 7 of TED2019

Judith Jamison + Members of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Judith Jamison (seated) watches members of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, April 17, 2019, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED

To close out day 3 of TED2019, we imagine different versions of the future — from the magical possibilities of deep-sea exploration to the dark future of humanity if something goes horribly wrong. Gulp.

The event: Talks and performances from TED2019, Session 7: Possibility, hosted by TED’s Helen Walters and Kelly Stoetzel

When and where: Wednesday, April 17, 2019, 5pm, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC

Speakers: Judith Jamison, Rob Reid, Nick Bostrom, Ella Al-Shamahi, Victor Vescovo and Hannah Gadsby

Opening: Members of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform “Wade in the Water” (from choreographer Alvin Ailey’s iconic 1960 work Revelations) and “Cry,” the solo piece Ailey created for his mother in 1971.

The talks in brief:

Judith Jamison, artistic director emerita of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

  • Big idea: Dance elevates our human experience, communicating struggles, thrills and universal emotions that go beyond words.
  • How? Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was founded in 1958 by the legendary dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey. In the middle of the civil rights movement, the dance company put on bold works that presented the African-American experience in its fullness — and as an essential part of American culture. Just over 60 years later, Judith Jamison, the Theater’s artistic director emerita, reflects on Ailey’s visionary legacy and the enduring power of dance to turn history into art that thrills and excites global audiences — and, not infrequently, brings tears to their eyes.
  • Quote of the talk: “When you’re sitting in the dark, in the theater, having a personal experience, you don’t feel blocked or misunderstood. You feel open, alive … inspired.”

Rob Reid, entrepreneur and cyberthriller author

  • Big idea: We must act fast to build a global immune system that could fight off a massive biotech attack.
  • How? Rob Reid raises the unthinkable specter of suicidal mass murder on a global scale, using tools of synthetic biology to create weaponized biotech. What can we do to protect ourselves? It’s (probably) years away from being a possibility, but now’s the time to start thinking about it. A couple ideas: enlisting the experts and creating more experts (for every million-and-one bioengineers, Reid notes, at least a million of them are going to be on our side) and finding a way to safeguard our prosperity and privacy that doesn’t rely on government and industry.
  • Quote of the talk: “I have come to fear [synthetic biology] … but more than that, to revere its potential. This stuff will cure cancer, heal our environment, and stop our cruel treatment of other creatures. So how do we get all this without annihilating ourselves?”

Nick Bostrom, philosopher, technologist, author, researcher of existential risk

  • Big idea: The more technological power we invent, the more likely we are to create a “black ball” — the one breakthrough that could destroy us all.
  • How? It’s an uncomfortable dilemma: as tech accelerates, so too does the potential for a bad actor to use those very advancements to wipe out civilization. Consider synthetic biology: at the current rate of progress, in the not-too-distant future someone could theoretically cook up a city-destroying organism after an afternoon’s work in the kitchen. (Yikes.) So, what are we to do? In conversation with Chris Anderson, Bostrom outlines four possible responses: restrict tech development (not very feasible, he notes); eliminate bad actors (also unfeasible, considering the many obstacles to success); mass surveillance (uncomfortable, but potentially palatable if done right); and global governance (risky, but if we’re lucky, it could help us survive). In short: if we want power, we better figure out how to limit it.
  • Quote of the talk: “You could put me down as a frightened optimist.”
Ella Al-Shamahi speaks at TED2019

Paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi asks scientists to push harder to work in unstable areas. She speaks at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, April 17, 2019, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Bret Hartman / TED

Ella Al-Shamahi, paleoanthropologist and standup comedian

  • Big idea: Science has a geography problem.
  • How? We’re not doing frontline scientific exploration in a massive chunk of the world: the regions  governments have deemed too unstable. But many of these places, especially in Africa and the Middle East, have played a big role in the human journey. Al-Shamahi’s family is from Yemen, a place that’s so under-studied it’s akin to near-virgin territory. She can’t go there — but she did take an epic, risky journey to study Socotra, an island off Yemen known as the Galápagos of the Indian Ocean. Ninety percent of the reptiles and 30 percent of the plants there exist only, well, there — and the story of early humans there is barely told. Al-Shamahi is hoping to return to Socotra and, with the help of local collaborators, continue to explore.
  • Quote of the talk: “Science was about going out into the unknown. It was about truly global exploration even if there were risks. When did it become acceptable to make it difficult for science to happen in ‘unstable places?'”

Victor Vescovo, undersea explorer

  • Big idea: New submersible designs can let us explore depths of the world’s oceans that have never been seen before.
  • How? Vescovo joined TED’s science curator David Biello to discuss his experiences of deep sea exploration. Vescovo believes his team — packed into their two-person, self-designed submersible — is the very first to have dived to the bottom of the Southern Ocean, the expanse of water surrounding Antarctica that’s known for particularly hostile conditions. His submersible is engineered as a sphere, the shape best able to handle the immense pressure of deep sea dives; it’s built to make multiple journeys to the ocean floor. When you go that deep, Vescovo says, it’s possible to discover a whole lot of new species. He describes his project as “kind of the SpaceX of ocean exploration, but I pilot my own vehicles.” And if you hadn’t heard of the robust assfish before today? You’re welcome.
  • Quote of the talk: “There are only two rules to diving in a submarine. Number one is close the hatch securely. Number two is go back to rule number one.”

Hannah Gadsby, serious comedian

  • Big idea: Comedy has rules. Break them. Tell your story.
  • How? Gadsby was a “pathologically shy virtual mute with low self-esteem” when she first tried standup comedy. And “before I’d even landed my first joke, I knew I really liked stand-up and stand-up really liked me.” But it was only when she quit comedy, and broke its rules, that she could tell her own story and build a true connection with her audience — not as a mindless, laughing mob but as individuals who could carry her story along with her. Read more about Hannah Gadsby’s TED Talk.
  • Quote of the talk: “The point was not simply to break comedy, but to reshape it to better hold everything I wanted to share.”

“I broke comedy,” Hannah Gadsby says at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 17, 2019, at Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

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Judith Jamison + Members of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

In Case You Missed It: Highlights from day 1 of TED2019

Par : Daryl Chen

Sheperd Doeleman, head of the Event Horizon Telescope, shares how the international collaboration helped us see the unseeable. He speaks at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 15, 2019 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Bret Hartman / TED)

The theme of TED2019 is “Bigger than us,” and day 1 did not disappoint. Even though it had just three sessions, they were chock full of compelling ideas and calls for action. Here are seven takeaways: 

We’re shining light into some really dark places. Sheperd Doeleman, head of the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration, takes us inside the new (and iconic) black hole image and the epic effort involved in making it. The petabytes (1 petabyte = 1 million GB) of data that were used to construct the image came from a network of telescopes operated by 200 people in 60 countries who, he says, “effortlessly sidestepped the issues that divide us.” (Here’s a thought: Let’s get competing political candidates to work on science projects … together!) And two TED Fellows showed documentary projects that exposed hidden truths: Taghi Amirani shares footage from his just-finished Coup 53, which reveals the British and American conspiracy that overthrew the Iranian government in 1953 and shaped the country’s fate (and his family’s), while Nanfu Wang speaks about One Child Nation, her film about the traumas caused by China’s one-child policy.

And some places still need illumination. British journalist Carole Cadwalladr describes her investigation into the Facebook ads that targeted people with lies prior to the 2016 Brexit vote, but most of the evidence of what occurred remains locked in the “black boxes” of Facebook, Google and Twitter. She urges them to release their data, saying: “It’s a crime scene, and you have the evidence.” Writer Baratunde Thurston shares examples of people in the US who had the police called on them because they were “living while black” — when they went to a swimming pool, donated food to the homeless or played golf, “concerned” observers phoned 911 to report them. Systemic racism underlies these 911 calls, and even though changing it may sound impossible, Thurston has hope. He believes that if we can see the humanity of people targeted by racism, we can change our actions; when we change our actions, we change the story; and when we change the story, we can change the system.

The words we use matter. We’re living in polarizing times, and many fractures occur during our conversations. By tweaking what we say, political pollster Frank Luntz shows how to keep our discussions open and respectful. One standout from his suggestions: instead of saying the passive “I’m listening,” try the active, empathic “I get it.”

Businesses need to look beyond balance sheets and focus on their people. TED Fellow Jess Kutch created coworker.org, a platform that helps employees organize. While it tends to scare executives, Kutch says corporate leaders should view organizing as a positive — it’s what she calls “productive conflict,” offering “an opportunity to build a better workplace, a stronger business and an economy that works for all of us.” (Besides, she notes, the people most passionate about changing their workplace tend to be the people who love their workplace the most.) … Creating a company that puts employees first is part of what Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya calls his “anti-CEO playbook.” Other actions in his playbook: Asking communities what they need instead of demanding tax breaks and concessions from them; being accountable to one’s customers rather than one’s shareholders; and taking sides on political issues — because, he says, businesses should use their power to make a difference.

Ethics shouldn’t be an afterthought. While Cadwalladr calls out the tech giants and Ulukaya calls for humanity in business, a slew of TED Fellows echo the theme of responsibility. MIT researcher Arnav Kapur demos a technology that can communicate a person’s thoughts — but he stressed it’s not mind reading. It picks up only “deliberate speech” while “control resides with the user.” … Cofounder and executive director of The Good Food Institute Bruce Friedrich says humans have a responsibility to the earth not to tax it with the consequences of meat consumption. He’s championing research and investment into plant-based and cell-based meat. … Finally, astrodynamicist Moriba Jah speaks about our planet’s responsibility to, well, the rest of the universe. There are more than 500,000 objects in space put there by humans — “most of us what we launch never comes back,” he says. The world’s nations should pool their efforts and data to track the trash.  

Music can be used to teach history and biology. Teachers might want to take a lesson from these TED Fellows. Amma Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin shares a rousing excerpt from her in-progress musical At Buffalo, which examines black identity through the events of the 1901 World’s Fair in Buffalo, New York. And biologist Danielle N. Lee led the crowd in a version of Naughty by Nature’s “O.P.P.” to illustrate the concept of “extra-pair copulation.” (Trust us — it was amazing.)  

Fishing cats are the cutest cat you’ve never heard of. Oh yes, they are.

That concludes this highly abbreviated rundown of the day’s doings, which also included walking Easter Island statues, innovative ways of creating new medications, a Kenyan music festival with the winning name of “Blankets and Wine” (sign us up!), an astrophysicist who is taking how she studies stellar explosions and applying them to city lights and the criminal justice system, restoring the Maldives with canvas “bladders,” spoken word from the sublime Sarah Kay and Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and much more.

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Looking at stars: Notes from Session 2 of TED2019 Fellows talks

Par : TED Staff

Biologist Danielle N. Lee  teaches a memorable lesson on animal monogamy during TED Fellows Session 2 at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 15, 2019 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Dian Lofton / TED)

The event: An afternoon session of talks and performances from TED Fellows, hosted by TED Fellows director Shoham Arad and TED Senior Fellow Jedidah Isler.

When and where: Monday, April 15, 2019, 2pm, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC.

The talks, in brief:

Erika Hamden, an astrophysicist who builds telescopes at the University of Arizona.

  • Big idea: When we look at the universe we can see stars, but what we can’t see are most of the known atoms that form the universe. Learning more about those atoms, such as hydrogen, would go a long way in telling us how galaxies and stars are created, and how the universe evolved.
  • How? Over the past 10 years, Hamden and her team have been building FIREBall, a UV telescope that can observe extremely faint light from huge clouds of hydrogen gas in and around galaxies. It hangs on a cable from a giant balloon from 130,000 feet in the stratosphere, at the very edge of space, for one night, to help observe these atoms. 
  • Quote of the talk: “I work on FIREBall because what I want to take our view of the universe from one of mostly darkness, with just light from stars, to one where we can see and measure nearly every atom that exists.”

Erika Hamden shows a view of the Moon next to, at lower left, a giant balloon carrying a space telescope she and her team designed. She speaks during TED Fellows Session 2 during TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 15, 2019 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Christopher Bahl, molecular engineer and protein designer.

  • Big idea: New, exciting kinds of medicine made from very small and stable proteins, called constrained peptides, are nontoxic and highly potent for the treatment of disease. However, it’s expensive and time-consuming to reengineer constrained peptides found in nature to work as drugs.
  • How? Bahl solves this problem by using computational design to build constrained peptides totally from scratch, using open source design software. The software can position individual atoms incredibly accurately, so that the peptide molecules are custom-tailored for drug development. So far, constrained peptides have been designed to safely neutralize influenza virus, protect against botulism poisoning and block cancer cells from growing.
  • Quote of the talk: “Ultimately, I believe that designed peptide drugs will allow us to break free from the constraints of our diseases.”

Alexis Gambis, a filmmaker and biologist, as well as founder and executive director of film festival Imagine Science Films and creator of streaming film platform Labocine.

  • Big idea: Storytelling through film can playfully help explain important scientific advancements and social issues, and science can be used as a lens through which to understand our own humanity.
  • How? Gambis makes surreal, magical realist films grounded in real scientific fact while straddling experimental, documentary and fiction genres. Son of Monarchs tells a story of immigration and identity while incorporating current evolutionary biology research on the colors, patterns of a butterfly wing, climate justice and CRISPR. His heartfelt portrayal of scientists shifts stereotypes to make them more human and relatable.
  • Quote of the talk: “We need more real science in fictional movies to create more eclectic, more inclusive, more poetic portrayals of science and scientists in the world.”

Hiromi Ozaki, an artist who explores the social and ethical implications of emerging technologies.

  • Big idea: Recent developments in biotechnology and genetic engineering have made things possible that in the past we attributed only to gods and mythologies. Today, we have the knowledge of the pragmatics of science to create the magic of art.
  • How? To create a real-life version of the Red String of Fate – string that binds romantic partners in an Asian lore – Ozaki worked with a geneticist to genetically engineer a silkworm with the DNA of a red glowing coral, adding the love hormone oxytocin. After rendering the mythical real, Ozaki brought it back into the realm of pop culture, making a bio-mythical film featuring an aspiring genetic engineer who creates the Red Silk to win the heart of her crush.
  • Quote of the talk: “We managed to create something that we thought only existed in the world of mythology, through science.”

Muthoni Drummer Queen, musician and founder of two East African festivals: Blankets & Wine and Africa Nouveau.

  • Big idea: Kenya is suffering from an identity crisis that, at its heart, has an attitude of exclusionism of otherness — a relic of its colonial past. It needs cultural spaces that celebrates and embraces its misfits.
  • How? Muthoni Drummer Queen argues that Kenya’s creative industries have a huge role to play in building an inclusive, national pride. She points to examples in Kenyan film, radio, television music and fashion, as well as the music festivals she founded that have offered a platform to a diversity of talents and identities while creating a creative economy, and calls for more progress in these areas so that jobs can be created and Kenyan ideas exported world-wide.
  • Quote of the talk: “We cannot build a nation unless we truly love it, and we cannot love it until we love ourselves.”

Conservationist Moreangels Mbizah worked with the famous Cecil the lion — until he was shot by a trophy hunter. How can we prevent the next tragedy? By enlisting locals to protect the species they coexist with. Mbizah speaks during TED Fellows Session 2 at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 15, 2019 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Moreangels Mbizah, a lion conservationist and founder of Carnivore Conservation Zimbabwe.

  • Big idea: Most conservationists working to protect wildlife in Zimbabwe are not from the countries or communities they serve. Yet the communities that live near this wildlife are the people best positioned to protect them.
  • How? While local people grow up near wildlife, they often don’t come into contact with it unless they travel out to nature preserves. Mbizah suggests that conservationists should bring schoolchildren to national parks for a chance to connect with wildlife, while offering environmental education and teaching conservation skills. Most of all, conservation must include the economies of the people who share the land with wildlife. Locals play an important role in fighting poaching and illegal wildlife trade, so it’s important to embed conservation skills into these communities.
  • Quote of the talk: “Sometimes change can only come when the people most affected and impacted take charge.”

Leila Pirhaji, a biotech entrepreneur and founder of ReviveMed, an AI-driven metabolomics platform focused on discovering drugs for metabolic diseases.

  • Big idea: Many diseases, including fatty liver disease, are driven by metabolites – small molecules in our body like fat, glucose or cholesterol. To develop therapies that treat metabolic disorders, we need to study and understand metabolites, but identifying the vast numbers of metabolites in our bodies would require many experiments, which could take decades and billions of dollars.
  • How? Pirhaji is developing an AI platform that can identify and understand a large set of metabolites from individual patients’ blood or tissues. It’s now working to develop treatments for diseases driven by metabolic dysregulation.
  • Quote of the talk: “By collecting more and more data from metabolites and understanding how changes in metabolites lead to developing diseases, our algorithms will get smarter and smarter to discover the right therapeutics for the right patients.”

Moriba Jah shares a visualization of space junk during TED Fellows Session 2 at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 15, 2019 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Moriba Jah, a space environmentalist and inventor of the orbital garbage monitoring software AstriaGraph.

  • Big idea: We have a space garbage problem: Around half a million objects, some as small as a speck of paint, orbit the Earth and there’s no consensus on what’s in orbit or where. 
  • How? The ever-growing density of untracked flying debris poses a danger to the satellites and space vehicles being launched, yet we don’t yet have tools or policies to monitor and manage them. Jah’s AstriaGraph is an open and transparent database of space objects that aggregates multiple sources of space information. The database lets scientists quantify, assess and predict the behaviors of objects in space, to inform evidence-based space policy and decision-making.
  • Quote of the talk: “In the absence of a framework to monitor activity in space, we risk losing the ability to use space for humanity’s benefit.”

Brandon Anderson, a data entrepreneur and inventor of the police-reporting platform Raheem.

  • Big idea: People in the United States interact with police nearly 63 million times a year, but with 18,000 separate police departments in the US, those interactions aren’t methodically tracked — too often with tragic results. That needs to change.
  • How? The majority of people who experience police violence, says Anderson, do not report it. So when he lost his life partner to police violence during a routine traffic stop, the former military engineer built Raheem, a platform that lets citizens log interactions with police, including the officer’s identity. During its pilot run in San Francisco, Raheem collected twice as many reports in three months as the city had collected in a year. This data is used by police oversight boards to write policies governing police performance, while public defenders use it as evidence against violent police officers.
  • Quote of the talk: “We all deserve a world where we feel safe to live freely, a world where we feel safe to love freely. We are not only fighting for our right to live. We are fighting for our right to love.”

Skylar Tibbits, a designer, computational architect and founder of the Self-Assembly Lab at MIT.

  • Big idea: As we react to climate change, how can we adapt and build resilience? Perhaps by studying natural materials that assemble themselves and adapt to their environment
  • How? Tibbits’ lab was asked to weigh in on this question: Could self-assembly be used to tackle sea level rise in the fragile islands of the Maldives, where climate change is causing land loss? As they watched the motion of the waves and the topography of the reef cause natural sandbars to form, Tibbits and his colleagues realized they could use these natural forces to build sandbars where they’re needed, by assembling underwater forms that work with the tides to pick up the sand where it can accumulate. Think of it as a movable, adaptable reef.
  • Quote of the talk: “It’s a different model for climate change: One that’s about adaptation and resilience rather than resistance and fear.” 

Danielle N. Lee, a behavioral biologist, educator and STEM advocate.

  • Big idea: Lee uses hip hop to communicate science concepts and terms to audiences that popular science often overlooks.
  • How? Take “O.P.P.” by Naughty By Nature, released in 1991 – a song whose lyrics about monogamy (or lack of it) perfectly mirror an evolutionary biology discovery of around the same time: that songbirds – once thought to be strictly monogamous – engaged in what’s politely called Extra Pair Copulation. “You down with EPC? / Yeah, you know me!”
  • Quote of the talk: “Hip hop song references are a really good tool for teaching concepts to students from hip hop culture or urban communities. I use it intentionally, tapping into vocabulary they already know and systems they already comprehend. In the process is it ratifies them – us, our culture – as knowledge purveyors.”

Andrew Nemr, tap dancer and dance oral historian, artistic director of the Vancouver Tap Dance Society

  • Big idea: The audio aspect of the craft of tap dance is just as essential as the visual.
  • How? Dancing us into TED2019, Nemr and ensemble perform a choose-your-own-adventure dance, inviting audience members to close their eyes and open them throughout the piece, as they feel led.
  • Quote of the talk: “I want the audience to experience the form without the visual component, so that they can understand that the music-making part of tap dance is equally important.”

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tedstaff

Stacey Abrams’ State of the Union response and more updates from TED speakers

The TED community is brimming with new projects and updates. Below, a few highlights.

Stacey Abrams responds to the US State of the Union. Politician Stacey Abrams spoke from Atlanta on behalf of the Democratic party following the State of the Union address. In her speech, she focused on the fight against bigotry, bipartisanship in a turbulent America and voter rights. The right to vote is especially important to Abrams — last November, she lost the Georgia gubernatorial election by 55,000 votes, a loss that some pundits have attributed to voter suppression. “The foundation of our moral leadership around the globe is free and fair elections, where voters pick their leaders, not where politicians pick their voters,” she said. “In this time of division and crisis, we must come together and stand for, and with, one another.” Watch the full speech on The New York Times website or read the transcript at USA Today. (Watch Abrams’ TED Talk.)

Remembering Emily Levine. The extraordinary humorist and philosopher Emily Levine has passed away following a battle with lung cancer. Reflecting on life and death, Levine said, “’I am just a collection of particles that is arranged into this pattern, then will decompose and be available, all of its constituent parts, to nature, to reorganize into another pattern. To me, that is so exciting, and it makes me even more grateful to be part of that process.” Read our full tribute to Levine on our blog. (Watch Levin’s TED Talk.)

Could you cut the tech giants from your life? In a new multimedia series from Gizmodo, journalist Kashmir Hill details her six-week experiment quitting Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google — and shares surprising insights on how entwined these companies are in daily life. With help from technologist Dhruv Mehrotra, Hill blocked access to one company for a week at a time using a custom VPN (virtual private network), culminating with a final week of excluding all five tech companies. In just her first week of cutting out Amazon, Hill’s VPN logged over 300,000 blocked pings to Amazon servers! Check out the whole series on Gizmodo. (Watch Hill’s TED Talk.)

Exploring the historical roots of today’s biggest headlines. Alongside artist Masud Olufani, journalist Celeste Headlee will launch a new series at PBS called Retro Report that will explore current news stories, “revealing their unknown — and often surprising — connections to the past.” Each one-hour episode will trace the history of four news stories, including Colin Kaepernick’s NFL protests, modern-day drug approval laws and the US government’s wild horse care program. Retro Report will launch on PBS this fall. (Watch Headlee’s TED Talk.)

Customizable vegetables now for sale. Grubstreet has a new profile on Row 7, the seed company co-founded by chef Dan Barber that wants to change the way farmers, chefs and breeders collaborate and connect. Alongside breeder Michael Mazourek and seeds dealer Matthew Goldfarb, Barber hopes to design seeds that have the flavors chefs want, along with the qualities (like high yield and disease resistance) that farmers are looking for.  “We’re trying to deepen the context for the seeds, and this conversation between breeders and the chefs,” Barber said. By prioritizing taste and nutrition, Row 7 plans to engineer ever-evolving seed collections that meet the needs of both farmers and chefs. Row 7’s first seed collection is now available for purchase. (Watch Barber’s TED Talk.)

A promising new report on tobacco divestment. The Tobacco-Free Finance Pledge, led by oncologist Bronwyn King, has a new signatory: Genus Capital Investment, a leading Canadian fossil-free investment firm. Genus released a new report — based on a six-year study — about the financial impacts of divesting from tobacco stocks and removing tobacco from its portfolios. They found that over the past 20 years, tobacco divestment did not negatively affect index portfolios, and that in the past five years, portfolios that excluded tobacco actually outperformed the market. In a statement, King said, “This new research adds to a growing body of evidence demonstrating that investors do not need to invest in tobacco to achieve excellent returns.” Spearheaded by Tobacco Free Portfolios and the United Nations Environment Programme, the Tobacco-Free Finance Pledge was launched last year and has over 140 signatories and supporters. (Watch King’s TED Talk.)

An HBO feature on superhuman tech. On Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, bionics designer Hugh Herr presented his team’s latest prosthetics and explained why he thinks bionics will soon revolutionize sports. Herr spoke to Soledad O’Brien about a future of enhanced athletic ability, saying “There’s going to be new sports … power basketball, power swimming, power climbing. It’ll be a reinvention of sports and it’ll be so much fun.” In a teaser clip, O’Brien tried on a pair of lower-leg exoskeletons developed at Herr’s MIT lab; the full episode can be viewed on HBO. (Watch Herr’s TED Talk.)

 

Have a news item to share? Write us at contact@ted.com and you may see it included in this round-up.

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Education Everywhere: A night of talks about the future of learning, in partnership with TED-Ed

TED-Ed’s Stephanie Lo (left) and TED’s own Cloe Shasha co-host the salon Education Everywhere, on January 24, 2019, at the TED World Theater in New York City. (Photo: Dian Lofton / TED)

The event: TED Salon: Education Everywhere, curated by Cloe Shasha, TED’s director of speaker development; Stephanie Lo, director of programs for TED-Ed; and Logan Smalley, director of TED-Ed

The partner: Bezos Family Foundation and ENDLESS

When and where: Thursday, January 24, 2019, at the TED World Theater in New York City

Music: Nora Brown fingerpicking the banjo

The big idea: We’re relying on educators to teach more skills than ever before — for a future we can’t quite predict.

Awesome animations: Courtesy of TED-Ed, whose videos are watched by more than two million learners around the world every day

New idea (to us anyway)Poverty is associated with a smaller cortical surface of the brain. 

Good to be reminded: Education doesn’t just happen in the classroom. It happens online, in our businesses, our social systems and beyond.

Nora Brown, who picked up the ukulele at age six, brings her old-time banjo sound to the TED stage. (Photo: Dian Lofton / TED)


The talks in brief:

Kimberly Noble, a neuroscientist and director of the Neurocognition, Early Experience and Development Lab at Columbia University

  • Big idea: We’ve learned that poverty has a measurable effect on the cortical surface of the brain, an area associated with intelligence. What could we do about that?
  • How: Experience can change children’s brains, and the brain is very sensitive to experience in early childhood. Noble’s lab wants to know if giving impoverished families more money might change brain function in their preschool kids.
  • Quote of the talk: “The brain is not destiny, and if a child’s brain can be changed, then anything is possible.”

Olympia Della Flora, associate superintendent for school development for Stamford Public Schools in Connecticut, and the former principal at Ohio Avenue Elementary School in Columbus, Ohio

  • Big idea: Healthy emotional hygiene means higher academic scores and happier kids.
  • How: With help from local colleges and experts, the teachers at Ohio Avenue Elementary learned new ways to improve kids’ behavior (which in turn helped with learning). Rather than just reacting to kids when they acted out, teachers built healthy coping strategies into the day — simple things like stopping for brain breaks, singing songs and even doing yoga poses — to help kids navigate their emotions in and out of the classroom.
  • Quote of the talk: “Small changes make huge differences, and it’s possible to start right now. You don’t need bigger budgets or grand, strategic plans. You simply need smarter ways to think about using what you have, where you have it.”

Marcos Silva, a TED-Ed Innovative Educator and public school teacher in McAllen, Texas; and Ana Rodriguez, a student who commutes three hours every day to school from Mexico

  • Big idea: Understanding what’s going on with students outside of school is important, too.
  • How: Silva grew up bringing the things he learned at school about American culture and the English language back to his parents, who were immigrants from Mexico. Now a teacher, he’s helping students like Ana Rodriquez to explore their culture, community and identity.
  • Quote of the talk: “Good grades are important, but it’s also important to feel confident and empowered.”

Joel Levin, a technology teacher and the cofounder of MinecraftEdu

  • Big idea: Educators can use games to teach any subject — and actually get kids excited to be in school.
  • How: Levin is a big fan of Minecraft, the game that lets players build digital worlds out of blocks with near-endless variety. In the classroom, Minecraft and similar games can be used to spark creativity, celebrate ingenuity and get kids to debate complex topics like government, poverty and power.
  • Quote of the talk: “One of my daughters even learned to spell because she wanted to communicate within the game. She spelled ‘home.'”

Jarrell E. Daniels offers a new vision for the criminal justice system centered on education and growth. (Photo: Dian Lofton / TED)

Jarrell E. Daniels, criminal justice activist and Columbia University Justice-In-Education Scholar

  • Big idea: Collaborative education can help us create more justice.
  • How: A few weeks before his release from state prison, Daniels took a unique course called Inside Criminal Justice, where he learned in a classroom alongside prosecutors and police officers, people he couldn’t imagine having anything in common with. In class, Daniels connected with and told his story to those in power — and has since found a way to make an impact on the criminal justice system through the power of conversation.
  • Quote of the talk: “It is through education that we will arrive at a truth that is inclusive and unites us all in a pursuit of justice.”

Liz Kleinrock, third-grade teacher and diversity coordinator at a charter school in Los Angeles

  • Big idea: It’s not easy to talk with kids about taboo subjects like race and equity, but having these conversations early prevents bigger problems in the future.
  • How: Like teaching students to read, speaking about tough topics requires breaking down concepts and words until they make sense. It doesn’t mean starting with an incredibly complex idea, like why mass incarceration exists — it means starting with the basics, like what’s fair and what isn’t. It requires practice, doing it every day until it’s easier to do.
  • Quote of the talk: “Teaching kids about equity is not about teaching them what to think. It’s about giving them the tools, strategies and opportunities to practice how to think.”

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Showing off: Notes from Session 5 of TEDWomen 2018

The term “showing off” gets a bad rap. But for Session 5 of TEDWomen 2018, a lineup of speakers and performers reclaimed the phrase — showing off their talents, skills and whole extraordinary selves. Hosted by TED’s head of conferences, Kelly Stoetzel, and head of curation, Helen Walters, the talks ranged from architecture and the environment to education and grief, taking on the fundamental challenges that we face as humans. The session featured Ane Brun, Kotchakorn Voraakhom, Kate E. Brandt, Danielle R. Moss, Carla Harris, Helen Marriage and Nora McInerny.

Multi-instrumentalist, singer and composer Ane Brun kicks off Session 5 with a poised, intimate performance of “It All Starts With One” and “You Light My Fire.” She performs at TEDWomen 2018: Showing Up, on November 29, 2018, in Palm Springs, California. (Photo: Callie Giovanna / TED)

It all starts with a dramatic opening. The session starts with an air of anticipation, thanks to multi-instrumentalist Ane Brun‘s opening number, “It All Starts With One.” This cabaret workout for piano and string quartet is based on “the revolution of dreams” of the Arab Spring, written to celebrate “small victories … that little drop that I, as an individual, can add to the flood of change.” Her intimate follow-up number, “You Light My Fire,” is “a statue in the shape of a song” dedicated to the unacknowledged warriors who fight for women’s rights.

Our sinking cities. At this very moment, 48 major cities across the globe are sinking — cities like New York City, Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, Shanghai and Bangkok, built on the soft ground alongside their rivers. Landscape architect and TED Fellow Kotchakorn Voraakhom comes from Bangkok herself and was displaced, along with millions of others, by the devastating flood that hit Thailand in 2011. “Our city’s modern infrastructure — especially our notion to fight floods with concrete — has made us extremely vulnerable to climate uncertainty,” she says. In the years since, she’s worked to combine the ingenuity of modern engineering with the reality of rising sea levels to help cities live with climate change. She and her team designed the Chulalongkorn Centenary Park, a big green crack in the heart of Bangkok and the city’s first new public park in more than three decades. The park is not only a site for recreation and beautification; it also helps the city deal with water through some ingenious design. Bangkok is a flat city, so by inclining the whole park, it harnesses the power of gravity to collect every drop of rain — holding and collecting up to a million gallons of water during severe floods. “This park is not about getting rid of flood water,” she says. “It’s about creating a way to live with it.” In a sinking city where every rainfall is a wake-up call, this “amphibious design” provides new hope of making room for water.

“Greening” Google with a circular approach. “What if, like nature, everything was repurposed, reused and reborn for use again?” asks Google’s head of sustainability, Kate E. Brandt, who is in charge of “greening” the tech giant. Every time someone completes a search on Google or uploads a video to YouTube, Google’s data centers are hard at work — filled with servers using a significant amount of energy. And with demand for energy and materials only continuing to grow, Brandt’s work is to figure a sustainable path forward. Her idea? To create a circular economy grounded in three tenets: designing out waste, keeping products and materials in use, and transitioning to renewable energy. In this circular world, all goods would be designed to be easily repaired and remanufactured. She imagines, for instance, that even clothes and shoes could be leased and returned — with old clothes going back to the designer to reuse the materials for a new batch of clothing. “If we each ask ourselves, ‘What can I do to positively impact our economy, our society, our environment?’ — then we will break out of the global challenges that have been created by our take-make-and-waste economy, and we can realize a circular world of abundance,” she says.

Activist Danielle R. Moss advocates for “the forgotten middle”: those students and coworkers who are often overlooked but who, when motivated and empowered to succeed, can reach their full potential. She speaks at TEDWomen 2018: Showing Up, November 29, 2018, Palm Springs, California. (Photo: Callie Giovanna / TED)

Tapping into the forgotten middle. We all know “the forgotten middle” — “they’re the students, coworkers and plain old regular folks who are often overlooked because they’re seen as neither exceptional nor problematic,” says activist and former educator Danielle R. Moss. But, she says, there is more here. “I think there are some unclaimed winning lottery tickets in the middle,” Moss says. “I think the cure for cancer and the path to world peace might very well reside there.” Moss has spent much of her career trying to help this group reach their full potential. In middle school, she herself was languishing in that strata, until her mother noticed and set her on a different path. Later, in New York City, Moss helped create a program to work with the forgotten middle and identified some of the core elements of a formula to motivate them. These include holding kids to high expectations (instead of asking, “Hey, do you want to go to college?”, ask, “What college would you like to attend?”), giving them “the hidden curriculum” needed to succeed (study skills, leadership development, liberal-arts coursework and adult support), and making them accountable to themselves, each other and their communities (seeing themselves as belonging to a group of young people who came from the same backgrounds and who were all aspiring for more). Moss says, “When I think of my kids, and I think of all the doctors, lawyers, teachers, social workers and artists who came from our little nook in New York City, I hate to think what wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t invested in the kids in the middle.”

In our careers, we all need a sponsor. Corporate America insists it is a meritocracy — a place where those who succeed simply “put their heads down and work really hard.” But former Wall Street banker Carla Harris tells us this simple truth: that’s not the case. To really move forward and be recognized for your work, you need someone else to make a case for you — especially in those pivotal decisions that are often made behind closed doors. This person isn’t a mentor, champion or advocate — but a sponsor, someone who is “carrying your paper into the room … pounding the table on your behalf.” Sponsors need three things: a seat at the table, power in the decision-making process and an investment in you and your work. Harris says you can attract a sponsor by utilizing two forms of social capital: performance currency, which you gain when you perform beyond expectations, and relationship currency, which you gain by engaging meaningfully with the people around you. “You can survive a long time in your career without a mentor,” Harris says, “but you are not going to ascend in any organization without a sponsor.”

Designer Helen Marriage creates moving, ephemeral moments that reveal beauty among ruins, reexamine history and whimsically demonstrate what’s possible. She speaks at TEDWomen 2018: Showing Up, November 29, 2018, Palm Springs, California. (Photo: Callie Giovanna / TED)

A moment when curiosity triumphs over suspicion, and delight banishes anxiety. Designer Helen Marriage brings people together through larger-than-life art and spectacle. “I want to take you to a different kind of world — a world of the imagination where using this most powerful tool that we have, we can transform our physical surroundings,” she says. With Artichoke, the company she cofounded in 2006, Marriage seeks to create moving, ephemeral moments that reveal beauty among ruins, reexamine history and whimsically demonstrate what’s possible. Why? “In doing so, we can change forever how we feel, and how we feel about the people we share the planet with.” On the TEDWomen stage, Marriage tells the tale of three cities she transformed into spaces of culture and connection. In Salisbury, French actors performed Faust on stilts with handheld pyrotechnics; in London, she conjured magic by shutting down the city streets for four days to tell the story of a little girl and an elephant. And in Derry (also known as Londonderry) — a town still gripped by Northern Ireland’s Protestant/Catholic conflict — she helped address community tribalism in Burning Man fashion, building a wooden temple that housed written hopes, thoughts, loves and losses — then burning it down. Reminiscent of a town ritual that usually deepens rifts, the work brought thousands of people together on both sides to share and experience a deeply profound moment. As she says: “In the end, this is all about love.”

Moving forward doesn’t mean moving on. In a heartbreaking, hilarious talk, writer and podcaster Nora McInerny shares her hard-earned wisdom about life and death. In 2014, soon after losing her second pregnancy and her father, McInerny’s husband Aaron died after three years fighting brain cancer. Since then, McInerny has made a career of talking about life’s hardest moments — not just her own, but also the losses and tragedies that others have experienced. She started the Hot Young Widows Club, a series of small gatherings where men and women can talk about their partners who have died and say the things that other people in their lives aren’t yet willing to hear. “The people who we’ve lost are still so present for us,” she says. Now remarried, McInerny says that we need to change how we think about grief — that it’s possible to grieve and love in the same year and week, even the same breath. She invites us to stop talking about “moving on” after the death of a loved one: “I haven’t moved on from Aaron, I’ve moved forward with him,” she says. And she encourages us to remind one another that some things can’t be fixed, and not all wounds are meant to heal.

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The art of possibility: The talks of TED@Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

For a second year, TED and Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, have partnered to explore the art of possibility. (Photo: Richard Hadley / TED)

The possibilities life affords us are endless. We can find them everywhere, at the micro and macro levels and across all fields. Do you see them? Look closer: they are there every time we use our curiosity and imagination to explore and try new things.

For a second year, TED and Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, have partnered to explore the art of possibility. At this year’s TED@Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, hosted by TED’s international curator Bruno Giussani at Staatstheater Darmstadt on November 26, 2018, a lineup of 13 visionaries, dreamers and changemakers shared the possibilities of past, present and future.

After opening remarks from Stefan Oschmann, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, the talks of Session 1 kick off.

Sharks could be our newest weapons against cancer, says antibody researcher Doreen Koenning. She shares her work at TED@Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. (Photo: Richard Hadley / TED)

Can sharks help us fight cancer? The time-worn cliché, “If you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras,” is meant to remind us that the most obvious solution is usually the correct ones. Yet antibody researcher Doreen Koenning has dedicated her career to doing exactly the opposite — and in the process, she’s uncovered surprising weapons that may help us fight cancer. Koenning studies sharks — specifically, their antibodies, which are unusually stable and robust, and which interact with a wide variety of complex molecules. What does this have to do with cancer? Medicines made from human antibodies help us battle cancer — but since they blend into our immune system so well, it’s difficult to track their side effects. Shark antibodies, by contrast, stand out like a sore thumb. Because of this, they could become a valuable tool for neglected diseases and clinical drug trials — and potentially create a new breed of cancer medicines. In the end, Koenning reminds us that we can find useful molecules in many other species, each of them having very special traits. So our search for “zebras” shouldn’t stop at the shark tank.

By bridging immunology and biology, we can engineer vaccines that evolve alongside the superbugs, says pharmacist Vikas Jaitely. He speaks at TED@Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. (Photo: Richard Hadley / TED)

We can fight antibiotic-resistant superbugs with a new class of vaccines. We urgently need to revamp our approach to developing solutions for bacterial diseases, says pharmacist Vikas Jaitely. Deadly superbugs like MRSA and Clostridium difficile are quickly evolving to resist antibiotics by continuously mutating their genes and even borrowing stronger DNA from other bacteria. Although medical science is trying to keep up, these strains are progressing at a much faster rate than our antibiotics; by 2050, superbugs could claim up to 10 million lives a year globally. Jaitely proposes a new source of help: learning directly from the bacteria and developing what he calls an “ecosystem of evolving vaccines” that can be rapidly modified to target ever-changing bacteria strains. Jaitely says that by modeling superbug behavior and tracking the most probable adaptations (similar to how we approach the flu virus), we can engineer vaccines that evolve alongside the superbugs, functioning as protective shields in our bodies. By “bridging immunology and biology,” he concludes, “we can remove these bugs’ superpowers through the power of our own immune systems, fully trained by these new vaccines.”

What your breath could reveal about your health. There’s no better way to stop a disease than catching and treating it early, before symptoms show. That’s the whole point of medical screening techniques like radiography, MRIs and blood and tissue tests. But there’s a medium with overlooked potential for medical analysis: your breath. Technologist Julian Burschka shares the latest in the art of breath analysis — the screening of the volatile organic compounds we exhale — and how it can be used to better understand the biochemical processes happening inside a patient’s body. Burschka explains how research on breath analysis has skyrocketed recently, and that there’s substantial data suggesting that diseases like Alzheimer’s, diabetes and even colon cancer can be detected in our breath. As the technology matures, the decision of whether or not to treat a disease based on early detection will still be debated, Burschka says. But it’s opening up exciting new possibilities like the creation of longitudinal data that could track the same patient over her lifetime, enabling doctors to detect abnormalities based on a patient’s own medical history, not the average population. “Breath analysis should provide us with a powerful tool not only to proactively detect specific diseases, but also to predict and ultimately prevent them,” Burschka says.

The possibilities of dynamic lighting. Light is all around us, yet many of us don’t realize how much of an effect it has on our behavior and productivity. Lighting researcher Sarah Klein believes we can use lighting to improve our daily lives. Lighting is often chosen with installation costs in mind — not designed to help us feel our best. Klein thinks we should change that approach and make it work with our biological needs. She suggests a “dynamic light system” — a network of adjustable, condition-specific LED lights that NASA uses to help their astronauts get the right amount of sleep. This kind of solution isn’t just for astronauts — it can be useful back on Earth, too, Klein says. For example, a dynamic light system could help travelers cope with jetlag on airplanes and enable people to heal faster in hospitals. Now that we know the impact that light has on us, she says, “We can create a healthier environment for our colleagues, our friends, our families — and ultimately ourselves.”

The impact of a TED Talk, one year later. In a personal, eye-opening talk at last year’s TED@Merck, patient advocate Scott Williams highlighted the invaluable role of informal caregivers — those friends and relatives who go the extra mile for their loved ones in need. More than a million views later, Williams is back on the TED stage, discussing the impact of his talk both within Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and on the general public. Since the talk, the company has launched a program called Embracing Carers that supports informal caregivers, and people from around the world have reached out to Williams to share their stories and perspectives. Now, Williams and Embracing Carers are partnering with like-minded organizations, such as Eurocarers and the American Cancer Society (and actor Rob Lowe!), to share tools and resources. “This journey generated interest and brought people together,” Williams says. “It sparked a dynamic conversation about the situation of carers.”

A grassroots healthcare revolution in Africa. The last several decades have brought revolutionary advances in medical technology — and yet, according to the World Health Organization, half of the world’s population still can’t get basic health care. How can we fix this glaring gap? Inclusive health care advocate Boris A. Hesser believes that the answer lies in community pharmacies, and developing them into bonafide centers of care. Throughout Africa, for example, small pharmacies can be logical local service points for basic medical care and long-term patient outcomes — if they can access the tools they need. Hesser’s team has already built five basic, sustainable facilities around Nairobi that provide preventative care, affordable medication and even refrigeration for medicines. It’s one step in bringing affordable health care to everyone, everywhere.

Scientist Li Wei Tan is passionate about bubbles. At TED@Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, she shares the magic of these soapy spheres. (Photo: Richard Hadley / TED)

The wonderful, surprisingly scientific world of bubbles. Ink formulation scientist Li Wei Tan wants to burst your bubble. It’s actually her job to do just that; when you hold a smartphone, it’s her work that helps give the screen such a crisp, clear quality, by removing the micro- and nano-sized bubbles that want to live in the ink beneath the screen. Tan knows all about the secret world of bubbles — how to remove tiny ones and create the giant bubbles that may have fascinated you as a child — and shares the magic of these soapy spheres. Bubbles are mathematical marvels because they’re constantly seeking geometric perfection, which gives them their shape, Tan says. (Did you know six connected bubbles form a cube in the center?) And these spectacular orbs have influenced industries from manufacturing and shipping (where boats are trying to mimic the bubble-producing tendencies of swimming penguins) to medicine — even down to the tiny bubbles in champagne. “As a scientist who is passionate about bubbles,” she says, “I love to see them, I love to play with them, I love study them, and also I love to drink them.”

Why multitasking works — if we slow it down. “To do two things at once is to do neither,” so the saying goes. But economist and journalist Tim Harford thinks that doing two things at once — or three or even four — is exactly what we should be going for, so long as we slow down to do them right. Harford calls this concept “slow-motion multitasking,” and it’s a pattern of behavior common in highly creative people of all stripes — from Einstein and Darwin to Michael Crichton and Twyla Tharp. Slow-motion multitasking is “when we have several projects in progress at the same time, and we move from one to the other and back again as the mood takes us or the situation demands,” he says. The benefits of this approach are manifold. For instance, creativity often comes from moving an idea out of its original situation and into a new context. As Harford puts it: “It’s easier to think outside the box if you spend some time clambering from one box to another.” What’s more, learning to do one thing may help you do something else. Harford gives the example of medical trainees who became significantly better at analyzing and diagnosing images of eye diseases after spending time studying art. And by balancing several fulfilling projects at once, Harford explains, you’re less likely to get stuck: a setback on one project presents itself as an opportunity to work on another. So how do you keep all these creative pursuits straight in your head? Harford suggests storing related information in separate boxes — whether these are actual physical boxes or digital folders — that can be easily accessed when inspiration strikes. “We can make multitasking work for us, unleashing our natural creativity,” Harford says. “We just need to slow it down.”

Breaking down cultural barriers — with cake. Materials scientist Kathy Vinokurov says that when faced with cultural boundaries in unfamiliar environments, we should be bold and take the first step to bridge those gaps. Born in Russia, Vinokurov moved to Israel as a teenager, where she says she built an imaginary wall between her and her classmates. Fast forward to a new job in Germany later in life and Vinokurov realized she had done the same thing at her workplace. While we can’t control the perceptions others have of us, Vinokurov says, we can control how we communicate and share with those around us. She suggests that when we’re in new settings, we can ease cultural barriers by showing up as our full, authentic selves — and, perhaps, bringing sweet treats from home, like cake. “This opens up the possibility to talk about all the bricks that, if not addressed, may build that wall,” Vinokurov says. While not everyone will immediately open up, she encourages us to spark conversation and “cultural barriers will start to melt away.” Though the tensions of a new workplace can be daunting, sometimes it really is as easy as pie.

By combining AI and blockchain, we could enter an era where we render all data — published and unpublished — searchable and shareable, says complexity specialist Gunjan Bhardwaj. He shares his vision of the future at TED@Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. (Photo: Richard Hadley / TED)

Technological tools for mining medical data. Complexity specialist Gunjan Bhardwaj begins his talk with a grim statement: “All of us in this room have a friend or a loved one who has suffered from a life-threatening disease.” When faced with this reality, we find ourselves trying to sort through a mountain of medical data to figure out what therapies are available, pinpoint where we can get them and identify the best experts to help. And this mountain is constantly growing; according to a study by Peter Densen: at the present rate, medical knowledge will double itself every 73 days in the year 2020. Doctors and researchers — let alone patients and their families — will find it impossible to attain a cohesive view of this “deep, dense and diverse” data. Bharwaj identifies two potential technological solutions to this problem: artificial intelligence and blockchain. An AI trained in the specialized language of medical science could crawl data and enable users to answer their most pressing questions. And using blockchain to encrypt siloed, proprietary and otherwise unavailable data could allow researchers to share their unpublished findings more securely, sparking innovation. By combining AI and blockchain, we could enter an era where we render all data — published and unpublished — searchable and shareable. “That era is now,” Bharwaj says.

The self-assembling circuits of the future. We’ve all experienced the frustration of an old computer or smartphone grinding to a halt. It’s the circuits to blame. In time, if we don’t develop better hardware for evolving tech like facial recognition and augmented reality, we could hit a point where the mind-blowing potential of software may be limited, warns developer Karl Skjonnemand. Right now, much of our technology runs thanks to transistors — big, hulking machines that after 50 years of continuous reinvention are now smaller than a red blood cell. But Skjonnemand says that we’re reaching their physical limits, while still needing to go smaller. It’s time for a totally different, robust and cost-effective approach inspired by nature and brought to life by science: designing self-assembling materials after membranes and cell structures in order to continue with the spectacular expansion of computing and the digital revolution. “This could even be the dawn of a new era of molecular manufacturing,” says Skjonnemand. “How cool is that?”

What should electric cars sound like? Renzo Vitale designs an automotive system that few of us consider — the sonic environments cars produce. Electric cars, with their low audio footprints, offer some welcome silence in our cities — as well as new dangers, since they can easily sneak up on unsuspecting pedestrians. So what kind of sounds should they make to keep people safe? Instead of an engine sound, Vitale explores “sonic textures that are able to transmit emotion … connecting feelings and frequencies” that “speak to the character and identity of the car” — or “sound genetics.” In practice, this could mean a car that sounds like a harmonious synthesizer reaching crescendo as it accelerates. Vitale is also an artist and a performer, using his automotive environments as blueprints for mind-boggling installations and musical scores. To close of his talk, he plays selections from his piano albums, Storm and Zerospace.

At TED@Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Daniel Sherling shares his work bringing the joy of science to American kids who don’t have access to high-tech facilities. (Photo: Richard Hadley / TED)

How a shipping container sparks students’ curiosity. “How can students get excited about science if they don’t have access to the resources that actually make science fun?” asks science education promoter Daniel Sherling. With his team at MilliporeSigma, Sherling transformed a yellow shipping container into a “Curiosity Cube” — a mobile science lab meant to create an engaging, dynamic learning environment. Inside the Curiosity Cube, students can find technology like programmable robots, 3D printers, interactive microscopes, virtual reality and more. The Cube is strapped to a trailer and travels throughout North America, visiting schools that lack the resources for real hands-on science experiments. This way, he says, interactive science can be brought to the students who need it most. And on weekends, families and students can find the Cube in large city centers or public spaces. It’s open to anyone interested in learning more about science — no matter their age. “If we can expose students to the wonders of science, if we can get them just that much more excited for science class the next day, we truly believe we can have a domino effect,” says Sherling. “Because what students need is the opportunity to see and experience how awesome science is. To feel safe to learn, to build their confidence, and most importantly to have their curiosity sparked.”

Deutsche Philharmonie Merck wrapped up the evening with a piece composed by Ben Palmer in 2018 to celebrate the 350th anniversary of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. (Photo: Richard Hadley / TED)

“Part II. The Journey Through Time.” After closing remarks from Belén Garijo, CEO Healthcare, at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Deutsche Philharmonie Merck wraps up the evening performing a piece composed by its conductor Ben Palmer in 2018 to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the company. This is followed by a second piece by Mikhail Glinka, “Ruslan and Lyudmila,” an overture based on a poem by Pushkin, providing a contemplative melody with toiling bravado, soaring strings and notes of inspiration — which one could imagine as the sounds of a working mind struck by brilliance.

TED@Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany at Staatstheater Darmstadt, November, 26, 2018.

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New writing from Casey Gerald, Stephen Hawking’s final book and more TED news

The TED community is brimming with new books and projects. Below, a selection of highlights.

A powerful story of an American odyssey. Writer and business leader Casey Gerald has published a new memoir on his journey through American life. Titled There Will Be No Miracles Here, the book tells Gerald’s story from a childhood of scraping by, to Yale University, to his role as the leader of a nonprofit placing MBA graduates in communities where they can share their knowledge and make a difference. In an interview with NYMag, Gerald says, “I feel very certain that this book, writing it and giving it away, was the highest and best use of the luxury of being alive. Only time will tell whether that’s true.” The memoir, which The New York Times calls “magnificent,” can be found in bookstores and online. (Watch Gerald’s TED Talk.)

New insights on the benefits of playing instruments. In collaboration with neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, guitar manufacturer Fender has published a new report on the emotional, physical and mental benefits of playing instruments with a focus on the guitar. The study has some fascinating findings: women make up half of all new and aspiring guitar players, 72% of participants began playing guitar as a way of bettering themselves and 42% of participants considered guitar-playing a part of their identity. On the study, Levitin said, “Playing an instrument has a meditative aspect that can release positive hormones in the brain … When we play an instrument, it allows us to see ourselves differently — taking on something that is seen as being a masterful skill in society.” (Watch Levitin’s TED Talk.)

A free resource on integrating ethics and tech. In a closing keynote at the 2018 Borah Symposium, game designer and technologist Jane McGonigal spoke about the tangible benefits of video games. As quoted in The Argonaut, McGonigal said, “Microsoft Research estimated that the United States’ global life expectancy had increased by 2.825 million years just because of the amount of increase in physical activity [from the release of Pokémon Go]. That’s a real outcome.” McGonigal also discussed Ethical OS, her latest project, a free online ethics toolkit for technology makers and futurists. McGonigal crafted it in collaboration with the Omidyar Network and her team at the Institute for the Future, where she is the Director for Game Research and Development. (Watch McGonigal’s TED Talk.)

Marvel’s SHURI series is here. The Black Panther universe has a new addition: a comic series focusing on Shuri, the princess of Wakanda. Written by Afrofuturist writer Nnedi Okorafor and illustrated by Leonardo Romero, the first issue was released last week. This series signals a departure from the Black Panther lore so far. According to Marvel, SHURI leads the eponymous main character on exciting adventures and challenges as she strives to lead Wakanda — the fictional African country of the Black Panther universe — in the absence of her brother, King T’Challa. The first issue has three gorgeous covers by artist Sam Spratt and the second issue is out next month. (Watch Okorafor’s TED Talk. and read our new interview with her)

Brief Answers to Big Questions. The final book of the late theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking was published in October, seven months after Hawking passed away at age 76. Published by Bantam Books, Brief Answers to Big Questions explores some of life’s greatest mysteries, including the existence of God and the possibility of time travel (spoiler alert: Hawking says no and maybe, respectively). The book was finished and polished by Hawking’s family members, who drew from his research, notes and papers following his death. In addition, Hawking, widely considered one of the most influential scientists of his generation, will be honored at the 2019 Breakthrough Prize ceremony. Hawking was awarded a Special Fundamental Physics Prize by the organization in 2013 for his discovery that black holes emit radiation. (Watch Hawking’s TED Talk.)

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Reboot: The talks of TED@BCG

CEO of BCG, Rich Lesser, welcomes the audience to TED@BCG, held October 3, 2018, at Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

How do we manage the transformations that are radically altering our lives — all while making a positive impact on our well-being, productivity and the world? In a word: reboot.

For a seventh year, BCG has partnered with TED to bring experts in leadership, psychology, technology, sustainability and more to the stage to share ideas on rethinking our goals and redefining the operating systems we use to reach them. At this year’s TED@BCG — held on October 3, 2018, at the Princess of Wales Theater in Toronto — 18 creators, leaders and innovators invited us to imagine a bright future with a new definition of the bottom line.

After opening remarks from Rich Lesser, CEO of BCG, the talks of Session 1

Let’s stop trying to be good. “What if I told you that our attachment to being ‘good people’ is getting in the way of us being better people?” asks social psychologist Dolly Chugh, professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business. The human brain relies on shortcuts so we can cope with the millions of pieces of information bombarding us at any moment. That’s why we’re often able to get dressed or drive home without thinking about it — our brains are reserving our attention for the important stuff. In her research, Chugh has found the same cognitive efficiency occurs in our ethical behavior, where it shows up in the form of unconscious biases and conflicts of interest. And we’re so focused on appearing like good people — rather than actually being them — that we get defensive or aggressive when criticized for ethical missteps. As a result, we never change. “In every other part of our lives, we give ourselves room to grow — except in this one where it matters the most,” Chugh says. So, rather than striving to be good, let’s aim for “good-ish,” as she puts it. That means spotting our mistakes, owning them and, last but not least, learning from them.

You should take your technology out to coffee, says BCG’s Nadjia Yousif. She speaks at TED@BCG about how we can better embrace our tech — as colleagues. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Treat your technology like a colleague. “The critical skill in the 21st-century workplace is … to collaborate with the technologies that are becoming such a big and costly part of our daily working lives,” says technology advisor Nadjia Yousif. She’s seen countless companies invest millions in technology, only to ignore or disregard it. Why? Because the people using the technology are skeptical and even afraid of it. They don’t spend the time learning and training — and then they get frustrated and write it off. What if we approached new technology as if it were a new colleague? What if we treated it like a valued member of the team? People would want to get to know it better, spend time integrating it into the team and figure out the best ways to collaborate, Yousif says — and maybe even give feedback and make sure the tech is working well with everyone else. Yousif believes we can treat technology this way, and she encourages us to “share a bit of humanity” with our software, algorithms and robots. “By embracing the ideas that these machines are actually valuable colleagues, we as people will perform better … and be happier,” she says.

Confessions of a reformed micromanager. When Chieh Huang started the company Boxed out of his garage in 2013, there wasn’t much more to manage than himself and the many packages he sent. As his company expanded, his need to oversee the smallest of details increased — a habit that he’s since grown out of, but can still reference with humor and humility. “What is micromanaging? I posit that it’s actually taking great, wonderful, imaginative people … bringing them into an organization, and then crushing their souls by telling them which font size to use,” he jokes. He asks us to reflect on the times when we’re most tired at work. It probably wasn’t those late nights or challenging tasks, he says, but when someone was looking over your shoulder watching your every move. Thankfully, there’s a cure to this management madness, Huang says: trust. When we stop micromanaging the wonderfully creative people at our own companies, he says, innovation will flourish.

Dancing with digital titans. Tech giants from the US and China are taking over the world, says digital strategist François Candelon. Of the world’s top 20 internet companies, a full 100 percent of them are American or Chinese — like the US’s Alphabet Inc. and Amazon, and China’s Tencent and Alibaba. Europe and the rest of the world must find a way to catch up, Candelon believes, or they will face US-China economic dominance for decades to come. What are their options for creating a more balanced digital revolution? Candelon offers a solution: governments should tango with these digital titans. Instead of fearing their influence — as the EU has done by levying fines against Google, for instance — countries would be better off advocating for the creation of local digital jobs. Why would companies like Facebook or Baidu be willing to tango with governments? Because they can offer things like tax incentives and adapted regulations. Candelon points to “Digital India,” a partnership between Google and the government of India, as an example: one of the project’s initiatives is to train two million Indian developers in the latest technologies, helping Google develop its talent pipeline while cultivating India’s digital ecosystem. “Let’s urge our governments and the American and Chinese digital titans to invest enough brainpower and energy to imagine and implement win-win strategic partnerships,” Candelon says. The new digital world order depends on it.

Upcycling air pollution into ink. In 2012, a photo of an exhaust stain on a wall sparked a thought for engineer Anirudh Sharma: What if we could use air pollution as ink? A simple experiment with a candle and vegetable oil convinced Sharma that the idea was viable, leading him home to Bangalore to test how to collect the carbon-rich PM2.5 nanoparticles that would make up the ink. Sharma and his team at AIR INK created a device that could capture up to 95 percent of air pollution that passed through it; using it, 45 minutes of diesel car exhaust can become 30 milliliters of ink (or about 2 tablespoons). Artists worldwide embraced AIR INK, and this success brought surprising interest from the industrial world. Sharma realized that by incentivizing corporations to send their pollution to AIR INK, they could upcycle pollution usually headed for landfills into a productive tool. AIR INK won’t necessarily solve global pollution concerns, Sharma says, “but it does show what can be done if you look at problems a little differently.”

Leadership lessons for an uncertain world. Jim Whitehurst is a recovering know-it-all CEO. Kicking off Session 2, Whitehurst tells the story of how his work as the COO of Delta trained him to think that a good leader was someone who knew more than anyone else. But after becoming CEO of RedHat, an open-source software company, Whitehurst encountered a different kind of organization, one where open criticism of superiors — and not exactly following a boss’s orders — were normal. This experience yielded insights about success and leadership, as Whitehurst came to realize that being a good leader isn’t about control and compliance, it’s about creating the context for the best ideas to emerge out of your organization. “In a world where innovation wins and ambiguity is the only certainty, people don’t need to be controlled,” Whitehurst says. “They need to get comfortable with conflict. And leaders need to foment it.”

Elizabeth Lyle shares ideas on the future of leadership in the workplace at TED@BCG. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Why we need to coach people before they lead. The C-suites of corporate America are full of management coaches, yet top-tier execs are not the ones who really need the help, says Elizabeth Lyle, a principal in BCG’s Boston office. “Outdated leadership habits are forming right before our eyes among the middle managers who will one day take their place,” she says. While the uncertain future of work demands new ways of thinking, acting and interacting, tomorrow’s leaders aren’t given the autonomy or training they need to develop — and they don’t ask for it, lest they seem pushy and disagreeable. They also think that they’ll be able to change their behavior once they’ve earned the authority to do things their own way, Lyle says, but this rarely happens. By the time they’re in a high-stakes position, they tend to retreat to doing what their bosses did. The solution: senior leaders must present their direct reports with the opportunities to try new things, and reports should return that trust by approaching their work with thought and creativity. Lyle also suggests bringing in coaches to work in the same room with leaders and reports — like a couples therapist, they’d observe the pair’s communication and offer ideas for how to improve it.

A breakdown, and a reboot. Each of us feels the burden of daily repetitive actions on our bodies and psyches, whether we create them or they’re imposed by outside forces. Left unchecked, these actions can “turn into cages,” says Frank Müller-Pierstorff, Global Creative Director at BCG. In an electronic music performance, he uses soundscapes built out of dense, looped phrases to embody these “cages,” while dancer Carlotta Bettencourt attempts to keep up in an accompanying video — and ultimately shows us what might happen if we could only “reboot” under the weight of our stress.

WWMD? What would MacGyver do? That’s what Dara Dotz asks herself, whether she’s working to help build the first factory in space or aiding survivors of a recent catastrophic event. Much like the fictional genius/action hero, Dotz loves to use technology to solve real-life problems — but she believes our increasing reliance on tech is setting us up for major failure: Instead of making us superhuman, tech may instead be slowly killing our ability to be creative and think on our feet. If disaster strikes — natural or man-made — and our tech goes down, will we still have the ingenuity, resilience and grit to survive? With that concern in mind, Dotz cofounded a nonprofit, Field Ready, to support communities that experience disasters by creating life-saving supplies in the field from found materials and tools. With real-world examples from St. Thomas to Syria, Dotz demonstrates the importance of co-designing with communities to create specific solutions that fit the need — and to ensure that the communities can reproduce these solutions. “We aren’t going to be able to throw tech at every problem as efficiently or effectively as we would like — as time moves on, there are more disasters, more people and less resources,” she says. “Instead of focusing on the next blockchain or AI, perhaps the things we really need to focus on are the things that make us human.”

Rebooting how we work. What are we willing to give up to achieve a better way of working? For starters: the old way of doing things, says Senior Partner and Managing Director of BCG Netherlands, Martin Danoesastro. In a world that’s increasingly complex and fast-paced, we need a way of working that allows people to make faster decisions, eliminates bureaucracy and creates alignment around a single purpose. Danoesastro learned this firsthand by visiting and studying innovative and hugely profitable tech companies. He discovered the source of their success in small, autonomous teams that have the freedom to be creative and move fast. Danoesastro provides a few steps for companies that want to replicate this style: get rid of micro-managers, promote open and transparent communication throughout the organization, and ensure all employees take initiative. Changing deeply ingrained structures and processes is hard, and changing behavior is even harder, but it’s worth it. Ultimately, this model creates a more efficient workplace and sets the company up for a future in which they’ll be better prepared to respond to change.

The power of visual intelligence. Are you looking closely enough? Author Amy Herman thinks we should all increase our perceptual intelligence — according to Herman, taking a little more time to question and ponder when we’re looking at something can have lasting beneficial impact in our lives. Using a variety of fine art examples, Herman explains how to become a more intentional, insightful viewer by following the four A’s: assess the situation, analyze what you see, articulate your observations and act upon them. Herman has trained groups across a spectrum of occupations — from Navy SEALS to doctors to crime investigators — and has found that by examining art, we can develop a stronger ability to understand both the big picture and influential small details of any scene. By using visual art as a lens to look more carefully at what’s presented to us, Herman says, we’ll have the confidence to see our work and the world clearer than ever.

Fintech entrepreneur Viola Llewellyn shares her work pairing AI with local knowledge to create smarter products for the African market. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Culturally attuned microfinance for Africa. Financial institutions in Africa’s business sector don’t have the technology or tools to harness the continent’s potential for wealth, says fintech entrepreneur Viola Llewellyn, opening Session 3. The continent is made up of thousands of ethnic groups speaking more than 2,000 languages among them, rooted in a long, rich history of cultural diversity, tradition and wealth. “You need a deep understanding of nuance and history,” Llewellyn says, “and a respect for the elegance required to code and innovate [financial] products and services for the vast African market.” She cofounded Ovamba, a mobile technology company, to bridge the gap in knowledge between institutions and African entrepreneurs. Working with teams on the ground, Ovamba pairs human insights about local culture with AI to create risk models and algorithms, and ultimately product designs. Llewellyn highlights examples across sub-Saharan Africa that are successfully translating her vision into real-world profit. “In digitizing our future, we will preserve the beauty of our culture and unlock the code of our best wealth traits,” she says. “If we do this, Africans will become global citizens with less reliance on charity. Becoming global citizens gives us a seat at the table as equals.”

Globalization isn’t dead — it’s transforming into something new. All the way up to Davos, business leaders have proclaimed the death of globalization. But Arindam Bhattacharya thinks their obituary was published prematurely. Despite growing economic protectionism, and the declining influence of multilateral trade organizations, business is booming. Technology has allowed data-driven businesses like Netflix to reach their customers instantly and simultaneously — and as a result, Netflix revenues have grown more than five-fold. Netflix is one of a new breed of companies using cutting-edge technology to build “a radical new model of globalization.” And it’s not just data — soon, 3D printing will redefine our supply chains. Working with the manufacturer SpeedFactory, Adidas allows customers to choose designs online, have them printed at a nearby “mini-factory,” and delivered via drone in a matter of days, not weeks or months. Aided by local production, cross-border data flow could be worth $20 trillion by 2025 — more than every nation’s current exports combined. As society becomes “more nationalistic and less and less open,” Bhattacharya says, commerce is becoming more personalized and less tied to cross-border trade. These twin narratives are reinvigorating globalization.

Viruses that fight superbugs. Viruses have a bad reputation — but some might just be the weapon we need to help in the fight against superbugs, says biotech entrepreneur Alexander Belcredi. While many viruses do cause deadly diseases, others can actually help cure them, he says — and they’re called phages. More formally known as bacteriophages, these viruses hunt, infect and kill bacteria with deadly selectivity. Whereas antibiotics inhibit the growth of broad range of bacteria — sometimes good bacteria, like you find in the gut — phages target specific strains. Belcredi’s team has estimated that we have at least ten billion phages on each hand, infecting the bacteria that accumulate there. So, why is it likely you’ve never heard of phages? Although they were discovered in the early 20th century, they were largely forgotten in favor of transformative antibiotics like penicillin, which seemed for many decades like the solution to bacterial infections. Unfortunately, we were wrong, Belcredi says: multi-drug-resistant infections — also known as superbugs — have since developed and now overpower many of our current antibiotics. Fortunately, we are in a good place to develop powerful phage drugs, giving new hope in the fight against superbugs. So, the next time you think of a virus, try not to be too judgmental, Belcredi says. After all, a phage might one day save your life.

Madame Gandhi and Amber Galloway-Gallego perform “Top Knot Turn Up” and “Bad Habits” at TED@BCG. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

How music brings us together. “Music is so much more than sound simply traveling through the ear,” says sign language interpreter Amber Galloway-Gallego, during the second musical interlude of the day. In a riveting performance, musician and activist Madame Gandhi plays two songs — her feminist anthems “Top Knot Turn Up” and “Bad Habits” — while Galloway-Gallego provides a spirited sign language interpretation.

Agreeing to disagree. Our public discourse is broken, says behavioral economist Julia Dhar, and the key to fixing it might come from an unexpected place: debate teams. In the current marketplace of ideas, Dhar says, contempt has replaced conversation: people attack each other’s identity instead of actually hashing out ideas. If we turn to the principles of debate, Dhar believes we can learn how to disagree productively — over family dinners, during company meetings and even in our national conversations. The first principle she mentions is rebuttal: “Debate requires that we engage with a conflicting idea directly, respectfully and face-to-face,” she says — and as research shows, this forces us to humanize the “other side.” Second, ideas are totally separate from the identity of the person advocating for them in debate tournaments. Dhar invites us to imagine if the US Congress considered a policy without knowing if it was Democrat or Republican, or if your company submitted and reviewed proposals anonymously. And third, debate lets us open ourselves up to the possibility of being wrong, an exercise that can actually make us better listeners and decision makers. “We should bring [debate] to our workplaces, our conferences and our city council meetings,” Dhar says — and begin to truly reshape the marketplace of ideas.

A better world through activist investment. Who’s working on today’s most pressing issues? Activist investors, says BCG’s Vinay Shandal, or as he calls them: “the modern-day OGs of Wall Street.” These investors — people like Carl Icahn, Dan Loeb and Paul Singer — have made an art of getting large corporations to make large-scale changes. And not just to make money. They’re also interested in helping the environment and society. “The good news and perhaps the saving grace for our collective future is that it’s more than just an act of good corporate citizenship,” Shandal says. “It’s good business.” Shandal shares examples of investors disrupting industries from retail to food service to private prisons and shows growing evidence of a clear correlation between good ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing and good financial performance. You don’t need to be a rich investor to make a difference, Shandal says. Every one of us can put pressure on our companies, including the ones that manage our money, to do the right thing. “It’s your money, it’s your pension fund, it’s your sovereign wealth fund. And it is your right to have your money managed in line with your values.” Shandal says. “So speak up … Investors will listen.”

TED@BCG - October 3, 2018 at Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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Preview our new podcast: The TED Interview

Par : TED Staff

TED is launching a new way for curious audiences to immerse themselves more deeply in some of the most compelling ideas on our platform: The TED Interview, a long-form TED original podcast series. Beginning October 16, weekly episodes of The TED Interview will feature head of TED Chris Anderson deep in conversation with TED speakers about the ideas they shared in their TED Talks. Guests will include Elizabeth Gilbert and Sir Ken Robinson, as well as Sam Harris, Mellody Hobson, Daniel Kahneman, Ray Kurzweil and more. Listen to the trailer here.

NEW: Listen to the first episode, our conversation with Elizabeth Gilbert.

“If you look at the cast of characters who have given TED Talks over the past few years, it’s a truly remarkable group of people, and includes many of the world’s most remarkable minds,” Chris said. “We got a glimpse of their thinking in their TED Talk, but there is so much more there. That’s what this podcast series seeks to uncover. We get to dive deeper, much deeper than was possible in their original talk, allowing them to further explain, amplify, illuminate and, in some cases, defend their thinking. For anyone turned on by ideas, these conversations are a special treat.”

The launch comes at an exciting time when TED is testing multiple new formats and channels to reach even wider global audiences. In the past year TED has experimented with original podcasts, including WorkLife with Adam Grant, Facebook Watch series like Constantly Curious, primetime international television in India with TED Talks India Nayi Soch and more.

“We’ve been very ambitious in our goal of developing and testing new formats and channels that can support TED’s mission of Ideas Worth Spreading,” said Colin Helms, head of media at TED. “A decade after TED began posting talks online, there are so many more differing media habits to contend with—and, lucky for us, so many more formats to more to play with. The TED Interview is an exciting new way for us to offer curious audiences a front-row seat to some of the day’s most fascinating and challenging conversations.”

The first episode of the TED Interview debuts Tuesday, October 16, on Apple Podcasts, the TED Android app or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. Season 1 features eleven episodes, roughly 40 minutes each. New episodes will be made available every Tuesday. Subscribe and check out the trailer here.

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New insights on climate change action, a milestone for Maysoon Zayid and more TED news

As usual, the TED community is making headlines. Below, some highlights.

Does local action make a difference when fighting climate change? Environmental scientist Angel Hsu teamed up with experts at several climate research institutes on a fascinating new report about the potential effects of local action in reducing greenhouse gas emissions globally. Hsu synthesized data from thousands of cities, regions and companies at Data-Driven Yale, the Singapore-based research group she founded and leads. The study found that committed action by local entities could help bring the world closer to the goals of 2015’s Paris Climate Agreement. Researchers also found that local action by American entities could reduce emissions by at least half of America’s initial Paris Agreement pledge, even without federal support. On the study, Hsu said, “The potential of these commitments to help the world avoid dangerous climate change is clear – the key is now to ensure that these commitments are really implemented.” (Watch Hsu’s TED Talk.)

A groundbreaking comedy show. Actor, comedian and disability activist Maysoon Zayid will write and star in a new show inspired by her life for ABC. The show, titled Can, Can, will follow a Muslim woman with cerebral palsy as she navigates the intricacies of her love life, career and her opinionated family. Much of Zayid’s comedy explores and expands the intersections of disability and Muslim-American identity. Zayid will be joined by writer Joanna Quraishi to help produce and write the single-camera series. (Watch Zayid’s TED Talk.)

Meet 2018’s Humanist of the Year. For his advocacy work on responsible and progressive economic ethics, Nick Hanauer will be honored as Humanist of the Year by the Humanist Hub, an organization based at MIT and Harvard. In a statement, Hanauer said, “It is an honor both to receive this award, and to join the Humanist Hub in helping to change the way we think and talk about the economy. It turns out that most people get capitalism wrong. Capitalism works best when it works for everybody, not just for zillionaires like me.” The Humanist Hub, a nonreligious philosophy group, annually celebrates a public individual they believe embodies the ideals of humanism, a philosophy of living ethically to serve the greater good of humanity. (Watch Hauner’s TED Talk.)

Are you saving enough for retirement? Behavioral economist Dan Ariely doesn’t think so — in a new study conducted with Aline Holzwarth at the Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University, Ariely found that we can expect to spend up to 130% of our preretirement income once we retire. Ariely and Holzwarth urge us to abandon the conventional idea that 70% of our income will be enough for retirement. Instead, they suggest we approach saving for retirement with a personalized methodology that takes into account the seven most prominent spending categories: eating out, digital services, recharge (relaxing and self-care), travel, entertainment and shopping, and basic needs. Moving past a generic one-size measurement, they advocate planning your retirement spending only after you spending time understanding your individual needs. (Watch Ariely’s TED Talk.)

In Italy, a bridge offers hope after tragedy. Following a devastating bridge collapse that killed 43 people in Genoa, Italian architect Renzo Piano has offered to donate a new bridge design to help his beloved hometown recover from the traumatic loss. Preliminary designs present a bridge that is distinctly ship-like, alluding to Genoa’s maritime history; it includes 43 illuminated posts resembling sails to memorialize each of the victims. Meanwhile, Piano has worked closely with England’s Royal Academy of the Arts to design and curate an expansive retrospective of his work called “The Art of Making Buildings,” opening September 15. On the exhibition, Piano said, “[M]aking buildings is a civic gesture and social responsibility. I believe passionately that architecture is about making a place for people to come together and share values.” (Watch Piano’s TED Talk.)

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Moving healthcare forward: The talks of TED Salon: Catalyst

TED and Optum partnered to cultivate the dialogue and collaboration that’s needed to understand and guide changes in healthcare. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)

Healthcare is at a turning point. Big data, evolving consumer preferences and shifting cost structures are just a few of the many complex factors shaping the opportunities and challenges that will define the future. How can we all become forces for positive change and progress?

For the first time, TED partnered with Optum, a health services and innovation company, for a salon focused on what happens when we trust our ideas to change health and healthcare for the better. At the salon, held on July 31 at the ARIA Las Vegas, six speakers and a performer shared fresh thinking on how we can make a health system that works better for everyone.

Empathy shouldn’t be a nice-to-have, says Adrienne Boissy — it’s a hard skill that should be integrated into everything we do. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)

How we can put empathy back in healthcare. Many in healthcare believe that empathy — imagining another person’s feelings and then doing something to help them — is a “soft skill,” and not an important factor in the success or failure of medical treatments. But according to Adrienne Boissy, chief experience officer for the Cleveland Clinic Health System, empathy is a critical part of healthcare that, when cultivated, delivers proven, positive impacts to everything from controlling high blood pressure to the outcomes of diabetes. Best of all, it’s something that healthcare workers can learn, in order to “bake caring fixes back into every single part of the healthcare system.” Boissy knows that patients and doctors both suffer under current healthcare systems and their long wait times, communications gaps, and the endemic pressures that lead to staff burnout. To address these problems in her health system, Boissy implemented some big fixes, like same-day appointments for patients, communications training for doctors and less bureaucratic pressure. Her strategies are designed to build empathy back into the healthcare system and “transform the human experience into something much more humane.”

The myth of obesity and the need for a social movement. The global obesity crisis has reached epidemic proportions — but its root cause may not be what you think. Obesity expert Lee Kaplan has studied the issue for nearly 20 years, and the misconceptions around obesity have remained fairly constant throughout: if people simply ate less and exercised more, the thinking goes, they’d be able to control their weight. But the reality is much more complex. “Numerous studies demonstrate that each of our bodies has a powerful, and very accurate, system for seeking and maintaining the right amount of fat,” Kaplan says. “Obesity is the disease in which that finely tuned system goes awry.” There are many types of obesity, with many causes — genetics, brain damage, sleep deprivation, medications that promote weight gain — but in the end, all obesity reflects the disruption of this internal system (controlled by the body’s adipostat). In order to begin solving this massive health crisis, Kaplan calls for us to stop stigmatizing obesity and take collective action to improve the lives of those affected. “We need to change the public perception of blame and responsibility, and support a social movement that will lead to real progress,” Kaplan says. “In so doing, we will begin to see society shrink before our eyes.”

If we design healthcare systems with trust, innovation and ambition, says Dr. Andrew Bastawrous, we can create solutions that change the lives of millions of people worldwide. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)

Innovating the healthcare funding and distribution model. While working in an eye care clinic in Kenya, Andrew Bastawrous was frustrated to find that because of rigid funding regulations, he wasn’t able to help people in desperate need who didn’t have “the right problems.” Though specific resource allocation makes business sense, Bastawrous says, inflexible rules often block healthcare organizations from adapting to shifting situations on the ground. This makes it difficult to deliver even simple medical treatments — for example, though we’ve had glasses for over 700 years, 2.5 billion people still don’t have access to them. That’s why Peek Vision, the eye care organization Bastawrous co-founded and leads, is set up as both a company and a charity — an innovation that allows them to sustainably create healthcare products and serve the communities who need them most. Peek Vision’s successful partnership with the Botswana government to screen and treat every child in the country by 2021 shows that this model can work — now, it needs to be scaled globally. If we design health care systems with trust, innovation and ambition, Bastawrous says, we can create solutions that fulfill the needs of financial partners and improve the lives of millions of people worldwide.

One pill to rule them all? We live in the age of the “quantified self,” where it’s possible to measure, monitor and track much of our physiology and behavior with a few taps of a finger. (Think smartwatches and fitness trackers.) With all this information, says Daniel Kraft, we should be able to make the shift into “quantified health” and design truly personalized medicine that allows us to synthesize many of our medications into a single pill. Onstage, Kraft revealed a prototype that would not only engender an easier time taking medications but also print the drugs he envisions right in the home. “I’m hopeful that with the help of novel approaches like this, we can move from an era of intermittent data, reactive one-size-fits-all therapy,” he says, “improving health and medicine across the planet.”

When it comes to health, we’re not as divided as we think we are, says Rebecca Onie. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)

Divided on healthcare, united on health. The American conversation around healthcare has long been divisive. Yet as health services innovator Rebecca Onie reveals in new research, people in the US are not as polarized as they think. She launched a new initiative to ask voters around the country one question: “What do you need to be healthy?” As it turns out, across economic, political and racial divides, Americans are aligned when it comes to their healthcare priorities: healthy food, safe housing and good wages. “When you ask the right questions, it becomes pretty clear: our country may be fractured on healthcare, but we are unified on health,” she says. The insights from her research demonstrate how our common experience can inform our approach to pressing healthcare questions — and even bring people across the political spectrum together.

Medicine isn’t made by miracles. Our narratives of our greatest medical and healthcare advances all follow the same script, Darshak Sanghavi says: “The heroes are either swashbuckling doctors fighting big odds and taking big risks, or miracle drugs found in the unlikeliest of places.” We love to hear — and tell — stories based on this script. But these stories cause us to redirect our resources toward creating hero doctors and revolutionary medications, and by doing so, “we potentially harm more people than we help,” Sanghavi says. He believes we should turn away from these myths and focus on what really matters: teamwork. Incremental refinements in treatments, painstakingly assembled by healthcare workers pooling their resources over time, are what really lead to improved survival rates and higher-quality lives for patients. “We don’t need to wait for a hero in order to make our lives better,” Sanghavi says. “We already know what to do. Small steps over time will get us where we need to go.”

Jessica Care Moore performs her poem “Gratitude Is a Recipe for Survival” to close out the salon. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)

She has decided to live. Poet, performer and artist Jessica Care Moore closes out the salon with a performance of “Gratitude Is a Recipe for Survival” — a vigorous, personal, lyrical journey through the mind and life of a professional poet raising a young son in a thankless world.

TEDSalon Optum - July 31, 2018 at ARIA Resort & Casino, Las Vegas

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