Not All Is Broken: Notes from Session 6 of TEDSummit 2019

In the final session of TEDSummit 2019, the themes from the week — our search for belonging and community, our digital future, our inextricable connection to the environment — ring out with clarity and insight. From the mysterious ways our emotions impact our biological hearts, to a tour-de-force talk on the languages we all speak, it’s a fitting close to a week of revelation, laughter, tears and wonder.

The event: TEDSummit 2019, Session 6: Not All Is Broken, hosted by Chris Anderson and Bruno Giussani

When and where: Thursday, July 25, 2019, 9am BST, at the Edinburgh Convention Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland

Speakers: Johann Hari, Sandeep Jauhar, Anna Piperal, Eli Pariser, Poet Ali

Interlude: Mackenzie Dalrymple sharing the tale of an uncle and nephew competing to become Lord of the Isles

Music: Djazia Satour, blending 1950s Chaabi (a genre of North African folk music) with modern grooves

The talks in brief:

Johann Hari, journalist

Big idea: The cultural narrative and definitions of depression and anxiety need to change.

Why? We need to talk less about chemical imbalances and more about imbalances in the way we live. Johann Hari met with experts around the world, boiling down his research into a surprisingly simple thesis: all humans have physical needs (food, shelter, water) as well as psychological needs (feeling that you belong, that your life has meaning and purpose). Though antidepressant drugs work for some, biology isn’t the whole picture, and any treatment must be paired with a social approach. Our best bet is to listen to the signals of our bodies, instead of dismissing them as signs of weakness or madness. If we take time to investigate our red flags of depression and anxiety — and take the time to reevaluate how we build meaning and purpose, especially through social connections — we can start to heal in a society deemed the loneliest in human history.

Quote of the talk: “If you’re depressed, if you’re anxious — you’re not weak. You’re not crazy. You’re not a machine with broken parts. You’re a human being with unmet needs.”

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Sandeep Jauhar, cardiologist

Big Idea: Emotional stress can be a matter of life and death. Let’s factor that into how we care for our hearts.

How? “The heart may not originate our feelings, but it is highly responsive to them,” says Sandeep Jauhar. In his practice as a cardiologist, he has seen extensive evidence of this: grief and fear can cause profound cardiac injury. “Takotsubo cardiomyopathy,” or broken heart syndrome, has been found to occur when the heart weakens after the death of a loved one or the stress of a large-scale natural disaster. It comes with none of the other usual symptoms of heart disease, and it can resolve in just a few weeks. But it can also prove fatal. In response, Jauhar says that we need a new paradigm of care, one that considers the heart as more than “a machine that can be manipulated and controlled” — and recognizes that emotional stress is as important as cholesterol.

Quote of the talk: “Even if emotions are not contained inside our hearts, the emotional heart overlaps its biological counterpart in surprising and mysterious ways.”

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Anna Piperal, e-governance expert 

Big idea: Bureaucracy can be eradicated by going digital — but we’ll need to build in commitment and trust.

How? Estonia is one of the most digital societies on earth. After gaining independence 30 years ago, and subsequently building itself up from scratch, the country decided not only to digitize existing bureaucracy but also to create an entirely new system. Now citizens can conduct everything online, from running a business to voting and managing their healthcare records, and only need to show up in person for literally three things: to claim their identity card, marry or divorce, or sell a property. Anna Piperal explains how, using a form of blockchain technology, e-Estonia builds trust through the “once-only” principle, through which the state cannot ask for information more than once nor store it in more than one place. The country is working to redefine bureaucracy by making it more efficient, granting citizens full ownership of their data — and serving as a model for the rest of the world to do the same.

Quote of the talk: “In most countries, people don’t trust their governments, and the governments don’t trust them back. All the complicated paper-based formal procedures are supposed to solve that problem. Except that they don’t. They just make life more complicated.”

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Eli Pariser, CEO of Upworthy

Big idea: We can find ways to make our online spaces civil and safe, much like our best cities.

How? Social media is a chaotic and sometimes dangerous place. With its trolls, criminals and segregated spaces, it’s a lot like New York City in the 1970s. But like New York City, it’s also a vibrant space in which people can innovate and find new ideas. So Eli Pariser asks: What if we design social media like we design cities, taking cues from social scientists and urban planners like Jane Jacobs? Built around empowered communities, one-on-one interactions and public censure for those who act out, platforms could encourage trust and discourse, discourage antisocial behavior and diminish the sense of chaos that leads some to embrace authoritarianism.

Quote of the talk: “If online digital spaces are going to be our new home, let’s make them a comfortable, beautiful place to live — a place we all feel not just included, but actually some ownership of. A place we get to know each other. A place you’d actually want not just to visit, but to bring your kids.”

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Poet Ali, architect of human connection

Big idea: You speak far more languages than you realize, with each language representing a gateway to understanding different societies, cultures and experiences.

How? Whether it’s the recognized tongue of your country or profession, or the social norms of your community, every “language” you speak is more than a lexicon of words: it also encompasses feelings like laughter, solidarity, even a sense of being left out. These latter languages are universal, and the more we embrace their commonality — and acknowledge our fluency in them — the more we can empathize with our fellow humans, regardless of our differences.

Quote of the talk: “Every language we learn is a portal by which we can access another language. The more you know, the more you can speak. … That’s why languages are so important, because they give us access to new worlds.”

A first glimpse at the TEDSummit 2019 speaker lineup

With TEDSummit 2019 just two months away, it’s time to unveil the first group of speakers that will take to the stage in Edinburgh, Scotland, from July 21-25.

Three years ago, more than 1,000 members of the TED global community convened in Banff, Canada, for the first-ever TEDSummit. We talked about the fracturing state of the world, the impact of technology and the accelerating urgency of climate change. And we drew wisdom and inspiration from the speakers — and from each other.

These themes are equally pressing today, and we’ll bring them to the stage in novel, more developed ways in Edinburgh. We’ll also address a wide range of additional topics that demand attention — looking not only for analysis but also antidotes and solutions. To catalyze this process, half of the TEDSummit conference program will take place outside the theatre, as experts host an array of Discovery Sessions in the form of hands-on workshops, activities, debates and conversations.

Check out a glimpse of the lineup of speakers who will share their future-focused ideas below. Some are past TED speakers returning to give new talks; others will step onto the red circle for the first time. All will help us understand the world we currently live in.

Here we go! (More will be added in the coming weeks):

Anna Piperal, digital country expert

Bob Langert, corporate changemaker

Carl Honoré, author

Carole Cadwalladr, investigative journalist

Diego Prilusky, immersive media technologist

Eli Pariser, organizer and author

Fay Bound Alberti, historian

George Monbiot, thinker and author

Hajer Sharief, youth inclusion activist

Howard Taylor, children safety advocate

Jochen Wegner, editor and dialogue creator

Kelly Wanser, geoengineering expert

Ma Yansong, architect

Marco Tempest, technology magician

Margaret Heffernan, business thinker

María Neira, global public health official

Mariana Lin, AI personalities writer

Mariana Mazzucato, economist

Marwa Al-Sabouni, architect

Nick Hanauer, capitalism redesigner

Nicola Jones, science writer

Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland

Omid Djalili, comedian

Patrick Chappatte, editorial cartoonist

Pico Iyer, global author

Poet Ali, Philosopher, poet

Rachel Kleinfeld, violence scholar

Raghuram Rajan, former central banker

Rose Mutiso, energy for Africa activist

Sandeep Jauhar, cardiologist

Sara-Jane Dunn, computational biologist

Sheperd Doeleman, black hole scientist

Sonia Livingstone, social psychologist

Susan Cain, quiet revolutionary

Tim Flannery, carbon-negative tech scholar

Tshering Tobgay, former Prime Minister of Bhutan

 

With them, a number of artists will also join us at TEDSummit, including:

Djazia Satour, singer

ELEW, pianist and DJ

KT Tunstall, singer and songwriter

Min Kym, virtuoso violinist

Radio Science Orchestra, space-music orchestra

Yilian Cañizares, singer and songwriter

 

Registration for TEDSummit is open for active members of our various communities: TED conference members, Fellows, past TED speakers, TEDx organizers, Educators, Partners, Translators and more. If you’re part of one of these communities and would like to attend, please visit the TEDSummit website.