29 June 2007
Welcome TED.com's 10,000th member
This week marks the one-year anniversary of TEDTalks -- a year ago this Wednesday, our first five talks went live on TED.com. Since that time, more than 5 million people have seen a TEDTalk, either via TED.com, on this blog, through our video partners such as Google Video and YouTube -- or through re-posting on another blog. Truly, these are ideas worth spreading.
And today, we're set to welcome our 10,000th TED.com member. As of this minute, we're at user number 9,996, and probably within the next hour, someone will be the 10,000th person to join our free online community of people who want to learn and share new ideas. Welcome all!
28 June 2007
Pogue tests the Apple iPhone
NYTimes tech columnist and TED06 speaker David Pogue has been testing the Apple iPhone, which will hit stores tomorrow Friday in the US, and he shows it all on video, feature by feature, dressed with classic Pogue fun. Or you can read his article. Summary: "much of the hype and some of the criticisms are justified. The iPhone is revolutionary; it’s flawed ... it does things no phone has ever done before; it lacks features found even on the most basic phones." 
By the way, David has a book coming out in a few weeks about the iPhone - "iPhone: The Missing Manual".
28 June 2007
To the depths of the Earth ... and beyond! Watch Bill Stone on TED.com
Bill Stone, the maverick cave explorer and diver -- who has invented robots and rebreathing equipment to let him plumb Earth’s deepest abysses -- talks about his efforts to build a robot to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa. The plan is to send the droid to bore through miles of ice and swim through a liquid underworld that may harbor alien life. And if that’s not enough, he’s also planning to mine ice, on Earth's own moon, by 2015. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 17:55) Read more about Bill Stone on TED.com.
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26 June 2007
Hans Rosling's jaw-dropping demo, on TED.com
In a follow-up to his now-legendary TED2006 presentation, Hans Rosling demonstrates how developing countries are pulling themselves out of poverty. He shows us the next generation of his Trendalyzer software -- which analyzes and displays data in amazingly accessible ways, allowing people to see patterns previously hidden behind mountains of stats. (Just days after this talk, he announced a deal with Google to acquire the software.) He also demos Dollar Street, a program that lets you peer in the windows of typical families worldwide living at different income levels. Be sure to watch straight through to the (literally) jaw-dropping finale. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 19:09) Read more about Hans Rosling on TED.com.
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25 June 2007
Ed Burtynsky's Manufactured Landscapes: The Movie
In an extended run at the Film Forum in New York City (and now playing in Philadelphia), the film Manufactured Landscapes is in the spirit of Edward Burtynsky's 2005 TED Prize wishes: to show the world the size, the devastation, the sheer astonishingness of the industrial landscapes we have created -- and to create a desire to learn more. Burtynsky's large-format photographs capture Chinese factories that stretch on for acres, shipbreaking beaches where manual laborers tear apart rusting oil tankers, mountains of slag and rivers of waste. Filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal accompanied Burtynsky as he shot in China and Bangladesh, and offers context around the edges of the visuals. It's stunning and heartbreaking in equal measure.
Watch Ed Burtynsky's 2005 TED Prize acceptance speech here; WIRED.com has posted a portfolio of photographs here. And check out one result of Burtynsky's TED Prize wishes: Meet the Greens, a site and show that teach kids about the environment.
25 June 2007
Blogging the young windmill builder who rocked TEDGlobal
William Kamkwamba, the 19-year-old self-taught engineer who built a windmill power system for his family's home in Malawi, was a star of TEDGlobal 2007. As reported by Ethan Zuckerman, several TEDsters have pledged to help him further his education.
Now you can follow William's journey on his blog. Read about the windmill he built, his latest upgrades to his power system, and the people he is meeting who -- like so many people at TEDGlobal and in the blog community -- are impressed and inspired by what he's achieved.
21 June 2007
A tour of MS Virtual Earth, on TED.com
Stephen Lawler, from Microsoft, takes us on a tour through the company's new Virtual Earth project, which is, basically, an attempt to turn the entire planet into an interface to the web. Collecting and synthesizing massive amounts of data -- bird's-eye views, street-level photos, 3D wireframes -- the Virtual Earth team are building a world of possibilities. Bonus: This talk may explain the mysterious vans with cameras on top that you might have seen cruising up and down your street. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 06:55) Read Stephen Lawler's profile on TED.com
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19 June 2007
The string quartet Ethel plays "Blue Room," on TED.com
Ethel is, perhaps, the first 21st-century realization of the classical string quartet. An all-star foursome, Ethel is Cornelius Dufallo (violin), Ralph Farris (viola), Dorothy Lawson (cello), and Mary Rowell (violin), a mixed bag of players from classical, rock and downtown new-music circles. On TED.com, they perform the third movement from Phil Kline's four-part suite "The Blue Room and Other Stories," recorded on the quartet's 2003 album Ethel (Cantaloupe). Searching, questioning melodic lines slide from instrument to instrument, in a piece that shows off each player's deep and emotional musicality. (Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 03:55) Read more about Ethel on TED.com
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19 June 2007
Google's quest for the perfect links
TED partner Google has allowed for the first time a journalist (Saul Hansell from the NYT) to spend a day with engineer Amit Shingal and his "search-quality team" -- the people responsible for the very secret mathematical formulas that decide which web pages best answer each user's query. It's a delicate act, a mix of science and artistry: half a dozen major or minor changes are introduced in Google's search engine every week, and each change can affect the ranking of many sites -- although most are barely noticed by the average user. Hansell's story is a rare glimpse behind the world's largest search engine, which indexes billions of webpages in over a hundred languages and handles hundreds of millions of queries a day. It's a long article (3200 words) but since "it's becoming impossible not to visit with Google daily", as Swiss technophilosopher René Berger once said, it's worth knowing a thing of two about the way your host runs his house. Excerpts:
Google's servers basically make a copy of the entire Web, page by page, every few days, storing it in their huge data centers:
As Google compiles its index, it calculates a number it calls PageRank for each page it finds. [ BG: the picture at right shows the original PageRank algorithm, from a powerpoint presentation Larry Page gave at Stanford in 1998] This was the key invention of Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. PageRank tallies how many times other sites link to a given page. Sites that are more popular, especially with sites that have high PageRanks themselves, are considered likely to be of higher quality.
Mr. Singhal has developed a far more elaborate system for ranking pages, which involves more than 200 types of information, or what Google calls “signals.” PageRank is but one signal. Some signals are on Web pages — like words, links, images and so on. Some are drawn from the history of how pages have changed over time. Some signals are data patterns uncovered in the trillions of searches that Google has handled over the years. (...)
Once Google corrals its myriad signals, it feeds them into formulas it calls classifiers that try to infer useful information about the type of search, in order to send the user to the most helpful pages. Classifiers can tell, for example, whether someone is searching for a product to buy, or for information about a place, a company or a person. Google recently developed a new classifier to identify names of people who aren’t famous. Another identifies brand names.
These signals and classifiers calculate several key measures of a page’s relevance, including one it calls “topicality” — a measure of how the topic of a page relates to the broad category of the user’s query. (...) Google combines all these measures into a final relevancy score. The sites with the 10 highest scores win the coveted spots on the first search page, unless a final check shows that there is not enough “diversity” in the results. (...) If this wasn’t excruciating enough, Google’s engineers must compensate for users who are not only fickle, but are also vague about what they want; often, they type in ambiguous phrases or misspelled words.
And they must of course also keep out the millions of fake webpage created by hucksters who try to hijack searches to lure users to their porn or scam pages. Hansell's article also details the constant debate inside Google (and other search companies) about "freshness": is it better to provide new information or to display pages that have stood the test of time and are more likely to be of higher quality? Until recently, Google had preferred the latter. But last year, when the company introduced its new stock quotation service, a search for “Google Finance” couldn’t find it, and that pointed to a broader problem that was solved by developing a new mathematical model that tries to determine when users want new information and when they don't. The solution
revolves around determining whether a topic is “hot.” If news sites or blog posts are actively writing about a topic, the model figures that it is one for which users are more likely to want current information. The model also examines Google’s own stream of billions of search queries, which Mr. Singhal believes is an even better monitor of global enthusiasm about a particular subject. As an example, he points out what happens when cities suffer power failures. “When there is a blackout in New York, the first articles appear in 15 minutes; we get queries in two seconds,” he says.
18 June 2007
A TED-bagful of inspiration from Sierra Leone
TED Curator Chris Anderson writes: If there had been no other outcome of TEDGlobal than the story below, I think the whole thing would have been worthwhile. This hit my inbox today... It's from Yene Assegid, the founder of a development organization in Sierra Leone called Integral Africa. She was part of the Fellows program at the conference.
On my way back from Arusha, I had taken the speedboat back to town ... and I tell you it was adventure. The sea was rough, the boat was swinging right & left to the point that I thought we were about to be thrown in the water. We ran out of fuel and it took a while to be rescued. Upon arrival on the beach, we were all wet, most people were sick (what a mess) and in all this, my TED bag was snatched by the beach boys. I only realized after I reached home. The bag contained all my passports, credits cards, notes, phone, ipod, etc.. And I had to travel back again in 3 days. Madness.
So, on Saturday, I went back to the beach to talk to possibly 5-6 dozen boys. These boys are feared by all, some are ex-combatants, some are just hoodlums, most are on drugs ... Anyway, I told them I need my bag back (like right now). I explained about the TED, about how we will not progress our countries forward if we behave this way, about how the rest of the world is moving forward and that unless we sort ourselves out -- we will not create a better future for our children and coming generations. Do you know that we had such great conversations. It was a magical encounter and before long, they brought my bag back with everything in it (except for the phone and the ipod). They even apologized. Well, this has never ever happened. No one ever saw their stolen items returned.
So, I cooked for them. In huge pots -- Rice & Stew. It was one of the best gatherings ever. The women came, the grandma's came, the children came, the old men came and the boys came. We had such a wonderful time talking, eating, and sharing about how we must go back to our own the essence of African traditions (full of ethics, hospitality and compassion).
This is the adventure of my return from Arusha. Often times Sierra Leone is only thought of as a war torn country with "not much hope" for the war affected communities. But through this story, it was obvious that heart was still there. And that if we level with people, without judgement & prejudice, well people listen and in listen we can effectively communicate to bring change.
Yene is hoping now to make a short film about this experience, with any proceeds going back to the beach. Fantastic.
14 June 2007
A taste of TED, or two
Watch here a new "taste of TED" video documentary shot at this year's conference, in March. In 7 minutes it gives a great sense of the atmosphere at TED and of the content of the conference. It is also available elsewhere on this site, and you can download it here (158 Mb).
Another documentary about TED, "The future we will create: Inside the world of TED", which was filmed at TED2006, is been shown this coming Saturday night at the Maui Film Festival. Producers Daphne Zuniga and Steven Latham got full access to the conference, and used it wisely to take the viewers behind the scenes -- on top of showing speakers ranging from Al Gore to Peter Gabriel. The full-feature documentary (74 minutes) had a premiere screening in New York a few weeks ago and later in Los Angeles. It has been released on Netflix (US only) last week.
14 June 2007
Thomas Barnett's bracing talk on the future of war, on TED.com
Strategic planner Thomas P.M. Barnett has advised US leaders on national security since the end of the Cold War. In this bracingly honest -- and very funny -- talk, Barnett outlines a solution for the foundering US military: Break it in two. One half makes war, and the other half builds the peace that follows. Spontaneous applause and a standing ovation underscore what Barnett said on his blog: "Probably the best 20 minutes of speaking I have ever done." (Recorded February 2005 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 23:53) Read Thomas Barnett's profile on TED.com
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14 June 2007
TED's Media Specialist laughs at Americans
TED's Media Production Specialist, Michael Glass, is in Toronto this week premiering his film "Little Gold Men" at the Worldwide Short Film Festival -- in a program called "Laughing at Americans." Check out a clip >>
13 June 2007
TEDGlobal: TED staff look back
TED's Content Producer, Kelly Stoetzel, helps choose the speakers for every TED conference. She shares her thoughts after TEDGlobal 2007 -- on the conference buzz, the connections and the small moments between the sessions:
I observed so many connections and conversations at the conference that felt like they were changing lives. Like William Kamkwamba, the kid who built his family a windmill. Tom Rielly showed him the Internet for the first time. He'd never seen it. Tom typed his name and "windmill" and said, "Look, this is all the information that's on the web about *you*." (As Ethan Zuckerman reports, the TEDGlobal community is getting together to help Kamkwamba get further education.)
It felt like the speakers were more remarkable as individuals, because of what they've had to overcome to achieve what they've achieved. Corneille Ewango is a perfect example. He has an accent, and he is a little shy, but people really connected with his story. It reminded me that we should take risks with speakers -- if the story is great and hasn't been heard, people will connect. I had to go on stage after William Kamkwamba, wearing a blindfold, to throw hats into the audience, but by the end of his talk, his story is so amazing, so inspiring, I was moved to tears -- with a blindfold on!
Especially among the Fellows, there was a huge sense of connection, the optimism and the connections. All the people, all of them wanting to make a difference in the same area -- it'll be really interesting to watch.
12 June 2007
David Rockwell talks about building the 9/11 viewing platform, on TED.com
Architect David Rockwell loves to create drama and spectacle, in his designs for casino interiors, hotels, restaurants, movie and theater sets, and even a playground. Shortly after 9/11, he collaborated with other designers and architects to create a temporary viewing platform overlooking Ground Zero in New York. Here, in conversation with Kurt Andersen, Rockwell talks about how -- working with simple materials and an impossible timetable -- this team created a subdued, respectful, powerfully moving memorial space. (Recorded February 2002 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 24:48) Read David Rockwell's profile on TED.com
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11 June 2007
Catching Up with AfriGadget/White African
After a security breach crashed his two crucial blogs, AfriGadget and White African, on Thursday morning, blogger Erik Hersman lost his voice for the conclusion of TEDGlobal. But now he's back up, and we're catching up with him:
From "Finally! A Mobile Payment System for Africa!":
Yesterday’s talk by Herman Chinery-Hesse was one of the highlights of TEDGlobal for me. He is the owner of SoftTribe, the leading computer technology company in West Africa, and a dynamic speaker and visionary. He’s been a trailblazer in what he called, “tropically tolerant software.” ...
... Herman stated one thing that I think will rub some in the diaspora the wrong way, but he uses his own life as an example:
"It is not dignified for an African to live their whole lives overseas."
Hersman blogged his own talk too -- he gave a 3-minute presentation on AfriGadget, saying:
Africans are bending the little they have to their will, using creativity to overcome life’s challenges.
The examples on AfriGadget showcase African ingenuity, the type of ingenuity born of necessity.
TEDBlog comments are still down -- and you're invited to join the conversation on TED.com, perhaps in the Theme called "Africa: The Next Chapter," where we've collected some Talks from past TEDs that touch on the themes from TEDGlobal 2007.
10 June 2007
The whole world is watching TEDGlobal bloggers
TEDGlobal 2007 has been largely reported and disseminated via blog. Which is not surprising, when you consider the sheer number of African and world bloggers who attended -- and how powerful their blogs have been in sharing ideas of the new Africa.
For those following the conference from home, it's clear that the blog coverage of TEDGlobal has the power to provoke emotion, passion and the desire to make change.
Ethan Zuckerman -- in a post-TED post that is a must-read for anyone thinking about Africa -- reports:
I got an IM from a friend in the States today who told me she’d found the ideas expressed at TED - which she followed through the blogs - inspiring, filling her with hope. I hope that reaction is widespread. ...
Home viewer beninmwangi makes the point on his MySpace blog:
... if you have not already guessed it, I am truly inspired, but as a blogger what inspires me the most is how the bloggers in attendance have taken the stage from the usual suspects -- the conventional media.
The African Uptimist writes:
Jennifer Brea ... made my day with her post "Writing a new story about Africa," in which she invites the reader to "imagine four days where you only use the good words to talk about Africa: words of forward motion, words of change...[four days of hearing] from the mouths of people who are out there living it, building it, succeeding (and quite possibly getting very rich) in Africa." I think it is safe to say that TED Global Conference 2007 was special in that it marked a turning point towards the 're-branding' of Africa.
Other blogs, including smallSHIFT, nobaddays and Magaidi, also shared their excitement over the ideas coming out of the conference via bloggers such as Ethan Zuckerman, Erik Hersman of AfriGadget and White African, and David McQueen (who notes "Well my blog has never been so popular. I must go away some more and write like nuts"). You can see the full list of bloggers here.
Thank you to BijanBlog for a nice compliment on our coverage here at the TEDBlog -- and for pointing out the connection between TEDGlobal's blog coverage and the Bob Thurman talk we posted this week on TED.com:
A few days ago, TEDBlog posted an earlier video of Bob Thurman's talk (taken on 12/06) about ... an all-connected world:
"When we can know everything, we can see how everything is interconnected -- and we can begin to feel compassion for every living being."
Wow.
09 June 2007
TEDGlobal 2007: bloggers' first thoughts from home
Afromusing sums it up:
TED Global felt like a seminal moment in Africa. I may have said this already but i will say it again. It was unlike any conference i have ever attended. Stupendous, challenging, interesting, eye-opening, heart-opening literally with Dr. Seyi Olesola and figuratively with Binyavanga Wainaina, Chris Abani and the music of Vusi Mahlasela. It was not uncommon to see people quietly wiping away tears during some of the talks. ...
Bankalele brought TED's perspective to stories from the G8 summit:
After listening to a week of stories on aid, development, and entrepreneurship, we emerged from Ted Global in Arusha to find one of the proponents of a new vision for development in Africa -- outgoing British prime minister Tony Blair endorsing shady dealings that involve Saudi Arabia in the name of strategic relationships. ...
In a post titled "Panic Mode," Mentalacrobatics shares a searing story (with photos) that must be read start to finish. It begins:
Well, well, well. I get back from TEDGlobal in Arusha to find the world has gone mad back at home. ...
After blogging every single session, Ethan Zuckerman is still processing:
Conferences like TED Global are only a couple of days long, but I find I can get surprisingly used to them -- wake up, absorb a mass of new and provocative ideas, have a few dozen conversations, stagger back to the hotel, rinse and repeat. And then, all of a sudden, they’re over. ...
... And now I’m enroute to Cape Town, wondering what we’ve learned, what might come out of this gathering.
Mweshi says:
I believe the people of TED provided us with a great platform with which to communicate with one another and if we can harness the power of those present at TED, Africa’s future is looking very bright! ...
And from a previous post: What happens after this conference now is entirely up to all of us who love our continent. To all TEDsters out there, let’s make this event the genesis of the cheetah renaissance!
Afrigadget/White African's Erik Hersman was offline from Thursday on --but he's back, and it's worth catching up. Also check out his photos from the conference here.
And our apologies to those readers who've tried to leave comments in the past week. While we're making repairs, please join the conversation on TED.com, perhaps in the Theme called "Africa: The Next Chapter," where we've collected some Talks from past TEDs that touch on the themes from TEDGlobal 2007!
08 June 2007
Initiatives and gifts announced at TEDGlobal: the bloggers report
TEDGlobal 2007 was studded with announcements of new initiatives and major gifts to the cause of Africa's next chapter. Here's a sampling, as reported by the blogs:
As Ethan Zuckerman reports from the final session:
Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete took the stage with Dr. Larry Brilliant of Google.org and Bruce McNeighbor of Technoserve. Dr. Brilliant announces his support for Believe, Begin, Become, a national business plan competition, modeled on the successful experiment Google and Technoserve operated this past year in Ghana. He emphasizes the importance of job creation and business development as critical parts of economic development. Brilliant describes the program as “tried and tested” in Africa and Latin America, where it accompanies investment with intensive entrepreneurship training ...
Afromusing has more on the press conference that followed:
President Jakaya Kikwete’s comments during the press conference and also during the TED global address showed that he is a leader with an open mind, engaging and committed to market liberalization. He struck me as a new breed of African leader, who engenders progressive ideals.
Reuters reported June 7 that Ethiopia's first commodities exchange -- modeled on the Chicago Board of Trade -- has set a target date to be in beta by the end of this year, quoting TED speaker Eleni Gabre-Madhin:
"What we hope to do first is to have a first launch of some kind of a pilot by the end of 2007. We hope to have a starting bell by December 2007," Eleni Gabre-Madhin, programme director with Washington DC- based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), told Reuters.
Some 100 of the conference's attendees were TEDFellows, sponsored to attend because of their contributions to Africa's next chapter. TED's Director of Partnerships, Tom Rielly, helped arrange to send the TEDFellows home with some lovely parting gifts, courtesy of GE, Google and AMD, and Noah Samara from Worldspace, as Ethan reports -- and TEDFellow Soyapi Mumba Twitters:
Mac vs PC live in Africa! TEDGlobal2007 fellows to choose either Mac or PC as their gift laptop sponsored by Google and AMD. I'm a Mac!
As Erik Hersman at White African reported earlier in the week: Google also annouced its first sub-Saharan Africa hire:
Joseph Mucheru has been named the new site lead for Google Kenya. This was whispered to be happening, but at today’s Google lunch at TEDGlobal the position was made official by Francoise Brougher, Director of Google Business Opportunities.
And a grassroots effort is being formed to support one extraordinary young speaker; Ethan shares the details:
This isn’t the only generous effort coming out of the TED Global conference. William Kamkwamba, the amazing young Malawian engineer who built his first windmill at age 14, has captured the imagination of many of the people in the crowd. A number of TED attendees have banded together to support him fiscally to complete his high school education and go onto university. A TED staffer is travelling to Malawi next week to start working on finding tutors for William to help prepare him to attend a top high school in Malawi.
07 June 2007
Bob Thurman on happiness and becoming Buddha -- on TED.com
Amid TEDGlobal's talk of our global connection and interconnection, it's a fine time to present Bob Thurman, Buddhist monk and scholar, on the Buddhist view of the universe. In our hyperlinked world, we can know anything, anytime. And this mass enlightenment, says Thurman, is our first step toward becoming Buddha. When we can know everything, we can see how everything is interconnected -- and we can begin to feel compassion for every living being. (Recorded December 2006 in New York City. Duration: 12:17)
Watch this talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
Read Bob Thurman's profile on TED.com >>
Click here for a transcript >>
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07 June 2007
TEDGlobal 2007 bloggers look back at world-changing days
People are packing up to leave TEDGlobal now, and the bloggers who came to the conference are thinking over the past four days.
David McQueen found new connections and strengthened virtual ones, and he sums it up in words and pictures:
I honestly don’t think Chris and Emeka (the organisers) REALLY understand how powerful this event has been. There have been connectors here, but most people have just dived into connecting with each other, creating partnerships and new friendships. A lot of dialogue about sustainable environments on the continent of Africa have begun and we are not just talking the sub Saharan countries but it would appear all fifty three in some way or the other have been affected by this. Congrats guys. Its been magnificent. TED Global is in the blood!!
Mweshi looks back to George Ayittey -- who divides African leaders into two camps, the fast-moving "cheetahs" and the wallowing "hippos" -- and then looks forward:
What happens after this conference now is entirely up to all of us who love our continent. To all TEDsters out there, let’s make this event the genesis of the cheetah renaissance!
An enormous thank-you to those in the TEDGlobal blog community who live-blogged or wrapped up or posted to flickr or in any way shared the experience of being in Arusha during this extraordinary week. And thanks in advance to all the bloggers who will get off the plane tomorrow and head straight to the keyboard to continue the conversation.
07 June 2007
Day 4: reports from the bloggers
Two final sessions, "Leadership and Truth" and "Ideas Worth Spreading," brought together economists, activists and the president of Tanzania. And the big ideas keep coming.
Mweshi reports:
Salim Amin is asking every African and those interested in the continent to help his for-Africa by-Africa 24-hour news channel, A24, come to fruition. With 900 million people on the continent, we continue to look to international news channels to provide information about our continent. ...
... It’s time Africa got its own 24-hour news channel.
After Salim Amin comes Ory Okolloh, a lawyer, activist and blogger from Kenya (and yet another TEDGlobal blogger to take the stage). NETucation digests her remarks, which begin:
Africa is a continent full of contradictions. You’re Harvard educated and you’re coming here to tell us what to do?
James Shikwati is described onstage as "a one-man think tank libertarian economist" by TED curator Chris Anderson. NETucation quotes Shikwati:
We need to understand how the world works, how the world thinks. The Aid debate operates under the constrained position i.e. the African person is in a box, somebody else must free him. We need to focus on releasing the African mind.
Tanzanian president Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete closed the early-morning session with a talk on African governance as it works on the ground. Ethan Zuckerman reports on what he said:
In the past, leaders would march in, declare themselves President, dismiss the parliament. They’d declare a ‘revolutionary council’, but there’s no revolution there. This used to be the way the continent worked. We’re moving beyond this, and beyond the leaders who led us out of colonialism.
Starting the final session of TEDGlobal 2007, President Shikwati got back on stage for a wonderful announcement, as reported by Ethan:
Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete took the stage with Dr. Larry Brilliant of Google.org and Bruce McNeighbor of Technoserve. Dr. Brilliant announces his support for “Believe, Begin, Become,” a national business plan competition, modeled on the successful experiment Google and Technoserve operated this past year in Ghana.
Noah Samara got up to talk about how he built WorldSpace, the first satellite radio network -- in a case where, as NETucation reports:
... for the first time technology was launched in Africa before it was handed down to America.
Journalist Dele Olojede talked about a decision he had to make in 1994: cover the birth of the new South Africa, or cover the Rwandan genocide? Ethan reports:
He decided that he’d give anything to see Mandela see his dream through, and he missed the Rwanda story.
“It became clear this was not an ordinary Central African horror story,” Olejede tells us, “and perhaps my decision was not correct.” Out of a sense of penance, he became “obsessed with the idea of Rwanda, with understanding it,” and has been travelling there ever since.
Patrick Awuah left Microsoft (pointing out that "While he worked at Microsoft the revenue of the company group grew larger than the GDP of Ghana") to found a university at home in Ghana. NETucation reports on his talk:
A month after launching he received and email from a student, “I am thinking now.” Another student asked “Can we create a perfect society?” after they were issued a challenge to come up with their own honour codes. This has lead to a vigorous debate among the students on campus. For the first in the history of Ghana, a woman was elected to be president of student body. This is real hope.
The amazing Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Finance Minister of Nigeria, closed the session. In a week of refocusing the aid story, she made a brilliant point, says Ethan:
African entrepeneur Mo Ibrahim dreams of the moment when Africa is giving aid. “But we’re already doing it - the UK and the US could not have been built without African aid. The resources - including human resources - have made those countries what they are today.” So when those countries are willing to give something back, we need to take it, but we need to use it effectively.
NETucation quotes her further:
Aid has to be a facilitator, it can be catalytic. China says Nigeria needs infrastructure and discipline to succeed. Within the private sector maybe aid can be used as a money guarantee. Her punchline is to help women get more access to resources - the research and statistics of this speaks for itself.The final question is what you will do with aid, the government, the private sector and the African as an individual.
Soyapi reports via Twitter on the party that folllowed:
Vusi on stage at tedglobal2007. Will be joined by the other 2 lady musicians. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala just did the last talk.
07 June 2007
Days Three and Four in Quotes
"This started as a grassroots movement. It happened without foreign investment, without government aid. It happened against the odds." — Filmmaker Franco Sacchi on Nollywood, Nigeria's $250M/year industry
“There’s no such thing as African science. There’s no such thing as American science. Science is science.” — Entrepreneur Moses Makayoto
"The US today could not have been built without Africa's aid. It was our resources -- including human resources -- that built that country. And when they try to give back, we shouldn't be on the defensive. The issue is: how we are using what is being given back." — Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
"It's important for today's business leaders not only to know their business, but to have a passion for something that's meaningful" - Hector Ruiz, CEO of AMD
“If I do something wrong, someone will say so. There’s greater oversight and power in parliament than there used to be. And it’s more difficult for leaders to be as reckless as they used to be in the past.” — Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete
"No you're not." — Kenyan Blogger/lawyer Ory Okolloh, commenting on the "I AM AFRICAN" campaign, featuring Gwyneth Paltrow with blue stripes on her face
"If you're still feeling overdressed, feel free to remove your tie." — TED Curator Chris Anderson, joking with Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, who had removed his jacket on stage, in recognition of TED's casual dress code
"Every society must be intentional about educating its leaders" — Patrick Awuah, founder of Ashesi University in Ghana
“Right now, the circumstances under which you are born determine your life - I want to see that change. As Africans, we need to take responsibility for the future of the continent.” — Kenyan Blogger/lawyer Ory Okolloh
06 June 2007
[TEDGlobal 2007] Session 10: The Campfire
The campfire. It's one of the world's most enduring metaphors, evoking simultaneously the safety of light, warmth, family, story; also the danger of darkness, exile, what lies beyond. The metaphor is all the more poignant here in Africa, where humankind evolved, along with language and storytelling and music and myth. And well-timed for our last evening together as a newly formed community, before we return to our individual lives.
So... for our final evening together in Arusha, we gathered around our stage-as-campfire, to take in four remarkable storytellers with 400+ new friends.
It began with Zambian-born, Italian filmmaker Franco Sacchi, whose upcoming film, "This is Nollywood," spotlights Nigeria's homegrown $250M/year industry, which turns out 2000+ movies per year, each shot straight to video on shoestring budgets. The stories? A little rough around the edges. The significance? Profound. "This started as a grassroots movement," Sacchi said. "It happened without foreign investment, without government aid. It happened against the odds."
Then Nigerian author/poet Chris Abani (best known for his novels Virgin of Flames and GraceLand) took us on a soulful and moving journey with words, weaving reflections on the power of language ("It's said that language describes the world we live in. But language makes the world we live in. Language is everything. Story is everything.") with powerful pieces of his own history (At 16, he published his first novel; at 18 he was sent to prison for the first time, and was "totally broken by it.") and reflections on the big questions in life ("The question for me is how do I balance narratives that are wonderful with narratives of wounds and self loathing. ... Transformation is a difficult and slow process. Sometimes I can say, 'I'm Chris Abani. I've been human for 6 days.'")
Binyavanga Wainaina -- author of the unforgettable satirical essay "How to Write About Africa," and publisher of literary journal Kwani? -- continued the evening's magical journey, with a series of stories, and reflections on the power of storytelling itself. A small sample:
Excerpt from Discovering HomeIf there is a miracle in the idea of life it is this: that we are able to exist for a time, in defiance of chaos. Later you often forget how dicey everything was; how the tickets almost didnt materialize; how the event almot got postponed; how a hangover nearly made you miss the flight....
Phrases swell, becoming bigger than their context and speak to us with TRUTH. We wield this series of events as our due, the standard for gifts of the future. We live the rest of our lives with the utter knowledge that there is something deliberate, a vein in us that transports everything into place -- if we follow the stepping stones of certainity.
Finally, South African singer-songwriter Vusi Mahlasela, who was a crucial artistic voice during the fight against apartheid, treated us to an utterly beautiful performance. His music moved me beyond words.
For more extensive descriptions of each talk, see Ethan Zuckerman's real-time posts on Franco Sacchi and Chris Abani, Binyavanga Wainaina and Vusi Mahlasela.
Watch for these talks on TED.com beginning midsummer 2007.
06 June 2007
Day 3 in the afternoon: reports from the bloggers
The after-lunch and evening sessions, "Connecting the Continent" and "The Campfire," were about communication and forming bonds.
Mweshi rounds up the early afternoon session, starting with Héctor Ruiz, the chair of AMD, speaking on AMD's 50x15 initiative:
AMD’s 50×15 initiative is a business venture and not a charity, it’s focused on simple, accessible, and human-centric solutions; it’s based on a “geo-sensitive” approach and is about fostering local, integrated, end-to-end ecosystems. ...
And Soyapi Mumba reports on Ruiz' personal message, via Twitter:
At TEDGlobal2007 AMD CEO: 'my father told me each generation shld be better than the previous'
More on Day 3 after the jump >>
06 June 2007
TEDGlobal 2007 Session 8: Health and Heroism
In a session punctuated by spontaneous applause and quiet tears, three heroes told their stories. If ever you doubt the ability of one person to move the world, any one of these talks would make you a believer.
Ernest Chijioke Madu is determined to bring world-class cardiovascular care to Africa, and stem the tide of elites leaving the continent to seek health care. Relying on foreign hospitals -- as most Africa elites do -- is neither sustainable nor sensible, in the case of cardiovascular disease, as most deaths occur in the 24 hours following a heart attack or stroke. "If you have a heart attack tonight, what will you do?" he asked. "Will you fly back to the US? To Germany? To France? No. You will die."
The hospital he'll build in Nigeria will be modeled after the Heart Institute of the Caribbean, the pioneering clinic he founded, which has a telemedicine platform, so other doctors around hte world can log in and lend advice. It's helped stem the tide of elites going overseas for medical care, while also offering care for all. "We have a policy of not turning away anyone regardless of ability to pay." (Can you hear the audience cheering?)
Environmental defender Corneille E.N. Ewango is a tropical botanist and conservation ecologist who risked his own life to protect the okapi reserve in the Congo forest ... In 1995, he started work at the reserve, home to elephant, giraffe, okapi, forest giraffe and more than 1,300 plant species, many of them unknown outside the park. There was a coup soon after, and Ewango found himself caught between pillaging rebel soldiers and government forces. Rather than flee, he focused on preserving what he could. He hung important equipment from trees, buried their 4x4 cars in the ground, and packed samples from 4,500 plants on the back of his bicycle, which he pedaled four days to Uganda and back.
A second war soon followed, and Ewango became a one-man reporting bureau, of sorts. Using an Iridium satellite phone, a laptop and a solar panel, he fed information -- on troop movements and war crimes -- to western NGOs. He won the 2005 Goldman Environmental Prize for his courageous effort. Now, in a more peaceful time, he’s managing a research project on global warming.
Our final hero, Leon Kintaudi focuses not on the typical African focal points of AIDS, malaria or TB, but on maternal health. The situation in his native Congo was dire when Kintaudi returned to try to improve it: The maternal and child death rates higher than most of the world (1 in 5 children die before age 5). So he founded the SANRU (Santé Rurale) Rural Health Program, a comprehensive program including preventative care, free malaria bednets, vaccinations, drug distribution, while also calling for society wide changes in educating children and promoting laws that protect women.
For more extensive descriptions of each talk, see Ethan Zuckerman's real-time posts on Ernest Madu, Corneille Ewango and Leon Kintaudi
Watch for these talks on TED.com beginning midsummer 2007.
06 June 2007
Twittering TEDGlobal
Beat the crowds in the bloggers' lounge: blogger Soyapi Mumba is Twittering the conference.
Is anyone else? Send a Comment.
06 June 2007
From blogger Jennifer Brea: "Writing A New Story About Africa"
Beijing-based blogger Jennifer Brea is one of 100 Fellows attending TEDGlobal. She's the Francophonia editor for Global Voices, and a prolific and powerful blogger about Africa. I love what she wrote about rethinking media coverage of Africa. Just an excerpt below. Read the full post here.
The first day's speakers--Euvin Naidoo, Andrew Mwenda, Carol Pineau, Andrew Dosunmu, Zeray Alemseged, and Newton Aduaka--took the story of Africa, the tired story of dependence, desperation, and despair, and tore it to shreds. They took the West's gaze, and killed it, stomped on it, mocked it, burned its effigy (Joseph Conrad to be precise) so that we could start an entirely new conversation using an entirely different vocabulary. We killed famine, death, hopelessness, hunger, tragedy, poverty and started using words like potential, opportunity, wealth, entrepreneurship, ingenuity, art, imagination, creativity, success, investment, growth, choice.
These are words the media use liberally when writing about emerging nations like India, China or Brazil, but not to describe some of the fastest-growing economies in the world when they happen to be in Africa.
Now imagine spending four days where you only use the good words to talk about Africa: words of forward motion, words of change. I'm not talking about bringing Tony Robbins on stage and dreaming of a better future. I'm talking about hearing from the mouths of people who are out there living it, building it, succeeding (and quite possibly getting very rich) in Africa.
It's been thrilling.
Technorati tags: tedglobal2007, Africa
06 June 2007
Day 3: Morning reports from the blogs
TEDGlobal's attending bloggers offer great roundups of the two morning sessions, called "Tales of Invention" and "Health and Heroism." Africa abounds in creative energy and innovation, a point made yesterday by Kwabena Boahen and elaborated today by two panels of inventors and health workers.
As always, Ethan Zuckerman has the speaker-by-speaker accounts.
Mweshi writes about finding innovation in new places -- and in places where, simply, no one has bothered to look. As he says: "We have so many great inventors on the continent, and yet we do not have any manufacturing plants":
What stood most about [Bola Olabisi's] talk was her showcasing of lo-tech inventions by some of Africa’s up and coming women inventors and innovators. Definitely an inspiration for a lot young girls and women on the continent and the world over...
... William Kamkwamba created a windmill in Malawi using locally available materials after reading a book called “Using Energy” by Atwater, M. et. Al. His main materials consisted of:
* old bicycle parts
* wooden poles
* plastic pipes
* an old car battery for energy storage, etc. ...
... Ernest Madu put his mouth where his mouth was by starting the Heart Institute of the Caribbean, a facility that has brought world-class medical services to the West Indies at 10% of what it costs to run and provide similar services in the continental United States. His argument is that through tele-medicine technology and education, we can improve the livelihoods of millions of people in the developing world.
Afromusing's detailed roundup of "Tales of Invention" captured a short talk by another TEDGlobal blogger, Erik Hersman of White African and Afrigadget:
Next, there was an excellent 3 minute presentation by Erik Hersman of Afrigadget -- the slides showcased some of the stories covered by afrigadget team, demonstrating how Africans solve problems every day by making tools and using local materials. The main idea he shared is that -- Ingenuity born of necessity. The quotable from him is that **Where others see trash, africa recycles**
Hersman writes about his encounters with two inventors: William Kamkwamba, a young man who built his family a windmill out of scrap parts, and Moussa Keita of Geekcorps:
There are two individuals here at TEDGlobal that it has been a great honor to meet. They are inventors, on the ground in Africa, creating solutions that will work in their area. These are great success stories that need to be celebrated, encouraged and supported. ...
Don at fifthculture says:
Today was about practical solutions and something else, something more ephemeral, transcendent. Under the heading practical solutions Seyi Oyesola pointed out that there is no system in place in most African countries for events such as accidents or chronic illness. His talk was titled "Beyond HIV and Malaria" and in it he stressed the need to get healthy, not just focus on HIV and AIDS.
David McQueen took this great pic of inventor and chemist Moses Makayoto, who is working to focus African innovation on local materials, local solutions, and modernized production.
And then there's Corneille E.N. Ewango -- for whom we need to invent a new term that combines "scientist," "hero," and frankly, "hearththrob." A sort of Indiana Jones of botany, Ewango literally put his life on the line to protect the Congo forest. Ethan has the details.
06 June 2007
Images fom Arusha: Opening the show
At the conference midway point, a few images from the TEDGlobal stage ...
Mali-born, Paris-based chanteuse Rokia Traore opens the conference with a traditional Griot song of welcome.
TED Curator Chris Anderson and TEDGlobal Program Director Emeka Okafor co-host the show from the TED stage.
Technorati tags: tedglobal2007
06 June 2007
Who is blogging from TEDGlobal 2007 in Tanzania?
Two dozen bloggers from around Africa and elsewhere are covering the sessions and the between-session action at TEDGlobal this week. We'll be sharing excerpts of the blogs' coverage on this site, and we encourage you to dive into the blogs below, both during and after the conference -- many bloggers say they are waiting until they get home to form their thoughts.
If you're a TEDGlobal blogger and you'd like to be added to this list, please send a comment.
Click here for images of the conference >>
Live-blogging every session:
My Heart's in Accra, by Ethan Zuckerman
Bloggers at TEDGlobal:
Erik Hersman, of White African and AfriGadget
David McQueen
Mweshi
Bankalele
Mental Acrobatics
AfroMusing
Soyapi Mumba, who is also Twittering
Andrew Heavens, at Meskel Square
Africa Beat, by Jennifer Brea
Rafiq Phillips at WebAddiCT
DNA
Harinjaka, in French
Fran Osseo-Asare, of Betumi: The African Food Network
Ramon Thomas, of NETucation
Ndesanjo Macha, who writes Digital Africa, in English, and Jikomboe, in Swahili
Mwenye Macho... in Swahili
Fifthculture
Ellen Horne at Radio Lab in Tanzania
ClassV
Sam Ritchie
Heresy
Reuben Abraham at Zoo Station
Bloggers who might be too busy to blog this week, but whose sites are always worth checking out:
Kenyan Pundit, by TED Conference speaker and blogger Ory Okolloh
Africa Unchained and Timbuktu Chronicles, by TEDGlobal conference director Emeka Okafor
06 June 2007
TEDGlobal 2007 Session 7: Tales of Invention
Day Three of TEDGlobal began with a series of pointed questions ...
"Where are the women inventors?" Bola Olabisi asked, as she walked around an international inventors fair, where she'd come on a slow afternoon in London, while pregnant with her fourth child and in need of distraction. She walked the hall all day, and failed to find a single woman inventor. Distressed, she approached the organizer to ask why no women were represented. "If you can find them, let me know," he said. And this sent Olabisi on what became her new life's mission, to encourage innovation and invention among women, and African women in particular.
"There was a lack of acknowledgement, recognition or even awareness of any African inventor or innovator." So along with founding the Global Women Inventors & Innovators Network she developed a Pan-African network for women inventors as well. And while there were many doubters ("Women inventors in AFRICA? have you thought about this carefully?"), every seat in her first symposium was full, often with designers of low-tech inventions -- floor tiles, wigs, household appliances, children's toys -- who may not have otherwise considered themselves "inventors."
The question, "Where are the African inventors?" echoed through the next talk as well, as Moses Makayoto called on young African scientists and engineers to stand up and be counted. An inventor and chemist himself, Makayoto invented the popular Mama Safi detergent, produced cheaply using local resources, and is now doing R&D into naturally developed malaria treatments and bio-pesticides, which can, for example, prevent malaria by attacking mosquitoes at the larval stage, and which can be created from raw materials found anywhere.
From Dr. Seyi Oyesola, a different question: Where are the well-trained African doctors? Answer: Overseas. Where they're better paid, better treated and enjoy modern hospital settings. In contrast, most hospitals on the continent lack vital equipment, and woefully fail to uphold sanitary standards. So "where do generally healthy Africans go if they need to be treated for things besides malaria, TB or HIV?" Oyeseola asks.
Distressed by the conditions in a Nigeria hospital where he came to perform a dozen open-heart surgeries (equipment was held together by duct tape; floors were dirty; X-rays were taped to windows for lack of a light table), Oyesola resolved to find a portable solution for bringing modern medicine with him. He co-developed the "Hospital in a Box" -- a pop-up, portable, plug-and-play system for off-grid medicine. Its environment-tolerant anesthesia makes surgery possible even in deeply inhospitable regions (or deeply ill-equipped regional hospitals).
His portable invention aside, the charismatic Oyesola stressed the importance of developing a strong non-emergency health care system throughout Africa. Emphasizing its economic significance, he quoted TEDster Hans Rosling: "You get wealthy faster if you're healthy first." (Watch Rosling's TEDTalk on TED.com)
The session's final question was asked by the entire audience, silently, to ourselves: "How on EARTH did he do that?" Chris and Emeka asked one of the TED Fellows -- 17-year-old William Kamkwamba from Malawi -- to the stage. A natural inventor, he built a fully-functional electricity-producing windmill from spare parts, working only from a photo in a magazine. After reading about Kamkwamba in a local African newspaper, TEDGlobal Conference Director Emeka Okafor spent several weeks tracking him down and invited him to join us here in Arusha, as part of our sponsored Fellowship program (There are 100 Fellows here). From the stage, William explained to TED Curator Chris Anderson that the windmill now powers 4 lights and two radios in his parents home. His dream? To build a larger version to help with irrigation, and go back to school. I have a feeling the next question for is: "How can we help?"
For more extensive descriptions of each talk, see Ethan Zuckerman's real-time posts on Bola Olabisi, Moses Makayoto and Dr. Seyi Oyesola.
Watch for these talks on TED.com beginning midsummer 2007.
Technorati tags: tedglobal2007
06 June 2007
Day Two on the blogs
Tuesday, June 5, from around the blogs:
Erik Hertsman at White African reports: Google has hired its first sub-Saharan Africa employee!
Joseph Mucheru has been named the new site lead for Google Kenya. This was whispered to be happening, but at today’s Google lunch at TEDGlobal the position was made official by Francoise Brougher, Director of Google Business Opportunities.
Mentalacrobatics posted a fascinating blow-by-blow of his Day Two, ending with this wonderful image:
Back at the hotel is when TED came home. I sat down to write my thoughts on the day when Harinjaka shared with us the crazy deforestation that is taking place in his country of Madagascar. That was the beginning of all night thinking, sharing, debating session. Two Kenyans, one Madagascan, one Nigerian, one Italian, one American. We had never met before TED, all but one of us are at our first TED conference and we had our own TED session then and there. We talked about HIV/AIDS, about social disempowerment, about colonial legacy, about Nollywood, Bollywood and the Chinese film industry, about music, about deforestation in Madagascar ...
Afromusing was captivated by Ron Eglash's work on African fractals, including a web tool that integrates fractal design and hair braiding:
!! Indeed !!
Design cornrows using transformational geometry. Click here.
Ron Eglash spoke on looking at fractals in African architecture and design. For non comp sci people, fractals make for some of the most beautiful designs. For African geeks, egm and mathematicians, get the book.
David McQueen blogged his highlights from the second day:
Idris Mohammed - The suggestion of a “Fund of Funds” from G8 as a means of smarter aid. Encourage Africans or Europeans who can invest in Private Equite Fundraising. Remove the focus from “Poverty Reduction” and place more emphasis on “Wealth Creation”.
Don at fifthculture shared a ride with investor and TED Day 2 speaker Idris Mohammed:
Idris Mohammed, a private equity pioneer, said that energy is the next big job in Africa. ... I had the opportunity to ride to the hotel from the airport with Idris. I asked him what form of power (fossil fuels, wind, hydro), he said that most likely it would be fossil fuels. It seems we can't avoid creating problems even when we are solving them. Both options are grave.
Mweshi's roundup captured the buzz around entrepreneur Ted Kidane:
... a wonderful talk by Ted Kidane of Feedelix which is a mobile phone piece of software that enable text messaging in non-Latin scripts. But the thing that stood out the most about Ted’s talk was his challenge to everyone in the room to change the manner in which they look at the word POVERTY; which in his words defined as Prosperity, Opportunity, Validation, Enthusiasm, Resilience, Trust and Yes!
Big, brave ideas are flying around. Ellen Horne reports on a lunchtime conversation:
Today, I sat down at lunch with three African men. One was a grad student from Cape Town, S.A., and the other two were ex-pats from Ghana - living abroad but very much engaged in a conversation about the reasons that Africans leave. The conversation turned to the topic of corruption. How to address the massive short-term incentives for supporting the 'big man' power system fueled by corruption. One quickly brainstormed talked about a public humiliation website where people could anonymously post photos of bribes being given. I asked innocently 'Why would someone exchange bribery cash in public?" He agreed -- sure you aren't going to get many -- but maybe the few would set a powerful example -- and hopefully not a unique one.
And as always, for minute-to-minute coverage of the conference sessions, turn to Ethan Zuckerman at My Heart's in Accra.
06 June 2007
Day Two in Quotes [TEDGlobal 2007]
“Dignity is more important to the human spirit than wealth” — Acumen Fund CEO/Founder Jacqueline Novogratz
"What we call governments are vampire states, which suck the economic vitality out of the people." — Economist George Ayittey
"I want to make Africans rich. If you make Africans rich, they'll be less poor. That's my development strategy." — Private equity pioneer Idris Mohammed
"What we're trying to do is create a family tree for everyone alive today." — Anthropologist and geneticist Spencer Wells, who's leading the Genographic Project, a landmark study tracing human origins to their roots in Africa
"There is no region of the world and no period in history that farmers have had to bear the burden of risk that African farmers bear today. But I'm not here to lament or wring my hands. I'm here to tell you that change is in the air." — Economist Eleni Gabre-Madhin, who is founding the first commodities market for farmers in Ethiopia
"World progress needs a good dose of spontaneous human intelligence to realize that the answers to many of the questions we ask ourselves are just around the corner." — Architect Issa Diabete, who draws inspiration from innovative, makeshift urban solutions found in Africa's sprawling squatter cities
"I'm hopeful because nature is amazing resilient. Seemingly dead tree stumps -- if you stop hacking them for firewood, in 10 years you can have a 30 ft tree.” — Primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall
“I am a mathematician and I would like to stand on your roof.” — Mathematician Ron Eglash's standard greeting to African families, when he was researching the intriguing fractal patterns observed in many villages across the continent
Technorati tags: tedglobal2007
06 June 2007
TEDGlobal 2007 Session 6: Listening to Nature
The day's journey continued with anthropologist and geneticist Spencer Wells, who had us riveted with details of the Genographic Project, a landmark study he's leading for National Geographic, tracing human origins to their roots in Africa. By collecting DNA samples from people around the world (especially groups of indigenous people), he's determined the genetic origins of humanity going back over 50,000 years. "What we're trying to do is create a family tree for everyone alive today."
Simon Mwacharo followed, with the story behind the wind-powered turbine he invented. He's determined to bring power to the poorest rural areas in Africa, and that means turning toward alternative, renewable energy sources and inexpensive, readily available materials.
Next up: A living legend. Bi Kidude, the 90-something singer from Zanzibar, sang her heart out with the equally legendary Culture Musical Club of Zimbabwe, while young women shook and shimmied around her. All I can say is: Wow. 90+ and still rocking out. If that's not inspiring ...
Well, if that's not inspiring, well Jane Goodall always is. The legendary cast a spell on the room, with her gentle voice and steadfast mission: To save the chimpanzees — and the jungle — she loves, against the steady progression of habitat loss and climate change. "When I look at my granchildren and think about how we've harmed this planet since I was their age, I feel a kind of desperation." Still, she finds reason for optimism. "You can't come to a conference like TED and not have hope, can you? I'm hopeful, because nature is amazing resilient ... Seemingly dead tree stumps -- if you stop hacking them for firewood, in 10 years you can have a 30 ft tree.” A standing ovation, of course. (If you're following along from home, you can catch her 2003 TEDTalk here.)
For more extensive descriptions of each talk, see Ethan Zuckerman's real-time posts on Spencer Wells, Simon Mwacharo, and Jane Goodall and Bi Kidude.
Watch for these talks on TED.com beginning midsummer 2007.
Technorati tags: tedglobal2007