TEDBlog February, 2009 Archive
18 February 2009
Jose Antonio Abreu: Help me bring music to kids worldwide (TED Prize winner!)
The opening talk from TED2009: Jose Antonio Abreu is the charismatic founder of a youth orchestra system that has transformed thousands of kids’ lives in Venezuela. Here he shares his amazing story and unveils a TED Prize wish that could have a big impact in the US and beyond. (Recorded February 2009 in Caracas, Venezuela, and Long Beach, California. Duration: 16:56.)
Watch Jose Antonio Abreu’s talk from TED2009 on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 375+ TEDTalks — including many more TED Prize wishes.
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18 February 2009
From the TED Fellows Blog: Why we are TEDizens
The TED Fellows Blog is a treasure — the unexpurgated thoughts of the 40 people chosen as this year’s TED Fellows, who attended the Long Beach conference, networked with one another and other TEDsters, and gave a presentation about the work that brought them here. On their shared blog, they talk about their work and their lives, their experiences in Long Beach, and now their reactions upon heading home and back to work. What’s next for this extraordinary class? Look here to find out.
TED Fellow Bright Simons tipped me to this post, a great introduction to the vibe of the site and the TED Fellows: TEDiscovery: Why We Are TEDizens. From the post:
… we knew before we got there — before we got to Long Beach — that TED represents an assault on all Dogma. It is a place where no prejudice, no convention, no reverent concept can be spared the creative destruction of open-minded interrogation. Still we queried: what then?
Could we have known that not only being but more so becoming is the preoccupation of TEDizens? Even if we had heard the fabulous story of ShopAfrica53.com, launched by Herman Chinery-Hesse on the very neon-lit pedestal of TEDGlobal 2007 to the hails of TEDizens, and with their concrete support, or been told of the redemptive tale of William Kamkwamba and his blessed windmill of Kasangu, could we have engaged from afar?
We had to go to Long Beach. We had to swim the watersheds of awareness; cheer to the miraculous swings of Zander’s fingers; consume the Poms of Google’s largesse (and may Lynn Resnick be ever blest); submit our cynicism to the electrifying epiphanies of the Siftable chorus; and relapse, O Clansfolk, relapse like the intellectually lobotomised before their saving dose of electrotherapy. Then ponder the last of the Oliver Sacks visions. But wherefore?
Now that we have believed, whither the action that issues forth from contemplation?
Read the whole post to find out one answer >>
Photo credit: Joshua Wanyama
17 February 2009
ABC News on the next species of human: "Homo Evolutis"
Writing on Darwin’s 200th birthday last week, Lise Buyer offered this commentary about today’s TEDTalk, Juan Enriquez’ “How Mind-Boggling Science Will Outlast the Crisis.” From the story:
… In his talk at TED, Enriquez said the fact that we are the only living species of humans is an anomaly — or at least out of synch with history. Millions of years ago, there were as many as five different species of humans co-existing on the planet.
Well, hooray! Perhaps modern humans are the end result of all evolution. Perhaps we have reached the very pinnacle of natural selection and genetic drift. On the other hand, Enriquez suggested, perhaps those are slightly arrogant conclusions.
Read the ABC News commentary >>
Watch Juan Enriquez’ latest TEDTalk >>
Find more jaw-dropping big ideas from Juan Enriquez on TED.com >>
Photo: TED / Asa Mathat
17 February 2009
How mindboggling science will outlast the crisis: Juan Enriquez on TED.com
The opening talk from TED2009: Even as mega-banks topple, Juan Enriquez says the big reboot is yet to come. But don’t look for it on your ballot — or in the stock exchange. It’ll come from science labs, and it promises keener bodies and minds. Our kids are going to be … different. (Recorded February 2009 in Long Beach, California. Duration: 18:50.)
Watch Juan Enriquez’s talk from TED2009 on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 370+ TEDTalks — including many more bold predictions.
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16 February 2009
The real crisis? We stopped being wise. Barry Schwartz on TED.com
In the latest release from TED2009, psychologist Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for “practical wisdom” as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world. (Recorded February 2009 in Long Beach, California. Duration: 20:45.)
Watch Barry Schwartz’s talk from TED2009 on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 360+ TEDTalks — including more talks about philosophy.
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12 February 2009
Inspired by TED: Three astonishing art shows in Long Beach
Across from the Long Beach Arena complex where TED2009 just finished up, a more local — but no less ambitious — cluster of art shows inspired by TED are running through March 14. Phantom Galleries LA, a project that helps artists mount gallery shows in empty storefronts, presents three shows and performances in Long Beach around TED: “Emergence Enchanted”; “Super Elastic”; and “Bluetooth’s Castle.”
At the intersection of art and science, communication and dreamscape, “Emergence Enchanted” collects the work of 20 artists — painters, sculptors, animators, videographers — who explore the edges of science and creativity in fresh ways. Daniel Marlos from What’s That Bug contributes two glorious images of arachnids … Lita Albuquerque shows a powerful video projection called BeeKeeper that harnesses new pixel-handling techniques to explode and coalesce a life-size image … and an eerily wonderful video work from Semiconductor imagines the life of magnetic fields (see a still above). I interviewed co-curator Stephanie Allespach via email.
What was your brief to the participating artists in this show?
Krista Chael and I started to think about the numerous artists we knew who were working with new technologies in their art, as well as artists who were engaging with scientific thought and theories. These artists’ practices are as diverse as the speakers at TED. Some work within political activism (Fallen Fruit), while others take a more sci-fi approach (Micol Hebron and Nora Jean Petersen). Then we have artist like Lita Albuquerque who work in collaboration with software engineers/biologist, as well as drawing attention to the plight of bees in BeeKeeper. We wanted to create a dialog from the various approaches and hoped that something larger than the sum of its parts could emerge.
So we called the artists about the show and everyone responded with an overwhelming YES! They are all big fans of TED and wanted to participate.
How many gallery spaces are involved?
We have two main gallery spaces, a performance space, and we have a fourth exterior rotunda space which will exhibit a site-specific installation. We also have six separate windows at another location within the mall, displaying photographs of Anne Hars‘ clover/Financial Times pots. So that would be five locations within the mall. We kind of took it over.
——
Two more TED-inspired shows run concurrently through March 14 in Long Beach. “Super Elastic” brings together large-scale works from four Southern California artists who question how we see — and how art helps us visualize the unseen forces of physics. As curator Timothy Nolan writes: “Although each artist is very literate in the history of pattern-based abstraction, conceptually and aesthetically, they are inspired by and draw liberally from an infinite pool of scientific inquiry.” And the installation piece “Bluetooth’s Castle,” from the Long Beach media collective FLOOD, celebrates the deep connection between innovation and mystery through sound.
You can see images from the shows here — including clips from opening-night performances by Cloud Eye Control, Anna Oxygen and Miwa Matreyek. And learn more about about Phantom Galleries LA — you might remember them from their work with James Nachtwey’s TED Prize wish.
12 February 2009
Siftables, the toy blocks that think: David Merrill on TED.com
In the latest release from TED2009, MIT grad student David Merrill demos Siftables — cookie-sized, computerized tiles you can stack and shuffle in your hands. These future-toys can do math, play music, and talk to their friends, too. (Recorded in 2009 in Monterey, California. Duration: 7:09.)
Watch David Merrill’s talk from TED2009 on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 360+ TEDTalks — including more talks about invention.
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11 February 2009
Bill Gates' talk on mosquitoes, malaria and education — transcribed
We’ve transcribed Bill Gates’ talk on mosquitoes, malaria and education and posted the full text below the fold. Here’s a snippet:
But we have to be careful because malaria — the parasite evolves and the mosquito evolves. So every tool that we’ve ever had in the past has eventually become ineffective. And so you end up with two choices. If you go into a country with the right tools and the right way, you do it vigorously, you can actually get a local eradication. And that’s where we saw the malaria map shrinking. Or, if you go in kind of half-heartedly, for a period of time you’ll reduce the disease burden, but eventually those tools will become ineffective, and the death rate will soar back up again. And the world has gone through this where it paid attention and then didn’t pay attention.
Read the full transcript of Bill Gates’ 2009 TEDTalk on mosquitoes, malaria and education >>
+ Watch Bill Gates’ talk on TED.com
+ Read Bill Gates’ bio on TED.com
11 February 2009
New-school motivational posters
Inspired by today’s archive talk from Milton Glaser, we share these fresh motivational posters from ReadyMade. Taking a cue from the poster art of the last Great Depression, the magazine asked five artists to make a simple image that would inspire us to do good things. You can view and download all five — or get inspired to create your own.
11 February 2009
How great design makes ideas new: Milton Glaser on TED.com
While we are preparing more TED2009 talks for release online, here’s a gem from our archives. At TED1998, the legendary graphic designer Milton Glaser dives deep into a new painting inspired by Piero della Francesca. From here, he muses on what makes a convincing poster: the act of breaking down an idea and making it new. (Recorded Monterey 1998 in Monterey, California. Duration: 15:14.)
Watch Milton Glaser’s talk from TED1998 on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 360+ TEDTalks — including more talks about genomics.
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