TEDBlog August, 2010 Archive
10 August 2010
Living online: Today’s TEDTalks playlist
(TED’s on its annual two-week vacation; during the break, we’re posting new playlists from the TEDTalks archive.)
Chances are, you live a plugged-in life. We connect with Facebook, share through Twitter, watch on YouTube, learn from Google. Today’s playlist explores what it means to live online. We start with a blogging visionary — SixApart’s Mena Trott, the founding mother of the blog revolution. She talks about finding community, relationships and a healthy dose of narcissism in the blogosphere:
Clay Shirky encourages the world to spend its trillion-plus hours of free time making cool things online:
Evan Williams shows how 140 characters can give voice to natural disasters and thirsty plants — and maybe change the world.
Kevin Kelly marvels at what the web has become in only 5,000 days. What should we expect from the next phase of its life … and how will we keep up?
What are your favorite stories about our online lives in the TEDTalks archive? Add your suggestions for this playlist to the comments below, or email contact@ted.com with the subject PLAYLIST: ONLINE. (Jog your memory with the TEDTalks spreadsheet.)
And look for fresh TEDTalks starting August 16.
Curator of this playlist: Rachel Tobias
09 August 2010
Risk and reward: Today’s TEDTalks playlist
TED’s on its annual two-week vacation; during the break, we’re posting new playlists from the TEDTalks archive.
Today’s playlist weighs the risks and rewards of adventure. What would it take for you to bury yourself alive or ski through the Arctic — and what would you say when the world asks, “Why?” Ben Saunders is a modern-day Arctic explorer — skiing solo across the ice to the North Pole to raise awareness of climate change. He answers 3 frequently asked questions:
Forget what you think you know about David Blaine — and watch this passionate, disarming talk from TEDMED about his quest to hold his breath for 17 minutes.
Roz Savage was looking to change her life. She found a challenge and a cause inside a tiny rowboat:
During the worst disaster in the history of Mount Everest climbs, Ken Kamler was the only doctor on the mountain …
What are your favorite stories about adventure in the TEDTalks archive? Add your suggestions for this playlist to the comments below, or email contact@ted.com with the subject PLAYLIST: ADVENTURE. (Jog your memory with the TEDTalks spreadsheet.)
Find more TEDTalks about adventure in our Theme To Boldly Go.
And look for fresh TEDTalks starting on August 16!
Curator of this playlist: Rachel Tobias
06 August 2010
Playthings: Today’s TEDTalks playlist
TED’s on its annual two-week vacation; during the break, we’re posting new playlists from the TEDTalks archive.
Today’s playlist is about toys that inspire learning, innovation — and of course fun! These are the toys of the technological age: they are alive, they think, they perform magic. What were your favorite toys as a kid (or an adult), and what did they inspire in you? See how David Merrill replaces traditional building blocks with electronic tiles that can add, subtract, compose and create.
David Perry describes a new age of video games: games that “think big” and blend the virtual and the real through emotion and complexity.
Pranav Mistry and Pattie Maes announce a big-kid toy, SixthSense. It can help you buy toilet paper, take and share photographs and tell time … and more:
Caleb Chung designs toys that require lots of TLC, including the infamous Furby and the revolutionary Pleo.
What are your favorite stories about toys and play in the TEDTalks archive? Add your suggestions for this playlist to the comments below, or email contact@ted.com with the subject PLAYLIST: PLAY. (Jog your memory with the TEDTalks spreadsheet.)
And look for fresh TEDTalks starting on August 16!
Curator of this playlist: Rachel Tobias
06 August 2010
Fighting modern slavery: Fellows Friday with Siddharth Kara
Siddharth Kara fights bonded labor, forced labor, and human trafficking with what he says are the most effective weapons against them: rigorous scientific research and analysis. Read his interview below to learn why dispassionate study may be the antidote to this inherently emotional issue, and why Siddharth is optimistic about the direction of the anti-slavery movement. Click here to follow his updates on CNN.com as he travels South Asia investigating labor exploitation.
Tell us about your research.
I’ve been researching modern slavery of all kinds for about ten years. I’ve now covered six continents and 18 countries, and I’m writing a series of three books on the subject. I’m putting forth what I think is the first real, strategic, comprehensive, global analysis of the phenomenon. This means not just anecdotes and a superficial or sensationalistic look at slavery, but really trying to dig in to understanding how this is all working in the global economic context, in the global legal context, and what are the various business models of labor exploitation? Are there weak or vulnerable points in those models that may be susceptible to the right kind of tactical policy or legal intervention?
There are three categories of slavery I’ve broadly identified: bonded labor, forced labor, and human trafficking. I’m covering these three subjects somewhat in the three books. The first book [Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery] actually focused on a subset of human trafficking, which is forced prostitution. That came out last year. My next book will focus very much on the bonded labor category. And the third book will kind of cover the rest.
What approach do you take when writing your books?
All three books tend to be based on analysis and reliable data and research. You see, slavery and labor exploitation are inherently sensational to begin with. When you hear stories of men, women, and children being coerced against their will to perform some labor or service, certainly the most extreme cases of that kind of exploitation are already sensational. They’re already shocking to us. And unfortunately, in the ten years that I’ve been doing this research, there’s really been a limited amount of progress in both knowledge and efficacy to fight the phenomenon.
05 August 2010
Body art: Today’s TEDTalks playlist
TED’s on its annual two-week vacation; during the break, we’re posting new playlists from the TEDTalks archive.
Today’s playlist is about the human body, with speakers who give new meaning to our inner workings. What do enzymes and chromosomes have to do with art, and how can a stroke project beauty? Watch Pilobolus stretch (literally) the possibilities of the human body in a dynamic depiction of biological relationships.
David Bolinsky explores the future of scientific education with his stunning visual representations of the truth and beauty of a cell.
Paul Rothemund manipulates DNA with the zeal of a child. Did you ever imagine your DNA could look like a snowflake?
Jill Bolte Taylor’s massive stroke helps her see within and beyond her own body and brain.
What are your favorite stories about our bodies in the TEDTalks archive? Add your suggestions for this playlist to the comments below, or email contact@ted.com with the subject PLAYLIST: BODY ART. (Jog your memory with the TEDTalks spreadsheet.)
And look for fresh TEDTalks starting on August 16!
Curator of this playlist: Rachel Tobias
04 August 2010
Enter GOOD’s poster contest to win a trip to TEDxChange
On September 20, TEDxChange will take a focused look at the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. Established 10 years ago, the eight goals are:
1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
2: Achieve universal primary education.
3: Promote gender equality and empower women.
4: Reduce child mortality.
5: Improve maternal health.
6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
7: Ensure environmental sustainability.
8: Develop a global partnership for development.
Co=hosted by TED and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, TEDxChange will look at how the world is doing on these goals so far, and energize us for the road ahead. There are many ways to watch the conference: joining or hosting a local TEDx event; watching the webcast — or you can win a trip to the New York event thanks to GOOD magazine’s poster contest.
The brief: Design a poster that marks the progress made against Millennium Development Goal 1, 4 or 5.
You can see a sample poster here to get your mind rolling on the challenge. The winner of this contest will receive a trip for two (including transportation, hotel and meals) to TEDxChange, September 20 in New York, co-hosted by TED and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Entries are due by midnight Pacific time on August 16, 2010.
Read entry details here — and good luck!
04 August 2010
Salmon-farming standards open for comment today
Three weeks ago, onstage at TEDGlobal 2010, WWF vice president Jason Clay (above) announced that the world’s salmon aquaculture standards were close to being finalized after six years of effort. This may sound dull and policy-wonky, but if you eat fish, it’s a big deal: Right now, it’s hard to know, when buying salmon and many other fish, whether you’re buying a sustainably caught or grown fish, or if you’re participating in the depletion of our oceans. Just this morning, the salmon standards opened for public comment at this link: www.worldwildlife.org/salmondialogue
Echoing concerns voiced by TED Prize winner Sylvia Earle last year, Clay thinks that in a world with growing population and diminishing ocean resources, fish farming will be the way we produce seafood in the future. But aquaculture, particularly for salmon, is a contentious issue, thanks to its environmental impacts, among them pollution, disease and use of resources. Meanwhile, demand for salmon creeps ever higher — salmon production has increased threefold since the 1980s to meet market demand, and 60% of global consumption of salmon is farmed, not wild-caught.
“Farming salmon is like farming tigers,” says Clay. “These are high-end carnivores, high trophic-level species that we need to think about carefully.”
To minimize the impact, WWF decided to focus one of its Aquaculture Dialogues –- eight roundtables engaging farmers, conservationists, academics, government officials and others in developing standards for responsible aquaculture –- just on salmon. Clay says: “We have identified and addressed seven key impact areas: benthic impacts and siting; chemical inputs; disease/parasites; escapes; feed; nutrient loading and carrying capacity; and social issues.”
The first public comment period ends in October, and Clay expects the salmon standards to be globally recognized, published and launched in the first quarter of 2011. It’s good news for those who eat salmon and want to know it’s been produced responsibly. Dialogues on standards for 12 species — salmon, shrimp, tilapia, trout, pangasius, Seriola, cobia, abalone, mussels, clams, oysters and scallops –- have been in the works; tilapia is the first standard to be completed, in December 2009.
– Karen Eng
Photo: TED / James Duncan Davidson
04 August 2010
Apply to be a 2011 TED Fellow
The deadline to apply to become a 2011 TED Fellow is August 20, 2010. The TED Fellows program is looking for the next generation of innovators who’ve demonstrated remarkable accomplishment and the potential to positively affect the world. If this sounds like you, first read the tips for applying — and then apply.
Learn more about the TED Fellows program in the FAQs, and meet some of the extraordinary TEDGlobal Fellows and Senior Fellows.
04 August 2010
Childish thinking: Today’s TEDTalks playlist
TED’s on its annual two-week vacation; during the break, we’re posting new playlists from the TEDTalks archive.
Today’s playlist is about kids and their brains, which hold the dreams and possibilities of our future. How can we teach them … and how can we learn from them? Adora Svitak makes the case that grownups have lots to learn from “childish” thinking — creativity, audacity, open-mindedness …
Who are the leaders of tomorrow? Joachim de Posada shows how to find them — with a marshmallow.
Photographer Rick Smolan tells the unforgettable story of a young girl and a fateful photograph, in an adoption saga with a twist.
Dave Eggers thinks like a child to create a massively popular after-school tutoring club — starring pirates, superheroes, time travel …
What are your favorite stories about kids in the TEDTalks archive? Add your suggestions for this playlist to the comments below, or email contact@ted.com with the subject PLAYLIST: KIDS. (Jog your memory with the TEDTalks spreadsheet.)
And look for fresh TEDTalks starting on August 16!
Curator of this playlist: Rachel Tobias
03 August 2010
Living, breathing architecture: Today’s TEDTalks playlist
TED is taking its annual two-week vacation; during the break, we’ll post some of our favorite talks from the TEDTalks archive, arranged into playlists.
Today’s playlist is about way-new architecture — using organic forms and living, growing materials to bring fresh life into the buildings, homes and infrastructure we occupy. Magnus Larsson, for instance, has a bold plan to build in the Sahara desert sands using living bacteria:
Bjarke Ingels’ buildings not only look like nature — they act like nature: blocking the wind, collecting solar energy …
In 2002, IDEO’s David Kelley asked designers to focus on the human experience of design — rather than on simply making the next shiny gadget:
Rachel Armstrong gives a first glimpse at new, living building materials — barely understood now — that could one day allow buildings to grow organically:
More talks like this:
David Macauley’s Rome Antics — a bird’s-eye view of a city that has grown organically over thousands of years
Ron Eglash on African fractals — learn more about the precisely fractal forms of African buildings and villages
Ellen Dunham-Jones: Retrofitting suburbia — finding the living heart of once-sterile suburban spaces
You tell us: What are your favorite architecture stories in the TEDTalks archive? Add your suggestions for this playlist to the comments below, or email contact@ted.com with the subject PLAYLIST: ARCHITECTURE. (Jog your memory with the TEDTalks spreadsheet.)
And look for fresh TEDTalks starting on August 16!
Curator of this playlist: Rachel Tobias
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