TEDBlog September, 2010 Archive
17 September 2010
Tod Machover talks about his new robotic opera, Death and the Powers
Onstage at TED2009, Tod Machover talked about his boundary-shaking musical projects (including the gorgeous Hyperscore demoed by the composer Dan Ellsey) — and hinted about a “really crazy project” called Death and the Powers, a blend of opera and robotics that was going to turn the entire stage into a robotic musical instrument, using new performance tech from the MIT Media Lab. Next week, the robotic opera premieres live, playing Sept. 24-26 in Monte Carlo, Monaco. US dates will follow in 2011; follow on Twitter for more details. Gearlog might have put it best: they call it “The Singularity. In Opera Form. With Robots.”
17 September 2010
Fellows Friday with Sanjukta Basu
Blogging about her personal life helped Sanjukta Basu find her voice. Despite Indian social mores restricting women’s self expression, Sanjukta has opened up her heart online, empowering others to do the same. Compelled by the transformations social media created in her own life, Sanjukta develops strategies to make the voiceless’ stories heard.After quitting your job as a lawyer, you’ve begun evangelizing social media to India’s nonprofit sector. What are you working on these days?
Most recently I was handling the online page of a campaign run by an organization called Breakthrough. It’s a campaign about domestic violence, called “Ring the Bell,” or Bell Bajao. It’s a media campaign about what you should do if you hear of domestic violence in your neighborhood. This campaign had many components: TV, newspaper and Internet. I was handling the online bit of the campaign.
I worked on it for the last seven months, and it was quite interesting work for me to do. I moved on because I realized that whenever an organization is doing a social campaign online, a communications or tech consultant can only do so much in terms of setting up the campaign, strategies, and so on. After the consultant initiates the online work, I think it’s important for the organization’s staff — who is actually doing the work offline — to build the online conversations. They are the real people who have been working with victims and survivors on the ground, and who really know the issues.
There is a lot of work happening in the non-profit sector in India, but hardly any visibility of that work. The common person doesn’t even know what an NGO does … I wanted to dedicate myself to bridging the gap between the non-profit, the corporate, and the social world. I’ve been part of both the corporate and non-profit worlds, and I know that there is a big disconnect between these two sectors.
I also want to work on the digital divide between the rural and urban areas. It’s not as if people in the rural areas cannot understand technology. They can. If we just take technology to the rural areas, they can use it for their benefit.
17 September 2010
Hurdy-gurdy for beginners: Caroline Phillips on TED.com
Caroline Phillips cranks out tunes on a seldom-heard folk instrument: the hurdy-gurdy, a.k.a. the wheel fiddle. A searching, Basque melody follows her fun lesson on its unique anatomy and 1,000-year history. (Recorded at TEDGlobal, July 2010 in Oxford, England. Duration: 5:41)
Watch Caroline Phillips’ talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 700+ TEDTalks.
16 September 2010
How social networks predict epidemics: Nicholas Christakis on TED.com
After mapping humans’ intricate social networks, Nicholas Christakis and colleague James Fowler began investigating how this information could better our lives. Now, he reveals his hot-off-the-press findings: These networks can be used to detect epidemics earlier than ever, from the spread of innovative ideas to risky behaviors to viruses (like H1N1). (Recorded at TED@Cannes, June 2010 in Cannes, France. Duration: 17:55)
Watch Nicholas Christakis’ talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 700+ TEDTalks.
15 September 2010
The science of sleep: Jessa Gamble on TED.com
In today’s world, balancing school, work, kids and more, most of us can only hope for the recommended eight hours of sleep. Examining the science behind our body’s internal clock, Jessa Gamble reveals the surprising and substantial program of rest we should be observing. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2010, July 2010 in Oxford, England. Duration: 4:01)
Watch Jessa Gamble’s talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 700+ TEDTalks.
14 September 2010
Who let this guy on the TED stage?
How come TED’s head guy Chris Anderson is giving his own TEDTalk? Well, it all started with an idea that wouldn’t go away — an insight into the true significance of web video, and what it might mean for the world’s future. Bruno Giussani, who runs our TEDGlobal conference, got excited enough about the idea that he insisted Chris speak at Oxford this summer. The talk ushers in a whole new chapter in TED’s history … one which you’re invited to help write. Please watch, and then help shape the future of TED with your comments.
Watch Chris Anderson’s talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 700+ TEDTalks.
13 September 2010
See the faces of the Pakistan floods: An unforgettable video
TED’s curator, Chris Anderson, was born in Pakistan, and feels an enduring tie to the country — which has recently experienced the worst floods in living memory, killing thousands and displacing tens of millions of people. Chris and his wife, Jacqueline Novogratz of the Acumen Fund, traveled the country, visiting camps and flooded cities — and gathering personal stories from this massive disaster (read them on Chris’ personal blog).
As Chris writes this evening:
When Jacqueline Novogratz and I returned last week from our visit to Pakistan’s flood-hit areas, we couldn’t get out of our heads the faces of the people we’d seen — in equal measures beautiful… haunting… hopeless… hopeful… These faces are the best possible answer to the insane indifference so much of the world has shown in response to this crisis, which by any objective measure is one of the worst this century.
We wanted to spread the word about what we’d seen, so we wrote to one of our heroes Peter Gabriel and he generously agreed to let us use an unforgettable song of his as the soundtrack to a video that will show you the people we met.
Download this video in 720p high-def >>
13 September 2010
Discovering ancient climates in oceans and ice: Rob Dunbar on TED.com
Rob Dunbar hunts for data on our climate from 12,000 years ago, finding clues inside ancient seabeds and corals and inside ice sheets. His work is vital in setting baselines for fixing our current climate — and in tracking the rise of deadly ocean acidification. (Recorded on Mission Blue Voyage, April 2010 in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. Duration: 18:15)
Watch Rob Dunbar’s talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 700+ TEDTalks.
12 September 2010
New Best of the Web talk: Seth Godin
Why are so many things broken? In a hilarious talk from the 2006 Gel conference, Seth Godin gives a tour of things poorly designed, the 7 reasons why they are that way, and how to fix them.
11 September 2010
Indiana Jones in the 21st Century: Saturday TEDTalks Playlist
Today’s playlist features modern-day explorers and adventurers: tech-savvy treasure hunters who search not for gold and rubies, but for enlightenment and answers for the future.
To do some exploring yourself, check out David Gallo‘s new Expedition Titanic: an ongoing deep-sea mission to create a 3-D map of the Titanic and preserve its wonders forever.
Robert Ballard searches for the secrets of the sea using new robotic technologies — driven by an overwhelming certainty of the value of life and resources at the bottom of the ocean.
Adam Savage is obsessed with off-the-wall artifacts; in particular the dodo bird and the Maltese Falcon. After some creative digging and impressive resourcefulness, he re-creates an unexpected spirit of these prized objects.
Jane Poynter shares the story of her 2-year residence in Biosphere 2, exploring how we might preserve a flourishing civilization in impossibly harsh environments.
We’d love to hear more of your favorite TEDTalks about adventures of the modern age. Add your suggestions to the comments below, join the conversation on Facebook, or email contact@ted.com with the subject PLAYLIST: INDIANA JONES. (Jog your memory with the TEDTalks spreadsheet.)
Curator of this playlist: Rachel Tobias
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