Further reading on what makes a good end of life“What would be a good end of life?” Judy Macdonald Johnston asks in today’s talk, given at TED2013. Her answer — based on her own experience of helping two friends face death in a way that respected the incredible life they’d built — involves five practices, all of which can help maintain a high quality […]
Crowdsourcing limitations: How you can become a part of Phil Hansen’s latest art pieceAs an artist, I’m always interested in looking at the defining moments in our lives, understanding how these moments affect us and finding different ways to represent them. We all face limitations. I had the amazing opportunity to share my story at the TED conference this year. I came to do the art I do today not […]
North Korean defector Hyeonseo Lee reunited with the man who saved her familyA total stranger helped Hyeonseo Lee pay her mother and brother’s way out of jail as they fled from North Korea. Now, four years later, Lee has been reunited with that stranger, getting the chance to thank him in person. In Lee’s TED2013 talk, “My escape from North Korea,” she describes defecting from North Korea […]
20+ resources for better giving and living a more altruistic lifeEvery day, most of us do something morally indefensible — we go about our lives without sending help to the 6.9 million children under the age of 5 who will die this year from poverty-related disease. In today’s talk, philosopher Peter Singer makes the case that ignoring these kids is as inhumane as ignoring a […]
Our thoughts on using Google Glass so far, plus videos that show what it can doIn today’s talk, Sergey Brin of Google shares the idea that motivated the development of Google Glass: that while smartphones inherently take us away from experiencing the real world, there could be a device that allows for a digitally-mediated experience within it. As Google heads into day three of its I/O developer conference in San […]
Ron Finley inspires young gardeners across countryRon Finley is motivating people across the country to pick up a shovel and “get gangsta” by planting fruits, vegetables and herbs in their neighborhood. Since appearing on the TED2013 stage to talk about why he plants edible gardens in the nooks and crannies of South Central Los Angeles, Finley has been profiled in The […]
Thoughts from a twentysomething on Meg Jay’s talk on twentysomethingsI’m 24 and a woman, and that makes me a target for a lot of speculation and life advice. Sheryl Sandberg wants me to lean in to become a woman leader; Anne-Marie Slaughter says my lady parts may doom me to a half-fulfilled life; Susan Patton thinks I should have spent my time at Princeton […]
5 mnemonic devices for reading Chinese charactersTo an outsider, the Chinese language “seems to be as impenetrable as the Great Wall of China,” says ShaoLan Hsueh in today’s talk, given at TED2013. Hsueh’s mission over the past few years has been to break down that barrier, making reading and writing in Chinese accessible to people who didn’t grow up doing it. […]
When our private lives become public online … will it make us more or less tolerant?“I’m not arguing that this stuff shouldn’t exist,” says Juan Enriquez. “I’m saying that precisely because this stuff is so powerful, we should be careful and think about what we’re doing, instead of treating it like a lark, thinking if we post something at 2am that no one will care.” The Boston-based entrepreneur and many-time […]
The language of photography: Q&A with Sebastião SalgadoI’ll never forget the first images of Sebastião Salgado’s that I ever saw. At the time, I was just getting into photography, and his images of the mines of Serra Pelada struck me as otherworldly, possessing a power that I had never seen in a photo before (or, if I’m honest, since). In the twenty […]
The future of the U.S. economy: TED fans join in the Robert Gordon/Erik Brynjolfsson debateLast week, TED speakers Robert Gordon and Erik Brynjolfsson joined us for a live, one-hour debate on the future of the US economy. It was a furious hour of typing, with both speakers contributing just over 1,500 words in response to a wide variety of user questions. A few highlights: Ryan Zeigler asks: Mr. Brynjolfsson, […]
The future of work and innovation: Robert Gordon and Erik Brynjolfsson debate at TED2013Economists Robert Gordon and Erik Brynjolffson see very different things when they look at the stagnation of the U.S. economy in recent years. It’s almost as if they’re looking at an optical illusion image – one seeing a candlestick while the other sees two faces just inches apart. In today’s talks, they both outlined their […]
Texting as a “miraculous thing”: 6 ways our generation is redefining communicationTexting is not a blight on the English language, says linguist John McWhorter in today’s talk, given at TED2013. Rather, texting is a “miraculous thing”: a novel linguistic mode that’s redefining the way we communicate with each other — for the better. McWhorter points out that texting shouldn’t be categorized as written language –but as […]
6 great videos of yo-yo performer BLACK, perfect for Friday afternoon procrastinationYo-yo world champion BLACK admits that the first time he picked up his instrument of choice, at age 14, he couldn’t figure out the simplest of tricks. But after a week of practice, he started to understand its movement and dynamics. In today’s talk, given at TED2013, BLACK remembers, “I thought, ‘The yo-yo is something […]
Life after the accident: An excerpt from Joshua Prager’s powerful memoir, Half-LifeAlmost twenty-three years ago, Joshua Prager experienced a moment that could only be described as “a great hinge in my life,” one that divided it “like the spine of an open book.” Just 19 years old then, Prager was in Israel for a year after high school. He was sitting in the backseat of a minibus […]
