I'm the Interim Editor of Ideas at TED. I've also written and edited for IDEO, Mother Jones, Salon, and other fine publications you may have heard of.
Virtual reality is an emerging medium for artists and educators. Painting is an ancient art form; some cave paintings were made up to 40,000 years ago. In TED-Ed’s first 360° animated video, you can examine the intersection of these two ideas by exploring an ancient cave and its surroundings as educator Iseult Gillespie shares a […]
Surfing in the ice. “If shivering is a form of meditation, then I consider myself a monk,” says Chris Burkard, before playing a soaring video that shows him surfing waves amidst snowfall and ice drifts, with white-topped mountain peaks in the background. See, Chris Burkard is a surf photographer who found himself burnt out on […]
Time for a thought experiment: Imagine for a moment that global catastrophe struck and you needed to rebuild the world. How would you do it? This is a topic that astrobiologist Lewis Dartnell researched in depth for his recent book, The Knowledge. At TED2015, he shares some of the highlights. The are three important areas that have […]
In a session that honors the “deeply practical and the entirely improbable,” pyromantics and biosynthetic designers meet artists and flag-worshippers. Helen Walters, host of Session 10: Creative Ignition, calls this session a “celebration of the catalytic thinking that reshapes the world around us.” Here’s a recap: How to reboot society. Lewis Dartnell asks us to […]
“When our ancestors looked up at the night sky, they saw tools for navigation. They saw myths, and they saw the heavens,” says June Cohen, the host of Session 4 of TED2015. “But technology has given us so many new clues. … Space exploration has never been as fascinating and relevant as it is today.” Here’s […]
Chris Anderson introduces Session 3 with a compelling idea: “Most of the new things happening right now that feel like magic — whether it’s self-driving cars or online translations suddenly getting much better — there’s machine learning behind it.” In this session we look at the issues around machines that learn. The challenge of teaching […]
A cat. A house. A plane. Most 3-year-old children can point at these and identify them by sight. Fei-Fei Li, the director of Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence Lab and Vision Lab, has spent the past 15 years teaching machines how to see. Our most advanced machines are like toddlers when it comes to sight, Li says; […]
From anti-jargon campaigns to how Gen X and Gen Y can collaborate, TED@StateStreet highlighted ideas to inspire leaders at every level. This TED Institute event, held in London on November 18, showcased speakers from both inside and outside the financial services company. Throughout, the focus was on innovative thinking in work culture. Below, quotes worth […]
Cocktail party trivia: Brainstorming was invented in the 1930s as a practical idea-generation technique for regular use by “creatives” within the ad agency BBDO. That all changed in 1942, when Alex Osborn — the “O” in BBDO — released a book called How to Think Up and excited the imaginations of his fellow Mad Men. […]
Day 3 of TEDGlobal lifted our hearts and brought us new ideas worth spreading. Below, a few of today’s highlights…
Cancer detection technologist Jorge Soto is developing a simple, non-invasive, open-source test for early detection of multiple forms of cancer. He demonstrated a working prototype of this cancer detection platform for the first time today on the TED stage in Brazil.
Technology isn’t just a nice-to-have. Across the world, it’s helping to extend rights, open up lines of communication and create new opportunities. In this session, we explore how technology can transform a variety of lives. The speakers who’ll appear in this session: The founder of the Center for Digital Inclusion, Rodrigo Baggio helps marginalized communities get […]
Cities. While 54% of the world’s population lives in them, the urban experience is incredibly varied. From city planning in China to creating art out of Rio’s favelas, this session looks at urban environments and the possibilities found within them. The speakers who’ll appear in this session: Robert Muggah creates tools to collect data that aim […]
Human-rights activist Oren Yakobovich encourages the recording of human rights abuses to expose them to worldwide scrutiny. He founded the organization Videre, which is short for the Latin phrase “videre est credere”—to see is to believe.
The speakers in this session can’t be contained in a cubicle or desk chair. These bold thinkers — from an activist surfacing human rights on video to a scientist uncovering the biodiversity of her island nation — do their work out in the world, surfacing fresh insights as they go. The speakers who’ll appear in this session: […]
As one of the first reporters to see Edward Snowden’s files, Glenn Greenwald has faced personal repercussions for his professional work — yet continues to speak publicly about mass surveillance issues. In this searing talk, Greenwald makes the case for why privacy matters.