Photo: James Duncan Davidson
“The Next Chapter” is already fascinating — full of great characters, plot twists and, hopefully, it’s all leading toward a happy ending. Today, we kicked off TED2014 — our 30th-anniversary conference — which will chew on this theme, offering intriguing ideas on where we are going next. So what happened in day one? Below, some highlights.
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Nicholas Negroponte predicts: knowledge pills. After a talk that took us through about 50 years of technology history, TED Curator Chris Anderson asked the founder of the MIT Media Lab for one prediction for the next 30 years. He said: “My prediction is that we are going to ingest information—we’re going to swallow a pill and know English and swallow a pill and know Shakespeare.” (Read more.)
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Eman Mohammed gets a standing ovation. Eman Mohammed was the first female photojournalist in the Gaza strip — and her work was considered an affront to some of the men in the profession. Undeterred, she continues to focus on her work, and on telling women’s stories from the region. “My work is not meant to hide the scars of war but to show the full frame of the unseen stories of Gaza.” A moving and deeply powerful personal story of courage and determination.
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A video from Malala. Malala Yousafzai couldn’t come to TED — because she has vowed to never miss another day of school. But she made us a video to introduce her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, who gave a powerful talk about his daughter and his commitment to education. (Read more.)
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Chris Hadfield plays “Space Oddity.” The retired Canadian Space Agency astronaut ended an incredibly moving talk by playing the David Bowie song that made him a YouTube star while aboard the International Space station. (Read more.)
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Awesome seatmates. A too-funny tweet from speaker Simon Sinek—who ended up seated next to All-Star speaker Amy Cuddy on the plane. (See the photo.)
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Sergei Lupashin flies some kites. Sergei Lupashin flew not one, not two, but *three* Fotokites over the stage during TED Fellows Session 1, filming him as he gave his TED Talk. His vision: Journalists, naturalists, archeologists … anyone can use a “tethered flying device” to photograph what’s going on on the ground and get a different perspective.
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Brian Henson plays with puppets. The chair of the Jim Henson Company gave a killer master class and revealed a few secrets of how the company brings creatures to life. (Read more.)
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TED: The Musical. Yes, the TED staff wrote and performed a musical — all about making a TED Talk out of a confused but brilliant speaker. Look for it online soon …
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Mark Ronson spins TED Talks. To prep for his own talk, the DJ and producer watched a lot, a whole lot of TED Talks. During Session 1, he spit them back out, remixing and scratching audio and video, while educating the audience on the seminal song “La Di Da Di” — the 5th most sampled song of all time. (Read more.)
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A gathering under the net. Just before the Welcome Reception, attendees flocked to interact with the sculpture Skies Painted with Unnumbered Sparks, created by TED speakers Janet Echelman and Aaron Koblin, who met when they both spoke at TED2011. (Read about the sculpture.)