Not all inventions need to be grandiose, complex things, Amy Smith said at TED2006: sometimes they can be simple and smart ideas that just help a lot of people (watch her speech – read summary). That’s the philosophy behind her first International Development Design Summit (IDDS), which just took place at MIT, where she teaches […]
A technical virtuoso with boundless imagination, Will Wright has created a style of computer gaming unlike any that came before, emphasizing learning more than losing, invention more than sport. With his hit game SimCity, he spurred players to make predictions, take risks, and sometimes fail miserably, as they built their own virtual urban worlds. With […]
Stephen Lawler, from Microsoft, takes us on a tour through the company’s new Virtual Earth project, which is, basically, an attempt to turn the entire planet into an interface to the web. Collecting and synthesizing massive amounts of data — bird’s-eye views, street-level photos, 3D wireframes — the Virtual Earth team are building a world […]
So much of the new Africa centers around the marketplace, broadly defined: the connection points that enable commerce, community, communication and more generally: Growth. Today’s first session approached these questions of infrastructure from different angles, offering distinct and distinctly optimistic visions for a revitalized Africa. Economist Eleni Gabre-Madhin began the session on an inspiring note, […]
It’s a classic problem in theology: How can the existence of evil be reconciled with a God who is supposed to be all-loving, all-knowing and all-powerful? Reverend Tom Honey attempts to answer this question in the wake of the tsunami. NEW: Read the transcript >>
In this soaring demonstration, percussionist Evelyn Glennie leads the audience through an exploration of music not as notes on a page, but as an expression of the human experience. Playing with sensitivity and nuance informed by a soul-deep understanding of and connection to music, she talks about a music that is more than sound waves […]
Richard Baraniuk is a Rice University professor with a giant vision: to create a free, global online education system. In this presentation, he introduces Connexions, the open-access publishing system that’s changing the landscape of education by providing free coursework and educational materials to everyone in the world. (Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 19:18) […]
Nicholas Negroponte is former Director of the MIT Media Lab, and founder of the non-profit, One Laptop Per Child, dedicated to making the famed “$100 laptop” a reality. In this talk, he outlines some of the challenges of getting the laptop produced, and explains why he stepped down as Media Lab director to focus on […]
Sir Ken Robinson is author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative, and a leading expert on innovation and human resources. In this talk, he makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it. (Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 20:02) Get […]
Alan Bennett’s fabulous new play The History Boys opened on Broadway last week at the Broadhurst to uniformly wonderful reviews after sold-out runs in London and Sydney. Set in Thatcher-era England, History Boys takes place in a state school where sixth form boys are preparing to take exams that will admit them to their fantasy […]
Over the last many months, we’ve been working on ways to bring the magic of TED to a wider audience, beyond the 1000 of us who gather in Monterey each February. We’re thrilled then, to tell you that a documentary about TED is now being developed for PBS. The goal is to capture the inspiration […]
Bowing to extraordinary public pressure, we are pleased to unveil the new TEDBLOG … a little taste of ongoing TEDness for those who feel that once a year just isn’t enough. The plan is to add a few items every week… to titillate, intrigue and delight. Matters scientific, techie, creative, entertaining and… well, anything that […]