Two hundred years ago, the Luddites rebelled against weaving technology. In 1964, US President Lyndon B. Johnson received “The Triple Revolution” memo that laid out the threat of job displacement due to automation. We’ve been concerned about technology displacing humans for a long time, says futurist Martin Ford. And that’s had a strange effect on us. “Because of […]Read more
Are machines going to save or destroy us? It’s a question we’ve been grappling with since we first put 1s and 0s together to create computer code. And it feels like we’re no closer to answering it; machines are growing smarter by the day, and while they’re taking us to places we’ve never imagined, we […]
Computer scientist Radhika Nagpal’s defining moment came on a snorkeling trip in the Bahamas. As she stuck her head beneath the surface, trying hard to breathe through the narrow plastic tube, she saw a huge school of yellow-and-black striped fish. She was struck by how the school swerved to change direction not as if it […]
TED2017 begins with a manifesto: “We will not sleepwalk into a future of dread. Instead we will pursue: courage, deep human connection, imagination, thrilling possibility, understanding. The Future You is yet to be written. Let’s write it together.” In a comprehensive opening session — hosted by TED’s Head Curator, Chris Anderson, and streamed live to 800 […]
The first day of TED2017 brought two sessions of talks from TED Fellows and an opening session broadcast live in movie theaters. Below, some of the themes heard today that we just can’t get out of our minds. A closer look at our relationship to technology. Huang Yi danced with a robot. Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov […]
“These are the times that try men’s souls, and they’re trying ours now,” begins Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, quoting Thomas Paine, in an electrifying talk about how we can face the future without fear if we face it together. It’s a fateful moment in history. We’ve seen divisive elections, divided societies and a growth of […]
As people worry about the growing power of computers, the first soldier in the human-machine battle is here with a reassuring message: “This is excellent, excellent news,” says Garry Kasparov, regarded by many as the greatest chess player in history. In 1997, Kasparov very memorably lost a match to IBM’s supercomputer Deep Blue. (“Nobody remembers that I won […]
Glossophobia, or the fear of public speaking, is one of our best-known fears. Depending on who you ask or what study you consult, more people fear public speaking than death, snakes, heights and just about anything else. We’re very familiar with this fear at TED — and we have a not-so-hidden secret approach to overcoming […]
Accounts of hacking and leaks populated our newsfeeds in 2016 — most notably, the compromise of the US Democratic National Committee (DNC) networks by Russian government hackers that fueled suspicion of a rigged nomination process. While the US voting public ate up the insider gossip and emails that the hack revealed, the bigger question went […]
On the morning of TED2017’s first day, our TED Fellows continue to blow minds in session 2 of the TED Fellows Talks — including a science demo featuring carnivorous plants, some gorgeous cultural mashups, and an introduction to the fish who won evolution. Do plants have brains? Well, no, but they’re certainly not dumb. And, […]
This morning, we kick off TED2017 in the new Community Theater with a program of fresh ideas, music and dance from the TED2017 Fellows and Senior Fellows. These Fellows are change-makers from many fields — design, tech, education, business, science and many more — offering a peek at the future us. Stanford Thompson opens the TED Fellows sessions, performing the Shaker […]
TED Fellow Lauren Sallan is a paleobiologist who analyzes “big data” — the fossil record — to study large-scale evolution. As she says: “I want to know why some fishes win and others lose.” Here’s the story of her talk, in amazing work from illustrator and animator Dennis Moore.
TED2017 begins on Monday in Vancouver, Canada, and will explore the theme “The Future You.” If the future you is anything like the future us, you are likely curled up in a big cushy chair right now, devouring the contents of a book that flips your thinking. Below, some reading suggestions from the speaker program. Read, enjoy and […]