Head of TED Chris Anderson hosts Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
Bold ideas often meet resistance — but what if they were met with curiosity? Session 5 of TED2024 didn’t shy away from audacious ideas. Instead, it invited us all to embrace the discomfort of considering the impossible and unfamiliar, to find the courage to step into someone else’s shoes and assume goodness in those around us — because that’s what catalyzes imagination and possibility.
From the search for extraterrestrial life to the future of democracy, speakers delved into topics that challenge conventions and will spark conversation long after they stepped off the red circle.
The event: Talks from Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, hosted by TED’s Chris Anderson
When and where: Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada
Speakers: Avi Loeb, Bill Ackman, Alison Taylor, Andrew Yang, Bari Weiss, Scott Galloway
Musician Xiuhtezcatl performs at Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
Performance: Xochimilco artist Xiuhtezcatl (or X) performed the songs “Careful” and “Veils,” seamlessly blending influences from his Indigenous and Mexican heritage with a fervent dedication to environmental activism.
The talks in brief:
Astrophysicist Avi Loeb speaks at Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
Diving into theories around interstellar phenomena such as the Oumuamua asteroid, astrophysicist Avi Loeb suggests we haven’t found scientific proof of alien life simply because we haven’t dedicated the proper funding. He explores the research needed to find the higher intelligence potentially residing galaxies away, imagining a future where otherworldly knowledge helps improve life on Earth.
Business professor Alison Taylor (left) and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman speak at Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
In a wide-ranging conversation, Bill Ackman, the founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, sits down with business professor Alison Taylor to discuss the activist investor playbook and how it applies to the social and political realms. They dig into free speech, Ackman’s notoriously long posts on X, the conversation around Harvard and DEI as well as the intersection of power, voice and wealth.
Political reformer Andrew Yang speaks at Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Jason Redmond / TED
American politics has an incentives problem, says political reformer Andrew Yang. The current system caters to primary voters, which has created a disconnect between overall Congressional approval and reelection rates. How do we realign incentives to make government work for more people? Yang shows why nonpartisan primaries and ranked-choice voting could be the answer.
Journalist and editor Bari Weiss speaks at Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
In an unflinching look at issues that widen the political divide in the US, journalist and editor Bari Weiss highlights why courage is the most important virtue — and shares examples of people who have wielded it. She urges us all to say what we believe in the face of conformity and silence.
Marketing professor Scott Galloway speaks at Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
NYU marketing professor Scott Galloway dissects the data showing that, in the US, younger people are worse off financially than their parents were at the same age. He shows the knock-on effects of this theft of generational wealth, asking: If we allow this to keep happening, do we really love our kids?
The audience gives a standing ovation at Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
TED2024, held April 15-19, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada, is a week of talks, discovery sessions, excursions, dinners, performances and more celebrating “The Brave and the Brilliant.” Special thanks to our strategic partners PwC, Adobe, Schneider Electric and Northwestern Mutual.