The Rational Optimist Matt Ridley says prosperity is “the saving of time while satisfying your needs.” The discussion of individual IQ is irrelevant. The collective brain is what matters to social prosperity.

Steven Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From: We should value connecting ideas more than protecting them. A lot of important ideas have very long incubation periods, and I call this the “slow hunch.”

Chris Wild explains what it means to be a “retronaut.” He asks, “What was everybody in the past doing?”

Peter Molyneux wants to revolutionize storytelling. He says “films and TV are rubbish because they don’t involve the audience.” He demos “Milo,” an interactive story built for Microsoft’s new Kinect game control system.

Photos: TED / James Duncan Davidson