Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh took to the stage in Session 2 to speak about cultivating a corporate culture based upon inspiration (rather than motivation) and which matches personal values. Pursuing happiness is not just a life goal; it’s a corporate mission. Check out what viewers had to say in Twitter and Facebook: I like the […]
Mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik explained how our subjective truths shape our worldviews. The differences between Eastern and Western mythologies — whether they portray life as linear or cyclical — resonate in the beliefs and behaviors of today’s business world. Check out the reactions on Facebook and Twitter: Brilliant point on “the world v/s my world” by […]
Hans Rosling kicked off the first session of TEDIndia speaking about Asia’s past and future life expectancy and per capita income. Using his trademark GapMinder bubble graph, he projects India and China will catch up to the US in 2048 … on July 27th, to be exact. The Twitter and Facebook audiences were impressed: Hans […]
The TED Blog caught up with Bjarke Ingels several weeks after he gave his TEDTalk at TEDGlobal 2009. How have the reactions been to your talk? Well, in the comments on the website, there’s been a lot of meticulous debate about whether or not you can actually see the Great Wall of China from the […]
Ask her anything >> Religious thinker Karen Armstrong has written more than 20 books on faith and the major religions, studying what Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common, and how our faiths shaped world history and drive current events. She argues that compassion is the core, fundamental idea behind the three Abrahamic religions, and […]
At TED2006, Neil Gershenfeld gave a fun and fast-paced introduction to the FabLab — a miniature fabrication plant for making pretty much anything. Gershenfeld’s pioneering FabLab at MIT cost a cool million bucks, thankyouverymuch. He’s been spreading the idea of smaller FabLabs around the world — from urban Boston to the Takoradi Technical Institute in […]
This weekend in the Maldives, president Mohamed Nasheed made a splash when he held the world’s first underwater national cabinet meeting — a stratagem that foreshadows reality for the low-lying islands if climate change continues. By 2100, the UN predicts sea levels will rise up to 58 centimeters, a level that would literally sink the […]
The TED Blog caught up with ad man Rory Sutherland the evening before we posted his TEDTalk. Drawing on the work of behavioral economists, Nobel Prize winners and others, he talked at length about his personal philosophy of Advertarianism, about President Obama and the healthcare debate, and even threw in some analysis on the future […]
On Saturday, October 17, president Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives will conduct his national cabinet meeting … 20 feet beneath the surface of the Indian Ocean. The president and his ministers will carry out the full monty under the sea with wetsuits, compressed-air tanks and even waterproof pens and paperwork to persuade world leaders of […]
Neuroscientist and artist Beau Lotto joined the TED Blog for a short Q&A after his 2009 talk from TEDGlobal. He covered some of the fascinating, perception-bending projects he wasn’t able to cover in his talk — an iPhone game that substitutes sound for sight; a new way for composers to experience their music synesthetically — […]
Only on the TED Blog: In The TED Lens, each Sunday a TED speaker offers a new look at the week’s big news stories. This week, political scientist Bruce Bueno de Mesquita explains the negotiations currently taking place between the US, the UN and Iran, as Iran’s nuclear program is being called into question. This […]
Astronomer Garik Israelian (watch his TEDTalk) explained the secrets of spectrography yesterday. And last night, he answered a few of our followup questions by email — including some questions from TED’s Facebook fans: Tell me about your latest work with lithium and its significance for planet-bearing stars. Since year 2000, our group has been working […]
Jonathan Wells of Flux is helping to curate TED’s first-ever short film contest, with winners to be shown at TEDIndia in November. He’s been involved in choosing shorts for TED’s onstage program for a couple of years. We asked him about curating short films — and how he ended up with this job: What qualities […]
Enter your short film (30 sec to 3 mins) in our first-ever contest — with winners to be shown at TEDIndia this November, to an audience of interesting people from around the world. We’re looking for all kinds of short film: brief narratives, commercials, demos, data visualization, music videos, animations … Deadline for entry: Oct. […]
Lewis Pugh, the epic cold-water swimmer and climate-change activist, has announced his next swim: a kilometer-long lap across a glacial lake at the top of Everest, in a pond of meltwater 17,000 feet up. He told me the swim will highlight climate-change issues in two massive countries bordering Everest, China and India. With their large […]
Enter your short film (30 sec to 3 mins) in our first-ever short film contest — with winners to be shown at the TEDIndia conference this November, to an audience of creative and influential people from around the world. NEW: Extended deadline for entry: Oct. 12, 2009. Get details and the brief entry form >> […]