Wendy Chung of the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative says that she is constantly asked the same question by parents: “Why does my child have autism?” It’s a question that plagues them whether their child has a severe form of autism, to the point of being non-verbal, or a mild one. “Autism isn’t a single condition. It’s […]
Philosopher and writer Jim Holt skips right past the dumb quibbling questions and right to the heart of the great existential mystery: Why something, instead of nothing? Why does the universe exist? And why are we in it? The super-ultimate why question. The greatest thinkers have obsessed over the question of existence: Wittgenstein said it’s […]
The second and third days of TED2014 have been tremendous—a mind-bending exercise in crackling new ideas and rethinking old ones. Here, a visual spin through the conference so far.
Armed with an accordion and wearing a fetching chocolate brown pork pie hat, musician Jason Webley is here. Or as he puts it, an “unknown hairy guy who plays the accordion” is here. Having navigated some technical difficulties, Webley brings the audience firmly on side with his self-deprecating humor and folksy blend of charming cod philosophy. With […]
Humans, ever-meaning-making creatures, will never cease to wonder: Why are things the way they are? Why do I think the way I do? And what does it all mean? Welcome to Session 7 of TED2014, in which speakers will ask big questions about how we — and the world — work. Here are the speakers […]
This afternoon, over a cup of coffee at the #TOMSRoastingCo Cafe at TED2014, the TED Blog listened in on a fascinating coffee-hour chat among three social entrepreneurs: Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS and the moderator of the conversation; Ben Goldhirsh, founder of GOOD, the online magazine and community; and Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos. Wait — Zappos? But as the […]
By Liz Jacobs and Helen Walters It’s often said that good design is invisible design — it makes things easy and delightful without us realizing it. But as host Chee Pearlman reminds us at the top of the session, we’re here to honor the “D” in “TED.” From the artistic to the architectural to the […]
By Liz Jacobs and Ben Lillie Taking stock of our moment in history helps us better understand ourselves, our societies and the present moment itself — which often gets lost in the temptation to look backwards or forwards. And at TED2014: The Next Chapter we’re doing plenty of both. But we’re also designating this All-Stars […]
Hugh Herr, director of the Biomechatronics Group at The MIT Media Lab, strolls onto the TED2014 stage in a pair of long, black shorts. Normally, what he’s wearing wouldn’t be of note—except that he’s chosen his ensemble today to show us something. Below the hem of his shorts, we see that he has two prosthetic legs. […]
3D printing pioneer Avi Reichental is nostalgic for a time he never quite experienced — a time of hyper-local, made-to-order, personalized craftsmanship. While the industrial revolution did a lot to advance humanity, says Reichental, it eradicated local manufacturing that people like his grandfather, a cobbler, excelled in. It atrophied society’s craftsmanship skills. But, says Reichental, there’s […]
“The universe is teeming with planets,” and Jeremy Kasdin, an astronomer at Princeton University, wants to see them. Not in the way they’ve been detected so far, but directly. He wants to build a space telescope that will image a planet around another star and tell if it harbors life. There is probably one per star […]
What does augmented reality—and football—have to do with empathy? A lot, says Chris Kluwe, former NFL punter and author of the book Beautifully Unique Sparkle Ponies. “Augmented reality is not science fiction,” he says.”Augmented reality will happen in our lifetime. And it will change our lives as much as the Internet.” Kluwe is wearing the first […]
Del Harvey is watching what you’re doing on Twitter. Head of the Trust and Safety Team at the social network, she develops ways to keep Twitter’s 240 million-plus users safe. With that many people — sending 500 million tweets every day — dangerous things are bound to happen, she says at TED2014. For Harvey, the […]
“What do you think of when I say the word design?” Margaret Gould Stewart, director of product design at Facebook, is here to talk about the kind of design that you normally don’t think about — the design of digital systems that are used by billions of people each day. As examples, Steward reminds the audience […]
Technology is always a big theme at TED (it’s the “T,” after all), and in this session we draw back the curtain to take a closer look at what’s really going on within some of the world’s most influential companies. But this isn’t just about the current headline-grabbers. Speakers will also share thoughts and demos […]
“Right now you have a movie playing inside your head,” says philosopher David Chalmers. It’s an amazing movie, with 3D, smell, taste, touch, a sense of body, pain, hunger, emotions, memories, and a constant voice-over narrative. “At the heart of this movie is you, experiencing this, directly. This movie is your stream of consciousness, experience […]