Session 5 ushers in the astonishing, challenging and sometimes playful innovations that could mold the future. From genetic technology to NFTs, six speakers give insights on what’s to come, celebrate the fusion of tech and human creativity and make the case for rousing the techno-optimist in us all. The event: TEDMonterey: Session 5, hosted by […]
TED2018, themed “The Age of Amazement,” kicked off Tuesday with two eye-opening sessions of talks from this year’s TED Fellows — with tech and science demos, music, dance and comedy — as well as the opening of exhibits and, of course, a memorable Session 1 full of bold ideas, tough truths and jaw-dropping creative visions. […]
Let it be noted, says co-host Chris Anderson, that this year’s TED started with a roaring cheer and with a scream of anguish. Our job this week is to explore what’s amazing, in every sense of the word, from the jaw-droppingly wonderful to the shocking and urgent. So Chris and co-host Helen Walters have decided […]
As usual, the TED community has lots of news to share this week. Below, some highlights. Flip the switch. Sangeeta Bhatia is the senior author on a paper that makes the genome editing power of CRISPR responsive to ultraviolet light. As detailed in academic journal Angewandte Chemie, the researchers developed a system where gene editing […]
I want to give you the back story behind today’s TED Talk and make the case that it’s one of the most significant we’ve ever posted. And I’m not just talking about its incredible animation. I’m talking about its core idea. Two years ago the psychologist Steven Pinker and the philosopher Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, who are […]
Intriguing reads from around the Internets this week: Two journalists on why the red line on chemical warfare is necessary. [Foreign Affairs] The story of Sara Josephine Baker, a doctor who saved 90,000 inner-city children by the time she died in 1945. [NYRB] “You can’t defend the humanities by declaring it off limits to amateurs.” […]
TED Talks cover an incredible breadth of topics — from mathematical origami to self-repairing architecture to personalized medicine. Some talks explore what lies at the very essence of TED — the act of talking. The 10 talks below explore the various dynamics of speech — from phonology to cognition to the socio-cultural role of language in […]
Are people born violent, or is violence something learned? And what can be done to keep human beings from harming one another? These are questions on our minds as Congress debates gun control measures. Today’s episode of TED Radio dives into this dark end of human nature. In this episode – the fifth in season two […]
In tomorrow’s New York Times Magazine, online today, there’s a very in-depth story about Steven Pinker — My Genome, My Self: Steven Pinker Gets to the Bottom of His Own Genetic Code. Pinker, along with nine other volunteers, had his genes sequenced last year as part of the Personal Genome Project. He learned many, many […]
Steven Pinker‘s book The Blank Slate argues that all humans are born with some innate traits and abilities. Here, Pinker talks about why some people found this idea incredibly upsetting. (Recorded February 2003 in Monterey, California. Duration: 22:42.) Watch Steven Pinker’s 2003 talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment […]
Not to be outdone by the Time 100, the journals Foreign Policy and Prospect have together released a list of the Top 100 public intellectuals — with voting. Many TEDTalks favorites appear on the list, and you can help choose the eventual top 20 by voting for your very own top 5. From Foreign Policy‘s […]
Many TEDTalks speakers have answered the 2008 Edge Foundation question: What have you changed your mind about? Why? Among the more than 160 essays from leading thinkers — scientists, philosophers, artists — look for Wired’s Chris Anderson, Nick Bostrom, Stewart Brand, Richard Dawkins, Aubrey de Grey, Juan Enriquez, Helen Fisher, Neil Gershenfeld, Daniel Gilbert, Daniel […]
This week, Steven Pinker releases his latest book, The Stuff of Thought, about language as a window onto human nature. We present two TEDTalks from Steve Pinker: his 2005 talk at Oxford, in which he offers the TEDGlobal audience an exclusive preview of the book, and his most recent talk, at TED2007, where he previews […]
Quotes of the day: Cassini imaging team head Carolyn Porco: "So there are possibly liquid water, organic materials and excessive heat on Saturn and its moons. Which means that Saturn could be a place were life is possible. If we can demonstrate that Genesis has happened not once (Earth) but twice (Saturn) then we can […]
What to make of recent research positing that ‘selective breeding’ over the last two milennia has resulted in superior intelligence (and rare genetic diseases) among Ashkenazi — or Eastern European — Jews? The unpublished study has been backed up, shot down and certainly hyped. If you’re looking for insight — and you’re in New York […]
A special report from Forbes.com covers the broad topic of Communicating in some interesting ways: from the origins of language in chimps to alien contact to the latest computer interfaces (including the SUI, or Straw-like User Interface, which lets you experience the sensations of drinking). Many TED voices here (Steven Pinker, Jane Goodall, Ray Kurzweil, […]