spacer
Being at TED Aspen … Day Three
Posted by Joseph Riggio on Friday, February 29, 2008It’s been a wild trip here in Aspen. Yesterday afternoon more brilliant presentations ... although to be fair some were better than others ... and the conclusion of the day’s program were the presentations by three of the TED prize winners. If nothing else the folks who hang around TED are doing things ... exciting things, interesting things, compassionate things ... but definitely not sitting around twiddling their thumbs ...
Hey all,
One of the most intensely moving presentations IMO was given by Phil Zimbardo a social psychologist who worked at Standford for years and was the architect of the Standford Prison Experiment. He talked about “The Lucifer Effect” about “How Good People Turn Evil.” The most powerful part of this presentation for me were the raw photographs from Abu Ghraib ... truly disturbing images. Yet listening to Phil explain how people turn to evil was fascinating ... and even hopeful by the end of his presentation. He concluded with an idea I loved ... Heroic Imagination.
The intention of this entire session “Will Evil Prevail” was both terrifying and hopeful. The presenters included:
Irwin Redlener public health doctor, a specialist on disaster medicine who works with policymakers about the preparedness and lack of preparedness of dealing with potential disasters and the failure of the systems designed to deal with them.
Samantha Power the head of Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy a former and current journalist she’s been a close observer of U.S. foreign policy. She spoke to the need to have people on the ground who can and will address the need for collaboration, reconciliation and peace-making.
All in all these presentation opened the way for the afternoon presentations by the TED Prize winners:
Neil Turok a cosmologist, who has established a program to create a post graduate center in South Africa for advanced math and science, with the intention that in our lifetime we will see world-class scientists coming out of Africa where this education has not been present until just now.
Dave Eggers best-selling author of “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” and other books, who established a writing and tutoring lab in San Francisco to offering after-school programs to local students for free that has since opened six more chapters in cities across the U.S.
Karen Armstrong former nun and religious thinker and author, who is working towards large scale ecumenical understanding ... bringing together all the religions of the world into common conversation about humanity.
WOW! ... what a day of data and information flowing in from every quarter. As I said yesterday this has to be one of the major conference events on the planet ... if you think.
After all that the group divided into smaller groups that gathered at some local Aspen restaurants for some social time and dinner. A good time seemed to be had by all ... but more importantly from the reports I got back this morning people had yet another opportunity to connect with one another making the case for TED being a place that revolves around people connecting.
This morning it all began again ... the first session was all about “How do we create?” ... with presentations by John Knoll, visual effects wizard from StarWars/Lucas Film fame ... Amy Tan, novelist and author of “The Joy Luck Club” among other best selling books ... Yves Behar, designer who’s work includes the Jawbone bluetooth headset in addition to other award winning products and projects ... Robert J. Lang, origami artist and you’ve got to visit his website - this is not what you think about when you think about what origami is ... Tod Machover composer and inventor who built a technology called hyperinstruments and a software for making music even when you’re not a musician with a brilliant display that you’ll simply have to wait until it appears on TED.com to see for yourselves ...
This afternoon it continues ... a smorgasbord of ideas ... and I’ll report a bit more of what we’re experiencing in Aspen later today or tomorrow ... now I have to get back to the show ...
Joseph Riggio
Aspen, Colorado
Being at TED Aspen 2008 … Day Two
Posted by Joseph Riggio on Thursday, February 28, 2008I am at the TED Conference in Aspen and it’s Day Two ... you can join those of us who are either here in Aspen or in Monterey live virtually by visiting TED.com. I understand that they are broadcasting the conference in high quality video so you can at least see the sessions and take advantage of some of the most exciting ideas on the planet. Here’s my first review from the ground to whet your appetite for what is TED ...
Hello Folks,
I have been a TED.com fan for years ... I go there for inspiration and intelligence ... I recommend it to my students at Parsons ... and I’m sure after this experience my appreciation will have only increased. However, what I wasn’t able to get before was the electric energy of attending a TED conference live. Ultimately from this perspective, participating in the conference live what you get are that connections with people resides at the heart of TED.
One advantage of these connections are that they extend the experience of the presentations because it becomes possible to see the effect the presentations have on a live audience as they experience the presenter and the topic with you. Being here also immerses you in the social experience of the TED gathering. As fascinating as the presentations are, the people that TED draws ... their diversity, their range of accomplishments, their willingness to engage with the ideas ... are just as fascinating or more so. As I said, the atmosphere has an electricity to it ... and I’ve been told that even more true of the Monterey crowd.
So far the topics have covered:
Day ONE:
Day TWO:
Among the fascinating ideas that jumped out for me have been:
Patricia Burchat, Particle Physicist from Standford University presenting on dark matter and the expanding universe.
Peter Ward, Paleontologist who talked about the relationship between global warming ... the transition from reptilian life to mammalian life ... the impact of bacterial blooms and hydrogen sulfide ... life preserving medical technology ... the Gaia Theory - NOT! ... and my favorite, the lack of intelligent life in the Universe other than on Planet Earth (I’ve been a proponent of this idea to the bane of my intellectual standing according to some for years ...) how’s that for list of things to connect?!!?!?!!
Craig Venter, Genetics Pioneer and Paul Rothemund, DNA Origamist talking about synthetic life forms.
Susan Blackmore, Pyschologist who took Richard Dawkins work on memes and expanded them into a full fledged science, memology.
In addition there have been a couple of kick-ass musical performances including one be Kaki King, who you must hear if you have never heard here before ... she’s an incredible guitarist with a virtuoso technique!
BTW I have to say that I’ve never been to a better organized or higher quality conference in my life! These people are brilliant at putting together a world-class conference. From the logistics to the on-site coordination and help, to the extra-added “goodies” like the best conference gift bag I’ve ever seen ... beyond what I’ve even considered could be possible as a gift bag. The organizers and sponsors are totally into making TED the best conference on the planet ... while keeping it feeling totally non-commercial!
So you are probably getting that I am having a blast and learning a lot in the process ... and we’re only half way through Day Two. What I find so exciting revolves the excitement of ideas ... not so much what they are ... but much, much more about what they do ... they way the replicate and expand once they become public. It feels like being in the midst of something important ...
What personally excites me has to do with the idea of integral thinking ... or convergence ... ideas coming together, effecting one another, expanding from their own force ... ideas expanding beyond the boundaries of fixed categories and being considered as an interplay of a unified dynamic system that we call the Universe. This idea has yet to reach formal education that still insists upon categories of ideas, subject areas, domains of expertise. The entire academic/professional paradigm demands evidence ... proof ... of expertise as gained in a “primary area of interest.” In college these are called “majors.” In professional life these are the gates that hold out anyone without the right credentials ... regardless of proclivity, experience or skill. Yet here at TED ideas come together ... and are accepted without boundaries.
I’ll follow up after I’ve experienced a bit more of TED live ... doing my best to share some of what I’m getting here with you. And, I’ll likely be adding in a bit of my own commentary in one way or another over the weeks and months to come.
I’m thinking, “If they let me ... I’m coming back again next year.” I think I’ve become a TEDster.
Joseph Riggio
Aspen, Colorado
