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Ideas worth spreading March 6, 2008

Posted by viscowitz in culture, design, inspiration.
2 comments

Technology Entertainment Design

from TED.com:

[TED] started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

I recently discovered TED.com and immediately became fascinated with the “talks” that occur during the annual conference. A few of them have reinvigorated my faith in society. Yes, some of them are that mind blowing.

Speakers include Biologists, Architects, Founders, Designers, Physicists, and even Teenagers (one is a 14 yr old concert pianist with an extraordinary ability for improvisation, another is a 19 yr old sophomore at Princeton who theorizes that cancer is the body’s own repair system gone awry).

Recognizable names of past speakers include Bill Clinton, Bono, Richard Branson, Burt Retan, Al Gore, Ross Lovegrove, and JJ Abrams.

I highly recommend that you check them out. I am not embedding any of the videos into this post because if you’re willing to spend 20 minutes to watch one of the talks, then maybe you’ll find another one you’re interested in.

Here are a few of the ones that I have found most fascinating:

  1. William McDonough: The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle
  2. Hans Rosling: Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you’ve ever seen
  3. Susan Savage-Rumbaugh: Apes that write, start fires and play Pac-Man
  4. David Gallo: Underwater Astonishments