TED2006: New Lens

Ninth session of TED2006 (background): running notes.

Ten years ago Clifford Stoll (astronomer, hacker, and more) published a book, "Silicon snake oil" in which he heretically questioned the benefits of computers ("get computers out of schools!"). But that's not the topic of his speech. Frenetically jumping about the stage, going erratically on and off many topics (which, in order not to forget them, he has written on his left hand; cheat-sheet lines like "one side", "all truth", "kids"), he gets many times close to making a point just before drifting off again. He doesn't use powerpoint but actual pictures on an overhead projector, measures the speed of sound through an oscilloscope, says that he believes in "thinking locally and acting locally", shows Klein bottles. And gives a piece of advice: "If you really want to know what society is going to be like in 20 years, don't ask a technologists like me: ask kindergarten teachers. They are the ones that know what society is gonna be like in one generation".

Designer Rob Forbes, founder of Design Within Reach, is on a mission to promote quality design in public spaces: "the first job of design is to serve a social purpose". During his speech he shows hundreds of pictures he has taken while travelling to cities from Amsterdam to Buenos Aires, picking up urban patterns - both intentional and casual. He shows a picture of a "typical street corner in San Francisco" desorderly full of neewspaper boxes and other such items and calls it an example of "urban spam: when private industry makes a mess of public areas". Shows Chicago sidewalks with flower boxes and Frank Gehry's Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park to stress the importance of urban environments as cultural settings (he actually singles out Chicago and its mayor Daley for leading the renewal of urban design.

For a quarter century Phil Borges, a dentist by training, has been travelling the world documenting endangered indigenous cultures. Here is a picture he took in Tibet:

Borges' life project is to promote and preserve cultural diversity. His photographic work has the force of beauty and the infinite depth of the human spirit. "Of the 6000 languages spoken in the world today, 3000 are not spoken by the children, which means that we are halving our linguistic diversity", he says starting his speech. "Every week an elderly goes to the grave taking along the last spoken words of that culture", he adds. He shows examples (Tibet, the Kalash in Pakistan, etc) and explains how this led to the creation of Bridges to Understanding, a project electronically linking children from around the world through digital storytelling. He ends showing a moving film made by a student in Guatemala, "Mis Sentimientos" (QuickTime), about a village destroyed by a mudflood.

Musician Vishal Vaid offers a hypnotic voice performance; he's been reinventing the traditional 13th-century Indian artform of "ghazal" with infusions of world music and electronica.

Self-help guru, motivational speaker and besteller author ("Awaken the Giant Within" etc) Tony Robbins is next. A proponent of neurolinguistic programming, he's known for his seminars during which participants walk barefoot over hot coals - a way of demonstrating that only fear holds back people from achieving their goals, including skilled people (one doesn't need many skills to fire-walk, but needs mental strenght to overcome the fear, or the "inner doubts" as Tony would say, and act). He is an imposing and energetic presence on stage. "The invisible force of internal drive, if activated, is the most powerful force in the world", he says. He offers two "master lessons in life": the science of achievement (how you take your dream and make it happen), and the art of fulfillment (that's about appreciation and contribution). Why is it that some people who are been given everything spend their life in despair? And why people who have a much tougher life (picture of Nelson Mandela goes up behind him) are among the strongest contributors to society? Because "decision is the ultimate power. When people fail to achieve something, the reasons they give are always related to their perception of lack of resources" (time, money, technology, etc - "I didn't have the Supreme Court", says Al Gore from the room, getting an collective laughter and an applause). "But that may not be the defining factor", says Robbins: "the defining factor is never resources, it is resourcefulness" (creativity, determination, love and caring, curiosity, passion, resolve, etc). "Decision is the force that shapes destiny. What is your target, what are you after? That's different from your desires: it's about your beliefs and your needs". He identifies six human needs: certainty; uncertainty/variety; significance; connection and love; growth; and "contribute beyond ourselves" ("it's not about me, it's about we" he says, sounding like a non-religious version of Rick Warren, who spoke yesterday).
"There are 6000 words in the English language for human emotions, yet most people experience only a dozen or so, many of which negative", he says in conclusion. "The quality of our lives is the quality of our emotions". 

(tags TED2006 - TED 2006) (TED site  - flickr photos)