I started juggling a long time ago , but long before that , I was a golfer , and that 's what I was , a golfer . And as a golfer and as a kid , one of the things that really sort of seeped into my pores ,
Most people do n't know that when I went to high school in this country — I applied for university at a time when I was convinced I was going to be an artist and be a sculptor . And I came from a very privileged background . I was
So , I 'm in Chile , in the Atacama desert , sitting in a hotel lobby , because that 's the only place that I can get a Wi-Fi connection , and I have this picture up on my screen , and a woman comes up behind me .
Last year , I told you the story , in seven minutes , of Project Orion , which was this very implausible technology that technically could have worked , but it had this one-year political window where it could have happened . So it did n't happen . It was
A few words about how I got started , and it has a lot to do with happiness , actually . When I was a very young child , I was extremely introverted and very much to myself . And , kind of as a way of surviving , I
How does the news shape the way we see the world ? Here 's the world based on the way it looks — based on landmass . And here 's how news shapes what Americans see . This map — ( Applause ) — this map shows the number of
What I 'd like to do is just drag us all down into the gutter , and actually all the way down into the sewer because I want to talk about diarrhea . And in particular , I want to talk about the design of diarrhea . And when evolutionary
You know , culture was born of the imagination , and the imagination — the imagination as we know it — came into being when our species descended from our progenitor , Homo erectus , and , infused with consciousness , began a journey that would carry it to every
One way to change our genes is to make new ones , as Craig Venter has so elegantly shown . Another is to change our lifestyles . And what we 're learning is how powerful and dynamic these changes can be , that you do n't have to wait very
The Value of Nothing : Out of Nothing Comes Something . That was an essay I wrote when I was 11 years old and I got a B+ . ( Laughter ) What I 'm going to talk about : nothing out of something , and how we create .
Some of you have heard the story before , but , in fact , there 's somebody in the audience who 's never heard this story — in front of an audience — before , so I 'm a little more nervous than I normally am telling this story .
One of the problems of writing , and working , and looking at the Internet is that it 's very hard to separate fashion from deep change . And so , to start helping that , I want to take us back to 1835 . In 1835 , James Gordon
The first question is this . Our country has two exploration programs . One is NASA , with a mission to explore the great beyond , to explore the heavens , which we all want to go to if we 're lucky . And you can see we have Sputnik
This is the Large Hadron Collider . It 's 27 kilometers in circumference . It 's the biggest scientific experiment ever attempted . Over 10,000 physicists and engineers from 85 countries around the world have come together over several decades to build this machine . What we do is we
I love a challenge , and saving the Earth is probably a good one . We all know the Earth is in trouble . We have now entered in the 6X , the sixth major extinction on this planet . I often wondered , if there was a United Organization
In the year 1919 , a virtually unknown German mathematician , named Theodor Kaluza suggested a very bold and , in some ways , a very bizarre idea . He proposed that our universe might actually have more than the three dimensions that we are all aware of . That
Once upon a time , there was a dread disease that afflicted children . And in fact , among all the diseases that existed in this land , it was the worst . It killed the most children . And along came a brilliant inventor , a scientist , who
Welcome . If I could have the first slide , please ? Contrary to calculations made by some engineers , bees can fly , dolphins can swim , and geckos can even climb up the smoothest surfaces . Now , what I want to do , in the short time
Cultural evolution is a dangerous child for any species to let loose on its planet . By the time you realize what 's happening , the child is a toddler , up and causing havoc , and it 's too late to put it back . We humans are Earth
How many of you have seen the Alfred Hitchcock film `` The Birds '' ? Any of you get really freaked out by that ? You might want to leave now . ( Laughter ) So , this is a vending machine for crows . And over the past few
You know , one of the things that I 'd like to say upfront is that I 'm really here by accident . And what I mean — not at TED — that I 'm — at this point in my life , truly my set of circumstances I would
Those of you who know me know how passionate I am about opening the space frontier . So when I had the chance to give the world 's expert in gravity the experience of zero gravity , it was incredible . And I want to tell you that story .
Just to put everything in context , and to kind of give you a background to where I 'm coming from , so that a lot of the things I 'm going to say , and the things I 'm going to do — or things I 'm going to
I write about food . I write about cooking . I take it quite seriously , but I 'm here to talk about something that 's become very important to me in the last year or two . It is about food , but it 's not about cooking ,
So , can we dare to be optimistic ? Well , the thesis of `` The Bottom Billion '' is that a billion people have been stuck living in economies that have been stagnant for 40 years , and hence diverging from the rest of mankind . And so ,
Well , I 'm involved in other things , besides physics . In fact , mostly now in other things . One thing is distant relationships among human languages . And the professional , historical linguists in the U.S. and in Western Europe mostly try to stay away from any
Good morning . Let 's look for a minute at the greatest icon of all , Leonardo da Vinci . We 're all familiar with his fantastic work — his drawings , his paintings , his inventions , his writings . But we do not know his face . Thousands
Hi . I 'm going to ask you to raise your arms and wave back , just the way I am — kind of a royal wave . You can mimic what you can see . You can program the hundreds of muscles in your arm . Soon , you
There is nothing bigger or older than the universe . The questions I would like to talk about are : one , where did we come from ? How did the universe come into being ? Are we alone in the universe ? Is there alien life out there ?
I grew up to study the brain because I have a brother who has been diagnosed with a brain disorder , schizophrenia . And as a sister and later , as a scientist , I wanted to understand , why is it that I can take my dreams , I
As an architect you design for the present , with an awareness of the past , for a future which is essentially unknown . The green agenda is probably the most important agenda and issue of the day . And I 'd like to share some experience over the last
I 'm going to talk about two stories today . One is how we need to use market-based pricing to affect demand and use wireless technologies to dramatically reduce our emissions in the transportation sector . And the other is that there is an incredible opportunity if we choose the
Roy Gould : Less than a year from now , the world is going to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy , which marks the 400th anniversary of Galileo 's first glimpse of the night sky through a telescope . In a few months , the world is also going
My name is Joseph , a Member of Parliament in Kenya . Picture a Maasai village , and one evening , government soldiers come , surround the village and ask each elder to bring one boy to school . That 's how I went to school — pretty much a
A great way to start , I think , with my view of simplicity is to take a look at TED . Here you are , understanding why we 're here , what 's going on with no difficulty at all . The best A.I . in the planet would
I 'm delighted to be here . I 'm honored by the invitation , and thanks . I would love to talk about stuff that I 'm interested in , but unfortunately , I suspect that what I 'm interested in wo n't interest many other people . First off
I 'm here to enlist you in helping reshape the story about how humans and other critters get things done . Here is the old story — we 've already heard a little bit about it : biology is war in which only the fiercest survive ; businesses and nations
This is your conference , and I think you have a right to know a little bit right now , in this transition period , about this guy who 's going to be looking after it for you for a bit . So , I 'm just going to grab
I draw to better understand things . Sometimes I make a lot of drawings and I still do n't understand what it is I 'm drawing . Those of you who are comfortable with digital stuff and even smug about that relationship might be amused to know that the guy
I 'm going to go right into the slides . And all I 'm going to try and prove to you with these slides is that I do just very straight stuff . And my ideas are — in my head , anyway — they 're very logical and relate
Well , this is such an honor . And it 's wonderful to be in the presence of an organization that is really making a difference in the world . And I 'm intensely grateful for the opportunity to speak to you today . And I 'm also rather surprised
By day , I 'm a venture capitalist . On weekends , I love rockets . I love photography , I love rockets . I 'm going to talk about a hobby that can scale and show you photos I 've taken over the years with kids like these ,
Dan Holzman : Please throw out the beanbag chairs . Here we go . Barry Friedman : There are all kinds of high-tech chairs here today , but this is really , I think , when it reached its peak as far as ergonomics , comfort , design , flexibility
I have given the slide show that I gave here two years ago about 2,000 times . I 'm giving a short slide show this morning that I 'm giving for the very first time , so — well it 's — I do n't want or need to raise
Fifty years ago in the old Soviet Union , a team of engineers was secretly moving a large object through a desolate countryside . With it , they were hoping to capture the minds of people everywhere by being the first to conquer outer space . The rocket was huge
I 'm a historian . Steve told us about the future of little technology ; I 'm going to show you some of the past of big technology . This was a project to build a 4,000-ton nuclear bomb-propelled spaceship and go to Saturn and Jupiter . This took place
The first idea I 'd like to suggest is that we all love music a great deal . It means a lot to us . But music is even more powerful if you do n't just listen to it , but you make it yourself . So , that 's
It was an incredible surprise to me to find out that there was actually an organization that cared about both parts of my life . Because , basically , I work as a theoretical physicist . I develop and test models of the Big Bang , using observational data .
So , what I 'd like to talk about is something that was very dear to Kahn 's heart , which is : how do we discover what is really particular about a project ? How do you discover the uniqueness of a project as unique as a person ?
( Music ) ( Applause ) Thank you . Ooh , I 'm like , `` Phew , phew , calm down . Get back into my body now . '' ( Laughter ) Usually when I play out , the first thing that happens is people scream out ,
It 's a simple idea about nature . I want to say a word for nature because we have n't talked that much about it the last couple days . I want to say a word for the soil and the bees and the plants and the animals , and
So , as researchers , something that we often do is use immense resources to achieve certain capabilities , or achieve certain goals . And this is essential to the progress of science , or exploration of what is possible . But it creates this unfortunate situation where a tiny
I 'm going to try to give you a view of the world as I see it , the problems and the opportunities that we face , and then ask the question if we should be optimistic or pessimistic . And then I 'll let you in on a secret
( Applause ) I want to talk to you a little bit about user-generated content . I 'm going to tell you three stories on the way to one argument that 's going to tell you a little bit about how we open user-generated content up for business . So
Good morning , ladies and gentlemen . My name is Art Benjamin , and I am a `` mathemagician . '' What that means is , I combine my loves of math and magic to do something I call `` mathemagics . '' But before I get started , I
You know , I 'm struck by how one of the implicit themes of TED is compassion , these very moving demonstrations we 've just seen : HIV in Africa , President Clinton last night . And I 'd like to do a little collateral thinking , if you will
In the next 18 minutes , I 'm going to take you on a journey . And it 's a journey that you and I have been on for many years now , and it began some 50 years ago , when humans first stepped off our planet . And
I am known best for human-powered flight , but that was just one thing that got me going in the sort of things that I 'm working in now . As a youngster , I was very interested in model airplanes , ornithopters , autogyros , helicopters , gliders ,
I 'd like to do pretty much what I did the first time , which is to choose a light-hearted theme . Last time , I talked about death and dying . This time , I 'm going to talk about mental illness . But it has to be technological
I study ants , and that 's because I like to think about how organizations work . And in particular , how the simple parts of organizations interact to create the behavior of the whole organization . So , ant colonies are a good example of an organization like that
I want you to imagine that you 're a student in my lab . What I want you to do is to create a biologically inspired design . And so here 's the challenge : I want you to help me create a fully 3D , dynamic , parameterized contact
So I thought , `` I will talk about death . '' Seemed to be the passion today . Actually , it 's not about death . It 's inevitable , terrible , but really what I want to talk about is , I 'm just fascinated by the legacy
Welcome to `` Five Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do . '' I do n't have children . I borrow my friends ' children , so — ( Laughter ) take all this advice with a grain of salt . I 'm Gever Tulley . I 'm a
We 're going to go on a dive to the deep sea , and anyone that 's had that lovely opportunity knows that for about two and half hours on the way down , it 's a perfectly positively pitch-black world . And we used to see the most mysterious
I live and work from Tokyo , Japan . And I specialize in human behavioral research , and applying what we learn to think about the future in different ways , and to design for that future . And you know , to be honest , I 've been doing
You know , there 's a small country nestled in the Himalayan Mountains , far from these beautiful mountains , where the people of the Kingdom of Bhutan have decided to do something different , which is to measure their gross national happiness rather than their gross national product .
So , I guess it is a result of globalization that you can find Coca-Cola tins on top of Everest and a Buddhist monk in Monterey . ( Laughter ) And so I just came , two days ago , from the Himalayas to your kind invitation . So I
Thank you for putting up these pictures of my colleagues over here . ( Laughter ) We 'll be talking about them . Now , I 'm going try an experiment . I do n't do experiments , normally . I 'm a theorist . But I 'm going see
The advances that have taken place in astronomy , cosmology and biology , in the last 10 years , are really extraordinary — to the point where we know more about our universe and how it works than many of you might imagine . But there was something else that
Well , as Chris pointed out , I study the human brain , the functions and structure of the human brain . And I just want you to think for a minute about what this entails . Here is this mass of jelly , three-pound mass of jelly you can
Frank Gehry : I listened to this scientist this morning . Dr. Mullis was talking about his experiments , and I realized that I almost became a scientist . When I was 14 my parents bought me a chemistry set and I decided to make water . ( Laughter )
On simplicity . What a great way to start . First of all , I 've been watching this trend where we have these books like such and such `` For Dummies . '' Do you know these books , these such and such `` For Dummies ? '' My
It 's a great honor to be here with you . The good news is I 'm very aware of my responsibilities to get you out of here because I 'm the only thing standing between you and the bar . ( Laughter ) And the good news is I
So , where are the robots ? We 've been told for 40 years already that they 're coming soon . Very soon they 'll be doing everything for us . They 'll be cooking , cleaning , buying things , shopping , building . But they are n't here
We are going to talk today about the sequel of `` Inconvenient Truth . '' It 's time again to talk about `` Inconvenient Truth , '' a truth that everyone is concerned about , but nobody is willing to talk about . Somebody has to take the lead ,
Thank you so much . It 's really scary to be here among the smartest of the smart . I 'm here to tell you a few tales of passion . There 's a Jewish saying that I love . What is truer than truth ? Answer : The story
What I am always thinking about is what this session is about , which is called simplicity . And almost , I would almost call it being simple-minded , but in the best sense of the word . I 'm trying to figure out two very simple things : how
You 've all seen lots of articles on climate change , and here 's yet another New York Times article , just like every other darn one you 've seen . It says all the same stuff as all the other ones you 've seen . It even has the
What is bioenergy ? Bioenergy is not ethanol . Bioenergy is n't global warming . Bioenergy is something which seems counterintuitive . Bioenergy is oil . It 's gas . It 's coal . And part of building that bridge to the future , to the point where we can
I want to start my story in Germany , in 1877 , with a mathematician named Georg Cantor . And Cantor decided he was going to take a line and erase the middle third of the line , and then take those two resulting lines and bring them back into
Chris Anderson : Welcome to TED . Richard Branson : Thank you very much . The first TED has been great . CA : Have you met anyone interesting ? RB : Well , the nice thing about TED is everybody 's interesting . I was very glad to see
The old story about climate protection is that it 's costly , or it would have been done already . So government needs to make us do something painful to fix it . The new story about climate protection is that it 's not costly , but profitable . This
I wan na start today — here 's my thing . Hold on . There I go . Hey . I wan na start today — talk about the structure of a polypeptide . ( Laughter ) I get a lot of people asking me , in terms of ``
You will understand nothing with my type of English . It 's good for you because you can have a break after all these fantastic people . I must tell you I am like that , not very comfortable , because usually , in life , I think my job
Chris Anderson : William , hi . Good to see you . William Kamkwamba : Thanks . CA : So , we 've got a picture , I think ? Where is this ? WK : This is my home . This is where I live . CA : Where
I 'm going to talk to you today about hopefully converting fear into hope . When we go to the physician today — when we go to the doctor 's office and we walk in , there are words that we just do n't want to hear . There are
Three years ago , I got a phone call , based on an earlier film I had made , with an offer to embed the New Hampshire National Guard . My idea — and literally , I woke up in the middle of the night , and we 've all
Like many of you here , I am trying to contribute towards a renaissance in Africa . The question of transformation in Africa really is a question of leadership . Africa can only be transformed by enlightened leaders . And it is my contention that the manner in which we
So I want to talk to you today about AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa . And this is a pretty well-educated audience , so I imagine you all know something about AIDS . You probably know that roughly 25 million people in Africa are infected with the virus , that AIDS
What I want to talk to you about today is virtual worlds , digital globes , the 3-D Web , the Metaverse . What does this all mean for us ? What it means is the Web is going to become an exciting place again . It 's going to
I 've always wanted to be a cyborg . One of my favorite shows as a kid was `` The Six Million Dollar Man , '' and this is a little bit closer to the 240-dollar man or so , but — ( Laughter ) At any rate , I
Now , have any of y'all ever looked up this word ? You know , in a dictionary ? ( Laughter ) Yeah , that 's what I thought . How about this word ? Here , I 'll show it to you . Lexicography : the practice of compiling
Welcome to Africa ! Or rather , I should say , welcome home . Because this is where it all really began , is n't it ? Looking at fossils dating back several millions of years — it all points to evidence that life for the human species as we
First place I 'd like to take you is what many believe will be the world 's deepest natural abyss . And I say believe because this process is still ongoing . Right now there are major expeditions being planned for next year that I 'll talk a little bit
Well , first of all , let me thank Emeka — as a matter of fact , TED Global — for putting this conference together . This conference is going to rank as the most important in the beginning of the 21st century . Think African governments will put together
Kurt Andersen : Like many architects , David is a hog for the limelight but is sufficiently reticent — or at least pretends to be — that he asked me to question him rather than speaking . In fact what we 're going to talk about , I think ,
Thank you . And I feel like this whole evening has been very amazing to me . I feel it 's sort of like the Vimalakirti Sutra , an ancient work from ancient India in which the Buddha appears at the beginning and a whole bunch of people come to
I just heard the best joke about Bond Emeruwa . I was having lunch with him just a few minutes ago , and a Nigerian journalist comes — and this will only make sense if you 've ever watched a James Bond movie — and a Nigerian journalist comes up
I have 18 minutes to tell you what happened over the past six million years . All right . We all have come from a long way , here in Africa , and converged in this region of Africa , which is a place where 90 percent of our evolutionary
Thank you very much , Chris . Everybody who came up here said they were scared . I do n't know if I 'm scared , but this is my first time of addressing an audience like this . And I do n't have any smart technology for you to
I really am honored to be here , and as Chris said , it 's been over 20 years since I started working in Africa . My first introduction was at the Abidjan airport on a sweaty , Ivory Coast morning . I had just left Wall Street , cut