Wednesday 22 July 2009

TEDGlobal 2009: Wednesday











Phew! Just got back from the live streaming event in East London hosted by the very nice people of
Wieden & Kennedy showing the talks of the unsung heroes of forward thinkers in this world. Well, where do we start?

Jonathan Zittrain, a specialist in internet law, spoke of his belief in the humanity shown in the self-regulation people used on the internet where collective groups have organised themselves to democratise content, citing Wikipedia, amongst other sites.

Evgeny Morozov, an internet scientist, who counters that for every democratic action the internet provides, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Examples of draconian governments learning the transition of censorship to propaganda is much more constructive in appeasing the populace.

Aza Raskin, an interface designer for Mozilla, on a lateral solution to browser usage with Ubiquity, a language based web tool which allows the user to command the browser to perform tasks simply by typing in commands in any language.

An inspiring and entertaining talk from Rory Sutherland, of adverting giant Ogilvy, on the importance of unquantifiable perceived value versus material wealth.

Cary Fowler, a biodiversity archivist, on the importance of preserving all varieties of life so that we may learn what they can teach us, regardless of how trivial they may seem at the current time.

Janine Benyus, a science writer, reminds us that humans aren't the first creators on this planet, but were predated by nature's grand designs which have recently been exploited for various applications, from the shape of a Kingfisher's dive for the ergonomics of a high speed train, to the mimicking of a shark's skin to keep medical clothing bacteria free.

Elaine Morgan, an octogenarian scientist and writer of 'The Aquatic Ape', reminds us of our obligation to explore other avenues of thought and to not accept current scientific beliefs as set in stone, with her compelling theories that humans evolved from a watery environment.

These fascinating subjects were just a glimpse into what was discussed today.

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