Sarah Slean's Blog
September 20, 2012
The Brilliance of Beck, Open-Source Everything, and your Heart…
Wow. I'm experiencing a tingling mixture of shock and glee right now. I just read a Forbes article about American musician Beck whose latest idea will undoubtedly be seen as a major moment in music for years to come. This is exactly what philosopher of science David Deutsch would call "The Beginning of Infinity" -
that moment in the Jackson Pollock movie when Marcia Gay Harden's character says, breathlessly, "He's blown the whole thing wide open"…
Yep. Beck is releasing sheet music as his album. Sheet music only, as a kind of road map. And he's inviting his fans to create albums themselves according to this road map. The result? Potentially millions of interpretations the world over, an explosion of creativity based on this one atomic piece of "code", so to speak.
Is that Marshall McLuhan I hear applauding in his grave?
"Open-source" is the new black, apparently. Numerous lectures at the most recent TEDGlobal conference played on this theme, with applications as varied as the car rental business, power generation, the creation of public art, political protest, and the invention of customized transport machines. Networks. The internet is finally revealing its staggering potential. It seems that, as a species, we are discovering that cooperating is almost always more advantageous than competing, and that many minds are far more powerful than a select few. This is big.
And it represents a massive ideological shift. A shift that, in my opinion, has deeply spiritual implications.
As Westerners deeply immersed in the prevailing capitalist 'memes', we can't help but feel in the midst of a race or contest. We want to own things and rush to stake claims. Land, resources, ideas. We - individuals, companies, nations - believe these are limited and guard them fiercely. They define us, they support us, we must protect them at all costs!
But the thing is, oil is just oil. It will one day be exhausted. Ideas, and the minds from whence they spring are creation machines - their potential is limitless.
They are, as in Beck's album, the "beginning of infinity". And when we build walls around ideas, we cut off the very thing that could infinitely improve or expand them - other minds.
Beck and many other genii are realizing that when we are competitive and possessive with knowledge, guarding ideas as though they were finite resources, we miss that larger collective boon that is possible if we share - a 'capital' so much more valuable to so many more people that it would be nothing short of a leap forward in human evolution. I'm not saying Beck's album is going to save the world, but open-sourced medical technology via 3D-printers just might. If anything can, it's a non-competitive, collaborative state of mind. What a radical way of thinking compared to the last hundred and fifty years of Western civilization!
"So what does this have to do with my heart?" you may ask…
Don't we build walls around ourselves in the same possessive way? Isn't this precisely the story of "ego"? Don't we stake claims in the world similarly - chasing something - success, fame, respect, wealth, love - all to buttress this sense of "self" or "I", to save it from dissolution which is of course, inevitable? This panicked quest drives much of the action in the world today. Yet ironically, the more fanatically an ego exerts itself, defines itself, and draws borders around itself, the more depleted and isolated it becomes. Just like imprisoned ideas, when we enclose ourselves in this way, we are cut off from something infinitely, transcendentally larger. While clinging tightly to the story of our egos, our lives may seem to be progressing but a whole world of massive potential is being missed - it's there, available, but not being accessed.
Until, perhaps, now. The forces of transparency, collaboration and openness that are growing today are the outer manifestation of an inner consciousness change, and a profound one. A collective 'heart' is opening. Cautious hands are being outstretched, eyes are peering out from around the barricades. Strangers are trying to trust each other.
As a musician and artist, I'm allowed to say these flowery things, but I say them here with total sincerity. Maybe the grave crises looming all around us are the necessary catalysts for such an opening, but I'm guessing that most people you know are sensing this dawning, irrepressible dissatisfaction with 'me-against-you' - with the very idea that we should consider each other as separate, fundamentally, at all.
Isn't this what the environmental movement is all about? The holistic movement in medicine? No part is separate from the whole? We are embedded in the world, enmeshed with each other, just as the flower is a collaboration of phenomena - air, soil, rain, etc. and not simply an isolated object like the noun we use to describe it.
This is anathema to cult of personality - to the ego-driven model of the world and how to be in it.
Which brings me back to Beck. A simple, open invitation that blurs that fiercely guarded line between artist and fan, creator and consumer. Compare the spirit of this offering to the golden age of rock stars... If such a glittering sphinx can emerge from the ashes of that broken empire we called 'the music industry', what does the future hold for democratic governments, corporations, civilization in general? To open-source all of human potential is to discover an inexhaustible supply, the oil-field that will never, ever dry up. So, it seems the saviour we've been waiting for isn't a great American president, a prophet, a technological advance, or a vaccine..... it's each other.
Hmm, that sounds like a song we should all write together.
that moment in the Jackson Pollock movie when Marcia Gay Harden's character says, breathlessly, "He's blown the whole thing wide open"…
Yep. Beck is releasing sheet music as his album. Sheet music only, as a kind of road map. And he's inviting his fans to create albums themselves according to this road map. The result? Potentially millions of interpretations the world over, an explosion of creativity based on this one atomic piece of "code", so to speak.
Is that Marshall McLuhan I hear applauding in his grave?
"Open-source" is the new black, apparently. Numerous lectures at the most recent TEDGlobal conference played on this theme, with applications as varied as the car rental business, power generation, the creation of public art, political protest, and the invention of customized transport machines. Networks. The internet is finally revealing its staggering potential. It seems that, as a species, we are discovering that cooperating is almost always more advantageous than competing, and that many minds are far more powerful than a select few. This is big.
And it represents a massive ideological shift. A shift that, in my opinion, has deeply spiritual implications.
As Westerners deeply immersed in the prevailing capitalist 'memes', we can't help but feel in the midst of a race or contest. We want to own things and rush to stake claims. Land, resources, ideas. We - individuals, companies, nations - believe these are limited and guard them fiercely. They define us, they support us, we must protect them at all costs!
But the thing is, oil is just oil. It will one day be exhausted. Ideas, and the minds from whence they spring are creation machines - their potential is limitless.
They are, as in Beck's album, the "beginning of infinity". And when we build walls around ideas, we cut off the very thing that could infinitely improve or expand them - other minds.
Beck and many other genii are realizing that when we are competitive and possessive with knowledge, guarding ideas as though they were finite resources, we miss that larger collective boon that is possible if we share - a 'capital' so much more valuable to so many more people that it would be nothing short of a leap forward in human evolution. I'm not saying Beck's album is going to save the world, but open-sourced medical technology via 3D-printers just might. If anything can, it's a non-competitive, collaborative state of mind. What a radical way of thinking compared to the last hundred and fifty years of Western civilization!
"So what does this have to do with my heart?" you may ask…
Don't we build walls around ourselves in the same possessive way? Isn't this precisely the story of "ego"? Don't we stake claims in the world similarly - chasing something - success, fame, respect, wealth, love - all to buttress this sense of "self" or "I", to save it from dissolution which is of course, inevitable? This panicked quest drives much of the action in the world today. Yet ironically, the more fanatically an ego exerts itself, defines itself, and draws borders around itself, the more depleted and isolated it becomes. Just like imprisoned ideas, when we enclose ourselves in this way, we are cut off from something infinitely, transcendentally larger. While clinging tightly to the story of our egos, our lives may seem to be progressing but a whole world of massive potential is being missed - it's there, available, but not being accessed.
Until, perhaps, now. The forces of transparency, collaboration and openness that are growing today are the outer manifestation of an inner consciousness change, and a profound one. A collective 'heart' is opening. Cautious hands are being outstretched, eyes are peering out from around the barricades. Strangers are trying to trust each other.
As a musician and artist, I'm allowed to say these flowery things, but I say them here with total sincerity. Maybe the grave crises looming all around us are the necessary catalysts for such an opening, but I'm guessing that most people you know are sensing this dawning, irrepressible dissatisfaction with 'me-against-you' - with the very idea that we should consider each other as separate, fundamentally, at all.
Isn't this what the environmental movement is all about? The holistic movement in medicine? No part is separate from the whole? We are embedded in the world, enmeshed with each other, just as the flower is a collaboration of phenomena - air, soil, rain, etc. and not simply an isolated object like the noun we use to describe it.
This is anathema to cult of personality - to the ego-driven model of the world and how to be in it.
Which brings me back to Beck. A simple, open invitation that blurs that fiercely guarded line between artist and fan, creator and consumer. Compare the spirit of this offering to the golden age of rock stars... If such a glittering sphinx can emerge from the ashes of that broken empire we called 'the music industry', what does the future hold for democratic governments, corporations, civilization in general? To open-source all of human potential is to discover an inexhaustible supply, the oil-field that will never, ever dry up. So, it seems the saviour we've been waiting for isn't a great American president, a prophet, a technological advance, or a vaccine..... it's each other.
Hmm, that sounds like a song we should all write together.
July 6, 2012
Mainstage Day 3 FAVOURITES!
Thursday's crop - I confess I missed most due to preparations for my performance at 3:00, which then got moved to 5:00 due to a power-outage (GAH! Stomach knots and hand-wringing!) but here are the highlights I remember...
Hassein Labaied:
The Wind Energy Guy! The typical three-blade wind turbine is a beautiful thing, but actually it's a very inefficient machine. Much of the energy it captures is lost in transit through the various parts on the way to storage. Hassein and his group thought they could do better. By centralizing the hydraulic action and making refinements to every aspect of the turbine - namely getting rid of blades all together - they slashed costs by 50% and dramatically improved efficiency… Take a look at the "zero-blade device", the next wave of wind technology. My favourite quote from this brainy, excitable fellow "nothing is out of reach". YEEAHHHHH!
http://www.saphonenergy.com/
Robin Chase:
You thought ZipCar was cool? Yeah, Robin invented that… she's over it ;) Her next idea, Buzzcar, is even cooler. Instead of borrowing cars owned by a sharing company, imagine renting out your own car that's sitting in your garage right now costing you money? Or sitting in a parking lot all day while you work? Robin's newest venture harnesses a massive hidden resource - IDLE CARS the world over! Making it more affordable and effortless than ever before to get around, and in the process, economically empowering ordinary people while emancipating millions from the quasi-slavery of car ownership. I love it when technology uncovers a solution where everybody wins!! I love it when, instead of trying to invent a new <i>thing</i> to solve problems, great minds turn to the resources that are *already there*. Smart smart smart.
This model is spreading to all kinds of platforms - for instance AirBnB, which I've used twice already to great effect. It's part of a massive shift - perhaps <i>the</i> defining shift of my generation - a more equitable distribution of economic power… Think about it - this is the sentiment of "Occupy" put to work in the real world. Thanks to the internet, it seems that in every sphere, hegemonic systems - empires - are falling and the power is spreading out into vast networks of smaller, localized centres. The music business, the hotel business, the car industry, energy capture and distribution, food production - it's all going local. Via internet technology, small nodes of power link to other small nodes, sharing, trading, mutually benefiting, instead of one metaphoric emperor (1%) holding all the cards, ruling over millions (99%) who have no access to power.
Kind of reminds me of a song…
"the end, end of an empire,
no more lines in the sand
and the dawn, dawn of a new world
gone imperial man"
Ok I just quoted myself - apologies...
http://www.buzzcar.com/en/
Rachel Botsman:
Rachel has distilled the theory behind this Buzzcar shift - she calls it "Collaborative Consumption" and she believes it is the new frontier. This is where the future is headed, and fast. According to Rachel, the internet's open networks will completely transform business, consumption, and the way we live our daily lives. Economic power is moving and spreading laterally. So what will be the new currency in this radically evolved landscape? Rachel says: *reputation*.
For instance: check out http://www.taskrabbit.com/
(This completely blew my mind. Same concept as Buzzcar, but for everything on your to-do list.)
How individuals and companies are viewed by the public is no longer the domain of PR reps and media spinners. It is displayed in real-time, accessible, user-generated, constantly updated, peer-review-type <i>data</i>. Your online self will sport a data-based rating of trustworthiness. Sort of like a Wiki-pedia-esque compilation of who you are - an integrity-rating drawn from the people who have used your products or services. Merit and morality are becoming more closely related to economic power. ?!? It's just the beginning of course, and unethical businesses still thrive everywhere, but imagine this seed blooming… imagine 10, 20 years down this road. Although the Goliath of reckless, destructive corporations still looms large this concept is surely the birth of a feisty little David…
I invite you to explore Rachel's site for more detail, but muse with me for a second about the philosophical implications of this shift she's describing. We're creating a way for ourselves to trust each other, to encourage closer contact. We're creating an environment where it is not only <i>safe</i> for us to help each other, it is easy and economically beneficial. We're creating a reward structure for moral behaviour. WOOOAAH. To quote Don Tapscott again - "humanity is building a machine.."
http://www.rachelbotsman.com/
What's that Chinese proverb - "may you live in exciting times"?
Hassein Labaied:
The Wind Energy Guy! The typical three-blade wind turbine is a beautiful thing, but actually it's a very inefficient machine. Much of the energy it captures is lost in transit through the various parts on the way to storage. Hassein and his group thought they could do better. By centralizing the hydraulic action and making refinements to every aspect of the turbine - namely getting rid of blades all together - they slashed costs by 50% and dramatically improved efficiency… Take a look at the "zero-blade device", the next wave of wind technology. My favourite quote from this brainy, excitable fellow "nothing is out of reach". YEEAHHHHH!
http://www.saphonenergy.com/
Robin Chase:
You thought ZipCar was cool? Yeah, Robin invented that… she's over it ;) Her next idea, Buzzcar, is even cooler. Instead of borrowing cars owned by a sharing company, imagine renting out your own car that's sitting in your garage right now costing you money? Or sitting in a parking lot all day while you work? Robin's newest venture harnesses a massive hidden resource - IDLE CARS the world over! Making it more affordable and effortless than ever before to get around, and in the process, economically empowering ordinary people while emancipating millions from the quasi-slavery of car ownership. I love it when technology uncovers a solution where everybody wins!! I love it when, instead of trying to invent a new <i>thing</i> to solve problems, great minds turn to the resources that are *already there*. Smart smart smart.
This model is spreading to all kinds of platforms - for instance AirBnB, which I've used twice already to great effect. It's part of a massive shift - perhaps <i>the</i> defining shift of my generation - a more equitable distribution of economic power… Think about it - this is the sentiment of "Occupy" put to work in the real world. Thanks to the internet, it seems that in every sphere, hegemonic systems - empires - are falling and the power is spreading out into vast networks of smaller, localized centres. The music business, the hotel business, the car industry, energy capture and distribution, food production - it's all going local. Via internet technology, small nodes of power link to other small nodes, sharing, trading, mutually benefiting, instead of one metaphoric emperor (1%) holding all the cards, ruling over millions (99%) who have no access to power.
Kind of reminds me of a song…
"the end, end of an empire,
no more lines in the sand
and the dawn, dawn of a new world
gone imperial man"
Ok I just quoted myself - apologies...
http://www.buzzcar.com/en/
Rachel Botsman:
Rachel has distilled the theory behind this Buzzcar shift - she calls it "Collaborative Consumption" and she believes it is the new frontier. This is where the future is headed, and fast. According to Rachel, the internet's open networks will completely transform business, consumption, and the way we live our daily lives. Economic power is moving and spreading laterally. So what will be the new currency in this radically evolved landscape? Rachel says: *reputation*.
For instance: check out http://www.taskrabbit.com/
(This completely blew my mind. Same concept as Buzzcar, but for everything on your to-do list.)
How individuals and companies are viewed by the public is no longer the domain of PR reps and media spinners. It is displayed in real-time, accessible, user-generated, constantly updated, peer-review-type <i>data</i>. Your online self will sport a data-based rating of trustworthiness. Sort of like a Wiki-pedia-esque compilation of who you are - an integrity-rating drawn from the people who have used your products or services. Merit and morality are becoming more closely related to economic power. ?!? It's just the beginning of course, and unethical businesses still thrive everywhere, but imagine this seed blooming… imagine 10, 20 years down this road. Although the Goliath of reckless, destructive corporations still looms large this concept is surely the birth of a feisty little David…
I invite you to explore Rachel's site for more detail, but muse with me for a second about the philosophical implications of this shift she's describing. We're creating a way for ourselves to trust each other, to encourage closer contact. We're creating an environment where it is not only <i>safe</i> for us to help each other, it is easy and economically beneficial. We're creating a reward structure for moral behaviour. WOOOAAH. To quote Don Tapscott again - "humanity is building a machine.."
http://www.rachelbotsman.com/
What's that Chinese proverb - "may you live in exciting times"?
Mainstage Day 2 FAVOURITES!
Gerard Senehi:
Listed as an "experimental mentalist", I wasn't sure if this guy was sent to entertain us or to convince us to re-examine what we believe our minds can do. I was sitting fairly close to the stage for this talk, and people - I could not believe my eyes. I think I gasped aloud a few times - he made objects float, bend, break... I turned to look at the audience at one point, and I was sitting amidst a crowd of 12 year olds at the circus... wide-eyed, open-mouthed - startled, disarmed, and gleeful. Don't we all want to believe in magic? And isn't it true that what we <i>believe</i> to be possible is a self-imposed limitation which consensus only solidifies... what if we were to expand these beliefs, would our powers expand too? Our potential?
http://experimentalist.com/
Leslie Chang:
Leslie spent almost three years with the "Factory Girls" of China - the working women who manufacture goods that all Westerners take for granted: iPhones, luxury handbags, sneakers... She wanted to sense and then communicate what it was actually like to live on that side of the supply chain. She befriended the women she studied, never pitying or objectifying them - her reporting never took on a condescending tone, that ever-present risk of any anthropological pursuit. I was affected by the humanity and respect with which she approached her journalistic task. She did not repeat the story of Western guilt ("Look how awful we are! If you own an iPhone you have blood on your hands!") she accomplished something far more significant - she brought light to the blind spots in our worldview: there are <i>people</i> at the end of that seemingly inexhaustible stream of products/gadgets - those products don't just materialize! At every stage, they involve <i>people</i> with dreams and disappointments, love and anguish, hope and desire... humanity... things infinitely more valuable than factory output.
http://www.leslietchang.com/book1.html
Elyn Saks:
In a session called "Misbehaving Beautifully", the incredibly courageous and articulate Professor Elyn Saks gave a powerful speech on her own mental illness. If you can handle a first-hand account of a psychotic episode, watch this talk. The audience was rapt - we were all imagining, with fear and profound sympathy, what it would be like to unravel in the way she was describing, to hear your mouth uttering nonsensical phrases, to feel accosted by invisible, malevolent forces, to doubt the very fabric of reality. After living a sound, well-ordered life as a working professional, how utterly terrifying to experience your own mind fracturing and malfunctioning... If this remarkable talk doesn't inspire compassion for mental illness, I don't know what will.
http://www.ted.com/talks/elyn_saks_se...
Jonathan Trent:
Jumping up and down, jumping up and down! Imagine waste water turning into biofuel for cars, buildings, airplanes. WASTE WATER! Yes, sewage. Now that's closing the loop! And get this, it releases clean water as outflow. And it's solar-powered. The trick - using green algae! Nature has ALL the answers! (more jumping up and down...)
I confess I teared up a little watching this talk. Though this technology, and others like it (WOW the new wind turbines, see the next entry!) will take a while to scale and spread, they EXIST! They are being worked on by the most brilliant minds in the world! Children of tomorrow rejoice!
At the risk of sounding a touch melodramatic (hey, it's kind of my <i>job</i>) the best thing I will take from the TED experience is this: I feel better about having children. Yep. On the subject of bringing new life to Earth, my heart is a little lighter knowing that solutions are being born, hope is alive and well, and millions of smart people out there care about the future... what a gift, mmm? (*crying again*...)
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/rese...
Listed as an "experimental mentalist", I wasn't sure if this guy was sent to entertain us or to convince us to re-examine what we believe our minds can do. I was sitting fairly close to the stage for this talk, and people - I could not believe my eyes. I think I gasped aloud a few times - he made objects float, bend, break... I turned to look at the audience at one point, and I was sitting amidst a crowd of 12 year olds at the circus... wide-eyed, open-mouthed - startled, disarmed, and gleeful. Don't we all want to believe in magic? And isn't it true that what we <i>believe</i> to be possible is a self-imposed limitation which consensus only solidifies... what if we were to expand these beliefs, would our powers expand too? Our potential?
http://experimentalist.com/
Leslie Chang:
Leslie spent almost three years with the "Factory Girls" of China - the working women who manufacture goods that all Westerners take for granted: iPhones, luxury handbags, sneakers... She wanted to sense and then communicate what it was actually like to live on that side of the supply chain. She befriended the women she studied, never pitying or objectifying them - her reporting never took on a condescending tone, that ever-present risk of any anthropological pursuit. I was affected by the humanity and respect with which she approached her journalistic task. She did not repeat the story of Western guilt ("Look how awful we are! If you own an iPhone you have blood on your hands!") she accomplished something far more significant - she brought light to the blind spots in our worldview: there are <i>people</i> at the end of that seemingly inexhaustible stream of products/gadgets - those products don't just materialize! At every stage, they involve <i>people</i> with dreams and disappointments, love and anguish, hope and desire... humanity... things infinitely more valuable than factory output.
http://www.leslietchang.com/book1.html
Elyn Saks:
In a session called "Misbehaving Beautifully", the incredibly courageous and articulate Professor Elyn Saks gave a powerful speech on her own mental illness. If you can handle a first-hand account of a psychotic episode, watch this talk. The audience was rapt - we were all imagining, with fear and profound sympathy, what it would be like to unravel in the way she was describing, to hear your mouth uttering nonsensical phrases, to feel accosted by invisible, malevolent forces, to doubt the very fabric of reality. After living a sound, well-ordered life as a working professional, how utterly terrifying to experience your own mind fracturing and malfunctioning... If this remarkable talk doesn't inspire compassion for mental illness, I don't know what will.
http://www.ted.com/talks/elyn_saks_se...
Jonathan Trent:
Jumping up and down, jumping up and down! Imagine waste water turning into biofuel for cars, buildings, airplanes. WASTE WATER! Yes, sewage. Now that's closing the loop! And get this, it releases clean water as outflow. And it's solar-powered. The trick - using green algae! Nature has ALL the answers! (more jumping up and down...)
I confess I teared up a little watching this talk. Though this technology, and others like it (WOW the new wind turbines, see the next entry!) will take a while to scale and spread, they EXIST! They are being worked on by the most brilliant minds in the world! Children of tomorrow rejoice!
At the risk of sounding a touch melodramatic (hey, it's kind of my <i>job</i>) the best thing I will take from the TED experience is this: I feel better about having children. Yep. On the subject of bringing new life to Earth, my heart is a little lighter knowing that solutions are being born, hope is alive and well, and millions of smart people out there care about the future... what a gift, mmm? (*crying again*...)
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/rese...
June 28, 2012
Mainstage Day 1 FAVOURITES!
Just when you think you've burnt out on stupefaction, it gets better and better and better.
Massimo Banzi:
Ok. This is just plain Jetsons. Full-on Star Trek. Say hello to the future!
Massimo and his team created a prototyping system called Arduino that is basically a machine-seed. Anyone can use this ingenious micro-controller to create limitless applications and machines.
Open-sourcing of this nature takes the authority and secrecy out of manufacturing - it empowers the user. Now imagine combining this amazing technology with 3d printing and tissue engineering… WOOOAH.
http://boingboing.net/2012/06/27/mass...
Jason Silva:
WOW! Slam poetry made from every great science book you've ever read. If Stephen Hawking could rap. He calls his films"shots of philosophical espresso" which is an astonishingly accurate description! Feast your eyes and ears. This is what I want my music to do to you! http://thisisjasonsilva.com/
Raghu Dixit:
Hey world! Turns out, I LOVE INDIAN FOLK ROCK! Who knew? Oh the smile on his face when he was playing! He was like a human sparkler spraying fizzly beams of pure joy! It was infectious. I was on my feet dancing (in public, yes). The whole room got drenched by a tidal wave of good vibes coming from the stage. Wow. So good.
http://raghudixit.com/
Antony Gormley:
And now for something completely different… I found Antony riveting. He stood out from every other speaker because of his deliberate, evocative, painterly use of language, the way he moved, the way he stood. Dressed in a white T-shirt
and gently rumpled white pants, standing easily 6"4 or so, wearing glasses with the thin round frames, and bending over slightly as if excited to tell us something… He spoke rather beautifully about "the darkness of the body", our interior limitless space. He asked "what is the relationship of the human project to time and space. Then he quoted John Cage. Sighhhh.
http://www.antonygormley.com/
Daphne Koller:
A brilliant computer scientist and Stanford professor who created free, open, online Stanford University courses for anyone who wants to learn. Not just lectures, but tests, assignments - responding in real time to questions, correcting and explaining your errors! All the things that make learning stick. It's called Coursera. Ummmm… I'll see you guys in four years. ;)
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/...
Massimo Banzi:
Ok. This is just plain Jetsons. Full-on Star Trek. Say hello to the future!
Massimo and his team created a prototyping system called Arduino that is basically a machine-seed. Anyone can use this ingenious micro-controller to create limitless applications and machines.
Open-sourcing of this nature takes the authority and secrecy out of manufacturing - it empowers the user. Now imagine combining this amazing technology with 3d printing and tissue engineering… WOOOAH.
http://boingboing.net/2012/06/27/mass...
Jason Silva:
WOW! Slam poetry made from every great science book you've ever read. If Stephen Hawking could rap. He calls his films"shots of philosophical espresso" which is an astonishingly accurate description! Feast your eyes and ears. This is what I want my music to do to you! http://thisisjasonsilva.com/
Raghu Dixit:
Hey world! Turns out, I LOVE INDIAN FOLK ROCK! Who knew? Oh the smile on his face when he was playing! He was like a human sparkler spraying fizzly beams of pure joy! It was infectious. I was on my feet dancing (in public, yes). The whole room got drenched by a tidal wave of good vibes coming from the stage. Wow. So good.
http://raghudixit.com/
Antony Gormley:
And now for something completely different… I found Antony riveting. He stood out from every other speaker because of his deliberate, evocative, painterly use of language, the way he moved, the way he stood. Dressed in a white T-shirt
and gently rumpled white pants, standing easily 6"4 or so, wearing glasses with the thin round frames, and bending over slightly as if excited to tell us something… He spoke rather beautifully about "the darkness of the body", our interior limitless space. He asked "what is the relationship of the human project to time and space. Then he quoted John Cage. Sighhhh.
http://www.antonygormley.com/
Daphne Koller:
A brilliant computer scientist and Stanford professor who created free, open, online Stanford University courses for anyone who wants to learn. Not just lectures, but tests, assignments - responding in real time to questions, correcting and explaining your errors! All the things that make learning stick. It's called Coursera. Ummmm… I'll see you guys in four years. ;)
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/...
June 27, 2012
TEDGlobal DAY TWO and THREE!
People! This is the greatest event EVER…
I am pinching myself every morning when I wake up. To be in this company!
To witness these world-altering innovations and insights! I have skipped to the auditorium everyday. Ok, maybe in my mind, but still. ;) Here are my picks from the first day, and a little report of the second. Today (Wednesday) began bright and early and I don't know how I could possibly choose favourites but I'll try tomorrow!
TedFellows Talks on Monday
Candy Chang:
Ohhhhh! Magical brilliant woman! This talk made me cry. Candy is an artist, a designer, and an urban planner, but most importantly, a human. The content of her art is an unflinching experience of life itself. Loving! Hurting! Striving! I think great art comes from those who love and feel DEEPLY. Life isn't transparent to them - it is front and centre in technicolour. Candy shared a story of personal loss and how it inspired the project "Before I die" which you should look at now. Yes, right now: http://candychang.com/
At the end of her talk she said - we must remember that "life is brief…. and tender."
Slean…. in her seat... melting.
Manu Prakash:
Tied for my favourite Ted Fellow talk with Candy Chang . JEE-ZUS this is amazing. Instant standing ovation! Manu has created a microscope out of paper (yes, paper. You can print it, for crying out loud) They've figured out how to embed lenses and other wacky stuff into sheets of paper. Like a page in a book of paper dolls, the user pops out the shapes along the perforations, assembles it like origami according to a dead simple colour-coded method and voila, a functional microscope. ?!?! Oh, and there is no need for instructions in any language, the colour guide is sufficient. Oh, and it costs fifty cents. Oh, did I mention it's pretty much indestructible? Waterproof? You can carry it around in your back pocket? A child could use it? You could diagnose myriad diseases with it? JEEEE-ZUS!!!!!!
http://conferences.ted.com/TEDGlobal2... (click the main picture until you see Manu)
Ed Ou:
Canadian photojournalist (woot woot!) A disarmingly casual, humble guy who is on the front lines taking iconic photos of youth revolutions in the Middle East for the New York Times and other major publications. Imagine photos that capture young people empowered by their anger, their collective hope, and the open collaborative platforms that the internet has now made possible. Fave quote: "it is really important for us to be active citizens". http://www.edouphoto.com/
Bahia Shehab:
This young woman's floored me. She stood and spoke with such solidity and strength. From the issues she was discussing it was clear that she harboured intense (and justifiable) anger - but she seems to have metabolized that anger in her artistic work, so her voice was steady, her words precise and carefully chosen, her demeanour, gentle and peaceful. Her art was as powerful as her presence - aesthetically magnetic while courageously defying old ideas, regimes and hypocrisy.
http://fellows.ted.com/profiles/bahia...
http://www.khtt.net/page/25951/en
Mainstage Sessions on Tuesday
I am in THE theatre... yes, with THE stage and that circular red carpet. WOW! This is so exciting! Emotionally I am hovering between ecstatic awe and intense anxiety (when I think about singing on that stage!)... Overwhelmed by the awesomeness I experienced yesterday in the mainstage talks...
Do you remember that book by Canadian Chris Turner "The Geography of Hope"? The "tour of the world we need?" That's exactly what today's talks were all about. Radically open-sourced everything. 3-D printing and/or DIY manufacturing of almost ANYTHING, new user-made machines for emerging problems and uses - from the mundane to the massive. Knowledge sharing on an unprecedented scale. Like Torontonian Don Tapscott said in the first fascinating talk of the day - "humanity is making a machine". Whew. In between Don's awesome talk and Macy Gray's terrific closing set (I KNOW! Crazy!) there were all kinds of bright stars - people that believe in human potential and are striving to stretch it further...
I am keeping to myself a lot, trying to process everything and not miss a morsel... (still such a shy kid at heart!) But I have met some extraordinary people already and I'm inspired to peer out of my shell some more.
Tonight is my rehearsal with the Cairn Quartet from Glasgow Scotland - the talented gals I found on, you guessed it, the internet. :) They sound excited - and I can't wait to meet them!
More soon...
xoxox love love love
SS
I am pinching myself every morning when I wake up. To be in this company!
To witness these world-altering innovations and insights! I have skipped to the auditorium everyday. Ok, maybe in my mind, but still. ;) Here are my picks from the first day, and a little report of the second. Today (Wednesday) began bright and early and I don't know how I could possibly choose favourites but I'll try tomorrow!
TedFellows Talks on Monday
Candy Chang:
Ohhhhh! Magical brilliant woman! This talk made me cry. Candy is an artist, a designer, and an urban planner, but most importantly, a human. The content of her art is an unflinching experience of life itself. Loving! Hurting! Striving! I think great art comes from those who love and feel DEEPLY. Life isn't transparent to them - it is front and centre in technicolour. Candy shared a story of personal loss and how it inspired the project "Before I die" which you should look at now. Yes, right now: http://candychang.com/
At the end of her talk she said - we must remember that "life is brief…. and tender."
Slean…. in her seat... melting.
Manu Prakash:
Tied for my favourite Ted Fellow talk with Candy Chang . JEE-ZUS this is amazing. Instant standing ovation! Manu has created a microscope out of paper (yes, paper. You can print it, for crying out loud) They've figured out how to embed lenses and other wacky stuff into sheets of paper. Like a page in a book of paper dolls, the user pops out the shapes along the perforations, assembles it like origami according to a dead simple colour-coded method and voila, a functional microscope. ?!?! Oh, and there is no need for instructions in any language, the colour guide is sufficient. Oh, and it costs fifty cents. Oh, did I mention it's pretty much indestructible? Waterproof? You can carry it around in your back pocket? A child could use it? You could diagnose myriad diseases with it? JEEEE-ZUS!!!!!!
http://conferences.ted.com/TEDGlobal2... (click the main picture until you see Manu)
Ed Ou:
Canadian photojournalist (woot woot!) A disarmingly casual, humble guy who is on the front lines taking iconic photos of youth revolutions in the Middle East for the New York Times and other major publications. Imagine photos that capture young people empowered by their anger, their collective hope, and the open collaborative platforms that the internet has now made possible. Fave quote: "it is really important for us to be active citizens". http://www.edouphoto.com/
Bahia Shehab:
This young woman's floored me. She stood and spoke with such solidity and strength. From the issues she was discussing it was clear that she harboured intense (and justifiable) anger - but she seems to have metabolized that anger in her artistic work, so her voice was steady, her words precise and carefully chosen, her demeanour, gentle and peaceful. Her art was as powerful as her presence - aesthetically magnetic while courageously defying old ideas, regimes and hypocrisy.
http://fellows.ted.com/profiles/bahia...
http://www.khtt.net/page/25951/en
Mainstage Sessions on Tuesday
I am in THE theatre... yes, with THE stage and that circular red carpet. WOW! This is so exciting! Emotionally I am hovering between ecstatic awe and intense anxiety (when I think about singing on that stage!)... Overwhelmed by the awesomeness I experienced yesterday in the mainstage talks...
Do you remember that book by Canadian Chris Turner "The Geography of Hope"? The "tour of the world we need?" That's exactly what today's talks were all about. Radically open-sourced everything. 3-D printing and/or DIY manufacturing of almost ANYTHING, new user-made machines for emerging problems and uses - from the mundane to the massive. Knowledge sharing on an unprecedented scale. Like Torontonian Don Tapscott said in the first fascinating talk of the day - "humanity is making a machine". Whew. In between Don's awesome talk and Macy Gray's terrific closing set (I KNOW! Crazy!) there were all kinds of bright stars - people that believe in human potential and are striving to stretch it further...
I am keeping to myself a lot, trying to process everything and not miss a morsel... (still such a shy kid at heart!) But I have met some extraordinary people already and I'm inspired to peer out of my shell some more.
Tonight is my rehearsal with the Cairn Quartet from Glasgow Scotland - the talented gals I found on, you guessed it, the internet. :) They sound excited - and I can't wait to meet them!
More soon...
xoxox love love love
SS
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