Last year I created a list of interesting videos from the TED conference. It was such a hit that HuffPo decided to copy me this year! And while they point out many great talks, of course, I have my own take. So as a way to avoid most of the items on my end-of-the-year to-do list, and of course gain some inspiration for the coming year, I’ve once again spent a few hours over the holidays combing through the TED videos that were posted this year, and picked out a few that I found particularly noteworthy. (You’ll note that only a few overlap with the HuffPo list.)
These first two were so inspiring that I’ve decided to act on both – my first personal 30 day challenge is to smile more (yes, I’ve established specific numerical goals on a per-day basis). So if you see me smiling a lot this month, don’t be weirded out, just smile back 🙂
- Try something new for 30 days – Matt Cutts
- The hidden power of smiling – Ron Gutman
Before I jump into the techie stuff, here are a few nice talks from the world of art and design:
- How I became 100 artists – Shea Hembrey – This guy has an unbelievable range of talents
- Haunting photos of polar ice – Camille Seaman – The video of the turning iceberg at the end is awesome
- Building a museum of museums on the web – Amit Sood – Ever wanted to visit the Met and see the paintings close up? Do it from your computer…
- Building the Seed Cathedral – Thomas Heatherwick – All that “futuristic” architecture from 20th century sci-fi movies? This guy is doing it for real
Here are a couple that fall into the “self-help” category:
- On being wrong – Kathryn Schulz – A great reminder to move out of our ever-present bubble of right-eous-ness
- Doodlers, unite! – Sunni Brown – Exercise that right brain!
Now on to grander things – some “change the world” ideas, literally!
- How state budgets are breaking US schools – Bill Gates – Title says it all…
- Big history – David Christian – The history of the universe in 10 minutes, and why it matters
- World Peace Game – John Hunter – My wife and I were discussing just such an idea in the car over the holidays – it really makes sense. A friend pointed me to a related “game”: http://mediatedcultures.net/worldsim.htm
- Charter cities – Paul Romer – From 2009, and the followup this year…
- The world’s first charter city? Paul Romer
And last, but by no means least, some advances in technology that should leave you gaping:
- Printing a human kidney – Anthony Atala – The ink? Human cells…
- Silk, the ancient material of the future – Fiorenzo Omenetto – Personally fascinating, because of the research I did for our silk bedding business, this is not the silk you’re thinking of
- A light switch for neurons – Ed Boyden – A way to selectively stimulate neurons based on their type, mind-blowing, but hopefully not literally!
- Human Exoskeletons Demo – Eythor Bender – “We can rebuild him, make him better, stronger faster…”
- Google’s driverless car – Sebastian Thrun – I’m so excited that this will happen in my lifetime
- Wireless data from every light bulb – Harald Haas – Wi-fi?? Who needs it, I’ve got my Li-fi goin’ on!
- Six ways to save the internet – Roger McNamee
I could spend a lot of time “getting inspired”, but the new year has begun, and it’s time to act! One of my resolutions is to publish more to this blog, so you should hear from me again soon.
For a complete list of 2011 TED videos, visit here.
