Written by: Vickie Sullivan | July 02, 2013
TED Controversy
Red alert: this TEDGlobal top ten list is not for the faint of heart. This conference was an interesting mix of hope for the future with short trips to the dark side. Only open minds will hear these hard facts (and harder truths) on this list:
- Former prime minister of Greece George Papandreou outlines hard lessons learned from the global finance crisis in his country. Best line: Our politics are constrained by our borders. Our problems are beyond our borders.
- Joseph Kim, 23-year-old who escaped North Korea. You will never complain again about what you lack after hearing his story. Stock up on Kleenex first.
- Science fiction writer Daniel Suarez for his on-target predictions on the future of drones. Good news: we can act now to stop this trip to the dark side.
- Chrystia Freeland, whose research on income equality shows the global impact of income inequality. Key finding: productivity is no longer tied to wages. Not good…
- Lesley Hazleton, Middle East reporter on religion. Best line: Remove doubt, you don’t get faith… You get the arrogance of fundamentalism.”
- Chinese investor Eric X. Li caused a huge stir with this talk on redefining dogma. Need an open mind for this one. He makes some good points.
- International economist Dambisa Moyo explains why emerging countries are not buying democracy and how China will be the top economy in 2016.
- Political philosopher Michael Sandel says we’ve moved from a market economy to a market society where everything is for sale. (And why that’s a bad thing.)
- Risk economist Didier Sornette shows how we can predict big changes (and crises) in complex systems.
- Memory expert Elizabeth Loftus will make you question what you really remember. And talks about how to keep going when being eviscerated online.
Note: not ll talks are on the TED.com site. Check back between now and the Fall for new additions.