Written by: Vickie Sullivan | March 25, 2014
TED’s Top Ten
Whew! Another rockin’ week at TEDActive. As promised, here’s my list of TED’s top ten:
- Astronaut Chris Hadfield, kicked off a great start with insights on actual danger vs perceived fear.
- For strategy lovers, check out documentary filmaker Yoruba Richen’s assessment of strategies used by both the civil rights and LGBT movements. Love the labels and timelines. Striking similarities not seen until she uncovers them.
- Biggest surprise was Ed Snowden via robot. What really matters is the issues. Very articular, smart, and yes, just a little cocky. The NSA’s response was more of the party line — nothing really new.
- MIT professor and double amputee Hugh Herr is a fabulous example of science to the greatest good. Best quote: “human beings are never broken; technology is.” This is a great explanation of extreme bionics. The last 30 seconds of his presentation brought me to tears.
- Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love, talks about her rise to fame. The key: to gather ourselves from “the hurricanes of outcome,” find your “home” and get to work.
- In the music category, Sting was the no-surprise hit. Sleeper hit was Jason Webley, a talented musician with humor and heart. Great story about why he quit singing about 3 years ago.
- Karn Elazari: redefines the goal of hackers as the immune system for the information age. Sleeper hit.
- Sarah Lewis talks about the gift of a near win. Great discussion on what doggedness looks like. Best quote: “Success is hitting the target; mastery is knowing you can hit it time and time again.”
- Shaka Senghor — former honor student turned drug dealer turned murderer turned success story. Very real and raw presentation. Made me realize that we are all redeemable and that prison warehousing doesn’t create model citizens when they get out.
- Another MIT guy, Joi Ito brings good news to us small-scale folks everywhere: cost of innovation is so low that it is no longer for big companies. The keys are learning over education, and compass over maps.
- Bonus session from the all-star section: NYT columnist David Brooks. His session was filled with insights and a great reminder of what is important. (And why our culture doesn’t prepare us for depth of character.)
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