TED - Ideas Worth Spreading

Recently I came across a Website that really changed the way I look at my profession. For that matter, it really transformed my perception about the nature of different professions and how they are in fact related to one another, no matter how diverse. But before I go into the details of the website, a little background about what the web-site is promoting.

TED or technology Entertainment Design started as a conference, held in Long Beach, California way back in 1984, which brought together people from the fields of, well you guessed it, technology entertainment and design. At the face of it this combination seems odd. But this odd mix of people sharing their own stories about their work and their experiences snowballed and today the conference, which is an annual affair is sold out a year in advance, has speakers from many other backgrounds and has inspired millions.

The premise for the conference is simple. Innovators, leaders, experts from each field share their ideas. These 'stories' are aimed at not any specific audience or a privileged few, but at all of us, you, me, and everybody. At the core of TED is the belief that an idea can come anywhere at any time and from anyone. Also that idea can spread at the speed of light and has the potential to move mountains. The TED conference is a medium for those who wish to share their ideas with the world in an effort to improve society as a whole.

The TED philosophy -

• An idea can be created out of nothing except an inspired imagination.
• An idea weighs nothing.
• It can be transferred across the world at the speed of light for virtually zero cost.
• And yet an idea, when received by a prepared mind, can have extraordinary impact.
• It can reshape that mind's view of the world.
• It can dramatically alter the behavior of the mind's owner.
• It can cause the mind to pass on the idea to others.

Many of the ideas are in the form of stories or anecdotes. Speakers come from different walks of life. To give you an idea of the range of topics, here is a list of recent speakers at the TED conferences held in the last few years:

• Eve Ensler -Creator of the Vagina Monologues
• Peter Diamandis - Runs the X-Prize foundation
• Abhay Deol - Bollywood Actor/Producer
• Bill Clinton - Former US President
• Jane Goodall - Renowned anthropologist
• Nandan Nilekani - Founding member, Infosys
• Al Gore - Former US Vice President, Nobel Laurette
  
• Bono - Singer, Activist
• JJ Abrams - Hollywood Producer/Director
  

It is quite apparent that the spectrum of speakers at the TED conferences is pretty colossal. But these are just a few of the speakers that have contributed in the last two and a half decades of TED.And each speaker brings to the floor his or her unique story.

The beauty of TED lies in its simple format. Over a course of 4 days, 50 Speakers get a fixed time slot of 18 minutes each to share their stories. The stories range from the hilarious to the inspirational. But each story is enriching in its own way.

TED is now a global phenomenon, not restricted to the conferences at Long Beach, California. In fact, the latest TED conference is being held right here in India at the Mysore Campus of Infosys and is playing host to many national and international personalities.

This brings me to the website that I mentioned earlier. In an effort to ensure that the stories/ideas of the many speakers don't get lost in the annals of time, TED launched TED.com, a 'clearinghouse' of knowledge, where ordinary people like you and I can view the inspirational videos of the speakers from past TED conferences.

I am sure that most of you watch some of the many many inane (albeit funny) viral videos that are ubiquitous on the net. Every other day someone is posting a link to some funny or ''Awesome' video file on YouTube or the likes. While these videos are a great stress-buster, they're more likely to be forgotten or have little value-addition to our lives or to the society as a whole.

On the other hand watching a video of any of the speakers from past TED conferences on TED.com is an enriching experience. Not only does it introduce us to new stories of people from across the globe and across industries, but also provides a new perspective on many global and local issues. Do yourself a favor, watch at least one TED video in a day (it takes not more than 20 minutes). I guarantee, within a week, you will start looking at the world in a new light.

You can go to the TED website and start viewing these videos instantly. Or you could fill out a simple registration form and become part of the TED community. Advantages of being part of the Community include being able to interact with other TED community members, mark you favorite TED videos and themes, share your idea with others and much more.

To get a taste of what TED is all about, view the video below:



But why? Why go into all this trouble of getting people from disparate backgrounds to come and speak about random topics and experiences?
Well each experience, each story, each idea is random in isolation. But when you rise above the boundaries of individual backgrounds, these ideas are connected. Every idea is the result of someone's imagination. That someone may be limited in his or her thought process and may not see the impact or the reach of his/her idea. But when you throw your idea out their in the open, it starts taking a life of its own, it starts breathing, it grows and it germinates many more ideas. No matter how different our professional and personal backgrounds may be, we are still connected as a human race and hence so are our problems and as a consequence the solutions to those problems. The TED conference, in my view, is a wonderful testament to that notion and thus is great legacy that we can leave for future generations to carry on.

For further information on TED visit the following links
http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/5
http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/42

Gone With The Wind - A Blog Action Day Climate Change Special

People, today's post is a special one. Why? Well it's special because it is being written in support of a global event, Blog Action Day. Today across 140 countries, over 7600 blogs will be publishing posts on a specific topic to help spread awareness among the general public.

And what is that topic you ask? It's one that I support very passionately (and is the REAL reason why I decided to join the event!), Climate Change. So what is this Climate Change? Why the fuss over this on a global scale? Well for those of you who have been living in a cave for the past few years, here's the lowdown.

Humans have been burning fossil fuels for a little over a century now, the rate of which has accelerated in the last few decades. Additionally we have over indulged in other industrial activities such as chemical production, cement manufacturing and deforestation, all of which have resulted in the generation or build-up of certain harmful gases. Apart from the immediate effects of pollution and depletion of natural resources, these activities have resulted in a Green House effect, wherein the atmospheric layer essentially acts as a glass dome (much akin to that of conventional green-houses) trapping the heat generated by the gases like Carbon Dioxide. This trapped heat in turn results in the gradual increase in the temperature of the planet. Now all of us like a little summer heat, but the temperature rises we are talking about are on a global scale. Which means that the average equilibrium temperatures are raised across the globe, even in the frozen north and south poles!

What happens when you heat ice? Simple it turns into water. So what's the big deal, you ask? Excess water is a good thing. After all we keep hearing about the acute water shortage across the planet. Maybe this will solve that issue. Well its like this, imagine you pack a jar with ice cubes and then heat the jar. Good Science will tell you that the ice-cubes will melt, but common-sense will alert you that the jar is too small to contain the melted water and the excess liquid will spill. Replace the jar with planet earth and the ice-cubes with the ice-bergs found in near the poles. Same results, only here the water doesn't spill over, it submerges everything around it. Yes you heard that right, submerges the surrounding land masses.

Movie buffs will recollect story elements from the Roland Emmerich blockbuster, The Day After Tomorrow. The central plot of the movie involved the effects, strike that, the cataclysmic effects of climate change across the planet,albeit with some dramatic license. What you saw in the movie was pretty much what climate change is all about, unseasonal tornadoes, massive hailstorms, flooding, tsunamis, basically the bad parts of the Bible!

If the movie analogy seems far-fetched, look around you. Don't you feel unseasonal weather patterns are ever-increasing. I am sure no one has forgotten the torrential rains on July 26th, 2005 in Bombay. And only two years ago, the metropolis witnessed it's coldest winter (not too cold for my North Indian friends, but still pretty close!). Even in the current year, the monsoon calendar, which usually lasts between June and September, was stretched all the way till October.

This change is happening everywhere, all across the planet. Disastrous Tsunamis, extreme heat waves, delayed monsoons, severe snow storms, the list is endless. And it's not going to stop. In fact the situation will keep worsening until a point is reached where all hope will be lost and humanity will eventually be annihilated! Well okay, maybe I'm getting a little dramatic. But the situation IS pretty grim.

There are enough web-sites, blogs, documentaries, books and a tons of other material dedicated to educating us about the ills of polluting the environment and the steps that we can take to ensure a cleaner and greener future. For those who wish to further their knowledge on the Global Warming and Climate Change phenomenon, consider viewing the following:

• An Inconvenient Truth - a documentary by Al Gore
  
• The 11th Hour - a documentary by Leonardo DiCaprio

You could also visit the following websites;

Effects of Global Warming
United Nations Environmental Programme - Climate Change
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

As you go through the facts in these resources, the enormity of the issue will begin to come into focus as shall the solution. Time is of the essence and the time is now to act!

Before I conclude this post what I'd like you to ponder about is that while you and I may not live to see the earth for more than 50-60 years (75-80 if we are really lucky!), it doesn't mean that the planet will cease to exist after we pass away. Earth will survive, it will continue spinning about its imaginary axis and go on revolving around a bright star in some obscure part of the universe. What will change, is the condition in which it will live on, the manner in which it will survive.

So the question is this - Will we leave a legacy that speaks of our negligent and apathetic behavior towards our planet? Or will we take actions that proclaim our sensitivity towards the plight of our home-world at a very crucial juncture in it's history?