Neil Harbisson and his eyeborg implant. World’s first cyborg recognized as such by a government. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
9:45 – 11:15
Session 4:
Globality
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Globalization Thinker
So, just how globalized is the world. Well, it is at 10-20 % only! For example, international, cross border phone calls are at 2% only. Businesses created by immigrants globally only at 3%. Foreign direct investment globally is below 10%. Export / GDP somewhere at 20%… And in all cases survey participants hugely overestimate these numbers when guessing. Like the French, who think their country is “suffering” from a 24% immigrant population, while it is in fact only 8%. That latter number changes perception. People in the US think that foreign aid in the national budget is 30%, while it is only 1%. Pankaj says: Radical Openness is a nice title for a TED conference, but truth is, incremental openness would already be an achievement. People on Facebook have only 10-15% of their friends located outside of their geographical region or country.
Pankaj Ghemawat (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Author
He talks about DIY economy… Robert points out that the informal economy is growing and it is a huge part of the world economy all together.
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Education Surveyor
Korea not so long ago was a sad country, and now every young Korean finishes high school… Wonderful! My question: but what about the record numbers of suicides among Korean intellectuals? Perhaps the large class sizes are low cost but also dehumanizing and overly competitive? What about the hikikomori population of Japan?
The PISA Test and Hungary… according to one chart, we are doing ok… but I would disagree with Andreas immediately! And a new chart comes up and we are in the red (lower left part of the chart in red)… we spend little on our education… high socioeconomic disparity, low average performance and guess what, and this is my news for you: high levels of suicide, alcoholism and depression. Extremely depressing country to live in, I should know. I call it the Mediterranean Balkan.
Still, the data Andreas showed, is very interesting and useful for comparison and for finding what works (statistically, not necessarily humanly, in my opinion). But actually PISA stats are distorted, because it depends for example on the schools where the tests are done… not always representative of the other schools in a country.
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Pianist
Classical music for a change… nice. 🙂 Too short… need more…
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First Minister of Scotland
For small nations, it is not the economic size that matters, rather it is the power of their ambition. He showed us a chart with small countries that recovered easily from the global crisis… well, Hungary is NOT one of them, unfortunately. Hungary is a nation suffering terribly… and has always been suffering…
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12:00 – 13:45
Session 5:
Shades of Openness
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Politician and Data Activist
EU citizens to mobile companies: Do not retain our data. He asked his phone provider to send him what they are storing about him. Finally, after some struggle, he got it and he put it online. Companies are constantly trying to track us. We have to fight for our independence every day. Privacy is a value of the twenty first century. Just because these companies are able to retain all this info about you, they should not do so. Ask your company: What kind of data are you storing about me?
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Public intellectual
Finally, it is not Hungary, but Bulgaria: the most pessimistic nation! They voted with blank ballots saying: We have no leaders to vote for! Thank you! Tell politicians that we are not idiots, we know when there is no choice. Ivan, who has no mobile phone, says that we now get facebook revolutions. Do you believe that well informed, decent and talented people will run for office? Chris says, he now understands why Bulgarians translated all TED talks… they were looking for hope.
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Experimental Mentalist
Some spoon bending at TED… I did that with Uri Geller years ago… I have no idea how that worked… we were standing in a regular kitchen in Oxford… he picked up a spoon, asked me to hold it, and asked me to put my finger on it… he in turn put his finger on mine and the spoon was bent immediately… I suspect he gave that set of utensils to the host in the past… but it did not change shape when I touched it alone… go figure… I still have that distorted spoon by the way…
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Digital Anthropologist
Anonymous is protecting the freedom of the internet. A visible and invisible group at the same time. Team work. Gabriella is practicing ethnographic diplomacy when she is talking about this phenomenon… She says, if the Anonymous group members were to send her a pizza, it should please be gluten free. 🙂
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Journalist
Understanding female factory workers… in China… Alienated workers? Or resourceful women in development? What matters is that these women learn, change and their families notice but they don’t really understand. These women learn English, because: Our customers in the future might not be Chinese, so languages are needed. 320 dollars bags taken home as gifts from the factories… family members at home could not understand why these items were selling for so much in the US… well, what matter to me, is that those women should earn more if the profit is so extreme…
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Sonochromatic Cyborg Artist
Our colorblind friend, Neil shows us how he is able to hear colors. When he started to dream in color, his brain started to produce sounds of colors. He is now a cyborg with his device, listening to Picasso. He now dresses in a way that sounds good. Or composing Lady Gaga salad… or Rachmaninow dishes. He creates sound portraits. Nicole Kidman’s face sounds good.
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3:15 – 5:00
Session 6:
Misbehaving Beautifully
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Neuroscientist and Policy Advisor; Guest Host at TEDGlobal 2012
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Behavioral Neuroscientist
Linking human brains in action around the world and measuring their interactive activity with fMRI machines.
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Mental Health Law Scholar
A personal story of schizophrenia. In fact I know Elyn’s story from NPR. People like her are the ones who change the world, because she is changing people’s perceptions by opening up. And that is courage.
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Comedian and Mental Health Activist
She says our pets are happier than we are. In a funny way she is out to remove the stigma from our brain being confused or overwhelmed in this century. Why is it, that you get sympathy for an illness of a specific organ, but no sympathy if your brain is sick. It is an organ you know. Full of chemicals, synaptic connections, electric signals, and it can break down just like a machine.
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Healthcare advocate
People with mental illness live a shorter life, with a lower quality of life. Mental illnesses are leading causes of disability, like depression. How to use ordinary people to deliver mental health training to poor people, with serious impact… SUNDAR: Simplify, UNpack, Deliver health care, Affordable, Reallocate resources (SUNDAR… attractive in Hindi). Democratization of medical knowledge…
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Dancer and Choreographer
We are experts in physical thinking, he says… (but obviously, his kinesthetic intelligence is above average). He is turning the TED logo into movement spontaneously and his colleagues pick it up and repeat it in their own ways. It is really fun to watch. 🙂 The TED dance is born.
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Pianist
Classical music again. 🙂
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Visual Effects Guru
Brilliantly creative make-believe for the cinema lovers… Go see Hugo in 3D…
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6:00 – 7:45
Session 7:
Long Term
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Environmental Policy Influencer
What I am taking away from this: when natural disasters hit people, many are likely to stay in dangerous areas, because they are unable to evacuate their pets… and get killed together with them… so legislation has to change to allow people to escape with their pets. Vicki basically introduces intelligent design and policy that can protect people from natural disasters.
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Scientist and Biofuel Guru
OMEGA… a safe system at sea to make bio fuel by using micro algae and: increase bio diversity. Sounds good. Even open source!
Wind Energy Innovator
He shows us a new kind of wind turbine system. Very interesting, and very effective, but also still in development.
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Cognitive Neuroscientist
Looking at the brains of teenagers. In late adolescence the pre-frontal cortex and other brain areas are optimized, and the amount of gray matter measurably decreases, so unnecessary connections are eliminated depending on the environment the person is in. So, take that into consideration when you educate young people.
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Stem Cell Advocate
She is showing us a special video: an illness unfolds in front of our eyes by using human cells. Imagine your stem cell avatars being used for drug testing. Not only is this technology going to save lots of time and money for the pharmaceuticals, but also it could help you and me get targeted and safe medications when we need them (safely pretested and personalized).
We are informed that the TED Prize is now 1 000 000 USD and you can nominate yourself if you have a dream.
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Percussive Guitarist
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Revolutionary Guitarist
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