TED- Long Beach 2010

Written by Louise Leakey | 24 February 2010

Part of the idea of this blog is to write about everything and anything that is of interest to the team, what we are doing and where we are. I would like to share with you a journey I have just been on- to Long Beach in California, to TED. It’s a conference based on Technology Entertainment and Design. I was asked to speak at TED two years ago which is when I first heard of it.

Now the 18 minute talks from people from all over the world and from multiple disciplines are posted online for everyone to hear at www.TED.com. The long Beach performing Arts centre is taken over by 1500 people who spend five days listening to 20 or talks a day, with a few breaks in between to make connections. This year we heard from an extraordinary group of thinkers and doers, musicians and artists. The speakers I enjoyed most included Temple Grandin (by the way have you the recent film about her- it must not be missed-  You can see a preview here), Bill Gates who publicly put his weight behind climate change, Jamie Oliver who is taking on obesity and school dinners in America (He deservedly got the TED PRIZE this year and you must listen to his talk- its fantastic or here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go_QOzc79Uc.
Then there was Dan Barber, the New York chef who discussed his love affairs with two fish and why it is actually impossible to find a fish to eat today that is OK to eat, except one from an extensive, "close to the land" farm in the south of Spain. We heard an incredible performance by Jake Shimabukuro playing his Ukelele, a 2 octave 4 string instrument, also David Byrne of Talking Heads and Sheryl Crow. Elizabeth Pisaniwho spoke so excellently on the global failure to manage the realities of HIV and Kevin Bales of Free the Slaves,  who told us the shocking fact that today there are 24 million slaves and that cost of a slave has never been lower on the world market $90 dollars! Then there were some extraordinary displays and talks on where things are going on the technology front which I find hard to comprehend….3D computing, the computer screen moves to the wall, Flower, a new game for a play station 3 and why responsible gaming will play an increasing role in the lives of the next generation. Did you know that a teenager today spends an average of 10,800 hours gaming, equivalent in hours to the total of their education! Collectively humanity has spent 5.8 million years gaming to date, which is almost as long as hominids have been bipedal. Then there was the smart phone…a big marketing scoop by Google who gave each of us an unlocked Nexus 1– Android phone…so battery life permitting we could use this to plot our track on course on the charge with its GPS function. Will check the rules first!