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Tag: TED Talks

  • Monica Lewinsky Shares ‘Devastating Consequences’ of Affair With Bill Clinton to Fight Cyberbullying in TED Talk

    Monica Lewinsky appeared in Vancouver Thursday for a TED Talk and went straight to the point.

    “At the age of 22, I fell in love with my boss. And at the age of 24, I learned the devastating consequences,” began Monica Lewinsky.

    Monica Lewinsky’s TED Talk appearance and sharing details of her famed affair with former president Bill Clinton seems to coincide suspiciously with Hillary Clinton’s ramp-up to a presidential run.

    Lewinsky once again acknowledged her role in the affair and shared how the aftermath has affected the rest of her life.

    “Now I admit I made mistakes — especially wearing that beret — but the attention and judgment that I received — not the story, but that I personally received — was unprecedented,” said Monica Lewinsky. “I was branded as a tramp, tart, slut, whore, bimbo and, of course, ‘that woman.’ I was known by many, but actually known by few. I get it. It was easy to forget ‘that woman’ was dimensional and had a soul.”

    For many years, Lewinsky remained in the background, but she has emerged of late with a new image and very outspoken against cyberbullying, which was the subject of her TED Talk.

    Because of the timing of the affair, Lewinsky was one of the first to be harassed by internet trolls, even before the term became commonplace.

    However, Monica Lewinsky said that early harassment was nothing compared to what some experience today.

    “Public humiliation as a blood sport has to stop,” said Lewinsky. “We need to return to a long-held value of compassion and empathy.”

    Monica Lewinsky offered encouragement to those who are bullied on the internet, reminding them that there is always a future, despite the pain and devastation.

    “Anyone who is suffering from shame and public humiliation needs to know one thing: you can survive it,” she said. “I know it’s hard. It may not be painless, quick or easy, but you can insist on a different ending to your story.”

  • Jill Hansen: Surfer Charged in Attempted Murder

    Hawaiian surfer-model Jill Hansen was arrested and charged with attempted murder Wednesday, May 14, after allegedly attempting to intentionally hit a 73-year-old woman with her car.

    Hansen, 30, was arrested after fleeing the scene of the altercation.

    In what police are calling a road-rage incident, Hansen apparently followed Elizabeth Conklin to her condo where witnesses say Hansen hit Conklin with her car. And once wasn’t enough for the sexy model because witnesses say Hansen then reversed to attempt to hit Conklin a second time.

    The senior citizen told ABC News she has no memory of the incident.

    “I parked in my normal parking place, and I got out and all of a sudden I woke up in an ambulance,” Conklin said.

    A witness to the incident broke Hansen’s rear window when it looked like the surfer model was about to ram into Conklin a second time.

    “He saw her in her car getting ready to hit me again. He totally saved my life,” Conklin said.

    Conklin was transported to the hospital with cuts and bruises on her body.

    Post by Jill Anjuli Hansen.

    Hansen is surfer and model with her own line of wetsuits. She made the following Facebook post the day of her arrest:

    Post by Jill Anjuli Hansen.

    Conklin told ABC News she believes that Hansen’s motive in the attack was to steal her own car.

    Hansen is being held on $1 million bail.

    Hansen appeared in a TedXFullerton TED Talks event in 2010.

    Image via YouTube

  • Here’s Larry Page’s TED Talk

    Here’s Larry Page’s TED Talk

    Google CEO and co-founder Larry Page participated in a TED talk by way of interview by Charlie Rose last week at TED2014. He discusses his vision for the company, which includes things like Internet balloons (which it already has) and aerial bikeways. He talks about the company’s acquisition of artificial intelligence company DeepMind, and why he’d consider giving his money to Elon Musk.

    “He wants to go to Mars,” Page says. “That’s a worthy goal. We have a lot of employees at Google who’ve become pretty wealthy. You’re working because you want to change the world and make it better; if the company you work for is worthy of your time, why not your money as well? We just don’t think about that. I’d like for us to help out more than we are.”

    The video page has the transcript if you’d rather consume it that way.

    Image via YouTube

  • Here’s A TEDx Talk On 3D Bioprinting

    You could say that 2013 was the year of bioprinting. Researchers and private companies alike made huge strides in printing live human tissue, from ears to livers. From 2014 onward, we’re going to see some amazing advancements made in the field of bioprinting.

    Ben Harrison, a proponent of 3D printers, recently gave a TEDx talk in which he proclaims 3D printers as the one emergent technology that may one day “counter the degenerative effects of aging and disease on the human body.” In other words, 3D printers are the perfect complement to organ donations.

    Harrison explains that those waiting on organ donations far exceed the number of organs being donated ever year. With 3D printing, doctors may one day be able to recreate an organ based on the patient’s own cells. He says we’ll one day find that doctors can simply do a simple CT scan of your failing organs, print a healthy recreation and replace the failing organ with the new one.

    Now, none of this is exactly new to those who’ve been following bioprinting, but the concept has always been a little hard to explain. Harrison’s talk is for those who find it hard to get past all the scientific jargon and just want a layman’s explanation of what bioprinting can do for them.

    Image via TEDx Talks/YouTube

  • Sam Berns: Inspirational Teen Battling Progeria Dies

    The Progeria Research Program tells us that Sam Berns, the well-loved boy who helped the world become more aware of Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome, has died this Friday at the age of 17.

    Sam Berns became an inspiration for many due to his positive perspective about his condition and life in general. In various interviews, his theme was often one of encouragement to enjoy each moment, stay happy and definitely do not participate in any pity parties. He lived what he preached– Sam played the snare drum in his high school’s marching band, went to school dances and mainly concentrated on being happy despite the obvious obstacles.

    Progeria is pinpointed by a child’s rapid aging symptoms such as loss of hair and body fat and degenerating organ productivity within their first year of life. According to the Progeria Research Foundation, an estimated 200-250 children are living with Progeria worldwide, and it equally affects both sexes and races. The average lifespan of children with Progeria is 13 years.

    Both doctors, Bern’s parents took an active role in Progeria research after their son was diagnosed with the syndrome. The Progeria Research Foundation is one result of their efforts to save their son and others with the condition.

    The New England Patriot’s coach had planned on Sam climbing aboard as an honorary captain for Saturday’s game, but instead the Boston stadium held a pregame ceremony along with a moment of silence for Sam Berns. One New Englander aptly captured the sentiments worldwide, ending the moment of silence with an emotional yell to “Do it for Sammy!”

    Be sure to check out his HBO documentary, Life According to Sam, and visit the Progeria Research Foundation website to see how you can further the research on this mysterious disease. His Boston Globe Obituary is available here.

    Image via NDN

  • Bing Updates Satori With New Info, Including TED Talks

    Did you ever want to know if a prominent person has ever given a TED talk just at a glance? Well, thanks to Bing’s new Satori upgrades, you can.

    Bing announced today that its Satori technology (think Google’s Knowledge Graph) has been updated to provide new info for a wide variety of searches. Some of this stuff has already been done, but a lot of it is new and rather handy.

    The first major update to Satori is that it will surface any and all TED talks the person you’re searching for has given. It’s particularly useful for the TED Talk fan, or the student looking for material. Here’s an example:

    Bing Updates Satori With New Info

    Somewhat related, Bing will also give you audio clips of famous speeches by public figures when you search for them. For example, a search for John F. Kennedy will now list all of his most famous speeches. The best part is that you can listen to them without leaving the search results page. As an added bonus, any searches for national anthems will now have said anthem for your listening pleasure in the sidebar.

    Bing Updates Satori With New Info

    Moving on, searches for universities have also received a major upgrade. Bing will now not only provide the ranking, undergrad population and tuition of top schools, but it will also provide a list of that school’s popular online courses.

    Bing Updates Satori With New Info

    Even scientific concepts are not free from the grasp of Satori as it will now give you a snapshot of the theory from Wikipedia alongside other scientific theories that people search for. If using this feature, be careful you don’t end up in a theoretical wormhole and spend 8 hours trying to understand string theory.

    Bing Updates Satori With New Info

    For you history fans out there, Bing will now pull a snapshot of a historical event from Wikipedia. It will also tell you when it started and when it ended.

    Bing Updates Satori With New Info

    If you want to know more about the people behind historical events or just your favorite movie, you can now do that as well by just hovering over their portrait in the “related people” section of Snapshot.

    Bing Updates Satori With New Info

    If you need to know more about an animal that’s not mankind, Satori has you covered as well. When searching for a generic term like “wolf,” Bing will also bring up related subspecies.

    Bing Updates Satori With New Info

    If all these related terms and searches just aren’t cutting it for you, you can also straight up ask Bing a question. If it knows the answer, it will display it at the top of the search results page.

    Bing Updates Satori With New Info

    On a final note, searches for software and apps will now include download links in the Snapshot area:

    Bing Updates Satori With New Info

    [Images: Bing]

  • This 3D Printed Prosthetic Arm Can Be Made For $500

    3D printing is quickly proving that it will revolutionize the world of prosthetic limbs. Now we have one more inspiring story of a teen that has used the technology to make prosthetics cheaper and more accessible.

    Easton LaChappelle, a 17-year-old from Colorado, has made a prosthetic arm with a 3D printer and some simple electronics for only $500. The benefits of these cheap prosthetics are immediately apparent as replacement prosthetic limbs currently tens of thousands of dollars when ordered from medical companies. Even better, the arm can be controlled by an EGG headband so users will be able to somewhat interact with the environment.

    Here’s a TEDx Talk with LaChappelle where he talks about his 3D printed prosthetic arm:

    Previous forays into 3D printed prosthetics have produced some amazing results, including the open source robohand, but LaChappelle’s design may be the most technically brilliant 3D printed prosthetic yet. It may not be directly integrated into the nerves, but his prosthetic could still provide cheap, yet advanced, prosthetics to amputees in low income areas around the world.

    [h/t: MobileMag]

  • Remember Roger Ebert with This Amazing TED Talk

    Today, legendary film critic and icon Roger Ebert died at the age of 70 after a long battle with cancer. On a personal level, this is deeply depressing. I may have read more total words written by Roger Ebert than any other writer in history. The man’s writings on movies, film theory, politics, religion, and more are some fo the most insightful and most beautifully articulated pieces I’ve ever read.

    And for the world of film, the loss needs no further explanation.

    Check out this TED talk from 2011, in which Ebert discusses the loss of his voice. It’s incredible stuff.

    Ebert’s last written words were these, published in an earlier essay about taking a “leave of presence” due to returning health problems.

    “So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I’ll see you at the movies.”

    Can’t do much better than that.

  • TED iOS App Gets Big Translation Upgrade

    TED iOS App Gets Big Translation Upgrade

    TED has launched a big update to its iOS app, adding faster speed and streaming subtitles. While users will no doubt appreciate the speed improvements, TED is really excited about the latter feature, which the organization calls “the real star of the show”.

    According to TED, the app is the largest content provider to use iOS6’s new subtitles feature on its streaming video service. The subtitles will follow you to Apple TV with Airplay.

    TED on iOS

    “This release is a very important one to us. Our talks are translated by a team of volunteer translators worldwide. For the first time ever, their work is now available on iOS, our largest mobile platform right now,” says TED’s Thaniya Keereepart, who led the update. “The subtitle piece utilizes iOS6′s new HLS services. Our engineers have been working very closely with Apple to make it possible.”

    Subtitles are available in 90 languages right from the video player.

  • Here’s A Recent TED Talk About Prototyping Google Glass

    Tom Chi, one of the guys behind Google Glass spoke about prototyping the device at TEDYouth. He discusses how the company was able to speed up the creation process via “rapid prototyping”. He says it only took them one day to come up with the prototype (this was done with clay, paper and modeling wire). They were able to prototype projections for the device in 45 minutes.

    In actual Google Glass-related news, a headset with bone-conduction speakers was revealed in a recent FCC filing.

    More on Google Glass

  • TED Talks Discuss Patent Problems

    TED Talks Discuss Patent Problems

    These days, you can hardly go a day without seeing news about patent trolls or some kind of patent litigation plaguing businesses, especially in the technology industry.

    TED, which has been introducing some very interesting playlists from its numerous talks lately, compiled a list of six videos about problems with patents in a recent blog post. We’ve looked at the one from Fark’s Drew Curtis before, but if this topic interests (or disturbs) you, you may want to check out the whole set.

  • 6 TED Talks That Björk Thinks You Should Watch

    TED recently launched its Playlists feature, which consists of lists of TED Talks curated by people whose names you might recognize. We recently shared the list curated by AOL co-founder Steve Case. TED has now released a playlist curated by singer/songwriter Björk, called “6 talks that are music to my ears”.

    The topics range from burial suits to prisoners of war.

    “The Icelandic songstress has, over the years, starred in a musical that turned a factory into a space for song and created an ‘app album’ to give deeper resonance to her compositions about nature and science,” says Kate Torgovnick on the TED blog. “So we’re not too surprised that her favorite TED Talks have a delightfully quirky edge to them.”

    Jae Rhim Lee: My mushroom burial suit

    Suzanne Lee: Grow your own clothes

    Rachel Armstrong: Architecture that repairs itself?

    Brenda Brathwaite: Gaming for understanding

    Aaron Huey: America’s native prisoners of war

    Eric Whitacre: A virtual choir 2,000 voices strong

  • People Are Selling Bootleg DVDs Of TED Talks

    People Are Selling Bootleg DVDs Of TED Talks

    Clearly, TED Talks have become really popular. In fact, earlier this month, TED announced that it has surpassed a billion video views, and that likely doesn’t even take into account the talks watched on Netflix or television.

    In fact, they’ve become so popular that despite being completely free to watch online, they’re being sold as bootleg DVDs in China:

    TED Talks bootleg

    Emily McManus writes on the TED Blog:

    In Shanghai, China, directly across the street from a pirated DVD shop called Movie Star is another pirated DVD shop called Better Than Movie Star … and that’s where TED’s founding video director, Jason Wishnow, discovered this pirated DVD (which, sigh, but it’s too good not to share).

    It’s a bootleg copy of one of our most popular Netflix shows, a curated collection called “Sex, Secrets and Love.” You can watch this collection yourself on Netflix Streaming, or find it on DailyMotion. Or, if you’d prefer a hard copy, did you know: You can order up a DVD of your favorite six TED Talks through our DVD on Demand service. And as with this bootleg above, you can make your own cover art …

    Here’s TEDTalks: Sex, Secrets & Love on Netflix, if you’re interested.

    What next? Bootlegs of Khan Academy videos?

  • AOL Co-Founder Steve Case Thinks You Should Watch These 10 TED Talks

    AOL co-founder Steve Case has curated a list of ten TED Talks.

    He says, “It has been amazing to watch TED’s transition from party to platform, and from a small gathering for the benefit of a few to a massive global movement. Choosing my favorite TED Talks after so many years was no easy task, but here goes … ”

    Earlier this month, TED announced that it had surpassed a billion video views.

    Here are the ones Case thinks you should watch.

    Billy Graham: Technology, faith and human shortcomings

    Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity

    Hans Rosling: Stats that reshape your world-view

    Bryan Stevenson: We need to talk about an injustice

    Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn … then lead

    Eli Pariser: Beware online “filter bubbles”

    Regina Dugan: From mach-20 glider to humming bird drone

    Susan Cain: The power of introverts

    Temple Grandin: The world needs all kinds of minds

    Gustavo Dudamel leads El Sistema’s top youth orchestra

  • TED Has Surpassed A Billion Video Views

    TED Has Surpassed A Billion Video Views

    Perhaps this is a sign that people are taking it upon themselves to become more educated. TED announced that it has surpassed a billion video views.

    “Our most recent metrics show that TED Talks are being viewed at a rate of 1.5 million times a day — which means that a new viewing commences 17 times a second,” TED Staff says on the TED Blog. “We in the TED office cannot thank you enough for helping us reach this milestone of 1,000,000,000 views — nine wonderful zeroes.”

    “In 2006, when we first posted six TED Talks online as an experiment, internet video was a new form,” the post adds. “No one knew if people would take 18 minutes to watch ‘taped lectures’ online, and none of us could possibly have predicted the way in which TED Talks would take off over the next few years. What does this tell us? That people want to learn. That people want be inspired. That people are hungry for ideas, and that there’s a bubbling desire not to let the unfortunate truths of our world remain the status quo, but to look for creative solutions. The fact that you — and your fellow curious minds around the globe — keep coming back for talks day after day is truly astounding. Consider us humbled.”

    The post itself includes an interactive “Great Moments in TED Talks” graph, which will point you to various, memorable videos (you’ll have to click over to the post to actually use it):

    TED Talks

    TED doesn’t discuss other channels through which its talks can be accessed (such as Netflix and the Science Channel), so there are likely plenty more video views that aren’t even being accounted for.

    I’d like to see some new stats on Khan Academy video views.

    TED has also launched a new section on its site called Playlists, which are curated collections of talks on topics that users have consistently shown the most interest in. If you sign in, you can start a playlist, and it will save exactly where you left off, so you can pick up from there the next time. There are lists curated by Ben Affleck, Jill Bolte Taylor, Reggie Watts, Bill Gates and Glenn Close, among others.

  • Have You Seen This TED Talk From Bing’s Stefan Weitz?

    Stefan Weitz, Microsoft’s Director of Search, gave a TED Talk, which TED recently uploaded. The topic of his talk is “how you can win when you’re not supposed to”.

    “You need some kind of argument you can use to justify this existence,” he says.

    This wasn’t a direct reference to Bing’s existence, but it does bring back some memories about Microsoft’s launch of a new search engine not that long ago (when it already had one at live.com).

    Here’s what the description says about Weitz:

    Stefan Weitz is the Director of Search at Microsoft and is charged with working with people and organizations across the industry to promote and improve Search technologies. While focused on Microsoft’s product line, he works across the industry to understand searcher behavior and in his role as an evangelist for Search, gathers and distills feedback to drive product improvements. Prior to Search, Stefan led the strategy to develop the next generation MSN portal platform and developed Microsoft’s muni WiFi strategy, leading the charge to blanket free WiFi access across metropolitan cities. A 12-year Microsoft veteran, he has worked in various groups including Windows Server, Security, and IT. Stefan is a huge gadget ‘junkie’ and can often be found in electronics shops across the world looking for the elusive perfect piece of tech.

    If your’e a fan of either Bing or TED Talks in general, give it a watch. While you’re at it, why not watch a few interviews we’ve done with Weitz over the past few years:

    [H/T: iStartedSomething]

  • NPR and TED Launch a New Radio Show

    NPR and TED Launch a New Radio Show

    National Public Radio announced today that it will launch a new radio program later this month based on the TED conferences. TED, which stands for technology, entertainment, and design, holds conferences around the world that feature enlightening lectures of under 18 minutes from the foremost scholars and entrepreneurs in the world. Videos of these lectures, dubbed TED Talks, have become popular online.

    “With TED and NPR, there’s this collective curiosity about the world – a belief that civil discourse and shared ideas leads to a better understanding of the issues and opportunities we face,” says Eric Nuzum, vice president for programming at NPR. “TED Radio Hour brims with the possibility of these ideas, engaging us to think hard, and differently. It’s captivating.”

    Each episode of the “TED Radio Hour” will be based on TED Talks, delivered at TED conferences, that have a common theme. The program will be hosted by Alison Stewart, previous host of NPR’s Bryant Park Project. Some of the episode themes already mentioned are the source of happiness, crowd-sourcing innovation, power shifts, and inexplicable connections. Also, some of the featured speakers on the show’s first season will be chef Jamie Oliver, behavioral economist Dan Ariely, and author Kathryn Schulz.

    “At TED, we’re always looking for new ways to spread ideas,” says June Cohen, executive producer at TED. “It’s exciting to bring TED to radio – one of the world’s most powerful mediums – with a partner that has perfected the art of storytelling. TED Radio Hour is the first collaboration of its kind at TED; given NPR’s wide scope of listeners and journalistic integrity, we’re confident it will inspire curiosity among an entirely new audience.”

    The radio program will begin airing on NPR member stations on April 27, but you will have to check your local public radio station’s schedule to confirm that it will air the show.

    As a sample of what you are likely to hear on the “TED Radio Hour” take in this TED talk given by chef Jamie Oliver in February 2010:

  • TED Exhibition To Include Music Experiment

    TED Exhibition To Include Music Experiment

    A Simon Fraser University graduate student project that melds music, meditation and modern technology has landed a rare spot as an exhibit at TEDActive 2012 in Palm Springs, California this month.

    Jay Vidyarthi’s project, Sonic Cradle, allows individuals to use their breathing to shape musical sounds while they sit suspended in a totally dark chamber. The experience is described as “meditation for the non-meditator.”

    “The idea grew from my desire to explore how technology can be used to free us from the stress associated with information overload,” says Vidyarthi, who is pursuing a master’s degree in SFU Surrey’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology.

    Vidyarthi and his supervisor Bernhard Riecke, who heads up SIAT’s new iSpace lab, have been invited to display Sonic Cradle as part of the prestigious TEDActive TechArt exhibition. During the week-long conference participants will be able to try 15-minute meditative sessions.
    Vidyarthi says the project was accepted despite being primarily a design research artifact rather than a piece of art.

    Developed last spring, Sonic Cradle provides a digitized compendium of musical sound bites from 30 musicians from across North America, including recordings of falling rain, flute and guitar arrangements, meditative chimes and even spoken poetry.

    Breathing stimulates the sound patterns, which are unique to each ‘cradle’ visit, says Vidyarthi, a musician who earlier studied psychophysics and neuroscience at McGill University.

    “As an interactive medium, the project shows that a well-designed, minimalist system that embodies an understanding of human psychology can engage people in a way which provides psychological benefit,” Vidyarthi says.

    Sonic Cradle demonstrates technology’s potential to be engaging and immersive without being over-stimulating, he adds. “It may pave the way for more systems which reject the typical goals of productivity in favour of self-knowledge, inner peace and a sense of calm.”

    The researchers plan further study on how the system physiologically affects people. The creation of a handheld mobile version of Sonic Cradle is also possible.

    As the one who has spent the most time in Sonic Cradle, Vidyarthi says, “when you remove all the distractions, it can feel something like leaving the planet.”

    Check out this video on the Sonic Cradle experience. Headphones are a real plus.

  • TED Quotes Launched Today, Will Soon Grace Status Updates Near You

    Go log in to any of one of the social networking sites you belong to and undoubtedly you will see an update from that one friend of yours who only speaks in quotes. You may even have more than one if you’re lucky. My friends that do this are prototypical literati who share day-making quotes from noted authors and artists. My knee-jerk inclination is toward cynicism whenever I see this stuff, but honestly it’s not a bad way to share what’s on your mind. It’s obtuse, but sharing quotes beats the hell out of those dolts who believe the contents of their dinner plate make for thrilling status updates.

    TED, the amazing non-profit that makes science a top-shelf brand of sexy, launched a new service today that might will enrich the quality of those shared quotes that pervade your news stream: TED Quotes. In the blog post that announced the launch, TED hopes that the new service will make TEDTalks “more accessible, digestible, and shareable.” Additionally, focusing on key quotes from TEDTalks could be a great way to bait people to seek out the entire presentation from which the quote was taken.

    Visitors to the TED Quotes site will be able to browse assorted samples from TEDTalks with an option to listen to the speaker actually say the quote. Additionally, sharing tools linked with Facebook, Twitter, and email are included with each quote should one of the statements strike your fancy. Additionally, when you share a quote, you’ll be linked back to quote’s TEDTalk where you can either watch the talk in full or skip to the part where the quote was spoken.

    If you’re a TED newb or simply haven’t taken the time to acquaint yourself with the group’s awesomeness, check out a couple of the talks below to whet your curiosity.

    If you took every nuclear weapon ever built at the height of the Cold War, lumped them together and blew them up at the same time, that would be one one-millionth of the energy released at that moment. — Phil Plait, on the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.

    What’s it like to be a baby? It’s like being in love in Paris for the first time after you’ve had three double espressos. — Alison Gopnik

    When you look at the Moon, you think, ‘I’m really small. What are my problems?’ It sets things into perspective. We should all look at the Moon a bit more often. — Alain de Botton

    One day, I crossed the bridge over the Oxus River. I was alone on foot. And the Afghan soldier was so surprised to see me that he forgot to stamp my passport. But he gave me a cup of tea. — Monika Bulaj

    In a culture driven by 140-character compositions, meaningful quotations can relate a great deal to someone’s friends in a artful and condensed manner. When you go exploring the TED Quotes, though, be warned: you’re venturing into wondrous and fascinating lands, my friend, from which you will not return so easily. So make sure you’ve got the next hour or so free.

  • Business In the Next 50 Years [Video]

    Entrepreneur Julie Meyer, founder of First Tuesday – a networking forum for technology entrepreneurs – talks about the world of the next 50 years.

    She discusses how she believes that entrepreneurs are the core of society, and that they are right. She believes that the Internet exists to deliver on the promise of capitalism: Give the right tools to individuals and they will change the world. The power of the Internet lies in its ability to empower individuals, not just corporations.

    This TED talk took place at TEDxBrussels in late 2011. This entire series was dedicated to speakers telling how they thought the world would look in the next 50 years.

  • Clay Shirky Discusses The Bad Ideas That Are SOPA and PIPA

    It’s apparent that the SOPA/PIPA-inspired Internet blackouts raised the public’s conscious concerning the anti-piracy legislation Washington is trying to push on the very citizens it is supposed to be representing. Granted, a great deal of this awareness came from the fact people couldn’t do their homework because Wikipedia was down, but, whatever it takes.

    Especially when we’re dealing with something as important as SOPA and PIPA.

    With that in mind, you might want to familiarize yourself with Clay Shirky. In case you didn’t know, Shirky is something of a pro-Internet activist who is an Associate Arts Professor at NYU, instructing students in the subject of Interactive Telecommunications. Shirky is also a Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, just in case you need to see additional credentials.

    As you might expect, Shirky represents one of the many scholars who are fundamentally opposed to both SOPA and PIPA, and at a recent TED Talk, he clearly articulated why these bills serve as a threat to our freedom to create and share. Shirky puts the responsibility on us, the consumers, to do more than just “passively consume,” although, judging by the all the “Where the hell is my Wikipedia” comments the other day, it seems we still have a long way to go before we shed that particular skin.

    Shirky’s TED Talk, as pointed out by Laughing Squid:


    If, after watching that, you’re still unsure as to why SOPA/PIPA are the wrong way to go about stemming piracy, watch it again.