Ray Anderson: The business logic of sustainability
Ray Dalio: What coronavirus means for the global economy
"I'm a capitalist. I believe in the system. I believe you can increase the size of the pie and you could divide it well," says Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates. He offers wide-ranging insight and advice on how we might recover from the global economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis -- and use it as an opportunity to reform the sys...
Iseult Gillespie: Why should you read "Fahrenheit 451"?
Ray Bradbury's novel imagines a world where books are banned- and possessing, let alone reading them, is forbidden.The protagonist, Montag, is a fireman responsible for destroying what remains. The story raises the question: how can you preserve your mind in a society where free will, self-expression and curiosity are under fire? Iseult Gillespi...
Dennis Shasha: Can you solve the control room riddle?
As your country's top spy, you must infiltrate the headquarters of the evil syndicate, find the secret control panel, and deactivate their death ray. But your reconnaissance team is spotty, and you have only limited information about the control panel's whereabouts. Can you solve the control room riddle and deactivate their weapon in time? Denni...
The TED Interview: Ray Kurzweil on what the future holds next
Join head of TED Chris Anderson for a very special conversation with legendary inventor and computer scientist Ray Kurzweil, recorded live onstage at TED2018. Listen in to hear what the man who makes a living from predicting the future arc of technology thinks is coming our way next -- including a specific prediction of when he thinks technology...
Matt Anticole: Is radiation dangerous?
When we hear the word radiation, it's tempting to picture huge explosions and frightening mutations. But that's not the full story — radiation also applies to rainbows and a doctor examining an X-ray. So what is it, really, and how much should we worry about its effects? Matt Anticole describes the different types of radiation. [Directed by Tinm...
Ray Kurzweil: Get ready for hybrid thinking
Two hundred million years ago, our mammal ancestors developed a new brain feature: the neocortex. This stamp-sized piece of tissue (wrapped around a brain the size of a walnut) is the key to what humanity has become. Now, futurist Ray Kurzweil suggests, we should get ready for the next big leap in brain power, as we tap into the computing power ...
Kanawat Senanan: How computer memory works
In many ways, our memories make us who we are, helping us remember our past, learn and retain skills, and plan for the future. And for the computers that often act as extensions of ourselves, memory plays much the same role. Kanawat Senanan explains how computer memory works. [Directed by TED-Ed, narrated by Addison Anderson, music by Carlos Pal...
Noah Charney: Can you guess what's wrong with these paintings?
Prior to the mid-20th century, art restorers took a heavy-handed approach, often drastically altering paintings in the name of "improving" art. Today, they focus on keeping the original work intact with minimal intervention, and must regularly contend with past modifications. So, how is damaged artwork repaired? Noah Charney explains the painsta...
Sajan Saini: The hidden network that makes the internet possible
In 2012, a team of researchers set a world record, transmitting 1 petabit of data— that's 10,000 hours of high-def video— over a fifty-kilometer cable, in a second. This wasn't just any cable. It was a souped-up version of fiber optics, the hidden network that links our planet and makes the internet possible. What is fiber optics and how does it...
Martine Rothblatt: My daughter, my wife, our robot, and the quest for immortality
The founder of Sirius XM satellite radio, Martine Rothblatt now heads up a drug company that makes life-saving medicines for rare diseases (including one drug that saved her own daughter's life). Meanwhile she is working to preserve the consciousness of the woman she loves in a digital file ... and a companion robot. In an onstage conversation w...
Meron Gribetz: A glimpse of the future through an augmented reality headset
What if technology could connect us more deeply with our surroundings instead of distracting us from the real world? With the Meta 2, an augmented reality headset that makes it possible for users to see, grab and move holograms just like physical objects, Meron Gribetz hopes to extend our senses through a more natural machine. Join Gribetz as he...
Daniel Finkel: Can you solve the unstoppable blob riddle?
A shooting star crashes onto Earth and a hideous blob emerges. It creeps and leaps, it glides and slides. It's also unstoppable: no matter what you throw at it, it just re-grows and continues its rampage. The only way to save the planet is to cut the entire blob into precise acute triangles while it sleeps, rendering it inert. Can you stop the b...
Helen M. Farrell: What is depression?
Depression is the leading cause of disability in the world; in the United States, close to ten percent of adults struggle with the disease. But because it's a mental illness, it can be a lot harder to understand than, say, high cholesterol. Helen M. Farrell examines the symptoms and treatments of depression, and gives some tips for how you might...
Fabio Pacucci: Can a black hole be destroyed?
Black holes are among the most destructive objects in the universe. Anything that gets too close to a black hole, be it an asteroid, planet, or star, risks being torn apart by its extreme gravitational field. By some accounts, the universe may eventually consist entirely of black holes. But is there any way to destroy a black hole? Fabio Pacucci...
Shane Legg and Chris Anderson: The transformative potential of AGI — and when it might arrive
As the cofounder of Google DeepMind, Shane Legg is driving one of the greatest transformations in history: the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI). He envisions a system with human-like intelligence that would be exponentially smarter than today's AI, with limitless possibilities and applications. In conversation with head of TE...
Melvin Sanicas: What makes TB the world's most infectious killer?
In 2008, two 9,000-year old skeletons were found with their bones infected by an all too familiar bacterium. The ancient Greeks knew its effects as phthisis; the Incans called it chaky oncay; and today we call it tuberculosis, or TB. TB is still one of the world's most infectious killers, causing more deaths than malaria or even HIV. How has it ...
Li-Huei Tsai: Could we treat Alzheimer's with light and sound?
What if we could use brain waves to treat Alzheimer's? Professor and neuroscientist Li-Huei Tsai details a promising new approach to artificially stimulate gamma brain waves using light and sound therapy, to increase connectivity and synchrony and delay the onset of this deadly disease. This non-invasive therapy has already been shown to work in...
Demis Hassabis: How AI is unlocking the secrets of nature and the universe
Can AI help us answer life's biggest questions? In this visionary conversation, Google DeepMind cofounder and CEO Demis Hassabis delves into the history and incredible capabilities of AI with head of TED Chris Anderson. Hassabis explains how AI models like AlphaFold — which accurately predicted the shapes of all 200 million proteins known to sci...
Danielle Allen: An ethical plan for ending the pandemic and restarting the economy
As COVID-19 continues to spread, the world is facing two existential threats at once: a public health emergency and an economic crisis. Political theorist Danielle Allen describes how we can ethically and democratically address both problems by scaling up "smart testing," which would track positive cases with peer-to-peer software on people's ce...
Sylvia Earle: My wish: Protect our oceans
Barry Schwartz: Our loss of wisdom
Daniel Kish: How I use sonar to navigate the world
Daniel Kish has been blind since he was 13 months old, but has learned to "see" using a form of echolocation. He clicks his tongue and sends out flashes of sound that bounce off surfaces in the environment and return to him, helping him to construct an understanding of the space around him. In a rousing talk, Kish shows how this works -- and ask...
Mark Ronson: How sampling transformed music
Sampling isn't about "hijacking nostalgia wholesale," says Mark Ronson. It's about inserting yourself into the narrative of a song while also pushing that story forward. In this mind-blowingly original talk, watch the DJ scramble 15 TED Talks into an audio-visual omelette, and trace the evolution of "La Di Da Di," Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick's ...
Nicholas Negroponte: A 30-year history of the future
MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte takes you on a journey through the last 30 years of tech. The consummate predictor highlights interfaces and innovations he foresaw in the 1970s and 1980s that were scoffed at then but are ubiquitous today. And he leaves you with one last (absurd? brilliant?) prediction for the coming 30 years.
David Eagleman: Can we create new senses for humans?
As humans, we can perceive less than a ten-trillionth of all light waves. "Our experience of reality," says neuroscientist David Eagleman, "is constrained by our biology." He wants to change that. His research into our brain processes has led him to create new interfaces -- such as a sensory vest -- to take in previously unseen information about...
Stewart Brand + Mark Z. Jacobson: Debate: Does the world need nuclear energy?
The TED Interview: Mellody Hobson challenges us to be color brave
Talking about race can be difficult. But Mellody Hobson argues that we need to do it anyway -- boldly and often. Mellody is the president of Ariel Investments, a firm that manages more than 13 billion dollars. And throughout her career and in her personal life, she's experienced just how corrosive it can be when people choose to be "color blind....
Andrei Roșu: Cele 40 de milioane de motive pentru a nu sta pe canapea
From that moment until now, he passed through at least three serious careers – which he talks about with a lot of humour. But how do they all connect? Through this extraordinary gift called life. Andrei Rosu, 41 years old, is the father of two children, has over 15 years of experience in the corporate environment, is an endurance athlete, blogge...
Andres Valle Rua: "Cómo escuchar Mejor, consejo de un sordo"