An Invitation To Ideas

A few months ago while in a local convenience store I noticed the clerk was reading a book and on asking him about it I learned it was “The Singularity is Near” by Ray Kurzweil. It intrigued me such that I checked it out from my local library and found it fascinating and on pursuing the author on Google I came across TED. Now TED is a California conference of elite thinkers open only by invitation and a $6000 conference fee. But wonderfully I found that many of their presentations were available both on their website and as downloadable podcasts.

I have finally finished viewing the available downloadable presentations – about 26 hours worth in total – and they have been a most amazing experience. One I wish to share with all who value ideas and who are open to the broader call of a humanity I hope is in most of us.

The subjects vary from art to architecture, science and technology, economics and world crisis, and they are all uniformly impactful and resonate with a sense of the future – both foreboding and promising. The speakers are leading edge in their fields and vary from a past president to distinguished scientists, to cutting edge architects, to noted scholars in many fields. This is truly one of the richest experiences the Internet has to offer and I dare you to view just one of these presentations and not be drawn in, as I was, into a wonderfully broad and cerebral and even entertaining journey that we rarely have access to.

www.ted.com

Comments

Readhead said…
Dear Bill,

Thank you for your thoughtful and moving post. I just wanted you to know that we are publishing new talks at the rate of two a week for the next year, including talks from the most recent TED in March, 2007, and our upcoming conference in Africa.

Cheers,
Tom Rielly
TED Conferences
Sunday, April 22, 2007 6:21:00 PM
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