I’ve been back for a week, now, from TEDGlobal: an ideas conference that is fast becoming my annual clarity retreat. Moved from its original host city of Oxford, the event was held in Edinburgh, Scotland and my arrival – to paraphrase John Denver – felt like coming home to a place I’d never been before.
Thinking to avoid drinking conference coffee, that foul internationally uniform brew, I picked up Starbucks on my way to the complex, only to find that TED had flown in elite baristas from around the world to make our coffees. It is just that ridiculous.
TED Talks online have become familiar household discussion items, but if you ever get the chance to go to in person, I highly recommend it, including the fast-proliferating TEDx events that are independently organized by local groups. Because the real value of these ideas festivals, which I happily see are becoming a form of tourism, is in the mixing of people who generate the ideas.
The magic doesn’t happen when Malcolm Gladwell gets up on stage and hypnotizes everyone with his speech rhythms, clothes hanging limply off his fragile frame. It doesn’t even happen when we learn that flying cars, just like the ones we were promised so long ago, are finally ready for market.
It happens when doctor and writer Ben Goldacre steps off stage from delivering a talk on corrupt drug trial reporting practices and is approached by political think tank founder Philip Blond, who offers to bend the ear of British Prime Minister David Cameron to get some policy solutions to the pharmaceutical industry mess. Blond would never have thought to be interested in the topic, and yet with careful curation, a series of talks aimed at the educated public can create this kind of interdisciplinary bliss.
A designer named Markus Fischer had created an ultra-light robotic bird that was ultra-convincing, an on the last day, in the shadow of Arthur’s Seat, we all congregated on Hollyrood Park for a picnic and watched as the bird took flight and tackled the air currents. A flock of seagulls spotted the intruder and rushed to attack, dive-bombing the robot as a suspected imposter.
Some recommended talks from the week, all of which will appear online if they haven’t already:
Tim Harford on the power of trial and error
Alain de Botton on extracting the non-physical entities from religion and preserving the rest
Robin Ince, the science comedian: “I’m very fortunate, because my children are better than all the other children.”
Rory Stewart, the most articulate member of a house of representatives I’ve ever seen.
Photos: TEDxTumblr
What in credible experience! I would have loved to have seen Matt Ridley (author of Rational Optimism) speak. His book gave me hope that humanity will be able to work out it’s seemingly insolvable problems.