TED recap, volume 5

Saturday had two sessions.

Session 11: HOW DARE WE BE OPTIMISTIC?
Paul Collier, Al Gore and Nellie McKay. People seemed to love Collier, but it didn’t do much for me. But Al Gore did. He delivered. When he was here a few years ago, his presentation was the kernel of what would become the movie An Inconvenient Truth. He had done it a bunch of times by TED, and would do it a bunch more before making the movie. Today’s talk was new, and his first at delivering it. It was the foundation of an economic model, and realistic implementation strategy, for changing the world vis a vis our ecological global catastrophe. This could be work I could give myself to. I know revolutions are young people’s games – but if I could figure out how to support myself through this, I would sure like to join his team. Few times (if ever) in my life have I listened to someone who made me want to follow them into battle. It’s hard to reconcile this guy with the boring plank that was in the white house and lost to bush. It’s amazing what passion (and being out of the political process) can do for a guy.
(And Nellie McKay is a political satirist disgusted as a singer-songwriter. You have to listen to her piece on feminists to begin to appreciate her.)


Session 12: AND THE POINT?
John Francis was cool. Almost Forrest Gumpishly, he went out for a walk in 1983 and didn’t stop (didn’t ride in a motorized vehicle) for 22 years. For 17 of those years, without SPEAKING. Listening to him speak now got me thinking about listening better. I liked his face. The joy and peace in his face seemed almost more genuine and deep than that of Ravi Shankar. Interesting.
Jonathan Haidt was for me, perhaps the most important speaker. More than Jill Taylor, even. I think the applications of his talk – both on the nature of the political spectrum and human morality, was actually life-changing. If there is one talk that I will spend a great deal of time rethinking over the next weeks and months, it was this one. Amazingly, he didn’t even get a standing ovation. The TED crowd is odd in its giving of this honor. Some who don’t deserve it sometimes get one, like an Oscar, for maybe the wrong reasons. But Jonathan was fantastic, and perhaps only in the context of some of the flashier surrounding talks did his not merit, but that was unfortunate. He was great. His talk will be one I show around for years to come.

For me, this was the fitting end of TED. Yes, Bob Geldof spoke. But I didn’t care. I didn’t like his talk and was ready to go and begin the long silence of processing. Of integrating the learnings into my life.



I wonder what will stick. Will I meditate in the mornings? Will I spend time each week home schooling my kids in what I know, what I’m passionate about? Will I walk 3 miles a day? Will I communicate differently – with moral consistency, with more listening? How can I help save the planet? How will my family change our consumption? How will I integrate a balance between work, love, and play – particularly right now, while I am not working, while I am trying not to die, while I am thinking about the next steps in my life in this moment of change.

Please excuse me if I’m silent for a few days after this. Lots to think about.