TED Talks that Speak to Me

Slow day here at the office. While the bosses are watching rough cuts in Vancouver, I am searching the internet for great documentary ideas back here in Toronto.

When I am seeking inspiration, I find a reliable source to be the TED Talks, so neatly arranged in a browser-friendly way on their website.

If you haven't heard of TED, I have swiped this brief paragraph from their site: TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader - to include Science and Global Issues.

TED has grown into an international conference, a philanthropist fund, a free translation service and a fellowship program.

It's popularity has begun to soar via social network interfaces such as Facebook and Twitter where members can easily watch, share and rate the videos.

I admit, I get mighty sucked into the TED talks. Partially because many of the subjects are so exciting (the Cassini spacecraft landed - yes LANDED - on Titan - Saturn's moon! And few of know because the media failed to recognize this incredible achievement.) But more so, I find that the individuals who bring us the subjects the talks are often more inspirational than their subjects.

Daniel Liebeskind - architect of the Royal Ontario Museum's "Crystal" I can do without. His talk - 17 Words About Architectural Inspiration - feels more like 17000 words that wheeze and squeak out of his mouth like a balloon the mouth of which is pulled taut. I am one of the few who like the Crystal, and I'll amusedly watch Daniel windbag for a minute (if you find him an interesting character, keep an eye out for the CBC/90th Parallel documentary The Museum.)

But Jill Bolte Taylor, well she simply took my breath away with her lucid description of experiencing a stroke - and simultaneously - nirvana.

Here are quick links to those ideas I think are worth spreading:

- Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain researcher, experienced a massive stroke. In this talk, she recounts the psychic, physical and spiritual experiences leading up to that day, during the stroke and after her recovery. These insights have transformed her life and she invites us to transform ours - in Stroke of Insight. *****

- Kerry Mullis, the unconventional Nobel laureate chemist, explains in Next-gen Cure for Killer Infections how he would slap a non-human molecule "on to a bacteria that was pathenogenic to me that just invaded my lungs [like staph and anthrax]. I could immediately tap into an immune system that was there, it was not going to take five or six days to develop it, it was immediately going to attack." Well, you get the idea. *****

- Gever Tully founded the Tinkering School where children get to play with sticks and sharp tools and make roller coasters - activities helicopter parents shudder at. But as we increase "safety" boundaries, we decrease kids' oppertunities to interact with the world around them. 5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do actually promotes safety. ***

- Jacqueline Novogratz thinks poverty is a combination of variables that include lack of income, but also lack of choice and lack of freedom. The choice part is interesting - when combined with a micro-loan it can transform lives dramatically. Escaping Poverty describes one single mother's experience rising out of the worst slum in Nairobi. ****

- Elizabeth Gilbert, best-selling author of "Eat, Pray, Love", allows for vulnerability again by expressing her fears and doubts surrounding a follow-up to the book and discovers that instead of "being" genius, we "are" genius." I enjoyed this talk On Genius and creativity and have already shared it widely. *****

- Ken Robinson also speaks about the visionary in all of us in Schools Kill Creativity. His tone is light and humourous and thoroughly enjoyable though more anecdotal than factual. Perhaps he is healing from the British social hierarchy since he moved to the U.S.? ****

- Carolyn Porco Flies Us to Saturn and talks about a stunning and successful international effort to send a spacecraft to Saturn to not only collect jaw-dropping images, but land - yes LAND - on the planet's moon, Titan. Why didn't the world celebrate this monumental event? ****