TED Blog

Does Smüg have an Umlaut? Martin Short in Fame Becomes Me

I had the pleasure of catching the very first public performance of Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, now playing in San Francisco (April 25-May 21) and coming to Toronto (May 27-July 2) and Chicago (July 5-16) on its way to an August 10th Broadway debut. Written by Short and the hysterical Tony Award-winning musical team of Mark Shaiman and Scott Whittman (Hairspray, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, and Team America: World Police), Fame had me laughing so loud that the couple in front of me wished for my premature death.  This "comedy musical" with a cast of six sends up every maudlin one-person show you've ever seen seen including those of Elaine Stritch, Billy Crystal, and Liza Minelli. Because Short by all accounts has had a relatively trouble-free life, he tries desparately to invent the family dysfunction required by the genre. More after the jump...

New York prepares for Thomas Dolby (and his "bizarre-looking doohickeys")

From today's New York Times:

Thomas Dolby entered pop eternity in the guise of a bespectacled, wild-haired mad scientist, with the 1983 novelty hit "She Blinded Me With Science." He returns after a long absence — in his other life he has been an innovative creator of ring tones — with a tour that finds him largely in the same gearhead persona (sans the hair), surrounded by bizarre-looking doohickeys with colorful gauges and oversize knobs. Wednesday at 10 p.m., Thursday at 7 (with the singer-songwriter Carey Ott) and 10 p.m., Joe's Pub at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 539-8778; $20. (Sisario)

TEDsters will be in the house Wed/10PM show, showing love for our Music Director. Tickets available online for what promises to be an utterly original evening.

South Park Parodies Al Gore

Tonight's episode of South Park was an entertaining parody of Al Gore and the anti-Global Warming message he has been promoting.  The episode stars a South Park version of Al Gore warning of the impending doom that will be caused by the ManBearPig (part man, part bear, part pig) which will be ravaging South Park any second if the townspeople don't do something about it soon.  The townspeople of South Park insist that there is no evidence that the ManBearPig existed and they therefore have nothing to fear.  In typical South Park fashion, the episode pulls few punches in its sometimes subtle, sometimes less so, commentary on Al Gore's quest to rid the world of the ManBearPig ... or rather ... Global Warming.  Funny stuff.  Or is it? 

Ze Frank's Reading the News So You Don't Have To

All you need to know about everything current told to you through the mind of TED's favorite funny man. Ze Frank has a daily show. Check it out.

Al Gore: On newsstands now

First Vanity Fair, now Wired.

VP-turned-global-warming-warrior Al Gore is clearly the cover model of the moment.

Yochai Benkler makes the (capitalist) case for cooperation

At TEDGlobal, Yale Professor Yochai Benkler gave an illuminating talk on the emergence of sharing as a key economic driver. Everyone emerged from that session (which also featured Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, NYU's Clay Shirky and UK writer/thinker Charles Leadbeater) with new ways of thinking about cooperation. Benkler's just-published book, The Wealth of Networks, builds on the themes he explored in Oxford (It can be downloaded free, of course. Or discussed on a wiki.) TG Producer Bruno Giussani takes a look ...

Ads We Love: "Bouncy Balls"

The NY-based TED team spent much of last week in San Francisco, remembering just how much we love that gorgeous city. It seems a fine moment, then, to share another of our favorite ads, which screened at TED2006.

Many of you have no doubt seen this spot (a testament to its wide appeal, since it hasn't actually aired in the U.S.). But in case its escaped your attention ... Imagine 250,000 colored Superballs, bouncing down the hills of San Francisco. Now watch ... No CGI here. These are real balls, real hills, real color. Even a real frog.

Created by Fallon London for Sony Bravia.

[Other Ads We Love: Boardroom | noitulovE (Evolution)]

Make: Magazine's First Ever Maker Faire Explodes

Where can you find a man riding a giant giraffe robot, a fire-spewing electric cart equipped with sheep's wool seats, a plug-in Prius that gets 100 mpg, teams playing Segway Polo, model rocket launches, fashion shows with inflatable dresses, and parents and children enjoying every minute of it? Why, at Make: magazine's first ever Maker Faire, held this weekend in San Mateo, CA, bien sûr. In the year since it bowed, Make: magazine has become the bible of a new Do It Yourself (DIY) movement whose ethos is "If you haven't built it, taken it apart, hacked or modded it, you don't really own it." Make:, from TEDster Tim O'Reilly's (we get each other's mail) media empire is one of the few successful independent magazine launches in a market where titles are folding like origami.  More after the jump...

Your TED curator ... on a Starbucks cup

A big thanks to TEDster Jim Young, who spotted this cup in a Dallas Starbucks. We're curious how far Chris's idea might spread... let us know if it turns up near you!

Herbie Hancock: Possibilities on screen

At TED, we've had the great privilege to watch Herbie Hancock improvise: Both solo and with others, like pianist Makoto Ozone. Now a new documentary exposes the jazz legend's creative process: tracing the dozen or so collaborations behind his latest album, with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews. Anyone with an interest in creativity or collaboration will find themselves fascinated. If you're a jazz fan, better yet.

Among the other well-known musicians — Paul Simon, Sting, Damien Rice, Annie Lennox, Carlos Santana — is relative newcomer Raul Midon, a blind singer/songwriter whose "voice trumpet" elicited murmurs of amazement both on-screen and off. New York-based TEDsters are in luck: You can catch Midon at next month's TED event at Joe's Pub.

Herbie Hancock: Possibilities" opened last week in New York and LA only; for those in other cities: the DVD is on sale.

TerraPass CEO Tom Arnold hosts reception following An Inconvenient Truth Screening

After the screening TerraPass CEO Tom Arnold (not to be confused with Roseanne Barr's former husband) hosted a reception down the street at Trellis restaurant. TerraPass is a new startup that lets you buy carbon offsets for your car. TerraPass lets you calculate the amount of carbon your car emits and then you pay TerraPass a fee which they invest clean energy product (how it works). Tom and TerraPass are subjects of a front page New York Times story today (free registration required):

Web sites like terrapass.com, carbonfund.org, nativeenergy.com and self.org focus on automobile emissions because drivers can become aware of their carbon footprint every time they fill up. An average car produces about 10,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Tom Arnold, one of the founders of Terrapass, a carbon-offset seller that, unlike most others, actually intends to make a profit, said that just as in the dawn of recycling a generation ago, the idea of carbon offsetting is being embraced at first by "greenies" who already plant trees, eat organic foods and buy fuel-efficient cars. As these environmentalists accept the altruistic good of doing something for the planet that will not immediately benefit them, they hope to spread the ideal of living a "carbon-neutral" life to nonbelievers.

More after the jump...

Photos from An Inconvenient Truth Screening

TEDsters spotted at the An Inconvenient Truth Screening: (from left to right Truth Producer Lawrence Bender, V.C. Vinod Kholsa, now investing in alternative energy, and the lovely Gwen Campbell; TED Curator Chris Anderson; TEDPrize 2006 winner Cameron Sinclair; former American India Foundation exec Lakshmi Pratury, who is starting a new conference about the best of Indian culture; Ecofabulous's Zem Joaquin; XPrize Foundation's Peter Diamandis and Audrey Weedon, up from L.A.; AD:Tech's Susan Bratton;  Investor Greg Shove;  PhoneWorks CEO Anneke Seeley (my sister's best friend); David Belden & Christa Grenwalt; Sam Perry; and Nicole Ledered. More after the jump...

Al Gore channels Inner Lesbian Rock Star at Special TED "An Inconvenient Truth" Film Screening

Documentary star Al Gore made a surprise appearance along with his wife Tipper at the special Thursday afternoon TEDScreening of An Inconvenient Truth, the new Davis Guggenheim film about Gore's 30 year odyssey to bring global warming to the world's attention and convince us to take action. Producer Lawrence Bender and TED Curator Chris Anderson hosted the screening at Landmark's Guild Theatre in Menlo Park, about 30 minutes south of San Francisco, CA.

About 100  Silicon Valley Waifers turned up to watch, laugh and gasp at this electrifying (solar, please) documentary that expands upon the incredible live presentation the former Vice-President delivered at TED2006. You won't find the caricature of the boring, stiff politician from Saturday Night Live, but rather an emotional, warm, engaging, hilarious professor who wins you over with his imperfect humanity. He fearlessly shows his failures and tragedies, both personal (he almost loses his son in a car accident; his sister dies of lung cancer) and political (no one listens to his global warming message in the 70's), in addition to his triumphs, as he journeys from (privileged) family farm to the White House, and back again. (More after the jump...)

Richard Dawkins' "The Selfish Gene"

We've just sent out the new 30-year-anniversary edition to the TED bookclub (made up of those people signed up for TED2007).  Here's the reason I gave for its selection.

Now why would we send out a 30-year-old book? Well, first of all, we suspect that despite its fame and influence, only a minority of TEDsters have actually read it.  After all, 30 years ago, many of us weren't on the same intellectual journey that membership of TED today implies.  Secondly, the new edition has a terrific new introduction by Dawkins.

But most importantly, even today, three decades later, the remarkable insights of this book aren't properly understood. A lot of people seem to think the book is arguing for a view of the world "red in tooth and claw". That selfishness underpins everything.

This is a profound misunderstanding of the idea. One of my biggest personal "aha" moments ten years ago came from the book's insight that the interests of our genes and ourselves are not identical. That actually it can be in the interest of "selfish" genes to build unselfish humans. As Dawkins himself has commented, when you read the title, the emphasis should be on the word "gene", not on the world "selfish". He's saying that the way to think about "survival of the fittest" is at the level of the gene. It's genes that are selfish, not necessarily the organisms they create.

But there are multiple other implications of this idea. It gives us cause to carefully question many of our instincts and psychological tendencies, including our beliefs about what will make us happy. These feelings may have a powerful evolutionary purpose (for our genes), but are they in OUR interest? Not always. This is a powerful new lens through which to think about yourself.

Others feel Dawkins' whole agenda is a depressingly reductionist view of the world... a thought that's encouraged, perhaps, by Dawkins' own icy speaking style and trenchant anti-religious views and by selective quotes such as that we are simply the "survival machines" our genes create.  But the book encourages us to get beyond this and instead to be awed by the richness of a nature that can build creative, communicative, feeling, loving beings from a mindless evolutionary startpoint.  That feeling of awe simply grows when you reach the book's final chapter and its famous (and still controversial) introduction of the notion of "memes": that our ideas may literally have a life of their own. 

Whether or not you've read The Selfish Gene, I urge you to give this edition your attention. It's brilliantly written and profound. It may shock. But ultimately, I think it's exhilarating.

I'd be intrigued to hear from others on their reaction to this book. It certainly set some powerful memes loose in my brain....

Portraits from San Francisco TEDSalon

100 years and two days after the Great Quake of 1906, and 12 hours of sunshine following a month and a half of rain, about 100 TEDsters from the Bay Area came together last night to "cocktail and tasty bits" with 2006 TEDPrize Winner Cameron Sinclair, Executive Director of Architecture for Humanity. Joining him were TED Curator Chris Anderson and distinguished guests such as TEDocumentary Host and Actor Daphne Zuniga.

Spotted:  TEDSponsor Sun Microsystems' Glenn Martinez; Worldchanging.com co-founder Jamais Cascio & wife Janice Cripe; entrepreneur Arch Meredith and his wife Shelly, August Capital's David Hornik; PR Maven Renée Blodgett; Google Blog Editor Karen Wickre; Universal Giving's Pamela Hawley; Technology and Politic's Michelle Kraus; Bob Angus and Zelda Rudin, principals of A & R Partners PR; and Joe Brilliant (son of TEDPrize winner Larry Brilliant of Google.org), who thanks to his moxie at TED2006, now works for Al Gore at Current TV. More after the jump...

TEDPrize Winner Jehane Noujaim's Breakout Star

Josh Rushing, the American star of 2006 TEDPrize winner Jehane Noujaim's documentary Control Room has gone and done something very unexpected: he quit the U.S. Military after 14 years to join the English language Al-Jazeera International news station as on-air talent. As you may recall from the film, former marine Rushing, one of the U.S. media spokespersons for the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, started off the film spouting the American party line, but grew over the course of the documentary into a much more complicated and sympathetic figure. Fast Company magazine describes in their cover story how many Americans view him as an idiot, or worse a traitor. Find out why Rushing hopes that Al Jazeera International could help repair America's image not only in the Arab world, but worldwide. In viewing the film, you can see how Rushing was quite affected by his relationship with Al Jazeera reporters; there's no question that appearing in Control Room literally changed his life.

New Excessive Alcohol Consumption Genes Identified

A newly published research study funded the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has identified new genes that may play a role in the overconsumption of alcohol. The report appears in today's Procedings of the National Academy of Sciences. According to to the NIAAA, grant recipient Dr. Susan E. Bergeson, Ph.D., of the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, and a multi-site team of scientists participating in NIAAA's Integrative Neuroscience Initiative on Alcoholism (INIA) employed mice that were specially bred to have a high or low preference for alcohol to study gene expression in their brains. Numerous pathways, as well as genes whose functions are currently unknown, may contribute to the genetic predisposition to drink high amounts of alcohol, notes Dr. Bergeson. "Our results will allow us to begin to focus on targets never previously implicated in excessive drinking. For example, genetic studies have shown that chromosome 9 contains genes that may regulate alcohol consumption in mice. Our analyses allowed us to narrow our focus from thousands of genes in that region to twenty." (Image Credit: BBC)

Hubble Telescope reveals size of "Xena," Warrior Planet

NASA announced that the Hubble Space Telescope has successfully measured the "10th Planet" and found it to be 1,490 miles, only slightly larger than its neighbor Pluto at 1,422 miles wide. Planetary Scientist at CalTech Mike Brown led the team that recently discovered the newly nicknamed "Xena." The measurements were snapped in visible light photos taken Dec. 9 and 10, 2005, and just accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Thankfully, Brown chose the name Xena over space alien Xenu, who has also recently been in the news.

Green Issue Redux: 50 Ways to Help Save the Planet

You've seen Al Gore's talk at TED2006, or you've bought your tickets on Fandango to see An Inconvenient Truth. He's got you good and scared: we're in deep trouble unless we DO something. So what exactly do we do? As part of their first ever Green Issue, Vanity Fair's Daisy Prince and Emily Butselaar have compiled just exactly what I was looking for as a special web extra: 50 Ways to Help Save the Planet. (Remember 1989's 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth?) Be sure to check out this list and try to implement at least one thing. Suggestions include replacing incandescent bulbs with compact flourescents, foregoing pre-heating your oven (not necessary), ditching the pre-rinse cycle on the dishwasher, try a clothesline (dryers are energy hogs), use natural paints, go veggie one day a week, and many more easy things you can do. VF also offers a great link collection of green organizations (Be sure to scroll below the fold). Finally, there is an online exclusive portfolio of 22 additional eco-heroes not included in the magazine. Please use the comments to post additional suggestions.

Dan Gilbert on the Myth of Objectivity

At TED2004, Harvard Psychology Professor Dan Gilbert demonstrated how poor we humans are at predicting what will make us happy. Then, at TEDGlobal, he explained why we're so likely to miscalculate odds, act against our best interest, and generally fool ourselves. Forever drawn to the failings of our own brains, we'll read (and recommend) just about anything Gilbert writes. His essay "I'm OK, You're Biased," which ran in Sunday's New York Times, is no exception. Entertaining, illuminating, and definitely worth the read ...

In it, Gilbert brings cognitive science to the public realm, making a persuasive case that objectivity is near-impossible when a person has something at stake. Where there's an appearance of bias, there is bias, he argues. Politicians legislate in favor of lobbyists; doctors prescribe drugs from pharmaceutical companies that offer perks; judges favor defendants to whom they have ties. Not because they're corrupt, but because we all subconsciously make the choices we want to make. "The human brain knows many tricks that allow it to consider evidence, weigh facts and still reach precisely the conclusion it favors," he writes. On the flip side, people usually aren't as biased as they appear; after all, everyone thinks they're objective. "Doctors, judges, consultants and vice presidents strive for truth more often than we realize, and miss that mark more often than they realize."

Think this is true for everyone but you? Of course you do ...

Coming soon: Behind the TED2006 Wrap-up

Finally the story can be told...How a dedicated team of intrepid writers, designers, and Candy Building Architects stayed up all night to bring you this year's TED wrap-up. A quick shout out and thank you to writers David Hornik, Nicholas Baker, and John (did you see the man in a gorilla suit?) Boyden; PhotoShop gurus Mike Matas and Christopher Masciocchi; and propmasters Jason and Mari Tuttle, rumored to be Jeff Bezos' wife MacKenzie's brother and his wife. Got that? Without you I'm nothing. In a subsequent post, I'll take you to our suite in the Hotel Pacific where security guards nearly shut us down at 3:30 am for laughing too loudly (sorry, folks next door). Meanwhile, a poster to tide you over...

Your Green "Daily Candy:" Ideal Bite

From co-founders Heather Stephenson and Jennifer Boulden comes a daily weekday email newsletter chock-a-block with useful tips for green living. Similar to Daily Candy but now with chorophyll for fresh breath, Ideal Bite employs a team of editors to scour the planet for tips on green products, non-toxic cleaners, eco-travel, sustainable foods, and even natural Easter Egg dyes. One idea per day takes less than a minute to digest for overburdened TEDsters. Products are rated 1 to 5 apples, and each entry is accompanied by an editor's personal story. I found them at the Green Festival in San Francisco after buying my organic hemp wardrobe. Subscribers are called Biters: time to sharpen your teeth.

Thomas Dolby hits the road

Our own Thomas Dolby kicks off his Sole Inhabitant tour this week, with shows in Anaheim and L.A. He'll hit just about every major TED city in the U.S., so there's ample opportunity to watch him rock the house with an utterly intriguing blend of retro and high-tech gadgetry. The repertoire will range from his earliest work to the latest remix. Overall: Not to be missed. And New York-based TEDsters are in luck: You can catch a preview at our May 3rd salon at Joe's Pub. Details forthcoming ...

This will raise your heartbeat...

Lots of buzz building around the upcoming Al Gore movie "An Inconvenient Truth". The documentary-as-disaster-movie trailer has just been posted online.  It's here on itunes.  And here on YouTube.  Watch it if you dare.

(Select groups of TEDsters in New York and San Francisco Bay Area are attending special prescreenings of the full movie next week, courtesy of producer Lawrence Bender. Those who applied for a ticket will hear at the end of the week whether you're on the list. We're oversubscribed.)

Newts do it, deer do it ...

At TED2006, Alan Russell posed a provocative question; "If newts can regenerate a lost limb, why can't we?" For Russell, director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburg, it isn't an idle question, but one of many potential pathways to healing the human body. If you can understand the biological forces that drive limb and organ regeneration (across many species), you can potentially replicate it (with a little help from nano-biotechnology). If you missed Russell's talk, or want to learn more, The New York Times article, "Regrow Your Own," fits together some pieces in the regeneration puzzle.

Hurry up and evolve!

At TED2006, Robert Wright proposed that humans are still evolving, culturally and morally — progress that picks up where genetic evolution left off. But some scientists now say we're still evolving genetically as well. Though conventional wisdom says humans have remained essentially unchanged for 100,000 years or more, new evidence points to a faster-paced evolution still going on today. Wired News takes a look at the evolution of theories on evolution, and several TEDsters weigh in, including futurist Ray Kurzweil (TED05), who thinks it's time we took evolution into our own hands.

Vanity Fair Goes Green With Gore

It seems we aren't the only ones impressed by Al Gore and the clarion call he's sounding on global warming. Gore features prominently in Vanity Fair's first-ever Green Issue, on newsstands this week. And his essay, "The Moment of Truth" hits the issue hard: "Today, there are dire warnings that the worst catastrophe in the history of human civilization is bearing down on us, gathering strength as it comes." The piece echoes the sentiments he expressed at TED2006, and concludes, similarly, with a strong measure of optimism: "We can solve this crisis," he writes. "Today, we have all the technologies we need to start the fight against global warming. We can build clean engines. We can harnass the sun and wind. We can stop wasting energy." But more importantly, the climate crisis "presents an opportunity like no other. As we rise to meet this historic challenge, it promises us prosperity, common purpose, and the renewal of our moral authority."

Solar-powered surprise from Ross Lovegrove

After designing "the iPod of toilets" this fall, Ross Lovegrove (TED05) introduced in Milan this week a solar-powered concept car, shimmering with Swarovski crystals, but lacking an engine ... or wheels. "It's a provocation," he told the Washington Post. And to the Western Mail: "It is only the future if it can't be made."

Ads We Love: "noitulovE" (That's "Evolution." Backwards.)

In honor of yesterday's thrilling announcement that scientists have discovered — in fossil-form — a missing link between fish and land animals, we offer you the commercial that kicked off our interstitial series at TED2006. The brilliant, catchy, multiple-view-worthy noitulovE, which rewinds several hundred million years in the course of a 60-second spot. Created by BBDO for Guinness.

Piano For 10 Hands

What would it have been like if the von Trapps had played piano instead of sung? Well, for one, the hills would not likely have been quite so alive. That would have required a whole lot of piano lugging. But they still would have made a heck of a splash. While I’m not sure that they’ll be playing a Sound of Music medley any time soon, you have to check out The 5 Browns. Ryan, 20 years old, Melody, 21, Gregory 23, Deondra, 25 and Desirae, 27, all attended Juilliard School of Music. They weren’t the first siblings to attend Julliard together, but they were the first family to have 5 siblings study at Juilliard simultaneously. I must admit that when I found my way to their website, I was pretty darn skeptical. 5 piano-playing siblings is cute, but is it good music?  I’ll let you judge for yourself but there is no doubt that this family has some serious chops.  Check out this video.

Stew's smallest fan

Here's one straight from the In-Box: TEDster David Hornik emailing Joe's Pub Director Bill Bragin, who introduces us to TED2006 stand-out Stew.

From: David Hornik
To: Bill Bragin
Subject: Stew


Hey Bill –

Hope all’s well. If you have a second to pass on the word to Stew would you please let him know how much I am loving all of his CDs. He may also appreciate that this morning at breakfast my 6 year old daughter wandered past me singing “the naked Dutch painter in your bed does not want to sleep with you.” At least she has good taste. I love that song.

DAVID