Day 2 Highlights

DAY 2(getting up at 3am was much harder than I thought it was going to be :-} I can’t believe there are people that get up every day for work at this time ☹

Antonio Damasio (Neuroscientist) – this guy is bending my brain. I love the idea of the mind making internal maps of the body, that is fascinating. The definition of self was interesting – I’ll have to talk to my dad the philosopher about it more. It is interesting to see a young baby like my neighbour become more self aware, and it follows the requirements put forward by this speaker. I think I’ll have to watch this talk 4 or 5 times to really get the most out of it.

The Philosopher who teaches people in gaol (Dr Horowitz? He has the same name as my Lyme Disease Dr!) – as the daughter of a philosopher I found this fascinating. A great program – maybe we need it in our schools so that people can work out what they think & analyse their situation so they don’t end up in gaol.

Felisa Wolfe-Simon (Geobiologist) – this was absolutely fascinating. The fact that they discovered that some cells use arsenic instead of phosphorous, completely changing the way we have defined the way life is seen for hundreds of years – I see a Nobel prize somewhere in the future for this lady.

Aaron O’Connell – this talk was incredible. I’ve always been interested in quantum mechanics, and the fact that he got an object to act according to the laws of quantum mechanics is mind blowing – I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next. It was amazing to see that he could get a piece of metal to be in two places at exactly the same time.

Morgan Spurlock – I think this talk will be the best talk from TED 2011 – so cool, I can’t wait to see the movie. I always love his work – he manages to get to the truth of the matter whilst being funny.

David Christian (historian) – I though that this was a very well presented talk & I would love for everyone to learn about BIG history, although I think he will have problems teaching people who have a particular religious perspective with the 13.7 billion year history that he explains.

Amina Az-Zubair (Development Worker) – As a member of the Girl Guides I am vey passionate about the Millennium Development Goals & have studied them for a long time. It is so wonderful to see a MDG success story. I knew that Nigeria was making progress with the MDG’s, but had no idea that how big the improvements were. If you want to know more about MDG’s you can see information here www.un.org/millenniumgoals & if you want to know what Girl Guides are doing about the MDG’s you can look here www.wagggsworld.org/en/take_action/gat/mdgs

Bruce Aylward (Epidemiologist) - Ok, now this is my favourite talk, so far…. It made me so proud to be human. Polio is such a horrible disease. Even though I’ve never had polio, I have been paralysed for a time & it is terrifying. I am lucky that I can do rehab to gain the use of my muscles again, it seems the kids with polio don’t have that option. It is amazing the suffering they are able to prevent with this vaccination program. The stats speak for themselves – a 99% reduction in polio cases in 1 year!! Go on Bill Gates – give these people LOTS of cash, they are changing the world into a better place.

Salman Khan (Educator) – This guy got a really big standing ovation & he really deserves it. His has basically taken what homeschoolers have been doing for decades and started to put it into classrooms – I can’t wait to jump online & use it. This looks like it will be a great resource for unschoolers as well – they can follow their passions around the site & let their brains get bigger in the process. I've already sent the link to the Khan Academy to a couple of my homeschool friends.

Bill Gates also got a standing ovation (and from a bunch of apple users that’s impressive). He picked really great speakers – he was a surprisingly good curator for his session.

Edith Widder (Deep Sea Explorer) – I thought that this was such a beautiful talk. It makes me want to look up the bioluminescence on youtube (it sounds like it would make a great screen saver). I also thought it was incredible that they could get some of the worlds greatest oceanographers together – it is wonderful when they can get so many great minds together, it is one of the reasons I love TED.

JR is a street artist who takes photos of people in disadvantaged situations, & puts up enormous posters of the photo’s on buildings (illegally!!). I especially liked the poster he stuck up in Switzerland (6 stories high on the side of a building) of a Minaret, just after building minarets in Switzerland had been banned. I also loved it when he went to Israel & Palestine & took photo’s of people doing the same jobs – I especially loved the three photo’s of the Rabbi, the Imam & the Priest, all pulling faces – it really showed our shared humanity.

Jamie Oliver – he REALLY can’t stand still… ever. It was so fantastic to see how far the Food Revolution has come, and how passionate about it he is. Having just spent 12 months living in the US, I was shocked about the food situation over there. Many people in other western countries don’t realise how bad the obesity problem is in America. Finding good produce was actually MUCH harder in the US than at home in Australia, where we are so spoilt to have a farmers outlet 5 mins from our home, who pick the food in the morning & we are eating it in the afternoon (& the local farmer brings his meat to our kitchen, all packaged up to go in the freezer). I met so many families who didn’t cook in the US, it really surprised me – so it is great to see Jamie’s food trucks are going to be travelling around the US giving cooking lessons (I’d go, they sound like fun & who wouldn’t want a cooking lesson with Jamie Oliver!!!).