If you were invited to TED...

Luke Burrage

So Timo gets a TEDx invite. I'm not sure if he's speaking or simply attending, but either way it's cool.

Here's the questions: if you were invited to a TED conference, what would you want to be invited for? As in, what would you want to be known for to get an invite? And, more importantly, if you were invited to give a presentation, what would you speak about for 20 minutes?

thaneofcawdor

"Life As An Interesting, Talented, Multi-Billionaire Formula 1 Driver\Astronaut With A Supermodel Wife: Is It Worth All The Effort?"

Rym

Well, we'll very likely be running our own TEDx next year, so the question may be a practical one. I am seriously considering giving a lecture myself.

Neito

Well, we'll very likely be running our own TEDx next year, so the question may be a practical one. I am seriously considering giving a lecture myself.

"We" as in your company, or "We" as in GeekNights?

Erwin

If I were invited to TED I would like to talk about a small side project of mine. Right now I am just doing some research, I had a little help from one of my professors. It is basically an AIDS project that would involve the use of the already infected T-cells as bioreactors (they would be identified by their specific peplomers on the cell membranes). And it will also involve a reverse transcriptase mechanism similar so it could attach to the infected T-cell DNA. At the moment is just a theory but so far there is the University of Barcelona that has a similar idea.
It would be either that or a hybrid between apple custard and "Cherimoya" in order to make the tasteier fruit ever! :P

TheWhaleShark

Here's the questions: if you were invited to a TED conference, what would you want to be invited for? As in, what would you want to be known for to get an invite? And, more importantly, if you were invited to give a presentation, what would you speak about for 20 minutes?

This is a bit of a complex question. Career-wise, I'm looking at going in the direction of public health education, and TED is a great way to get the message out there. I'm particularly interested in raising food safety awareness, but I'm even more interested in raising public health awareness in other areas, particular as it applies to medicine and alternative therapies. I could give a talk about critical thinking in the public health arena, how to research claims made by manufacturers to figure out what is and is not snake oil, and how to apply these skills to food safety. That's a thought, but I'd really rather do that sort of thing when I'm in grad school pursuing an M.P.H in Public Health Education.

Right now, if I had to pick a topic to present, I would - and I'm dead serious here - do a talk about heavy metal music and why it's actually significant. I would present it as being the polar opposite of the "One Buttock Playing" talk, but in reality, there would be a startling overlap between the material. Beethoven was totally fucking metal, after all. The goal would be the same as the One Buttock talk: to spark interest in an oft-maligned genre of music, and to challenge the audience to step outside of their normal listening habits and try something new. Obviously, it would have to be more concise and formal than the metal panel, but I think I could do it.

Dr. Timo

TEDxHelsinki just ended an hour ago and it was full of teh awesome! I was only invited, not speaking, maybe one day... . I have an awesome video of two Finnish artists performing acoustic versions of songs on Tipper Gores infamous Filthy Fifteen list. I'll see about getting it uploaded somehow, one of the artists names translates to "give wood" and you can judge for yourselves the extent of nominative predestination going on.

Edit: And I would talk about the social contract between scientists and society and modern trends in commercializing research.

Dr. Timo

Here is the video. The quality is what you'd expect from a hand held Powershot SD300 but I think the point gets across. These two (and a couple of other artists) actually performed eleven of the fifteen songs on that list at a recent festival for chamber music (I may not have said so before, apart from posting some nifty music videos in the ToYD thread, but Finland has a fucking awesome music scene).

Anywho, I'll probably replace the video if/when the TEDx crew get a better one up on the tubes, until then enjoy. The bit at the beginning is "This song is Animal (Fuck like a Beast) and it's a song about the flowers and the bees performed by Anna Puu (give wood)":

Nuri

I would want to talk about taboos, communication skills, and how they need to adapt to modern society.

This is relevant to both my personal life (dear god, every person who has ever asked me for advice could learn from it) and my prospective professional life (politics would be SO much better if people could actually discuss issues openly), so the topic is of great interest to me.

Cremlian

politics would be SO much better if people could actually discuss issues openly

But then people would have to give up closely held beliefs and sometimes admit to making mistakes.

Nuri

politics would be SO much better if people could actually discuss issues openly

But then people would have to give up closely held beliefs and sometimes admit to making mistakes.

Fuck, then the world would end. Clearly we have to find some other solution.

TheWhaleShark

politics would be SO much better if people could actually discuss issues openly

But then people would have to give up closely held beliefs and sometimes admit to making mistakes.

Fuck, then the world would end. Clearly we have to find some other solution.

Dingoes.

Churba

Dingoes.

And Spiders.

Kate Monster

Dingoes.

And Spiders.

And Bears! Oh my!