This week on TED.com, watch Joshua Klein’s demonstration of his “vending machine” for crows — a clever idea that points to a new relationship between humanity and this very smart bird. Alisa Miller, of Public Radio International, breaks down the reasons Americans know less than ever about the world. And from our partner conference EG (the Entertainment Gathering), Mark Bittman of the New York Times talks about the food we eat, in a fiery, funny talk that may cause you to re-examine your next meal.
Mark Bittman: What’s wrong with the food we eat
In this fiery and funny talk, New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman (”The Minimalist”) weighs in on what’s wrong with the way the developed world eats now (too much meat, too few plants; too much fast food, too little home cooking), and why it’s putting the entire planet at risk. From the 2007 EG conference. Watch this talk >>
Alisa Miller: Why Americans know less than ever about the world
At TED2008, Alisa Miller, head of Public Radio International, talks about why — though Americans want to know more about the world than ever now — the US media is actually showing less. Eye-opening stats and graphs. Watch this talk >>
Joshua Klein: The amazing intelligence of crows
Hacker and writer Joshua Klein is fascinated by crows. (Notice the gleam of intelligence in their little black eyes?) After a long amateur study of corvid behavior, he’s come up with an elegant machine that may form a new bond between animal and human. Watch this talk >>
Michael Moschen: Juggling rhythm and motion
Michael Moschen puts on a quietly mesmerizing show of juggling, combining dance, athleticism and a keen grasp of practical physics. Don’t think juggling is an art? You might just change your mind after watching Moschen in motion. Watch this talk >>
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A neat idea from Edward Carter, re Christopher deCharms’ talk “Looking inside the brain in real time”:
… if they can map images of words from brain patterns, Steven [Hawking] won’t have to poke around with facial tics and eye movement to activate his word processor.
Adrian Tsang on Alisa Miller’s talk “Why we know less than ever about the world”:
I don’t suppose anyone can suggest some news outlets (web-based I hope) which have a more proportionate ratio of worldwide news?
Alisa Miller responds: I think public media can help, as well as hybrid models which we are exploring. Based on research, both PRI (through its program sites and .org) and NPR provide some diversity. Of course the BBC World Service is also great (full disclosure, we do distribute that in the USA). I think The Economist is also a great source, as is the NYT. The Wall Street Journal also provides quite a bit of global coverage, unless of course that changes under the new ownership. There are also interesting groups, like Global Voices, that provide first-hand accounts, also excellent.
Replay Pangea Day! Watch, discuss, act
People around the world were inspired by Pangea Day, last Saturday, May 10. If you missed it or want to replay the show for yourself or friends, you can watch the full program in 20-minute segments on PangeaDay.org. Or catch the one-hour highlights show. Or watch the individual films — including more great films not shown on the day — on PangeaDay.org. Or watch the films on OVI.com, MSN, Yahoo! Video … Then join the conversation about the day on the Pangea Day Blog.
