My last few posts, both here and at My Pathways to New Paradigms, have leaned toward the negative. That is not what brought me to this point. My journey using the tools of Web 2.0 has shown me that change is possible not only through learning of new means of connecting and collaborating, but also new technologies and new methods of managing programs to bring about change.
One of the main sources of inspiration has been TED. One of the most interesting speakers has been Hans Rosling whose GapMinder is featured under the Understanding through Numbers section of this blog. Here is his latest TED Talk (and the 500th TEDTalk at that) Hans Rosling: Let my dataset change your mindset.
Talking at the US State Department this summer, Hans Rosling uses his fascinating data-bubble software to burst myths about the developing world. Look for new analysis on China and the post-bailout world, mixed with classic data shows.
TED also features GlobalTED, which this year was held at Oxford, England. Below are some additional talks that fit with the themes that I have contemplated during the time of my blogging.
- How can the Internet be used to enhance communication and collaboration?
- What new ways of thinking can be applied to the problems in the world?
- What new technologies can be developed to help those living on $1 a day create new opportunities for themselves rather than hand-outs from outsiders?
I also chose them because they refer directly or indirectly to the Millennium Development Goals.
I believe there is a moral sense and a global ethic that commands attention from people of every religion and every faith, and people of no faith. But I think what's new is that we now have the capacity to communicate instantaneously across frontiers right across the world. We now have the capacity to find common ground with people we will never meet but who we will meet through the Internet and through all the modern means of communication, that we now have the capacity to organize and take collective action together to deal with the problem or an injustice that we want to deal with, and I believe that this makes this a unique age in human history, and it is the start of what I would call the creation of a truly global society.Economist Paul Romer unveiling his bold plan for helping failed states by creating "charter cities," special zones governed by partner nations.
But there is another class of ideas. The rules that govern how we interact with each other. Rules like let's have a tax system that supports a research university that gives away certain kinds of knowledge for free. Let's have a system where we have ownership of land that is registered in a government office, that people can pledge as collateral. If we can keep innovating on our space of rules, and particularly innovate in the sense of coming up with rules for changing rules, so we don't get stuck with bad rules, then we can keep moving progress forward and truly make the world a better place, so that people like Nelson and his friends don't have to study any longer under the streetlights. Thank you.A remarkable water filter from inventor Michael Pritchard that turns revoltingly filthy sludge into clear drinking water in seconds (our own Chris Anderson braves a sip to prove it).
I talked a lot in the past about statistics, and the provision of safe drinking water for all. But they just don't seem to get through. And I think I've worked out why. It's because, using current thinking, the scale of the problem just seems too huge to contemplate solving. So we just switch off. Us, governments, and aid agencies. Well, today, I'd like to show you that through thinking differently, the problem has been solved. By the way, since I've been speaking, another 13,000 people around the world are suffering now with diarrhea. And four children have just died.
