TED 2007: Day 1 Highlights

Trying to describe this conference would be like me trying to cut your hair over the phone (Thanks Jonah for the analogy). The energy, enthusiasm and mass of talented and remarkable people in one place at one time is hard to fathom. I’ve met or passed people from all walks of life, from Oscar Award winning actor Forest Whittaker to designer Phillipe Starck, and even musical legends like Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel. While they’re definitely fascinating to meet, what has been most interesting socially is the countless other interesting talented individuals from around the world doing their absolute best to innovate and contribute towards the greater good in their industry. As far as the normal programming, there were a couple of technical glitches off the bat but here’s a quick recap of what stood out to me most: Carolyn Porco— The planetary scientist was absolutely amazing, compelling and changed the way I thought about space exploration. I hope I get a chance to see her again this week. Phillippe Starck was a hoot– no preparation and no slides, he spoke essentially about how he felt, in the state of our world. The world is going to shit and he was busy designing toothbrushes and toilet bowl cleaners. He actually said “I believe in general that my job is absolutely useless; but now, after Carolyn and these guys, I feel like shit.” Hans Rosling was delightful and his presentation was beautiful. If you haven’t seen his presentation from last year, go watch it now! Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was moving– he’s incredibly prolific and his speech made me want to read his book. He said one thing I’ll share– so many people refer to, or comment about him regarding his height (7ft 2 inches). He said he’d like to be known not as 7 feet 2 inches tall, but as 7 feet 2 inches deep. I played with Jeff Han’s new multi-touch screen and it was a blast (more on that later). Finally, musician Raul Midon who I wrote about more than two years ago absolutely killed it on stage, he is one gifted guy– go buy his CD right now! More tomorrow…