(2009-02-05) Ted Video Understand

New York City folks could watch TED's live video feed for nominal cost. I watched the Understand session.

Stephen Collins has his notes up.

My notes:

• MC: June Cohen

• Nina Jablonski: I'd like the "wonderful" drugs she's on

  • skin color

    • melanin exists for 1B yrs

    • UVB

      • makes Vitamin D

      • mostly blocked in northen hemisphere winter

    • 2 major waves of emigration

      • 1st was neaderthals?

      • lighter skin color evolved to get Vitamin D

      • need tech to adapt

        • sunscreen for light-skins

        • Vitamin D for dark-skins

• Art Benjamin

  • fix math education (Educating Kids)

    • teach Statistics, not calculus

      • more useful for most people

      • fun

      • reality has changed from analog to digital

        • continuous to discrete

• Hans Rosling

  • has done previous TEDs, see videos

  • HIV spread

    • now steady state

      • 1% of adult population

        • can be skewed

          • Botswana stays at high level because treating keeps infected people alive

        • some big exceptions still

          • mostly in Africa

            • but lots of Africa only 1% too

        • concurrency is big issue

          • highly infective during short period

            • multiple partners during same period increases risk

    • drug treatment too expensive

      • esp Whole Product

      • vaccine would be different game

    • need to return focus to prevention

• Louise Fresco

  • bread

    • not just a western staple

    • we (audience) like artisan bread vs Wonder Bread

      • authenticity?

        • or romanticizing our aggie past

      • we should respect the Progress symbolized by Wonder Bread

        • more available/cheaper than ever

        • as price dropped, added stuff

          • eggs, sugar, vitamins

            • associated now with Obesity

        • Local Food is a luxury

        • we need to double food output (calories) by 2030

          • meat is primary means

          • need mechanization and other tech

            • more science than industrialized Big-Ag

            • genetics

            • drip irrigation

            • robot pickers

            • regional, not global/local

            • Urban Farming

              • Urbanization is huge trend, food recommendations have to be consistent with that

• Elizabeth Gilbert

  • Eat Pray Love

    • not her first book

    • first big success

    • "aren't you afraid you'll never have another hit?"

    • 20 yrs ago: "aren't you afraid you'll never have a hit?"

    • why do we fear Creative careers compared to others?

    • she needs to isolate herself from fear of future reviews

    • seeking model

      • classical cultures

        • creativity comes from outside

          • Greek: daemon

          • Roman: genius

      • killed by Renaissance Individualism

        • when use of "genius" changed

    • Ruth Stone, poet: talks about "feeling a poem rushing across the landscape at her, have to run inside to get pencil/paper before it blows past"

• Jacek Utko

  • argh: missed due to net failure

• Margaret Wertheim: missed most of

  • crochet coral reef

    • kindergarten for grownups

      • manipulatives