There’s almost nothing as intellectually stimulating as a TED Talk. TED, short for “Technology, Entertainment, Design,” has been a chance for people to hear some of the greatest innovators and thinkers around describe everything from why we know so much less about the world than we think we do to what we can learn about ourselves from how we tie our shoes. There’s Ken Robinson pondering whether schools kill creativity, and JJ Abrams revealing his insights on Lost. With over 700 talks and performances to chose from, there’s there’s definitely something for everyone there. You can see Malcolm McLaren, the brains behind the Sex Pistols, commenting on “Authentic Creativity vs. Creative Culture,” or you can sit back and listen to violinist Robert Gupta and cellist Joshua Roman perform Halvorsen’s “Passacaglia” for violin and viola.
Until now, people here in Santa Cruz were restricted to listening to TED Talks online. No More! TED is coming to Santa Cruz on June 11. It will be held at the Music Recital Hall on the Cabrillo College campus.
The event is one of the new TEDx events, where communities around the world can sponsor local TED-like events of their own. According to local co-curator Doug Abrams, “This is an opportunity for Santa Cruz’s visionaries to be showcased to our community and to the world, people that are usually below the radar.”
According to the TED Commandments, all of the talks must be short—between three and 18 minutes, and there is no Q&A afterwards. No commercial, religious, or political messages are allowed. “This is the haiku of public speaking,” says Abrams. “We have engaged these very experienced speakers in this curation process that helps them distill a life’s work in three to 18 minutes.”
Among the speakers are Joel Primack and Nancy Abrams, authors of The New Universe and The Human Future; Riane Eisler, author of The Chalice and The Blade and proponent of a “caring economics” and venture capitalist (and Moonalice guitarist) Roger McNamee.
Tickets to the all-day event cost $75, but they include lunch and refreshments. Keep watching here for more information.
Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
