TED: Ideas worth spreading

Technology should work for us, but what happens when it doesn’t? Comedian Chuck Nice explores the unintended consequences of technological advancement and human interaction — with hilarious results.   Transcript Future tech always comes with two things: promise and unintended…

Transcript So many of us who care about sustainable development and the livelihood of local people do so for deeply personal reasons. I grew up in Cameroon, a country of enchanting beauty and rich biodiversity, but plagued by poor governance,…

How do you deal with a bully without becoming a thug? In this wise and soulful talk, peace activist Scilla Elworthy maps out the skills we need — as nations and individuals — to fight extreme force without using force…

Published on Apr 19, 2017 A former British diplomat in the lead up to the Iraq war, Carne experienced first-hand the lies and self-serving discourse of political power. After a profound crisis, he began a quest for a more just…

After 15 years in the British diplomatic corps, Carne Ross became a “freelance diplomat,” running a bold nonprofit that gives small, developing and yet-unrecognized nations a voice in international relations. At the BIF-5 conference, he calls for a new kind…

“Love the reality you build” is a central tenet of the humanist ethos, expressed in the book Humanise the Earth, by Silo. In this TED talk Isaac Lidsky gives a thorough example of how this works in real life. Transcript…

Pepper spray, tasers, tear gas, rubber bullets — these “non-lethal” weapons are being used by more and more local police forces, as well as military forces brought in to control civilian crowds and other situations. Despite their name, non-lethal weapons…

“What’s so special about Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man? With arms outstretched, the man fills the irreconcilable spaces of a circle and a square — symbolizing the Renaissance-era belief in the mutable nature of humankind. James Earle explains the geometric,…

Gerard Ryle led the international team that divulged the Panama Papers, the 11.5 million leaked documents from 40 years of activity of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that have offered an unprecedented glimpse into the scope and methods of…

By Yanis Veroufakis for TED Democracy. In the West, we make a colossal mistake taking it for granted. We see democracy not as the most fragile of flowers that it really is, but we see it as part of our…