File 014951

TED2017 Conference Program - The Future You (File 014951)

TED2017 conference program featuring speakers on AI, democracy, cybersecurity, and creative innovation, including chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov discussing the future of democracy and technology.
Summary
This is a TED2017 conference program document from April 2017 featuring multiple sessions and speakers. The program includes TED Fellows talks and thematic sessions such as 'One Move Ahead' hosted by Chris Anderson. Notable speakers profiled include Huang Yi (choreographer/roboticist), Anab Jain (futurist/designer), Garry Kasparov (chess grandmaster and democracy advocate), Laura Galante (cyberspace analyst), OK Go (band), Tim Ferriss (author/entrepreneur), and Titus Kaphar (artist). The document highlights cutting-edge work in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, human rights, and creative technology.
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TED2017: The future you
4/20/17, 12:07 PM
TED2017 program
Monday, April 24, 10:15AM - 12:00PM PDT
TED Fellows Talks, Session 1
Amazing talks and performances from the new class of TED Fellows and returning Senior Fellows. Hosted by Fellows director Tom Rielly.
Monday, April 24, 1:15PM - 3:00PM PDT
TED Fellows Talks, Session 2
Part 2 of the TED Fellows session, featuring cutting-edge work from TED Fellows and Senior Fellows. Unmissable.
Monday, April 24, 5:00PM - 7:00PM PDT
Session 1: One Move Ahead
Hosted by Chris Anderson
Not attending TED2017? Watch Session 1 – Opening Event – broadcast to cinemas! Find showtimes
Huang Yi
Choreographer, dancer, inventor
As a child, Huang Yi longed for a robot companion. As an adult, he created a robot to dance with: KUKA.
Taiwanese dancer, choreographer, inventor, and videographer Huang Yi’s pioneering work is steeped in his fascination with the partnership
between humans and robots. He interweaves continuous movement with mechanical and multimedia elements to create a form of dance
which corresponds with the flow of data, effectively making the performer a dancing instrument. Named by Dance Magazine as one of the
“25 to Watch,” Huang is one of Asia’s most prolific choreographers.
Harmoniously weaving together the art of dance and the science of mechanical engineering, HUANG YI & KUKA is a poetic work that
intertwines modern dance and visual arts with the realm of robotics, revealing humanity through a series of vignettes between live dancers
and KUKA, a robot conceptualized and programmed by Huang. “Dancing face to face with a robot is like looking at my own face in a
mirror...I think I have found the key to spin human emotions into robots,” Huang asserts.
HUANG YI & KUKA is an original production of Huang Yi Studio +, developed at 3LD Art & Technology Center, in association with
Sozo Artists. Commissioned by Quanta Arts Foundation.
facebook.com/HuangYiStudio
Anab Jain
Futurist, designer
Superflux co-founder and TED Fellow Anab Jain parses uncertainties around our shared futures to create provocative experiences, tools
and tactics that we can adopt today.
In 2009, Anab Jain co-founded the design firm Superflux with Jon Ardern, inspired by influences as far-flung as avant-garde architecture
and Andrei Tarkovsky. The challenges Jain explores are some of the biggest -- climate change, biotech, intelligent machines -- and her
resulting work “navigates the entangled wilderness of our technology, politics, culture and environment to imagine new ways of seeing,
being and acting.”
In her work, Jain creates worlds, stories and tools that provoke and inspire us to engage with the precarity of our rapidly changing world.
Superflux is building tools, methods and commons that can enable us to mitigate the shock of food insecurity and climate change. Recently
they produced a series of civilian drones, and created a vision of a near-future city where these intelligent machines begin to display
increasing autonomy with civic society. Among Superflux’s previous projects is a headset allowing blind subjects injected with a lightsensitive
virus to develop a kind of “super-sight” sensitive to spectrums that ordinary vision cannot detect.
superflux.in @anabjain
Garry Kasparov
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Garry Kasparov
Grandmaster, analyst
Garry Kasparov is esteemed by many as the greatest chess player of all time. Now he’s engaged in a game with far higher stakes: the
preservation of democracy.
When 22-year-old Garry Kasparov became the world’s youngest chess Grand Champion, few could predict his turbulent career in chess or
as a dissident. His chessboard wizardry was already the stuff of legend when, in 1997, he made headlines when he lost a rematch to IBM’s
Deep Blue supercomputer, ushering AI into the public sphere.
Kasparov’s book Winter Is Coming details the rise of Putin’s Russia as well as Kasparov’s persecution and self-exile, and it serves chilling
warnings of reactionary forces gathering in the West. He is the chair of the Human Rights Foundation, succeeding his predecessor Vaclav
Havel.
kasparov.com @Kasparov63
Laura Galante
Cyberspace analyst
Laura Galante analyzes how states use cyberspace: a domain where militaries, intelligence services, criminal groups and individuals pursue
their interests with far fewer restraints than in the physical world.
At FireEye, Galante's teams have profiled advanced cyber threats, investigated network breaches and portrayed the political, military and
financial implications of cyber operations. Part of the original Mandiant Intelligence team, Galante has led strategic analysis, developed
intelligence capabilities and offerings, and directed publications including APT28: A Window into Russia’s State Cyber Espionage; Red
Line Drawn: China Recalculates its Use of Cyber Espionage; and Hacking the Street? FIN4 Likely Playing the Market among others.
In November 2016 she spoke at the UN Security Council’s Arria Formula meeting on cybersecurity and international peace and security.
She frequently appears on and provides commentary to: CNN, Bloomberg, NPR, BBC, Fox News, the New York Times, The Financial
Times, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, the Associated Press and other global and industry media. Prior to her work at FireEye and
Mandiant, Galante led a contractor team analyzing cyber capability development and military doctrine at the US Department of Defense.
She supported the 2010 US-Russia bilateral information security talks.
fireeye.com @LauraLGalante
OK Go
Band
A wildly creative band of music- and video-makers, OK Go is building a media empire on the back of endless, boundless ingenuity.
With a career that includes award-winning videos, New York Times op-eds, a major label split and the establishment of a DIY trans-media
mini-empire (Paracadute), collaborations with pioneering dance companies and tech giants, animators and Muppets, and an experiment that
aims to encode Hungry Ghosts on actual strands of DNA, OK Go continue to fearlessly dream and build new worlds in a time when
creative boundaries have all but dissolved.
The band has been honored with a Grammy, three MTV Video Music Awards (one of them from Japan!), a CLIO, three UK Music Video
Awards, two Webby Awards (including one for their collaboration with The Muppets and Sesame Street) and a spot in a Guggenheim
installation. Their latest video is “The One Moment,” directed by the band's singer, Damian Kulash Jr.
okgo.net @okgo
Tim Ferriss
Human guinea pig, author
Tim Ferriss is author of "The 4-Hour Workweek," a self-improvement program of four steps: defining aspirations, managing time, creating
automatic income and escaping the trappings of the 9-to-5.
Tim Ferris brings an analytical yet accessible approach to the challenges of self-improvement and career advancement through what he
calls "lifestyle design." His 2007 book, The 4-Hour Workweek, and his lectures on productivity are stuffed with moving, encouraging
anecdotes -- often from his own life -- that show how simple decisions, made despite fears or hesitation, can make for a drastically more
meaningful day-to-day experience at work, or in life.
Word-of-blog chatter in Silicon Valley may have propelled his book to bestselling success, but Ferriss himself takes a fervid stance against
the distractions of technology toys that promote unnecessary multitasking. Following the success of his book, Ferriss has become a fulltime
angel investor.
Titus Kaphar
Artist
Titus Kaphar's artworks interact with the history of art by appropriating its styles and mediums.
As Titus Kaphar says of his work: “I’ve always been fascinated by history: art history, American history, world history, individual history -
- how history is written, recorded, distorted, exploited, reimagined, and understood. In my work I explore the materiality of reconstructive
history. I paint and I sculpt, often borrowing from the historical canon, and then alter the work in some way. I cut, crumple, shroud, shred,
stitch, tar, twist, bind, erase, break, tear, and turn the paintings and sculptures I create, reconfiguring them into works that nod to hidden
narratives and begin to reveal unspoken truths about the nature of history."
His latest works are an investigation into the highest and lowest forms of recording history. From monuments to mug shots, this body of
work exhibited at Jack Shainman gallery December-January 2017 seeks to collapse the line of American history to inhabit a fixed point in
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work exhibited at Jack Shainman gallery December-January 2017 seeks to collapse the line of American history to inhabit a fixed point in
the present. Historical portraiture, mug shots, and YouTube stills challenge viewers to consider how we document the past, and what we
have erased. Rather than explore guilt or innocence, Kaphar engages the narratives of individuals and how we as a society manage and
define them over time. As a whole, this exhibition explores the power of rewritten histories to question the presumption of innocence and
the mythology of the heroic.
kapharstudio.com
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
Religious leader
In a world violently polarized by extremists, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks is proposing and advocating solutions to mounting religious
intolerance.
Rabbi Lord Sacks is one of Judaism’s spiritual leaders, and he exercises a primary influence on the thought and philosophy of Jews and
people of all faiths worldwide. Since stepping down as Chief Rabbi of the UK and Commonwealth in 2013, Rabbi Lord Sacks has become
an increasingly well-known speaker, respected moral voice and writer; his 2015 book is Not in God's Name: Confronting Religious
Violence.
Granted a seat in the British House of Lords in 2009, Rabbi Lord Sacks is a key Jewish voice for universalism and an embrace of tolerance
between religions and cultures. He rejects the “politics of anger” brought about by the way “we have acted as if markets can function
without morals, international corporations without social responsibility and economic systems without regard to their effect on the people
left stranded by the shifting tide." He also sees, as a key idea for faith in our times, that unity in heaven creates diversity on earth.
rabbisacks.org @rabbisacks
Tuesday, April 25, 8:30AM - 10:15AM PDT
Session 2: Our Robotic Overlords
Hosted by Chris Anderson and Helen Walters.
Marc Raibert
Roboticist
Marc Raibert is the founder and CEO of robot maker Boston Dynamics.
Working with his team at Boston Dynamics, Marc Raibert builds some of the world’s most advanced robots, such as BigDog, Atlas, Spot
and Handle. These robots are inspired by the remarkable ability of animals to move with agility, dexterity, perception and intelligence. A
key ingredient of these robots is their dynamic behavior, which contributes to their lifelike qualities and their effectiveness in the real
world.
Raibert founded Boston Dynamics as a spinoff from MIT, where he ran the Leg Laboratory, which helped establish the scientific basis for
highly dynamic robots. He was a professor of EE&CS at MIT and before that associate professor of CS & Robotics at Carnegie Mellon
University. Raibert is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
bostondynamics.com
Noriko Arai
AI expert
Could an AI pass the entrance exam for the University of Tokyo? Noriko Arai oversees a project that wants to find out.
Noriko Arai is the program director of an AI challenge, Todai Robot Project, which asks the question: Can AI get into the University of
Tokyo? The project aims to visualize both the possibilities and the limitation of current AI by setting a concrete goal: a software system
that can pass university entrance exams. In 2015 and 2016, Todai Robot achieved top 20 percent in the exams, and passed more than 60
percent of the universities in Japan.
The inventor of Reading Skill Test, in 2017 Arai conducted a large-scale survey on reading skills of high and junior high school students
with Japan's Ministry of Education. The results revealed that more than half of junior high school students fail to comprehend sentences
sampled from their textbooks. Arai founded the Research Institute of Science for Education to elucidate why so many students fail to read
and how she can support them.
nii.ac.jp/en/faculty/society/arai_noriko researchmap.jp/arai_noriko/english
Stuart Russell
AI expert
Stuart Russell wrote the standard text on AI; now he thinks deeply on AI's future -- and the future of us humans too.
Stuart Russell is a professor (and formerly chair) of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at University of California at Berkeley.
His book Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (with Peter Norvig) is the standard text in AI; it has been translated into 13 languages
and is used in more than 1,300 universities in 118 countries. His research covers a wide range of topics in artificial intelligence including
machine learning, probabilistic reasoning, knowledge representation, planning, real-time decision making, multitarget tracking, computer
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machine learning, probabilistic reasoning, knowledge representation, planning, real-time decision making, multitarget tracking, computer
vision, computational physiology, global seismic monitoring and philosophical foundations.
He also works for the United Nations, developing a new global seismic monitoring system for the nuclear-test-ban treaty. His current
concerns include the threat of autonomous weapons and the long-term future of artificial intelligence and its relation to humanity.
eecs.berkeley.edu/~russell
Joseph Redmon
Computer scientist
Joseph Redmon works on the YOLO algorithm, which combines the simple face detection of your phone camera with a cloud-based AI --
in real time.
Computer scientist Joseph Redmon is working on the YOLO (You Only Look Once) algorithm, which has a simple goal: to deliver image
recognition and object detection at a speed that would seem science-fictional only a few years ago. The algorithm looks like the simple face
detection of a camera app but with the level complexity of systems like Google's Deep Mind Cloud Vision, using Convolutional Deep
Neural Networks to crunch object detection in realtime. It's the kind of technology that will be embedded on all smartphones in the next
few years.
Redmon is also internet-famous for his resume.
pjreddie.com @pjreddie
Tom Gruber
AI developer
As co-creator of Siri, Tom Gruber helped redefine the role of machine intelligence in our lives and transformed the way we interact with
our devices.
By connecting humans and machines with AI, designer, inventor and polymath Tom Gruber is opening up new ways to improve our lives
and augment human intelligence.
Gruber led the team that revolutionized human-machine interaction with Siri, the intelligent personal assistant that can understand your
spoken language and help you get things done. Launched in 2010, Siri is now used billions of times a week in more than 30 countries
around the world.
tomgruber.org
Radhika Nagpal
Robotics engineer
Taking cues from bottom-up biological networks like those of social insects, Radhika Nagpal helped design an unprecedented “swarm” of
ant-like robots.
With a swarm of 1,024 robots inspired by the design of ant colonies, Radhika Nagpal and her colleagues at Harvard’s SSR research group
have redefined expectations for self-organizing robotic systems. Guided by algorithms, Nagpal’s shockingly simple robots guide
themselves into a variety of shapes -- an ability that, brought to scale, might lead to applications like disaster rescue, space exploration and
beyond.
In addition to her work with biologically inspired robots, Nagpal helped create ROOT, a simple robot to teach coding to would-be
programmers through a simple user interface suitable for students of all ages.
radhikanagpal.org eecs.harvard.edu/ssr
Tuesday, April 25, 11:00AM - 12:45PM PDT
Session 3: The Human Response
Hosted by Chris Anderson and Kelly Stoetzel.
Rutger Bregman
Historian
Rutger Bregman is the author of the new "Utopia for Realists."
Rutger Bregman is one of Europe’s most prominent young thinkers. The 28-year-old historian and author has published four books on
history, philosophy and economics. His History of Progress was awarded the Belgian Liberales prize for best nonfiction book of 2013. The
Dutch edition of Utopia for Realists became a national bestseller and will be translated in 16 languages this year. Bregman has twice been
nominated for the prestigious European Press Prize for his journalism work at The Correspondent. His work has been featured in The
Washington Post and The Guardian and on the BBC.
rutgerbregman.com @rcbregman
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Martin Ford
Futurist
Martin Ford imagines what the accelerating progress in robotics and artificial intelligence may mean for the economy, job market and
society of the future.
Martin Ford was one of the first analysts to write compellingly about the future of work and economies in the face of the growing
automation of everything. He sketches a future that's radically reshaped not just by robots but by the loss of the income-distributing power
of human jobs. How will our economic systems need to adapt?
He's the author of two books: Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future (winner of the 2015 Financial
Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award ) and The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy
of the Future, and he's the founder of a Silicon Valley-based software development firm. He has written about future technology and its
implications for the New York Times, Fortune, Forbes, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Harvard Business Review and The Financial
Times.
mfordfuture.com @MFordFuture
Jack Conte
Musician, entrepreneur
With his membership platform Patreon, YouTube star Jack Conte may have solved a perennial problem of content creators -- getting paid
for digital media.
As a solo artist and member of folk-rock duo Pomplamoose, Jack Conte garnered millions of views for his offbeat “video songs,” including
his breakout hit “Yeah Yeah Yeah” and “Pedals,” a robotic tour-de-force with a set that duplicates the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon.
Despite his success, Conte noted the disconnect between page views and revenue, and realized that if you’re a widely viewed artist and you
aren’t making money, “that’s not your fault -- it’s technology’s fault.” His solution is Patreon: a membership platform built on recurring
payments from patrons to support creatives with ongoing projects.
patreon.com/jackconte @jackconte
Sara DeWitt
Children’s media expert
Like Mister Rogers before her, Sara DeWitt strives to make every child feel special by charting the forefront of new digital mediums where
kids spend their time.
Sara DeWitt’s vision seems simple: make each digital interaction an opportunity to learn and delight in new discoveries. How does that
vision come to light as kids access technology at younger ages than ever before?
Over the past 18 years, DeWitt has worked at the forefront of new platforms in an effort to be everywhere kids are -- now she's at PBS
Kids Digital, building award-winning sites, games and apps. As more media outlets try to capture the interest of our youngest audiences,
her research on how digital spaces affect skills and social emotional development in kids is more relevant than ever.
pbskids.org @saradewitt
Ray Dalio
Hedge fund chair
Ray Dalio is the founder, chair and co-chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, a global leader in institutional portfolio
management and the largest hedge fund in the world.
Dalio started Bridgewater out of his two-bedroom apartment in New York City in 1975 and has grown it into the fifth most important
private company in the U.S. (according to Fortune magazine). Because of the firm’s many industry-changing innovations over its 40-year
history, he has been called the “Steve Jobs of investing” by aiCIO magazine and named one of TIME magazine’s "100 Most Influential
People."
Dalio attributes Bridgewater’s success to its unique culture. He describes it as “a believability-weighted idea meritocracy” in which the
people strive for “meaningful work and meaningful relationships through radical truth and radical transparency.” He has explained this
approach in his book Principles, which has been downloaded more than three million times and has produced considerable curiosity and
controversy.
bridgewater.com principles.com
Anthony D. Romero
Attorney, public-interest activist
Anthony D. Romero is the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The ACLU is dedicated to defending liberty and individual freedom in the US -- which is an interesting mandate to have right now.
Anthony Romero has headed the organization since 2001, focusing on building capacity in order to defend the laws that protect Americans'
freedoms.
Under Romero's watch, the ACLU launched its national "Keep America Safe and Free" campaign to protect basic freedoms during a time
of crisis; launched its unique legal challenge to the patents held by a private company on the human genes associated with breast and
ovarian cancer; launched litigation and lobbying efforts to win the freedom to marry for same-sex couples; and filed the first lawsuit
against President Trump’s Muslim Ban.
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aclu.org
T. Morgan Dixon
Health activist
T. Morgan Dixon is the co-founder and CEO of GirlTrek, inspiring nearly 100,000 neighborhood walkers.
T. Morgan Dixon co-leads GirlTrek, the largest public health nonprofit for African-American women and girls in the United States.
GirlTrek encourages women to use walking as a practical first step to inspire healthy living, families and communities and knits local
advocacy together to lead a civil rights-inspired health movement that seeks to eliminate barriers to physical activity, improve access to
safe places to walk, protect and reclaim green spaces and improve the walkability and built environments of 50 high-need communities
across the United States.
Prior to GirlTrek, Dixon was on the front lines of education reform. She served as Director of Leadership Development for one of the
largest charter school networks in the country, Achievement First, and directed the start-up of six public schools in New York City for St.
Hope and the Urban Assembly, two organizations funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As the leader of GirlTrek, Morgan
received fellowships from Echoing Green (2013), Ashoka (2014) and The Aspen Institute (2015).
girltrek.org @GirlTrek
Vanessa Garrison
Health activist
As COO of GirlTrek, Vanessa Garrison encourages African American women and girls to get out and take a walk.
Vanessa Garrison is the co-founder and COO of GirlTrek, the largest public health nonprofit for African-American women and girls in the
United States. With nearly 100,000 neighborhood walkers, GirlTrek encourages women to use walking as a practical first step to inspire
healthy living, families and communities.
Working with partners, GirlTrek has developed a world-class training for African-American women to serve as health professionals in the
areas of fitness, mental health, nutrition, and environmental stewardship. Prior to GirlTrek, Garrison worked as a Program Coordinator for
Our Place DC, a nonprofit organization that provides services to currently and formerly incarcerated women. In her work with GirlTrek,
she's received fellowships from Echoing Green and The Aspen Institute and been named “Health Hero” by Essence Magazine.
girltrek.org @GirlTrek
Tuesday, April 25, 2:15PM - 4:00PM PDT
TED en Español: Conexión y Sentido
Hosted by Gerry Garbulsky, TED en Español showcases powerful ideas in Spanish. Join us in the Community Theater. (English translation will be available.)
Gabriela González
Astrophysicist
Gabriela González is part of the collaboration of more than 1,000 scientists who measured for the first time the gravitational waves that
Einstein predicted over 100 years ago.
Over 100 years after Albert Einstein predicted gravitational waves -- ripples in space-time caused by violent cosmic collision, like the
merging of two black holes -- the LIGO Scientific Collaboration confirmed their existence using large, hyper-sensitive detectors in
different parts of the world. As LIGO's former spokesperson and the person responsible for the collaboration of 90 international scientific
institutions that the project entailed, Argentine astrophysicist Gabriela González announced the extraordinary discovery to the world in
2016.
A relentless curiosity about the universe led González to astrophysics as a teenager. Over the course of her 25-year career, she has
advanced the field of gravitational wave detection, working on both improving the sensitivity of interferometers and data analysis. She is
the recipient of the E. Bouchet and the Jesse W. Beams awards from the American Physical Society, the B. Rossi prize from the American
Astronomical Society, and the 2016 Scientific Discovery Award from the US National Academy of Sciences. She was the first woman to
receive a full professorship in the physics department at Louisiana State University.
phys.lsu.edu/faculty/gonzalez/
Jorge Drexler
Musician, poet
Jorge Drexler is a musician and the first Uruguayan to win an Oscar. His music plays with genre and influence, combining subtle
harmonies and regional styles with electronic effects.
Jorge Drexler doesn't lay claim to one identity over another. Born to a German-Jewish exile, Drexler grew up between Uruguay and Israel,
traveled widely across Latin America, and eventually settled in Spain. Within his music, you can hear touches of milonga and bossa nova
and even Bach, as his lyrics wrangle with notions of nationality and belonging, language, identity and love.
Like both of his parents, Drexler started his career as a physician, but at the age of 30, he decided to pursue music full-time. The release of
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Like both of his parents, Drexler started his career as a physician, but at the age of 30, he decided to pursue music full-time. The release of
his fifth album, Frontera, caught the attention of Brazilian director Walter Salles, who tapped him to write the closing song for the 2004
film Motorcycle Diaries. Titled "Al Otro Lado del Río" (The Other Side of the River), the song won Drexler an Academy Award for Best
Original Song and propelled him into the international spotlight.
Over the course of his 25-year career, Jorge Drexler has produced 12 albums, received 15 Latin Grammy nomination (with two wins in
2014 Record of the Year and Best Singer-Songwriter Album), four US Grammy nominations, 5 ASCAP Latin Awards, and one Academy
Award. He has also collaborated with musicians from Shakira to Mercedes Sosa to Neneh Cherry and Jovanotti.
jorgedrexler.com @drexlerjorge
Jorge Ramos
Journalist, news anchor
Jorge Ramos is a journalist and a news anchor. His work covers the issues that affect the 55 million Latinos in the United States and
immigrants all over the world.
Jorge Ramos immigrated to the United States from Mexico City, on a student visa at the age of 24. What started as a street beat for a local
Spanish-language broadcast in Los Angeles in the 1980s has evolved into a career of remarkable distinction and credibility. Today, Ramos
co-anchors Univision's flagship Spanish-language broadcast, “Noticiero Univisión," writes a nationally syndicated column, hosts the
Sunday Morning show "Al Punto" and now, the English language program, "America with Jorge Ramos." He is the winner of eight Emmys
and the author of eleven books, including Take a Stand: Lessons from Rebels, 2016; A Country for All: An Immigrant Manifesto; and Dying
to Cross: The Worst Immigrant Tragedy in American History.
In the absence of political representation in the United States, Jorge Ramos gives a face and voice to the millions of Latinos and
immigrants living in the United States. He uses his platform to promote open borders and immigrants' rights and demands accountability
from the world leaders he interviews. Nearly 1.9 million viewers tune into his program each night, and in 2015, Time named him one of
"The World's 100 Most Influential People."
jorgeramos.com @jorgeramosnews
Isabel Behncke Izquierdo
Primatologist
Isabel Behncke Izquierdo studies the social behavior of primates and the birth of human cultures.
TED Fellow Isabel Behncke Izquierdo writes: I was born and raised in Chile, and was educated in animal behaviour and evolutionary
anthropology in Cambridge and Oxford. For my PhD work, I study the social behaviour (and play behaviour in particular) of wild bonobos
in DR Congo.
Bonobos are, together with chimpanzees, our living closest relatives; however we know very little about them -- mostly through captive
work. In Wamba, a most remote jungle location, I have observed unique aspects of bonobo lives (from imaginary play and laughter to
inter-group encounters to accidents and death) that challenge and illuminate our understanding of human evolution. I aim to link the play of
adult bonobos to insights on human laughter, joy, creativity and our capacity for wonder and exploration.
Tomás Saraceno
Artist
Tomás Saraceno is an artist who invites us to consider the impossible, like spiders that play music or cities in the sky.
Tomás Saraceno’s soaring artworks inspire human dreams and point to a world free of our earth-bound afflictions, whether by suspending
its viewers in webs high above gallery floors or by casting solar-powered baloons adrift in the stratosphere -- or turning spiders into musicmakers.
Part art project and science experiment, his latest work Aerocene bypasses the museum in favor of an unprecedented airborne journey.
Using only the heat of the sun and wind for its locomotion, Aerocene not only shattered solar-powered flight records but also invites others
to hack its open-source, interactive design and model its flight behavior.
tomassaraceno.com @tomassaraceno
Ingrid Betancourt
Writer, peace advocate
Ingrid Betancourt was a presidential candidate in Colombia in 2002 when she was kidnapped by guerilla rebels. After six years in captivity
and a high-profile rescue, she now writes about what she learned about fear, forgiveness and the divine.
In 2002, the Colombian rural guerilla movement known as the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) kidnapped Ingrid
Betancourt in the middle of her presidential campaign. For the next six years, Betancourt was held hostage in jungle prison camps where
she was ravaged by malaria, fleas, hunger, and human cruelty until her high-profile rescue by the Colombian government in 2008.
But Betancourt's captivity did not diminish her sensitivity to the world. Since her release, the would-be president has become a memoirist
and fiction writer. Her first book, Even Silence Has Its End, which lyrically recounts her six years in the impenetrable jungle, was
published in 2010. In 2016, she published a second work -- this time of fiction -- called The Blue Line, about the disappearances in
Argentina during the Dirty War from 1976 to 1983.
Betancourt has received multiple international awards for her commitment to democratic values, freedom and tolerance, including the
French National Order of the Légion d’Honneur, the Spanish Prince of Asturias Prize of Concord, and the Italian Prize Grinzane Cavour.
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She remains a vocal proponent of peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the FARC.
Tuesday, April 25, 5:00PM - 7:00PM PDT
Session 4: Health, Life, Love
Hosted by Chris Anderson, Anna Verghese and Bruno Giussani.
Not attending TED2017? Watch Session 4 – TED Prize – broadcast to cinemas! Find showtimes
Serena Williams
Athlete
With her legendary spirit and unstoppable serve, tennis legend Serena Williams has become one of the world’s most enduring athletic
superstars.
Serena Williams sits at the top of the tennis world; she's won 23 career Grand Slams, which is the most Grand Slam singles titles in history,
with her most recent win at the 2017 Australian Open. In some analysts' eyes, she's quite simply the greatest athlete of all time.
But Williams has extended her influence far beyond the tennis court. Through her activism, high-profile endorsements, TV and film
appearances and writing (including a guide to life written with her sister, Venus), Williams inspires millions of fans worldwide.
serenawilliams.com @serenawilliams on Instagram
Gayle King
Journalist
Gayle King is a co-host of "CBS This Morning” and Editor-at-Large of the award-winning O, the Oprah Magazine.
An award-winning journalist who has worked across television, radio and print, Gayle King is a co-host of CBS This Morning and Editorat-Large
of O, the Oprah Magazine.
King previously hosted The Gayle King Show, a live, weekday television interview program on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. The
program, which featured a discussion of a broad variety of topics that include politics, cultural developments, was also broadcast on XM
Satellite Radio, where it premiered in 2006.
Before moving into print and radio, King worked for 18 years (1982–2000) as a television news anchor for CBS affiliate WFSB-TV in
Hartford, Conn., during which period, she also hosted her own syndicated daytime program. Prior to joining WFSB, King worked at
several other television stations, including WDAF-TV in Kansas City, Mo. (1978-1981), WJZ-TV in Baltimore, Md. (1976), and WTOP-
TV in Washington, D.C. (1975).
King has received numerous awards for her extensive work as a journalist. In addition to three Emmys, she was honored in 2008 with the
American Women in Radio & Television Gracie Award for Outstanding Radio Talk Show and in 2010 with both the Individual
Achievement Award for Host-Entertainment/Information and the New York Women in Communications' Matrix Award.
cbsnews.com/cbs-this-morning @GayleKing
Atul Gawande
Surgeon, journalist
Surgeon by day and public health journalist by night, Atul Gawande explores how doctors can dramatically improve their practice using
something as simple as a checklist.
Atul Gawande is author of several best-selling books, including Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, Better: A
Surgeon's Notes on Performance, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End and The Checklist Manifesto.
He is also a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, a staff writer for The New Yorker and a professor at Harvard Medical
School and the Harvard School of Public Health. He has won the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science, a MacArthur Fellowship
and two National Magazine Awards. In his work in public health, he is Executive Director of Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health
systems innovation and chair of Lifebox, a nonprofit organization making surgery safer globally.
Photo: Aubrey Calo
atulgawande.com ariadnelabs.org
Anna Rosling Rônnlund
Co-founder of Gapminder
Anna Rosling Rônnlund's personal mission: to make it easy for anyone to understand the world visually.
Always with the end consumer at heart, Anna Rosling Rônnlund spends her days making sure everything at Gapminder -- a site she
cofounded with Hans and Ola Rosling -- is easy to use and easy to understand. On Gapminder, users can explore data and statistics about
the world -- and, just maybe, upend their worldview.
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Passionate about the visual side of data, she invented the project Dollar Street, where she uses photos as data to examine stereotypes about
countries, incomes and families around the world -- like, for instancee the wide range of things that people use as toothbrushes.
gapminder.org
The Surprise Guest
World figure
A world figure whose identity we can't yet reveal.
Jon Boogz
Movement artist
Jon Boogz is a movement artist, choreographer, and director who seeks to push the evolution of what dance can be.
As a dancer and creator, Jon Boogz seeks to share with audiences of all backgrounds an appreciation of the melding of art forms while
inspiring and bringing awareness to social issues. Boogz recently wrote, choreographed, directed and danced in Color of Reality, a short
film in collaboration with visual artist Alexa Meade and fellow dancer Lil Buck.
First motivated to dance by the work of Michael Jackson, Boogz has choreographed for icons including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Naomi
Campbell, Gloria Estefan; for Pharrell’s Adidas Originals campaign to creative direct, choreograph, and perform in Movement Art Is:
Standing Rock at ComplexCon; and as creative consultant for ads launching campaigns for Apple and Lexus. Boogz’s collaborators
include TriBeCa Film Festival, DAIS, Lil Buck, and Flying Lotus; his choreography is used in FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance and
Cirque du Soleil’s MJ ONE; and he was featured at the Geffen Playhouse’s “Backstage at the Geffen” with his dance company Control
Freakz, Lil Buck, and spoken-word artist Robin Sanders to honor Morgan Freeman and Jeff Skoll.
jonboogz.com @jonboogz
Lil Buck
Dancer, choreographer, educator
A viral video star known for his gravity-defying, elegant street dance moves, Lil Buck is a fertile collaborator across disciplines and media.
International phenomenon Lil Buck began jookin’ -- a street dance that originated in Memphis -- at age 13 alongside mentors Marico Flake
and Daniel Price. After receiving early hip-hop training from Teran Garry and ballet training on scholarship at the New Ballet Ensemble,
he performed and choreographed until relocating to Los Angeles in 2009.
Named one of Dance Magazine’s "25 to Watch," his collaboration with Spike Jonze and Yo-Yo Ma performing The Swan went viral in
2011. Since then, he has collaborated with a broad spectrum of artists including JR, Damian Woetzel, the New York City Ballet, Madonna,
Benjamin Millepied and Spike Lee. Buck is an avid arts education advocate, a recipient of the WSJ Innovator Award and recently launched
a capsule collection with Versace.
youtube.com/user/LILBUCKDALEGEND https://twitter.com/lilbuckdalegend
Raj Panjabi
Physician
A billion people around the world lack access to health care because they live too far from a clinic. Through Last Mile Health, 2017 TED
Prize winner Raj Panjabi aims to extend health services to all -- by training members of the community.
Raj Panjabi was nine years old when civil war broke out in his native country of Liberia. His family fled, eventually resettling in High
Point, North Carolina. Raj dreamed of going to medical school and, as a student in 2005, he returned to Liberia. He was shocked to find a
health care system in total devastation. Only 50 doctors remained to treat a population of four million.
With a small team of Liberian civil war survivors, American health workers and $6,000 he'd received as a wedding gift, Panjabi cofounded
Last Mile Health in 2007. Initially focused on care for HIV patients, Last Mile Health has grown into a robust organization that
partners with the government of Liberia to recruit, train, equip and employ community health care workers who provide a wide range of
services to their neighbors in Liberia's most remote regions. In 2016, Last Mile Health workers treated 50,000 patients, including nearly
22,000 cases of malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea in children. While the organization focuses on integrated primary care, its network can be
leveraged in a crisis. In the fight against Ebola, Last Mile Health supported government response by training 1,300 health workers in
southeastern Liberia.
Panjabi is a physician in the Division of Global Health Equity at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital and an advisor
to the Clinton Global Initiative. He was ranked as one of "The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders" by Fortune in 2015 and named to TIME's list
of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" in 2016. As the winner of the 2017 TED Prize, he has a bold wish to take his work even
further.
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Wednesday, April 26, 8:30AM - 10:15AM PDT
Session 5: Mind, Meaning
Hosted by Helen Walters.
Michael Patrick Lynch
Philosopher
Michael Patrick Lynch examines truth, democracy, public discourse and the ethics of technology in the age of big data.
Michael Patrick Lynch is a writer and professor of philosophy at the University of Connecticut, where he directs the Humanities Institute.
His work concerns truth, democracy, public discourse and the ethics of technology. Lynch is the author or editor of seven books, including
The Internet of Us: Knowing More and Understanding Less in the Age of Big Data, In Praise of Reason: Why Rationality Matters for
Democracy, Truth as One and Many and the New York Times Sunday Book Review Editor’s pick, True to Life.
The recipient of the Medal for Research Excellence from the University of Connecticut’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, he is The
Principal Investigator for Humility & Conviction in Public Life, a $7 million project aimed at understanding and encouraging meaningful
public discourse funded by the John Templeton Foundation and the University of Connecticut. He's a frequent contributor to the New York
Times “The Stone” blog.
michael-lynch.philosophy.uconn.edu
Dan Ariely
Behavioral economist
The dismal science of economics is not as firmly grounded in actual behavior as was once supposed. In "Predictably Irrational," Dan Ariely
told us why.
Dan Ariely is a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University and a founding member of the Center for Advanced
Hindsight. He is the author of the bestsellers Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality, and The Honest Truth About Dishonesty --
as well as the TED Book Payoff: The Hidden Logic that Shapes Our Motivations.
Through his research and his (often amusing and unorthodox) experiments, he questions the forces that influence human behavior and the
irrational ways in which we often all behave.
predictablyirrational.com @danariely
Mariano Sigman
Neuroscientist
In his provocative, mind-bending book "The Secret Life of the Mind," neurologist Mariano Sigman reveals his life’s work exploring the
inner workings of the human brain.
Mariano Sigman, a physicist by training, is a leading figure in the cognitive neuroscience of learning and decision making. He is the
founder of the Integrative Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Buenos Aires. Sigman was awarded a Human Frontiers Career
Development Award, the National Prize of Physics, the Young Investigator Prize of "College de France," the IBM Scalable Data Analytics
Award and is a scholar of the James S. McDonnell Foundation. In 2016 he was made a Laureate of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
In The Secret Life of the Mind, Sigman’s ambition is to explain the mind so that we can understand ourselves and others more deeply. He
shows how we form ideas during our first days of life, how we give shape to our fundamental decisions, how we dream and imagine, why
we feel certain emotions, how the brain transforms and how who we are changes with it. Spanning biology, physics, mathematics,
psychology, anthropology, linguistics, philosophy and medicine, as well as gastronomy, magic, music, chess, literature and art, The Secret
Life of the Mind revolutionizes how neuroscience serves us in our lives, revealing how the infinity of neurons inside our brains
manufacture how we perceive, reason, feel, dream and communicate.
neuro.org.ar @mariuchu
Anika Paulson
Student, musician
Anika Paulson’s love for music permeates her understanding of herself, her surroundings and the mysteries that make up the smallest and
biggest parts of life.
Whether it’s the long trek between high school classes or the exploration of self-identity in college, Anika Paulson’s escape is always
music. A self-proclaimed nervous Minnesotan, music is the measure of her life’s tempo. There’s no doubt that whatever Paulson decides to
do, she will use the power and metaphor of music to guide her future. After all, according to Paulson, whether it’s friendships or string
theory, everything is music.
Recently, Paulson completed a TED-Ed Club and was one of 20 students selected to speak at TED-Ed Weekend 2016 at TED's
headquarters in New York City.
@_annikap
Lisa Genova
Neuroscientist, novelist
Through her fiction, Lisa Genova beckons us into the lives of people with neurological disease, making their worlds real and relatable.
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Lisa Genova wields her ability to tell a story and her knowledge of the human brain to talk about medical conditions like Alzheimer’s in
warmly human terms. Her writing, often focusing on those who are misunderstood, explores the lives of people living with neurological
diseases and disorders. A bestselling author, her work has been transformed into an Oscar-winning film, Still Alice, but the real triumph is
Genova’s ability to help us empathize with a person’s journey we otherwise couldn’t even begin to understand.
Her newest book, Inside the O’Briens, is about Huntington’s disease.
lisagenova.com @LisaGenova
Robin Hanson
Economist, social scientist
Does humanity have a future as uploaded minds? In his work, Robin Hanson asks this and other extra-large questions.
In his book, The Age of Em: Work, Love and Life When Robots Rule the Earth, Robin Hanson re-imagines humanity's role as our tech
becomes smarter. A pioneer in prediction markets, also known as information markets and idea futures, Hanson has been known since the
1980s for taking the very very long view on topics as varied as (a selected list) spatial product competition, health incentive contracts,
group insurance, product bans, evolutionary psychology and bioethics of health care, voter information incentives, incentives to fake
expertise, Bayesian classification, agreeing to disagree, self-deception in disagreement, probability elicitation, wiretaps, image
reconstruction, the history of science prizes, reversible computation, the origin of life, the survival of humanity, very long term economic
growth, growth given machine intelligence, and interstellar colonization.
Meanwhile, he has developed new technologies for conditional, combinatorial, and intermediated trading, and studied insider trading,
manipulation and other foul play. Hanson is associate professor of economics at George Mason University, and a research associate at the
Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. His next book is The Elephant in the Brain, co-authored with Kevin Simler, due in
2018.
overcomingbias.com @robinhanson
Anil Seth
Cognitive scientist
How can the "inner universe" of consciousness be explained in terms of mere biology and physics? Cognitive neuroscientist Anil Seth
explores the brain basis of consciousness and self.
In his groundbreaking research, Anil Seth seeks to understand consciousness in health and in disease. As founding co-director of the
University of Sussex’s Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, his research bridges neuroscience, mathematics, artificial intelligence,
computer science, psychology, philosophy and psychiatry. He has also worked extensively with playwrights, dancers and other artists to
shape a truly humanistic view of consciousness and self.
Seth is the editor and co-author of the best-selling 30-Second Brain, a collection of brief and engaging neuroscience vignettes. His
forthcoming book The Presence Chamber develops his unique theories of conscious selfhood within the rich historical context of the mind
and brain sciences.
anilseth.com @anilkseth
Wednesday, April 26, 11:00AM - 12:45PM PDT
Session 6: Planet, Protection
Hosted by Chris Anderson.
Kristin Poinar
Glaciologist
Kristin Poinar uses remote sensing and numerical models to study the interaction of meltwater with ice flow, especially on the Greenland
Ice Sheet.
Hidden under many meters of ice, a pool of meltwater lies under the Greenland Ice Sheet. Kristin Poinar studies how the meltwater forms
and flows in this dynamic glacial system. She asks: How did this water get there, and where does it go? How much water is in there? And
how is climate change affecting this system?
Using data from Operation IceBridge flights and from field instruments, she's building a numerical model of how crevasses form and
channel water. In fact, a NASA report released in February 2017 revealed a new pathway her team discovered for meltwater to reach the
ocean. Using physically based models to constrain the bounds of what is realistic has shaped Poinar's interest in glaciology.
http://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sed/bio/kristin.poinar @crevassse
Kate Marvel
Climate scientist
Climate scientist Kate Marvel looks at the big picture of environmental change.
Kate Marvel is a scientist at Columbia University and the NASA Goddard Institute of Space studies. She uses computer models and
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Kate Marvel is a scientist at Columbia University and the NASA Goddard Institute of Space studies. She uses computer models and
satellite observations to monitor and explain the changes happening around us. Her work has suggested that human activities are already
affecting global rainfall and cloud patterns. Marvel is committed to sharing the joy and beauty of science with wider audiences.
She has advised journalists, artists and policymakers, written a popular science blog and given frequent public talks. Her writing has
appeared in Nautilus Magazine.
marvelclimate.com @DrKateMarvel
Danny Hillis
Computer theorist
Inventor, scientist, author, engineer -- over his broad career, Danny Hillis has turned his ever-searching brain on an array of subjects, with
surprising results.
Danny Hillis is an inventor, scientist, author and engineer. While completing his doctorate at MIT, he pioneered the concept of parallel
computers that is now the basis for most supercomputers, as well as the RAID array. He holds over 100 US patents, covering parallel
computers, disk arrays, forgery prevention methods and various electronic and mechanical devices, and he has recently been working on
problems in medicine as well. He is also the designer of a 10,000-year mechanical clock, and he gave a TED Talk in 1994 that is
practically prophetic. Throughout his career, Hillis has worked at places like Disney and now Applied Minds, always looking for the next
fascinating problem.
appliedminds.com
Tim Kruger
Geoengineering researcher
Tim Kruger researches geoengineering: techniques to counteract climate change by deliberate, large-scale intervention in the earth system,
by reflecting sunlight back into space or by reducing the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
While our first priority should be to reduce global carbon emissions, research into geoengineering could prove vital in the fight to protect
our planet. At the Oxford Geoengineering Programme, Tim Kruger aims to assess the range of proposed geoengineering techniques to
determine which, if any, could be both technically feasible and benign environmentally, socially and ethically.
Kruger, an Oxford Martin Fellow, is a co-author of the Oxford Principles, a draft code of conduct for geoengineering. It calls for
geoengineering to be regulated as a public good, for public participation in decision-making and for disclosure of research and open
publication of results. He is involved in developing a process that uses natural gas to generate electricity in a way that removes carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere.
geoengineering.ox.ac.uk linkedin.com
Daan Roosegaarde
Artist
With his futuristic artworks, Daan Roosegaarde illuminates the intersection of technology, humanity and our urban environments.
Daan Roosegaarde builds jaw-dropping artworks that redefine humanity’s relationship to city spaces. Along with his team at Studio
Roosegaarde, Roosegaarde is devoted to “Landscapes of the Future,” city prototypes and urban adornments that fuse aesthetics with
sustainability.
From Smog Free Project in Beijing -- a tower that purifies its surrounding atmosphere and harvests pollutants to preserve as jewelry -- to
an interactive dance floor that generates electricity from dancers, Roosegaarde’s designs revolutionize the role of technology in the built
environment.
studioroosegaarde.net @SRoosegaarde
Peter Calthorpe
Urban designer
Through his writing and his realized projects, Peter Calthorpe has spread the vision of New Urbanism, a framework for creating
sustainable, human-scaled places.
Peter Calthorpe’s 30-year design practice is informed by the idea that successful places -- whether neighborhoods, towns, urban districts or
metropolitan regions -- must be diverse in uses and users, must be scaled to the pedestrian and human interaction, and must be
environmentally sustainable.
In the early 1990s he developed the concept of Transit Oriented Development (described in his book The Next American Metropolis:
Ecology, Community and the American Dream) -- an idea that is now the foundation of many regional policies and city plans around the
world. His 2010 book is Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change. Calthorpe Associates' work in Europe, Asia and the Middle East has
demonstrated that community design with a focus on sustainability and scale can be adapted throughout the globe. His current work
throughout China is focused on developing standards and examples of Low Carbon Cities in Beijing, Chongqing, Kunming, Zhuhai, Jinan
and other major cities.
calthorpe.com
David Titley
Meteorologist
Scientists and retired Navy officer Dr. David Titley asks a big question: Could the US military play a role in combating climate change?
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David Titley is a Professor of Practice in Meteorology and a Professor of International Affairs at the Pennsylvania State University. He is
the founding director of Penn State’s Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk. He served as a naval officer for 32 years and rose
to the rank of Rear Admiral. Titley’s career included duties as commander of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command;
oceanographer and navigator of the Navy; and deputy assistant chief of naval operations for information dominance. He also served as
senior military assistant for the director, Office of Net Assessment in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
While serving in the Pentagon, Titley initiated and led the U.S. Navy’s Task Force on Climate Change. After retiring from the Navy, Titley
served as the Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce for Operations, the chief operating officer position at the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. Titley serves on numerous advisory boards and National Academies of Science committees, including the
CNA Military Advisory Board, the Center for Climate and Security and the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists. Titley is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of
Alaska, Fairbanks.
solutions2wxrisk.psu.edu @dwtitley
Ted Halstead
Policy entrepreneur, climate expert, author
Ted Halstead is breathing new life into US climate policy by mobilizing conservative leaders and CEOs around a breakthrough carbon
dividends solution.
When not writing or sailing around the world, Ted Halstead launches cutting-edge think tanks. His first, founded when he was 25,
introduced new measures of progress and coordinated the Economists’ Statement on Climate Change, signed by 18 Nobel laureate
economists. His second, New America, has become one of the most influential think tanks in Washington.
Halstead’s newest creation, the Climate Leadership Council, is transforming climate policy and politics by advancing a more effective,
popular and equitable climate solution, based on the conservative principles of free markets and limited government. He has published
numerous articles in the New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, Fortune, Atlantic, National Review, Los Angeles Times and
Harvard Business Review. He has also published two books, including The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics (co-authored
with Michael Lind).
clcouncil.org @ImTedHalstead
Wednesday, April 26, 5:00PM - 7:00PM PDT
Session 7: Connection, Community
Hosted by Kelly Stoetzel and Bruno Giussani.
Jacob Collier
Musician and artist
Jacob Collier is a one-man audio-visual viral sensation. In his videos, he sings every part, plays every instrument and visualizes every
component with a captivating vision.
Jacob Collier is nothing short of prodigious. A two-time Grammy-winning singer, arranger, composer, and multi-instrumentalist, he
combines everything from jazz and a cappella to classical and Brazilian music. In 2014, he was discovered by the legendary producer
Quincy Jone. Shortly after, Collier began working on his audio-visual live performance vehicle designed and built at MIT.
Since his first video in 2011, Collier has amassed more than 250K international followers and 10 million YouTube views, including on his
astounding cover of Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing." In July 2016, Collier released his chart-topping debut album, In My
Room. Most recently, he's been touring the world with his unique one-man show, helping to score the newest Dreamworks film, The Boss
Baby, with Hans Zimmer, collaborating on Herbie Hancock's upcoming record and holding masterclasses at universities across the globe.
jacobcollier.co.uk @JCollierMusic
Anna Heringer
Architect
Anna Heringer’s sustainable designs lend breathtaking forms to easily-available local materials while developing the skills and
consciousness of their builders.
Before she became an architect, a visit to a small village in Bangladesh immediately hooked Anna Heringer on an ancient and yet
neglected building material -- earth. With its easy availability, durability and endless recyclability, she realized, there was a reason its use
has persisted for thousands of years.
Since then, Heringer’s love affair with sustainable materials has deepened, resulting in acclaimed projects like woven bamboo hostels in
China and the METI Handmade School in Rudrapur, where, along with local workers and schoolchildren, she created a building that drew
on locally abundant materials and fostered modern, sustainable building skills in local craftsmen. In the 2014 book, The Future of
Architecture, she and her coauthors argue for a future that is low-impact and adaptable.
anna-heringer.com @AnnaHeringer
Grace Kim
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Grace Kim
Architect
Grace H. Kim is an internationally recognized expert in cohousing -- the art and craft of creating communities.
Grace H. Kim is an architect and co-founding principal of Schemata Workshop, an award-winning, 16-person architectural practice with a
keen focus on building community and social equity. She brings innovative ideas to her projects that merge client goals and sustainability
measures -- such as urban agriculture, modular construction, and a focus on building community.
Kim is also the founder of Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing, a collaborative residential community that includes her street-level office and a
rooftop urban farm. She walks the talk of sustainability -- leaving a small ecological footprint while incorporating holistic ideals of social
and economic resilience into her daily life.
schemataworkshop.com @GraceKimArch
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Devita Davison
Food activist
At FoodLab Detroit, Devita Davison supports local entrepreneurs and imagines a new future for food justice.
Detroit is a legendary food town, and it's thanks to small, locally owned businesses that range from streetside barbecue tents to
neighborhood bakeries, shops and delis -- even small farms. At FoodLab Detroit, Devita Davison helps locals with ideas for a food
business to take their dreams into delicious reality, by connecting them with business advice, help with compliance and licensing, space in
professional kitchens, marketing ideas and more. The nonprofit focuses on entrepreneurs and communities who have been traditionally
under-resourced, aiming to build power and resilience for people around the city.
FoodLab's vision is to cultivate, connect and catalyze, to use food as an economic engine, to form a supportive community of entrepreneurs
and to make good food a reality for all Detroiters.
On LinkedIn @devitadavison
Karoliina Korppoo
Game designer
Inspired by classic city simulation games, Finnish designer Karoliina Korppoo and her fellow game developers at Colossal Order are
infusing a venerable gaming genre with fresh perspectives.
Developed by gaming upstarts Colossal Order and guided by Korppoo as lead designer, Cities: Skylines has become the gold standard for
city simulation games -- an honor previously held by the genre-defining Sim City.
At the core of Colossal Order’s rejuvenated game designs is their dedication to creating an accessible experience for all users, whether
through ease of use or by allowing users to suggest their own modifications. As a result, Colossal Order doesn’t shy away from game
projects that touch on the problems of urbanization, gentrification or the possibilities of servicing a city with nothing but gravel roads.
colossalorder.fi @pelikaroliina
Cathy O'Neil
Mathematician, data scientist
Data skeptic Cathy O’Neil uncovers the dark secrets of big data, showing how our "objective" algorithms could in fact reinforce human
bias.
In 2008, as a hedge-fund quant, mathematician Cathy O’Neil saw firsthand how really really bad math could lead to financial disaster.
Disillusioned, O’Neil became a data scientist and eventually joined Occupy Wall Street’s Alternative Banking Group.
With her popular blog mathbabe.org, O’Neil emerged as an investigative journalist. Her acclaimed book Weapons of Math Destruction
details how opaque, black-box algorithms rely on biased historical data to do everything from sentence defendants to hire workers. In
2017, O’Neil founded consulting firm ORCAA to audit algorithms for racial, gender and economic inequality.
mathbabe.org @mathbabedotorg
Luma Mufleh
Refugee activist
Luma Mufleh does something revolutionary: she coaches soccer. A Jordanian immigrant and Muslim of Syrian descent, Mufleh is
determined to empower refugee children everywhere.
Luma Mufleh works with refugee children from war-torn countries, including Syria, Iraq, Burundi, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan. The
CEO and Founding Director of Fugees Family, Inc., a nonprofit organization that empowers refugee children to successfully integrate into
the United States, Mufleh started as a soccer coach. Her work grew into something much larger, however.
Now, she’s part principal, part tutor, the head of the first accredited private school dedicated to refugee education in the country, which
encompases a summer camp and a college prep program -- and she’s building a community and support network that could be the national
model the United States needs.
fugeesfamily.org @fugeesfamily
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David Miliband
Refugee advocate
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Refugee advocate
As president of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband enlists his expert statesmanship in the fight against the greatest global
refugee crisis since World War II.
As the son of refugees, David Miliband has first-hand experience with those fleeing conflict and disaster. In 2013, he abandoned a long
political career to take the helm of the International Rescue Committee, an NGO committed to emergency and long-term assistance to
refugees (and founded at the call of Albert Einstein in 1933).
As a former UK Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Miliband is no stranger to cross-border politics. He is a leading voice against recent
anti-refugee and immigration measures in the US, where the IRC currently runs resettlement programs in 29 cities.
rescue.org @DMiliband
Thursday, April 27, 11:00AM - 12:45PM PDT
Session 8: Bugs and Bodies
Hosted by Chris Anderson.
Robert Sapolsky
Neuroscientist, primatologist, writer
Robert Sapolsky is one of the leading neuroscientists in the world, studying stress in primates (including humans).
We all have some measure of stress, and Robert Sapolsky explores its causes as well as its effects on our bodies (his lab was among the
first to document the damage that stress can do to our hippocampus). In his research, he follows a population of wild baboons in Kenya,
who experience stress very similarly to the way humans do. By measuring hormone levels and stress-related diseases in each primate, he
determines their relative stress, looking for patterns in personality and social behavior that might contribute. These exercises have given
Sapolsky amazing insight into all primate social behavior, including our own.
He has been called "one of the best scientist-writers of our time" by Oliver Sacks. Sapolsky has produced, in addition to numerous
scientific papers, books for broader audiences, including A Primate’s Memoir: A Neuroscientist’s Unconventional Life Among the Baboons,
Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: Stress Disease and Coping, and The Trouble with Testosterone.
profiles.stanford.edu/robert-sapolsky
Jun Wang
Genomics researcher
At his new institute/company, iCarbonX, Wang Jun aims to establish a big data platform for genomics.
In 1999, Wang Jun founded the Bioinformatics Department of Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI, now known as BGI Shenzhen), one of
China’s premier research facilities. Until July 2015, Wang led the institution of 5,000+ people engaged in studies of genomics and its
informatics, including genome assembly, annotation, expression, comparative genomics, molecular evolution, transcriptional regulation,
genome variation analysis, database construction as well as methodology development such as the sequence assembler and alignment tools.
He also focuses on interpretation of the definition of “gene” by expression and conservation study. The Pig Genome Project was completed
at BGI under his leadership, as well as the chicken genome variation map and the TreeFam in collaboration with the Sanger Institute.
Recently, he and his group finished the first Asian diploid genome, the 1000 genome project, and many more projects.
In late 2015, Wang founded a new institute/company, iCarbonX, aiming to develop an artificial intelligence engine to interpret and mine
genomic data and help people better manage their health and defeat disease.
Anne Madden
Microbial researcher
Whether brewing better beer or chronicling the lives of the microbes living in the dust under the couch, Dr. Anne Madden seeks to
understand and utilize the microbial world around us.
Along with her colleagues in the Laboratory of Rob Dunn at North Carolina State University, Anne Madden studies ways that our dimly
understood microbial neighbors can yield surprising discoveries. She’s helped create one of the first single-culture sour beers, discovered a
new fungus living inside wasp nests and cataloged the astonishing diversity of some of the microscopic and macroscopic life in our homes
-- more than 600 species of arthropods in USA homes at last count.
In addition to her research work at North Carolina State University, Madden is Chief Strategist at the brewing yeast company Lachancea
LLC and consults for a variety of industries from bee keeping companies to technology firms. Her work has been featured on numerous
media platforms, including National Geographic and Newsweek.
anneamadden.com @anneamadden
David Brenner
Radiation scientist
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David Brenner sees the good and the bad sides of radiation for health care, and his goal is to optimize radiation for situations where the
benefits can be large and the risks small.
Radiation is very much a two-edged sword -- used in the right way it has revolutionized modern medicine -- such as through CT scans and
as a cure for many cancers. But radiation used in the wrong way can be harmful. To maximize the benefits of the many different types of
radiation, we need to understand exactly how they affect us -- from our DNA to the whole person.
Brenner directs the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University Medical Center. He started his career in theoretical physics --
applying quantum mechanics to radiation therapy. While he has no doubt forgotten everything he knew about quantum mechanics, he has
retained his love for applying hard-core physics concepts to solve biological problems. David has designed new “patient friendly”
approaches for prostate cancer radiation therapy that are now in common use worldwide, and he is currently very excited about the
prospects of beating pancreatic cancer with new types of radiation.
Over the past 6 years, Brenner has also been working towards a safe way to kill drug-resistant bacteria such as MRSA, as well as airborne
viruses such as influenza, using a unique type of ultra-violet light.
columbia.edu/~djb3 @CRR_CUMC
Levon Biss
Photographer
With his "Microsculpture" series, Levon Biss photographs the incredible details of insects.
Levon Biss is a British photographer who works across many genres, including reportage, sport and portraiture. His passion for nature and
photography have come together to create Microsculpture. For the project, a unique photographic process composites thousands of images
using multiple lighting setups to create the final insect portraits. Each specimen was mounted on an adapted microscope stage, allowing
close control over the position of the specimen in front of the camera lens. Most insects were photographed in about 30 sections, each
section lit differently with strobe lights to accentuate the microsculpture of that particular area of the body. Each insect portrait is created
from more than 8,000 separate images. In between his insect projects, Biss continues to photograph humans.
levonbiss.com @LevonBissPhoto
Mehdi Ordikhani-Seyedlar
Neuroscientist
Mehdi Ordikhani-Seyedlar is a postdoc at Duke, researching brain signals and their usage in brain-machine interfaces.
Mehdi Ordikhani-Seyedlar began his research on the neuropharmacology of learning and memory when he was studying veterinary
medicine in Tabriz, Iran. Subsequently studying in France and Germany, he researched human visual attention, then started his PhD thesis
focusing on decoding electrophysiological features of covert and overt attention in humans. He spent 2014 as a visiting scholar at the
Nicolelis Lab at Duke University.
With his 2016 PhD from the Technical University of Denmark in hand, Ordikhani-Seyedlar took a postdoctoral position at Duke to develop
algorithms to process large-scale neuronal activity and brain-machine interfaces. He hopes to begin May 1.
@mehdi_ordikhani
Richard Browning
Founder, Gravity
Richard Browning is the founder of human propulsion technology startup Gravity, which has invented, built and patented an Iron Man–like
personal flight system.
Richard Browning is an ultra-marathon runner, an ex-Royal Marine reservist, former City commodity trader and a pioneering inventor.
He's the founder of Gravity, launched in March 2017 with a dream to reimagine an entirely new form of human flight, leaning on an
elegant collaboration of mind and body augmented by leading-edge technology.
Gravity has to date been experienced by over a billion people globally with video views alone running at more than 60m within seven days
of launch. Browning's vision is to build Gravity into a world-class aeronautical engineering business, challenge perceived boundaries in
human aviation, and inspire a generation to dare ask ‘what if…’
gravity.co
Elizabeth Blackburn
Molecular biologist
Elizabeth Blackburn won a Nobel Prize for her pioneering work on telomeres and telomerase, which may play central roles in how we age.
Dr. Blackburn is the president of the Salk Institute and a pioneering molecular biologist. She received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine in 2009 for discovering the molecular nature of telomeres, the ends of chromosomes that serve as protective caps essential for
preserving genetic information, and for co-discovering telomerase, an enzyme that maintains telomere ends. Both telomeres and telomerase
are thought to play central roles in aging and diseases such as cancer, and her work helped launch entire new fields of research in these
areas.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, Blackburn has received nearly every major scientific award including the Lasker, Gruber, and Gairdner
prizes. She has served as president of the American Association of Cancer Research and the American Society for Cell Biology, and on
editorial boards of scientific journals including Cell and Science. She coauthored the best-selling book The Telomere Effect: A
Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer.
salk.edu
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Thursday, April 27, 2:15PM - 4:00PM PDT
Session 9: It's Personal
Hosted by Kelly Stoetzel and Helen Walters.
Helen Pearson
Science journalist, editor, author
Helen Pearson's book, "The Life Project," tells the extraordinary story of the longest-running study of human development in the world.
In March 1946, scientists began tracking almost every British baby born in a single week. What they discovered would change how we are
born, grow up, raise children, live and die. Helen Pearson's 2016 book, The Life Project, is the story of this incredible project and the
remarkable discoveries that have come from it. It was named best science book of the year by The Observer and was a book of the year for
The Economist.
As Chief Magazine Editor for the world’s leading science journal, Nature, Pearson oversees all its journalism and opinion content. Her own
stories have won accolades including the 2010 Wistar Institute Science Journalism Award and two best feature awards from the
Association of British Science Writers.
nature.com @hcpearson
Susan Pinker
Psychologist, columnist, author
Susan Pinker reveals how in-person social interactions are not only necessary for human happiness but also could be a key to health and
longevity.
In her award-winning book The Sexual Paradox, Susan Pinker argued that biological differences could play an unexpectedly large role in
creating the workplace gender gap. With The Village Effect, she tracks another current: how social, face-to-face interactions are critical for
the survival of our species, and how technology is isolating us from these life-saving bonds. As she writes: "Neglecting to keep in close
contact with people who are important to you is at least as dangerous to your health as a pack-a-day cigarette habit, hypertension or
obesity."
In addition to her books, Pinker writes Mind and Matter, a column for the Wall Street Journal illuminating surprising advances in human
behavior research. Pinker’s numerous writings (including her weekly columns "Problem Solving" and "The Business Brain") have
appeared in the Guardian, the New York Times and Financial Times, among many others.
susanpinker.com
Adam Alter
Psychologist
What makes us incessantly check our phones? Adam Alter dives into the fascinating psychology that drives our tech addictions.
Adam Alter's academic research focuses on judgment, decision-making and social psychology, with a particular interest in the sometimes
surprising effects of subtle cues in the environment on human cognition and behavior.
He is the bestselling author of two books: Irresistible, which considers why so many people today are addicted to so many behaviors, from
incessant smart phone and internet use to video game playing and online shopping, and Drunk Tank Pink, which investigates how hidden
forces in the world around us shape our thoughts, feelings and behaviors.
adamalterauthor.com @adamleealter
Jeffrey Schnapp
Cultural historian
As the founder of metaLAB at Harvard, Jeffrey Schnapp thinks deeply on modern media, design, humanities and movement.
Jeffrey Schnapp is the founder/faculty director of metaLAB (at) Harvard and faculty co-director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet
and Society. Trained as a medievalist, his recent books and work concern the deeply modern, including The Library Beyond the Book, coauthored
with Matthew Battles, on scenarios for libraries in the digital age, and FuturPiaggio: Six Italian Lessons on Mobility and Modern
Life.
His pioneering work in media, design, digital arts and humanities as well as his curatorial practice includes collaborations with the
Triennale di Milano, the Cantor Center for the Visual Arts, the Wolfsonian-FIU and the Canadian Center for Architecture. He is CEO and
co-founder of Piaggio Fast Forward, developing imaginative solutions to the light mobility and transportation challenges.
jeffreyschnapp.com @jaytiesse
Chuck Nice
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Chuck Nice
Comedian, science fan
The co-host of Star Talk Radio, Chuck Nice is a radio and TV veteran with a passion for science communication and comedy.
Chuck Nice is an 18-year veteran of stand-up comedy with a rich history in television and radio. Currently, he co-hosts StarTalk with Dr.
Neil deGrasse Tyson on Nat Geo, and is the host of Playing with Science, a podcast he created under the StarTalk Radio umbrella. In
addition, Chuck is the writer and producer of Like A Damn Adult for Newsy. He has also hosted his own shows, Buy It Like a Mega
Millionaire and Home Strange Home, on HGTV, and co-hosted ABC’s The View. His other familiar works include TRU TV’s World’s
Dumbest, VH-1’s Best Week Ever, and Guys Tell All on NBC’s Today. Most weekends, he can be found on stage at one of New York’s
comedy clubs.
chucknicecomic.com @chucknicecomic
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Guy Winch
Psychologist, author
Guy Winch asks us to take our emotional health as seriously as we take our physical health -- and explores how to heal from common
heartaches.
Guy Winch is a licensed psychologist who works with individuals, couples and families. As an advocate for psychological health, he has
spent the last two decades adapting the findings of scientific studies into tools his patients, readers and audience members can use to
enhance and maintain their mental health. As an identical twin with a keen eye for any signs of favoritism, he believes we need to practice
emotional hygiene with the same diligence with which we practice personal and dental hygiene.
His recent book, Emotional First Aid: Healing Rejection, Guilt, Failure, and Other Everyday Hurts, has been translated in 21 languages.
He writes the popular "Squeaky Wheel Blog" on PsychologyToday.com, and he is the author of The Squeaky Wheel: Complaining the
Right Way to Get Results, Improve Your Relationships and Enhance Self-Esteem. His new book, How to Fix a Broken Heart, will be
published by TED Books/Simon & Schuster in 2017. He has also dabbled in stand-up comedy.
guywinch.com
Anne Lamott
Novelist, essayist
With disarming familiarity, Anne Lamott tackles what most don’t like to consider. Her honest writing helps us make sense of life’s chaos.
Anne Lamott hooks into our common experience and guides us to an understanding infused with openness. A Christian, an activist and a
former alcoholic, Lamott uses humor to weave through loss, parenthood, faith and the cancer diagnosis given to her best friend, in beloved
books like Bird by Bird and Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers . She says, "Hope begins in the dark ... if you just show up
and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up."
Her next book, Hallelujah Anyway; Rediscovering Mercy, is set to release in April 2017.
@annelamott facebook.com/AnneLamott
Thursday, April 27, 5:00PM - 7:00PM PDT
Session 10: Tales of Tomorrow
Hosted by Chris Anderson and Juliet Blake.
Cynthia Erivo
Actor, performer
Best known for her role in the Broadway revival of "The Color Purple," Cynthia Erivo is a Tony- and Grammy-winning performer.
Cynthia Erivo made her Broadway debut as Celie in The Color Purple — a role that earned her Tony and Grammy Awards. Erivo has
performed for the annual Kennedy Center Honors and been featured on stage in Sister Act as well as A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Most
recently, Erivo teamed up with John Legend at the 2017 Grammy Awards to perform the Beach Boys’ song, “God Only Knows.”
The actress stars with Viola Davis in the upcoming Steve McQueen film Widows, and as Harriet Tubman in the biopic Harriet.
facebook.com/cynthiaerivo @CynthiaEriVo
Manoush Zomorodi
Tech podcaster
Every week on her podcast "Note to Self," Manoush Zomorodi searches for answers to life’s digital quandaries.
Manoush Zomorodi is the host and managing editor of Note to Self, “the tech show about being human,” from WNYC Studios. Through
experiments and conversations with listeners and experts, she examines the new questions tech has brought into our lives. Topics include
information overload, digital clutter, sexting “scandals" and the eavesdropping capabilities of our gadgets.
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In January 2017, Manoush and Note to Self launched "The Privacy Paradox," a 5-part plan to help people take back control over their
digital identity. Tens of thousands of listeners have completed the 5-part plan so far, which Fast Company calls Manoush's "challenge to us
to stick up for our internet rights." Her book exploring how boredom can ignite original thinking, Bored and Brilliant: Rediscovering the
Lost Art of Spacing Out, comes out in September 2017.
wnyc.org/shows/notetoself @manoushz
Shah Rukh Khan
Actor, producer, activist
With a fan following that runs into multi-millions, and 24 million followers on Twitter, Shah Rukh Khan is at forefront of the Indian film
industry and continues to rule at the box office in India.
One of the world's biggest movie stars, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan is also an entrepreneur and inspired philanthropist. He heads the
film production company Red Chillies Entertainments, whose Chennai Express was the highest-grossing film of 2013, and his recent film
Raees also topped the box office in India. He's also the proud co-owner of two cricket franchises, the Kolkata Knight Riders and the
Trinbago Knight Riders.
In the fall, he will host TED's brand-new TV series in Hindi for Star Plus, titled TED Talks India: Nayi Soch, which translates to "new
thinking."
As a philanthropist and spokesperson, Khan stands up for causes ranging from the environment and water-supply issues to rural solar
power. Khan's nonprofit Meer Foundation, named for his father, focuses on supporting victims of acid attacks through a 360-degree
approach that helps with medical treatment, legal aid, rehabilitation and livelihood support.
@iamsrk
Paul Cantelon
Musician and composer
Paul Cantelon is a composer of contemporary classical music and resonant, award-winning film scores -- as well as a violinist, pianist and
accordionist.
From his debut at the age of 13, at UCLA’s Royce Hall, Paul Cantelon commenced a successful career as a concert pianist, until some
years later he was abruptly stopped by a life-altering bicycle accident whilst at the Paris Conservatory.
Out of this crisis, Cantelon reinvented his musical career, which would come to encompass such extremes from playing with the Red Hot
Chili Peppers, to his eventual status as a Bafta-nominated film composer known for such scores as Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and
the Butterfly’ and Oliver Stone’s W.
paulcantelon.com
Ashton Applewhite
Author, activist
Ashton Applewhite asks us to look at ageism -- the assumption that older people are alike and that aging impoverishes us. (Is that your
experience?)
Ashton Applewhite would like us to think differently about growing older. As she writes: "Aging is a natural, lifelong, powerful process
that unites us all. So how come so many of us unthinkingly assume that depression, diapers, and dementia lie ahead? Because of ageism—
the last socially sanctioned prejudice."
She's the author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism and is the voice of the Yo, Is This Ageist? blog. She is also the author of
Cutting Loose: Why Women Who End Their Marriages Do So Well -- and was a clue on Jeopardy! as the author of the mega bestseller
series, Truly Tasteless Jokes. (Who is Blanche Knott?)
thischairrocks.com @thischairrocks
Laolu Senbanjo
Artist, musician, lawyer, activist
Laolu Senbanjo's motto is: “Everything is my canvas.”
A visual artist, musician, human rights lawyer and activist, Laolu Senbanjo puts his mark on everything from canvas, to shoes, to walls and
buildings, to clothing and even the body with his Sacred Art of the Ori. Born and raised in Ilorin, Nigeria, his Yoruba heritage is everpresent
in his work, which marries modern detail and ornate style to create a vision of Afrofuturism.
His preferred medium is charcoal, "because it’s something as natural as life and death," he writes, and he also works in acrylics, inks and
even wood. Senbanjo created work for the astonishing "Sorry" video from Beyoncé's Lemonade, and he has worked with Angelique Kidjo,
Kenneth Cole, Alicia Keys, Usher and many more.
laolu.nyc @afromysterics
Helen Zaltzman
Podcaster
Helen Zaltzman makes The Allusionist, a podcast about "small adventures in language."
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In 2007, Helen Zaltzman sat down with collaborator Olly Mann in a suburban London living room and launched Answer Me This! (AMT),
an infectiously funny podcast based on listener questions. AMT became a sensation and vaulted her to early celebrity in the comedy
podcast pantheon -- it went on to garner a bouquet of awards, land a BBC5 radio show, and spawn a companion book.
Zaltzman podcast, The Allusionist, is a humorous look at linguistics, part of the podcast network Radiotopia.
theallusionist.org @helenzaltzman
David Whyte
Poet, author
David Whyte writes at the intersection of interior and exterior worlds, bringing new territory into view with his distinctly personal style.
A native of Yorkshire, England, David Whyte draws from his diverse background and a deep philosophical curiosity to craft poems that are
at once highly relatable, yet altogether new. Whyte explores the human experience, writing about relationships in his poetry as well as his
prose. His work spans the worlds of literature, philosophy and organizational leadership, making him a wise voice to listen to in an
increasingly complex world.
His books include The Sea in You: Twenty Poems of Requited and Unrequited Love; The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self and
Relationship; River Flow: New & Selected Poems; and Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday
Words.
davidwhyte.com @whytedw
Friday, April 28, 9:30AM - 12:00PM PDT
Session 11: The Future Us
Hosted by Chris Anderson, Kelly Stoetzel and Helen Walters.
Jim Yong Kim
President of the World Bank Group
Jim Yong Kim is leading the World Bank Group in the global effort to end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity.
Jim Yong Kim is the 12th president of the World Bank Group. Soon after he assumed his position in July 2012, the organization
established two goals to guide its work: to end extreme poverty by 2030; and to boost shared prosperity, focusing on the bottom 40 percent
of the population in developing countries. In September 2016, the World Bank Group Board unanimously reappointed Kim to a second
five-year term as president.
During his first term, the World Bank Group supported the development priorities of countries at levels never seen outside a financial crisis
and, with its partners, achieved two successive, record replenishments of the World Bank Group’s fund for the poorest. The institution also
launched several innovative financial instruments, including facilities to address infrastructure needs, prevent pandemics and help the
millions of people forcibly displaced from their homes by climate shocks, conflict, and violence.
Kim’s career has revolved around health, education and delivering services to the poor. In 1987, Kim co-founded Partners In Health, a
nonprofit medical organization that works in poor communities on four continents. He has received a MacArthur “genius” grant, was
recognized as one of America’s “25 Best Leaders” by U.S. News & World Report and was named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most
Influential People in the World.”
worldbank.org @JimYongKim
Emily Esfahani Smith
Author
In her book "The Power of Meaning," Emily Esfahani Smith rounds up the latest research -- and the words of great thinkers across
generations—to argue that the search for meaning is far more fulfilling than the pursuit of personal happiness.
Emily Esfahani Smith is the author of The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters, a book that explores how we can each find
meaning in life. She says: "In recent decades, there's been a rising tide of despair across the world—people feeling more depressed and
alone, and even ending their lives. To be psychologically and spiritually healthy, we need to believe that our lives are meaningful. We all
need to discover ways to feel connected to something larger than ourselves -- to feel that our lives make sense. Fortunately, we can all do
this -- we can all create meaningful lives."
Smith draws on psychology, philosophy and literature to write about the human experience -- why we are the way we are and how we can
find grace and meaning in a world that is full of suffering. Her articles "There's More to Life than Being Happy" and "Masters of Love,"
originally published in The Atlantic, have been read more than 30 million times. Her writing has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal,
New York Times and TIME. She is an instructor in positive psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a columnist for The
New Criterion, as well as an editor at the Stanford University's Hoover Institution, where she manages the Ben Franklin Circles project, a
collaboration with the 92nd Street Y and Citizen University to build meaning in local communities.
emilyesfahanismith.com @EmEsfahaniSmith
Found Sound Nation
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Found Sound Nation
Musical collective
Found Sound Nation (FSN) is a collective of artists who use music-making to connect people across cultural divides.
FSN believes that collaborative music creation is a deeply effective way to become aware of the beauty, trauma and hidden potential in our
communities. Their process gives voice to the underrepresented, unlocks the creative potential of youth and supports movements for social
justice.
Founded by Christopher Marianetti and Jeremy Thal in 2010, FSN began its work as part of the groundbreaking new music organization,
Bang on a Can. Over the years, FSN has led audio production workshops for Cine Institute in Haiti, worked extensively with Carnegie Hall
in New York, Indonesia and Mexico, and developed music composition workshops with incarcerated youth in theBronx and Brooklyn.
In the field of cultural diplomacy, FSN developed the Dosti Music Project with US Embassies in Pakistan and India to bring together
politically divided artists to create and tour original work. Since 2012 FSN has partnered with the US Department of State’s Bureau of
Educational and Cultural Affairs and Bang on a Can to produce OneBeat, to convene young professional musicians from around the globe
each fall to use music as a tool for the betterment of our communities, forming a growing web of interconnected musical change-makers
from around the globe.
foundsoundnation.org @foundsoundnat
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Elon Musk
Serial entrepreneur
Elon Musk is the CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors and the CEO/CTO of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX).
At SpaceX, Musk oversees the development of rockets and spacecraft for missions to Earth orbit and ultimately to other planets. In 2008,
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft won the NASA contract to provide cargo transport to space. In 2012, SpaceX became the
first commercial company to dock with the International Space Station and return cargo to Earth with the Dragon.
At Tesla, Musk has overseen product development and design from the beginning, including the all-electric Tesla Roadster, Model S and
Model X, and the rollout of Supercharger stations to keep the cars juiced up. (Some of the charging stations use solar energy systems from
SolarCity, of which Musk is the non-executive chair.) Transitioning to a sustainable energy economy, in which electric vehicles play a
pivotal role, has been one of his central interests for almost two decades. He co-founded PayPal and served as the company's chair and
CEO.
elonmusk.com @elonmusk
Noah Feldman
Constitutional law scholar
Noah Feldman studies the intersection of religion, politics and law.
Noah Feldman is a professor and writer who tries to figure out how to make the government follow the rules; what the rules are that the
government has to follow; and what to do if the rules are being broken. In his work, he asks questions like: How can a 225-year-old
constitutional blueprint still work? Can you design a new and better constitution from scratch in places like Iraq and Tunisia? What rights
do we have, really?
Feldman is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a contributing writer for Bloomberg View. He served as
senior constitutional advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, and advised members of the Iraqi Governing Council on the
drafting of the Transitional Administrative Law or interim constitution. He is writing a biography on James Madison, principal author of
the Constitution and fourth president of the US; it's forthcoming in 2017.
Feldman is the author of six other books: Cool War: The Future of Global Competition (Random House, 2013); Scorpions: The Battles and
Triumphs of FDR’s Great Supreme Court Justices (Twelve Publishing, 2010); The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State (Princeton University
Press, 2008); Divided By God: America's Church-State Problem and What We Should Do About It (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2005); What
We Owe Iraq: War and the Ethics of Nation building (Princeton University Press 2004) and After Jihad: America and the Struggle for
Islamic Democracy (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2003. He most recently co-authored two textbooks: Constitutional Law, Eighteenth Edition
(Foundation Press, 2013) and First Amendment Law, Fifth Edition (Foundation Press, 2013).
Julia Sweeney
Actor, comedian, playwright
Julia Sweeney creates comedic works that tackle deep issues: cancer, family, faith.
Julia Sweeney is a writer, director, actress, comedian and monologist. She is known for being a cast member on Saturday Night Live from
1990 to 1995, where she created and popularized the androgynous character, Pat. She is also well known for her comedic and dramatic
monologues. God Said Ha! is a monologue about serious illness, her brother's lymphoma and her own cancer, and her family's crazy
reactions to this crisis as they soldiered their way through struggle, confusion and death. This play was performed all over the U.S. and on
Broadway at the Lyceum Theater. It was made into a film produced by Quentin Tarantino, and the comedy album from the show was
nominated for a Grammy.
Sweeney's second monologue, In the Family Way, played in theatrical runs in New York and Los Angeles. It was ultimately fashioned into
a book, a memoir titled If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother. Sweeney's third monologue, Letting Go of God, chronicled her journey from
Catholicism to atheism. It was made into a film that played on Showtime.
juliasweeney.com @JuliaSweeney
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