TED Talks
Iqbal Quadir: How mobile phones can fight poverty
Iqbal Quadir tells how his experiences as a kid in poor Bangladesh, and later as a banker in New York, led him to start a mobile phone operator connecting 80 million rural Bangladeshi -- and to become a champion of bottom-up development.
TED Talks
Nicholas Negroponte: Taking OLPC to Colombia
TED follows Nicholas Negroponte to Colombia as he delivers laptops inside territory once controlled by guerrillas. His partner? Colombia's Defense Department, who see One Laptop per Child as an investment in the region. (And you too can...
TED Talks
TED: The new age of corporate monopolies | Margrethe Vestager
Margrethe Vestager wants to keep european markets competitive -- which is why, on behalf of the eu, she's fined Google $2.8 billion for breaching antitrust rules, asked Apple for $15.3 billion in back taxes and investigated a range of...
TED Talks
TED: Can we call it a "world map" if it's missing a billion people? | Rebecca Firth
Want to help map the world? Community builder Rebecca Firth explains how the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) is using open-source software powered by volunteers to put one billion people on the map in the next five years. (This...
TED Talks
TED: Why it's too hard to start a business in Africa -- and how to change it | Magatte Wade
Many African countries are poor for a simple reason, says entrepreneur Magatte Wade: governments have created far too many obstacles to starting and running a business. In this passionate talk, Wade breaks down the challenges of doing...
TED Talks
TED: The future of the food ecosystem -- and the power of your plate | Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli
Many people across the world don't have access to healthy food -- while in other places tons of food go to waste. Social entrepreneur Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli thinks we can take bold steps to fix this problem. She lays out what it would...
TED Talks
Nandan Nilekani: Ideas for India's future
Nandan Nilekani, the visionary co-founder of outsourcing pioneer Infosys, explains four brands of ideas that will determine whether India can continue its recent breakneck progress.
TED Talks
TED: The case for fish farming | Mike Velings
We're headed towards a global food crisis: Nearly 3 billion people depend on the ocean for food, and at our current rate we already take more fish from the ocean than it can naturally replace. In this fact-packed, eye-opening talk,...
TED Talks
TED: We can make COVID-19 the last pandemic | Bill Gates
Building a pandemic-free future won't be easy, but Bill Gates believes that we have the tools and strategies to make it possible -- now we just have to fund them. In this forward-looking talk, he proposes a multi-specialty Global...
TED Talks
TED: How nationalism and globalism can coexist | Wanis Kabbaj
Why do we have to choose between nationalism and globalism, between loving our countries and caring for the world? In a talk with lessons for avowed nationalists and globalists alike, Wanis Kabbaj explains how we can challenge this...
TED Talks
TED: Your kids might live on Mars. Here's how they'll survive | Stephen Petranek
It sounds like science fiction, but journalist Stephen Petranek considers it fact: within 20 years, humans will live on Mars. In this provocative talk, Petranek makes the case that humans will become a spacefaring species and describes...
TED Talks
Stuart Oda: Are indoor vertical farms the future of agriculture?
By 2050, the global population is projected to reach 9.8 billion. How are we going to feed everyone? Investment-banker-turned-farmer Stuart Oda points to indoor vertical farming: growing food on tiered racks in a controlled,...
TED Talks
3 ways to upgrade democracy for the 21st century | Max Rashbrooke
Democracy needs an update -- one that respects and engages citizens by involving them in everyday political decisions, says writer and researcher Max Rashbrooke. He outlines three global success stories that could help move democratic...
TED Talks
TED: How we can make crops survive without water | Jill Farrant
As the world's population grows and the effects of climate change come into sharper relief, we'll have to feed more people using less arable land. Molecular biologist Jill Farrant studies a rare phenomenon that may help: "resurrection...
TED Talks
Jan Chipchase: The anthropology of mobile phones
Nokia researcher Jan Chipchase's investigation into the ways we interact with technology has led him from the villages of Uganda to the insides of our pockets. He's made some unexpected discoveries along the way.
TED Talks
Manu Prakash: A 50-cent microscope that folds like origami
Perhaps you’ve punched out a paper doll or folded an origami swan? TED Fellow Manu Prakash and his team have created a microscope made of paper that's just as easy to fold and use. A sparkling demo that shows how this invention could...
TED Talks
TED: Are ad agencies, PR firms and lobbyists destroying the climate? | Solitaire Townsend
An unnoticed industry worth two trillion dollars a year is influencing almost every carbon emission. Sustainability solution seeker Solitaire Townsend calls this sector the "X industry" (where "X" stands for influence), and it includes...
TED Talks
BJ Miller: What really matters at the end of life
At the end of our lives, what do we most wish for? For many, it's simply comfort, respect, love. BJ Miller is a hospice and palliative medicine physician who thinks deeply about how to create a dignified, graceful end of life for his...
TED Talks
Shirin Neshat: Art in exile
Iranian-born artist Shirin Neshat explores the paradox of being an artist in exile: a voice for her people, but unable to go home. In her work, she explores Iran pre- and post-Islamic Revolution, tracing political and societal change...
TED Talks
TED: A sci-fi story of climate optimism | Vandana Singh
The world is a living tapestry ... As the weave of life is torn apart in one place, the threads unravel in another, says author and physics professor Vandana Singh, acknowledging humanity's interconnectedness with the planet -- and the...
TED Talks
TED: Nationalism vs. globalism: the new political divide | Yuval Noah Harari
How do we make sense of today's political divisions? In a wide-ranging conversation full of insight, historian Yuval Harari places our current turmoil in a broader context, against the ongoing disruption of our technology, climate, media...
TED Talks
Yang Lan: The generation that's remaking China
Yang Lan, a journalist and entrepreneur who's been called "the Oprah of China," offers insight into the next generation of young Chinese citizens -- urban, connected (via microblogs) and alert to injustice.
TED Talks
Damon Horowitz: Philosophy in prison
Damon Horowitz teaches philosophy through the Prison University Project, bringing college-level classes to inmates of San Quentin State Prison. In this powerful short talk, he tells the story of an encounter with right and wrong that...
TED Talks
Howard Rheingold: The new power of collaboration
Howard Rheingold talks about the coming world of collaboration, participatory media and collective action -- and how Wikipedia is really an outgrowth of our natural human instinct to work as a group.