TEDXRDAM : Ideas worth spreading comin’ to town.

For months now, I’ve been looking forward for that positive and fashionable feast for the mind of TED.com comin’ to town. Last Friday, that time had finally come. Seated in the biggest theatre of the city, the new Luxor with 800 other ‘lucky few’, I absorbed twelve hours of the most fascinating speeches and a smashing lunch, dinner and drinks.

For those oblivious of the TED-phenomenon, I’d suggest to check out their website: http://www.ted.com TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences, they organise TED events all across the globe.

Bringing together to do what?
Bringing people together always sounds like a good thing, but bringing together to do what? I tried to answer this question throughout the TEDxRDAM day. The aim of the speeches on this particular TED day could be roughly divided in the following categories:

-The informants: they come from a specialised workfield (director of an eye hospital or heart surgeon) and tell us about a new approach or development in that field. These speeches have a high ‘oohh-aahh’ feeling and leave you bewildered at the marvels of unknown work terrains.

-The inspirationals: Most of these speeches come from different fields; art, social projecting, sales, but all of the speakers use technology and internet in a leading edge way. They inspire to actively pioneer social media and the endless technical possibilities of the internet. Again, these speeches have a big ‘the world is so huge’ feeling about them.

-The reflectives: these speakers are philosphers and/or of a religious background.They give motivational, reflective speeches, aiming for the audience to see life in one way or the other and motivating their choices of vision by luminating examples.

So many thoughts...for what?
What seemed to be an interesting difference in opinion during the TED day, came up between the inspirationals speeching about the use of technology and the possibilities of online networking and social media. Being connected and online, in every aspect of life, seemed to be the general message. The reflectives seemingly preached the opposite: especially the speech by my favourite Dutch philosopher, Bas Haring, spoke out directly against the never ending connectiveness of current daily life. ‘Unplug’ was his central message.

With my head absolutely spinning after such a day, I returned home and fell sound asleep, hoping to wake up all fresh and with my inspiration peaking to new levels of thought. The opposite happened: I woke up feeling as though I’d been grinded by millstones and couldn’t stop staring at the wall. After maintaining such a high attentionspan the day before, I couldn’t even remember what the best speeches had been and why.

I looked through the fancy booklet with information on the speakers we had gotten. I reread my notes and they all seemed a little silly to me. ‘Be an island’ and ‘Be of use to others’ were the two most comprehensive short notes that I had gotten down.

The need to believe.
TED has a high enthusiastic energy about it that makes everyone in the crowd cheer and clap; it reminds me a little of the hysteric ‘everyone is a winner’ mentality of the pyramid games that were so hot in the nineties. Everyone present at a TED day, shares the belief they are part of the future, the future that is being shaped while they’re actively participating in it.
I wonder how much of the TED hype could be labeled as a consistive improvement of society. It’s too bad no definite TED outcomes can be recorded. I’m not sure who meets who on such a day and what happens next. What I can say, a few days after, is that the biggest noticeable influence it has had on me is the lasting feeling of how big the world must be, how I wish I knew more of computers, internet and technology and I had some real nice ‘did you know’ facts to share during the lunchbreak.

I think this is exactly why TED is such a hit. TED has the same backbone as as any other religion: it makes you aware of the vastness of life and all its wonders, it gives you a little insights and a set of tools to live by in this world. TED is like a religion for the sophisticated. A God person has been wholly rationalised by the schooled and succesful, but the need to believe in something remains.

The way to go.
I’m not sure whether being so interconnected as TED aims to be, is the way to go. I choose to add a video to this blog with our major, Aboutaleb, giving a beautiful speech about the importance of education and Bas Haring, pleading for cutting off all communication once in a while and ‘become an island’.

A Taste Of TEDxRotterdam from TEDxRotterdam on Vimeo.

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