TED Conference Ponders Bliss, Future

Just read this over at Wired.

When it comes to the pursuit of happiness, everyone, it turns out, has an opinion.

Everyone, as it turns out, just happens to include architects, scientists, explorers, Buddhist monks, comedians, primate researchers, dietitians, deep-sea divers, illusionists and Internet billionaires.

And that was only a partial list of the lineup of speakers and participants at a free-wheeling technology and design conference in Monterey, California, that also attracted corporate executives and famed Hollywood actress Goldie Hawn.

The eclectic group gathered on California's Central Coast to ponder the pursuit of happiness and the shape of the future at the annual TED conference.

Chris Anderson, the curator of the conference, told Reuters the gathering provides a four-day immersion in ideas, invention and fun at a time when many of its high-powered participants are reevaluating life's big-picture questions.

"A lot of people who have been incredibly successful over the years have been compelled to write a different agenda because of a combination of economic issues and 9/11," he said.

In a presentation entitled "Humor, Joy and Surprise in Design," Al Seckel, a neuroscientist from the California Institute of Technology, described illusions as "expectations that have been violated in some unexpected, pleasing way."

On the whole, TED participants were wildly optimistic about the future, with predictions that scientists in the years just ahead would solve the problem of aging, understand the nature of gravity and find another planet like Earth.

"Florence in the 15th century could have become the greatest military power in Europe with all its wealth and genius, but instead it chose to invest it in beauty," Seligman said.

"This is your Florentine moment and it only comes once in a millennium," he added. "The question we all have to ask ourselves is how are we going to use technology, entertainment and design to increase the tonnage of human happiness on the planet."

It's refreshing to see this elite group of movers and shakers start talking like this again. So the real question is are we finally at an historical juncture where we can finally spread this happiness and prosperity to the rest of the world, rather than just the 1 or 2% richest on the planet?

As Ashanti, author of the Afircan Drumbeat Blog, says,

Different people are in different places. Many people in Africa (and elsewhere) are focused on basic survival needs, because these are unmet. (Maslow's hierarchy of needs as a reference point). Food, shelter, housing, health care. Thus, they would not be in a position to think about the future, since their sole focus is on where their next meal comes from, or the fact that they have no roof over their heads, no access to adequate health care and sanitation, and so on.

Those who do have those needs met, are in a position to think constructively of the future, are in a position to construct awesomely wonderful blogs like FutureHi. I think that is wonderful.

But for those who cannot focus on anything other than their basic physical survival needs, who are suffering because of hunger or ill-health - they would not be able to contribute to initiatives like this, until their basic survival issues are met, and they can get past that.

I keep thinking of Bucky Fuller that says we are suffering from a design science crisis. But even knowing about the conditions of the third world is no reason to not continue to actively create a positive vision of these emerging technologies. They are coming, and coming soon. What's lacking in my opinion is a positive vision that is absolutely necessary if we are to survive it, and not end up like Bill Joy who said, "The future doesn't need us". Right now especially, people need a future they can believe in again. That's hard even for most people in the first world who have already stabilized their lower needs. There is such an atmosphere of fear being perpetuated almost everywhere I see, and it is so unnecessary, but worse entirely counter-productive.

I think the more liquid our economies become, the more prosperity will reach more people. I think of the experiment that was done by the IMF when they gave every citizen of Cairo $50, rather than the government the same amount of money in one-lump sum. This initiative resulted in thousands of new businesses coming into existence that was not there before. The challenge then is getting the knowledge and capital to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.

The other pressing need is an environmental sustainable infrastructure. The thought of the rising middle class of China all driving automobiles running on oil is not a good sign. The sooner cleaner sources of energy become cost competitive the better. Time is running out. And finally there is the growing problem of resource depletion - especially deforestation. I just read last week how all of Borneo forest will be gone within 3 years! This is a terrible thing, and I'm not sure how to stop it, unless the people cutting down the forests have an ALTERNATIVE means of prosperity. So the challenge is getting those alternative forms of capital to those countries as quickly as possible before the global ecology goes into a tailspin.

Posted by paul at February 29, 2004 08:40 PM | TrackBack