Documentary unfolding the science behind the idea of six degrees of separation. Originally thought to be an urban myth, it now appears that anyone on the planet can be connected in just a few steps of association. Six degrees of separation is also at the heart of a major scientific breakthrough; that there might be a law which nature uses to organize itself and that now promises to solve some of its deepest mysteries.
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Societies and Cultures
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Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist, speaking at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. Sep 9, 2005
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Societies and Cultures
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From EG'08: Mike Rowe, the host of Dirty Jobs, tells some compelling (and horrifying) real-life job stories. Listen for his insights and observations about the nature of hard work, and how it’s been unjustifiably degraded in society today. (Recorded in December 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 20:03.)
Based on Jared Diamond's Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same name, Guns, Germs and Steel traces humanity's journey over the last 13,000 years – from the dawn of farming at the end of the last Ice Age to the realities of life in the twenty-first century.
Inspired by a question put to him on the island of Papua New Guinea more than thirty years ago, Diamond embarks on a world-wide quest to understand the roots of global inequality.
By analyzing DNA from people in all regions of the world, geneticist Spencer Wells has concluded that all humans alive today are descended from a single man who lived in Africa around 60,000 years ago.
Modern humans, he contends, didn't start their spread across the globe until after that time. Most archaeologists would say the exodus began 100,000 years ago—a 40,000-year discrepancy. Wells's take on the origins of modern humans and how they came to populate the rest of the planet is bound to be controversial.
His work adds to an already crowded field of opposing hypotheses proposed by those who seek answers in "stones and bones"—archaeologists and paleoanthropologists—and those who seek them in our blood—population geneticists and molecular biologists.
Over the last decade, major debate on whether early humans evolved in Africa or elsewhere, when they began outward migration, where they went, and whether they interbred with or replaced archaic species has moved out of scientific journals and into the public consciousness.
In this documentary, Wells addresses these issues. In a straightforward story, he explains how he traced the exodus of modern humans from Africa by analyzing genetic changes in DNA from the y-chromosome.
"As often happens in science," he said, "technology has opened up a field to new ways of answering old questions—often providing startling answers."
Of course, not everyone agrees with him...what do you think?
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History,
Societies and Cultures
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Professor Allan Chapman: History, Science and Religion
Professor Allan Chapman examines the duty of historians to bring the true history of scientific achievement to the public.
By emphasizing the "grand amateurs" of the nineteenth century, Chapman debunks long-standing myths and assumptions about western scientific tradition. Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2008
Jared Diamond is the author of "Guns, Germs and Steel" and the current New York Times' best selling "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed." This lecture examines the factors that caused great civilizations of the past to collapse and what we can learn from their fates.
YouTube - Jared Diamond
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History,
Pragmatism,
Societies and Cultures
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In The Ascent of Money, Niall Ferguson shows that finance is in fact the foundation of human progress. What’s more, he reveals financial history as the essential backstory behind all history.
Through Ferguson’s expert lens familiar historical landmarks appear in a new and sharper financial focus. Suddenly, the civilization of the Renaissance looks very different: a boom in the market for art and architecture made possible when Italian bankers adopted Arabic mathematics. The rise of the Dutch republic is reinterpreted as the triumph of the world’s first modern bond market over insolvent Habsburg absolutism. And the origins of the French Revolution are traced back to a stock market bubble caused by a convicted Scot murderer.
With the clarity and verve for which he is known, Ferguson elucidates key financial institutions and concepts by showing where they came from. What is money? What do banks do? What’s the difference between a stock and a bond? Why buy insurance or real estate? And what exactly does a hedge fund do?
This is history for the present. Ferguson travels to post-Katrina New Orleans to ask why the free market can’t provide adequate protection against catastrophe. He delves into the origins of the subprime mortgage crisis.
Perhaps most important, The Ascent of Money documents how a new financial revolution is propelling the world’s biggest countries, India and China, from poverty to wealth in the space of a single generation—an economic transformation unprecedented in human history.
Yet the central lesson of the financial history is that sooner or later every bubble bursts—sooner or later the bearish sellers outnumber the bullish buyers, sooner or later greed flips into fear. And that’s why, whether you’re scraping by or rolling in it, there’s never been a better time to understand the ascent of money.
YouTube - Night Talk: An Interview With Niall Ferguson
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Societies and Cultures
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About this talk
Samantha Power tells a story of a complicated hero, Sergio Vieira de Mello. This UN diplomat walked a thin moral line, negotiating with the world's worst dictators to help their people survive crisis. It's a compelling story told with a fiery passion.
About Samantha Power
Samantha Power studies US foreign policy, especially as it relates to war and human rights. Her books take on the world's worst problems: genocide, civil war and brutal dictatorships.
Samantha Power on a complicated hero | Video on TED.com
About this talk
Why do societies fail? With lessons from the Norse of Iron Age Greenland, deforested Easter Island and present-day Montana, Jared Diamond talks about the signs that collapse is near, and how -- if we see it in time -- we can prevent it.
About Jared Diamond
Jared Diamond is an award-winning scholar of ecology, biology and history, and best-selling author of Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.
Jared Diamond on why societies collapse | Video on TED.com
Cody's Books
San Francisco, CA
Mar 8th, 2007
Judith Levine talks about Not Buying It: My Year without Shopping.
Shocked by the commerce in everything from pet cloning to patriotism, frightened by the downward spiral of her finances and that of the trash-strewn earth, Judith Levine enlists her partner, Paul, in a radical experiment: to forgo all but the most necessary purchases for an entire year.
Without consumer goods and experiences, Judith and Paul pursue their careers, nurture relationships, and try to keep their sanity, their identities, and their sense of humor intact. Tracking their progress - and inevitable lapses - Levine contemplates need and desire, scarcity and security, consumerism and citizenship. She asks the Big Questions: Can the economy survive without shopping? Are Q-tips necessary? NOT BUYING IT is the confession of a woman any reader can identify with: someone who can't live without French roast coffee or SmartWool socks but who has had it up to here with over-consumption and its effects on the earth and everyone who dwells there. For the humor and intelligence of its insights, the refreshment of its skepticism, and the surprises of its conclusions, NOT BUYING IT is sure to be on anyone's list of necessities. Levine is also the author of "Harmful to Minors," "My Enemy, My Love" and "Do You Remember Me?" - Codys
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Societies and Cultures
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Peter Sagal visits Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters to discuss his book "The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them)." This event took place on July 23, 2008, as part of the Authors@Google series. Somewhere, somebody is having more fun than you are. Or so everyone believes. Peter Sagal, a mild-mannered, Harvard-educated NPR host—the man who put the second "L" in "vanilla"—decided to find out if it's true. From strip clubs to gambling halls to swingers clubs to porn sets—and then back to the strip clubs, but only because he left his glasses there—Sagal explores exactly what the sinful folk do, how much they pay for the privilege, and exactly how they got those funny red marks. He hosts a dinner for three of the smartest porn stars in the world, asks the floor manager at the oldest casino in Vegas how to beat the house, and indulges in molecular cuisine at the finest restaurant in the country. Meet liars and rich people who don't think consumption is a disease, encounter the most spectacular view ever seen from a urinal, and say hello to Nina Hartley, the only porn star who can discuss Nietzsche while strangers smack her butt. With a sharp wit, a remarkable eye for detail, and the carefree insouciance that can only come from not having any idea what he's getting into, Sagal proves to be the perfect guide to sinful behavior. What happens in Vegas—and in less glamorous places—is all laid out in these pages, a modern version of Dante's Inferno, except with more jokes. Peter Sagal (www.petersagal.com) is the host of Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me!,™ the NPR ™ news quiz. He is also an award-winning playwright, occasional screenwriter, onetime extra in a Michael Jackson music video, former staff writer for a motorcycle magazine, and a regular contributor to "The Funny Pages" in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Sagal lives near Chicago with his wife and three daughters. This is his first book.
YouTube - Authors@Google: Peter Sagal
Operation Auca
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Operation Auca was an attempt by five Evangelical Christian missionaries from the United States to make contact with the Huaorani people of the rainforest of Ecuador. The Huaorani, also known as the Aucas (the Quechua word for "naked savages"), were an isolated tribe known for their violence, against both their own people and outsiders who entered their territory. With the intention of being the first Protestants to evangelize the previously unreached Huaorani, the missionaries began making regular flights over Huaorani settlements in September 1955, dropping gifts. After several months of exchanging gifts, on January 2, 1956 the missionaries established a camp at "Palm Beach", a sandbar along the Curaray River, a few miles from Huaorani settlements. Their efforts came to an end on January 8, 1956, when all five—Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian—were attacked and speared by a group of Huaorani warriors. The news of their deaths was broadcast around the world, and Life magazine covered the event with a photo essay.
The deaths of the men galvanized the missionary effort in the United States, sparking an outpouring of funding for evangelization efforts around the world. Their work is still frequently remembered in evangelical publications, and in 2006 was the subject of the film production End of the Spear. Several years after the death of the men, the widow of Jim Elliot, Elisabeth, and the sister of Nate Saint, Rachel, returned to Ecuador as missionaries with the Summer Institute of Linguistics (now SIL International) to live among the Huaorani. This eventually led to the conversion of many, including some of those involved in the killing. While largely eliminating tribal violence, their efforts exposed the tribe to exploitation and increased influence from the outside. This has caused Huaorani culture to begin to disappear, but anthropologists argue over the ultimate effect—some negatively view the missionary work as cultural imperialism, while others contend that the influence has been beneficial for the tribe.
Operation Auca - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Commonwealth Club of California
San Francisco, CA
Jun 16th, 2008
Does what's on your desk reveal what's on your mind? Do those pictures on your walls tell true tales about your character? Is your favorite outfit about to give you away?
For the last 10 years psychologist Gosling has been studying how people project (and protect) their inner selves. By exploring our private worlds (desks, bedrooms, even our clothes and cars), he shows not only how we showcase our personalities in unexpected ways, but also how we create personality in the first place, communicate it others and interpret the world around us - The Commonwealth Club of California
FORA.tv - Sam Gosling - Snoop: The Secret Language of Stuff
About this talk
Chris Abani tells stories of people: People standing up to soldiers. People being compassionate. People being human and reclaiming their humanity. It's "ubuntu," he says: the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me.
About Chris Abani
Imprisoned three times by the Nigerian government, Chris Abani turned his experience into poems that Harold Pinter called "the most naked, harrowing expression of prison life and political torture...
Chris Abani muses on humanity | Video on TED.com
About this talk
Louise Leakey asks, "Who are we?" The question takes her to the Rift Valley in Eastern Africa, where she digs for the evolutionary origins of humankind -- and suggests a stunning new vision of our competing ancestors.
About Louise Leakey
Louise Leakey hunts for hominid fossils in East Africa, in the family tradition.
Cody's Books
Berkeley, CA
Jan 17th, 2008
Michael Parenti discusses Contrary Notions.
Internationally acclaimed, award winning author Michael Parenti is one of America's most astute and engaging political analysts. Covering a wide range of subjects, Parenti's work has enlightened and enlivened readers for many years. Here is a rich buffet of his deep but lucid writings on real history, political life, empire, wealth, class power, technology, culture, ideology, media, environment, gender, and ethnicity - along with a few choice selections drawn from his own life experiences and political awakening.
Parenti serves on the board of judges for Project Censored, and on numerous advisory boards as well as the advisory editorial boards of New Political Science and Nature, Society and Thought. He is the author of twenty books - Cody's Books
FORA.tv - Michael Parenti Discusses Contrary Notions
Tatterred Cover
Denver, CO
Jan 17th, 2008
Michael Shermer discusses his newest book The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics.
Psychologist Michael Shermer, the author of nine previous books, including the bestselling Why People Believe Weird Things, is a columnist for Scientific American, the publisher of Skeptic magazine, and the founder and director of the international Skeptics Society - Tattered Cover
FORA.tv - | Business
World Affairs Council of Northern California
San Francisco, CA
Mar 26th, 2008
How Emerging Markets Are Reshaping the Global Balance of Power with Parag Khanna.How are the forces behind globalization dividing countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and East Asia along political, economic, and cultural lines? As "second world" nations struggle to rise into the first world and avoid falling into the third, how will resources in countries like Azerbaijan, Colombia, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam impact the fate of China, Europe, and the United States?
To help us understand the shifting balance of power at this intersection of geopolitics and globalization, Parag Khanna joins the Council to discuss his new book, The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order, and how the European Union and China now compete with the U.S. to shape world order - World Affairs Council of Northern California
FORA.tv - | Parag Khanna
The Long Now Foundation
San Francisco, CA
Apr 8th, 2005
Stewart Brand addresses The Long Now Foundation on Cities and Time.
Cities are humanity's longest-lived organizations (Jericho dates back 10,500 years), but also the most constantly changing. Even in Europe they consume 2-3% of their material fabric a year, which means a wholly new city every 50 years. In the US and the developing world it's much faster.
Every week in the world a million new people move to cities. In 2007 50% of our 6.5 billion population will live in cities. In 1800 it was 3% of the total population then. In 1900 it was 14%. In 2030 it's expected to be 61%. This is a tipping point. We're becoming a city planet.
One of the effects of globalization is to empower cities more and more. Communications and economic activities bypass national boundaries. With many national governments in the developing world discredited, corporations and NGOs go direct to where the markets, the workers, and the needs are, in the cities. Every city is becoming a "world city." Many elites don't live in one city now, they live "in cities" - The Long Now Foundation
FORA.tv - Cities and Time
