Chris Anderson - curator of TED

Photo by Pierre Omidyar

INTRODUCTION

In 1984 Richard Saul Wurman and Harry Marks invited people from Technology, Entertainment and Design ("TED") to a conference to discuss ideas in their niches. This has gone on to become a popular annual conference where prominent minds are invited to give an 18 minute speech about what it was they were so passionate about.

The event is now run by a non-profit organisation. Chirs Anderson is the current curator of TED.  Conferences are held in Long Beach and Palm Springs (USA), as well as Europe and Asia. With an admission ticket pegged at  several thousand dollars, it was just as well that a decision was made to make these talks public on their website – TED.com and on YouTube.

Their mission statement is:

"We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world.

So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's

most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other."

Through the years, TED has hosted men and women whose work has touched millions of lives – scientists, politicians, social thinkers – the list goes on. If you haven't already, do take some time to watch the talks on TED.com or on YouTube. They are a source of inspiration.

Pranav Mistry: The Thrilling Potential Of Sixth Sense Technology

Pranav has been called a genius and one of the biggest inventors of our time. He looks at it not as inventing, but finding cheap solutions to problems.

When he was invited to TED, Pranav demonstrated his contribution to the quest to blur the interface between users and technology. His ideas are ingenious and worthy of spreading.

The Future

We believe that the beauty of technology will ultimately be to demonstrate to us that we are incredible beings when we realize our full potential as human beings. Gadgets will then not be necessary in order for us to communicate and do a lot that we currently believe is out of our reach.

We have so much to learn on our exciting journey through life!