TED on YouTube

The radical act of choosing common ground | Nisha Anand
Visit http://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. To achieve lasting change sometimes requires the hard, even radical, choice of partnering with people you'd least expect. Justice reform advocate Nisha Anand shares her story of working with her ideological opposite to make history and save lives -- and urges us all to widen our circles in order to make progress with purpose. The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know. Follow TED on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TEDTalks Like TED on Facebook: http://facebook.com/TED Subscribe to our channel: http://youtube.com/TED TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://ift.tt/1Hir7dt). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://ift.tt/2YaI34x

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TED on YouTube

Secrets of the mind and free will -- revealed by magic tricks | Alice Pailhès
Visit http://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. Are you in control of your choices? Magic tricks might reveal otherwise, says scientist and illusionist Alice Pailhès. Watch closely as she performs magic tricks that unveil how your brain works, how you can be subtly influenced and what that means for free will and your day-to-day life. Did she guess your card right? The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know. Follow TED on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TEDTalks Like TED on Facebook: http://facebook.com/TED Subscribe to our channel: http://youtube.com/TED TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://ift.tt/1Hir7dt). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://ift.tt/2YaI34x

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TED on YouTube

The race to a zero-emission world starts now | António Guterres
Take action on climate change at https://ift.tt/1du08Tk. "If we don't act now on climate change, this coming century may be one of humanity's last," says António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations. As the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, Guterres urges us to use this moment to rebuild with ambitious climate action in mind -- and lays out a blueprint for getting companies, governments and countries to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. "We can only win the race to zero together," he says. "I urge you all to get on board." This talk was part of the Countdown Global Launch on 10.10.2020. (Watch the full event here: https://youtu.be/5dVcn8NjbwY.) Countdown is TED's global initiative to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis. The goal: to build a better future by cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, in the race to a zero-carbon world. Get involved at https://ift.tt/2GNL9YR Follow Countdown on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tedcountdown Follow Countdown on Instagram: https://ift.tt/30Nmz1b Subscribe to our channel: http://youtube.com/TED TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://ift.tt/1Hir7dt). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://ift.tt/2YaI34x

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TED on YouTube

The global movement to restore nature's biodiversity | Thomas Crowther
Take action on climate change at https://ift.tt/1du08Tk. Biodiversity is the key to life on Earth and reviving our damaged planet, says ecologist Thomas Crowther. Sharing the inside story of his headline-making research on reforestation, which led to the UN's viral Trillion Trees Campaign, Crowther introduces Restor: an expansive, informative platform built to enable anyone, anywhere to help restore the biodiversity of Earth's ecosystems. This talk was part of the Countdown Global Launch on 10.10.2020. (Watch the full event here: https://youtu.be/5dVcn8NjbwY.) Countdown is TED's global initiative to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis. The goal: to build a better future by cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, in the race to a zero-carbon world. Get involved at https://ift.tt/2GNL9YR Follow Countdown on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tedcountdown Follow Countdown on Instagram: https://ift.tt/30Nmz1b Subscribe to our channel: http://youtube.com/TED TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://ift.tt/1Hir7dt). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://ift.tt/2YaI34x

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TED on YouTube

"Home to You" / "Don't Kill My Vibe" | Sigrid
Take action on climate change at https://ift.tt/1du08Tk. In front of a stunning forest lake, singer-songwriter Sigrid invites us to listen to uplifting vocals, warm guitar strums and delicate melodies as she performs her songs "Don't Kill My Vibe" and "Home to You." This performance was part of the Countdown Global Launch on 10.10.2020. (Watch the full event here: https://youtu.be/5dVcn8NjbwY.) Countdown is TED's global initiative to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis. The goal: to build a better future by cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, in the race to a zero-carbon world. Get involved at https://ift.tt/2GNL9YR Follow Countdown on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tedcountdown Follow Countdown on Instagram: https://ift.tt/30Nmz1b Subscribe to our channel: http://youtube.com/TED TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://ift.tt/1Hir7dt). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://ift.tt/2YaI34x

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TED on YouTube

"What a Wonderful World" | Cynthia Erivo and Gary Motley
Take action on climate change at https://ift.tt/1du08Tk. In a moment of musical beauty that calls for reflection, actor and performer Cynthia Erivo sings a moving rendition of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World," accompanied by pianist Gary Motley. With her words and voice, Erivo urges us all to do better for the Earth and the generations to come. This performance was part of the Countdown Global Launch on 10.10.2020. (Watch the full stream here: https://youtu.be/5dVcn8NjbwY.) Countdown is TED's global initiative to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis. The goal: to build a better future by cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, in the race to a zero-carbon world. Get involved at https://ift.tt/2GNL9YR Follow Countdown on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tedcountdown Follow Countdown on Instagram: https://ift.tt/30Nmz1b Subscribe to our channel: http://youtube.com/TED TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://ift.tt/1Hir7dt). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://ift.tt/2YaI34x

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TED on YouTube

How to connect while apart — that's what this talk kept coming back to, even when I wasn't expecting it to.

I found it on YouTube, one of those late nights when I was too tired to read but too restless to sleep. The CEO and founder of Zoom was being interviewed about how his team built the world's most popular video chat software — and where he thought it was all going. Virtual handshakes. Real-time language translation. Digital spaces that could actually rival being in the same room as someone.

I watched the whole thing twice.

There's something about hearing a founder talk through the problem he set out to solve that gets under my skin. He wasn't describing an app. He was describing distance. He was describing the specific ache of needing to be present for people you love when a physical room won't allow it.

I know that ache.

I've attended funerals through a phone screen propped against a coffee mug. I've watched my family share meals I wasn't sitting at. I've had conversations where the two-second delay made it feel like we were already living in different time zones — which, of course, we were.

He talked about it like an engineering problem, and I respected that. But I kept hearing something else underneath it. He kept saying that the goal was to make people feel happy. Not productive. Not efficient. Happy. Like the technology was just scaffolding around something more fundamental, something that doesn't really have a category in a product roadmap.

The interviewer asked him what he wished he'd built differently. I don't remember his exact answer. I remember pausing the video and sitting with the question myself.

What would I have built differently? What would I have asked for, if someone had handed me a blueprint for this life before I started living it?

Better sound quality, maybe. Fewer dropped calls at the worst possible moments. Something that could actually transmit the weight of a hand on a shoulder, the way a hug changes your breathing. He mentioned virtual handshakes like they were coming soon. I hope he's right. I hope they feel like something.

The talk was recorded during the period when the whole world suddenly understood what it meant to be separated from the people you needed — when distance stopped being an immigrant's private condition and became everyone's reality for a while. I noticed that. I noticed who was surprised by it and who was not.

There's a kind of loneliness that video calls fix and a kind of loneliness they make worse, because the screen reminds you of exactly what isn't there. You can see your mother's face and still not be in the room with her. You can watch your niece learn to walk and still miss the weight of her in your arms.

But I keep using it. We all do. Because the alternative — the silence, the not-seeing — is so much harder.

He built something real. Even if it's a workaround. Even if it's scaffolding. Even if the thing it's standing in for is something no software has figured out how to replicate yet.

I closed the laptop and thought about calling home. Then I opened it again and did.