Congratulations to the good folks at Culture Pilot for knocking the TEDx Houston ball outta the park on Saturday, June 12, 2010 at University of Houston’s Wortham Theater. I had the good fortune to serve on the organizing committee, and learned volumes from the group’s cool resolve, and assurance that all would go as planned. And it did.
David Crossley (Houston Tomorrow) showing off his big locally grown zucchini (Photo courtesy of Blue Lemon Photo & TEDxHouston)
Throughout each talk, the theme that stood out for me was “unlearning” as Buckminster Fuller termed it – an approach to innovation that involves dispensing of old ideas that we now know are untrue.
Cliffnotes (don’t sue me) to TEDxHouston talks:
Brené Brown (research professor and writer at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work)
• Humans have a neurobiological imperative for connection.
• Shame is the fear of disconnection.
• In order to have connection, one must be vulnerable, defined as “doing something that offers no guarantees.”
• People who have a strong sense of love and belonging believe they are worthy of love and belonging, and have in common: courage, compassion and connection.
• On numbing (via substances, food, prescription drugs): you cannot selectively numb emotions.
Dan Phillips (founder of Phoenix Commotion construction company that uses recycled and salvaged materials to build affordable housing)
• The first cause of waste is hardwired into our DNA– the desire for expected pattern and unity of structural features.
• Trees don’t grow in 2 x 4s, at lengths of 8, 10, and 12′.
• Standardization leads to waste.
• Apollonian / Dionysian contradiction.
• John Paul Sartre: Human beings act differently when they know people are watching them.
• We [Westerners] have confused Maslow’s Hierarchy and put vanity at the top, but the problem of waste is worldwide
Rebecca Richards-Kortum (Stanley C. Moore Professor of Bioengineering at Rice University) & Maria Oden (Professor in the Practice of Bioengineering Education in the Department of Bioengineering at Rice University)
• 9 million children under 5 die annually because of lack of medical treatment.
• Using college students’ enthusiasm and ideas to solve global health problems.
• Students created a medical centrifuge from a salad spinner; a florescent microscope for $200 (vs. the $40k cost of a medical grade equivalent).
• And designed field backpacks for MDs to use in remote parts of the world – a kind of portable clinic made cheaply and efficiently.
• Redesigned a locally produced incubator in Malawi, made for under $100.
Stephen Kleinberg (Rice University Sociologist and Houston’s leading demographer)
• 1 million people moved to Houston between 1970-1982; abundance of jobs in the oil and gas industry.
• Houston was the city with the least industrial control: “Come on down and make some money.”
• Crash of 1983: 100,000 jobs lost.
• Industry became more diverse (medical, aeronautics, etc.). Quality of life became an issue.
• October 7, 1999: USA Today Headline: Houston, Cough Cough, We Have A Problem, Cough Cough. Air quality was worst in country.
• Environmental regulation was no longer seen as “anti-growth” but rather necessary for success.
• Changing view of prosperity in the 21st century.
• Innovation is now network-driven.
• In the space of the last 20 years, Houston has become one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the country. It is a city of majority minorities.
Mark Johnson (founder of Hometta, a collaborative of designers, architects, builders, writers and editors who have banded together to rethink and improve the way residential architecture is designed)
• With regard to the architectural mash-ups in Houston (French Chateau, Tuscan Villa, etc): “One day I’d like to go to France and see Houston ice houses.”
• First ring of suburbs built 30-40 years ago are now deteriorating; going to landfills.
• How can we reboot our value system to promote sustainable building?
• We can start by building appropriate to scale and location: authenticity.
• Look to the sustainable food movement as an example.
• Build to impress your kids; your kids won’t remember the 2″ beveled granite countertops or the 6 burner professional stainless range. They’ll remember the oak tree, the reading nook, the originality.
• Build a house with intentionality and thoughtfulness, to be passed down through the generations.
• Houston’s Beer Can House is an example of sustainable building, and the townhouses around it will be gone in 100 years, while it will still stand.
Monica Pope (award winning chef, T’afia)
• Most of my cooking career has not been about cooking;
• Through food, I search for who I am, and what I’m supposed to do.
• We say “eat where your food grows.” I say “eat at a table.”
• We need to reinvent the campfire- the place where we gather, tell stories, and eat.
Gracie Cavnar (founder Recipe for Success)
• Obesity rates in the US doubled between 1980-2000.
• As a nation, we need to lose 4.6 billion lbs.
• 41% of us will be morbidly obese by 2015. This will be the first generation that will die before their parents.
• In 2008, $147 billion was spent on medical treatment for obesity related illness.
• Recipe for Success fights marketing with marketing.
• They put kids in touch with their food from farm to plate.
• Future plan for Hope Farms: 100 acres in the shadow of downtown Houston: the largest urban farm in the world!
David Crossley (President, Houston Tomorrow)
• By 2050, Houston will reach 11 million in population. How will that population be fed?
• We live in the most diverse eco-region in North America, but are looking at a major loss of farm land, and forested area to accommodate the growing population.
• New urbanism values: balance of natural and socio-economic development.
• 47% of Americans would rather live in a different place.
• HUD/DOT/EPA have formed “Sustainable Communities Department.”
• Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of Tomorrow.
• James Howard Kunsler: Downscaling.
• Houston 3.0 walkable urbanism, monorail!
Mat Johnson (Author of the graphic novel, Incognegro)
• Between 1880-1930 an estimated 2400 men, women and children were murdered in the US by lynching.
• Lynching is murder by mob action (a tactic which makes prosecution difficult to impossible)
• Lynching was a form of “domestic terrorism.”
• Mention of Walter White, civil rights leader and chief investigator of lynchings.
David Eagleman (Neuroscientist and author)
• 2003, Hubble Deep Field Observation of a dark spot in the sky, revealed thousand of universes.
• What we really learn from a life in science is the vastness of our ignorance.
• The scientific temperament is one of creativity.
• We have created a false dichotomy of god vs. no god.
• I am not an agnostic, I’m a possibilian – one who makes up new narratives about why we are here.
• Doubt is an uncomfortable position but certainty is an absurd position (In reference to quote by Voltaire, “Doubt is uncomfortable, certainty is ridiculous.”)
I’m presently participating in Jeff Howe’s international Twitter book club, better known as #1B1T (One Book One Twitter). If you missed the 1B1T NPR broadcast produced by Laura Sydell (including my one minute of fame), it can be heard here.
The tweeters have spoken, and they want to read Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. At the moment, readers *should* all be on Chapters 4-6, marking our tweets #1b1t_4c (and so on for each chapter) to prevent spoilers, and wearing our official book club badge. I think membership is in the 6,000+ range now, so good governance is a must to maintain a cohesive conversation. I’m having a hard time keeping up, but like all online social groups, the best part is the offline outcomes, like the geek-out conversations I’m now having with Houston readers, Grant McManus, and Carlos Lama (a.k.a. father of my Lamas). American Gods was a good choice for comic book, fantasy or sci-fi enthusiasts, like us.
I adore projects that extend the social web beyond its known capacity, and often wonder what an artist like Andy Warhol would have done with his Twitter account? Would he have had one? Of course. Warhol tackled new technology–from the first consumer video camera to the first computer with a drawing application–the minute it was unveiled. Would he have tweeted live before an audience at Lincoln Center?
One of the 1B1T logistical problems thus far has been keeping pace with the volume of conversations on twitter. As I’ve been writing this entry, no fewer than 25 #1b1t tweets have been posted, and most are just observations or non-starters. The conversations online aren’t especially reciprocal or enduring as of now. Another issue is *some readers* clearly subscribe to the Evelyn Wood school of speed reading, and have completed the entire book. They’re already smoking a cigarette, and I’m still getting undressed.
According to R.A. Hill and R.I.M. Dunbar in the paper “Social Network Size in Humans,” the average person has capacity (in his/her neocortex) to remember 153.5 different individuals. What do I do with 6000+ instant new friends?
Even in contemporary western societies, where individuals are operating egocentric networks within a virtually infinite array of social possibilities, social network size and differentiation reflect the sociocentric networks observed in traditional societies, suggesting that the cognitive constraints on network size may apply universally to all modern humans.–R.A. Hill and R.I.M. Dunbar
I’m reading two books with opposing philosophies simultaneously: You Are Not A Gadget by Jaron Lanier and Everything Bad is Good for You by Steven Johnson. The former argues that technology is reducing humanity to bits of information, and the latter argues that technology is contributing to mental evolution. As my reading progresses, I’ll post some highlights from both books (provided my brain doesn’t explode).
Let’s start with Mr. Lanier, who presents the following themes in the Preface and Chapter 1: Missing Persons.
Lock-in
Technology (software, file formats, web platforms, etc.) that is inflexible in design and isn’t adaptive to a range of future possibilities can lock-in patterns of human behavior that are reductive rather than expansive and can stunt the overall course of social evolution. (Lanier uses MIDI as an example of a pervasive standard format that has unintentionally limited the potential for digital music because it is too hard to change.)
Fragmentation
Digital technologies stimulate different potentials in human nature, and current Web 2.0 designs are trending toward the reduction of users (people) to fragments. The way people engage with platforms like Twitter and wikis, by providing bits of succinct information, is ultimately toying with social engineering and changing how humans express meaning.
And the counterpoint, Mr. Johnson’s Introduction.
The Sleeper Curve
Despite the assumption that culture is being dumbed down, today’s video games, television shows, and movies are far more nuanced and advanced than those previous, and they ultimately encourage cognitive complexity that is causing culture to grow more sophisticated, not less.
Games vs. Books
Reading books is not necessarily more cognitively complex than playing video games. Video games have open ended narratives that require probing and telescoping (probe, hypothesize, reprobe, rethink), which is a basic procedure of scientific inquiry.
RELATED LINKS GALORE:
• An excellent story, Text without Context by Michiko Kakutani in the 3/17/10 issue of NY Times.
• The forthcoming book by Nicholas Carr, The Shallows, explores how the Internet is affecting our brains.
• A transcript of Caleb Crain’s talk on How the Internet is Changing Literary Style.
Here are some random notes I jotted down yesterday during Open Video Alliance’s Wireside Chat with Lawrence Lessig. Mind you, I *was* multi-tasking!
john philip sousa
infernal machines
reaction to phonograph – demise of music
technology and policy
2002 – began to change!
technology gave back
revival of the community culture that sousa celebrated
remix culture – music, Beatles white album, JZ black album, DJ Danger Mouse, grey album, girl talk remix 230 trax in a single performance.
anime music videos
technique has nothing to do with remixing importance
it’s that the technique has been democratized
2006 – another change!
youtube
facilitating a call and response in the way culture gets made and consumed
youtube video inspired spin-off youtube video inspired spin-off youtube video … millions of viewers
this begins to be precisely what sousa romanticized
rather than gathering on the back lawn
they gather on this online platform
creating bits of culture
ALL DEPENDS ON PRINCIPALS OF FAIR USE & FAIR USE CODECS
rip : a remix manifesto- movie
lib(ertarian) julian sanchez summation
new kind of amateur culture, extraordinarily professional in what it produces
walt disney’s greatest works were derived from those of the past: brothers grimm, inspired by other creative works, mickey mouse based on steamboat bill
every episode of disney’s little einsteins uses classical music or works of art
sonny bono legislation extending copyright
free culture, free codecs
a business that leverages user value through reviews, recommendations, feedback that channels people to things they want to buy
every search is a gift to google – market data provided by users working for free
on the other hand
flickr twitter yelp – build value by encouraging people to contribute something back
copyright holders are a share cropping vision of future of digital creativity
no reason to regulate amateur activity; there’s no market
with sharable licenses: consumers add value back
wild card! what does the science say: not what does the industry want it to say
The TEDxHouston website is officially live, and on Twitter, and on Facebook, and on Flickr, and so on.
I just got word from Javier Fadul of Culture Pilot that Houston is hosting a TEDx event on June 12, 2010. TEDx is the newly launched mini-me of the TED Conference (which started in 1984 to bring together the “greatest minds” in Technology, Entertainment and Design). The “TED Talks” videos are positively addictive (see “Confessions of a TED Addict,” Victoria Heffernan, NY Times), featuring eggheads who are at the forefront of everything from brain science to open-source architecture to spaghetti sauce (or rather the nature of happiness through spaghetti sauce as a metaphor, according to author Malcolm Gladwell). Drop tab, sit back, and watch the world unfold as a slightly better place. Read the rest of this post on my Glasstire blog, We Have The Technology.
Oh my. I’m going to be on a panel at SXSW with MIT Physicist, Riley Crane. He and his team at MIT found 10 red balloons, hidden around the US by DARPA, in 8 hours and 52 minutes. I’m gonna have to start rereading the “Tao of Physics” and listening to reruns of Michio Kaku’s “Explorations”… Here’s Riley holding his own on The Colbert Report.
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