Kansas City 2012 Presenters
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Samuel Arbesman
The Half-Life of Facts
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Facts change all the time. Smoking has gone from doctor-recommended to deadly. We used to think Earth was the center of the universe and that Pluto was a planet. For decades we were convinced that the brontosaurus was a real dinosaur. In short, what we know about the world is constantly changing. But it turns out there’s an order to the state of knowledge, an explanation for how we know what we know. Knowledge in most fields evolves systematically and predictably, and this evolution unfolds in a fascinating way that can have a powerful impact on our lives.
Biography
Samuel Arbesman is an applied mathematician and network scientist. He is a senior scholar at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and a fellow at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University. In addition, he writes for popular audiences as a contributor to Wired, and his essays about math and science have appeared in such places as the New York Times, The Atlantic and the Ideas section of the Boston Globe. Arbesman’s first book about how knowledge changes over time, “The Half-Life of Facts” (Current/Penguin), will be published in September 2012.
Before joining the Kauffman Foundation, Arbesman was a research fellow in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School, and he completed a Ph.D. in computational biology at Cornell University in 2008.
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Jeff Carter
Extreme Identity
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Soon your physical and digital identities will exist as one — the key will be your iris. The potential for this new reality to be utopian or dystopian lies squarely in our ability to balance the need for security with privacy, personal liberties and convenience. Jeff's talk explores a radical view of privacy, transparency and digital expedience.
Biography
Jeff Carter has been researching and predicting the profound impacts to human evolution caused by the convergence of a person’s digital and physical identity. He holds several patents related to information banking and the monetization of personal data for the privacy, control and empowerment of an individual. He is chief strategist for EyeLock Inc., an iris-based identity management company, and serves on several corporate boards, including AlphaVue, a political advisory company. His hardcover book “No Limit: The Texas Hold ’Em Guide to Winning in Business,” was published in 2009. His latest book, a collaboration with Wall Street Journal best-selling author Donald Krause, is “The Art of War for Cancer.” David Brin, Ph.D., and winner of the Hugo, Locus, Campbell and Nebula awards, said, “There is much in this volume that is both wise and helpful, focusing the mind on a coming struggle over life itself.”
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Earth Harp
Featuring Andrea Brook and Onyay Pheori
The Earth Harp is the longest stringed instrument in the world, with strings that extend up to 1,000 feet in length. The first Earth Harp was invented in 1999 by artist/musician, William Close. The Earth Harp uses architecture and landscape as part of the instrument. The architecture becomes the instrument.
The Earth Harp’s first installation featured the resonating chamber mounted on one side of a valley with the strings stretched out nearly 1,000 ft to the other side. It turned the valley into a giant harp!
How does the Earth Harp work? The Earth Harp is played using violin resin on cotton gloves and musical bows. The performer’s hands are run along the strings to created beautiful cello like tones. The act of rubbing the strings creates a longitudinal compression wave.
This vibration is similar to the vibration patterns that produce tones when you run your finger around the edge of a wine glass. It is also similar to the vibration patterns created while playing singing bowls.
As William Close experimented with some of his early design concepts, he created a method of tuning the giant long strings; using a specially designed tuning block that he discovered could tune the strings to any scale.
The instrument is typically tuned in an A minor scale - flats and sharps can also be included for certain installations, this is easily done by shifting the tuning block.
Since that day in 1999, William and MASS Ensemble have created hundreds of Earth Harp installations all over the world - from the Grand Theater of Shanghai to the Space Needle in Seattle, each installation is unique to its own environment. An Earth Harp installation celebrates the architecture and landscape of its surroundings. The environment and architecture are transformed by the strings, forever changing the perception of those lucky enough to see the installation.
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John Gerzema
The Athena Doctrine
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A new breed of Japanese leader speaks of combining “chikara” (power) and “ai” (love) to succeed in a time when cooperation is as important as ambition. Icelanders crowdsourcing a new constitution make “prudence and responsibility” the law of their frozen land. Gerzema and team traveled nearly four times around the globe surveying 64,000 citizens in 25 nations to learn how the most innovative people are deploying feminine strengths and values to recover from an economic and social crisis and create a more hopeful future.
Biography
A social theorist of consumerism and culture and best-selling author, John Gerzema is a pioneer in the use of data to identify social change and help companies adapt and respond. This talk is based on his book with Michael D’Antonio, “The Athena Doctrine: How Women (And Men Who Think Like Them) Will Rule the Future” (spring 2013). John’s TEDxKC talk, “The Post-Crisis Consumer,” has been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.
@johngerzema on Twitter
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John Jantsch
Rethinking Commitment
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Why is it that some seemingly successful entrepreneurs feel completely fulfilled and fruitful while others, no matter the measure of success, feel like complete failures? In this talk Jantsch reveals a surprising discovery that offers clues to why this condition exists and suggests the foundation for a more potent entrepreneur success model.
Biography
John Jantsch is a marketing consultant, speaker and author of Duct Tape Marketing and The Referral Engine and the founder of the Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network. His blog was chosen as a Forbes favorite for marketing and small business and his podcast is called a “must listen” by Fast Company magazine. This talk is based on his forthcoming book The Commitment Engine.
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Shai Reshef
University of the People: Finding Einstein
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Millions of adults forego higher education each year due to expense or geo-political realities. The tragedy is not just an individual one; the next great breakthrough in clean energy or game-changing medical treatment could be lurking in the minds of one of these underserved students. How would the world change for the better if we reduced the barriers to higher education? Shai Reshef explores the implications of applying open-source thinking to the higher education model — and shows where financial capital may not be evenly distributed around the world and that intellectual capital knows no borders.
Biography
Shai Reshef is the president of University of the People (UoPeople) — the world’s tuition-free, nonprofit online university dedicated to opening access to higher education. He has 20 years of experience in international education, including having chaired KIT eLearning, the online learning partner of the University of Liverpool and the first online university outside of the United States. He has been widely recognized for his work with UoPeople. In 2009, he was named one of Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business,” in 2010 he was selected by The Huffington Post readership as the “Ultimate Game Changer in Education,” and in 2012 he was nominated as one of Wired Magazine’s “50 People Changing the World.”
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Amber Rubarth
Featuring Dave Eggar and MAX ZT
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Winner of NPR’s prestigious Mountain Stage New Song Contest, Amber Rubarth writes songs of courageous vulnerability so personal that they touch the universal. Rubarth’s fifth album, produced by Jacquire King (who also worked with Tom Waits and Norah Jones), debuted at No. 13 on iTunes’ songwriter chart and features duets with Jason Reeves and Jason Mraz. For seven years she has toured extensively and has appeared at Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center. Her songs have attracted enthusiastic praise from NPR, The Huffington Post, BBC Radio, Acoustic Guitar Magazine and the legendary Sun Studio. Her live performance is now airing nationwide on PBS.
A two-time Grammy nominee and winner of SONY records Elevated Standards Award for excellence in classical music, cello soloist Dave Eggar has performed throughout the world, including at Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl and Paris Opera. A graduate of Juilliard’s prestigious doctoral program and Harvard University, Eggar has released five solo records and toured and recorded with imminent artists including The Who, Patti Smith, Coldplay, Tony Bennett, Andrea Bocelli and Evanescence.
Max ZT, lauded as the “Jimi Hendrix of the hammered dulcimer” by NPR, is an innovator of the instrument. Drawing from classical Irish folk music, Max has transplanted his compositional techniques to both Senegal and Mumbai, where he received a grant to study under the great santoor master Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. His fresh perspective and bold experimentalism have been the backbone of beautiful and complex compositions. Based in Brooklyn, N.Y., Max has released five CDs and in 2005 won the National Hammered Dulcimer Championship.
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Janine Shepherd
You Are Not Your Body
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We often define ourselves by things that are “outside” us: relationships, work, family — even our own bodies. But what would it mean to have your life dramatically altered and your body irrevocably damaged? Who would you be then? This talk explores the impact of loss on the human psyche and the universal quest to find meaning and fulfillment. It is only through the process of losing everything we thought we needed that we find who we truly are.
Biography
Janine Shepherd is a walking paraplegic; she is also a qualified pilot and aerobatics instructor, international speaker and author. Once voted as one of the world’s most outstanding and inspirational people, Janine devotes her professional life to empowering others to overcome adversity.
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Max Strom
There is No App for Happiness
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Technology has expanded at such a rate that nearly every aspect of our world has been affected — yet there has been no corresponding expansion of personal happiness. We are depressed, anxious, sleep-deprived and overmedicated. This talk explores the innate technology within us — the “apps” of our mind, body and emotional center that contain the inner-knowledge that can empower the most meaningful areas of our lives.
Biography
Max Strom teaches personal transformation and yoga worldwide and is known for deeply inspiring and impacting the lives of his students. His methods address the internal, emotional and spiritual aspects of our life and our potential for physical healing. He is the author of “A Life Worth Breathing.”
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Julián Zugazagoitia
The Taste of Art
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At a time when information and visual images are so instantly accessed on the web, museums are being rediscovered as an oasis of authenticity in which to explore the world’s complexity and our own identities. Museums, the guardians of the highest expressions of humankind, can connect us with greatness in all its forms, but perhaps more importantly, they connect us to the multiple dimensions of ourselves. ‘Slow art’– suggests we savor intently the artworks on each visit, and that in doing so museums become a place for the journey of self-discovery.
Biography
Julián Zugazagoitia, a man whose passion for the arts has taken him around the globe, is the fifth director of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and took his post September 1, 2010. Since arriving at the Museum, he has shown a high interest in reaching out to the community and in making the Nelson-Atkins more open and accessible to all visitors. Born in Mexico and educated at the Sorbonne Paris IV in France, Zugazagoitia speaks six languages and has worked at institutions in the Americas and Europe. Before moving to Kansas City, Julián was the Director/CEO of El Museo del Barrio in New York, a leading institution in the field of Latin American and Latino art. He led the institution through a $35 million renovation project that resulted in new gallery spaces and a refurbished facility. He has also collaborated with such institutions as the Museum of Modern Art, the National Portrait Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Before leading El Museo del Barrio, Julian worked at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York as Executive Assistant to the Director. As a consultant and curator, he also worked with the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles and UNESCO, organizing exhibitions, events and conferences internationally. He also curated exhibitions as Director of Visual Arts with the Spoleto Festival in Italy.
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Mike Lundgren
TEDxKC Event Curator
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As a member of the TED community, Mike Lundgren jumped at the opportunity to secure one of the first TEDx local licenses in 2009 to stage an event in metropolitan Kansas City. The inaugural TEDxKC program featured a balance of national and local speakers and talent, featuring Majora Carter, John Gerzema, Adam Johnson and Mark Sutherland's Urban Noise Camp.
Since then, Mike and a dedicated group of event planners, volunteers and sponsors have presented a variety of major TED programming, including TEDxChange, TEDWomen, TEDxLive and the TEDxKC programs in 2010 and 2011.
