by Sören Stamer January 01, 2008 at 01:59 AM

After Richard Baraniuk showed us the power of open-source learning, David Deutsch makes clear to us all, why our ability to learn and gather new knowledge is at the core of our existence in his talk "What is our place in the cosmos?".

Enjoy! It sounds reasonable to me, to rethink our copyright and patent law. We may change the rules to enable even faster collective learning in the future to save our existence. To be continued...

by Sören Stamer January 01, 2008 at 12:34 AM

After Larry Lessig told us "How creativity is being strangled by the law", Richard Baraniuk shows us a very powerful solution, open-source learning based on Creative Commons licensing.

Enjoy! Have you noticed, how the different talks fit perfectly together? I love it. To be continued...

by Sören Stamer December 31, 2007 at 10:52 PM

Sir Ken Robinson said that our own school system kills creativity. And it comes even worse.
Larry Lessig tells us "How creativity is being strangled by the law". I know, this sounds really pessimistic. However, Larry Lessing makes the case for an alternative and has the history on his side.

Enjoy! Since Larry Lessing delivers some of the best presentation I have seen. I am sure he make a difference by convincing more and more people of the need of action. That makes me optimistic.

To be continued...

by Sören Stamer December 31, 2007 at 10:41 PM

Nicholas Negroponte strives to make his vision "One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)" come true. Sir Ken Robinson says that our own school system kills creativity. Sounds bad. And it is really bad. However, you will find a lot of optimism and humor in his talk as well.

Enjoy. Some of my readers may know this one already from another post. To be continued...

by Sören Stamer December 31, 2007 at 10:22 PM

Hans Rosling showed us some truths about the so called "third world". There is still a lot to do. And the best we can do is to provide education to every child in every country. Nicholas Negroponte does it by implementing his vision of "One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)".

Enjoy. Education makes a difference. A big difference. To be continued...

by Sören Stamer December 31, 2007 at 09:39 PM

Robert Wright showed us "How cooperation (eventually) trumps conflict". And the results are amazing. Hans Rosling shows us important truths about the world we live in.

Enjoy! Believe me, you will never forget the final. To be continued...

by Sören Stamer December 31, 2007 at 09:17 PM

After Steven Pinker showed us that our generation is a lot less violent than previous generations, Robert Wright will show us the reason behind it by explaining "How cooperation (eventually) trumps conflict".

Enjoy! It is a tough one for pessimists. To be continued...

by Sören Stamer December 31, 2007 at 08:05 PM

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Please take your time and think about it. I believe it makes a huge difference. If you are a real pessimist you should not read on. The rest of this posting is so full of positive energy that your skepticism may be severely damaged. Be warned! It will create a high level of self-doubt on any pessimist and instill optimistic ideas into your conscious.

Well, I am an optimist. And I mean a real optimist. Some may even say I am hopelessly optimistic. I find myself in intensive discussions with less optimistic people all the time - nearly every day. I write this post since it takes so much energy to hear the same pessimistic view of the world again and again, despite all the ground-breaking, positive developments. I hope to inspire some of you by collecting some of the most inspiring talks on the Internet. Here comes the fist:

If you believe that we live in violent times, Steven Pinker will surprise you with "A brief history of violence".

Enjoy! To be continued...