tedblog

The organizers of the recent TEDxMogadishu send this short and thoughtful interview video, made just before the event. Meet four people who are committed to remaking their city after 20 years of chaos.

The topics of three different TEDTalks are converging this weekend in New York City …

Street artist JR, the winner of the 2011 TED Prize, is pasting a portrait of a young member of the Lakota tribe on a wall of Manhattan’s High Line Park — part of a massive tribute to the Native American nation that’s being pasted in North Dakota and around New York City. Watch the progress on our Pinterest. JR mentions this project in his newest TEDTalk, “One year of turning the world inside out”:

This project celebrates the lives of North Dakota Native American people. To learn more about these lives, watch this astonishing TEDx talk from National Geographic photographer Aaron Huey, whose work with nations in the Black Hills of North Dakota has led him to make this conclusion: Honor the treaties. Give back the Black Hills.

If you’re moved by this talk, learn more. Huey has teamed up with the artists Shepard Fairey and Ernesto Yerena for a series of Honor the Treaties posters you can download and share.

And finally, the Inside Out Project pasting is happening in the vast new public space called the High Line Park — whose creation is detailed in Robert Hammond’s TEDTalk “Building a park in the sky.” The High Line was born on an elevated railway platform once destined to be torn down — and it’s now inspiring more cities to take a fresh look at their unlikely green spaces.

We’ve heard the statistics. Obesity has more than doubled worldwide since 1980. For the first time in history, being overweight is killing more people than being underweight. At least 2.8 million adults die each year as a result of being overweight or obese. Where do we begin to tackle such an immense problem?

There is not one single solution, but there are two key paths: getting moving and eating better. We must change our habits and promote better living.

Today, May 19, Food Revolution Day is a day for people who love food to get back to the basics. To become a conscious community and understand our daily food choices. Learning to cook from scratch is at the heart of the movement. Food Revolution Day can empower everyone to start.

People around the globe are connecting with their community through events at homes, schools, restaurants, local businesses, and farmers’ markets — at food events and dinner parties. You can join one or throw your own today. Do you want to bring the revolution to your company or your school? Check out the toolkits.

Learn more about Food Revolution Day >>

Below, watch Jamie Oliver’s video message to TEDxers, announcing Food Revolution Day:

Explore these TEDTalks that discuss income inequality — what causes it, the brutal effects, and how we might fight it.

Start with this talk from Richard Wilkinson, whose 2009 book The Spirit Level gathers decades of research to draw this conclusion: Societies with more income inequality suffer — in utterly predictable ways — more than societies that are more equal.

(And read the TED Blog’s in-depth Q&A with Wilkinson, in which he talks about the moment he realized economic inequality was a measureable problem.)

Next, watch Van Jones’ powerful talk on a specific outcome of economic injustice: If you’re poor, your neighborhood gets trashed.

For a followup, watch Majora Carter’s classic TEDTalk “Greening the Ghetto” — which shows the effects of income inequality on her home in the South Bronx, and offers triple-bottom-line solutions for raising incomes and reducing environmental damage.

And do not miss Bryan Stevenson’s TEDTalk about economic injustice and its consequences — with a bold call for everyone to look honestly at the problem: “We have a system of justice in [the US] that treats you much better if you’re rich and guilty than if you’re poor and innocent.”

Find more talks on inequality >>

Whose talk keeps you glued to your chair? Your hairdresser’s. Which makes these talented folks a perfect vector for spreading big ideas. TEDxBuenosAires invited 60 hairdressers and stylists to their latest TEDx event — and filmed what happened next. Watch the charming results … and watch to the end for a sneak preview of the next big idea-spreading idea.

Watch TEDxBuenosAires’ previous idea-spreading experiment: TEDxTaxi >>

From the TEDx Tumblr, this inspiring story:

TEDxMogadishu — the first TEDx event in Somalia — will happen tomorrow, May 17, and livestreamed around the world.

Update: Read press reports from TEDxMogadishu >>

On May 17, between 50 and 100 people from diverse backgrounds will attend the event to listen to Somalis discuss the rebirth of Mogadishu. The event will be livestreamed for Somalis who can’t attend (e.g., the diaspora) and people who are interested to learn about the positive changes happening in Mogadishu.

The goal of the organizing team is to build a foundation for more events in the future, and to hopefully give Mogadishu a steady and fresh platform for spreading ideas. We spoke to team member Sebastian Lindstrom about the event:

Why Mogadishu — what led you to organize a TEDx here?

We had an opportunity to go to Mogadishu to film the opening of First Somali Bank, and while planning this trip, we brainstormed with Somalis living in the city about how to further share the positive stories taking place. TEDx has become a worldwide movement for sharing ideas and innovations taking place at the local level, and it seemed like a great fit. Mogadishu is changing, and while some in the media have picked up on it, the general perception of Mogadishu remains negative. We feel it’s important to share what’s really happening and we want to showcase positive stories for those who care about this dynamic city.

Who are the locals you’re working with?

We are working with Liban Egal, the founder of First Somali Bank, and his team in Mogadishu. They have linked the organizing team to a wide variety of Somalis — those who have returned to Somalia over the past few years and those who have lived through the conflict — who are supporting this initiative in various ways. We are crowdsourcing from the Somali and Somali diaspora’s Twittersphere to track down resources and awareness. Basically, it’s all very much a team effort on a worldwide Somali basis.

How did you choose the theme of your event — does it relate directly to the political situation, or is there a broader meaning?

The theme focuses on positive changes happening in Mogadishu, irrespective of the political situation. Many Somalis think Mogadishu has recently reached a turning point now that there is no active fighting inside the city for the first time in decades. There are thousands of Somalis returning home to open businesses, buildings sprouting up and being reconstructed, and there is a real sense of rebirth in a marginalized, misrepresented community that feels that its time has come. We realized this was the right moment to hold the event. So on the 17th a group of Somalis from different walks of life will share their stories of how Mogadishu is changing and their ideas for the future — this is TEDxMogadishu.

What are some of the challenges you knew you would face?

Safety concerns. Even though Mogadishu is changing, there remain significant security concerns that we cannot disregard. We are taking ample precautions so that adequate security will be in place. We are comforted by the fact that we’re holding an apolitical event with no agenda other than providing a platform for Somalis to communicate positive changes happening in this city to the world.

The second biggest challenge was timing and communication. Remote organization isn’t possible, so much was done on the ground over the past week. However, this city tends to operate quite last minute, so it hasn’t been a problem to find great speakers and attendees.

What’s a challenge that was completely unexpected?

Isolation anxiety. Because of security reasons, you cannot, as a foreigner, openly walk the streets of Mogadishu. So, you end up spending a lot of time in one place, which can result in a case of island fever.

What did you expect to be challenging, and wasn’t at all?

We thought that finding a venue was going to be a huge problem, but it worked out superbly.

What’s one thing about Mogadishu and Somalia that you wish everyone knew?

Despite its perception, Mogadishu is a beautiful city filled with hard working and extremely entrepreneurial Somalis. Both Somalis at home, and those in the diaspora, are optimistic that a turning point has been reached after 21 years of conflict.

Tell me about your speakers!

Speakers will include a wide range of Somalis and one foreigner. Some have recently returned to Mogadishu and others have lived through the conflict. They include: a chef and restauranteur, a real estate developer, the founder of a university, the founder of the First Somali bank, a healthcare specialist, someone who works with rape victims and former child soldiers, a Somali journalist, a camel milk mobilizer and more.

And tell me one speaker’s story …

Elle Elman will give a talk about her work with rape and sexual assault victims and the rehabilitation of child soldiers. Her father started the Elman Peace and Human Rights Centre and was an ardent peace activist in the 1990s, who coined the slogan “Put down the gun, pick up a pen.” He was killed in 1996 for trying to promote peace in Somalia. Elle left for Canada and three years ago came back to support her mother’s work with that same organization; more on the organization and her mother can be found here and here.

She is of the new generation in Somalia and has returned to her country during these difficult times.

Read these stories about her father, which are good to mention, since he was one of the initial major peace advocates; and people in Mogadishu know his name well.

Check out the website for the event: www.TEDxMogadishu.com

Follow on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TEDxMogadishu

Follow on Twitter: @TEDxMogadishu

Email for more information: info@TEDxMogadishu.com

Books, film, art, food — and science and social issues — were at the center of the talks at the sixth TEDSalon in London. The event took place on May 10 in a packed Unicorn Theatre, with the support of longtime TED partner frog.

“Our bodies are made of atoms, but our lives are made of stories”, host and TEDGlobal curator Bruno Giussani said, introducing the event’s theme: “Unseen Narratives.” We are our stories, he suggested, our memories, desires, passions, dramas. Stories are what our imagination projects, what our creativity produces, what helps us to make sense of the world and relate to others. And an eclectic set of little-known stories the Salon presented.

The evening started with a sharp talk about the million children who live in orphanages in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Georgette Mulheir, CEO of nonprofit Lumos, told how behind each of them “there is a story of desperate parents who feel that they have run out of options” and explained the huge emotional, developmental and economic cost of separating children from families. Mulheir’s groundbreaking work focuses on helping governments from Eastern Europe to Sudan reform systems, close down orphanages, and set up alternative services reuniting children with families or foster care. When they started, more than 200,000 children were in orphanages in Romania; now there are fewer than 10,000. “This is one form of child abuse that can be eradicated in our lifetime.”

Another story of youth and growing up, but of a radically different kind, was told by movie director Beeban Kidron. She’s a co-founder of Filmclub, one of the largest after-school organizations in the UK. She beautifully narrated a film she made specially for the TEDSalon, a story about the power of stories and creating a common narrative and about the transformational power of film. “If we want different values,” she said, “we have to tell a different story. Or, as a 12-year-old said after watching The Wizard of Oz, ‘every person should watch this movie, because unless you do, you may not know that you too have a heart.’”

David Battistella, another filmmaker, followed his heart from Canada to Florence when he fell in love with the story of the Florence Dome and Filippo Brunelleschi?s Renaissance struggle to build it. ?Everything that went into building the Cupola went into building the modern world,? he said in a powerful talk, and then went on to describe inventions, designs, technologies — and the power of human ingenuity.

Choreograher Jasmin Vardimon, whose eponymous company is in residence at contemporary dance powerhouse Sadler’s Wells in London, brought a sequence of her piece “Yesterday” to the Salon. In it dancer Aoi Nakamura, tracked by a camera, simply and hauntingly traced maps on her skin, representing the physical memories that are stored in our bodies rather than in our minds.

Stem cell pioneer Pete Coffey was next, leader of the London Project. Fifteen years after stem cells were isolated for the first time, the first real clinical trials using stem cells are now taking place. Research carried out by Coffey and his team has shown that stem-cell therapy can halt the course of a common form of blindness (AMD, or age-related macular degeneration) and possibly restore sight. Coffey made both a scientifically and economically convincing case for this therapy.

Communication entrepreneur Laura Galloway told a tale of “genetic tourism”: presented with a DNA test kit, she found to her surprise that she’s genetically related to the Sami people, the last remaining indigenous people of Northern Europe, who inhabit large portions of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and a corner of Russia. Galloway’s experience with Arctic farmers’ markets, festivals and the Sami led her to suggest that genetics may bring us increasingly in contact with our “original sources.” “Everyone belongs somewhere,” she said. “You have a tribe. DNA is your birthright.”

The first session was closed by three science comedians. The Festival of the Spoken Nerd, comprising Helen Arney, Matt Parker and Steve Mould (it’s them in the photo), examined the ubiquitous barcode — a hilarious and informative story of lasers and math and of a piece of technology that’s so embedded in our lifes that we dont’ notice it anymore.

There are many places where we can find hidden stories. Author Tracy Chevalier opened the second session by sharing how she looks at artworks to find those narratives. She described how she came up with the story of The Girl With the Pearl Earring by interrogating Vermeer’s painting and its historical context, how Chardin’s Boy Building a House of Cards can suggest a story of two servants, and how the wistful look in the eyes of an anonymous portrait inspired in her yet another story.

From those three paintings, the Salon jumped to thousands, with Phaidon?s editorial director, Amanda Renshaw, describing the ten-year journey to curate The Art Museum, a unique and uniquely ambitious art book. The project started with a question: If you had unlimited space, unlimited budget, and access to the most important, the most beautiful and most desirable works of art from around the world, what would you put in an ideal museum? Ten years later, the result is itself a piece of art. Renshaw talked about the process, the choices, the organization of such a vast array of artworks from all around the world — from cave paintings to today’s — and the panic and joys associated with it. And at the end of her talk, one of the attendees found an envelope carefully hidden beneath their seat, and won a copy of the 992-page, 3,000-photo book.

Health practitioner, former Buddhist monk, and talented juggler Andy Puddicombe, the go-to meditation teacher for British politicians, executives and celebrities, was challenged to change the audience’s minds about meditation in 10 minutes. “When is the last time you took 10 minutes to do nothing?” he asked. He dispelled the idea that meditation involves seating in awkward positions for long periodsof time, and invited to take care of our mind, 10 minutes a day. “Our mind, the one that needs to be focused, creative and spontaneous for your to thrive, needs to be taken care of.”

British pop band Red Box was first active in the 1980s and early 1990s. Under the leadership of Simon Toulson-Clarke, it is now back on tour forging new path sand stories made of music and friendship. They played the beautiful “Brighter Blue” from their new album Plenty, and their classic “Heart of the Sun.”

Norwegian historian and economist Sturla Ellingvag told a story of pressure, transparency and dialogue. When a young Norwegian woman was brutally killed in London and her presumed murderer escaped to Yemen where he lives free, protected by his father’s wealth and connections, Ellingvag and others started a Facebook group to put pressure on multinationals to cancel their contracts with the father. 53,000 signed up, and at the end several companies withdrew their business connections with the father, because of the family’s refusal to let their son stand trial.

Tristram Stuart bounded on stage next to share his mission to expose global food waste. Stuart used nine (still good) biscuits from a small box salvaged from a bin outside a supermarket the morning of the Salon to illustrate what happens to our food and how we waste it on such a colossal and systemic scale. If 9 is our total food supply: 1 is lost before leaving the farm; 3 are used to feed livestock, but we get only 1 back; and 2 are thrown away in various ways. Food waste is colossal, and it happens for different reasons, both in developed and in emerging countries.

The closing speaker, Pam Warhurst, raised the roof of the theatre with the story of Incredible Edible. This is the story of the transformation of a “normal” market town, Todmorden, 15,000 inhabitants in the north of England, around the narrative of food. By focusing on community (turning plots of unused land into communal vegetable gardens), learning (teaching food in schools and more) and business (promoting local food), the entire town was brought into the movement, with the inclusive motto “If you eat, you are in.” It’s a powerful, inspiring story of the (real) power of small actions. Edible landscapes are now being replicated in England and around the world, from New Zealand to Chile.

Bringing the Salon to an end was a showing of a 360-degree photo of the speakers and of the audience listening, taken by British photographer Thomas Mills.

Attendees left with copies of Andy Puddicombe’s book Get Some Headspace and of frog’s design mind magazine, whose current issue is devoted to the theme of “Passion.”

A group of TED translators was in the audience and wrote their own take, while TEDster Nesta Morgan turned the event into art sketches.

(Reported by Caitlin Kraft Buchman. Photo Dafydd Jones/TED)

As the TED team travels around the world hosting salons in 14 cities, we’re collecting great local stories. Start with this Storify from Nanjira Sambuli that rounds up tweets from TED@Nairobi:

62% of secondary school students are reading #ShujaazFM. 'It's not about ideas,it's about how you deliver them'. @awelltoldstory this is!

—
Nanjira Sambuli (@NiNanjira) May 05, 2012

From the blog “Inflation, Stilettos, Pacifiers & An African Dream,” this generous and insightful blog post:

For 6 minutes, I learned about the bees that make it possible to have chocolate, built for pollination, and how they do it, for those minutes, I laughed and smiled, and took in the passion with which the story was told. For 6 minutes, I listened to Eric Wainana telling about finding an edge, in life, at work, in whatever it is you put your mind to. For 6 minutes, and another 6 minutes, and more 6 minutes after that, I regained an even bigger pride for Africa. If these people, who are not just beaming of great oratory skills have such passion and belief in what they are doing to make a better Africa, then the continent will change.

… and this news report from The East African:

Roll on TED. This is just the beginning.

Research: Larissa Green
Photo: What Took You So Long

Do you consider yourself an artist or scientist first?

I usually describe myself as an artist with a background in science, but I feel first and foremost an artist. Artist, biologist, space researcher, and TED Fellow — that’s how I describe myself now, but it changes.

It seems when people are confronted with a hybrid practice, they want to figure why. It’s not an easy question to answer. One thing crucial to everything I do is exploration. But then one might wonder, ?Why don’t you just become and stay a scientist?? One thing that struck me when I was a scientist is the incredible degree of specialization needed to develop within the discipline. This is generally a good thing. But it started stifling my creativity. I felt I wasn’t using my full potential.

So I started studying photography while I was doing my PhD research in ecology. In the evenings I would be in the darkroom; in the daytime I did scientific research. During the course of that parallel practice, which lasted for quite a few years, I discovered an enormous sense of freedom that I felt was missing in my science practice. I got absorbed by arts, all arts — much more than just photography. One exhibition that really hit me in the face was the contemporary arts exhibit Documenta X, in Germany. There was a lot of documentary work, a lot of video and photography, not National Geographic style, but more radical experimental stuff. For me, this was a huge eye-opener. This was also a form of exploration: making documentary photography, using documentary video. At the same time, it involved strong artistic expression. And it didn’t have to fit into a specific, narrow framework.

After finishing my PhD I decided to dedicate myself full-time to the arts. Then, within the arts I began to incorporate biology — which finally led me to work with biological, technological, as well as social systems. Bear in mind this was all part of one organic process that is still developing.

Is this where Biomodd, your longest-running project, comes in?

Yes. I started Biomodd in 2007. The core idea of the project is to intricately interconnect a biological living system with a recycled computer system. The main reason to do this is, first of all, to show people a different relationship between computer electronics and biology. Not one of opposition – because many people think of computers in opposition to nature – but of making them work together. On the other hand, the work is very much inspired by popular culture and science-fiction themes in which living biological cells merge with electronic components.

Biomodd brings this idea into physicality as an artwork. It’s an ongoing series of computer networks assembled out of recycled components in which a living ecosystem is installed. The ecosystem uses the waste heat of the electronics to grow and develop. This was the basic, core idea. So Biomodd incorporates energy recycling, computer recycling and ecological growth. There is also a social dynamic involved: I’m not building the projects in my studio and then shipping them to a museum for exhibition. I’m going to a location, putting the idea on the table, and inviting people to work with me to find its shape. Depending on the culture we’re working in — because I’ve been doing this in many different places around the world — each Biomodd project takes its own particular shape. Sometimes, people from former Biomodd versions come over and join the new team, so you get these interesting exchanges of experience and ideas around the project.

Biomodd usually gets disassembled afterwards, and the units that have been built by the participants usually get adopted, with some pieces getting incorporated into subsequent Biomodds. So Biomodd is essentially an ongoing iteration of an idea. It’s also an open-source project, so those who want to can build and own their own versions. Biomodd just pops up in different places.

In the beginning, there was a strong focus on just energy recycling. Now the concept is much more about how to make both the living biological system and the electronic system communicate. At first, the communication only went one way: heat exchange from the computer system to the biological system. But now we’re also working on robotics. We’re also working with sensors. We?re exploring multiple ways in which both systems can really come together and start exchanging different things like data, behavior and energy.

How do the plants communicate with the computer? I can see how the computer gives heat to the plants and helps them grow, but is there any feedback from the plants to the computer?

We’re currently working on that. We?re developing a large and complex version of Biomodd in New York City for an exhibition called ReGeneration at the New York Hall of Science. It’s NYSCI?s first contemporary art exhibit, so it’s quite exciting to be part of that. This new Biomodd explores the concept of mixed reality, which means that you have your ecosystem and your virtual world constantly acting on each other. The ecosystem, through sensors and data streams, is continuously adjusting the virtual world in real time. Imagine walking in a computer game, and the game environment is constantly morphing, driven by changes in the ecosystem — a beautiful connection between the real and the virtual. Mixed reality kicks in as soon as you allow the game and its players to change the ecosystem as well. So you allow the game, for example, to manipulate the ecosystem using robotics and artificial intelligence. You can build a whole battery of robotics that add nutrients, add water, change lighting, cut down plants, and so on. And so the game itself is also having a potential impact on the ecosystem. Both the ecosystem and the virtual world can continuously bounce off each other. When it becomes impossible to disentangle cause and effect, you create a new, mixed reality. This is something we’re working on in New York City in collaboration with Parsons The New School for Design. So this is, obviously, a huge challenge and a pretty complex thing.

What do Biomodd ecosystems usually consist of?

Usually they consist of plants, single-celled algae and fish. But I’m always open to broadening the concept. For the New York version, we have changed things a little bit. We’re shifting entirely to urban agriculture, and the plants won?t be grown in a single structure, but will be distributed throughout the museum building. There will be different components: a huge window farm at the entrance of the museum will be taken care of by the robotics I was just talking about. The robotics will controlled by a central plant-computer unit positioned in the central exhibition space of the museum, which is actually former bomb shelter architecture from the ?60s. And so it becomes this kind of sci-fi-referencing structure built around the idea of ?survival.? Every single plant that will be grown in Biomodd will be edible. It?s food being generated by the artwork throughout the exhibit. We?ll be organizing food events, harvesting and sharing what we grow.

Why did you make that shift?

First of all because of the location of the exhibit. The museum was built as part of the World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in 1964. It was designed by Harrison and Abramovitz. The bomb shelter architecture that I talked about before was a demonstration of how the US could protect itself against nuclear fallout. It’s a completely concrete insulated environment; there’s no daylight. And I was invited to build Biomodd there. At first, I thought, ?How will I develop Biomodd in a room without any daylight? This doesn’t make any sense.? However, when I heard that it’s actually fallout shelter architecture, it became very interesting! Suddenly Biomodd was about survival. We saw the opportunity to turn it into an experimental food production system where people can see how to grow food in difficult urban circumstances. And this is, of course, a huge challenge for the entire urbanized part of the world.

Secondly, the NYC Biomodd team decided that they wanted to actively reach out to the people living around the museum. These people are mostly immigrants, the majority from places other than Corona in Queens — mostly from Latin America, but also from Asia. We decided this would be an interesting way to connect with the local community, to invite people to grow foods and plants from their original region and incorporate that in Biomodd. Part of the Biomodd team has already started doing urban gardening experiments with the local community in collaboration with an arts organization called Immigrant Movement International, which is near the museum. You can already see a little experimental garden being grown there. The preparatory project even has its own name: Springmavera. The idea is to explore experimental urban gardening and slowly introduce elements of technology — basic sensors, maybe some simple robotics — and gradually grow towards the idea of Biomodd. In September, we’ll move the entire experiment through a parade through the streets of Corona up to the museum together with the local community. So that will be quite interesting.

So how did you go from projects like Biomodd to working on the possibilities for future space habitats?

My artwork attracted the attention of the European Space Agency — in particular a very specific research program called MELiSSA, short for Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative. MELiSSA is actually an ecosystem under development that should allow future space settlement. Based on the concept of an artificial ecosystem, it is the European model for a regenerative life support system for astronauts. It allows the production of oxygen, water and food, and the recycling of organic wastes and carbon dioxide. Such regenerative life support systems will enable future long-term manned space missions such as a lunar base or a mission to Mars by ensuring crew survival. The system is already test running in Barcelona, but it’s still too big to be launched. My art — hybrid, semi-enclosed systems of biology and technology — is almost like an illustration of some of these ideas.

The people working on this program found my work interesting and invited me to think with them about the future of their system: how could MELiSSA evolve into a true human habitat — not a laboratory, but a habitat with human qualities? This is a fantastic invitation, of course. But the problem is actually so complex and challenging that I decided to turn it into a second PhD. So right now, I’m enrolled as a PhD student at Delft University of Technology, researching the idea of future habitation in space with embedded ecosystems. So, not just rockets or traditional space stations, but really bringing biology in there. I’m approaching it not just from a design point of view but also from an artistic and ethical point of view. This is the unique approach that I created for my PhD — exploring the future of human habitation and survival using design, engineering, modeling, art and ethics. This brings me to the social aspect of my research. What kind of rules do you use in a system like this? What values do you embrace when you want to build a habitat that includes technological systems, biological systems and people?

What does your research focus on?

It basically embraces two things that, for some people in the space industry, are still considered taboo. Number one: introducing biological living systems to survive. For some space engineers, this is still very difficult to accept, because for them biology is a very unstable and unpredictable system, and they don’t want to rely on it. Number two: introducing participatory systems. I’m part of the research group at Delft called Participatory Systems Initiative, headed by Professor Frances Brazier. The goal of the initiative is to figure out how we can redefine cohabitation — working together, producing together, creating together from a networked point of view and not from a top-down point of view.

Currently there?s a military-style collaboration in space missions: ground control basically controls every single minute of the astronaut?s experience. Astronauts are operators. However, it would be interesting to rethink this tradition and create a system where astronauts have to figure things out on their own, and have to work together in a more horizontal structure. Consider energy production: traditionally this is a very top-down system. You have no idea what happens between production and consumption, and you have no say in any of this. In a participatory energy system, every house using solar and wind energy would be its own energy producer. The surplus energy would be fed back to the grid to be used where it?s needed.

I actually think this is the future of humanity: we would be much better off if we were to organize ourselves more in such systems. Within the context of space exploration, after a certain point, ground control can no longer control every minute of space inhabitants? lives, for example, if people were residing on Mars. Participatory system design will then be inevitable. It?s also important to build a very resilient system. And that?s what I’m focusing on: building resilient systems from a social, technological and biological point of view — systems that can reconfigure and optimize themselves according to their needs.

How are you getting advisors in this program? What you’re doing is so new — are you designing your own course?

That’s a good question. I learn about participatory systems, and by extension social systems, from my advisors in Delft: Professor Frances Brazier and Dr Caroline Nevejan. For the design and technology side of it, I’m actually still looking for people to work with. I’m currently a Michael Kalil Endowment for Smart Design Fellow at Parsons in New York City. This is a wonderful opportunity because Michael Kalil was a space designer himself. He actually worked on space habitation from a very holistic point of view. So it just came to me at a perfect moment. And I’m also having many conversations about my PhD research with the urbanist Bill Morrish. He has very similar ideas about these networks and participatory structures. So I can learn a lot from him, too.

How has the TED Fellowship changed your way of thinking and working?

Well first of all, the effect of being introduced to fellow Fellows is really — there’s no way around it — very inspiring. Just to see everybody’s path, and even the nuts and bolts of just trying to make your dream come true — you learn a lot from that. And we’re all very open. That’s the nice thing about the TED Fellows community. People don’t have too many secrets; we ask something and we get something. I’m based in Belgium, so I’m not really constantly in contact with them, but when I’m in New York I try and meet up with the Fellows at the Metropolitan Exchange in Brooklyn. It’s one of those hotspots of creativity in New York right now. TED Fellows James Patten and Joachim Mitchell work there, for example. Another aspect that is really interesting is that I can ask specific questions of the TED Fellows coordinators. Sometimes it’s just practical advice, like, ?Listen, I want to get a book translated and I want to publish it. How would I do that?? That’s the advantage of being able to tap into the network of TED.

But the thing that has made a really huge impact is the coaching I got through SupporTED. It?s a combination of life and career coaching. The interesting thing is that my coach Jay Perry manages to give me very simple advice — no complicated plans or strategies, just simple things that turn out to be quite powerful. Just to give you an example: one of the first pieces of advice I got from my coach was, ?Try to not turn on your computer before noon and see what happens.? I felt that I spent too much time behind the computer and not enough time nurturing myself, or just simply creating stuff. And indeed, Jay?s suggestion was quite a revelation. I just sat down and started drawing and reading and all the old-school stuff. I try to do it still, but I don’t always manage. But it’s continuously in the back of my mind.

At TEDxOxford last September, legendary stylist Vidal Sassoon, who died this week at 84, shared this moving talk about his extraordinary life.

As a YouTube commenter writes: “A good way to? remember this humble and inspirational man.”

Plus! See this talk (and many others from TEDxOxford) illustrated by the Livescribes, a British group of live illustrators.