Category: Notes

Using 3D printing technology combined with recent development in cellular science (as in “cells” not “cell phones”), Atala is leading a project that is “printing” new organs. They demonstrate a kidney that they were printing during the presentation and even bring in a printed-kidney-transplant patient.

Anthony Atala: Printing a human kidney (TED)

New technologies, and the application of older technologies, are allowing us to map the brain like never before. Jones is working to build a collection of brain maps to be able to allow other scientist to better understand the relationship between brain related illness and functions.

Allan Jones: A map of the brain (TED)

Havel discusses in length about economic cycles and how we have ended up in our current economic crisis because we spend too much when things were good and thus we were already in debt when we ran out of money.

The Economics of Good and Evil (RSA)

Schwartz discusses the disturbing trend of the degradation of wisdom in modern society. He comments that we need both moral will (the desire to do the correct thing) and moral skill (the ability to do it in the correct way). He points out that whenever bad things happen we react by building more rules and more incentives, neither one of which address the underlying problem: a lack a wisdom. Instead, more rules just prevent us from having to think and increased incentives push us to act in our self-interest, stripping away whatever appeal we would make to our personal responsibility.

Barry Schwartz: The real crisis? We stopped being wise (TED)

Reid uses a tongue-in-cheek presentation to satirize the economic impact claims of the MPAA, RIAA and other copyright defending organizations.