TED favorites

I know that the TED.com website is easily accessible to everyone but I felt the need to further push some of the ideas and concepts which I believe are of value to all of us. I will use this section of my blog to post direct links to my TED favorites. This should also give me the opportunity to respond and expand on some of these ideas. I thank you for your interest.

Dave Eggers: 2008 TED Prize wish: Once Upon a School
Karen Armstrong: 2008 TED Prize wish: Charter for Compassion
Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight
Michael Pollan: The omnivore's next dilemma
Howard Rheingold: Way-new collaboration
Hans Rosling: New insights on poverty and life around the world
Sir Martin Rees: Earth in its final century?
Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?

If you liked those...get the rest at TED.com
More get released everyday.

Curating Immateriality…
Yes, the issues here are pretty clear. My feelings towards these things are, I believe, rather well informed. My time as an art student has been extremely interesting. I have been determined to find out about this thing called art & am now mixed up in the civil-war within it. We are in changing times and it is painful for the old world to adjust to new ideas. I find it absurd to suggest that art can’t or shouldn’t be immaterial. What could be more immaterial then the imagination? Art has always originated from the imagination. So art has and will always have some immateriality to it. Our minds can obviously make sense of things which are not in our reality. We are not mere animals, our brains work on levels far beyond anything else here. That being said, I do realize that things like our feelings and consciousness could be constructions of nature which have formed to help us survive. (My thoughts are echoed at TED by Michael Pollan http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/214 )
Anyway, the most important thing I got from chapter 1 of Curating Immateriality by Joasia Kryss can be triggered with the statement “transformed the nature of art”. If we can accept this idea that “the nature” of art as something that will change depending on the culture and society around it, then new media will soon be considered a credible high art. I see the "nature of art" statement, even for those diehard old art types, to be impossible to deny. The museums and art galleries of the future will be very different than those of today and the past.
I don’t see the whole archiving thing to be that big of a deal. I must not understand the full story or something? Are they worried about media getting damaged or outdated? Can’t we record these works it by writing about them or using technology like video? ARS Electronica and communities of artists are still kind of archiving this history...as we are making it.
It's like the established museums don't know what to do with us. It would be a challenge to curate the immaterial but it’s far from impossible.

Career Goals…Agent, Critic, Artist, Educator, Social Business Entrepreneur?
I would love to have a job which allowed me to travel and have lots of free time. I was once a slave to the system and I won’t let that happen again. For the first time, maybe ever, I know what direction to go. I see my life as being full of opportunity and the future is open for me to create. Above all, I stand for making our world a better place. This can be done on a number of levels and in so many different ways. I am awake, I have a voice, and I can contribute to the solution. In some cases the issues that we challenge may extend beyond our lifetimes. We should each be able to sacrifice a little now to help insure a prosperous future.
So where does someone like me fit into the working world? I don’t know of an official term for what I want to be but “agent” might be close. Some of my activities may include connecting things…people, ideas, artists, communities, actions. Or even standing up to things that I know are wrong or unjust. In a way, an agent could be seen as a soldier, fighting for their beliefs and values. We are truly in a war, one like never before, it is taking place in our collective thoughts, and we must make our move while there is still time. Revolution! Sometimes I wonder about my role...can I really make a difference?
I have also thought about being a critic. A critic could be very closely tied to an agent in a number of respects. Both would include speaking your mind, investigating things, sharing your ideas, and all with the intention to help others. A critic of art, new media art, products, services, technology and just about anything you can think of. I’m not really sure how I would get to this goal? Do I just start my own website with many daily activities and updates which would have a healthy following of viewers, readers, and contributors?
As a full time new media artist I would have to participate with galleries and really try to get myself known and out there. This path might have to start off as a part-time hobby but if positive things started to happen than this would be an extremely rewarding direction. I have also thought about making video documentaries, I would get to travel, create art, and fill my responsibilities as an agent.
ADD ON: March 18 2008
I’ve thought about teaching before but the situation would have to be right. (I remember what school kids can be like from the age of 12-18…have I got some stories) Anyway, the existing primary school system could be vastly improved. I would love to express ideas about this very soon. The topic can get into a sticky mess in a hurry. What to do with the youth? Should they be encouraged to follow their own ways? I mean, looking from the perspective that different individuals have different gifts. I would strongly consider being an instructor…if it is where I’d do the most good?
The next day I watched this video http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/233
Dave Eggers: 2008 TED Prize wish: Once Upon a School. It's 25 minutes well spent.

As noted in the ”Creating a Poverty-Free World” post… “Social Business Entrepreneurs are the answer”. So where so I sign up? I need to find out more about this kind of stuff!?
In the distant future…our GWS (Global World System) will have room for everybody. No more poverty! Give everyone a get a chance to live! Our collective consciousness is waking and soon we will make a difference. For now I will just spread the ideas around.

I plan to do more research in these areas and will update the blog as things develop.