Things you can learn at a TEDx event

Within the next 20-40 years, scientists predict that we will be able to determine the presence of biological life on other planets.

Last year, a neurological pacemaker (a device implanted in the brain that provides targeted electrical stimulation) was put into a person suffering from Alzheimer’s for the first time.

Solar-powered street lights can completely change the character of a neighbourhood in Mogadishu, allowing people to come out after dark to shop, socialise and simply be human.

These are just a sample of the things I learned last Friday when I attended TEDxColumbus, my very first TED-related experience. Never heard of TEDx before? Neither had I until last year. From the TEDxColumbus website:

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.

Are you still a bit in the dark, wondering what this big TED is all about?

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com.

In a nutshell, TED is a conference with a couple of very important differences: any subject is on the table for discussion, as long as it’s interesting, and you don’t have to be a member of a specialist organisation to attend.

Under different circumstances, the idea of sitting still surrounded by strangers and listening to people talk for an entire day would send this introvert with mild ADD running for the hills. But I followed the TEDx organisers’ instructions to bring an open mind and a willingness to meet new people, and I’m so glad I went.

Here are some of the things I learned about, talked about and/or laughed at during TEDxColumbus 2013:

• In at least one high school in Ohio, it is impossible for a student to become valedictorian if she takes an arts class like choir or orchestra. This is because the arts subjects are assigned a lower maximum GPA [number-based score, for those outside the US] than the high-level academic subjects such as chemistry and physics. The real kicker though, aside from this STEM-skewed grading system, is that a student who chooses to take choir in addition to physics and calculus – and scores full marks in all subjects – will wind up with a lower GPA than a student who took ‘study hall’ or didn’t do anything during that same time slot. Under this system, a student is actually penalised for excelling at a wider range of subjects.

I was blown away when Austin Channell took the stage and delivered one of the day’s most powerful talks. Currently a high school senior here in Ohio, Austin told the audience how he could never be valedictorian of his school, even with a perfect run of A grades, because he had the audacity to take choir in addition to AP [advanced placement] classes. His talk ranged over the current state of education in the US and the obsession with quantity (grade scores, numbers of classes, numbers of students) over quality (how much a student actually learns, how many students go on to college, a student’s development as a human being). It was informative, extremely well-delivered and shocking.

I am 100% sure that I was nowhere near as poised and articulate as Austin when I was in high school, and maybe not even in my early 20s. I don’t know whether this bizarre grading system is limited to Austin’s school, or schools in Ohio, or is a wider epidemic throughout the US, but it sends the wrong message to students and needs to be changed. Thanks, Austin, for bringing this to my attention.

•  Despite working on the problem of machine speech recognition for decades now, we have yet to invent a device that can hear what we say and interpret our speech correctly (Siri’s issues with the Australian accent being only a small part of this issue). Why can’t we get this problem right? Susan Nittrouer – head of the Speech Development Laboratory at The Ohio State University – made the case that what’s lacking is not the ability to hear, but the ability to comprehend.

The cochlear implant has made it possible for some people who are deaf – those with a certain type of damage to their sensory cells – to hear, a breakthrough for many children and the concerned parents of those children. In her illuminating presentation, Susan described in detail one pertinent aspect of the cochlear implant: the signal that the wearer receives sounds completely garbled compared to regular speech. The wearer of a cochlear implant only receives a partial speech signal through the device yet is able to interpret that signal into something comprehensible. That marvellous result is due to the brain’s ability to organise acoustic information. It is this ability of the human brain that we do not yet fully understand, which is why our machines can’t be programmed to hear us properly.

Even more fascinating, Susan talked about the links between our understanding of audible speech and our ability to understand language of any kind. To illustrate this point, she described a study in which children with normal reading skills and children with dyslexia were asked to comprehend and repeat back some words that were spoken to them. The children with dyslexia only understood about half to two-thirds of the spoken words compared to the children with normal reading skills. We normally associate dyslexia solely with the printed word, but Susan’s presentation indicated that the issue is far more complicated and tied to the very crux of how humans process language. I’ll certainly be watching this research space to see how our understanding of language processing develops.

• Last for today, something a bit lighthearted. Past the age of about 3, and particularly as an adult, how often do you really pay attention to what your five senses are telling you? If you do focus in on the smells, sights, tastes, sounds and textures around you, do you notice anything peculiar, funny or unpleasant that you hadn’t expected? In a short Q&A-style presentation, cartoonist Josh Hara talked about a self-imposed experiment in which he really concentrated his attention on one sense each hour for 5 hours, taking note of the experience however mundane. Then he tweeted the results, to hilarious effect. Some of the best of Josh’s 5 senses tweets (find him @yoyoha):

While getting a massage:

I’ve been under the sheets for an eternity. Is she coming back? Why must my nudity always carry a sense of abandonment with it? #txcTouch

I’m pretty sure she OW just discovered a part of my OW body that OW is erasing OW every dream OW I’ve ever had OW #txcTouch

While making himself a very healthy vegan lunch (I’m guessing he’s not a convert to the meatless life):

Meatless turkey and dairy-less cheese. I am actually about make a sandwich out of oxymorons. #txcTaste

“Who needs flavor, when you have a mealy, invented-in-a-lab disturbing texture?” – Tofurky #txcTaste

While at the Columbus Museum of Art:

I feel like the expression on every handmaidens’ face is one that says “please don’t have me killed.” #txcSee

Angels, horses, cherubs, a partially-naked woman, a soldier, and a rainbow. I feel like this artist had an early case of ADHD. #txcSee

While listening to the dubstep station on Pandora for an hour straight:

This music is attaching itself to the darkest part of my soul and making it dance by sticking defibrillator paddles to its chest. #txcHear

Dubstep is cold cruel emotionless murderous robot music. It’s growing on me a little. #txcHear

While taking note of the smells in his morning:

This donut smells like a candle I ate once. #txcSmell

Coffee smells like people not being strangled. #txcSmell

What would you notice if you really paid attention?

This has been a very small snapshot of all there was to listen and talk about last Friday. If you ever have the opportunity to attend a TED or TEDx event yourself, I highly recommend it. As the organisers say: go in with an open mind and a willingness to talk to strangers, and you’re guaranteed to learn about things you didn’t know existed while having a great time.

Yours in the pursuit of spaceships,

Bec