TED, for anyone who doesn’t already know, is a kind of viral knowledge factory. As TEDx, they enable groups of people all over the world get together under the TED banner for a bit of listening, collaboration and conversation. I was lucky enough to be sent off by Mary to the recent Jesse Rowe hosted TEDx PTA and was very impressed by the whole event. They hosted people from various backgrounds, all there to catch up on some great speaker topics introduced by Eric Vermeulen.

Simon Gear (the TV weather guy) was an engaging live speaker with some interesting insights into which US President really had the greatest positive impact on the Green Movement. No, it was not Al “An Inconvenient Truth” Gore. It was in fact George W Bush and his war on Iraq, which happened to push up the price of oil. This forced Americans to consider their purses and therefore their carbon footprint. He went on to propose that the only way to ensure that ongoing sustainable behavior would be adopted by all, would be to make it cheaper and more convenient than the alternatives. It was definitely a very worldly view and it got my vote. Viva.

There were also a number of video speakers, but the two that really stuck out for me where social scientist Jonathan Zittrain’s  The Web as Random Acts of Kindness and comedian John Lloyd’s Inventory of the Invisible. Zittrain’s talk involved tales of various geeky strangers doing free and kindly acts of labour, such as rescuing YouTube packets from Pakistan, hiding the true identity of The Star Wars Kid and keeping Wikipedia updated. There was some optimistic talk of a possible self regulating internet. This, I must admit, bothered me a bit considering what the lack of regulation did to our economy last year. I think that human systems sans regulation are a great idea but not always so good in practice. Ever drive on Jozi’s Louis Botha Ave during rush hour? Scary stuff.

John Lloyd was a fabulously dry speaker whose talk on the invisible covered a range of subjects from bumbling electricity electrons and gravity to the number of chromosomes in a potato. That would be 48 by the way - one more than humans. How very encouraging for us. He went on to outline just how much in our world is currently invisible to us and still totally beyond our understanding - including “The Point”. If ever you are feeling smug about the genius of mankind – watch this video.

So, if you haven’t done it already, I highly recommend a thorough scan through the TED website. There is almost too much inspiration and it is guaranteed to get you thinking about something worthwhile. Better yet, get yourself to one of the TEDx events in a city near you.

Also check out:

• TedX Comes to London
• Friday Fact Box - Online Education
• To Distance Learn or Not to Distance Learn