Erstellt am: 10. 11. 2012 - 06:03 Uhr

Beautiful Minds

I went to TEDx Vienna and all I got was this lousy complex.

You know when someone sends you a video and says you've GOTTA watch it because it will CHANGE YOUR LIFE? Well, somebody sent a video to me a couple of years ago, urging me to change my life and while the video didn't exactly do that, it did really make me think. A lot. And I like to revisit the video from time to time. Just to have another really hard 'think' about it.

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor brought me to a crossroad between the spiritual and the neurological, the cognitive and something I can only describe as a hopeful gut feeling. She continues to bring me to this crossroad everytime I watch her video and she's taken me on this journey via her TED Talk.

Who's TED?

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. A conference meant to gather the brightest minds in those fields took place in California back in 1984 and since then, the TED Talks have gained popularity and not just in the worlds of the tech-nerd, and high-brow academia.

Now even people like me can get TED-ified.

TEDx Vienna

A TEDx event is a locally and independently organised conference meant to give people a TED-like experience and I attended one in Vienna last Saturday. It was honest-to-goodness BRILLIANT.

Here are some of the people I talked to:

• Kyle Ruddick, a man who has worked at Disney and with George Lucas and is now the director of a series on documentaries which tell the stories of the planet on one given day (the next 'film day' is 12.12.12 in case you want to contribute to One Day on Earth).
• Michael and Peppi from Metalab, who told me about 3D Copy Printing Machines and freaky new ways to amplify sound.
• John Casti, who talked about...well, just check out the picture:

Radio FM4/Riem Higazi

I also interviewed the cutest robot I ever did meet! NAO was super-cute and super-smart.

Alderbaran Robotics

Such a cheeky chappy.

So, I met amazing people last Saturday, was inspired by great ideas, felt shock and awe as a plastic moustache ring (exactly what is sounds like -a plastic moustache attached to a ring so moustache-challenged people can be a part of Movember) got 3D copy-printed right in front of my eyes, had some pretty good between-the-ears-stimulation going on and when I got home, I felt like I had done nothing with my life and stared at an empty corner for a half hour.

Then I planned this show: