There are many people on this stage right now .


And so this World Peace Game I 'd like to tell you about .


It started out like this : it 's just a four-foot by five-foot plywood board in an inner-city urban school , 1978 .


I was creating a lesson for students on Africa .


We put all the problems of the world there , and I thought , let 's let them solve it .


I didn 't want to lecture or have just book reading .


I wanted to have them be immersed and learn the feeling of learning through their bodies .


So I thought , well they like to play games .


I 'll make something — I didn 't say interactive ; we didn 't have that term in 1978 — but something interactive .


And so we made the game , and it has since evolved to a four-foot by four-foot by four-foot Plexiglass structure .


And it has four Plexiglass layers .


There 's an outer space layer with black holes and satellites and research satellites and asteroid mining .


There 's an air and space level with clouds that are big puffs of cotton we push around and territorial air spaces and air forces , a ground and sea level with thousands of game pieces on it — even an undersea level with submarines and undersea mining .


There are four countries around the board .


The kids make up the names of the countries — some are rich ; some are poor .


They have different assets , commercial and military .


And each country has a cabinet .


There 's a Prime Minister , Secretary of State , Minister of Defense and a CFO , or Comptroller .


I choose the Prime Minister based on my relationship with them .


I offer them the job , they can turn it down , and then they choose their own cabinet .


There 's a World Bank , arms dealers and a United Nations .


There 's also a weather goddess who controls a random stock market and random weather .


( Laughter ) That 's not all .


And then there 's a 13-page crisis document with 50 interlocking problems .


So that , if one thing changes , everything else changes .


I throw them into this complex matrix , and they trust me because we have a deep , rich relationship together .


And so with all these crises , we have — let 's see — ethnic and minority tensions ; we have chemical and nuclear spills , nuclear proliferation .


There 's oil spills , environmental disasters , water rights disputes , breakaway republics , famine , endangered species and global warming .


If Al Gore is here , I 'm going to send my fourth-graders from Agnor-Hurt and Venable schools to you because they solved global warming in a week .


( Laughter ) ( Applause ) And they 've done it several times too . ( Laughter )


So I also have in the game a saboteur — some child — it 's basically a troublemaker — and I have my troublemaker put to use because they , on the surface , are trying to save the world and their position in the game .


But they 're also trying to undermine everything in the game .


And they do it secretly through misinformation and ambiguities and irrelevancies , trying to cause everyone to think more deeply .


The saboteur is there , and we also read from Sun Tzu 's " " The Art of War . " " Fourth-graders understand it — nine years old — and they handle that and use that to understand how to , not follow — at first they do — the paths to power and destruction , the path to war .


They learn to overlook short-sighted reactions and impulsive thinking , to think in a long-term , more consequential way .


Stewart Brand is here , and one of the ideas for this game came from him with a CoEvolution Quarterly article on a peace force .


And in the game , sometimes students actually form a peace force .


I 'm just a clock watcher .


I 'm just a clarifier . I 'm just a facilitator .


The students run the game .


I have no chance to make any policy whatsoever once they start playing .


So I 'll just share with you ...


( Video ) Boy : The World Peace Game is serious .


You 're actually getting taught something like how to take care of the world .


See , Mr. Hunter is doing that because he says his time has messed up a lot , and he 's trying to tell us how to fix that problem .


John Hunter : I offered them a — ( Applause ) Actually , I can 't tell them anything because I don 't know the answer .


And I admit the truth to them right up front : I don 't know .


And because I don 't know , they 've got to dig up the answer .


And so I apologize to them as well .


I say , " " I 'm so sorry , boys and girls , but the truth is we have left this world to you in such a sad and terrible shape , and we hope you can fix it for us , and maybe this game will help you learn how to do it . " " It 's a sincere apology , and they take it very seriously .


Now you may be wondering what all this complexity looks like .


Well when we have the game start , here 's what you see .


( Video ) JH : All right , we 're going into negotiations as of now . Go .


( Chatter ) JH : My question to you is , who 's in charge of that classroom ?


It 's a serious question : who is really in charge ?


I 've learned to cede control of the classroom over to the students over time .


There 's a trust and an understanding and a dedication to an ideal that I simply don 't have to do what I thought I had to do as a beginning teacher : control every conversation and response in the classroom .


It 's impossible . Their collective wisdom is much greater than mine , and I admit it to them openly .


So I 'll just share with you some stories very quickly of some magical things that have happened .


In this game we had a little girl , and she was the Defense Minister of the poorest nation .


And the Defense Minister — she had the tank corps and Air Force and so forth .


And she was next door to a very wealthy , oil-rich neighbor .


Without provocation , suddenly she attacked , against her Prime Minister 's orders , the next-door neighbor 's oil fields .


She marched into the oil field reserves , surrounded it , without firing a shot , and secured it and held it .


And that neighbor was unable to conduct any military operations because their fuel supply was locked up .


We were all upset with her , " " Why are you doing this ?


This is the World Peace Game . What is wrong with you ? " " ( Laughter ) This was a little girl and , at nine years old , she held her pieces and said , " " I know what I 'm doing . " " To her girlfriends she said that .


That 's a breach there .


And we learned in this , you don 't really ever want to cross a nine year-old girl with tanks .


( Laughter ) They are the toughest opponents .


And we were very upset .


I thought I was failing as a teacher . Why would she do this ?


But come to find out , a few game days later — and there are turns where we take negotiation from a team — actually there 's a negotiation period with all teams , and each team takes a turn , then we go back in negotiation , around and around , so each turn around is one game day .


So a few game days later it came to light that we found out this major country was planning a military offensive to dominate the entire world .


Had they had their fuel supplies , they would have done it .


She was able to see the vectors and trend lines and intentions long before any of us and understand what was going to happen and made a philosophical decision to attack in a peace game .


Now she used a small war to avert a larger war , so we stopped and had a very good philosophical discussion about whether that was right , conditional good , or not right .


That 's the kind of thinking that we put them in , the situations .


I could not have designed that in teaching it .


It came about spontaneously through their collective wisdom .


( Applause ) Another example , a beautiful thing happened .


We have a letter in the game .


If you 're a military commander and you wage troops — the little plastic toys on the board — and you lose them , I put in a letter .


You have to write a letter to their parents — the fictional parents of your fictional troops — explaining what happened and offering your condolences .


So you have a little bit more thought before you commit to combat .


And so we had this situation come up — last summer actually , at Agnor-Hurt School in Albemarle County — and one of our military commanders got up to read that letter and one of the other kids said , " " Mr. Hunter , let 's ask — there 's a parent over there . " " There was a parent visiting that day , just sitting in the back of the room .


" " Let 's ask that mom to read the letter .


It 'll be more realer if she reads it . " " So we did , we asked her , and she gamely picked up the letter .


" " Sure . " " She started reading . She read one sentence .


She read two sentences .


By the third sentence , she was in tears .


I was in tears .


Everybody understood that when we lose somebody , the winners are not gloating .


We all lose .


And it was an amazing occurrence and an amazing understanding .


I 'll show you what my friend David says about this .


He 's been in many battles .


( Video ) David : We 've really had enough of people attacking .


I mean , we 've been lucky [ most of ] the time .


But now I 'm feeling really weird because I 'm living what Sun Tzu said one week .


One week he said , " " Those who go into battle and win will want to go back , and those who lose in battle will want to go back and win . " " And so I 've been winning battles , so I 'm going into battles , more battles .


And I think it 's sort of weird to be living what Sun Tzu said .


JH : I get chills every time I see that .


That 's the kind of engagement you want to have happen .


And I can 't design that , I can 't plan that , and I can 't even test that .


But it 's self-evident assessment .


We know that 's an authentic assessment of learning .


We have a lot of data , but I think sometimes we go beyond data with the real truth of what 's going on .


So I 'll just share a third story .


This is about my friend Brennan .


We had played the game one session after school for many weeks , about seven weeks , and we had essentially solved all 50 of the interlocking crises .


The way the game is won is all 50 problems have to be solved and every country 's asset value has to be increased above its starting point .


Some are poor , some are wealthy . There are billions .


The World Bank president was a third-grader one time .


He says , " " How many zeros in a trillion ? I 've got to calculate that right away . " " But he was setting fiscal policy in that game for high school players who were playing with him .


So the team that was the poorest had gotten even poorer .


There was no way they could win .


And we were approaching four o 'clock , our cut-off time — there was about a minute left — and despair just settled over the room .


I thought , I 'm failing as a teacher .


I should have gotten it so they could have won .


They shouldn 't be failing like this .


I 've failed them .


And I was just feeling so sad and dejected .


And suddenly , Brennan walked over to my chair and he grabbed the bell , the bell I ring to signal a change or a reconvening of cabinets , and he ran back to his seat , rang the bell .


Everybody ran to his chair : there was screaming ; there was yelling , waving of their dossiers .


They get these dossiers full of secret documents .


They were gesticulating ; they were running around .


I didn 't know what they were doing . I 'd lost control of my classroom .


Principal walks in , I 'm out of a job .


The parents were looking in the window .


And Brennan runs back to his seat . Everybody runs back to their seat .


He rings the bell again . He says , " " We have " " — and there 's 12 seconds left on the clock — " " we have , all nations , pooled all our funds together .


And we 've got 600 billion dollars .


We 're going to offer it as a donation to this poor country .


And if they accept it , it 'll raise their asset value and we can win the game .


Will you accept it ? " " And there are three seconds left on the clock .


Everybody looks at this prime minister of that country , and he says , " " Yes . " " And the game is won .


Spontaneous compassion that could not be planned for , that was unexpected and unpredictable .


Every game we play is different .


Some games are more about social issues , some are more about economic issues .


Some games are more about warfare .


But I don 't try to deny them that reality of being human .


I allow them to go there and , through their own experience , learn , in a bloodless way , how not to do what they consider to be the wrong thing .


And they find out what is right their own way , their own selves .


And so in this game , I 've learned so much from it , but I would say that if only they could pick up a critical thinking tool or creative thinking tool from this game and leverage something good for the world , they may save us all .


If only .


And on behalf of all of my teachers on whose shoulders I 'm standing , thank you . Thank you . Thank you .


( Applause )


I would like to talk to you about a story about a small town kid .


I don 't know his name , but I do know his story .


He lives in a small village in southern Somalia .


His village is near Mogadishu .


Drought drives the small village into poverty and to the brink of starvation .


With nothing left for him there , he leaves for the big city , in this case , Mogadishu , the capital of Somalia .


When he arrives , there are no opportunities , no jobs , no way forward .


He ends up living in a tent city on the outskirts of Mogadishu .


Maybe a year passes , nothing .


One day , he 's approached by a gentleman who offers to take him to lunch , then to dinner , to breakfast .


He meets this dynamic group of people , and they give him a break .


He 's given a bit of money to buy himself some new clothes , money to send back home to his family .


He is introduced to this young woman .


He eventually gets married .


He starts this new life .


He has a purpose in life .


One beautiful day in Mogadishu , under an azure blue sky , a car bomb goes off .


That small town kid with the big city dreams was the suicide bomber , and that dynamic group of people were al Shabaab , a terrorist organization linked to al Qaeda .


So how does the story of a small town kid just trying to make it big in the city end up with him blowing himself up ?


He was waiting .


He was waiting for an opportunity , waiting to begin his future , waiting for a way forward , and this was the first thing that came along .


This was the first thing that pulled him out of what we call waithood .


And his story repeats itself in urban centers around the world .


It is the story of the disenfranchised , unemployed urban youth who sparks riots in Johannesburg , sparks riots in London , who reaches out for something other than waithood .


For young people , the promise of the city , the big city dream is that of opportunity , of jobs , of wealth , but young people are not sharing in the prosperity of their cities .


Often it 's youth who suffer from the highest unemployment rates .


By 2030 , three out of five people living in cities will be under the age of 18 .


If we do not include young people in the growth of our cities , if we do not provide them opportunities , the story of waithood , the gateway to terrorism , to violence , to gangs , will be the story of cities 2.0 .


And in my city of birth , Mogadishu , 70 percent of young people suffer from unemployment .


70 percent don 't work , don 't go to school .


They pretty much do nothing .


I went back to Mogadishu last month , and I went to visit Madina Hospital , the hospital I was born in .


I remember standing in front of that bullet-ridden hospital thinking , what if I had never left ?


What if I had been forced into that same state of waithood ?


Would I have become a terrorist ?


I 'm not really sure about the answer .


My reason for being in Mogadishu that month was actually to host a youth leadership and entrepreneurship summit .


I brought together about 90 young Somali leaders .


We sat down and brainstormed on solutions to the biggest challenges facing their city .


One of the young men in the room was Aden .


He went to university in Mogadishu , graduated .


There were no jobs , no opportunities .


I remember him telling me , because he was a college graduate , unemployed , frustrated , that he was the perfect target for al Shabaab and other terrorist organizations , to be recruited .


They sought people like him out .


But his story takes a different route .


In Mogadishu , the biggest barrier to getting from point A to point B are the roads .


Twenty-three years of civil war have completely destroyed the road system , and a motorbike can be the easiest way to get around .


Aden saw an opportunity and seized it .


He started a motorbike company .


He began renting out motorbikes to local residents who couldn 't normally afford them .


He bought 10 bikes , with the help of family and friends , and his dream is to eventually expand to several hundred within the next three years .


How is this story different ?


What makes his story different ?


I believe it is his ability to identify and seize a new opportunity .


It 's entrepreneurship , and I believe entrepreneurship can be the most powerful tool against waithood .


It empowers young people to be the creators of the very economic opportunities they are so desperately seeking .


And you can train young people to be entrepreneurs .


I want to talk to you about a young man who attended one of my meetings , Mohamed Mohamoud , a florist .


He was helping me train some of the young people at the summit in entrepreneurship and how to be innovative and how to create a culture of entrepreneurship .


He 's actually the first florist Mogadishu has seen in over 22 years , and until recently , until Mohamed came along , if you wanted flowers at your wedding , you used plastic bouquets shipped from abroad .


If you asked someone , " When was the last time you saw fresh flowers ? "


for many who grew up under civil war , the answer would be , " " Never . " " So Mohamed saw an opportunity .


He started a landscaping and design floral company .


He created a farm right outside of Mogadishu , and started growing tulips and lilies , which he said could survive the harsh Mogadishu climate .


And he began delivering flowers to weddings , creating gardens at homes and businesses around the city , and he 's now working on creating Mogadishu 's first public park in 22 years .


There 's no public park in Mogadishu .


He wants to create a space where families , young people , can come together , and , as he says , smell the proverbial roses .


And he doesn 't grow roses because they use too much water , by the way .


So the first step is to inspire young people , and in that room , Mohamed 's presence had a really profound impact on the youth in that room .


They had never really thought about starting up a business .


They 've thought about working for an NGO , working for the government , but his story , his innovation , really had a strong impact on them .


He forced them to look at their city as a place of opportunity .


He empowered them to believe that they could be entrepreneurs , that they could be change makers .


By the end of the day , they were coming up with innovative solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing their city .


They came up with entrepreneurial solutions to local problems .


So inspiring young people and creating a culture of entrepreneurship is a really great step , but young people need capital to make their ideas a reality .


They need expertise and mentorship to guide them in developing and launching their businesses .


Connect young people with the resources they need , provide them the support they need to go from ideation to creation , and you will create catalysts for urban growth .


For me , entrepreneurship is more than just starting up a business .


It 's about creating a social impact .


Mohamed is not simply selling flowers .


I believe he is selling hope .


His Peace Park , and that 's what he calls it , when it 's created , will actually transform the way people see their city .


Aden hired street kids to help rent out and maintain those bikes for him .


He gave them the opportunity to escape the paralysis of waithood .


These young entrepreneurs are having a tremendous impact in their cities .


So my suggestion is , turn youth into entrepreneurs , incubate and nurture their inherent innovation , and you will have more stories of flowers and Peace Parks than of car bombs and waithood .


Thank you .


( Applause )


Okay , I have no idea what we 're going to play .


I won 't be able to tell you what it is until it happens .


I didn 't realize there was going to be a little music before .


So I think I 'm going to start with what I just heard .


( Music ) ( Applause ) Okay , so first of all , let 's welcome Mr. Jamire Williams on the drums , ( Applause ) Burniss Travis on the bass , ( Applause ) and Mr. Christian Sands on the piano . ( Applause )


So the bandstand , as we call it , this is an incredible space .


It is really a sacred space .


And one of the things that is really sacred about it is that you have no opportunity to think about the future , or the past .


You really are alive right here in this moment .


There are so many decisions being made when you walk on the bandstand .


We had no idea what key we were going to play in .


In the middle , we sort of made our way into a song called " " Titi Boom . " " But that could have happened — maybe , maybe not .


Everyone 's listening . We 're responding .


You have no time for projected ideas .


So the idea of a mistake : From the perspective of a jazz musician , it 's easier to talk about someone else 's mistake .


So the way I perceive a mistake when I 'm on the bandstand — first of all , we don 't really see it as a mistake .


The only mistake lies in that I 'm not able to perceive what it is that someone else did .


Every " " mistake " " is an opportunity in jazz .


So it 's hard to even describe what a funny note would be .


So for example , if I played a color , like we were playing on a palette , that sounded like this ...


( Music ) So if Christian played a note — like play an F. ( Music )


See , these are all right inside of the color palette .


If you played an E.


See , these all lie right inside of this general emotional palette that we were painting .


If you played an F # though , ( Dissonance ) to most people 's ears , they would perceive that as a mistake .


So I 'm going to show you , we 're going to play just for a second .


And we 're going to play on this palette .


And at some point , Christian will introduce this note .


And we won 't react to it .


He 'll introduce it for a second and then I 'll stop , I 'll talk for a second .


We 'll see what happens when we play with this palette .


( Music ) So someone could conceptually perceive that as a mistake .


The only way that I would say it was a mistake is in that we didn 't react to it .


It was an opportunity that was missed .


So it 's unpredictable . We 'll paint this palette again .


He 'll play it . I don 't know how we 'll react to it , but something will change .


We 'll all accept his ideas , or not .


( Music ) So you see , he played this note .


I ended up creating a melody out of it .


The texture changed in the drums this time .


It got a little bit more rhythmic , a little bit more intense in response to how I responded to it .


So there is no mistake .


The only mistake is if I 'm not aware , if each individual musician is not aware and accepting enough of his fellow band member to incorporate the idea and we don 't allow for creativity .


So jazz , this bandstand is absolutely amazing .


It 's a very purifying experience .


And I know that I speak for all of us when I tell you that we don 't take it for granted .


We know that to be able to come on the bandstand and play music is a blessing .


So how does this all relate to behavioral finance ?


Well we 're jazz musicians , so stereotypically we don 't have a great relationship to finance .


( Laughter ) Anyway , I just wanted to sort of point out the way that we handle it .


And the other dynamic of it is that we don 't micromanage in jazz .


You have some people who do .


But what that does is it actually limits the artistic possibilities .


If I come up and I dictate to the band that I want to play like this and I want the music to go this way , and I just jump right in ...


ready , just play some time .


One , two , one , two , three , four .


( Music ) It 's kind of chaotic because I 'm bullying my ideas .


I 'm telling them , " " You come with me over this way . " " If I really want the music to go there , the best way for me to do it is to listen .


This is a science of listening .


It has far more to do with what I can perceive than what it is that I can do .


So if I want the music to get to a certain level of intensity , the first step for me is to be patient , to listen to what 's going on and pull from something that 's going on around me .


When you do that , you engage and inspire the other musicians and they give you more , and gradually it builds .


Watch . One , two , a one , two , three , four .


( Music ) Totally different experience when I 'm pulling ideas .


It 's much more organic . It 's much more nuanced .


It 's not about bullying my vision or anything like that .


It 's about being here in the moment , accepting one another and allowing creativity to flow .


Thank you .


( Applause )


I was here four years ago , and I remember , at the time , that the talks weren 't put online .


I think they were given to TEDsters in a box , a box set of DVDs , which they put on their shelves , where they are now .


( Laughter ) And actually , Chris called me a week after I 'd given my talk , and said , " We 're going to start putting them online . Can we put yours online ? "


And I said , " " Sure . " " And four years later , it 's been downloaded four million times .


So I suppose you could multiply that by 20 or something to get the number of people who 've seen it .


And , as Chris says , there is a hunger for videos of me .


( Laughter ) ( Applause ) Don 't you feel ? ( Laughter )


So , this whole event has been an elaborate build-up to me doing another one for you , so here it is . ( Laughter )


Al Gore spoke at the TED conference I spoke at four years ago and talked about the climate crisis .


And I referenced that at the end of my last talk .


So I want to pick up from there because I only had 18 minutes , frankly .


( Laughter ) So , as I was saying — ( Laughter ) You see , he 's right .


I mean , there is a major climate crisis , obviously , and I think if people don 't believe it , they should get out more .


( Laughter ) But I believe there is a second climate crisis , which is as severe , which has the same origins , and that we have to deal with with the same urgency .


And you may say , by the way , " " Look , I 'm good .


I have one climate crisis , I don 't really need the second one . " " ( Laughter ) But this is a crisis of , not natural resources — though I believe that 's true — but a crisis of human resources .


I believe fundamentally , as many speakers have said during the past few days , that we make very poor use of our talents .


Very many people go through their whole lives having no real sense of what their talents may be , or if they have any to speak of .


I meet all kinds of people who don 't think they 're really good at anything .


Actually , I kind of divide the world into two groups now .


Jeremy Bentham , the great utilitarian philosopher , once spiked this argument .


He said , " " There are two types of people in this world : those who divide the world into two types and those who do not . " " ( Laughter ) Well , I do . ( Laughter )


I meet all kinds of people who don 't enjoy what they do .


They simply go through their lives getting on with it .


They get no great pleasure from what they do .


They endure it rather than enjoy it , and wait for the weekend .


But I also meet people who love what they do and couldn 't imagine doing anything else .


If you said , " " Don 't do this anymore , " " they 'd wonder what you 're talking about .


It isn 't what they do , it 's who they are .


They say , " " But this is me , you know .


It would be foolish to abandon this , because it speaks to my most authentic self . " " And it 's not true of enough people .


In fact , on the contrary , I think it 's still true of a minority of people .


And I think there are many possible explanations for it .


And high among them is education , because education , in a way , dislocates very many people from their natural talents .


And human resources are like natural resources ; they 're often buried deep .


You have to go looking for them , they 're not just lying around on the surface .


You have to create the circumstances where they show themselves .


And you might imagine education would be the way that happens , but too often , it 's not .


Every education system in the world is being reformed at the moment and it 's not enough .


Reform is no use anymore , because that 's simply improving a broken model .


What we need — and the word 's been used many times in the past few days — is not evolution , but a revolution in education .


This has to be transformed into something else .


( Applause ) One of the real challenges is to innovate fundamentally in education .


Innovation is hard , because it means doing something that people don 't find very easy , for the most part .


It means challenging what we take for granted , things that we think are obvious .


The great problem for reform or transformation is the tyranny of common sense .


Things that people think , " It can 't be done differently , that 's how it 's done . "


I came across a great quote recently from Abraham Lincoln , who I thought you 'd be pleased to have quoted at this point .


( Laughter ) He said this in December 1862 to the second annual meeting of Congress .


I ought to explain that I have no idea what was happening at the time .


We don 't teach American history in Britain .


( Laughter ) We suppress it . You know , this is our policy . ( Laughter )


No doubt , something fascinating was happening then , which the Americans among us will be aware of .


But he said this : " " The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present .


The occasion is piled high with difficulty , and we must rise with the occasion . " " I love that .


Not rise to it , rise with it .


" " As our case is new , so we must think anew and act anew .


We must disenthrall ourselves , and then we shall save our country . " " I love that word , " " disenthrall . " " You know what it means ?


That there are ideas that all of us are enthralled to , which we simply take for granted as the natural order of things , the way things are .


And many of our ideas have been formed , not to meet the circumstances of this century , but to cope with the circumstances of previous centuries .


But our minds are still hypnotized by them , and we have to disenthrall ourselves of some of them .


Now , doing this is easier said than done .


It 's very hard to know , by the way , what it is you take for granted .


And the reason is that you take it for granted .


( Laughter ) Let me ask you something you may take for granted .


How many of you here are over the age of 25 ?


That 's not what you take for granted , I 'm sure you 're familiar with that .


Are there any people here under the age of 25 ?


Great . Now , those over 25 , could you put your hands up if you 're wearing your wristwatch ?


Now that 's a great deal of us , isn 't it ?


Ask a room full of teenagers the same thing .


Teenagers do not wear wristwatches .


I don 't mean they can 't , they just often choose not to .


And the reason is we were brought up in a pre-digital culture , those of us over 25 .


And so for us , if you want to know the time , you have to wear something to tell it .


Kids now live in a world which is digitized , and the time , for them , is everywhere .


They see no reason to do this .


And by the way , you don 't need either ; it 's just that you 've always done it and you carry on doing it .


My daughter never wears a watch , my daughter Kate , who 's 20 .


She doesn 't see the point .


As she says , " It 's a single-function device . "


( Laughter ) " Like , how lame is that ? "


And I say , " " No , no , it tells the date as well . " " ( Laughter ) " It has multiple functions . " ( Laughter )


But , you see , there are things we 're enthralled to in education .


A couple of examples .


One of them is the idea of linearity : that it starts here and you go through a track and if you do everything right , you will end up set for the rest of your life .


Everybody who 's spoken at TED has told us implicitly , or sometimes explicitly , a different story : that life is not linear ; it 's organic .


We create our lives symbiotically as we explore our talents in relation to the circumstances they help to create for us .


But , you know , we have become obsessed with this linear narrative .


And probably the pinnacle for education is getting you to college .


I think we are obsessed with getting people to college .


Certain sorts of college .


I don 't mean you shouldn 't go , but not everybody needs to go , or go now .


Maybe they go later , not right away .


And I was up in San Francisco a while ago doing a book signing .


There was this guy buying a book , he was in his 30s .


I said , " " What do you do ? " " And he said , " " I 'm a fireman . " " I asked , " " How long have you been a fireman ? " " " Always . I 've always been a fireman . "


" " Well , when did you decide ? " " He said , " " As a kid .


Actually , it was a problem for me at school , because at school , everybody wanted to be a fireman . " " ( Laughter ) He said , " " But I wanted to be a fireman . " " And he said , " " When I got to the senior year of school , my teachers didn 't take it seriously .


This one teacher didn 't take it seriously .


He said I was throwing my life away if that 's all I chose to do with it ; that I should go to college , I should become a professional person , that I had great potential and I was wasting my talent to do that . " " He said , " " It was humiliating .


It was in front of the whole class and I felt dreadful .


But it 's what I wanted , and as soon as I left school , I applied to the fire service and I was accepted .


You know , I was thinking about that guy recently , just a few minutes ago when you were speaking , about this teacher , because six months ago , I saved his life . " " ( Laughter ) He said , " " He was in a car wreck , and I pulled him out , gave him CPR , and I saved his wife 's life as well . " " He said , " " I think he thinks better of me now . " " ( Laughter ) ( Applause ) You know , to me , human communities depend upon a diversity of talent , not a singular conception of ability .


And at the heart of our challenges — ( Applause ) At the heart of the challenge is to reconstitute our sense of ability and of intelligence .


This linearity thing is a problem .


When I arrived in L.A. about nine years ago , I came across a policy statement — very well-intentioned — which said , " " College begins in kindergarten . " " No , it doesn 't .


( Laughter ) It doesn 't .


If we had time , I could go into this , but we don 't .


( Laughter ) Kindergarten begins in kindergarten . ( Laughter )


A friend of mine once said , " A three year-old is not half a six year-old . " ( Laughter )


( Applause ) They 're three .


But as we just heard in this last session , there 's such competition now to get into kindergarten — to get to the right kindergarten — that people are being interviewed for it at three .


Kids sitting in front of unimpressed panels , you know , with their resumes — ( Laughter ) Flicking through and saying , " " What , this is it ? " " ( Laughter ) ( Applause ) " You 've been around for 36 months , and this is it ? " ( Laughter )


" " You 've achieved nothing — commit . ( Laughter )


Spent the first six months breastfeeding , I can see . " " ( Laughter ) See , it 's outrageous as a conception .


The other big issue is conformity .


We have built our education systems on the model of fast food .


This is something Jamie Oliver talked about the other day .


There are two models of quality assurance in catering .


One is fast food , where everything is standardized .


The other is like Zagat and Michelin restaurants , where everything is not standardized , they 're customized to local circumstances .


And we have sold ourselves into a fast-food model of education , and it 's impoverishing our spirit and our energies as much as fast food is depleting our physical bodies .


( Applause ) We have to recognize a couple of things here .


One is that human talent is tremendously diverse .


People have very different aptitudes .


I worked out recently that I was given a guitar as a kid at about the same time that Eric Clapton got his first guitar .


( Laughter ) It worked out for Eric , that 's all I 'm saying . ( Laughter )


In a way — it did not for me .


I could not get this thing to work no matter how often or how hard I blew into it .


It just wouldn 't work .


( Laughter ) But it 's not only about that .


It 's about passion .


Often , people are good at things they don 't really care for .


It 's about passion , and what excites our spirit and our energy .


And if you 're doing the thing that you love to do , that you 're good at , time takes a different course entirely .


My wife 's just finished writing a novel , and I think it 's a great book , but she disappears for hours on end .


You know this , if you 're doing something you love , an hour feels like five minutes .


If you 're doing something that doesn 't resonate with your spirit , five minutes feels like an hour .


And the reason so many people are opting out of education is because it doesn 't feed their spirit , it doesn 't feed their energy or their passion .


So I think we have to change metaphors .


We have to go from what is essentially an industrial model of education , a manufacturing model , which is based on linearity and conformity and batching people .


We have to move to a model that is based more on principles of agriculture .


We have to recognize that human flourishing is not a mechanical process ; it 's an organic process .


And you cannot predict the outcome of human development .


All you can do , like a farmer , is create the conditions under which they will begin to flourish .


So when we look at reforming education and transforming it , it isn 't like cloning a system .


There are great ones , like KIPP 's ; it 's a great system .


There are many great models .


It 's about customizing to your circumstances and personalizing education to the people you 're actually teaching .


And doing that , I think , is the answer to the future because it 's not about scaling a new solution ; it 's about creating a movement in education in which people develop their own solutions , but with external support based on a personalized curriculum .


Now in this room , there are people who represent extraordinary resources in business , in multimedia , in the Internet .


These technologies , combined with the extraordinary talents of teachers , provide an opportunity to revolutionize education .


And I urge you to get involved in it because it 's vital , not just to ourselves , but to the future of our children .


But we have to change from the industrial model to an agricultural model , where each school can be flourishing tomorrow .


That 's where children experience life .


Or at home , if that 's what they choose , to be educated with their families or friends .


There 's been a lot of talk about dreams over the course of these few days .


And I wanted to just very quickly — I was very struck by Natalie Merchant 's songs last night , recovering old poems .


I wanted to read you a quick , very short poem from W. B. Yeats , who some of you may know .


He wrote this to his love , Maud Gonne , and he was bewailing the fact that he couldn 't really give her what he thought she wanted from him .


And he says , " " I 've got something else , but it may not be for you . " " He says this : " " Had I the heavens ' embroidered cloths , Enwrought with gold and silver light , The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half-light , I would spread the cloths under your feet : But I , being poor , have only my dreams ; I have spread my dreams under your feet ; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams . " " And every day , everywhere , our children spread their dreams beneath our feet .


And we should tread softly .


Thank you .


( Applause ) Thank you very much . ( Applause )


Thank you . ( Applause )


I want to say that really and truly , after these incredible speeches and ideas that are being spread , I am in the awkward position of being here to talk to you today about television .


So most everyone watches TV .


We like it . We like some parts of it .


Here in America , people actually love TV .


The average American watches TV for almost 5 hours a day .


Okay ?


Now I happen to make my living these days in television , so for me , that 's a good thing .


But a lot of people don 't love it so much .


They , in fact , berate it .


They call it stupid , and worse , believe me .


My mother , growing up , she called it the " " idiot box . " " But my idea today is not to debate whether there 's such a thing as good TV or bad TV ; my idea today is to tell you that I believe television has a conscience .


So why I believe that television has a conscience is that I actually believe that television directly reflects the moral , political , social and emotional need states of our nation — that television is how we actually disseminate our entire value system .


So all these things are uniquely human , and they all add up to our idea of conscience .


Now today , we 're not talking about good and bad TV .


We 're talking about popular TV .


We 're talking about top-10 Nielsen-rated shows over the course of 50 years .


How do these Nielsen ratings reflect not just what you 've heard about , which is the idea of our social , collective unconscious , but how do these top-10 Nielsen-rated shows over 50 years reflect the idea of our social conscience ?


How does television evolve over time , and what does this say about our society ?


Now speaking of evolution , from basic biology , you probably remember that the animal kingdom , including humans , have four basic primal instincts .


You have hunger ; you have sex ; you have power ; and you have the urge for acquisitiveness .


As humans , what 's important to remember is that we 've developed , we 've evolved over time to temper , or tame , these basic animal instincts .


We have the capacity to laugh and cry .


We feel awe , we feel pity .


That is separate and apart from the animal kingdom .


The other thing about human beings is that we love to be entertained .


We love to watch TV .


This is something that clearly separates us from the animal kingdom .


Animals might love to play , but they don 't love to watch .


So I had an ambition to discover what could be understood from this uniquely human relationship between television programs and the human conscious .


Why has television entertainment evolved the way it has ?


I kind of think of it as this cartoon devil or angel sitting on our shoulders .


Is television literally functioning as our conscience , tempting us and rewarding us at the same time ?


So to begin to answer these questions , we did a research study .


We went back 50 years to the 1959 / 1960 television season .


We surveyed the top-20 Nielsen shows every year for 50 years — a thousand shows .


We talked to over 3,000 individuals — almost 3,600 — aged 18 to 70 , and we asked them how they felt emotionally .


How did you feel watching every single one of these shows ?


Did you feel a sense of moral ambiguity ?


Did you feel outrage ? Did you laugh ?


What did this mean for you ?


So to our global TED audiences , I want to say that this was a U.S. sample .


But as you can see , these emotional need states are truly universal .


And on a factual basis , over 80 percent of the U.S. ' s most popular shows are exported around the world .


So I really hope our global audiences can relate .


Two acknowledgments before our first data slide : For inspiring me to even think about the idea of conscience and the tricks that conscience can play on us on a daily basis , I thank legendary rabbi , Jack Stern .


And for the way in which I 'm going to present the data , I want to thank TED community superstar Hans Rosling , who you may have just seen .


Okay , here we go .


So here you see , from 1960 to 2010 , the 50 years of our study .


Two things we 're going to start with — the inspiration state and the moral ambiguity state , which , for this purpose , we defined inspiration as television shows that uplift me , that make me feel much more positive about the world .


Moral ambiguity are televisions shows in which I don 't understand the difference between right and wrong .


As we start , you see in 1960 inspiration is holding steady .


That 's what we 're watching TV for .


Moral ambiguity starts to climb .


Right at the end of the 60s , moral ambiguity is going up , inspiration is kind of on the wane .


Why ?


The Cuban Missile Crisis , JFK is shot , the Civil Rights movement , race riots , the Vietnam War , MLK is shot , Bobby Kennedy is shot , Watergate .


Look what happens .


In 1970 , inspiration plummets .


Moral ambiguity takes off .


They cross , but Ronald Reagan , a telegenic president , is in office .


It 's trying to recover .


But look , it can 't : AIDS , Iran-Contra , the Challenger disaster , Chernobyl .


Moral ambiguity becomes the dominant meme in television from 1990 for the next 20 years .


Take a look at this .


This chart is going to document a very similar trend .


But in this case , we have comfort — the bubble in red — social commentary and irreverence in blue and green .


Now this time on TV you have " " Bonanza , " " don 't forget , you have " " Gunsmoke , " " you have " " Andy Griffith , " " you have domestic shows all about comfort .


This is rising . Comfort stays whole .


Irreverence starts to rise .


Social commentary is all of a sudden spiking up .


You get to 1969 , and look what happens .


You have comfort , irreverence , and social commentary , not only battling it out in our society , but you literally have two establishment shows — " " Gunsmoke " " and " " Gomer Pyle " " — in 1969 are the number-two- and number-three-rated television shows .


What 's number one ?


The socially irreverent hippie show , " Rowan and Martin 's Laugh-In . "


They 're all living together , right .


Viewers had responded dramatically .


Look at this green spike in 1966 to a bellwether show .


When you guys hear this industry term , a breakout hit , what does that mean ?


It means in the 1966 television season , The " " Smothers Brothers " " came out of nowhere .


This was the first show that allowed viewers to say , " " My God , I can comment on how I feel about the Vietnam War , about the presidency , through television ? " " That 's what we mean by a breakout show .


So then , just like the last chart , look what happens .


In 1970 , the dam bursts . The dam bursts .


Comfort is no longer why we watch television .


Social commentary and irreverence rise throughout the 70s .


Now look at this .


The 70s means who ? Norman Lear .


You have " " All in the Family , " " " " Sanford and Son , " " and the dominant show — in the top-10 for the entire 70s — " MAS * H. "


In the entire 50 years of television that we studied , seven of 10 shows ranked most highly for irreverence appeared on air during the Vietnam War , five of the top-10 during the Nixon administration .


Only one generation , 20 years in , and we discovered , Wow ! TV can do that ?


It can make me feel this ?


It can change us ?


So to this very , very savvy crowd , I also want to note the digital folks did not invent disruptive .


Archie Bunker was shoved out of his easy chair along with the rest of us 40 years ago .


This is a quick chart . Here 's another attribute : fantasy and imagination , which are shows defined as , " takes me out of my everyday realm " and " " makes me feel better . " " That 's mapped against the red dot , unemployment , which is a simple Bureau of Labor Department statistic .


You 'll see that every time fantasy and imagination shows rise , it maps to a spike in unemployment .


Do we want to see shows about people saving money and being unemployed ?


No . In the 70s you have the bellwether show " " The Bionic Woman " " that rocketed into the top-10 in 1973 , followed by the " " Six Million-Dollar Man " " and " " Charlie 's Angels . " " Another spike in the 1980s — another spike in shows about control and power .


What were those shows ?


Glamorous and rich .


" Dallas , " " Fantasy Island . "


Incredible mapping of our national psyche with some hard and fast facts : unemployment .


So here you are , in my favorite chart , because this is our last 20 years .


Whether or not you 're in my business , you have surely heard or read of the decline of the thing called the three-camera sitcom and the rise of reality TV .


Well , as we say in the business , X marks the spot .


The 90s — the big bubbles of humor — we 're watching " " Friends , " " " " Frasier , " " " " Cheers " " and " " Seinfeld . " " Everything 's good , low unemployment .


But look : X marks the spot .


In 2001 , the September 2001 television season , humor succumbs to judgment once and for all .


Why not ?


We had a 2000 presidential election decided by the Supreme Court .


We had the bursting of the tech bubble .


We had 9 / 11 .


Anthrax becomes part of the social lexicon .


Look what happens when we keep going .


At the turn of the century , the Internet takes off , reality television has taken hold .


What do people want in their TV then ?


I would have thought revenge or nostalgia .


Give me some comfort ; my world is falling apart .


No , they want judgment .


I can vote you off the island .


I can keep Sarah Palin 's daughter dancing .


I can choose the next American Idol . You 're fired .


That 's all great , right ?


So as dramatically different as these television shows , pure entertainment , have been over the last 50 years — what did I start with ? — one basic instinct remains .


We 're animals , we need our moms .


There has not been a decade of television without a definitive , dominant TV mom .


The 1950s : June Cleever in the original comfort show , " " Leave it to Beaver . " " Lucille Ball kept us laughing through the rise of social consciousness in the 60s .


Maude Findlay , the epitome of the irreverent 1970s , who tackled abortion , divorce , even menopause on TV .


The 1980s , our first cougar was given to us in the form of Alexis Carrington .


Murphy Brown took on a vice president when she took on the idea of single parenthood .


This era 's mom , Bree Van de Kamp .


Now I don 't know if this is the devil or the angel sitting on our conscience , sitting on television 's shoulders , but I do know that I absolutely love this image .


So to you all , the women of TEDWomen , the men of TEDWomen , the global audiences of TEDWomen , thank you for letting me present my idea about the conscience of television .


But let me also thank the incredible creators who get up everyday to put their ideas on our television screens throughout all these ages of television .


They give it life on television , for sure , but it 's you as viewers , through your collective social consciences , that give it life , longevity , power or not .


So thanks very much .


( Applause )


Well we all know the World Wide Web has absolutely transformed publishing , broadcasting , commerce and social connectivity , but where did it all come from ?


And I 'll quote three people : Vannevar Bush , Doug Engelbart and Tim Berners-Lee .


So let 's just run through these guys .


This is Vannevar Bush .


Vannevar Bush was the U.S. government 's chief scientific adviser during the war .


And in 1945 , he published an article in a magazine called Atlantic Monthly .


And the article was called " " As We May Think . " " And what Vannevar Bush was saying was the way we use information is broken .


We don 't work in terms of libraries and catalog systems and so forth .


The brain works by association .


With one item in its thought , it snaps instantly to the next item .


And the way information is structured is totally incapable of keeping up with this process .


And so he suggested a machine , and he called it the memex .


And the memex would link information , one piece of information to a related piece of information and so forth .


Now this was in 1945 .


A computer in those days was something the secret services used to use for code breaking .


And nobody knew anything about it .


So this was before the computer was invented .


And he proposed this machine called the memex .


And he had a platform where you linked information to other information , and then you could call it up at will .


So spinning forward , one of the guys who read this article was a guy called Doug Engelbart , and he was a U.S. Air Force officer .


And he was reading it in their library in the Far East .


And he was so inspired by this article , it kind of directed the rest of his life .


And by the mid-60s , he was able to put this into action when he worked at the Stanford Research Lab in California .


He built a system .


The system was designed to augment human intelligence , it was called .


And in a premonition of today 's world of cloud computing and softwares of service , his system was called NLS for oN-Line System .


And this is Doug Engelbart .


He was giving a presentation at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in 1968 .


What he showed — he sat on a stage like this , and he demonstrated this system .


He had his head mic like I 've got .


And he works this system .


And you can see , he 's working between documents and graphics and so forth .


And he 's driving it all with this platform here , with a five-finger keyboard and the world 's first computer mouse , which he specially designed in order to do this system .


So this is where the mouse came from as well .


So this is Doug Engelbart .


The trouble with Doug Engelbart 's system was that the computers in those days cost several million pounds .


So for a personal computer , a few million pounds was like having a personal jet plane ; it wasn 't really very practical .


But spin on to the 80s when personal computers did arrive , then there was room for this kind of system on personal computers .


And my company , OWL built a system called Guide for the Apple Macintosh .


And we delivered the world 's first hypertext system .


And this began to get a head of steam .


Apple introduced a thing called HyperCard , and they made a bit of a fuss about it .


They had a 12-page supplement in the Wall Street Journal the day it launched .


The magazines started to cover it .


Byte magazine and Communications at the ACM had special issues covering hypertext .


We developed a PC version of this product as well as the Macintosh version .


And our PC version became quite mature .


These are some examples of this system in action in the late 80s .


You were able to deliver documents , were able to do it over networks .


We developed a system such that it had a markup language based on html .


We called it hml : hypertext markup language .


And the system was capable of doing very , very large documentation systems over computer networks .


So I took this system to a trade show in Versailles near Paris in late November 1990 .


And I was approached by a nice young man called Tim Berners-Lee who said , " " Are you Ian Ritchie ? " " and I said , " " Yeah . " " And he said , " " I need to talk to you . " " And he told me about his proposed system called the World Wide Web .


And I thought , well , that 's got a pretentious name , especially since the whole system ran on his computer in his office .


But he was completely convinced that his World Wide Web would take over the world one day .


And he tried to persuade me to write the browser for it , because his system didn 't have any graphics or fonts or layout or anything ; it was just plain text .


I thought , well , you know , interesting , but a guy from CERN , he 's not going to do this .


So we didn 't do it .


In the next couple of years , the hypertext community didn 't recognize him either .


In 1992 , his paper was rejected for the Hypertext Conference .


In 1993 , there was a table at the conference in Seattle , and a guy called Marc Andreessen was demonstrating his little browser for the World Wide Web .


And I saw it , and I thought , yep , that 's it .


And the very next year , in 1994 , we had the conference here in Edinburgh , and I had no opposition in having Tim Berners-Lee as the keynote speaker .


So that puts me in pretty illustrious company .


There was a guy called Dick Rowe who was at Decca Records and turned down The Beatles .


There was a guy called Gary Kildall who went flying his plane when IBM came looking for an operating system for the IBM PC , and he wasn 't there , so they went back to see Bill Gates .


And the 12 publishers who turned down J.K. Rowling 's Harry Potter , I guess .


On the other hand , there 's Marc Andreessen who wrote the world 's first browser for the World Wide Web .


And according to Fortune magazine , he 's worth 700 million dollars .


But is he happy ?


( Laughter ) ( Applause )


In 1994 , I walked into a prison in Cambodia , and I met a 12-year-old boy who had been tortured and was denied access to counsel .


And as I looked into his eyes , I realized that for the hundreds of letters I had written for political prisoners , that I would never have written a letter for him , because he was not a 12-year-old boy who had done something important for anybody .


He was not a political prisoner .


He was a 12-year-old boy who had stolen a bicycle .


What I also realized at that point was that it was not only Cambodia , but of the 113 developing countries that torture , 93 of these countries have all passed laws that say you have a right to a lawyer and you have a right not to be tortured .


And what I recognized was that there was an incredible window of opportunity for us as a world community to come together and end torture as an investigative tool .


We often think of torture as being political torture or reserved for just the worst , but , in fact , 95 percent of torture today is not for political prisoners .


It is for people who are in broken-down legal systems , and unfortunately because torture is the cheapest form of investigation — it 's cheaper than having a legal system , cheaper than having a lawyer and early access to counsel — it is what happens most of the time .


I believe today that it is possible for us as a world community , if we make a decision , to come together and end torture as an investigative tool in our lifetime , but it will require three things .


First is the training , empowerment , and connection of defenders worldwide .


The second is insuring that there is systematic early access to counsel .


And the third is commitment .


So in the year 2000 , I began to wonder , what if we came together ?


Could we do something for these 93 countries ?


And I founded International Bridges to Justice which has a specific mission of ending torture as an investigative tool and implementing due process rights in the 93 countries by placing trained lawyers at an early stage in police stations and in courtrooms .


My first experiences , though , did come from Cambodia , and at the time I remember first coming to Cambodia and there were , in 1994 , still less than 10 attorneys in the country because the Khmer Rouge had killed them all .


And even 20 years later , there was only 10 lawyers in the country , so consequently you 'd walk into a prison and not only would you meet 12-year-old boys , you 'd meet women and you 'd say , " " Why are you here ? " " Women would say , " " Well I 've been here for 10 years because my husband committed a crime , but they can 't find him . " " So it 's just a place where there was no rule of law .


The first group of defenders came together and I still remember , as I was training , I said , " Okay , what do you do for an investigation ? "


And there was silence in the class , and finally one woman stood up , [ inaudible name ] , and she said " " Khrew , " " which means " " teacher . " " She said , " " I have defended more than a hundred people , and I 've never had to do any investigation , because they all come with confessions . " " And we talked about , as a class , the fact that number one , the confessions might not be reliable , but number two , we did not want to encourage the police to keep doing this , especially as it was now against the law .


And it took a lot of courage for these defenders to decide that they would begin to stand up and support each other in implementing these laws .


And I still remember the first cases where they came , all 25 together , she would stand up , and they were in the back , and they would support her , and the judges kept saying , " " No , no , no , no , we 're going to do things the exact same way we 've been doing them . " " But one day the perfect case came , and it was a woman who was a vegetable seller , she was sitting outside of a house .


She said she actually saw the person run out who she thinks stole whatever the jewelry was , but the police came , they got her , there was nothing on her .


She was pregnant at the time . She had cigarette burns on her . She 'd miscarried .


And when they brought her case to the judge , for the first time he stood up and he said , " " Yes , there 's no evidence except for your torture confession and you will be released . " " And the defenders began to take cases over and over again and you will see , they have step by step began to change the course of history in Cambodia .


But Cambodia is not alone .


I used to think , well is it Cambodia ?


Or is it other countries ?


But it is in so many countries .


In Burundi I walked into a prison and it wasn 't a 12-year-old boy , it was an 8-year-old boy for stealing a mobile phone .


Or a woman , I picked up her baby , really cute baby , I said " " Your baby is so cute . " " It wasn 't a baby , she was three .


And she said " " Yeah , but she 's why I 'm here , " " because she was accused of stealing two diapers and an iron for her baby and still had been in prison .


And when I walked up to the prison director , I said , " " You 've got to let her out .


A judge would let her out . " " And he said , " " Okay , we can talk about it , but look at my prison . Eighty percent of the two thousand people here are without a lawyer . What can we do ? " " So lawyers began to courageously stand up together to organize a system where they can take cases .


But we realized that it 's not only the training of the lawyers , but the connection of the lawyers that makes a difference .


For example , in Cambodia , it was that [ inaudible name ] did not go alone but she had 24 lawyers with her who stood up together . And in the same way , in China , they always tell me , " " It 's like a fresh wind in the desert when we can come together . " " Or in Zimbabwe , where I remember Innocent , after coming out of a prison where everybody stood up and said , " " I 've been here for one year , eight years , 12 years without a lawyer , " " he came and we had a training together and he said , " " I have heard it said " " — because he had heard people mumbling


and grumbling — " " I have heard it said that we cannot help to create justice because we do not have the resources . " " And then he said , " " But I want you to know that the lack of resources is never an excuse for injustice . " " And with that , he successfully organized 68 lawyers who have been systematically taking the cases .


The key that we see , though , is training and then early access .


I was recently in Egypt , and was inspired to meet with another group of lawyers , and what they told me is that they said , " " Hey , look , we don 't have police on the streets now . The police are one of the main reasons why we had the revolution . They were torturing everybody all the time . " " And I said , " " But there 's been tens of millions of dollars that have recently gone in to the development of the legal system here .


What 's going on ? " " I met with one of the development agencies , and they were training prosecutors and judges , which is the normal bias , as opposed to defenders .


And they showed me a manual which actually was an excellent manual .


I said , " " I 'm gonna copy this . " " It had everything in it . Lawyers can come at the police station . It was perfect .


Prosecutors were perfectly trained .


But I said to them , " " I just have one question , which is , by the time that everybody got to the prosecutor 's office , what had happened to them ? " " And after a pause , they said , " They had been tortured . "


So the pieces are , not only the training of the lawyers , but us finding a way to systematically implement early access to counsel , because they are the safeguard in the system for people who are being tortured .


And as I tell you this , I 'm also aware of the fact that it sounds like , " " Oh , okay , it sounds like we could do it , but can we really do it ? " " Because it sounds big .


And there are many reasons why I believe it 's possible .


The first reason is the people on the ground who find ways of creating miracles because of their commitment .


It 's not only Innocent , who I told you about in Zimbabwe , but defenders all over the world who are looking for these pieces .


We have a program called JusticeMakers , and we realized there are people that are courageous and want to do things , but how can we support them ?


So it 's an online contest where it 's only five thousand dollars if you come up with and innovative way of implementing justice .


And there are 30 JusticeMakers throughout the world , from Sri Lanka to Swaziland to the DRC , who with five thousand dollars do amazing things , through SMS programs , through paralegal programs , through whatever they can do .


And it 's not only these JusticeMakers , but people we courageously see figure out who their networks are and how they can move it forward .


So in China , for instance , great laws came out where it says police cannot torture people or they will be punished .


And I was sitting side by side with one of our very courageous lawyers , and said , " " How can we get this out ? How can we make sure that this is implemented ?


This is fantastic . " " And he said to me , " " Well , do you have money ? " " And I said , " " No . " " And he said , " " That 's okay , we can still figure it out . " " And on December 4 , he organized three thousand members of the Youth Communist League , from 14 of the top law schools , who organized themselves , developed posters with the new laws , and went to the police stations and began what he says is a non-violent legal revolution to protect citizen rights .


So I talked about the fact that we need to train and support defenders .


We need to systematically implement early access to counsel .


But the third and most important thing is that we make a commitment to this .


And people often say to me , " " You know , this is great , but it 's wildly idealistic .


Never going to happen . " " And the reason that I think that those words are interesting is because those were the same kinds of words that were used for people who decided they would end slavery , or end apartheid .


It began with a small group of people who decided they would commit .


Now , there 's one of our favorite poems from the defenders , which they share from each other , is : " " Take courage friends , the road is often long , the path is never clear , and the stakes are very high , but deep down , you are not alone . " " And I believe that if we can come together as a world community to support not only defenders , but also everyone in the system who is looking towards it , we can end torture as an investigative tool .


I end always , because I 'm sure the questions are — and I 'd be happy to talk to you at any point — " " But what can I really do ? " " Well , I would say this . First of all , you know what you can do . But second of all , I would leave you with the story of Vishna , who actually was my inspiration for starting International Bridges to Justice .


Vishna was a 4-year-old boy when I met him who was born in a Cambodian prison in Kandal Province . But because he was born in the prison , everybody loved him , including the guards , so he was the only one who was allowed to come in and out of the bars .


So , you know , there 's bars . And by the time that Vishna was getting bigger , which means what gets bigger ? Your head gets bigger .


So he would come to the first bar , the second bar and then the third bar , and then really slowly move his head so he could fit through , and come back , third , second , first . And he would grab my pinkie , because what he wanted to do every day is he wanted to go visit .


You know , he never quite made it to all of them every day , but he wanted to visit all 156 prisoners . And I would lift him , and he would put his fingers through .


Or if they were dark cells , it was like iron corrugated , and he would put his fingers through .


And most of the prisoners said that he was their greatest joy and their sunshine , and they looked forward to him . And I was like , here 's Vishna . He 's a 4-year-old boy .


He was born in a prison with almost nothing , no material goods , but he had a sense of his own heroic journey , which I believe we are all born into . He said , " " Probably I can 't do everything .


But I 'm one . I can do something .


And I will do the one thing that I can do . " " So I thank you for having the prophetic imagination to imagine the shaping of a new world with us together , and invite you into this journey with us .


Thank you .


( Applause ) Thank you . ( Applause ) Thank you . ( Applause )


Picture this : It 's Monday morning , you 're at the office , you 're settling in for the day at work , and this guy that you sort of recognize from down the hall , walks right into your cubicle and he steals your chair .


Doesn 't say a word — just rolls away with it .


Doesn 't give you any information about why he took your chair out of all the other chairs that are out there .


Doesn 't acknowledge the fact that you might need your chair to get some work done today .


You wouldn 't stand for it . You 'd make a stink .


You 'd follow that guy back to his cubicle and you 'd say , " " Why my chair ? " " Okay , so now it 's Tuesday morning and you 're at the office , and a meeting invitation pops up in your calendar .


( Laughter ) And it 's from this woman who you kind of know from down the hall , and the subject line references some project that you heard a little bit about .


But there 's no agenda .


There 's no information about why you were invited to the meeting .


And yet you accept the meeting invitation , and you go .


And when this highly unproductive session is over , you go back to your desk , and you stand at your desk and you say , " " Boy , I wish I had those two hours back , like I wish I had my chair back . " " ( Laughter ) Every day , we allow our coworkers , who are otherwise very , very nice people , to steal from us .


And I 'm talking about something far more valuable than office furniture .


I 'm talking about time . Your time .


In fact , I believe that we are in the middle of a global epidemic of a terrible new illness known as MAS : Mindless Accept Syndrome .


( Laughter ) The primary symptom of Mindless Accept Syndrome is just accepting a meeting invitation the minute it pops up in your calendar . ( Laughter )


It 's an involuntary reflex — ding , click , bing — it 's in your calendar , " " Gotta go , I 'm already late for a meeting . " " ( Laughter ) Meetings are important , right ?


And collaboration is key to the success of any enterprise .


And a well-run meeting can yield really positive , actionable results .


But between globalization and pervasive information technology , the way that we work has really changed dramatically over the last few years .


And we 're miserable . ( Laughter ) And we 're miserable not because the other guy can 't run a good meeting , it 's because of MAS , our Mindless Accept Syndrome , which is a self-inflicted wound .


Actually , I have evidence to prove that MAS is a global epidemic .


Let me tell you why .


A couple of years ago , I put a video on Youtube , and in the video , I acted out every terrible conference call you 've ever been on .


It goes on for about five minutes , and it has all the things that we hate about really bad meetings .


There 's the moderator who has no idea how to run the meeting .


There are the participants who have no idea why they 're there .


The whole thing kind of collapses into this collaborative train wreck .


And everybody leaves very angry .


It 's kind of funny .


( Laughter ) Let 's take a quick look .


( Video ) Our goal today is to come to an agreement on a very important proposal .


As a group , we need to decide if — bloop bloop — Hi , who just joined ?


Hi , it 's Joe . I 'm working from home today .


( Laughter ) Hi , Joe . Thanks for joining us today , great .


I was just saying , we have a lot of people on the call we 'd like to get through , so let 's skip the roll call and I 'm gonna dive right in .


Our goal today is to come to an agreement on a very important proposal .


As a group , we need to decide if — bloop bloop — ( Laughter ) Hi , who just joined ?


No ? I thought I heard a beep . ( Laughter ) Sound familiar ?


Yeah , it sounds familiar to me , too .


A couple of weeks after I put that online , 500,000 people in dozens of countries , I mean dozens of countries , watched this video .


And three years later , it 's still getting thousands of views every month .


It 's close to about a million right now .


And in fact , some of the biggest companies in the world , companies that you 've heard of but I won 't name , have asked for my permission to use this video in their new-hire training to teach their new employees how not to run a meeting at their company .


And if the numbers — there are a million views and it 's being used by all these companies — aren 't enough proof that we have a global problem with meetings , there are the many , many thousands of comments posted online after the video went up .


Thousands of people wrote things like , " OMG , that was my day today ! "


" That was my day every day ! "


" This is my life . "


One guy wrote , " " It 's funny because it 's true .


Eerily , sadly , depressingly true .


It made me laugh until I cried .


And cried . And I cried some more . " " ( Laughter ) This poor guy said , " My daily life until retirement or death , sigh . "


These are real quotes and it 's real sad .


A common theme running through all of these comments online is this fundamental belief that we are powerless to do anything other than go to meetings and suffer through these poorly run meetings and live to meet another day .


But the truth is , we 're not powerless at all .


In fact , the cure for MAS is right here in our hands .


It 's right at our fingertips , literally .


It 's something that I call ¡ No MAS !


( Laughter ) Which , if I remember my high school Spanish , means something like , " " Enough already , make it stop ! " " Here 's how No MAS works . It 's very simple .


First of all , the next time you get a meeting invitation that doesn 't have a lot of information in it at all , click the tentative button !


It 's okay , you 're allowed , that 's why it 's there .


It 's right next to the accept button .


Or the maybe button , or whatever button is there for you not to accept immediately .


Then , get in touch with the person who asked you to the meeting .


Tell them you 're very excited to support their work , ask them what the goal of the meeting is , and tell them you 're interested in learning how you can help them achieve their goal .


And if we do this often enough , and we do it respectfully , people might start to be a little bit more thoughtful about the way they put together meeting invitations .


And you can make more thoughtful decisions about accepting it .


People might actually start sending out agendas . Imagine !


Or they might not have a conference call with 12 people to talk about a status when they could just do a quick email and get it done with .


People just might start to change their behavior because you changed yours .


And they just might bring your chair back , too . ( Laughter ) No MAS !


Thank you .


( Applause ) .


When I was a child , I always wanted to be a superhero .


I wanted to save the world and make everyone happy .


But I knew that I 'd need superpowers to make my dreams come true .


So I used to embark on these imaginary journeys to find intergalactic objects from planet Krypton , which was a lot of fun , but didn 't yield much result .


When I grew up and realized that science fiction was not a good source for superpowers , I decided instead to embark on a journey of real science , to find a more useful truth .


I started my journey in California , with a UC Berkeley 30-year longitudinal study that examined the photos of students in an old yearbook , and tried to measure their success and well-being throughout their life .


By measuring the students ' smiles , researchers were able to predict how fulfilling and long-lasting a subject 's marriage would be , ( Laughter ) how well she would score on standardized tests of well-being , and how inspiring she would be to others .


In another yearbook , I stumbled upon Barry Obama 's picture .


When I first saw his picture , I thought that his superpowers came from his super collar .


( Laughter ) But now I know it was all in his smile .


Another aha ! moment came from a 2010 Wayne State University research project that looked into pre-1950s baseball cards of Major League players .


The researchers found that the span of a player 's smile could actually predict the span of his life .


Players who didn 't smile in their pictures lived an average of only 72.9 years , where players with beaming smiles lived an average of almost 80 years .


( Laughter ) The good news is that we 're actually born smiling .


Using 3D ultrasound technology , we can now see that developing babies appear to smile , even in the womb .


When they 're born , babies continue to smile — initially , mostly in their sleep .


And even blind babies smile to the sound of the human voice .


Smiling is one of the most basic , biologically uniform expressions of all humans .


In studies conducted in Papua New Guinea , Paul Ekman , the world 's most renowned researcher on facial expressions , found that even members of the Fore tribe , who were completely disconnected from Western culture , and also known for their unusual cannibalism rituals , ( Laughter ) attributed smiles to descriptions of situations the same way you and I would .


So from Papua New Guinea to Hollywood all the way to modern art in Beijing , we smile often , and use smiles to express joy and satisfaction .


How many people here in this room smile more than 20 times per day ?


Raise your hand if you do .


Oh , wow .


Outside of this room , more than a third of us smile more than 20 times per day , whereas less than 14 percent of us smile less than five .


In fact , those with the most amazing superpowers are actually children , who smile as many as 400 times per day .


Have you ever wondered why being around children , who smile so frequently , makes you smile very often ?


A recent study at Uppsala University in Sweden found that it 's very difficult to frown when looking at someone who smiles .


You ask why ?


Because smiling is evolutionarily contagious , and it suppresses the control we usually have on our facial muscles .


Mimicking a smile and experiencing it physically helps us understand whether our smile is fake or real , so we can understand the emotional state of the smiler .


In a recent mimicking study at the University of Clermont-Ferrand in France , subjects were asked to determine whether a smile was real or fake while holding a pencil in their mouth to repress smiling muscles .


Without the pencil , subjects were excellent judges , but with the pencil in their mouth — when they could not mimic the smile they saw — their judgment was impaired .


( Laughter ) In addition to theorizing on evolution in " " The Origin of Species , " " Charles Darwin also wrote the facial feedback response theory .


His theory states that the act of smiling itself actually makes us feel better , rather than smiling being merely a result of feeling good .


In his study , Darwin actually cited a French neurologist , Guillaume Duchenne , who sent electric jolts to facial muscles to induce and stimulate smiles .


Please , don 't try this at home .


( Laughter ) In a related German study , researchers used fMRI imaging to measure brain activity before and after injecting Botox to suppress smiling muscles .


The finding supported Darwin 's theory , by showing that facial feedback modifies the neural processing of emotional content in the brain , in a way that helps us feel better when we smile .


Smiling stimulates our brain reward mechanism in a way that even chocolate — a well-regarded pleasure inducer — cannot match .


British researchers found that one smile can generate the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2,000 bars of chocolate .


( Laughter ) Wait — The same study found that smiling is as stimulating as receiving up to 16,000 pounds sterling in cash . ( Laughter )


That 's like 25 grand a smile .


It 's not bad .


And think about it this way : 25,000 times 400 — quite a few kids out there feel like Mark Zuckerberg every day .


( Laughter ) And unlike lots of chocolate , lots of smiling can actually make you healthier .


Smiling can help reduce the level of stress-enhancing hormones like cortisol , adrenaline and dopamine , increase the level of mood-enhancing hormones like endorphins , and reduce overall blood pressure .


And if that 's not enough , smiling can actually make you look good in the eyes of others .


A recent study at Penn State University found that when you smile , you don 't only appear to be more likable and courteous , but you actually appear to be more competent .


So whenever you want to look great and competent , reduce your stress or improve your marriage , or feel as if you just had a whole stack of high-quality chocolate without incurring the caloric cost , or as if you found 25 grand in a pocket of an old jacket you hadn 't worn for ages , or whenever you want to tap into a superpower that will help you and everyone around you live a longer , healthier , happier life , smile .


( Applause )


Some people think that there 's a TED Talk formula : " Give a talk on a round , red rug . "


" Share a childhood story . "


" Divulge a personal secret . "


" End with an inspiring call to action . "


No .


That 's not how to think of a TED Talk .


In fact , if you overuse those devices , you 're just going to come across as clichéd or emotionally manipulative .


But there is one thing that all great TED Talks have in common , and I would like to share that thing with you , because over the past 12 years , I 've had a ringside seat , listening to many hundreds of amazing TED speakers , like these .


I 've helped them prepare their talks for prime time , and learned directly from them their secrets of what makes for a great talk .


And even though these speakers and their topics all seem completely different , they actually do have one key common ingredient .


And it 's this : Your number one task as a speaker is to transfer into your listeners ' minds an extraordinary gift — a strange and beautiful object that we call an idea .


Let me show you what I mean .


Here 's Haley .


She is about to give a TED Talk and frankly , she 's terrified .


( Video ) Presenter : Haley Van Dyck !


( Applause ) Over the course of 18 minutes , 1,200 people , many of whom have never seen each other before , are finding that their brains are starting to sync with Haley 's brain and with each other .


They 're literally beginning to exhibit the same brain-wave patterns .


And I don 't just mean they 're feeling the same emotions .


There 's something even more startling happening .


Let 's take a look inside Haley 's brain for a moment .


There are billions of interconnected neurons in an impossible tangle .


But look here , right here — a few million of them are linked to each other in a way which represents a single idea .


And incredibly , this exact pattern is being recreated in real time inside the minds of everyone listening .


That 's right ; in just a few minutes , a pattern involving millions of neurons is being teleported into 1,200 minds , just by people listening to a voice and watching a face .


But wait — what is an idea anyway ?


Well , you can think of it as a pattern of information that helps you understand and navigate the world .


Ideas come in all shapes and sizes , from the complex and analytical to the simple and aesthetic .


Here are just a few examples shared from the TED stage .


Sir Ken Robinson — creativity is key to our kids ' future .


( Video ) Sir Ken Robinson : My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy , and we should treat it with the same status .


Chris Anderson : Elora Hardy — building from bamboo is beautiful .


( Video ) Elora Hardy : It is growing all around us , it 's strong , it 's elegant , it 's earthquake-resistant .


CA : Chimamanda Adichie — people are more than a single identity .


( Video ) Chimamanda Adichie : The single story creates stereotypes , and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue , but that they are incomplete .


CA : Your mind is teeming with ideas , and not just randomly .


They 're carefully linked together .


Collectively they form an amazingly complex structure that is your personal worldview .


It 's your brain 's operating system .


It 's how you navigate the world .


And it is built up out of millions of individual ideas .


So , for example , if one little component of your worldview is the idea that kittens are adorable , then when you see this , you 'll react like this .


But if another component of your worldview is the idea that leopards are dangerous , then when you see this , you 'll react a little bit differently .


So , it 's pretty obvious why the ideas that make up your worldview are crucial .


You need them to be as reliable as possible — a guide , to the scary but wonderful real world out there .


Now , different people 's worldviews can be dramatically different .


For example , how does your worldview react when you see this image : ( Video ) Dalia Mogahed : What do you think when you look at me ?


" " A woman of faith , " " " " an expert , " " maybe even " " a sister " " ?


Or " " oppressed , " " " " brainwashed , " " " " a terrorist " " ?


CA : Whatever your answer , there are millions of people out there who would react very differently .


So that 's why ideas really matter .


If communicated properly , they 're capable of changing , forever , how someone thinks about the world , and shaping their actions both now and well into the future .


Ideas are the most powerful force shaping human culture .


So if you accept that your number one task as a speaker is to build an idea inside the minds of your audience , here are four guidelines for how you should go about that task : One , limit your talk to just one major idea .


Ideas are complex things ; you need to slash back your content so that you can focus on the single idea you 're most passionate about , and give yourself a chance to explain that one thing properly .


You have to give context , share examples , make it vivid .


So pick one idea , and make it the through-line running through your entire talk , so that everything you say links back to it in some way .


Two , give your listeners a reason to care .


Before you can start building things inside the minds of your audience , you have to get their permission to welcome you in .


And the main tool to achieve that ?


Curiosity .


Stir your audience 's curiosity .


Use intriguing , provocative questions to identify why something doesn 't make sense and needs explaining .


If you can reveal a disconnection in someone 's worldview , they 'll feel the need to bridge that knowledge gap .


And once you 've sparked that desire , it will be so much easier to start building your idea .


Three , build your idea , piece by piece , out of concepts that your audience already understands .


You use the power of language to weave together concepts that already exist in your listeners ' minds — but not your language , their language .


You start where they are .


The speakers often forget that many of the terms and concepts they live with are completely unfamiliar to their audiences .


Now , metaphors can play a crucial role in showing how the pieces fit together , because they reveal the desired shape of the pattern , based on an idea that the listener already understands .


For example , when Jennifer Kahn wanted to explain the incredible new biotechnology called CRISPR , she said , " " It 's as if , for the first time , you had a word processor to edit DNA .


CRISPR allows you to cut and paste genetic information really easily . " " Now , a vivid explanation like that delivers a satisfying aha moment as it snaps into place in our minds .


It 's important , therefore , to test your talk on trusted friends , and find out which parts they get confused by .


Four , here 's the final tip : Make your idea worth sharing .


By that I mean , ask yourself the question : " Who does this idea benefit ? "


And I need you to be honest with the answer .


If the idea only serves you or your organization , then , I 'm sorry to say , it 's probably not worth sharing .


The audience will see right through you .


But if you believe that the idea has the potential to brighten up someone else 's day or change someone else 's perspective for the better or inspire someone to do something differently , then you have the core ingredient to a truly great talk , one that can be a gift to them and to all of us .


Can I ask you to please recall a time when you really loved something — a movie , an album , a song or a book — and you recommended it wholeheartedly to someone you also really liked , and you anticipated that reaction , you waited for it , and it came back , and the person hated it ?


So , by way of introduction , that is the exact same state in which I spent every working day of the last six years . ( Laughter ) I teach high school math .


I sell a product to a market that doesn 't want it , but is forced by law to buy it .


I mean , it 's just a losing proposition .


So there 's a useful stereotype about students that I see , a useful stereotype about you all .


I could give you guys an algebra-two final exam , and I would expect no higher than a 25 percent pass rate .


And both of these facts say less about you or my students than they do about what we call math education in the U.S. today .


To start with , I 'd like to break math down into two categories .


One is computation ; this is the stuff you 've forgotten .


For example , factoring quadratics with leading coefficients greater than one .


This stuff is also really easy to relearn , provided you have a really strong grounding in reasoning . Math reasoning — we 'll call it the application of math processes to the world around us — this is hard to teach .


This is what we would love students to retain , even if they don 't go into mathematical fields .


This is also something that , the way we teach it in the U.S.


all but ensures they won 't retain it .


So , I 'd like to talk about why that is , why that 's such a calamity for society , what we can do about it and , to close with , why this is an amazing time to be a math teacher .


So first , five symptoms that you 're doing math reasoning wrong in your classroom .


One is a lack of initiative ; your students don 't self-start .


You finish your lecture block and immediately you have five hands going up asking you to re-explain the entire thing at their desks .


Students lack perseverance .


They lack retention ; you find yourself re-explaining concepts three months later , wholesale .


There 's an aversion to word problems , which describes 99 percent of my students .


And then the other one percent is eagerly looking for the formula to apply in that situation .


This is really destructive .


David Milch , creator of " " Deadwood " " and other amazing TV shows , has a really good description for this .


He swore off creating contemporary drama , shows set in the present day , because he saw that when people fill their mind with four hours a day of , for example , " " Two and a Half Men , " " no disrespect , it shapes the neural pathways , he said , in such a way that they expect simple problems .


He called it , " " an impatience with irresolution . " " You 're impatient with things that don 't resolve quickly .


You expect sitcom-sized problems that wrap up in 22 minutes , three commercial breaks and a laugh track .


And I 'll put it to all of you , what you already know , that no problem worth solving is that simple .


I am very concerned about this because I 'm going to retire in a world that my students will run .


I 'm doing bad things to my own future and well-being when I teach this way .


I 'm here to tell you that the way our textbooks — particularly mass-adopted textbooks — teach math reasoning and patient problem solving , it 's functionally equivalent to turning on " " Two and a Half Men " " and calling it a day .


( Laughter ) In all seriousness . Here 's an example from a physics textbook .


It applies equally to math .


Notice , first of all here , that you have exactly three pieces of information there , each of which will figure into a formula somewhere , eventually , which the student will then compute .


I believe in real life .


And ask yourself , what problem have you solved , ever , that was worth solving where you knew all of the given information in advance ; where you didn 't have a surplus of information and you had to filter it out , or you didn 't have sufficient information and had to go find some .


I 'm sure we all agree that no problem worth solving is like that .


And the textbook , I think , knows how it 's hamstringing students because , watch this , this is the practice problem set .


When it comes time to do the actual problem set , we have problems like this right here where we 're just swapping out numbers and tweaking the context a little bit .


And if the student still doesn 't recognize the stamp this was molded from , it helpfully explains to you what sample problem you can return to to find the formula .


You could literally , I mean this , pass this particular unit without knowing any physics , just knowing how to decode a textbook . That 's a shame .


So I can diagnose the problem a little more specifically in math .


Here 's a really cool problem . I like this .


It 's about defining steepness and slope using a ski lift .


But what you have here is actually four separate layers , and I 'm curious which of you can see the four separate layers and , particularly , how when they 're compressed together and presented to the student all at once , how that creates this impatient problem solving .


I 'll define them here : You have the visual .


You also have the mathematical structure , talking about grids , measurements , labels , points , axes , that sort of thing .


You have substeps , which all lead to what we really want to talk about : which section is the steepest .


So I hope you can see .


I really hope you can see how what we 're doing here is taking a compelling question , a compelling answer , but we 're paving a smooth , straight path from one to the other and congratulating our students for how well they can step over the small cracks in the way .


That 's all we 're doing here .


So I want to put to you that if we can separate these in a different way and build them up with students , we can have everything we 're looking for in terms of patient problem solving .


So right here I start with the visual , and I immediately ask the question : Which section is the steepest ?


And this starts conversation because the visual is created in such a way where you can defend two answers .


So you get people arguing against each other , friend versus friend , in pairs , journaling , whatever .


And then eventually we realize it 's getting annoying to talk about the skier in the lower left-hand side of the screen or the skier just above the mid line .


And we realize how great would it be if we just had some A , B , C and D labels to talk about them more easily .


And then as we start to define what does steepness mean , we realize it would be nice to have some measurements to really narrow it down , specifically what that means .


And then and only then , we throw down that mathematical structure .


The math serves the conversation , the conversation doesn 't serve the math .


And at that point , I 'll put it to you that nine out of 10 classes are good to go on the whole slope , steepness thing .


But if you need to , your students can then develop those substeps together .


Do you guys see how this , right here , compared to that — which one creates that patient problem solving , that math reasoning ?


It 's been obvious in my practice , to me .


And I 'll yield the floor here for a second to Einstein , who , I believe , has paid his dues .


He talked about the formulation of a problem being so incredibly important , and yet in my practice , in the U.S. here , we just give problems to students ; we don 't involve them in the formulation of the problem .