TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

Our mission: Spreading ideas.

We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. This site, launched April 2007, is an ever-evolving work in progress, and you're an important part of it. Have an idea? We want to hear from you.

The TED Conference, held annually in Long Beach, is still the heart of TED. More than a thousand people now attend -- indeed, the event sells out a year in advance -- and the content has expanded to include science, business, the arts and the global issues facing our world. Over four days, 50 speakers each take an 18-minute slot, and there are many shorter pieces of content, including music, performance and comedy. There are no breakout groups. Everyone shares the same experience. It shouldn't work, but it does. It works because all of knowledge is connected. Every so often it makes sense to emerge from the trenches we dig for a living, and ascend to a 30,000-foot view, where we see, to our astonishment, an intricately interconnected whole.

In recent years, TED has spawned some important extensions.

TEDGlobal is a sister conference held every other year, and in a different country on each occasion. The first conference was held in Oxford, England, in 2005; the second, in June 2007, was held in Arusha, Tanzania. The themes of the global conference are slightly more focused on development issues, but the basic TED format is maintained.

The TED Prize is designed to leverage the TED Community's exceptional array of talent and resources. It is awarded annually to three exceptional individuals who each receive $100,000 and, much more important, the granting of "One Wish to Change the World." After several months of preparation, they unveil their wish at an award ceremony held during the TED Conference. These wishes have led to collaborative initiatives with far-reaching impact.

TEDTalks began as a simple attempt to share what happens at TED with the world. Under the moniker "ideas worth spreading," talks were released online. They rapidly attracted a global audience in the millions. Indeed, the reaction was so enthusiastic that the entire TED website has been reengineered around TEDTalks, with the goal of giving everyone on-demand access to the world's most inspiring voices.

Today, TED is therefore best thought of as a global community. It's a community welcoming people from every discipline and culture who have just two things in common: they seek a deeper understanding of the world, and they hope to turn that understanding into a better future for us all.

Blog Entries by TEDTalks

Cindy Gallop: Make Love, Not Porn

Posted December 2, 2009 | 02:06 PM (EST)


ALERT: Talk contains graphic sexual language

At TED2009, audience member Cindy Gallop gave a 4-minute presentation that became one of the event's most talked about. Speaking from her personal experience, she argued that hardcore pornography had distorted the way a generation of young men think about sex, and talked about...

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James Balog: Time-Lapse Proof of Extreme Ice Loss

1 Comments | Posted September 9, 2009 | 04:35 PM (EST)


Photographer James Balog shares new image sequences from the Extreme Ice Survey, a network of time-lapse cameras recording glaciers receding at an alarming rate, some of the most vivid evidence yet of climate change.

To see the natural world through James Balog's lens is to see it as an artist...

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Hans Rosling: Let My Dataset Change Your Mindset

1 Comments | Posted August 27, 2009 | 12:19 PM (EST)


Talking at the US State Department this summer, Hans Rosling uses his fascinating data-bubble software to burst myths about the developing world. Look for new analysis on China and the post-bailout world, mixed with classic data shows.

As a doctor and researcher, Hans Rosling identified a new paralytic disease induced...

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Gordon Brown: Wiring a Web for Global Good

4 Comments | Posted July 23, 2009 | 01:18 PM (EST)


UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown was a surprise speaker in the first session of the TEDGlobal Conference in Oxford. In his news-making talk (see below), he argued that we've reached a unique moment in human history: we can use today's interconnectedness to develop our shared global ethic -- and work...

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TED Announces the Open Translation Project -- Bringing Subtitles in 40+ Languages to TED.com

2 Comments | Posted May 13, 2009 | 12:05 PM (EST)


2009-05-13-TEDTranslate_4up.jpg

Chris Anderson calls it "the biggest story at TED since we started putting our talks online": The TED Open Translation Project launches today.

A year in the making, the TED Open Translation Project brings TEDTalks beyond the English-speaking world, by offering subtitles, time-coded transcripts,...

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Behind the News: Why We're Seeing Outbreaks of Swine Flu, and How We Can Stop it Next Time (Video)

7 Comments | Posted April 26, 2009 | 03:18 PM (EST)


Virus hunter Nathan Wolfe is outwitting the next pandemic by staying two steps ahead: discovering new, deadly viruses where they first emerge -- passing from animals to humans among poor subsistence hunters in Africa -- before they claim millions of lives.

Armed with blood samples, high-tech tools and a small...

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Nathan Wolfe: Hunting for the Next AIDS

Posted March 26, 2009 | 10:18 PM (EST)


Virus hunter Nathan Wolfe is outwitting the next pandemic by staying two steps ahead: discovering new, deadly viruses where they first emerge -- passing from animals to humans among poor subsistence hunters in Africa -- before they claim millions of lives.

Armed with blood samples, high-tech tools and a small...

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Saul Griffith: Inventing a super-kite to tap the energy of high-altitude wind

Posted March 23, 2009 | 11:04 AM (EST)


In this brief talk, Saul Griffith unveils the invention his new company Makani Power has been working on: giant kite turbines that create surprising amounts of clean, renewable energy.

Innovator and inventor Saul Griffith has a uniquely open approach to problem solving. Whether he's devising a way to slash the...

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How to Grow Your Own Fresh Air

Posted March 20, 2009 | 05:15 PM (EST)


Researcher Kamal Meattle shows how an arrangement of three common houseplants, used in specific spots in a home or office building, can result in measurably cleaner indoor air.

Kamal Meattle has a vision to reshape commercial building in India using principles of green architecture and sustainable upkeep (including an air-cleaning...

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Gustavo Dudamel and the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra: A Musical Sensation from Venezuela

Posted February 19, 2009 | 09:04 PM (EST)


The Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra contains the best high school musicians from Venezuela's life-changing music program, El Sistema. Led here by Gustavo Dudamel, they play Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10, 2nd movement, and Arturo Márquez' Danzón No. 2.

The Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra (Sinfónica Juvenil Teresa Carreño) is the national high...

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The Real Crisis? We Stopped Being Wise

Posted February 16, 2009 | 08:52 PM (EST)


Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for "practical wisdom" as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world.

In his 2004 book The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz tackles...

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Elizabeth Gilbert on a different way to think about creative genius

Posted February 9, 2009 | 06:34 PM (EST)


Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

Elizabeth Gilbert faced down a ­premidlife crisis by...

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How I'm trying to change the world now by Bill Gates

Posted February 9, 2009 | 06:29 PM (EST)


Bill Gates hopes to solve some of the world's biggest problems using a new kind of philanthropy. In a passionate and, yes, funny 18 minutes, he asks us to consider two big questions and how we might answer them.

Bill Gates is founder and former CEO of Microsoft. A...

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Laptops for Kids: A Matter of "Defense" for Colombia

Posted December 23, 2008 | 06:09 PM (EST)


TED follows Nicholas Negroponte to Colombia as he delivers laptops inside territory once controlled by guerrillas. His partner? Colombia's Defense Department, who see One Laptop per Child as an investment in the region. (And you too can get involved.)

A pioneer in the field of computer-aided design, Negroponte was perhaps...

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Harvard Psychologist Dan Gilbert: Exploring the Frontiers of Happiness

Posted December 17, 2008 | 06:46 PM (EST)


Dan Gilbert presents research and data from his exploration of happiness -- sharing some surprising tests and experiments that you can also try on yourself.

Gilbert says our beliefs about what will make us happy are often wrong -- a premise he supports with intriguing research, and explains in...

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