A technology forecaster predicted in his TED Talk last month that by 2050, 80,000 humans will set off to colonize Mars.
“We’re on the verge of a much greater edge of discovery: a two planet species,” said Stephen Petranek, editor in chief of the Breakthrough Technology Report newsletter. “To survive, we have to reach beyond our home planet.”
At the UCLA Anderson School of Management’s fourth annual TED Week, held April 6-9, professionals, UCLA faculty and alumni analyzed this claim and other proposed ideas in last month’s TED Conferences in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada through panels and Q&A sessions.
TED is a set of conferences aimed at spreading broad ideas on scientific, cultural and academic topics, through talks no longer than 18 minutes.
UCLA Anderson’s TED Week featured streamed TED Talks from last month’s TED Conferences and live panels in Gold Hall’s Executive Dining Room, and was designed to engage students, faculty and alumni throughout the university, said Elise Anderson, spokesperson for UCLA Anderson.
Dave Isay
The last TED Talk that streamed Thursday was that of Dave Isay, a radio producer and founder of StoryCorp, a nonprofit organization that seeks to share the stories of people of many backgrounds and beliefs.
He said he shared – through taped interviews – the stories of people involved in the Stonewall riots, a violent demonstration by the gay community against a police raid that took place in an inn in New York City in 1969, and of people involved in the modern gay rights movement.
He most recently produced an interview with Josh Littman, a child with Asperger’s syndrome.
After the TED Talk streamed, panelists with aspirations similar to Isay’s spoke about their projects.
Stosh Mintek founded a program to teach movie-making and storytelling to disadvantaged high school students in the Bronx called the Ghetto Film School, and recently expanded it to Los Angeles.
“Our goal is diversity,” he said. “Right now, the creative sector is skewed heavily white and heavily male.”
Emily Verellen, senior director of programs for The Fledgling Fund, said she received a grant after graduating college to open a center to share the stories of teenage girls in Kenya.
“Men listened to their stories for the first time,” she said. “We made sure that those stories were broadcast and we made sure the communities listened.”
The panelists said they agreed storytelling is important for everyone, especially for students at Anderson.
“If you want to run a business, but you can’t tell your story, you don’t really exist,” Mintek said. “The question is not ‘can we tell more stories’ but ‘can we tell better ones.'”
Some students who attended the panels and screenings said they were happy Anderson streamed TED Talks and hosted panels because of the different perspectives the event gave beyond students’ majors.
“TED talks provide an opportunity to learn something new that we are not exposed to in everyday life and they provide good discussions,” Lin said.
TED Week’s Innovations Workshop and campfire
Alongside the streams ran, TED Week’s usual Innovations Workshop, a hands-on class to help participants to learn how to innovate and understand their needs and create around them, said Saki Takasu, first-year MBA candidate and one of the organizers of the workshop.
Participants formed teams, in which they came up with as many business ideas as possible before presenting to others at the workshop.
Mark Reidy, a first-year MBA candidate and another organizer of the workshop, said the class helps participants create ideas such as the ones that are shared in TED Talks.
“TED talks tackle big ideas, and here we work on how to begin these big ideas,” he said.
Some participants said they decided to attended the workshop to learn new things that may not fall in their field of study.
“I thought it would be interesting, as it’s very different from my major, and can improve my creative side,” said Michelle Sun, a third-year psychobiology student.
TED Week ended Thursday night with the biggest presentation, the Campfire Event in Alumni Plaza, where students and faculty gave their own TED-inspired talks.
“With campfire, it’s interesting to hear what MBA (students and faculty) are passionate about and to give out to the university,” said Melody Murillo, a second-year psychology student.
Students said they enjoyed TED Week because it allowed professionals and UCLA alumni to present to current UCLA students on what they are passionate about.
“TED Week is one of the cooler events because you listen to people that are in the industry and alums of this school, and this is very helpful,” Murillo said.