Friday, July 31, 2009

ted-ing

i've been spending alot of time lately watching the talks delivered at the ted (techology, entertainment, design) conferences that are held a couple of times a year in california. the speakers are experts in various fields and are wonderfully gifted in the art of public speaking...with the exception of a few (ie those google guys).

a friend of mine described ted talks as being "dangerous" because they make you want to save the world. to me, the appeal of those talks lies in the manner in which they make me feel like a kid again. these are adults who have lived their dreams and must have gone about their jobs with a child-like wonder because that is the only thing that could have spawned some of the most spectacular ideas shared in those talks.

i am inspired to revisit the realm of idealism once more - while i still remember what it's like to be idealistic - simply because these people have shown that ideal situations can be a reality once we stop thinking that they can't.

anyway, among the speakers was a 41-year-old british particle physicist called dr. brian cox. he is a royal society research fellow, professor at the university of manchester and conducts research at the large hadron collider in geneva.

the governing laws of stereotyping suggest that he comes from a sheldon cooper mould. however, those laws don't apply to professor cox because he was a keyboardist for various rock bands in a previous life, married a tv personality, and looks like this:



he makes talking about hot gases pretty darn hot.

but boyish good looks did not earn him a professorship and all those research positions, no. he obviously knows what he's talking about. and although i'm sure sheldon would never stoop to such levels, dr. brian cox delivered a brilliant-but-dumbed-down presentation about how the large hadron collider works at one of the ted conferences. it was a presentation that not only made me fall in love with the british accent again, but interested enough to care about whatever progress is going on in the world of physics.



there are other talks on the subject of physics posted on youtube. one of them helped me understand a little string theory, a mind-boggling concept to someone who relies on symptoms, signs and investigation results to help diagnose and solve problems. it really is pretty interesting.

so what i'm trying to say here is...
(1) go and watch ted talks on youtube NOW if you haven't already done so
and
(2) who says all physicists are nerdy, socially inept and unattractive? =P

lishun at 3:31 PM

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