Why The World Still Needs Ted

With facts, knowledge and expertise now under threat, this gathering of brilliant minds is more valuable than ever, Kevin Chesters writes from Vancouver.

- Kevin Chesters

Facts seem to be an endangered species these days. We are supposedly living in a “post-truth world”. #FakeNews and #AlternativeFacts are the two most depressing hashtags of recent times. Facebook, the BBC and Google are doing what they can to combat this but it sometimes feels like fighting a losing battle. Experts seem equally threatened. Knowledge is powerless.

Coupled with this assault on facts, we also have never had more pressure on our time. A recent New York Times article quoted Microsoft research showing that we now have a shorter attention span than goldfish – down to a mere eight seconds from 12 in 2000. Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said: “The true scarce commodity of the near future will be human attention.”

So as I sit here at the TED2017 conference in Vancouver, I ask myself: “Does the world need TED?” What role do 18-minute expert talks have in a world where facts matter so little? When we don’t have a second to ourselves, how can we find 1,000-plus seconds to watch someone talk about technology, entertainment or design? Should we care? Shouldn’t we just pack it all up in a quaint little box marked “yesterday”?