"TED" - Ideas worth spreading.

[Iolaus]

*Edit* 3/2/08
I'm bringing this back for the general knowledge at the site, not necessarily for the political link in the post.

TED - Ideas worth spreading.

I came across this site the other day that streams some really interesting short lectures. Here's what they say about the site:

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).

This site makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. More than 100 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.

If you spend some time exploring the site, you'll find some interesting stuff - particularly the tech and science stuff. I'm posting this in the politics section because this particular talk was fascinating. It's called "Thomas Barnett: The Pentagon's new map for war and peace".

In this bracingly honest and funny talk, international security strategist Thomas P.M. Barnett outlines a post-Cold War solution for the foundering US military: Break it in two. He suggests the military re-form into two groups: a Leviathan force, a small group of young and fierce soldiers capable of swift and immediate victories; and an internationally supported network of System Administrators, an older, wiser, more diverse organization that actually has the diplomacy and power it takes to build and maintain peace.

Strategic planner Thomas Barnett has advised US leaders on national security since the end of the Cold War. His bold ideas about the future of warfare and the military are spelled out in his best-selling book The Pentagon's New Map.

I went to find an embeddable version on YouTube and couldn't, but it appears that he gave the same talk in an extended version that has been posted there - broken into thirteen 8 minute segments, but I think the short version is more entertaining.

[Iolaus]

If you found the TED talk interesting, I found the complete, more serious briefing (2 1/2 hours worth) on Google Video. The meat of the presentation starts at about the 13 minute mark.

*Edit* I just noticed that the Google version is dated from June of '04; I think the TED version is from last month.

[Iolaus]

I found this while looking back through some of my old threads; thought I'd bring it back up. I still go to the site and watch new stuff every now and then. You can sign up to be a member for free, and they will send you emails every week or so with links to new lectures.