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In line with TED’s new approach to include more diverging perspectives in its iconic TED Talks, the annual conference kicked off with what Head of TED Chris Anderson called “eavesdropping on a human conversation.”

Sitting across from one another — and facing each other, rather than the audience — Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon took the stage for the first Talk of the week.

Abu Sarah is a Palestinian peacemaker, author, and tourism entrepreneur with a background in conflict resolution, implementing education and peace initiatives across over 65 countries. 

His brother was killed by Israeli soldiers when he was 19 years old.

Similarly, Inon is an Israeli social entrepreneur and peace activist who has founded several tourism initiatives within Israel and the Middle East. 

His parents were killed by Hamas in the October 7 attacks in Israel.

Both of these men — who are so often reduced to the actions of their government or the historical conflict of their people — are friends.

“We met only once before October 7, but you were among the first to reach out, to send your condolences,” Inon told Abu Sarah, about the loss of his parents. “I will always love you for being there for me.”

Abu Sarah nodded solemnly, saying he was surprised by Inon’s response to his condolences after the October 7 attacks.

“You said you’re not only crying for your parents, you’re also crying for the people in Gaza who are losing their lives. And that you do not want what happened to you to be justifying anyone taking revenge,” Abu Sarah summarized. 

“It’s so hard to do that; it’s so much easier to want revenge, to be angry. But you are a brave man.”

The two took turns sharing their stories, including photos of beloved friends and family who have lost their lives, or have lost dozens of family members in the months since October 2023. 

They also spoke about their respective histories in bridge-building in the region. Having both created tourism businesses in the area, they wanted to invite context into the lives of Israelis and Palestinians who have long been blinded by the inherited conflict of their people.

“We cannot talk, we cannot meet, we cannot have a conversation,” Abu Sarah said. “There are roadblocks, there are checkpoints, there are walls that divide us, there are societal pressure[s] that makes us not being able to talk to each other.”

Prior to the escalated violence in October of last year, they organized Palestinian trips to Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust — and Israeli tours of a town that was destroyed in the 1948 Nakba. 

“We give a context, a place, where we can build a movement of citizen diplomats,” Abu Sarah said. “We can have a framework. We can say ‘how can I learn from you?’”

But clearly — learning from one another sounds nearly impossible in the midst of such unfathomable tragedy.

“I learned that we must forgive the past. We must forgive the present. But we cannot forgive the future,” Inon said. 

“For many centuries, our stories were parallel,” he said of Israel and Palestine. “And the gap between them became wider and wider. But there is a miracle. Our stories meet. They meet in the future. We meet in the future that is based on reconciliation and recognition.” 

That future is not free of anger and rage, Abu Sarah clarified. In fact, it’s rage that will fuel the fight for peace.

“I am very angry. Every time I read the newspaper, I’m angry. Every time I talk to one of my friends in Gaza, I am angry,” Abu Sarah said. “But the thing is… we do not let anger drown us in hate and wanting vengeance.”

“Instead, I think of anger like nuclear power. It can lead to destruction and it can make light. My hope is that we continue to use anger as a way to bring people together and ask ourselves, ‘what can I do to make things better?’”

This better-world-inspiring anger, Inon said, is called hope. He said that this feeling — along with the legacy of his parents and everything they instilled in him — are what keep him going. 

“Hope is an action,” he said. “It’s not something you find, something you can lose. It’s something you are making.”

His formula to continue making hope in the Middle East? Creating a shared vision for peace.

While it’s unclear what exactly that vision looks — especially a vision that is equitable to both Israelis and Palestinians — these two men believe that it must start with a new approach.

“People look at us and think we are divided because you’re Israeli and I’m Palestinian,” Abu Sarah said to Inon.

“But if you must divide us, people should divide us as those who believe in justice, peace, and equality — and those who don’t yet.” 

TED Talks are presented at TED’s annual week-long conference in Vancouver for an audience of approximately 2000 attendees. The Talks are later published on the TED website, YouTube, and TED podcasts — with some Talks being published within days or weeks and others being published months later. There is not yet a public release date for when this TED Talk will be available to the general public.

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Header image: Maoz Inon and Aziz Abu Sarah speak at SESSION 1 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED

This year’s TED conference just kicked off in Vancouver, BC… with a slay.

RuPaul Charles, Emmy-award winning drag icon, author, producer, and artist took the stage for a new TED segment: “On The Spot.”

In a rapid-fire question and answer session, RuPaul stood on the equally iconic red TED dot, answering a series of questions with his signature comedy and flair.

Aside from questions like “define bravery,” or “what’s the best way to slay?” the titular host of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” discussed, of course, the importance of drag.

“The power of drag is like the Superman suit to Clark Kent,” he said. “It allows you to expand your idea of who you are, of what you are.”

The art of drag — the performance of exaggerated gender expression (like cross-dressing, dramatic makeup, or specific choreography) — has been around for centuries. 

From ancient Egypt to Shakespearan plays, the history of drag has journeyed throughout human history — up to today’s modern iteration, like Drag Story Hour, and the universally beloved “Drag Race,” which has been on air since 2009. 

However, last year, a number of states across the country introduced bills that would criminalize drag performances for viewers under 18. 

Drag communities mobilized to protect their right to free speech — and emphasize that drag, and by extension, the queer community, aren’t a threat to young people.

So, as the LGBTQ+ community continues this push for basic human rights, RuPaul — and his drag empire — have become emblematic of a safe space for those who need a little extra fabulosity in their lives.

“It’s a very simple trick,” he said of drag’s power to help folks embrace their full identities. “And it works.”

While RuPaul joyfully evangelized the art of drag —  “I recommend everyone try it tonight,” he said, almost as a command — his stop at TED comes amid promotion for his book, “The House of Hidden Meanings.”

The memoir, which debuted last month, has been a conduit for RuPaul to reach young people with other books by LGTBQ+ writers. Traveling the country with a colorful bus — aptly called the “Rainbow Book Bus,”  the drag star promoted books targeted by book bans across the U.S.

This was created through his online bookstore, Allstora, which he said promotes underrepresented authors, hoping to fill a gap for LGBTQ+ authors and writers of color.

TED Talks are presented at TED’s annual week-long conference in Vancouver for an audience of approximately 2000 attendees. The Talks are later published to the TED website and YouTube — with some Talks being published within days or weeks and others being published months later. It’s unclear when RuPaul’s segment will be available to the general public online. 

During his time on the TED stage, RuPaul mentioned how he had a unique path to influence, something he previously discussed with the New York Times.

“I wasn’t very good in school, but I read books and I watched television,” he told the Times in early April.

“Those are the ways I was able to find my ways in this great big world.”

And as RuPaul found himself at yet another milestone in his career — on the TED stage — he encouraged others to do the same.

“Know thyself. Be thyself,” he said. “You are the best version of you… you can slay that way.”

For about 20 years, all of the TED Talks watched online fell under the theme or tagline: “Ideas worth spreading.” 

But as the major media company celebrates its 40th anniversary at TED2024 in Vancouver this week, it also celebrates a slight pivot in its branding. 

On Monday evening, head of TED Chris Anderson unveiled TED’s new tagline: “Ideas change everything.”

“In a doom-scrolling era, it’s very easy for stuff to be regarded as dopamine hits,” Anderson said in a conversation with the press. “[TED] is not a dopamine hit. Our content matters.”

He said this new tagline is a “more confident assertion” of what TED is and what TED Talks mean.

“When you want to invest in lifelong learning, these ideas change you. These ideas change the world.” 

Many long-time TED attendees shared that they welcomed the change, and that the new tagline better represented TED’s role in an online ecosystem where TED Talks compete against countless other sources of ideas. Some expressed that the word “spreading” had become taboo in a COVID-conscious world and were glad to see the updated tagline.

Others expressed indifference over the new tagline.

In a conversation with Good Good Good, one long-time TED supporter expressed concern over one word missing from the updated tagline: Worth. The supporter explained that TED’s removal of this word indicates that the organization doesn’t necessarily endorse every Talk given on its stage but will still platform influential speakers, even when a Talk’s thesis could be harmful. 

But what exactly does this rebrand mean for the actual programming of TED’s flagship conference — and, by extension — its online content? 

Anderson said the approach invites deeper thought about how TED happens. 

“Which ideas do we bring to this stage?” he asked upon welcoming guests to the conference in Vancouver. “Good people can disagree deeply on what the best ideas are.”

The solution, he said, is to invite in a diversity of ideas and to, “listen respectfully, learn, debate, discuss, try to find some common ground.”

“This year at TED, we’re trying to do that more than we’ve ever done before,” Anderson concluded. 

This choice to further the depths of discourse and human connection are already clear in the conference’s programming. The week in Vancouver kicked off with a conversation between Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon, who are Palestinian and Israeli peace activists, respectively. 

Andrew Yang is scheduled to speak on “how to fix American politics,” and Utah governor Spencer J. Cox will discuss healthy disagreement in politics. Other “controversial” names on the 2024 program include Bari Weiss and Bill Ackman — billed as “provocateurs.” 

Isaac Saul of Tangle News will also speak at the end of the week about the importance of non-partisan journalism. Saul’s popular newsletter curates perspectives from the right and left about controversial news topics — and then shares Saul’s own perspective to round out each piece. 

And John and Julie Gottman of the acclaimed Gottman Institute will discuss how healthy couples fight — solidifying the conference’s undertones of moving through conflict and disagreement more seamlessly.

All of this comes on the heels of what Anderson himself would call a “storm” of feedback about a 2023 speaker, Coleman Hughes, who gave a Talk on “color blindness” at last year’s conference.

During a town hall forum at the 2023 conference,  several TED attendees voiced concerns about platforming the idea of “color blindness” from the TED stage.

Months later, Hughes accused TED of suppressing his Talk after it was posted online — and even went as far as to critique the honesty of the “Ideas worth spreading” tagline. His article and subsequent interviews about the suppression elicited a personal response from Anderson on X — leading to further backlash online from both sides of the political aisle. 

Learning from this experience, Anderson remained steadfast in his belief that disagreement is healthy on and off the TED stage.

The new tagline and programming approach, Anderson told Good Good Good, “has been a growing conviction as a result of a lot of the internal debate and discussion at TED about the right way to respond to the current moment.”

A current moment, he explained, which is rife with divisive political narratives, where meaningful connection gets lost to the tribal landscape of modern media.

“That whole incident [with Hughes] shows both how challenging it is and how important it is,” he said, emphasizing the value of spaces where intentional discourse can thrive.

In an audacious move — aligned with TED’s 2024 theme of “The Brave and The Brilliant,” it seems the TED team is eager to lean into differing perspectives.

“We’re determined to find our best way to present ideas in a way people can be heard and understood. And then, sure, yeah, critiqued,” Anderson added.

“We’re committed to figuring this out as a community. I think that’s how the future needs to be. Or the alternative is people just stop talking to each other, and I think that’s really dangerous.”

Outside of main stage Talks, the conference will offer additional programming for attendees to have conversations with other people, including small group conversations called “Brain Dates,” two town hall discussions during the conference, and professional facilitators for lunch conversations.

Monique Ruff-Bell, the chief program and strategy officer at TED shared that this attempt to build bridges in a heavily divided world is what TED attendees and fans love most about the company.

“TED… is a place where people want to have optimism,” Ruff-Bell said. “They want to connect and learn from each other. They want to understand the future of something. They want to be connected to humanity in a very different way.” 

In a world where it’s easy to stay within an echo chamber or avoid discourse entirely, TED wants people to feel connected — even when they disagree.

“They believe in ideas, they believe in the possibility of a better future,” Jay Herratti, CEO of TED conferences, said of the conference’s attendees. 

“They believe in solutions to problems and looking for them together. That’s a big unifier that really runs through all of TED. I think much of it happens here in community.”

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Header photo: SESSION 1 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED

Appalachian mining country seems an unlikely place to find a potential breakthrough in renewable energy, but samples of mine tailings in West Virginia have turned up plenty of lithium contained inside fool’s gold.

The team of scientists behind the discovery described it as “previously unheard of” and they hope that lithium extracted this way could mean a sustainable, steady supply of the rare earth element that currently has to be mined.

Because of its extreme reactivity, lithium is a great material for batteries, used for storing excess energy generated from solar panels and powering the millions of electric cars sold worldwide every year.

Demand for lithium has skyrocketed recently as countries attempt to transition to greener energy sources, and though massive deposits are present in the Lower 48, American lithium would still have to be extracted via environmentally harmful mining.

A research team from West Virginia University wanted to discover new stores of lithium. In particular, they were interested in whether waste streams from previous industrial operations such as mine tailings or drill cuttings could serve as a source of lithium without generating new waste.

This is already common in the gold mining industry, with companies like DRDGold and its subsidiary Far West Gold Recoveries, treating old slime dams and sand dumps around South Africa’s gold fields to extract gold that’s been missed, making over $1 billion net in the most recent fiscal year.

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Scientists studied 15 middle-Devonian sedimentary rock samples from the Appalachian Basin in the US and found plenty of pyrite inside shale that contained lithium.

“This is unheard of,” said lead researcher and Ph.D. student Shailee Bhattacharya. “But it is promising because it hints at the possibility that certain shales could be a lithium source that doesn’t require new mines.”

The study, due to be presented at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) 2024 General Assembly, found that lithium was more likely to be found in sulfur-rich pyrite, although further research will be needed to establish why this is.

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“Organic-rich shale may show potential for higher lithium recovery because of the curious interaction between lithium and pyrite,” Ms Bhattacharya said.

“I am trying to understand this association, but the hope is, with lithium discovered in pyrite, we can talk about sustainable energy without using a lot of energy resources.”

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