A Wish To Change the World

If you were given an opportunity for one wish, what would it be?

Something surprised me today, it was: Technology. Entertainment. Design. When people say: "knowledge is power", I wonder if we could grasp the profoundness of such statement?

To be honest, I don't think I do.

Technology, Entertainment, Design can be shortened to TED. TED is a New York and Vancouver-based global community that is about: ideas worth sharing. They are giving the world access to its brain trust. That's right: today's innovators and thinkers are sharing the most priceless of commodities. And we've only got to do these things: listen, learn, share our own insights and act.

TED gives away a hundred thousand dollars (US$100,000) to three winners but its most priceless prize is to make the winner's one wish, a reality.

I've posted the video of the three people who "won" TED 2007.

Bill Clinton believes the world to be "unequal, unstable and unsustainable," He says: "our world must correct its course". So what is he doing about it? The Clinton Foundation is now running a pilot health care system in Rwanda and his TED wish: "Help him build this system in Rwanda, to bring world-class health care to a people who have overcome deadly hatred to rebuild their nation."

EOWilson's advocacy is for the insects and small creatures. He pleas: "we need to learn more about our biosphere". Rightly so, we know so little about nature. He says, "we're still discovering tiny organisms indispensable to life and yet, we're steadily, methodically, vigorously, destroying nature."

What is his TED wish? "We will work together on the Encyclopedia of Life, a web-based compendium of data from scientists and amateurs on every aspect of the biosphere." EOWilson's speech:

James Nachtwey says his work has two underlying themes: "The front-lines of contemporary wars are right where people live." and second: "when a photo catches the world's attention, it can truly drive action and change."

It is very difficult to upstage Bill Clinton, but I must say, James Nachtwey's speech was very moving. His TED wish: "help gaining access to a story that needs to be told, and developing a new, digital way to show these photos to the world."

If you believe in "ideas worth spreading", sign up for TED. I joined TED. If you were given an opportunity for one wish, what would it be?