TED Blog Where does innovation comes from ? People often credit their ideas to individual “Eureka!” moments. But Steven Johnson shows how history tells a different story. His fascinating tour takes us from the “liquid networks” of London’s coffee houses to Charles Darwin’s long, slow hunch to today’s high-velocity web. A dynamic writer and speaker, Johnson crafts captivating theories that draw on a dizzying array of disciplines, without ever leaving his audience behind. Author Kurt Anderson described Johnson’s book Emergence as “thoughtful and lucid and charming and staggeringly smart.” No mere chronicler of technology, Johnson is himself a longtime innovator in the web world : he was founder and Editor in Chief of FEED, one of the earliest and most interesting online magazines. His books take the reader on a journey — following the twists and turns his own mind makes as he connects seemingly disparate ideas: ants and cities, interface design and Victorian novels.
2012: Program Guide Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 11:00am-12:45pm PST Hosted by Chris Anderson Brian Greene Physicist Brian Greene is perhaps the best-known proponent of superstring theory, the idea that minuscule strands of energy vibrating in a higher dimensional space-time create every particle and force in the universe. briangreene.orgcolumbia.edu/BrianGreene Sarah Parcak Space archaeologist, TED Fellow Sarah Parcak, a TED Fellow, uses satellite imagery to discover ancient, previously unknown archeological sites. sarahparcak.com Paul Gilding Writer Paul Gilding is an independent writer, activist and adviser on a sustainable economy. Click through to watch the onstage debate that followed this talk. paulgilding.com Peter Diamandis Space activist Peter Diamandis runs the X Prize Foundation, which offers large cash incentive prizes to inventors who can solve grand challenges like space flight, low-cost mobile medical diagnostics and oil spill cleanup. Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 2:15pm-4:00pm PST