TEDxBraeburnSchools, Sep 17 2011 @ Braeburn School

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TEDxBraeburnSchools, Saturday September 17th 2011 at 10:00am (for 10:30) to 12:00pm.
Location: Braeburn School, Gitanga Rd, Austin Room, Nairobi

Theme: China… and our collective future. TED talks screened will be:

Martin Jacques: Understanding the rise of China 21min Speaking at a TED Salon in London, economist Martin Jacques asks: How do we in the West make sense of China and its phenomenal rise? The author of “When China Rules the World,” he examines why the West often puzzles over the growing power of the Chinese economy, and offers three building blocks for understanding what China is and will become.

Yasheng Huang: Does democracy stifle economic growth? 19min Economist Yasheng Huang compares China to India, and asks how China’s authoritarian rule contributed to its astonishing economic growth — leading to a big question: Is democracy actually holding India back? Huang’s answer may surprise you.

Why TED Talks? We need to intelligently reassess our systems of societal structure, education, and cultural narratives, and creatively think about the roles of morality, technology, human behaviour and collaborative civil society in our world. This event creates a space for open, exploratory dialogue to understand these issues, to ensure the diversity of our people and their thoughts are a source of intelligent constructive creativity rather than conflict.
Coordinated in conjunction with Braeburn Schools: www.braeburn.com
Directions to Braeburn: http://www.braeburn.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=197&Itemid=695
Website: http://www.ted.com/tedx/groups/2441 ; also http://www.ted.com/tedx/groups/825
Join here to stay informed on TEDx events in Nairobi: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122852434404442
For more information email: Farida_sher@yahoo.co.uk; irfan@whiterose.co.ke; salim_keshavjee@yahoo.com;
This independent TEDx event is operated under license from TED

TEDxBraeburnSchools, Jul 16 2011 @ Austin Theater

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When? Saturday 16th July 2011, 10am (for 10:30) to 12:00pm
Where? Austin Theater, Braeburn School, Gitanga Road, Lavington

Theme: Mind power

TED Talks presented:

– Executive, educator, writer and life coach Srikumar S. Rao asks, “Are you ready to succeed?” — and in his famous course “Creativity and Personal Mastery,” he teaches his students how to do so.   Rao says we spend most of our lives learning to be unhappy, even as we strive for happiness. At Arbejdsglaede Live! 2009, he teaches us how to break free of the “I’d be happy if …” mental model, and embrace our hard-wired happiness.

– Acclaimed journalist, author and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich explores the darker side of positive thinking.  Ehrenreich studied chemistry at Reed College, graduating in 1963. Her senior thesis was entitled Electrochemical oscillations of the silicon anode. In 1968, she received a Ph.D in cellular biology from Rockefeller University.

Join here to stay informed on TEDx events in Nairobi:http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122852434404442

TEDxBraeburnSchools, Jul 9 2011 @ Austin Theater

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When? Saturday 9th July 2011, 10am (for 10:30) to 12:00pm
Where? Austin Theater, Braeburn School, Gitanga Road, Lavington

Theme: Does the freedom to be the architects of our own lives actually hinder rather than help us?

TED Talks presented:

– Tim Jackson founded RESOLVE in May 2006 as an nter-disciplinary collaboration across four areas — CES, psychology, sociology and economics — aiming to develop an understanding of the links between lifestyle, societal values and the environment.  He is also the author of the influential book Propserity Without Growth.

– In this new RSAnimate, Professor Renata Salecl explores the paralysing anxiety and dissatisfaction surrounding limitless choice. Does the freedom to be the architects of our own lives actually hinder rather than help us? Does our preoccupation with choosing and consuming actually obstruct social change?

Join here to stay informed on TEDx events in Nairobi:http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122852434404442

TEDxBraeburnSchools, Jul 2 2011 @ Braeburn School (Gitanga Rd)

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Why TED Talks? We need to intelligently reassess our systems of societal structure, education, and cultural narratives, and creatively think about the roles of morality, technology, human behaviour and collaborative civil society in our world. This event creates a space for open, exploratory dialogue to understand these issues, to ensure the diversity of our people and their thoughts are a source of intelligent constructive creativity rather than conflict.

At 10 for 10.30 to 12

Theme: The Internet in Society: Empowering or Censoring Citizens?

Beware of the online “filter bubbles”
As web companies strive to tailor their services (including news and search results) to our personal tastes, there’s a dangerous unintended consequence: We get trapped in a “filter bubble” and don’t get exposed to information that could challenge or broaden our worldview. Eli Pariser argues powerfully that this will ultimately prove to be bad for us and bad for democracy.

Does the internet actually inhibit, not encourage democracy? In this new RSA Animate adapted from a talk at the RSA, Evgeny Morozov presents an alternative take on ‘cyber-utopianism’ – the seductive idea that the internet plays a largely empancipatory role in global politics.
Exposing some idealistic myths about freedom and technology (during Iran’s ‘twitter revolution’ fewer than 20,000 Twitter users actually took part), Evgeny argues for some realism about the actual uses and abuses of the internet.

Join here to stay informed on TEDx events in Nairobi: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122852434404442

TEDx Braeburn School, Jun 18 2011 @ Austin Theatre

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When? Saturday 18th June 2011, 10am (for 10:30) to 12:00pm.

Where? Austin Theater, Braeburn School, Gitanga Road, Lavington

Why?  This TEDx event gives parents, teachers, students and the larger community a glimpse into our collective future and a space to engage in open, exploratory dialogue, to understand the world our children will live in and to explore creative ways to adapt to it.

What? This Saturday we will be showing two videos of talks from the renowned TED conferences followed by a casual discussion. TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to give the talk of their lifetimes in 18 minutes.  In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. www.TED.com

Theme: Longevity, technology, accelerated evolution and the future of health

Directions to Braeburn: http://www.braeburn.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=197&Itemid=695
Website: http://www.ted.com/tedx/groups/2441 ; also http://www.ted.com/tedx/groups/825
Join here to stay informed on TEDx events in Nairobi:http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122852434404442

TEDx Braeburn, May 12 2011 @ Braeburn School

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When? Thursday 12th May 2011, 7pm (for 7:30) to 9:00pm.
Where? Austin Theater, Braeburn School, Gitanga road, Lavington

This week’s theme: The fringe benefits of failure and a new definition of success.  The following TED talks will be screened:

At her Harvard commencement speech, “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling offers some powerful, heartening advice to dreamers and overachievers, including one hard-won lesson that she deems “worth more than any qualification I ever earned.”  Perhaps the most famous contemporary fiction writer in the world, with her Harry Potter series of children’s books — a chronicle of the adventures of an adolescent wizard of the same name. The fourth volume of the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was the fastest-selling book in history.  Since completing the series, Rowling has put her fortune toward philanthropic projects dealing with poverty, multiple sclerosis and other issues through her own Volant Charitable Trust.

Alain de Botton examines our ideas of success and failure — and questions the assumptions underlying these two judgments. Is success always earned? Is failure? He makes an eloquent, witty case to move beyond snobbery to find true pleasure in our work.  Through his witty and literate books — and his new School of Life — Alain de Botton helps others find fulfillment in the everyday. We need to intelligently reassess our systems of governance, societal structure, education, and cultural narratives, and creatively think about the roles of morality, technology, human behaviour and collaborative civil society in our world.  Join us for a light-hearted intellectual exploration.

Directions to Braeburn: http://www.braeburn.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=197&Itemid=695
Join here to stay informed on TEDx events in Nairobi:http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122852434404442

TEDxCinemaNairobi, May 7 2011 @ Westgate

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TEDx Cinema –  a Gathering for Curious Minds
Free, Saturday 7th May 2011, 10:30am (sharp!) to 12noon, Cinema 6, Westgate Mall, Nairobi

This week’s theme is a behind-the-scenes look at the complex economics and drivers of radical mercenary groups & global crime networks. Insights into the parallel world that exists right in front of us, with their own law, ethics and fully fledged economy.  This week’s videos feature:

Once it was easy to know where our money was going. Now we live under a system Loretta Napoleoni has dubbed “rogue economics,” where the blurry histories of the products we consume and the cash we invest make us complicit in financing barely legal credit schemes — and even crime, if it’s the slavery producing the beans for our lattes or the guts of our mobile phones. The reach of the newly global market, as Napoleoni argues in her new book, Rogue Economics: Capitalism’s New Reality, connects us all to the dark side, regardless of our intentions to be responsible  — and, she says, our deep connection to fishy credit and unregulated finance has laid the groundwork for the current economic crisis.

Journalist Misha Glenny spent several years in a courageous investigation of organized crime networks worldwide, which have grown to an estimated 15% of the global economy. From the Russian mafia, to giant drug cartels, his sources include not just intelligence and law enforcement officials but criminal insiders.

For more information: Farida_sher@yahoo.co.uk; irfan@whiterose.co.ke; salim_keshavjee@yahoo.com;

Join the Facebook Group for this event: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122852434404442

TEDx Cinema Nairobi, Mar 5 2011 @ Westgate

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Free, Saturday 5th March 2011, 10am (for 10.30)-12noon, Silverbird Cinema, Westgate Mall, Nairobi

This event is a forum to spark creative engagement between like-minded people.  A place where we can challenge our fundamental beliefs and explore new ways of thinking.

TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.

Every Saturday two videos of talks from the renowned TED conferences are shown followed by a casual discussion.

This weeks theme: Possessions

Can happiness be bought? To find out, author Benjamin Wallace sampled the world’s most expensive products, including a bottle of 1947 Chateau Cheval Blanc, 8 ounces of Kobe beef and the fabled (notorious) Kopi Luwak coffee. His critique may surprise you.  Benjamin Wallace is a journalist and author of The Billionaire’s Vinegar, the true story of the world’s most expensive bottle of (possibly phony?) wine.

In this funny and insightful talk from TEDxHouston, builder Dan Phillips tours us through a dozen homes he’s built in Texas using recycled and reclaimed materials in wildly creative ways. Brilliant, low-tech design details will refresh your own creative drive.