kithayes's posterous

Eve Ensler on security | Video on TED.com

Eve Ensler on Security:

“I’m very worried today about this notion, this world,this prevailing kind of force of security. I see this word, hear this word, feel this word everywhere.Real security, security checks, security watch, security clearance. Why has all this focus on security made me feel so much more insecure?What does anyone mean when they talk about real security? And why have we as Americans particularly, become a nation that strives for security above all else? In fact, I think that security is elusive, it’s impossible. We all die. We all get old. We all get sick. People leave us. People change us. Nothing is secure. And that’s actually the good news.

This is, of course, unless your whole life is about being secure. I think that when that is the focus of your life, these are the things that happen. You can’t travel very far or venture too far outside a certain circle. You can’t allow too many conflicting ideas into your mind at one time as they might confuse you or challenge you. You can’t open yourself to new experiences, new people, new ways of doing things. They might take you off course. You can’t not know who you are, so you cling to hard-matter identity. You become a Christian, Muslim, Jew. You’re an Indian, Egyptian, Italian, American. You’re a heterosexual or a homosexual, or you never have sex. Or at least, that’s what you say when you identify yourself. You become part of an “us.” In order to be secure, you defend against “them.” You cling to your land because it is your secure place.You must fight anyone who encroaches upon it. You become your nation. You become your religion. You become whatever it is that will freeze you, numb you and protect you from doubt or change. But all this does actually, is shut down your mind. In reality, it does not really make you safer.”

Hans Rosling's new insights on poverty | Video on TED.com

Hans Rosling’s New Insights on Poverty

“My experience from 20 years of Africa is that the seemingly impossible is possible. Africa has not done bad. In 50 years they’ve gone from a pre-Medieval situation to a very decent 100-year-ago Europe, with a functioning nation and state. I would say that sub-Saharan Africa has done best in the world during the last 50 years. Because we don’t consider where they came from. It’s this stupid concept of developing countries which puts us, Argentina and Mozambique together 50 years ago,and says that Mozambique did worse.We have to know a little more about the world. I have a neighbor who knows 200 types of wine. He knows everything. He knows the name of the grape, the temperature and everything. I only know two types of wine — red and white.(Laughter) But my neighbor only knows two types of countries —industrialized and developing. And I know 200, I know about the small data. But you can do that.”