Ric Elias: 3 things I learned while my plane crashed

Ric Elias TEDtalk

You never know when life if going to change. One day you're living life, happy and content, the next you find yourself on a plane crash, wondering if you're even going to live to see the next day. This is what Ric Elias experienced on his way to New York one day. It was completely unexpected, and completely life-altering.

Ric Elias said that everything changes in an instant when you feel like you're about to die. What surprised me the most when he was explaining what went through his mind during those moments was that Elias said he wasn't scared of dying. That confused me the most because, wouldn't it be natural to be scared of never seeing another day? The way Elias described it was that he didn't feel frightened, but sad. Sad that he wouldn't see his family again, and thinking of all the things he wished he could have done for them. He wasn't frightened because he felt as if people are simply prepared for their moment of death. This part seemed, to me, unselfish. Instead of thinking of himself and his life, Elias thought about his family and what he wished he could have done for them.

I thought Ric Elias was an excellent speaker. He delivered his talk with confidence, and though it was heart-clenching, he still added bits of comedic relief for the crowd. The way he gave his talk also suggested that he doesn't look back on the past any more, but lives in the present and looks forward to the future. Although his TEDtalk was a mere five minutes, it gave much meaning because it came from his heart and his own experience. The crowd gave him a standing ovation, which he so deserved. It was very inspirational and he proved himself to be a remarkable person for being so strong.

There is one thing that really matters to Ric Elias, and he stated it toward the end of his talk. What matters the most to Elias is being a great dad for his children. That became his goal in life, and it was his epiphany of how he changed after the plane crash. His near death experience gave him insight of what truly mattered to him, and he stuck to that. So the question for you is, "How would you change?"

Clay Shirky: How cognitive surplus will change the world

Clay Shirky's TEDtalk



Clay's talk is all about online work we use as the media online, or what he calls "cognitive surplus." He talks about how the world needs online media sites because it helps us become more cooperative as a whole. What matters to Clay Shirky is the use of shared online works, or "cognitive surplus," in order to create a better world where everyone can voice their thoughts.

Shirky talks about a cite called Ushahidi, which is a Kenya version of Wikipedia. The only way any of these online databases would really work is if the people find it important enough to comment or add their own information to them, creating a bigger web of information and ideas. He was a very good speaker, and he used the projector a lot to show images and proof of his ideas. Shirky also had a very powerful, loud voice, which was his most remarkable quality because it made you want to listen to what he had to say.

I agreed with Shirky's topic, being focused around communicating ideas through technology, because it is so much like the atmosphere we use in our class. During our fishbowls, half of the class relies on the CoverItLive blogging in order to communicate with others, voice their opinions, and ask important questions. We become a more efficient class by using online media to become more cooperative.

I also think that Clay Shirky's idea could relate to Dan Pink's sixth sense, Story. The online works are composed of people's ideas, opinions, and their stories. Cognitive Surplus allows people to share their stories, and when so many people share, one can see many different perspectives of the same story, which allows more understanding between others and, idealistically, cooperation.

Our class consists of about thirty people, who can also talk face-t0-face with each other. What is hard to comprehend about Shirky's talk is the fact that he thinks that the whole world can rely on online works in order to cooperate with each other's thoughts. Isn't is a bit unrealistic to think that all that information would be relayed throughout at least someone in the world? How is every topic supposed to be just stumbled upon on these online works that contain such an abundant amount of information?

The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us: Dan Pink

Daniel Pink is an open-minded thinker, who sees the world as a place able to be changed with the right amount of creativity and new thinking. His TEDtalk about the drive describes Pink's views on the modern-day business industry and how nowadays, their way of driving employees to do better is in need of change.

The old business "If/then" theory is that if one gives an incentive or reward to an employee, then that employee will perform better in their work in order to gain that incentive. This is true only for the mechanical jobs of today's society, and those are dwindling as we enter the new Conceptual Age. What Pink's talk told me was that humans aren't predictable. When it comes to jobs that require broad, right-brained thinking, the drive people need is not a prize, it is the self-want to succeed at a task because one has the independence an choice to do so.

The video of Dan Pink's talk was a live animation of someone drawing out Pink's talk, which was both creative and intriguing. While there aren't many videos that demonstrate someone drawing out the meaning of a talk, it is interesting to see how someone's words are interpreted on paper. Although Pink was not physically visible, he used his strong voice to carry it throughout the crowd.

Dan Pink does a great job in proving his points through fact and reason. When he references certain colleges and schools that have done similar tests on students, it is easy for the crowd to agree with him because he bases his argument on true fact and evidence, rather than feeling and opinion.

I think this Pink's video connects with the world because as our world becomes more technologically savvy, there is less need for the simple mechanical jobs and more need for abstract jobs no computer can do. Pink gave an example of an Australian software company called Atlassian demonstrating autonomy. Autonomy, in Pink's case, is the desire to be self-directed. Autonomy goes hand-in-hand with mastery, which is like the second stage of varsity. Mastery is the urge to "get better at stuff" in order to carry on the initial want of working independently. This is exactly what Atlassian does because once every quarter, it allows its employees an allotted 24 hour period in which they can do whatever they'd like. It turns out according to studies, that new ideas and software fixes erupted from this individual time.

What matters to Pink is the giving of employees the gift of autonomy. When people aren't being forced to help, they end up wanting to do their job simply for the joy of doing it themselves.

Rick Warren: A Life of Purpose

A Life of Purpose

What is the purpose of life? This is a hard question, no doubt about it. It's one of those "deep" questions have a hard time thinking and answering about, because there is no definite answer. This is because the answer depends on every individual and their outlook on life.

Rick Warren, who is a church pastor, is famous for writing a book called "The Purpose-Driven Life," which was at one time the most popular book in the world. Why would it be popular? It is because people WANT to learn the significance of life. They WANT to have something real for them to hold on to. Warren believes people like his book because they have spiritual emptiness, and they want a drive to get them through every day, and every routine. Warren states that, although there are those people who want a definite drive, it is impossible to provide everyone with a drive that will help an individual prosper and be happy. He said that there were no "accidental people" God made when he was creating, and that all people matter. His inspirational belief and the mention of God is brave for Warren to do, because God is a touchy subject in many countries.



Something that stood out to me during Warren's talk was his reference to the Bible passage of Moses and the burning bush. God, being present in the burning bush (that was on fire but did not burn) asked Moses what was in his hand when Moses neared. Of course, God knew what Moses was holding, he is God after all. In this passage, God asked Moses this question for his sake. Warren stated that "what's in our hand" contains our identity, income, and influence.

Influence. This word describes every human being, because every being plays a part in our World. Someone with greater amounts of influence can influence great amounts of followers then there are others like shepherds, who watch for their sheep. Warren's remarkableness is without a doubt there. He is a reverse tither, meaning he gives 90% of his income away and lives off of the 10%. He lived what he believed, and did his TEDtalk based on leading by example.

One thing Warren lacked would be chemistry with the crowd. The whole 21 minutes of the talk, Warren sat in a chair, sometimes slouching or leaning forward, but never fully engaging the crowd. I feel like if he had been more charismatic, he would have had a stronger reaction from the people.

What matters to Warren is hard to find, because he talks about many small ideas that leads to one big one. So Rick Warren's big idea is to be selfless in what you do on Earth, plain and simple. All he talks about in his talk; tithing, influencing others, doing things to help his community, it all leads to the same picture. What matters to Rick Warren is helping and serving everyone you can here on Earth to give back to generations to come.

First 7 chapters of "The Purpose-Driven Life"
Rick Warren's TEDtalk

Sir Ken Robinson TEDtalk: Creativity In Education

Creativity In Education

Sir Ken Robinson's TEDtalk dealt with what he thought matters on the format of today's education. What really matters to Sir Robinson is the need for encouragement of creativity in school education. He commented on how children are born with their own individual creativity, and how they are a model example of how people should express themselves in society today. Sir Robinson said that people are afraid of being proven wrong, therefore they don't try to create something new and ambitious, but something easy and aged. Children, however, are not scared of being proven wrong, and this enables their minds to think of endless possibilities and inventions that scientists and professors could only dream of creating.

Sir Ken Robinson also had very distinct opinions similar to those of Daniel Pink. That is, the fact that right-brainers, those creative students, should make their way to the top of the educational hierarchy. What made Sir Robinson's talk so meaningful was the fact that he was, at one time, one of those school professors who were strictly left-brained. This allowed him to appeal to those dominant in either side of the brain, because he spoke from experience rather than statistics or anecdotes of others' experiences.

Something any speaker needs during a talk is the crowd's undivided attention. Sir Robinson did an excellent job in doing so by using humor as a way to keep the audience attentive right before he said something he thought to be important. He attempted and succeeded in being "remarkable" because, although the topic might be shaky for some people, he presented himself with such confidence in his opinions it made others want to agree with his views.

My favorite topic of Robinson's during the talk was when he mentioned that children are taught out of creativity through school, because the schools' main focus is mathematics and science. I feel like students at Arapahoe have more of a chance to maintain their creativity because it is a much more artistically aware school than most.

So what matters to Sir Ken Robinson? What matters is the need to go into a new age of creativity, in which those who are right-brained are dominant. It will be up to the new young generation to nourish their creativity and allow their amazing ideas become a reality.