Ideas change everything

8 steps to understanding information (and maybe the universe)

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Phil Tetlow |

TED@IBM

• December 2017

Join Phil Tetlow on a mind-bending journey to understand how we organize endless data into relevant information. Our minds, he says, use tools like pattern-matching and simplifying to make sense of the world around us. He explores the concept of network theory, detailing how vast amounts of information tend to be delivered through relatively small central hubs. (Example: think about everything on the internet filtered through sites like Google and Facebook). Tetlow suggests, understanding the nature of information and how it connects, might give us a clue as to the nature of life, the universe and why we're even here at all.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Join Phil Tetlow on a mind-bending journey to understand how we organize endless data into relevant information. Our minds, he says, use tools like pattern-matching and simplifying to make sense of the world around us. He explores the concept of network theory, detailing how vast amounts of information tend to be delivered through relatively small central hubs. (Example: think about everything on the internet filtered through sites like Google and Facebook). Tetlow suggests, understanding the nature of information and how it connects, might give us a clue as to the nature of life, the universe and why we're even here at all.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

About the speaker

Phil Tetlow

Information guru

Phil Tetlow is an Executive IT Architect and a valued member of the Academy of Technology’s Leadership team, who is contributing in ways that often assist, improve and stimulate leading-edge ideas. Phil joined IBM Software Group, in 2013, to help lead the data and analytics team in the UK, advising IBM’s European execs on data strategy and technology trends. He’s won a major international award for his first book, “The Web’s Awake”, gained the first PhD in Web Science and has been credited as being one of the field’s pioneers. Data in general and Ultra Large-Scale Systems are his thing.

About TED Institute

Every year, TED works with a group of select companies and foundations to identify internal ideators, inventors, connectors, and creators. Drawing on the same rigorous regimen that has prepared speakers for the TED main stage, TED Institute works closely with each partner, overseeing curation and providing intensive one-on-one talk development to sharpen and fine tune ideas. The culmination is an event produced, recorded, and hosted by TED, generating a growing library of valuable TED Talks that can spur innovation and transform organizations.

Read more about the TED Institute