WATCH.TALK.EAT
Instead of large multi-session streaming, this year we thought to bring you something new! A cozy screening session and a deep break-out discussion at the TEDxPS Curator's Living Room, all of which are complemented by good food and quality company (that's you!).
ABOUT THE THEME: BIGGER THAN US
“When it is dark enough, you can see the stars." ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
The political and technological turmoil of the past few years has had unexpected consequences: it’s causing us to ask bigger, deeper, more challenging questions. Like … where is this heading? what really matters? is there more I should be doing?
For TED in 2019, we’re joining that search for deeper meaning. We’ll be exploring technologies that evoke wonder and tantalize with superhuman powers, mind-bending science that will drive the future as significantly as any politician, the design of cities and other powerful human systems that shape our lives, awe-inspiring, mind-expanding creativity and most of all, the inspiring possibilities that happen when we ask what ideas are truly worth fighting for, worth living for.
CONTEXTUALIZING THE THEME
TED has once again set an awe-inspiring theme, but for us at TEDxPickeringStreet, what we've noticed is, before we can get excited about big ideas or tackle big problems, aka things that are "Bigger than Us" again, we need to first resolve the "us".
Here in Singapore, we are a disconnected society. How many of us feel that we can trust a random person on the street to have our back if things happen? According to a recent article, we don't even feel safe borrowing sugar from our neighbours. More often than not, we are scared to voice ideas, much less demonstrate change because we are afraid (and rightfully so) of judgment and ridicule from those around us. There is no 'us', there is the "I" and "the others".
And that's a problem because so many problems are bigger than us. Global Warming, War, Human Rights, Food Shortage... All these are problems that are bigger than what we can each do as individuals, and without trust that there is a community, that there is an 'us', it's no wonder that we feel powerless and burnt out.
So our goal for this event is to unpack all these frustrations and powerlessness and move past this narrative of disenfranchisement and fragmentation and change that to one of empowerment and collaborative action.
Simply put, we hope to recharge and reconnect ourselves so we can be excited about the things that are "Bigger than Us" again.
36C Keppel Bay Drive
#04-82
Singapore, Central Singapore, 098653
Singapore
Organizing team
