TED 2010: What the World Needs Now

I'm here in Long Beach, CA blogging my fourth TED conference. My objective is to once again provide a road map of the TED talks so that, as the TED talks are published, you can be sure to catch the best ones. In past years I've done this for TED '07, TED '08 and TED '09 with increasing detail, and many folks have thanked me for the effort (though not so much the TED staff, who may not always appreciate the low scores that inevitably creep in).

This year's lineup of speakers looks better than ever, and I'm excited for the first time to have Nathalie with me here to experience it. Like last year, I'll rank the talks on a scale of 1 to 10 TED balloons, based on three dimensions:

(i) CONTENT -- how compelling and timely is the subject matter?

(ii) DELIVERY -- is the talk lively and entertaining?

(iii) SPEAKER -- how much has this speaker personally contributed to the subject matter?

Stay tuned for a rundown of today's sessions...

Update: TED 2010 is done and it was great -- better than ever.

Some recurring themes: irrational thinking leads to bad food choices, HIV infections, climate change and war; our educational system must accommodate and celebrate learning differences; and nuclear power presents an intriguing stop-gap source of power until we can harness the sun.

Lots of great TED moments: lunch with Professor and Mrs. Dan Dennett, the late night party with Nathalie Merchant, LXD and Robert Gupta, and my elevator ride with Al and Albert Gore.

There were three 10-balloon talks: Dan Barber, Raghava KK and Ken Robinson.

Detailed descriptions and ratings at:

Wednesday Morning

Wednesday Afternoon

Thursday Morning

Thursday Afternoon

Friday Morning

Friday Afternoon

Saturday Morning