PUSH the Future: 3 People

Our next segment in the "3 Threes" synopsis of PUSH The Future focuses on the standout presenters.

+ K Anthony Appiah, Howard Rheingold, Cameron Sinclair. It certainly may seem unfair to name three people as the first “three people” selection, but the work of these three fits exceptionally well.  Prof. Appiah described how Cosmopolitanism, though complicated, invites tolerance and humility and the basic proposition that all benefit if we care for everyone in the world. Though a bit utopian, the concept meshes with globalization, and the ways in which technologies of communication and transportation have made the world smaller, at least for those with means. Rheingold complements this with his discussion of how social contracts are developed, augmented and recreated, as first agriculture and then intellectual wealth was opened to more general populations through agriculture and literacy.  Finally, concluding speaker Cameron Sinclair of the nonprofit Architects for Humanity demonstrated how this can apply to inexpensive housing structures that can accommodate victims of disease, famine, earthquake or hurricane.

+ The Kids. The first day ended with the Kids Philosophy Slam, seven girls and two boys age eight to 14 introduced and moderated by John Davis, who founded the group after creating the Great American Think-Off in 1993 as a way to make philosophy accessible to everyday people. Two of the four finalists of that contest were teenagers, inspiring Davis to form Slam.  Some in the audience were inspired by the concise, thoughtful answers each child provided to the question, “which is more powerful, hope or fear?”, though others found it a bit gimmicky.  No one could deny the session was about future thinkers, nor that it was powerful.  One girl spoke of the death of her brother in a car accident just a year before, her sobs overcoming her words as she sought to read a prepared statement.  A young boy described the hope and fear as dance partners which are most powerful in juxtaposition to one another, like the sun and the moon.  An older boy described fear as visceral and real, while hope was ethereal.  And Elsie Farnum, age 8, said “Hope is a gentle breeze, but fear is a whipping, icy wind.”

+ Ze Frank.  Well known for his hilarious comic renditions at premier conferences TED, TEDglobal and Poptech, some regular conference-goers had come to grimace on seeing him repeating large segments of his material from these events, though such practices are not unusual for comedians.  This time, though, Frank pushed the envelope with a fast-paced romp through the latest buzz-word complient technology trends in a matter that was both entertaining and illuminating.

For example, Frank described the hype around a “Web 2.0” emerging tech trend and business model as boiling down to getting other people to do all the hard work, then simply taking credit for it. Ze (pronounced “Zay”) then launched into a highly credible tour through social networking technologies and related emergent cultures.  He began with the simple fact that people now ‘get’ media production – whether it be video editing or the fact we now all have favorite fonts.  “That’s totally freakin’ weird,” he says.  “That people know Verdana [the font] should scare the shit out of you.”  He suggests further it does not good to ignore or seek to suppress the conversation, as customers, clients, etc. will find a way to keep it going, regardless.

Frank uses the anti-SUV ads people created and circulated in emails when Chevy Tahoe sought to do an online mashup contest as an example that conversations resist top-down control. He also extracted from Chris Anderson’s well-worn “Long Tail” analogy the lesson one should listen to the conversation across the range of fidelity, and not just the noisy parts that represent blockbusters.  Finally, he noted user experimentation’s teaching us what is truly interesting and useful – a determination we may be reluctant to acknowledge is difficult in a world of disruptive technologies.  An off-color [i.e. explicit language – be warned] example of this is the flurry of “haikus for a newly neutered dog” that were volunteered via email to his site.

While “3 People” is reserved for presenters, we also feel it’s appropriate to offer a quick kudos to the conference organizer, as Sommers managed to deftly adjust schedules and speakers to fill several late-minute speaking cancellations with very little disruption to the overall schedule and flow of the conference – a tremendous achievement.

- Sam Perry