https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/ted-talk-by-spinal-cord-activists-mark-pollock-and-simone-george-released-1.3621709?mode=amp
Ted Talk by spinal cord activists Mark Pollock and Simone George released
Bono and Keith Barry only two Irish people previously invited to speak at Ted
Deirdre Falveyabout an hour ago
Irish couple Mark Pollock and Simone George speaking at Ted 2018 in Vancouver.
Photograph: Ryan Lash/TED
A Ted Talk by an Irish couple â explorer Mark Pollock and human rights lawyer
Simone George â about using acceptance and hope to deal with grief, from this
yearâs annual Ted Conference in Vancouver in April will be released today.
The blind adventure-athlete Pollock, who broke his back in 2010, and lawyer and
activist George, who started research on paralysis cures from beside his
hospital bed, spoke at the conference about âhow to resolve the tension
between acceptance and hope,â a task they had to try and figure out after
Markâs catastrophic spinal cord injury.
They talk about why âclimbing into the raging river of grief when tragedy
strikes can be the way to get to the next placeâ; and how they are now
catalysing collaborations to cure paralysis in our lifetime.
Ted can make the quest to cure paralysis truly global
Only two Irish people have previously been invited to speak at the annual main
Ted conference in Vancouver. Bono spoke at the 2007 conference, and mind
magician Keith Barry in 2014. Ted Talks are promoted by a nonprofit which aims
to spread ideas worldwide via short (18 minutes or less), powerful talks.
There are now many satellite Ted conference events worldwide, but the annual
conference, which began in 1984, is seen as âat the heart of Tedâ. At the
five-day event over 70 speakers give 18-minute talks and shorter presentations.
Seen as a leader in resilience, innovation and collaboration, Pollock has
spoken at Davos, EG, the World Economic Forum, Wired and F.ounders, as well as
Ted. He co-founded the global running movement Run in the Dark, which will take
place in 50 cities internationally this November, raising money to fund the
Mark Pollock Trust.
Science is an act of creation fuelled by the desire for human progress and care
Mark Pollock describes how their Ted contribution came about: âChris
Andersen, Tedâs curator was in the audience at one of my talks in
Switzerland. That night we met and he spoke with Simone and I over dinner. A
few weeks later he invited us to speak about our shared resilience at Ted2018.
Ted can make the quest to cure paralysis truly global.â
Talking about their presentation, Simone George says âWhen Mark broke his
back, I fell back on the personal tool kit I had at the time â go all the way
in, research, learn as much as you can in a short period of time, and fiercely
love every person around you that is trying to help, and even more fiercely
love those who might get in the way. This is why I say in our Ted talk â
science is love.
Science is an act of creation fuelled by the desire for human progress and
care. There is no insurmountable reason why people should remain paralysed
after spinal cord injury.â
George, a human rights lawyer and activist as well as a consultant commercial
litigator, described herself as a âparalysis cure hunterâ. When Pollock
broke his back, her research was the start of their work to find and connect
people around the world to fast-track a cure for paralysis.
Some 2,000 people attended the Ted conference this year, and in the audience
for Pollock and Georgeâs speech were environmentalist and former US vice
president Al Gore, film director Stephen Spielberg, actor and activist Tracee
Ellis Ross, rock star Amanda Palmer, anti-bullying activist Monica Lewinsky and
social scientist Amy Cuddy. Cuddy, whose Ted talk about body language has had
over 47 million views, described Pollock and Georgeâs talk as âthe most
powerful, moving talk I have ever seen at Tedâ. Ted curator Helen Walters
described their talk as a âlove letter to scienceâ.
Other speakers at the 2018 conference included SpaceX president Gwynne
Shotwell, founder and CEO of Netfli Reed Hastings, and CEO of Sinovation Kai Fu
Lee.
The video is on the Ted app and website at go.ted.com/markandsimone from. See
also: markpollocktrust.org, markpollock.com and simonegeorge.com
Real news has value
Sent from my iPhone
===========================================================
The fb-exchange mailing list
Manage account, subscribe or unsubscribe:
//www.freelists.org/list/fb-exchange
Archives: //www.freelists.org/archives/fb-exchange ;
Administrative contact: insight@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
===========================================================
