Print is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age

The TED conference starts today in Monterey, California. No, not the Ted pictured. Instead, TED stands for “Technology, Entertainment, Design,” and is an annual think-thank gathering of “icons, geniuses and mavericks” (the TED website features pictures of both Marilyn Monroe and Albert Einstein, but I don’t think either have confirmed for this year’s conference). With sessions that include people such as Nobel Laureate Murray Gell-Mann and NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (on the same panel!) it seems like a pretty good time. I’d love to attend one of these conferences, but they’re by invitation only (and to be accepted you have to be a “leading thinker and doer” and I’m more of a third-place thinker and at best a fourth-place doer), not to mention the cost is nearly $5K. For a lot less money I’ll take a few walks in Central Park, sit on a nice bench under a tall tree, get out a notebook, and do my thinking there. This may not make me a genius (not to mention an icon or a maverick), but I think saving five thousand dollars is pretty smart.

TED 2007 Conference Schedule