Hi everyone, I'm proposing that we nominate Tom Campbell as a speaker at the next T.E.D conference February 28 to March 4. The nomination form can be found here: http://www.ted.com/nominate/speaker. If you are unfamiliar with T.E.D. please visit the site and watch some of the videos, but if your feeling a bit lazy today, here is a brief summary:

The TED Conference, held annually in Long Beach, is still the heart of TED. More than a thousand people now attend -- indeed, the event sells out a year in advance -- and the content has expanded to include science, business, the arts and the global issues facing our world. Over four days, 50 speakers each take an 18-minute slot, and there are many shorter pieces of content, including music, performance and comedy. There are no breakout groups. Everyone shares the same experience. It shouldn't work, but it does. It works because all of knowledge is connected. Every so often it makes sense to emerge from the trenches we dig for a living, and ascend to a 30,000-foot view, where we see, to our astonishment, an intricately interconnected whole.

You are obviously welcome to make your own nomination, but I thought we might do a better job collectively, so I'm proposing that you take a few minutes and answer the following questions on the nomination form. I have volunteered to take responsibility for compiling the responses and editing them into the nomination application, at least until such time as someone else volunteers to do it! Anyway, below are the questions from the nomination form. Please number your responses to correspond with the questions, so I can compile them more easily.

The deadline for the conference nomination is August 20, so get to it!

1. Tell us briefly about the speaker: Occupation? Honors or distinctions? Recent work?

2. Why are you recommending them? Please provide links to any articles or web pages about the speaker.

3. Have you heard this person speak publicly? If so, where?

4. If yes, please describe this person's speaking style.

4. Please provide links to any online audio or video featuring the proposed speaker.

5. How do you think this person would best fit with the TED2011 conference theme, "The Rediscovery of Wonder"?

Hi Ray,
Have you run this idea past Tom yet?
Love
Bette

_________________
All That Is
what is?
Consciousness.

Hey Bette, how are you? I remember meeting you in NYC! I didn't contact Tom, but ran it by Keith, who thought it was a good idea. He said he'd run it by Tom. We're still not sure if Tom will be available, but if he is not, I understand they can still consider his nomination for other T.E.D. events. Given the short deadline, of August 20, I figured we better jump on it.

Hi Ray, that's nice I remember you too. :) I'm just trying to be non-partial in my freakingoutness, tonight. It is a mouthful though, for 18 minutes with such a crowd. If anyone could do it, communicate something "new" without a bunch of in place understanding to build on it would be our Tom.
Love
Bette

_________________
All That Is
what is?
Consciousness.

I've never heard of TED, but it sounds very interesting.

Wow, MBT in 18 minutes. That might be like trying to squeeze a bulldozer into a thimble; and a thimble that is stacked alongside 49 other thimbles. Don't get me wrong, it is an interesting idea. If the goal is to get the word out about MBT, then it seems that a sort of advertising approach would be needed. It would have to stand out amongst the other 49 speakers and performers so as not to get lost in the mix. For that, it would need a wow factor of sorts. If it wasn't for that darn PUP thing, Tom could make a bag of potatoes fly around the audience or something :)

Seriously though, for the time and setting, it would have to be something that really touched the audience at some deep level. I keep thinking of an 18 minute short film or something that people think about for days after seeing it. Something like the way a painting can touch and move 100's of people, without really coming out and saying anything directly.

I don't know if anyone has ever heard Phil Hendrie on the radio or not. I'm not a big fan, but find the process interesting. In short, Phil Hendrie plays the role of the radio host and the various guests (he does the voices for all). The character of the guest (the voice of Phil) is normally there making some outrageous claim or expressing some controversial belief. The radio host (also Phil) remains calm and hovers right on the edge of saying the obvious or making the obvious point as to why the guest is wrong in some way. Not realizing that it is all a hoax, newer listeners call in burning to make that obvious point and rebuttal to the guest. It was many shows before I realized the he was doing all of the voices and that it was a set up to get people to call in. It was powerful enough that I would be shouting out loud at the radio.

My point is that there is something to saying it... without saying it. Of course that is all up to Tom and I'm rambling because it's late.

If Tom is good with it, I will certainly cast my vote.

_________________
-"You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find... you get what you need"

Getting Tom to a TED conference would be a great achievement. I have probably seen all TED videos, as they are an excellent source of knowledge, one won't find anywhere else.

Here's one of my favorite TED presentations. I think fans of Tom's theory will relate to this http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jill_ ... sight.html

Jill Taylor is my favorite of all time, everyone should watch that one.

_________________
Shut up and meditate

I read her book some time ago. Great stuff.

Having looked a little more at the TED site, I think you are really on to something with this Ray.

_________________
-"You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find... you get what you need"

Thanks Justin. Now, help me with this darn nomination form! : )

Just throwing some stuff in to get things going... there are two number 4 items by the way.

From about the author page on the MBT site (I used google's cache option to see it while the site is down):

1. Tell us briefly about the speaker: Occupation? Honors or distinctions? Recent work?
Tom Campbell began researching altered states of consciousness with Bob Monroe (Journeys Out Of The Body, Far Journeys, and The Ultimate Journey) at Monroe Laboratories in the early 1970s where he and a few others were instrumental in getting Monroe's laboratory for the study of consciousness up and running. These early drug-free consciousness pioneers helped design experiments, developed the technology for creating specific altered states, and were the main subjects of study (guinea pigs) all at the same time. Campbell has been experimenting with, and exploring the subjective and objective mind ever since. For the past thirty years, Campbell has been focused on scientifically exploring the properties, boundaries, and abilities of consciousness.
During that same time period, he has excelled as a working scientist, a professional physicist dedicated to pushing back the frontiers of cutting edge technology, large-system simulation, technology development and integration, and complex system vulnerability and risk analysis. Presently, and for the past 20 years, he has been at the heart of developing US missile defense systems.
Tom is the "TC (physicist)" described in Bob Monroe's second book Far Journeys and has been a serious explorer of the frontiers of reality, mind, consciousness, and psychic phenomena since the early 1970s. My Big TOE is a model of existence and reality that is based directly on Campbell's scientific research and first hand experience. It represents the results and conclusions of thirty years of careful scientific exploration of the boundaries and contents of reality from both the physical and metaphysical viewpoints. The author has made every effort to approach his explorations without bias or preconceived notions. There is no belief system, dogma, creed, or unusual assumptions at the root of My Big TOE.
By demanding high quality repeatable, empirical, evidential data to separate what's real (exists independently and externally) from what's imaginary or illusory; Campbell has scientifically derived this general model of reality.

2. Why are you recommending them? Please provide links to any articles or web pages about the speaker.
...
MBT website (currently down while relocating): http://www.my-big-toe.com/
link to the online book at google book: http://books.google.com/books?id=6To090 ... &q&f=false
amazon.com customer reviews: http://www.amazon.com/My-Big-TOE-Comple ... ewpoints=1


3. Have you heard this person speak publicly? If so, where?
I haven't in person, but I know many here have at various locations.

4. If yes, please describe this person's speaking style.
This is a tough one. Based on the youtube videos: calm, clear, mild mannered?


4. Please provide links to any online audio or video featuring the proposed speaker.
I beleive that this is Tom's account at youtube (lots of goods there): http://www.youtube.com/user/twcjr44#p/p

5. How do you think this person would best fit with the TED2011 conference theme, "The Rediscovery of Wonder"?
The theories and ideas presented in Tom Campbell's work when approached with both open-mindedness and skepticism lead the reader/audience to a rediscovery of wonder by default. Why are we here? What happens after death? What is our purpose? This uncertain nature of our existence is the one thread that truly connects all of us in this experience of life. The theories presented by Tom Campbell serve as the umbrella under which all of us stand and to which all of us can relate. The ideas presented not only have the potential to cause us to look up at that umbrella, but also at what is beyond it. This theory is different from others in that it truly is a theory of everything: unifying philosophy, physics, and metaphysics. Tom presents it in such a way that there is no need to believe or accept anything. All that is encouraged is an open-minded and skeptical approach toward exploration and discovery in finding our very own Big TOE (theory of everything). That search and discovery process aimed at uncovering our true existence and the nature of reality is the ultimate rediscovery of wonder and something to which we all can relate.

This was pretty quick, I have to leave. It is a start though.

_________________
-"You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find... you get what you need"

Thanks Justin! Wow, that was great! Anyone else care to contribute?

Hi,
There is this style of information presentation in which a man talks while drawing us pictures at the same time, with the drawing speed-ed up to match talking speed. It's a way to get a thousand words into small time slots. I, of course, can't locate an example. It's from something on facebook, PBS I thought. The name creating the informational talk.drawing is _ _ Animation (blank, blank is my mind right now).

My concern is the time limit, and how limiting that is. How many dogma's can he whisper, and then get the info in, in 18 minutes? Again, if anyone could Tom can.
Love
Bette

I wrote Tom about this, and here is his reply.

Bette,



It is not something I would normally pursue because the 20 minute time limit necessarily reduces it to a sound-byte and marketing (manipulate the audience on an emotional level) competition. However, on the other hand - I am aware that I have less interest and good sense than I need when it comes to marketing. I don't like to do marketing and thus naturally shy away from it, but I do understand that it is absolutely necessary and needs to be done. (i.e., I need to be pushed a little because I do need to do things like this that speak to a larger audience).. So, if accepted by the process judges and then asked to give a 20 min speech - I would accept the challenge and do my best to deliver a good speech.



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Tom

_________________
All That Is
what is?
Consciousness.