TED Talks - Ian Goldin: Navigating our global future

Excellent new talk from the folks at TED. I'd like to believe that he is correct, but I doubt it - not 2030, but maybe 2100, assuming we don't self destruct before then. Still, it's nice to hear a hopeful message.

Ian Goldin: Economist, development visionary

As globalization and technological advances bring us hurtling towards a new integrated future, Ian Goldin warns that not all people may benefit equally. But, he says, if we can recognize this danger, we might yet realize the possibility of improved life for everyone.

Ian Goldin is director of the 21st Century School at Oxford. Through the school's program of research, collaboration and education, he's powering new, cross-disciplinary thinking about global problems from the near and far future.

Why you should listen to him:

Take a look at Ian Goldin's jam-packed CV and you'll see why he was appointed the first Director of Oxford University's new think tank-cum-research center, the 21st Century School: Goldin battled apartheid in his native South Africa, supported freedom movements in Chile and Nicaragua, worked as an agriculture consultant around the globe in the '80s, served as a development adviser to Nelson Mandela and, as the VP of the World Bank, led collaborations with the UN on global development strategy.

At the 21st Century School, with a diverse brigade of top researchers from the hard and social sciences, he plans to bring fresh thinking to bear on the big, looming issues of the next 100 years: climate change, disruptive technological advancements, aging, bio-ethics, infectious disease, poverty, political conflict.

Tags: globalization, evolution, future, culture, collective wisdom, progress, 21st Century School, TED Talks, Ian Goldin, Navigating our global future