Civil rights activist Desmond Meade shares his journey to empower communities and highlight how every citizen has the power to inspire meaningful change. Fireside chat moderated by Hope McMath, founder and director of Yellow House, an organization that works at the intersection of art, civic engagement, and social justice. Desmond Meade is a formerly homeless returning citizen who overcame many obstacles to eventually become the President of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC), Chair of Floridians for a Fair Democracy, a graduate of Florida International University College of Law, a Ford Global Fellow, and a 2021 MacArthur “Genius” Fellow.As President and Executive Director of FRRC, which is recognized for its work on voting and criminal justice reform issues, Desmond led the FRRC to a historic victory in 2018 with the successful passage of Amendment 4, a grassroots citizen’s initiative which restored voting rights to over 1.4 million Floridians with past felony convictions. Amendment 4 represented the single largest expansion of voting rights in the United States in half a century and brought an end to 150 years of a Jim Crow-era law in Florida. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

People often assume the worst of people we disagree with, especially those who hold opposing political views, and especially in America today. We know that when *other* people do this, they are usually being irrational — they're experiencing what behavioral economist Dan Stone calls "undue hate." But we very rarely see this in ourselves. Why do we tend to make this mistake — to dislike people we disagree with more than we should — and how can we become more self-aware when we make this mistake? Our best bet may be to better understand the range of cognitive biases that contribute to undue hate. In this talk, Stone explains four of these biases and how all four boil down to one underlying psychological factor: WYSIATI (What You See Is All There Is).#UndueHate #Politics #DisagreeBetter #Right #Left #Bias Dan Stone is Associate Professor and chair of the Economics department at Bowdoin College, author of Undue Hate (MIT Press, 2023), and advisor to the anti-polarization organizations Starts With Us, More Like Us, and Braver Angels. His team's submission to Stanford University's Strengthening Democracy Challenge yielded the largest reduction in emotional polarization among the 25 tested. Stone has taught behavioral economics at Bowdoin and Oregon State University since 2011, and his research is on polarization, biases in beliefs, media, sports, and socially responsible capitalism. He has also served with Americorps, worked for the consulting company Novantas, and coaches youth baseball, basketball, and soccer. Originally from Charlottesville, VA, Stone lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his spouse and two children. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

PanMarco Handpan is a collaboration of handpan artists. The handpan is a relatively new musical instrument invented in Switzerland in 2000—but it’s not just a musical instrument. It has a prominent place in the wellness and health world, and PanMarco Handpan takes these instruments into hospitals, cancer treatment and behavioral health facilities, hospices, and even food banks, bringing this soothing sound into places where they can help people heal. We hope you take the sense of peace these instruments offer and bring it into your world. The world surely needs a little bit of that.#Handpan #Music #Percussion #LivePerformance The PanMarco Players is an ensemble comprised of John Guinta, Elise Dietz, Chris Staton, and Krishna Acath. They are skilled practitioners of the handpan, a 21st-century musical instrument first created in Switzerland. When this instrument is played with hands, it creates soft, mallet-like notes rich in harmonics. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Scroll through any social media network and you’re highly likely to encounter content created by artificial intelligence. Some of it, like the ubiquitous cat videos, will be cute and harmless. However, the same platforms that bind us together and create moments of communal joy and connection can also divide us through algorithmic radicalization. The ability of AI to produce deceptive information and create convincing fake content, combined with social media's rapid dissemination capabilities, has dangerous implications for societal dynamics.As an AI researcher, Aishwarya Reganti is focused on the intersection of these two trends. She’s investigating how social media and AI are merging to escalate the risks of misinformation. She believes it’s crucial that we change our mindset from "believing what you see" to "believing what you verify,” and she offers strategies for navigating this complex landscape and promoting a more informed and resilient digital future.#AI #SocialMedia #Misinformation #MachineLearning #ArtificialIntelligenceAI #Artificial_Intelligence As an AI researcher and tech lead at Amazon, Aishwarya Reganti is a highly recognized industry expert at the forefront of AI and social media. Her work, which includes over 30 research papers published in collaboration with top universities such as Stanford and the University of Michigan, focuses on social media aggression, fake news detection, fact verification, and meme interpretation.Aishwarya's thought leadership is evident in her frequent invitations to speak at industry and academic conferences. She also shares her expertise as a guest lecturer on AI topics at institutions like MIT andOxford. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

The Japanese martial art of Aikido offers much more than just physical training - it's a powerful philosophy for shaping leadership, building collaboration and navigating conflict. What if we could apply its principles to our personal interactions and business negotiations, in order to foster harmony and innovation? Drawing from her experiences establishing the Travelling Dojo and practising Aikido around the world, Jessica Connor Kennedy shows us how to transform resistance and disharmony into genuine connection, in order to create stronger individuals and healthier organisations. Jessica Connor Kennedy, founder of The Travelling Dojo, began practising the Japanese martial art aikido in 2015. Aikido was developed with a principled purpose; to resolve conflict without physical or emotional violence. Jessica has studied with aikido masters on four continents and helped those with no aikido training safely and constructively handle emotionally charged interactions.With over 20 years of professional experiences as a facilitator, Jessica’s aikido practice has increased her ability to lead individuals and groups through conflict and grief to generative discussion and powerful connection.Her work spans regenerative organisational design, crisis response, stakeholder engagement and spiritual health. She is an advocate for experiential learning and, as a scientist and teacher, recognises that goals deeply important to society such as connection and diversity can’t be taught through words alone, rather that the body needs to be involved in the learning process. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

In a world where digital interactions overshadow real connections, have we forgotten the art of engaging with one another? Dr. Lee explores civility, etiquette, and the mindful rituals of tasting, whether it’s wine, tea, or coffee, as a powerful metaphor for human connection. Discover how small, intentional acts can bridge divides and transform the way we relate to others. Dr. Clinton Lee is a global etiquette and wine expert, a seasoned lecturer, and the author of Master the Art of Manners. His expertise has taken him to prestigious events around the world where he shares insights on cultural intelligence and the power of meaningful human interaction. When he’s not consulting or teaching, he enjoys the simple pleasures of life: good conversation, soulful music, and an intense game of backgammon over a cup of coffee. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx