Bina Venkataraman: The power to think ahead in a reckless age
Bina Venkataraman: O poder de pensar no futuro em uma era imprudente
Bina Venkataraman is an MIT professor and author of the forthcoming book "The Optimist's Telescope." Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
especial pelo sangue dos norte-americanos.
for the blood of the American-born.
I got an unexpected gift.
recebi um presente inesperado.
at the time I got it,
a powerful metaphor for my work.
uma metáfora poderosa para o meu trabalho.
like there's no time but the present.
há momento a não ser o presente.
seems to dominate our lives,
parece dominar nossa vida,
in the number of steps we took today
ao número de passos que demos hoje
from a high-profile figure.
in making immediate profits
priorizarem lucros imediatos
for future invention.
para futuras invenções.
for governments to stand by
agrícolas são esgotadas
to feed future generations.
para alimentar as gerações futuras.
to be remembered as good ancestors.
ser lembrada como bons ancestrais.
our species evolved to think ahead,
nossa espécie evoluiu para pensar adiante,
that we have "mental time travel,"
que temos de "viagens mentais no tempo",
everything we call human civilization,
que chamamos de civilização humana,
nas mentes dos humanos.
using this superpower quite enough,
usando esse superpoder o suficiente,
businesses and institutions are designed.
comunidades e instituições são projetadas.
that's impairing our foresight.
que prejudica nossas previsões.
about the three key mistakes
sobre os três principais erros
profits of a company
trimestrais de uma empresa
a participação no mercado
is going to grow its market share
that kids bring back from school,
que as crianças trazem da escola,
pro aprendizado e curiosidade
what's great for those kids' learning
what really matters in the future.
o que realmente importa no futuro.
that impairs our foresight
cometendo que prejudica as previsões
or a business leader
político ou de negócios
those disasters in the first place,
desses desastres antes de mais nada,
by protecting communities from floods
protegendo as comunidades de inundações,
that impairs our foresight
é o que não conseguimos imaginar.
exatamente o que vem a seguir,
on predicting exactly what's next,
or algorithms to do that.
ou algoritmos para fazer isso.
all the possibilities the future holds.
as possibilidades que o futuro reserva.
emerged in 2014 in West Africa,
em 2014 na África Ocidental,
had early warning signs
o mundo tinham sinais de alerta precoces
that outbreak might spread,
podia se espalhar,
entender que se espalharia,
in time to intervene,
to kill more than 11,000 people.
mais de 11 mil pessoas.
and good forecasts
recursos e boas previsões
how dangerous they can be.
o quão perigosos eles podem ser.
that I've described,
por mais deploráveis que pareçam,
sobre o futuro,
better decisions about the future
que ajudem as previsões,
parecido com os telescópios
like the telescopes
when they scanned the horizon.
quando olhavam para o horizonte.
across distance and the ocean,
através da distância e do oceano,
across time to the future.
através do tempo para o futuro.
few of the tools
ajudar com as previsões.
que quero compartilhar
the long game pay now.
se pagar agora.
I spent some time with in Kansas.
com quem passei um tempo no Kansas.
are grown around the world today
são cultivadas em todo o mundo hoje
of the fertile topsoil
as gerações futuras.
with a group of scientists,
which have deep roots
com raízes profundas
and protecting future harvests.
e protegendo futuras colheitas.
to grow these crops in the short run,
essas culturas a curto prazo,
the annual yields of the crops
os rendimentos anuais das colheitas
to make cereal and beer using the grains
cereais matinais e cerveja usando os grãos
by doing what's good for tomorrow.
fazendo o que é bom para o amanhã.
by George Washington Carver
por George Washington Carver
after the Civil War
depois da Guerra Civil
of Carver's 300 uses for the peanut,
dos 300 usos de Carver para o amendoim,
that he came up with
why Carver did that.
por que Carver fez isso.
poor Alabama sharecroppers
os pobres meeiros do Alabama
estava diminuindo,
peanuts in their fields
would be better a few years later.
fosse melhor alguns anos depois.
to be lucrative for them in the short run.
ser lucrativo no curto prazo.
about another tool for foresight.
ferramenta para as previsões.
as keeping the memory of the past alive
como manter viva a memória do passado
of the nuclear reactor disaster there
do desastre do reator nuclear
and tsunami of 2011.
e tsunami de Tohoku de 2011.
about the Onagawa Nuclear Power Station,
sobre a Usina Nuclear de Onagawa,
to the epicenter of that earthquake
do epicentro daquele terremoto
that we all know about.
que todos ficamos sabendo.
actually fled to the nuclear power plant
fugiram para a usina nuclear
to build that power plant
essa usina mais distante da costa,
and with a higher sea wall.
do santuário de sua cidade natal,
in the year 869 after a tsunami.
that allowed him to imagine
que lhe permitiu imaginar
as creating shared heirlooms.
de criação de herança compartilhada.
na costa do Pacífico do México
on the Pacific coast of Mexico,
their lobster harvest there
by treating it as a shared resource
como um recurso compartilhado
children and grandchildren.
the breeding lobster out of the ocean.
a lagosta reprodutora do oceano.
there are more than 30 fisheries
existem mais de 30 áreas de pesca
vaguely similar to this.
vagamente semelhante a isso.
in the fisheries known as catch shares
prazo nas pescarias compartilhadas
from the ocean today
o que puderem do oceano hoje,
many more tools of foresight
beyond near-term stock prices,
além dos preços das ações no curto prazo,
of campaign financiers.
dos financiadores de campanhas.
as many of these tools as we can
o máximo possível essas ferramentas
to imagine what lies ahead.
pra imaginar o que está por vir.
as you can imagine.
como vocês podem imaginar.
we can pick up in our own lives,
podemos usar em nossa própria vida,
in businesses or in communities,
is the instrument I shared with you.
é o instrumento que compartilhei aqui.
for my great-grandfather.
music and art critic in India
de música e arte na Índia
to protect this instrument
de proteger este instrumento
was pawning off all their belongings,
teve que penhorar todos os pertences,
to the next generation,
dando-o para a próxima geração,
the sound of this instrument,
pela primeira vez,
in the Himalayan fog.
no nevoeiro do Himalaia.
a voice from the past.
playing the dilruba.
tocando o dilruba.
like a cat's dying somewhere,
morrendo em algum lugar,
than just owning it for today.
do que apenas possuí-lo por hoje.
as both a descendant and an ancestor.
como descendente e ancestral.
bigger than my own.
de uma história maior que a minha.
we can reclaim foresight:
de recuperar a previsão:
as the good ancestors we long to be,
antepassados que desejamos ser.
para nossos próprios filhos,
can resonate for generations.
pode ressoar por gerações.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Bina Venkataraman - Writer, futuristBina Venkataraman is an MIT professor and author of the forthcoming book "The Optimist's Telescope."
Why you should listen
For more than six years, Bina Venkataraman has been traveling around the world studying how people and communities think about the future. Her curiosity as a former journalist, and her firsthand experience in the Obama White House, led her to question whether the shortsightedness rampant in today's societies is inevitable -- or actually "a choice we're making."
During the Obama years, Venkataraman built partnerships among communities, companies and government to prepare for coming pandemics, wildfires and rising seas. In 2014, she launched the White House Climate Data Initiative to bring actionable climate science to people making decisions around the globe. Previously, she was a science journalist for the New York Times and the Boston Globe. Now, she teaches students at MIT to use scientific knowledge in service of society.
As Venkataraman writes: "For as long as I can remember, I have suspected that the future of humanity depended on the future of the planet. I have since found this to be the most compelling story of our time. As I imagine what lies in our shared future, from gene-editing to the climate crisis, I see both dangers and extraordinary potential."
Venkataraman wrote her first book, The Optimist's Telescope (to be published by Riverhead on August 27, 2019), to help people today better shape their own future and that of coming generations.
Bina Venkataraman | Speaker | TED.com