ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Stewart Brand - Environmentalist, futurist
Since the counterculture '60s, Stewart Brand has been creating our internet-worked world. Now, with biotech accelerating four times faster than digital technology, Stewart Brand has a bold new plan ...

Why you should listen

With biotech accelerating four times faster than digital technology, the revival of extinct species is becoming possible. Stewart Brand plans to not only bring species back but restore them to the wild.

Brand is already a legend in the tech industry for things he’s created: the Whole Earth Catalog, The WELL, the Global Business Network, the Long Now Foundation, and the notion that “information wants to be free.” Now Brand, a lifelong environmentalist, wants to re-create -- or “de-extinct” -- a few animals that’ve disappeared from the planet.

Granted, resurrecting the woolly mammoth using ancient DNA may sound like mad science. But Brand’s Revive and Restore project has an entirely rational goal: to learn what causes extinctions so we can protect currently endangered species, preserve genetic and biological diversity, repair depleted ecosystems, and essentially “undo harm that humans have caused in the past.”

More profile about the speaker
Stewart Brand | Speaker | TED.com
TED2006

Stewart Brand: What squatter cities can teach us

Stewart Brand: Què podem aprendre de les ciutats marginals.

Filmed:
1,098,442 views

Les zones rurals de tot el món estan patint una despoblació, ja que milions de persones es traslladen a campaments marginals i suburbis altament poblats. Stewart Brand afirma que aquests desplaçaments són positius. Per què? Només necessites 3 minuts per descobrir-ho.
- Environmentalist, futurist
Since the counterculture '60s, Stewart Brand has been creating our internet-worked world. Now, with biotech accelerating four times faster than digital technology, Stewart Brand has a bold new plan ... Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:26
BasicallyBàsicament, there's a majormajor demographicdemogràfic eventesdeveniment going on.
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Demogràficament
està passant alguna cosa important.
00:29
And it maypot be that passingpassant the 50 percentpercentatge urbanurbà pointpunt
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Superar el 50% del la densitat urbana
és un punt d'inflecció econòmica
00:32
is an economiceconòmic tippingbolcat pointpunt. So the worldmón now is a mapmapa of connectivityconnectivitat.
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Ja que el món és un mapa de connexions.
Abans París, Londres i Nova York
eren les grans ciutats.
00:40
It used to be that ParisParís and LondonLondres and NewNou YorkYork were the largestel més gran citiesciutats.
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00:45
What we have now is the endfinal of the risepujar of the WestOest. That's over.
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Però el creixement d'occident s'ha acabat.
00:51
The aggregateagregat numbersnúmeros are overwhelmingaclaparadora.
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Les xifres són aclaparadores.
00:53
So what's really going on? Well, villagespobles of the worldmón are emptyingbuidatge out.
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Què està passant realment?
Les poblacions d'arreu del món
s'estan buidant.
01:05
The questionpregunta is, why?
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La pregunta és: per què?
01:07
And here'sheus aquí the unromanticres romàntic truthveritat -- and the cityciutat airaire makesfa you freegratuït,
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I aquí ve la veritat poc romàntica:
"L'aire de la ciutat et fa lliure",
com deien els renaixentistes alemanys.
01:12
they said in RenaissanceRenaixement GermanyAlemanya. So some people go to placesllocs
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Molts van a llocs com Xangai
però la majoria prefereix zones marginals
01:15
like ShanghaiShanghai but mostla majoria go to the squatterocupat citiesciutats where aestheticsestètica ruleregla.
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per motius estètics.
No es tracta precisament de gent pobra
sinó que surt poc a poc de la pobresa.
01:21
And these are not really a people oppressedoprimits by povertypobresa.
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01:23
They're people gettingaconseguint out of povertypobresa as fastràpid as they can.
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01:26
They're the dominantdominant buildersconstructors and to a largegran extentextensió, the dominantdominant designersdissenyadors.
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Ells són els constructors dominants i
en gran part els dissenyadors principals.
01:30
They have home-brewedautèntiques infrastructureinfraestructura and vibrantvibrant urbanurbà life.
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Tenen infraestructures casolanes
i una vida urbana viva.
01:32
One-sixthUna sisena part of the GDPPIB in IndiaL'Índia is comingarribant out of MumbaiBombai.
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Una sisena part del PIB de la Índia
ve de Bombai.
01:37
They are constantlyconstantment upgradingActualització, and in a fewpocs casescasos, the governmentgovern helpsajuda.
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Allà les millores són constants,
el govern dóna ajudes.
01:41
EducationL'educació is the mainprincipal eventesdeveniment that can happenpassar in citiesciutats.
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L'educació és el més important
de tot el que està passant.
01:44
What's going on in the streetcarrer in MumbaiBombai?
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Què està passant als carrers de Bombai?
01:46
AlAl GoreGore knowssap. It's basicallybàsicament everything.
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Al Gore ho sap. Està passant de tot.
01:53
There's no unemploymentl'atur in squatterocupat citiesciutats. EveryoneTothom worksfunciona.
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No hi ha atur en aquestes ciutats.
Tothom treballa.
02:06
One-sixthUna sisena part of humanityhumanitat is there. It's soonaviat going to be more than that.
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La sisena part de la població hi viu.
I aviat en seran més.
02:10
So here'sheus aquí the first punchcop de puny linelínia:
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I per acabar, primer:
02:13
citiesciutats have defuseddesactivat the populationpoblació bombbomba.
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Les ciutats han desactivat
la bomba demogràfica.
02:19
And here'sheus aquí the secondsegon punchcop de puny linelínia.
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I segon:
02:24
That's the newsnotícies from downtowncentre de la ciutat. Here it is in perspectiveperspectiva.
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Són les notícies que arriben
del centre de la ciutat. Vegem-ho:
02:58
StarsEstrelles have shinedva brillar down on earth'sterra life for billionsmilers de milions of yearsanys.
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Les estrelles han brillat damunt la Terra
durant milions d'anys.
03:01
Now we're shiningbrillant right back up.
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Ara ens toca a nosaltres.
03:11
Thank you.
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Gràcies.
Translated by Sandra Sanchez
Reviewed by Eva Garcia-Pinos

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Stewart Brand - Environmentalist, futurist
Since the counterculture '60s, Stewart Brand has been creating our internet-worked world. Now, with biotech accelerating four times faster than digital technology, Stewart Brand has a bold new plan ...

Why you should listen

With biotech accelerating four times faster than digital technology, the revival of extinct species is becoming possible. Stewart Brand plans to not only bring species back but restore them to the wild.

Brand is already a legend in the tech industry for things he’s created: the Whole Earth Catalog, The WELL, the Global Business Network, the Long Now Foundation, and the notion that “information wants to be free.” Now Brand, a lifelong environmentalist, wants to re-create -- or “de-extinct” -- a few animals that’ve disappeared from the planet.

Granted, resurrecting the woolly mammoth using ancient DNA may sound like mad science. But Brand’s Revive and Restore project has an entirely rational goal: to learn what causes extinctions so we can protect currently endangered species, preserve genetic and biological diversity, repair depleted ecosystems, and essentially “undo harm that humans have caused in the past.”

More profile about the speaker
Stewart Brand | Speaker | TED.com