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

Стјуарт Бранд за градови дивоградби

Filmed:
1,098,442 views

Руралните села низ целиот свет се напуштаат, како сто милијарди луѓе се сјатуваат во градовите за да живеат во дивоградби и гета. Стјуарт Бранд вели дека тоа е добра работа. Зошто? Ќе ви требаат 3 минути да дознаете.
- 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
Basically, there's a major demographic event going on.
0
1000
3000
Во основа, се случува огромен демографски настан.
00:29
And it may be that passing the 50 percent urban point
1
4000
3000
И можеби минувањето на 50-от процент на урбанизација
00:32
is an economic tipping point. So the world now is a map of connectivity.
2
7000
8000
е економска точка на прекршување. Така светот сега е изврзана мапа.
00:40
It used to be that Paris and London and New York were the largest cities.
3
15000
5000
До скоро Париз, Лондон и Њу Јорк беа најголемите градови.
00:45
What we have now is the end of the rise of the West. That's over.
4
20000
6000
Она што го имаме сега е крајот на растот на Западот. Тоа е завршено.
00:51
The aggregate numbers are overwhelming.
5
26000
2000
Вкупните бројки се зачудувачки.
00:53
So what's really going on? Well, villages of the world are emptying out.
6
28000
6000
Што всушност се случува? Па, селата низ светот се празнат.
01:05
The question is, why?
7
40000
2000
Прашањето е, зошто?
01:07
And here's the unromantic truth -- and the city air makes you free,
8
42000
5000
И еве ја неромантичната вистина -- Градскиот воздух те прави слободен,
01:12
they said in Renaissance Germany. So some people go to places
9
47000
3000
како што велеа во ренесансна Германија. Така некои луѓе одат во места
01:15
like Shanghai but most go to the squatter cities where aesthetics rule.
10
50000
6000
како Шангај, но највеќе одат во дивите градови каде владее естетиката.
01:21
And these are not really a people oppressed by poverty.
11
56000
2000
Овие не се навистина луѓе притиснати од сиромаштијата.
01:23
They're people getting out of poverty as fast as they can.
12
58000
3000
Тоа се луѓе што се обидуваат да излезат од сиромаштијата најбрзо што можат
01:26
They're the dominant builders and to a large extent, the dominant designers.
13
61000
4000
Тие се доминантните градители и во најголем број случаи, доминантните дизајнери.
01:30
They have home-brewed infrastructure and vibrant urban life.
14
65000
2000
Имаат самоделска инфраструктура и динамичен урбан живот.
01:32
One-sixth of the GDP in India is coming out of Mumbai.
15
67000
5000
Една шестина од бруто домашниот производ на Индија доаѓа од Мумбаи
01:37
They are constantly upgrading, and in a few cases, the government helps.
16
72000
4000
Тие константно се надградуваат, и во неколку случаи, помага и владата.
01:41
Education is the main event that can happen in cities.
17
76000
3000
Едукацијате е главниот настан што се случува во градовите.
01:44
What's going on in the street in Mumbai?
18
79000
2000
Што се случува на улиците на Мумбаи?
01:46
Al Gore knows. It's basically everything.
19
81000
7000
Ал Гор знае. Во основа секакви активности.
01:53
There's no unemployment in squatter cities. Everyone works.
20
88000
3000
Нема невработеност во дивите градови. Сите работат.
02:06
One-sixth of humanity is there. It's soon going to be more than that.
21
101000
4000
Една шестина од човештвото е таму. Наскоро ќе биде уште поголем процент од овој.
02:10
So here's the first punch line:
22
105000
3000
Еве ја првата поента.
02:13
cities have defused the population bomb.
23
108000
6000
градовите ја имаат деактивирано популациската бомба.
02:19
And here's the second punch line.
24
114000
5000
И еве ја втората поента.
02:24
That's the news from downtown. Here it is in perspective.
25
119000
3000
Тоа се вестите од центарот. Еве ги во перспектива.
02:58
Stars have shined down on earth's life for billions of years.
26
153000
3000
Ѕвездите сјаеја врз животот на земјата со милијарди години.
03:01
Now we're shining right back up.
27
156000
2000
Сега ние сјаеме малку назад.
03:11
Thank you.
28
166000
2000
Ви Благодарам.
Translated by Marko Marcevski
Reviewed by Zdravko Smilevski

▲Back to top

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