My TEDx talk: The four superpowers of the Internet

I gave a talk at the first TEDxWellington this year, called “The four superpowers of the Internet”, which are being direct, open, accessible and free. These superpowers are all underpinned by the golden rule, that we should treat all others as we would wish to be treated ourselves. This modern force of good has driven the explosive growth of the Internet, and can turn all of us into leaders and heroes. It includes an homage to entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs as the heroes of our generation leading the creative destruction that will bring about a better world, and includes a brief history of the Internet and its governance and why humming is an effective tool in bringing about consensus.

Enjoy. A transcript follows.

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Wellington, New Zealand’s Startup Capital

I was invited to Auckland last week to The Project: Digital Disruption to discuss what’s happening in the Wellington startup scene. Here are my slides: Wellington, New Zealand’s Startup Capital Key points: Wellington’s key advantage is its scale.  Everything is accessible within a 20 minute walk – but you need to plan for 30 minutes…

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Brothers – Judaism and Islam

Speech to Islam Awareness Week Launch, 26 August 2013 at Whare Waka, Wellington Shalom aleikhem, Salaam aleikum, Kia ora tatau. On the tenth anniversary of Islam Awareness Week, we can say that we have spent significant time together.  Not only are we more aware of each other, we are friends that know, like, trust, and…

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Religion and science need not be at loggerheads

Today is Commonwealth Day, which celebrates the establishment of the Commonwealth of Nations whose values as expressed by the Commonwealth Charter include the promotion of democracy, human rights, international peace and security, tolerance respect and understanding, freedom of expression, the rule of law, good governance, sustainable development, protecting the environment, access to health eduction food…

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Bright Ideas Need Scintillating Teams

I was invited to speak for five minutes at the Bright Ideas networking event last night. Here’s what I said: You’ve heard of them before – Orville and Wilbur Hewlett and Packard Jobs and Wozniak Page and Brin Mitchell and Youens Even Zuckerberg had a team behind him, even if he screwed most of them…

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Open Source Contributors

I was one of the judges this year at the NZ Open Source Awards, and presented the award for the Open Source Contributor of the year, which was won by Tabitha Roder for her work on the One Laptop Per Child project. Watch the YouTube Video, including my now-famous quote, “We cannot afford to have…

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