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 Thinking Big
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| Walking in Riverside Park. 2:45 PM. Photo: JH. |
Another warmish, grey-ish day in New York (with bursts of sun) completed with a light rain in the evening.
Late yesterday morning we went down to lower Fifth Avenue to talk with Victoria Brown and Peter Hopkins who just this week launched their big website, BigThink.com.
They’re calling it a “marketplace for idea-sharing, discussion between global thought leaders and the public.” Some of the thought leaders who’ve already participated in their video interviews are Richard Branson, Senator Ted Kennedy, Richard Meier, Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, Jacques Pepin, Pete Peterson, Melissa Chiu of the Asia Society, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Alan Dershowitz, Moby, Deepak Chopra, restaurateur Lidia Bastianich, Calvin Trillin, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Josh Lieb of the Daily Show, Zac Posen, Jim Woolsey of the CIA, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Anna Deavere Smith, Paul Krugman, Robert Hormatz of Goldman Sach, Stephen Carter of Yale Law, as well as this reporter and many others from various professions.
I first heard about it early last fall when Victoria called me and asked I were willing to be interviewed on camera for this web site they were preparing. The questions, she told me, would be about me and the business of the New York Social Diary. Frankly, any opportunity to get the word out about the NYSD is a good opportunity and so I said yes.
A couple of weeks later on a late morning in early October, I went down to their offices, went into their little vid studio (where the interviewee sits facing a screen with Victoria’s face on it) and for the next hour, was asked all kinds of questions about myself, my background, my thoughts on matters of the world, and, of course, matters of society.
The interview experience itself is interesting, not the least of which because of the challenge of instantly formulating one’s thoughts at someone else’s bidding. A kind of grilling of the subject takes place in a serious, studious manner that covers as many bases as possible. Leaving the studio that day, I had no sense of what I had just participated in except to wonder if my answers made sense (and also wonder incidentally if you could see on camera where I cut myself shaving that morning before the appearance).
I don’t recall ever being subjected quite so intensively to the challenge of thinking out loud about what I do and why I do it. Other than that, I had no idea as to what I was participating in; that is to say, the Big Picture.
I saw a good part of that interview earlier this week for the first time (and you can see it by clicking here) when the web site launched. Aside from the oddity of seeing oneself trying to quickly think and express one’s thoughts, I was awed by the project which covers so many subjects and ideas from economics, fashion, genomics happiness, health, high society, aging, academia, Buddhism, celebrity, China, Christianity, comedy and diplomacy.
Brown, who hails from Toronto, and Hopkins, who hails from New Haven, both met while working in production for Charlie Rose. Both were hungry to take their interests onto the internet with their work, and to produce an interactive forum where visitors could find something substantive and resembling the great thought and policy conferences of the world. Tne only difference is this forum would be available not only to the prominent members of the professions they represent but also to the rest of us. |
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Victoria Brown and Peter Hopkins in the vid studio of BigThink.com. |
Taking many of the key elements of the internet, Brown and Hopkins have developed a means for us to discuss amongst ourselves and with others who are “experts” in their fields, the great subjects of the day. It is a formidable undertaking but because of the wonders of internet technology, they have taken the first step in democratizing the process where everyone (who cares to) can participate giving us “access” to an interesting range of people.
So you can watch and listen to Sharon Gannon talk about how “hungry ghosts are hungry for a physical body;” and historian Niall Ferguson discussing the end of the American Empire (not as finalizing as you might think), or Yale law professor Stephen Carter expound as to why the crisis of race and poverty cannot be solved in the courtroom, or this reporter discussing the nature of the “new celebrity” and (Paris Hilton’s) claim to fame. Furthermore, the site is set up so that, like YouTube, you can provide your own ideas for a forum.
It’s a massive undertaking, almost overwhelming to consider. Talking with Brown and Hopkins yesterday morning, we were awed by the scope of their objectives. We were also enthralled once again by the immense possibilities that the internet is bringing to all of us in developing community in what so often seems like an increasingly hostile and chaotic world, rife with problems crying for solutions and relief. |
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