A Drummer, Old Man, & the Whale: Trauma & Growth | Laura McCullough | TEDxBrookdaleCommunityCollege
Laura’s compelling narrative intertwines loss, healing, and the awe of natural encounters. Explore how profound moments with nature and people inspire hope and foster a deeper understanding of life’s mysteries. A veteran educator with 25 years of teaching experience, Laura is a full professor of English at Brookdale Community College and has taught at Stockton and Ramapo. Specializing in trauma-informed, emotionally literate curricula, she emphasizes intra- and interpersonal development to help students find meaning and purpose. Her teaching spans writing, research, critical theory, and creative writing, focusing on self-discovery through language.An inaugural fellow in Brookdale’s Center for Transformative Learning, she founded CONNECTIONS, a peer support network for educators. A candidate for the Doctorate in Medical Humanities at Drew University, her research explores care ethics and inherited trauma.Her poetry collections include The Resurrection Jar, Women & Other Hostages, and The Wild Night Dress. A three-time NJ State Arts Council Fellow, she has received fellowships from Bread Loaf and Virginia Center for the Arts. She also edited A Sense of Regard and The Room and the World. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
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- 10:32How to make AI and influence people | Sungjoo Yoon | TEDxBostonIn the age of artificial intelligence, it is not yet clear which form factors will best translate these massive advancements into winning consumer products. However, the past century of consumer technology give us a strong hint: the more information that an interface can solicit from an individual user, the greater the product quality for all of its users. This truism, coined in this talk as the "preference principle", gives us a clue into which applications of artificial intelligence will be most useful, widespread, and popular in the distant future. But what does this mean for product design, and more specifically, what will winning consumer products look like in the decades to come? Will they be more anthropomorphic than we expect?AI, Computers, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Interface design, Software Sungjoo Yoon is the cofounder, CEO, and president of Biography, the world's first relational intelligence laboratory. Prior to dropping out at 20 years of age to build applied artificial intelligence, he studied biology, government, data science, and computer science at Harvard College. He was also on the research staff of the Camerer Lab at Caltech, studying choice theory and quantitative neuroeconomics.Sungjoo Yoon is the cofounder, CEO, and president of Biography, the world's first relational intelligence laboratory. Prior to dropping out at 20 years of age to build applied artificial intelligence, he studied biology, government, data science, and computer science at Harvard College. He was also on the research staff of the Camerer Lab at Caltech, studying choice theory and quantitative neuroeconomics. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
- 10:11From Prompt to Partner: When AI is Given Room to Grow | Nick Stewart | TEDxBrookdaleCommunityCollegeExplore the profound connections between AI, humanity, and the cosmos. Nick delves into how artificial intelligence reflects the universe’s vast complexity and our interconnectivity, offering a vision for future human-AI collaboration. Nicholas Stewart’s journey into computing began in Larrison Hall, where a Java course sparked his passion for technology. He earned his Associate Degree from Mercer County Community College before graduating with honors from NJIT’s Ying Wu College of Computing.Through roles in government IT and distributed computing, Nick honed his skills in large-scale systems. At AWS, he advanced from Cloud Support Associate to Cloud Support Engineer, specializing in distributed computing, system optimization, and scalable architectures. He holds multiple AWS certifications, including Solutions Architect and EC2 Subject Matter Expert.As an independent AI researcher, Nick explores cognition and emergent systems, aiming to develop AI that exhibits introspection, curiosity, and self-directed reasoning. He also draws inspiration from cognitive science and philosophy, continuously refining his understanding of intelligence while pursuing creative projects in technology and beyond. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
