The Road to the RED DOT: AN IDEA WORTH SHARING

Ideas are simultaneously the most ephemeral and the single most powerful force in the world. At its birth, an idea is no more than a wisp of smoke. A mere spark of a few electrons hopping across a nanomolecular space between two neurons in a single brain. Of the millions of random thoughts that pass across the neural networks of our brains each day, 1 or 2 stand forth as an idea that captures our attention for a billionth of a second longer than the rest. In that infinitesimally longer lifespan that thought creates a ripple that is larger than the rest and crosses the threshold from a mere wish to a spoken thought. It becomes expressed in language.

The crossing of an idea from a mere electrical ripple into the realm of spoken language is a seminal transformation and is the first necessary step to making that idea a manifest reality. But a TED-worthy Idea is more than most ideas. A TED-worthy Idea is more than a wish no matter how powerful or charismatic. It is more than a story of overcoming great odds, though its power may be illustrated in such an example of its application. A TED-worthy Idea stands on its own legs without a supporting cast of embellishments. It is not an inspirational or motivational story but the idea will spur its application in motivational and inspirational ways. The best of TED-worthy Ideas stimulates deep thought. They open new ways to think and see. They may afford a different route to access something fundamental to the human experience in a manner that was not as easily accessible before.

A single Idea that emerges from the neural networks of a single human clothed in the garb of language is still a very finite entity. Its lifespan is dependent on its evolution from articulated language into a conversation between individuals. For this, it requires that its garment be that of a powerful story and that it be told on a stage that has a global audience. This is where TED-worthy Ideas come into being.

Of all the ideas that exist, the idea of awareness of experience and narrative is at the very core of the human condition and that became my TED-worthy Idea. This would become the sword to shift the conversations of the world. The pandemic illustrated the power of narratives in a very direct and immediate way. What was less obvious was the instrument we had used to shift the experience of people…. Focused attention on the space of immediate experience. The methods we used to penetrate the clarity of the eye within the storm of narratives.

This inner chain of focus that served as the anchor for the flailing storm of mental narratives tossed upon the waves of global fear and confusion and the stories of the tens of thousands who were saved by this anchor, became my TED-worthy Idea to take to the global stage.

Ravi R Iyer, MD

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