http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_anholt_which_country_does_the_most_good_for_the_world?language=en#t-836179
Yes, it is a TED talk. I liked it very much, at least most of it, a few thoughts of mine:
1) I wasn't expecting too much from the video based on the hazy and general title, but it turned out great :)
2) I really liked Simon Anholt's view on how our society is not responding fast enough to globalization, that globalization has, by much, left us behind. It is of course strongly linked with the argument that technological advancement is much faster than social advancement, and this is actually the cause of all (most) of humanity's problems.
But Simon Anholt really grasps a good point about globalization in this speech, about how the global challenges we face are not being tackled at all, simply because we are a species organized in the manner of geographically localized countries. And yes! Much of our problems, our largest problems, are on a global scale, and as a society we have barely taken the first steps out of the cradle of our geo-localized countries. It is sort of sad, and it's going to be a long and sluggish way to a global society, maybe even requiring more massive violent conflicts before we realize what's best. Some of you may know, but I do hate the concepts of countries, but that's for another day.
3) I wouldn't say it's a perfect analogy at all, but the story of the difference between heaven and hell popped into my mind, when Simon Anholt was talking about countries being "good" instead of "selfish". If you don't know which story it is, you can read it here: http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/children/toolbox/session1/sessionplan/stories/109416.shtml
4) So the whole vision is very idealistic, about everyone doing good for the other, but I'm really glad that such serious people are seriously standing out for such visions. It's what we need.
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