????“TED”是英文“科技、娛樂、設計”（technology, entertainment, design）三個詞的縮寫，除了那三個醒目的紅色大字以外，還真是難以三言兩語把它說清。TED大會最出名的就是那些限時18分鐘的精彩演講，本周二，TED講臺上的許多最出色的演講人也是照著稿子念的。盡管TED大會的講臺可以說是世界上最重要的講臺之一，但大多數知名演講人都是穿著運動鞋上臺的。（女性演講者傾向于穿得更職業、更時尚，男士們根據大會的傳統都不打領帶。）

????今年的TED大會于本周在溫哥華港口的一座會展中心召開，這次大會最令我驚訝的是演講的質量參差不齊。據說大會主辦方之前讓演講人們反復排練，以求個個講出喬布斯的范兒，因此我原以為每場演講都會“震”到我。但是再想一想，就覺得我的奢望太不切實際了。另外，評價一場演講到底好不好也是件非常主觀的事。最讓我贊嘆的是整場大會的制作水準。流程的無縫銜接簡直無可挑剔，而且內容本身不拘一格，簡直就像一場內容最緊湊的大學研討會。

????布蘭?費倫是一名“科技設計師”，曾經在迪士尼（Disney）擔任“想象工程師”。他的演講就是證明TED的精彩性和多樣性的極好例子。他的演講幾乎沒有任何視覺效果，只是照本宣科地念，但是內容卻非常吸引人。他把互聯網比做混凝土，雖然是一種有價值的建筑材料，但也就不過如此。他認為“自動駕駛汽車”將是未來一些年里人類文明最積極的進步之一，理由也是我聽過的之中最令人信服的——自動駕駛汽車的技術一旦成熟了，不僅能降低污染，緩解交通擁堵，而且由于我們不用再花很多時間堵在路上，我們還能“重獲大量損失的生產力”。但是在這個項目仍然有一些障礙還沒有跨越，比如教會汽車怎樣“喚醒”乘客，讓他們向汽車輸入關于周邊環境的那些最好由人來分析的指令。

????我個人認為，當天最精彩的一場演講當屬建筑師馬克?庫什納就近30年的建筑史所作的發言。他說建筑師們經常在創新（他們自己喜歡但大眾討厭）和標志性建筑（他們自己不喜歡但大眾覺得舒服）之間搖擺不定。他說：“標志性建筑既簡單又便宜，我們不是建造某個空間，而是建造某個地方的標志物?！辈贿^庫什納也表示，數字媒體的發展正在改變一切。現在在項目建設的同時，建筑師們就能夠從客戶和大眾那里獲得實時反饋。比如說約紐的火燒島上有一棟樓就是他的公司設計的。從設計完成進入施工階段開始，他們公司就把圖紙放在Facebook和Instagram上。這樣，居民們就知道樓建好后會是什么樣子，而且他們也很喜歡這棟建筑。

????第二天的另一個驚喜就是“棱鏡門”的爆料者斯諾登出現在大屏幕上。TED大會的負責人克里斯?安德森借助遠程視頻系統對斯諾登進行了采訪，而斯諾登本人則隱身于俄羅斯某地。斯諾登的演講非常吸引人，也有種啟示錄的味道。他言語間給人的感覺非常理智、聰明，令人信服。他為自己的行為進行了強有力的辯解。他說：“我是誰根本不重要，重要的是那些問題。”斯諾登充滿激情地探討的“那些問題”也就是被他的前雇主——美國國家安全局（the National Security Agency）粗暴踐踏的隱私權問題。斯諾登說：“你的權利很重要，因為你永遠不知道你什么時候需要它，它也是美國人的文化特性的一部分。”他號召美國的大型網絡公司對用戶的網站訪問進行加密，把它設定為默認設置，以防止包括美國在內的各國政府輕易地獲取美國公民的行為信息。

????TED, which stands for 'technology, entertainment and design," is almost impossible to characterize beyond that ridiculously broad rubric. Best known for its slick, 18-minute "talks," some of the best speakers on Tuesday read from their typewritten texts. Most of its highly accomplished speakers wear sneakers despite being on one of the world's most important stages. (Female speakers are more likely to dress professionally and stylishly; the men have been cowed by tradition into not wearing neckties.)

????My biggest surprise so far at TED, taking place this week at a convention center on the harbor in Vancouver, is the uneven quality of the talks. Knowing the Steve Jobs-like rehearsal regimen TED's producers impose on presenters, I expected to be wowed by every talk. But upon reflection, that just wasn't realistic on my part. Besides, judging a speech is a highly subjective endeavor. What sings every time is the production value of the entire conference. The seamless flow is nothing short of stunning, and the content itself in an eclectic collection of lectures that can best be described as the most intense college seminar you never attended.

????Bran Ferren, a "technology designer" who once was a Disney "Imagineer," is a case in point of the TED serendipity and diversity. With almost no visuals, he read a speech that was the opposite of slick -- and totally engaging. He likened the Internet to concrete, a valuable building material but no more than that. He gave perhaps the most compelling explanation I've heard for why what he called "autonomous vehicles" will be one of the most positive developments for civilization for years to come. Self-driving cars, once they are perfected, will reduce pollution, eliminate congestion and "recapture vast amounts of lost productivity," said Ferren, due to all the time humans no longer will be stuck in traffic. There are a few kinks left to be worked out, like teaching cars how to "wake up" their passengers for input about surroundings best left to a human to analyze.

????The best talk of the day, in my book, was a rollicking presentation on three decades of architectural history by the architect Marc Kushner. He lucidly explained that architects swing on a predictable pendulum from innovation (which they love but the public often hates) to symbols (which bore them but the public finds comforting). "Symbols are easy and cheap," said Kushner, with architectural disdain. "Instead of making places, we make symbols of places." Good news though: Kushner says digital media is changing everything because architects now have the ability to seek real-time feedback from their clients and the public as their projects are being built. He cited a public building on Fire Island in New York that his firm designed and posted drawings about on Facebook and Instagram as it moved from planning to construction. He said residents already knew what to expect by the time the innovative building was finished. And they liked it.

????Edward Snowden was Day 2's surprise highlight. Chris Anderson, TED's "curator," interviewed a robot that moved around the stage with a video screen with Snowden's face broadcast from his undisclosed location in Russia. Listening to Snowden speak at length was riveting and revelatory. He comes across as totally reasonable, sane and convincing. He made a strong case for his motivations, love him or hate him. "Who I am doesn't really matter at all," Snowden said. "What matters are the issues." The issues that Snowden passionately argued are the rights to privacy he says his former contract employer, the National Security Agency, has trampled. "Your rights matter because you never know when you're going to need them," he said. "They are part of our cultural identity" as Americans. Snowden also called on big U.S. Internet companies to encrypt web browsing on their sites as a default setting, which would prevent governments, including the U.S., from gaining easy access to the behavior of U.S. citizens.????