John Lloyd a British producer had a ted talk titled “What’s Invisible? More than you think.” I was initially drawn to it because it was the first animated ted talk I had ever see.  It was all about existence and within our existence Lloyd addressed what is visible and not visible.  His premise, the things that are most important are invisible and least known. 

One example he used to help us to understand this idea was our view of the stars, galaxies and planets.  He said “we can see the stars but we cannot see the force that keeps them apart”, he also talked about how little of the universe we can actually see. He said we can see a person but can’t see their thoughts and the harder we look or closer, the harder it is to see them.  The idea that what we can see is less important than what we can’t is profound and immediately sparks thoughts and ideas.  He addressed things like gravity and radio waves and how we do not know very much of anything, especially the things we cannot see.

But what I found more important during this ted talk was that he ended it with two important questions and two quotes.

The questions were:

Why are we here?

What should we do about it while we are?

The Quotes:

“I don’t know why we are here but I am pretty sure it's not to enjoy ourselves.”

“We are here on earth to help others, what the others are here for I’ve no idea.”

In his own cynical and humorous way, Lloyd challenged us.  In similar fashion of the  “step your game up” videos addressed in the Chris Anderson video about Global innovation,  Llyod, is driving us to question what is really important, and what should we do with our lives.  

The use of animation on top of the audio of the live talk was unique.  The animated images helped to fully visualize points and reinforce them. I also felt that the collaboration of Animators with this educational piece helped make the wealth of information easier to digest.  That assistance is exactly what educators look for in aids to assist in decoding ideas and knowledge for students to be successful.

Though some of his examples were poking fun it was a very heavy topic that requires thought.  The also indirectly ask the viewers to question themselves and discover why they are here and what they plan to do with their life. If the viewers were also educators or animators they might also take away the question, how do I innovate my teaching to be as compelling and thought provoking as this video?