Paul MacCready TED Talk

Paul MacCready's recently posted TED talk from 2003 is my favorite in a while. The recently deceased MacCready was an aeronautical engineer, the inventor of the first functional human powered flying machine, and a pioneer of solar aircraft. Besides presenting a very cool video of one of his solar planes in action and having one of his sons demonstrate the walkalong glider (one of the coolest toys I've ever seen), he discusses the rapid and dangerous introduction over the past 200 years of fossil fuel fumes to earth's atmosphere. He also offers up "the most important slide any of you will see... ever," showing the overwhelming effect of modern human society on the balance of nature. Humans, livestock, and pets currently make up 98% of the world's total mass of land and air vertebrates, whereas a mere 10,000 years ago this number was less then one-tenth of one-percent! As one of MacCready's slides puts it:

Over billions of years, on a unique sphere, chance has painted a thin covering of life - complex, improbable, wonderful and fragile.

Suddenly we humans (a recently arrived species no longer subject to the checks and balances inherent in nature) have grown in population, technology, and intelligence to a position of terrible power: we now wield the paintbrush.

Profound and sobering stuff. Here's the talk:



If you're having trouble streaming as I did, it's available for download on their website.