ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Bob Stein - Publisher
Bob Stein has long been in the vanguard: immersed in radical politics as a young man, he grew into one of the founding fathers of new media. He’s wondering what sorts of new rituals and traditions might emerge as society expands to include increasing numbers of people in their eighties and nineties.

Why you should listen

Until his early 30's, Bob Stein was a full-time radical activist. In 1981, he spent a year researching and writing a paper for Encyclopedia Britannica -- "EB and the Intellectual Tools of the Future" -- and he has been involved in electronic publishing ever since. In 1984 he founded The Criterion Collection, a critically acclaimed series of definitive films, which included the first supplementary sections and director commentaries and introduced the letterbox format. He also founded The Voyager Company, which in 1989 published one of the first commercial CD-ROMs, "The CD Companion to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony." In 1992 Voyager published the first electronic books, including Douglas Adams's Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. In 2004 The MacArthur Foundation provided a generous grant with which Stein founded the Institute for the Future of the Book, a small think and do tank aimed at exploring and influencing the evolution of new forms of intellectual expression. In 2005, the Institute published the first "networked books," which an important milestone in the shift to social reading and writing as discourse moves from pages to screens. After waiting 25 years, since he saw the first public demo of VR, Stein is currently working on a platform to present music and art performance in a shared social space.

More profile about the speaker
Bob Stein | Speaker | TED.com
TED Residency

Bob Stein: A rite of passage for late life

Bob Stein: Um ritual de passagem para a vida tardia

Filmed:
1,199,843 views

Usamos rituais para marcar as fases iniciais de nossas vidas, como aniversários e formaturas, mas e para nossa vida tardia? Nesta palestra introspectiva sobre olhar tanto para trás como adiante, Bob Stein propõe uma nova tradição de presentear suas coisas (e compartilhar as narrativas por trás delas) enquanto envelhece, para refletir sobre sua vida até agora e abrir uma porta para tudo que vier.
- Publisher
Bob Stein has long been in the vanguard: immersed in radical politics as a young man, he grew into one of the founding fathers of new media. He’s wondering what sorts of new rituals and traditions might emerge as society expands to include increasing numbers of people in their eighties and nineties. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
I grew up white, secular and middle class
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Eu cresci branco,
sem religião e de classe média
00:16
in 1950s America.
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nos Estados Unidos dos anos 50.
Ou seja, assistia aos fogos de artifício
no Dia da Independência.
00:19
That meant watching fireworks
on the Fourth of July,
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00:22
trick-or-treating on Halloween
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coletava doces no Halloween
00:24
and putting presents
under a tree at Christmas.
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e colocava presentes na árvore de Natal.
00:27
But by the time
those traditions got to me,
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Mas quando essas tradições chegaram a mim,
elas já eram vazios
empreendimentos comerciais
00:30
they were hollow, commercial enterprises,
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00:32
which just left me feeling empty.
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os quais me deixavam
com um sentimento de incompletude.
00:34
So from a relatively young age,
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Assim, desde que era jovem,
00:36
I found myself looking to fill
an existential hole,
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procurei preencher esse vazio existencial,
00:40
to connect with something
bigger than myself.
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para me conectar com algo maior que eu.
Há mais de um século não celebrávamos
o Bar Mitzvah em minha família,
00:44
There hadn't been a bar mitzvah
in my family in over a century,
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00:47
so I thought I'd take a shot at that --
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então resolvi experimentar,
00:49
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
00:50
only to be devastated
when my one encounter with the rabbi,
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apenas para me sentir arrasado
ao me encontrar com o rabino,
00:54
a really tall, godlike figure
with flowing white hair,
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um cara muito alto, com aparência divina
e seus cabelos brancos,
00:58
consisted of him asking me
for my middle name
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e ele apenas perguntar meu nome do meio
01:01
so we could fill out a form.
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para preencher um formulário.
01:04
Yep, that was it.
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É, foi só isso.
01:05
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
01:06
So I got the fountain pen,
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Ganhei a caneta tinteiro de presente,
01:08
but I didn't get the sense
of belonging and confidence
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mas não recebi a sensação de pertencimento
e confiança que estava procurando.
01:11
I was searching for.
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Muitos anos depois,
01:13
Many years later,
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não era aceitável para mim
que meu filho completasse 13 anos
01:15
I couldn't bear the thought
of my son turning 13
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01:17
without some kind of rite of passage.
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sem passar por algum rito de passagem.
01:21
So I came up with the idea
of a 13th birthday trip,
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Logo, tive a ideia de uma viagem
para comemorar seus 13 anos
01:24
and I offered to take Murphy
anywhere in the world
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e ofereci levar Murphy
a qualquer lugar no mundo
01:27
that had meaning for him.
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que tivesse significado para ele.
01:29
A budding young naturalist
who loved turtles,
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Um naturalista novo que amava tartarugas,
01:32
he immediately settled on the Galapagos.
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ele decidiu rapidamente por Galápagos.
01:35
And when my daughter, Katie, turned 13,
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Quando minha filha Katie fez 13 anos,
01:38
she and I spent two weeks
at the bottom of the Grand Canyon,
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passamos duas semanas
no fundo do Grand Canyon,
01:41
where Katie learned for the first time
that she was powerful and brave.
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onde Katie percebeu pela primeira vez
que era poderosa e corajosa.
01:46
Since then, my partner, Ashton,
and lots of our friends and relatives
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Desde então, minha companheira Ashton,
assim como vários amigos e parentes,
levaram seus filhos para viagens
em seus aniversários de 13 anos,
01:50
have taken their kids
on 13th birthday trips,
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01:53
with everyone finding it transformative
for both the child and the parent.
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sendo que tanto os filhos quanto os pais
se sentiram transformados.
02:00
I wasn't brought up saying grace.
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Eu não fui criado com o hábito de rezar.
02:03
But for the last 20 years,
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Mas nos últimos 20 anos,
02:05
we've been holding hands
before every meal.
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temos unido nossas mãos a cada refeição.
02:09
It's a beautiful bit of shared silence
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É um momento lindo
de silêncio compartilhado
02:11
that brings us all together in the moment.
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que nos une àquele momento.
02:14
Ashton tells everyone
to "pass the squeeze,"
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Ashton finaliza o momento
02:17
while she assures them it's not religious.
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sem se esquecer de dizer
que não se trata de religião.
02:19
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
02:22
So recently, when my family asked me
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Recentemente, quando minha família indagou
02:24
if I could please do something
with the more than 250 boxes of stuff
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se eu poderia fazer alguma coisa
com as mais de 250 caixas de coisas
02:30
that I've collected over a lifetime,
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que colecionei durante minha vida,
02:32
my ritual-making impulse kicked in.
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meu impulso de ritualista entrou em jogo.
02:36
I started wondering if I could go further
than simple death cleaning.
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Comecei a me perguntar se poderia
ir além da simples limpeza fatal.
02:40
"Death cleaning" is the Swedish term
for clearing our your closets,
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"Limpeza fatal" é um termo sueco
que significa limpar seu armário,
02:44
your basement and your attic
before you die,
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seu porão e seu sótão antes de sua morte,
para que seus filhos
não fiquem com essa tarefa.
02:48
so your kids don't have to do it later.
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02:50
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
02:52
I pictured my children
opening up box after box
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Imaginei meus filhos
abrindo caixa após caixa
02:55
and wondering why I'd kept
any of that stuff.
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e pensando por que eu
tinha guardado aquelas coisas.
02:59
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
03:00
And then I imagined them looking
at a specific picture
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Eu os imaginei olhando
para uma foto específica minha
03:04
of me with a beautiful young woman,
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com uma moça jovem e bonita,
03:06
and asking, "Who on earth
is that with Dad?"
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e perguntando: "Quem será esta mulher?"
03:09
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
03:10
And that was the aha moment.
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Foi este o momento de revelação.
03:13
It wasn't the things I'd saved
that were important;
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A importância não estava
nas coisas que guardei,
03:16
it was the stories that went with them
that gave them meaning.
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mas nas narrativas que as acompanhavam
e davam significado a elas.
03:21
Could using the objects
to tell the stories
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Será que usar objetos e suas narrativas
poderia ser a semente de um novo ritual?
03:24
be the seed of a new ritual,
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Um ritual de passagem,
não para um jovem de 13 anos,
03:26
a rite of passage --
not for a 13-year-old,
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03:30
but for someone much further
down the road?
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mas para alguém mais velho.
03:34
So I started experimenting.
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Então comecei a experimentar.
03:36
I got a few dozen things out of the boxes,
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Tirei algumas dúzias de coisas das caixas,
03:39
I put them about in a room,
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as coloquei em um quarto,
03:41
and I invited people to come in
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e convidei pessoas a virem
03:44
and ask me about anything
that they found interesting.
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e perguntarem sobre qualquer coisa
que achassem interessante.
03:48
The results were terrific.
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O resultado foi formidável.
03:50
A good story became a launching pad
for a much deeper discussion,
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Uma boa narrativa tornou-se base
para uma conversa mais profunda,
na qual os visitantes criaram
conexões significativas com a vida deles.
03:55
in which my visitors made
meaningful connections
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03:57
to their own lives.
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04:00
Derrius [Quarles] asked me
about a Leonard Peltier T-shirt
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Derrius Quarles me perguntou
sobre uma camiseta de Leonard Peltier
04:04
that I'd worn a lot in the '80s,
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a qual usei muito na década de 80,
04:06
that, sadly, is still relevant today.
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e que, infelizmente, ainda é relevante.
04:09
Our conversation moved quickly,
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O tema de nossa conversa mudou rapidamente
04:12
from a large number of political
prisoners in American jails,
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de um número grande de prisioneiros
políticos nas prisões americanas,
04:16
to Derrius wondering about the legacy
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a Derrius imaginando sobre o legado
do Movimento de Libertação Negra
04:18
of the Black Liberation
Movement of the '60s,
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dos anos 60,
e como a vida dele teria sido diferente
se tivesse atingido a maioridade na época
04:21
and how his life might be different
if he'd come of age then,
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04:25
instead of 30-odd years later.
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em vez de 30 e poucos anos depois.
04:28
At the end of our conversation,
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No final de nossa conversa,
04:30
Derrius asked me
if he could have the T-shirt.
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Derrius me pediu se poderia
ficar com a camiseta.
04:33
And giving it to him felt
just about perfect.
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Presenteá-lo foi a coisa perfeita a fazer.
04:37
As these conversations
established common ground,
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Enquanto estas conversas
se tornavam propriedade coletiva,
04:40
especially across generations,
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especialmente através das gerações,
04:43
I realized I was opening a space
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me dei conta que estava abrindo um espaço
04:45
for people to talk about things
that really mattered to them.
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para que pessoas conversassem sobre coisas
que tinham grande significado para elas.
04:50
And I started seeing myself
with a renewed sense of purpose --
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Comecei a me ver
com um propósito renovado,
04:54
not as the old guy on the way out,
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não mais como um velho em decadência,
mas como alguém que ainda
pode contribuir para o futuro.
04:56
but as someone with a role to play
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04:58
going forward.
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05:01
When I was growing up,
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Quando eu era jovem,
05:03
life ended for most people in their 70s.
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a vida acabava para a maioria aos 70 anos.
05:07
People are living far longer now,
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As pessoas vivem mais hoje,
05:10
and for the first time in human history,
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e pela primeira vez na história humana,
05:12
it's common for four generations
to be living side by side.
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é comum ver quatro gerações
vivendo lado a lado.
05:17
I'm 71,
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Tenho 71 anos,
e com um pouco de sorte,
05:18
and with a bit of luck,
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05:20
I've got 20 or 30 more years ahead of me.
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ainda tenho de 20 a 30 anos pela frente.
05:24
Giving away my stuff now
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Presentear minhas coisas agora
05:27
and sharing it with friends, family,
and I hope strangers, too,
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e compartilhar com meus amigos, família,
e espero que com estranhos também,
05:32
seems like the perfect way
to enter this next stage of my life.
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me parece a forma perfeita de entrar
nessa nova fase de minha vida.
05:36
Turns out to be just
what I was looking for:
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Parece ser exatamente
o que estava procurando:
05:39
a ritual that's less about dying
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um ritual que tem menos a ver com a morte
05:41
and more about opening the door
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e mais a ver com abrir a porta
para tudo que vier.
05:43
to whatever comes next.
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05:46
Thank you.
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Obrigado!
05:47
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
05:48
Onward!
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Avante!
05:49
(Applause)
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Translated by Mario Gioto
Reviewed by Maricene Crus

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Bob Stein - Publisher
Bob Stein has long been in the vanguard: immersed in radical politics as a young man, he grew into one of the founding fathers of new media. He’s wondering what sorts of new rituals and traditions might emerge as society expands to include increasing numbers of people in their eighties and nineties.

Why you should listen

Until his early 30's, Bob Stein was a full-time radical activist. In 1981, he spent a year researching and writing a paper for Encyclopedia Britannica -- "EB and the Intellectual Tools of the Future" -- and he has been involved in electronic publishing ever since. In 1984 he founded The Criterion Collection, a critically acclaimed series of definitive films, which included the first supplementary sections and director commentaries and introduced the letterbox format. He also founded The Voyager Company, which in 1989 published one of the first commercial CD-ROMs, "The CD Companion to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony." In 1992 Voyager published the first electronic books, including Douglas Adams's Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. In 2004 The MacArthur Foundation provided a generous grant with which Stein founded the Institute for the Future of the Book, a small think and do tank aimed at exploring and influencing the evolution of new forms of intellectual expression. In 2005, the Institute published the first "networked books," which an important milestone in the shift to social reading and writing as discourse moves from pages to screens. After waiting 25 years, since he saw the first public demo of VR, Stein is currently working on a platform to present music and art performance in a shared social space.

More profile about the speaker
Bob Stein | Speaker | TED.com