Themes War and Peace

TEDTalks offer many perspectives on war -- from Thomas Barnett's bracing realpolitik to James Nachtwey's powerful photos of global conflict.

In fact, it is startling how many TEDTalks touch on war, armaments, strategies, effects. Alan Russell's talk on way-new medicine is capped by his discussion of combat burn injuries. Chris Abani and Patrick Awuah, a writer and an educator, both talk about how a country under military control cannot grow a strong people. Deborah Scranton uses the latest moviemaking techniques to tell the ancient, never-ending story of war and its fighters.

But perhaps it need not be a never-ending story. Steven Pinker makes his case for our world being less violent than any society before. And Robert Wright tells us that global war is not a zero-sum game. We can't have pure winners and pure losers -- we must all win a little, or we all lose.

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