how do you take what's happened in the
past linked it with what's happening now
and borrow from other cultures to get
that message to work yeah our next TEDx
speaker is K sub ki
see love non-blocking Ashley sorry yes
sir liamri
why listen EF Cowley
Salam alaikum everyone actually have a
crazy amount of material to get through
in 8 minutes and so I'm not gonna delay
I'm gonna dive straight in the agenda of
things that I wish to achieve in 8
minutes I'll talk about not discuss but
actually achieve in 8 minutes
end world hunger achieve everlasting
peace eradicate poverty make the world a
better place and to top it all off find
the answer to life the universe and
everything thank you
however there's a slight problem I can't
do this I need eight lifetimes to do
this not eight minutes so I'm gonna have
to fall back onto my backup plan and
that is to pass on the mic to the next
speaker
I'm kidding of course there has to be a
catch obviously and thankfully there is
let's take another look at this agenda
well first of all we have 20% of this
agenda not just doable done I'm talking
about this last one finding the answer
to life the universe and everything and
I actually have the answer on the back
of this slide and before I show it to
you something tells me you know you're a
smart crowd I'm sure someone out there
knows that so let's put that theory to
the test I'll open it up to you textures
if you know the answer to life the
universe and everything please shout it
out now yes indeed I told you and for
those of you scratching their heads
wondering how on earth the answer to
life the universe and everything is 42
once the event is over just ask those
who answer they'll give you a wonderful
answer so meanwhile I need to get back
to this sticky agenda what we have here
is four remaining points and I'd like to
say something about the first three
those first three
points are absolute in nature and what I
mean by this we take the first one for
example end world hunger
what do we need to do for that well it
has to be not a single hungry soul
anywhere on the planet
achieving everlasting peace no wars any
point in time anywhere in the world
eradicating poverty no one living below
the poverty line period but that fourth
point see that's different that's not
absolute that's actually relative so
we're talking about making the world a
better place and that's distinctly
different than making it the best place
possible all we're talking about here is
just making it slightly better in the
future than it was a few moments ago and
that's a lot easier to achieve than most
people think actually I think it's so
easy that all you need to do is just one
simple thing so my my one step to a
better world is actually my idea worth
spreading and I honestly believe this
all that we need to do is to simply put
our interests to good work and I want to
take a moment here just to talk about a
bit of my own personal experience about
five years ago I had something of an
awakening when I suddenly realized that
the years I spent studying information
technology and the years I spent working
in that field well it's a sad conclusion
but it was time spent doing something
that was maybe practical but not
necessarily something that I was very
passionate about and so it set me on
this mission to try to find what it is
that I'm actually passionate about and
what I did was i sat down with a pen and
a paper and I let the floodgates open I
started writing every single thing I
could think of stuff I was fascinated in
interested in pastimes hobbies you name
it I just started listing them out and
once I was done I thought okay now what
I did was I took two things off that
list not one I chose two things and I
decided that I was going to try to
creatively mesh them together into some
solution and here's the catch that
addresses a challenge so basically I was
trying to do stuff that I would think
was cool and fun and enjoyable even have
if I was doing it for any reason and
then tried to apply that towards
something that others would benefit from
the two things I chose from my list were
a love of reading and an interest in all
things Japanese I love Japanese culture
and so the problem I'm trying to face is
a perceived lack of interest in reading
among the youth in the in the Middle
East I think it's very important to
actually put a concerted effort behind
this reading is not the kind of thing
that people pick up without you trying
to motivate them to do it you don't find
kids who just you know realize all of a
sudden that I want to be reading they'd
much rather be playing video games
watching TV movies it's it comes
naturally it's it's much easier pastime
and so the solution in my case was to
set up an independent publishing house
to focus on our own original content
graphic novels in classical Arabic
because they're sorely needed I think
it's it's very essential to focus on our
mother tongue and the Japanese part
comes by following the manga format so I
set up the company wrote the first
volume it's been printed it's actually
out in the shelves and it's doing
wonderfully I mean there's a lot of
media interest a lot of the fans really
liked it and so this is kind of the the
experience I had I want to share another
thing with you I was watching this video
biography of this individuals life and
this one part really stuck out it was
this part where a mathematics teacher
was talking about how she was trying to
guide this individual towards a career
year in mathematics because and I quote
that's where the money is
end quote I actually have a photo of
this individual and you might recognize
this guy he is indeed Michael Jordan and
I think in retrospect probably the
greatest thing he ever did was to
totally ignore his teachers advice by
following his passion well Michael
Jordan was able to do was continue doing
the thing that he'd actually if he had
to he'd even pay people to play
basketball he's been an inspiration he's
done what no other basketball player has
been able to achieve he's done so and
and shown great sportsmanship he's been
an inspiration to people who have
followed his every step of his career
and surprise surprise he makes a lot
more than any mathematician I know so
this is just one example and it's by
pure coincidence I mean that two people
whose work has directly influenced me
and inspired me I've already spoken here
on this stage dr. Nathan power and my
friend mem it's a terrible
what I want to say is that you should
look around us for inspiration people
will inspire us but don't forget to look
inwards for your passion it lies within
you it's not it's not for me to tell
anybody else what to be passionate about
it's your decision so let's go back to
that sticky agenda and I think we've
kind of laid out a structure for how to
mark that fourth one is done the first
three the first three are actually
really tough I mean no one up to this
point in time is it can lay a claim to
those but what I'm trying to say is that
if we focus on the fourth one if we
focus on doing our part that maybe
sometime in the future someone will be
able to stand up here and mark those
three as done I think that's not bad for
eight minutes to be honest and I'd like
to take some some time here to just say
what is it that I'd like you to take
away from this TED talk once the event
is over I want you to ask yourselves
what is it that you plan to do with your
eight minutes what are your interests
you know what what's your list gonna
look like what two things might you
choose how can you creatively put them
together to solve something that would
benefit others how can you change the
world around you it's really easy it's
not it's not that difficult and the last
thing I want to say is something my
mother keeps reminding me of my mother
always tells me the day we stop dreaming
is the day we die alright granted we
don't really die but I wonder I mean are
we really living if we're living our
lives without dreams without passion I
don't think so I think it's very
important to dream not only that dream
and dream large don't sell yourself
short on dreams dream as big a dream as
you can and don't stop there you need an
action plan you need to think about what
kind of steps you can take towards
realizing these dreams so after it and I
think it's only then that you can truly
be the best person you can possibly be
dream do be thank you for listening
you