By Isaac Deville, staff reporter.
Virtual Reality is no longer science fiction, it’s reality. At TEDx SVSU, lectures weren’t the only thing being explored. Students went underwater, flew in outer space, and threw snowballs at an army of snowmen.
The HTC Vive, the newest addition to mainstream virtual reality, was showcased at TEDx SVSU on Friday Sept. 30. The presenters at TEDx SVSU have successfully revealed the technology to roughly 500 people and hope to get more.
“I’ve been a fan of virtual reality since the late 80s and 90s, and I’ve been silently following it while it floundered in the industry… I tried it out and fell in love. I’m not kidding I actually teared up,” says Kelly Gray, a member of the HTC Vive team.
The VR goggles fit snugly around one’s head. One can turn around 360 degrees, and still have an area to walk to. One presentation is under water where you come face to face with a whale. Another presentation is outer space, where you can throw new planets into the solar system before they crash into earth. Finally, there is a snow fort game where you pick up snow to build a fort against a group of grumpy snowmen.
Past the VR display was the banquet hall where the TEDx talks took place. TED is a nonprofit organization whose stated intention is to spread ideas through lectures. TEDx SVSU is an effort to bring that sentiment to the college campus.
The lectures opened with an introductory video stating, “This event today is based off of the TED Conference format and ideals, but is independently organized by your local community. Today you are part of a global conversation about our shared future.”
People like Bradley Chippi wanted to be part of that conversation. “I’ve always known about TEDx,” says Chippi, Vice President of TEDx SVSU. “They have a ton of videos on Youtube, and I just thought “man something like that would be awesome for SVSU. Especially to get that SVSU name out there.””
The speakers this year are as follows: Elad Inbar, Brian Thomas, Glenn Daniels II, Benjamin Champagne and Darnell Jackson.
Benjamin Champagne’s presentation entitled “Memes N Stuff” informs the crowd on what memes are and how they are changing the way we communicate.
“Memes are units of culture which spread from person to person by means of imitation and repetition,” Champagne says. “Memes have the ability to wake you up. A lot of times they are full of irony or sarcasm.
He also has an excuse for relatives who believe scrolling through your cellphone while looking at memes is counterproductive. “I’d tell my grandmother ‘I’m participating in the digital literacy of our times.’ Probably the reason that the older generation gets a little upset with us is because they can’t handle the new technology,” Champagne says.
Champagne believes that memes give you a space to think and react creatively. He doesn’t believe it’s a waste of time, but actually really good for you. He also believes in the Taoist philosophy which states, “Wei wu Wei: Action without action.”
“I don’t think it’s anti-intellectual. I think it’s quite the opposite,” Champagne says. “I think it’s like a complex math equation that we reduce until we have the most elegant expression. Memes are the most elegant expression.”
The next speaker, Judge Darnell Jackson talks about leaving behind a legacy of lessened carbon imprints in his presentation. Jackson defined legacy and what it means. Jackson believes his legacy rests with the prison inmates who have thanked him for putting them into jail and giving them the opportunity to break their drug habits.
According to Jackson, our legacy as the human race is to become better stewards of this planet. “”Like you leave a footprint in the sand, your actions leave a visible imprint on the earth,” says Jackson.
Jackson finished his speech by warning the crowd that every individual can effect the planet. “Regardless of your age, race, gender, religion, or economic status, whether you want to or not we all leave a carbon imprint upon the earth, whether you want to or not we all will leave a legacy.”
Elad Inbar, Founder and CEO of RobotLAB Inc., shows how he inspires students with the use of robotics in his presentation. He empathizes with students who don’t achieve well. “When I was in school, everything they taught went in one ear and out the other. I was bored. As a result, I was a troublemaker,” says Inbar.
He reaches out to students like him by teaching the kids with robotics and technology.. “These are not stupid kids or lazy kids or kids with ADHD that you need to medicate. These are bright young adults who are just craving for someone to spark their creativity,” Inbar says. He believes that robots of all sorts give students a hands-on, practical way of understanding their studies.
Next was Brian Thomas whose wife died from heart complications. This inspired him to run, but he believes most of his work goes unseen. He says, “Races themselves get a little too much glory. If this was a movie, it would be the race, it would be the finish line where the hero or heroine would cross it, and they would do the slow motion and they would play some fan-fare music. And the weeks, the months, and the years of training would get compressed down into a montage of video clips or images that did not, to me, recognize the hard work for what it actually takes to show up at the start line, much less make it across the finish line.”
His lecture largely centered around dealing with the grief of losing a loved one, and how to cope with it, in his case with races.
Finally, there was Glenn Daniel’s presentation on why dumb goals are smart. As a motivational speaker with his own seminars, he is no stranger to success or public speaking. He cited the Wright Brothers, where people once said “If God made people to fly, he would have put wings on their backs.” He says, “We got to stop to be limited by what we think, By what other people think.
Ted Talks will continue to inspire people and students to think big. All in all, when the lecturers went away and the VR station was dismantled, one can be certain that next year the third annual TEDx SVSU will take place.
