Top 10 New Year's Questions for 2021

Top 10 New Year's Questions for 2021

Finally, I've written summaries of TED talks over 1,000 and updated them on my blog. Next year, I want to train my speaking skills more and update my videos!

1. What did you learn about yourself from this year 2020?

I've learned that it's important to have the ability to concentrate when I do anything. During coronavirus spreading, I thought I had time to do many things, however, I could do nothing. Just, I saw my smartphone, felt bad, couldn't sleep and it was repeated.  

2. Which relationship meant the most to you this year and why?

Pandemic and digital gadgets taught me that friendship on the surface was not necessary. It’ｓbetter to leave there than to have conversations. 

relationship /noun/ connection, relatedness

3. What was one of the biggest challenges you faced this year and how did you handle it?

The biggest challenge that I could do last year, it's to get up early and to study English every morning before I starting work, couldn't do it completely this year because of coronavirus. I couldn't sleep well every day, it led to getting up late and I felt bad always. 

Furthermore, The one more biggest challenge that l faced is that no one tries buying our company products because of coronavirus. People couldn't travel, enjoy shopping too, and we've not handled it yet. Our company has to serve something that people can enjoy and hold on to during even coronavirus.

4. What was one of your proudest moments from this year and why?

My proudest moment from this year is, of course,  that l got received a birthday cake from THE PHILIPPINES!! The way was going beyond my imagination, I didn't know, couldn't think, and my colleagues couldn't also think about it. Just, an Uber delivered it to me, though, the call was from the Philippines. "This is global or worldwide, the world is becoming flat and near, and it was amazing and great,  said my colleagues who didn't like to study English. 

5. What was one of the most meaningful compliments you received this year?  Why was it so meaningful to you?

I give a great compliment to myself. It was great to be able to continue studying English this year.

6. What did you do for fun this year? What was one of your favorite memories?

This year, there was no fun thing because of COVID-19. Just, I walked every day around near my house during avoiding people while wearing a mask. It's because I felt a lack of exercise. 

7. If you could change one thing from this year, what would you change and why?

In fact, I started to go to the training gym and have a dance lesson! It's because I felt a lack of exercise. I've already changed and started them. 

8. What was the most meaningful thing someone did for you this year?

Although my English progress is very slow, many teachers teach me English. 

9. If you were to brag about one of your accomplishments from this year, which one would it be and why?

I decided to have time not to see and use my smartphone a lot. 

It's called "Digital Dansyri" which is a Japanese word to describe letting go. It teaches you not only how to let go of physical and mental clutter but also helps you free from stress and purify your mind. It's also minimalism and simple living. 

brag / big talk, tall tale

10. Given all your experiences, insights, and lessons learned from 2020, what's the best advice you could give yourself for 2021?

I think that we can't go back, can't return a former condition, it's severe and you might lose your hope, however, it's more severe to think that you can return and you couldn't do anything. This is the time when I can prepare many things. 

JayaShri Maathaa : A magical mantra for nurturing a blissful life

JayaShri Maathaa·TEDWomen 2020
A magical mantra for nurturing a blissful life
Summary 

The story must make us who are in pandemic realize what is important. The magical words are “Thank you”. 

Is it important that now, you are telling yourself you are suffering, COVID-19 should be killed, the policies in the country are not good, the President or Prime Minister is evil, people who go out should be punished more, and etc?

The speaker suggests that the true feeling of gratitude words “Thank you” in your heart must help you deal with any life situation peacefully, joyfully, and blissfully. 

The situation will be continuing a little more and what you can be happy, free from all suffering, and be enlightened is not to forget the words “Thank you”. 

I extend my sincere condolences to people who passed away because of coronavirus and l thank people who are working in the hospitals and everywhere during coronavirus spreading. I am grateful to have a job, to be able to eat, and to have time to study English this year, too. 

Thank you for teaching me English every year!

Merve Emre : How do personality tests work?

Merve Emre·TED-Ed
How do personality tests work?
Summary 

People love to test their personality, though, the speaker tells us that none of those tests reveal truths about personality. 

It’s because it’s not known whether personality is a measurable feature of an individual at all or not, it’s easy to lie, self-reporting is not objective and people who get a test and who ask something subconsciously aim to please and believe the answers that they love. Furthermore, facing the same forced-choice question multiple times leads to changing their answer. 

Thus we have to be careful to use it. It’s not perfect and fair to judge people.

Genevieve Bell : 6 big ethical questions about the future of AI

Genevieve Bell·TED Salon: Dell Technologies
6 big ethical questions about the future of AI
Summary 

Does Al rob our work and does it kill us someday? Can we coexist with AI?

The speaker makes Al and its possibilities without people being worried, thus she tries to have 6 big ethical questions about the future of AI. If those are forgotten, we mustn’t live with AI. Those are to take AI safely, sustainably, and responsibly to scale. 

The system should be autonomous 1), have agency 2), think about assurance 3), and AI-driven systems4). It shouldn’t behave in entirely different ways suddenly and we have to understand and know about  AI-driven systems working well 5) and what’s the system designed to do and what is the world that the system is building 6). 

Humans have created AI thus we have to have responsibilities. 

Anna Babel : Who counts as a speaker of a language?

Anna Babel·TEDxOhioStateUniversity

Who counts as a speaker of a language?

Summary 

This must be a really interesting story for Japanese who study English. It’s because Japanese people are always told that they can't speak English, even if they live in other countries where English is used. At home, they will use Japanese or when people see their faces, people believe that Japanese people can’t speak it. If they speak it well, they will be asked if they are Korean or Chinese. Sometimes, they write English really well because in school, they learn how to write it without speaking it for a long time and they read a lot of English books in Japanese. Many weird things happen. 

The speaker tells us that the relationship between language and social categories is intricate and complex but people are pattern seekers, we are always looking for ways to connect the dots between different types of information. We can’t understand that our underlying biases are projected onto language. People have different backgrounds so your assumptions are not always right and decisive. 

P.S. The speaker's example stories of how Spanish native speakers speak English were interesting as well and she whose name was babel used the story of the Babel tower first. 

Ajay Banga : Financial inclusion, the digital divide and other thoughts on the future of money

 Ajay Banga·TED@BCG

Financial inclusion, the digital divide and other thoughts on the future of money 

Summary 

No one thought about not only coronavirus spreading this year but also lockdown. We didn’t think that we couldn’t go out and even go to work. It shows the digital divide. It means that during COVID-19, some people could work, buy, study, and watch movies by using the internet, though, there are many people who couldn’t use the internet. They don’t have smartphones and it’s highly possible that they don’t have bank accounts thus they don’t have credit cards also. It means that they can do nothing during coronavirus spreading if they have even little money at home. 

The speaker who is the CEO of Mastercard tells us that the number is two billion. Not educating them on how to use banks and credit cards is like giving inequalities and excluding them. 

His explanation is that those people, public and private sectors have to cooperate to access banks, financial services, credit cards, insurance, and investment. 

People who don’t have a bank account are not the people who don’t have money. They just don’t know how to use the internet, just don’t have a formal identity, or think that they don’t believe banks and credit cards. They just want to deal in cash like the speaker’s father. However, credit cards now have more credit than money. It’s also different from cashless and zero cash. Reducing cash in the economy is a good objective. Printing, securing, distributing, and using cash is a high cost. Reducing it efficiently works for our GDP and electronic forms of money are more transparent than money, though, many people don’t know, don’t believe it and they will be worked whether their data is deleted or not. 

The speaker suggests that for saving poor people from coronavirus, it’s necessary to understand using credit cards. For increasing our economy, it’s necessary as well and the public and companies have to cooperate. 

Sarah Brosnan : Why monkeys (and humans) are wired for fairness

 Why monkeys and humans are wired for fairness 
Summary 

The speaker is a scientist and a primatologist. We know that monkeys and humans’ actions are alike and she tells us that both of them have a sense of fairness. Her study showed that a monkey also wanted to get the same food that an immediate monkey was eating.  If the monkey knew that neighborhood had different food and it could get from exchanging, she wanted to exchange to get the same as humans would do. 

And then, the speaker explains that humans have advanced cognitive abilities to be able to plan more than monkeys. It means that humans can think that they are equal or become equal in the near future if we work together and we believe that our economic connection relates fairness and cooperation strongly, though, if we feel that it’s not changing, our society and communities will be breaking. 

This must be our current society. People feel left out of the reward and benefits of the system, they will stop participating, and the whole system will fall apart. Humans naturally and evolutionarily reject unfairness like monkeys, but we must have the ability to change it more than monkeys. 

Sharon Weinberger : Initiative Inside the massive (and unregulated) world of surveillance tech

Sharon Weinberger·TED Salon: Brightline Initiative
Inside the massive (and unregulated) world of surveillance tech

Summary 

This was an important story to protect our country. 

The speaker asked us "What is a weapon in the Information Age?"

Armed drones are weapons and missiles and bombs are also weapons, but we have to know that it’s classified broad categories of technologies as weapons and it includes surveillance tools. Furthermore, it’s trading and governments want to sell more weapons abroad with fewer restrictions. It’s because they want to get not only money, it's expensive, but opponent information. However, our information is also sold. The speaker suggests to regulate and control their sale because it's really dangerous if a spy uses them. We must understand its danger more. 

Sakinah Hofler : How creative writing can help you through life's hardest moments

How creative writing can help you through life’s hardest moments 
Summary 

The story was the worst thing for me and l never do that. It’s to share about myself. 

The speaker tells us that you don’t plan on becoming creative writers, but you break your silence a little. For example, your little regret is that you wanted to say something or to do something, though you couldn’t do it. She said that it’s not difficult. First, to brainstorm and write it down, to focus on three things, and to make time to write it. 

The three stories that she focused on were the things that happened after 9/11, that her friend pulled a gun on her and her boss asked her about her hijab. 

Those were her hardest moments that she didn’t want to acknowledge, though writing down is to record, to be able to capture the memory and to be able to acknowledge its existence. It makes her a natural storyteller. 

Emily Levesque : A stellar history of modern astronomy

A stellar history of modern astronomy 
Summary 

The speaker tells us that in the past, every star in the galaxy was counted by hand!!

With technology evolution, and then telescopes were invented. However, it was tough to use a telescope and a camera simultaneously, it’s necessary to get evidence, astronomers couldn’t just walk away from the camera, they had to stay there all night shivering in the cold. 

By advancing technology, how to operate telescopes has really changed. You don’t even need to go to telescopes anymore, you can run it with your laptop, and send commands from your laptop telling the telescope where to point when to open and close the shutter, what pictures you want it to take of the universe. Furthermore, with digital data, the telescope can look for anything that’s changed. It means to be able to compare old and new observations automatically and to be ready to learn some incredible new things about the universe.

María Teresa Kumar : How the new generation of Latinx voters could change US elections

 María Teresa Kumar·TEDWomen 2020

How the new generation of Latinx voters could change the US

Summary 

Various races and immigrant families live in the United States. In the 2020 US presidential election, a record number of young people voted for the first time. It included a historic number of Latinx as well. 

The speaker seems to be their leader and she has shown about the issues closest to young Latinx voters. It includes health care, climate equality, and racial justice. The important thing is that young people speak up for their world that is livable, equitable, and just. The speaker tells us that the election result can rebuild America. 

P.S. l strongly think that people and the media tell us the demerits of Trump too much. It’s like bullying in schools. You must tell your children that they should see the good in friends and they must improve their strength. 

If you did see the good in Trump's political power and you helped improve Trump’s strength, America would succeed more. You should be careful with the Chinese. There is a historic number of Latinx in America means that there are more Chinese than them there. 

Rosalind G. Brewer : The role of business in nurturing long-term diversity and inclusion

Rosalind G. Brewer·TED@BCG

The role of business in nurturing long-term diversity and inclusion 

Summary 

The speaker is Starbucks COO and in Starbucks, people of various races are working.  However, she tells us that for a long time, people worried about the race for numbers in one company instead of building relationships with people of diverse backgrounds in the United States. And then, it was not effective and not supportive of efforts to be more inclusive and diversity. 

Leaders have to make employees feel more worthy and learn from each other. 

The generation is not that you are a leader thus employees follow you. It’s about how great you can create followership. 

After one black man was killed, the pandemic showed the inequalities in the communities, health care, and their housing. People must know about the ills of lack of diversity and inclusion and have to have more conversations for its solutions to create a truly inclusive workplace.