Could the arts help us reclaim our empathy? | Tony Lankester | TEDxJohannesburg скачать в хорошем качестве

Could the arts help us reclaim our empathy? | Tony Lankester | TEDxJohannesburg

For all of our smugness, and our cleverness as a species, us humans are starting to chip away – as a result of technology – at the one thing that separates us from other species; we’ve started to erode at our sense of empathy. From the vantage point of Tony Lankester, CEO of South Africa’s National Arts Festival, it often seems like the solution to every problem could be – you guessed it – the arts. In his eyes, social media has created a selfish, narcissistic vortex into which we are all being sucked. But how do we leap out of this vortex? How do we regain our empathy? In a crisply articulated talk, Tony makes the compelling case that the arts could indeed be the answer. Tony, like many others, got a Journalism degree from Rhodes University. Since then he has had a varied career across the media, broadcasting, corporate and arts sectors. He is currently CEO of South Africa's National Arts Festival and believes that the world would be an infinitely better place if everyone listened to music, went to the theatre, appreciated poetry and travelled the world. He is mildly obsessed with the many WTF moments that make up the train wreck of current American politics. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx