More cancers will be preventable in five to 10 years, using a vaccine. People wearing artificial feet may scale walls a la Spider-Man. Robots will come with lifelike faces that convey human emotion.
That was just a sampling of the technology envisioned for the future at TED, the annual Technology, Entertainment and Design gathering of corporate, Hollywood and scientific glitterati touted as a cauldron of ideas and innovation.
But this year, optimism for the future might have been clouded somewhat, by a grim present reality - how to bankroll embryonic initiatives when capital markets are sputtering, and enthusiasm wanes for financially risky investments.
"It's not that people aren't focused on the financial crisis, but this is a place for vision. They're thinking past the present," argues Martin Pazzani, an entrepreneur and chief executive-in-residence at Bluestone Partners of Beverly Hills, a private equity firm.
"TED helps us identify the strategic opportunities further down the line, rather than solutions to problems tomorrow."
That was just a sampling of the technology envisioned for the future at TED, the annual Technology, Entertainment and Design gathering of corporate, Hollywood and scientific glitterati touted as a cauldron of ideas and innovation.
But this year, optimism for the future might have been clouded somewhat, by a grim present reality - how to bankroll embryonic initiatives when capital markets are sputtering, and enthusiasm wanes for financially risky investments.
"It's not that people aren't focused on the financial crisis, but this is a place for vision. They're thinking past the present," argues Martin Pazzani, an entrepreneur and chief executive-in-residence at Bluestone Partners of Beverly Hills, a private equity firm.
"TED helps us identify the strategic opportunities further down the line, rather than solutions to problems tomorrow."
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