TED conference celebrates 'Age of Amazement' in Vancouver this week

The annual TED conference is back in Vancouver this week, with this year's presentations based on the idea of progress and the discomfort that sometimes comes along with it.

"Many people don't want to hear about progress at the moment," said TED curator Chris Anderson during a media briefing last Monday.

The week-long conference is the source of many of the popular short talks known to most people via free online platforms like YouTube. Conference organizers say people watch more than 230 million talks every month. 

Most of the 1,500 participants attending the conference have paid $10,000 to rub elbows with intelligentsia from around the world at what has been called "the ultimate brain spa."

Those unable to attend can pay to watch a livestream for the relatively affordable price of $500. 

More than 80 speakers

Anderson said this year's theme, The Age of Amazement, is grounded in exploring progress made in technology, entertainment and design — but also the questions and doubts that progress may prompt. 

A key speaker on this topic will be psychologist Steven Pinker, whose book Enlightenment Now explores how the current era — despite the doom and gloom portrayed in the media — is the best time to be alive. 

• Why you should be happy you're alive right now

There are more than 80 speakers scheduled for the conference, at themed sessions throughout the week.

The conference's celebrity element includes U.S. actress Tracee Ellis Ross, who currently stars in the hit show Black-ish.

Another speaker likely to draw attention, for notably different reasons, will be Diane Wolk-Rogers, a history teacher at the Parkland, Fla., high school where a mass shooting in February prompted U.S.-wide demonstrations calling for for gun control. 

Also worth noting is Jason B. Rosenthal, whose dying wife wrote the runaway hit New York Times essay "You Might Want to Marry My Husband."

Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings will also be speaking, as well as SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell. 

This year's Canadian contingent will be led by federal Science Minister Kristy Duncan and DJ collective A Tribe Called Red.

Turning ideas into action

It wouldn't be a TED conference without what Anderson described as this year's sub-theme, which is turning ideas into action. 

In some cases, as with the self-proclaimed "Queen of Sh--ty Robots" Simone Giertz, that action may veer toward the silly side:

But in most cases, speakers are lesser-known experts researching solutions in areas as diverse as astrobiology, sex education and applied physics. 

For Anderson, it's all about exploring what drives change, and what to make of the future. 

"There's a hunger in the world for something other than outrage," he said.  

The conference starts Tuesday and runs until Saturday, April 14.