INTERNET PIONEER TIFFANY SHLAIN TO PREMIERE FILM AND TED BOOK BRAIN POWER: FROM NEURONS TO NETWORKS

California Academy of Science to Host Film Premiere, 

Film and TED Book Available Worldwide on November 8 

This release marks the first time a film and TED Book are released together. “We’re very excited to share insights on how to best nurture children’s brains and the global brain of the Internet, in both the film and then in more depth in the TED Book,” said Director and Webby Awards Founder Tiffany Shlain. “The TED Book truly feels like the future of books — putting the film into context with research links and video embedded into the manuscript. We love that NightLife at the Academy, San Francisco’s most popular cultural evening event, is hosting this launch. A perfect setting for the mash-up of art and science.”

“The idea for BRAIN POWER arose while I traveled to screen my feature documentary CONNECTED,” said Shlain. “I kept being asked the same question – What is all this technology doing to our brains? Around the same time, a mentor began to share research on child brain development with me. I quickly discovered that language neuroscientists used (connections, links, overstimulation) and the strategies early childhood development specialists used to describe brain development in the early years of life are similar to the way we should be talking about the growth of the Internet, and the mindful use of technology.”

“We’ve known for a long time that interactions during the first five years of life are critical to brain development, but a new machine at the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning and Brain Science (I-LABS), called MEG (a powerful brain imaging machine retrofitted specially for infants), now gives us the ability to see in real-time how connections are triggered and grow through every interaction a young child has,” said Sawyer Steele, Brain Power film producer and co-writer. “This new technology shows us so clearly how important a child’s environment and interactions are during these early years when the brain is most malleable.”

“The same can be said about the growth of the Internet,” said Shlain. “Compared with the human life cycle, the Internet is also in its metaphoric first five years when it is most malleable. Just like every interaction creates new connections in a child’s brain, every email, tweet, search, or post is creating and strengthening connections in our global brain, literally changing the shape of the Internet that we, as billions of people all over the world, are developing together. And just as it’s key for all the different parts of a child’s brain to be connected to set the stage for the most insightful and creative thoughts, it’s key that all the different parts of the world are connected — to lay the foundation for worldwide empathy, innovation and human expression. The film and the book really explore these parallels, and offer insights into how we can best shape both.”

The advisory council for this project included Internet co-founder Vint Cerf, and best-selling book authors who write about the potential of the web, Howard Rheingold and Steven Berlin Johnson. The writing team – Tiffany Shlain, Moxie Institute Writer/Producer Sawyer Steele, and UC Berkeley Robotics Professor Ken Goldberg – based their research on early childhood brain development on the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University and The Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (I-LABS) at the University of Washington.

“This TED book is really is a tour de force!” said Neuroscientist, Dr. Patricia Kuhl, co-director, University of Washington Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences. “It is simply terrific, as thought-provoking as anything I’ve read. The child’s mind and the Internet as connectomes that we help to grow is very seductive. It’s fantastic, and fun to read.”