Anyone who has been to a TED program is most likely a fan of Hans Rosling. He's one of the most popular TED speakers and has appeared probably more than any other speaker. His presentation is always fresh, highly provocative, true brain candy.
Hans Rosling is a doctor and a researcher. What has put him on the map (yes, it's a pun in this case) is his truly amazing trend revealing software which enables him--real time--to give you a moving pictorial understanding of specific trends in the world and how they impact populations, land usage, economies. You should definitely check out his several TED talks on the TED site.
Hans made a briefer than usual appearance at TEDWomen and once again he did not disappoint. He challenged the audience to consider that one of the most transformational events to occur in the last century was...hold on to your seat...the invention of the washing machine.
No kidding.
He had a real wash machine delivered on-stage at the beginning of his talk. He had an assistant (visible only at the end when she revealed herself, dressed totally in black) whose gloved black hand would put things in his hand as he opened the front loading washer to make a point...and his hand would emerge with a box of detergent, clothes, whatever he was using to emphasize his point.
Most poignant was the story he told about being a young boy in his grandmother's home when her new washing machine was delivered and installed. He watched, entranced, as the technicians hooked it up and took the old wringer washer away. (Have you even seen a wringer washer? When it was brought into the market many, many years ago, it was hailed as an advancement because it relieved the person doing the wash (usually a woman) from having to wring the clothes out by hand.)
So this advancement over the wringer washer was wheeled in, and after effort to hook it up, the technicians left. "So," said Hans' grandmother, "Now...you and I can go to the library." In other words, since she was no longer needed to do the laundry, she could attend to her greater interest, namely intellectual pursuits. And she planned to take her grandson along on these adventures in knowledge.
Maybe Hans is right. Maybe the electric wash machine was a big step forward not just for women but for the intellectual life of our nation.
Something to ponder. Makes thinking of going to the laundromat take on a level of importance you hadn't thought about, right?
Author of I is for Intercourse: The ABC's of Conversation, Susan Bird is the visionary behind Wf360, and a sought-after speaker around the world for her views on leadership, the strategic importance of conversation, entrepreneurship, and the role of women business leaders.
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