Opening remarks @ Pop!Tech 2008.

@ Yahoo! Video

Hey everyone,

I'm currently blogging from Pop!Tech 2008, here at the Camden Opera House. Don't know what Pop!Tech is? Well, you're not alone: not many people in Maine do. If they did, they might be surprised to learn about all of the progressive, vastly talented individuals who gather here each year to share ideas about the future. It's right around 9 a.m., and things are just getting started here - I'm only here for one day, but the slate of speakers is enough to keep me thinking for weeks. There are presentations about copyright law and creative expression and freedom in the digital age; about Project Masiluleke, the largest ever deployment of mobile devices to provide resources to HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis-affected people in Africa; about the worldwide peace movement, and about new frontiers in medicine.

The theme for Pop!Tech this year is "Scarcity and Abundance" - we exist in a world of just that. There are vast resources available to everyone in the world, and yet most of those resources - energy, information, technology - are held by a select few. I'll elaborate more in a moment. Right now, the first speakers are starting, so I've got to cut this post short. If you weren't aware, you can stream the whole thing online at www.poptech.org. Watch along with me, and experience the wealth of information and ideas that will be shared today.