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TED2017: The future you
4/20/17, 12:07 PM

Musical collective

Found Sound Nation (FSN) is a collective of artists who use music-making to connect people across cultural divides.

FSN believes that collaborative music creation is a deeply effective way to become aware of the beauty, trauma and hidden potential in our communities. Their process gives voice to the underrepresented, unlocks the creative potential of youth and supports movements for social justice.

Founded by Christopher Marianetti and Jeremy Thal in 2010, FSN began its work as part of the groundbreaking new music organization, Bang on a Can. Over the years, FSN has led audio production workshops for Cine Institute in Haiti, worked extensively with Carnegie Hall in New York, Indonesia and Mexico, and developed music composition workshops with incarcerated youth in theBronx and Brooklyn.

In the field of cultural diplomacy, FSN developed the Dosti Music Project with US Embassies in Pakistan and India to bring together politically divided artists to create and tour original work. Since 2012 FSN has partnered with the US Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and Bang on a Can to produce OneBeat, to convene young professional musicians from around the globe each fall to use music as a tool for the betterment of our communities, forming a growing web of interconnected musical change-makers from around the globe.

foundsoundnation.org @foundsoundnat

Elon Musk
Serial entrepreneur

Elon Musk is the CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors and the CEO/CTO of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX).

At SpaceX, Musk oversees the development of rockets and spacecraft for missions to Earth orbit and ultimately to other planets. In 2008, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft won the NASA contract to provide cargo transport to space. In 2012, SpaceX became the first commercial company to dock with the International Space Station and return cargo to Earth with the Dragon.

At Tesla, Musk has overseen product development and design from the beginning, including the all-electric Tesla Roadster, Model S and Model X, and the rollout of Supercharger stations to keep the cars juiced up. (Some of the charging stations use solar energy systems from SolarCity, of which Musk is the non-executive chair.) Transitioning to a sustainable energy economy, in which electric vehicles play a pivotal role, has been one of his central interests for almost two decades. He co-founded PayPal and served as the company's chair and CEO.

elonmusk.com @elonmusk

Noah Feldman
Constitutional law scholar

Noah Feldman studies the intersection of religion, politics and law.

Noah Feldman is a professor and writer who tries to figure out how to make the government follow the rules; what the rules are that the government has to follow; and what to do if the rules are being broken. In his work, he asks questions like: How can a 225-year-old constitutional blueprint still work? Can you design a new and better constitution from scratch in places like Iraq and Tunisia? What rights do we have, really?

Feldman is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a contributing writer for Bloomberg View. He served as senior constitutional advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, and advised members of the Iraqi Governing Council on the drafting of the Transitional Administrative Law or interim constitution. He is writing a biography on James Madison, principal author of the Constitution and fourth president of the US; it's forthcoming in 2017.

Feldman is the author of six other books: Cool War: The Future of Global Competition (Random House, 2013); Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices (Twelve Publishing, 2010); The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State (Princeton University Press, 2008); Divided By God: America's Church-State Problem and What We Should Do About It (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2005); What We Owe Iraq: War and the Ethics of Nation building (Princeton University Press 2004) and After Jihad: America and the Struggle for Islamic Democracy (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2003. He most recently co-authored two textbooks: Constitutional Law, Eighteenth Edition (Foundation Press, 2013) and First Amendment Law, Fifth Edition (Foundation Press, 2013).

Julia Sweeney
Actor, comedian, playwright

Julia Sweeney creates comedic works that tackle deep issues: cancer, family, faith.

Julia Sweeney is a writer, director, actress, comedian and monologist. She is known for being a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1995, where she created and popularized the androgynous character, Pat. She is also well known for her comedic and dramatic monologues. God Said Ha! is a monologue about serious illness, her brother's lymphoma and her own cancer, and her family's crazy reactions to this crisis as they soldiered their way through struggle, confusion and death. This play was performed all over the U.S. and on Broadway at the Lyceum Theater. It was made into a film produced by Quentin Tarantino, and the comedy album from the show was nominated for a Grammy.

Sweeney's second monologue, In the Family Way, played in theatrical runs in New York and Los Angeles. It was ultimately fashioned into a book, a memoir titled If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother. Sweeney's third monologue, Letting Go of God, chronicled her journey from Catholicism to atheism. It was made into a film that played on Showtime.

juliasweeney.com @JuliaSweeney

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