TED is celebrating its 15th anniversary with a day dedicated to thinking about time.

“What does time mean to you?” That was one of the questions asked throughout the eight hours of the massive 15th anniversary conference. TEDx Rio de la Plataover 1,700 people participated. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., the Buenos Aires Convention Center (CEC) was transformed into a machine for thinking about the passage of time, days, and eras through personal stories, scientific discoveries, and collaborations.

The auditorium filled up in just a few minutes. The lights dim, a gentle melody plays, and on the red circle, Ash MelpertOne of the council’s directors welcomed it. “TEDxRíodelaPlata was born to spread ideas, but it was also born to create meetings. And when ideas are shared, time becomes collective,” said Melpert, who received an award from parliamentarians during the event. Dario Nietooffered a distinction from the Buenos Aires Congress, which declared a meeting of cultural interests. This recognition combined hundreds of talks, millions of views, and a community of volunteers that grows every year.

The first presentation was held in the morning. Among the most anticipated names were those of physicists. Gabriel Mindlinhe has been studying bird songs for decades. He took to the stage in a slow tone and began with minimal observations and surprising stories. “One morning as I was walking through the park, I saw a pair of ovenbirds getting ready to sing. At first they worked perfectly together – the male on one syllable, the female on one. But suddenly the male started speeding up and the female started skipping syllables. It looked like a big stumble,” he says.

Intrigued, he returned the next day with a tape recorder. “We wanted to know if that was a mistake, or if all horneros sang that way. When we translated those rhythms into numbers, we found something incredible: They were the same as the mathematical patterns that appear in the arrangement of sunflower seeds. Those numbers show the transition between order and chaos.”

Mindlin used the threads of his story to illustrate his reflections on science and the search for meaning. “What I have done is part of a beautiful human tradition that comes from Pythagoras, who was the first to combine mathematics and nature. Then we had to wait 2,000 years until Newton came along, who again described nature in mathematical form,” Mindlin said.

With the same calmness, he introduced more modern notes. “About eight years ago, I woke up with a different vision. It was more dystopian. I thought that everything we had been taught would become obsolete and that artificial intelligence would change everything.” Furthermore, “AI can predict, but it cannot understand. Humans have evolved to observe nature and find laws in what surprises them. The urge to understand is inescapably human,” said the physicist and professor at the University of Buenos Aires.

architect Margaret Gutmandirector of latin american observatory of new school universityhis presentation began with a question that confused the audience. “When did we start thinking about the future as we understand it today?” He explained that the modern idea of ​​the future as an earthly time open to human action is actually recent. “It’s only been 250 years,” he says. Until the mid-18th century, the future was thought to lie in an afterlife or an idealized past. “But today we think about our future and the future of those who are coming,” he said. And he made it clear that although it is impossible to know or design it, it is possible to imagine it. Imagining it is also a way of intervening in the present, because every time we do that, that future “leaves traces of the present in which we live.”

Some in the audience were taking notes, while others were just listening intently. “This talk got me thinking about how we use our time to understand things, not just measure them,” he said. Lucia Gonzalezthe 33-year-old teacher said as she left the room.

At noon, the doors of the CEC opened and the event became an experiential plaza. There were origami workshops, art shows, oral storytelling, and a stage where TED clubs from various high schools presented talks. “There’s space to think, but there’s also space to do. What we’re most interested in is that people participate and that the event is a shared experience,” Marpert said.

At one table, a woman was folding colored paper with concentration, as if meditating. In another show, a narrator told a story about love and watches. Further away, a group of students from Quilmes National University were discussing the biological clock. “I was surprised by the diversity of the audience,” he said. Marcos Feldman29 years old programmer. “I came to hear a lecture, but ended up attending a workshop about how to understand time when you’re in love. I spend my days optimizing my time, but there may be something more important than using time: understanding time.”

spanish mathematician Eduardo Saenz de CabezonOne of the curators of this edition of TEDxRíodelaPlata, he explained that this year’s challenge was to create a different format, where units are not individual talks, but a series of presentations linked by thematic threads. invitee jerry garbruskidecided to take part in the proposal, not really knowing what would happen. “That motivated me because it seemed like a good idea, creative and different. Whenever there’s something new, you can learn from it,” he said. Together, they devised a block of time that begins with an open online conversation involving hundreds of people and providing diverse perspectives. From these discussions, the idea arose to bring choral conversations to the stage that focused on experiences of different scales and times, more like theater than a conference.

Sáenz de Cabezón explained that what was most interesting was discovering how the same concept, such as a decisive moment, can have completely different meanings depending on the situation. “What it is for someone living on the street is not the same as it is for an Olympic athlete or a paleontologist who has been studying it for millions of years.”

“It wasn’t just a conversation, it was like peeking into how people think about time in their worlds very differently. One person talked about seconds, another about millions of years, but all together It made sense. I thought that perhaps how we live our time says more about who we are than what we do,” argued Pablo Nobilo, 28, a member of the audience.

As the meeting drew to a close, the room was once again filled with crosstalk. “The idea remains that time doesn’t necessarily heal, but time always teaches,” he says. Santiago MendezA 45-year-old clinical doctor.

“I came with my 15-year-old daughter,” he commented. Patricia Lozanoan accountant from Avellaneda. “What she reminded me of was that time moves differently when you’re excited, and I think that’s exactly what happened today,” Lozano said.

“I was at my wits’ end and left the house without my phone ringing. This hasn’t happened to me in a long time,” he said. Valeria Nuñeza 41-year-old engineer. “I loved this event. It wasn’t just about ideas, it was about how people live in time. Each talk, each story, made me look at my watch from a different perspective. I came away feeling that perhaps time is not something to be gained or lost, but rather something to live in,” he concluded.