Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:10 This is the Owl Cast, the official podcast of ACS Athens. This is the Student edition. Listen to the exciting story of the American Community Schools of Athens. Check out what drives all the members of our international community of learners as we create the education of the future. Here's John.
Speaker 2 00:00:44 When it was founded in 1984, ted, which stands for Technology, entertainment, and Design, brought together a few hundred people in a single annual conference in California Today, TED is not just an organizer of private conferences. It's a global phenomenon with multimillion dollars in revenues from ideas worth sharing, which is the motto of Ted came. Ted Ed, a global network of over 650,000 teachers. Ted Ed has grown from an idea world spreading into an award-winning education platform that serves millions of teachers and students around the world every week. Some of the benefits to students participating in TED-Ed clubs and activities are the development of strong communication skills, including public speaking, storytelling, and presentation abilities. The students learn to evaluate sources, synthesize information, and present their findings in a compelling and logical manner. Students share their ideas, knowledge and perspectives, and develop confidence in their abilities and overcome any fear or anxiety associated with public speaking.
Speaker 2 00:01:54 They can use multimedia tools, visuals, storytelling techniques, and creative presentations to make their talks impactful. The international exposure can lead to networking opportunities, collaboration with like-minded individuals, and potential recognition for their work. Through researching important social, cultural and global issues, students develop empathy, broaden their perspective, and gain a deeper understanding of different cultures, experiences and challenges faced by others. And of course, students' participation in such presentations and courage, a thirst for knowledge and lifelong learning. Many schools around the world, including a c s Athens, organize and inspire student participation in their activities and competitions. A acs. Athens has for many years encouraged innovation through personal inspiration and achievement. Students have chosen subjects that excite and inspire them, and this year was no different. Today we have with us two of the students of this year's, Ted, who participated in the presentations in Peru, Italy, along with their advisors, Christina Rocha and Stamus. The discussion brings up the topics of their diverse talks, which explored AI in one presentation and folk music in the other, along with why they chose the topic that speaks to their passion With our TED editors today, we discuss the Ted-Ed clubs of acs, Athens, the value of presenting in front of an audience, choosing a topic to present what speaks to your passion and the interactive process of providing feedback to the ideas that will evolve into a presentation
Speaker 3 00:03:47 We have with us two amazing Academy, uh, TED ERs who've been with us for several years. Can
Speaker 2 00:03:53 You explain what that debts means?
Speaker 3 00:03:55 Sure. So Ted Ed is, it's a student version of Ted and Ted X meaning like the, uh, speakers who give speeches on stage for Ted. And Ted Ed is a curriculum that is open to eight through 18 year olds. It's a free curriculum that is distributed to different advisors who apply for the program, and, uh, they provide materials, and we take those materials and we explore those with the students.
Speaker 2 00:04:22 So we have a TED Ed club in the school.
Speaker 3 00:04:24 Yes, we do. Okay. Since 2018. Okay. And, uh, we have a Ted Ed Middle School. We have a TED at Academy, and we have also started a, uh, runoff of that in the elementary school. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, which is special pre tailored. Yeah. Yeah. It's tailored for those students to inspire them to follow in the footsteps of, of exploring their passions Okay. And their ideas. And we call that club the architects of global conscious citizenship or A G C C. A G C C. Okay. So, with us today, we have, uh, Lincoln Burger and Eva Caru. Both are juniors, and they both gave, uh, talks at the Ted Ed event in Bruja in Italy. They, this year, in April, they had been practicing this year. This was an original talk that they came up with this year, and they gave the same talk at, uh, the event that we held at the school on May 5th. And with us, we also have a co-advisor, uh, Ms. Davi Dimus, uh, who has been helping out with the TED for a few years now. And we were, uh, fortunate to go together to Peru with the students.
Speaker 2 00:05:38 So if you would like to take us into the road trip of what you went through the students first, and then of course, bringing your experience. Why did you choose, first of all, to join the Teed Club?
Speaker 4 00:05:53 Well, I've been in the Teed Club since seventh grade, and the reason why I chose back then to join and well now to continue being in this club was because I wanted to be able to speak about ideas and passions that I feel that are worth spreading, as well as being able to try to inspire people to understand why they're important enough for me, but as well as for them to think about it. Because at the end of the day, when you speak about something and you have an audience hearing you and listening to you, well, they start thinking what you're saying.
Speaker 2 00:06:29 And the presentations that you did through Ted-Ed, uh, have you done something similar in the classroom in general, or is this your first opportunity to do an onstage presentation?
Speaker 4 00:06:40 Well, I've been debating about different, uh, arguments that have been around and topics, but nothing has been as close as a TED experience. Okay.
Speaker 2 00:06:51 Lincoln,
Speaker 5 00:06:52 Um,
Speaker 2 00:06:53 How did you come up to, um, to be part of the TED Ed, uh, club and I see participate and,
Speaker 5 00:06:59 Uh, well, I was introduced to the Club by Ms. Rocha, uh, and I decided to join because I thought it would be, uh, first of all, a lot of fun to perform a talk on stage, but also, like ever said, to be able to speak about something that matters to me and that I find personally really interesting. And to have a chance to spread that interest to other people or potentially get them invested in the issue as well.
Speaker 2 00:07:21 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So let's, let's go and break it down a little bit. What was your presentation about? What was each one of you? What did you research? What did you present?
Speaker 5 00:07:31 Uh, well, my talk this year was about the American folk genre. Um, and I chose that topic because it's something that I really enjoy listening to and participating in, but I've also been interested in the history of folk for quite a while. And I also found it interesting how it's evolved and changed over time with different trends in music. And so to present a talk about that, I did some research on different artists who were very important to how folk has changed over time, as well as just the history of folk music in general. Uh, and well,
Speaker 2 00:08:03 So just to go into the discussion, what, what do you think makes folk music timeless? Because you mentioned that many times in your presentation.
Speaker 5 00:08:12 Well, uh, it's music for the folks. It's for the people, and it addresses those sorts of issues. And, uh, I think that's why it's been able to transform itself into so many other genres as well, and kind of combine with them over time. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 2 00:08:25 Okay. How about your presentation? How about your topic?
Speaker 4 00:08:28 Well, for me, I went through a bit of a rollercoaster trying to find my topic, <laugh> <laugh>, because I wrote my first speech about labels in the world and about, uh, well, putting people into boxes and labeling them. But then I had, uh, have been talking with a mentor and we're like, this is not me. This is not what I'm going to do and present, because it's a topic that has been going on for a while and doesn't really project a passion of mine as well. So after doing so, I was saying, okay, what do I want to study artificial intelligence? So after looking at that and coming up with a number of 28,835 days, the average person has, after reading an article, I was really inspired to connect those two and start researching about how should I present this to an audience that actually doesn't know how artificial intelligence can bring change and how we should embrace it. It was a bit of a rollercoaster. It wasn't really one topic, and let's go research rather than little things that I found in my everyday life that I couldn't connect. That
Speaker 2 00:09:32 Wasn't really in interesting intro when you started your presentation, just by having a number on the screen that was a tight turn, and you think someone's gonna talk about existentialism or, you know, mathematics in life. So from there, you went on to talk about ai. Right. From my understanding, you are pretty optimistic about it. Why are you optimistic?
Speaker 4 00:09:56 Well, first of all, I started, uh, by that number because I found it very interesting for people to not know what that number is, as well as to not know what I will say from beforehand mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because I know that the audience gets a pamphlet, but I didn't know my audience to know what I'm going to say. So I wanted that surprise element. But as for, um, being an optimist for a professional intelligence, well, I'm an optimist because it's a tool, like I mentioned in my, um, talk, and I'm an optimist because it always evolves and have seen that what I'm not an optimist as much is people controlling it for the benefit of society. That's why I distinguish those tools also in my talk.
Speaker 5 00:10:40 Have you guys seen the recent video of like a, it was an AI generated beer commercial? Did you guys send I I highly recommend it. It's, it's a visual journey. Okay.
Speaker 2 00:10:50 Sorry, <laugh>, can you describe it briefly?
Speaker 5 00:10:53 It's,
Speaker 2 00:10:54 It's extremely saying the brand
Speaker 5 00:10:56 <laugh>, uh, first of all, there is no brand because the air is not good at making like, actual names for anything. So it just kind of puts these symbols that look sort of like hieroglyphics that kind of resemble the English alphabet Okay. On somehow, like indistinct things, resembling beer cans and bottles. So it
Speaker 2 00:11:16 Was, uh, improvising branding.
Speaker 5 00:11:18 Yeah. And it's, um, it wasn't actual, it wasn't an actual official commercial was some, uh,
Speaker 2 00:11:24 Which would been experiment.
Speaker 5 00:11:26 Yeah. It was an experiment. And it's, it's quite interesting. It's extremely surreal and it's interesting to watch because of the ways it tries to create something resembling humans. Like if you look at the video, all of the things look sort of like humans if you were looking at them from a distance. But if you look at them closely, they look horrifying, honestly, or at least like, like abstractions of a human being. And it's, it's frightening, but also hilarious and interesting at the same time.
Speaker 2 00:11:57 It depends your perspective. Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:11:59 Um, well, I think everyone will call it frightening, at least a little bit. I don't think anyone can be welcomed by that, but Okay.
Speaker 2 00:12:05 Uh, unless you're an optimist about ai <laugh>. Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:12:08 <laugh>. Well, maybe you won't be after you see this video. Who knows.
Speaker 2 00:12:11 Then now I have to go and see it really <laugh>. Yeah. Make sure you send the, the link. So ladies, uh, the advisors, Ms. Dma, Ms. Rocha, when the students came to you to say, you know, I'm thinking about this, I'm thinking about that. What was your reaction? What did you say? What did you say to them regarding the topic of their, uh, presentation?
Speaker 3 00:12:32 So, one thing, like a really important element of what a TED talk is, is that there needs to be a, a through line mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So there needs to be a topic that has a strong introduction, and we see elements of that, that weave themselves through until the end with a nice conclusion. You're pulling a thread Yes.
Speaker 6 00:12:50 Through the topic.
Speaker 3 00:12:51 Exactly. The talk.
Speaker 6 00:12:52 Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:12:52 So it's not a blog post. Right. It's not, um, just an informational type of an article, but it's a speech, it's a talk about an idea worth spreading, and we wanna make sure that that through line, that idea we're spreading is thread little by little throughout the whole thing. So that's something when, when the kids come with a draft, that's what we look for.
Speaker 6 00:13:15 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And also Ms. Roche, I think is important to, to mention the explorations. I mean, this is intense work. It's not just, oh, I have this idea and, you know, let's get some ideas on paper and then share them out. It's, it's, it's a process of explorations in which 13, 13
Speaker 3 00:13:30 Of them,
Speaker 6 00:13:31 13 of them. Um, in which,
Speaker 2 00:13:33 So you had 13 submissions,
Speaker 6 00:13:35 13 explorations,
Speaker 3 00:13:36 Explorations. The
Speaker 6 00:13:37 Whole group went through in units order
Speaker 3 00:13:39 Actually wanna color that. Okay.
Speaker 6 00:13:40 Yeah. Units, it's kind of
Speaker 3 00:13:41 Like units describe it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:13:43 But, but did you go through a process of, uh, judging other, uh, feedback?
Speaker 3 00:13:48 Feedback, yeah. Not judging. Yeah. But giving, uh, and receiving effective feedback mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and we go through, we have actual lessons on how to do that with using the language. Okay. To facilitate that. That's
Speaker 2 00:13:59 Very interesting. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 6 00:14:00 <affirmative>. And, and they fine tune it in that respect, because when they start with an idea, um, and we take them through the process, they also watch other TED talks to become inspired. Um, they become inspired from each other's ideas and, you know, it's very interactive process. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 00:14:16 <affirmative> collaborative, which, collaborative,
Speaker 6 00:14:18 Which in the end, you know, it's like you've, they have that element of curiosity that sparked the whole idea, but it is a well-developed process so that in the end, what they have is this through line, um, within their talk. And also we, it's almost like a stamp of approval or guarantee that it is an idea worth sharing, like what Ms. Rocha said, because you have gone through the nitty gritty of this process together as a team. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative>. It's not just on their own. It's as a team. I don't know how many are we in the academy now?
Speaker 3 00:14:47 We had 19 members in the academy. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. 19 members in the club. And I believe it was, we had 17 talks total with the middle schools. I think it was 11 of the academy students gave talks of those 19
Speaker 6 00:15:01 At the TED event here. Yeah. Not at Peru. Right,
Speaker 5 00:15:03 Right, right, right.
Speaker 2 00:15:04 But it's in Peru you went with the two students, right? Uh,
Speaker 3 00:15:07 Six students total. Six students total, mm-hmm. <affirmative>, yes. Only two ninth grade to 10th grade and two 11th.
Speaker 2 00:15:13 Okay. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 4 00:15:13 And these two presented.
Speaker 2 00:15:15 Yes. Okay. So going back to the presentations, I mean, both your, uh, topics are really provocative. Uh, first of all, because AI is the topic of the last, at least couple of years at least. And folk music is music. I mean, I'm not gonna even go argue about that. Uh, but let's go to the ai, uh, presentation. Um, you presented many different ways that AI could be a positive, could have a positive impact in our society. So in your opinion, I don't know if you talked about it in your presentation, but I'm pretty sure, you know, you have thought about it. How can we condition, uh, we, what I'm talking about as society, as a school, as a school community, how can we condition AI approaches to learning to be beneficial and not an easy fix for school projects, in your opinion?
Speaker 4 00:16:06 This is a great question because I just had a debate about ING learning environment. Um, well, first of all, we can condition it by presenting it and not trying to, well ignore its existence, because if we ignore it, then students are more motivated and hooked up in the idea that I'm gonna do it just because people are ignoring it. And just because people are telling not to do it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, but it's also important to present it in a way, AI in the sense that teachers can also use it to create a better curriculum as well as lesson plans that can help. And many schools around the world have been caught up in doing that, using AI and also motivating teachers to do as well in order to create a better lesson plan that is also more personalized to the students and to their skills and demands. Because let's face it, in a class, it's 30 students, just like a combo class. Uh, every student ha needs specific focus in order to learn. And teachers are human beings that cannot actually always keep up with what every student needs. And AI can actually become a tool rather than something that we over depend, because at the end of the day, AI is not bad. It's our overdependence that might create a easy fix. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 00:17:29 <affirmative>, it's a tool. Yeah. There are many ways, different ways to use a tool. What kind of cord hits with you on this topic? Lincoln? I,
Speaker 5 00:17:38 I saw that. That's funny. <laugh>. That's clever. Um, yeah, I mean, I think, I don't know something about ai I find deeply uncomfortable. However, I can see that at its level right now, it definitely can be used in a lot of helpful ways, uh, for society in general, but also for learning. Like, I think with proper management, I guess AI can be used effectively in a classroom environment for certain things. Uh, however, I do agree that measures should be taken to prevent students from using it as a quick fix. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> as mentioned
Speaker 2 00:18:13 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, do you use AI in a regular basis? No. And I'm not just talking about chat G P T, which is the latest fad, but talking about, uh, things that you believe is AI based.
Speaker 5 00:18:26 Well, there's definitely AI in a lot of things that I don't think we even really realize. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, like, I believe there's AI in some form in like Final Cut Pro for certain editing things. For example, there's something called optical flow, I believe, that can help with, uh, adding in frames based on previous frames when slowing down footage, which I just used earlier today mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And that would probably be considered ai.
Speaker 2 00:18:49 How about in the teaching environment? How do you see AI implementation from the students or from the instructor perspective?
Speaker 3 00:18:58 I think even something like Google. Okay. We use Google every day, and when students are writing mm-hmm. On Google documents, for example, AI is there to, to fix, to correct. To grammar spelling, uh, for even an idea of a sentence structure. So that's there already. Yeah. I think it is, it definitely is a nice tool in that respect. And of course, you know, there's chat G t gtp that is really, I've used it just to, for ideas for, okay. For a lesson plan, for example mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And there's so many different ways that, you know, you can just by the wording of what you're asking it to do, it'll pump out different variations and very interesting. There's a lot to learn mm-hmm. <affirmative> from it. Well, they,
Speaker 2 00:19:40 Everybody says that the one of the careers of the future is going to be, uh, AI prompters, meaning you have to make the right question to get the right answer. Exactly.
Speaker 3 00:19:51 It already
Speaker 2 00:19:52 Exists. It already exists, but it's going to be developing a bit more. How about in the elementary school?
Speaker 6 00:19:58 I mean, I think that it looks a bit different, obviously, in the elementary school, um, especially for the elementary school teachers. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I think it needs time, um, and more research in terms of really understanding where AI exists in our world and using it as a tool. And also kind of like what ever said too, is that how you present it? I think that as elementary school teachers, we actually have an opportunity to present AI in a different way, so that by the time they get to middle school and high school and they use it more frequently, and they're able to recognize it and see it as a tool, they already have, have this instilled value as to the purpose of ai, as opposed to it being just a quick fix or something to be intimidating. Like, like Lincoln said. Um,
Speaker 5 00:20:39 Yeah, I, and a lot of other people grew up on things where AI is, is portrayed as like an enemy. Mm. True guesses at it. Like, like the Terminator films. I love those movies, and AI isn't really glorified in those movies in the slightest, but that's true. So I agree. I think that a change in perception of it as a tool and, uh, like a more accurate description of it can help because there's a lot of inflated ideas of ai, uh, that float around. And I, I don't know,
Speaker 2 00:21:06 You mentioned different ways that you're approaching AI in, in elementary school. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, any example?
Speaker 6 00:21:11 There are a variety of examples, um, that we can use. I guess it's also, it has to do more with, uh, science, at least in the fifth grade. Um, but I think that you can see it at any point that, you know, a child is using a software mm-hmm. <affirmative> in which, you know, you have a predictor tool or anything that's related to, you know, something that in a sense, quote unquote thinks for itself. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, because what we, when we think of something thinking for itself, of course, always the human element is first, you know, that we always have to think that with ai, like you said in your speech, a human has created it, and that's, you know, the bottom line. But anything, um, that they sometimes don't even realize, even using an email, like, you know, when kids are writing an email and it has, and it corrects what you've said, or it's guessing, let's say what you're about to say.
Speaker 6 00:21:55 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, the kids pick up on this. Even something as simple as that is a way that they use AI and you know, in elementary school as young as third and fourth grade when they send emails. Right. Um, but then, you know, there are different software materials or, you know, different parts of technology because we know that, you know, AI is not science, it is technology. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, which is something I think a lot of us are just starting to gear our brains to understand. Um, and, and you know, I mean, obviously in our technology classes, we see it a lot. Coding, I know in fourth grade did a ton of coding. And you know, you even have in our A G C Club mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we have two students who are working on a project as to they're making a game. They're coding this game, um, in order to, uh, promote awareness for, uh, it's global goal. I think it's global Goal one. Is it No Poverty or Zero Hunger Global Goal Zero. Hunger Global Hunger, global Goal two. Yeah. And they're, they did this on their own. I mean, this was their own, and they decided to use the coding skills that they learned to create this game in their fourth grade technology class. So, I mean, they're all kinds of examples, you know, that you could give here. Okay.
Speaker 1 00:23:01 You are listening to the OWL Cast, the official podcast of ACS Athens. This is the student edition
Speaker 2 00:23:19 With us today. We have the students of this year's Steaded who participated in presentations in Peru, Italy. Stay with us as we continue to discuss conditioning the use of AI tools in the classroom as an optimal, constructive and creative way to learn, understanding the purpose of ai, starting with the early ages and folk music, and its role on expressing social and political issues. So, to wrap up the cycle of AI and, uh, move to the second, uh, presentation topic, if you could give me one thing, each one of you, of the classroom of the future that might use AI in one or another way, just one if you, if we go around, if you can think about how do you see the classroom of the future with AI utilization?
Speaker 3 00:24:26 Okay. Here's an idea. All right. For, I'm thinking about feedback mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and if, uh, you know, you have input parameters about what to look for in an effective talk, for example, for TED or presentation skills in a classroom, you input those parameters, you have the presentation, and then the AI comes back with, uh, what to work on suggestions and, um, commendations.
Speaker 2 00:24:51 Okay. That's a good example. I think
Speaker 6 00:24:53 I would think in terms of differentiation, um, because I think that AI in the classroom of the future is going to be very important in being able to support, uh, students needs. Anticipate them, and anticipate exactly. That's exactly where I was going, uh, with this to anticipate the needs of different students and to more individualize their learning mm-hmm. <affirmative> in that respect. So although you may have a classroom teacher who is floating and, you know, working one-on-one with students at the same time, those particular, um, lesson plans, let's say, could, which have been tailored by AI for these students mm-hmm. <affirmative> can help for these students to progress at the pace that they need to or want to, and also help the teacher in being able to kind of facilitate that without her having he she needing to be there.
Speaker 5 00:25:36 Great.
Speaker 2 00:25:36 Great.
Speaker 5 00:25:37 This, um, this might be a bit of a stretch, but I do foresee that potentially in some creative classes such as creative writing or music, uh, AI might be used to help generate ideas for that, like prompts or things like that, or, uh, feedback on different pursuits in that, which is actually pretty fascinating to me. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I mean, I remember last year and part of this year as well, uh, there was this AI-based sort of predictive, uh, text thing that would, uh, take prompts and try to generate more of them. And what I had a lot of fun doing was having it write stories, uh, mostly for entertainment purposes because the stories were great. Um, but I do feel like that can potentially be used to inspire some interesting ideas with the creative enough person. And, uh, I think that's really cool. Great.
Speaker 4 00:26:28 I have too many ideas to propose really <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:26:30 Just point for now. <laugh>.
Speaker 4 00:26:33 Well, I'll say it as one idea, but it's in two different parameters. Okay. Um, one thing is, and I see it really positive and potentially good for the teachers as well, is being able to detect where, uh, students put their focus. Because many students can get bored, uh, seeing many slides and seating in a classroom for an hour. And there are programs that can actually look at the presentation and say, okay, you've put too much text here. The students won't be able to understand and be focused enough, as well as teaching what AI is in the future. Because that's why I wanted also to say through my speech is to present ai. Because unfortunately, we have grown up in an environment that has told us what AI is as robots as basically machines. But we do not understand that at the end of the day, it's mathematics. If we could actually have classes in the school that, uh, help students to even create their own programs, training algorithms to help the school itself, but also the outside world where that is the future for me. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 00:27:43 <affirmative>. Well, you can also think the robots as such G p t with wheels, meaning that they have mobility and they think and they act on it. So that's not too bad. Yeah. So what's your favorite, uh, type of music?
Speaker 4 00:27:58 My favorite type of music? Yeah. Well, I don't really have a favorite type of music because I listen to different music depending on my mood, emotions. I'll say jazz, Papa a lot. <laugh>. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:28:11 Okay. So if Lincoln tried to convince you to listen to folk, what would you say?
Speaker 4 00:28:16 Oh, I'll give it a try to be honest. Because
Speaker 2 00:28:18 He, he made the presentation, but he also performed. I know, right. And you performed maybe one of the most iconic pieces of the most iconic, yeah. Folk mm-hmm. <affirmative>, composer, artist, you know, poet. So how did, how did you discover folk music Lincoln?
Speaker 5 00:28:37 Well, um, when I grew up, my, uh, my father and my mother listened to a lot of music from their era. So, you know, uh, seventies, eighties, but also sixties as well. My dad in particular was quite fond of sixties music, and so I found it from there. Can
Speaker 2 00:28:51 You remember maybe one of your first sounds?
Speaker 5 00:28:55 Oh, Paul Simon. Paul Simon Scott. Paul Simon is probably the, the gateway drug that got me into Folk <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:29:00 Okay.
Speaker 5 00:29:01 Uh, I found, you know, his music. And then I found Simon and Garfunkel and I started listening to more of that.
Speaker 2 00:29:06 So first Paul Simon and Ben Simon Garfunkel. Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:29:09 Actually that's interesting because my parents really liked, uh, Paul Simon's solo output, like, uh, Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints, which is kind of fun because those albums also led me to, uh, different types of Latin and African types of music. So very,
Speaker 2 00:29:24 Very ethical. Simon Folk.
Speaker 5 00:29:25 Yeah. Right. Paul Simon brought me to, uh, all sorts of music. Okay.
Speaker 2 00:29:30 So you came into the theater, you went to the place in Peru, and you brought your guitar. Did you perform?
Speaker 5 00:29:40 I did, yeah.
Speaker 2 00:29:40 Okay. So what was the reception that you had in both cases? Did they expect you to play? I mean, how did you feel actually having to perform what you just presented?
Speaker 5 00:29:52 Um, well, part of the reason I wanted to perform was because I felt that it would be sort of memorable. I think people would be more interested mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because that's a slightly less common thing to have in a TED Talk. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I also tried to make it almost a bit of a surprise at the end of the talk mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, and I think that helped to have a more memorable effect for the talk.
Speaker 2 00:30:13 So you mentioned in your presentation that it's not just music that you expressed through folk, but also a political statement. Yeah. Since the scope of folk music is not just music, it's also a social statement. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's like a political statement. What is its role nowadays? And you mentioned different variations of folk music. You have indie, uh, folk, you have, uh, ethnic folk. So what do you think is the significance today? How would you, uh, convince a person like Va Gilia here to listen to folk music?
Speaker 5 00:30:52 Well, I think that, uh, at least in, um, at least in mainstream appearances of folk, uh, it's been, it's been popularized lately by a lot of, uh, women and a lot of female artists. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, which is also taking on, uh, there's a lot of female voices in folk music mm-hmm. <affirmative> recently mm-hmm. <affirmative>, which is, um, what I find personally to be the role that it's taken on, uh, female stories and women's issues and that sort of thing. Um, but I, I will say that it has taken on a slightly less political power and has moved back into a more, um, social and personal standing. I mean, who knows? There, there's always, like I said, it's always evolving and changing, and potentially in the future it could take on a more political role, but as it stands right now, it's, it's gotten into more of that sector.
Speaker 2 00:31:42 So you are also a music, uh, player. You play music, um, when you have some free time Yes. At home. Yes. Is this the first thing that comes to you when you start scratching the chords?
Speaker 5 00:31:54 I'd just like to play music. I mean, uh, okay. Sometimes I'll play folk songs, but other times I'll play songs from other people that I like. Or sometimes I'll try to write songs, which doesn't go as well, but, uh, it's, I'm learning. So what's
Speaker 2 00:32:08 Your favorite folk song right now?
Speaker 5 00:32:10 Favorite folk song? That might be the hardest question you could ask me
Speaker 2 00:32:14 So that I can end <laugh> the, the session with the music piece. <laugh>. Otherwise I'm gonna have to play it on my own. So <laugh>,
Speaker 5 00:32:24 Give me a second. <laugh>.
Speaker 6 00:32:26 Well, while Lincoln's thinking, I just have to say that I, I personally have always liked folk music. And, you know, after listening to, uh, his speech and working with him a bit on it, I realized how much more of what I was listening to actually is classified as folk. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I think that's another aspect of his speech that in general we haven't paid a lot of attention to, because it's the way he, he spoke and, you know, the way that he just pulled you in with his song and everything, I mean, it was so powerful, but it's the people in the audience, which I know that was, you were hoping at the end to even have like a QR code that we could have scanned. We were saying, uh, to, you know, have people look at these albums that he discussed. But I think that's an important aspect of talking about genres of music where, um, you know, you get people to rethinking about what they actually listen to, and they recognize it, oh, I do listen to folk, or, oh, I wanna try that out. So that was
Speaker 5 00:33:17 Just my favorite. My favorite example of that is, uh, is Taylor Swift. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> her shift into a folk sound with folk Lauren Evermore. Two really great albums, by the way, uh, brought a lot of people onto folk. And I think a lot of those people don't even really realize it. Mm-hmm. And to me, that's extremely cool. I mean, that the a genre that I really like these, uh, artists are bringing people into that genre. I I love that. I'm, I'm really happy with that. But to answer your previous question about favorite folk song right now, I'd have to go with either Harvest Moon by Neil Young. Ooh. Which
Speaker 2 00:33:51 Is, yeah.
Speaker 5 00:33:52 Perfect. It's one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard with, uh, just this gorgeous blend of, uh, different instrumentation and these really soft chords and guitar playing, and really wonderful lyrics just about, uh, continued love and sustained love over a long period of time. It's beautiful, and it makes me wanna cry every time I listen to it. Um, but if we're gonna go with something that's more politically focused and more tied into what I was talking about in my speech, I would go with American Tune, which was actually my first choice for the song I would play. But unfortunately, I can't sing quite like Paul Simon. So I, uh, switched it. But, uh, American Tune has these great politically charged lyrics while also being an extremely beautiful song, uh, sung in a Wonderful Way by Paul Simon. And, uh, yeah, that's what
Speaker 2 00:34:43 I tried. So the project for next time when we record another outcast is going to be AI generated lyrics, <laugh> with folk music from by Lincoln <laugh>.
Speaker 6 00:34:55 It'll be a, a great idea
Speaker 1 00:34:56 Or an AI generated Ted Talk
Speaker 2 00:34:58 Or the other way around, we can have music generated by ai. Yes. Okay. And someone is going to have to sing it, <laugh>. So thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Thank you. I think that, uh, you know, creativity and, uh, this whole idea of presenting to an audience, this is in invaluable skill, so keep on debating and keep on playing music.
Speaker 5 00:35:26 Thank you. Thank you
Speaker 2 00:35:26 So much. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Speaker 1 00:35:30 You are listening to the Acast, the official podcast of AC s Athens. Make sure you subscribe to the acast on Google Podcast, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. This has been a production of the acs, Athens Media Studio.
