Cultures on the Edge: Modern Technology Empowering Ancient Ways | Chris Rainier | TEDxBeaconStreet

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. In a world so motivated by the future, how can we use modern technologies to capture the wisdom off the past?


Using the power of photography, Chris Rainier National Geographic Society Fellow takes us on a journey to cultures that are using modern technology smart phones, computers, cameras, and video to both preserve their quickly disappearing ancient traditions, as well incorporate traditional knowledge with cutting edge technology to find sustainable solutions for the pressing
global issues.


Traveling the planet for over thirty years, Rainier has been in a race against time - to document ancient communities struggling to save their ways of living for future generations. Now with the advent of technologically driven storytelling and social media - he focuses his energy on helping empowering indigenous communities to gather around the "fireplace" of the web to tell on a global level, socially important story's for the survival of the planet - story's of what it means to be alive and human in the 21st Century.

As a National Geographic Explorer and Photographer, Chris is most acclaimed for his documentation of Endangered Cultures around the globe. He is also Director of The Last Mile Technology Program, preventing traditional cultures from being left on the wrong side of the Digital Divide.

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