In the future, we will be...: Priyank Shah at TEDxColumbus

Dr. Shah is a demographer and a very enthusiastic one. He'll begin our day with baseline picture of where we are headed as a population so we will better understand ourselves as a society. But no worries, you'll be entertained with his take on these trends, as he himself is a living example of one of the most prolific ones.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

[pamelagutierrez]

We have worked so hard to get to healthier living, longer living, and we are far ahead of where we were when I was born (1951). My question is; are we ready to live longer? Financially? Mentally? Socially? The idea that Social Security and Medicare are going to take care of us in our aging years has been long gone, when the cost of living became greater than the income of middle income persons. Unfortunately, our society prefers to live longer, spend more, not worry about tomorrow.

[MynahBlues]

I married a fellow Native American. My brother is the first in our entire heritage to marry a non Native American. I love my nieces all the same.

[jffzllr]

Great talk/presentation. I'd be interested in a presentation 15 years down the road on what you've discovered and decided about the questions around your relationship and child-rearing. I agree that they are not trivial if each person honors and values their cultural and religious beliefs. My experience says that it is hard for both people to hold to their individual beliefs. ...and if they do, how are the children affected? Often there are compromises or a watering down of beliefs.

[yhemysun]

I think we are getting to close to the time in which question abt race or ethnic background be remove from applications. Or add options like don't know, complicated etc.

[XenogeneGray]

I think his children's ethnicity will be human, just like mine :D

We all need to accept the fact we're all the same single human race, and stop worrying about trivialities like how much melanin is in someone's skin - and this is coming from someone with an ancestry of extremely low amounts of melanin in their skin :)