You don't have to be an expert to solve big problems | Tapiwa Chiwewe

Driving in Johannesburg one day, Tapiwa Chiwewe noticed an enormous cloud of air pollution hanging over the city. He was curious and concerned but not an environmental expert -- so he did some research and discovered that nearly 14 percent of all deaths worldwide in 2012 were caused by household and ambient air pollution. With this knowledge and an urge to do something about it, Chiwewe and his colleagues developed a platform that uncovers trends in pollution and helps city planners make better decisions. "Sometimes just one fresh perspective, one new skill set, can make the conditions right for something remarkable to happen," Chiwewe says. "But you need to be bold enough to try."

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[Wagmiman]

This right here is one of the TED's most inspiring talks

[evgenysumaev]

Big thank you, Tapiwa Chiwewe - the Man, the Sitizen, the honest and audacious person!
You inspired me for "Just go ahead"!

[ShawnRavenfire]

I have never let a lack of expertise stop me from solving all the world's problems. Most people don't pay any attention to me.

[robinferdous]

I appreciate the motivating sentiment this talk brings, but it's doesn't change the fact you have to be a valuable asset to make change. This guy seems to be a capable programmer and knowledgeable in AI, as a result he could tie together 2 unseemingly related fields. Had he not been capable his goal would be far from accomplished.

[НектоЛохматый]

Pollution is a big problem, but more problem is people's misunderstanding. I completely agree with what you're saying: a person doesn't have to be an expert, and misacting is more terrible than failure. I'm glad that there are people who feels their will to do something about the planet we have and should care about together.

[Mkhondokababa]

Thanks Tapiwa. That is inspirational. You have changed my way of thinking. Like yourself I am bothered by pollution. My peeve is litter. I have always felt may be i'm not. I will explore ways to tackle this.

[seasong]

Computer scientists are natural problem solvers! 💯💯💯👍

[JimGriffOne]

Back in the 1950s we had a serious pollution problem in Western nations. Factories producing phosphate fertilisers output an extremely toxic chemical into the atmosphere that would rain down on farm land, destroying the health of livestock and killing crops. They were forced to deal with their toxic waste output so installed some "atmospheric scrubbers" (aka Wet Scrubbers). This reduced the toxic chemical in the chimney fumes and saved the surrounding area from the pollution.

The toxic waste kept building up in plastic containers, occasionally breaking and spilling over the concrete floors where it would eat through and leach into the soil. Something needed to be done about it. Government and industry got together and decided to trickle it off into the drinking water supply and claim that, because the chemical contains "fluorine" as part of its makeup, that it may perhaps be beneficial for people's teeth. Government wrote the legislation (1985 c.63) and thus Water Fluoridation was born. The toxic waste problem was "solved" by non chemists.

Ever since, scientists have been finding out just how toxic the chemical (hexafluorosilicic acid) is for human health and have been trying to get something done about it. However, nobody has come up with a real solution to the problem of what to do if we stop dumping it into the drinking water supply, so it continues to this day.

My story doesn't really have a point. It's just another problem that humans haven't managed to solve. Perhaps a chemist reading this comment may be able to find a way of reacting hexafluorosilicic acid into something else that's actually safe and/or useful.

[theblackrufio]

1) Great Talk! 2) That is some amazing software that i hope will get the recognition that it deserves and is implemented around the world. 3) I am highly upset that perfectly placed "Taken" reference got so passed over.

[quantumfineartsandfossils]

3:30+ "it was necessary to do it in a collaborative way" yes

[quynhanh]

Thank you for inspiring so many of us!

[tonymurphy]

Determined; driven and imaginative; great Ted talk👍👏

[doodelay]

What I've come to understand is that you do not necessarily have to be an expert in the field you wish to impact to solve big problems, but to get experts in the field to listen, you must be an expert of some other kind. Otherwise you will be almost uniformly shut out

[elsaswift]

How to have a speech on the TED talks ‘s stage, guys???

[lirianoc]

@4:57 He tried to go Liam Neeson in Taken, but only a couple got the joke in the audience.

[dawidekosrs]

“Sometimes the unique perspective you have can result in unconventional thinking” - my

[danielrichards]

Great example of the dunning Kruger effect. Where someone thinks and acts like an expert, but eventually finds out they know nothing about what they are doing. This mentality where you fix things you are not an expert in causes so much more work on others that do know what they are doing. Then everyone has to spend the next few years fixing or modifying what you put into place. While those who do this have the best intentions, it actually hurts companies.

[MovieFactsDharmendra]

Being expert is a problem itsel and it's great force which drives us ahead in our life as well... #Ted

[callofduty]

He was already an expert in one field. So in a way you do have to be an expert.

[LloydJAnthony]

Is being able to forecast pollution a solution? It certainly could be a step towards it, but we already know the causes - I'm not sure I see how being able to tell it's going to rain prevents me from getting wet.