To State Dept, from Twitter, with love...

I am at the US State Department today. We're about to run a TED salon here for 700 invited guests, including senior State Dept staff and a delegation from the White House. It's a first for TED, so I took the opportunity to invite friends on Twitter to suggest what they would say if given 140-characters worth of stage time at State. Lots of great suggestions (thank you!). Here are my top 10.

Which do you like best? Please vote in the comment section, or retweet one of these... or offer something better! I plan to deliver one of these from the stage in a few hours' time.

deeperplane The US could transform international politics by pledging to honor the interests of people from every country equally with Americans.

MsDuctTape When will we stop using fear & threat as a national strategy? Rather than prepare for war, can't we prepare for peace?

neilredding How can military violence ever lead to improved relations with the target of such violence? Explain.

jcohen2j What are the odds humanity will ultimately pleasure itself into chaos? What future, non-lethal technologies, are security threats?

primesoftnz No trust, no co-operation? Has the erosion of trust in our leadership reached the "Tipping Point"?

shhg How would you use technology to aid a child in the process of discovering their bent in life?

brian__clough What makes the US think it can lead world peace efforts when it's ranked 83rd most peaceful country? http://tinyurl.com/mnau3k

dcarli What is the worldwide carbon footprint of the US State Department and what are their plans to reduce it and lead by example?

lhtorres Is the State Department prepared to address global poverty as a policy priority and if so why and what new ideas is it supporting?

tomguarriello What does the State Dept. believe is the biggest misconception about America; how are they trying to correct it without preaching?

32 responses

I vote for:
brian__clough What makes the US think it can lead world peace efforts when it's ranked 83rd most peaceful country? http://tinyurl.com/mnau3k

— bb__

What do you want, conversation or fact-gathering? For fact-gathering, the useful questions have "checkable" answers, like the carbon footprint. For conversation, choose the open-ended questions. (Then stand by for carefully phrased opinion, diplomatic "BOMFOGgery" - "the Brotherhood Of Man under the Fatherhood Of God.")

— Ruth Ann Harnisch

I vote for Ihtorres about global poverty.

— vandelizer

Brian_clough's comment as well as tomguarriello's comment get my vote. tomguarriello's question may get the most comment from the state department but brian_clough's question may lead to more provocotive questions.

— carlfrantz

My vote: lhtorres. Global poverty is at the root of much of the world's violence. Lifting people out of poverty with our expertise in education, health care, microfinance, technology and infrastructure will benefit the entire world. Decreasing global poverty would would improve world security, increase the world standard of living, and help deemphasize military solutions to world problems. Even with our current economic woes, the US is in a strong position to address global poverty as a policy priority. We should.

— astevens

For State Dept: Clarify and align purposes, apply cooperation, grow supportive culture, measure results.

— louwarne

primesoftnz get's my vote.

— camassey

This one: http://twitter.com/Ed/status/2009652249

[Oh wait...what if Ed is honest, and calls out both parties?
No, better not deviate from the party manifesto. Even though we're honest and open-minded and all.]

— @Ed

Ask each State Dept employee to reflect on something they did 10 years ago, and how it turned out: how does reacting to the immediate affect the outcome 10 (and 20) years later? 10th anniversary Kosovo, 20th of Tianamen

— cutlerpod

"prepare for peace" question sounds motivating, if gov cares
"top peaceful countries" doesnt seem to be relevant, my country with 2 tanks in museum and maybe 1 jet (and broken probably) is 24th

— idpsycho

"shhg How would you use technology to aid a child in the process of discovering their bent in life?"

Except I would sit teachers above the technology, how will you use teachers to allow children to discover and use the ways in which they learn, understand and engage with the world. This is partly a question of authentic approaches to personalization versus a homogenized knowledge based approach to learning. Teachers as matchmakers between attentional styles, inclination, diverse perspectives and knowledge insight and discovery. This demands very different skills to recepticle filling.

Marry that with approaches such as Liz Coleman's on reinventing education and perhaps half the other questions around ethical decision-making answer themselves.

— carlalally

— Jose Sa

neilredding ... maybe you should look into our relations with UK, Germany, France, Japan...just a few examples of military violence leading to better relations.

Most of these questions are so far off center thinking it would be ridiculous to ask them to anyone of intelligence. tomguarriello's question is valid and open ended.

— yllams

I vote for "shhg How would you use technology to aid a child in the process of discovering their bent in life?"

Our children are more important than all the whining above.

— Neal

I like the one about global poverty by lhtorres. Solving that problem is key to our national security.

— Phillip

RT @TEDChris @neilredding How can military violence ever lead to improved relations with the target of such violence? Explain.

— Damien Donnelly

RT @TEDchris @lhtorres Is the State Department prepared to address global poverty as a policy priority and if so why and what new ideas is..

— paigewest

Change the rules. Change all the dance steps. Your feet hurt regardless, unless change is shoes.

— Brian Vincent Holmes

I vote for: @deeperplane The US could transform international politics by pledging to honor the interests of people from every country equally with Americans.

— Jane Wulf

I vote "Carbon Footprint". Our government should be leading by example. Our "leaders" should creating regulations they not willing to abide by themselves.

— Cassaundra James

I'm so flattered my question is in your pick. Just a note: I believe addressing this would also address world poverty. As the question is one that I believe to be global...

— shhg

...as children become interested in knowledge and how they can change the world for the better???...thankyou to those who voted ^_^

to change a dance, change the steps. to change how dancing past midnight feels, change shoes.

RT @MsDuctTape When will we stop using fear & threat as a national strategy? Rather than prepare for war, can't we prepare for peace?

— Jack Armstrong

A new question. How will the State Department use citizen diplomacy to mobilize willing and able US citizens who want to make an impact on foreign policy and how the world views our country? People to people interactions between American citizens and citizens around the globe will have a large impact on policy and security. To partially answer the question, the US Center for Citizen Diplomacy has launched an Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy that will mobilize and support American citizens wishing to take part in this change and take a personal role in our foreign policy.

— U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy

Great use of Twitter, Chris. The global poverty question was excellent.

— Tom Guarriello

hey everybody, thanks for your votes. its an honor. astevens really touched well on the motivation for the question. thank you again. and thanks @TEDchris for the opp!

— Lars Hasselblad Torres

The event was packed. 800 people crammed into the Dean Acheson hall at the State Dept. I read @lhrtorres question about half way through, describing the process which selected it. Got great reaction... including laughter at "from Twitter, with love". Was followed by two wonderful speakers on poverty.
http://blog.ted.com/2009/06/tedstate_paul_c.php
...and
http://blog.ted.com/2009/06/tedstate_jacque.php
Many thanks, Lars, and all who participated. And btw, it felt like those present from the State Dept (about a third of the audience) really were listening.

— Chris Anderson

@TEDChris, thanks for the invite - agreed poverty (and resulting desperation) is root cause of much malaise, and tractable.
@yllams, can you detail the causal relationship? No doubt relations are better now than they have been between the US and the countries you mention, but temporal sequence doesn't entail causation.

— neilredding

Internet is back in Iran,ppl get access to twitter & FB, there's no suspicious in this. Most ppl know abt proxy anyway

— 4load

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TEDChris: The untweetable

When 140 characters just aren’t enough…

To State Dept, from Twitter, with love...