Where are the limits of tolerance?

We still don’t know exactly what is going on in the human brain. Our profession is advertising, yet it’s almost completely a field of intuition. We owe most of our concrete knowledge to the research of the last twenty, even ten, years. Science previously focused on ailing brains and only recently started to access data about normal human brain function with the help of new technologies like fMRI. This development excites us. We have a historic opportunity to compare our intuition with scientific findings.

When we summarize Alametifarika’s business philosophy, “Science, arts, technology in the service of commerce”, what we mean by science and technology is exactly this. Advertising has always been a cooperation with art and artists and works well with technology. It’s found advantage in these alliances. However advertising was not related to science. At Alamet, we are serious in our efforts to be enriched by science.

For the past year we have focused on TED. Why TED? Because TED creates an environment where we can benefit from ideas, information, inventions, and discoveries to transform our business, and to make the world a better place. We have watched the live broadcast of TED Conference in California last February with friends of Alamet. In March, we hosted Martin Lindstrom, one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People in the World, here in Istanbul. We have listened to him talk at Istanbul Technical University about neuromarketing. In July, we attended TED Global in Oxford. We requested the license to organize a local TEDx conference. In November, we watched TEDIndia live at the agency. In the meantime, we kept up with science, art and technology by hosting experts at the agency in meetings called “Traditional Alametifarika Thursday Talks”. (Unfortunately due to location restrictions it is not possible for us to open these talks to Alamet friends.)

Now it’s time for 2010’s first event: TEDxIstanbul. Organizer: Alamet. Date: January, 23th. Venue: Sabancı Museum’s The Seed. TEDx conferences are always around a predetermined theme, gathering ambitious experts to discuss the same theme from very different aspects. We have selected “The Limits of Tolerance”.  At this one day conference, outstanding experts from the world and Turkey will discuss “tolerance” from scientific, political, philosophical, and artistic point of views. People unable to attend will have the chance to watch the conference live via web and mobile. One of the best-considered features of TED is that speeches are limited in time. Guest speakers will discuss the presence, absence, possibility, impossibility, power, and weakness of “tolerance” in 18 minute blocks.

Why did we start with “tolerance”? We think that one of the most important improvements for our world is “more tolerance”. In our opinion, tolerance is not only a necessity for a peaceful coexistence, but also required to unfold the imaginative power within us so we can perform our business better. We hope that you will be joining us from 09:30 to 18.30 on January 23th, Saturday, and enjoy this tour along the horizon of the limits of tolerance.