Has your friend ever asked you whether you are ‘glass half-full or half-empty’ kind of a person? The fact that we perceive the same thing differently from one another presents an interesting conundrum, does it not? The way we perceive the world is influenced by our personal points of view, gender, past, identity, etc.

As the filmmaker, Wayne Gerard Trotman aptly points it out, “It may be a fact that the sky seems blue to you. Even so, that does not mean that the sky is blue.” To put it another way, we can say that “reality is what you make of it”.

We are who and how we are because of our unique perception of the world shaped by a myriad of reference frames and experiences, building on the ever-expanding meaning of reality. In addition to that, with the rapid increase in staged realities created by “the media, governments and big corporations”, our everyday lives require ceaseless efforts to discern right and wrong, real and fake. Hence, it is imperative for an individual to have an intellectual compass that allows one to navigate through and tell knowledge apart from pseudo-science, facts apart from opinions. There is an immediate need to nurture mindsets equipped to handle multiple perspectives, to learn from others and to be inclusive.

A way of acquiring this intellectual compass is to open up our minds to the “Viewpoints” of others and address some relevant questions in the process:

• How subjective is reality?
• How do the plethora of perspectives affect an individual’s life?
• How do we reconcile the differences among the overabundant perspectives around us?
• Why should we care about the viewpoints of others?

Come and join us at TEDxNTU 2019! Witness a team of distinguished speakers from various spheres of life as they share their take on various topics from their unique ‘VIEWPOINTS’.. Transform the way you look and think about the world!