Pop!Tech 2009 Reimagines America, Announces Full Lineup

Pop!Tech 2009 has just released its full list of speakers. Each of these incredible individuals will be a part of this year's theme: "America Reimagined." The list includes MacArthur Geniuses, social entrepreneurs, brilliant musicians, and just about everyone in between.

Pop!Tech identifies itself as an "innovation network," concerned with the social implications of new technologies, the way different forces are shaping the future, and approaches to addressing global challenges. One of the things that I've always thought was cool about them is that they are incredibly focused on finding clear and explicit ways to leverage their network of partners to support innovative change. Perhaps the best example is their partnership with frog design which produced the award winning mobile health Project M.

I think the theme for this year is interesting and timely. While one could argue that the theme seems better suited to a year ago (before the elections) and to a less global audience, I think it's actually an ideal time to have this conversation, and I believe it's a conversation that can only be had with a global audience.

Throughout the history of this country, the idea of America has consistently been the most salient and contentious political force in the land.

The Civil War was fought about slavery yes, but the question of slavery was also about a question of who could lay claim to the idea of America (and the rights and privileges of that allegiance), and from the flip side, how America could or couldn't impose its values across its citizenry. The Marshall Plan gained public support because it explicitly extended the benefits of American affiliation to a Europe that had fought alongside with American troops. The debates that surround terrorism, the Iraq war, and almost all foreign policy and its domestic consequences starts with what America means.

So why is now the right time for the conversation? The single biggest destabilizing (or restabilizing, depending on how you look at it) event impacting the American idea in the last thirty years occurred last fall when Barack Obama took office. But now it's a year in, some of the glint has worn off, and the broader question of the American ideal in the 21st century is, if anything, stronger than it was a year ago.

This is because it's about more than America. The American idea has also been one of the most powerful global social and political forces in modern history as well. The idea of the land of opportunity, a place where anyone can make it, a place where people live free from tyranny, whether accurate or not, are powerful, powerful beacons around the world. At least they have been in the past. The question now is whether the idea of America is still those things, or whether it has become something else entirely. The question is whether the world's attention is turning else where - internally or externally - as people hunt for new ideals and new models.

These are just some of the themes that this incredible list of speakers will explore. The list of speakers includes "as developmental economist Esther Duflo; behavioral economist Daniel Ariely; cultural critic Kurt Anderson; psychologist Daniel Goleman; solar energy visionary Dan Nocera; materials scientist and designer Neri Oxman; digital anthropologist Michael Wesch; Braddock, PA mayor John Fetterman; youth activist Erica Williams; ‘crowdsourced' automotive designer Jay Rogers; as well as renowned agriculture and food journalist Michael Pollan; and ‘designer of eating' Marije Vogelzang, among many others."

To read the full list, check out the announcement on Pop!Tech's blog.

(Photo: KK+)