thought to myself hey what was I like
back then how much have I changed how
much have I made an impact on others
because today I want to talk about how a
small change in yourself can also make
an impact on others even if it’s in a
small scale I want you the audience to
reflect on yourselves back in 2007 what
were you’re like who was your friend
circle and what were your interests now
some of you may think wow I’ve changed
so much I’m barely recognizable and to
others that might not be the case but
that’s okay because in the end there’s
going to be changes physically and
mentally let’s start with the physical
changes there are approximately 50
trillion cells in the human body
each constantly replacing themselves at
their own rate and eventually they’ll
all be replaced that process takes about
ten years
so technically ten years ago you were
you’re physically not the same person
what’s funny about that is that your
brain cells don’t actually replace
themselves so mentally you’re still the
same person but that doesn’t feel like
that especially considering how oh wow I
feel like I’ve changed so much but
that’s because we’re social animals
we’re like clay that never really dry up
we’re always going to be molded and
influenced by the world around us we
learn from people around us from those
we look up to and from our environment
so that’s a lot of information to sponge
up especially concerning how there’s so
much happening around the world so in
ten years it seems pretty obvious that
Wow yeah of course so much is going to
change but let’s put that into
perspective of six weeks dr. Marek did a
study on 31 volunteers in reach him in
which he made them do to regularly 2 and
a half hours of exercise give up coffee
and I’ll give up coffee and alcohol and
1.5 hours of mental exercises and what
was found well all volunteers improved
in focus mood self-esteem and memory so
even simple habit changes can influence
you but maybe for some people
that’s not necessary maybe you don’t
want to change your habits all after all
old habits die hard right so in that
case maybe is the small personal sparks
that drive you 30 year-old autistic man
by the name of Keaton our goal was
called stupid and humiliated by a gym
instructor so what did he do he went to
his local library taught himself law and
successfully argued his case
so with this idea of change it can
happen extremely quickly and it’s almost
like metamorphosis on one hand is
inevitable such as your behavior and
personality but on the other hand
there’s a conscious decision in your
habits and goals now
we’re constantly moving around and
meeting new people some of you in the
audience and myself are currently in
high school so 10 years from now we’ll
be pursuing a career and in that process
we’ll be meeting new people and
developing relationships and having
connections is a valuable asset in the
course of 10 years the number of people
the average number of people you meet is
approximately 10,000 that can include
your colleagues your friends or that
person who told you to tie your
shoelaces but one of those people you
meet can have a huge impact on you they
can either be the one giving you support
or giving you that extra push some of
the other argue somewhat are you
otherwise that having relationships is a
sign of weakness and that everyone
should be self-sufficient and
independent but as the old saying goes
no man is an island meaning that no
human beings thrives when isolated from
others I mean take a look at one of the
most successful people Steve Jobs from a
young Pete from a young age he was
greatly inspired by his handyman of a
father he enjoyed tinkering with
electronics and making cabinets with him
and by the age of 10 Jobs was already
deeply involved with electronics he even
befriended the engineers in his
neighborhood so even though he didn’t
get along with peers at school he still
had the support from his family and
neighbors and that got him to great
lengths because there all his life he
pursued careers that rolled around his
that revolved around his in
trust and he met people that guided him
in the right path and eventually
becoming Apple CEO and when he became
apple CEO and chairman Apple products
but that took a long time it took the
course of his whole life
not ten years however and that can be
compared against the entertainment or
the art industry which can become
popular very quickly but how quickly
they become popular is dependent on on
your connections I mean look at Vincent
Mongo he’s considered a modern-day art
genius yet back in his day hit are his
artworks were in right now and at all so
10 years is a lot of time to actually
develop and skill and style and in
popularity but it’s the people around
you who can help you get into the
spotlight we can take a look at Disney
as well this is Princess and the Frog
released in 2009 and this is mallanna
released in 2017 both films were
directed to shared the same director
took 5 years of production and are in
the same era of Disney films and yet
they have very different art styles but
that’s because generally now CGI can be
considered a cheaper and more effective
method of creating animations as opposed
to traditionally drawing each frame by
hand so this change in style and
development can reflect on society’s
need for efficiency an efficiency is a
very important term for companies and
industries its what innovation is
focusing on everywhere I mean take a
look at your smartphone’s they have
cameras video recorders video games and
it’s just a computer confined into one
device the size of your pocket and sure
you can say 10 years ago we still have
smartphones they hold less space they
were slower and generally lower quality
when you look 10 years before that they
weren’t confined into one device they
were big and difficult to carry around
and use separately actually speaking of
smartphones just last week the iPhone X
was announced and these features are
pretty state-of-the-art seven-year-old
me would not have expected and I
phone to have facial recognition after
the pseudo DSLR camera or have talking
emojis but it costs $1000 I don’t know
about you but new and futuristic
products always seem to be pretty
expensive even when it’s not necessary
and that can be taken into account for
prosthetics as well a tool that
multitudes of people need in fact two
million people in the United States need
prosthetics they’re great for people who
feel their whole world can whose whole
world came crashing down but to want to
get a second chance
however precise I mean extremely
expensive they can cost between five
thousand to fifty thousand dollars and
that can probably be due to how they’re
being developed to have micro processors
sensors and to be lighter and that’s
often catered to athletes or just to be
more convenient but not everyone can
afford that so now 3d printers are being
looked at as the future of prosthetics
and they can cost as low as ten dollars
twelve year-old Leon McCarthy lost his
fingers from first due to a lack of
blood flow so what his father did was he
created a prosthetic hand for his son
and it works his son’s able to hold on
to his backpack and even ride a bike and
what’s most amazing about that is that
Leon McCarthy’s father learnt this all
from YouTube so if just a father can
learn how to make a prosthetic hand from
with 3d printing from YouTube then
imagine what scientists and doctors can
do they can create a cost effective
method to create a tool that millions of
people need and thus make it more
accessible researchers also looking into
developing products to cater to blind
people in her to help them see again in
2007 the bionic eye was developed but it
didn’t go so great all that could be
seen was mushy black-and-white figures
and that’s okay because with innovation
comes flaws and the most we can do is
actually learn from it
east eye a pair of glasses developed for
a similar purpose Ashley worked the idea
is domed in 2006
was and it was released into markets in
2013 and that’s just six years different
from when the bionic eye was released
and it actually works so can you imagine
being born able to see and losing your
vision gradually over time like with
losing a limb is pretty hard to adapt to
you’d have to learn Braille and heavily
rely on your other senses so it’s great
that researchers are coming up with all
these pieces of innovation to cater to
that but all these ideas I brought up
they seem very large-scale and that may
give the notion that small isn’t
impactful but that’s simply not true
think of it this way ideas come from
inspiration an inspiration can take any
shape or form
Conrad Lewis the creator of Eastside was
actually developing the product to help
his blind sisters and the product would
have no reason to exist if a perfectly
functioning device already existed even
the bionic eye had good intent but it
just didn’t work another small idea that
has room for big possibilities is bees
now some of you in the audience may
think that oh these insects are sadistic
and they like to sting people and cause
harm and others may view them for their
crucial role as pollinators but no one’s
gonna look at that and think yeah it can
detect cancer in patients what they do
honeybees have actually been found to
have a very strong sense of smell and
they can actually be trained to detect
certain odors so what has been developed
is this glass orb-like tool that has
multiple chambers within it and how has
uses you breathe into it and if this
target odor is detected by the bees
they’ll flee into the smaller chamber
but that wasn’t developed by just one
person we’ve needed to have people
discover the bees first and then have
the entomologist study them and research
them then have that research and
knowledge carried on to another area of
study so it can be adapted so yeah
knowledge on bees can be used
holistically and that can be applied to
things as well but if your would you
have to be a scientist to make big
changes
don’t worry and if you’re worried if
you’re too old to make any changes also
don’t worry because we’re constantly
moving around and meeting new people and
these people can inspire you teach you
or challenge you even small importance
of encouragement is enough to go great
lengths I mean look at kids if you
complement a kids drawing
they’ll be ecstatic and they’ll want to
continue it and eventually they’ll grow
and practice and I would just become
much better eventually if they continue
it and in that sense then maybe you can
be the person inspiring others sure not
everyone you come by is going to be
moved by you or you’re going to inspire
them but when the right people do cross
paths great things can be made and
that’ll eventually lead into a cycle of
inspiration so with this idea of ten
years a community can grow it can grow
in numbers change in ideologies create
movements in areas and affect you the
individual and you the individual can
also be heavily influenced by ten years
you can uptake a new skill you can meet
new people have a life-changing moment
use newly developed products to cope
with those changes and impact those
around you but in the end it depends on
you the individual what you want to do
and how you want to do it thank you [Applause]