Jeff: Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no.

Sally: Wow. [laughter] I didn't think that was going to work.

Jeff: I really like that sound you just made. I hate this question.

Sally: I love that. That is awesome.

Jeff: I believe it. Would you dance with me for a second?

Sally: Hi, my name is Sally Conn. I am a media trainer and a communications strategist. I am a democracy superfan and I think democracy can work better for our lives and our wallets.

Jeff: Hi, my name is Jeff Mo and I work in defense tech and getting the most disruptive technologies advanced into our war fighters.

Sally: Today we're playing idea knockdown. Red blocks are rapid fire questions and black blocks have questions that go a little deeper. Whoever knocks down a tower will have to do a mystery challenge.

Jeff: on top.

Sally: All right, red card. Here we go. It says, "Is there a version of democracy that actually works for everyday people?" Why, yes. Yeah, I think there is a version of democracy that works for everyday people, but it requires getting money out of politics and changing our expectations of what democracy is meant to do to actually prioritize working people.

Jeff: Yeah. No, that's

Sally: Look at me. I'm stepping back. Come on. [laughter] I was like, I didn't do it. Oh, that feels that feels like a winner. There we go.

Jeff: Winner winner. Chicken dinner right there. Okay, red card. Should there be a wealth limit for those running for office?

Sally: Interesting.

Jeff: I think we could definitely have a couple beers and talk about this for a very long time.

Sally: Who's got beers?

Jeff: Who's got beers?

Sally: You don't think there should be limits for anything?

Jeff: Correct.

Sally: That is I I

Jeff: That's the little libertarian in you.

Sally: Yeah, that's true. Um, I don't necessarily think that wealth on its own is inherently bad. And I don't necessarily like that our leadership skews toward the ultra wealthy. And so there is a disconnect between the people representing us and the people being represented. And I don't think our founders would have liked that either, even though they had

Jeff: I mean that's hard to SAY CUZ THEY LANDED white dudes. But

Sally: to be our values, our values and our history never quite match up. But anyway, our values and what we do are two totally different things. And that's the part that we should fix. So it's not that I believe in wealth limits. It's that I believe we should make it again take money out of politics. And I think that will get us more candidates and more representatives who are truly representative of the people. And guess what? We're not all millionaires and nor should be our Congress.

Jeff: Oh, that's Wow, that's a good one.

Sally: Well, it was loose, so I went with it.

Jeff: That's It's uh It's looking a little shaky. Okay. Do you think the next generation will have more opportunities than yours?

Jeff: We are on a knife's edge as a nation at least in the United States. I think this is true around the world too when you think about for instance cuts to USAID and and and aid and the sort of disintegration of the global world order. like we can make a decision both as the United States and as a global community to pay forward the wealth, the opportunity, the good stuff, the roads, the schools, the or to allow extreme wealth and extreme inequality to pile up. Of course, then we haven't even gotten into the impacts of climate and all of that. So, I I like truly truly truly pray we as a world come to our senses, but I it does keep me up at night. No.

Sally: Yeah, I think they're all stuck in Yeah. Here we go.

Jeff: Don't get too Don't get too cocky before you put it down.

Sally: That's true. Okay. What's one thing worth rebuilding right now?

Jeff: I am going to go with trust, right? Trust and integrity. Those two things kind of go hand in hand. Um, without those, we just can't do anything else. There's no functioning and there's no working together, which means we can't do anything greater than ourselves.

Sally: All right. I I like that answer. I'm making a bold choice.

Jeff: That is Wow, look at you.

Sally: I'm really trying to set up my opponent here.

Sally: I'm like I'm like afraid to touch the cards. They're going to hit that. Okay. No, we're good. You sure? All right.

Sally: Oh. Uh why is authoritarianism winning globally? Well, it's not faking winning. It just happens to be having a moment.

Jeff: A little fascism flare up.

Sally: Authoritarianism is flaring up around the globe. Not because of anything authoritarianism is doing right, but because of what democracy is getting wrong and in particular that democracy is not delivering like real tangible improvements in people's lives, in particular financial improvements and there is a massive correlation between countries that have extreme income inequality and see erosions of democracy, which is understandable because like why would you vote for a system that isn't working for you? Oh, I think I got a red one here.

Jeff: Oh, maybe I don't. Oh, no. I'm gonna

Sally: We're gonna go slow. This might take a few minutes.

Jeff: Waiting with baited breath. I don't know what baited breath is. No,

Sally: I don't wish we should Google that.

Jeff: Yeah.

Sally: Okay,

Jeff: we did it. Now I just need to take picture.

Jeff: It's like this weird feeling of like I'm both happy for you and

Sally: I know. Yeah. Now I have to All right, go ahead.

Jeff: Ooh, this one's going to be fun. What's an overused word in politics? This one is a pet peeve for me particularly bipartisan.

Jeff: We have so many different factions, so many different Americans, so many different perspectives and points of view. There is no way that only two parties can represent them. And I think Americans right this moment are seeing a lot of that frustration. And so when we talk about partisan, left, right, bipartisan particularly, that is just um a distraction for the fact that we are not getting our voices heard.

Sally: I just, you know, here's the problem, Jeff, is that I'm a slightly competitive person. I don't like losing. Yeah.

Jeff: Oh, Oh. Oh. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Sally: Oh, that's impressive. That's impressive.

Jeff: Okay. Thank goodness. Trying to make me do some embarrassing stuff in the streets of Philadelphia. It's 99 freaking degrees out there. Uh, what's the version of your city or country you're still holding out hope for?

Sally: I have a lot of hope. I think hope is like the most one of the most important civic tools. Hope and love, right? I think if you love your country and you love all all of the people in it and you have hope that things can be better, I think nothing is impossible.

Jeff: Can I just say I love that. That is awesome.

Sally: I believe it. I mean I I uh I will say the flip side and I feel this intensely now is how much of our society is held together by norms. Good behavior, decency, kindness, respect and how consequential it can be when those are not upheld. But I think most people, and I live in a really politically diverse community, everybody comes to the four-way stop and everybody most everybody is like, "Oh, no, you go first." And I just think that's the best of us. And it gives me hope for all the rest. Go hard on this one.

Jeff: Okay, here we go. But

Sally: we didn't think we'd be this good.

Jeff: Yeah, that was fantastic.

Sally: Okay, let's pick a red card. Is privacy still possible?

Jeff: Oh, that's a good one.

Sally: Sadly, I think the answer is no. And I think that is what's creating so much of the angst and um societal unrest in many ways. The more that we're tracked and monitored, the more uncomfortable we get. And technology unfortunately empowers that. And we can look at what some of the big authoritarian technocracies are doing. And it's scary.

Jeff: Uh the surveillance state is worrying.

Sally: It is.

Jeff: However, I'm going to need some privacy soon when I cry.

Sally: So, um

Jeff: Oh. Oh, you did find one.

Sally: Thank you. Thank you.

Jeff: And you fixed the OCD. That's awesome.

Sally: I did. I had you. [laughter]

Jeff: I'm very proud of that.

Sally: I think crazy. Is there a version of success that doesn't require someone else to lose? We all win when we all win, right? We can't have a country, any country, you can't have a world. Think about all of our great technological advances, all of our inventions and and and or think about climate change, right? Like, is there a version of success that doesn't require someone else to lose? The the it's almost like the you want to ask the inverse question, right? We cannot survive as a species anywhere if we don't fix climate change. We cannot. So, no one can like succeed in that formula. It's just not a It's like the wrong way to think of the interwoven web of humanity, which was always interwoven, but it's like super right. We're all connected now.

Jeff: Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. [sighs]

Sally: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Jeff: Okay, here we go. Keep our OCD record strong here. Okay,

Sally: QUESTION.

Jeff: OH, DON'T TOUCH THE TABLE.

Sally: That's [laughter] true. What would you tell a 15-year-old about how the world actually works? Two sentences. Not the way you hope it does.

Jeff: But it could be better.

Sally: But it could be better. And you have a responsibility in making it better. Boom.

Jeff: Okay. All right.

Sally: I don't envy you right now.

Jeff: Okay. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Well, well, pushing it back. PUSHING.

Sally: Good job.

Jeff: That really hurt my ego.

Sally: Mystery challenge.

Jeff: Mystery challenge. What do we got?

Sally: I hope I get to keep my clothes on.

Jeff: Uh, recruit people to join your political party. Oh, no. It's not like a political political party. It's like a get people to dance in my political party on the street. We're going to go dancing because that was way too much fun. And you were such a partner. I help I'm voluntarily going to help you.

Sally: You're going to embarrass yourself in public with me.

Jeff: I am going to hold the card for you.

Sally: Let's do this. Let's do this. Okay, let's go.

Jeff: Well, now it's feeling embarrassing.

Sally: Do you want to come over and dance with me in MY POLITICAL PARTY? COME ON OVER. YEAH, [screaming] I'm Sally.

Passerby: Hi, Sally.

Sally: Nice to meet you. We're giving Ted talks now. Well, this is the closest you might get for right now, which is part of our TED dance party. Are you ready? Let's go.

Jeff: There we go. There we go. There we go.

Passerby: I don't know.

Sally: Do you want to dance with me?

Passerby: No. [laughter]

Sally: These people look fun.

Sally: Oh, would you dance with me on video?

Passerby: I can't.

Sally: Come on. I can't dance either. Look how much fun we can have in Philadelphia.

Jeff: More people join the party. Yeah. Oh, what do you mean you can't dance? Come on. What are you doing?

Sally: Oh, she's okay. Oh, you're really dancing now. All right. But I mean, that was more than I was bargaining for. He was a ringer.

Jeff: A ringer. She's beating all of us.

Sally: Thank you. You're my last challenge. Thank you so much.