Aaron Maniam is a policy planner, poet and youth activist enthusiast interested in the intersection between government and technology.
Why you should listen
Aaron Maniam is a curious generalist -- a civil servant by profession, a poet by calling, an educator and diversity facilitator by choice and all by passion. As the first head of the Centre for Strategic Futures (2010-2011), he and his team analysed long-term trends at multiple levels and their significance for Singapore. In his current role as deputy secretary at the Ministry of Communications and Information, he coordinates policy on various aspects of digitalisation, including digital transformation of the economy; regulation of telcos, data, AI and other digital infrastructure; digital inclusion and access in social policy; and digital diplomacy.
Maniam is completing a PhD comparing the digital transformation efforts by the governments of Estonia, New Zealand and Singapore. He is working on his third collection of poems. Amid the many challenges, he has been grateful for global safe distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, as a chance to write, exercise more and get reacquainted with meditation and yoga.
Aaron Maniam’s TED Talk
Aaron Maniam, Helen Walters, Chee Pearlman
New ways to understand life in a pandemic
29 minutes 6 secondsPoet and policymaker Aaron Maniam describes how the language we use to explain COVID-19 shapes the way we think about it -- whether it's as a "war," a "journey" or, as he suggests, an "ecology." He encourages us to explore a range of imaginative, interlocking metaphors to gain a deeper understanding of the pandemic -- and shows how this can help us to envision a better, more inclusive future. (This virtual conversation, hosted by TED's head of curation Helen Walters and arts and design curator Chee Pearlman, was recorded June 10, 2020.)Posted Jul 2020
