On April 16, Central Current Columnist Sean Kirst took the stage at the Tan Auditorium as part of Syracuse University’s 2026 TEDx event to give a talk entitled “The Imperative of True Stories”. His address drew on examples from his more than 50-year career as a journalist to issue both a warning and a vision of hope for how stories are told today.
Kirst reminded the audience of how the Industrial Revolution took manufacturing out of the hands of artisans and turned it over to machines, leading to reactionary traditions like the Arts and Crafts architecture movement that sought to reclaim and preserve the human element in design. While describing the birth of artificial intelligence as the “industrialization of ideas,” he invited listeners to find ways to reclaim the human element within good storytelling today and in doing so — strengthen the emotional bonds that connect us all.
A video of the speech was recently made available to Central Current courtesy of Liam Kirst.
Read more of Central Current’s coverage
Watch Sean Kirst’s TEDx talk at Syracuse University
The speaker series featured Syracuse University alumni, students, and faculty along with community residents who explored the theme “What matters next?”
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