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Do you think the things we build today
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will be considered wonders in the future?
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Think of Stonehenge,
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the Pyramids,
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Machu Picchu, and Easter Island.
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Now, they're all pretty different
from what we're doing today,
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with those massive stones,
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assembled in complex
but seemingly illogical ways,
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and all traces of their construction
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erased,
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shrouding them in mystery.
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It seems like people could not
have possibly built these things,
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because people didn't.
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They were carefully crafted
by a primordial race of giants
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known as Cyclops.
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(Laughter)
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And I've been collaborating
with these monsters
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to learn their secrets
for moving those massive stones.
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And as it turns out,
Cyclops aren't even that strong.
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They're just really smart
about getting material to work for them.
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Now, the videos you see behind me
of large, stone-like, wobbly creatures
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are the results of this collaboration.
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OK, so Cyclops might be
a mythical creature,
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but those wonders are still real.
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People made them.
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But they also made the myths
that surround them,
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and when it comes to wonders,
there's this thick connective tissue
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between mythology and reality.
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Take Easter Island, for example.
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When the Dutch explorers
first encountered the island,
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they asked the people of Rapa Nui
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how their ancestors could have possibly
moved those massive statues.
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And the Rapa Nui said,
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"Our ancestors didn't move the statues,
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because the statues walked themselves."
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For centuries, this was dismissed,
but actually it's true.
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The statues, known as moai,
were transported standing,
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pivoting from side to side.
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OK?
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As spectacular as the moai are
for visitors today,
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you have to imagine being there then,
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with colossal moai
marching around the island,
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because the real memorial
was not the objects themselves,
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it was the cultural ritual
of bringing a stone to life.
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So as an architect,
I've been chasing that dream.
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How can we shift our idea of construction
to accommodate that mythical side?
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So what I've been doing
is challenging myself
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with putting on a series of performances
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of the ancient but
pretty straightforward task
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of just moving and standing
big heavy objects,
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like this 16-foot-tall megalith
designed to walk across land
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and stand vertically;
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or this 4,000-pound behemoth
that springs itself to life
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to dance onstage.
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And what I've found is
that by thinking of architecture
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not as an end product but as a performance
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from conception to completion,
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we end up rediscovering some really smart
ways to build things today.
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You know, so much of the discussion
surrounding our future
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focuses on technology,
efficiency and speed,
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but if I've learned anything from Cyclops,
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it's that wonders
can be smart, spectacular
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and sustainable
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because of their mass and their mystery.
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And while people still want to know
how those ancient wonders were built,
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I've been asking Cyclops
how to create the mystery
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that compels people
to ask that very question.
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Because in an era
where we design buildings
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to last 30, maybe 60 years,
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I would love to learn
how to create something
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that could entertain for an eternity.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)