What reality are you creating for yourself?
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0:01 - 0:03When Dorothy was a little girl,
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0:03 - 0:04she was fascinated by her goldfish.
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0:05 - 0:09Her father explained to her that fish swim
by quickly wagging their tails -
0:09 - 0:10to propel themselves through the water.
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0:11 - 0:13Without hesitation,
little Dorothy responded, -
0:13 - 0:16"Yes, Daddy, and fish swim backwards
by wagging their heads." -
0:16 - 0:18(Laughter)
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0:18 - 0:21In her mind, it was a fact
as true as any other. -
0:21 - 0:23Fish swim backwards
by wagging their heads. -
0:23 - 0:25She believed it.
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0:25 - 0:28Our lives are full
of fish swimming backwards. -
0:28 - 0:31We make assumptions
and faulty leaps of logic. -
0:31 - 0:32We harbor bias.
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0:32 - 0:34We know that we are right,
and they are wrong. -
0:34 - 0:36We fear the worst.
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0:36 - 0:38We strive for unattainable perfection.
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0:39 - 0:41We tell ourselves
what we can and cannot do. -
0:42 - 0:46In our minds, fish swim by in reverse
frantically wagging their heads -
0:46 - 0:47and we don't even notice them.
-
0:49 - 0:51I'm going to tell you
five facts about myself. -
0:51 - 0:53One fact is not true.
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0:54 - 0:59One: I graduated from Harvard at 19
with an honors degree in mathematics. -
1:00 - 1:04Two: I currently run
a construction company in Orlando. -
1:05 - 1:08Three: I starred on a television sitcom.
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1:09 - 1:14Four: I lost my sight
to a rare genetic eye disease. -
1:15 - 1:19Five: I served as a law clerk
to two US Supreme Court justices. -
1:20 - 1:22Which fact is not true?
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1:24 - 1:25Actually, they're all true.
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1:26 - 1:28Yeah. They're all true.
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1:29 - 1:31(Applause)
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1:33 - 1:36At this point, most people really
only care about the television show. -
1:36 - 1:38(Laughter)
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1:40 - 1:41I know this from experience.
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1:42 - 1:46OK, so the show was NBC's
"Saved by the Bell: The New Class." -
1:46 - 1:49And I played Weasel Wyzell,
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1:50 - 1:54who was the sort of dorky,
nerdy character on the show, -
1:54 - 1:59which made it a very
major acting challenge -
1:59 - 2:01for me as a 13-year-old boy.
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2:01 - 2:02(Laughter)
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2:03 - 2:06Now, did you struggle
with number four, my blindness? -
2:07 - 2:08Why is that?
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2:09 - 2:12We make assumptions
about so-called disabilities. -
2:12 - 2:15As a blind man, I confront
others' incorrect assumptions -
2:15 - 2:17about my abilities every day.
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2:19 - 2:21My point today is not
about my blindness, however. -
2:21 - 2:22It's about my vision.
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2:23 - 2:27Going blind taught me
to live my life eyes wide open. -
2:28 - 2:31It taught me to spot
those backwards-swimming fish -
2:31 - 2:32that our minds create.
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2:32 - 2:34Going blind cast them into focus.
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2:36 - 2:38What does it feel like to see?
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2:39 - 2:40It's immediate and passive.
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2:41 - 2:43You open your eyes and there's the world.
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2:43 - 2:45Seeing is believing. Sight is truth.
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2:45 - 2:46Right?
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2:47 - 2:49Well, that's what I thought.
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2:50 - 2:54Then, from age 12 to 25,
my retinas progressively deteriorated. -
2:55 - 2:58My sight became an increasingly bizarre
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2:58 - 3:01carnival funhouse hall
of mirrors and illusions. -
3:02 - 3:04The salesperson I was relieved
to spot in a store -
3:04 - 3:05was really a mannequin.
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3:06 - 3:07Reaching down to wash my hands,
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3:07 - 3:11I suddenly saw it was
a urinal I was touching, not a sink, -
3:11 - 3:12when my fingers felt its true shape.
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3:13 - 3:15A friend described
the photograph in my hand, -
3:15 - 3:17and only then I could see
the image depicted. -
3:19 - 3:23Objects appeared, morphed
and disappeared in my reality. -
3:24 - 3:27It was difficult and exhausting to see.
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3:28 - 3:31I pieced together fragmented,
transitory images, -
3:31 - 3:33consciously analyzed the clues,
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3:33 - 3:36searched for some logic
in my crumbling kaleidoscope, -
3:37 - 3:38until I saw nothing at all.
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3:40 - 3:41I learned that what we see
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3:41 - 3:44is not universal truth.
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3:44 - 3:46It is not objective reality.
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3:48 - 3:53What we see is a unique,
personal, virtual reality -
3:53 - 3:55that is masterfully
constructed by our brain. -
3:56 - 3:58Let me explain with a bit
of amateur neuroscience. -
3:58 - 4:01Your visual cortex takes up
about 30 percent of your brain. -
4:02 - 4:05That's compared to approximately
eight percent for touch -
4:05 - 4:07and two to three percent for hearing.
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4:08 - 4:11Every second, your eyes
can send your visual cortex -
4:11 - 4:14as many as two billion
pieces of information. -
4:14 - 4:18The rest of your body can send your brain
only an additional billion. -
4:19 - 4:23So sight is one third
of your brain by volume -
4:23 - 4:26and can claim about two thirds
of your brain's processing resources. -
4:27 - 4:28It's no surprise then
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4:28 - 4:30that the illusion
of sight is so compelling. -
4:30 - 4:33But make no mistake about it:
sight is an illusion. -
4:34 - 4:36Here's where it gets interesting.
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4:36 - 4:38To create the experience of sight,
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4:38 - 4:41your brain references your conceptual
understanding of the world, -
4:41 - 4:45other knowledge, your memories,
opinions, emotions, mental attention. -
4:46 - 4:50All of these things and far more
are linked in your brain to your sight. -
4:51 - 4:54These linkages work both ways,
and usually occur subconsciously. -
4:54 - 4:56So for example,
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4:56 - 4:58what you see impacts how you feel,
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4:59 - 5:01and the way you feel
can literally change what you see. -
5:02 - 5:04Numerous studies demonstrate this.
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5:05 - 5:06If you are asked to estimate
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5:06 - 5:10the walking speed of a man
in a video, for example, -
5:10 - 5:14your answer will be different if you're
told to think about cheetahs or turtles. -
5:15 - 5:18A hill appears steeper
if you've just exercised, -
5:18 - 5:21and a landmark appears farther away
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5:21 - 5:22if you're wearing a heavy backpack.
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5:24 - 5:27We have arrived
at a fundamental contradiction. -
5:28 - 5:33What you see is a complex
mental construction of your own making, -
5:33 - 5:34but you experience it passively
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5:34 - 5:37as a direct representation
of the world around you. -
5:38 - 5:40You create your own reality,
and you believe it. -
5:42 - 5:44I believed mine until it broke apart.
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5:45 - 5:47The deterioration of my eyes
shattered the illusion. -
5:49 - 5:51You see, sight is just one way
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5:51 - 5:53we shape our reality.
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5:53 - 5:56We create our own realities
in many other ways. -
5:57 - 6:00Let's take fear as just one example.
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6:01 - 6:04Your fears distort your reality.
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6:06 - 6:10Under the warped logic of fear,
anything is better than the uncertain. -
6:10 - 6:13Fear fills the void at all costs,
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6:13 - 6:15passing off what you dread
for what you know, -
6:15 - 6:17offering up the worst
in place of the ambiguous, -
6:18 - 6:19substituting assumption for reason.
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6:20 - 6:23Psychologists have
a great term for it: awfulizing. -
6:23 - 6:24(Laughter)
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6:24 - 6:26Right?
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6:26 - 6:29Fear replaces the unknown with the awful.
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6:30 - 6:32Now, fear is self-realizing.
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6:32 - 6:34When you face the greatest need
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6:34 - 6:36to look outside yourself
and think critically, -
6:36 - 6:39fear beats a retreat
deep inside your mind, -
6:39 - 6:41shrinking and distorting your view,
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6:41 - 6:43drowning your capacity
for critical thought -
6:43 - 6:45with a flood of disruptive emotions.
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6:46 - 6:49When you face a compelling
opportunity to take action, -
6:49 - 6:51fear lulls you into inaction,
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6:51 - 6:55enticing you to passively watch
its prophecies fulfill themselves. -
6:58 - 7:00When I was diagnosed
with my blinding disease, -
7:00 - 7:03I knew blindness would ruin my life.
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7:04 - 7:07Blindness was a death sentence
for my independence. -
7:07 - 7:09It was the end of achievement for me.
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7:11 - 7:15Blindness meant I would live
an unremarkable life, -
7:15 - 7:16small and sad,
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7:16 - 7:18and likely alone.
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7:18 - 7:19I knew it.
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7:21 - 7:24This was a fiction born of my fears,
but I believed it. -
7:25 - 7:27It was a lie, but it was my reality,
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7:27 - 7:31just like those backwards-swimming fish
in little Dorothy's mind. -
7:32 - 7:34If I had not confronted
the reality of my fear, -
7:34 - 7:36I would have lived it.
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7:36 - 7:37I am certain of that.
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7:40 - 7:42So how do you live your life
eyes wide open? -
7:43 - 7:45It is a learned discipline.
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7:46 - 7:48It can be taught. It can be practiced.
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7:49 - 7:50I will summarize very briefly.
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7:52 - 7:54Hold yourself accountable
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7:54 - 7:56for every moment, every thought,
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7:56 - 7:57every detail.
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7:58 - 8:00See beyond your fears.
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8:00 - 8:02Recognize your assumptions.
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8:02 - 8:03Harness your internal strength.
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8:03 - 8:06Silence your internal critic.
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8:06 - 8:08Correct your misconceptions
about luck and about success. -
8:09 - 8:13Accept your strengths and your weaknesses,
and understand the difference. -
8:14 - 8:15Open your hearts
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8:15 - 8:16to your bountiful blessings.
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8:17 - 8:20Your fears, your critics,
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8:20 - 8:22your heroes, your villains --
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8:22 - 8:25they are your excuses,
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8:25 - 8:27rationalizations, shortcuts,
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8:27 - 8:29justifications, your surrender.
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8:30 - 8:33They are fictions you perceive as reality.
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8:34 - 8:36Choose to see through them.
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8:36 - 8:37Choose to let them go.
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8:38 - 8:41You are the creator of your reality.
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8:42 - 8:45With that empowerment
comes complete responsibility. -
8:46 - 8:52I chose to step out of fear's tunnel
into terrain uncharted and undefined. -
8:52 - 8:55I chose to build there a blessed life.
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8:56 - 8:58Far from alone,
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8:58 - 9:01I share my beautiful life with Dorothy,
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9:01 - 9:03my beautiful wife,
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9:03 - 9:05with our triplets,
whom we call the Tripskys, -
9:06 - 9:08and with the latest addition
to the family, -
9:08 - 9:10sweet baby Clementine.
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9:11 - 9:12What do you fear?
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9:14 - 9:15What lies do you tell yourself?
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9:17 - 9:19How do you embellish your truth
and write your own fictions? -
9:20 - 9:23What reality are you
creating for yourself? -
9:24 - 9:27In your career and personal life,
in your relationships, -
9:27 - 9:29and in your heart and soul,
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9:29 - 9:31your backwards-swimming fish
do you great harm. -
9:33 - 9:36They exact a toll in missed opportunities
and unrealized potential, -
9:37 - 9:40and they engender insecurity and distrust
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9:40 - 9:42where you seek fulfillment and connection.
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9:44 - 9:46I urge you to search them out.
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9:47 - 9:52Helen Keller said that the only thing
worse than being blind -
9:52 - 9:54is having sight but no vision.
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9:55 - 9:59For me, going blind
was a profound blessing, -
9:59 - 10:01because blindness gave me vision.
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10:02 - 10:04I hope you can see what I see.
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10:04 - 10:05Thank you.
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10:06 - 10:08(Applause)
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10:21 - 10:24Bruno Giussani: Isaac, before you
leave the stage, just a question. -
10:24 - 10:28This is an audience of entrepreneurs,
of doers, of innovators. -
10:28 - 10:31You are a CEO of a company
down in Florida, -
10:31 - 10:34and many are probably wondering,
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10:34 - 10:36how is it to be a blind CEO?
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10:36 - 10:40What kind of specific challenges
do you have, and how do you overcome them? -
10:40 - 10:43Isaac Lidsky: Well,
the biggest challenge became a blessing. -
10:43 - 10:45I don't get visual feedback from people.
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10:46 - 10:48(Laughter)
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10:48 - 10:50BG: What's that noise there? IL: Yeah.
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10:50 - 10:54So, for example,
in my leadership team meetings, -
10:54 - 10:56I don't see facial
expressions or gestures. -
10:58 - 11:01I've learned to solicit
a lot more verbal feedback. -
11:01 - 11:05I basically force people
to tell me what they think. -
11:06 - 11:08And in this respect,
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11:08 - 11:12it's become, like I said, a real blessing
for me personally and for my company, -
11:12 - 11:15because we communicate
at a far deeper level, -
11:15 - 11:17we avoid ambiguities,
-
11:18 - 11:24and most important, my team knows
that what they think truly matters. -
11:27 - 11:29BG: Isaac, thank you for coming to TED.
IL: Thank you, Bruno. -
11:29 - 11:33(Applause)
- Title:
- What reality are you creating for yourself?
- Speaker:
- Isaac Lidsky
- Description:
-
Reality isn't something you perceive; it's something you create in your mind. Isaac Lidsky learned this profound lesson firsthand, when unexpected life circumstances yielded valuable insights. In this introspective, personal talk, he challenges us to let go of excuses, assumptions and fears, and accept the awesome responsibility of being the creators of our own reality.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 11:46
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