We are all designers
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0:01 - 0:05I am no designer, nope, no way.
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0:05 - 0:07My dad was,
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0:07 - 0:09which is kind of an interesting way to grow up.
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0:09 - 0:13I had to figure out what it is my dad did
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0:13 - 0:15and why it was important.
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0:15 - 0:18Dad talked a lot about bad design when we were growing up,
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0:18 - 0:23you know, "Bad design is just people not thinking, John," he would say
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0:23 - 0:26whenever a kid would be injured by a rotary lawn mower
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0:26 - 0:29or, say, a typewriter ribbon would get tangled
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0:29 - 0:31or an eggbeater would get jammed in the kitchen.
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0:31 - 0:37You know, "Design -- bad design, there's just no excuse for it.
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0:37 - 0:39It's letting stuff happen without thinking about it.
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0:39 - 0:43Every object should be about something, John.
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0:43 - 0:44It should imagine a user.
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0:44 - 0:49It should cast that user in a story starring the user and the object.
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0:49 - 0:54Good design," my dad said, "is about supplying intent."
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0:54 - 0:57That's what he said.
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0:57 - 1:01Dad helped design the control panels for the IBM 360 computer.
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1:01 - 1:05That was a big deal; that was important. He worked for Kodak for a while; that was important.
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1:05 - 1:10He designed chairs and desks and other office equipment for Steelcase; that was important.
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1:10 - 1:15I knew design was important in my house because, for heaven's sake, it put food on our table, right?
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1:15 - 1:18And design was in everything my dad did.
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1:18 - 1:21He had a Dixieland jazz band when we were growing up,
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1:21 - 1:24and he would always cover Louis Armstrong tunes.
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1:24 - 1:25And I would ask him every once in a while,
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1:25 - 1:28"Dad, do you want it to sound like the record?"
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1:28 - 1:30We had lots of old jazz records lying around the house.
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1:30 - 1:33And he said, "No, never, John, never.
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1:33 - 1:35The song is just a given, that's how you have to think about it.
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1:35 - 1:38You gotta make it your own. You gotta design it.
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1:38 - 1:42Show everyone what you intend," is what he said.
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1:42 - 1:46"Doing that, acting by design, is what we all should be doing.
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1:46 - 1:48It's where we all belong."
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1:48 - 1:52All of us? Designers?
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1:52 - 1:57Oh, oh, Dad. Oh, Dad.
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1:57 - 1:58The song is just a given.
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1:58 - 2:01It's how you cover it that matters.
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2:01 - 2:03Well, let's hold on to that thought for just a minute.
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2:03 - 2:06It's kind of like this wheelchair I'm in, right?
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2:06 - 2:08The original tune? It's a little scary.
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2:08 - 2:11"Ooh, what happened to that dude?
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2:11 - 2:14He can't walk. Anybody know the story?
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2:14 - 2:16Anybody?"
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2:16 - 2:21I don't like to talk about this very much, but I'll tell you guys the story today.
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2:21 - 2:25All right, exactly 36 years ago this week, that's right,
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2:25 - 2:27I was in a poorly designed automobile
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2:27 - 2:31that hit a poorly designed guardrail
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2:31 - 2:33on a poorly designed road in Pennsylvania,
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2:33 - 2:38and plummeted down a 200-foot embankment
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2:38 - 2:40and killed two people in the car.
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2:40 - 2:45But ever since then, the wheelchair has been a given in my life.
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2:45 - 2:50My life, at the mercy of good design and bad design.
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2:50 - 2:52Think about it. Now, in design terms,
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2:52 - 2:55a wheelchair is a very difficult object.
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2:55 - 2:59It mostly projects tragedy and fear and misfortune,
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2:59 - 3:02and it projects that message, that story, so strongly
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3:02 - 3:04that it almost blots out anything else.
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3:04 - 3:08I roll swiftly through an airport, right?
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3:08 - 3:12And moms grab their kids out of the way and say, "Don't stare!"
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3:12 - 3:16The poor kid, you know, has this terrified look on his face, God knows what they think.
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3:16 - 3:18And for decades, I'm going,
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3:18 - 3:23why does this happen? What can I do about it? How can I change this? I mean there must be something.
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3:23 - 3:28So I would roll, I'd make no eye contact -- just kinda frown, right?
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3:28 - 3:33Or I'd dress up really, really sharply or something.
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3:33 - 3:35Or I'd make eye contact with everyone --
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3:35 - 3:38that was really creepy; that didn't work at all.
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3:38 - 3:40(Laughter)
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3:40 - 3:44You know anything, I'd try. I wouldn't shower for a week -- nothing worked.
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3:44 - 3:48Nothing whatsoever worked until a few years ago,
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3:48 - 3:52my six-year-old daughters were looking at this wheelchair catalog that I had, and they said,
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3:52 - 3:57"Oh, Dad! Dad! Look, you gotta get these, these flashy wheels -- you gotta get 'em!"
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3:57 - 4:01And I said, "Oh, girls, Dad is a very important journalist,
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4:01 - 4:04that just wouldn't do at all."
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4:04 - 4:06And of course, they immediately concluded,
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4:06 - 4:11"Oh, what a bummer, Dad. Journalists aren't allowed to have flashy wheels.
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4:11 - 4:15I mean, how important could you be then?" they said.
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4:15 - 4:20I went, "Wait a minute, all right, right -- I'll get the wheels." Purely out of protest,
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4:20 - 4:25I got the flashy wheels, and I installed them and --
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4:25 - 4:29check this out. Could I have my special light cue please?
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4:29 - 4:30(Laughter)
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4:30 - 4:33Look at that!
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4:33 - 4:36Now ... look at, look at this! Look at this!
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4:36 - 4:39So what you are looking at here
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4:39 - 4:42has completely changed my life,
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4:42 - 4:45I mean totally changed my life.
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4:45 - 4:48Instead of blank stares and awkwardness,
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4:48 - 4:51now it is pointing and smiling!
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4:51 - 4:56People going, "Awesome wheels, dude! Those are awesome!
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4:56 - 4:58I mean, I want some of those wheels!" Little kids say,
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4:58 - 5:00"Can I have a ride?"
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5:00 - 5:02(Laughter)
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5:02 - 5:05And of course there's the occasional person --
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5:05 - 5:06usually a middle-aged male who will say,
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5:06 - 5:08"Oh, those wheels are great!
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5:08 - 5:10I guess they're for safety, right?"
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5:10 - 5:13(Laughter)
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5:13 - 5:19No! They're not for safety.
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5:19 - 5:21No, no, no, no, no.
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5:21 - 5:22What's the difference here,
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5:22 - 5:24the wheelchair with no lights
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5:24 - 5:26and the wheelchair with lights?
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5:26 - 5:30The difference is intent.
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5:30 - 5:33That's right, that's right; I'm no longer a victim.
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5:33 - 5:39I chose to change the situation -- I'm the Commander of the Starship Wheelchair with the phaser wheels in the front. Right?
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5:39 - 5:44Intent changes the picture completely.
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5:44 - 5:45I choose to enhance
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5:45 - 5:47this rolling experience
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5:47 - 5:51with a simple design element.
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5:51 - 5:53Acting with intent.
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5:53 - 5:56It conveys authorship.
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5:56 - 5:59It suggests that someone is driving.
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5:59 - 6:02It's reassuring; people are drawn to it.
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6:02 - 6:05Someone making the experience their own.
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6:05 - 6:07Covering the tragic tune
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6:07 - 6:10with something different,
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6:10 - 6:13something radically different.
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6:13 - 6:15People respond to that.
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6:15 - 6:18Now it seems simple, but actually I think
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6:18 - 6:21in our society and culture in general,
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6:21 - 6:23we have a huge problem with intent.
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6:23 - 6:26Now go with me here. Look at this guy. You know who this is?
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6:26 - 6:30It's Anders Breivik. Now, if he intended to kill
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6:30 - 6:32in Olso, Norway last year,
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6:32 - 6:34dozens and dozens of young people --
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6:34 - 6:36if he intended to do that,
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6:36 - 6:38he's a vicious criminal. We punish him.
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6:38 - 6:42Life in prison. Death penalty in the United States, not so much in Norway.
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6:42 - 6:46But, if he instead acted out of a delusional fantasy,
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6:46 - 6:51if he was motivated by some random mental illness,
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6:51 - 6:53he's in a completely different category.
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6:53 - 6:55We may put him away for life, but
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6:55 - 6:57we watch him clinically.
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6:57 - 7:01It's a completely different domain.
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7:01 - 7:03As an intentional murderer,
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7:03 - 7:06Anders Breivik is merely evil.
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7:06 - 7:08But as a dysfunctional,
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7:08 - 7:11as a dysfunctional murderer/psychotic,
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7:11 - 7:13he's something much more complicated.
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7:13 - 7:14He's the breath of some
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7:14 - 7:18primitive, ancient chaos.
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7:18 - 7:20He's the random state of nature
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7:20 - 7:21we emerged from.
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7:21 - 7:24He's something very, very different.
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7:24 - 7:27It's as though intent is an essential component for humanity.
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7:27 - 7:30It's what we're supposed to do somehow.
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7:30 - 7:32We're supposed to act with intent.
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7:32 - 7:35We're supposed to do things by design.
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7:35 - 7:40Intent is a marker for civilization.
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7:40 - 7:42Now here's an example a little closer to home:
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7:42 - 7:45My family is all about intent.
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7:45 - 7:48You can probably tell there are two sets of twins,
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7:48 - 7:52the result of IVF technology, in vitro fertilization technology,
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7:52 - 7:55due to some physical limitations I won't go into.
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7:55 - 7:58Anyway, in vitro technology, IVF,
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7:58 - 8:01is about as intentional as agriculture.
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8:01 - 8:03Let me tell you, some of you may have the experience.
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8:03 - 8:06In fact, the whole technology of sperm extraction
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8:06 - 8:10for spinal cord-injured males was invented by a veterinarian.
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8:10 - 8:13I met the dude. He's a great guy.
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8:13 - 8:18He carried this big leather bag full of sperm probes for
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8:18 - 8:20all of the animals that he'd worked with,
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8:20 - 8:21all the different animals.
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8:21 - 8:24Probes he designed,
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8:24 - 8:27and in fact, he was really, really proud of these probes.
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8:27 - 8:30He would say, "You're right between horse and squirrel, John."
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8:30 - 8:34(Laughter)
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8:34 - 8:39But anyway, so when my wife and I decided
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8:39 - 8:42to upgrade our early middle age -- we had four kids, after all --
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8:42 - 8:44with a little different technology
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8:44 - 8:47that I won't explain in too much detail here --
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8:47 - 8:51my urologist assured me I had nothing whatsoever to worry about.
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8:51 - 8:54"No need for birth control, Doc, are you sure about that?"
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8:54 - 8:58"John, John, I looked at your chart.
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8:58 - 9:00From your sperm tests we can
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9:00 - 9:02confidently say that
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9:02 - 9:04you're basically a form of birth control."
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9:04 - 9:08Well!
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9:08 - 9:11(Laughter)
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9:11 - 9:15What a liberating thought! Yes!
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9:15 - 9:18And after a couple very liberating weekends,
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9:18 - 9:19my wife and I,
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9:19 - 9:23utilizing some cutting-edge erectile technology
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9:23 - 9:26that is certainly worthy of a TEDTalk someday
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9:26 - 9:28but I won't get into it now,
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9:28 - 9:32we noticed some familiar, if unexpected, symptoms.
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9:32 - 9:36I wasn't exactly a form of birth control.
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9:36 - 9:40Look at that font there. My wife was so pissed.
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9:40 - 9:41I mean, did a designer come up with that?
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9:41 - 9:44No, I don't think a designer did come up with that.
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9:44 - 9:46In fact, maybe that's the problem.
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9:46 - 9:48And so, little Ajax was born.
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9:48 - 9:51He's like our other children,
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9:51 - 9:52but the experience is completely different.
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9:52 - 9:57It's something like my accident, right?
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9:57 - 9:58He came out of nowhere.
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9:58 - 10:00But we all had to change,
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10:00 - 10:02but not just react to the given;
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10:02 - 10:07we bend to this new experience with intent.
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10:07 - 10:11We're five now. Five.
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10:11 - 10:15Facing the given with intent. Doing things by design.
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10:15 - 10:19Hey, the name Ajax -- you can't get much more intentional than that, right?
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10:19 - 10:23We're really hoping he thanks us for that later on.
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10:23 - 10:25(Laughter)
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10:25 - 10:29But I never became a designer. No, no, no, no. Never attempted. Never even close.
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10:29 - 10:34I did love some great designs as I was growing up:
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10:34 - 10:38The HP 35S calculator -- God, I loved that thing. Oh God, I wish I had one.
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10:38 - 10:41Man, I love that thing.
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10:41 - 10:43I could afford that.
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10:43 - 10:47Other designs I really couldn't afford, like the 1974 911 Targa.
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10:47 - 10:51In school, I studied nothing close to design or engineering;
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10:51 - 10:53I studied useless things like the Classics,
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10:53 - 10:55but there were some lessons even there --
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10:55 - 10:58this guy, Plato, it turns out he's a designer.
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10:58 - 11:02He designed a state in "The Republic,"
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11:02 - 11:03a design never implemented.
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11:03 - 11:05Listen to one of the design features
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11:05 - 11:08of Plato's Government 4.0:
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11:08 - 11:12"The State in which the rulers are most reluctant to govern
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11:12 - 11:15is always the best and most quietly governed,
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11:15 - 11:19and the State in which they are most eager, the worst."
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11:19 - 11:22Well, got that wrong, didn't we?
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11:22 - 11:27But look at that statement; it's all about intent. That's what I love about it.
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11:27 - 11:30But consider what Plato is doing here. What is he doing?
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11:30 - 11:34It's a grand idea of design -- a huge idea of design,
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11:34 - 11:37common to all of the voices of religion and philosophy
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11:37 - 11:40that emerged in the Classical period.
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11:40 - 11:41What was going on then?
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11:41 - 11:43They were trying to answer the question of
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11:43 - 11:48what would human beings do now that they were no longer simply trying to survive?
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11:48 - 11:53As the human race emerged from a prehistoric chaos,
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11:53 - 11:57a confrontation with random, brutal nature,
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11:57 - 12:01they suddenly had a moment to think -- and there was a lot to think about.
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12:01 - 12:05All of a sudden, human existence needed an intent.
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12:05 - 12:07Human life needed a reason.
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12:07 - 12:10Reality itself needed a designer.
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12:10 - 12:13The given was replaced
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12:13 - 12:15by various aspects of intent,
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12:15 - 12:18by various designs,
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12:18 - 12:20by various gods.
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12:20 - 12:24Gods we're still fighting about. Oh yeah.
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12:24 - 12:27Today we don't confront the chaos of nature.
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12:27 - 12:33Today it is the chaos of humanity's impact on the Earth itself that we confront.
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12:33 - 12:37This young discipline called design, I think,
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12:37 - 12:40is in fact the emerging ethos
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12:40 - 12:43formulating and then answering a very new question:
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12:43 - 12:44What shall we do now
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12:44 - 12:48in the face of the chaos that we have created?
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12:48 - 12:50What shall we do?
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12:50 - 12:52How shall we inscribe intent
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12:52 - 12:55on all the objects we create,
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12:55 - 12:57on all the circumstances we create,
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12:57 - 12:59on all the places we change?
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12:59 - 13:03The consequences of a planet with 7 billion people and counting.
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13:03 - 13:08That's the tune we're all covering today, all of us.
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13:08 - 13:10And we can't just imitate the past. No.
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13:10 - 13:13That won't do.
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13:13 - 13:15That won't do at all.
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13:15 - 13:18Here's my favorite design moment:
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13:18 - 13:21In the city of Kinshasa in Zaire in the 1990s,
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13:21 - 13:24I was working for ABC News, and I was reporting on
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13:24 - 13:28the fall of Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator, the brutal dictator in Zaire,
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13:28 - 13:30who raped and pillaged that country.
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13:30 - 13:32There was rioting in the middle of Kinshasa.
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13:32 - 13:36The place was falling apart; it was a horrible, horrible place,
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13:36 - 13:40and I needed to go and explore the center of Kinshasa
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13:40 - 13:42to report on the rioting and the looting.
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13:42 - 13:46People were carrying off vehicles, carrying off pieces of buildings.
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13:46 - 13:50Soldiers were in the streets shooting at looters and herding some in mass arrests.
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13:50 - 13:54In the middle of this chaos, I'm rolling around in a wheelchair,
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13:54 - 13:58and I was completely invisible. Completely.
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13:58 - 14:00I was in a wheelchair; I didn't look like a looter.
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14:00 - 14:06I was in a wheelchair; I didn't look like a journalist, particularly, at least from their perspective.
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14:06 - 14:09And I didn't look like a soldier, that's for sure.
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14:09 - 14:15I was part of this sort of background noise of the misery of Zaire, completely invisible.
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14:15 - 14:20And all of a sudden, from around a corner, comes this young man, paralyzed, just like me,
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14:20 - 14:24in this metal and wood and leather
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14:24 - 14:29pedal, three-wheel tricycle-wheelchair device,
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14:29 - 14:31and he pedals up to me as fast as he can.
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14:31 - 14:33He goes, "Hey, mister! Mister!"
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14:33 - 14:35And I looked at him --
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14:35 - 14:39he didn't know any other English than that, but we didn't need English, no, no, no, no, no.
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14:39 - 14:45We sat there and compared wheels and tires and spokes and tubes.
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14:45 - 14:48And I looked at his whacky pedal mechanism;
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14:48 - 14:51he was full of pride over his design.
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14:51 - 14:53I wish I could show you that contraption.
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14:53 - 14:55His smile, our glow
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14:55 - 14:58as we talked a universal language
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14:58 - 15:01of design,
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15:01 - 15:04invisible to the chaos around us.
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15:04 - 15:08His machine: homemade, bolted, rusty, comical.
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15:08 - 15:11My machine: American-made, confident, sleek.
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15:11 - 15:15He was particularly proud of the comfortable seat, really comfortable seat
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15:15 - 15:17he had made in his chariot
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15:17 - 15:21and its beautiful fabric fringe around the edge.
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15:21 - 15:25Oh, I wish I'd had those sparkly wheels back then to have shown him, man!
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15:25 - 15:28He would have loved those! Oh yeah.
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15:28 - 15:30He would have understood those;
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15:30 - 15:33a chariot of pure intent -- think about it --
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15:33 - 15:36in a city out of control.
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15:36 - 15:39Design blew it all away for a moment.
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15:39 - 15:43We spoke for a few minutes and then each of us vanished back into the chaos.
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15:43 - 15:45He went back to the streets of Kinshasa;
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15:45 - 15:51I went to my hotel. And I think of him now, now ...
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15:51 - 15:54And I pose this question.
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15:54 - 15:58An object imbued with intent --
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15:58 - 16:00it has power,
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16:00 - 16:03it's treasure, we're drawn to it.
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16:03 - 16:06An object devoid of intent --
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16:06 - 16:08it's random, it's imitative,
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16:08 - 16:12it repels us. It's like a piece of junk mail to be thrown away.
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16:12 - 16:17This is what we must demand of our lives,
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16:17 - 16:20of our objects, of our things, of our circumstances:
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16:20 - 16:24living with intent.
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16:24 - 16:26And I have to say
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16:26 - 16:31that on that score, I have a very unfair advantage over all of you.
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16:31 - 16:36And I want to explain it to you now because this is a very special day.
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16:36 - 16:41Thirty-six years ago at nearly this moment,
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16:41 - 16:46a 19-year-old boy awoke from a coma
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16:46 - 16:47to ask a nurse a question,
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16:47 - 16:50but the nurse was already there with an answer.
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16:50 - 16:54"You've had a terrible accident, young man. You've broken your back.
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16:54 - 16:55You'll never walk again."
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16:55 - 17:01I said, "I know all that -- what day is it?"
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17:01 - 17:08You see, I knew that the car had gone over the guardrail on the 28th of February,
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17:08 - 17:11and I knew that 1976 was a leap year.
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17:11 - 17:16"Nurse! Is this the 28th or the 29th?"
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17:16 - 17:18And she looked at me and said,
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17:18 - 17:21"It's March 1st."
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17:21 - 17:23And I went, "Oh my God.
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17:23 - 17:26I've got some catching up to do!"
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17:26 - 17:28And from that moment, I knew
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17:28 - 17:32the given was that accident;
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17:32 - 17:35I had no option but to make up
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17:35 - 17:38this new life without walking.
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17:38 - 17:42Intent -- a life with intent --
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17:42 - 17:44lived by design,
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17:44 - 17:46covering the original
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17:46 - 17:47with something better.
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17:47 - 17:52It's something for all of us to do or find a way to do in these times.
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17:52 - 17:56To get back to this,
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17:56 - 17:58to get back to design,
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17:58 - 18:01and as my daddy suggested a long time ago,
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18:01 - 18:04"Make the song your own, John.
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18:04 - 18:10Show everybody what you intend."
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18:23 - 18:26Daddy,
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18:26 - 18:28this one's for you.
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18:28 - 18:32(Music)
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18:32 - 18:37♫ Jo Jo was a man who thought he was a loner ♫
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18:37 - 18:39♫ but he was another man. ♫
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18:39 - 18:45♫ Jo Jo left his home in Tucson, Arizona to attend a California bash. ♫
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18:45 - 18:48♫ Get back, get back, ♫
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18:48 - 18:51♫ get back to where you once belonged. ♫
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18:51 - 18:54♫ Get back, get back, ♫
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18:54 - 19:04♫ get back to where you once belonged. ♫
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19:04 - 19:13(Applause)
- Title:
- We are all designers
- Speaker:
- John Hockenberry
- Description:
-
Journalist John Hockenberry tells a personal story inspired by a pair of flashy wheels in a wheelchair-parts catalogue -- and how they showed him the value of designing a life of intent. (From The Design Studio session at TED2012, guest-curated by Chee Pearlman and David Rockwell.)
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 21:57
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for We are all designers | ||
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for We are all designers | ||
Thu-Huong Ha accepted English subtitles for We are all designers | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for We are all designers | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for We are all designers | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for We are all designers | ||
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for We are all designers | ||
Thu-Huong Ha accepted English subtitles for We are all designers |