WEBVTT 00:00:00.999 --> 00:00:07.817 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:07.841 --> 00:00:09.014 Thank you very much. 00:00:09.038 --> 00:00:10.976 I have a few pictures, 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:14.626 and I'll talk a little bit about how I'm able to do what I do. 00:00:15.145 --> 00:00:17.507 All these houses are built 00:00:17.531 --> 00:00:20.380 from between 70 and 80 percent recycled material, 00:00:20.404 --> 00:00:23.555 stuff that was headed to the mulcher, the landfill, the burn pile. 00:00:23.579 --> 00:00:24.976 It was all just gone. 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:26.976 This is the first house I built. 00:00:27.312 --> 00:00:30.703 This double front door here with the three-light transom, 00:00:30.727 --> 00:00:32.867 that was headed to the landfill. 00:00:32.891 --> 00:00:34.723 Have a little turret there. 00:00:34.747 --> 00:00:37.804 And then these buttons on the corbels here -- 00:00:38.820 --> 00:00:39.981 right there -- 00:00:40.005 --> 00:00:41.361 those are hickory nuts. 00:00:41.385 --> 00:00:43.492 And these buttons there -- 00:00:43.516 --> 00:00:44.843 those are chicken eggs. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:44.867 --> 00:00:46.036 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:46.060 --> 00:00:47.821 Of course, first you have breakfast, 00:00:47.845 --> 00:00:51.760 and then you fill the shell full of Bondo and paint it and nail it up, 00:00:51.784 --> 00:00:55.228 and you have an architectural button in just a fraction of the time. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:55.926 --> 00:00:58.163 This is a look at the inside. 00:00:58.187 --> 00:01:01.452 You can see the three-light transom there with the eyebrow windows. 00:01:01.476 --> 00:01:04.530 Certainly an architectural antique headed to the landfill -- 00:01:04.554 --> 00:01:07.152 even the lockset is probably worth 200 dollars. 00:01:07.738 --> 00:01:09.625 Everything in the kitchen was salvaged. 00:01:09.649 --> 00:01:11.646 There's a 1952 O'Keefe & Merritt stove, 00:01:11.670 --> 00:01:13.976 if you like to cook -- cool stove. 00:01:14.582 --> 00:01:16.388 This is going up into the turret. 00:01:16.723 --> 00:01:19.647 I got that staircase for 20 dollars, 00:01:19.671 --> 00:01:21.555 including delivery to my lot. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:24.064 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:24.514 --> 00:01:26.816 Then, looking up in the turret, 00:01:26.840 --> 00:01:30.459 you see there are bulges and pokes and sags and so forth. 00:01:30.483 --> 00:01:32.125 Well, if that ruins your life, 00:01:32.149 --> 00:01:33.976 well, then, you shouldn't live there. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:35.877 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:35.901 --> 00:01:38.700 This is a laundry chute. 00:01:38.724 --> 00:01:41.139 And this right here is a shoe last -- 00:01:41.163 --> 00:01:43.995 those are those cast-iron things you see at antique shops. 00:01:44.019 --> 00:01:45.308 So I had one of those, 00:01:45.332 --> 00:01:49.078 so I made some low-tech gadgetry, where you just stomp on the shoe last, 00:01:49.102 --> 00:01:51.976 and then the door flies open and you throw your laundry down. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:55.786 And then if you're smart enough, it goes on a basket on top of the washer. 00:01:55.810 --> 00:01:58.424 If not, it goes into the toilet. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:58.448 --> 00:02:00.497 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:00.521 --> 00:02:02.204 This is a bathtub I made, 00:02:02.228 --> 00:02:04.285 made out of scrap two-by-four. 00:02:04.309 --> 00:02:08.543 Started with the rim, and then glued and nailed it up into a flat, 00:02:08.567 --> 00:02:10.261 corbeled it up and flipped it over, 00:02:10.285 --> 00:02:12.262 then did the two profiles on this side. 00:02:12.286 --> 00:02:13.646 It's a two-person tub. 00:02:14.175 --> 00:02:17.118 After all, it's not just a question of hygiene, 00:02:17.142 --> 00:02:19.634 but there's a possibility of recreation as well. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:19.658 --> 00:02:22.427 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:22.451 --> 00:02:28.318 Then, this faucet here is just a piece of Osage orange. 00:02:28.342 --> 00:02:29.914 It looks a little phallic, 00:02:29.938 --> 00:02:31.639 but after all, it's a bathroom. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:31.663 --> 00:02:34.259 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:34.632 --> 00:02:36.605 This is a house based on a Budweiser can. 00:02:36.629 --> 00:02:38.321 It doesn't look like a can of beer, 00:02:38.345 --> 00:02:40.849 but the design take-offs are absolutely unmistakable: 00:02:40.873 --> 00:02:43.205 the barley hops design worked up into the eaves, 00:02:43.229 --> 00:02:46.977 then the dentil work comes directly off the can's red, white, blue and silver. 00:02:47.001 --> 00:02:49.439 Then, these corbels going down underneath the eaves 00:02:49.463 --> 00:02:51.641 are that little design that comes off the can. 00:02:51.665 --> 00:02:54.284 I just put a can on a copier and kept enlarging it 00:02:54.308 --> 00:02:55.824 until I got the size I want. 00:02:55.848 --> 00:02:58.395 Then, on the can it says, 00:02:58.419 --> 00:03:00.126 "This is the famous Budweiser beer, 00:03:00.150 --> 00:03:02.208 we know of no other beer, blah, blah, blah." 00:03:02.232 --> 00:03:03.525 So we changed that and put, 00:03:03.549 --> 00:03:07.048 "This is the famous Budweiser house. We don't know of any other house ..." 00:03:07.072 --> 00:03:08.224 and so forth and so on. 00:03:08.248 --> 00:03:09.405 This is a deadbolt. 00:03:09.429 --> 00:03:13.171 It's a fence from a 1930s shaper, which is a very angry woodworking machine. 00:03:13.195 --> 00:03:16.171 And they gave me the fence, but they didn't give me the shaper, 00:03:16.195 --> 00:03:17.866 so we made a deadbolt out of it. 00:03:17.890 --> 00:03:20.131 That'll keep bull elephants out, I promise. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:20.155 --> 00:03:21.160 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:03:21.184 --> 00:03:24.038 And sure enough, we've had no problems with bull elephants. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:24.062 --> 00:03:25.224 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:03:25.248 --> 00:03:28.161 The shower is intended to simulate a glass of beer. 00:03:28.185 --> 00:03:31.656 We've got bubbles going up there, then suds at the top with lumpy tiles. 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:34.369 Where do you get lumpy tiles? Well, of course, you don't. 00:03:34.393 --> 00:03:38.094 But I get a lot of toilets, and so you just dispatch a toilet with a hammer, 00:03:38.118 --> 00:03:39.976 and then you have lumpy tiles. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:43.523 And then the faucet is a beer tap. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:43.547 --> 00:03:46.273 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:03:46.297 --> 00:03:50.699 Then, this panel of glass is the same panel of glass 00:03:50.723 --> 00:03:53.570 that occurs in every middle-class front door in America. 00:03:53.594 --> 00:03:56.102 We're getting tired of it. It's kind of clichéd now. 00:03:56.126 --> 00:03:59.551 If you put it in the front door, your design fails. 00:03:59.575 --> 00:04:02.301 So don't put it in the front door; put it somewhere else. 00:04:02.325 --> 00:04:03.851 It's a pretty panel of glass. 00:04:03.875 --> 00:04:05.616 But if you put it in the front door, 00:04:05.640 --> 00:04:08.148 people say, "Oh, you're trying to be like those guys, 00:04:08.172 --> 00:04:09.323 and you didn't make it." 00:04:09.347 --> 00:04:10.502 So don't put it there. 00:04:11.179 --> 00:04:12.976 Then, another bathroom upstairs. 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:14.237 This light up here 00:04:14.261 --> 00:04:18.036 is the same light that occurs in every middle-class foyer in America. 00:04:18.060 --> 00:04:19.555 Don't put it in the foyer. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:22.737 Put it in the shower, or in the closet, 00:04:22.761 --> 00:04:24.121 but not in the foyer. 00:04:25.902 --> 00:04:28.588 Then, somebody gave me a bidet, so it got a bidet. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:28.612 --> 00:04:31.034 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:04:31.058 --> 00:04:32.686 This little house here, 00:04:32.710 --> 00:04:36.639 those branches there are made out of Bois d'arc or Osage orange. 00:04:36.663 --> 00:04:40.131 These pictures will keep scrolling as I talk a little bit. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:40.155 --> 00:04:42.421 In order to do what I do, 00:04:42.445 --> 00:04:46.200 you have to understand what causes waste in the building industry. 00:04:46.224 --> 00:04:48.857 Our housing has become a commodity, 00:04:48.881 --> 00:04:51.174 and I'll talk a little bit about that. 00:04:51.198 --> 00:04:54.309 But the first cause of waste is probably even buried in our DNA. 00:04:54.333 --> 00:04:56.801 Human beings have a need for maintaining consistency 00:04:56.825 --> 00:04:58.170 of the apperceptive mass. 00:04:58.782 --> 00:04:59.933 What does that mean? 00:04:59.957 --> 00:05:02.239 What it means is, for every perception we have, 00:05:02.263 --> 00:05:04.853 it needs to tally with the one like it before, 00:05:04.877 --> 00:05:08.271 or we don't have continuity, and we become a little bit disoriented. 00:05:08.295 --> 00:05:10.976 So I can show you an object you've never seen before. 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:12.901 Oh, that's a cell phone. 00:05:13.376 --> 00:05:15.985 But you've never seen this one before. 00:05:16.009 --> 00:05:17.167 What you're doing 00:05:17.191 --> 00:05:20.191 is sizing up the pattern of structural features, 00:05:20.215 --> 00:05:22.779 and then you go through your databanks: 00:05:22.803 --> 00:05:24.625 Cell phone. Oh! That's a cell phone. 00:05:25.559 --> 00:05:27.641 If I took a bite out of it, you'd go, 00:05:27.665 --> 00:05:29.155 "Wait a second. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:29.179 --> 00:05:30.334 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:05:30.358 --> 00:05:31.707 "That's not a cell phone. 00:05:31.731 --> 00:05:34.631 That's one of those new chocolate cell phones." NOTE Paragraph 00:05:34.655 --> 00:05:36.369 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:05:36.393 --> 00:05:38.080 You'd have to start a new category, 00:05:38.104 --> 00:05:40.166 right between cell phones and chocolate. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:40.190 --> 00:05:42.001 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:05:42.025 --> 00:05:43.691 That's how we process information. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:43.715 --> 00:05:45.847 You translate that to the building industry. 00:05:45.871 --> 00:05:48.901 If we have a wall of windowpanes and one pane is cracked, we go, 00:05:48.925 --> 00:05:50.950 "Oh, dear. That's cracked. Let's repair it. 00:05:50.974 --> 00:05:53.610 Let's take it out and throw it away so nobody can use it 00:05:53.634 --> 00:05:54.794 and put a new one in." 00:05:54.818 --> 00:05:57.040 Because that's what you do with a cracked pane. 00:05:57.064 --> 00:05:59.524 Never mind that it doesn't affect our lives at all. 00:05:59.548 --> 00:06:03.951 It only rattles that expected pattern and unity of structural features. 00:06:04.356 --> 00:06:06.784 However, if we took a small hammer, 00:06:06.808 --> 00:06:09.374 and we added cracks to all the other windows -- NOTE Paragraph 00:06:09.398 --> 00:06:11.399 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:06:11.423 --> 00:06:12.637 then we have a pattern. 00:06:12.661 --> 00:06:15.728 Because Gestalt psychology emphasizes recognition of pattern 00:06:15.752 --> 00:06:17.783 over parts that comprise a pattern. 00:06:17.807 --> 00:06:19.586 We'll go, "Ooh, that's nice." 00:06:19.610 --> 00:06:22.756 So, that serves me every day. 00:06:22.780 --> 00:06:24.526 Repetition creates pattern. 00:06:24.550 --> 00:06:26.349 If I have 100 of these, 100 of those, 00:06:26.373 --> 00:06:28.647 it makes no difference what these and those are. 00:06:28.671 --> 00:06:31.593 If I can repeat anything, I have the possibility of a pattern, 00:06:31.617 --> 00:06:34.540 from hickory nuts and chicken eggs, shards of glass, branches. 00:06:34.564 --> 00:06:36.078 It doesn't make any difference. 00:06:36.102 --> 00:06:38.630 That causes a lot of waste in the building industry. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:38.654 --> 00:06:39.805 The second cause is, 00:06:39.829 --> 00:06:41.730 Friedrich Nietzsche, along about 1885, 00:06:41.754 --> 00:06:44.061 wrote a book titled "The Birth of Tragedy." 00:06:44.085 --> 00:06:45.241 And in there, 00:06:45.693 --> 00:06:48.707 he said cultures tend to swing between one of two perspectives: 00:06:48.731 --> 00:06:51.951 on the one hand, we have an Apollonian perspective, 00:06:51.975 --> 00:06:55.754 which is very crisp and premeditated and intellectualized 00:06:55.778 --> 00:06:57.474 and perfect. 00:06:58.481 --> 00:07:01.693 On the other end of the spectrum, we have a Dionysian perspective, 00:07:01.717 --> 00:07:04.100 which is more given to the passions and intuition, 00:07:04.124 --> 00:07:06.903 tolerant of organic texture and human gesture. 00:07:06.927 --> 00:07:12.246 So the way the Apollonian personality takes a picture or hangs a picture is, 00:07:12.270 --> 00:07:14.146 they'll get out a transit 00:07:14.170 --> 00:07:15.822 and a laser level 00:07:15.846 --> 00:07:17.016 and a micrometer. 00:07:17.550 --> 00:07:19.820 "OK, honey. A thousandth of an inch to the left. 00:07:19.844 --> 00:07:22.227 That's where we want the picture. Right. Perfect!" 00:07:22.251 --> 00:07:24.546 Predicated on plumb level, square and centered. 00:07:24.882 --> 00:07:28.025 The Dionysian personality takes the picture and goes: NOTE Paragraph 00:07:28.780 --> 00:07:33.847 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:33.871 --> 00:07:35.149 That's the difference. 00:07:35.840 --> 00:07:37.601 I feature blemish. 00:07:37.625 --> 00:07:39.681 I feature organic process. 00:07:39.705 --> 00:07:41.060 Dead center John Dewey. 00:07:41.616 --> 00:07:45.860 Apollonian mindset creates mountains of waste. 00:07:45.884 --> 00:07:47.526 If something isn't perfect, 00:07:47.550 --> 00:07:50.380 if it doesn't line up with that premeditated model? 00:07:50.404 --> 00:07:51.555 Dumpster. 00:07:51.579 --> 00:07:52.843 "Oops. Scratch. Dumpster." 00:07:52.867 --> 00:07:55.494 "Oops" this, "oops" that. Landfill, landfill, landfill. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:55.518 --> 00:07:58.031 The third thing is arguably -- 00:07:58.649 --> 00:08:01.102 The Industrial Revolution started in the Renaissance 00:08:01.126 --> 00:08:02.380 with the rise of humanism, 00:08:02.404 --> 00:08:05.369 then got a little jump start along about the French Revolution. 00:08:05.393 --> 00:08:08.021 By the middle of the 19th century, it's in full flower. 00:08:08.045 --> 00:08:10.652 And we have dumaflaches and gizmos 00:08:10.676 --> 00:08:13.921 and contraptions that will do anything 00:08:13.945 --> 00:08:15.785 that we, up to that point, 00:08:15.809 --> 00:08:17.560 had to do by hand. 00:08:17.584 --> 00:08:19.659 So now we have standardized materials. 00:08:19.683 --> 00:08:22.541 Well, trees don't grow two inches by four inches, 00:08:22.565 --> 00:08:24.247 eight, ten and twelve feet tall. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:24.271 --> 00:08:25.296 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:08:25.320 --> 00:08:26.743 We create mountains of waste. 00:08:26.767 --> 00:08:30.308 And they're doing a pretty good job there in the forest, 00:08:30.332 --> 00:08:32.824 working all the byproduct of their industry -- 00:08:32.848 --> 00:08:35.610 with OSB and particle board and so forth and so on -- 00:08:35.634 --> 00:08:37.429 but it does no good 00:08:37.453 --> 00:08:40.526 to be responsible at the point of harvest in the forest 00:08:40.550 --> 00:08:43.909 if consumers are wasting the harvest at the point of consumption. 00:08:43.933 --> 00:08:45.424 And that's what's happening. 00:08:45.814 --> 00:08:47.526 And so if something isn't standard, 00:08:47.550 --> 00:08:50.483 "Oops, dumpster." "Oops" this. "Oops, warped." 00:08:50.507 --> 00:08:52.736 If you buy a two-by-four and it's not straight, 00:08:52.760 --> 00:08:54.020 you can take it back. 00:08:54.044 --> 00:08:56.655 "Oh, I'm so sorry, sir. We'll get you a straight one." 00:08:56.679 --> 00:08:59.971 Well, I feature all those warped things 00:08:59.995 --> 00:09:01.810 because repetition creates pattern, 00:09:01.834 --> 00:09:03.839 and it's from a Dionysian perspective. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:03.863 --> 00:09:05.145 The fourth thing 00:09:05.169 --> 00:09:08.895 is labor is disproportionately more expensive than materials. 00:09:08.919 --> 00:09:10.409 Well, that's just a myth. 00:09:10.433 --> 00:09:11.595 And there's a story: 00:09:11.619 --> 00:09:15.178 Jim Tulles, one of the guys I trained -- I said, "Jim, it's time now. 00:09:15.202 --> 00:09:18.617 I got a job for you as a foreman on a framing crew. Time for you to go." 00:09:18.641 --> 00:09:20.392 "Dan, I just don't think I'm ready." 00:09:20.416 --> 00:09:23.382 "Jim, now it's time. You're the down -- oh!" 00:09:23.406 --> 00:09:24.757 So we hired on. 00:09:24.781 --> 00:09:28.258 And he was out there with a tape measure, going through the trash heap, 00:09:28.282 --> 00:09:31.382 looking for header material, or the board that goes over a door, 00:09:31.406 --> 00:09:34.627 thinking he'd impress his boss -- that's how we taught him to do it. 00:09:34.651 --> 00:09:37.502 The superintendent walked up and said, "What are you doing?" 00:09:37.526 --> 00:09:39.446 "Oh, just looking for header material," 00:09:39.470 --> 00:09:40.631 waiting for that kudos. 00:09:40.655 --> 00:09:44.113 He said, "I'm not paying you to go through the trash. Get back to work." 00:09:44.137 --> 00:09:45.845 And Jim had the wherewithal to say, 00:09:45.869 --> 00:09:49.243 "You know, if you were paying me 300 dollars an hour, 00:09:49.267 --> 00:09:51.284 I can see how you might say that. 00:09:51.308 --> 00:09:54.385 But right now, I'm saving you five dollars a minute. 00:09:54.409 --> 00:09:55.757 Do the math." NOTE Paragraph 00:09:55.781 --> 00:09:58.105 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:09:58.129 --> 00:10:01.343 "Good call, Tulles. From now on, you guys hit this pile first." 00:10:01.367 --> 00:10:03.842 And the irony is that he wasn't very good at math. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:03.866 --> 00:10:07.272 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:10:07.296 --> 00:10:09.947 But once in a while, you get access to the control room, 00:10:09.971 --> 00:10:12.080 and then you can kind of mess with the dials. 00:10:12.104 --> 00:10:13.669 And that's what happened there. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:14.438 --> 00:10:16.837 The fifth thing is that maybe, after 2,500 years, 00:10:16.861 --> 00:10:20.179 Plato is still having his way with us in his notion of perfect forms. 00:10:20.203 --> 00:10:24.375 He said that we have in our noggin the perfect idea of what we want, 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:27.376 and we force environmental resources to accommodate that. 00:10:27.400 --> 00:10:29.858 So we all have in our head the perfect house, 00:10:29.882 --> 00:10:32.112 the American dream, which is a house, 00:10:32.136 --> 00:10:33.723 the dream house. 00:10:33.747 --> 00:10:35.526 The problem is we can't afford it. 00:10:35.550 --> 00:10:37.526 So we have the American dream look-alike, 00:10:37.550 --> 00:10:38.862 which is a mobile home. 00:10:38.886 --> 00:10:41.176 Now there's a blight on the planet. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:42.454 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:10:42.478 --> 00:10:44.198 It's a chattel mortgage, 00:10:44.222 --> 00:10:46.199 just like furniture, just like a car. 00:10:46.223 --> 00:10:49.355 You write the check, and instantly, it depreciates 30 percent. 00:10:49.379 --> 00:10:52.586 After a year, you can't get insurance on everything you have in it, 00:10:52.610 --> 00:10:53.881 only on 70 percent. 00:10:53.905 --> 00:10:55.654 Wired with 14-Gauge wire, typically. 00:10:55.678 --> 00:10:56.846 Nothing wrong with that, 00:10:56.870 --> 00:10:59.716 unless you ask it to do what 12-Gauge wire's supposed to do, 00:10:59.740 --> 00:11:00.943 and that's what happens. 00:11:00.967 --> 00:11:02.448 It out-gasses formaldehyde -- 00:11:02.472 --> 00:11:06.613 so much so that there is a federal law in place 00:11:06.637 --> 00:11:11.201 to warn new mobile home buyers of the formaldehyde atmosphere danger. 00:11:11.225 --> 00:11:13.271 Are we just being numbingly stupid? 00:11:13.295 --> 00:11:15.102 The walls are this thick. 00:11:15.126 --> 00:11:18.103 The whole thing has the structural value of corn. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:18.127 --> 00:11:20.010 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:11:20.034 --> 00:11:22.606 "So ... I thought Palm Harbor Village was over there." 00:11:22.630 --> 00:11:24.668 "No, no. We had a wind last night. 00:11:24.692 --> 00:11:26.264 It's gone now." NOTE Paragraph 00:11:26.288 --> 00:11:29.526 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:11:29.550 --> 00:11:31.951 Then when they degrade, what do you do with them? NOTE Paragraph 00:11:32.359 --> 00:11:34.063 Now, all that -- 00:11:34.626 --> 00:11:37.374 that Apollonian, Platonic model -- 00:11:37.398 --> 00:11:39.961 is what the building industry is predicated on, 00:11:39.985 --> 00:11:42.661 and there are a number of things that exacerbate that. 00:11:42.685 --> 00:11:45.203 One is that all the professionals, 00:11:45.227 --> 00:11:46.894 all the tradesmen, vendors, 00:11:46.918 --> 00:11:49.296 inspectors, engineers, architects 00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:50.966 all think like this. 00:11:51.438 --> 00:11:53.644 And then it works its way back to the consumer, 00:11:53.668 --> 00:11:55.112 who demands the same model. 00:11:55.136 --> 00:11:57.955 It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. We can't get out of it. 00:11:58.271 --> 00:12:00.847 Then here come the marketeers and the advertisers. 00:12:00.871 --> 00:12:03.295 "Woo. Woo-hoo." 00:12:03.319 --> 00:12:06.526 We buy stuff we didn't know we needed. 00:12:06.550 --> 00:12:09.082 All we have to do is look at what one company did 00:12:09.106 --> 00:12:11.097 with carbonated prune juice. 00:12:11.121 --> 00:12:12.526 How disgusting. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:12.550 --> 00:12:14.342 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:12:14.366 --> 00:12:15.674 But you know what they did? 00:12:15.698 --> 00:12:18.774 They hooked a metaphor into it and said, "I drink Dr. Pepper ..." 00:12:18.798 --> 00:12:21.792 And pretty soon, we're swilling that stuff by the lake-ful, 00:12:21.816 --> 00:12:23.527 by the billions of gallons. 00:12:23.551 --> 00:12:26.688 It doesn't even have real prunes! Doesn't even keep you regular. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:26.712 --> 00:12:28.472 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:12:28.496 --> 00:12:30.526 My oh my, that makes it worse. 00:12:30.550 --> 00:12:33.746 And we get sucked into that faster than anything. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:33.770 --> 00:12:36.479 Then, a man named Jean-Paul Sartre wrote a book 00:12:36.503 --> 00:12:37.988 titled "Being and Nothingness." 00:12:38.012 --> 00:12:40.934 It's a pretty quick read. You can snap through it in maybe -- NOTE Paragraph 00:12:40.958 --> 00:12:42.022 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:12:42.046 --> 00:12:43.198 maybe two years, 00:12:43.222 --> 00:12:44.954 if you read eight hours a day. 00:12:45.550 --> 00:12:47.863 In there, he talked about the divided self. 00:12:47.887 --> 00:12:50.965 He said human beings act differently when they know they're alone 00:12:50.989 --> 00:12:53.049 than when they know somebody else is around. 00:12:53.073 --> 00:12:55.375 So if I'm eating spaghetti, and I know I'm alone, 00:12:55.399 --> 00:12:56.867 I can eat like a backhoe. 00:12:56.891 --> 00:13:00.105 I can wipe my mouth on my sleeve, napkin on the table, 00:13:00.129 --> 00:13:03.446 chew with my mouth open, make little noises, 00:13:03.470 --> 00:13:05.447 scratch wherever I want. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:05.471 --> 00:13:07.331 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:13:07.355 --> 00:13:08.802 But as soon as you walk in, 00:13:08.826 --> 00:13:11.304 I go, "Oops! Lil' spaghetti sauce there." 00:13:11.328 --> 00:13:13.181 Napkin in my lap, half-bites, 00:13:13.205 --> 00:13:15.438 chew with my mouth closed, no scratching. 00:13:15.462 --> 00:13:20.397 Now, what I'm doing is fulfilling your expectations 00:13:20.421 --> 00:13:22.303 of how I should live my life. 00:13:23.819 --> 00:13:25.601 I feel that expectation, 00:13:25.625 --> 00:13:27.041 and so I accommodate it, 00:13:27.065 --> 00:13:30.311 and I'm living my life according to what you expect me to do. 00:13:30.335 --> 00:13:32.606 That happens in the building industry as well. 00:13:32.630 --> 00:13:35.485 That's why all subdivisions look the same. 00:13:35.509 --> 00:13:39.625 Sometimes, we even have these formalized cultural expectations. 00:13:39.649 --> 00:13:41.526 I'll bet all your shoes match. 00:13:41.550 --> 00:13:43.735 Sure enough, we all buy into that ... NOTE Paragraph 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:45.409 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:13:45.433 --> 00:13:47.858 And with gated communities, 00:13:47.882 --> 00:13:50.258 we have a formalized expectation, 00:13:50.282 --> 00:13:51.860 with a homeowners' association. 00:13:51.884 --> 00:13:53.582 Sometimes those guys are Nazis, 00:13:53.606 --> 00:13:54.953 my oh my. 00:13:55.930 --> 00:13:58.906 That exacerbates and continues this model. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:59.712 --> 00:14:01.619 The last thing is gregariousness. 00:14:02.408 --> 00:14:04.321 Human beings are a social species. 00:14:04.345 --> 00:14:07.043 We like to hang together in groups, 00:14:07.067 --> 00:14:08.947 just like wildebeests, just like lions. 00:14:08.971 --> 00:14:10.627 Wildebeests don't hang with lions, 00:14:10.651 --> 00:14:12.301 because lions eat wildebeests. 00:14:12.690 --> 00:14:14.136 Human beings are like that. 00:14:14.160 --> 00:14:16.256 We do what that group does 00:14:16.280 --> 00:14:18.136 that we're trying to identify with. 00:14:18.682 --> 00:14:20.665 You see this in junior high a lot. 00:14:21.291 --> 00:14:25.662 Those kids, they'll work all summer long -- kill themselves -- 00:14:25.686 --> 00:14:29.894 so that they can afford one pair of designer jeans. 00:14:29.918 --> 00:14:32.176 So along about September, 00:14:32.200 --> 00:14:34.177 they can stride in and go, 00:14:34.201 --> 00:14:38.415 "I'm important today. See? Don't touch my designer jeans! 00:14:38.439 --> 00:14:41.276 I see you don't have designer jeans. 00:14:41.300 --> 00:14:44.996 You're not one of the beautiful -- See, I'm one of the beautiful people. 00:14:45.020 --> 00:14:46.208 See my jeans?" 00:14:46.232 --> 00:14:48.618 Right there is reason enough to have uniforms. 00:14:49.185 --> 00:14:52.219 And so that happens in the building industry as well. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:52.678 --> 00:14:56.897 We have confused Maslow's hierarchy of needs, 00:14:56.921 --> 00:14:58.526 just a little bit. 00:14:58.550 --> 00:15:01.904 On the bottom tier, we have basic needs: 00:15:01.928 --> 00:15:05.462 shelter, clothing, food, water, mating and so forth. 00:15:05.486 --> 00:15:07.824 Second: security. Third: relationships. 00:15:07.848 --> 00:15:10.866 Fourth: status, self-esteem -- that is, vanity -- 00:15:10.890 --> 00:15:13.488 and we're taking vanity and shoving it down here. 00:15:14.343 --> 00:15:15.749 And so we end up 00:15:16.827 --> 00:15:18.803 with vain decisions, 00:15:19.605 --> 00:15:21.797 and we can't even afford our mortgage. 00:15:21.821 --> 00:15:24.575 We can't afford to eat anything except beans; NOTE Paragraph 00:15:24.599 --> 00:15:28.170 that is, our housing has become a commodity. 00:15:28.813 --> 00:15:31.472 And it takes a little bit of nerve 00:15:32.123 --> 00:15:34.526 to dive into those primal, 00:15:34.550 --> 00:15:36.753 terrifying parts of ourselves 00:15:37.550 --> 00:15:39.494 and make our own decisions 00:15:40.002 --> 00:15:41.979 and not make our housing a commodity, 00:15:42.003 --> 00:15:45.526 but make it something that bubbles up from seminal sources. 00:15:45.550 --> 00:15:47.327 That takes a little bit of nerve, 00:15:47.351 --> 00:15:50.076 and, darn it, once in a while, you fail. 00:15:50.973 --> 00:15:52.764 But that's okay. 00:15:53.180 --> 00:15:54.968 If failure destroys you, 00:15:54.992 --> 00:15:56.222 then you can't do this. 00:15:56.246 --> 00:15:58.752 I fail all the time, every day, 00:15:58.776 --> 00:16:02.488 and I've had some whopping failures, I promise -- 00:16:02.512 --> 00:16:05.526 big, public, humiliating, embarrassing failures. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:05.550 --> 00:16:06.990 Everybody points and laughs, 00:16:07.014 --> 00:16:10.110 and they say, "He tried it a fifth time, and it still didn't work! 00:16:10.134 --> 00:16:11.514 What a moron!" 00:16:11.538 --> 00:16:13.526 Early on, contractors come by and say, 00:16:13.550 --> 00:16:15.313 "Dan, you're a cute little bunny, 00:16:15.337 --> 00:16:17.495 but you know, this just isn't going to work. 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:19.850 What don't you do this? Why don't you do that?" 00:16:19.874 --> 00:16:22.380 And your instinct is to say, 00:16:22.404 --> 00:16:24.071 "Well, why don't you suck an egg?" NOTE Paragraph 00:16:24.095 --> 00:16:25.526 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:16:25.550 --> 00:16:27.214 But you don't say that, 00:16:27.238 --> 00:16:29.344 because they're the guys you're targeting. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:30.191 --> 00:16:33.170 And so what we've done -- 00:16:33.194 --> 00:16:36.587 and this isn't just in housing; it's in clothing and food 00:16:36.611 --> 00:16:39.464 and our transportation needs, our energy -- 00:16:39.488 --> 00:16:42.063 we sprawl just a little bit. 00:16:42.996 --> 00:16:45.526 And when I get a little bit of press, 00:16:45.550 --> 00:16:47.510 I hear from people all over the world. 00:16:47.859 --> 00:16:50.678 And we may have invented excess, 00:16:50.702 --> 00:16:54.119 but the problem of waste is worldwide. 00:16:55.184 --> 00:16:58.161 We're in trouble. 00:16:58.185 --> 00:17:01.239 And I don't wear ammo belts crisscrossing my chest 00:17:01.263 --> 00:17:02.633 and a red bandana. 00:17:03.375 --> 00:17:04.995 But we're clearly in trouble. 00:17:05.598 --> 00:17:09.526 And what we need to do is reconnect 00:17:09.550 --> 00:17:13.187 with those really primal parts of ourselves 00:17:13.211 --> 00:17:15.257 and make some decisions and say, 00:17:15.281 --> 00:17:20.010 "You know, I think I would like to put CDs across the wall there. 00:17:20.034 --> 00:17:21.398 What do you think, honey?" 00:17:22.011 --> 00:17:23.706 If it doesn't work, take it down. 00:17:24.859 --> 00:17:27.835 What we need to do is reconnect with who we really are, 00:17:28.462 --> 00:17:30.438 and that's thrilling indeed. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:31.483 --> 00:17:32.666 Thank you very much. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:32.690 --> 00:17:36.550 (Applause)