WEBVTT

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(Clicking)

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I was born with bilateral retinoblastoma,

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retinal cancer.

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My right eye was removed

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at seven months of age.

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I was 13 months
when they removed my left eye.

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The first thing I did
upon awakening from that last surgery

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was to climb out of my crib

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and begin wandering around
the intensive care nursery,

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probably looking for the one
who did this to me.

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(Laughter)

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Evidently, wandering around the nursery

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was not a problem for me without eyes.

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The problem was getting caught.

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It's impressions about blindness

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that are far more threatening

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to blind people than the blindness itself.

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Think for a moment about
your own impressions of blindness.

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Think about your reactions
when I first came onto the stage,

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or the prospect of your own blindness,

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or a loved one going blind.

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The terror is incomprehensible
to most of us,

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because blindness

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is thought to epitomize ignorance
and unawareness,

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hapless exposure to the ravages
of the dark unknown.

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How poetic.

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Fortunately for me,
my parents were not poetic.

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They were pragmatic.

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They understood that ignorance and fear
were but matters of the mind,

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and the mind is adaptable.

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They believed that I should grow up

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to enjoy the same freedoms
and responsibilities as everyone else.

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In their own words, I would move out --

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which I did when I was 18 --

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I will pay taxes --

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thanks --
(Laughter) --

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and they knew the difference
between love and fear.

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Fear immobilizes us
in the face of challenge.

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They knew that blindness
would pose a significant challenge.

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I was not raised with fear.

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They put my freedom first before all else,

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because that is what love does.

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Now, moving forward,
how do I manage today?

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The world is a much larger nursery.

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Fortunately, I have my trusty long cane,

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longer than the canes
used by most blind people.

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I call it my freedom staff.

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It will keep me, for example,

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from making an undignified 
departure from the stage. (Laughter)

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I do see that cliff edge.

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They warned us earlier
that every imaginable mishap

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has occurred to speakers
up here on the stage.

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I don't care to set a new precedent.

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But beyond that,

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many of you may have heard me clicking
as I came onto the stage --

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(Clicking) --

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with my tongue.

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Those are flashes of sound

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that go out and reflect
from surfaces all around me,

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just like a bat's sonar,

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and return to me with patterns, 
with pieces of information,

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much as light does for you.

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And my brain, thanks to my parents,

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has been activated to form images
in my visual cortex,

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which we now call the imaging system,

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from those patterns of information,
much as your brain does.

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I call this process flash sonar.

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It is how I have learned to see
through my blindness,

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to navigate my journey

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through the dark unknowns
of my own challenges,

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which has earned me the moniker

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"the remarkable Batman."

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Now, Batman I will accept.

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Bats are cool. Batman is cool.

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But I was not raised to think of myself
as in any way remarkable.

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I have always regarded myself
much like anyone else

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who navigates the dark unknowns
of their own challenges.

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Is that so remarkable?

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I do not use my eyes, I use my brain.

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Now, someone, somewhere,

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must think that's remarkable,
or I wouldn't be up here,

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but let's consider this for a moment.

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Everyone out there

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who faces or who has ever
faced a challenge,

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raise your hands.

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Whoosh. Okay.

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Lots of hands going up, a moment,
let me do a head count.

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(Clicking)

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This will take a while.
(Clicking) (Laughter)

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Okay, lots of hands in the air.

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Keep them up. I have an idea.

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Those of you who use your brains
to navigate these challenges,

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put your hands down.

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Okay, anyone with your hands still up

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has challenges of your own. (Laughter)

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So we all face challenges,

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and we all face the dark unknown,

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which is endemic to most challenges,
which is what most of us fear, okay?

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But we all have brains

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that allow us, that activate to allow us

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to navigate the journey
through these challenges. Okay?

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Case in point: I came up here

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and -- (Clicking) -- they wouldn't tell me

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where the lectern was.

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So you can't trust those TED folks.

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"Find it yourself," they said.

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So -- (Laughter)

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And the feedback for the P.A. system
is no help at all.

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So now I present to you a challenge.

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So if you'd all close your eyes
for just a moment, okay?

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And you're going to learn
a bit of flash sonar.

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I'm going to make a sound.

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I'm going to hold this panel in front 
of me, but I'm not going to move it.

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Just listen to the sound for a moment.

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Shhhhhhhhhh.

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Okay, nothing very interesting.

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Now, listen to what happens
to that same exact sound

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when I move the panel.

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Shhhhhhhhhhh. 
(Pitch getting higher and lower)

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You do not know the power
of the dark side.

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(Laughter)

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I couldn't resist.

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Okay, now keep your eyes closed

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because, did you hear the difference?

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Okay. Now, let's be sure.

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For your challenge,

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you tell me, just say "now"
when you hear the panel start to move.

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Okay? We'll relax into this.

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Shhhhhhh.

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Audience: Now.
Daniel Kish: Good. Excellent.

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Open your eyes.

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All right. So just a few centimeters,

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you would notice the difference.

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You've experienced sonar.

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You'd all make great blind people.
(Laughter)

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Let's have a look at what can happen

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when this activation process

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is given some time and attention.

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(Video) Juan Ruiz: It's like
you guys can see with your eyes

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and we can see with our ears.

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Brian Bushway: It's not a matter
of enjoying it more or less,

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it's about enjoying it differently.

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Shawn Marsolais: It goes across.
DK: Yeah.

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SM: And then it's gradually
coming back down again.

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DK: Yes!
SM: That's amazing.

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I can, like, see the car. Holy mother!

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J. Louchart: I love being blind.

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If I had the opportunity, honestly,
I wouldn't go back to being sighted.

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JR: The bigger the goal,
the more obstacles you'll face,

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and on the other side of that goal

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is victory.

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[In Italian]

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(Applause)

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DK: Now, do these people look terrified?

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Not so much.

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We have delivered activation training

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to tens of thousands of blind
and sighted people from all backgrounds

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in nearly 40 countries.

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When blind people learn to see,

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sighted people seem inspired

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to want to learn to see their way
better, more clearly, with less fear,

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because this exemplifies
the immense capacity within us all

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to navigate any type of challenge,
through any form of darkness,

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to discoveries unimagined

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when we are activated.

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I wish you all a most activating journey.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)

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Chris Anderson: Daniel, my friend.

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As I know you can see, it's
a spectacular standing ovation at TED.

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Thank you for an extraordinary talk.

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Just one more question about your world,
your inner world that you construct.

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We think that we have things in our world
that you as a blind person don't have,

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but what's your world like?

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What do you have that we don't have?

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DK: Three hundred and sixty-degree view,

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so my sonar works about as well
behind me as it does in front of me.

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It works around corners.

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It works through surfaces.

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Generally, it's kind of a fuzzy
three-dimensional geometry.

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One of my students, who has now
become an instructor,

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when he lost his vision,
after a few months

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he was sitting in his three story house

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and he realized that he could hear
everything going on throughout the house:

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conversations, people in the kitchen,
people in the bathroom,

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several floors away, several walls away.

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He said it was something
like having x-ray vision.

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CA: What do you picture
that you're in right now?

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How do you picture this theater?

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DK: Lots of loudspeakers, quite frankly.

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It's interesting. 
When people make a sound,

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when they laugh, when they fidget,
when they take a drink or blow their nose

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or whatever, I hear everything.

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I hear every little movement
that every single person makes.

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None of it really escapes my attention,

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and then, from a sonar perspective,

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the size of the room, the curvature 
of the audience around the stage,

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it's the height of the room.

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Like I say, it's all that kind 
of three-dimensional surface geometry

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all around me.

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CA: Well, Daniel, you have done
a spectacular job

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of helping us all see the world
in a different way.

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Thanks so much for that, truly.
DK: Thank you.

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(Applause)