Jonathan Harris: The art of collecting stories

[LEliseB]

I recommend the story of Mushkil Gusha.

[antontronbon]

how adorable is he when he says "but even holding 1 balloon is like, kind of happy"? his stifled laughter afterwards kills me, it's so cute

[BrainRazer]

I find it interesting, artistic, insipring, but HIGHLY unscientific.

[Liydenn]

I love listening to other's stories, even if it's just a small bit. Thinking of all the small stories in the world that easily disappear makes me sad.

When I saw that road worker holding 9 balloons, it surprised me, especially when I saw his hands.

[etienneranc]

Your comment reminded me of the last speech of Roy Batty in Blade Runner where he says that all of his personal experiences, after he dies, will be lost "like tears in rain".

[hokusbloke]

interesting premise.

[manasl]

i don't see the significance in his 'work'...

if i bookmark blogs does it become art?

[Imaginaryflower]

boring

[twhichy]

Amazing work. Inspiring.

[TheWiseCommenter]

trivial. do something meaningful please.

[psycho2]

simply,nowthisisexactly...what­Iwaswaitingfor

[psycho2]

veryrelevant

[MarcusAmadeus]

that was a truly amazing project. Who gives a shit about the whaling its how these people eat. Its not a mass scale

[petehjr1]

That program is amazing. Great talk. Ironically Dr. Dawkins and Al Gore have already led me to greater information in the last year on the internet. Less about random stuff than real expirences.

[JohnDeBunkTest]

Please do your homework.

USA whaling by natives from nine communities in Alaska is managed by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin. The hunt takes 50 Bowhead Whales a year from a population of 10,500, with growth of 3.2% per year. A hunt of two Gray Whales / year was reduced to zero quota due to sustainability.

90% of whales killed are ship collision.

Commercial hunting is next.

Native hunting sustains native communities & is not the problem.

[cpetch10]

amazingly creative....awesome

[Rikotistic]

It's been three years since I've been this impressed with someting. Such absolute genius: You capture the essence of humankind. Does Mr. Harris have contact information or a web site? I am extremely interested in data. This truly is the most awesome thing I've encountered in the last three years. The last time I felt like this was when found out Helium 3 was found to be abundant on the moon, for that piece of info has enormous implications, as does this. Major five stars!!!

[hillsad]

Definitely one of my top five favorite TED talks

[ogjimkenobi]

I cant believe this talk is just now making it on Youtube. This has been one of my favorite TED talks since they first put it up on the site.

[99f234]

anyone else notice the flashes at 13:54-57? I think it might be images but im not sure...

[kurtilein3]

whaling should be outlawed, they should go to prison for this.

reason? a very small group of people is driving a species into permanent extinction, while it is in the interest of the whole of humankind that this species can survive.

there is no excuse for actively driving species of wild animals into extinction. we cannot afford traditions and ways of life that destroy nature in such a way.

[angryislander56]

These hunters aren't driving the species into

extinction, the whole of humankind is with our

ropes and plastic and shipping lanes and pollution

and destruction of the food chain.We cannot

afford self righteous sanctimony side tracking the

larger issue.

[kurtilein3]

okay, ill try to explain it in short sentences, so that you can understand it:

whales = close to extinction.

killing whales = evil.

not killing whales = better than killing whales.

more whales getting killed = whales will go extinct.

the hunters in the video = killing whales

i hope you are now able to connect the dots, and see that those hunters are doing something very evil by deliberately destroying nature.

[angryislander56]

It is a black and white world for the fundie.

Religious or environmental.

[JohnDeBunkTest]

This is a group of indigenous hunters who have lived this way for thousands of years. They are a part of the reason we need to preserve the whales.

Incidentally, it is the commercial fleet that is responsible for decimating the whales, not arctic natives.

[kurtilein3]

johndebunktest:

the people that do it should go to prison. the people shown in this video are doing it very professional, they practised for thousands of years, and they have to stop doing this right now. repeating the same mistake for thousands of years doesnt make it right.

what about the mammoths? all extinct, because we ate them. and now those idiots are eating the last whales.

killing whales should be made a crime on an international level, no matter for what reasons and in which way.

[JohnDeBunkTest]

Are rainforest's being destroyed by indigenous natives making wooden spears?

No, and neither is native hunting a problem for whales.

Native hunting is very small, managed, and sustains native communities.

Please do your homework.

[kurtilein3]

indigenous natives dont know much about the environment they live in.

there are many examples of indigenous natives moving from traditional fishing methods to using TNT, because its much more effective. they dont see the damage it causes underwater. or what about indeginous natives burning down the rainforest because they want to try out modern agriculture, which then doesnt work?

if those whales are close to extinction, we need to tell them, and they need to stop whaling.

[kurtilein3]

... continued

how long will it take until they start using more modern methods of whaling? then they figure out that they can catch far more whales, sell them on the world market, and make some money. just like other native people figured out that china pays ridiculous amounts of money for parts of tigers and rhinos, and have driven those species close to extinction.

do your homework. sometimes you need to stop natives from making mistakes, and whaling is a mistake.

[JohnDeBunkTest]

@ kurtilein3

It is very difficult to educate people who refuse to learn.

> " how long will it take until they start using more modern methods of whaling?"

> They have been hunting here since biblical times.

> "sell them on the world market, and make some money?"

> No. The hunt is licensed as "sustenance" distributed to the tribe, not sold.

Selling = commercial.

> "whaling is a mistake."

> Commercial whaling is a mistake.

Lets not make native communities extinct by your ignorance.

[kurtilein3]

johndebunktest: extinct? letting them starve would be a bigger crime than whaling. of course they need food. just something else than whales.

oh, and by the way: commercial whaling is also done by native people. its done by native japanese people. whats the difference? its evil in both cases.

another question: if a native tribe practises human sacrifices, would you let them continue, or would you destroy their culture by charging them for murder and putting them into prison?

[JohnDeBunkTest]

Indigenous hunter gathers in Japan? ... Not. Please find an example if you think this. Pretending a commercial fleet is "native" begs stupidity, as kurt demonstrates.

Taking away native indigenous culture because kurt won't do his homework is sick and twisted.

It is civilized man who hunted animals to extinction, who clear cut the forests, who takes the minerals, who removes mountain tops to get the coal, and who pollute the earth.

I have no more to say to this idiot.

[tdeff]

can it fool u do not know what u are talking about, if your gonna use my language use it properly. one or two whales feeding a community is exactly what they should be doing. selling them to china is frankly a retarded idea and u should be labotomised for saying.

[kloten]

"if your gonna use my language use it properly". That is the typical comment, that when you make it, some part-time smart ass like me feels obligated to tell you to; Check-How-You-Spell-"Your-Lang­uage."

[tdeff]

it is spelt correctly what r u on about

[kloten]

hey, it = ur language, the 1 u n vented

[tdeff]

mammoths weren't hunted to extinction, man ur dumb. the conditions on our planet were uninhabitable for any creature....seriously you need to read a book.

[kloten]

And check your logic, along with your spelling. "The conditions on our planet were uninhabitable for any creature". Uninhabitable for any creature? Any? Really? What on earth are we doing here, then?

[tdeff]

yes they were uninhabitable hence the extinction of the DINOSAURS, mammoths were not hunted to extinction its a truly stupifying collection of basically effluent spewing from your wretched glorified asshole...oh sorry i mean ur mouth. go back to sleep u fucking gimp. My people invented the language u r using you'd be more at home grunting i reckon, actually no u'd be better and squealing like a stuck pig. DICK

[kloten]

tdeff; it's not that difficult, look: 1-You said-"Uninhabitable for ANY creature". That would have meant the complete ending of evolution itself.

2- What is a teenage nitwit like you doing watching TED? Can I recommend you some good Beavis and Butthead videos you might like?

[tdeff]

whats beavis and butthead, how mant times have you presented at ted?... none i thought not, i'm an architect, ur a sad lonely geek that spends most of time with ur lil pecka in ur hairy little nazi hands. U know very little obviously the symbiotic nature of earth and its make up means "evolution"(incidentally a human concept), will never end but conscious intelligence in organisms will appear and dis appear over and over til the end of never....now fuck off cos i got work to do.

[kloten]

Oh sorry, Mr Architect. Can design a building but can't design a sentence in coorrect English. I'll add some nuance to my last comment, you just SOUNDED like a teenage nitwit. I am not arguing against evolution, I only corrected your sloppy statement wherein you said mammoths died because "the world had become uninhabitable to ALL creatures"= with those three letters-"ALL"-you unwittingly implied evolution itself ended altogether. You know I am right. Now, get back to work, son.

[kloten]

"coorrect English?" Woops! Typo. Happpens to everybody I guess.

[tdeff]

lifes too short for this kinda shit, apologies if i offended u or hurt ur feelings, all is love!

[crudhousefull]

@tdeff Your people went around the world killing people who wouldn't learn your language you little bastard. That's the reason we're using this language. They stole most of everything that indegenous people accumulated and ruined administrative and educational systems. The population of Sri Lanka is estimated at 30 million in 1300AD, successive invasions by the Portugese, Dutch and finally the British brought that population down to 1 million by 1800.

[crudhousefull]

@tdeff Are you seriously comparing what our cultures would have been if it hadn't been ravaged by western barbarians for 500 years? Even London, the largest center for the west was a cesspool where disease was rampant as late as the 1800s. Historically most of the major civilizations advanced at almost the same speed until your barbaric civilization killed of most of the other races. Screw you and your fucking race you little dimwit

[gigiko84]

very nice

[VeracityMedia]

We are all one.

[OMGLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL]

Then why are we in different bodies huh twat?

[lleverfreell]

I'm very touched by this talk. I find it so beautiful and inspiring.

[MetaCraken]

I fucking hate when you can hear the saliva gurgling in a Ted Talker's mouth.

[EddyBergman]

That freaks me out too. Or when they have to swallow in the middle of a sentence.

[iggy4323]

Oh thanks a lot! I hadn't noticed it...

[b4skin]

He needs to understand how not to use such generalizations so consistantly....and that 'real' doesn't include snippets of info. to then be expounded upon.

[google2com]

but that's the point of his research which is collecting only small snippets and rest is left for one's own imagination.

[conoba]

He is an artist. Rules or logic do not apply to them.

[b4skin]

Stories from reality a.k.a. 'real' stories.