A sci-fi vision of love from a 318-year-old hologram | Monica Byrne 

So much hate for a story so beautiful. People are complaining that this isn't science, but that's not what TED is about. Their motto is "Ideas worth spreading", and what better way to inspire ideas that with an emotional story. Not to mention, TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, so this clearly fits here as it incorporates all 3 into it. I'm personally looking forward to more material like this in the future.

I appreciated it for the story, the feleing, and the thought... but I still felt it didn't end satisfactorily. Also, the comments section reminds us just how misunderstood art is, and how much creativity is being disregarded. Attention spans now can't handle even a 12 minute piece of dramatic art.

This is art. This is her vision. Why put dislike right away?

Dear Monica, thank you for this beautiful story... I lost my mum 6 months ago and I think a lot about life and its meaning. Your story has touched my heart. I realise more and more that the meaning of my life is love and care (other things don't matter so much) and I will miss my mum's gentle touch for ever. THANK YOU

Beautiful, imaginative & poetic performance that mirrors Ms. Byrne's cosmicly sensate philosophy & desires. It evokes a situation in which, most humans will find themselves situated: unable to choose between Kurzweil's eternity in a matrix of holograms & engineered parts to once having been born but now refusing to die. "if you will it, you will live through death" says the fully human psyche. Surely, that's to be the greatest performance art of all. I thoroughly enjoyed this vid.

I love this story. It really makes you think. What good is having eternal life if you could never again have the most important thing in your life?

It's sad/hilarious how utterly myopic some people are. More than anything, I feel sorry for them. They literally experience an emotional disgust reaction to anything they aren't capable of understanding. I'm so _grateful_ I was born with a mind that is immune from such existential constraints. Those other people will live out their entire lives without ever understanding or experiencing the full potential this universe has to offer. And the saddest part is...they're completely _unaware_ of this, and will even deny it.

"Maybe life only has meaning because it ends" It's thinking like this that inhibits study of life extension.

I am at times critical of the political content that passes for profundity in some Ted talks. So it behooves me to also call out ones that go above and beyond in fulfilling Ted's catchphrase, "Ideas worth spreading." This was excellent.

Performance Art. Not technology but it is what it is.

Intense performance..one of a kind. She puts her thoughts into your brain effectively. Genius.

Thumbs up from me. I normally hate anything remotely artsy/theatrical/whatever, but this woman can tell a story. She kept me riveted. Doesn't really belong on TED, but I'm glad that I got to see it. :D

Looks like TED ran out of ideas worth sharing.

I haven't properly watched this yet, but the dislike ratio is stupid. It is Technology Entertainment and Design, and this is entertainment with a theme of technology, in a weirdly designed way.

The value of this is in its poetry. A simple performance piece brilliantly written and brilliantly delivered.

I think it's beautiful and an idea worth sharing

This was truly beautiful. Being a scientist, it is hard to remember that there are aspects of our lives, while one day we may be able to describe accurately, are still difficult to accept and reason with. The universe follows entropy, as she says. While we can master and reduce its effects, it will always be a part of who and what we are, and of the universe we inhabit. Accepting this is perhaps the most difficult part of truly understanding how our universe operates, as well as the limitations that are inherent in our existence.

I think this is Brilliant and Beautiful, none of you seem to get the point.

Well done. A very unique reminder of the one thing that is a unifier for all humanity and poses a great question as to why we feel the need to fight what may in fact be a blessing. Very well done

we are more than consciousness; we have mass , mass interrelates. photons and force fields anchor us into 'feeling' space . feeling here have been discussed as the denser , slower movement of energy , touch and intimacy the reward for brief physicality. pain and loss and longing are presented as more 'real', as experiences, than pure consciousness and light. the curse of mortality ,gives substance to life and makes the experience more exquisite for it's brevity. there is an old merlin/arthur parable about a wish for immortality . the' wisher' spends eternity as a disembodied spirit , a voice in a cobalt blue coloured jar , suspended from the ceiling of a cave. here is a lovely , sci-fi-esque retelling of the old tale. neither story outlines that consciousness is eternal , but for a brief confinement to the slower vibration of the physical experience. perhaps her statement "i've got to get back to the physical" , is the very sentiment that engenders or initiates incarnation , from the place where concsiousness is, but form is not?

In which a science fiction author depicts that everything will change in the future, and yet still be the same, we will still die, will still fell sad for our passed loved ones, will still be criticised by choices that only affect us and not the people criticising us.

Forget y'all; this was beautiful! I think that TED understands that art and storytelling are important to the human experience. No, it's not a video of the guy that made the world's first milk powered computer, but TED is full of presentations on quality of life and ways to understand the situations of others, isn't it? It doesn't directly affect the world around us, but it makes us think yeah? This monologue is meant to make us remember humanity in a world that continues to remove itself from it, and that life has meaning because it ends. Is life still life if we divorce ourselves from our bodies and continue as a picture and a consciousness? Are the physical parts of life what make us human? I think these things now because she made and performed a piece of art. This is an idea worth sharing.

This video is beautiful and greatly appreciated, most of the people complaining do not understand what the woman was saying, as a result they result to the most typical statements (that it was bad). An advice to you all, understand the video and then you can criticise.

Very entertaining. I wouldn't mind seeing more artistic performances from this channel.

Beautiful story, beautifully performed.

Beautiful writing. I love this. Its art, imagination and love!! I love this so much!!

Although I'm more into science, I have to admit that this is an awesome work.

Also, TED, thanks for sharing this

Watched at double speed - this is brilliant, x.

this video was 80% cringe,10%interesting and 10% uninteresting

I loved this! Had some science talk in there..(lets be fair most scifi is mostly babble anyway). Emotional in a good way... The part about going to earth to nice was a nice sentiment. It reminded me the Leonardo Decaprio movie the island. In the movie a people find a paradise island but when one of them gets bitten by a shark he is cast away because his moans of pain are killing their mood. I think this performance was beautiful performance.

It did challenge my patience... good performance in terns of "technology". Large room to improvement

Before leaving a negative comment, please watch the video till the end. There is a hidden meaning behind it about man and his quest for eternal life to the point of losing a quality which makes us human.

"We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives." -Plan 9 from Outer Space Congrats on alternate views, TED.

What a eloquently delivered thoughts on design and creation concepts. This was actually a great way to connect scientifically with creatives and those who explore the world through heart. There's a place for every one and every method of learning. Might not be your cup of tea and that's ok. Check your egos. Not everything needs to be declared invalid simply because it is not tailored to your style of learning or expressing. Get over yourself. This was objectively a brilliant message and a brilliant delivery.

Cool vision! :)

I liked it, wiping tears.

Don't think people realize what the 'E' stands for in TED...

constraints dont constraint they allow perfect freedom

I loved this.

Yo, TED, I'm real glad ya'll are patrons of the arts and all but there is no science here.

This is mind blowing.

That paradox was amazing

touching story

Very interesting. I have always thought of in order to be creative you must be thinking IN the box, not think outside it. I like her version of the concept better, it is very succinct ...creativity requires constraint :)

This is great. I hope this is how life becomes in the future

That was an awesome Sci-Fi story, thank you

a monologue to touch the soul of every listener

This is not a new concept in sci-fi. It's nearly a trope at this point, but I thought the story was well written and well performed. I'd love to see more content like this from TED.

Wau! Looks like Stephenie Meyer has some competition in Byrne. I haven't heard such degrading dollarstore romance novel dripple disguised as "sci-fi" since The Host.

I would be able to listen forever to my grandpa moan about his arthritis, rheumatism, and other -tises and -isms with that sound background. No wonder she chose it.

this deserves a full script... for sci-fi fans it would make a great movie. It would fit under THX1138, Soilent Green, Fahrenheit and movies like those.

Seems TED ran out of ideas worth sharing...

People don't want to die because they think it is the end of everything for them. I don't think it is though. I don't mind about dying so much, I just don't want to get old while I'm alive.

Incredible!

Wow! Just wow!

I really enjoyed this.

so is TED becoming the next MTV? this has nothing to do with the original tech-heavy TED. this is art, not science!

Byrne's vision of things to come was propelled to some degree by Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312, in which people accomplish the key to interminable life, to a limited extent, that is. In Byrne's story-since it is unmistakably an incredible bit of short and theoretical fiction, regardless of whether it's performed rather than worked out-the normal human life expectancy is around 432 years. Byrne has explained her own discussion, sharing her different motivations; notwithstanding multiplying Robinson's expectation for human life expectancy, she obtains the Radchaai's utilization of the pronouns "she" and "her" to depict all individuals from Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice.

I love sci-fi. But I won't be reading any of her books any time soon.

This isn't really what I subscribe to TED for, but I must admit I did quite enjoy it. It was a rather interesting piece, just doesn't really fit the norm for TED uploads in my opinion.

granted...I would like holograms to be a thing before i die so I can at least upload my conscious to it and answer any questions anyone has about the past and what life was like...and what we ignored.

YEEEESSSSS MONICA!!! I'm waiting for that next book lady. Don't be a tease 😉😘

I love this, this is art for me!

Following the rules, that's the nature, day by day, independent to the will.

this is amazing

nice art. much tears. wow

I started this wishing to enjoy it and then trying to give it a chance, but the affectations and repeated tic of her self-satisfied chuckle after every hoary ripoff from a high school physics textbook and the constant sputtered exhalations of astonishment -- how can a person so beautiful and at the same time so brilliant possibly be so generous as to share this with a public? -- became suffocating

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal. (Wilde)

Freeky Sci fi vid. Made my mind travel to places I really do not like to go in my thoughts, to sad.

This is beautiful.

2:35 .... that's where the video "mysteriously" ended.

beautiful !

I only watch ted talks that have 40% dislikes or more. They make me chuckle

This is amazing...

Really cool !!

Very interesting, very contemplative.

I agree with you Jayden James

This is beautiful

Seems like mutations which alter our genetic composition would be the causal effect for "superhuman" abilities in the distant future

no entiendo lo que dice, pero por que me llama la atencion, luego lo vere con subtitulos pero en ingles tiene una esencia que vaya atrapa.

FLASH AAAAAaaaaaaaa savior of the uniVERSE!!!!

That was indescribably beautiful, I'm not even going to try!

Yo this was great.

what the hec ? thought i was watching T.E.D. :(

And my previous comment got deleted. Again, why did TED post this?

We were both artists, downtown.

I loved it

awesome

They could have used a real hologram...

Wow! 😮 love it 🥰

Beautiful

I think it's hopeful to believe that humans will be around in 318 years.

sees like dislike ratio. nvm then

Reminds me of Twilight Zone, Ray Bradbury. Thank you for a beautiful story.

Don't know what's worse: this or the one where Anita Sarkiseen cried about her lack of thick skin. Again.

I really liked it, but it was sad :c

I like this.

Couldn't watch the whole thing. First off not at all what I was expecting. But i gave it a shot anyways. About halfway through I felt her actions to predictable, almost like I was watching a high school soliloquy. Ted Talks are delivered by some of the most riveting speakers and ideas...so if you're going to go this route, you have to come strong... and I don't think she did. Now it feels WAY out of place.

awful writing, awful acting. but hey it challenges gender stereotypes so it must be worthwhile. (i was going to wait until the end to post this but that line about elementary particles,...)