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More barriers exist now than at the end of World War II, says designer Alexandra Auer. And when you erect one wall, you unwittingly create a second — an “us” versus “them” partition in the mind that compromises our collective safety. With intriguing results from her social design project focused on two elementary schools separated by a fence, Auer encourages us to dismantle our biases and regain perspective on all the things we have in common.
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OneSingleCheez-It
April 30, 2020 at 10:09 pm
Must be nice to have nothing else to worry about except…walls. Evil, evil walls.
imnickim
April 30, 2020 at 10:23 pm
Let’s take down the walls around Ted talks so everyone can attend for free. How much are those tickets again?
CJ Johnson
April 30, 2020 at 10:26 pm
A lot of us are missing what she is trying to show us. Her words are like a finger pointing at the moon and most of us in the comment section seem to be focusing so hard on the finger that we’re missing what she’s pointing at. No one is saying we should remove physical prison walls or walls that keep out terrorists. Everyone agrees that would be catastrophic. Perhaps we ought focus on removing the negative mental and social barriers we’ve built. Perhaps we ought remove the pointless physical walls that can come down safely. A physical barrier is a tool that can serve to protect us from what is dangerous. Best case scenario we can accurately identify what we need protection from without being fearful of of the things and people who are on our side.
Anyone else trying to see what she’s really pointing at?
MajkaSrajka
April 30, 2020 at 10:31 pm
Strong walls make for good neighbors.
Yes, walls aren’t everything. Men are the citys best defence.
“Us” and “Them” doesn’t establish the enemy. My fence says what is mine and what is yours. What belongs to you (and what is your responsibility) and what isn’t.
Why gated communities exist? Because there is underlying need for them. Why is there a need for them? Because many other walls (both physical and mental) were destroyed.
Didn’t knew the Belgium was so racist to keep segregated schools for migrants anyway but huh, it seems that as one wall is destroyed, another one rises.
MajkaSrajka
April 30, 2020 at 10:32 pm
11:00
The wall just got 10ft higher!
xd
Vash Matrix
April 30, 2020 at 10:33 pm
Walls work. Berlin was a wall to keep people in. We want separated by an enforced boarded from the evils on the other side of those walls & to legally allow & filter those coming in. Steven Crowder has some great vids on walls that anyone hearing this rubbish should watch. Conflating boarders with walls isn’t good. We have seperate schools for reasons too. I don’t want my kid in a Muslim school as much as a Muslim doesn’t theirs in a Christian school. You mix demographics by force & you have more violence, people across the pond are suffering that now with r* gangs. She should be more educated on her own nations problems before acting like a wall is the problem when it’s not even being used properly on the large scale. She’s a utopian dreamer who doesn’t understand human nature & the real conflicts.
Unkel Faka
April 30, 2020 at 10:46 pm
Drywall guy here. You can put a gun in a wall and nobody will know. We as humans like our closed doors because we are freaks when nobody is looking. We like our privacy and freedoms in our walls. I make the nicest walls humans ever seen in a house. You think she will open her house front door to anybody that comes around? Lols
rmullenaux
April 30, 2020 at 10:51 pm
Absolutely the worst Ted Talk ever!!!!!!!!!! Might want to reassess the person that green lit this one. More population, more prosperity, more home ownership=more walls. 5 second presentation.
Logan Wells
April 30, 2020 at 10:56 pm
Remember, everything is arbitrary and nothing matters
neighbor - J -
April 30, 2020 at 10:58 pm
Straight up butter flavored horseshit… completely ignores reality.
That one dude
April 30, 2020 at 11:42 pm
Nope. Separation matters. Walls would be be more useful is they were backed by equal legislature, however walls are easier to build then effective laws. Your take on the Berlin wall is also ridiculous as it was not built by the choice of people but the governments, and your anecdotes literally proved how effective it was. Look up San Diego for how effective a simple wall is with proper policy. Kids where I live are not separated during breaks in school.
katherandefy
May 1, 2020 at 12:01 am
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
It is difficult for people (most of us) who have little practice in consensus building to be able to open our perception to the idea of multiple societies without walls. The vast majority of us are too well schooled in warnings against potential dangers as well as spoken and implied threats to security. Some people’s experience with trauma has led them to ditch *all* attempts at diplomacy, even in close familial and romantic relationships. I struggle with that. And since I am a deaf person, what you say rings true. The isolation of the deaf is a physical wall, not one of my own making nor made by others either. But it has its continuous effect of causing misperception and confusion about who is friend and who is foe. So I think you’re not wrong!
Yến Đỗ
May 1, 2020 at 12:03 am
Chester Bee
May 1, 2020 at 12:07 am
Walls are part of nature. Our very cells have them.
Ricky boy
May 1, 2020 at 12:09 am
Well I do not support anything against Gated community’s or no acknowledgment of cultural identity’s and history.
HOD0R
May 1, 2020 at 12:14 am
get bent, hippie.
J Black
May 1, 2020 at 12:19 am
BUILD THE WALL #TRUMP2020
Pedro Pig
May 1, 2020 at 12:28 am
*gets rid of walls*
Houses: *floating ceilings*
Bearly Listening
May 1, 2020 at 12:42 am
I hope she put a little more effort into her research than her outfit.
Bearly Listening
May 1, 2020 at 12:43 am
Probably best to not dress like a mental patient if you want people to take you seriously.
Ryan McNeel
May 1, 2020 at 1:29 am
I think I would be distracted with her beauty ( I blame biology). I believe she did this on purpose. Good for her.
True Thomas
May 1, 2020 at 12:46 am
In Scotland we have a school shared by Roman Catholic and non-denominational education authorities, which has barriers along some corridors to keep the pupils segregated.
If history has taught us anything it is that barriers between people do not work. It is only when we learn to share that mankind progresses.
Caradoc Ap Cunobelin
May 1, 2020 at 1:02 am
Barriers between people do not work. Hmm? Hadrians wall=worked, the Great Wall of China=worked. Just because Constantinople eventually fell into Muslim hands does not mean that it was a bad fort. On the contrary. Constantinople held off multiple sieges and is well regarded as the greatest city of the Middle Ages. But do you know what walls do best? They keep the wealthy population living inside the walls safe from the people outside the walls who want their wealth.
A better summation would be it’s only when mankind learns to take from others that mankind progresses. The people inside the wall must fall for the outsiders to gain prominence. Wether you build the wall or not the same basic principle holds. Look at the Vikings raiding early medieval England. There is not enough wealth in the world for everyone to live like the dominant civilization. Those who are not the dominant civilization seek to steal from and destroy that dominant civilization.
So let history teach YOU something. Instead of saying what you think and passing it off as historical knowledge.
Sheesh
May 1, 2020 at 12:51 am
Look we need to protect these rich peoples kids so no thugs/pedos come and take them and so that the kids don’t run off, let’s build a fence like it’s common place literally everywhere where people easily afford fences.
Karen: bUt ThAtS dIsCrImInAtIoN cus DeRe R aRaB kIdS aRoUnD
Caradoc Ap Cunobelin
May 1, 2020 at 12:53 am
She’s lost in the trees.
Sheesh
May 1, 2020 at 12:59 am
Remove national imaginary walls, get gated community walls. Long live the globalists.
Sheesh
May 1, 2020 at 1:09 am
Socialist Germany built a wall with death squads to prevent people from escaping global peace or whatever their surface level catch phrases were. I’d bet she has absolutely nothing to oppose to their official doctrines, since she seems to virtuously deny the very tangible benefits of walls around the world, e.g. Israel, and deny the very tangible destruction of European harmony, in terms of being free of no go zones, welfare burdens, privacy, media reliability etc.
Yuu
May 1, 2020 at 8:04 am
I don’t know man walls seem pretty cool to me…
Unsatisfied woman -TAP ON MY PHOTO
May 1, 2020 at 8:27 am
🎃 💙 👨
瑞Ray
May 1, 2020 at 8:41 am
某些既有的環境，影響了人的發展
JellyfishJelly
May 1, 2020 at 8:50 am
Some people want a feeling of protection ani that’s fine. We shouldn’t try to fight them and tear the walls down. We should build doors. Be the doors that connect our walled biospheres, let the ideas trough without judging even if we’ll be judged.
JURAEV MAHAMMAD
May 1, 2020 at 9:54 am
I think physical wall means personality and mental one means ‘racism’
vikram chandel
May 1, 2020 at 9:58 am
India and Pakistan must take refrence to this
Kijura -
May 1, 2020 at 10:35 am
as german I did learn to not like walls anyway
Solidwater
May 1, 2020 at 11:21 am
Must say that this comment sections just shows how big the mental wall already is…
Andrew Blank
May 1, 2020 at 1:42 pm
It mostly shows that people who comment on YouTube videos don’t understand or are willfully ignorant of context. “The walls of prisons/houses provide security, hurr hurr.” You’re not funny nor are you providing a substantive point.
Sam stundis
May 1, 2020 at 9:54 pm
@Andrew Blank its not supposed to be funny. It is a reality. Ever wonder why rich neighborhoods are safe? lots of protection. Walls are just another form of protection, you know, gated communities. Which is a luxury they pay for and it works because they dont see alot of crime.
pjwlk
May 1, 2020 at 11:32 am
Exactly the same principle applies to people who live on islands… Seems like there’s always a debate when someone wants to build a bridge to it.
panda4247
May 1, 2020 at 11:33 am
so what happened to the fence? did you/the schools managed to get rid of it?
Mehfooz ur Rehman
May 1, 2020 at 11:42 am
just bla bla bla…….. IN BROAD PROSPECTUS … AGENDA ENTIRE WORLD WITHOUT LINE i.e. mental / walls. ………>>>>>>> WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS…. MENTAL WALL …. PHYSICAL WALL….. NOW YOU ARE TRANSED .
melek kaya
May 1, 2020 at 12:33 pm
hi from turkey
Nona S
May 2, 2020 at 7:33 pm
Hi from Texas
5 Mins 5 Ideas
May 1, 2020 at 12:42 pm
0:29 It’s ironic that we’re building more walls despite the increasing pace of globalisation 🤔. Before the pandemic anyway.
larhule
May 1, 2020 at 1:22 pm
She presents zero evidence that a wall does not improve security though she states it as fact many times. The is political and ideological nonsense.
Alisstor
May 2, 2020 at 10:38 am
I think she meant that maybe it prevents some people from crossing it, but it’s not a solution, because it doesn’t solve problems : at most they just gain time (while doing much wrong by separating people mentally).
I agree, tbh. If we think about immigration, walls and barriers and shouting at immigrants 1) doesn’t prevent some to cross, 2) doesn’t solve anything, because the immigrants still have huge reasons to want to cross. Mostly because their countries are miserable, at war, or aren’t liveable anymore because of climate changes. And in a time of globalisation, when every country has an impact on others (especially the richer on the poorer), there probably are actual things we could do to help with this problem. For one I know my country (France) could fucking stop selling arms to countries at war ; we could reduce our carbon emissions to reduce the number of climate immigrants (which are going to get bigger and bigger) ; and I’m sure we could think of other solutions (and I’m not saying we could stop the wars, and poverty, I’m saying we could actually help in reducing them, which would reduce the number of immigrants without killing them). But these solutions need way more changes, way more money too, so instead we prefer to think about walls. Like it’ll change the fact that people flee their countries.
Tevin Vezina
May 2, 2020 at 1:28 pm
Alisstor name one country that is not livable anymore due to climate change lol…
HumbleClay _
May 2, 2020 at 5:17 pm
@Tevin Vezina I was also thought…WTF? Climate sheep will believe any fearmongering as long as it supports their morally corrupt argument.
Exitrus Wilson
May 2, 2020 at 8:07 pm
HumbleClay _ climate change has many scientific proofs. It’s not some morally corrupt argument. I myself find it hard to believe that many people actually think that it’s fake
Connor Circle
May 1, 2020 at 1:58 pm
This reminds me of the North Korea and South Korea.same people but different idolody、different culture 、different economy
Wanda Fanning
May 1, 2020 at 2:26 pm
Really?
Jakob Dering
May 1, 2020 at 2:32 pm
The higher is the fence the stronger is the friendship (Russian proverb)
strixcz
May 1, 2020 at 2:36 pm
Sad to see how most people in this discussion just throw stupid jokes or focus on one word or sentence from her speech, deliberately putting it out of context – seems like their mental walls are indeed too strong to admit she’s on to something here… Then again, I guess I just keep forgetting that for most people YT comment section is a place for memes, drama and ridicule – so I should probably stop expecting too much from it 😛 Anyway, thanks for spreading the word, TED.
Nona S
May 2, 2020 at 7:31 pm
I listen to the whole thing…she needs an editor and an honest one
TruthseekerforHim
May 1, 2020 at 2:56 pm
Please for the love of God, Shut up ! Jesus, your intellect is bordering on total ignorance of the very subject you are speaking of. It’s a hostile world full of hostile people. Not all, but enough. You can tell you’ve had a protective upbringing which no doubt a part of has been brought to you by walls. This talk would play well in a room of other privilege people like the ones that sit in that room but the world of reality is walls are a necessity.
Fkfku G
May 1, 2020 at 3:31 pm
agreed, please don’t build more walls, yet you can make vaccines with that sort of money
coin paradise
May 1, 2020 at 6:22 pm
Great speech,we need more people like you. Big Bravo
Miki Steiner
May 1, 2020 at 6:47 pm
WORTHLESS TALK
Why do we have locks?
The walls, are not the problem.
It all about the gates and windows, that can be OPEN .
HypernovaHeathen
May 1, 2020 at 8:16 pm
*_CAN YOU ALL PLEASE SIGN A PETITION TO REMOVE DANBOORU FROM THE INTERNET INCLUDING RULE 34!!!!!!_*
Sasha Townsend
May 1, 2020 at 9:25 pm
I loved hearing about her exhibition.
Listen to her whole message, and then consider her supporting ideas in context. Taken out of context, they might seem silly. I like living in a home with walls. I don’t think a world without any kind of physical wall is ideal, but she has an excellent point. Don’t prejudge. Listen first. Then consider her idea.
Rip Prescott
May 2, 2020 at 6:41 am
I think there’s a bigger problem here. I’d be willing to bet Auer is Jewish. and they try to weaken society using mass immigration. You’ll notice that her speech against “walls” suddenly became a battle cry for “diversity”. This should be a red flag.
Nona S
May 2, 2020 at 7:26 pm
OK…her context is a ramble
Nona S
May 2, 2020 at 7:26 pm
@Rip Prescott oh goodie Another antisemitic tool
Sasha Townsend - Tulsa
May 1, 2020 at 9:25 pm
I loved hearing about her exhibition.
Listen to her whole message, and then consider her supporting ideas in context. Taken out of context, they might seem silly. I like living in a home with walls. I don’t think a world without any kind of physical wall is ideal, but she has an excellent point. Don’t prejudge. Listen first. Then consider her idea.
yang liu
May 1, 2020 at 10:32 pm
Perfectly explained w btw western and eastern wld
dablex31391
May 2, 2020 at 2:08 am
Super cute girl, no disrespect the topic tho
Reed Jack
May 2, 2020 at 4:59 am
Can we build a wall to stop whatever fashion statement she is trying to make?
Nona S
May 2, 2020 at 7:29 pm
Don’t comment on her appearance. Comment on her walls work, walls don’t work, no…walls work rant
Reed Jack
May 3, 2020 at 5:47 pm
@Nona S I’ll comment on whatever I want to.
ITouchTheSky 8GladysWorld8
May 2, 2020 at 8:47 am
Thank you for talking of this argument, very instructive. I am happy watching and listening to you here on the top of Trentino Italy mountain.
Alisstor
May 2, 2020 at 10:41 am
For those who disagree with the idea that walls don’t protect at all :
I think she meant that maybe it prevents some people from crossing it, but it’s not a solution, because it doesn’t solve problems : at most they just gain time (while doing much wrong by separating people mentally).
I agree, tbh. If we think about immigration, walls and barriers and shooting at immigrants 1) doesn’t prevent some to cross, 2) doesn’t solve anything, because the immigrants still have huge reasons to want to cross. Mostly because their countries are miserable, at war, or aren’t liveable anymore because of climate changes. And in a time of globalisation, when every country has an impact on others (especially the richer on the poorer), there probably are actual things we could do to help with this problem. For one I know my country (France) could fucking stop selling arms to countries at war ; we could reduce our carbon emissions to reduce the number of climate immigrants (which are going to get bigger and bigger) ; and I’m sure we could think of other solutions (and I’m not saying we could stop the wars, and poverty, I’m saying we could actually help in reducing them, which would reduce the number of immigrants without killing them). But these solutions need way more changes, way more money too, so instead we prefer to think about walls. Like it’ll change the fact that people need to flee their countries.
Tevin Vezina
May 2, 2020 at 1:39 pm
Alisstor name a single country that is no longer livable due to climate change…there are none.
Alisstor
May 2, 2020 at 3:47 pm
@Tevin Vezina It’s less a matter of countries and more a matter of coasts and islands, for now. But of course the inland know some changes too.
There are already researches and articles about the damages of sea rising :
And we know it’s going to get way worse very quickly :
You can also watch this ted talk for an account of a people in Africa whose society is crumbling because of a lack of water (their lake basically disappeared)
We can add to that the rising number of tsunamis, floods and such other natural catastrophes.
HumbleClay _
May 2, 2020 at 5:49 pm
TED talks has become a mouthpiece for the left and globalism.
Kieverdam
May 2, 2020 at 6:28 pm
She should leave her doors and windows unlocked so that burglars and homeless people can come in. Why didn’t she mention the Great Wall of China or the Israel-Gaza barrier? Oh, that’s right, it’s because Chinese people and Israelis aren’t European/white like German people are.
FractalPrism
May 3, 2020 at 3:51 pm
BOARDER WALLS not all walls….you toolbag
Kieverdam
May 3, 2020 at 8:10 pm
@FractalPrism Triggered? You must be since you’re calling me names.
EvenStar LoveAnanda
May 2, 2020 at 6:44 pm
This is a very one sided look at walls.
Like everything we need walls in the right place and in the right context.
If your cells didn’t have walls, you would be a blob of snot on the floor.
We need walls so we can have diversity.
Diversity is the engine of Novelty.
joe Vasquez
May 2, 2020 at 10:54 pm
Grievance studies really make you feel smarter and sound dumber. I love walls, we aren’t all the same and as a Hispanic American I love to live among my own. We can travel and enjoy other cultures if they all stay alive. Stop trying to mix them up before the world looks like an ugly crayon
tom lu
May 3, 2020 at 5:33 am
No really! isn’t the point of making walls to separate people? And that creates “safety”? The same thing is true if we’d made a line of bunkers!
Jesus! This is NOT a lesson worth sharing!
And! WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE!!!!!
SHE HAS NO INFO, NO FACTS!!!!!!
SHE SPOUTS CRAP OUT OF HER MOUTH!!!!!!
IDEALOGICAL AND POLITICAL NONSENSE!!!!!!
THIS WHOLE THING IS PROBABLY JUST CAUSE TRUMP SAID TO BUILD A WALL!!!!!!
GODDAMN!!!!!!
It’s been a long time since I got to rage like this…
Daniel Cioban
May 3, 2020 at 11:18 am
What about all these locked apartments separating people? To protest this, I’d like this girl to give me a copy of her apartment key.
Daniel Cioban
May 3, 2020 at 11:27 am
I’m sorry, but her argument, while not completely wrong is based on a false assumption?
How do walls not protect people and only give them false security?
Anna P.
May 3, 2020 at 11:30 am
This talk is absolutely preposterous. If walls only provide the illusion of safety, why were trebuchets invented? And in regards to the fence in Brussels: The children would make both facilities a nightmare if there was no barrier. Imagine having a +1 on a field trip and glossing over it in the chaos while the other school is tearing their hair out trying to locate a missing child, all because a kid tagged along with their friends and slipped through the cracks as kids do.
A degree of separation establishes where people should and shouldn’t be. It removes the grey area from trespassing, and it keeps prisoners where they belong. This is a bunch of feel-good propagandist nonsense and sounds borderline satirical.
Kristina Khmelnytska
May 3, 2020 at 1:32 pm
Thank you and sorry 😔
Getachew Terefe
May 3, 2020 at 3:23 pm
Well spoken
Toon Mot
May 3, 2020 at 9:26 pm
This Ted talk went over so many heads if I see these comments
1ailAlia1
May 3, 2020 at 9:41 pm
1. More walls are being built mainly because more buildings are being built due to human population growth… (where was her data?)
2. Not just a sense of protection: small gated communities tend to suffer much less from burglaries, businesses with better fences/walls/gates fare better. She said the opposite … (Where was her data?)
3. People on each side of the Berlin wall didn’t divide mentally just because of a wall. There were totally different governments on each sides for nearly 50 years…
No data, no proof, no nothing… The often very sad difference between a TEDx Talk and a TED Talk.
Buster
May 6, 2020 at 3:07 am
Some walls are built to keep people out, while others are built to keep people in. Defining what is one persons, or nations doesn’t have to divide people. I have a wall between my neighbor, but i get on very well wih both my neighbors, despite a wall.
Andres felípe. Camacho Rodriguez.
May 6, 2020 at 1:28 pm
Thanks Ted do You help My expresión un English
FMFvideos
May 6, 2020 at 6:24 pm
I prefer my toilets with walls around.