having recently lost both my parents (13 months apart).... i was so moved by your talk. ....you've inspired me to "rephrase" the meaning of their death and retell their story....... most importantly its moved me to keep writing the story of my life so when the time comes my 4 children will have a beautiful story to tell..........
I wished I could somehow relate to anything she said in a constructive way but besides being interesting it simply solves none of my personal issues with death to know that somewhere in the jungle a bunch of people do all those extremely rare things (from a Western perspective)
In my culture, death is extended and glamorize as well. Growing up in the west, I developed a bias opinion about my culture and death. I never accepted the process and idea that my community and ancestors have come to embrace. As I got older I begin to understand the cultures of the world and as such, became fascinated with my heritage and our ways of life; in this case, commemorating death. It's intriguing how a difference in perception can change about the stages of life and death in different societies across the globe.
I sat through the whole thing, I really gave it a chance, but in the end, I'm still disappointed I don't think Ms.Swazey is at fault. She presented it well, and her ideas were quite well thought out. Nonetheless, I was still bored out of my skull. Someone will have to teach me to care about anthropology, and explain to me its value, because, while I don't doubt that there is value in studying it, I certainly fail to see what that value is. I remain a Physicist and Mathematician at heart
Why so many dislikes? - I wondered, then I got it (with the help of a couple "constructive" comments) guys, it's obvious she loves that culture, at least in its manifestation in her housband, to everyone thinking of rotting corpses, I'm pretty sure the would embalm them, especially if they're wealthy. Your repulse is evidence of the need to explore out of the schemes of our culture.
Could people please at least appreciate one point that this talk made: death doesn't inherently have to be looked at as a negative thing. Our society abhors it and tries to brush it under the carpet in everyday conversations. Its always staring us in the face yet we avert our eyes until the time comes. This aversion (I think) is the reason death is such a problem in our country. We need to learn to accept it like these people.
She's just pointing out that western culture, American in particular tend to disregard quality of life over just prolonging life. We tend to see a fear of death rather than an acceptance.
Did people listen to the entire ted? The tribe's ritual was an example. Her point was that the "perspective" (thought process) of death by the tribe is different from our "perspective", and that if we are able to consider death other than scientifically/medically we can celebrate it. She wasn't clear about it, she suggests to view death more positively and be accepting of it. And that "our life" continues through generations after in memories. She did not suggest to pick up a religion.
Wow, I really usually get something meaningful from every TED Talks presentation speaker. The most meaningful thing I got from this lecturer is a cure for my insomnia. How do some people in academia support themselves and how do they spend they're spare time when they're not coming up with some way to seem profound.
What a different focus on death. We can consider changing our focus on death to find more meaning than what we have now. However, it will be rather difficult without theological, cultural, and metaphysical transformation, and it is not surprising why some people are offended by this presentation.
Im confused, why are people disliking this video? As far as TED videos go this is pretty normal. The shots, the cuts, the intriguing subject matter, etc. If you don't agree with the content that is one thing, but that isn't a reason to dislike the video all together.
I don't think it was made entirely clear about the death of a child or teenager someone, who has not lived a full life and was not nearing their end, otherwise I think this is an interesting take on death.
The amount of dislikes on this video clearly represents the exact culture she is exposing. Fear and avoidance of death. People buy into the idea of being a person and a body. When we believe ourselves to be this limited aspect of manifestation- body/mind, fear and suffering dominates our behavior. And we then go on living in ignorance and projecting fear in all our actions and relationships. This naive misperception of ourselves, is the root to ignorance and suffering.
Glad to see you are so willing to talk to someone. And your view is narrow if you think that they wait until the person is dead in order to tell them how much they mean to someone. You realize that the elderly lived with the younger generations right? How successful only factors in to the kind of celebration the person has, you know, if you are criminal chances are you won't have a big one. Whereas if you were a healer it would be bigger. Its kinda like "how do you want to be remembered".
TED is a think tank for real scientists and real thinkers. they present facts , not fond the baseless ideas of those unable to accept the inevitable . i can only guess you thought this video would base somehow the ridiculous idea of afterlife, maybe?
I kind of agree with this. If women want to be heard then there should be an initiative to voice out the message and not just complain that we are under represented. I see a lot of women in youtube talking about hauls, make-ups, how to look skinny. Really, this is the best way to get represented.
never ceases to amaze me how close minded some people are.... ( or based on the comments and likes,the majority of people here.....) at least LISTEN to what she is saying guys :(
A very interesting talk and what a fascinating tradition. Ms Swazey, I can only imagine your husband's impressions of other cultures' approach to their treatment of the dead or dying. Thank you for sharing this!
But seriously speaking, I envy these people, they are not only important when alive but even after dead, science will never get us back to this point of spiritualism to us life is cheap and nobody important
Her whole talk was just rambling and real touchy feely. I didn't really get anything from it and I think it's because there really wasn't anything there. I think this lady should watch the Monty Python parrot sketch, think that sums up my feelings about this talk quite nicely actually.
Rev 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed . 5 He who was seated on the throne said,"I am making everything new!"Then he said,"Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.
We all have our own beliefs . . . I believe once I leave this human experience I am just "gone?" . . . the end of all awareness . . . like the switching off of a light . . .
She is an anthropologist...you know what that is right? She doesn't pass judgement on other people's ideals. She just observes. She is only presenting what they believe, not advocating. Do you watch TED regularly?
11 лет назад
While I don't see what this had to do with medicine, it still was interesting. That being said, I don't think spending years in a house with dead bodies in it is really sanitary, and neither is spending so much time dwelling on death. Also, from the thumbnail, I thought she was Penny Pax.
Life, doesn't stop. It never ends - Death is the metaphor and paradox of the imagery. Matter {Forms} still continues in the 'transit' as in another frequency / dimension.
So many fearful people here. Please at least *try* to look beyond your own cultural bias before leaving a hateful or dismissive comment. The Toraja rituals would never be appropriate to practice in the western industrialized world, but their attitude about death and transition *should be*.
The responses to this video are absurd, should be more grateful for this shared perspective on life and death and how our perspective on one affects the other.
The only problem of this lecture is the acceptance of aging. At the moment we stand on the fork for this problem. In one direction we well met death and aging with religious acceptance and calm, and on other way we can fight it by knowledge to the edge. My vision is almost same as Aubrey de Grey's, and I see death and aging just as annother disease. And I suggest the same to you.
I actually really like this whole idea about life that doesn't end with death. Life shouludn't end just with death. I personally learn this myself long time ago from an unpexcted source, but it's true nevertheless. And I know that people would be happy to sound their opinion here, but I think it'd be very wise if you can say it politely; there's nothing wrong with having an opinion, what's wrong is when people is being rude about it.
I don't see how their funerals are much different from the usual idea of a funeral. The only real difference is that we cry at ours and they have fun at theirs.
The first part of the video was so good. I appreciate her efforts to convey all these anthropological knowledges. As for the second part, it's not appropriate to spread this kind of opinion, especially on TED as a credible channel, for it will very likely apply certain psychological suggestion to kids and even adults who have shaky philosophy of life. Normally, we are supposed to tolerate these kinds of ideas more. This one however, is not tolerable for the second part is a counter idea to the ideology of the whole human species and civilization. It suggests an indifferent attitude to death. Although, I can't say it's a successful persuasion talk. Probably no one would be affected a lot, since this Tana Toraja culture is neither better than any other culture, which may exist before Tona Toraja, nor reasonable in both science or modern popular morality. I won't say their philosophy of death is any kind of superstition, but it's their ancestors' creation which obviously doesn't work for everyone. To be specific about the attitude to life and death, prolonging human life span should be the main direction of how the whole human civilization is supposed to struggle for now. (The current direction is making money and gaining power though.) The aversion to death, in both ideology and gene, is the motive power for us to defeat it. Her opinion encourages people to confront the death peacefully instead of resisting it, which is against the human progress and the achieving of any individual's greatness. Let's not mention what things an individual is able to do for their own happiness, if having a longer life span, as selfish immortality can cause any trouble that current social system cannot deal with. Nevertheless, an absolute reason for having a longer life does exist. The majority of people recognized the truth during growth, that we can't live forever, so we gradually gave up those unrealistic dreams. It seems any pursuit beyond our scientific level is childish. However, not only are we strong because we're massively afraid of death, but, in the long term, mankind's pursuit evolves over time. Eventually, people are going to aiming for the higher-level goals. (Trust me, if you don't have to do anything to make sure yourself alive, you'll love art, science and philosophy deeply, specifically, solving the hardest problems.) A few decades are clearly not enough to demonstrate the beauty of a human individual's life. In such a short time, most people can't even get to create something which themselves admire (ultimate math and physics theory, music of superstrings and complex chord structures, and... how to shutting skepticisms' mouths, for they even suspect knowledge itself). A person should live longer, or else it's the destruction of the good. If forever is too long, you may choose to sleep. Yet forever is not even enough, as most of you probably learnt in physics class, time is not ultimate itself. (The worst truth is that we were born at least 200 years earlier, since the future technology would probably extend our life a lot. For me, as long as my brain lives longer that I can think, I'll be happy. Sadly, not much hope.) Besides, as who doesn't have and is perfectly neutral to every religion, I didn't relate the topic to any of them because I can't. But I do believe there must not be any religion against prolonging human life span, for all religious doctrines were restated by ancient believers, which couldn't possibly mention the permission to use future technology of life science. Also, as far as I have known, no religion is opposite to wisdom and knowledge, which are the best reason to live longer. Btw, people advanced in years are not supposed to just be... happy to die. She's mostly right about how we should look at what we've done instead of physical death. But wait... what 'bout those people who don't really have some achievement or social realationship... not everyone is happy with their past, truly. Instead of starting to consider the healthcare to senior citizens overemphasised, putting more money and making more laws are better. Talking 'bout money and laws, seriously, commerce and politics are always useful thing during human history, but they wasted not only too much talented people to play their game (imagine if human authority is more simple and cerntralized, economy has less presence, not in communist way, but the most viable way, if it exsits), but also made it so hard to pay for things which really matters, like life science, like caring old men.
Life doesn't end with death. No matter how you look at it, death is part of life, the life you use to spend the time in this world, and the action you did in this world, no matter how small it is, you are part of it, the part to make the world what it is right now. So, in a sense, your life doesn't end with death. Like when you throw a ball, the moment you touch the ball is the moment of your life, the moment when the ball leaves your hand is when you die, and then the moment it's in the air, and how it impact when it's landed is how your life affect this world.
I was raised in an LDS family, so I've got a good idea of what you're referring to, but I am no longer a follower of the belief. Granted I don't have a bitterness towards the people or the church, I just chose to disagree with the teachings on the grounds that there is no empirical evidence to support them, and it wasn't consistent with my developing moral philosophy. That said, I can certainly agree that remembering the deceased is important, whether there is an afterlife or not.
Interesting how culturally encapsulated people still are in the comments. Differences in views of life n death are only acceptable as long as they are not TOO different? Form this culture there is less fear, more acceptance and a great chance less depression among the elderly, all with a shift in perception and narrative of death. That is definitely worth looking into.
Well I'm hung up on the underlying beliefs of that culture: sacrificing animals at the funerals and their belief in an afterlife. Also I'm hung up on her emphasizing that modern medicine prolongs life in contrast to it improving the quality of life which it does as well.
They are of course wrong, they're not sick, they're dead. We all keep our relatives around after they die, just in different ways. Telling a funny story about uncle Jim just makes a lot more practical and emotional sense than making the process of letting go both a physical and financial one
This reminds me of the Reggie Watts TED talk where he made fun of people like this. People who just talk absolute crap. There's an interesting Documentary on the Indonesian people she is talking about on Vice though, if you're curious.
There may be a transition period from the perspective of those around the corpse, but for the deceased, I assure you the event is discrete, singular and final.
well. Applying relation where only one half can actively participate is bound to grow rather stale over time unless you also apply buffer ideas that are removed from the reality of the situation. This idea that as long as the cultural is pervasive its relation to physical reality does not matter to the participating individual is actually a static view of culture and identity. I'm all for honouring the dead for ones own sake, but dead they remain. I dont like death but I find I can accept it.
That's not what I got out of this. I saw it as "Oh look, the strange and irrational behavior of this culture is SO MUCH CUTER than the strange and irrational behavior of our own"
In a purely empirical sense, depending upon how physical life and death are defined (definitions which are still evolving and which have a very interesting history), death can be verified by observation. However, common-sense realism (or correspondence theory) isn't the only epistemological basis upon which a statement may be considered warrantable or true. Perhaps in this culture, relatives dead in an empirical sense are still experienced as alive in some pragmatic sense?
This is the most sick thing I ever heard of! xD But I like to learn about new things and I don't get why this cideo has so many dislikes, can anyone explain that to me? Is TED only for scientific things? That's not the impression I have gotten from this channel :o
My church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, encapsulate many of these beliefs without the rituals. Our ancestors are important to us in helping us to solve problems that we will all have to face. I find the writings and stories of my ancestors uplifting especially in times of trials. (No I do not hear voices)
It's a little disturbing how even TED talks tend to chronically keep under representing minority & colored women. Progressive policy is to give a voice to the underprivileged. Yet, the very women in society who still suffer the most from pressure of conservatism & the religious right, and who lack social mobility and financial independence most often, are time & again being sidelined in favor of upper middle class white women. In the year 2013, something about this mentality is deeply worrying.
I have question, I know that you didn't mention the "details" in the ceremony, but is it true that the corpse walk by itself to the graveyard? I heard this so many times .
I know the definition, and my concerns are in their culture just as Kelli Swazey said they keep the bodies in the house until they have the money to put them in one of those graves which can take years, and they kill all the bulls or buffalo that they can for the dead person.
keeping my dead grandma next to me and talking to her would be pointless. I mean, I know she is dead so she cant hear me, so whats the point. And as for sacrificing the animals i think that i just sick and disturbing and something should be done to stop it.
Yes, we display wealth, but we don't wait a year for rich people. It kind of reminds me of a Monty Python skit in which a man brings a dead bird back to a pet store, and he's assured that the bird is still alive.
I have seen documentaries where they show people buried in the floor of the house, so they can remain close by. I also bet they believe in re-incarnation as well. The lady did not get into that aspect, just death and dying.
I don't understand, I know what what is right? That she's an anthropologist? You haven't addressed a single thing that I mentioned. Read the 'about' section and then tell me again that he doesn't pass judgement on other people's ideals. That's nonsense! Yes, I watch TED regularly.
A different perspective. I admit, a bit strange. But still better than the American bi-polar delusion about death, where we claim to love our creator, but we would sacrifice anything to delay meeting him. Where we keep people who we insist we love as zombies, both dead and alive, lumps of meat with feeding tubes. Where most states still have laws against being assisted to a peaceful end. Toraga by comparison looks pretty reasonable.
Always the same thing. People don't get what anthropologists talk about, just because they are not familiar with this science. Anthropologists should get more attention and broadcasting time! That would set the record straight! :-)
I thought this very interesting but how do they prepare the bodies of their loved ones so is doesn't decompose like a body does. I worked at alot of friends Funerals with hair and makeup. I felt this was the last act of love I shared with them and also a talk even tho it was just me talking.
It's very respectable and interesting that your husband's people do all that stuff but how can I relate to all of that besides just observe it? Do you _actually_ expect me to view death differently because your husband has all these extremely different culture than we Westerners (Judeo-Christian and even Muslims) are acquainted with?
Wow. This woman is crazy. Why not tell them how much they mean to you while they're still alive? Why is it a big deal how successful they were? The physical cessation of life is not the same as death? Your ancestral resting place? Please.
Fair enough haha.. I'm going to have to be honest here.. I watched the first 2 minutes and saw a point she made and used that as a response to the negative comments I had seen below before the video. After that I didn't bother continuing to watch lol.
Death is not the opposite of life, it is the part of it. Thank you for Introducing one of our culture to the world. Thank you.
having recently lost both my parents (13 months apart).... i was so moved by your talk. ....you've inspired me to "rephrase" the meaning of their death and retell their story....... most importantly its moved me to keep writing the story of my life so when the time comes my 4 children will have a beautiful story to tell..........
+Danny Perl very sorry for your loss, glad to hear you got something out of this wonderful talk!
I wished I could somehow relate to anything she said in a constructive way but besides being interesting it simply solves none of my personal issues with death to know that somewhere in the jungle a bunch of people do all those extremely rare things (from a Western perspective)
Hi Kelly, I'm a Torajan. Thank you for the remarkable insight of my culture. I hope I could meet you someday.
wah salut sih aku juga orang indo tapi baru tau pas dijelasin disini ternyata budaya dari nusantara emang se wow dan se mindblowing itu
In my culture, death is extended and glamorize as well. Growing up in the west, I developed a bias opinion about my culture and death. I never accepted the process and idea that my community and ancestors have come to embrace. As I got older I begin to understand the cultures of the world and as such, became fascinated with my heritage and our ways of life; in this case, commemorating death. It's intriguing how a difference in perception can change about the stages of life and death in different societies across the globe.
I sat through the whole thing, I really gave it a chance, but in the end, I'm still disappointed
I don't think Ms.Swazey is at fault. She presented it well, and her ideas were quite well thought out. Nonetheless, I was still bored out of my skull. Someone will have to teach me to care about anthropology, and explain to me its value, because, while I don't doubt that there is value in studying it, I certainly fail to see what that value is.
I remain a Physicist and Mathematician at heart
Why so many dislikes? - I wondered, then I got it (with the help of a couple "constructive" comments) guys, it's obvious she loves that culture, at least in its manifestation in her housband, to everyone thinking of rotting corpses, I'm pretty sure the would embalm them, especially if they're wealthy. Your repulse is evidence of the need to explore out of the schemes of our culture.
Could people please at least appreciate one point that this talk made: death doesn't inherently have to be looked at as a negative thing. Our society abhors it and tries to brush it under the carpet in everyday conversations. Its always staring us in the face yet we avert our eyes until the time comes. This aversion (I think) is the reason death is such a problem in our country. We need to learn to accept it like these people.
she got invited to speak at TED MED, when you all do let me know
I will then listen to what you have to say without prejudice
She's just pointing out that western culture, American in particular tend to disregard quality of life over just prolonging life. We tend to see a fear of death rather than an acceptance.
Did people listen to the entire ted? The tribe's ritual was an example. Her point was that the "perspective" (thought process) of death by the tribe is different from our "perspective", and that if we are able to consider death other than scientifically/medically we can celebrate it. She wasn't clear about it, she suggests to view death more positively and be accepting of it. And that "our life" continues through generations after in memories. She did not suggest to pick up a religion.
Wow, I really usually get something meaningful from every TED Talks presentation speaker. The most meaningful thing I got from this lecturer is a cure for my insomnia.
How do some people in academia support themselves and how do they spend they're spare time when they're not coming up with some way to seem profound.
What a different focus on death. We can consider changing our focus on death to find more meaning than what we have now. However, it will be rather difficult without theological, cultural, and metaphysical transformation, and it is not surprising why some people are offended by this presentation.
Im confused, why are people disliking this video? As far as TED videos go this is pretty normal. The shots, the cuts, the intriguing subject matter, etc. If you don't agree with the content that is one thing, but that isn't a reason to dislike the video all together.
I don't think it was made entirely clear about the death of a child or teenager someone, who has not lived a full life and was not nearing their end, otherwise I think this is an interesting take on death.
The amount of dislikes on this video clearly represents the exact culture she is exposing. Fear and avoidance of death.
People buy into the idea of being a person and a body.
When we believe ourselves to be this limited aspect of manifestation- body/mind, fear and suffering dominates our behavior. And we then go on living in ignorance and projecting fear in all our actions and relationships.
This naive misperception of ourselves, is the root to ignorance and suffering.
Glad to see you are so willing to talk to someone. And your view is narrow if you think that they wait until the person is dead in order to tell them how much they mean to someone. You realize that the elderly lived with the younger generations right? How successful only factors in to the kind of celebration the person has, you know, if you are criminal chances are you won't have a big one. Whereas if you were a healer it would be bigger. Its kinda like "how do you want to be remembered".
Good speech. Public speaking is tough. Very brave to get up there and educate everyone.
TED is a think tank for real scientists and real thinkers. they present facts , not fond the baseless ideas of those unable to accept the inevitable . i can only guess you thought this video would base somehow the ridiculous idea of afterlife, maybe?
I kind of agree with this. If women want to be heard then there should be an initiative to voice out the message and not just complain that we are under represented. I see a lot of women in youtube talking about hauls, make-ups, how to look skinny. Really, this is the best way to get represented.
never ceases to amaze me how close minded some people are....
( or based on the comments and likes,the majority of people here.....)
at least LISTEN to what she is saying guys :(
A very interesting talk and what a fascinating tradition. Ms Swazey, I can only imagine your husband's impressions of other cultures' approach to their treatment of the dead or dying. Thank you for sharing this!
That was very interesting, I never knew of such a tradition.
Fascinating!
But seriously speaking, I envy these people, they are not only important when alive but even after dead, science will never get us back to this point of spiritualism to us life is cheap and nobody important
Her whole talk was just rambling and real touchy feely. I didn't really get anything from it and I think it's because there really wasn't anything there. I think this lady should watch the Monty Python parrot sketch, think that sums up my feelings about this talk quite nicely actually.
Weekend at Bernies! At a grand national scale! sweet!
Rev 21:3
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed .
5 He who was seated on the throne said,"I am making everything new!"Then he said,"Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.
We all have our own beliefs . . . I believe once I leave this human experience I am just "gone?" . . . the end of all awareness . . . like the switching off of a light . . .
She is an anthropologist...you know what that is right? She doesn't pass judgement on other people's ideals. She just observes. She is only presenting what they believe, not advocating. Do you watch TED regularly?
While I don't see what this had to do with medicine, it still was interesting. That being said, I don't think spending years in a house with dead bodies in it is really sanitary, and neither is spending so much time dwelling on death.
Also, from the thumbnail, I thought she was Penny Pax.
Life, doesn't stop. It never ends - Death is the metaphor and paradox of the imagery. Matter {Forms} still continues in the 'transit' as in another frequency / dimension.
She's definitely feeling herself as she speaks.
i find this topic, fascinating. past and present.Transformation.
Unique perspective, good talk. Thank you :)
So many fearful people here. Please at least *try* to look beyond your own cultural bias before leaving a hateful or dismissive comment. The Toraja rituals would never be appropriate to practice in the western industrialized world, but their attitude about death and transition *should be*.
She said symbolically feeding and taking care of. They are just in a coffin till the fam can afford a funeral. Not so crazy if you think about it.
The responses to this video are absurd, should be more grateful for this shared perspective on life and death and how our perspective on one affects the other.
Seth speaks, Bashar, Abraham Hicks all teach existence of life beyond death.
This is an outstanding interpretation of this other culture. Very interesting.
The only problem of this lecture is the acceptance of aging. At the moment we stand on the fork for this problem. In one direction we well met death and aging with religious acceptance and calm, and on other way we can fight it by knowledge to the edge. My vision is almost same as Aubrey de Grey's, and I see death and aging just as annother disease. And I suggest the same to you.
I actually really like this whole idea about life that doesn't end with death. Life shouludn't end just with death. I personally learn this myself long time ago from an unpexcted source, but it's true nevertheless. And I know that people would be happy to sound their opinion here, but I think it'd be very wise if you can say it politely; there's nothing wrong with having an opinion, what's wrong is when people is being rude about it.
I don't see how their funerals are much different from the usual idea of a funeral. The only real difference is that we cry at ours and they have fun at theirs.
when my buddy dies,hes gone forever.
when i die, i dont care whats gonna happen when im gone.
☠
The first part of the video was so good. I appreciate her efforts to convey all these anthropological knowledges.
As for the second part, it's not appropriate to spread this kind of opinion, especially on TED as a credible channel, for it will very likely apply certain psychological suggestion to kids and even adults who have shaky philosophy of life. Normally, we are supposed to tolerate these kinds of ideas more. This one however, is not tolerable for the second part is a counter idea to the ideology of the whole human species and civilization. It suggests an indifferent attitude to death. Although, I can't say it's a successful persuasion talk. Probably no one would be affected a lot, since this Tana Toraja culture is neither better than any other culture, which may exist before Tona Toraja, nor reasonable in both science or modern popular morality. I won't say their philosophy of death is any kind of superstition, but it's their ancestors' creation which obviously doesn't work for everyone.
To be specific about the attitude to life and death, prolonging human life span should be the main direction of how the whole human civilization is supposed to struggle for now. (The current direction is making money and gaining power though.) The aversion to death, in both ideology and gene, is the motive power for us to defeat it. Her opinion encourages people to confront the death peacefully instead of resisting it, which is against the human progress and the achieving of any individual's greatness.
Let's not mention what things an individual is able to do for their own happiness, if having a longer life span, as selfish immortality can cause any trouble that current social system cannot deal with. Nevertheless, an absolute reason for having a longer life does exist.
The majority of people recognized the truth during growth, that we can't live forever, so we gradually gave up those unrealistic dreams. It seems any pursuit beyond our scientific level is childish. However, not only are we strong because we're massively afraid of death, but, in the long term, mankind's pursuit evolves over time. Eventually, people are going to aiming for the higher-level goals. (Trust me, if you don't have to do anything to make sure yourself alive, you'll love art, science and philosophy deeply, specifically, solving the hardest problems.) A few decades are clearly not enough to demonstrate the beauty of a human individual's life. In such a short time, most people can't even get to create something which themselves admire (ultimate math and physics theory, music of superstrings and complex chord structures, and... how to shutting skepticisms' mouths, for they even suspect knowledge itself). A person should live longer, or else it's the destruction of the good. If forever is too long, you may choose to sleep. Yet forever is not even enough, as most of you probably learnt in physics class, time is not ultimate itself. (The worst truth is that we were born at least 200 years earlier, since the future technology would probably extend our life a lot. For me, as long as my brain lives longer that I can think, I'll be happy. Sadly, not much hope.)
Besides, as who doesn't have and is perfectly neutral to every religion, I didn't relate the topic to any of them because I can't. But I do believe there must not be any religion against prolonging human life span, for all religious doctrines were restated by ancient believers, which couldn't possibly mention the permission to use future technology of life science. Also, as far as I have known, no religion is opposite to wisdom and knowledge, which are the best reason to live longer.
Btw, people advanced in years are not supposed to just be... happy to die. She's mostly right about how we should look at what we've done instead of physical death. But wait... what 'bout those people who don't really have some achievement or social realationship... not everyone is happy with their past, truly. Instead of starting to consider the healthcare to senior citizens overemphasised, putting more money and making more laws are better. Talking 'bout money and laws, seriously, commerce and politics are always useful thing during human history, but they wasted not only too much talented people to play their game (imagine if human authority is more simple and cerntralized, economy has less presence, not in communist way, but the most viable way, if it exsits), but also made it so hard to pay for things which really matters, like life science, like caring old men.
So far so good.
Life doesn't end with death. No matter how you look at it, death is part of life, the life you use to spend the time in this world, and the action you did in this world, no matter how small it is, you are part of it, the part to make the world what it is right now. So, in a sense, your life doesn't end with death. Like when you throw a ball, the moment you touch the ball is the moment of your life, the moment when the ball leaves your hand is when you die, and then the moment it's in the air, and how it impact when it's landed is how your life affect this world.
I was raised in an LDS family, so I've got a good idea of what you're referring to, but I am no longer a follower of the belief. Granted I don't have a bitterness towards the people or the church, I just chose to disagree with the teachings on the grounds that there is no empirical evidence to support them, and it wasn't consistent with my developing moral philosophy.
That said, I can certainly agree that remembering the deceased is important, whether there is an afterlife or not.
Thanks for sharing. It's different and something we would never think of doing. however we need to know about these things and acknowledge it.
You can't label this as a right or wrong view of death. It is just a different view, practice and coming from a different culture.
Interesting how culturally encapsulated people still are in the comments. Differences in views of life n death are only acceptable as long as they are not TOO different? Form this culture there is less fear, more acceptance and a great chance less depression among the elderly, all with a shift in perception and narrative of death. That is definitely worth looking into.
Thank god for the 2x speed option. it’s the only way I could actually pay attention to what she was trying to say. Way too slow
Well I'm hung up on the underlying beliefs of that culture: sacrificing animals at the funerals and their belief in an afterlife. Also I'm hung up on her emphasizing that modern medicine prolongs life in contrast to it improving the quality of life which it does as well.
They are of course wrong, they're not sick, they're dead. We all keep our relatives around after they die, just in different ways. Telling a funny story about uncle Jim just makes a lot more practical and emotional sense than making the process of letting go both a physical and financial one
Depressing that this video is getting as many dislikes as it does...
I enjoyed this video. I've always thought that most cultures ignore death.
This reminds me of the Reggie Watts TED talk where he made fun of people like this. People who just talk absolute crap. There's an interesting Documentary on the Indonesian people she is talking about on Vice though, if you're curious.
miss kelly, please come back to FIB
agreed!
Probably, I'm hung up on a couple of points she made.
Where is the rest of the talk? Cut off abruptly at the end.
This is an amazing message!! Great talk
There may be a transition period from the perspective of those around the corpse, but for the deceased, I assure you the event is discrete, singular and final.
Wdym?
well. Applying relation where only one half can actively participate is bound to grow rather stale over time unless you also apply buffer ideas that are removed from the reality of the situation. This idea that as long as the cultural is pervasive its relation to physical reality does not matter to the participating individual is actually a static view of culture and identity. I'm all for honouring the dead for ones own sake, but dead they remain. I dont like death but I find I can accept it.
That's not what I got out of this. I saw it as "Oh look, the strange and irrational behavior of this culture is SO MUCH CUTER than the strange and irrational behavior of our own"
In a purely empirical sense, depending upon how physical life and death are defined (definitions which are still evolving and which have a very interesting history), death can be verified by observation. However, common-sense realism (or correspondence theory) isn't the only epistemological basis upon which a statement may be considered warrantable or true. Perhaps in this culture, relatives dead in an empirical sense are still experienced as alive in some pragmatic sense?
This is the most sick thing I ever heard of! xD
But I like to learn about new things and I don't get why this cideo has so many dislikes, can anyone explain that to me?
Is TED only for scientific things? That's not the impression I have gotten from this channel :o
My church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, encapsulate many of these beliefs without the rituals. Our ancestors are important to us in helping us to solve problems that we will all have to face. I find the writings and stories of my ancestors uplifting especially in times of trials. (No I do not hear voices)
Feeding the dead. Perfect time killer.
It's a little disturbing how even TED talks tend to chronically keep under representing minority & colored women. Progressive policy is to give a voice to the underprivileged. Yet, the very women in society who still suffer the most from pressure of conservatism & the religious right, and who lack social mobility and financial independence most often, are time & again being sidelined in favor of upper middle class white women.
In the year 2013, something about this mentality is deeply worrying.
We have already had that movie. Weekend at Bernies.
I have question, I know that you didn't mention the "details" in the ceremony, but is it true that the corpse walk by itself to the graveyard? I heard this so many times .
I know the definition, and my concerns are in their culture just as Kelli Swazey said they keep the bodies in the house until they have the money to put them in one of those graves which can take years, and they kill all the bulls or buffalo that they can for the dead person.
Indonesia already has democracy. And i''m Indonesian.
thanks for changing the intro sound
keeping my dead grandma next to me and talking to her would be pointless. I mean, I know she is dead so she cant hear me, so whats the point. And as for sacrificing the animals i think that i just sick and disturbing and something should be done to stop it.
Yes, we display wealth, but we don't wait a year for rich people. It kind of reminds me of a Monty Python skit in which a man brings a dead bird back to a pet store, and he's assured that the bird is still alive.
I have seen documentaries where they show people buried in the floor of the house, so they can remain close by. I also bet they believe in re-incarnation as well. The lady did not get into that aspect, just death and dying.
Thanks for enlightening us
Fantastic points made speaker
Interesting to know about a different culture view on the subject of death. Death is something that we have lost in the US. We simply don't care.
The title was very misleading.
this was interesting and all, but what i am interested in is, did she meet her husband before or after she did research and spoke at ted med.
Why I can't load this video:( she looks really cute and I have to watch it before I sleeeeeep.
Ironic much? You will only listen to people who get invited to TED without prejudice.... which is itself a prejudice. Bravo
I don't understand, I know what what is right? That she's an anthropologist? You haven't addressed a single thing that I mentioned. Read the 'about' section and then tell me again that he doesn't pass judgement on other people's ideals. That's nonsense!
Yes, I watch TED regularly.
Wonderful paradigm!
The dead do live among us. We can listen to them through the books they left.
A different perspective. I admit, a bit strange. But still better than the American bi-polar delusion about death, where we claim to love our creator, but we would sacrifice anything to delay meeting him. Where we keep people who we insist we love as zombies, both dead and alive, lumps of meat with feeding tubes. Where most states still have laws against being assisted to a peaceful end. Toraga by comparison looks pretty reasonable.
Always the same thing. People don't get what anthropologists talk about, just because they are not familiar with this science. Anthropologists should get more attention and broadcasting time! That would set the record straight! :-)
Fuck that, I'd rather come up with a cure for aging and stop death altogether.
pharma industry dislikes this talk
I thought this very interesting but how do they prepare the bodies of their loved ones so is doesn't decompose like a body does. I worked at alot of friends Funerals with hair and makeup. I felt this was the last act of love I shared with them and also a talk even tho it was just me talking.
+Deborah Campbell probably alot of the same ways they mummified mummy,
We have special traditional herbs to keep the bodies to be not decompose.
Nowadays, some of people using formalin.
The title should be: "How faith turns houses into unhygienic graveyards".
Why so many dislikes?
Its about perspective guys. Not evidence. The reality is gonna be the same no matter what.
It's very respectable and interesting that your husband's people do all that stuff but how can I relate to all of that besides just observe it? Do you _actually_ expect me to view death differently because your husband has all these extremely different culture than we Westerners (Judeo-Christian and even Muslims) are acquainted with?
Eye opening.
Wow. This woman is crazy. Why not tell them how much they mean to you while they're still alive? Why is it a big deal how successful they were? The physical cessation of life is not the same as death? Your ancestral resting place? Please.
Do not be afraid of death =)
Kyle Rodd I heard its pretty peaceful
@makeitsupersized change your life?
Can you "prove" that I am any more than I would be able to "prove" that I'm not?
(dont look at the comments, dont look at the comments, dont look at the comments) DAMN IT!!!!!!
Fair enough haha.. I'm going to have to be honest here.. I watched the first 2 minutes and saw a point she made and used that as a response to the negative comments I had seen below before the video. After that I didn't bother continuing to watch lol.