Who am I? Think again | Hetain Patel

How do we decide who we are? Hetain Patel's surprising performance plays with identity, language and accent -- and challenges you to think deeper than surface appearances. A delightful meditation on self, with performer Yuyu Rau, and inspired by Bruce Lee.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more.

[richhd-fifaco-opseriespa]

Who's here cause of English class

[benitalyh]

Here's the literal translation of the Mandarin that he speaks: "We can learn about different cultures through different languages. Apart from learning the unique tonalities and accents, more importantly we should also take note of the unique hand movements, habits and actions."

[praveenify]

The guy sits exactly L from the series death note

[pro]

For the kids at the back who didnt quite catch it

"we learn who we are by copying others. who here hasnt imitated their childhood hero in the playground, their mom, or father?"

"imitating somebody can reveal something unique. every time i fail to become more like my father, i become more like myself. every time i fail to become bruce lee, i become more authentically me"

that's basically just it. i just wish he had expounded more on self discovery after failure of imitation. it would have been much clearer that way. but nonetheless i think this was a talk that was executed perfectly

[righthandlead]

Brilliant.
Can't believe the large number of people that didn't like this.

[Magnimodie]

empty ur mindddd.... bee formless, shapless, lik wuttrrr. now u put watur inta a cup. it the cup. u put watur in a bottle it the botle. put in a teapot it the teapot. now watur can flowww or it can crasshhhh. bbbb watur my frnd. duuunnnt immittaeee my vooiceee... it offeenseeess me.

[TJeremiah]

Some people are asking what his message here is. What he is trying to do is change perceptions. Not just your perception but his own as well. The more you understand about who people are the more you know who you are.

[BrianKelly_LettheGamesBegin]

It's about perspective and imitation and expectations. Most people see either of those individuals and they have a notion of what they expect. So as he changes voice and form he's becoming something different from what you just saw. And he's learning through trying to emulate the people around him and in doing so the parts that he doesn't emulate right...well those are the parts that are unique to him.

[АнастасияБорисенко-дс]

I really like the way they presented their performance, it was quite sophisticated and profound. I completely agree that through imitating others people discover their true identity.

[НаталиКривоносова-хж]

I completely agree with the authors. When you start imitating someone, you open up new possibilities in yourself. It's not about gender, race or nationality, the fact is that a person understands who he really is and finds his uniqueness.

[carrolldmarshimun]

This was a very different experience for me and I LOVED IT! Such originality. Will Mr. Patel and the absolutely lovely young woman being doing more of this type of thing? Would love to see more. Thank you.

[Drmikekuna]

Very creative and thought provoking. Who are we? The summation of all that we are, see and imitate. A few ingredients can become a thousand dishes or several dozen letters can become an infinite number of words. We are all unique and at the same time, we are all the same.

[unlinet]

this is my most favorite in TED... this is the first and I tried watching other videos and its kinda boring for me and its too literal.

[armitra]

After many days an entertaining, at the same time, an intelligent talk - obviously it's not for everyone to understand or appreciate this

[Karthik-yyup]

Wonderful. Totally hooked throughout the 9 minutes.

[MeUtubeAcc]

You have to have had grown up in a multicultural environment to be able to relate to this.

[AnewStart]

I dont think the message got across to most of your subs, by the looks of their comments that is. This was perfect. ;0))

[angelomenezes]

this is genius, it makes people thinking.

[VertigaDesignMEDIA]

Imitation does provide insights about yourself. It places you at the helm. Only being at the helm can you understand that sort of perspective. Perspective is unique and what is unique is authentic. You experience it from level one and any experience starting at the very seed is valuable. Those kinds of experiences have been through it all. Great talk. The manner of the presentation only served to amplify this message. Well done.

[junbinguo]

if you understand Mandarin chinese, i think you would find him so hilarious.