Tomás Saraceno: Would you live in a floating city in the sky? (with English subtitles) | TED

[@austinwheeler9812]

This talk was a combo of ideas, which can be applied separately or together. 1- using air temp difference to trigger movement 2- using natural air currents for transportation 3- creating living spaces in the sky 4- thinking more about the air and its integration with life

[@GenJotsu]

Ever since I was a kid I've always wanted to live in a floating vessel.

[@jimwilliams1536]

Jo King I'm right there with you.

[@remyllebeau77]

Have you read "Twenty-one Ballons" ? Pretty good story to read growing up as a kid. Makes me wonder about the movie UP too. :D

[@physx_yt1062]

Congratulations for reinventing hot air balloons.

[@physx_yt1062]

Daddy Lenin Sure, and they could fly in the night too. But if you make them from a black material, they will be just as good.

[@tavomuozY]

As I understood, this talk has a philosophical tone, it's about dreaming with a more harmonious world. Maybe the poesy cannot be appreciated on subtitles :P

[@emlcshares]

This is an insane concept! So many comments are about how it won't work, maybe not in this exact way, but this thinking outside the box and the accomplishments already made are paving the way for something great in the future. Can't wait!

[@lan204]

This is quite a cool idea. Unfortunately, the buoyant force generated is small and unscalable, and depending on solar energy is a huge limiting factor. I do like how this is a new tool for artists to make some new interesting art.

[@kinsmed]

He covered scalability in the video. And getting sun ain't a problem these days.

[@lan204]

Since the amount of air enclosed increases in proportion to r^3 but the cross-section increases in proportion to r^2, bigger structures will generate less lift in proportion to their mass, hence it is unscalable (in addition to the small lift generated) And the sun issue is a great limiting factor. In order for the structure to be unaffected by weather, you'd require it to stay constantly above the troposphere where air density is about 13% the density at surface level, which would reduce lift substantially. Additionally, the structure can only generate lift during daytime and at night will fall down. Therefore you'd have to supply a huge amount of energy to keep it afloat at night. This is a cool idea, but this method will not make a floating city a reality.

[@swordwaker7749]

Daniel What do you mean buoyancy force? Isn't the formula stated that the buoyancy force is equal to the mass of the fluid it replace? So r^3. What formula do you use? The lift force here came from buoyancy, not the wind below.

[@lan204]

Yes, here lift will be achieved via buoyant force. Here the buoyant force will be the result of the expansion of air within the "balloons", which will increase the amount of fluid displaced while keeping the mass of the entire system the same. The air expansion will be the result of the sun rays hitting the "balloons", which will provide energy proportional to the cross section (hence r^2). When you scale up the system you'd recquire greater volumes of air in the "balloons", which will increase the mass of the system proportionally to the volume (r^3). Bigger system will require the same proportion of "balloon" expansion to achieve the same upward acceleration, and since the expansion is proportional to r^2, causing bigger systems to require more time to achieve lift. Hence, this is unscalable.

[@swordwaker7749]

Daniel I'm not sure with it's physics though. But it's possible that the buoyancy force is created by sustaining the equilibrium between energy going out and energy going in. There you got the same inflation once the balloon has reached it's thermal equilibrium. And it's energy lose is only at the surface so it's proportional to r^2 as well. The real problem is catching the wind since it's not a stable force that you could simply create an equilibrium. Scaling this project will at least need a sail. Still entirely possible.

[@CompOfHall]

I don't see this going anywhere. I am still a little confused as to where the speaker sees this going. You saw how big of a balloon they needed to lift a single person in a climate perfectly suited for their purposes. Is this meant to replace air travel? Instead of paying a lot of money to ride a plane for a couple hours you pay a tiny bit of money to rent a balloon that you are then stuck attached to for nearly an entire day hoping our notoriously inaccurate weather predictions will be correct for the duration of your journey? As for people living on such a thing... Water is heavy, and people like their stuff. People like to bathe regularly, use modern toilets, eat regularly. It would require a very large balloon apparatus to lift the weight of the things needed to provide for even a single human for a temporary amount of time. I don't know what Tomas thinks will come of this, but if his aspirations are much bigger than an odd attraction I think his head is a bit too much in the clouds.

[@dropj3]

William Wyatt Earnshaw I think the real idea behind this is to let yourself dream again. The world needs people with huge dreams again. Dreamers, Visionaries, idealists. What if the people before us had stopped dreaming? We wouldn't have had the world we have today. Imagine the wright brothers listened to people like you, imagine. James watt had listened to the people that burned down his dreams. Letting dreams , that maybe inspire someone to do great things, get teared down before they can influence others is a sad thing to do.

[@kinsmed]

So if something doesn't solve all of our problems the first day... ? The Wright Bros. flew less than a 1000'. Useless, right? The byproduct of petroleum is flammable, better pour it in a ditch (we did). If you ask a girl out she might say no. Better stay in the cave...

[@CompOfHall]

This isn't some new technology the world has never seen before. He's invented a hot air balloon that lost its burner. I see your point in people looking past what we might view as barriers that actually aren't. But there is a physical limit to harnessing the power of air heated by the sun if you're determined to not be adding any energy to the system. You can't build a better sun, you can't build better air. If you want more lift it means more surface area absorbing sunlight and transferring the heat to the air inside the balloon, and more surface area means more material, which means more weight. Maybe you can invent some sort of material that can effectively transfer the heat to only one side of itself and increase your lift that way, but when it comes down to it there is a hard limit on the power you can use. I'm not saying to stop dreaming, I'm just saying this dream doesn't seem very well thought out.

[@ninjafruitchilled]

Actually it is more about the rate of heat loss. The Sun is constantly supplying power, so you can just keep on heating if you can avoid losses (up to 5000K or so, when you radiate energy at the same rate as the sun). So if you are in a big transparant bubble of air with a black floor to absorb all the sunlight, and you have some kind of insulating gap in the outer walls of your bubble, then the sun can just keep on heating the air inside the bubble. I could imagine it working for a massive bubble that could support a whole building. The other problem is damage to the bubble from storms and so on, this could cause catastrophic failure, or being unable to store enough heat to last the night and having the bubble crash somewhere. The weight of the bubble walls is also a problem, but I actually think it will be more favourable for a huge bubble, since the volume of air inside grows faster than the surface area, and thus the weight. Although the bubble walls do have to support the load so that is probably the main issue. Might need some kind of super strong carbon nano-tube fabric for this to work.

[@StrangerHappened]

The guy is not an engineer, he is an artist. Hence so much feel-good rhetorics about the dreams, and not much of practicality.

[@vonneely1977]

Trash becomes art. Art hits edge of atmosphere, explodes, falls, become trash again. The circle of life.

[@Grenadier_]

bioshock infinite - there i said it

[@stephanieho6162]

I came to the comments just for this!

[@obsidian_k.i.d8725]

I found theis video because of Bioshock

[@alexistarr]

This is a fascinating idea. However, I feel that I must point out that it wasn't the concern over dangerously explosive hydrogen that killed off the airship as a serious alternative to the ocean going liner. Rather, airships died out because, although they were comparable to ocean going liners in terms of size, were twice as fast, and were able to fly over land, these advantages were dwarfed by the severe limitation that they could only carry about 1% of the passengers. Additionally continued developments in the hugely faster airplane, were the final nail in the airship's coffin. Though I'd love to visit one of this chap's cities in the sky, I can't help but feel that, like the airship, they wouldn't stand up from an economics and resource utilization standpoint.

[@mhtinla]

We already do. It's called EARTH.

[@LlamaKing9000]

mhtinla Are you calling Earth your city?

[@mhtinla]

InMaTeofDeath Tell me where one starts and the other ends.

[@mhtinla]

Doctor Freud Yes and the ocean my bathtub.

[@mhtinla]

InMaTeofDeath That depends on if your fuzzy is bigger than your slight.

[@mhtinla]

InMaTeofDeath Don't be too serious. It's one of the meaningless comments I make everyday. But then again, the boundary between meaningful and meaningless is fuzzy.

[@cmd2tuts]

This idea is 100% practical and useful in space exploration within the planet Venus. We can colonize Venus with flying cities utilizing these principles. If you can't think of a use for this breakthrough you're just not thinking.

[@lilaclizard4504]

Most people think Venus is too hot & we should only go to Mars. He should have explained that this is the way to colonise Venus! Was a great chance at education that he completely missed

[@MelkorHimself]

Columbia in BioShock Infinite. We just need to invent Lutece particles.

[@ChristianCTaken]

I'd say "and go back to antebellum race relations," but it feels like we've already rewound that far. Vigors'd be cool though.

[@jenya-was-here]

I was hoping to see my BioShock Infinite fam when I scrolled down xD

[@janaebert3059]

Works great with hurricanes.

[@우리워너원영원히사랑]

😂😂😂

[@sethgrasse9082]

Sure, I'll live in a floating city in the sky, but only if the city has English subtitles.

[@REBELLOGIC]

Wow .. this was absolutely amazing .. props to all the men and women around the world working hard to save planet earth and come up with new ideas worth spreading (pun intended) lol

[@mikochild2]

I love the idea. I just wonder about the land and people below if a floating city crashes.

[@UhDuhMass]

What kind of weed are they handing out over at these Ted conferences? Might have to go some day to check it out

[@gromigur]

that could probably also be the solution to the stratospere housing (which does not work because we have no material strong enough). A fascinating Idea, still far from do able but still great

[@darrenlongo6681]

It depends. When it says "with English subtitles" are the subtitles free and do they charge shipping and handling?

[@brendarua01]

What a lovely presentation! I love hearing people speaking their native languages also. Thanks!

[@octalo576]

Que gran disrupción, me dejo sin palabras, con un nudo en la garganta, tenemos que cambiar radicalmente nuestra forma de actuar. “aprendamos a flotar con los pies en la tierra” Tomás Saraceno

[@95GuitarMan13]

Not a new idea but still interesting. Buckminster Fuller called this his Cloud Nine concept shortly after that atomic bomb that Saraceno marks as the dawn of the anthropocene. If one of those long distance flights was accomplished this would be an idea worth spreading.

[@manubhatt3]

I just don't understand how this works! Reading the comment section here, it seems to me that air inside the balloon gets heated, and then it rises. But isn't the air outside the balloon is getting heated too, from the Sun?!?

[@lilaclizard4504]

The black is absorbing more heat so kinda concentrating it, while the air outside is a much larger quantity & therefore not heating at the same rate

[@liammurray2318]

No, because air in an enclosed space (like that of a balloon) retains and concentrates heat more than free-flowing air, since there are fewer avenues through which that heat can radiate out of the system and dissipate. It's the same principle that explains why your shower steam doesn't scald you but steam from your Instant Pot or a power plant can.

[@Anonymous_Eyeballs]

I was told there were subtitles. I'm kind of really upset now

[@lilaclizard4504]

click the "cc" button on the bottom right

[@Kryptsanies]

The images were beautiful to look at but the talk was all a bunch of hot air. It was very disjointed and vague. The usage in art was interesting but it became cringe worthy when he started talking about Berlin to Vancouver air travel and making grandiose claims about how this will lead to a paradigm shift, not just in air travel but on a geological time scale (Anthropocene to Aerocene)! No discussion of the confounding variables that will need to be considered, no mention of the volatility in weather predictions, no mention in the unreliability of the energy source (ironically he jokes about the Vancouver weather!), no mention of the economics of human choice (float in the air for 2 days in a giant balloon guided by nature vs a couple of hours in a plane). Criticizing this idea is not being closed minded, it is merely being skeptical from the evidence that was presented to support this vision. And it was weak and unsubstantiated. Now if you come back with more coherent directives of what you actually want to achieve with this and how it will look, then I am willing to re-evaluate based on the evidence presented. As it stands, it was mostly a bunch of fluff words, let's hold hands, no borders and live in a community in a balloon because climate change.

[@austinwheeler9812]

Krypt Sanies the idea was a combo of ideas. 1- using air temp difference to trigger movement 2- using natural air currents for transportation 3- creating living spaces in the sky 4- thinking more about the air and its integration with life

[@daxxonjabiru428]

On to Venus!

[@lilaclizard4504]

Exactly! MUCH better idea for there than Earth! Pity he didn't discuss that, I'm guessing the idea went over most people's heads

[@milkwad]

Hmm but what about a city at the bottom of the ocean?

[@larsonbwl]

Hate to pop your bubble but this guy is full of hot air.

[@StrangerHappened]

*It is great to hear a presentation in another language,* but the idea of flying on sun-heated balloons will never work since there are too many cases when the atmosphere is cloudy for many days and even weeks in the row, so such balloon will not be able to raise.

[@jlenngren]

(No subtitles)

[@joachimjensen6984]

That is a great idea

[@thatguy2740]

The last guy to build a city in the sky kidnapped my daughter

[@ericpa06]

Cool idea. Zero practicality

[@lilaclizard4504]

except to colonise Venus

[@soldaluz3116]

Recognizes me about Sky Lagoon City from Megaman X

[@dranyar42]

We already do called earth

[@AsKuRiUs]

So if the city is floating and constantly moving why not just have wind turbines at that altitude as well as solar panels? maybe I'm out of line here who knows.

[@federubio2519]

Más o menos entiendo y me gusta la idea, pero su castellano es deleznable.

[@JohnSmith-uv4ox]

Let me say this, in all sincerity, there are already people living in the sky, I have met them. They live there to escape the cyclical cataclysms here on earth. They live great there, healthy and well. I asked them, why not warn us, down on the ground and let us know. They looked down their noses at me, in true disgust, saying...."Why would we go down there, it is disgusting and insane down there, would you go and tell them if you were here?" I kid you not. The world, and all it's history being told to us is a lie. The earth, not a ball, but a flat realm as many others, is constantly, destroyed for some reason, often. Some know and that is why we are herded by fraternities around the world, and governments, who pay so dearly in blood and sacrifice of innocence to escape it, whilst the rest of us suffer the wrath of the event. We are not what we are told, we are not where we are told, what we live in and on is a lie and mystery to us...... I promise you , the people in they sky......just the tip of the ice burg too, the rabbit hole is infinitely deep. I often ask myself, is the price I paid to learn it worth it?

[@seandreiling6726]

I will not only live in a city in the sky I will build one! Final Fantasy is my model to go after.

[@TeddyKrimsony]

If the video isn't in english then why is the title in english?

[@dark5un]

Theodoяe Kяap that's because the speaker wanted to use his native language yet Ted wanted to share it will all & they made sure there was subtitles so we still could understand that amazing talk.

[@stolas2393]

Theodoяe Kяap it says " English subs".. so....

[@ohheyitsrayray]

would have gotten a lot less views if it was wrote in spanish. this way he is able to reach the larger audience whilst still maintaining his native tongue.

[@MisterShaggyDoo]

Cause youtube translate titles.

[@miTTTir]

Too good to be true

[@42tancho]

Would like to hear more Talks in native languages. Wouldn't that structure be enormous, even for a single household without water supply? The shadow would also be quite annoying, so over the ocean maybe. Sure it's about dreams, but more art than science. Doesn't really inspire me for the future.

[@innocencio22]

Excelente.

[@shadowx089]

I would live anywhere if it was for my survival.

[@DivergentMoon]

Would you like to live on an earth city where life thrives?

[@nilahmccarthy2136]

That would be cool that would be neat

[@F3ND1MUS]

Sure

[@abelma2175]

Excelente

[@Jenkkimie]

Is there one where only I could be in? If yes then sign me up.

[@yuriyfazylov5506]

6 day flight between Canada and Germany? Kilometers off the ground? Radiation shielding, pressurized environment, heat retention, time. Let’s not forget that helium is not such a cheap commodity. I mean you have some scientists boycotting Macey’s day parade simply because of the amount of helium that is used and this guy wants to use lighter than air gasses to float communities. Sounds like some scientist didn’t get enough funding from NASA and went to do a feasibility study on artist institution/installation dime. This type of project was meant for other planets with thick atmospheres, not earth. More like Venus or the gas giants. Even Hindenburg had precautions like the mooring lines, to ground the lightning and charge that’s built up on dirigibles surface but this NASA guy that doesn’t speak much ingles has Photoshop on his side -forgot the kilometers long mooring lines and spooling apparatuses. Yeah throw some money in the wind, invest in this guy’s dreams and aspirations. after edit: 10:19 “[our steps are] that began with a bag full of air and wishes, but that can carry us to independence from fossil fuels.” I am beginning to like to piss on this guy’s parade. I hope this guy knows that helium is mined at the same time and place as fossil fuels, making the two inseparable at the beginning, making this guy wrong again.

[@lilaclizard4504]

yup, perfect concept for Venus, but useless for earth! Pity he didn't go there in his discussion, especially when mentioning the moon at the end! People need to be inspired to consider colonising Venus & stuff like this could be great at planting that seed

[@EnlightenAlchemist]

Yes please.

[@inunique85]

Granstream Saga?

[@QuocNguyen-hp4rw]

Just break the limit!!

[@paulgarcia2887]

Lol all them dislikes from the people who don't speak spanish :D

[@scheroone]

did he just discover hot-air balloons?

[@fmthebaron]

We need a Sun Stone to raise the Kingdom of Zeal.

[@mrcaboosevg6089]

I wouldn't live in a city never mind a city cut off from the rest of the world

[@aamertahseen881]

But is England that city?

[@ramses0167]

They all float

[@blushlushgirl]

Yes

[@SighKronmiller]

If I had a parachute.

[@catarinasofia2850]

of course i would

[@7ajhubbell]

Those ridiculously photo-shopped "pollution" photos eliminate credibility with astonishing speed.

[@RuleOfThum42]

You're Comstock. No really, you are him. :)

[@patmacrotch5611]

Doesn't the sky above a country belong to that country? Isn't that how airspace works? So the air is actually owned...its not everybody's.

[@Kryptsanies]

I have a sneaking suspicion this guy is very left wing...

[@vahidm6119]

Nice. Earth looks darn flat in those images.

[@TheSighphiguy]

thats a reflection of the top of your head.

[@dropj3]

Vahid Mortazavi you're right! It *looks* flat

[@jeisonfabiancastelblancoro4714]

La casa en el aire Rafael Escalona

[@dudelan]

You'll float too

[@vonmcafee40]

Genius

[@TheDouVu]

Just as long as its not run by a guy named Zachary Comstock.

[@liquidminds]

Considering that most americans live in areas where the people responsible to keep things working, aren't even capable of keeping roads, wires and pipes in order, I wouldn't dare stepping foot on such a death-trap if I was one...

[@novemberaddams2779]

Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt.

[@mikeknight8209]

nice pic of chem trails

[@eSKAone-]

I do.

[@gnawershreth]

This sounds like yet another crazy idea by an artist. Where do you get water from if you live in mid air? How would you get piping into your floating city? Or what do you do about sewage? A floating city will run into many of the same issues that the idiotic "Skyscraper hanging from a meteor!" idea did. It's just so ridiculously impractical that I don't understand how anyone could ever come to the conclusion that it'd be a good idea. It's just making things stupidly hard for absolutely no reason. There's nothing preventing us from living on the ground.

[@yuriyfazylov5506]

"Where do you get water from if you live in mid air?" - is the pristine taste of clouds good enough for you?

[@lilaclizard4504]

You need to take this to Venus not Earth! Probably easier than negotiating passage over countries on Earth & this could actually colonise Venus!

[@jmanuelrm7804]

Wheataria

[@somehoodlum6517]

Vast pleasure domes

[@Tsukiko.97]

Bespin.

[@TheeeDanielR]

Please

[@simonbanks5012]

Nope I wouldn't live in the sky. Dreams are for dreaming... Not for reality. We dream of becoming gods, we shouldn't actually become them

[@gromigur]

Don't worry cause a: The Project looks far from manageable except for fuel-free packet delivery atm and b: to say something like "not becoming gods" that is just a way to preserve us humans in decent living conditions maybe helping the less fortunate in the process. Of course, not all Progress is good but to say we should not because it was an act not possible for Humans would mean dismissing Technologies. You are expressing your opinion on an Idea in a different language you can view around the world at any time(while possibly having the ability to go anywhere on said earth in the span of a few days ) and saying dreams are for dreaming? I say no there are no gods only humans and if we can dream something to stop our own harm we should try and hard at that. If you still think it is too "godly" for us to reach probably not the best place to use our most amazing and unworldly technology to complain about it xD

[@simonbanks5012]

Eventually we'll be able to return parts of the human race to their natural environment, small tribes living 'naively' in nature I didn't actually watch the video but now you say a bit about it I'm intrigued to give it a watch

[@ximegarcia2014]

we can not become Gods bc we are.

[@nickfirzen]

F yes!

[@catherine_404]

Rich people will always want to own a huge plot of good land. Not your balloon islands.

[@waterfall9386]

Welcome to the full of garbage constellations, "Pegasus", or "Belerophon", οr "Swan"...

[@niveshproag8660]

A dreamer. I appreciate, but I see no practical application to this ever, other than to have a nice experience. Full of superlatives about changing our era, when no one will choose to take a 4 hour trip in 6 days in a bubble for anything other than fun, so it cannot be scaled, and therefore will change nothing from this.

[@lilaclizard4504]

The practical application is colonising Venus

[@user-mm5ri4sq9d]

This guy is reading and not presenting

[@lilaclizard4504]

my thoughts too!

[@dewolff6937]

I don't speak foreign, but yeh I want to live in the sky, and wear bodysuits.

[@shasha8546]

trump border wall need to be taller for this.

[@freelandaerospace]

6th

[@uttaradit2]

everything belongs to the govt.

[@laasmimaher]

I like the idea but NO

[@PervTheHerb]

;)

[@ja263]

Well, that was a disappointment. And interesting video, spoiled by the fact I couldn't understand anything.

[@Eanakba]

I'd suggest reading the subtitles

[@Imperiused]

This guy's head is in the clouds. This will never work.

[@Nix-vv3yu]

First

[@Lenz2010]

If the video isn't in english, don't write the title in english

[@kinsmed]

You would have missed a pretty good video.

[@LTT.Official]

Ah Si si, taco taco, burrito. Como te yams, poncho sombrero.

[@estebanchicas6340]

And the meaningful message of this is.....?

[@LTT.Official]

Esteban Chicas I'm speaking Spanish

[@estebanchicas6340]

But is wrong, you asked something without the interrogation symbols, the right way was. ¿Cómo te llamas?

[@VaughnThisWay]

would you live in a racoon on the moon? this topic of floating cities is so impossible and a waste of time

[@lilaclizard4504]

not on venus it's not!

[@Mozamiza]

First