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Before I get started:

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I'm really excited to be here

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to just actually watch[br]what's going to happen, from here.

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So with that said,[br]we're going to start with:

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What is one of our greatest needs,

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one of our greatest needs for our brain?

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And instead of telling you,[br]I want to show you.

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In fact, I want you to feel it.

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There's a lot I want you to feel[br]in the next 14 minutes.

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So, if we could all stand up.

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We're all going to conduct[br]a piece of Strauss together.

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Alright? And you all know it.

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Alright. Are you ready?

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Audience: Yeah!

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Beau Lotto: Alright.[br]Ready, one, two, three!

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It's just the end.

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(Music: Richard Strauss[br]"Also Sprach Zarathustra")

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Right?

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You know where it's going.

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(Music)

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Oh, it's coming!

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(Music stops abruptly)

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Oh!

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(Laughter)

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Right?

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Collective coitus interruptus.

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OK, you can all sit down.

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(Laughter)

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We have a fundamental need for closure.

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(Laughter)

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We love closure.

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(Applause)

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I was told the story that Mozart,[br]just before he'd go to bed,

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he'd go to the piano and go,

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"da-da-da-da-da."

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His father, who was already in bed,[br]would think, "Argh."

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He'd have to get up[br]and hit the final note to the chord

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before he could go back to sleep.

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(Laughter)

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So the need for closure[br]leads us to thinking about:

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What is our greatest fear?

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Think -- what is our greatest fear[br]growing up, even now?

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And it's the fear of the dark.

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We hate uncertainty.

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We hate to not know.

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We hate it.

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Think about horror films.

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Horror films are always shot in the dark,

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in the forest,

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at night,

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in the depths of the sea,

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the blackness of space.

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And the reason is because[br]dying was easy during evolution.

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If you weren't sure that was a predator,

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it was too late.

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Your brain evolved to predict.

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And if you couldn't predict, you died.

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And the way your brain predicts[br]is by encoding the bias and assumptions

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that were useful in the past.

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But those assumptions[br]just don't stay inside your brain.

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You project them out into the world.

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There is no bird there.

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You're projecting the meaning[br]onto the screen.

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Everything I'm saying to you right now[br]is literally meaningless.

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(Laughter)

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You're creating the meaning[br]and projecting it onto me.

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And what's true for objects[br]is true for other people.

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While you can measure[br]their "what" and their "when,"

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you can never measure their "why."

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So we color other people.

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We project a meaning onto them[br]based on our biases and our experience.

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Which is why the best of design is almost[br]always about decreasing uncertainty.

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So when we step into uncertainty,

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our bodies respond[br]physiologically and mentally.

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Your immune system[br]will start deteriorating.

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Your brain cells wither and even die.

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Your creativity and intelligence decrease.

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We often go from fear to anger,[br]almost too often.

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Why? Because fear is a state of certainty.

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You become morally judgmental.

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You become an extreme version of yourself.

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If you're a conservative,[br]you become more conservative.

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If you're a liberal,[br]you become more liberal.

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Because you go to a place of familiarity.

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The problem is that the world changes.

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And we have to adapt or die.

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And if you want to shift from A to B,

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the first step is not B.

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The first step is to go from A to not A --

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to let go of your bias and assumptions;

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to step into the very place[br]that our brain evolved to avoid;

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to step into the place of the unknown.

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But it's so essential[br]that we go to this place

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that our brain gave us a solution.

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Evolution gave us a solution.

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And it's possibly one of the most profound[br]perceptual experiences.

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And it's the experience of awe.

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(Music)

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(Applause)

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(Music)

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(Applause)

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(Music)

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(Applause)

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(Music)

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(Applause)

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(Cheers)

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(Applause)

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Beau Lotto: Ah, how wonderful, right?

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So right now, you're probably all feeling,[br]at some level or another, awe.

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Right?

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So what's happening[br]inside your brain right now?

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And for thousands of years,

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we've been thinking and writing[br]and experiencing awe,

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and we know so little about it.

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And so to try to understand[br]what is it and what does it do,

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my Lab of Misfits had just[br]the wonderful opportunity and the pleasure

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to work with who are some of the greatest[br]creators of awe that we know:

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the writers, the creators,[br]the directors, the accountants,

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the people who are Cirque Du Soleil.

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And so we went to Las Vegas,

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and we recorded[br]the brain activity of people

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while they're watching the performance,

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over 10 performances of "O,"

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which is iconic Cirque performance.

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And we also measured[br]the behavior before the performance,

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as well as a different group[br]after the performance.

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And so we had over 200 people involved.

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So what is awe?

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What is happening[br]inside your brain right now?

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It's a brain state. OK?

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The front part of your brain,[br]the prefrontal cortex,

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which is responsible[br]for your executive function,

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your attentional control,

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is now being downregulated.

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The part of your brain called[br]the DMN, default mode network,

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which is the interaction[br]between multiple areas in your brain,

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which is active during, sort of, ideation,

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creative thinking in terms[br]of divergent thinking and daydreaming,

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is now being upregulated.

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And right about now,

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the activity in your[br]prefrontal cortex is changing.

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It's becoming asymmetrical[br]in its activity,

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biased towards the right,

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which is highly correlated[br]when people step forward into the world,

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as opposed to step back.

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In fact, the activity across the brains[br]of all these people was so correlated

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that we're able to train[br]an artificial neural network

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to predict whether or not[br]people are experiencing awe

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to an accuracy of 75 percent on average,

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with a maximum of 83 percent.

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So what does this brain state do?

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Well, others have demonstrated,

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for instance, Professors[br]Haidt and Keltner,

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have told us that people feel small[br]but connected to the world.

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And their prosocial behavior increases,

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because they feel an increased[br]affinity towards others.

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And we've also shown in this study

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that people have less need[br]for cognitive control.

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They're more comfortable with uncertainty[br]without having closure.

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And their appetite[br]for risk also increases.

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They actually seek risk,[br]and they are better able at taking it.

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And something that[br]was really quite profound

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is that when we asked people,

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"Are you someone who has a propensity[br]to experience awe?"

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They were more likely[br]to give a positive response

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after the performance[br]than they were [before].

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They literally redefined themselves[br]and their history.

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So, awe is possibly the perception[br]that is bigger than us.

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And in the words of Joseph Campbell,

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"Awe is what enables us to move forward."

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Or in the words of a dear friend,

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probably one of our[br]greatest photographers,

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still living photographers,[br]Duane Michaels,

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he said to me just the other day

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that maybe it gives us the curiosity[br]to overcome our cowardice.

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So who cares? Why should we care?

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Well, consider conflict,

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which seems to be so omnipresent[br]in our society at the moment.

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If you and I are in conflict,

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it's as if we're at the opposite[br]ends of the same line.

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And my aim is to prove that you're wrong[br]and to shift you towards me.

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The problem is, you are doing[br]exactly the same.

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You're trying to prove that I'm wrong[br]and shift me towards you.

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Notice that conflict is the setup[br]to win but not learn.

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Your brain only learns if we move.

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Life is movement.

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So, what if we could use awe,[br]not to get rid of conflict --

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conflict is essential,[br]conflict is how your brain expands,

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it's how your brain learns --

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but rather, to enter conflict[br]in a different way?

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And what if awe could[br]enable us to enter it

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in at least two different ways?

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One, to give us the humility[br]and courage to not know.

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Right? To enter conflict[br]with a question instead of an answer.

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What would happen then?

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To enter the conflict[br]with uncertainty instead of certainty.

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And the second is,[br]in entering conflict that way,

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to seek to understand,[br]rather than convince.

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Because everyone makes sense[br]to themselves, right?

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And to understand another person,

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is to understand the biases[br]and assumptions

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that give rise to their behavior.

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And we've actually initiated a pilot study

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to look to see whether[br]we could use art-induced awe

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to facilitate toleration.

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And the results are actually[br]incredibly positive.

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We can mitigate against anger and hate

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through the experience of awe[br]generated by art.

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So where can we find awe,

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given how important it is?

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So, what if ...

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A suggestion:

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that awe is not just[br]to be found in the grandeur.

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Awe is essential.

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Often, it's scale --[br]the mountains, the sunscape.

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But what if we could actually[br]rescale ourselves

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and find the impossible in the simple?

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And if this is true,

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and our data are right,

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then endeavors like science,

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adventure, art, ideas, love,

0:13:41.279,0:13:44.131
a TED conference, performance,

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are not only inspired by awe,

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but could actually be our ladders[br]into uncertainty

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to help us expand.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)

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Please, come up.

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(Applause)

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(Cheers)

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(Applause)