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Before I get started,

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I'm really excited to be here

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

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So, with that said,

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we're going to start with[br]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, right.

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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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Are you ready?

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Alright.

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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)

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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 when Mozart,

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just before he would go to bed,[br]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,

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think, "Ah,"

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he'd have to get up[br]and hit the final note to the cord

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before he could go back to sleep.

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So the need for closure

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leads us to thinking[br]about 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

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is by encoding the bias and assumptions[br]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

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based on our biases and our experience.

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Which is why the best of design

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is almost always about[br]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,

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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 the brain activity

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of people while they are[br]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 measure[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.

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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, right?

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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 pro-social 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,

0:10:06.257,0:10:09.630
that people have a 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 ask people,

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"Are you someone who has 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 than they were.

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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 to 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,

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not to get rid of conflict,

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conflict is essential.

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Conflict is how your brain expands,

0:11:51.538,0:11:53.395
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 we could enter it,

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awe could enable us to enter it[br]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?

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To enter conflict with a question[br]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[br]makes sense to themselves, right?

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And to understand another person,

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is to understand the biases[br]and assumptions

0:12:31.128,0:12:33.032
that give rise to their behavior.

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And we've actually initiated a pilot study

0:12:37.180,0:12:40.586
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

0:12:49.628,0:12:52.773
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, right,[br]the mountains, the sun scape.

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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,

0:13:31.395,0:13:34.763
and our data are right,

0:13:34.787,0:13:37.200
then endeavors like science,

0:13:37.224,0:13:41.255
adventure, art, ideas, love,

0:13:41.279,0:13:45.120
a TED conference, performance,

0:13:45.144,0:13:48.104
are not only inspired by awe.

0:13:49.030,0:13:53.873
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.

0:14:18.451,0:14:22.449
(Applause)

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(Cheers)

0:14:26.578,0:14:33.119
(Applause)