I'm going to talk today about the pleasures of everyday life. But I want to begin with a story of an unusual and terrible man. This is Hermann Goering. Goering was Hitler's second in command in World War II, his designated successor. And like Hitler, Goering fancied himself a collector of art. He went through Europe, through World War II, stealing, extorting and occasionally buying various paintings for his collection. And what he really wanted was something by Vermeer. Hitler had two of them, and he didn't have any. So he finally found an art dealer, a Dutch art dealer named Han van Meegeren, who sold him a wonderful Vermeer for the cost of what would now be 10 million dollars. And it was his favorite artwork ever.
Une do te flas sot per kenaqesite e jetes tone te perditshme. Por une dua ta filloj me nje histori te nje njeriu te tmerrshem dhe te pazakonte. Ky eshte Hermann Goering ( Geringu ) Geringu ishte i dyti ne komande pas Hitlerit ne Luften e Dyte Boterore, trashgimtari i disenjuar pas tij. Dhe si Hitleri, Geringu imagjinoi vehten si koleksionist arti. Gjate luftes se dyte boterore kaloi nepermes evropes, duke vjedhur, zhvatur dhe rastesisht duke blere piktura te ndryshme per koleksionin e tij . Dhe ajo cfare ai donte vertet ishte dicka nga Vermeer. Hitleri kishte dy piktura te tij, kurse ai nuk kishte asnje. Keshtu perfundimisht gjeti nje tregtar të veprave artistike, nje tregtar Holandez te quajtur Han van Meergeren, qe i shiti atij nje nje Vermeer te mrekullueshem per vleren qe do te kishin sot 10 milion dollare. Dhe ajo ishte vepra e preferuar e te gjitha koherave.
World War II came to an end, and Goering was captured, tried at Nuremberg and ultimately sentenced to death. Then the Allied forces went through his collections and found the paintings and went after the people who sold it to him. And at some point the Dutch police came into Amsterdam and arrested Van Meegeren. Van Meegeren was charged with the crime of treason, which is itself punishable by death. Six weeks into his prison sentence, van Meegeren confessed. But he didn't confess to treason. He said, "I did not sell a great masterpiece to that Nazi. I painted it myself; I'm a forger." Now nobody believed him. And he said, "I'll prove it. Bring me a canvas and some paint, and I will paint a Vermeer much better than I sold that disgusting Nazi. I also need alcohol and morphine, because it's the only way I can work." (Laughter) So they brought him in. He painted a beautiful Vermeer. And then the charges of treason were dropped. He had a lesser charge of forgery, got a year sentence and died a hero to the Dutch people. There's a lot more to be said about van Meegeren, but I want to turn now to Goering, who's pictured here being interrogated at Nuremberg.
Luftes se Dyte po i vinte fundi , dhe Geringu u kap, u gjykua ne Nuremberg dhe ne fund u denua me vdekje. Me pas forcat aleate rremuan mes koleksioneve te tij dhe gjeten pikturat dhe me pas te gjenin njerezit qe ja kishin shitur atij. Dhe deri ne ate pike sa qe policia holandeze erdhi ne Amsterdam dhe arrestoi Van Meergeren. Van Meergeren u akuzua per tradhti , qe eshte edhe e denueshme me vdekje. Gjashte jave ne nje burg ku vuante denimin , Van Meerengen foli . Por ai nuk e pranoi tradhtine. Ai tha, " Une nuk i shita kryevepren e madhe atij Nazisti. Une e pikturova vete: Une jam nje falsifikator." Por asnjeri nuk i besoj atij. Dhe ai tha, " Une do ta deshmoj kete. Me sillni nje canavace dhe bojra, dhe une do ta pikturoj nje Vermeer me mire se sa ajo qe i shita atij Nazisti te shpifur.. Edhe une dua te pi alkol dhe morfine, sepse eshte e vetmja menyre qe une te punoj. ( Te qeshura ) Dhe ata i sollen ate qe kerkoi. Ai pikturoi nje Vermeer shume te bukur. Dhe me pas akuza per tradhi ra poshte. Ai mori nje akuze me te vogel per falsifikator, dhe beri nje vit burg dhe vdiq si hero per Holandezet. Ka me shume per te thene reth Van Meergeren, por dua te kthehem tani tek Geringu, piktura e te cilit eshte bere objekt hetimi ne Nuremberg.
Now Goering was, by all accounts, a terrible man. Even for a Nazi, he was a terrible man. His American interrogators described him as an amicable psychopath. But you could feel sympathy for the reaction he had when he was told that his favorite painting was actually a forgery. According to his biographer, "He looked as if for the first time he had discovered there was evil in the world." (Laughter) And he killed himself soon afterwards. He had discovered after all that the painting he thought was this was actually that. It looked the same, but it had a different origin, it was a different artwork.
Geringu ishte, nga te gjitha anet, nje njeri i tmerrshem. Madje edhe per Nazistet, ai ishte nje njeri i tmerrshem. Hetuesit Amrikane e pershkruajne ate si nje psikopat te dashur. Por ju mund te ndjeni keqardhje per reagimin qe ai pati kur mori vesh qe piktuara e tij e preferuar ishte nje fallco. Sipas biografeve te tij, "Ai dukej si nje njeri qe per here te pare kishte zbuluar qe ne bote ekzistone e keqja." ( Te qeshura ) Dhe ai vrau vehten me pas. Ai kishte zbuluar mbi te gjtha qe piktura qe ai mendonte ishte se ishte kjo aktualisht ishte ajo . Dukej si e njejta, por kishte nje prejardhje tjeter, ishte nje punim atistik i ndryshem.
It wasn't just him who was in for a shock. Once van Meegeren was on trial, he couldn't stop talking. And he boasted about all the great masterpieces that he himself had painted that were attributed to other artists. In particular, "The Supper at Emmaus" which was viewed as Vermeer's finest masterpiece, his best work -- people would come [from] all over the world to see it -- was actually a forgery. It was not that painting, but that painting. And when that was discovered, it lost all its value and was taken away from the museum.
Nuk ishte vetem ai qe kishte pesuar nje tronditje. Kur Van Meegeren doli ne gjygj, ai nuk ndalonte se foluri. Dhe ai mburrej per cdo veper artistike qe ai kishte pikturuar qe i ishin atribuar artisteve te tjeere. Ne vecanti , "Darka ne Emmanus" qe ishte pare si nje prej kryeveprave te Vermeer-ut, puna e tij me e mire -- njerezit vinin nga e gjithe bota per ta pare ate -- dhe aktualisht ishte nje kopje e falsifikuar. Nuk ishte vetem piktura, por edhe stili piktures. Dhe kur kjo u zbulua, e humbi te gjithe vleren dhe u hoq nga muzeumi.
Why does this matter? I'm a psychologists -- why do origins matter so much? Why do we respond so much to our knowledge of where something comes from? Well there's an answer that many people would give. Many sociologists like Veblen and Wolfe would argue that the reason why we take origins so seriously is because we're snobs, because we're focused on status. Among other things, if you want to show off how rich you are, how powerful you are, it's always better to own an original than a forgery because there's always going to be fewer originals than forgeries. I don't doubt that that plays some role, but what I want to convince you of today is that there's something else going on. I want to convince you that humans are, to some extent, natural born essentialists. What I mean by this is we don't just respond to things as we see them, or feel them, or hear them. Rather, our response is conditioned on our beliefs, about what they really are, what they came from, what they're made of, what their hidden nature is. I want to suggest that this is true, not just for how we think about things, but how we react to things.
Perse kjo ka rendesi ? Per ju psikologet, pse origjina ka rendesi kaq shume? Perse i pergigjemi kaq shume njohurive tona prej ku dicka e ka origjinen? Mire, ka nje pergjigje qe te gjithe do ta jepnin. Disa sociologjiste ashtu sic Veblen dhe Wolfe do te argumentonin qe aryeja pse origjina duhet marre seriozisht eshte sepse ne jemi snoba, sepse jemi te fokusuar te statuti. Midis shume gjerave, nqs do te tregosh sa i pasur je , sa i fuqushem je , eshte gjithmone me mire te zoteresh dicka autentike sa sa nje kopje te saj sepse gjithmone do vazhdoje te kete me pak origjinale se sa fallco. Une nuk dyshoj qe kjo ka rendesi, por ajo qe une dua qe t'ju mbush mendjen sot eshte qe ka dicka tjeter qe po ndodh. Une dua tju bind juve qe njerzit jane, deri diku, thelbesisht te lindur natyral. Ajo cfare dua te them me kete eshte qe ne nuk i pershtatemi gjerave ashtu sic i shikojme, apo i ndiejme, apo i degjojme ato. Perkundrazi, pergjigja jone eshte e kushtezuar nga besimi yne, por cfare jane ne te vertete, nga kane ardhur keto, prej cfare jane bere, cfare karakteri te fshehur kane. Une dua te sugjeroj qe kjo eshte e vertete, jo vetem per nga menyra se si ne mendojme per gjerat, por se si ne reagojme me gjerat.
So I want to suggest that pleasure is deep -- and that this isn't true just for higher level pleasures like art, but even the most seemingly simple pleasures are affected by our beliefs about hidden essences. So take food. Would you eat this? Well, a good answer is, "It depends. What is it?" Some of you would eat it if it's pork, but not beef. Some of you would eat it if it's beef, but not pork. Few of you would eat it if it's a rat or a human. Some of you would eat it only if it's a strangely colored piece of tofu. That's not so surprising.
Keshtu qe une dua te sugjeroj qe kenaqesia eshte e thelle -- dhe kjo nuk eshte e vertete vetem per nje nivel te larte te kenaqesise si arti , por madje edhe me sa duket kenaqesite e thjeshta jane influencuar nga besimi yne per esencat e fshehura. Le te marrim ushqimin. A do ta hanit kete ? Mire pra, nje pergjigje e mire eshte, " Varet. Cfare eshte?" Disa nga ju do ta hanin ate n.q.s. do ishte mish derri, por jo mish lope. Disa nga ju do ta hanin n.q.s eshte mish lope, por jo derri. Disa nga ju do ta hanin n.q.s eshte mish miu apo njeriu. Disa nga ju do ta hanin sikur te ishte nje cope ushqimi vegjetarian e cudtishme e ngjyrosur . Kjo nuk eshte e cuditshme.
But what's more interesting is how it tastes to you will depend critically on what you think you're eating. So one demonstration of this was done with young children. How do you make children not just be more likely to eat carrots and drink milk, but to get more pleasure from eating carrots and drinking milk -- to think they taste better? It's simple, you tell them they're from McDonald's. They believe McDonald's food is tastier, and it leads them to experience it as tastier.
Por ajo qe eshte me interesante eshte se si ti e shijon ate do te percaktoje forte se cfare ti po mendon se ti po ha. Keshtu, nje demonstrim i kesaj eshte bere me femijet. Si do ti benit ju femijet jo vetem te hane karrota dhe te pijne qumesht, por te kenaqen nga karrotat dhe pirja e qumshtit -- qe te mendojne qe ato shijone me mire? Eshte e thjeshte, ju i thoni atyre qe eshte bere prej McDonaldit Ata besojne qe ushqimi i MCDonald-it eshte me i shijshem, dhe i con ata ne perjetimin qe eshte me e shijshme.
How do you get adults to really enjoy wine? It's very simple: pour it from an expensive bottle. There are now dozens, perhaps hundreds of studies showing that if you believe you're drinking the expensive stuff, it tastes better to you. This was recently done with a neuroscientific twist. They get people into a fMRI scanner, and while they're lying there, through a tube, they get to sip wine. In front of them on a screen is information about the wine. Everybody, of course, drinks exactly the same wine. But if you believe you're drinking expensive stuff, parts of the brain associated with pleasure and reward light up like a Christmas tree. It's not just that you say it's more pleasurable, you say you like it more, you really experience it in a different way.
Si do i beni te rriturit te besojne qe te pelqejne veren? Eshte shume e thjeshte: derdhe ate nga nje shishe e shtrenjte . Sot ka qindra, ndoshta mijera studime qe tregojne qe n.q.s ti ti mendon qe po pi dicka te shtrenjte, ajo te shijon me shume . Kjo eshte bere se fundmi nje gershetim me neuroshkencen. Ata marrin njerez i fusin ne fMRI skaner, dhe ndersa ata qendrojne aty, permes nje tubi, atyre ju japin nje gllenjke vere. Perpara tyre ne nje ekran gjendet informacioni rreth veres. Cdonjeri, patjeter, pi ekzaktesisht te njejen vere. Por n.q.s ti beson qe ti po pi dicka qe eshte e shrenjte, disa pjese te trurit te lishur me kenaqesine dhe shperblimin te krijojne pershtypjen e nje peme Krishtlindjeje. Nuk eshte vetem qe ti thua eshte me e pelqyeshme, ti thua qe me pelqen me shume, por ti vertet e perjeton ate ne nje menyre tjeter.
Or take sex. These are stimuli I've used in some of my studies. And if you simply show people these pictures, they'll say these are fairly attractive people. But how attractive you find them, how sexually or romantically moved you are by them, rests critically on who you think you're looking at. You probably think the picture on the left is male, the one on the right is female. If that belief turns out to be mistaken, it will make a difference. (Laughter) It will make a difference if they turn out to be much younger or much older than you think they are. It will make a difference if you were to discover that the person you're looking at with lust is actually a disguised version of your son or daughter, your mother or father. Knowing somebody's your kin typically kills the libido. Maybe one of the most heartening findings from the psychology of pleasure is there's more to looking good than your physical appearance. If you like somebody, they look better to you. This is why spouses in happy marriages tend to think that their husband or wife looks much better than anyone else thinks that they do.
Ose te marrim seksin. Ka disa stimilues qe une kame perdorur ne disa nga studimet e mia. Dhe ne qofte se ti i tregon njerezve keto foto, ata do te thone qe ato jane njefarsoj terheqese per njerzit. Por sa terheqese jane per ty, sa terhiqeni ju prej tyre seksualisht apo romantikisht, qendron kryesisht mbi ke ti mendon se po veshtron. Ti mbase mendon qe piktura ne te majte eshte nje mashkull, tjetra ne te djathe eshte femer. N.q.s ky besim ngaterrohet, do te perbente ndryshim . (E qeshur) Ndryshimi do te ishte sikur ato te dilnin qe te ishin shume me te rinj se sa te vjeter nga c'mendoje ti . Do te bente ndryshim n.q.s se ti do te zbuloje qe personi qe ti po shikon me deshire eshte aktualisht nje version i maskuar i djalit apo vajzes tende, mamase apo babait. Te dish se dikush eshte gjaku yt, zakonisht e vret epshin. Ndoshta nje nga rezultatet me inkurajuese nga psikologjia e kenaqesise eshte me e rendesishme te dukesh mire se sa aparenca fizike. N.q.s. ti do nje person, ata te duken me te mire per ty. Kjo eshte arsyeja sepse nuset kur martohen kane tendence te mendojne qe burri i tyre apo gruaja duket me mire se cdo njeri tjeter e sheh se duket .
(Laughter)
( Te qeshura )
A particularly dramatic example of this comes from a neurological disorder known as Capgras syndrome. So Capgras syndrome is a disorder where you get a specific delusion. Sufferers of Capgras syndrome believe that the people they love most in the world have been replaced by perfect duplicates. Now often, a result of Capgras syndrome is tragic. People have murdered those that they loved, believing that they were murdering an imposter. But there's at least one case where Capgras syndrome had a happy ending. This was recorded in 1931. "Research described a woman with Capgras syndrome who complained about her poorly endowed and sexually inadequate lover." But that was before she got Capgras syndrome. After she got it, "She was happy to report that she has discovered that he possessed a double who was rich, virile, handsome and aristocratic." Of course, it was the same man, but she was seeing him in different ways.
Nje shembull i vecante e dramatik i kesaj vjen si pasoje e c'regullimit reurologjik i njohur si sindroma Capgras. Keshtu, sindroma Capgras eshte nje crregullim ku ti vuan nje zhgenjim specifik. Ata qe vuajne nga sindroma Capgras mendojne qe se njerzit qe ata duan me shume ne te gjithe boten jane zevendesuar nga disa kopje te ngjashme. Dhe shpesh, pasojat e sindromes Cargras jane tragjike. Njerezit kane vrare ata qe kane dashur me shume duke menduar qe po vrasin nje mashtrues. Por ka te pakten nje rast ku sindroma Capgras ka nje fund te mire. Eshte regjistruar me 1931. "Kerkuesit pershkruan nje grua me sindromen Capgras qe ankohej per te dashurin e saj te varfer dhe te pa papershtatshem seksualisht " Por kjo ishte perpara se ajo te semurej nga sindroma Capgras. Mbasi ajo e mori , "Ajo ishte e lumtur dhe thoshte qe kishte gjetur nje njeri identik si ai qe ishte i pasur, me pamje mashkullore, i pashem, dhe aristoktrat." Sigurisht, ishte po i njejti njeri, por ajo e kishte pare ate menyre tjeter.
As a third example, consider consumer products. So one reason why you might like something is its utility. You can put shoes on your feet; you can play golf with golf clubs; and chewed up bubble gum doesn't do anything at all for you. But each of these three objects has value above and beyond what it can do for you based on its history. The golf clubs were owned by John F. Kennedy and sold for three-quarters of a million dollars at auction. The bubble gum was chewed up by pop star Britney Spears and sold for several hundreds of dollars. And in fact, there's a thriving market in the partially eaten food of beloved people. (Laughter) The shoes are perhaps the most valuable of all. According to an unconfirmed report, a Saudi millionaire offered 10 million dollars for this pair of shoes. They were the ones thrown at George Bush at an Iraqi press conference several years ago.
Shembulli trete, eshte per produktet e konsumit. Pra, nje arsye pse ju mund te mendoni se dicka eshte e nevojshme. Ti mund te veshesh kepuce ne kembe; mund te luash golf ne klubet e golfit; dhe te pertypesh nje camcakez qe s'ben agje per ty . Por secila nga keto sende ka nje vlere siper dhe pertej asa qe ai mund te beje per ty bazuar ne historine e vet. Klubet e golfit ishin te John. F. Kennedy dhe ai i shiti per 3/4 e nje milioni ne ankand. Camcakizi ishte pertypur nga nje pop star si Britney Spears dhe eshte shitur per disa qindra dollare. Dhe ne fakt, aty eshte nje market qe lulezon ne tregun e ushqimeve pjeserisht te ngrena prej njerezve te dashur. (Te qeshura) Kepucet jane ndoshta me me vlere se te gjitha. Sipas nje lajmi te pakonfirmuar, nje milioner arab ofroi 10 milione dollare per keto pale kepuce. Ishin ato qe iu gjuajten Gorxh Bushit ne Irak ne nje konference disa vite me pare.
(Applause)
(Duartrokitje)
Now this attraction to objects doesn't just work for celebrity objects. Each one of us, most people, have something in our life that's literally irreplaceable, in that it has value because of its history -- maybe your wedding ring, maybe your child's baby shoes -- so that if it was lost, you couldn't get it back. You could get something that looked like it or felt like it, but you couldn't get the same object back. With my colleagues George Newman and Gil Diesendruck, we've looked to see what sort of factors, what sort of history, matters for the objects that people like. So in one of our experiments, we asked people to name a famous person who they adored, a living person they adored.
Tani kjo joshje per sendet nuk funsionon vetem per objektete te famshmeve. Cdokush nga ne, shumica e njerezve kane dicka ne jeten e tyre qe eshte vertete e pazevendesueshme, ne aspektin se ajo ka vlere prej historise se saj -- ndoshta unaza e marteses, apo kepucet e bebit -- keshtu n.q.s. ajo humbet, ti nuk mund ta marresh mbrapsht. Ti mund te gjesh dicka qe ngjan me te apo te ben te ndjehesh ngjashem, por ti nuk mund t'a kesh te njejtin objekt perseri. Me koleget e mi George Newman dhe Diesendruck, ne kemi vene re per te pare cfare lloj faktoresh, cfare lloj ngjarjesh, kane rendesi per sendet qe njerezit duan. Keshtu qe ne nje nga eksperimentet tona, ne kemi pyetur njerzit per te permendur nje person te famshem qe ata e kishin adhuruar, nje person qe jeton qe ata e adhuronin.
So one answer was George Clooney. Then we asked them, "How much would you pay for George Clooney's sweater?" And the answer is a fair amount -- more than you would pay for a brand new sweater or a sweater owned by somebody who you didn't adore. Then we asked other groups of subjects -- we gave them different restrictions and different conditions. So for instance, we told some people, "Look, you can buy the sweater, but you can't tell anybody you own it, and you can't resell it." That drops the value of it, suggesting that that's one reason why we like it. But what really causes an effect is you tell people, "Look, you could resell it, you could boast about it, but before it gets to you, it's thoroughly washed." That causes a huge drop in the value. As my wife put it, "You've washed away the Clooney cooties."
Keshtu pergjigjja e dikujy ishte Xhorxh Kluni . Dhe ne i pyetem ata, "Sa do te paguanit per pulovren e Xhorxh Klunit?" Dhe pergjigja ishte nje shume e konsiderueshme -- me shume sesa do te paguaje per nje pulover te re apo nje pulover qe e ka pasur dikush qe nuk e pelqeni. Pastaj pyetem nje grup tjeter -- i dhame atyre kufizime te ndryshme dhe kushte te ndryshme. Keshtu ne kete rast, ne i thame disave prej tyre, "Shikoni, ju mund te blini nje pulover, por pa i thene njeriut qe ju e keni ate, dhe qe ju nuk mund ta rishisni." Kjo beri qe vlera e saj te binte , duke sugjeruar qe kjo ishte aryeja pse ne e donim ate. Por e ajo qe shkakton vertete nje ndikim eshte ti thuash njerezve, "Shikoni, ju mund ta shisni ate, mund te mburreni me te, por perpara se ta merrni ju, ajo eshte pastruar rrenjesisht." Kjo shkakton nje ulje te madhe ne vlere. Sic e thote gruaja ime "I ke hequr morrat e Klunit."
(Laughter)
(Te qeshura)
So let's go back to art. I would love a Chagall. I love the work of Chagall. If people want to get me something at the end of the conference, you could buy me a Chagall. But I don't want a duplicate, even if I can't tell the difference. That's not because, or it's not simply because, I'm a snob and want to boast about having an original. Rather, it's because I want something that has a specific history. In the case of artwork, the history is special indeed. The philosopher Denis Dutton in his wonderful book "The Art Instinct" makes the case that, "The value of an artwork is rooted in assumptions about the human performance underlying its creation." And that could explain the difference between an original and a forgery. They may look alike, but they have a different history. The original is typically the product of a creative act, the forgery isn't. I think this approach can explain differences in people's taste in art.
Keshtu, le te kthehemi perseri tek arti. Do vdisja per nje Chagall. Une i dashuroj veprat e Chagallit. Nqs se dikush do te me jape dicka ne fund te konferences, mund te me blini nje Chagall. Por une nuk dua nje dublikate te tij, megjithse, une nuk mund t'a kuptoj ndryshimin. Kjo nuk eshte sepse, ose nuk eshte vetem se une jam nje snobist dhe dua te mburrem qe kam nje origjinale. Por, sepse une dua dicka qe mbart ne vetevete nje histori te rralle. Ne rastin e veprave artistike, historia eshte e vecante, vertete. Filozofi Denis Dutton ne librin e tij te famshem "Instikti i Artit" e pershkruan rastin si, "Vlera e nje vepre arti i ka rrenjet ne supozimet rreth performances njerezore gjate krijimit te saj." Dhe kjo mund te shpjegoje ndryshimin mes nje origjinali dhe nje falsoje. Ato mund te ngjajne, por kane histori te ndryshme. Origjinali eshte ne menyre tipike produkti i nje arti krijues, kurse fallcifikimi s'eshte. Une mendoj qe kjo arritje mund te na shpjegoje ndryshimin ne shijet e njerezve ne art.
This is a work by Jackson Pollock. Who here likes the work of Jackson Pollock? Okay. Who here, it does nothing for them? They just don't like it. I'm not going to make a claim about who's right, but I will make an empirical claim about people's intuitions, which is that, if you like the work of Jackson Pollock, you'll tend more so than the people who don't like it to believe that these works are difficult to create, that they require a lot of time and energy and creative energy. I use Jackson Pollock on purpose as an example because there's a young American artist who paints very much in the style of Jackson Pollock, and her work was worth many tens of thousands of dollars -- in large part because she's a very young artist.
Ky eshte nje punim nga Jackson Pollock. Kujt ketu i pelqejne punimet e Jackson Pollock ? Mire. Kush prej jush, nuk e pelqen ate? Thjesht se pelqejne. Une nuk do te them se kush ka te drejte, por do ta beje nje gjykim empirik rreth intuites se njerzve, qe eshte, n.q.s. ju pelqeni punet e Jackson Pollock, ju do te pepiqeni me shume ne menyre qe njerezit qe nuk i pelqejne ato te besojne qe keto punime jane te veshtira per tu krijuar, qe ato kerkojne shume kohe dhe energji dhe energji krijuese. Une perdora Jackson Pollock me qellim si nje shembull sepse eshte nje nje artist i ri American qe pikturon ngjashem me stilin e Jackson Pollock, dhe punet e saj vlejne disa dhjetera mijera dollare -- ne pjesen me te madhe sepse ajo eshte nje artistte e re.
This is Marla Olmstead who did most of her work when she was three years old. The interesting thing about Marla Olmstead is her family made the mistake of inviting the television program 60 Minutes II into their house to film her painting. And they then reported that her father was coaching her. When this came out on television, the value of her art dropped to nothing. It was the same art, physically, but the history had changed.
Kjo eshte Marla Olmstead qe ka bere pjesen me te madhe te veprave te saj ne moshen tre vjecare. Gjeja interesante rreth Marla Olmstead eshte se familja e saj beri nje gabim dhe ftoi nje program televiziv te quajtur "60 minuta 2" ne shtepine e saj per te filmuar pikturat. Dhe me pas ata thane qe babai i saj e drejtonte ate. Kur kjo gje u shfaq ne televizion, vlera e artit te saj u kthye ne hic. Ishte i njejti art, fizikisht, por histoira rreth tij ndryshoi.
I've been focusing now on the visual arts, but I want to give two examples from music. This is Joshua Bell, a very famous violinist. And the Washington Post reporter Gene Weingarten decided to enlist him for an audacious experiment. The question is: How much would people like Joshua Bell, the music of Joshua Bell, if they didn't know they were listening to Joshua Bell? So he got Joshua Bell to take his million dollar violin down to a Washington D.C. subway station and stand in the corner and see how much money he would make. And here's a brief clip of this. (Violin music) After being there for three-quarters of an hour, he made 32 dollars. Not bad. It's also not good. Apparently to really enjoy the music of Joshua Bell, you have to know you're listening to Joshua Bell. He actually made 20 dollars more than that, but he didn't count it. Because this woman comes up -- you see at the end of the video -- she comes up. She had heard him at the Library of Congress a few weeks before at this extravagant black-tie affair. So she's stunned that he's standing in a subway station. So she's struck with pity. She reaches into her purse and hands him a 20.
Une jam fokusuar tani tek artet pamore, por dua t'ju jap dhe dy shembuj nga muzika. Ky eshte Joshua Bell, nje violinist i famshem. Dhe reporteri i Washington Postit Gene Weingarten vendosi ta rekrutoje ate per nje eksperiment te guximshem. Pyetja eshte: Sa e duan njerezit Joashua Bell, muziken e Joshua Bellit, sikur ata mos ta dinin qe ata po degjonin Joshua Bell? Keshtu qe ai morri Joshua Bell te merrte violinen e tij te shtrenjte poshte ne nje metro te Warshington D.C te qendronte ne nje cep dhe te shihte se sa leke do te fitonte. Dhe ky eshte klipi i shkurter i tij. ( Muzike Violine ) Pasi kishin qendruar aty rreth 45 min, ai fitoi 32 $. Jo keq, por jo dhe aq mire. Sic duket nqs vertet do te kenaqesh me muziken e Joshua Bell-it, ti duhet te dish qe po degjon Joshua Bell-in. Ai ne fakt fitoi edhe 20$ me shume se kaq, por ai nuk i numuroi ato. Sepse vjen kjo gruaja -- e shikoni qe ne fund te videos -- ajo vjen . Ajo e kishte degjuar ate ne Librarine e Kongresit disa jave perpara me kete kollare te zeze ektsravagante pune. Ajo ngeli e habitur qe ai po qendronte ne stacionin e metrose. Keshtu qe ajo u godit nga keqardhja. Ajo futi doren ne kuleten e saj dhe i hodhi 20 $.
(Laughter)
( Te qeshura )
(Applause)
( Duartrokitje )
The second example from music is from John Cage's modernist composition, "4'33"." As many of you know, this is the composition where the pianist sits at a bench, opens up the piano and sits and does nothing for four minutes and 33 seconds -- that period of silence. And people have different views on this. But what I want to point out is you can buy this from iTunes. (Laughter) For a dollar 99, you can listen to that silence, which is different than other forms of silence.
Rasti i dyte nga muzika eshte nga kompozitori modern John Cage's, "4'33"." Sic e dine te gjithe ky eshte nje kompozim ku pianisti ulet ne nje stol, hap pianon dhe ulet dhe nuk ben asgje per 4 minuta dhe 33 sekonda -- kete kohe qetesie. Dhe njerezit kishin pikpamje te ndryshme per kete gje. Por ajo qe une dua te nxjerr eshte qe ju mund ta blini ate nga iTunes. ( Te qeshura ) Per 1, 99 dollar, ju mund te degjoni ate heshtje, qe eshte e ndryshme nga te gjitha format e heshtjes.
(Laughter)
(Te qeshura)
Now I've been talking so far about pleasure, but what I want to suggest is that everything I've said applies as well to pain. And how you think about what you're experiencing, your beliefs about the essence of it, affect how it hurts. One lovely experiment was done by Kurt Gray and Dan Wegner. What they did was they hooked up Harvard undergraduates to an electric shock machine. And they gave them a series of painful electric shocks. So it was a series of five painful shocks. Half of them are told that they're being given the shocks by somebody in another room, but the person in the other room doesn't know they're giving them shocks. There's no malevolence, they're just pressing a button. The first shock is recorded as very painful. The second shock feels less painful, because you get a bit used to it. The third drops, the fourth, the fifth. The pain gets less. In the other condition, they're told that the person in the next room is shocking them on purpose -- knows they're shocking them. The first shock hurts like hell. The second shock hurts just as much, and the third and the fourth and the fifth. It hurts more if you believe somebody is doing it to you on purpose.
Deri tani isha duke folur rreth kenaqesise, por une dua t'ju them se cdo gje qe kam thene, vlen edhe per dhimbjen. Dhe si ajo qe ju mendoni rreth asaj qe ju po perjetoni, besimin tuaj rreth thelbit te saj, ndikon se si ajo dhemb. Nje eksperiment i bukur eshte bere nga Kurt Gray dhe Dan Wegner. Ajo qe ata bene ishte te merrnin e te lidhnin studente te Harvardit me nje makineri me dridhje elektrike. Dhe i shkaktuan atyre disa dridhje te dhimbshme elektrike. Keshtu, ishte nje seri prej pese dridhjeve te dhimbshme. Gjysmave te tyre ju tha qe keto dridhje do t'ju beheshin prej dikujt ne nje dhome tjeter, por personi ne dhomen tjeter nuk e di qe do t'ju japin atyre keto te dridhura. S'ka asnje dashakeqesi, ata vetem shtypin nje buton. Goditja e pare eshte shenuar si shume e dhimbshme. Goditja e dyte ndihet me pak e dhimbshme, sepse mesohesh me te. E treta bie, e katerta, e pesta. Dhe dhimja lehtesohet. Ne nje rast tjeter, atyre iu thuhet qe personi ne dhomen tjeter i godet ata me qellim -- ai e di qe ata goditen nga dridhjet. Goditja e pare dhemb shume. Dhe e dyta i dhemb po aq shume, dhe e treta dhe e katerta dhe e pesta. Te dhemb me shume nqs se ti beson qe dikush po e ben ate me qellim.
The most extreme example of this is that in some cases, pain under the right circumstances can transform into pleasure. Humans have this extraordinarily interesting property that will often seek out low-level doses of pain in controlled circumstances and take pleasure from it -- as in the eating of hot chili peppers and roller coaster rides. The point was nicely summarized by the poet John Milton who wrote, "The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven."
Dhe shembulli me ekstrem i kesaj eshte qe ne disa raste, dhimbja ne rrethanat e duhura mund te shendrrohet ne kenaqesi. Njerezit kane kete veti interesante dhe te jashtezakonshme qe shpeshhere kane nevoje per doza te ulta dhimbjeje ne kushte te kontrolluara dhe marrin kenaqesi prej saj -- sikurse kur ha speca djeges apo nje xhiro me tren ne parkun e lojerave. Kjo gje eshte permbledhur bukur nga poeti John Milton i cili ka shkruajtur, "Mendja eshte vendi i vete, dhe ne ne vetvete e kthen nje parajse ferri, ne nje ferr parajse."
And I'll end with that. Thank you.
Dhe me kete po e mbyll. Falemderit.
(Applause)
( Duartrokitje )