[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:00.42,0:00:02.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One day in 1819,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:02.76,0:00:05.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,3,000 miles off the coast of Chile,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:05.52,0:00:08.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in one of the most remote regions of the Pacific Ocean,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:08.45,0:00:12.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,20 American sailors watched their ship flood with seawater.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:12.49,0:00:14.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They'd been struck by a sperm whale, which had ripped
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.67,0:00:17.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a catastrophic hole in the ship's hull.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:17.58,0:00:19.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As their ship began to sink beneath the swells,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.90,0:00:24.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the men huddled together in three small whaleboats.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.22,0:00:26.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These men were 10,000 miles from home,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:26.48,0:00:29.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,more than 1,000 miles from the nearest scrap of land.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.70,0:00:31.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In their small boats, they carried only
Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.91,0:00:33.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rudimentary navigational equipment
Dialogue: 0,0:00:33.47,0:00:37.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and limited supplies of food and water.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.12,0:00:39.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These were the men of the whaleship Essex,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:39.32,0:00:41.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whose story would later inspire parts of "Moby Dick."
Dialogue: 0,0:00:41.98,0:00:44.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even in today's world, their situation would be really dire,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:44.93,0:00:46.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but think about how much worse it would have been then.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:46.86,0:00:50.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No one on land had any idea that anything had gone wrong.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:50.08,0:00:52.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No search party was coming to look for these men.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.99,0:00:55.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So most of us have never experienced a situation
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.85,0:00:59.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as frightening as the one in which these sailors found themselves,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.36,0:01:01.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but we all know what it's like to be afraid.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.22,0:01:03.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We know how fear feels,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.52,0:01:05.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I'm not sure we spend enough time thinking about
Dialogue: 0,0:01:05.62,0:01:07.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what our fears mean.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.27,0:01:10.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As we grow up, we're often encouraged to think of fear
Dialogue: 0,0:01:10.10,0:01:13.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as a weakness, just another childish thing to discard
Dialogue: 0,0:01:13.02,0:01:15.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like baby teeth or roller skates.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.84,0:01:18.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think it's no accident that we think this way.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.33,0:01:20.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Neuroscientists have actually shown that human beings
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.94,0:01:23.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are hard-wired to be optimists.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.68,0:01:26.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So maybe that's why we think of fear, sometimes,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:26.46,0:01:28.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as a danger in and of itself.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:28.44,0:01:31.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Don't worry," we like to say to one another. "Don't panic."
Dialogue: 0,0:01:31.43,0:01:34.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In English, fear is something we conquer.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:34.08,0:01:37.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's something we fight. It's something we overcome.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.92,0:01:40.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But what if we looked at fear in a fresh way?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.12,0:01:44.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What if we thought of fear as an amazing act of the imagination,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:44.26,0:01:46.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,something that can be as profound and insightful
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.64,0:01:49.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as storytelling itself?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.30,0:01:51.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's easiest to see this link between fear and the imagination
Dialogue: 0,0:01:51.89,0:01:55.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in young children, whose fears are often extraordinarily vivid.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.17,0:01:57.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I was a child, I lived in California,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:57.45,0:02:00.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is, you know, mostly a very nice place to live,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.14,0:02:04.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but for me as a child, California could also be a little scary.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:04.15,0:02:07.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I remember how frightening it was to see the chandelier
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.19,0:02:09.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that hung above our dining table swing back and forth
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.62,0:02:11.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,during every minor earthquake,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:11.80,0:02:14.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I sometimes couldn't sleep at night, terrified
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.10,0:02:16.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the Big One might strike while we were sleeping.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:16.62,0:02:19.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what we say about kids who have fears like that
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.49,0:02:22.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that they have a vivid imagination.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:22.72,0:02:25.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But at a certain point, most of us learn
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.11,0:02:27.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to leave these kinds of visions behind and grow up.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.100,0:02:30.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We learn that there are no monsters hiding under the bed,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:30.75,0:02:33.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and not every earthquake brings buildings down.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:33.73,0:02:37.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But maybe it's no coincidence that some of our most creative minds
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.14,0:02:40.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fail to leave these kinds of fears behind as adults.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:40.25,0:02:44.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The same incredible imaginations that produced "The Origin of Species,"
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.11,0:02:46.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Jane Eyre" and "The Remembrance of Things Past,"
Dialogue: 0,0:02:46.97,0:02:50.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,also generated intense worries that haunted the adult lives
Dialogue: 0,0:02:50.31,0:02:54.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of Charles Darwin, Charlotte BrontĂŤ and Marcel Proust.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.76,0:02:57.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the question is, what can the rest of us learn about fear
Dialogue: 0,0:02:57.69,0:03:00.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from visionaries and young children?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.100,0:03:03.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well let's return to the year 1819 for a moment,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.86,0:03:07.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the situation facing the crew of the whaleship Essex.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:07.54,0:03:09.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Let's take a look at the fears that their imaginations
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.66,0:03:13.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were generating as they drifted in the middle of the Pacific.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:13.42,0:03:16.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Twenty-four hours had now passed since the capsizing of the ship.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:16.97,0:03:19.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The time had come for the men to make a plan,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.67,0:03:22.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but they had very few options.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.40,0:03:24.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In his fascinating account of the disaster,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:24.83,0:03:27.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Nathaniel Philbrick wrote that these men were just about
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.57,0:03:31.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as far from land as it was possible to be anywhere on Earth.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:31.97,0:03:34.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The men knew that the nearest islands they could reach
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.27,0:03:38.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were the Marquesas Islands, 1,200 miles away.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:38.04,0:03:40.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But they'd heard some frightening rumors.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:40.57,0:03:42.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They'd been told that these islands,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:42.24,0:03:46.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and several others nearby, were populated by cannibals.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:46.49,0:03:48.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the men pictured coming ashore only to be murdered
Dialogue: 0,0:03:48.86,0:03:50.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and eaten for dinner.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:50.50,0:03:53.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Another possible destination was Hawaii,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:53.26,0:03:55.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but given the season, the captain was afraid
Dialogue: 0,0:03:55.13,0:03:58.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they'd be struck by severe storms.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:58.35,0:04:02.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now the last option was the longest, and the most difficult:
Dialogue: 0,0:04:02.14,0:04:05.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to sail 1,500 miles due south in hopes of reaching
Dialogue: 0,0:04:05.77,0:04:07.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a certain band of winds that could eventually
Dialogue: 0,0:04:07.66,0:04:09.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,push them toward the coast of South America.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:09.92,0:04:12.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But they knew that the sheer length of this journey
Dialogue: 0,0:04:12.64,0:04:16.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,would stretch their supplies of food and water.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:16.15,0:04:19.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To be eaten by cannibals, to be battered by storms,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:19.56,0:04:22.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to starve to death before reaching land.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:22.92,0:04:26.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These were the fears that danced in the imaginations of these poor men,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:26.31,0:04:29.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and as it turned out, the fear they chose to listen to
Dialogue: 0,0:04:29.21,0:04:31.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,would govern whether they lived or died.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:31.86,0:04:36.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now we might just as easily call these fears by a different name.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:36.07,0:04:38.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What if instead of calling them fears,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:38.35,0:04:39.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we called them stories?
Dialogue: 0,0:04:39.96,0:04:42.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because that's really what fear is, if you think about it.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:42.20,0:04:45.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a kind of unintentional storytelling
Dialogue: 0,0:04:45.26,0:04:48.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we are all born knowing how to do.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:48.18,0:04:50.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And fears and storytelling have the same components.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:50.95,0:04:52.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They have the same architecture.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:52.81,0:04:55.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like all stories, fears have characters.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:55.49,0:04:57.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In our fears, the characters are us.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:57.91,0:05:02.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fears also have plots. They have beginnings and middles and ends.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:02.22,0:05:06.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You board the plane. The plane takes off. The engine fails.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:06.33,0:05:08.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Our fears also tend to contain imagery that can be
Dialogue: 0,0:05:08.90,0:05:12.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,every bit as vivid as what you might find in the pages of a novel.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:12.25,0:05:15.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Picture a cannibal, human teeth
Dialogue: 0,0:05:15.20,0:05:17.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sinking into human skin,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:17.41,0:05:20.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,human flesh roasting over a fire.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:20.46,0:05:23.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fears also have suspense.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:23.20,0:05:25.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If I've done my job as a storyteller today,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:25.49,0:05:26.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you should be wondering what happened
Dialogue: 0,0:05:26.100,0:05:29.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the men of the whaleship Essex.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:29.10,0:05:33.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Our fears provoke in us a very similar form of suspense.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:33.34,0:05:36.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just like all great stories, our fears focus our attention
Dialogue: 0,0:05:36.90,0:05:40.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on a question that is as important in life as it is in literature:
Dialogue: 0,0:05:40.84,0:05:43.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What will happen next?
Dialogue: 0,0:05:43.59,0:05:46.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In other words, our fears make us think about the future.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:46.30,0:05:48.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And humans, by the way, are the only creatures capable
Dialogue: 0,0:05:48.32,0:05:49.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of thinking about the future in this way,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:49.99,0:05:52.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of projecting ourselves forward in time,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:52.88,0:05:55.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and this mental time travel is just one more thing
Dialogue: 0,0:05:55.29,0:05:58.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that fears have in common with storytelling.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:58.91,0:06:01.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As a writer, I can tell you that a big part of writing fiction
Dialogue: 0,0:06:01.40,0:06:03.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is learning to predict how one event in a story
Dialogue: 0,0:06:03.29,0:06:05.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,will affect all the other events,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:05.03,0:06:07.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and fear works in that same way.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:07.08,0:06:12.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fear, just like in fiction, one thing always leads to another.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:12.26,0:06:14.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I was writing my first novel, "The Age Of Miracles,"
Dialogue: 0,0:06:14.90,0:06:17.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I spent months trying to figure out what would happen
Dialogue: 0,0:06:17.86,0:06:21.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if the rotation of the Earth suddenly began to slow down.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:21.05,0:06:23.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What would happen to our days? What would happen to our crops?
Dialogue: 0,0:06:23.94,0:06:25.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What would happen to our minds?
Dialogue: 0,0:06:25.99,0:06:29.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then it was only later that I realized how very similar
Dialogue: 0,0:06:29.09,0:06:31.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these questions were to the ones I used to ask myself
Dialogue: 0,0:06:31.22,0:06:33.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as a child frightened in the night.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:33.45,0:06:35.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If an earthquake strikes tonight, I used to worry,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:35.98,0:06:39.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what will happen to our house? What will happen to my family?
Dialogue: 0,0:06:39.85,0:06:44.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the answer to those questions always took the form of a story.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:44.55,0:06:47.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So if we think of our fears as more than just fears
Dialogue: 0,0:06:47.05,0:06:49.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but as stories, we should think of ourselves
Dialogue: 0,0:06:49.98,0:06:52.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as the authors of those stories.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:52.21,0:06:54.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But just as importantly, we need to think of ourselves
Dialogue: 0,0:06:54.17,0:06:56.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as the readers of our fears, and how we choose
Dialogue: 0,0:06:56.68,0:07:01.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to read our fears can have a profound effect on our lives.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:01.01,0:07:04.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, some of us naturally read our fears more closely than others.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:04.01,0:07:06.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I read about a study recently of successful entrepreneurs,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:06.93,0:07:09.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the author found that these people shared a habit
Dialogue: 0,0:07:09.56,0:07:12.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that he called "productive paranoia," which meant that
Dialogue: 0,0:07:12.92,0:07:15.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these people, instead of dismissing their fears,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:15.44,0:07:18.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these people read them closely, they studied them,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:18.10,0:07:21.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then they translated that fear into preparation and action.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:21.70,0:07:23.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So that way, if their worst fears came true,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:23.62,0:07:25.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,their businesses were ready.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:25.70,0:07:30.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And sometimes, of course, our worst fears do come true.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:30.05,0:07:33.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's one of the things that is so extraordinary about fear.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:33.21,0:07:38.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Once in a while, our fears can predict the future.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:38.13,0:07:41.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But we can't possibly prepare for all of the fears
Dialogue: 0,0:07:41.52,0:07:43.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that our imaginations concoct.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:43.92,0:07:45.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So how can we tell the difference between
Dialogue: 0,0:07:45.91,0:07:49.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the fears worth listening to and all the others?
Dialogue: 0,0:07:49.73,0:07:52.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think the end of the story of the whaleship Essex
Dialogue: 0,0:07:52.20,0:07:56.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,offers an illuminating, if tragic, example.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:56.49,0:08:01.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After much deliberation, the men finally made a decision.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:01.21,0:08:05.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Terrified of cannibals, they decided to forgo the closest islands
Dialogue: 0,0:08:05.09,0:08:07.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and instead embarked on the longer
Dialogue: 0,0:08:07.41,0:08:10.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and much more difficult route to South America.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:10.54,0:08:14.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After more than two months at sea, the men ran out of food
Dialogue: 0,0:08:14.01,0:08:15.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as they knew they might,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:15.09,0:08:17.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they were still quite far from land.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:17.78,0:08:20.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When the last of the survivors were finally picked up
Dialogue: 0,0:08:20.67,0:08:25.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by two passing ships, less than half of the men were left alive,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:25.16,0:08:30.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and some of them had resorted to their own form of cannibalism.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:30.06,0:08:33.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Herman Melville, who used this story as research for "Moby Dick,"
Dialogue: 0,0:08:33.42,0:08:37.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wrote years later, and from dry land, quote,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:37.30,0:08:39.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"All the sufferings of these miserable men of the Essex
Dialogue: 0,0:08:39.93,0:08:42.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,might in all human probability have been avoided
Dialogue: 0,0:08:42.62,0:08:45.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had they, immediately after leaving the wreck,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:45.18,0:08:47.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,steered straight for Tahiti.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:47.06,0:08:51.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But," as Melville put it, "they dreaded cannibals."
Dialogue: 0,0:08:51.63,0:08:54.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the question is, why did these men dread cannibals
Dialogue: 0,0:08:54.68,0:08:58.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so much more than the extreme likelihood of starvation?
Dialogue: 0,0:08:58.86,0:09:00.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why were they swayed by one story
Dialogue: 0,0:09:00.73,0:09:03.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so much more than the other?
Dialogue: 0,0:09:03.37,0:09:04.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Looked at from this angle,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:04.89,0:09:08.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,theirs becomes a story about reading.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:08.19,0:09:10.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The novelist Vladimir Nabokov said that the best reader
Dialogue: 0,0:09:10.85,0:09:13.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has a combination of two very different temperaments,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:13.65,0:09:16.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the artistic and the scientific.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:16.50,0:09:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A good reader has an artist's passion,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:19.00,0:09:21.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a willingness to get caught up in the story,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:21.42,0:09:23.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but just as importantly, the readers also needs
Dialogue: 0,0:09:23.53,0:09:26.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the coolness of judgment of a scientist,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:26.74,0:09:28.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which acts to temper and complicate
Dialogue: 0,0:09:28.24,0:09:31.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the reader's intuitive reactions to the story.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:31.63,0:09:34.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As we've seen, the men of the Essex had no trouble with the artistic part.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:34.84,0:09:38.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They dreamed up a variety of horrifying scenarios.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:38.48,0:09:42.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The problem was that they listened to the wrong story.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:42.47,0:09:44.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Of all the narratives their fears wrote,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:44.59,0:09:48.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they responded only to the most lurid, the most vivid,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:48.24,0:09:51.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the one that was easiest for their imaginations to picture:
Dialogue: 0,0:09:51.46,0:09:53.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,cannibals.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:53.41,0:09:55.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But perhaps if they'd been able to read their fears
Dialogue: 0,0:09:55.69,0:09:59.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,more like a scientist, with more coolness of judgment,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:59.18,0:10:01.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they would have listened instead to the less violent
Dialogue: 0,0:10:01.94,0:10:05.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but the more likely tale, the story of starvation,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:05.22,0:10:10.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and headed for Tahiti, just as Melville's sad commentary suggests.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:10.80,0:10:13.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And maybe if we all tried to read our fears,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:13.67,0:10:15.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we too would be less often swayed
Dialogue: 0,0:10:15.65,0:10:17.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by the most salacious among them.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:17.52,0:10:19.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Maybe then we'd spend less time worrying about
Dialogue: 0,0:10:19.19,0:10:21.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,serial killers and plane crashes,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:21.38,0:10:23.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and more time concerned with the subtler
Dialogue: 0,0:10:23.25,0:10:25.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and slower disasters we face:
Dialogue: 0,0:10:25.30,0:10:28.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the silent buildup of plaque in our arteries,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:28.05,0:10:30.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the gradual changes in our climate.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:30.59,0:10:34.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just as the most nuanced stories in literature are often the richest,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:34.24,0:10:38.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so too might our subtlest fears be the truest.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:38.69,0:10:41.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Read in the right way, our fears are an amazing gift
Dialogue: 0,0:10:41.58,0:10:44.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the imagination, a kind of everyday clairvoyance,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:44.52,0:10:46.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a way of glimpsing what might be the future
Dialogue: 0,0:10:46.75,0:10:50.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when there's still time to influence how that future will play out.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:50.19,0:10:53.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Properly read, our fears can offer us something as precious
Dialogue: 0,0:10:53.58,0:10:55.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as our favorite works of literature:
Dialogue: 0,0:10:55.74,0:10:58.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a little wisdom, a bit of insight
Dialogue: 0,0:10:58.78,0:11:01.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a version of that most elusive thing --
Dialogue: 0,0:11:01.36,0:11:02.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the truth.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:02.61,0:11:07.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you. (Applause)