As I do this project, I continue to venture further from Ted Talks that are specifically about a “dream” in an attempt to be able to look at how other things affect people’s outlook on the world. This Ted Talk does not mention the word “dream” at all but this talk’s subject still impacts the world and people in it, everyday. This Ted Talk was called “Why we love, Why we Cheat” by Helen Fisher. This Ted Talk was different because she talks about her research about love and what love is. She also talks about how romantic love evolved from mating and having children and raising them together. She conducted her research by asking participants a series of questions about love and then scanning their brain and looking at the parts of the brain that “lit up” as the people talked about love. Something that struck a chord with me and really appealed to my emotions was when she said, “And we found activity in a lot of brain regions. In fact, one of the most important was a brain region that becomes active when you feel the rush of cocaine. And indeed, that's exactly what happens” (Fisher). This is really interesting to me because all of our lives we are taught that cocaine is bad, but every time we fall in love with someone, it is like we do the drug anyway. This explains why Gatsby wanted Daisy so much, he responded to her love in the same way that a drug addict would. Everything he did was for Daisy, just like an addict would do anything for a fix. She establishes ethos by getting this information from research that she did. Another thing that she does that not only tugs on the emotions, but also puts this talk into the world view, is by discussing how in a world study 37 societies said they wanted to be in love with the people that they marry. “And in fact, I think it's more powerful than the sex drive. You know, if you ask somebody to go to bed with you, and they say, ‘No, thank you,’ you certainly don't kill yourself or slip into a clinical depression. But certainly, around the world, people who are rejected in love will kill for it. People live for love. They kill for love. They die for love”(Fisher). I think that this applies to the global dream because people we constantly hear about a struggle of those who are unhappy due to forced marriages.
She talks about the trend that women are entering the workforce and closing the wage gap between men and women, and how this affects love. This is directly connected to the global dream and the american dream. Women are starting to work, so they don’t have to be financially dependent on a man and can now look for other things in a partner besides a person who can provide for them, because they can provide for themselves. Also, this applies to the American Dream because the American Dream is working hard to make a life for yourself and be successful. Until the World Wars, women did not have the opportunity to work, therefore they were unable to achieve this American Dream but now they are able to. This trend is also continuing throughout the world, slowly but surely.
She talks about the trend that women are entering the workforce and closing the wage gap between men and women, and how this affects love. This is directly connected to the global dream and the american dream. Women are starting to work, so they don’t have to be financially dependent on a man and can now look for other things in a partner besides a person who can provide for them, because they can provide for themselves. Also, this applies to the American Dream because the American Dream is working hard to make a life for yourself and be successful. Until the World Wars, women did not have the opportunity to work, therefore they were unable to achieve this American Dream but now they are able to. This trend is also continuing throughout the world, slowly but surely.