• 2 days ago
TEST
Transcript
00:00It's February 8th, which means that in about 160 days, the President of the Republic will, as is customary, pronounce these words before an audience of people hanging on his every word.
00:23I declare open the Paris Games, celebrating the 33rd Olympiad of the modern era.
00:29At that moment, no document will be ratified, no decree will be signed, and yet, without the need for any other protocol artifice, the Paris Games will indeed be launched.
00:42In the same way, we have all experienced it, some more recently than others, and I include myself, when your spouse, girlfriend or boyfriend tells you "it's over between us."
00:56Whatever your opinion on the matter, and however unpleasant and painful it may be, the relationship ends.
01:04In both situations, we notice that the word has a prophetic, or even self-fulfilling, effect.
01:12It has been said in linguistics, or in philosophy for that matter, since the work of John Austin, that speech is performative.
01:19That is to say, it announces what it achieves, or better, it achieves what it announces precisely because it announces it.
01:25It is because they say that the Games are open, that the Games are open.
01:29It is because we say the break, that the break happens.
01:33Speech creates a reality in the world of facts, from what it draws from the world of words.
01:43My name is Pierre Faury, I am 22 years old, and if I am talking to you about speech today, it is because it has recently changed many things in my life,
01:49as I became what some call, I hate the expression, a champion of public speaking.
01:55Sorry for the arrogance.
01:58And tonight, I am not going to give you a demonstration of rhetoric or eloquence,
02:02but rather try to give you the few lessons that these experiences have taught me about speech.
02:08And these lessons could be summed up in a single sentence, very simple, perhaps too simple in fact,
02:15but that I will try to explain. This sentence, here it is, you see it.
02:20You will be what you say.
02:23And to begin to explore the density of this sentence, I will start with a metaphor which is not one,
02:30which is a pseudo-scientific experiment, and I insist on the pseudo, you will see why,
02:34which was carried out by a Japanese doctor a few years ago.
02:37A Japanese doctor who was considering the question of the memory of water.
02:42You can already see the pseudo-scientific side coming.
02:45The memory of water, and for this experiment, this doctor took several sources of water to which he spoke.
02:53He told them words, he sang them words,
02:56because he believed that the vibrations felt through these words could have consequences on the water itself.
03:01And then he froze the various water sources, some after saying ameliorative words to them,
03:06compliments, kindnesses, almost as if he were hugging them,
03:10and then water sources that he would, on the contrary, criticize, mistreat, despise.
03:16And then he froze these waters, and he observed the crystals that formed.
03:21And the demonstration was most eloquent.
03:24The water that had been complimented formed much more beautiful crystals than the water that had been despised.
03:31I warned you, it's pseudo-scientific.
03:34But you'll see where I'm going with the metaphor behind it.
03:38Let's take children as an example.
03:41When you tell a child throughout their childhood that they are bad at math, French, literature, history,
03:48that he is a turbulent, calm, intrepid child, whatever adjective you want to put on him,
03:55Do you think he will be able to get rid of it?
03:58Don't you think that he himself will crystallize, like these waters, the words that have been spoken about him?
04:03Because when you constantly tell a child that words have meaning,
04:08and that it is for this very reason that one should not swear, swear, insult,
04:14How can he himself not internalize the words that have been said about him?
04:19How at an age when we are still trying to build ourselves, sometimes until adolescence and for some well after,
04:25How can we get rid of the words that are put on us?
04:30I'll give you a very simple example, which is personal, and which is surely not the most interesting.
04:34I am the youngest of three siblings. I have an older brother and sister.
04:38And as in many households, the youngest is the one who does absolutely nothing.
04:43Neither the dishes nor the kitchen, he doesn't tidy up much.
04:47Why? Because we teach things to others.
04:50He is small, he does not yet have time to learn, not yet the age to learn.
04:53And then we realized, when my brother and sister left the house,
04:57that I didn't know how to do much.
05:00That I was sent to buy mascarpone and that I bought mozzarella.
05:04It happens.
05:06And I was told in these terms, when I was nine or ten years old,
05:09that I was definitely not very resourceful, not very practical,
05:12and that in the house, I didn't know how to do much.
05:14That is to say, it wasn't very serious. It was true.
05:17But just saying those words also conditioned me to become that.
05:22And here we are, ten years later,
05:24Opening a bottle of wine is a horror for me.
05:27And here we are, ten years later,
05:29Changing a light bulb is almost existential anxiety.
05:32Proof that I may not have the light on all floors.
05:36You will tell me, rightly,
05:38that I find there a very easy excuse for my chronic clumsiness.
05:41It's true.
05:43But you see the underlying logic.
05:45We cannot get rid of the words that are put on us.
05:48Even more so in childhood, because we build ourselves through the words we hear,
05:51that we are told, and more than ever, that we repeat ourselves.
05:57Fortunately, these things are changing.
05:59We learn French, math, we learn history,
06:02we learn not to be turbulent,
06:04Some people learn to change light bulbs.
06:07These things change, but the logic of speech always remains the same.
06:12Today, we have seen the emergence, particularly on social networks,
06:15all these personal development gurus
06:18who tell us about taking cold showers at 5 a.m.
06:21and who will soon tell us that to have self-confidence,
06:24you will have to go and perform incantations on one leg at sunset.
06:29And among these new appearances in the world of personal development,
06:33we have seen the return to fashion of the question of positive affirmations.
06:38We are told that to have self-confidence,
06:40you should stand in front of your mirror in the morning,
06:43look each other straight in the eyes and say
06:45"I have confidence in myself."
06:47"I have confidence in myself."
06:49"I have confidence in myself."
06:51"I have confidence in myself."
06:53And I tell you, I have little confidence in this method,
06:56because it has a side, first, let's say, the reasonable one,
06:59and then, above all, it has nothing very innovative about it.
07:02It is, after all, a modern application of the famous Cuey method.
07:06Cuey was that doctor who wanted, or at least was looking for,
07:09to treat certain pathologies
07:11by having his patients repeat them about twenty times a day.
07:15In every way, I'm getting better and better.
07:19You probably suspect, as I do, that pancreatic cancer cannot be treated this way.
07:22We agree.
07:23But for all that, despite the reasonable side that I mentioned just now,
07:27There is a grain of truth and real intelligence in this method.
07:33If I say, "I have confidence in myself."
07:35"I have confidence in myself."
07:36"I have confidence in myself."
07:38"I have confidence in myself."
07:40I won't have confidence in myself.
07:42However, I am already on the path to having self-confidence.
07:45I make myself a person who actively wants to have self-confidence.
07:48Which already radically differentiates me from someone who doesn't even have that will.
07:53If I say, when starting a TEDx talk,
07:56"I am a champion of eloquence. Forgive the arrogance."
08:00I immediately put myself in the position of someone who trusts.
08:03While some may see it in the front row,
08:06my hands are a little sweaty, my legs a little wobbly,
08:09I don't know my lines by heart and that worries me a little.
08:12And all of these are things that can be eliminated with just a word.
08:17“I am a champion of eloquence. I have no right to fail. I have no right not to know.”
08:21I have to perform.”
08:23So that puts pressure on, of course.
08:25But it also frees you from a weight that is immense.
08:29So be careful.
08:31Is all speech performative?
08:34No.
08:35If I tell you that I'm going to win the lottery tomorrow,
08:38Unless I'm very lucky, I won't win the lottery.
08:41If I tell you I'm 1.90m tall,
08:44Those who are observant will know that this is false.
08:48But just saying that,
08:51"I'm 1m90 tall",
08:53Doesn't that say something about me?
08:56The truth of the word is not in its content but in its matter.
09:00When I say "I'm 1.90m tall",
09:02you say about me, either he is a terrible liar,
09:05be a good joker,
09:07or someone who hides some complex with humor.
09:10I'll let you guess which one it is.
09:12But just saying that says something about me.
09:16And so on the substance and on the form too,
09:18every word speaks of you.
09:20To speak is always to speak about oneself.
09:23And that's why it's so fundamental to speak well about yourself.
09:27That's why it's so fundamental to speak well of others,
09:30especially children, as we explained just now.
09:33Because whatever you say will be the analysis,
09:36the way people will look at you.
09:39And because we are social beings,
09:41it will often be the way you look at yourself.
09:45Same thing in terms of form.
09:47Your accent, your rhythm a little fast or a little slow,
09:51your grammar, your vocabulary,
09:53all of this will condition the way people look at you,
09:57the way you will look at yourself
10:00and the person you will become in ten years.
10:06So much for the individual aspect.
10:09But there is also a collective aspect to this, to speech and its importance.
10:13We have also seen the positive side just now,
10:16how we can build trust through speech.
10:19Let's also look at more negative aspects
10:21with a slightly more contextual, more current, more political approach too.
10:25The question is also, who has the floor?
10:28Speech is always constructive of reality.
10:30To say something is always to invent a world.
10:33Again, as has been said, just because what you say is wrong doesn't mean
10:37that there is no information behind it.
10:39And conversely, saying something is not creating the reality you designate,
10:43but it is creating a reality, a perception that others have of you
10:46or your own perception of yourself or the world.
10:49But the problem behind this is that when we let the floor be opened
10:52to people who have a biased perception of the world,
10:59It's not a pun, I didn't do it on purpose,
11:02what's going on?
11:05What's going on?
11:06And this is where we see the importance of always opposing speech to speech.
11:10because in fact, opposing speech to speech is opposing reality to reality.
11:15Because in people's eyes you are who you say you are,
11:18but people are also in your eyes what they say they are.
11:21If it is enough to say, I am an opponent to oppose.
11:26Suffice it to say, we are moving forward on this project for the sake of moving forward on a project.
11:32The word is emptied of its meaning and therefore the world is emptied of its substance.
11:38So we oppose speech to speech, debate to debate, reality to reality.
11:46So when we are asked the question of our future in ten years,
11:50the question of speech is fundamental.
11:53The question is, what words are we going to say?
11:58And the answer is simple, too simple like the question about names.
12:04But if we want a more poetic world, we just need to talk about poetry.
12:09Just speaking sweet words helps me, even if they are sometimes outdated.
12:14Just think of those short words, say sorry sometimes, thank you often, I love you always.
12:20The words we use, and the words we use elsewhere, build the world of tomorrow.
12:26So think about it in ten years, when you have children for the younger ones and I include myself in that,
12:31Then think about the labels you are going to attach to them.
12:35Think about the adjectives you will use to describe them.
12:40Also think about all those words you are going to say,
12:43remember that if speech creates reality, it is because silence only creates nothingness.
12:51That if silence is golden, as the saying goes, it is because it costs us so much.
12:59Finally, think that you will be able to tell your children like Kipling,
13:03no, you're not bad at math, you're bad at French, you can tell them,
13:07You will be a man, my son, you will be a woman, my daughter.
13:11Finally, consider that if speech is silver, it is surely because silence sleeps over it.
13:20THANKS.