Once Upon a Time...

Carry Poppy - "A Scientific Approach to the Paranormal"

I chose to choose a  Ted Talk titled "A Scientific Approach to the Paranormal".  I did this for a few reasons... 1) the speaker's outfit looks kind of like an elf and I think that's cool 2) I am 99% sure I've felt a ghost numerous times and 3) I am a big believer in science.  

Cary Poppy starts by saying "Eight years ago, I was haunted by an evil spirt".  Sounds intense, right?  Poppy does not in fact believe her house was haunted by a sprit because she found out, with a little help from the internet, that her house, instead, had carbon monoxide poisoning.  

With using such strong wording in her starting phrase, the speaker was able to grab the audience's attention rather effectively.  The phrase included an allusion to a common belief held by a large audience - the belief in the super natural.  At least for me, the word "evil spirit" brings to mind scary movies that I was forced to watch on Halloween or spooky stories that led me to lose a whole lot of sleep (not fun).  I imagine that Poppy's audience had a generally similar reaction, leading to full attention being placed on the next words spoken.  

The speaker explained that she found the scientific explination to her "paranormal activity" after reaching out to an online forum of researchers dedicated to explaining the unexplained with science.  A member suggested carbon dioxide poisoning, which may have in fact saved Poppy's life.  This near death experience led her to start a career as an investigator of claims of the spiritual.  

Poppy exclaims "the truth is, 10 times out of 10, science wins, it saves the day".  This led to applause from the Ted Talk audience, to little suprise, because the base is focused so much on furthering acedemia.  Despite never finding an unexplainable situation, Carry Poppy continues to hope for an unsolvable case.  This leads to the inner lesson of the talk, one that I found to be very relevant.   

"I believe there are two types of truth... Outer truth and inner truth"

Outer truth is anything that is applicable over a variety of people (ex. Jesus rose from the dead).  Sounds very TOKy to me.  On the contrary, inner truth is anything a single person believes to be true to themselves only (ex.  Jesus rising from the dead is symbolic to me).  

This concept of outer and inner truth segued into a second story with a group called the Independent Investigations Group (IIG).  This group is holding a competition to find someone with unexplainable supernatural qualities.  One man claimed to be able to read minds through hearing voices in his head.  This was disproved.  

Instead of moving past this man because he claimed such a power, the IIG used this knowledge to get this man, and so many others, the help they need from mental illnesses such a scitzophrenia.  

Poppy moves on to her final message that I found to be so relevant to my own life, and can be applied to so many other situations.  Carry Poppy stated, "I'm just eternally optimistic... I invite you to take this same attitude when people share their outer beliefs with you".  Despite having a career dedicated to disproving the paranormal, Poppy both hopes that one day she will have a case that will be true and approaches each case as it is so.  

When approaching a seemingly outrageous opinion, listening with an open mind creates a positive atmosphere that encourages respect.  This is what I believe the main message Poppy was trying to portray, that you should always approach someone else's opinion as if they were correct because that is the best way to show you care.  I love that! 

I hope to learn to adopt that same optomistic, respectful mindset to listen.  

Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 4, 2018 at 9:05 AM

    Great organization and fascinating talk (Taryn also picked this one).
    Really appreciate the detail and thought you put into the this post. The analysis paragraph was great, and I think this is a great example of a balance of a "what" and "how" of a text. I would have loved a bit more in the technique section with direct examples from the text- it makes the analysis critical and specific!

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