Translator: Catherine Dean Reviewer: Denise RQ
We are now all going on a trip, but not just any trip;
I'm taking you to the land of fakirs.
I'm taking you to the land of snake charmers.
I'm taking you to India,
or more precisely, to the south of India, to Madras,
where a very pretty young woman lives; her name is Ayati.
Ayati, in Tamil, means the queen.
Ayati is coveted by many, many men,
including Hanouman who is deeply in love with her.
But, as is often the case in love stories,
there is a problem, here there are two problems.
First, Hanouman is very shy,
and he's never told Ayati that he loves her.
And the second problem
is that Hanouman isn't part of the same caste as Ayati.
And in India, it's very hard to mingle if you're not part of the same caste.
One night, Hanouman musters up the courage
to take the beautiful Ayati for a romantic walk,
by the water, under the setting sun.
And there, he looks up to the sky and says to himself,
"I would like to be brave enough to declare my love of Ayati."
But no words come out of Hanouman's mouth.
However, in the sky, at that same moment,
a plane goes by;
one of those little planes that are often by beaches,
with banners; advertising planes.
And on that banner, is written, "Hanouman loves Ayati."
Of course, beautiful Ayati, surprised by so much charm, originality, romance,
falls into Hanouman's arms, and they kiss.
So, this story is very real.
We learnt a little later, that not very far away
an opulent wedding was taking place,
where the father of the bride
had the idea to rent a plane and to write
the name of his young daughter and the name of her future husband.
Their names were Hanouman and Ayati.
So we, in our Western civilization, we call this a coincidence.
In India, they have another term, it's very interesting.
They call this, synchronicity.
Imagine that the world is a trampoline.
And when something happens on one side, there is a repercussion on the other.
In other words, everything is connected.
And I would like, for the first time, here, at TEDxParis,
attempt an experiment of synchronicity.
To make sure it unfolds in an absolutely random way,
I bought a balloon,
and I'm going to ask you to pass the balloon around.
I'll throw it to you, pass it around like that,
and give me a number between one and eight.
Seven, two, three, four, five, pass the balloon along;
six and the seventh person.
Catch the balloon, miss; no, you!
Give her a round of applause; come join me with the balloon.
(Applause)
Yes, yes, you!
And you're going to throw the balloon and randomly pick out the second person.
Come join me, please.
Continue to pass the balloon and give me a number.
Three, four, five, six, and careful,
it's the man with the glasses who's going to join me -
a round of applause.
(Applause)
Tibor: Madam, what's your name? Karine: Karine.
Tibor: Welcome, Karine.
Karine, do you believe in fate, in luck?
Karine: Absolutely. Tibor: Good, that's fortunate!
We're going to try the following experiment with you.
Sir, come join me. What's your name?
Phillipe: Philippe.
Tibor: Welcome, Philippe. Stand here.
Do you believe in fate, luck, chance?
Phillipe: Not really. Tibor: He's a bit more skeptical!
So, you're going to give me your hand,
I'm going to try to establish a synchronous contact between you.
Relax! It's going to be fine. I feel something.
OK, face each other, straight away, now. Relax, relax completely.
Do you know each other? Phillipe & Karine: No.
Tibor: Do you know me? Phillipe & Karine: No.
Tibor: So it's random.
You're going to close your eyes.
You're going to put one hand up, either the right, or the left.
And when I say,
I'm going to count to three, then click my fingers.
When I click my fingers, put your hand up.
Close your eyes, relax.
Visualize the hand you're going to put up, but in your mind.
Are you ready? I'm counting to three.
One, two, three.
Hand up and look at each other, look at what's just happened!
They're in synchronicity. (Laughter)
That's a good start, give them a bit of encouragement.
Face the audience again.
(Applause)
And now the skeptic's thinking,
"I had a 50-50 chance of lifting the right hand."
We're going to do better, a 1 in 52 chance.
We're going to use something that you all know,
and is familiar to you: a deck of cards.
Or better, two decks of cards.
You have a choice, red or blue. Don't let yourselves be influenced, good.
Likewise.
So, you're going to open the case,
take out the cards, please, give me the case.
Thank you. Likewise.
We're going to show our friends that the cards are different.
I'll do it.
Can everybody see it?
Put your hands out, like this,
and I'm going to put half of the cards on each side.
There, like that. OK?
Likewise, sir.
We'll show that all the blue cards are different.
Put your hands out, and I'll place half of the cards.
We're going to reproduce exactly the same experiment as earlier.
But this time, on three, I will click my fingers,
you're going to, and it's your choice,
throw over your shoulder one of the decks, not both; right?
Close your eyes, concentrate.
Now, imagine, in your head,
the hand with which you're going to throw the deck.
The left or the right? Are you ready?
One, two, three. (click of fingers)
Throw!
Good, I'll have to pick everything up. Put your hands back, like this.
I'm going to put more or less half on each side.
And we'll do the experiment again.
I'm going to count to three.
Close your eyes.
One, two, three! Throw using one hand!
OK, there are only a few cards left.
Look, you're going to point, with your index to one card,
whichever you want.
This one.
I ask one question,
I'll ask you first, before giving you the card.
Do you want to change cards?
Yes or no? Karine: No.
Tibor: Take the card without looking at it
and put it over your heart.
Here, the rest of the cards.
Likewise, Sir.
I'm going to ask you to point, with your index,
to one of the cards.
Likewise, Sir, before giving it to you,
I ask you, do you want to change cards?
Phillipe: Yes, I want to change it.
Tibor: OK, this one. Is that alright, Sir?
Yes, perfect.
Against your heart without looking at it.
I'll show the cards.
So, of course, ladies and gentlemen,
it will be impossible and unlikely, and it has never happened before
that they randomly chose the same card.
Of course, it's not the point of the experiment.
We are here, at a very scientific conference I believe.
The point is to measure to what extent they are synchronous.
If the lady here chose a red card
and the gentleman chose a red card, there's synchronicity.
If the number is close, there's synchronicity.
Sir, do you believe in fate?
Do you believe in mental magic?
Phillipe: No.
Tibor: Madam, you believe in it more?
You're less skeptical, maybe you're right.
On the count of three, reveal your card.
Remember, you both--
- and I didn't intervene - threw your cards one by one
till the last one.
On three, you're going to show everyone your card.
Also, think very hard of Hanouman and Ayati.
One, two, three: reveal the card!
What happened? Look! Queen of spades! It's incredible!
We found Hanouman and Ayati!
(Applause)
Give them a round of applause!
You are really extraordinary! Thank you very much!
But I must confess something.
If I'm here today, it's not a coincidence.
As Paul Éluard said,
"Chance does not exist,
because, in life, there are only meetings."
And I hope you enjoyed this meeting.
Thank you very much!
(Applause)