Why are we happy? Why aren't we happy? | Dan Gilbert

Translator: Jonada Rrapo Reviewer: Elona Toska

Kur ke vetem 21 minuta per te folur

When you have 21 minutes to speak,

2 milion vjet te duket nje kohe shume e gjate

two million years seems like a really long time.

Por ne kontekstin e evolucionit, 2 milion vjet nuk jane asgje

But evolutionarily, two million years is nothing.

dhe megjithate ne 2 milion vjet, masa e trurit njerezor eshte pothuaj trefishuar

And yet, in two million years,

the human brain has nearly tripled in mass,

going from the one-and-a-quarter-pound brain of our ancestor here, Habilis,

nga truri 568 grame i paraardhesit tone ketu, Habilis,

tek qoftja pothuaj 1.37 kilograme qe secili prej nesh ka mes vesheve.

to the almost three-pound meatloaf everybody here has between their ears.

Pse kishte natyra valle kaq vrull per te na dhene nje tru kaq te madh?

What is it about a big brain

that nature was so eager for every one of us to have one?

Me sa duket kur truri trefishohet

Well, it turns out when brains triple in size,

they don't just get three times bigger; they gain new structures.

nuk rritet vetem ne mase, por ne te krijohen struktura te reja

And one of the main reasons our brain got so big is because it got a new part,

Nje nga arsyet e rritjes se trurit tone, eshte pajisja e tij me nje pjese te re

-lobin frontal. Rendesi te vecante pati sidomos pjesa e korteksit parafrontal.

called the "frontal lobe,"

particularly, a part called the "prefrontal cortex."

Cfare roli te rendesishem paska korteksi parafrontal qe solli

What does a prefrontal cortex do for you

that should justify the entire architectural overhaul of the human skull

ristrukturimin e plote te kafkes ne nje kohe rekord?

in the blink of evolutionary time?

Ne te vertete korteksi parafrontal ka shume funksione

Well, it turns out the prefrontal cortex does lots of things,

por nje nga me te rendesishmit eshte se

but one of the most important things it does is it's an experience simulator.

sherben si simulues pervoje.

Pilotet perdorin fluturim te simuluar

Pilots practice in flight simulators

so that they don't make real mistakes in planes.

per te mos bere gabime me vone gjate fluturimit me aeroplane.

Human beings have this marvelous adaptation

Njerezit kane nje veti te mrekullueshme

that they can actually have experiences in their heads

ata mund te kene nje sere pervojash ne mendje

before they try them out in real life.

para se ti praktikojne ato ne jeten e perditshme.

This is a trick that none of our ancestors could do,

Ky eshte nje marifet qe asnje nga paraardhesit tane nuk e bente dot,

and that no other animal can do quite like we can.

qe asnje kafshe tjeter nuk mund ta beje ashtu sic mundemi ne. Eshte nje pershtatje e mrekullueshme.

It's a marvelous adaptation.

It's up there with opposable thumbs and standing upright and language

Po ashtu si gishti i madh i dores, gjuha, qendrimi drejt

as one of the things that got our species out of the trees

Eshte nje nga gjerat qe e sollen specien tone nga

and into the shopping mall.

maja e pemes drejt e ne mapo.

(Laughter)

(Qeshje) - te gjithe ju e beni apo

All of you have done this.

e dini se per cfare po flas

Ben and Jerry's doesn't have "liver and onion" ice cream,

Ben e Jerry nuk kane kane akullore me shije melcije dhe qepesh

and it's not because they whipped some up, tried it and went, "Yuck!"

jo sepse provuan ta gatuajne dhe ju duk e shpifur

It's because, without leaving your armchair,

por sepse, pa u ngritur fare nga kolltuku,

you can simulate that flavor and say "yuck" before you make it.

mund "ta provosh" ne koke shijen, dhe ta shohesh qe s'ben.

Le te shohim per nje moment se si funksionon simulatoret e eksperiencave tuaja.

Let's see how your experience simulators are working.

Let's just run a quick diagnostic

Le te bejme nje prove te vogel para se te vazhdoj me ligjeraten time.

before I proceed with the rest of the talk.

Here's two different futures that I invite you to contemplate.

Une po u kerkoj te mendoni per dy te ardhme te ndryshme,

You can try to simulate them and tell me which one you think you might prefer.

mundohuni te simuloni ne koke skenaret dhe te me thoni ke preferoni.

One of them is winning the lottery. This is about 314 million dollars.

Ne njerin prej tyre fitoni llotarine, rreth 314 milione dollare.

And the other is becoming paraplegic.

Ne tjetrin jeni i paralizuar nga mesi e poshte.

(Laughter)

Mendoni per nje moment.

Just give it a moment of thought.

You probably don't feel like you need a moment of thought.

Nuk besoj se do u duhej shume kohe per ta vrare mendjen.

Interestingly, there are data on these two groups of people,

Ne fakt, ekzistojne te dhena mbi keto dy grupe njerezish,

data on how happy they are.

Te dhena mbi sa te lumtur ndjehen ata.

And this is exactly what you expected, isn't it?

Dhe kjo eshte tamam ajo qe prisnit apo jo?

But these aren't the data. I made these up!

Faktet tregojne dicka tjeter. Keto i sajova vete!

These are the data.

Keto jane te dhenat.Nuk e kaluat testin e pare rrufe qe ne pese minutat e para te leksionit.

You failed the pop quiz, and you're hardly five minutes into the lecture.

Because the fact is that a year after losing the use of their legs

Fakti qendron qe nje vit pas paralizimit,

and a year after winning the lotto,

apo pas fitimit te llotarise, fituesit e llotarise dhe te paralizuarit

lottery winners and paraplegics are equally happy with their lives.

jane njesoj te lumtur me jeten e tyre.

Mos u ndjeni keq qe nuk e kaluat testin e pare rrufe,

Don't feel too bad about failing the first pop quiz,

because everybody fails all of the pop quizzes all of the time.

Se te gjithe deshtojne ne testet rrufe tere kohes.

Puna kerkimore ne laboratorin tim,

The research that my laboratory has been doing,

po dhe ajo e ekonomisteve dhe psikologeve ne te gjithe vendin,

that economists and psychologists around the country have been doing,

na ka cuar ne zbulimin e nje gjeje te mahnitshme.

has revealed something really quite startling to us,

ne zbulimin e efektit te paragjykimit

something we call the "impact bias,"

which is the tendency for the simulator to work badly,

qe eshte ne fakt tendenca e pajisjes simuluese per te keqfunksionuar.

for the simulator to make you believe that different outcomes are more different

Per te na bere te besojme qe rezultate te ndryshme

jane me te ndryshme nga njera tjetra se sa ne realitet.

than, in fact, they really are.

From field studies to laboratory studies,

Nga studime ne laborator apo ne praktike,

we see that winning or losing an election,

veme re se te fitosh apo te humbesh zgjedhjet apo nje te dashur,

gaining or losing a romantic partner,

te ngrihesh apo jo ne pergjegjesi, te kalosh apo jo nje provim,

getting or not getting a promotion,

passing or not passing a college test,

on and on,

etj etj jane ngjarje shume me pak jetegjata apo vendimtare

have far less impact, less intensity and much less duration

sesa ne i presim ato te jene.

than people expect them to have.

Ne fakt, nje studim i koheve te fundit arriti ne perfundimin qe per mua eshte shokues

A recent study -- this almost floors me --

se disa nga traumat me te medha jetesore ndikojne mbi njerezit vetem

a recent study showing how major life traumas affect people

ne 3 muajt pasardhes dhe,

suggests that if it happened over three months ago,

me ca perjashtime te rralla,

nuk ndikojne fare ne lumturine tuaj.

with only a few exceptions,

Pse?

it has no impact whatsoever on your happiness.

Sepse lumturia mund te sintetizohet.

Why?

Because happiness can be synthesized.

Sir Thomas Brown shkruan ne 1642, "Jam njeriu me i lumtur nder te gjallet.

Sir Thomas Brown wrote in 1642, "I am the happiest man alive.

Kam brenda meje ate cka me ndihmon te kthej varferine ne pasuri, fatkeqesine ne mbaresi

I have that in me that can convert poverty to riches, adversity to prosperity.

Jam me i pathyeshem se Akili; fati nuk ka nje vend ku mund te me demtoje."

I am more invulnerable than Achilles; fortune hath not one place to hit me."

C'pajisje te mahnitshme ka ky njeri ne koken e tij?

What kind of remarkable machinery does this guy have in his head?

Po te njejten qe kemi te gjithe ne te tjeret.

Well, it turns out it's precisely the same remarkable machinery that all of us have.

Qeniet njerezore kane nje sistem qe ne e quajme imuno-psiqik.

Human beings have something

that we might think of as a "psychological immune system,"

Nje sistem procesesh njohese, kryesisht te pandergjegjshme,

a system of cognitive processes, largely nonconscious cognitive processes,

qe e ndihmojne ate te ndryshoje pikepamjet mbi boten,

that help them change their views of the world,

ne menyre qe te ndihen me mire mbi ambjentin qe i rrethon.

so that they can feel better about the worlds

Edhe ju si Sir Thomas keni po te njejten pajisje.

in which they find themselves.

por ndryshe nga Sir Thomas, ju nuk jeni ne dijeni qe e keni.

Like Sir Thomas, you have this machine.

Unlike Sir Thomas, you seem not to know it.

Ne e "sintetizojme" lumturine, por mendojme se ajo eshte dicka qe duhet gjetur.

We synthesize happiness, but we think happiness is a thing to be found.

Besoj, se nuk keni nevoje per shembuj te "sintetizimit" te lumturise.

Now, you don't need me to give you

too many examples of people synthesizing happiness, I suspect,

Megjithate do t'ju jap ca fakte nga disa eksperimente.

Nuk do u duhet te kerkoni shume per te gjetur shembuj.

though I'm going to show you some experimental evidence.

Si nje prove per veten, me qe e perdor kete disa here ne leksionet qe jap,

You don't have to look very far for evidence.

I took a copy of the "New York Times"

kam marre me vete nje kopje te New York Times per te gjetur disa shembuj te "sintetizimit" te lumturise

and tried to find some instances of people synthesizing happiness.

Ja ku jane tre burra qe e bejne kete.

Here are three guys synthesizing happiness.

"Une ndjehem me mire fizikisht, financiarisht, emocionalisht dhe menderisht

"I'm better off physically, financially, mentally ..."

"I don't have one minute's regret. It was a glorious experience."

dhe pothuaj ne cdo aspekt tjeter." "Nuk kam as keqardhjen me te vogel.

"I believe it turned out for the best."

Ishte nje eksperience e lavdishme." "Mendoj se doli keshtu per me mire"

Who are these characters who are so damn happy?

Kush dreqin na qenkan keto personazhe kaq te lumtura?

The first one is Jim Wright.

Some of you are old enough to remember:

I pari eshte Jim Wright.

he was the chairman of the House of Representatives,

Disa nga ju ndoshta e mbajne mend akoma: ai ishte kryetari i dhomes se perfaqesuesve

and he resigned in disgrace

when this young Republican named Newt Gingrich found out about

qe dha doreheqjen kur nje republikan i ri i quajtur Newt Gingrich

a shady book deal that he had done.

He lost everything.

zbuloi disa parregullsira ne lidhje me nje liber te tij

The most powerful Democrat in the country lost everything:

Ai humbi cdo gje. Demokrati me i fuqishem ne vend,

he lost his money, he lost his power.

humbi cdo gje.

What does he have to say all these years later about it?

Humbi parate, pushtetin.

"I am so much better off physically, financially, mentally

C'thote ai pas gjithe ketyre viteve mbi kete ngjarje?

"Une ndjehem me mire fizikisht, financiarisht, emocionalisht dhe menderisht

and in almost every other way."

What other way would there be to be better off?

dhe pothuaj ne cdo aspekt tjeter."

Vegetably? Minerally? Animally?

Cfare aspekti tjeter ka lene jashte?

He's pretty much covered them there.

Aspektin perimor, mineral apo shtazor? Ai i ka mbuluar te tera.

Moreese Bickham is somebody you've never heard of.

Moreese Bickham uttered these words upon being released.

Moreese Bickhamit mund te mos ia keni degjuar emrin.

Ai u shpreh keshtu pasi u lirua nga burgu.

He was 78 years old.

He'd spent 37 years in Louisiana State Penitentiary

Ishte 78 vjet dhe kish qene 37 vjet ne burgun

for a crime he didn't commit.

e Luizianes per nje krim qe nuk e kish kryer ai.

He was ultimately [released for good behavior halfway through his sentence.]

Me ne fund u deklarua i pafajshem,

What did he have to say about his experience?

ne moshen 78 vjecare ne saje te proves se ADN-se.

"I don't have one minute's regret. It was a glorious experience."

Si e komentoi ai pervojen e tij?

Glorious!

"Nuk kam as keqardhjen me te vogel. Ishte nje eksperience e lavdishme."

This guy's not saying, "There were some nice guys. They had a gym."

E lavdishme! Ai nuk po thote:

"Glorious" -- a word we usually reserve for something like a religious experience.

"Epo kishte dhe atje ca djem te mire. Kishte dhe nje palester."

Ishte "e lavdishme,"

nje fjale qe ne e perdorim per nje ekperience thuaj mistike.

Harry S. Langerman uttered these words.

He's somebody you might have known but didn't,

Harry S. Langerman, kete ndoshta mund ta njihni, i shqiptoi keto fjale

because in 1949, he read a little article in the paper

teksa lexoi ne 1949 nje artikull te shkurter ne gazete

about a hamburger stand owned by these two brothers named McDonald.

mbi nje kioske te vogel hamburgerash te dy vllezerve te quajtur McDonalds.

And he thought, "That's a really neat idea!"

So he went to find them.

Dhe ai mendoi, "Kjo eshte vertete nje ide e lezetshme!"

They said, "We can give you a franchise on this for 3,000 bucks."

Ai shkoi ti gjente ata. Ata i thane:

Harry went back to New York, asked his brother, an investment banker,

"Ta japim ekskluzivitetin per 3,000 dollare."

Harry u kthye ne New York, dhe i kerkoi vellait te tij, nje bankieri

to loan him 3,000 dollars, and his brother's immortal words were,

"You idiot, nobody eats hamburgers."

ti jepte nje kredi prej 3,000 dollaresh.

Fjalet e pavdekshme te vellait te tij ishin:

He wouldn't lend him the money.

Of course, six months later, Ray Kroc had exactly the same idea.

"Ti je idiot. E kush ha hamburgera?!"

Nuk i dha borxh te vellait, dhe sic dihet 6 muaj me vone

It turns out, people do eat hamburgers,

Ray Croc pati tamam te njejten ide.

and Ray Kroc, for a while, became the richest man in America.

Njerezit sic duket hengerkan hamburgera,

dhe Ray Croc, per ca kohe, ishte njeriu me i pasur ne Amerike.

And then, finally,

some of you recognize this young photo of Pete Best,

Dhe ne fund - me e bukura!

who was the original drummer for the Beatles,

Disa nga ju ndoshta e njohin kete foto te hershme te Pete Best,

until they, you know, sent him out on an errand and snuck away

and picked up Ringo on a tour.

bateristit fillestar te Beatles,

Well, in 1994, when Pete Best was interviewed --

deri ne mometin kur ata sic e dini e "hoqen qafe"

yes, he's still a drummer; yes, he's a studio musician --

dhe moren fshehurazi tij Ringon ne nje tur.

he had this to say: "I'm happier than I would have been with the Beatles."

Ne 1994 kur i bene nje interviste, Pete Best,

qe ende eshte muzikant dhe baterist

OK, there's something important to be learned from these people,

kish vetem kaq per te thene: " Jam me i lumtur sesa po te isha me Beatles."

and it is the secret of happiness.

Here it is, finally to be revealed.

Mire atehere. Kemi nje gje te rendesishme per te mesuar nga keta njerez -

First: accrue wealth, power and prestige,

sekretin e lumturise.

then lose it.

Ja pra tek eshte.

(Laughter)

Fillimisht: grumbullo pasuri, pushtet dhe prestigj,

Second: spend as much of your life in prison as you possibly can.

dhe pastaj humbi te gjitha. (Qeshje)

(Laughter)

Third: make somebody else really, really rich.

Se dyti: kalo sa me shume kohe te jete e mundur ne burg.

(Qeshje). Se treti: ndihmo dike tjeter te behet shume shume i pasur. (Qeshje)

And finally: never, ever join the Beatles.

(Laughter)

Yeah, right.

Because when people synthesize happiness,

dhe se fundi: mos u be kurre pjese e Beatles. (Qeshje)

as these gentlemen seem to have done,

Tani, ashtu si dhe Ze Frank, une mund te parashikoj ate qe po mendoni

we all smile at them, but we kind of roll our eyes and say,

"Yeah, right, you never really wanted the job."

"Posi posi!" Ne momentin kur njerezit

"Oh yeah, right -- you really didn't have that much in common with her,

"sintetizojne" lumturine, ashtu sic kane bere dhe keta zoterinjte,

and you figured that out just about the time

te gjithe buzeqeshim, rrotullojme syte me dyshim dhe themi:

she threw the engagement ring in your face."

We smirk,

"Posi, ty as nuk te pelqente ajo lloj pune."

because we believe that synthetic happiness is not of the same quality

"Posi. Ti nuk kishe aq gjera

te perbashketa me te,

as what we might call "natural happiness."

dhe e kuptove tamam ne kohen

What are these terms?

Natural happiness is what we get when we get what we wanted,

kur ajo te hodhi syve unazen e fejeses."

Ne qeshim plot ironi sepse besojme se lumturia e "sintetizuar"

and synthetic happiness is what we make when we don't get what we wanted.

nuk eshte njesoj si ajo qe ne quajme lumturi e natyrshme.

And in our society, we have a strong belief

Cila eshte domethenia e ketyre koncepteve?

Lumturia e natyrshme eshte kur marrim ate cka duam,

that synthetic happiness is of an inferior kind.

ndersa "sintetikja" eshte ajo qe perjetojme kur nuk marrim ate qe duam.

Why do we have that belief?

Well, it's very simple.

What kind of economic engine would keep churning

Ne shoqerine tone besojme se,

if we believed that not getting what we want

lumturia e "sintetizuar" eshte me inferiore.

could make us just as happy as getting it?

Pse mendojme keshtu?

Eshte shume e thjeshte. Cfare lloj ekonomie do te vazhdonte

With all apologies to my friend Matthieu Ricard,

te zhvillohej nese

a shopping mall full of Zen monks

ne do te besonim qe edhe sikur te mos merrnim cfare donim do ishim po aq te lumtur sa ne te kunderten?

is not going to be particularly profitable,

because they don't want stuff enough.

(Laughter)

Duke i kerkuar te falur shokut time Matthieu Ricard,

I want to suggest to you

that synthetic happiness is every bit as real and enduring

them se nje mapo plot me murgj budiste,

nuk do kishte aq fitim,

as the kind of happiness you stumble upon

sepse ata nuk do deshironin shume gjera.

when you get exactly what you were aiming for.

Now, I'm a scientist, so I'm going to do this not with rhetoric,

Une dua tu propozoj tezen qe lumturia "sintetike" eshte

but by marinating you in a little bit of data.

po aq e vertete e jetegjate

Let me first show you an experimental paradigm

sa lumturia qe takoni rastesisht

that's used to demonstrate the synthesis of happiness

kur gjeni tamam ate qe kerkonit.

among regular old folks.

Une jam shkencetar dhe nuk do te perdor retoriken,

This isn't mine,

por do ju paraqis ca te dhena per t'ju bindur.

it's a 50-year-old paradigm called the "free choice paradigm."

Do ju tregoj fillimisht te dhenat e nje modeli eksperimenti qe perdoret

It's very simple.

You bring in, say, six objects,

per te treguar "sintezen" e lumturise

and you ask a subject to rank them from the most to the least liked.

mes njerezve normale. Kete model nuk e kam krijuar une.

In this case, because this experiment uses them,

Eshte nje paradigme 50-vjecare dhe quhet paradigma e zgjedhjes se lire.

these are Monet prints.

Eshte shume i thjeshte.

Everybody ranks these Monet prints from the one they like the most

Merrni per shembull 6 objekte

to the one they like the least.

dhe kerkojini dikujt ti radhise ato sipas preferences.

Now we give you a choice:

Ne kete rast eskperimenti bazohet ne radhitjen e

"We happen to have some extra prints in the closet.

We're going to give you one as your prize to take home.

6 posterave te pikturave te Monese.

Secili mund te radhise posterat e Monese,

We happen to have number three and number four," we tell the subject.

ne baze te preferences.

Tani u japim nje zgjedhje:

This is a bit of a difficult choice,

"Ne kemi disa postera shtese ne dollap.

because neither one is preferred strongly to the other,

but naturally, people tend to pick number three,

Do ju japim nje si cmim dhe mund ta merrni me vete ne shtepi.

Por kemi vetem posterat 3 dhe 4,"

because they liked it a little better than number four.

i themi pjesemarresit ne eksperiment. Kjo zgjedhje eshte paska e veshtire

Sometime later -- it could be 15 minutes, it could be 15 days --

sepse asnje nga dy posterat nuk eshte nder me te preferuarit,

the same stimuli are put before the subject,

por ne menyre te natyrshme, njerezit zgjedhin 3shin

and the subject is asked to re-rank the stimuli.

sepse u pelqente pak me shume se 4a.

"Tell us how much you like them now."

What happens?

Ca kohe me vone - te themi pas 15 minutash apo ditesh -

Watch as happiness is synthesized.

This is the result that's been replicated over and over again.

i paraqisim subjekteve te njejtet poster

You're watching happiness be synthesized.

dhe i kerkojme atyre ti radhisin perseri

Would you like to see it again?

"Na thoni se cilat jane preferencat tuaja."

Cfare ndodh? Vereni se si "sintetizohet" lumturia.

Happiness!

"The one I got is really better than I thought!

Rezultati i meposhtem eshte dicka qe perseritet cdo here.

That other one I didn't get sucks!"

That's the synthesis of happiness.

Tani do shihni se si "sintetizohet" lumturia.

(Laughter)

A doni ta shihni perseri? Lumturi!

Now, what's the right response to that?

"Yeah, right!"

"Ajo poster qe mora une eshte me e mire sec mendoja!

Now, here's the experiment we did,

Tjetra eshte kot fare!"

and I hope this is going to convince you

(Qeshje) Kjo eshte "sinteza" e lumturise.

that "Yeah, right!" was not the right response.

Cili do ishte reagimi juaj? "Posi posi!"

We did this experiment with a group of patients

who had anterograde amnesia.

These are hospitalized patients.

Tani te shohim eksperimentin qe beme,

Most of them have Korsakoff syndrome,

dhe shpresoj qe ky do t'ju binde qe

a polyneuritic psychosis.

"Posi posi!" nuk eshte pergjigjia e duhur.

They drank way too much, and they can't make new memories.

Ne beme nje eksperiment me nje grup pacientesh

qe kishin amnezi anterograde. Keta jane paciente te shtruar ne spital.

They remember their childhood, but if you walk in and introduce yourself

Shumica e tyre kane sindromen e Korsakovit,

and then leave the room,

nje psikoze polineurotike - kane pire shume alkol ne te shkuaren,

when you come back, they don't know who you are.

We took our Monet prints to the hospital.

dhe nuk mund te krijojne kujtese te re.

Huh? Ata mbajne mend femijerine e tyre po nese i prezantohesh per here te pare,

And we asked these patients to rank them

from the one they liked the most to the one they liked the least.

dhe pastaj largohesh,

kur kthehesh perseri nuk te mbajne mend.

We then gave them the choice between number three and number four.

Sollem posterat e Monese ne spital.

Like everybody else, they said,

I kerkuam pacienteve ti radhisnin ato

"Gee, thanks Doc! That's great! I could use a new print.

sipas preferences.

I'll take number three."

We explained we would have number three mailed to them.

U dhame atyre me pas zgjedhjen mes posterit 3 dhe 4

We gathered up our materials,

Po ashtu si ne rastin e subjekteve normale, ata thane,

and we went out of the room and counted to a half hour.

"Eh doktor! Fantastike! Do me pelqente te kisha nje poster.

(Laughter)

Po marr treshin."

Back into the room, we say, "Hi, we're back."

I thame qe do ua postonim posterin tre.

The patients, bless them, say, "Ah, Doc, I'm sorry,

I mblodhem materialet, dolem nga dhoma,

I've got a memory problem; that's why I'm here.

dhe qendruam gjysem ore.

If I've met you before, I don't remember."

Hyme ne dhomes perseri dhe thame,"Ckemi, u kthyem."

"Really, Jim, you don't remember? I was just here with the Monet prints?"

Pacientet, sic pritej thane, "Ah, me vjen keq, doktor,

"Sorry, Doc, I just don't have a clue."

"No problem, Jim.

une kam problem me kujtesen, prandaj jam ketu.

All I want you to do is rank these for me,

Nese te kam takuar me pare, nuk e mbaj mend."

from the one you like the most to the one you like the least."

"Vertet, Jim, nuk te kujtohet? Une sapo isha ketu me posterat e Monese."

What do they do?

"Me vjen keq. Nuk e kam idene."

Well, let's first check and make sure they're really amnesiac.

"S'ka problem Jim. Ajo qe dua eshte te rradhitesh keto postera

We ask these amnesiac patients to tell us which one they own,

sipas preferences, nga ai qe te pelqen me shume tek ai me pak."

which one they chose last time, which one is theirs.

E c'bene ata? Ne fillim le te kontrollojme ne se jane vertet

And what we find is, amnesiac patients just guess.

amneziake. I pyetem ata te na thoshin,

These are normal controls, where if I did this with you,

se cili prej posterave ishte i tyre,

all of you would know which print you chose.

ke zgjodhen radhen e kaluar.

But if I do this with amnesiac patients, they don't have a clue.

Ne vume re qe ata vetem hamendesojne.

They can't pick their print out of a lineup.

Ky eshte grupi i kontrollit, sepse nese e beja kete me ju,

Here's what normal controls do: they synthesize happiness. Right?

te gjithe do te dinit se ke poster zgjodhet.

Po me amneziaket eshte ndryshe,

This is the change in liking score,

ata nuk e kane idene. As foton e tyre nuk e dallojne dot.

the change from the first time they ranked to the second time they ranked.

Normal controls show -- that was the magic I showed you;

Grupi i kontrollit ben tamam "sintetizimin" e lumturise.

now I'm showing it to you in graphical form --

"The one I own is better than I thought.

Vertet? Ky eshte ndryshimi ne preference

The one I didn't own, the one I left behind,

nga hera e pare ne te dyten.

is not as good as I thought."

Grupi i kontrollit demonstron

- ate magjine qe une u tregova -

Amnesiacs do exactly the same thing. Think about this result.

tani po jua tregoj ne menyre me grafike -

"E imja eshte me mire sec mendova. Ajo qe nuk zgjodha

These people like better the one they own,

but they don't know they own it.

nuk eshte aq e mire sa mendoja."

Amneziaket bejne po te njejten gje. Mendoni per nje cast.

"Yeah, right" is not the right response!

What these people did when they synthesized happiness

Keta njerez preferojne ate qe cka zoterojne,

paveresisht se nuk e dine qe eshte e tyrja.

is they really, truly changed

their affective, hedonic, aesthetic reactions to that poster.

"Posi, posi" nuk eshte pergjigjia e duhur!

Teksa "sintetizuan" lumturine keta njerez,

They're not just saying it because they own it,

because they don't know they own it.

ndryshuan realisht reagimet e tyre

When psychologists show you bars,

reagimet e tyre emocionale, hedonike dhe estetike ndaj posterit.

you know that they are showing you averages of lots of people.

Ata nuk po reagojne ashtu sepse e zoterojne gjene,

And yet, all of us have this psychological immune system,

sepse kete fakt nuk e dine.

this capacity to synthesize happiness,

but some of us do this trick better than others.

Kur psikologet u tregojne histograma,

And some situations allow anybody to do it more effectively

e dini qe ata po u tregojne mesataren e disa njerezve.

e megjithate te gjithe ne e kemi kete sistem imuno-psiqik

than other situations do.

kapacitetin per te "sintetizuar" lumturine

It turns out that freedom,

por disa nga ne ia dalin me mire se te tjeret.

the ability to make up your mind and change your mind,

Disa situata na lejojne ta bejme kete me mire

is the friend of natural happiness,

sesa disa te tjera.

because it allows you to choose among all those delicious futures

and find the one that you would most enjoy.

Me sa duket liria -

But freedom to choose,

pra aftesia per ta bere mendjen te nderroje mendje -

to change and make up your mind,

is the enemy of synthetic happiness,

eshte nje shok i mire i lumturise natyrore, sepse na lejon te zgjedhim

and I'm going to show you why.

mes disa skenareve te kendshem te se ardhmes ate me te pelqyeshmin.

Dilbert already knows, of course.

"Dogbert's tech support. How may I abuse you?"

"My printer prints a blank page after every document."

Por liria per te zgjedhur

"Why complain about getting free paper?"

per te ndryshuar apo ndare mendje - eshte armiku i lumturise "sintetike."

"Free? Aren't you just giving me my own paper?"

"Look at the quality of the free paper compared to your lousy regular paper!

Tani do ju them pse.

Dilbert e di kete sigurisht.

Po e lexoni kete nderkohe qe une flas.

Only a fool or a liar would say that they look the same!"

"Dogbert, asistenca teknike. Si mund t'ju abuzoj?"

"Now that you mention it, it does seem a little silkier!"

"Printeri me nxjerr nje faqe te zeze pas cdo dokumenti qe printoj."

"What are you doing?"

"E pse ankohesh kur merr leter qyl?"

"I'm helping people accept the things they cannot change." Indeed.

"Qyl? A nuk po marr thjesht letren time?"

"Egad, te lutem! Shih pak cilesine e letres qyl

The psychological immune system works best

dhe krahasoje me letren normale qe eshte kot fare!

Vetem nje budalla apo genjeshtar do thoshte se jane njesoj!"

when we are totally stuck, when we are trapped.

"Hm! Tani qe po ma thua, kjo sikur eshte ca si e mendafshte!"

This is the difference between dating and marriage.

You go out on a date with a guy,

"Cpo ben?"

and he picks his nose; you don't go out on another date.

"Po mundohem te ndihmoj njerezit te pranojne qe gjerat mund te ndryshojne" Tamam.

You're married to a guy and he picks his nose?

Sistemi imuno-psiqik punon me mire

He has a heart of gold. Don't touch the fruitcake!

kur ne jemi te paralizuar, pa rrugedalje.

You find a way to be happy with what's happened.

Ky eshte dhe ndryshimi mes nje takimi dashurie dhe marteses. Apo jo?

(Laughter)

Now, what I want to show you

Dua te them kur del ne nje takim te pare dashurie,

is that people don't know this about themselves,

dhe djali kruan hundet; thjesht nuk e takon ate perseri.

and not knowing this can work to our supreme disadvantage.

Nese je i martuar me nje djale qe krruan hunden?

Eh, po ai e ka zemren flori ama;

mos e prek kekun e frutave. Apo jo? (Qeshje)

Here's an experiment we did at Harvard.

E gjen nje menyre per tu kenaqur me cka ndodhur.

We created a black-and-white photography course,

and we allowed students to come in and learn how to use a darkroom.

Ajo qe dua tu tregoj tani eshte se

njerezit nuk e dine kete cilesi te tyren,

So we gave them cameras, they went around campus,

they took 12 pictures of their favorite professors

dhe kjo padituri mund te shkaktoje nje dizavantazh te madh.

and their dorm room and their dog,

Ja nje eksperiment qe zhvilluam ne Harvard.

and all the other things they wanted to have Harvard memories of.

Ofruam nje kurs fotografie bardh e zi,

They bring us the camera, we make up a contact sheet,

dhe i lejuam nxenesit te vinin dhe te mesonin si perdorej dhoma e erret.

they figure out which are the two best pictures.

I dhame atyre aparate fotografike, ata u verdallosen neper kompleksin studentor,

We now spend six hours teaching them about darkrooms,

bene 12 fotografi te profesoreve te preferuar, te dhomes se tyre, qenit,

and they blow two of them up.

They have two gorgeous 8 x 10 glossies

of meaningful things to them, and we say,

dhe te subjekteve te tjere qe donin ti ruanin ne kujtese,

"Which one would you like to give up?"

Na sollen aparatet, beme nje printim te te gjithe negativeve

"I have to give one up?"

"Yes, we need one as evidence of the class project.

per te pare se cilat ishin 2 fotot me te mira,

dhe harxhuam rreth 6 ore per tu mesuar ne dhomen e erret,

So you have to give me one. You have to make a choice.

se si ti zmadhonin dy fotot,

You get to keep one, and I get to keep one."

Ata bene dy foto me shkelqim 8-me-10

te subjekteve te rendesishme per ta dhe ne u thame,

Now, there are two conditions in this experiment.

"Ke do na jepni ne?"

In one case, the students are told,

Ata pergjigjen, "Me duhet tu jap nje?"

"But you know, if you want to change your mind,

"Po patjeter. Na duhet nje si prove per projektin ne klase."

I'll always have the other one here,

Keshtu duhet te me japesh nje prej tyre. Zgjidh.

and in the next four days, before I actually mail it to headquarters" --

Ti mban nje dhe une mbaj ate tjetren."

yeah, "headquarters" --

Ne kete eksperiment pati dy grupe

(Laughter)

"I'll be glad to swap it out with you.

Ne te parin, u thame studenteve:"Nese e nderron mendjen

In fact, I'll come to your dorm room, just give me an email.

une e kam akoma foton tjeter

Better yet, I'll check with you.

dhe brenda kater diteve, para se ta postoj per ne qender

You ever want to change your mind, it's totally returnable."

The other half of the students are told exactly the opposite:

nuk do kisha problem" - (Qeshje) - po do postohej ne "qender"-

"Make your choice, and by the way,

ta nderroja me ty. Ne fakt

the mail is going out, gosh, in two minutes, to England.

une mund te vij tek dhoma jote dhe te ta jap -

Your picture will be winging its way over the Atlantic.

vetem me jep emailin. Ose me mire do vihem vete ne kontakt.

You will never see it again."

Nese e nderron mendjen, ska problem ta kthej."

Half of the students in each of these conditions

Pjeses tjeter te studenteve u thame te kunderten:

are asked to make predictions

about how much they're going to come to like

"Vendosni tani.

the picture that they keep

Une do ta postoj foton, per...hm 2 minuta, per ne Angli.

and the picture they leave behind.

Other students are just sent back to their little dorm rooms

Fotoja jote do fluturoje mbi Atlantik.

Nuk do ta shohesh me ate."

and they are measured over the next three to six days

Gjysmes se studenteve ne secilin nga 2 grupet

on their satisfaction with the pictures.

i kerkuam te parashikoje se sa

Look at what we find.

shume do u pelqeje foto qe mbajne

First of all, here's what students think is going to happen.

dhe sa ajo qe na japin ne.

They think they're going to maybe come to like the picture they chose

Gjysmen tjeter e derguam neper dhomat e tyre

a little more than the one they left behind.

dhe per 3-6 diten ne vijim ne matem

But these are not statistically significant differences.

preferencat, pelqimet dhe mospelqimet e tyre mbi fotot.

It's a very small increase, and it doesn't much matter

Shihni se cilat jane rezultatet.

Si fillim, te shohim se cfare parashikojne studentet.

whether they were in the reversible or irreversible condition.

Ata mendojne se do pelqejne pak me shume foton qe

Wrong-o.

Bad simulators.

Because here's what's really happening.

zgjedhin sesa ate qe lene por,

Both right before the swap and five days later,

ndryshimet nuk do jene statistikisht te konsiderueshme.

people who are stuck with that picture,

who have no choice,

Ka nje rritje shume te vogel ne preference

who can never change their mind,

dhe nuk ka rendesi se ne cilin grup do jene nxenesit.

like it a lot.

And people who are deliberating -- "Should I return it?

Gaabim! Simulimatore te keqinj. Kjo eshte ajo qe ndodhi ne te vertete.

Have I gotten the right one?

Maybe this isn't the good one. Maybe I left the good one?" --

Si para zgjedhjes ashtu dhe 5 dite me vone,

have killed themselves.

studenteve qe "ju ngeci ne dore" fotoja,

They don't like their picture.

In fact, even after the opportunity to swap has expired,

ata qe nuk kishin zgjedhje,

ata qe nuk mund te nderronin mendjen, e pelqenin goxha foton e tyre!

they still don't like their picture.

Why?

Ata qe po ngurronin - "A duhet ta nderroj?

Because the [reversible] condition is not conducive

A kam zgjedhur te duhuren? Ndoshta kjo nuk eshte foto e duhur?

to the synthesis of happiness.

Ndoshta lashe me te mire" - po torturoheshin.

So here's the final piece of this experiment.

Atyre nuk u pelqente me fotoja e tyre,

edhe pasi afati per ta nderruar ate skadoi,

We bring in a whole new group of naive Harvard students

gjendja nuk ndryshoi. Pse?

and we say, "You know, we're doing a photography course,

and we can do it one of two ways.

Sepse mundesia e kthimit prapa nuk favorizon

We could do it so that when you take the two pictures,

"sintetizimin" e lumturise.

you'd have four days to change your mind,

Tani po ju paraqes pjesen e fundit te eksperimentit.

or we're doing another course where you take the two pictures

Sollem nje grup te ri me student naive te Harvardit

and you make up your mind right away and you can never change it.

dhe u thame atyre, "Ne kemi nje kurs fotografie,

Which course would you like to be in?" Duh!

Sixty-six percent of the students, two-thirds,

dhe mund ta organizojme ne nje nga dy menyrat.

prefer to be in the course where they have the opportunity to change their mind.

Ju mund te merrni dy fotot dhe

keni 4 dite per te ndryshuar mendjen,

Hello? Sixty-six percent of the students choose to be in the course

ne kursin tjeter zgjidhni dy foto

menjehere dhe nuk keni

in which they will ultimately be deeply dissatisfied with the picture --

mundesine ta nderroni mendjen. Cilin kurs do zgjidhnit?

"Ha! 66% e studenteve, 2/3

(Laughter)

because they do not know the conditions under which synthetic happiness grows.

preferuan kursin ku kishin mundesi te nderronin mendje.

The Bard said everything best, of course, and he's making my point here

Vini re 66% e studenteve zgjodhen kursin ne te cilin

but he's making it hyperbolically:

ata do perfundonin teper te pakenaqur me foton e tyre.

"'Tis nothing good or bad But thinking makes it so."

Kjo ndodhi sepse ata nuk i njohin kushtet si kultivohet lumturia sintetike.

It's nice poetry, but that can't exactly be right.

Is there really nothing good or bad?

Poeti ka shpreshur cdo gje me mire,

Is it really the case that gall bladder surgery and a trip to Paris

are just the same thing?

kur edhe pse ne menyre hiperbolike thote:

(Laughter)

That seems like a one-question IQ test.

"Ska asgje te mire apo te keqe/Mendimi e ben ate te tille."

They can't be exactly the same.

Poezi e lezetshme, po nuk mund te jete tamam e sakte.

In more turgid prose, but closer to the truth,

A eshte e vertete qe gjerat nuk jane as te mira as te keqija?

was the father of modern capitalism, Adam Smith, and he said this.

A eshte e vertete qe nje operaction i temthit dhe nje udhetim ne Paris

This is worth contemplating:

jane njesoj? Ky duket si nje test IQ me nje pyetje.

"The great source of both the misery and disorders of human life

seems to arise from overrating the difference

Ato nuk mund te jene njesoj.

between one permanent situation and another.

Ne nje stil prozaik pak me te fryre, po me afer te vertetes,

Some of these situations may, no doubt, deserve to be preferred to others,

Adam Smith, babai i kapitalizmit modern, u shpresh si me poshte.

Ia vlen te ndalemi pak tek kjo thenie:

but none of them can deserve to be pursued

"Burimi i madh i fatkeqesive dhe kaosit ne jeten njerezore

with that passionate ardor which drives us to violate the rules

duket se fshihet ne mbivleresimin e ndryshimit

either of prudence or of justice,

midis nje gjendjeje te perhershme dhe nje tjetre...

or to corrupt the future tranquility of our minds,

Disa nga keto gjendje, pa dyshim, meritojne te jene me te preferuara,

either by shame from the remembrance of our own folly,

po asnje nga ato nuk e meriton te deshirohet

or by remorse for the horror of our own injustice."

In other words: yes, some things are better than others.

me pasionin e shfrenuar qe na con drejt thyerjes se rregullave

We should have preferences that lead us into one future over another.

te maturise ose drejtesise, drejt shkaterrimit te paqes shpirterore,

But when those preferences drive us too hard and too fast

si pasoje e turpit tek kujtojme budallallekun tone,

because we have overrated the difference between these futures,

ose e pendimit per padrejtesine e tmerrshme qe kemi treguar.

we are at risk.

E thene ndryshe: disa gjera jane me te mira se te tjerat.

When our ambition is bounded, it leads us to work joyfully.

Ne duhet te kemi preferenca e te zgjedhim nje te ardhme mbi tjetren.

When our ambition is unbounded,

it leads us to lie, to cheat, to steal, to hurt others,

Por kur keto preferenca na sforcojne shume

to sacrifice things of real value.

pikerisht sepse kemi mbivleresuar ndryshimin mes zgjedhjeve,

When our fears are bounded,

we're prudent, we're cautious,

atehere jemi duke rrezikuar.

we're thoughtful.

When our fears are unbounded and overblown,

Kur ambicia jone eshte e kufizuar, punojme te kenaqur.

we're reckless, and we're cowardly.

Kur eshte e pakufizuar, genjejme, mashtrojme, vjedhim, lendojme te tjeret,

The lesson I want to leave you with, from these data,

is that our longings and our worries are both to some degree overblown,

sakrifikojme vlera te verteta. Kur frika ka kufi,

because we have within us the capacity to manufacture the very commodity

ne jemi te kujdesshem e te matur.

Kur frikat tona jane te pakufishme dhe te ekzagjeruara,

we are constantly chasing when we choose experience.

jemi te shkujdesur dhe frikacake.

Thank you.

Mesimi qe une nxorra nga keto te dhena

(Applause)

eshte se deshirat dhe shqetesimet tona jana disi te zmadhuara,

sepse ne kemi aftesine te prodhojme pikerisht ate

pas te ciles rendim kur zgjedhim te jetojme

Faleminderit.