Analysis Of Paul Bloom's Ted Talk 'The Origins Of Pleasure'

Exploring Pleasure and Pain

In his Ted Talk, The Origins of Pleasure, Paul Bloom has explored how the source of an item can define its value and how this affects the pleasure or pain within human nature. Bloom has the ability to elicit the audience’s interest because of his avid storytelling, his use of relatable scenarios and his sense of humour. Bloom ventures through his talk to get to his final thought of about how ones perception can change pain into pleasure.
Storytelling
Bloom has the ability to bring a story to life. He begins with the story of Hermann Goering, Hitler’s second in command, and the forged painting to bring his idea to the table. Goering had bought a beautiful Vermeer for 10 million dollars, claiming that it was his favourite painting. He had later found out the painting had been forged, after this discovery it had lost all value to himself and others, though it looked the exact same (Bloom, 2011, para.

During his talk he subtly inserts areas of comic relief for the audience, though he doesn’t overload his time with jokes. While speaking about the story of Hermann Goering, he describes that after Goering had discovered the painting had been a forgery that “He looked as if for the first time he had discovered there was evil in the world” (Bloom, 2011, para. 3), this was sure to bring a hysterical reaction from the audience, as Goering had been a Nazi. Bloom also uses humour when speaking about music in order support his argument, specifically about John Cage’s composition 4’33. The composition is a man sitting down, opening a piano and doing nothing else four minutes and thirty-three seconds (Bloom, 2011, para. 23). The part that brings a smile to audience members is that this composition can be bought on iTunes, though it is only silence. Bloom continuously strategy throughout his entire talk, but only using it to ensure the attention of the