Abha Dawesar: Life in the "digital now"

Prevoditelj: Ivana Posaric Recezent: Senzos Osijek

I was in New York during Hurricane Sandy,

Bila sam u New Yorku za vrijeme uragana Sandy,

and this little white dog called Maui

i jedan mali bijeli pas imena Maui

was staying with me.

je bio sa mnom.

Half the city was dark because of a power cut,

Pola grada je bilo u mraku zbog nestanka struje,

and I was living on the dark side.

a ja sam živjela u mračnom dijelu.

Now, Maui was terrified of the dark,

Dakle, Maui se bojao mraka,

so I had to carry him up the stairs,

pa sam ga morala nositi uza stube,

actually down the stairs first, for his walk,

zapravo prvo niz stube, zbog njegove šetnje

and then bring him back up.

i onda ga opet vratiti gore.

I was also hauling gallons of bottles of water

Također sam teglila litre i litre boca vode

up to the seventh floor every day.

na sedmi kat svaki dan.

And through all of this,

I kroz sve to,

I had to hold a torch between my teeth.

morala sam držati svjetiljku među zubima.

The stores nearby were out of flashlights

Trgovine u blizini bile su bez džepnih svjetiljki,

and batteries and bread.

baterija i kruha.

For a shower, I walked 40 blocks

Da bi se otuširala, morala sam prehodati 40 ulica

to a branch of my gym.

do jednog dijela moje teretane.

But these were not the major preoccupations of my day.

Ali to nisu bile moje najveće dnevne brige.

It was just as critical for me to be the first person in

Bilo mi je jednako važno biti prva osoba u

at a cafe nearby with extension cords and chargers

obližnjem kafiću koji je imao kablove i punjače

to juice my multiple devices.

za punjenje mojih mnogobrojnih uređaja.

I started to prospect under the benches of bakeries

Počela sam tražiti utičnice ispod klupa pekara

and the entrances of pastry shops for plug points.

te na ulazima slastičarnica.

I wasn't the only one.

Nisam bila jedina.

Even in the rain, people stood between Madison and 5th Avenue

Čak i na kiši, ljudi su stajali između Ulice Madison i 5. Avenije,

under their umbrellas charging their cell phones

ispod svojih kišobrana, puneći svoje mobitele

from outlets on the street.

na utičnicama na cesti.

Nature had just reminded us

Priroda nas je upravo upozorila

that it was stronger than all our technology,

da je jača od sve naše tehnologije,

and yet here we were, obsessed about being wired.

a ipak, bili smo ovdje, opsjednuti umreženošću.

I think there's nothing like a crisis

Sigurna sam da ne postoji ništa poput krize

to tell you what's really important and what's not,

koja će ti pokazati što je važno, a što ne,

and Sandy made me realize that our devices

a Sandy me natjerala da shvatim kako naši uređaji

and their connectivity matter to us

i njihova povezanost, stoje bok uz bok sa

right up there with food and shelter.

hranom i skloništem.

The self as we once knew it no longer exists,

Ja kakvo smo jednom poznavali više ne postoji,

and I think that an abstract, digital universe

i mislim da je apstraktni, digitalni svijet

has become a part of our identity,

postao dijelom našeg identiteta,

and I want to talk to you about what I think that means.

i želim vam reći što mislim da to znači.

I'm a novelist, and I'm interested in the self

Ja sam romanopisac, i jako me zanima Ja

because the self and fiction have a lot in common.

jer Ja i fikcija imaju mnogo toga zajedničkog.

They're both stories, interpretations.

Oboje su priče, interpretacije.

You and I can experience things without a story.

Vi i ja možemo iskusiti stvari bez priče.

We might run up the stairs too quickly

Mogli bismo prebrzo potrčati uza stepenice

and we might get breathless.

i mogli bismo ostati bez daha.

But the larger sense that we have of our lives,

Ali veći smisao koji imamo od naših života,

the slightly more abstract one, is indirect.

nešto više apstraktan, je indirektan.

Our story of our life is based on direct experience,

Priča našeg života temeljena je na direktnom iskustvu,

but it's embellished.

ali je uljepšana.

A novel needs scene after scene to build,

Roman treba scenu za scenom za gradnju,

and the story of our life needs an arc as well.

a priča našeg života također treba luk.

It needs months and years.

Potrebni su mjeseci i godine.

Discrete moments from our lives are its chapters.

Diskretni trenuci naših života su njegova poglavlja.

But the story is not about these chapters.

Ali poanta nije u tim poglavljima.

It's the whole book.

Poanta je u cijeloj knjizi.

It's not only about the heartbreak and the happiness,

Ne radi se samo o ljubavnim patnjama i sreći,

the victories and the disappointments,

pobjedama i razočarenjima,

but it's because how because of these,

nego upravo kako zbog njih,

and sometimes, more importantly, in spite of these,

i ponekad, još važnije, unatoč njima,

we find our place in the world

nalazimo naše mjesto u svijetu,

and we change it and we change ourselves.

te ga mijenjamo, te mijenjamo sami sebe.

Our story, therefore, needs two dimensions of time:

Naša priča, stoga, treba dvije vremenske dimenzije:

a long arc of time that is our lifespan,

dugačak luk vremena koji je naš životni vijek,

and the timeframe of direct experience

i vremenski okvir direktnog iskustva

that is the moment.

¸što je trenutak.

Now the self that experiences directly

Nadalje, Ja koje doživljava direktno

can only exist in the moment,

može postojati samo u trenutku,

but the one that narrates needs several moments,

ali onaj koji pripovijeda treba nekoliko trenutaka,

a whole sequence of them,

čitav niz trenutaka,

and that's why our full sense of self

i upravo zbog toga naš puni osjećaj sebe

needs both immersive experience

treba jednako potpuno uranjajuće iskustvo

and the flow of time.

i tijek vremena.

Now, the flow of time is embedded in everything,

Sada, tijek vremena je ugrađen u svemu,

in the erosion of a grain of sand,

u eroziji zrnca pijeska,

in the budding of a little bud into a rose.

u buđenju iz malenog pupoljka u ružu.

Without it, we would have no music.

Bez njega, ne bismo imali glazbu.

Our own emotions and state of mind

Naše vlastite emocije i stanje uma

often encode time,

često šifriraju vrijeme,

regret or nostalgia about the past,

tugu ili nostalgiju za prošlošću,

hope or dread about the future.

nadu ili strepnju za budućnost.

I think that technology has altered that flow of time.

Mislim da je tehnologija promijenila taj tijek vremena.

The overall time that we have for our narrative,

Ukupno vrijeme koje imamo za naše pripovijesti,

our lifespan, has been increasing,

za naš životni vijek, je u porastu,

but the smallest measure, the moment, has shrunk.

ali najmanja mjera, trenutak, se smanjio.

It has shrunk because our instruments enable us

Smanjio se jer nam naši instrumenti omogućavaju

in part to measure smaller and smaller units of time,

dijelom mjerenje sve manjih i manjih jedinica vremena,

and this in turn has given us a more granular understanding

to nam je zauzvrat dalo preciznije razmijevanje

of the material world,

materijalnog svijeta,

and this granular understanding

a to preciznije razumijevanje

has generated reams of data

je ostvarilo ovo mnoštvo podataka

that our brains can no longer comprehend

koje naši mozgovi više ne mogu shvatiti

and for which we need more and more complicated computers.

i za koje trebamo sve složenija i složenija računala.

All of this to say that the gap

Sve nam to govori da će se praznina

between what we can perceive and what we can measure

između onoga što možemo spoznati i onoga što možemo izmjeriti

is only going to widen.

samo proširiti.

Science can do things with and in a picosecond,

Znanost može činiti stvari sa i u pikosekundi

but you and I are never going to have the inner experience

ali vi i ja nikad nećemo imati unutarnje iskustvo

of a millionth of a millionth of a second.

trilijuntog dijela sekunde.

You and I answer only to nature's rhythm and flow,

Vi i ja odgovaramo samo ritmu i tijeku prirode,

to the sun, the moon and the seasons,

suncu, mjesecu i godišnjim dobima,

and this is why we need that long arc of time

i upravo zbog toga trebamo taj dugačak luk vremena

with the past, the present and the future

sa prošlošću, sadašnjošću i budučnošću

to see things for what they are,

kako bi vidjeli stvari kakvima jesu,

to separate signal from noise

kako bi odijelili zvuk od buke

and the self from sensations.

i Ja od osjećaja.

We need time's arrow to understand cause and effect,

Mi trebamo vremenski interval da bismo razumjeli uzrok i posljedicu

not just in the material world,

ne samo u materijalnom svijetu,

but in our own intentions and our motivations.

nego u vlastitim namjerama i motivacijama.

What happens when that arrow goes awry?

Što se događa kada taj interval ide naopako?

What happens when time warps?

Što se dogodi kada se vrijeme iskrivi?

So many of us today have the sensation

Mnogi od nas danas imaju osjećaj

that time's arrow is pointing everywhere

da vremenska strelica pokazuje

and nowhere at once.

svugdje i nigdje istovremeno.

This is because time doesn't flow in the digital world

To je zato jer u digitalnom svijetu vrijeme ne teče

in the same way that it does in the natural one.

na isti način kao u prirodnom svijetu.

We all know that the Internet has shrunk space

Svi znamo da je Internet smanjio prostor

as well as time.

jednako kao i vrijeme.

Far away over there is now here.

Tamo daleko je sada ovdje.

News from India is a stream on my smartphone app

Vijesti iz Indije su prijenos na mojoj smartphone aplikaciji

whether I'm in New York or New Delhi.

bila ja u New Yorku ili New Dehliju.

And that's not all.

Ali to nije sve.

Your last job, your dinner reservations from last year,

Vaš posljednji posao, vaše rezervacije za večeru od prošle godine,

your former friends, lie on a flat plain with today's friends,

vaši bivši prijatelji, leže u ravnini sa današnjim prijateljima,

because the Internet also archives,

jer Internet također arhivira,

and it warps the past.

te iskrivljuje prošlost.

With no distinction left between the past,

Bez razlikovanja između prošlosti,

the present and the future, and the here or there,

sadašnjosti i budućnosti, i ovdje i ondje,

we are left with this moment everywhere,

ostaje nam ovaj trenutak - svugdje,

this moment that I'll call the digital now.

trenutak koji ću nazvati digitalno sada.

Just how can we prioritize

Samo, kako možemo odrediti prioritete

in the landscape of the digital now?

u predjelu digitalnog sada?

This digital now is not the present,

Digitalno sada nije sadašnjost,

because it's always a few seconds ahead,

jer je uvijek par sekundi ispred,

with Twitter streams that are already trending

s Twitter prijenosima koji već stvaraju trendove

and news from other time zones.

i vijestima iz drugih vremenskih zona.

This isn't the now of a shooting pain in your foot

To nije sada oštre boli u tvojoj nozi

or the second that you bite into a pastry

ili sekunde kad zagrizeš u kolač

or the three hours that you lose yourself in a great book.

ili tri sata u kojima se izgubiš čitajući dobru knjigu.

This now bears very little physical

To sada nosi vrlo malo fizičkih

or psychological reference to our own state.

ili psiholoških uputa našem vlastitom stanju.

Its focus, instead, is to distract us

Umjesto toga, njegov fokus je da nam odvuče pažnju

at every turn on the road.

na svakom skretanju.

Every digital landmark is an invitation

Svaki digitalni znak je pozivnica

to leave what you are doing now to go somewhere else

za odlazak od onoga što činite sada da biste išli negdje drugdje

and do something else.

i činili nešto drugo.

Are you reading an interview by an author?

Čitate li intervju nekog autora?

Why not buy his book? Tweet it. Share it.

Zašto ne kupiti njegovu knjigu? Tweetajte. Podijelite.

Like it. Find other books exactly like his.

Lajkajte. Nađite druge knjige baš kao što je ta.

Find other people reading those books.

Nađite druge ljude koji čitaju te knjige.

Travel can be liberating,

Putovanje može biti oslobađajuće,

but when it is incessant, we become

no kada je neprekidno,

permanent exiles without repose.

postajemo stalni prognanici bez mirovanja.

Choice is freedom, but not when it's constantly

Izbor jest sloboda, ali ne kada je stalno

for its own sake.

za svoju vlastitu korist.

Not just is the digital now far from the present,

Ne samo da je digitalno sada daleko od sadašnjosti,

but it's in direct competition with it,

nego je u direktnoj konkurenciji s njom,

and this is because not just am I absent from it,

i to je zato jer nisam samo ja daleko od nje,

but so are you.

nego ste i vi.

Not just are we absent from it, but so is everyone else.

Nismo samo mi daleko od nje, nego su i svi drugi.

And therein lies its greatest convenience and horror.

I u tome leži njegova najveća pogodnost i užas.

I can order foreign language books in the middle of the night,

Usred noći mogu naručiti knjige na stranom jeziku,

shop for Parisian macarons,

kupiti Pariške makarone,

and leave video messages that get picked up later.

i ostaviti video poruke koje će biti pogledane kasnije.

At all times, I can operate

U svako doba, mogu raditi

at a different rhythm and pace from you,

različitim ritmom i tempom od vas,

while I sustain the illusion

dok održavam iluziju

that I'm tapped into you in real time.

da sam spojena s vama u stvarnom vremenu.

Sandy was a reminder

Sandy je bila podsjetnik

of how such an illusion can shatter.

kako se takva iluzija može razbiti.

There were those with power and water,

Bilo je onih sa strujom i vodom,

and those without.

i onih bez.

There are those who went back to their lives,

Ima i onih koji su se vratili svojim životima,

and those who are still displaced

i onih koji su još uvijek raseljeni

after so many months.

nakon tolikih mjeseci.

For some reason, technology seems to perpetuate

Iz nekog razloga, čini se da tehnologija produžuje

the illusion for those who have it that everyone does,

iluziju za one koji je imaju, da je svi imaju,

and then, like an ironic slap in the face,

i onda, kao ironični šamar,

it makes it true.

čini je istinitom.

For example, it's said that there are more people

Na primjer, kažu da u Indiji postoji više ljudi

in India with access to cell phones than toilets.

sa pristupom mobitelima nego wc-ima.

Now if this rift, which is already so great

Dakle, ako ova napuklina, koja je već toliko velika

in many parts of the world,

u mnogim dijelovima svijeta,

between the lack of infrastructure and the spread of technology,

između manjka infrastrukture i širenja tehnologije,

isn't somehow bridged,

ne bude nekako premošćena,

there will be ruptures between the digital

nastat će pukotine između

and the real.

digitalnog i stvarnog.

For us as individuals who live in the digital now

Za nas pojedince koji živimo u digitalnom sada

and spend most of our waking moments in it,

i u njemu provodimo većinu naših trenutaka buđenja,

the challenge is to live in two streams of time

izazov je živjeti u dva toka vremena

that are parallel and almost simultaneous.

koja su paralelna i gotovo istodobna.

How does one live inside distraction?

Kako živjeti unutar distrakcije?

We might think that those younger than us,

Možemo misliti da će se mlađi od nas,

those who are born into this, will adapt more naturally.

oni koji su rođeni u ovo vrijeme, prilagoditi mnogo prirodnije.

Possibly, but I remember my childhood.

Moguće, ali sjećam se svog djetinjstva.

I remember my grandfather revising

Sjećam se svog djeda kako me

the capitals of the world with me.

učio glavne gradove svijeta.

Buda and Pest were separated by the Danube,

Budim i Pešta su bili odvojeni Dunavom,

and Vienna had a Spanish riding school.

a Beč je imao Španjolsku školu jahanja.

If I were a child today, I could easily learn this information

Kad bih danas bila dijete, mogla bih vrlo lako naučiti te informacije

with apps and hyperlinks,

s aplikacijama i hiperlinkovima,

but it really wouldn't be the same,

ali zapravo ne bi bilo isto,

because much later, I went to Vienna,

jer mnogo kasnije, bila sam u Beču,

and I went to the Spanish riding school,

i bila sam u Španjolskoj školi jahanja,

and I could feel my grandfather right beside me.

i mogla sam osjetiti svog djeda kraj sebe.

Night after night, he took me up on the terrace,

Svake noći, odveo bi me na terasu,

on his shoulders, and pointed out Jupiter

na svojim ramenima, i pokazivao Jupiter,

and Saturn and the Great Bear to me.

Saturn i Velikog Medvjeda.

And even here, when I look at the Great Bear,

Čak i ovdje, kad gledam zviježđe Velikog Medvjeda

I get back that feeling of being a child,

vratim se onom osjećaju kad sam bila dijete,

hanging onto his head and trying to balance myself

držeći se za njegovu glavu i pokušavajući sjediti uravnoteženo

on his shoulder,

na njegovim ramenima

and I can get back that feeling of being a child again.

i ponovno se prisjetim kako je to biti dijete.

What I had with my grandfather was wrapped

Ono što sam imala sa svojim djedom bilo je tako često upakirano u

so often in information and knowledge and fact,

informacije, znanje i činjenice,

but it was about so much more

ali je bilo puno više od

than information or knowledge or fact.

informacija ili znanja, ili činjenica.

Time-warping technology challenges

Vremensko-iskrivljavajuća tehnologija izaziva

our deepest core,

našu najdublju srž,

because we are able to archive the past

zato jer smo sposobni arhivirati prošlost

and some of it becomes hard to forget,

i dio postaje teško zaboravljiv,

even as the current moment

podjednako kao i sadašnji trenutak

is increasingly unmemorable.

koji postaje sve nepamtljiviji.

We want to clutch, and we are left instead

Želimo poveznicu, a umjesto toga ostavljeni smo

clutching at a series of static moments.

spajati niz statičkih trenutaka.

They're like soap bubbles that disappear when we touch them.

Oni su kao mjehurići sapunice koji nestaju kada ih dotaknemo.

By archiving everything, we think that we can store it,

Arhivirajući sve, mislimo da ih možemo sačuvati,

but time is not data.

ali vrijeme nisu podaci.

It cannot be stored.

Ono ne može biti sačuvano.

You and I know exactly what it means like

Vi i ja točno znamo što znači

to be truly present in a moment.

biti stvarno prisutan u trenutku.

It might have happened while we were

Možda se dogodio kad smo

playing an instrument,

svirali neki instrument,

or looking into the eyes of someone we've known

ili gledali u oči nekoga koga znamo

for a very long time.

jako dugo vremena.

At such moments, our selves are complete.

U takvim trenucima, naše Ja je potpuno.

The self that lives in the long narrative arc

Ja koje živi u dugačkom pripovjednom luku

and the self that experiences the moment

i Ja koje doživljava trenutak

become one.

postaju jedno.

The present encapsulates the past

Sadašnjost obuhvaća prošlost

and a promise for the future.

i obećanje za budućnost.

The present joins a flow of time

Sadašnjost se pridružuje toku vremena

from before and after.

od prijašnjeg i budućeg vremena.

I first experienced these feelings with my grandmother.

Prvi puta sam iskusila te osjećaje sa svojom bakom.

I wanted to learn to skip, and she found an old rope

Željela sam naučiti kako preskakati uže, a ona je našla staro uže

and she tucked up her sari

te je uvukla svoj sari

and she jumped over it.

i preskočila preko užeta.

I wanted to learn to cook, and she kept me in the kitchen,

Željela sam naučiti kuhati, a ona me je zadržala u kuhinji,

cutting, cubing and chopping for a whole month.

režući i sjeckajući, cijeli mjesec.

My grandmother taught me that things happen

Baka me je naučila da se stvari događaju

in the time they take, that time can't be fought,

u vremenu koje zauzimaju, da se protiv vremena ne može boriti,

and because it will pass and it will move,

i jer će proći i jer će se promijeniti,

we owe the present moment our full attention.

sadašnjem trenutku dugujemo našu punu pozornost.

Attention is time.

Pozornost je vrijeme.

One of my yoga instructors once said

Jedan od mojih instruktora joge jednom je rekao

that love is attention,

da je ljubav pozornost,

and definitely from my grandmother,

i kod moje bake su sigurno

love and attention were one and the same thing.

ljubav i pozornost bile jedna te ista stvar.

The digital world cannibalizes time,

Digitalni svijet proždire vrijeme,

and in doing so, I want to suggest

i čineći to, želim vas podsjetiti

that what it threatens

da prijeti

is the completeness of ourselves.

potpunosti nas samih.

It threatens the flow of love.

Prijeti tijeku ljubavi.

But we don't need to let it.

Ali mi to ne moramo dopustiti.

We can choose otherwise.

Možemo odlučiti drugačije.

We've seen again and again

Vidjeli smo opet i opet

just how creative technology can be,

koliko tehnologija može biti kreativna,

and in our lives and in our actions,

i u našim životima i u našim postupcima,

we can choose those solutions and those innovations

možemo odabrati ona rješenja, one inovacije

and those moments that restore the flow of time

i one trenutke koji ponovno uspostavljaju tok vremena

instead of fragmenting it.

umjesto da ga fragmentiraju.

We can slow down and we can tune in

Možemo usporiti i uskladiti se

to the ebb and flow of time.

sa plimom i osekom vremena.

We can choose to take time back.

Možemo odlučiti vratiti vrijeme.

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)