Abha Dawesar: Life in the "digital now"

Translator: Ereblir Kadriu Reviewer: Helena Bedalli

I was in New York during Hurricane Sandy,

Isha ne New York gjate Uraganit Sandy,

and this little white dog called Maui

dhe ky qen i vogel i bardhe i quajtur Maui

was staying with me.

po rrinte me mua.

Half the city was dark because of a power cut,

Gjysma e qytetit ishte ne erresire per shkak te prerjes se energjise elektrike,

and I was living on the dark side.

dhe po jetoja ne erresire.

Now, Maui was terrified of the dark,

Maui tmerrohej nga erresira,

so I had to carry him up the stairs,

keshtu qe me eshte dashur ta ngjis shkalleve,

actually down the stairs first, for his walk,

ne fakt teposhte shkalleve se pari,

and then bring him back up.

dhe pastaj ta ngjisja lart.

I was also hauling gallons of bottles of water

Une po ashtu bartja bidona me uje

up to the seventh floor every day.

tek kati i shtate cdo dite.

And through all of this,

Dhe gjate gjithe kesaj,

I had to hold a torch between my teeth.

mu desh te mbaja nje pishtar ne mes te dhembeve.

The stores nearby were out of flashlights

Dyqanet ketu afer nuk kishin elektrike dore

and batteries and bread.

dhe bateri dhe buke.

For a shower, I walked 40 blocks

Per nje dush, u desh te ecja 40 blloqe

to a branch of my gym.

deri tek palestra ime.

But these were not the major preoccupations of my day.

Por keto nuk ishin preokupime te medha.

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

Ishte po aq kritike per mua te isha e para

at a cafe nearby with extension cords and chargers

te kafja me korda zgjatese dhe karikuesa

to juice my multiple devices.

per te ngarkuar paisjet e mija.

I started to prospect under the benches of bakeries

Fillova te kerkoj nen stolat e furres se bukes

and the entrances of pastry shops for plug points.

dhe tek hyrjet e pasticerive per prizë.

I wasn't the only one.

Nuk isha e vetmja.

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

Madje ne shi, njerezit qendronin ndermjet Madison dhe 5th Avenue

under their umbrellas charging their cell phones

nen çadra duke ngarkuar telefonat e tyre

from outlets on the street.

nga prizat ne rruge.

Nature had just reminded us

Natyra na kujtoi

that it was stronger than all our technology,

se ishte me e forte se te gjitha teknologjite tona,

and yet here we were, obsessed about being wired.

dhe ja ku jemi, te fiksuar se duhet te jemi te lidhur.

I think there's nothing like a crisis

Mendoj se nuk ka si krizat

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

per te treguar cfare eshte e rendesishme me te vertete e cka jo,

and Sandy made me realize that our devices

dhe Sandy me beri te kuptoj se pajiset tona

and their connectivity matter to us

dhe lidhjet e tyre kane rendesi per ne

right up there with food and shelter.

po aq sa ushqimi dhe strehimi.

The self as we once knew it no longer exists,

Vetja jone sic e kemi njohur tanime nuk ekziston,

and I think that an abstract, digital universe

dhe mendoj se nje univers abstrakt, e dixhital

has become a part of our identity,

eshte bere pjese e identitetit tone,

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

dhe deshiroj t'ju flas se cfare do thote kjo.

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

Une jam shkrimtare, dhe jam e interesuar per unin

because the self and fiction have a lot in common.

sepse uni dhe proza letrare kane shume gjera te perbashketa.

They're both stories, interpretations.

Te dyja jane tregime, interpretime.

You and I can experience things without a story.

Ju dhe une mund te perjetojme gjera pa histori.

We might run up the stairs too quickly

Ne mund ti ngjisim shkallet shume shpejt

and we might get breathless.

dhe mund te mbetemi pa fryme.

But the larger sense that we have of our lives,

Por sa me shume ndjenja qe kemi ne jeten tone,

the slightly more abstract one, is indirect.

aq me pak abstrakte eshte.

Our story of our life is based on direct experience,

Historite tona te jetes bazohen ne eksperience direkte

but it's embellished.

por eshte e bukur.

A novel needs scene after scene to build,

Nje novele ka nevoje te ndertohet skenë pas skene

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

dhe historia e jetes sone ka nevoje per nje hark gjithashtu.

It needs months and years.

Ka nevoje per muaj e vite.

Discrete moments from our lives are its chapters.

Momentet e veçanta nga jeta jone jane kapitujt e saj.

But the story is not about these chapters.

Por historia nuk eshte per keto kapituj.

It's the whole book.

Eshte libri ne tëresi.

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

Nuk ka te beje vetem me zemerthyerjen dhe lumturine,

the victories and the disappointments,

me fitoret dhe zhgenjimet,

but it's because how because of these,

por është sesi nëpërmjet tyre,

and sometimes, more importantly, in spite of these,

dhe ndonjehere, pavarërsisht nga ato,

we find our place in the world

ne gjejme vendin tone ne bote

and we change it and we change ourselves.

dhe e ndryshojme ate dhe ndryshojme vetveten.

Our story, therefore, needs two dimensions of time:

Keshtu, historia jonë, ka nevojë për dy dimensionet e kohës:

a long arc of time that is our lifespan,

një hark të gjatë kohës që është jetëgjatësia jonë,

and the timeframe of direct experience

dhe afati i përvojës direkte

that is the moment.

qe eshte momenti.

Now the self that experiences directly

Ai qe e perjeton drejtperdrejt

can only exist in the moment,

mund te ekzistoje vetem ne moment,

but the one that narrates needs several moments,

por ai qe rrefen ka nevoje per disa momente,

a whole sequence of them,

nje sekuence te tere,

and that's why our full sense of self

dhe kjo është arsyeja pse ndjenja jonë e plotë e vetes

needs both immersive experience

ka nevojë për të dyja, edhe përvojën e angazhuar

and the flow of time.

edhe rrjedhen e kohes.

Now, the flow of time is embedded in everything,

Pra, rrjedha e kohes eshte e futur ne gjithçka,

in the erosion of a grain of sand,

ne erozionin e rërës,

in the budding of a little bud into a rose.

ne lulezimin e nje trendafili.

Without it, we would have no music.

Pa ate, ne nuk do te kishim muzike.

Our own emotions and state of mind

Emocionet tona dhe gjendja mendore

often encode time,

shpesh e kodojne kohen,

regret or nostalgia about the past,

pendohemi per te kaluaren,

hope or dread about the future.

shpresojme dhe i frikesohemi te ardhmes.

I think that technology has altered that flow of time.

Unë mendoj se teknologjia ka ndryshuar ate rrjedhë te kohës.

The overall time that we have for our narrative,

Koha e pergjithshme qe ne kemi per tregimin tone,

our lifespan, has been increasing,

jetegjatesine tone, eshte rritur,

but the smallest measure, the moment, has shrunk.

por momenti, eshte zvogeluar.

It has shrunk because our instruments enable us

Eshte zvogluar sepse instrumentet tona na e mundesojne

in part to measure smaller and smaller units of time,

qe ne pjese te masim njesi te vogla e me te vogla te kohes,

and this in turn has given us a more granular understanding

dhe kjo na ka dhënë një kuptim më të grimcuar

of the material world,

te botes materialiste,

and this granular understanding

dhe ky kuptim i grimcuar

has generated reams of data

ka kijuar sasi te medha te te dhenave

that our brains can no longer comprehend

qe truri jone nuk mundet me ti kuptoje

and for which we need more and more complicated computers.

dhe per kete ne kemi nevoje per shume e shume kompjutera te komplikuar.

All of this to say that the gap

Dhe mund te themi se boshlleku

between what we can perceive and what we can measure

midis asaj qe ne presim dhe asaj cka ne vleresojme

is only going to widen.

eshte duke u zgjeurar.

Science can do things with and in a picosecond,

Shkenca mund te beje gjera ne nje sekonde,

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

por ju dhe une kurre s'do te kemi pervojen e brendshme

of a millionth of a millionth of a second.

te milionit te milionit te sekondes.

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

Ju dhe une i pergjigjemi vetem ritmit dhe rrjedhes se natyres,

to the sun, the moon and the seasons,

diellit, henes dhe stineve,

and this is why we need that long arc of time

dhe kjo eshte arsyeja pse kemi nevoje per nje hark te jetegjatesise

with the past, the present and the future

me te kaluaren, te tashmen dhe te ardhmen

to see things for what they are,

te shohim gjerat per ate cka jane,

to separate signal from noise

per te ndare sinjalin nga zhurma

and the self from sensations.

dhe veten nga ndjenat.

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

Ne kemi nevojë shigjetën e kohes për të kuptuar shkakun dhe efektin,

not just in the material world,

jo vetem ne boten materialiste,

but in our own intentions and our motivations.

por ne synimet dhe motivimet tona.

What happens when that arrow goes awry?

Cka ndodh kur shigjeta shkon shtrembër?

What happens when time warps?

Cka ndodh kur koha iken?

So many of us today have the sensation

Shume nga ne kane ndjenjen

that time's arrow is pointing everywhere

se shigjeta e kohes po drejtohet kudo

and nowhere at once.

dhe askund ne te njejten kohe.

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

Kjo ndodh per shkak se koha nuk leviz ne boten dixhitale

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

ne te njejten menyre si ne ate natyrale.

We all know that the Internet has shrunk space

Ne, te gjithe e dime qe interneti e ka ngushtuar hapesiren

as well as time.

po ashtu edhe kohen.

Far away over there is now here.

E largeta, eshte tani ketu.

News from India is a stream on my smartphone app

Lajmet nga India i marr permes aplikacioneve ne telefonin tim

whether I'm in New York or New Delhi.

nese jam ne Nju Jork apo ne Nju Delhi.

And that's not all.

Dhe kjo nuk eshte e gjitha.

Your last job, your dinner reservations from last year,

Puna juaj e fundit, rezervimet e darkes tuaj nga viti i kaluar,

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

ish-shoket, shtrihen në një fushë të sheshtë me miqtë e sotme,

because the Internet also archives,

sepse interneti gjithashtu ruan te dhenat,

and it warps the past.

dhe e deformon te kaluaren.

With no distinction left between the past,

Pa asnje dallim ndermjet te shkuares,

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

te tashmes dhe te ardhmes, dhe ketu apo atje,

we are left with this moment everywhere,

ne kemi mbetur ne këtë moment kudo,

this moment that I'll call the digital now.

ky moment qe ne e quajme e tashmja dixhitale.

Just how can we prioritize

Si mund te japim perparesite e duhura

in the landscape of the digital now?

ne konteksin e te tashmes dixhitale?

This digital now is not the present,

Kjo e tashme dixhitale nuk e tashmja,

because it's always a few seconds ahead,

sepse gjithmone eshte disa sekonda perpara,

with Twitter streams that are already trending

me fluksin eTwitter qe eshte tendenca tashme

and news from other time zones.

dhe lajme nga zona tjera kohore.

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

Kjo nuk eshte e tashmja e nje dhimbje therrese ne kembe

or the second that you bite into a pastry

ose momenti qe po kafshon nje embelsire,

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

ose tri ore te humbura ne nje liber te shkelqyer.

This now bears very little physical

Kjo bart shume pak referenca fizike

or psychological reference to our own state.

ose psikologjike te gjendjes tone.

Its focus, instead, is to distract us

Fokusi i tij, ne fakt, eshte te na hutoje neve

at every turn on the road.

ne cdo kthese te rruges.

Every digital landmark is an invitation

Çdo pikë referimi dixhital është një ftesë

to leave what you are doing now to go somewhere else

për të lënë atë që ju po bëni tani për të shkuar diku tjetër

and do something else.

dhe te beni dicka tjeter.

Are you reading an interview by an author?

A jeni duke lexuar nje interviste nga nje autor?

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

Pse te mos e bleni librin e tij. Te ciceroni. Te shperndani ate.

Like it. Find other books exactly like his.

Te pelqeni ate. Gjeni libra te tjera pikërisht si ky.

Find other people reading those books.

Gjeni njerez te tjere qe jane duke lexuar keto libra.

Travel can be liberating,

Udhetimi mund te jete clirues,

but when it is incessant, we become

por kur behet i panderprere, ne behemi

permanent exiles without repose.

rober te perhershem.

Choice is freedom, but not when it's constantly

Zgjedhja eshte e lire, por jo kur vazhdimisht eshte

for its own sake.

per hater te vet.

Not just is the digital now far from the present,

Jo vetem, digjitalizimi eshte larg nga e tashmja,

but it's in direct competition with it,

por kjo eshte ne konkurrence te drejtperdrejt me te,

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

dhe kjo eshte sepse jo vetem une mungoj nga kjo gje,

but so are you.

por gjithashtu edhe ju.

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

Jo vetem ne mungojme, por edhe te gjithe te tjeret.

And therein lies its greatest convenience and horror.

Dhe aty qëndron komoditeti me i madh dhe i frikshem.

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

Unë mund të porosis libra në gjuhë të huaj në mes të natës,

shop for Parisian macarons,

te blej embelsira Parisiene,

and leave video messages that get picked up later.

dhe te le video mesazhe qe mund te shikohen me vone.

At all times, I can operate

Në çdo kohë, unë mund të veproj

at a different rhythm and pace from you,

me ritme te ndryshme nga ju,

while I sustain the illusion

ndërsa unë mbështes iluzionin

that I'm tapped into you in real time.

se unë jam futur tek ju në kohë reale.

Sandy was a reminder

Sandy ishte nje kujtese

of how such an illusion can shatter.

se si nje iluzion i tille mund te thyhet.

There were those with power and water,

Kishte nga ata me rryme elektrike dhe uje,

and those without.

dhe ata pa asnjeren.

There are those who went back to their lives,

Ka nga ata që iu kthyen jetës se tyre,

and those who are still displaced

dhe ata që janë ende të zhvendosur

after so many months.

pas shume mujash.

For some reason, technology seems to perpetuate

Për disa arsye, teknologjia duket se përjetëson

the illusion for those who have it that everyone does,

iluzionin për ata që e kanë, se të gjithë të tjeret e kane,

and then, like an ironic slap in the face,

dhe pastaj, ne menyre ironike si shuplake ne fytyre

it makes it true.

e ben te vertete.

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

Per shembull, thuhet qe ka me shume njerez

in India with access to cell phones than toilets.

ne Indi qe kane qasje ne telefon-mobil sesa ne tualet.

Now if this rift, which is already so great

Në qoftë se kjo përçarje, e cila është tashmë aq e madhe

in many parts of the world,

në shumë pjesë të botës,

between the lack of infrastructure and the spread of technology,

në mes të mungesës së infrastrukturës dhe përhapjes se teknologjisë,

isn't somehow bridged,

nuk eshte e lidhur,

there will be ruptures between the digital

do te kete thyerje ndermjet dixhitales

and the real.

dhe te vertetes.

For us as individuals who live in the digital now

Per ne si individe te cilet jetojme ne te sotmen dixhitale

and spend most of our waking moments in it,

dhe kalojme shume momente ne te,

the challenge is to live in two streams of time

sfida eshte te jetojme me dy rryma te kohes

that are parallel and almost simultaneous.

te cilat jane paralele dhe pothuajse te njekohshme.

How does one live inside distraction?

Si jetohet ne mes te kesaj çmendurie?

We might think that those younger than us,

Mund te mendojme qe me te rinjte,

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

ata qe kane lindur ndersa, do te adaptohen me natyrshem.

Possibly, but I remember my childhood.

Ndoshta, por unë kujtoj fëmijërinë time.

I remember my grandfather revising

Mbaj mend gjyshin tim qe rishikonte

the capitals of the world with me.

kryeqytetet e botes me mua.

Buda and Pest were separated by the Danube,

Buda dhe Pest ishin te ndare nga Danubi,

and Vienna had a Spanish riding school.

dhe Viena kishte nje shkolle spanjolle hipizmi.

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

Po te isha femije sot, do ta mesoja lehte kete informacion

with apps and hyperlinks,

me aplikacione, dhe hyperliks,

but it really wouldn't be the same,

por ne te vertete nuk do te ishte e njejta,

because much later, I went to Vienna,

sepse me vone, une shkova ne Vienë,

and I went to the Spanish riding school,

dhe shkova tek shkolla Spanjolle e hipizmit,

and I could feel my grandfather right beside me.

dhe mund ta ndjeja gjyshin tim prane meje.

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

Nate pas nate, ai me merrte ne tarrace

on his shoulders, and pointed out Jupiter

ne krahet e tij, dhe me tregonte Jupiterin

and Saturn and the Great Bear to me.

dhe Saturnin dhe Arushen e Madhe.

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

Madje edhe ketu, kur shikoj Arushen e Madhe,

I get back that feeling of being a child,

me rikthehet ndjenja kur isha femije,

hanging onto his head and trying to balance myself

varur mbi kokën e tij dhe duke u përpjekur të balancoj veten

on his shoulder,

ne shpatullat e tij,

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

dhe une mund ta rikthej ndjenjen e te qenit femije perseri.

What I had with my grandfather was wrapped

Ajo që kam pasur me gjyshin tim ishte e lidhur

so often in information and knowledge and fact,

aq shpesh në informata dhe njohuri dhe fakt,

but it was about so much more

por ishte me shume

than information or knowledge or fact.

se informacion ose njohuri ose fakt.

Time-warping technology challenges

Teknologjia qe deformon kohen, ve ne prove

our deepest core,

thellesine e zemres,

because we are able to archive the past

sepse ne jemi ne gjendje te arkivojme te kaluaren

and some of it becomes hard to forget,

dhe disa prej tyre veshtire te harrohen,

even as the current moment

edhe nese momenti i tanishem

is increasingly unmemorable.

po behet gjithmone e me i harrushem.

We want to clutch, and we are left instead

Ne duhet te shtregohemi, dhe na mbeten

clutching at a series of static moments.

te shtrengohemi ne nje seri momentesh statike.

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

Ato jane si shkuma e sapunit qe zhduket kur e prekim.

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

Nese arkivojme cdo gje, ne mendojme se mund te ruajme ate,

but time is not data.

por koha nuk ka te dhena.

It cannot be stored.

Nuk mund te ruhet.

You and I know exactly what it means like

Ju dhe une e dime saktesisht se cfare do te thote

to be truly present in a moment.

te jesh me te vertete i pranishem ne nje moment.

It might have happened while we were

Mund te kete ndodhur perderisa ne ishim

playing an instrument,

duke luajtur nje instrument,

or looking into the eyes of someone we've known

ose duke shikuar syte e dikujt qe ne njohim

for a very long time.

per nje kohe te gjate.

At such moments, our selves are complete.

Ne momente te tilla, ne jemi te kompletuar.

The self that lives in the long narrative arc

Vetja qe jeton ne nje hark te gjate narrativ

and the self that experiences the moment

dhe vetja qe perjeton momentin

become one.

behen nje.

The present encapsulates the past

E tashmja permbledh te shkuaren

and a promise for the future.

dhe premton te ardhmen.

The present joins a flow of time

E tashmja i bashkohet ritmit te kohes

from before and after.

nga para dhe pas.

I first experienced these feelings with my grandmother.

Une per here te pare i kam perjetuar keto ndjenja me gjyshen time.

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

Une deshiroja te mesoja te kerceja me litar, dhe ajo gjeti nje litar te vjeter

and she tucked up her sari

dhe ngriti sarin e saj

and she jumped over it.

e filloi te kerceje me litar.

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

Une deshiroja te mesoja te gatuaj, dhe ajo me mbajti ne kuzhine

cutting, cubing and chopping for a whole month.

duke prere, duke gatuar per nje muaj te tere.

My grandmother taught me that things happen

Gjyshja ime me mesoi se gjerat ndodhin

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

ne kohen duhur, ajo kohe nuk mund te luftohet,

and because it will pass and it will move,

sepse do te kaloje dhe do te levize,

we owe the present moment our full attention.

ne i kemi borxh te tashmes vemendjen tone te plote.

Attention is time.

Vemendja eshte kohe.

One of my yoga instructors once said

Nje nga instruktoret te mia te joges nje here ka thene

that love is attention,

se dashuria eshte kujdes,

and definitely from my grandmother,

dhe definitivisht nga gjyshja ime,

love and attention were one and the same thing.

dashuria dhe kujdesi ishin nje gje e vetme.

The digital world cannibalizes time,

Bota dixhitale e konsumon kohen,

and in doing so, I want to suggest

une dua te sugjeroj

that what it threatens

se ajo cka eshte kercenuese

is the completeness of ourselves.

eshte plotesia e vetes.

It threatens the flow of love.

Kërcënon rrjedhjen e dashurisë.

But we don't need to let it.

Por ne nuk kemi nevoje ta leme ate.

We can choose otherwise.

Ne mund te zgjedhim ndryshe.

We've seen again and again

Ne kemi parë përsëri dhe përsëri

just how creative technology can be,

sa krijuese mund të jetë teknologjia,

and in our lives and in our actions,

dhe në jetën tonë dhe në veprimet tona,

we can choose those solutions and those innovations

ne mund te zgjedhim keto zgjedhje dhe keto zbulime

and those moments that restore the flow of time

dhe keto momente qe ruajne ritimin e kohes

instead of fragmenting it.

ne vend qe ta copetojne ate.

We can slow down and we can tune in

Ne mund të ngadalësojmë dhe mund te akordojme

to the ebb and flow of time.

baticat dhe zbaticat e kohes.

We can choose to take time back.

Ne mund te zgjedhim te ndalojme kohen.

Thank you.

Faleminderit.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)