How to see past your own perspective and find truth | Michael Patrick Lynch

Prevodilac: Ivana Krivokuća Lektor: Tijana Mihajlović

So, imagine that you had your smartphone miniaturized

Zamislite da ste umanjili svoj pametni telefon

and hooked up directly to your brain.

i direktno ga prikačili na svoj mozak.

If you had this sort of brain chip,

Kada biste imali takvu vrstu moždanog čipa,

you'd be able to upload and download to the internet

mogli biste da postavljate i skidate stvari sa interneta

at the speed of thought.

brzinom misaonog toka.

Accessing social media or Wikipedia would be a lot like --

Pristupanje društvenim mrežama ili Vikipediji bilo bi kao -

pa, barem iznutra -

well, from the inside at least --

like consulting your own memory.

kao da tražite informacije u svom pamćenju.

Bilo bi to jednostavno i intimno poput razmišljanja.

It would be as easy and as intimate as thinking.

But would it make it easier for you to know what's true?

Ali da li bi vam to olakšalo da znate šta je istinito?

Just because a way of accessing information is faster

Samo zato što je način pristupanja informacijama brži,

it doesn't mean it's more reliable, of course,

to ne znači da su one pouzdanije, naravno,

niti da bismo ih svi tumačili na isti način.

and it doesn't mean that we would all interpret it the same way.

And it doesn't mean that you would be any better at evaluating it.

To ne znači ni da bi vam išta bolje išlo njihovo procenjivanje.

In fact, you might even be worse,

Zapravo, možda bi vam išlo i gore,

because, you know, more data, less time for evaluation.

jer, znate, više podataka, manje vremena za procenjivanje.

Something like this is already happening to us right now.

Nešto slično ovome nam se sada već dešava.

We already carry a world of information around in our pockets,

Već nosimo sa sobom čitav svet informacija u svom džepu,

but it seems as if the more information we share and access online,

ali se čini kao da, što više informacija delimo i što im više pristupamo onlajn,

the more difficult it can be for us to tell the difference

može nam biti teže da razlikujemo

ono što je istinito i ono što je lažno.

between what's real and what's fake.

It's as if we know more but understand less.

Kao da znamo više, ali razumemo manje.

To je karakteristika savremenog života, pretpostavljam,

Now, it's a feature of modern life, I suppose,

da širok krug javnosti živi u izolovanim mehurima informacija.

that large swaths of the public live in isolated information bubbles.

We're polarized: not just over values, but over the facts.

Polarizovani smo ne samo u pogledu vrednosti, već i činjenica.

One reason for that is, the data analytics that drive the internet

Jedan razlog tome je što nam analitika podataka koja pokreće internet

pruža ne samo više informacija,

get us not just more information,

već više informacija koje želimo.

but more of the information that we want.

Our online life is personalized;

Naš život na internetu je personalizovan;

sve od reklama koje čitamo

everything from the ads we read

to the news that comes down our Facebook feed

do vesti koje nam stižu putem Fejsbukovih ažuriranih novosti

is tailored to satisfy our preferences.

prilagođeno je da zadovolji naše preferencije.

And so while we get more information,

Tako, dok dobijamo više informacija,

dosta tih informacija na kraju predstavlja naš odraz

a lot of that information ends up reflecting ourselves

isto koliko i odraz stvarnosti.

as much as it does reality.

It ends up, I suppose,

Na kraju se dešava da, pretpostavljam,

inflating our bubbles rather than bursting them.

naduvaju naš mehur umesto da ga rasprsnu.

And so maybe it's no surprise

Tako da možda nije iznenađenje

that we're in a situation, a paradoxical situation,

da smo u paradoksalnoj situaciji

da mislimo da znamo toliko više stvari,

of thinking that we know so much more,

and yet not agreeing on what it is we know.

a da se ipak ne slažemo oko toga šta znamo.

Pa, kako ćemo rešiti problem polarizacije znanja?

So how are we going to solve this problem of knowledge polarization?

One obvious tactic is to try to fix our technology,

Jedna očigledna taktika je da pokušamo da popravimo našu tehnologiju,

da iznova osmislimo naše digitalne platforme,

to redesign our digital platforms,

so as to make them less susceptible to polarization.

tako da ih učinimo manje podložnim polarizaciji.

And I'm happy to report

Drago mi je da vas obavestim

da mnogi pametni ljudi u Guglu i Fejsbuku rade baš na tome.

that many smart people at Google and Facebook are working on just that.

And these projects are vital.

Ovi projekti su od vitalnog značaja.

I think that fixing technology is obviously really important,

Mislim da je popravljanje tehnologije očigledno veoma značajno,

but I don't think technology alone, fixing it, is going to solve the problem

ali ne mislim da će tehnologija sama po sebi, njeno popravljanje,

rešiti problem polarizacije znanja.

of knowledge polarization.

Ne mislim tako jer ne mislim da je, na kraju krajeva,

I don't think that because I don't think, at the end of the day,

u pitanju tehnološki problem.

it is a technological problem.

I think it's a human problem,

Smatram da je ovo ljudski problem,

having to do with how we think and what we value.

da ima veze sa time kako razmišljamo i sa onim što vrednujemo.

In order to solve it, I think we're going to need help.

Da bismo ga rešili, mislim da će nam biti potrebna pomoć.

We're going to need help from psychology and political science.

Biće nam potrebna pomoć psihologije i političkih nauka,

But we're also going to need help, I think, from philosophy.

ali će nam, takođe, biti potrebna pomoć, prema mom mišljenju, filozofije.

Because to solve the problem of knowledge polarization,

Jer da bismo rešili problem polarizacije znanja,

we're going to need to reconnect

moraćemo da se iznova povežemo

with one fundamental, philosophical idea:

sa jednom osnovnom filozofskom idejom:

that we live in a common reality.

da živimo u zajedničkoj stvarnosti.

The idea of a common reality is like, I suppose,

Ideja o zajedničkoj stvarnosti je poput, pretpostavljam,

a lot of philosophical concepts:

mnogih filozofskih koncepata -

lako ju je iskazati,

easy to state

ali misteriozno teško primeniti.

but mysteriously difficult to put into practice.

Da bismo je zaista prihvatili,

To really accept it,

I think we need to do three things,

mislim da treba da sprovedemo tri stvari,

each of which is a challenge right now.

od kojih svaka trenutno predstavlja izazov.

First, we need to believe in truth.

Kao prvo, moramo da verujemo u istinu.

Možda ste primetili da je naša kultura

You might have noticed

that our culture is having something of a troubled relationship

trenutno u nekakvoj problematičnoj vezi sa ovim konceptom.

with that concept right now.

Deluje kao da se toliko ne slažemo da,

It seems as if we disagree so much that,

kako je to jedan politički komentator nedavno formulisao,

as one political commentator put it not long ago,

kao da više ne postoje činjenice.

it's as if there are no facts anymore.

But that thought is actually an expression

Ali ta misao je zapravo izraz

of a sort of seductive line of argument that's in the air.

nekakve zavodljive argumentacije koja je prisutna u vazduhu.

It goes like this:

Ide ovako nekako.

Jednostavno ne možemo iskoračiti iz svoje perspektive;

we just can't step outside of our own perspectives;

ne možemo izaći iz svojih predrasuda.

we can't step outside of our biases.

Every time we try,

Svaki put kada pokušamo,

samo dobijamo više informacija iz sopstvene perspektive.

we just get more information from our perspective.

So, this line of thought goes,

Tako, prema ovakvom toku misli,

mogli bismo priznati da je objektivna istina iluzija,

we might as well admit that objective truth is an illusion,

or it doesn't matter,

ili da nije bitna

because either we'll never know what it is,

jer je ili nikada nećemo spoznati,

ili uopšte ni ne postoji.

or it doesn't exist in the first place.

To nije nova filozofska misao -

That's not a new philosophical thought --

skepticizam u pogledu istine.

skepticism about truth.

During the end of the last century, as some of you know,

Krajem prošlog veka, kao što znaju neki među vama,

bio je vrlo popularan u izvesnim akademskim krugovima.

it was very popular in certain academic circles.

Ali zapravo datira još od grčkog filozofa Protagore,

But it really goes back all the way to the Greek philosopher Protagoras,

if not farther back.

ako ne i ranije.

Protagoras said that objective truth was an illusion

Protagora je rekao da je objektivna istina iluzija

because "man is the measure of all things."

jer „čovek je mera svih stvari“.

Man is the measure of all things.

Čovek je mera svih stvari.

Ovo može delovati kao okrepljujući deo realpolitike

That can seem like a bracing bit of realpolitik to people,

ili oslobađajući,

or liberating,

because it allows each of us to discover or make our own truth.

jer svima nama omogućava da otkrijemo ili stvorimo svoju istinu.

But actually, I think it's a bit of self-serving rationalization

Ali, zapravo, mislim da je ovo pomalo racionalizacija koja služi samoj sebi,

disguised as philosophy.

prerušena u filozofiju.

It confuses the difficulty of being certain

Meša poteškoće da se bude siguran u nešto

sa nemogućnošću istine.

with the impossibility of truth.

Look --

Vidite -

of course it's difficult to be certain about anything;

naravno da je teško biti siguran u bilo šta;

we might all be living in "The Matrix."

možda svi živimo u „Matriksu“.

Možda imate čip u mozgu

You might have a brain chip in your head

koji vam daje pogrešne informacije.

feeding you all the wrong information.

But in practice, we do agree on all sorts of facts.

Ali u praksi se slažemo oko raznoraznih činjenica.

We agree that bullets can kill people.

Slažemo se da meci mogu ubiti ljude.

We agree that you can't flap your arms and fly.

Slažemo se da ne možete zalepršati rukama i poleteti.

Slažemo se - ili bi trebalo -

We agree -- or we should --

da postoji spoljašnja stvarnost

that there is an external reality

and ignoring it can get you hurt.

i da vam njeno ignorisanje može naškoditi.

Ipak, skepticizam u pogledu istine može biti primamljiv,

Nonetheless, skepticism about truth can be tempting,

because it allows us to rationalize away our own biases.

jer nam omogućava da racionalizujemo svoje predrasude.

When we do that, we're sort of like the guy in the movie

Kada to činimo, na neki način smo poput lika u filmu

who knew he was living in "The Matrix"

koji je znao da živi u „Matriksu“

but decided he liked it there, anyway.

ali je odlučio da mu se tamo sviđa bez obzira na to.

Na kraju krajeva, dobar je osećaj dobiti ono što želite.

After all, getting what you want feels good.

Dobar je osećaj stalno biti u pravu.

Being right all the time feels good.

So, often it's easier for us

Tako nam je često lakše

to wrap ourselves in our cozy information bubbles,

da se zavučemo u udobne mehure informacija,

živimo u obmani

live in bad faith,

and take those bubbles as the measure of reality.

i prihvatimo te mehure kao merilo stvarnosti.

An example, I think, of how this bad faith gets into our action

Jedan primer, prema meni, načina na koji ova obmana otpočinje

is our reaction to the phenomenon of fake news.

je naša reakcija na fenomen lažnih vesti.

The fake news that spread on the internet

Lažne vesti koje su se širile po internetu

during the American presidential election of 2016

tokom američkih predsedničkih izbora 2016. godine

was designed to feed into our biases,

osmišljene su tako da pothranjuju naše predrasude,

da naduvaju naše mehure.

designed to inflate our bubbles.

Ono što je zaista bilo upadljivo u vezi sa time

But what was really striking about it

was not just that it fooled so many people.

nije samo to da su prevarile mnogo ljudi.

What was really striking to me about fake news,

Ono što je za mene bilo upečatljivo u vezi sa lažnim vestima, fenomenom,

the phenomenon,

is how quickly it itself became the subject of knowledge polarization;

je koliko je brzo postao povod polarizacije znanja;

so much so, that the very term -- the very term -- "fake news"

toliko da sam termin „lažne vesti“

now just means: "news story I don't like."

sada samo znači „vest koja mi se ne sviđa“.

That's an example of the bad faith towards the truth that I'm talking about.

To je primer obmane protiv istine o kojoj govorim.

But the really, I think, dangerous thing

Ali zaista opasna stvar, po meni,

about skepticism with regard to truth

u vezi sa skepticizmom u pogledu istine

is that it leads to despotism.

je da vodi despotizmu.

"Man is the measure of all things"

„Čovek je mera svih stvari“

inevitably becomes "The Man is the measure of all things."

neizbežno postaje „jedan čovek je mera svih stvari“.

Just as "every man for himself"

Baš kao što „svako za sebe“

always seems to turn out to be "only the strong survive."

uvek ispadne na kraju „samo jaki opstaju“.

At the end of Orwell's "1984,"

Na kraju Orvelove „Hiljadu devetsto osamdeset četvrte“

pripadnik policije misli О'Вгајеn muči glavnog lika Vinstona Smita

the thought policeman O'Brien is torturing the protagonist Winston Smith

into believing two plus two equals five.

da bi poverovao da je dva plus dva jednako pet.

What O'Brien says is the point,

Ono što O'Brajen kaže je poenta,

is that he wants to convince Smith that whatever the party says is the truth,

a to je da on hoće da ubedi Smita da je šta god partija kaže istina,

and the truth is whatever the party says.

kao i da je istina šta god partija kaže da jeste.

And what O'Brien knows is that once this thought is accepted,

O'Brajen zna da je, kada se ta misao prihvati,

critical dissent is impossible.

kritičko neslaganje nemoguće.

You can't speak truth to power

Ne možete govoriti istinu moći

ako moć prema definiciji govori istinu.

if the power speaks truth by definition.

I said that in order to accept that we really live in a common reality,

To sam naveo jer, da bismo prihvatili da zaista živimo u zajedničkoj stvarnosti,

moramo da uradimo tri stvari.

we have to do three things.

The first thing is to believe in truth.

Prva stvar je da verujemo u istinu.

Druga stvar se može sažeti

The second thing can be summed up

pomoću latinske fraze koju je Kant uzeo kao moto prosvetiteljstva:

by the Latin phrase that Kant took as the motto for the Enlightenment:

"Sapere aude,"

„Sapere aude“

or "dare to know."

ili „usudi se da znaš“,

Or as Kant wants, "to dare to know for yourself."

ili, kako to Kant želi: „usudi se da sam saznaš“.

Mislim da je na začetku interneta mnogo nas mislilo

I think in the early days of the internet,

a lot of us thought

that information technology was always going to make it easier

da će nam informaciona tehnologija uvek olakšavati da sami saznajemo

for us to know for ourselves,

i, naravno, umnogome i jeste.

and of course in many ways, it has.

But as the internet has become more and more a part of our lives,

Ali kako je internet sve više postao deo našeg života,

our reliance on it, our use of it,

naše oslanjanje na njega i korišćenje

has become often more passive.

često je postajalo pasivnije.

Veliki deo onoga što danas znamo, znamo preko Gugla.

Much of what we know today we Google-know.

We download prepackaged sets of facts

Skidamo unapred upakovane skupove činjenica

i nekako ih povlačimo na traci društvenih mreža.

and sort of shuffle them along the assembly line of social media.

Saznavanje putem Gugla je korisno

Now, Google-knowing is useful

precisely because it involves a sort of intellectual outsourcing.

upravo zato što podrazumeva neku vrstu intelektualnih spoljnih usluga.

Rasterećujemo se naprezanja na račun mreže drugih ljudi i algoritama.

We offload our effort onto a network of others and algorithms.

And that allows us, of course, to not clutter our minds

To nam omogućava, naravno, da ne zatrpavamo glavu

with all sorts of facts.

najrazličitijim podacima.

We can just download them when we need them.

Možemo prosto da ih skinemo kada su nam potrebni

And that's awesome.

i to je sjajno.

But there's a difference between downloading a set of facts

Međutim, postoji razlika između skidanja skupa podataka

and really understanding how or why those facts are as they are.

i stvarnog razumevanja kako i zašto su ti podaci takvi kakvi jesu.

Razumevanje razloga zašto se određena bolest širi,

Understanding why a particular disease spreads,

or how a mathematical proof works,

kako funkcioniše neki matematički dokaz

or why your friend is depressed,

ili zašto je vaš prijatelj depresivan

involves more than just downloading.

podrazumeva više od jednostavnog skidanja podataka.

It's going to require, most likely,

To će iziskivati, najverovatnije,

doing some work for yourself:

da sami uložite nešto truda:

having a little creative insight;

sticanje malo kreativnog uvida,

using your imagination;

korišćenje mašte,

getting out into the field;

izlaženje na teren,

doing the experiment;

sprovođenje eksperimenta,

working through the proof;

rad sa dokazima,

talking to someone.

razgovor sa nekim.

Now, I'm not saying, of course, that we should stop Google-knowing.

Ne poručujem, naravno, da treba da prestanemo da saznajemo putem Gugla;

I'm just saying

samo kažem da ne treba ni da precenjujemo to saznanje.

we shouldn't overvalue it, either.

We need to find ways of encouraging forms of knowing that are more active,

Treba da pronađemo načine za podsticanje načina saznavanja koji su aktivniji

and don't always involve passing off our effort into our bubble.

i koji ne podrazumevaju da ćemo uvek prebaciti trud na svoj mehur.

Because the thing about Google-knowing is that too often it ends up

Jer stvar je u tome što se saznavanje putem Gugla

često završi kao saznavanje putem mehura,

being bubble-knowing.

And bubble-knowing means always being right.

a saznavanje putem mehura znači uvek biti u pravu.

But daring to know,

A usuditi se da znate,

daring to understand,

usuditi se da razumete

podrazumeva rizikovanje mogućnosti da grešite.

means risking the possibility that you could be wrong.

It means risking the possibility

Podrazumeva rizikovanje mogućnosti

that what you want and what's true are different things.

da su ono što želite i ono što je istina različite stvari.

To me dovodi do treće stvari koju mislim da treba da činimo

Which brings me to the third thing that I think we need to do

if we want to accept that we live in a common reality.

ako hoćemo da prihvatimo da živimo u zajedničkoj stvarnosti.

That third thing is: have a little humility.

Ta treća stvar je da posedujemo malo skromnosti.

By humility here, I mean epistemic humility,

Pod skromnošću ovde podrazumevam epistemičku skromnost,

which means, in a sense,

što znači, na neki način,

knowing that you don't know it all.

znati da ne znate sve,

ali takođe označava više od toga.

But it also means something more than that.

It means seeing your worldview as open to improvement

Podrazumeva da vidite svoj pogled na svet kao otvoren za poboljšanje

by the evidence and experience of others.

kroz dokaze i iskustvo drugih.

Seeing your worldview as open to improvement

Da vidite svoj pogled na svet kao otvoren za poboljšanje

by the evidence and experience of others.

kroz dokaze i iskustvo drugih.

To je više od otvorenosti za promenu.

That's more than just being open to change.

To je više od jednostavne otvorenosti za lični napredak.

It's more than just being open to self-improvement.

It means seeing your knowledge as capable of enhancing

Podrazumeva da sagledavate svoje znanje tako da je u stanju da se poboljša

or being enriched by what others contribute.

ili obogati kroz doprinos drugih.

That's part of what is involved

To je deo onoga što obuhvata

in recognizing there's a common reality

prepoznavanje da postoji zajednička stvarnost

za koju ste i vi odgovorni.

that you, too, are responsible to.

I don't think it's much of a stretch to say

Mislim da nije preterano reći

that our society is not particularly great at enhancing or encouraging

da naše društvo nije naročito sjajno u pogledu poboljšanja ili podsticanja

that sort of humility.

takve vrste skromnosti.

To je delom zato što,

That's partly because,

well, we tend to confuse arrogance and confidence.

pa, znamo da pomešamo aroganciju i samopouzdanje,

And it's partly because, well, you know,

a delom je i zato što, pa, znate,

arrogance is just easier.

arogancija je jednostavno lakša.

It's just easier to think of yourself as knowing it all.

Lakše je da imate mišljenje o sebi kao sveznalici.

It's just easier to think of yourself as having it all figured out.

Lakše je razmišljati o sebi kao da ste sve dokučili.

But that's another example of the bad faith towards the truth

Ali to je još jedan primer obmane naspram istine

that I've been talking about.

o kojoj sam govorio.

So the concept of a common reality,

Stoga koncept zajedničke stvarnosti,

like a lot of philosophical concepts,

kao mnogi filozofski koncepti,

can seem so obvious,

može delovati tako očigledno

that we can look right past it

da ga možemo prevideti

and forget why it's important.

i zaboraviti zašto je važan.

Democracies can't function if their citizens don't strive,

Demokratija ne može funkcionisati ako njeni građani ne nastoje,

at least some of the time,

bar neko vreme,

to inhabit a common space,

da nastanjuju zajednički prostor,

a space where they can pass ideas back and forth

prostor u kome mogu razmenjivati ideje

kada - a pogotovo kada -

when -- and especially when --

they disagree.

se ne slažu.

But you can't strive to inhabit that space

Ali ne možete nastojati da obitavate u tom prostoru

if you don't already accept that you live in the same reality.

ako niste već prihvatili da živite u istoj stvarnosti.

Da bismo to prihvatili, moramo verovati u istinu,

To accept that, we've got to believe in truth,

we've got to encourage more active ways of knowing.

moramo podsticati aktivnije načine saznavanja

And we've got to have the humility

i moramo posedovati skromnost

da uvidimo da nismo mera svih stvari.

to realize that we're not the measure of all things.

Možda ćemo tek jednog dana ostvariti viziju

We may yet one day realize the vision

of having the internet in our brains.

da imamo internet u svom mozgu.

But if we want that to be liberating and not terrifying,

Ali ako želimo da to bude nešto što oslobađa a ne zastrašuje,

if we want it to expand our understanding

ako želimo da proširimo svoje razumevanje

a ne samo pasivno saznavanje,

and not just our passive knowing,

we need to remember that our perspectives,

moramo da upamtimo da naše perspektive,

koliko god bile čudesne i lepe,

as wondrous, as beautiful as they are,

jesu samo to -

are just that --

perspectives on one reality.

perspektive vezane za jednu stvarnost.

Hvala.

Thank you.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)