Abha Dawesar: Life in the "digital now"

Prevodilac: Vladimir Djuric Lektor: Mile Živković

I was in New York during Hurricane Sandy,

Bila sam u Njujorku za vreme uragana Sendi

and this little white dog called Maui

i mali beli pas po imenu 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 živela na tamnoj strani.

Now, Maui was terrified of the dark,

Mauija je mrak preplašio,

so I had to carry him up the stairs,

pa sam morala da ga nosim uz stepenice,

actually down the stairs first, for his walk,

zapravo najpre niz stepenice u njegovu šetnju,

and then bring him back up.

i onda da ga vratim gore.

I was also hauling gallons of bottles of water

Takođe sam vukla na litre flaširane vode

up to the seventh floor every day.

gore na sedmi sprat svaki dan.

And through all of this,

I tokom svega toga

I had to hold a torch between my teeth.

morala sam da držim baklju u zubima.

The stores nearby were out of flashlights

Obližnje prodavnice ostale su bez baterijskih lampi,

and batteries and bread.

baterija i hleba.

For a shower, I walked 40 blocks

Radi tuširanja, hodala sam 40 blokova

to a branch of my gym.

u teretanu.

But these were not the major preoccupations of my day.

Ali to nisu bile moje glavne dnevne preokupacije.

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

Bilo mi je jednako važno da budem prva osoba

at a cafe nearby with extension cords and chargers

u obližnjem kafeu sa produžnim kablovima i punjačima

to juice my multiple devices.

i napunim svoje razne uređaje.

I started to prospect under the benches of bakeries

Počela sam da tragam za utičnicama

and the entrances of pastry shops for plug points.

pod klupama pekara i u ulazima prodavnica peciva.

I wasn't the only one.

Nisam bila jedina.

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

Čak i po kiši, ljudi su stajali između Medisona i Pete avenije

under their umbrellas charging their cell phones

pod kišobranima puneći svoje mobilne telefone

from outlets on the street.

iz utičnica na ulici.

Nature had just reminded us

Priroda nas je upravo podsetila

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 eto nas, opsednuti smo priključivanjem.

I think there's nothing like a crisis

Mislim da ne postoji ništa kao kriza

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

da vam kaže šta je važno, a šta ne,

and Sandy made me realize that our devices

i Sendi me je navela da shvatim da su nam naši uređaji

and their connectivity matter to us

i njihovo priključivanje jednako važni

right up there with food and shelter.

kao hrana i sklonište.

The self as we once knew it no longer exists,

Osobnost kakvu smo nekad znali više ne postoji

and I think that an abstract, digital universe

i mislim da je apstraktni, digitalni kosmos

has become a part of our identity,

postao deo našeg identiteta,

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

i želim da vam kažem šta ja mislim da to znači.

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

Ja sam romanopisac i zanima me osobnost

because the self and fiction have a lot in common.

jer osobnost i fikcija imaju puno zajedničkog.

They're both stories, interpretations.

Obe 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

Možemo trčati uz stepenice prebrzo

and we might get breathless.

i možemo ostati bez daha.

But the larger sense that we have of our lives,

Ali širi osećaj koji imamo o našim životima,

the slightly more abstract one, is indirect.

malo apstraktniji, je indirektan.

Our story of our life is based on direct experience,

Naša priča o našim životima zasnovana je na direktnom iskustvu,

but it's embellished.

ali ono je ulepšano.

A novel needs scene after scene to build,

Priča zahteva scenu za scenom da bi bila sačinjena,

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

a priča o našim životima zahteva i svod.

It needs months and years.

Potrebni su meseci i godine.

Discrete moments from our lives are its chapters.

Pojedinačni trenuci naših života su njena poglavlja.

But the story is not about these chapters.

Ali priča nije o tim poglavljima.

It's the whole book.

Već o knjizi kao celini.

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

Ne radi se samo o slomljenom srcu i sreći,

the victories and the disappointments,

pobedama i razočaranjima,

but it's because how because of these,

već kako zbog toga,

and sometimes, more importantly, in spite of these,

a ponekad, što je još važnije, uprkos tome,

we find our place in the world

mi nađemo svoje mesto u svetu

and we change it and we change ourselves.

i menjamo ga i menjamo sebe.

Our story, therefore, needs two dimensions of time:

Naša priča stoga traži dve dimenzije vremena:

a long arc of time that is our lifespan,

veći vremenski svod koji je naš životni vek,

and the timeframe of direct experience

i vremenski okvir direktnih iskustava

that is the moment.

koja predstavljaju trenutak.

Now the self that experiences directly

Osobenost koja se iskusi direktno

can only exist in the moment,

može postojati samo u trenutku,

but the one that narrates needs several moments,

ali ona koja priča traži više trenutaka,

a whole sequence of them,

čitav niz trenutaka,

and that's why our full sense of self

i zato naš potpuni osećaj sebe

needs both immersive experience

traži i duboko iskustvo

and the flow of time.

i protok vremena.

Now, the flow of time is embedded in everything,

Protok vremena je uključen u sve,

in the erosion of a grain of sand,

u eroziju zrna peska,

in the budding of a little bud into a rose.

u pupljenje malog pupoljka u ružu.

Without it, we would have no music.

Bez toga, ne bismo imali muziku.

Our own emotions and state of mind

Naše emocije i stanje svesti

often encode time,

često kodiraju vreme,

regret or nostalgia about the past,

žaljenje i nostalgija za prošlošću,

hope or dread about the future.

nada ili strah za budućnošću.

I think that technology has altered that flow of time.

Mislim da je tehnologija izmenila tok vremena.

The overall time that we have for our narrative,

Sveukupno vreme koje imamo za našu priču,

our lifespan, has been increasing,

naš životni vek, se uvećalo,

but the smallest measure, the moment, has shrunk.

ali najmanja mera, trenutak, se smanjio.

It has shrunk because our instruments enable us

Smanjio se jer nam naši uređaju omogućavaju

in part to measure smaller and smaller units of time,

delom da izmerimo sve manje i manje jedinice vremena,

and this in turn has given us a more granular understanding

a to nam je zauzvrat dalo elementarnije shvatanje

of the material world,

materijalnog sveta

and this granular understanding

i to elementarno shvatanje

has generated reams of data

je stvorilo penu podataka

that our brains can no longer comprehend

koju naš mozak više ne može da poima

and for which we need more and more complicated computers.

i za to su nam potrebni sve komplikovaniji kompjuteri.

All of this to say that the gap

Na sve to dodajmo da će raskol

between what we can perceive and what we can measure

između onoga što poimamo i onoga što možemo da izmerimo

is only going to widen.

samo postajati veći.

Science can do things with and in a picosecond,

Nauka može da radi stvari za i u okviru pikosekunde,

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

ali vi i ja nikada nećemo steći takvo unutrašnje iskustvo

of a millionth of a millionth of a second.

milionitog dela milionitog dela sekunde.

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

Vi i ja reagujemo samo na ritam i tok prirode,

to the sun, the moon and the seasons,

na Sunce, Mesec i godišnja doba,

and this is why we need that long arc of time

i zato nam je potreban taj veći vremenski svod

with the past, the present and the future

sa prošlošću, sadašnošću i budućnošću

to see things for what they are,

da bismo stvari sagledali kakve jesu,

to separate signal from noise

da razdvojimo signal od šuma

and the self from sensations.

i osobenost od senzacije.

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

Treba nam vremenska strelica da shvatimo uzroke i posledice,

not just in the material world,

ne samo u materijalnom svetu,

but in our own intentions and our motivations.

već i u našim sopstvenim namerama i motivima.

What happens when that arrow goes awry?

Šta se događa kad ta strelica odluta?

What happens when time warps?

Šta se događa kada se vreme iskrivi?

So many of us today have the sensation

Toliko nas danas ima osećaj

that time's arrow is pointing everywhere

da vremenska strelica pokazuje u svim pravcima,

and nowhere at once.

a zapravo nigde.

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

To je zato što vreme u digitalnom svetu ne teče

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

na isti način kao u prirodnom.

We all know that the Internet has shrunk space

Svi znamo da je internet smanjio i prostor

as well as time.

i vreme.

Far away over there is now here.

Tamo daleko je sada ovde.

News from India is a stream on my smartphone app

Vesti iz Indije se slivaju na aplikaciju mog mobilnog

whether I'm in New York or New Delhi.

bez obzira da li sam u Njujorku ili Nju Delhiju.

And that's not all.

I to nije sve.

Your last job, your dinner reservations from last year,

Vaš poslednji posao, vaša prošlogodišnja rezervacija za večeru,

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

vaši bivši prijatelji, izležavanje na livadi sa današnjim prijateljima,

because the Internet also archives,

jer internet i to arhivira

and it warps the past.

i iskrivljuje prošlost.

With no distinction left between the past,

Bez razgraničenja prošlosti,

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

sadašnjosti i budućnosti, ovde ili tamo,

we are left with this moment everywhere,

ostavljeni smo sa tim trenutkom svuda,

this moment that I'll call the digital now.

tim trenutkom koji ću nazvati "digitalno sada".

Just how can we prioritize

Kako da određujemo prioritete

in the landscape of the digital now?

u svetlu "digitalnog sada"?

This digital now is not the present,

Digitalno sada nije sadašnjost,

because it's always a few seconds ahead,

jer je uvek nekoliko sekundi ispred,

with Twitter streams that are already trending

sa objavama na Tviteru koje su već u trendu

and news from other time zones.

i vestima iz drugih vremenskih zona.

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

To nije sadašnjost oštrog bola u vašem stopalu

or the second that you bite into a pastry

niti sekunda u kojoj zagrizate pecivo

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

ili tri sata u kojim ste se udubili u dobru knjigu.

This now bears very little physical

To sada ima malo fizičke

or psychological reference to our own state.

ili psihološke veze sa našim stanjem.

Its focus, instead, is to distract us

Cilj toga je zapravo da nam odvuče pažnju

at every turn on the road.

na svakoj krivini.

Every digital landmark is an invitation

Svaki digitalni orijentir je pozivnica

to leave what you are doing now to go somewhere else

da napustite ono što sada radite i odete drugde

and do something else.

i radite nešto drugo.

Are you reading an interview by an author?

Čitate li intervju sa autorom?

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

A što ne bi kupili tu knjigu? Tvitujte je. Podelite je.

Like it. Find other books exactly like his.

Lajkujte je. Pronađite druge baš takve knjige.

Find other people reading those books.

Pronađite ljude koji čitaju baš te knjige.

Travel can be liberating,

Putovanje može biti oslobađajuće,

but when it is incessant, we become

ali kada je neprekidno, postajemo

permanent exiles without repose.

trajni izgnanici bez odmora.

Choice is freedom, but not when it's constantly

Izbor je sloboda, ali ne kada je stalno

for its own sake.

sam sebi smisao.

Not just is the digital now far from the present,

Ne samo da je digitalno sada udaljeno od sadašnjosti,

but it's in direct competition with it,

nego mu je direktna konkurencija,

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

i to ne samo zato što ja odsustvujem iz nje,

but so are you.

već i vi.

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

Nismo samo mi odsutni iz sadašnjosti, već su svi.

And therein lies its greatest convenience and horror.

I u tome leži njena najveća pogodnost i užas.

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

Mogu da poručim knjigu na stranom jeziku u pola noći,

shop for Parisian macarons,

kupujem pariske makaron kolačiće,

and leave video messages that get picked up later.

i ostavim video poruku za kasnije pregledanje.

At all times, I can operate

U svakom trenutku mogu da se ponašam

at a different rhythm and pace from you,

drugačijim ritmom i tempom od vas,

while I sustain the illusion

dok zadržavam iluziju

that I'm tapped into you in real time.

da sam vezana za vas u realnom vremenu.

Sandy was a reminder

Sendi nas je podsetila

of how such an illusion can shatter.

kako se takva iluzija može uzdrmati.

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,

Tu su oni koji su se vratili svojim životima,

and those who are still displaced

i oni koji su još uvek izmešteni

after so many months.

nakon toliko meseci.

For some reason, technology seems to perpetuate

Iz nekog razloga, tehnologija izgleda održava

the illusion for those who have it that everyone does,

iluziju onima koji je imaju da je svako ima,

and then, like an ironic slap in the face,

i onda, kao ironični šamar u lice,

it makes it true.

to se obistinjuje.

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

Na primer, kažu da u Indiji

in India with access to cell phones than toilets.

više ljudi ima pristup mobilnim telefonima nego toaletima.

Now if this rift, which is already so great

Ako se ovaj procep, koji je već toliko velik

in many parts of the world,

u mnogim delovima sveta,

between the lack of infrastructure and the spread of technology,

između nedostatka infrastrukture i raširenosti tehnologije,

isn't somehow bridged,

nekako ne premosti,

there will be ruptures between the digital

imaćemo pukotine između digitalnog

and the real.

i stvarnog.

For us as individuals who live in the digital now

Za nas kao individue koje žive u digitalnom sada

and spend most of our waking moments in it,

i provode većinu svojih budnih trenutaka u njemu,

the challenge is to live in two streams of time

izazov je da živimo u dva vremenska toka

that are parallel and almost simultaneous.

koji su paralelni i skoro simultani.

How does one live inside distraction?

Kako neko živi u odvraćanju pažnje?

We might think that those younger than us,

Možemo pomisliti da će se mlađi od nas,

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

oni koji su rođeni u tome, prirodnije prilagoditi.

Possibly, but I remember my childhood.

Verovatno, ali sećam se svog detinjstva.

I remember my grandfather revising

Sećam se kako je moj deda ponavljao

the capitals of the world with me.

glavne gradove sveta sa mnom.

Buda and Pest were separated by the Danube,

Budim i Pešta bili su razdvojeni Dunavom,

and Vienna had a Spanish riding school.

a Beč je imao Špansku školu jahanja.

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

Da sam dete danas, mogla bih lako naučiti ove informacije

with apps and hyperlinks,

uz aplikacije i hiperlinkove,

but it really wouldn't be the same,

ali to uistinu ne bi bilo isto,

because much later, I went to Vienna,

jer mnogo kasnije, otišla sam u Beč

and I went to the Spanish riding school,

i posetila Špansku školu jahanja,

and I could feel my grandfather right beside me.

i mogla sam osetiti svog dedu uz sebe.

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

Noć za noć, vodio me je gore na terasu

on his shoulders, and pointed out Jupiter

na svojim ramenima i pokazivao mi Jupiter

and Saturn and the Great Bear to me.

i Saturn i Velikog medveda.

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

I čak i ovde, kada gledam Velikog medveda,

I get back that feeling of being a child,

vraća mi se taj osećaj da sam dete,

hanging onto his head and trying to balance myself

koje se oslanja na njegovu glavu održavajući ravnotežu

on his shoulder,

na njegovim ramenima,

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

i ponovo se osećam kao dete.

What I had with my grandfather was wrapped

To što sam imala sa svojim dedom toliko često je bilo obmotano

so often in information and knowledge and fact,

u informacije, znanja i činjenice,

but it was about so much more

ali se radilo i o mnogo više

than information or knowledge or fact.

od informacija, znanja i činjenica.

Time-warping technology challenges

Tehnologija iskrivljivanja vremena menja

our deepest core,

naše najdublje jezgro,

because we are able to archive the past

jer smo u stanju da arhiviramo prošlost

and some of it becomes hard to forget,

i deo nje se teško zaboravlja

even as the current moment

čak i kada aktuelni trenutak

is increasingly unmemorable.

postaje sve manje za pamćenje.

We want to clutch, and we are left instead

Želimo da to zgrabimo, a umesto toga

clutching at a series of static moments.

grabimo niz nepomičnih trenutaka.

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

Oni su kao mehuri od sapunice koji nestaju kada ih dodirnemo.

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

Arhivirajući sve, mislimo da sve možemo i pohraniti,

but time is not data.

ali vreme nije podatak.

It cannot be stored.

Ono ne može biti pohranjeno.

You and I know exactly what it means like

Vi i ja tačno znamo šta znači

to be truly present in a moment.

biti istinski prisutan u trenutku.

It might have happened while we were

To se možda dogodilo dok smo

playing an instrument,

svirali instrument

or looking into the eyes of someone we've known

ili dugo gledali u oči

for a very long time.

nekog poznatog.

At such moments, our selves are complete.

U takvim trenucima, kompletni smo.

The self that lives in the long narrative arc

Osobenost koja živi u dugom narativnom svodu

and the self that experiences the moment

i osobenost koja doživljava trenutak

become one.

postaju jedno.

The present encapsulates the past

Sadašnjost obuhvata 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 pre i posle.

I first experienced these feelings with my grandmother.

Prvi put sam iskusila ta osećanja sa svojom bakom.

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

Želela sam da naučim da preskačem uže i ona je našla staro uže

and she tucked up her sari

i prikupila je svoj sari

and she jumped over it.

i preskakala ga.

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

Želela sam da naučim da kuvam i ona me je držala u kuhinji,

cutting, cubing and chopping for a whole month.

sekla, mešala i rezala čitav mesec.

My grandmother taught me that things happen

Baka me je naučila da se stvari dešavaju

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

u vremenu koje im je potrebno, da se sa vremenom ne može boriti,

and because it will pass and it will move,

jer će ono proći i kretati se,

we owe the present moment our full attention.

i da zato sadašnjem trenutku dugujemo punu pažnju.

Attention is time.

Pažnja je vreme.

One of my yoga instructors once said

Jedan od mojih instruktora joge je jednom rekao

that love is attention,

da je ljubav pažnja,

and definitely from my grandmother,

i definitivno od moje bake,

love and attention were one and the same thing.

ljubav i pažnja bili su jedno te isto.

The digital world cannibalizes time,

Digitalni svet kanibalizuje vreme,

and in doing so, I want to suggest

i čineći to, želim da sugerišem

that what it threatens

da ono ugrožava

is the completeness of ourselves.

našu celovitost.

It threatens the flow of love.

Ono ugrožava protok ljubavi.

But we don't need to let it.

Ali mi to ne moramo dozvoliti.

We can choose otherwise.

Možemo birati drugačije.

We've seen again and again

Viđali smo iznova i iznova

just how creative technology can be,

koliko tehnologija može biti kreativna,

and in our lives and in our actions,

i u našim životima i činjenjima,

we can choose those solutions and those innovations

možemo birati ona rešenja i inovacije

and those moments that restore the flow of time

i one trenutke koji obnavljaju protok vremena

instead of fragmenting it.

umesto da ga fragmentiraju.

We can slow down and we can tune in

Možemo usporiti i podesiti se

to the ebb and flow of time.

na opadanje i protok vremena.

We can choose to take time back.

Možemo izabrati da vratimo vreme.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)