Abha Dawesar: Life in the "digital now"

翻译人员: dahong zhang 校对人员: Coco Shen

I was in New York during Hurricane Sandy,

当飓风桑迪来袭时，我正在纽约

and this little white dog called Maui

和一只名叫毛伊的小白狗

was staying with me.

待在一起

Half the city was dark because of a power cut,

由于停电，半个城市处于黑暗中

and I was living on the dark side.

我当时就在黑暗(停电)的这一边

Now, Maui was terrified of the dark,

毛伊非常怕黑

so I had to carry him up the stairs,

我只好把它抱上楼

actually down the stairs first, for his walk,

实际上是先带下楼去遛

and then bring him back up.

再把它抱回来

I was also hauling gallons of bottles of water

我每天还要将数加仑的瓶装水

up to the seventh floor every day.

艰难地拖到七楼

And through all of this,

而且同时

I had to hold a torch between my teeth.

我还得牙咬着手电照明。

The stores nearby were out of flashlights

附近商店里的手电筒，电池

and batteries and bread.

和面包早已售罄

For a shower, I walked 40 blocks

为了洗个澡，我得走40个路口

to a branch of my gym.

到一个健身中心去。

But these were not the major preoccupations of my day.

但这些并不是我一天中最重要的任务

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

对我来说同样重要的还有能否第一个

at a cafe nearby with extension cords and chargers

带上充电线到附近的一家咖啡馆

to juice my multiple devices.

给我的多个设备充电。

I started to prospect under the benches of bakeries

我开始寻找面包店长椅下

and the entrances of pastry shops for plug points.

和糕点店入口处的那些插座

I wasn't the only one.

我并不是唯一一个

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

即使下着雨，也有人打着雨伞站在

under their umbrellas charging their cell phones

麦迪逊和第五大道之间的街边插座旁

from outlets on the street.

等着自己的手机充电

Nature had just reminded us

大自然提醒着我们

that it was stronger than all our technology,

它比所有的技术来的强大

and yet here we were, obsessed about being wired.

但我们仍然沉迷于上网。

I think there's nothing like a crisis

我认为没有什么能够比一场危机

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

更能告诉你事物的轻重缓急

and Sandy made me realize that our devices

飓风桑迪使我认识到我们的电子设备

and their connectivity matter to us

及其通讯功能对我的重要程度

right up there with food and shelter.

就如食物和住所一般

The self as we once knew it no longer exists,

我们所熟知的一部分自己已经不复存在

and I think that an abstract, digital universe

而一个抽象的数字的世界

has become a part of our identity,

已经成为了我们身份的一部分

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

我想谈谈这意味着什么

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

我是一个小说家，我对关于“自我”的话题感兴趣

because the self and fiction have a lot in common.

因为“自我”和小说有很多共同点

They're both stories, interpretations.

他们都属于一种故事和诠释

You and I can experience things without a story.

你和我可以不通过故事体验事情

We might run up the stairs too quickly

我们可能爬楼梯爬得太快

and we might get breathless.

我们可能呼吸困难

But the larger sense that we have of our lives,

但我们越是深入地感受我们的生活

the slightly more abstract one, is indirect.

就越是感受到其抽象和不直接

Our story of our life is based on direct experience,

我们关于生活的故事都来自于经历

but it's embellished.

但是修饰过的

A novel needs scene after scene to build,

小说需要一个接一个的场景来完成

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

我们生活的故事同样需要一道时间跨度

It needs months and years.

需要数月甚至数年的

Discrete moments from our lives are its chapters.

独立生活场景来组成一个个章节

But the story is not about these chapters.

但故事并不是仅仅是这些章节

It's the whole book.

而是整整一本书

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

不仅仅是伤心和愉悦

the victories and the disappointments,

也不仅仅是胜利和失望

but it's because how because of these,

而是所有的前因后果

and sometimes, more importantly, in spite of these,

有时候，也许更加重要的是，尽管有此种种

we find our place in the world

我们寻找自己在世界中的位置

and we change it and we change ourselves.

然后改变这个位置，改变自我

Our story, therefore, needs two dimensions of time:

我们的故事，因此，需要一个二维的时间轴：

a long arc of time that is our lifespan,

一个是我们整个的生命

and the timeframe of direct experience

以及另一个就是直接经历的时间片段

that is the moment.

便是某个时刻

Now the self that experiences directly

现在直接经历的那个“自我”

can only exist in the moment,

只存在于某个时刻

but the one that narrates needs several moments,

但一个故事需要多个时刻组成

a whole sequence of them,

多个有序的时刻

and that's why our full sense of self

这就是为何完整的“自我”认识

needs both immersive experience

同时包括深入地体验

and the flow of time.

和时间的流逝

Now, the flow of time is embedded in everything,

时间的流逝镌刻于每一件事情中

in the erosion of a grain of sand,

无论是一粒沙尘的消逝

in the budding of a little bud into a rose.

还是一朵玫瑰的缓缓绽放

Without it, we would have no music.

没有时间的流逝，我们无法获得音乐

Our own emotions and state of mind

我们自己的情绪和意识

often encode time,

往往同时间紧密相连

regret or nostalgia about the past,

无论是对过去的悔恨或怀念

hope or dread about the future.

或是对未来的希望和担心

I think that technology has altered that flow of time.

我认为科技已经改变的时间的流逝

The overall time that we have for our narrative,

我们人生中用在叙事上的时间

our lifespan, has been increasing,

增加了

but the smallest measure, the moment, has shrunk.

但时间的片段和瞬间，却简短了

It has shrunk because our instruments enable us

因为我们的设备让我们

in part to measure smaller and smaller units of time,

能够度量越来越小的时间片段

and this in turn has given us a more granular understanding

这反过来又给了我们一个更细粒度的理解

of the material world,

物质世界

and this granular understanding

这种细粒度的理解

has generated reams of data

产生了大量的数据

that our brains can no longer comprehend

我们的大脑不能处理了

and for which we need more and more complicated computers.

这就导致我们需要越来越复杂的电脑。

All of this to say that the gap

这一切就是说明

between what we can perceive and what we can measure

我们可以理解世界的和我们可以度量的世界之间的鸿沟

is only going to widen.

越来越大了。

Science can do things with and in a picosecond,

科技可以实现在皮秒（百亿分之一秒）下完成工作，

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

可是你我却没有可能感受到

of a millionth of a millionth of a second.

百万分之百万分之一秒。

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

你我，只能感受到自然的变化节奏，

to the sun, the moon and the seasons,

太阳，月亮，季节

and this is why we need that long arc of time

这需要很长的时间跨度

with the past, the present and the future

包括过去，现在和未来

to see things for what they are,

分清事物，

to separate signal from noise

从噪声中剥离出信号

and the self from sensations.

从感觉中辨析“自我”。

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

我们需要时间箭头的方向辨析因果，

not just in the material world,

不仅在物质世界里，

but in our own intentions and our motivations.

还在我们自己的内在世界。

What happens when that arrow goes awry?

时间箭头的方向出错了会如何？

What happens when time warps?

时间扭曲了会如何？

So many of us today have the sensation

我们现今有许多感觉

that time's arrow is pointing everywhere

时间箭头指向了所有方向

and nowhere at once.

同时又没有指向任何方向。

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

这是因为数字世界中时间

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

不会像在现实世界中一样流淌。

We all know that the Internet has shrunk space

我们知道互联网拉近了空间

as well as time.

和时间。

Far away over there is now here.

遥远的地方就在身边。

News from India is a stream on my smartphone app

来自印度的消息流入我的智能手机应用程序

whether I'm in New York or New Delhi.

不管我在纽约还是在新德里。

And that's not all.

这还不是全部。

Your last job, your dinner reservations from last year,

你上一份工作，你去年的订餐记录，

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

你以前的朋友，和现如今的朋友并排在一个屏幕上，

because the Internet also archives,

因为互联网会存档，

and it warps the past.

它扭曲了过去。

With no distinction left between the past,

没法区分过去，

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

现在和未来，此处和彼处，

we are left with this moment everywhere,

我们这一刻无处不在，

this moment that I'll call the digital now.

这一刻，我称之为“数字当下”

Just how can we prioritize

我们如何在“数字当下”中

in the landscape of the digital now?

区分优先级呢？

This digital now is not the present,

“数字当下”不是现在，

because it's always a few seconds ahead,

因为它总是超前几秒，

with Twitter streams that are already trending

推特推送了来自

and news from other time zones.

其它时区的新闻。

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

“数字当下”不再是现在，有切肤之感、

or the second that you bite into a pastry

或者品味糕点的时刻、

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

或者是三个小时流连于好书中间。

This now bears very little physical

“数字当下”很少参照我们自身

or psychological reference to our own state.

生理或心理的状态。

Its focus, instead, is to distract us

“数字当下”使我们

at every turn on the road.

在每个路口分心。

Every digital landmark is an invitation

每个数字路标都是一个岔路

to leave what you are doing now to go somewhere else

会使我们到其它地方去

and do something else.

做其它事。

Are you reading an interview by an author?

你在阅读作者的专访吗?

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

为什么不买他的书？推特上转发它，共享它。

Like it. Find other books exactly like his.

顶它。找类似的图书。

Find other people reading those books.

找那些正在阅读此类书的读者。

Travel can be liberating,

旅行（网上冲浪）是自由的，

but when it is incessant, we become

但当它变得不停不歇，

permanent exiles without repose.

我们就变成了永久的流亡者，没有些许喘息。

Choice is freedom, but not when it's constantly

选择是自由的，但无时无刻的选择就

for its own sake.

不是自由了。

Not just is the digital now far from the present,

"数字当下"不仅远离现在，

but it's in direct competition with it,

而且它也在于现在竞争，

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

这不仅仅是因为我脱离了现在，

but so are you.

而且你们也是。

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

不仅是因为我们脱离了现在，每个其他人都是。

And therein lies its greatest convenience and horror.

这就是最大的便利和恐怖所在

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

我可以在午夜订外文书，

shop for Parisian macarons,

买巴黎的法国小圆饼，

and leave video messages that get picked up later.

留视频信息，稍后接收。

At all times, I can operate

在任何时候,我可以

at a different rhythm and pace from you,

以与你不同的节奏和速度操作，

while I sustain the illusion

当我还沉浸在这样

that I'm tapped into you in real time.

与你们实时互动的幻境中的时候。

Sandy was a reminder

桑迪飓风提醒了我们

of how such an illusion can shatter.

幻境可以被粉碎。

There were those with power and water,

居所分为有水有电的

and those without.

和没有的。

There are those who went back to their lives,

有些人回到他们的生活，

and those who are still displaced

经过许多个月

after so many months.

还有些人仍然无法上网。

For some reason, technology seems to perpetuate

出于某种原因,技术似乎给我们一种

the illusion for those who have it that everyone does,

每个人都拥有一样条件的幻觉，

and then, like an ironic slap in the face,

然后，一个讽刺的耳光，

it makes it true.

它现出原形。

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

例如：据说在印度

in India with access to cell phones than toilets.

有手机的人比有抽水马桶的人多。

Now if this rift, which is already so great

这样的鸿沟，已经如此巨大

in many parts of the world,

在世界很多地方，

between the lack of infrastructure and the spread of technology,

那里往往缺少基础设施，

isn't somehow bridged,

但技术进步的脚步已经捷足先登。

there will be ruptures between the digital

但假如这两者之间的鸿沟不被连接的话，

and the real.

将会带来巨大的断层。

For us as individuals who live in the digital now

对于我们那些醒着的时间

and spend most of our waking moments in it,

生活在“数字当下”中的人，

the challenge is to live in two streams of time

挑战在于生活在

that are parallel and almost simultaneous.

两个并行同时存在的时间流中。

How does one live inside distraction?

一个人如何生活在分心中?

We might think that those younger than us,

我们也许会想年轻人会比我们好些，

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

他们出生于数字时代，会自然的适应。

Possibly, but I remember my childhood.

也许，但是我记起了我的童年。

I remember my grandfather revising

我记得我祖父告诉我

the capitals of the world with me.

世界各地的首都。

Buda and Pest were separated by the Danube,

布达和佩斯（布达佩斯）是被多瑙河分割开的，

and Vienna had a Spanish riding school.

维也纳有个西班牙马术学校。

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

如果我是当下的小孩子，我会很快知道这些信息

with apps and hyperlinks,

利用互联网，

but it really wouldn't be the same,

但体验绝不会是相同的，

because much later, I went to Vienna,

因为，多年后，去维也纳，

and I went to the Spanish riding school,

我去了那间西班牙马术学校，

and I could feel my grandfather right beside me.

我感觉我祖父就在我身边。

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

夜复一夜，他带我到阳台上，

on his shoulders, and pointed out Jupiter

在他的肩膀上，指点我木星

and Saturn and the Great Bear to me.

土星和大熊星座。

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

即使在这里，当我看到大熊星座时，

I get back that feeling of being a child,

我会回想起小时候，

hanging onto his head and trying to balance myself

在他头顶上，努力

on his shoulder,

在他肩膀上保持平衡，

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

我能再次回想到小时候。

What I had with my grandfather was wrapped

我和我的祖父的过往

so often in information and knowledge and fact,

夹杂着信息和知识和事实，

but it was about so much more

但这些意味着更多

than information or knowledge or fact.

超越信息和知识和事实。

Time-warping technology challenges

时间扭曲技术

our deepest core,

挑战我们最深层的内核，

because we are able to archive the past

因为我们可以记录过去

and some of it becomes hard to forget,

有些东西变得难以忘却，

even as the current moment

即使在当下

is increasingly unmemorable.

越来越不容易记住。

We want to clutch, and we are left instead

我们希望抓住关键时刻，取而代之我们希望抓住关键时刻的

clutching at a series of static moments.

变成了一串静止时刻。

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

它们象肥皂泡，我们一触即破。

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

通过存档，我们认为我们可以保存有一切，

but time is not data.

但时间不是数据。

It cannot be stored.

它不能被保存。

You and I know exactly what it means like

你和我知道这意味着什么

to be truly present in a moment.

确实的在某一时刻。

It might have happened while we were

它（记住的关键时刻）可能发生在

playing an instrument,

我们演奏乐器时，

or looking into the eyes of someone we've known

或者注视一个我们熟知人的

for a very long time.

眼睛时。

At such moments, our selves are complete.

在这些时刻，我们自己是完整的。

The self that lives in the long narrative arc

“自我”生活在漫长的情节

and the self that experiences the moment

“自我”体验的时刻，

become one.

成为自我。

The present encapsulates the past

当下包含过去，

and a promise for the future.

是对未来的一个承诺。

The present joins a flow of time

当下汇聚流失的时间

from before and after.

从过去和之后。

I first experienced these feelings with my grandmother.

我第一次体验到它是和我的祖母。

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

我想学会跳绳,她找出一条老绳

and she tucked up her sari

把纱丽扎起来

and she jumped over it.

然后跳了过去。

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

我想学做菜，她就和我

cutting, cubing and chopping for a whole month.

在厨房里切了一个月的菜。

My grandmother taught me that things happen

我的祖母教会了我事情发生在

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

它们占用的时间上， 时间不可战胜，

and because it will pass and it will move,

因为时间是时不我待的，

we owe the present moment our full attention.

我们拥有现在用我们的注意力

Attention is time.

注意力、关心就是时间。

One of my yoga instructors once said

我的一位瑜伽老师曾说过

that love is attention,

爱就是关注，

and definitely from my grandmother,

确实从我祖母那里我学到

love and attention were one and the same thing.

爱便等同于关注。

The digital world cannibalizes time,

数字世界吞噬时间，

and in doing so, I want to suggest

有鉴于此，我建议

that what it threatens

数字世界

is the completeness of ourselves.

威胁的是我们自身的完整性。

It threatens the flow of love.

它威胁到爱的流淌。

But we don't need to let it.

不过我们可以不让它发生。

We can choose otherwise.

我们可以选择。

We've seen again and again

我们已经看了许多遍

just how creative technology can be,

创新技术的能耐，

and in our lives and in our actions,

在我们的生活中和行为中，

we can choose those solutions and those innovations

我们可以选择这些创新

and those moments that restore the flow of time

同时这些时刻我们可以记下时间流淌

instead of fragmenting it.

而不是存储时间碎片。

We can slow down and we can tune in

我们可以慢放，我们可以对焦

to the ebb and flow of time.

时间的流淌和潮汐

We can choose to take time back.

我们可以选择夺回”时间“

Thank you.

谢谢！

(Applause)

（掌声）