評論
打印
I have a question:
我要問大家一件事：
Who here remembers when they first realized
在座的各位誰還記得當自己第一次意識到
they were going to die?
自己有一天會死去時那一刻的感受？
I do. I was a young boy,
我還記得，那時我還是個小男孩
and my grandfather had just died,
我的祖父剛剛過世了，
and I remember a few days later lying in bed at night
記得幾天后的一個夜晚，我躺在床上
trying to make sense of what had happened.
是這回想之前所發生的一切
What did it mean that he was dead?
去世到底意味著什么？
Where had he gone?
他去哪了？
It was like a hole in reality had opened up
有點像現實中有個洞打開
and swallowed him.
把他吞了。
But then the really shocking question occurred to me:
但那時對我而言，有個震撼的問題是：
If he could die, could it happen to me too?
如果他會死去，同樣的事也會發生在我身上嗎？
Could that hole in reality open up and swallow me?
現實中真有個洞打開并把我吞下嗎？
Would it open up beneath my bed
它會在我的床底下打開
and swallow me as I slept?
并在我睡著的時候把我吞下嗎？
Well, at some point, all children become aware of death.
嗯，某種程度而言，所有的孩子開始意識到死亡。
It can happen in different ways, of course,
當然，它會以不同的方式發生，
and usually comes in stages.
并且通常會在某個階段到來。
Our idea of death develops as we grow older.
隨著我們年齡的增長，我們對死亡的觀念逐漸形成。
And if you reach back into the dark corners
并且如果你回想起
of your memory,
你記憶中的最黑暗的角落時，
you might remember something like what I felt
你或許會想起和我感受相同的的一些事情
when my grandfather died and when I realized
在我祖父去世的時侯我意識到
it could happen to me too,
同樣事情也會發生在我身上，
that sense that behind all of this
背后所有這一切的感受
the void is waiting.
是空虛的等待。
And this development in childhood
在童年時代的這種發展
reflects the development of our species.
反應了人類的發展。
Just as there was a point in your development
就像你生命中的某一時刻
as a child when your sense of self and of time
還是小孩的時候，對自我和時間的認知
became sophisticated enough
變得十分復雜
for you to realize you were mortal,
你意識到你難逃一死，
so at some point in the evolution of our species,
所有在人類進化的某個時刻，
some early human's sense of self and of time
前人對自我和時間的認知
became sophisticated enough
開始變得復雜
for them to become the first human to realize,
然后成為第一批意識到，
"I'm going to die."
“我終將會死去。”的人們。
This is, if you like, our curse.
如果你能接受，這是我們的詛咒。
It's the price we pay for being so damn clever.
那是我們對料知死亡所付出的代價。
We have to live in the knowledge
我們不得不生活在
that the worst thing that can possibly happen
最壞的的事情將會發生的狀態下，
one day surely will,
這一天當然會來，
the end of all our projects,
終結我們所有的計劃，
our hopes, our dreams, of our individual world.
我們的希望，夢想，也會帶走我們的一片天。
We each live in the shadow of a personal
我們每個人生活在自己的
apocalypse.
末日陰影下。
And that's frightening. It's terrifying.
那時很嚇人，很恐怖的。
And so we look for a way out.
所以我們試圖尋找一個出路。
And in my case, as I was about five years old,
以我為例，在我5歲左右的時候，
this meant asking my mum.
我去問我的媽媽。
Now when I first started asking
現在當我開始問到
what happens when we die,
我們死亡時會發生什么，
the grown-ups around me at the time
我周圍的大人們那個時候
answered with a typical English mix of awkwardness
會帶著尷尬的
and half-hearted Christianity,
基督教的經典語句來回答我，
and the phrase I heard most often
我最常聽到的詞是
was that granddad was now
祖父現在
"up there looking down on us,"
”在天上看著我們“
and if I should die too, which wouldn't happen of course,
并且如果我也死去，當然現在不會發生，
then I too would go up there,
那時我也會到天上去，
which made death sound a lot like
讓死亡聽起來像
an existential elevator.
一部存在的升降電梯。
Now this didn't sound very plausible.
現在聽起來不在是那么的真實可信。
I used to watch a children's news program at the time,
那時候我通常會看兒童的新聞節目，
and this was the era of space exploration.
那時是個太空探索的時代。
There were always rockets going up into the sky,
經常會有火箭沖向藍天，
up into space, going up there.
進入太空。
But none of the astronauts when they came back
但是沒有一個從太空歸來的航天員
ever mentioned having met my granddad
提及我見到了我的祖父
or any other dead people.
或其它死去的人。
But I was scared,
但那時我很害怕，
and the idea of taking the existential elevator
乘坐可能存在的升降電梯
to see my granddad
去見我的祖父
sounded a lot better than being swallowed
相比在我睡夢中巨大的空間吞噬
by the void while I slept.
的想法更容易接受。
And so I believed it anyway,
所以我就相信了，
even though it didn't make much sense.
盡管它沒有任何意義。
And this thought process that I went through
我小時候就有這種思考模式
as a child, and have been through many times since,
從那時候起發生過很多次，
including as a grown-up,
長大后也是，
is a product of what psychologists call
這被心理學家稱之為
a bias.
偏誤。
Now a bias is a way in which we systematically
偏誤有自己的流程
get things wrong,
讓我們按照錯誤的方式思考事物
ways in which we miscalculate, misjudge,
計算錯誤，判斷錯誤，
distort reality, or see what we want to see,
扭曲現實，或者只看到了我們想看到的東西。
