TEDxBratislava
Stephen Cave: The 4 stories we tell ourselves about death
Stephen Cave: Četiri priče o smrti koje si govorimo
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Filozof Stephen Cave započinje s mračnim no neodoljivim pitanjem: "Kada ste po prvi puta shvatili da ćete umrijeti?" I što je još zanimljivije: "Zašto se ljudi toliko često opiru neizbježnosti smrti?" U fascinantnom govoru Cave istražuje četiri priče -- zajedničke svim civilizacijama -- koje si pripovijedamo "kako bismo se mogli suočiti s užasom smrti."
Stephen Cave - Philosopher
Philosopher Stephen Cave wants to know: Why is humanity so obsessed with living forever? Full bio
Philosopher Stephen Cave wants to know: Why is humanity so obsessed with living forever? Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
I have a question:
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Imam pitanje.
00:14
Who here remembers when they first realized
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Tko ovdje se sjeća kada ste prvi put shvatili
00:17
they were going to die?
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da ćete umrijeti?
00:21
I do. I was a young boy,
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Ja se sjećam. Bio sam maleni dječak,
00:23
and my grandfather had just died,
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moj djed je upravo bio umro.
00:26
and I remember a few days later lying in bed at night
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Sjećam se da sam nekoliko dana poslije noću ležao u krevetu
00:30
trying to make sense of what had happened.
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pokušavajući shvatiti smisao onoga što se dogodilo.
00:34
What did it mean that he was dead?
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Što je značilo to što je on mrtav?
00:36
Where had he gone?
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Kamo je otišao?
00:38
It was like a hole in reality had opened up
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Činilo se kao da se otvorila rupa u stvarnosti
00:42
and swallowed him.
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i progutala ga.
00:44
But then the really shocking
question occurred to me:
question occurred to me:
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No, tada mi se pojavilo zaista šokantno pitanje.
00:46
If he could die, could it happen to me too?
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Ako je on mogao umrijeti, može li se to dogoditi i meni?
00:50
Could that hole in reality open up and swallow me?
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Može li se ta rupa u stvarnosti otvoriti i progutati mene?
00:53
Would it open up beneath my bed
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Hoće li se otvoriti ispod mog kreveta
00:55
and swallow me as I slept?
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i progutati me dok spavam?
00:58
Well, at some point, all children
become aware of death.
become aware of death.
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U jednom trenutku sva djeca postanu svjesna smrti.
01:02
It can happen in different ways, of course,
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To se može dogoditi na razne načine
01:04
and usually comes in stages.
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i uglavnom dolazi u fazama.
01:06
Our idea of death develops as we grow older.
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Naše se poimanje smrti razvija kako odrastamo.
01:10
And if you reach back into the dark corners
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Ako posegnete u tamne dijelove
01:12
of your memory,
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vašeg sjećanja,
01:14
you might remember something like what I felt
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možda ćete se sjetiti nečega
poput onog što sam ja osjetio
poput onog što sam ja osjetio
01:17
when my grandfather died and when I realized
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kada je moj djed umro i kada sam shvatio
01:20
it could happen to me too,
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da bi se to moglo dogoditi i meni.
01:22
that sense that behind all of this
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Onaj osjećaj da iza svega ovoga
01:25
the void is waiting.
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čeka praznina.
01:28
And this development in childhood
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Taj razvoj u djetinjstvu
01:31
reflects the development of our species.
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odražava razvoj naše vrste.
01:33
Just as there was a point in your development
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Kao što se u vašem razvoju pojavio trenutak
01:37
as a child when your sense of self and of time
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kada vam je, kao djetetu, svijest o sebi i vremenu
01:40
became sophisticated enough
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postala dovoljno razvijena
01:42
for you to realize you were mortal,
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da shvatite kako ste smrtni,
01:46
so at some point in the evolution of our species,
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tako je u jednom trenutku evolucije naše vrste,
01:50
some early human's sense of self and of time
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rana ljudska svijest o sebi i vremenu
01:53
became sophisticated enough
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postala dovoljno razvijena
01:55
for them to become the first human to realize,
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da bi netko postao prvi čovjek koji je shvatio
01:58
"I'm going to die."
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da će umrijeti.
02:02
This is, if you like, our curse.
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Ovo je, ako hoćete, naše prokletstvo.
02:04
It's the price we pay for being so damn clever.
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To je cijena toga što smo toliko pametni.
02:08
We have to live in the knowledge
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Moramo živjeti sa znanjem
02:10
that the worst thing that can possibly happen
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da će se najgora stvar koja se može dogoditi
02:13
one day surely will,
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jednoga dana zasigurno i dogoditi.
02:14
the end of all our projects,
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Kraj svih naših projekata,
02:16
our hopes, our dreams, of our individual world.
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naših nada, snova, našeg individualnog svijeta.
02:19
We each live in the shadow of a personal
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Svatko živi u sjeni osobne
02:23
apocalypse.
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apokalipse.
02:25
And that's frightening. It's terrifying.
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I to je zastrašujuće. Užasavajuće.
02:27
And so we look for a way out.
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Stoga tražimo izlaz.
02:29
And in my case, as I was about five years old,
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U mom slučaju, budući da sam imao pet godina,
02:33
this meant asking my mum.
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to je značilo da sam pitao mamu.
02:36
Now when I first started asking
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Kada sam prvi puta počeo postavljati pitanja
02:38
what happens when we die,
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što se događa kada umremo,
02:40
the grown-ups around me at the time
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odrasli oko mene tada su
02:42
answered with a typical English mix of awkwardness
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odgovorili tipičnom engleskom mješavinom nespretnosti
02:45
and half-hearted Christianity,
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i malodušnog kršćanstva.
02:48
and the phrase I heard most often
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Najčešća fraza koju sam čuo
02:50
was that granddad was now
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bila je da je djed sada
02:52
"up there looking down on us,"
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"gore i gleda dolje na nas,"
02:54
and if I should die too, which
wouldn't happen of course,
wouldn't happen of course,
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i ako bih i ja slučajno umro, što se zasigurno neće dogoditi,
02:57
then I too would go up there,
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tada bih i ja otišao gore,
03:00
which made death sound a lot like
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što je mi smrt predočilo kao kakvo
03:02
an existential elevator.
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egzistencijalno dizalo.
03:05
Now this didn't sound very plausible.
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To nije zvučalo vrlo uvjerljivo.
03:08
I used to watch a children's
news program at the time,
news program at the time,
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U to vrijeme sam često gledao dječji program s vijestima
03:11
and this was the era of space exploration.
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i to je bilo razdoblje istraživanja svemira.
03:13
There were always rockets going up into the sky,
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Uvijek su nekakve rakete letjele uvis,
03:15
up into space, going up there.
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u svemir, prema gore.
03:18
But none of the astronauts when they came back
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No, nijedan od astronauta, kada bi se vratili,
03:20
ever mentioned having met my granddad
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nikad nije spomenuo da je sreo mog djeda
03:24
or any other dead people.
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ili bilo koga od umrlih.
03:26
But I was scared,
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No, bojao sam se,
03:27
and the idea of taking the existential elevator
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i pomisao da uđem u egzistencijalno dizalo
03:30
to see my granddad
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da posjetim svog djeda
03:31
sounded a lot better than being swallowed
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činila se boljom nego to da će me progutati
03:33
by the void while I slept.
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praznina dok spavam.
03:36
And so I believed it anyway,
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Tako da sam povjerovao tome,
03:38
even though it didn't make much sense.
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iako nije imalo puno smisla.
03:41
And this thought process that I went through
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Taj proces razmišljanja kroz koji sam prolazio
03:43
as a child, and have been through many times since,
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kao dijete, i mnogo puta otada,
03:46
including as a grown-up,
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i kao odrasla osoba,
03:48
is a product of what psychologists call
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rezultat je onoga što psiholozi nazivaju
03:50
a bias.
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pristranost.
03:51
Now a bias is a way in which we systematically
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Pristranost je način na koji sustavno
03:55
get things wrong,
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stvari shvaćamo krivo.
03:56
ways in which we miscalculate, misjudge,
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Način na koji pogrešno računamo, sudimo,
03:59
distort reality, or see what we want to see,
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iskrivljujemo stvarnost ili vidimo ono što želimo vidjeti.
04:03
and the bias I'm talking about
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Pristranost o kojoj ja govorim
04:05
works like this:
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djeluje ovako:
04:06
Confront someone with the fact
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suočite nekoga sa činjenicom
04:09
that they are going to die
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da će umrijeti
04:10
and they will believe just about any story
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i povjerovat će bilo kakvoj priči
04:13
that tells them it isn't true
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koja im kaže da to nije točno
04:15
and they can, instead, live forever,
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i da, umjesto toga, mogu živjeti vječno,
04:17
even if it means taking the existential elevator.
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čak i ako to uključuje vožnju egzistencijalnim dizalom.
04:22
Now we can see this as the biggest bias of all.
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Vidimo da je to najveća od svih pristranosti.
04:26
It has been demonstrated in over 400
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To je dokazano u više od 400
04:29
empirical studies.
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empirijskih istraživanja.
04:31
Now these studies are ingenious, but they're simple.
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Ta su istraživanja dosjetljiva, no jednostavna.
04:33
They work like this.
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Ovako funkcioniraju.
04:35
You take two groups of people
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Uzmete dvije skupine ljudi
04:36
who are similar in all relevant respects,
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sličnih u svakom bitnom pogledu,
04:39
and you remind one group that they're going to die
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i jednu skupinu podsjetite da će umrijeti
04:42
but not the other, then you compare their behavior.
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no ne i drugu skupinu. Tada uspoređujete njihova ponašanja.
04:45
So you're observing how it biases behavior
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Promatrate kako se u ponašanju pojavljuje pristranost
04:48
when people become aware of their mortality.
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kada ljudi postanu svjesni svoje smrtnosti.
04:52
And every time, you get the same result:
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I svaki put dobijete isti rezultat.
04:55
People who are made aware of their mortality
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Ljudi koji su bili svjesni svoje smrtnosti
04:58
are more willing to believe stories
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imaju veću tendenciju povjerovati pričama
05:00
that tell them they can escape death
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koje ih uvjeravaju da mogu izbjeći smrt
05:02
and live forever.
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i živjeti vječno.
05:04
So here's an example: One recent study
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Evo primjera. Jedno nedavno ostraživanje
05:06
took two groups of agnostics,
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uzelo je dvije skupine agnostika,
05:09
that is people who are undecided
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to jest. ljudi koji su neodlučni
05:10
in their religious beliefs.
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oko svojih vjerskih uvjerenja.
05:13
Now, one group was asked to think about being dead.
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Jednu skupinu se zamolilo da razmisle o tome kako su mrtvi.
05:17
The other group was asked to think about
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Drugu skupinu se zamolilo da razmisle o tome
05:18
being lonely.
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kako su usamljeni.
05:20
They were then asked again
about their religious beliefs.
about their religious beliefs.
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Tada su ih ponovo ispitivali o njihovim vjerskim uvjerenjima.
05:23
Those who had been asked
to think about being dead
to think about being dead
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Kod onih koji su bili zamoljeni da razmisle o tome kako su mrtvi
05:26
were afterwards twice as likely to express faith
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kasnije je postojala dvostruko veća vjerojatnost da će izraziti vjeru
05:29
in God and Jesus.
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u Boga i Isusa.
05:31
Twice as likely.
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Dvostruko veća vjerojatnost.
05:33
Even though the before they
were all equally agnostic.
were all equally agnostic.
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Iako su ranije svi bili u jednakoj mjeri agnostici.
05:35
But put the fear of death in them,
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No, unesite strah od smrti u njih,
05:37
and they run to Jesus.
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i odmah trče Isusu.
05:41
Now, this shows that reminding people of death
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Ovo pokazuje da ako ljude podsjetimo na smrt
05:45
biases them to believe, regardless of the evidence,
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da će kod njih razviti sklonost da povjeruju, bez obzira na dokaze,
05:48
and it works not just for religion,
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i to tako funkcionira ne samo za religiju,
05:50
but for any kind of belief system
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već za svaki sustav vjerovanja
05:52
that promises immortality in some form,
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koji obećava neku vrstu besmrtnosti,
05:56
whether it's becoming famous
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bilo da ćete postati poznata osoba
05:57
or having children
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ili imati djecu
05:59
or even nationalism,
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ili čak u slučaju nacionalizma,
06:00
which promises you can live
on as part of a greater whole.
on as part of a greater whole.
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koji obećava da možete živjeti i dalje kao dio veće cjeline.
06:03
This is a bias that has shaped
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Ovo je pristranost koja je oblikovala
06:05
the course of human history.
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tijek ljudske povijesti.
06:09
Now, the theory behind this bias
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Teorija iza te pristranosti
06:11
in the over 400 studies
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u više od 400 istraživanja
06:13
is called terror management theory,
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zove se Teorija suočavanja s užasom,
06:15
and the idea is simple. It's just this.
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a koncept je jednostavan. Radi se o ovome.
06:17
We develop our worldviews,
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Razvijamo naše poglede na svijet,
06:20
that is, the stories we tell ourselves
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to jest, priče koje si pričamo
06:22
about the world and our place in it,
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o svijetu i našem mjestu u njemu,
06:25
in order to help us manage
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kako bismo pomogli sami sebi da se suočimo
06:27
the terror of death.
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s užasom smrti.
06:30
And these immortality stories
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Te priče o besmrtnosti
06:32
have thousands of different manifestations,
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imaju tisuće različitih manifestacija,
06:35
but I believe that behind the apparent diversity
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no vjerujem da iza očite raznolikosti
06:38
there are actually just four basic forms
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postoje četiri osnovna oblika
06:41
that these immortality stories can take.
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koje te priče preuzimaju.
06:44
And we can see them repeating themselves
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Možemo vidjeti kako se oni ponavljaju
06:46
throughout history, just with slight variations
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tijekom povijesti, s vrlo malim izmjenama
06:49
to reflect the vocabulary of the day.
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kako bi se prilagodili aktualnom rječniku.
06:52
Now I'm going to briefly introduce these four
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Ukratko ću predstaviti ta četiri
06:55
basic forms of immortality story,
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osnovna oblika priča o besmrtnosti,
06:57
and I want to try to give you some sense
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i volio bih pokušati smisleno objasniti
06:58
of the way in which they're retold by each culture
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način na koji ih prepričava svaka kultura
07:01
or generation
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ili generacija
07:03
using the vocabulary of their day.
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koristeći rječnik svoga vremena.
07:05
Now, the first story is the simplest.
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Prva priča je najjednostavnija.
07:07
We want to avoid death,
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Želimo izbjeći smrt,
07:09
and the dream of doing that in this body
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a san da to ostvarimo u ovome našem tijelu
07:12
in this world forever
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u ovome svijetu zauvijek
07:13
is the first and simplest kind of immortality story,
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je prvi i najjednostavniji oblik priče o besmrtnosti.
07:17
and it might at first sound implausible,
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Na prvu možda zvuči nevjerojatno,
07:19
but actually, almost every culture in human history
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no, zapravo skoro svaka kultura u povijesti čovječanstva
07:23
has had some myth or legend
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imala je nekakav mit ili legendu
07:25
of an elixir of life or a fountain of youth
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o eliksiru života ili vrelu mladosti
07:28
or something that promises to keep us going
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ili nečemu što obećava da će nas očuvati
07:31
forever.
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zauvijek.
07:34
Ancient Egypt had such myths,
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Drevni Egipćani imali su takve mitove,
07:36
ancient Babylon, ancient India.
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drevni Babilonci, drevni Indijci.
07:38
Throughout European history, we find them
in the work of the alchemists,
in the work of the alchemists,
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Kroz cijelu europsku povijest nalazimo ih u djelima alkemičara,
07:41
and of course we still believe this today,
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i naravno da još uvijek u to vjerujemo,
07:44
only we tell this story using the vocabulary
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samo što si te priče pripovijedamo rječnikom
07:46
of science.
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znanosti.
07:48
So 100 years ago,
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Prije 100 godina
07:49
hormones had just been discovered,
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otkriveni su hormoni,
07:51
and people hoped that hormone treatments
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i ljudi su se nadali da će hormonske terapije
07:53
were going to cure aging and disease,
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izliječiti starenje i bolesti.
07:56
and now instead we set our hopes on stem cells,
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Danas mi nadu polažemo u matične stanice,
07:58
genetic engineering, and nanotechnology.
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genetski inženjering i nanotehnologiju.
08:01
But the idea that science can cure death
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No ideja da znanost može izliječiti bolesti
08:05
is just one more chapter in the story
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samo je još jedno poglavlje u priči
08:07
of the magical elixir,
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o čarobnom eliksiru,
08:09
a story that is as old as civilization.
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priči koja je stara koliko i civilizacija.
08:14
But betting everything on the idea of finding the elixir
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No ulaganje svega u ideju o pronalasku eliksira
08:16
and staying alive forever
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i vječnom životu
08:18
is a risky strategy.
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riskantna je strategija.
08:20
When we look back through history
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Kad pogledamo kroz povijest
08:22
at all those who have sought an elixir in the past,
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sve koji su tragali za eliksirom,
08:25
the one thing they now have in common
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jedna stvar koja im je svima zajednička
08:27
is that they're all dead.
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jest da su svi mrtvi.
08:29
So we need a backup plan,
and exactly this kind of plan B
and exactly this kind of plan B
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Tako da trebamo rezervni plan, a upravo takav plan B
08:33
is what the second kind of immortality story offers,
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nudi nam drugi oblik priča o besmrtnosti,
08:36
and that's resurrection.
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a to je uskrsnuće.
08:38
And it stays with the idea that I am this body,
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U skladu je s idejom da sam u ovome tijelu,
08:41
I am this physical organism.
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da sam tjelesni organizam.
08:43
It accepts that I'm going to have to die
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Prihvaća da ću trebati umrijeti
08:45
but says, despite that,
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no, tvrdi da, unatoč tome,
08:46
I can rise up and I can live again.
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mogu ponovo ustati i dalje živjeti.
08:49
In other words, I can do what Jesus did.
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Drugim riječima, mogu napraviti što je napravio Isus.
08:51
Jesus died, he was three days in the [tomb],
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2045
Isus je umro, tri dana bio u grobu,
08:53
and then he rose up and lived again.
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a onda je ustao i nastavio živjeti.
08:56
And the idea that we can all be
resurrected to live again
resurrected to live again
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Ideja da svi možemo uskrsnuti na ponovni život
08:59
is orthodox believe, not just for Christians
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ortodoksno je vjerovanje, ne samo za kršćane,
09:02
but also Jews and Muslims.
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već i za Židove i muslimane.
09:04
But our desire to believe this story
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No, naša želja da povjerujemo toj priči
09:07
is so deeply embedded
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2010
toliko je duboko usađena
09:09
that we are reinventing it again
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2098
da je uvijek iznova izmišljamo
09:11
for the scientific age,
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za doba znanosti.
09:12
for example, with the idea of cryonics.
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Na primjer, uz ideju o krionici.
09:15
That's the idea that when you die,
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To je ideja da, kada umrete
09:17
you can have yourself frozen,
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545157
1999
mogu vas zamrznuti,
09:19
and then, at some point when technology
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a zatim, kada tehnologija
09:21
has advanced enough,
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postane dovoljno napredna,
09:22
you can be thawed out and repaired and revived
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mogu vas odmrznuti, "popraviti" i oživjeti
09:24
and so resurrected.
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i tako uskrsnuti.
09:26
And so some people believe an omnipotent god
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Neki ljudi vjeruju u svemogućeg boga
09:29
will resurrect them to live again,
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1879
koji će ih uskrsnuti,
09:30
and other people believe an
omnipotent scientist will do it.
omnipotent scientist will do it.
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dok drugi vjeruju u svemogućeg znanstvenika koji će učiniti isto.
09:35
But for others, the whole idea of resurrection,
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2714
No, za druge ljude cijela ideja o uskrsnuću,
09:37
of climbing out of the grave,
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565749
2003
izlasku iz groba,
09:39
it's just too much like a bad zombie movie.
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2719
previše podsjeća na loš film sa zombijima.
09:42
They find the body too messy, too unreliable
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Smatraju da je tijelo previše problematično, nepouzdano
09:45
to guarantee eternal life,
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2148
da bi garantiralo vječni život.
09:47
and so they set their hopes on the third,
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3091
Stoga nade polažu u treću
09:50
more spiritual immortality story,
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2117
priču o duhovnoj besmrtnosti.
09:52
the idea that we can leave our body behind
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2336
Ideji da možemo ostaviti tijelo
09:54
and live on as a soul.
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i dalje živjeti kao duša.
09:57
Now, the majority of people on Earth
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1989
Većina ljudi na Zemlji
09:59
believe they have a soul,
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1773
vjeruje da ima dušu,
10:01
and the idea is central to many religions.
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2410
a to je i središnja ideja mnogih religija.
10:03
But even though, in its current form,
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2314
No, iako je, u svom sadašnjem obliku,
10:05
in its traditional form,
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1915
u svom tradicionalnom obliku,
10:07
the idea of the soul is still hugely popular,
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2163
ideja o duši još uvijek jako popularna,
10:09
nonetheless we are again
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1432
mi je ponovo
10:11
reinventing it for the digital age,
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2224
osmišljavamo za digitalno doba.
10:13
for example with the idea
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1477
Na primjer, idejom
10:14
that you can leave your body behind
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602948
1990
da možete ostaviti svoje tijelo
10:16
by uploading your mind, your essence,
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2246
tako da prenesete svoj um, svoju suštinu,
10:19
the real you, onto a computer,
242
607184
1956
pravo sebe, na računalo
10:21
and so live on as an avatar in the ether.
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4612
i tako nastaviti živjeti u eteru kao avatar.
10:25
But of course there are skeptics who say
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2023
Dakako, postoje skeptici koji tvrde da
10:27
if we look at the evidence of science,
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1844
ako pogledamo znanstvene dokaze,
10:29
particularly neuroscience,
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1644
posebice neuroznanosti,
10:31
it suggests that your mind,
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1829
vidimo da naš um,
10:33
your essence, the real you,
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naša suština, pravi mi,
10:34
is very much dependent on a particular part
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2413
uvelike ovisimo o određenom dijelu
10:37
of your body, that is, your brain.
250
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našeg tijela, našem mozgu.
10:39
And such skeptics can find comfort
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2521
Takve skeptike može utješiti
10:41
in the fourth kind of immortality story,
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2258
četvrta vrsta priče o besmrtnosti,
10:44
and that is legacy,
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2357
o našem nasljeđu.
10:46
the idea that you can live on
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1480
Ideji da možemo nastaviti živjeti
10:47
through the echo you leave in the world,
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2251
kroz jeku koju ostavite u svijetu,
10:50
like the great Greek warrior Achilles,
256
638173
2349
poput velikog grčkog ratnika Ahileja,
10:52
who sacrificed his life fighting at Troy
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2629
koji je žrtvovao svoj život boreći se pod Trojom
10:55
so that he might win immortal fame.
258
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3053
kako bi postigao besmrtnu slavu.
10:58
And the pursuit of fame is as widespread
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2266
Stremljenje za slavom je rašireno
11:00
and popular now as it ever was,
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2141
i popularno danas kao što je oduvijek bilo,
11:02
and in our digital age,
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1579
a u naše digitalno doba
11:04
it's even easier to achieve.
262
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1528
lakše je ostvarivo.
11:05
You don't need to be a great warrior like Achilles
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2324
Ne trebate biti veliki ratnik poput Ahileja
11:08
or a great king or hero.
264
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1693
ili veliki kralj ili junak.
11:09
All you need is an Internet connection
and a funny cat. (Laughter)
and a funny cat. (Laughter)
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4823
Sve što trebate je internetska veza i smiješna mačka. (Smijeh)
11:14
But some people prefer to leave a more tangible,
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No, neki ljudi bi radije ostavili konkretnije,
11:17
biological legacy -- children, for example.
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2844
biološko nasljeđe - djecu, na primjer.
11:19
Or they like, they hope, to live on
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Ili bi radije živjeli dalje
11:22
as part of some greater whole,
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1717
kao dio nečeg većeg od njih,
11:23
a nation or a family or a tribe,
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2449
nacije ili obitelji ili plemena,
11:26
their gene pool.
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njihove genske zalihe.
11:28
But again, there are skeptics
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1513
Međutim, ima skeptika
11:30
who doubt whether legacy
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1713
koji sumnjaju da je nasljeđe
11:31
really is immortality.
274
679999
1975
prava besmrtnost.
11:33
Woody Allen, for example, who said,
275
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2077
Woody Allen, primjerice, koji je rekao,
11:36
"I don't want to live on in
the hearts of my countrymen.
the hearts of my countrymen.
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2496
"Ne želim nastaviti živjeti u srcima svojih sunarodnjaka."
11:38
I want to live on in my apartment."
277
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2197
" Želim nastaviti živjeti u svom stanu."
11:40
So those are the four
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Ovo su te četiri
11:42
basic kinds of immortality stories,
279
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2183
osnovne vrste priča o besmrtnosti.
11:44
and I've tried to give just some sense
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1642
Pokušao sam smisleno objasniti
11:46
of how they're retold by each generation
281
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2293
kako ih prepričava svaka generacija
11:48
with just slight variations
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1587
sa samo malim izmjenama
11:50
to fit the fashions of the day.
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2305
kako bi ih prilagodili svojem vremenu.
11:52
And the fact that they recur in this way,
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3489
Činjenica da se tako ponavljaju,
11:56
in such a similar form but
in such different belief systems,
in such different belief systems,
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2988
u tako sličnim oblicima ali toliko različitim vjerskim sustavima,
11:58
suggests, I think,
286
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1578
vjerujem da sugerira
12:00
that we should be skeptical of the truth
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2402
da bismo trebali biti skeptični u vezi istinitosti
12:02
of any particular version of these stories.
288
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3761
bilo koje verzije tih priča.
12:06
The fact that some people believe
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2111
Činjenica da neki ljudi vjeruju
12:08
an omnipotent god will resurrect them to live again
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2665
da će ih svemogući bog uskrsnuti,
12:11
and others believe an omnipotent scientist will do it
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3701
a drugi da će to učiniti svemogući znanstvenik
12:15
suggests that neither are really believing this
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3038
upućuje na to da niti jedni od njih ne vjeruju u to
12:18
on the strength of the evidence.
293
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2670
na temelju nekih dokaza.
12:20
Rather, we believe these stories
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2426
Umjesto toga, vjerujemo u te priče
12:23
because we are biased to believe them,
295
731350
1983
jer smo im skloni vjerovati,
12:25
and we are biased to believe them
296
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1828
a skloni smo im vjerovati,
12:27
because we are so afraid of death.
297
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4270
jer se toliko bojimo smrti.
12:31
So the question is,
298
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2055
Stoga je pitanje:
12:33
are we doomed to lead the one life we have
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3472
jesmo li osuđeni živjeti ovaj jedan život koji imamo
12:36
in a way that is shaped by fear and denial,
300
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3693
tako da ga oblikuju strah i poricanje,
12:40
or can we overcome this bias?
301
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3075
ili možemo prevladati tu sklonost?
12:43
Well the Greek philosopher Epicurus
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2467
Grčki filozof Epikur
12:46
thought we could.
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1728
vjerovao je da možemo.
12:47
He argued that the fear of death is natural,
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3548
Smatrao je da je strah od smrti prirodan,
12:51
but it is not rational.
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2415
no ne i racionalan.
12:53
"Death," he said, "is nothing to us,
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2658
Rekao je da "nama smrt nije ništa,
12:56
because when we are here, death is not,
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2850
jer kada smo živi, smrti nema,
12:59
and when death is here, we are gone."
308
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3753
a kada nastupi smrt, nema nas."
13:03
Now this is often quoted, but it's difficult
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1798
Ovo se često citira, no teško je
13:04
to really grasp, to really internalize,
310
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2322
doista shvatiti, zadržati u sebi,
13:07
because exactly this idea of being gone
311
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2163
upravo zato jer je ideju da nas više nema
13:09
is so difficult to imagine.
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2139
toliko teško pojmiti.
13:11
So 2,000 years later, another philosopher,
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2231
2000 godina kasnije, drugi filozof,
13:13
Ludwig Wittgenstein, put it like this:
314
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3457
Ludwig Wittgenstein, sročio je to ovako:
13:17
"Death is not an event in life:
315
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2944
"Smrt nije događaj u životu:
13:20
We do not live to experience death.
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3642
ne živimo toliko da iskusimo smrt.
13:23
And so," he added,
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1194
Stoga,
13:25
"in this sense, life has no end."
318
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2935
u tom smislu, život nema kraja."
13:27
So it was natural for me as a child
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3176
Tako je meni kao djetetu bilo prirodno
13:31
to fear being swallowed by the void,
320
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2367
bojati se da će me progutati praznina,
13:33
but it wasn't rational,
321
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1879
no nije bilo racionalno,
13:35
because being swallowed by the void
322
803392
1985
jer takvo što
13:37
is not something that any of us
323
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2078
nitko od nas neće
13:39
will ever live to experience.
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3270
nikad doživjeti.
13:42
Now, overcoming this bias is not easy because
325
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2529
Nadvladavanje te sklonosti nije lako
13:45
the fear of death is so deeply embedded in us,
326
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2959
jer je strah od smrti duboko usađen u nama.
13:48
yet when we see that the fear itself is not rational,
327
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4482
Međutim, kada shvatimo da sam strah nije racionalan,
13:52
and when we bring out into the open
328
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2130
i kada otkrijemo
13:54
the ways in which it can unconsciously bias us,
329
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2698
načine na koji nas nesvjesno može učiniti pristranima,
13:57
then we can at least start
330
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1851
tada barem možemo
13:59
to try to minimize the influence it has
331
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2634
pokušati umanjiti utjecaj koji
14:02
on our lives.
332
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1883
ima na naše živote.
14:03
Now, I find it helps to see life
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2818
Smatram da pomaže ako život
14:06
as being like a book:
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1844
promatramo kao knjigu.
14:08
Just as a book is bounded by its covers,
335
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2468
Kao što je knjiga omeđena svojim koricama,
14:11
by beginning and end,
336
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1277
početkom i krajem,
14:12
so our lives are bounded by birth and death,
337
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3738
tako su i naši životi omeđeni rođenjem i smrću.
14:16
and even though a book is
limited by beginning and end,
limited by beginning and end,
338
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3515
I iako je knjiga ograničena početkom i krajem,
14:19
it can encompass distant landscapes,
339
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2136
može sadržavati daleke krajolike,
14:21
exotic figures, fantastic adventures.
340
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3230
egzotične likove, fantastične pustolovine.
14:24
And even though a book is
limited by beginning and end,
limited by beginning and end,
341
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3349
I iako je knjiga ograničena početkom i krajem,
14:28
the characters within it
342
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1823
njeni likovi
14:30
know no horizons.
343
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2842
ne poznaju granica.
14:32
They only know the moments
that make up their story,
that make up their story,
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3157
Poznati su im samo trenuci od kojih je sačinjena njihova priča,
14:36
even when the book is closed.
345
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2940
čak i kada je knjiga zatvorena.
14:39
And so the characters of a book
346
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2136
Likovi u knjizi
14:41
are not afraid of reaching the last page.
347
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3482
ne boje se doći do posljednje stranice.
14:44
Long John Silver is not afraid of you
348
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2278
Long John Silver ne boji se da ćete
14:46
finishing your copy of "Treasure Island."
349
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2835
pročitati do kraja "Otok s blagom".
14:49
And so it should be with us.
350
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1700
Tako bi trebalo biti i s nama.
14:51
Imagine the book of your life,
351
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2144
Zamislite knjigu vašeg života,
14:53
its covers, its beginning and end,
and your birth and your death.
and your birth and your death.
352
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2784
njene korice, početak i kraj, i vaše rođenje i smrt.
14:56
You can only know the moments in between,
353
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2177
Možete samo poznavati trenutke između,
14:58
the moments that make up your life.
354
886564
1935
trenutke od kojih je sačinjen vaš život.
15:00
It makes no sense for you to fear
355
888499
1947
Nema smisla da se bojite
15:02
what is outside of those covers,
356
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2090
što je izvan tih korica,
15:04
whether before your birth
357
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1470
bilo prije vašeg rođenja,
15:06
or after your death.
358
894006
1976
ili nakon vaše smrti.
15:07
And you needn't worry how long the book is,
359
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2529
Ne biste se trebali brinuti ni koliko je knjiga dugačka,
15:10
or whether it's a comic strip or an epic.
360
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3473
niti je li ona strip ili epska priča.
15:13
The only thing that matters
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1542
Jedino što je važno
15:15
is that you make it a good story.
362
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3498
jest da se pobrinete da je to dobra priča.
15:19
Thank you.
363
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2220
Hvala vam.
15:21
(Applause)
364
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4185
(Pljesak)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Stephen Cave - PhilosopherPhilosopher Stephen Cave wants to know: Why is humanity so obsessed with living forever?
Why you should listen
Stephen Cave is a writer and philosopher who is obsessed with our obsession with immortality. In 2012 he published Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How It Drives Civilization, an inquiry into humanity's rather irrational resistance to the inevitability of death. Cave moves across time and history's major civilizations and religions to explore just what drives this instinct -- and what that means for the future. Cave writes for The Financial Times and contributes to The New York Times, The Guardian and Wired.
Stephen Cave | Speaker | TED.com