TEDxBratislava
Stephen Cave: The 4 stories we tell ourselves about death
史帝芬·凯夫: 生死自知。
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哲学家史蒂芬 凯夫以一个黑暗但又引人注目的问题作为开头：你在什么时候第一次意识到自己会死亡的？更有意思的是：为什么人们总是在抗拒死亡的必然性？在这个精彩的演说中，凯夫探索了4种-横跨各个文明之间-为的是能处理我们对死亡的恐惧。
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.
我要问大家一件事：
00:12
I have a question:
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00:14
Who here remembers when they first realized
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在座的各位谁还记得当自己第一次意识到
00:17
they were going to die?
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自己有一天会死去时那一刻的感受？
00:21
I do. I was a young boy,
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我还记得， 那时我还是个小男孩
00:23
and my grandfather had just died,
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我的祖父刚刚过世了，
00:26
and I remember a few days later lying in bed at night
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记得几天后的一个夜晚，我躺在床上
00:30
trying to make sense of what had happened.
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是这回想之前所发生的一切
00:34
What did it mean that he was dead?
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去世到底意味着什么？
00:36
Where had he gone?
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他去哪了？
00:38
It was like a hole in reality had opened up
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有点像现实中有个洞打开
00:42
and swallowed him.
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把他吞了。
00:44
But then the really shocking
question occurred to me:
question occurred to me:
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但那时对我而言，有个震撼的问题是：
00:46
If he could die, could it happen to me too?
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如果他会死去，同样的事也会发生在我身上吗？
00:50
Could that hole in reality open up and swallow me?
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现实中真有个洞打开并把我吞下吗？
00:53
Would it open up beneath my bed
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它会在我的床底下打开
00:55
and swallow me as I slept?
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并在我睡着的时候把我吞下吗？
00:58
Well, at some point, all children
become aware of death.
become aware of death.
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嗯，某种程度而言，所有的孩子开始意识到死亡。
01:02
It can happen in different ways, of course,
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当然，它会以不同的方式发生，
01:04
and usually comes in stages.
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并且通常会在某个阶段到来。
01:06
Our idea of death develops as we grow older.
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随着我们年龄的增长，我们对死亡的观念逐渐形成。
01:10
And if you reach back into the dark corners
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并且如果你回想起
01:12
of your memory,
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你记忆中的最黑暗的角落时，
01:14
you might remember something like what I felt
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你或许会想起和我感受相同的的一些事情
01:17
when my grandfather died and when I realized
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在我祖父去世的时侯我意识到
01:20
it could happen to me too,
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同样事情也会发生在我身上，
01:22
that sense that behind all of this
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背后所有这一切的感受
01:25
the void is waiting.
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是空虚的等待。
01:28
And this development in childhood
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在童年时代的这种发展
01:31
reflects the development of our species.
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反应了人类的发展。
01:33
Just as there was a point in your development
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就像你生命中的某一时刻
01:37
as a child when your sense of self and of time
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还是小孩的时候，对自我和时间的认知
01:40
became sophisticated enough
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变得十分复杂
01:42
for you to realize you were mortal,
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你意识到你难逃一死，
01:46
so at some point in the evolution of our species,
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所有在人类进化的某个时刻，
01:50
some early human's sense of self and of time
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前人对自我和时间的认知
01:53
became sophisticated enough
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开始变得复杂
01:55
for them to become the first human to realize,
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然后成为第一批意识到，
01:58
"I'm going to die."
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“我终将会死去。”的人们。
02:02
This is, if you like, our curse.
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如果你能接受，这是我们的诅咒。
02:04
It's the price we pay for being so damn clever.
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那是我们对料知死亡所付出的代价。
02:08
We have to live in the knowledge
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我们不得不生活在
02:10
that the worst thing that can possibly happen
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最坏的的事情将会发生的状态下，
02:13
one day surely will,
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这一天当然会来，
02:14
the end of all our projects,
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终结我们所有的计划，
02:16
our hopes, our dreams, of our individual world.
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我们的希望，梦想，也会带走我们的一片天。
02:19
We each live in the shadow of a personal
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我们每个人生活在自己的
02:23
apocalypse.
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末日阴影下。
02:25
And that's frightening. It's terrifying.
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那时很吓人，很恐怖的。
02:27
And so we look for a way out.
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所以我们试图寻找一个出路。
02:29
And in my case, as I was about five years old,
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以我为例，在我5岁左右的时候，
02:33
this meant asking my mum.
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我去问我的妈妈。
02:36
Now when I first started asking
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现在当我开始问到
02:38
what happens when we die,
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我们死亡时会发生什么，
02:40
the grown-ups around me at the time
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我周围的大人们那个时候
02:42
answered with a typical English mix of awkwardness
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会带着尴尬的
02:45
and half-hearted Christianity,
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，基督教的经典语句来回答我，
02:48
and the phrase I heard most often
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我最常听到的词是
02:50
was that granddad was now
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祖父现在
02:52
"up there looking down on us,"
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”在天上看着我们“
02:54
and if I should die too, which
wouldn't happen of course,
wouldn't happen of course,
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并且如果我也死去，当然现在不会发生，
02:57
then I too would go up there,
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那时我也会到天上去，
03:00
which made death sound a lot like
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让死亡听起来像
03:02
an existential elevator.
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一部存在的升降电梯。
03:05
Now this didn't sound very plausible.
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现在听起来不在是那么的真实可信。
03:08
I used to watch a children's
news program at the time,
news program at the time,
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那时候我通常会看儿童的新闻节目，
03:11
and this was the era of space exploration.
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那时是个太空探索的时代。
03:13
There were always rockets going up into the sky,
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经常会有火箭冲向蓝天，
03:15
up into space, going up there.
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进入太空。
03:18
But none of the astronauts when they came back
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但是没有一个从太空归来的航天员
03:20
ever mentioned having met my granddad
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提及我见到了我的祖父
03:24
or any other dead people.
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或其它死去的人。
03:26
But I was scared,
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但那时我很害怕，
03:27
and the idea of taking the existential elevator
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乘坐可能存在的升降电梯
03:30
to see my granddad
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去见我的祖父
03:31
sounded a lot better than being swallowed
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相比在我睡梦中巨大的空间吞噬
03:33
by the void while I slept.
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的想法更容易接受。
03:36
And so I believed it anyway,
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所以我就相信了，
03:38
even though it didn't make much sense.
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尽管它没有任何意义。
03:41
And this thought process that I went through
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我小时候就有这种思考模式
03:43
as a child, and have been through many times since,
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从那时候起发生过很多次，
03:46
including as a grown-up,
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长大后也是，
03:48
is a product of what psychologists call
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这被心理学家称之为
03:50
a bias.
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偏误。（偏见与误解）
03:51
Now a bias is a way in which we systematically
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偏误有自己的流程
03:55
get things wrong,
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让我们按照错误的方式思考事物
03:56
ways in which we miscalculate, misjudge,
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计算错误，判断错误，
03:59
distort reality, or see what we want to see,
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扭曲现实，或者只看到了我们想看到的东西。
04:03
and the bias I'm talking about
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我这里说的偏误
04:05
works like this:
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是这么回事：
04:06
Confront someone with the fact
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某些人面对
04:09
that they are going to die
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他们终将会死去的现实
04:10
and they will believe just about any story
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他们只会相信
04:13
that tells them it isn't true
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告诉他们的任何故事都不会是真的
04:15
and they can, instead, live forever,
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他们可以永久的活着，
04:17
even if it means taking the existential elevator.
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即便乘坐可能存在的升降电梯。
04:22
Now we can see this as the biggest bias of all.
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现在我们可以将这个视为最大的偏误。
04:26
It has been demonstrated in over 400
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它已经被400多项
04:29
empirical studies.
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实证研究证明。
04:31
Now these studies are ingenious, but they're simple.
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这些研究设计的很精巧，但非常简单。
04:33
They work like this.
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它们像这样工作。
04:35
You take two groups of people
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你找两组
04:36
who are similar in all relevant respects,
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各个方面都很相似的人，
04:39
and you remind one group that they're going to die
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并且提醒一组人他们即将死去
04:42
but not the other, then you compare their behavior.
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而不告诉另一群人，然后比较他们的行为。
04:45
So you're observing how it biases behavior
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你会观察到
04:48
when people become aware of their mortality.
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当人们开始意识到他们大限将至，偏误行为是如何产生的。
04:52
And every time, you get the same result:
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并且你每次都能得到相同的结论：
04:55
People who are made aware of their mortality
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意识到会死亡的人
04:58
are more willing to believe stories
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更愿意相信那些
05:00
that tell them they can escape death
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告诉他们能够摆脱死亡
05:02
and live forever.
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并能长生不老的故事。
05:04
So here's an example: One recent study
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因此有下面这个例子：
05:06
took two groups of agnostics,
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找两组不可知论者，
05:09
that is people who are undecided
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这些人没有固定
05:10
in their religious beliefs.
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的宗教信仰。
05:13
Now, one group was asked to think about being dead.
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现在，其中一组被要求思考死亡。
05:17
The other group was asked to think about
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而另一种则被要求思考
05:18
being lonely.
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孤独。
05:20
They were then asked again
about their religious beliefs.
about their religious beliefs.
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他们再次被问到他们的宗教信仰。
05:23
Those who had been asked
to think about being dead
to think about being dead
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那些被要求死亡的那组人
05:26
were afterwards twice as likely to express faith
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有两倍的可能性来表达
05:29
in God and Jesus.
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对上帝和耶稣的信仰。
05:31
Twice as likely.
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两倍的可能性。
05:33
Even though the before they
were all equally agnostic.
were all equally agnostic.
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即使他们之前是同样的不可知论者。
05:35
But put the fear of death in them,
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但对死亡的恐惧摆在他们面前，
05:37
and they run to Jesus.
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他们会向耶稣靠拢。
05:41
Now, this shows that reminding people of death
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这表明向人们提醒死亡
05:45
biases them to believe, regardless of the evidence,
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会让他们忽视证据，使他们对所相信的事物产生偏误，
05:48
and it works not just for religion,
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他不仅仅影响到宗教，
05:50
but for any kind of belief system
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如果没有所有以
05:52
that promises immortality in some form,
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许诺在某种形式下永生的任何信仰制度，
05:56
whether it's becoming famous
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无论是否有名
05:57
or having children
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或有孩子
05:59
or even nationalism,
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甚至带民族主义形式，
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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承诺你能成为伟大的整体中的一员生活下去。
06:03
This is a bias that has shaped
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这样的偏误塑造了
06:05
the course of human history.
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人类的历史。
06:09
Now, the theory behind this bias
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目前，在这偏误背后
06:11
in the over 400 studies
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有超过400多项研究
06:13
is called terror management theory,
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被称之为恐惧管理理论，
06:15
and the idea is simple. It's just this.
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这个理论很简单，
06:17
We develop our worldviews,
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我们发展出我们的世界观。
06:20
that is, the stories we tell ourselves
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即我们告诉自己一个
06:22
about the world and our place in it,
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关于时间和我们所在地方的故事，
06:25
in order to help us manage
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以便帮助我们管理
06:27
the terror of death.
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对死亡的恐惧。
06:30
And these immortality stories
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而这些永生的故事
06:32
have thousands of different manifestations,
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有上千种不同的表现形式，
06:35
but I believe that behind the apparent diversity
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但我相信在这些多样化的面目下
06:38
there are actually just four basic forms
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实际只有四种基本形式
06:41
that these immortality stories can take.
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是这些永生故事都有的。
06:44
And we can see them repeating themselves
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并且我们能发现他们
06:46
throughout history, just with slight variations
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在历史中不断重复，仅仅只有细微的差异
06:49
to reflect the vocabulary of the day.
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用来反应当时的语言。
06:52
Now I'm going to briefly introduce these four
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下面我会简要介绍这四种
06:55
basic forms of immortality story,
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永生故事的基本形式，
06:57
and I want to try to give you some sense
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并且我希望让你们知道
06:58
of the way in which they're retold by each culture
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在各个文化
07:01
or generation
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或在不同时代中
07:03
using the vocabulary of their day.
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使用当时的语言传播的方式。
07:05
Now, the first story is the simplest.
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第一个故事是最简单的。
07:07
We want to avoid death,
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我们想要逃避死亡，
07:09
and the dream of doing that in this body
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并且梦想着这身躯
07:12
in this world forever
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能永久留存在世上
07:13
is the first and simplest kind of immortality story,
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是第一个最简单的永生故事，
07:17
and it might at first sound implausible,
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一开始听起来有些难以置信，
07:19
but actually, almost every culture in human history
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但事实上，在人类历史上的每一种文化
07:23
has had some myth or legend
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都流传着一些神话或传说
07:25
of an elixir of life or a fountain of youth
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关于长生药或者不老泉
07:28
or something that promises to keep us going
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或者能让我们一直
07:31
forever.
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活下去的东西。
07:34
Ancient Egypt had such myths,
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古埃及有这种传说，
07:36
ancient Babylon, ancient India.
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古巴比伦，古印度。
07:38
Throughout European history, we find them
in the work of the alchemists,
in the work of the alchemists,
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纵观这个欧洲历史，在炼金术师的工作中可以发现它，
07:41
and of course we still believe this today,
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直到今天我们依旧相信它，
07:44
only we tell this story using the vocabulary
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只不过我们使用科学的语言
07:46
of science.
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来讲这个故事。
07:48
So 100 years ago,
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所以100年前，
07:49
hormones had just been discovered,
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荷尔蒙被发现了，
07:51
and people hoped that hormone treatments
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人们希望荷尔蒙治疗
07:53
were going to cure aging and disease,
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能使我们永葆青春和治愈疾病，
07:56
and now instead we set our hopes on stem cells,
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现在我们则是希望干细胞，
07:58
genetic engineering, and nanotechnology.
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基因工程，和纳米技术。
08:01
But the idea that science can cure death
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但科学能够治愈死亡的观点
08:05
is just one more chapter in the story
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只是神奇的灵丹妙药故事的
08:07
of the magical elixir,
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又一个章节，
08:09
a story that is as old as civilization.
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和古文明一样古老的故事。
08:14
But betting everything on the idea of finding the elixir
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但把所有的赌注都压在寻找灵丹妙药
08:16
and staying alive forever
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和长生不老上面
08:18
is a risky strategy.
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这样风险未免太大。
08:20
When we look back through history
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当我们回顾整个历史
08:22
at all those who have sought an elixir in the past,
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所有那些在过去寻找灵丹妙药的人
08:25
the one thing they now have in common
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都有个共通点
08:27
is that they're all dead.
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是他们都难逃一死。
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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所以我们需要个备用方案，精确讲叫B方案
08:33
is what the second kind of immortality story offers,
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也就是第二类永生的故事，
08:36
and that's resurrection.
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那就是复活。
08:38
And it stays with the idea that I am this body,
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概念是我有这个身躯，
08:41
I am this physical organism.
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是一个有机体。
08:43
It accepts that I'm going to have to die
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我是会死去的
08:45
but says, despite that,
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但不论这些，
08:46
I can rise up and I can live again.
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我可以再次活过来的。
08:49
In other words, I can do what Jesus did.
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换句话说，我能和耶稣一样。
08:51
Jesus died, he was three days in the [tomb],
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耶稣死后，有三天在[墓里]，
08:53
and then he rose up and lived again.
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然后又活过来了。
08:56
And the idea that we can all be
resurrected to live again
resurrected to live again
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能够复活的这个概念
08:59
is orthodox believe, not just for Christians
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不单源于东正教
09:02
but also Jews and Muslims.
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也属于犹太教和穆斯林的。
09:04
But our desire to believe this story
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但我们渴望去相信这个故事
09:07
is so deeply embedded
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是深植在我们的内心
09:09
that we are reinventing it again
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而到了科学时代
09:11
for the scientific age,
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我们又重新将它提了出来，
09:12
for example, with the idea of cryonics.
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比如，人体冷冻。
09:15
That's the idea that when you die,
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意思是当你死后，
09:17
you can have yourself frozen,
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你可以把自己冷冻起来，
09:19
and then, at some point when technology
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然后，直到有一天，科技
09:21
has advanced enough,
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高度发达的时候，
09:22
you can be thawed out and repaired and revived
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你可以把自己解冻和修复
09:24
and so resurrected.
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然后复活。
09:26
And so some people believe an omnipotent god
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并且有些人相信万能的神
09:29
will resurrect them to live again,
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会人他们重新活过来，
09:30
and other people believe an
omnipotent scientist will do it.
omnipotent scientist will do it.
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还有人则相信万能的科学。
09:35
But for others, the whole idea of resurrection,
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但是对某些人，对复活的这个看法，
09:37
of climbing out of the grave,
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2003
从坟墓里爬出来，
09:39
it's just too much like a bad zombie movie.
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太像一部摆烂的僵尸电影。
09:42
They find the body too messy, too unreliable
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他们发现自己的身躯腐朽，也不大可能复活，
09:45
to guarantee eternal life,
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无法拥有永恒的生命，
09:47
and so they set their hopes on the third,
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所有他们有第三类型的故事，
09:50
more spiritual immortality story,
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更偏向于精神上的永生故事，
09:52
the idea that we can leave our body behind
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就是我们能够离开我们的身躯
09:54
and live on as a soul.
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但灵魂永久长存。
09:57
Now, the majority of people on Earth
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目前，地球上绝大多数的人
09:59
believe they have a soul,
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认为他们是有灵魂的，
10:01
and the idea is central to many religions.
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这个观念是许多宗教的核心，
10:03
But even though, in its current form,
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即便是这样，在现有的形式下，
10:05
in its traditional form,
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在传统的形式下，
10:07
the idea of the soul is still hugely popular,
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灵魂的观念依旧受到了广泛欢迎，
10:09
nonetheless we are again
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在当今的数字化时代
10:11
reinventing it for the digital age,
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再次提起它，
10:13
for example with the idea
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比如
10:14
that you can leave your body behind
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1990
你可以离开你的身体
10:16
by uploading your mind, your essence,
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你的心智，你的本质，
10:19
the real you, onto a computer,
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真正的你，上传到了电脑中，
10:21
and so live on as an avatar in the ether.
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以化身活在乙太的世界。
10:25
But of course there are skeptics who say
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但是当然，有人会怀疑说
10:27
if we look at the evidence of science,
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如果我们察看科学的依据，
10:29
particularly neuroscience,
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特别是神经系统科学，
10:31
it suggests that your mind,
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提及你的心智，
10:33
your essence, the real you,
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你的本质，真正的你，
10:34
is very much dependent on a particular part
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非常依赖你身体上一个特别的部分，
10:37
of your body, that is, your brain.
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也就是，你的大脑。
10:39
And such skeptics can find comfort
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这样的怀疑者
10:41
in the fourth kind of immortality story,
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有着第四类型的永生的故事，
10:44
and that is legacy,
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那就是遗传的传说。
10:46
the idea that you can live on
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你可以长存在世
10:47
through the echo you leave in the world,
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透过你遗留在世上的事物,
10:50
like the great Greek warrior Achilles,
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就像古希腊战士阿基里斯，
10:52
who sacrificed his life fighting at Troy
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他在特洛伊的战斗中牺牲了自己的生命
10:55
so that he might win immortal fame.
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使他赢得了不朽的名声。
10:58
And the pursuit of fame is as widespread
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追求这样的名声从古至今
11:00
and popular now as it ever was,
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都一样流行，
11:02
and in our digital age,
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在当今的数字时代，
11:04
it's even easier to achieve.
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它更容易实现。
11:05
You don't need to be a great warrior like Achilles
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2324
你不必要成为像阿基里斯这样的勇士
11:08
or a great king or hero.
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1693
或者一个伟大的国王或者英雄。
11:09
All you need is an Internet connection
and a funny cat. (Laughter)
and a funny cat. (Laughter)
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4823
你只要能上网和一只有趣的猫。（笑）
11:14
But some people prefer to leave a more tangible,
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但有些人希望留下后代----
11:17
biological legacy -- children, for example.
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子孙。
11:19
Or they like, they hope, to live on
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或是他们想要，希望
11:22
as part of some greater whole,
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成为整个整体中的一部分活下去，
11:23
a nation or a family or a tribe,
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一个名族，或者一个家庭或者一个部落，
11:26
their gene pool.
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他们的基因库。
11:28
But again, there are skeptics
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但有人会怀疑
11:30
who doubt whether legacy
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1713
这些遗产是否
11:31
really is immortality.
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真的能永久流传下去。
11:33
Woody Allen, for example, who said,
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2077
比如，伍迪 艾伦，曾说过，
11:36
"I don't want to live on in
the hearts of my countrymen.
the hearts of my countrymen.
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“我不想活在我同胞的心里。
11:38
I want to live on in my apartment."
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我想活在我的公寓里。“
11:40
So those are the four
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所以那些都是四种
11:42
basic kinds of immortality stories,
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基本的永生的故事，
11:44
and I've tried to give just some sense
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我试着说明这些故事
11:46
of how they're retold by each generation
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如何一代一代流传着
11:48
with just slight variations
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但也都大同小异
11:50
to fit the fashions of the day.
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2305
以迎合当今时代的潮流。
11:52
And the fact that they recur in this way,
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3489
事实上这些故事不停的被传述，
11:56
in such a similar form but
in such different belief systems,
in such different belief systems,
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在不同的信仰中有着相似的形式，
11:58
suggests, I think,
286
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1578
我觉得，
12:00
that we should be skeptical of the truth
287
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我们应该对
12:02
of any particular version of these stories.
288
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所有这些故事的真实性要有所怀疑，
12:06
The fact that some people believe
289
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2111
事实上有些人民相信
12:08
an omnipotent god will resurrect them to live again
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2665
一个万能的神能让他们复活
12:11
and others believe an omnipotent scientist will do it
291
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3701
还有一些人相信万能的科学能使他们复活
12:15
suggests that neither are really believing this
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3038
这说明人们在确凿的证据面前
12:18
on the strength of the evidence.
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并不相信永生这回事儿
12:20
Rather, we believe these stories
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2426
我们相信这些故事
12:23
because we are biased to believe them,
295
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1983
只是因为偏见，
12:25
and we are biased to believe them
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我们偏误去相信这些故事
12:27
because we are so afraid of death.
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因为我们恐惧死亡。
12:31
So the question is,
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2055
所以问题是，
12:33
are we doomed to lead the one life we have
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是否我们的人生注定生活在
12:36
in a way that is shaped by fear and denial,
300
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对恐惧的抗拒和支配，
12:40
or can we overcome this bias?
301
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还是我们能够克服偏误？
12:43
Well the Greek philosopher Epicurus
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2467
古希腊哲学家伊比鸠鲁
12:46
thought we could.
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认为我们可以克服。
12:47
He argued that the fear of death is natural,
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3548
他主张我们对死亡的恐惧是天生的，
12:51
but it is not rational.
305
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2415
但不是理性的。
12:53
"Death," he said, "is nothing to us,
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2658
他说，”死亡对我们来说不算什么
12:56
because when we are here, death is not,
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2850
因为但我们在的时候，死亡不在，
12:59
and when death is here, we are gone."
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3753
而当死亡在这里的时候，我们不在了。“
13:03
Now this is often quoted, but it's difficult
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1798
这句话常被引用，但很难
13:04
to really grasp, to really internalize,
310
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2322
抓住精髓和真正的内在化，
13:07
because exactly this idea of being gone
311
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2163
因为所谓的（不存在）
13:09
is so difficult to imagine.
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2139
是很难想象的。
13:11
So 2,000 years later, another philosopher,
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2231
所以两千年之后，另一位哲学家，
13:13
Ludwig Wittgenstein, put it like this:
314
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3457
路德维格 维根斯坦，这样说：
13:17
"Death is not an event in life:
315
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2944
“死亡并非人生中的大事：
13:20
We do not live to experience death.
316
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3642
我们活着不是为了经历死亡，
13:23
And so," he added,
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1194
所以”他补充到，
13:25
"in this sense, life has no end."
318
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“从这个角度来看，生命是没有终点的。“
13:27
So it was natural for me as a child
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3176
当我还小的时候，
13:31
to fear being swallowed by the void,
320
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2367
很自然的对在空虚中被吞噬产生恐惧，
13:33
but it wasn't rational,
321
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1879
但这并非理性，
13:35
because being swallowed by the void
322
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1985
因为在空虚中被吞噬
13:37
is not something that any of us
323
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2078
不是任何人
13:39
will ever live to experience.
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3270
会活着能够经历到的事情。
13:42
Now, overcoming this bias is not easy because
325
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2529
目前，克服偏误不是那么容易的因为
13:45
the fear of death is so deeply embedded in us,
326
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2959
对死亡的恐惧已经在我们心底生根发芽
13:48
yet when we see that the fear itself is not rational,
327
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4482
但当我们了解这些恐惧是不理性的，
13:52
and when we bring out into the open
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2130
当我们可以在台面上提出来
13:54
the ways in which it can unconsciously bias us,
329
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2698
这恐惧会无意识的让我们偏误，
13:57
then we can at least start
330
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1851
那么至少我们已经开始
13:59
to try to minimize the influence it has
331
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2634
尝试去减小它
14:02
on our lives.
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对我们生活的影响。
14:03
Now, I find it helps to see life
333
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2818
目前，我发现可以将生命
14:06
as being like a book:
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1844
视为一本书：
14:08
Just as a book is bounded by its covers,
335
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2468
书的开头和结尾
14:11
by beginning and end,
336
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1277
都被书皮包裹着，
14:12
so our lives are bounded by birth and death,
337
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3738
所以我们的生命被出生和死亡所固定，
14:16
and even though a book is
limited by beginning and end,
limited by beginning and end,
338
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3515
即便这本书受到开头和结尾的限制，
14:19
it can encompass distant landscapes,
339
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2136
它能带我们去遥远的地方，
14:21
exotic figures, fantastic adventures.
340
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3230
异国的风情，奇异的冒险。
14:24
And even though a book is
limited by beginning and end,
limited by beginning and end,
341
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3349
即便这本书受到开头和结尾的限制，
14:28
the characters within it
342
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1823
书里面的人物
14:30
know no horizons.
343
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2842
是不会被限制的，
14:32
They only know the moments
that make up their story,
that make up their story,
344
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3157
它们当下活出他们的故事，
14:36
even when the book is closed.
345
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2940
即便这本书被合上。
14:39
And so the characters of a book
346
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2136
书中的人物
14:41
are not afraid of reaching the last page.
347
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3482
不会害怕走到最后一页。
14:44
Long John Silver is not afraid of you
348
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2278
约翰 西弗不会害怕
14:46
finishing your copy of "Treasure Island."
349
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2835
你读完《金银岛》。
14:49
And so it should be with us.
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1700
所以我们也应当如此。
14:51
Imagine the book of your life,
351
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2144
想象关于你生命的一本书，
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
它的书皮，开头和结局和出生和死亡。
14:56
You can only know the moments in between,
353
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2177
而你只知道生死之间
14:58
the moments that make up your life.
354
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1935
活出你生命的时刻。
15:00
It makes no sense for you to fear
355
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1947
这不会让你
15:02
what is outside of those covers,
356
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2090
对书皮之外的事产生恐惧，
15:04
whether before your birth
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1470
无论是你出生之前
15:06
or after your death.
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1976
还是 死亡之后。
15:07
And you needn't worry how long the book is,
359
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2529
你不必担心这本书有多厚，
15:10
or whether it's a comic strip or an epic.
360
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3473
无论它是本连环画还是部史诗。
15:13
The only thing that matters
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1542
唯一重要的
15:15
is that you make it a good story.
362
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3498
是你活得精彩！
15:19
Thank you.
363
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2220
谢谢。
15:21
(Applause)
364
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4185
（掌声）
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