Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • I have a question:

    我有一個提問:

  • Who here remembers when they first realized

    這裡有誰記得是什麼時候

  • they were going to die?

    第一次意識到自己會死去?

  • I do. I was a young boy,

    我記得 那時我還是小男孩

  • and my grandfather had just died,

    我祖父剛剛過世

  • and I remember a few days later lying in bed at night

    我記得在那幾天後的晚上,我躺在床上

  • trying to make sense of what had happened.

    試著去理解發生了什麼事情

  • What did it mean that he was dead?

    他過世了是什麼意思?

  • Where had he gone?

    他去了哪裡?

  • It was like a hole in reality had opened up

    這有點像在現實中有一個洞

  • and swallowed him.

    打開後把他吞下去

  • But then the really shocking question occurred to me:

    但對我來說,震驚的事情是:

  • If he could die, could it happen to me too?

    如果他會死去,那也會發生在我身上嗎?

  • Could that hole in reality open up and swallow me?

    那個洞也會打開把我吞下去嗎?

  • Would it open up beneath my bed

    它會不會在我的床底下打開

  • and swallow me as I slept?

    在我睡覺時把我吞了?

  • Well, at some point, all children become aware of death.

    某方面而言,所有的小孩都注意到死亡

  • It can happen in different ways, of course,

    當然,死亡會以不同的方式發生

  • and usually comes in stages.

    而且通常是很引人注目的

  • Our idea of death develops as we grow older.

    我們對死亡的認識隨著長大而加深

  • And if you reach back into the dark corners

    如果你能回到你記憶裡

  • of your memory,

    那個黑暗的角落

  • you might remember something like what I felt

    或許你會有跟我那時一樣的感受

  • when my grandfather died and when I realized

    當我祖父過世而我認知到

  • it could happen to me too,

    這也可能發生在我身上

  • that sense that behind all of this

    在這一切背後的感受

  • the void is waiting.

    只能空等待

  • And this development in childhood

    在孩童時期這樣的發展

  • reflects the development of our species.

    反應了我們人類的發展

  • Just as there was a point in your development

    就像是在你生命中的某一時刻

  • as a child when your sense of self and of time

    還是小孩的你對自我和時間的認知

  • became sophisticated enough

    開始變得複雜

  • for you to realize you were mortal,

    你理解自己終將一死

  • so at some point in the evolution of our species,

    所以在人類演化的某一時刻

  • some early human's sense of self and of time

    早期的某些人對自我和時間的認知

  • became sophisticated enough

    開始變得複雜

  • for them to become the first human to realize,

    然後成為第一批

  • "I'm going to die."

    知道「我將會死去」的人們

  • This is, if you like, our curse.

    如果你能接受,這是我們的咒詛

  • It's the price we pay for being so damn clever.

    這是我們過於聰明的代價

  • We have to live in the knowledge

    我們必須活在

  • that the worst thing that can possibly happen

    知道最壞的事將會發生的陰影下

  • one day surely will,

    這一天一定會來到

  • the end of all our projects,

    終結我們所有的計畫

  • our hopes, our dreams, of our individual world.

    我們的希望、夢想和個人世界

  • We each live in the shadow of a personal

    我們每個人活在自個兒的

  • apocalypse.

    末日陰影下

  • And that's frightening. It's terrifying.

    這很恐怖嚇人

  • And so we look for a way out.

    所以我們試圖找個出路

  • And in my case, as I was about five years old,

    以我為例,當我大約五歲時

  • this meant asking my mum.

    我是去問我媽

  • Now when I first started asking

    當我開始詢問

  • what happens when we die,

    我們死後會怎樣

  • the grown-ups around me at the time

    在我周遭的成人回答我

  • answered with a typical English mix of awkwardness

    很典型、尷尬且

  • and half-hearted Christianity,

    無心的基督教語句

  • and the phrase I heard most often

    我最常聽到的是

  • 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,

    而且如果我也死去,當然不會是現在

  • then I too would go up there,

    我也會到天上去

  • which made death sound a lot like

    這讓死亡看起來很像是

  • an existential elevator.

    一座可能存在的電梯

  • Now this didn't sound very plausible.

    現在這聽起來不再是有可能的

  • I used to watch a children's news program at the time,

    那時候我通常會觀看兒童新聞節目

  • and this was the era of space exploration.

    那時是一個太空探索的時代

  • There were always rockets going up into the sky,

    節目總是關於火箭升空

  • up into space, going up there.

    飛上高高的太空中

  • But none of the astronauts when they came back

    但沒有任何回來的太空人提及

  • ever mentioned having met my granddad

    見到我去世的祖父

  • or any other dead people.

    或是其他死去的人

  • But I was scared,

    但當時我很害怕

  • and the idea of taking the existential elevator

    而搭乘那可能存在的電梯

  • to see my granddad

    去見我的祖父

  • sounded a lot better than being swallowed

    比起在睡夢中被虛空吞噬

  • by the void while I slept.

    是容易接受的多

  • And so I believed it anyway,

    所以我就相信了

  • even though it didn't make much sense.

    縱使這聽起來很不合理

  • And this thought process that I went through

    這樣的思考模式讓我渡過童年

  • as a child, and have been through many times since,

    從那之後發生過很多次

  • including as a grown-up,

    長大之後也是

  • is a product of what psychologists call

    這被心理學家稱作是

  • a bias.

    偏誤 (bias)

  • Now a bias is a way in which we systematically

    偏誤是我們有系統地

  • get things wrong,

    把事情搞錯

  • ways in which we miscalculate, misjudge,

    估算錯誤、判斷錯誤

  • distort reality, or see what we want to see,

    扭曲現實,或是只看到想看到的

  • and the bias I'm talking about

    而我要說的偏誤

  • works like this:

    是像這樣的:

  • Confront someone with the fact

    使他人去正視

  • that they are going to die

    他們即將會死去的事實

  • and they will believe just about any story

    他們會相信任何故事

  • that tells them it isn't true

    告訴他們這不是真的

  • and they can, instead, live forever,

    而且他們可以永遠活著

  • even if it means taking the existential elevator.

    就算是搭乘那個可能存在的電梯

  • Now we can see this as the biggest bias of all.

    我們可以將這個視為最大的偏誤

  • It has been demonstrated in over 400

    這經過四百個經驗研究

  • empirical studies.

    得到證實

  • Now these studies are ingenious, but they're simple.

    這些研究設計得很巧妙,但相當簡單

  • They work like this.

    像這樣

  • You take two groups of people

    你找了兩組人

  • who are similar in all relevant respects,

    在各個面向上都很相似

  • and you remind one group that they're going to die

    你提醒其中一組人他們即將死去

  • but not the other, then you compare their behavior.

    但另一組沒有,然後你比較他們的行為

  • So you're observing how it biases behavior

    你觀察到,當人們意識到他們終究會死去時

  • when people become aware of their mortality.

    這個認知如何使他們的行為產生偏誤

  • And every time, you get the same result:

    而且每次試驗你都得到相同的結果

  • People who are made aware of their mortality

    被提醒終將會死去的那組人

  • are more willing to believe stories

    比較願意去相信

  • that tell them they can escape death

    他們有辦法逃脫死亡

  • and live forever.

    並且得到永生的故事

  • So here's an example: One recent study

    這裡有一個例子

  • took two groups of agnostics,

    一項研究找來兩組不可知論者

  • that is people who are undecided

    這些人都沒有

  • in their religious beliefs.

    特定的宗教傾向

  • Now, one group was asked to think about being dead.

    其中一組被要求思考死亡這件事

  • The other group was asked to think about

    另一組被要求思考

  • being lonely.

    孤獨

  • They were then asked again about their religious beliefs.

    他們再度被問及他們的宗教信仰

  • Those who had been asked to think about being dead

    被要求思考死亡的那組人

  • were afterwards twice as likely to express faith

    之後有兩倍的可能性

  • in God and Jesus.

    用上帝和耶穌來描敘他們的信仰

  • Twice as likely.

    兩倍的可能性

  • Even though the before they were all equally agnostic.

    即使在這之前他們同樣是不可知論者

  • But put the fear of death in them,

    但把對死亡的恐懼放在眼前

  • and they run to Jesus.

    他們會向耶穌靠攏

  • Now, this shows that reminding people of death

    這顯示向人們提醒死亡

  • biases them to believe, regardless of the evidence,

    會讓他們忽視證據,而在所相信的事物上偏誤

  • and it works not just for religion,

    而這不僅僅影響到宗教

  • but for any kind of belief system

    而是任何跟信仰有關

  • that promises immortality in some form,

    任何能提供永生形式的機制

  • whether it's becoming famous

    無論是變有名

  • or having children

    或是生小孩

  • or even nationalism,

    或甚至是民族主義

  • which promises you can live on as part of a greater whole.

    保證你能成為全體的一部分活下去

  • This is a bias that has shaped

    這樣的偏誤

  • the course of human history.

    塑造了人類的歷史

  • Now, the theory behind this bias

    在這偏誤背後

  • in the over 400 studies

    超過四百個研究

  • is called terror management theory,

    稱之為「恐懼管理理論」

  • and the idea is simple. It's just this.

    這個理論很簡單

  • We develop our worldviews,

    我們發展出我們的世界觀

  • that is, the stories we tell ourselves

    告訴自己一個

  • about the world and our place in it,

    關於世界和我們所在地方的故事

  • in order to help us manage

    為的是要讓我們可以

  • the terror of death.

    處理對死亡的恐懼

  • And these immortality stories

    這些永生的故事

  • have thousands of different manifestations,

    有著上千種的形式

  • but I believe that behind the apparent diversity

    但我相信在這些多樣化的面貌下

  • there are actually just four basic forms

    這些永生故事

  • that these immortality stories can take.

    其實只有四種基本樣式

  • And we can see them repeating themselves

    在歷史中不斷地循環

  • throughout history, just with slight variations

    只有小小的差異

  • to reflect the vocabulary of the day.

    反應當時的語言

  • Now I'm going to briefly introduce these four

    我來簡單介紹永生故事中的

  • basic forms of immortality story,

    這四個基本樣式

  • and I want to try to give you some sense

    我也希望讓各位知道

  • of the way in which they're retold by each culture

    它們是如何在各個文化和世代中

  • or generation

    使用當時的語言

  • using the vocabulary of their day.

    被流傳著

  • Now, the first story is the simplest.

    第一個故事是最簡單的

  • We want to avoid death,

    我們想要避免死亡

  • and the dream of doing that in this body

    夢想著這身軀

  • in this world forever

    可以永久留存在這世上

  • is the first and simplest kind of immortality story,

    這是第一個也是最簡單的永生故事

  • and it might at first sound implausible,

    這聽起來有點難以置信

  • but actually, almost every culture in human history

    但事實上,人類史上幾乎所有的文化

  • has had some myth or legend

    都有神話或傳說是關於

  • of an elixir of life or a fountain of youth

    不老藥或是青春泉水

  • or something that promises to keep us going

    或是某種可以讓我們

  • forever.

    一直活下去的東西

  • Ancient Egypt had such myths,

    古埃及有這樣的神話

  • ancient Babylon, ancient India.

    古巴比倫、古印度

  • Throughout European history, we find them in the work of the alchemists,

    綜觀歐洲史,可以在鍊金術中發現它

  • and of course we still believe this today,

    現在我們依舊相信它

  • only we tell this story using the vocabulary

    只是我們用科學的語言

  • of science.

    訴說它

  • So 100 years ago,

    約一百年前

  • hormones had just been discovered,

    荷爾蒙被發現了

  • and people hoped that hormone treatments

    人們冀望荷爾蒙

  • were going to cure aging and disease,

    可以治療老化和疾病

  • and now instead we set our hopes on stem cells,

    現在我們則是寄望於幹細胞

  • genetic engineering, and nanotechnology.

    遺傳工程和奈米科技

  • But the idea that science can cure death

    但能對抗死亡的科學

  • is just one more chapter in the story

    也僅只是跟文明一樣古老的

  • of the magical elixir,

    另一則

  • a story that is as old as civilization.

    不老藥故事

  • But betting everything on the idea of finding the elixir

    但把一切都賭在發現不老藥

  • and staying alive forever

    和保持永生上面

  • is a risky strategy.

    風險太大

  • When we look back through history

    當我們回頭看歷史

  • at all those who have sought an elixir in the past,

    那些尋找不老藥的人

  • the one thing they now have in common

    都有個共通點

  • is that they're all dead.

    就是他們都過世了

  • So we need a backup plan, and exactly this kind of plan B

    所以我們需要一個備案

  • is what the second kind of immortality story offers,

    也就是第二類的永生故事

  • and that's resurrection.

    那就是復活

  • And it stays with the idea that I am this body,

    復活的概念是我是一個肉身

  • I am this physical organism.

    是一個有機體

  • It accepts that I'm going to have to die

    接受我是會死去的事實

  • but says, despite that,

    但不論這些

  • I can rise up and I can live again.

    我會再次活過來

  • In other words, I can do what Jesus did.

    換句話說,我可以跟耶穌一樣

  • Jesus died, he was three days in the [tomb],

    耶穌死後,有三天在墓穴中

  • and then he rose up and lived again.

    然後他就復活了

  • And the idea that we can all be resurrected to live again

    能夠復活的這個概念

  • is orthodox believe, not just for Christians

    是很傳統的教義,不單是基督教

  • but also Jews and Muslims.

    也是猶太教和回教的

  • But our desire to believe this story

    我們相信這個故事的渴望

  • is so deeply embedded

    如此深植在我們的內心

  • that we are reinventing it again

    以致於在科學時代

  • for the scientific age,

    我們再次創造它

  • for example, with the idea of cryonics.

    例如人體冷凍

  • That's the idea that when you die,

    當你死亡時

  • you can have yourself frozen,

    你可以把自己冷凍起來

  • and then, at some point when technology

    等到某天

  • has advanced enough,

    科技足夠先進

  • you can be thawed out and repaired and revived

    你可以讓自己解凍、修復、甦醒

  • and so resurrected.

    然後復活

  • And so some people believe an omnipotent god

    有些人相信有一位全能的神

  • will resurrect them to live again,

    將會使他們再次活過來

  • and other people believe an omnipotent scientist will do it.

    而有些人則是相信 全能的科學能讓他們復活

  • But for others, the whole idea of resurrection,

    但對某些人來說,復活這件事

  • of climbing out of the grave,

    從墳墓中爬出來

  • it's just too much like a bad zombie movie.

    太像是可怕的僵屍電影

  • They find the body too messy, too unreliable

    他們覺得身軀太髒亂且不可靠

  • to guarantee eternal life,

    無法承受永恆的生命

  • and so they set their hopes on the third,

    所以他們有第三種類型的故事

  • more spiritual immortality story,

    更加靈性不死的故事

  • the idea that we can leave our body behind

    就是我們會離開我們的身體

  • and live on as a soul.

    而靈魂會永遠常存

  • Now, the majority of people on Earth

    地球上絕大部分的人

  • believe they have a soul,

    都相信人有靈魂

  • and the idea is central to many religions.

    這個概念是許多宗教的核心

  • But even though, in its current form,

    但不管是現在的型態

  • in its traditional form,

    或是傳統的型態

  • the idea of the soul is still hugely popular,

    靈魂的概念仍然非常受歡迎

  • nonetheless we are again

    我們在當今數位時代

  • reinventing it for the digital age,

    依舊再次創造它

  • for example with the idea

    例如

  • that you can leave your body behind

    你可以離開你的身體

  • by uploading your mind, your essence,

    透過將你的心智、本質、真正的你

  • the real you, onto a computer,

    上傳到電腦中

  • and so live on as an avatar in the ether.

    以化身存活在太空裡

  • But of course there are skeptics who say

    當然,有人會懷疑說

  • if we look at the evidence of science,

    如果我們檢視科學的證據

  • particularly neuroscience,

    特別是神經學

  • it suggests that your mind,

    提及你的心智

  • your essence, the real you,

    你的本質,真正的你

  • is very much dependent on a particular part

    是非常仰賴你身體的某個部分

  • of your body, that is, your brain.

    那就是你的腦

  • And such skeptics can find comfort

    這樣的懷疑者

  • in the fourth kind of immortality story,

    能從第四種類的的永生故事中 得到安慰

  • and that is legacy,

    那就是遺留下的事物

  • the idea that you can live on

    你可以常存在世

  • through the echo you leave in the world,

    透過你留在世界上的事物

  • like the great Greek warrior Achilles,

    像是希臘戰士阿基里斯

  • who sacrificed his life fighting at Troy

    他犧牲生命對抗特洛依

  • so that he might win immortal fame.

    使他贏得永遠的名聲

  • And the pursuit of fame is as widespread

    追求這樣的名聲

  • and popular now as it ever was,

    從古至今都一樣流行普遍

  • and in our digital age,

    在當今的數位時代

  • it's even easier to achieve.

    這是更容易辦到的

  • You don't need to be a great warrior like Achilles

    你不需要像阿基里斯一樣是個戰士

  • or a great king or hero.

    或是一位國王,或英雄

  • All you need is an Internet connection and a funny cat. (Laughter)

    你只需要一條網路線和一隻有趣的貓 (笑聲)

  • But some people prefer to leave a more tangible,

    但有些人還是會想要留下

  • biological legacy -- children, for example.

    更有形、有生命的事物,像是小孩

  • Or they like, they hope, to live on

    或是他們想要、希望可以

  • as part of some greater whole,

    成為全體的一部分活下去

  • a nation or a family or a tribe,

    國家、家庭或聚落

  • their gene pool.

    它們的基因庫

  • But again, there are skeptics

    但還是有人會懷疑

  • who doubt whether legacy

    這樣遺留下的事物

  • really is immortality.

    是否真的能永流傳

  • Woody Allen, for example, who said,

    像是伍迪艾倫說過 (譯註:美國導演、演員、劇作家):

  • "I don't want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen.

    「我不想活在我同胞的心裡

  • I want to live on in my apartment."

    我想活在我的公寓裡。」

  • So those are the four

    這些是四種基本的

  • basic kinds of immortality stories,

    永生故事

  • and I've tried to give just some sense

    我試著說明這些故事

  • of how they're retold by each generation

    如何一代一代的流傳著

  • with just slight variations

    而僅有些許的變化

  • to fit the fashions of the day.

    以迎合各時代的思潮

  • And the fact that they recur in this way,

    這些故事不停地重覆傳頌

  • in such a similar form but in such different belief systems,

    在不同的信仰中有著如此相似的形式

  • suggests, I think,

    我覺得

  • that we should be skeptical of the truth

    我們應該要對這些故事

  • of any particular version of these stories.

    有所質疑

  • The fact that some people believe

    有些人相信

  • an omnipotent god will resurrect them to live again

    一位全能的神會使他們復活

  • and others believe an omnipotent scientist will do it

    而其他人相信萬能的科學會使他們復活

  • suggests that neither are really believing this

    這些都說明人們不是因著證據

  • on the strength of the evidence.

    相信這些故事

  • Rather, we believe these stories

    我們相信這些故事

  • because we are biased to believe them,

    只因為我們的偏誤而相信故事

  • and we are biased to believe them

    我們會偏誤而相信故事

  • because we are so afraid of death.

    是因為我們對死亡的恐懼

  • So the question is,

    問題是

  • are we doomed to lead the one life we have

    我們是否讓我們的人生注定

  • in a way that is shaped by fear and denial,

    被恐懼和抗拒支配

  • or can we overcome this bias?

    還是我們可以克服這個偏誤?

  • Well the Greek philosopher Epicurus

    希臘哲學家伊比鳩魯

  • thought we could.

    認為我們可以

  • He argued that the fear of death is natural,

    他主張對死亡的恐懼是天生的

  • but it is not rational.

    但並非理性的

  • "Death," he said, "is nothing to us,

    他說:「死亡對我們來說不算什麼,

  • because when we are here, death is not,

    因為當我們在這裡,死亡就不在;

  • and when death is here, we are gone."

    而當死亡在這裡,我們就不在了。」

  • Now this is often quoted, but it's difficult

    這句話常被引用

  • to really grasp, to really internalize,

    但很難領會、真正內化它

  • because exactly this idea of being gone

    因為所謂的「不在這裡」

  • is so difficult to imagine.

    是很難想像的

  • So 2,000 years later, another philosopher,

    所以兩千年之後,另一個哲學家

  • Ludwig Wittgenstein, put it like this:

    路德維希.維根斯坦這樣說:

  • "Death is not an event in life:

    「死亡不是生命中的一件事,

  • We do not live to experience death.

    我們並非活著來體驗死亡。

  • And so," he added,

    所以,

  • "in this sense, life has no end."

    從這個觀點來看,生命是沒有終點的。」

  • So it was natural for me as a child

    當我還小的時候

  • to fear being swallowed by the void,

    很自然地對於被虛無吞沒產生恐懼

  • but it wasn't rational,

    但這並非理性的

  • because being swallowed by the void

    因為被虛無吞沒

  • is not something that any of us

    並不是一件任何人

  • will ever live to experience.

    會活著經歷的事情

  • Now, overcoming this bias is not easy because

    克服偏誤不是一件容易的事

  • the fear of death is so deeply embedded in us,

    因為對死亡的恐懼深植在我們之中

  • yet when we see that the fear itself is not rational,

    但當我們了解這恐懼是不理性的

  • and when we bring out into the open

    當我們可以在檯面上提出來

  • the ways in which it can unconsciously bias us,

    這恐懼會無意識地讓我們偏誤

  • then we can at least start

    那至少我們可以開始

  • to try to minimize the influence it has

    嘗試去減小它在我們生命中的

  • on our lives.

    影響

  • Now, I find it helps to see life

    我發覺把生命

  • as being like a book:

    當作是一本書會有幫助:

  • Just as a book is bounded by its covers,

    就像書受限於有開頭和結尾

  • by beginning and end,

    被書皮包覆著

  • so our lives are bounded by birth and death,

    就像我們的生命被出生和死亡包覆著

  • and even though a book is limited by beginning and end,

    即使書本受限於要有開頭和結尾

  • it can encompass distant landscapes,

    但它可以包含遠處的風光

  • exotic figures, fantastic adventures.

    異國風情的人物與奇幻的冒險

  • And even though a book is limited by beginning and end,

    即使書本必須有開頭和結尾

  • the characters within it

    其中的人物

  • know no horizons.

    不知道有邊界

  • They only know the moments that make up their story,

    只知道當下要活出他們的故事

  • even when the book is closed.

    即使書本被闔起來之後也一樣

  • And so the characters of a book

    所以書本中的人物

  • are not afraid of reaching the last page.

    不會害怕走到最後一頁

  • Long John Silver is not afraid of you

    史約翰不會害怕

  • finishing your copy of "Treasure Island."

    你讀完《金銀島》

  • And so it should be with us.

    所以我們也當如此

  • Imagine the book of your life,

    想像一本關於你生命的書

  • its covers, its beginning and end, and your birth and your death.

    它的封面、開頭和結尾 以及你的出生和死亡

  • You can only know the moments in between,

    而你只知道這之間

  • the moments that make up your life.

    能活出你生命的時刻

  • It makes no sense for you to fear

    這不該讓你

  • what is outside of those covers,

    對書皮之外的事恐懼

  • whether before your birth

    不管是你出生之前

  • or after your death.

    或是死亡之後

  • And you needn't worry how long the book is,

    你不必擔心書本有多厚

  • or whether it's a comic strip or an epic.

    它是連環漫畫或是長篇史詩

  • The only thing that matters

    唯一重要的事情是

  • is that you make it a good story.

    你有一個好的故事

  • Thank you.

    謝謝

  • (Applause)

    (掌聲)

I have a question:

我有一個提問:

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it

B1 TED 死亡 偏誤 故事 復活 永生

【TED】斯蒂芬-凱夫:我們告訴自己關於死亡的4個故事(The 4 stories we tell ourselves about death | Stephen Cave)。 (【TED】Stephen Cave: The 4 stories we tell ourselves about death (The 4 stories we tell ourselves about death | Stephen Cave))

  • 1090 83
    Max Lin posted on 2021/01/14
Video vocabulary