评论
打印
Our actions today are affecting future generations like at no point in human history. We need to learn to escape the tyranny of the present moment.
我们今天的举动对后代的影响是人类历史上前所未有的。我们需要学会逃离当下的暴行。
If you think about the legacies we've inherited from the past, some of them are incredibly positive, like the cities that we now live in, or the medical discoveries that we still benefit from.
如果想想我们从过去继承下来的遗产，其中一些是非常积极的，比如我们现在居住的城市，或者我们仍在受益的医学发现。
But there are also a lot of negative legacies that we've inherited. For example, the inheritance of colonialism and slavery and racism.
但我们也继承了很多负面的遗产。例如，殖民主义、奴隶制和种族主义的传承。
The inheritance of economies that are structurally addicted to endless growth in fossil fuels. So the great question facing humanity is, are we being good ancestors?
继承了从结构上依赖于化石燃料无止境增长的经济体。因此，人类面临的最大问题是，我们是优良的祖先吗？
In other words, are we gonna be remembered well by the generations to come?
换句话说，我们会被后代铭记吗？
My name is Roman Krznaric. I'm a public philosopher and author of the book "The Good Ancestor: A Radical Prescription for Long-term Thinking."
我是罗曼·克兹纳里奇。我是一位哲学家，著有《优良祖先：长远考虑的全新秘诀》一书。
Human kind is just an eye blink in the billion-year cosmic story. If you think about it, there are 7.7 billion people alive today.
在数十亿年的宇宙中，人类只是一眨眼的功夫。如果你仔细想想，现在世界上有77亿人活着。
Now cast your mind back over the past 55,000 years. An estimated 100 billion people have been born and died.
现在让我们回顾一下过去的55000年。估计有1000亿人出生和死亡。
But both of these are far outweighed by the nearly 7 trillion people who will be born over the next 50,000 years, amongst them are your grandchildren and their grandchildren, the friends and communities on whom they'll depend.
但这两个数字都远远超过了未来5万年中将出生的近7万亿人口，其中包括你的孙辈和他们的孙辈，及他们将依赖的朋友和社区。
What obligations we have to those billions upon billions of people who far outnumber all those alive today. The scales are very much in their favor.
我们对那些数量远远超过今天所有活着的人数十亿的人有什么义务。天平对他们非常有利。
So I think if we're gonna be good ancestors we need to think more about the long term. But there is a struggle going on between the drivers of short-term and long-term.
所以我认为如果我们要成为优良的祖先我们需要从长远考虑。但短期和长期驱动因素之间仍存在着一场斗争。
You know, do I party today, or save for my pension for tomorrow? Do I upgrade to the latest iPhone or plant a seed in the ground for posterity?
我今天是要开派对，还是为明天存养老金呢？我是应该换成最新款的iPhone，还是为子孙后代播下一颗种子呢？
And the part of our brain which drives our short-term behaviors, I call the marshmallow brain. It's part of our neuroanatomy which is all about immediate rewards and instant gratification.
而我们大脑中控制短期行为的部分，我称之为“棉花糖大脑”。这是神经解剖学的一部分，与即时奖励和即时满足有关。
And it's named of course after the famous marshmallow test of the 1960s when a marshmallow was put in front of little kids and if they could resist eating it for 15 minutes, they will be rewarded with a second marshmallow.
当然它是以20世纪60年代著名的“棉花糖实验”命名的，当时一个棉花糖放在小孩面前如果他们能忍住15分钟不吃，他们就会得到第二个棉花糖作为奖励。
And it turned out the majority of kids couldn't resist and snatched the snack and gobbled it up. And it gave us this idea that we are wired for short-termism.
事实证明，大多数孩子都无法抗拒，抢过来就狼吞虎咽地吃了起来。这让我们觉得我们天生就是短视的。
We also have inside us another part of the brain which I call the acorn brain. This is the part of our neuroanatomy which focuses on long-term thinking and planning and strategizing.
我们的大脑中还有另一部分，我称之为“橡子大脑”。这也是神经解剖学的一部分，侧重于长期性思考、计划和策略。
It's what's enabled us to build the Great Wall of China, or voyage into space.
它能够使我们建造出中国长城，或实现太空航行。
So what's really happening is that there is a struggle going on between the marshmallow and the acorn and we need to find ways of switching on our acorn brain capacities, so we're not just marshmallow snatchers but long-term acorn thinkers.
所以真实情况是在棉花糖和橡子之间的一场斗争，我们需要找到打开橡子大脑容量的方法，因此我们不仅仅是“棉花糖掠夺者”而且也是“橡子长期思虑者”。
