Name: 綜觀 30 萬年的人類歷史，你希望留給後代什麼樣的未來呢？(What if you experienced every human life in history?)
Uploaded: 2023-04-09T21:01:30.000Z
Duration: 5 min 21 s

Imagine that your life began roughly 300,000 years ago as one of the planet's first humans.

想像一下，你的人生從大約 30 萬年前就開始了，而你是地球上最早的人類之一。

程度副詞

At this time, you live in Africa near modern-day Morocco, and your life isn't too different from that of your hominid parents.

此時此刻，你住在非洲，接近如今的摩洛哥，你的生活和你的原始人父母並沒有什麼太大的區別。

情態副詞

You make crude tools, hunt, and gather food and materials, until eventually you perish.

你會做粗糙的工具，打獵，收集食物和材料，直到迎來死亡的那天。

Because after dying, you travel back in time to be reincarnated as the second human ever to live.

因為你死後，又穿越回去，轉世成為了史上第二個人類。

While you don't remember your former life, your previous actions affect you nonetheless.

雖然你不記得你前世的事，但是你之前的行為還是會影響你的這一世。

And after dying once more, you return as the third person, then the fourth, the fifth, and so on—living the lives of every single human that's ever walked the Earth.

死了一次又一次以後，你轉世成為了第三個人、第四個人，第五個人等等……你會經歷地球上每一個存活過的人的人生。

Strung end to end, these lives last almost 4 trillion years.

這些人生頭尾相連要持續四萬億年。

Since you only recall the life you're currently living, your psyche doesn't carry the entire weight of human history.

由於你只能記住你現在所處的這一世，你的腦子不會肩負整個人類歷史的重擔。

However, each of your lifetimes still has a profound impact on your future selves.

但是，你的每一次人生都會對未來的自己產生深遠的影響。

Sometimes your influence on the world is obvious, but these major historical figures only account for a tiny fraction of your experience.

有時，你對世界的影響很明顯，但是這些重大的歷史事件只是你經歷中的沧海一粟。

Instead, your existence consists mostly of ordinary lives, filled with everyday tasks like eating, laughing, working, and worrying.

相反，你的存在大多由平淡日常組成，充滿了日常行為，如吃飯、歡笑、工作、焦慮。

For approximately one-tenth of your 4 trillion years, you're a hunter-gatherer.

你的四萬億年中大約有十分之一的時間作為一名狩獵採集者。

For 60%, you're an agriculturalist, developing tools and techniques which you employ over roughly 800 billion years of working on farms.

有 60% 的時間，你作為一名農學家開發工具和技巧，用於長達約 8000 億年的務農。

Across your lifetimes, you spend 1.5 billion years having sex and another 250 million years giving birth.

縱覽你的人生，你在性生活上花了 15 億年，又在生孩子上花了 2.5 億年。

In total, 20% of your existence is spent raising children, to whom you impart a variety of cultural values that influence the trajectory of generations.

總共有 20% 的時間花在了養孩子上，你得把會影響世世代代延續的各種文化價值傳給你的孩子。

In some lives, you shatter those cultures through invasion and imperialism.

在某幾段人生中，這些文化會因為侵略和擴張分崩離析。

In others, you suffer as your lands and loved ones are taken away.

在某幾段人生中， 你會因家破人亡而備受折磨。

In over 1% of lives, you're afflicted with malaria or smallpox, while in others, you treat these conditions—saving countless versions of yourself.

超過 1% 的時間， 你在經受瘧疾或天花的折磨，但是在其餘的時間裡， 你能治療這些疾病，拯救了你的好幾世。

In humanity's early days,  the average lifespan is fairly short.

在人類早期，平均壽命挺短的。

There are fewer lives to live, and your influence is usually limited to people physically near you.

你只能活一小段時間，於是你的影響力通常僅限於 真正在你「身邊」的人。

But as humans survive longer on average and Earth's population grows, you start to spend more time reliving the same action-packed years.

但隨著人類普遍越活越久， 地球上的人口越來越多，你開始重複經歷那幾年豐富多彩的人生。

A full third of your existence comes after 1200 CE, and a quarter of it takes place after 1750.

你有整整三分之一的時間是在公元 1200 年之後，有四分之一的時間是在 1750 年之後。

At this point, technology and society start changing faster than ever.

此時此刻，科技和社會以前所未有的速度快速發展。

You invent steam engines, configure factories, and generate electricity, which power the daily machinery of all of your later lives.

你發明了蒸汽機， 開了工廠，生產出了電力，為你餘生所用的常見機械提供了動力。

You live through revolutions in science, the deadliest wars in history, and dramatic environmental destruction.

你經歷了科學革命、 史上最致命的戰爭和劇烈的環境破壞。

On average, each new life lasts longer, but the pace of your existence keeps accelerating.

基本上每一段人生都更長了，但是你經歷的節奏越來越快。

Conversations that previously took months to unfold now happen in minutes.

以前要花幾個月進行的對話現在只要幾分鐘。

Business ventures that you built over generations transform overnight.

你花了幾世建立起的企業 一夜間就轉型了。

You enjoy luxuries you never could have sampled before, even in your past lives as kings and queens.

你享受著之前從未體驗過的奢侈品，就算是國王王后的那幾世也沒有機會體驗。

After living over 100 billion lives, you're finally reborn as the youngest person alive today.

活了超過 1000 億世以後，你終於轉世成為了 當下最年輕的人。

But despite living through 300,000 years of human history, your actions have more impact today than 99% of your past lives.

雖然你活過了人類歷史的三十萬年，但是你的所作所為在此刻產生的影響比過往 99% 的人生都大。

High-speed air travel allows you to carry contagions and cures across an ocean in hours,

高速航空旅行可以讓你在幾小時內傳播疾病、傳遞藥物，

and the internet makes your personal sphere of influence global, allowing you to collaborate with anyone, anywhere, without even leaving your home.

而網路把你的個人影響力擴散到全球，讓你可以與任何人在任何地點合作，甚至不需要離開你家。

In recent lives, you've invented tools to rewrite the genes of living organisms, permanently altering their future generations.

在最近的幾輪人生中，你發明了工具改寫生物的基因，永久改變了這些生物的後代。

And in this life, you might create even more technologies that make the world safer, kinder, and more equitable for countless future lives.

在現在的這段人生中，你可能會發明更多的科技，讓世界對於無數的未來生命更安全、更友好、更公平。

However, one careless invention could just as easily be catastrophic.

但是，一個無意間的發明都有可能會引發災難。

Between nuclear weapons, lab leaks, climate change, and other existential threats, humanity's risk of inducing our own extinction has never been higher.

核武器、實驗室洩漏、氣候變化和其他關乎人類存續的威脅，人類把自己推向滅亡的風險到了史無前例的高度。

In this fast-paced, interconnected world, it's frighteningly easy to undo all of humanity's progress or potentially cut short all your possible futures.

在這快速、互聯的世界中，要想抹消人類所有的進步，或者切斷你所有未來的可能簡直易如反掌。

There's no way to know what will happen next.

我們無法知曉接下來會發生什麼。

But what's clear is that your potential is limitless.

但顯而易見的是，你的潛力是無窮的。

And what can you do to work towards a better future for all your lives to come?

為了給你接下來的每一次輪回爭取一個美好未來，你能做些什麼呢？

If we make wise choices today, our grandchildren's grandchildren can have the opportunity to thrive, knowing we did everything we could to give them a world full of justice, hope, and beauty.

如果我們今天做出明智的選擇，我們的孫子辈甚至曾孫辈將有機會茁壯成長，知道我們盡了一切努力，给他們一个充滿公正、希望和美麗的世界。