The Never-Ending Now

永无止境的现在

I once attended a comedy show with a group of friends. Since the venue was across town, we split an SUV. I sat in the back. You know… all the way in the rear, where the seats get so narrow that you have to do gymnastics just to get back there.

我曾经和一群朋友一起参加一个喜剧节目。由于场地在城对面，我们分开了一辆 SUV。我坐在后面。你知道的。。。一直到后排，座位变得如此狭窄，以至于你必须做体操才能回到那里。

From the moment the driver hit the gas pedal, everybody was on their phones. From the back row, I watched my friends scroll their social media feeds with ferocious intensity. One thing stuck out: the people in front of me only consumed content created within the last 24 hours.

从司机踩下油门的那一刻起，每个人都在玩手机。从后排，我看到我的朋友们以凶猛的强度滚动他们的社交媒体提要。有一件事很突出：我面前的人只消费过去 24 小时内创建的内容。

No exceptions. 没有例外。

I succumb to the same impulse. Chances are, so do you.

我屈服于同样的冲动。很有可能，你也是。

The structure of our social media feeds place us in a Never-Ending Now. Like hamsters running on a wheel, we live in an endless cycle of ephemeral content consumption — a merry-go-round that spins faster and faster but barely goes anywhere. Stuck in the fury of the present, we’re swept up in dizzying chaos like leaves in a gale-force wind. Even though on the Internet, we’re just a click away from the greatest authors of all time, from Plato to Tolstoy, we default to novelty instead of timelessness.

我们社交媒体提要的结构使我们处于永无止境的现在。就像仓鼠在轮子上奔跑一样，我们生活在一个无休止的短暂内容消费循环中——一个旋转木马，旋转得越来越快，但几乎无处可去。被困在当下的愤怒中，我们被卷入令人眼花缭乱的混乱中，就像狂风中的树叶一样。尽管在互联网上，我们距离有史以来最伟大的作家（从柏拉图到托尔斯泰）只有点击一下，但我们默认为新奇而不是永恒。

We’re trapped in a Never-Ending Now — blind to our place in history, engulfed in the present moment, overwhelmed by the slightest breeze of chaos.

我们被困在一个永无止境的现在——对我们在历史中的位置视而不见，被当下吞没，被最轻微的混乱之风所淹没。

Here’s the bottom line: How can you prioritize the accumulated wisdom of humanity over the impulses of the past 24 hours?

底线是：你如何优先考虑人类积累的智慧，而不是过去 24 小时的冲动？