The minister of loneliness - Sarah Kay

You're listening to ted talks daily where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. In a complex world full of both grief and Joy, poet Sarah Kay reflects on curiosity and connection with a spoken word performance for you today. She imagines the responsibilities a so called minister of loneliness might have, and what that might mean for the world we live in.

你每天都在听ted演讲，我们每天都会给你带来新的想法，激发你的好奇心。我是你的主持人，Elise Hu。在这个充满悲伤与欢乐的复杂世界里，诗人莎拉·凯今天将通过诗歌朗诵表演，反思好奇心和人际关系。她想象了一个所谓的孤独部长可能承担的责任，以及这对我们生活的世界意味着什么。

In the country of Japan, In the month of October 2020, More people die by suicide than had died from covid 19 in all of 2020 up to that point.

在日本，2020 年 10 月，自杀身亡的人数超过了 2020 年截至当时因新冠肺炎死亡的人数。

In response, the Japanese government instituted a new position of a minister of loneliness. The minister of loneliness has abolished email. He is installing tin cans on every windowsill with a piece of string to someone else's window.

为了应对这一问题，日本政府设立了一个新的职位——孤独大臣。这位孤独大臣废除了电子邮件。他正在每户人家的窗台上放置铁罐，并用一根绳子将它们连接到别人的窗户上。

Not several. Just one. Each person, of course, does not need a lot of people to speak to. Just the one, but the one must be reliable, must be available when needed. We are employing a buddy system now.

当然，每个人都不需要很多人交谈。只有一个人，但这个人必须可靠，在需要时必须随时待命。我们现在采用伙伴制度。

Every day is a field trip to the adulthood museum and we don't go home until everyone has been accounted for.

每一天都是对成人博物馆的实地考察，在所有人都被清点完毕之前，我们不会回家。

The way you find your buddy is a nationwide game of guess who, where you sing the song that is always stuck in your head, describe the movie you can't get through without crying, the hardest you've ever laughed, the outfit you wish you could pull off, and the only person who can spot you is the one you are assigned.

寻找伙伴的方式是全国性的猜谜游戏，你要唱出脑海中一直萦绕的歌曲，描述一部让你每次看完都会哭的电影，你笑得最厉害的一次，你最想穿的衣服，而唯一能认出你的人就是你被分配到的那个人。

All of Japan is a ball of string now. The economy has ground to a halt. Productivity is entirely impossible. Sometimes you go to talk into the can on your window sill, and a knot in the string accidentally gives you someone else's conversation, the fading fabric of someone else's loneliness evaporating into the air between buildings.

整个日本现在就像一团乱麻。经济停滞不前，生产力完全丧失。有时候，你对着窗台上的罐子自言自语，绳子上的一个结却意外地让你听到了别人的对话，别人孤独的余韵在楼宇间的空气中消散。

You are allowed to eavesdrop, but so has everyone else.

你可以偷听，但其他人也可以。

The minister of loneliness has moved all kindergartens to the ground floor of elderly assisted living centers. There are daily story hours, animal shelters across the street. The minister of loneliness has not abolished valentine's day, but has instituted a nationwide bring enough for the class regulation and nobody goes home empty handed.

孤独部长已将所有幼儿园迁至老年 护理中心的一楼。每天都有故事时间，街对面还有动物收容所。孤独部长并未废除情人节，而是推行了全国性的“带够班级所需物品”的规定，确保人人都能满载而归。

The minister of loneliness has prescribed therapy for everyone, daily walks through the many gardens, opportunities for meditation by a brook in the rain, under falling blossoms or along a snowy riverbank, depending on the season.

孤独部长为每个人开出了治疗方案：每天在众多花园中散步，有机会在雨中的小溪边、飘落的花朵下或白雪皑皑的河岸边冥想，具体时间取决于季节。

He has commissioned musicians and actors and poets to create concerts and radio plays and poetry readings to be pumped across the knotted tin can radio lines every evening. When you order dinner for one, the person who delivers it arrives within an appropriate ability and comfort level dance instruction video and 2 hours to spare.

他委托音乐家、演员和诗人创作音乐会、广播剧和诗歌朗诵，每晚通过那些乱七八糟的无线电线路播放。当你点一份单人晚餐时，送餐员会在合适的时间内送达，并附赠一段适合你能力和舒适度的舞蹈教学视频，而且还有 2 小时的空闲时间。

Grieving is encouraged and art making is rampant, but because of the knots, sometimes when you are expecting a visit from a grief counselor, the dance partner food delivery arrives instead. Sometimes they are the same person.

悲伤被鼓励，艺术创作也十分盛行，但由于种种纠葛，有时当你期待悲伤辅导员来访时，送餐来的却是舞伴。有时，他们甚至是同一个人。

The minister of loneliness isn't tired. He is the most popular man in the country. He has a crush on a middle school teacher across town and everyone eavesdrops to hear the way he stumbles. When she answers, everyone is on the edge of their seats. Everyone forgets about dying because they can't wait to find out what happens next. Everyone has opinions.

孤独部长并不疲惫。他是全国最受欢迎的人。他暗恋着城另一头的一位中学老师，每个人都偷听他磕磕绊绊的谈话。当她回答时，所有人都屏息凝神。每个人都忘记了死亡，因为他们迫不及待地想知道接下来会发生什么。每个人都有自己的看法。

The minister has to start a hotline where people can call in to tell him their thoughts. The tin cans rattle nonstop. The minister is grateful for the advice but is nervous. His crush will hear the commotion. He is nervous. He prefers quiet. But he does not know for sure yet. He does not know what she is thinking, does not know how she spends her Saturdays or how she prefers her tea, or whether she likes to walk in the rain.

部长得开通一条热线，让人们可以打电话进来告诉他自己的想法。罐头盒叮当作响，不停歇。部长感谢大家的建议，但又很紧张。他暗恋的人会听到这阵骚动。他很紧张。他喜欢安静。但他现在还不能确定。他不知道她在想什么，不知道她周六是怎么过的，不知道她喜欢喝什么茶，也不知道她是否喜欢雨中漫步。

But he likes wondering. When nobody is paying attention, when the windowsills are quiet, late at night awake, he does like to wonder.

但他喜欢胡思乱想。当无人注意，当窗台寂静无声，深夜难眠时，他喜欢胡思乱想。

他确实喜欢好奇。

That was Sarah Kay speaking at TED 2025.

这是莎拉·凯在TED 2025上的讲话。