The sauna is a social network | Adam Rang | TEDxTallinn
Summary
TLDR演讲者分享了他对桑拿的看法,认为桑拿是促进深度、尊重和诚实对话的古老社交网络。他批评了现代桑拿的干热、匿名和信息泡沫问题,提倡桑拿的社交和共享本质。演讲者通过个人经历,从英国到爱沙尼亚,探索了桑拿的历史和文化意义,并解释了桑拿在全球的流行和误解。他建议将爱沙尼亚语中的'lael'(桑拿蒸汽)引入英语,以帮助人们更好地理解桑拿的传统和文化。最后,他展示了自己正在改造的桑拿,并邀请人们共同享受桑拿带来的快乐。
Takeaways
- 😀 桑拿是一种鼓励深入、尊重、诚实对话的社交网络,它没有匿名的网络喷子,也没有算法限制信息获取。
- 🏠 桑拿是人文历史最悠久且可能是最好的社交网络,它曾是多功能空间,不仅是洗澡的地方,也是家和农场工人的住所。
- 🧘 桑拿在不同文化中有不同的形式,但真正的桑拿是关于加热石头并享受由此产生的蒸汽,这是一种集体体验。
- 🌐 桑拿在全球的流行度和误解程度令人惊讶,尤其是在20世纪中叶之前,英语使用者甚至没有听说过“桑拿”这个词。
- 📰 20世纪50年代的新闻报道首次向西方介绍了桑拿,但往往将其描述为一种酷刑或类似食人族的行为。
- 🔥 桑拿的全球流行部分归功于电力炉的发明,它使得桑拿可以更容易地在各种地方建造和使用。
- 🚫 桑拿的误解部分来自于健康俱乐部的业主,他们出于安全考虑,错误地将桑拿宣传为干燥体验。
- 🌡️ 红外线桑拿作为桑拿的一种新形式在20世纪70年代末被引入,它被宣传为一种更高级的排毒方式。
- 🗣️ 桑拿在英语中的发音问题也引起了芬兰人的不满,因为错误的发音被广泛传播。
- 📚 桑拿的历史可以追溯到比13世纪的书面记录更早的时期,通过语言的同源词可以追溯到原始芬兰语的‘sacna’。
- 🌍 桑拿的全球知名度很高,但存在许多模仿者,人们并不总是知道如何正确使用它。
Q & A
什么是桑拿,以及它在社会交往中扮演了什么角色?
-桑拿是一种古老的社交网络,旨在鼓励与真实人群进行深入、尊重和诚实的对话。它没有匿名的网络喷子试图使讨论两极分化,也没有算法试图将我们限制在自己的信息泡沫中。桑拿在历史上和文化上一直是一个多功能的空间,不仅是一个洗澡的地方,也是社交和交流的场所。
为什么演讲者最初对桑拿没有好感?
-演讲者最初对桑拿没有好感,因为他在英国长大,他所知道的桑拿是健身房里那些小而黑暗、通风不良的房间,通常还有一个标志写着不要往炉子上倒水,这与他后来了解到的桑拿文化有很大的不同。
桑拿在世界范围内为何变得如此流行?
-桑拿之所以在全球范围内变得流行,是因为它们被视为一种健康和放松的方式。然而,演讲者指出,许多现代桑拿已经偏离了传统的桑拿文化,变成了干燥、孤独的体验,这与桑拿原本的社交和共享的本质相悖。
演讲者提到的桑拿与传统桑拿有何不同?
-演讲者提到的桑拿是传统的桑拿,它强调的是使用加热的石头和产生的蒸汽进行洗澡,并且是一种集体体验。而现代的许多桑拿则变成了干燥的、个人的体验,缺乏了传统桑拿中的社交元素。
为什么桑拿在20世纪中叶之前在英语使用者中并不为人所熟知?
-桑拿这个词和它所代表的概念直到20世纪中叶才被英语使用者所熟知,这是因为桑拿起源于芬兰和爱沙尼亚等地区,而这些地区的人口相对较少,语言也面临过灭绝的威胁。此外,世界上有许多类似的传统,但桑拿最终成为了全球知名的一个。
桑拿是如何从一个地区性的传统变成全球性的现象的?
-桑拿之所以能够从一个地区性的传统变成全球性的现象,部分原因是由于20世纪50年代的新闻报道和旅行作家的介绍,以及后来的电力炉的发明,使得桑拿可以更容易地在不同地方建造和使用。
演讲者是如何重新发现和理解桑拿文化的?
-演讲者通过移居到爱沙尼亚,开始学习如何成为一个爱沙尼亚人,并重新学习桑拿文化。他和伴侣安妮一起探访了爱沙尼亚和世界各地的数百个桑拿,研究桑拿的历史和传统,以及那些保持这一传统的人们。
为什么演讲者认为桑拿不应该是一个孤独的体验?
-演讲者认为桑拿不应该是一个孤独的体验,因为在爱沙尼亚文化中,桑拿是一个社交的场所,人们在这里与朋友和家人互动,类似于英国的酒吧。桑拿的传统是集体的,而不是个人的。
演讲者提到了哪些关于桑拿的误解?
-演讲者提到了几个关于桑拿的误解,包括桑拿应该是干燥的(dry sauna),以及桑拿只有一种类型。实际上,传统的桑拿是使用加热的石头和产生的蒸汽,而且是一种集体体验。
演讲者为什么提倡将'lael'这个词引入英语?
-演讲者提倡将'lael'这个词引入英语,因为'lael'在爱沙尼亚语中意味着桑拿蒸汽,这个词与生命的本质——呼吸或精神有关。他认为,如果英语使用者有一个专门的词来描述桑拿蒸汽,可能会帮助他们更好地理解桑拿作为一种集体体验的文化和历史。
演讲者如何将桑拿与他的个人历史联系起来?
-演讲者将桑拿与他的个人历史联系起来,因为他发现自己的家族在18世纪的记录中被描述为'saunik',即桑拿人。他意识到自己不仅是桑拿的使用者,而且他的家族有着与桑拿文化深厚的历史联系。
演讲者提到了哪些关于桑拿历史的有趣事实?
-演讲者提到了许多关于桑拿历史的有趣事实,包括桑拿在历史上是一个多功能的空间,可以作为家、农场工人的住所等。他还提到了桑拿的起源,包括桑拿这个词来自于古日耳曼语的'stagna',意味着加热的石头堆。
演讲者如何看待现代桑拿与传统桑拿之间的差异?
-演讲者认为现代桑拿与传统桑拿之间存在显著差异。现代桑拿往往被误解为干燥、孤独的体验,而传统桑拿则是一种集体的、社交的活动,与生命的本质和精神有关。
演讲者提到了哪些关于桑拿的全球普及和误解?
-演讲者提到,桑拿在全球范围内变得流行,但同时也出现了许多误解,如桑拿应该是干燥的,以及桑拿只有一种类型。他还提到了桑拿这个词是如何在20世纪中叶通过新闻报道和旅行作家的介绍而在全球范围内普及的。
演讲者如何描述他在爱沙尼亚的桑拿经历?
-演讲者描述了他在爱沙尼亚的桑拿经历,包括他如何重新发现和学习桑拿文化,以及他和伴侣安妮一起探访了数百个桑拿。他还提到了他自己的桑拿,这是一辆被苏联遗弃的卡车,他将其改造成了一个桑拿,以庆祝爱沙尼亚的文化和自由。
Outlines
😀 桑拿:人类最古老的社交网络
本段讲述了桑拿作为社交网络的古老传统和现代误解。桑拿原本是一个促进真实、尊重和诚实对话的场所,没有匿名的网络喷子,也没有算法限制信息的获取。桑拿在历史上一直是一个多功能的空间,不仅是洗澡的地方,也是家和农场工人的住所。作者通过自己的家族历史,了解到桑拿在文化和历史上的重要性,并指出现代桑拿与真正的桑拿传统相去甚远。
🌟 桑拿的历史与文化探索之旅
作者分享了他和伴侣安妮访问世界各地桑拿的经历,研究桑拿的历史和传统。他们发现桑拿原本是一个社交的体验,与现代的桑拿相比,传统的桑拿更强调社区和共享。作者还探讨了桑拿在全球的流行和误解,以及如何将桑拿的传统理念重新带回人们的视野。
🔍 桑拿的全球流行与误解
本段讨论了桑拿如何成为全球知名的词汇,以及这个过程中出现的误解。桑拿原本是芬兰和爱沙尼亚的传统,但随着时间的推移,它被误解为一个干燥、孤独的体验。作者通过历史记录和语言分析,揭示了桑拿的传统意义,并指出现代桑拿与原始概念的差异。
🏡 桑拿的复兴与文化庆祝
作者介绍了他如何将一辆废弃的卡车改造成桑拿,并计划用爱沙尼亚的设计和技术来庆祝爱沙尼亚文化和自由。他提出了将爱沙尼亚语中的'lael'(桑拿蒸汽)引入英语,以帮助人们更好地理解桑拿作为一个社区体验的概念。作者呼吁大家帮助将'lael'这个词普及开来,并以对桑拿的热爱和对文化庆祝的承诺结束了演讲。
Mindmap
Keywords
💡桑拿
💡匿名喷子
💡信息泡沫
💡干桑拿
💡芬兰浴
💡社交体验
💡桑拿文化
💡桑拿蒸汽
💡误解
💡桑拿传统
💡桑拿蒸汽(lael)
Highlights
桑拿是鼓励与真实人群进行深入、尊重、诚实对话的社交网络。
桑拿没有匿名的网络喷子,也没有算法限制我们在自己的信息泡沫中。
桑拿是人文学科最古老且可能是最好的社交网络。
桑拿在英国通常被误解为健身房里狭小、闷热且通风不良的空间。
桑拿在世界范围内变得流行,但它们大多变成了干燥的桑拿。
家庭桑拿成为了富有和名人的终极奢侈地位象征。
桑拿在许多地方变成了一个孤独的体验,与世界其他曾经是公共的事务一样。
桑拿爱好者杰克·多西尽管运营着社交网络,但每天仍然独自一人去桑拿。
桑拿在历史上一直是一个多功能的空间,曾被用作家。
桑拿是社交体验,与英国的酒吧相似,是与朋友和家人互动的地方。
18世纪所有的桑拿都是烟熏桑拿,直到19世纪末芬兰人开始在桑拿上加建烟囱。
桑拿的传统和文化意义远超过健身房里的一个小房间或家中的一个小柜子。
桑拿的全球普及和误解,以及如何将人们的观念转变回真正的桑拿。
桑拿这个词直到20世纪中叶才被英语使用者广泛知晓。
桑拿经常在报道中被描述为一种酷刑或食人行为。
桑拿在1960年代和1970年代的兴趣爆炸性增长,但概念开始被误解。
桑拿变成了一个干燥的、孤独的体验,并且与红外线桑拿的概念混淆。
桑拿这个词来自原始芬兰语的sacna,意味着加热的石头堆。
桑拿传统与重生有关,桑拿蒸汽在爱沙尼亚语中被称为lael,意为精神或呼吸。
桑拿已经成为全球知名的社交网络,但存在许多模仿和误用。
提议将爱沙尼亚语中的lael(桑拿蒸汽)引入英语,以帮助人们更好地理解桑拿。
演讲者现在不仅是桑拿的使用者,也成为了开发者,正在爱沙尼亚翻新一辆苏联卡车作为桑拿。
Transcripts
i want to talk to you about a social
network which i've been using a lot
recently
it's um it's really well designed the
social network to encourage deep
respectful honest conversations with
real people around us
there are no
anonymous trolls
trying to polarize discussion
there are no algorithms trying to keep
us in our own information bubble and
even when most of the social networks
had lots of problems this week
even when lots of the social networks
had lots of problems this week this one
continued working as normally and i am
talking about
the sauna
the humanities oldest and possibly best
social network
so i
i as you can probably tell i grew up in
britain and for most of my life i never
particularly liked saunas the only
saunas that i knew were these small dark
rooms in the gym that were really stuffy
and poorly ventilated and there's
usually you know a sign above the stove
that says something like this is a dry
sauna please do not pour water on the
stove
and uh i'm describing most saunas in
britain but actually this is also kind
of most saunas around the world saunas
have never been more popular but they
have become dry saunas
and recently the saunas have become very
popular in fact a home sauna has become
the ultimate luxury status symbol of the
rich and the famous
apart from
for a lot of these saunas not only are
they dry not only is there no steam
there's also often no stones and no one
to enjoy it with it's become a solitary
experience like so many other things in
this world that used to be communal have
now become solitary and actually just
while i was preparing for this talk
today i i saw on the british papers this
week um an example of a british
celebrity who has an incredible new home
sauna would you like to see it
please don't be offended
um
i i assure you that is not a fridge that
is supposed to be a sauna um
and if that doesn't impress you let me
show you what a billionaire's sauna
looks like um so this particular song
i'm going to show you belongs to a
billionaire who is renowned as a sauna
enthusiast he goes to this sauna every
single day
so this belongs to jack dorsey
he runs a social network and he still
goes to the sauna alone every day
and i do think actually this is kind of
like the twitter of saunas in that um
it gets you heated
but it's not uh yeah it's not really
designed for kind of meaningful
conversations uh
for one thing there's only one seat in
it um
okay estonians are quite difficult to
impress um
let me show you then the top selling
sauna in the world are you ready
they do deliver to estonia if anyone
here
no okay
okay i haven't impressed you yet let me
show you then what the new york post
says is the best sauna for 2021
yeah yeah i don't think this is gonna
take off in estonia um and actually you
know about five years ago i wouldn't
know quite why you're all laughing
because kind of i grew up in britain um
but i moved to estonia five years ago um
and actually i am a vales eslanae i am a
foreign estonian so i'm a third
generation exile my family that left
1944 and i moved back to estonia uh five
years ago and i've started learning what
it means to be estonian again and sauna
is one thing i've had to learn again
from scratch and i realized like
everything i thought i knew about the
sauna everything a lot of people around
the world think they know about the
sauna is wrong
um and actually i i started to realize
how wrong i was when i started trying to
find out who my family were in estonia
before they fled and i was looking
through records down in mulgymar where
my family are from
and i found records back in the 18th
century which had a really odd
description next to one of my family
members um it said
saunik
and
so for non-estonians this means sauna
person um
also for non-estonians this definitely
does not mean my family were rich and
famous back in the 18th century um
because actually you know the more i
learned about the sauna the more i
realized that throughout history it's
always been a multi-functional space um
and one of the functions the sauna was
used for was as a home you know when
you're building a homestead it's the
first place you would build and live
there and then when you need to get a
farm and hand in if the farmhand doesn't
have a place to live the farmhand will
live in the sauna and be a sounding so i
am descended from sauna people um
and that's when i started to realize
there is so much more to the sauna
historically and culturally than a
little stuffy room at a gym or a little
cupboard at home where you can microwave
yourself alone so since then
i've been visiting hundreds of saunas
with my partner annie we've visited
hundreds of saunas around estonia around
the world to research the history
traditions of the sauna the people who
are keeping it alive um i i now know you
do pour water on the stones um and now
i've had the reverse culture shock
actually going uh to germany for example
where you get told off for speaking in
the sauna because you know the one thing
i've realized more than anything in
estonia is that the sauna is a social
experience and even when i go back to
britain there's nothing i can compare it
to it's not the saunas in fact maybe the
closest comparison is the pub because
the pub is where we interact with our
friends and family in a similar way
now back then again a bit for
non-estonians um so back in the 18th
century all saunas were smoke saunas so
the room fills up with smoke and then
you ventilate it before going into bathe
it's not until the end of the 19th
century that actually some innovative
finns start putting chimneys on their
saunas um and then it's then that idea
spreads to estonia and suddenly it
becomes the finnish sauna with a chimney
on it um it's not until the 1920s
actually the chimney saunas start to
outnumber um smoke saunas in both
finland and estonia and then in the
1930s innovative fins again start um
experimenting with electric stoves so
today we think of like traditional
finnish saunas ancient finnish saunas
and we think of kind of modern electric
soreness actually those two ideas are
from pretty much the same era they're
innovations from the same era however
the important thing is that the
principle is the same it's about heating
rocks um and it's about bathing in the
steam that generates from them and it is
a communal experience it's always been a
communal experience so i've been on my
own uh mind-shifting uh journey but now
i'm gonna take you guys on a journey in
the opposite direction and we're gonna
try and figure out how did saunas become
so famous around the world how did they
become misunderstood and how can we
shift minds back to like what a real
sauna is
and as crazy as it sounds like
most english speakers had not heard the
word sauna until about the middle of the
20th century um so the global popularity
of the word sauna is so unlikely um
you know for two reasons first of all
like back when my family were living in
the thorn in the 18th century the
population of estonian speakers had
declined to less than 100 000. in the
past couple of years every finnic in the
past couple of hundred years every
finnic language has at some point been
on the path of extinction
um
and
the other reason why it's unlikely that
kind of this finnic word this finnic
concept would become world famous is
actually there are so many different
traditions around the world that are
very similar to the sauna many ancient
cultures used hot rocks and steam for
bathing in a very similar way so why did
the sauna become so famous so i was
looking um
looking through some newspaper reports
from the u.s and britain in the 1950s to
see how people reacted when they were
first introduced to the sauna
and
there are some common themes it's often
described as like a form of torture or
cannibalism um and most of these reports
by the way they come from foreign
correspondents and travel writers
mostly based in finland
so
you can see here a sauna is a sort of
turkish bath with overtones of sadism
masochism parboiling and new england
witchcraft so
um you know one thing that's really
interesting there is a sort of turkish
bath because it's a reminder that
actually there were so many other
different types of sauna-like traditions
which were much more famous and now if
you go to any spa in the world you say
what's a turkish bath they'll say it's a
kind of sauna there's been a complete
reversal because it's the finnic sauna
concept which has now become kind of
world famous um
you do see some
and um actually people reading these
reports wouldn't know how to pronounce
the word sauna
which is sauna in finnish however one
very helpful journalist did write it's
pronounced like lorna and that article
was syndicated all over america it was
very widely read and so we have a new
word born which continues to infuriate
many finnish people today um that sauna
became the english word
and um you know there's there's two
words that come up a lot in these
reports i want to quickly highlight the
sauna's often described like being
boiled sorry being cooked alive in a
stove or it's like being boiled in a
stew
we're going to come back to that why
that's important now let's jump ahead to
the next couple of decades this is 1960s
1970s suddenly there's an explosion of
interest in the sauna but it's no longer
from travel writers over in finland it's
about you know people in america and
elsewhere building their own saunas
locally um yeah and as you can see the
concept is getting quite misunderstood
as well because a lot of people um kind
of building these saunas like and
running them they don't really know they
didn't grow up with the tradition they
don't know how to do it properly um but
one thing that's really influencing the
massive growth of interest in saunas is
the fact that the electric stove enables
them to be built in more places than
ever before like deep inside buildings
and health clubs um and actually these
health club owners are really risk
averse they're kind of worried about
their electric stoves catching fire
having an electrical fire of water
poured on them so they start telling
people that it's a dry sauna um and this
myth really starts to develop through
this time
um and yeah so the word starts getting
misused it starts getting reused as
sauna becomes a buzzword it gets used
for a whole load of different products
anything has anything remotely to do
with heat therapy um becomes a sauna so
we have
sauna hotpants
sauna whatever that is
and you do see some pushback as well
actually here's um some finnish sauna
enthusiasts writing to their ambassador
in america demanding that the word sauna
is banned from being used from all these
other products they wanted it protected
like champagne is not a bad idea
but um you know by this point the sauna
has become a dry solitary experience and
actually these finnish sauna enthusiasts
their worst enemy is just being
developed at nasa which uh around this
time discovered infrared wavelengths and
it was a doctor in japan that figured
out that far infrared wavelength could
be used as a new form of heat therapy uh
to heat the skin and that was launched
onto the us market towards the end of
the 70s and it's launched as the
infrared sauna a superior form of
detoxing um and one thing that comes up
a lot in this coverage is you'll see it
says the sauna is kind of like a
thousand years old or it's about 800
years old that number comes up a lot the
reason that is also a myth but there's a
good reason for it which is that written
records of the sauna tradition sorry
written records of this region begin in
around the 13th century and so written
records of the sauna begin in that
period as well it doesn't mean that the
sauna is actually 800 or a thousand
years old and one reason we know that is
the clue is in our language we can use
cognates which are sibling words like
sauna asauna and sound in finnish and
estonian to trace the history of our
languages much further back in time and
every finnic language has a cognate for
sauna and they come from a proto-finnic
word which is sacna um and where does
sacna come from
this bit might surprise you actually um
so it's not a phenogrik word they didn't
bring it with them from the orals um
actually sakna comes from stagna in in
germanic
and sacna and stagnant probably meant
this stack of stones that was heated in
a sauna
stack now as it happens stack also comes
from the word stagna so there's a direct
descendant when we go into sauna today
and we talk about stack in english we're
sac is stack is directly related to the
word sauna
so that's a stack of stones
and
but you know if all people around the
world are kind of saunering in old times
even germanic peoples even like old
english peoples what word were they
using for sauna and i've actually
already shown them to you because
actually when these reports about sauna
started emerging in the mid 20th century
these writers were using the exact same
terminology um that used to be used in
old english so stove was an old word for
sauna in english and so was stew
it's not until the 16th century that
these words are first used for cooking
um now just because the protofinic
people borrowed their word for sauna
from germanic languages it doesn't mean
that they they borrowed the whole
tradition from them it just means that
that word stuck for the kind of building
um and the reason why we know that is
because a lot of other sauna related
words um go all the way back to
proto-oralic so the proto-finnic people
kind of spread from the orals and their
predecessor language was proto-iralic
and one of the most important words is
the word for sauna steam
which
in estonian is lael and that comes from
a proto-finnic word which is lulu
something like the finnish pronunciation
today and that comes from a proto-uralic
word which is level and that means
spirit or breath the very essence of
life it helps explain why lael is such
an important word in estonian today and
it makes sense because you know the
sauna is the traditional place of birth
the sauna tradition has long been
associated with rebirth and so sauna
steam is such a sacred word that comes
from the word breath or spirit
um
but you know i i've even been told off
by estonians actually for translating
lael as sauna esteem because they say oh
that's very disrespectful it's like
translating holy communion as bread and
wine it's so much more important
culturally which is fair enough um so
you know
the oops
pretend you didn't see that the um
the sauna has become globally famous it
has great brand recognition as a social
network but there are so many imitations
and people don't always know how to use
it properly and i think you know if
english speakers don't have a word for
uh sauna steam anymore why don't we gift
them one why don't we make leo the first
estonian word in english the first
estonian words that enter common usage
globally
because if you know english speakers had
a word for sauna steam it might help
them understand the sauna better as a
communal experience as we've seen
throughout history saunas belonged to
everyone and if they could have a word
again it would help them understand
their own history as well as ours so
you know annie and i when we've been
going to saunas around the world we've
been telling people the meaning of lail
we've been trying to encourage people to
use the word lail and so we need your
help let's get lail into english because
this is estonian language week today is
finno-ugric day when we celebrate the
continued existence of the original
sauna people um so let's get lail into
english and uh
finally i mentioned um that so my family
fled from the soviets ended up in
britain um i'm no longer just a user of
the sauna i'm now a developer too um so
i'll show you my sauna because actually
i'm now living in estonia again and i
have one of the trucks that the soviets
left here and uh this is now a sauna and
this is where uh we're actually
renovating it with the best of estonian
design and technology so that we can
celebrate estonian culture and freedom
and enjoy leo here with more people
around the world so thank you so much
for listening and i wish you many years
of happy lail
[Applause]
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