– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

Have you ever imagined today's life 10

years ago?

I have. And I believe many of us sitting

here, especially if you grew up in China

during primary school times,

you probably were assigned to write

something like life in 10 years or the

future as a Chinese writing assignment.

And here's what I wrote. And thanks to

AI, I was able to turn my words and

imagination into something we can all

actually see.

So this is my imagination of today's

life.

As you can see, there's no pollutions.

The cars are flying the air. And also in

school, students don't need to have

backpacks anymore. Everything is just in

that screen.

This is my version of the 2026.

But as if we look around here, there's

nothing special. It felt normal.

So probably I made a mistake about

imagining the future. But I don't think

I'm the only one who made the mistake.

This is what people are feeling are

imagining about the year 2000 100 years

ago.

So technically we should fly right now.

But unfortunately we can't. Such a

shame.

But as you can see these are very

similar mistakes we made again and

again. And to start here feels strange.

My name is P Hung and I'm just 16.

Singing here. I really admire all of

your courage to pay and listen from a 16

year old. What are you exa exactly

expecting from me from a 16-year-old to

help reimagine the future? It felt quite

ironic because what I all know is just

about homework, homework, homework,

assignment, assignment, and assignment.

That's what a 16-year-old student do.

But however, when I first saw this

theme, reimagining the future, I had two

reactions.

The first was, oh my god, this is way

too big. In the future, we got AI, AGI,

SpaceX, climate change, longevity, BCI.

There's so many topics that it feels

like it could swallow you even before

you finish your introduction.

However, the second reaction was maybe

that is exactly why it matters because

maybe the future isn't hard to predict.

It's just we didn't find the right way.

And that's why we need to reimagine the

future.

For a long time, we imagined the future

through science fiction movies. In

iRoot, those self-driving cars looked so

cinematic and unreal. In Iron Man, those

floating digital interfaces. Wow, that's

super cool.

But these no longer only exist in

science fiction movies anymore. It

starts entering our daily life. We got

self-driving cars. We've got those

floating digital interfaces. And at some

point, the future's already entering our

daily life.

My mom uses chat GBT in her work. We all

use it for homework. And to be honest,

we use it much more than we should.

My little brother uses ball. He can talk

it for hours. From cartoons to Ultra Man

to what he really encountered in life.

And AI is even entering schools in

classrooms from P data collecting to

creative learning.

And if you have used one of those AI

image tools, you'll found out how

strange it feels.

As you please take a look on the screen.

It seems like a beautiful lady, right?

But is it really beautiful

or is it a lady?

Unfortunately, both not. It's me.

This is a original picture I submitted

to Ted. I took this in the backyard of

my community. But I can be anywhere.

Somewhere in the Bay Area, somewhere

under the Eiffel Tower or somewhere

besides the Statue of Liberty. I'm

anywhere. And I can dress all kinds like

that.

Or I can wear a suit.

And you might notice there's so many

bananas, right? Cuz that actually could

be me.

It's weird, right? It's like I only

generate these images. It only cost me

for a second and then the future feels

No, sorry. The reality feels editable.

It's terrifying because what we see

reality itself may actually not be the

real itself.

And the even strange part is that even

as if the future becomes more present in

our life. We do not necessarily imagine

it deeper. Sometimes we imagine it

smaller. We're very good at imagining

what the future can do. But we're less

good at imagining what it should matter.

For imagining a useful tool in the

future, that's very easy. But for

imagining a meaningful life, that's a

little bit hard. A more reflective

society, even harder.

So at some point, if you notice it often

enough, the future stops feeling like a

feature of tools. It starts feeling like

a feature of life.

And suddenly our world turns to be like

a giant McDonald.

Well, literally, I do not mean that our

future smells like French fries. It's

the logic behind it.

In the 1980s, one of the sociologists

proposed a concept McDonaldization.

He said that our future is full of

efficiency, predictability, and control.

Well, stop. Don't be terrified by all

these words. I'll explain it. So,

imagine you're making a Big Mac.

What what we need to do, we need to

toast a bun, grow the beef, add the

lettuce, add the pickles, add the

special sauce, and so we layer it and

wrap it. I'm actually getting hungry

about it. But every step is divided and

streamlined so that the food can be fast

and easy. This is so-called as

efficiency. And we all know that the Big

Mac tastes the same in all around the

country, all around the world cuz

McDonald uses the same ingredients, same

kitchen tools and also same cooking

procedure. That's so-called as if

predictability and control.

Once you notice that logic, you start

founding there's so many big maps

everywhere in our world. We want things

to be faster, to be easier to manage,

and easier to control.

At some point it feels like we want to

optimize our society and for me like us

as students fills us especially.

For many of us the future sounds kind of

like a set of theories to get right.

Like what major, what college,

which pass, how early and how fast.

The future suddenly stops something like

a life. It sounds starts out to like be

a strategy.

It's like we're not preparing the future

anymore. We are kind of reducing it to

what can be optimized. Well, however,

optimization sounds good. It offers

fewer mistakes. It's easier to manage,

easier to measure.

But really think about it. One of the

greatest expedations among human

history.

When Columbus set out from Spain in

1492,

he've got no precise maps, of course, no

GPS or AIS.

He didn't even exactly know where he

would end up to.

And maybe he's such a bad sailor.

He ended up to America. Well, actually,

he discovers Americas.

But imagine if this journey took place

in real life right now.

What will happen was precise the maps,

precise navigations with no deviation.

Columbus will just end up exactly to

where he intended to go, India.

That sounds super efficient, but it

feels like there's something missing.

Nobody will remember him as he who

discovered the Americas.

Because

making things meaningful never means

getting the thing right. Sometimes we

need to step off course.

And I think there's another reason why

we imagine the future so narrowly.

Let me ask you something.

What were you doing 10 years ago? And

what matters to you the most back then?

Do you think you're still the same

person as you are right now and the same

person back to 10 years?

Really think about it for a second.

For most people, I think the answer is

probably quite obvious. It's we're not

the same person. So, there's a huge

difference. But here comes the harder

question.

10 years from now on, how much do you

think you will still change? Not just

getting older, not just getting more

tired. Think about your personality,

your traits, what matters to you, your

priorities.

Do they still stay the same? Think about

it. Well, for me, 10 years ago, I would

have no ideas that I will be standing

here today, which proves that I'm really

not good at imagining my future self.

And I don't think I'm the only one. So I

want to test it. I made a questionnaire

where this 115 participants different

age and I offer them a few a few

questions

compared to 10 years ago. How much and

what matters to them have changed? How

do um how do they value it? And here the

pattern is quite interesting. Most of

them and even 75% of them said they have

changed a lot compared to the past 10

years.

But when I asked them about the future,

the next 10 years, how much do they

think they will still change?

Most of them didn't think that there

will be huge changes among them.

So that's kind of weird cuz we can

notice big change huge changes behind

us. But once we start to imagine our

future self, we took the current self

and just stretch it forward. We

underestimate how much we can change in

the future. And that's so-called as the

end of history illusion, which I think

it really matters because if it really

works like this, then of course we feel

those future narrow.

It starts to feel like something we need

to control early.

The future for us, we feel it very very

far. But actually, it's not. It's near

us.

Very, very close. Speaking of the

present, we may think about today or

this moment. Speaking about the future,

you may think about it tomorrow. It's

the next hour. Or maybe it's just the

next second. Boom. One second passes.

Congratulations. You guys just

experienced future with me. That's the

future. And then another second passes.

The future becomes the present. Next

second, the present becomes the past.

This is how it works. Like tomorrow

feels like a future until it becomes

today. Next week feels distant until it

becomes partly a routine. 10 years. Wow,

that's very far away.

until when it arrives. We feel nothing,

nothing special. It's just our normal

lives.

We're super familiar to the quote that

future has arrived.

But I don't think so.

I think future will never arrive cuz at

the moment when future arrives,

it becomes the present. It's just now

moment.

Future only exists in our imaginations.

It's not something real. It's something

in our mind.

And I know a lot of us, including me,

we're quite anxious about the future.

The future is going to replace that,

replaces what are we going to do in the

future. But to be honest,

we're just being terrified by something

that we imagine about. We imagine a

monster and we're scared by it.

So today I want to urge everybody to

give up that kind of anxiety because it

makes no sense

and since we're keep getting matured and

we're keep changing. So maybe today's

limit are always not tomorrow's destiny

which means that

even though you cannot do it today

there's a saying you cannot finish today

it doesn't mean you cannot do it

tomorrow.

We are human and we're constantly

changing.

When we enter the future self, we're

somebody shaped by experiences, by

times,

and by decisions we haven't even made it

yet. That's us. And even in biological

term, we're kept constantly changing

through metabolism.

It's hard to notice but maybe that's why

most of the people are drawn to the idea

that every seven years we become a new

person and that leads to an old

philosophical question. You guys may

heard this before the ship of Cases is

that imagine a ship sailing in the sea

where I replace every part of the ship

until there's nothing original anymore.

Then is this still the same ship? Is

this still called the ship of CSS?

Or if we're kept constantly changing

piece by piece and cell by cell, then

what does it mean to imagine a future

self than using a current self?

This sounds like a relief because

there's so many things that I can still

not handle. It's like tomorrow's

homework.

And I think I'll just leave it to AI.

That's how it goes.

For most of the tech talk, we just end

it here. I spread my ideas. Just a

little bit sense of humor.

But I want to add up to something. So,

ironically, sitting right here, I'm

telling you guys to stop being anxious

about the future. But let me tell you

something. When yesterday I was doing a

rehearsal, I was so nervous about today.

I was trembling when I was speaking. I

didn't even notice it until my teacher

told me that. This is how nervous I was.

But today, standing here, it feels

nothing. It feels calm cuz that's the

future self. And you never know what

will happen in the future.

Today we taught you what to do in the

future, what it matters, what it

doesn't, but none of us said how we

should do it.

So I think next time when we face some

moments,

it's really normal for us to struggle.

Take a deep breath and calm down cuz

you're not alone. You're someone shaped

by time and by experiences.

Thank you.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
imagination /ɪˌmædʒɪˈneɪʃən/ B2	noun - the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses
pollution /pəˈluːʃən/ B1	noun - the presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance which has harmful or poisonous effects
admire /ədˈmaɪər/ B1	verb - regard (an object, quality, or person) with respect or warm approval
courage /ˈkʌrɪdʒ/ B1	noun - the ability to do something that frightens one
ironic /aɪˈrɒnɪk/ B2	adjective - happening in the opposite way to what is expected, and typically causing wry amusement
predict /prɪˈdɪkt/ B2	verb - say or estimate that (a specified thing) will happen in the future
cinematic /ˌsɪnɪˈmætɪk/ C1	adjective - having qualities characteristic of motion pictures
interface /ˈɪntəfeɪs/ B2	noun - a device or program enabling a user to communicate with a computer
editable /ˈɛdɪtəbəl/ B2	adjective - capable of being modified or changed
terrifying /ˈtɛrɪfaɪɪŋ/ B2	adjective - extremely frightening
meaningful /ˈmiːnɪŋfʊl/ B1	adjective - having a serious, important, or useful quality or purpose
efficiency /ɪˈfɪʃənsi/ B2	noun - the state or quality of achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort
predictability /prɪˌdɪktəˈbɪləti/ C1	noun - the quality of being able to be foreseen or known beforehand
streamlined /ˈstriːmlaɪnd/ C1	adjective - made simpler and more effective
optimize /ˈɒptɪmaɪz/ C1	verb - make the best or most effective use of (a situation or resource)
illusion /ɪˈluːʒən/ B2	noun - a false idea or belief
anxious /ˈæŋkʃəs/ B1	adjective - experiencing worry, unease, or nervousness
destiny /ˈdɛstɪni/ B2	noun - the events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future
metabolism /məˈtæbəlɪzəm/ C1	noun - the chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life
rehearsal /rɪˈhɜːsəl/ B2	noun - a session of exercise, drill, or practice, as for a performance

Key Grammar Structures

• Have you ever imagined today's life 10 years ago?

  ➔ Present Perfect

  ➔ Used for an experience that happened at an unspecified time in the past.

• Everything is just in that screen.

  ➔ Simple Present

  ➔ Used to describe a permanent state or fact in the present.

• The future's already entering our daily life.

  ➔ Present Continuous

  ➔ Used for an action that is currently in progress around this time.

• It only cost me for a second and then the future feels edible.

  ➔ Conditional nuance / Causative structure

  ➔ The speaker implies that the action of generating takes only a short time.

• If you notice it often enough, the future stops feeling like a feature of tools.

  ➔ First Conditional

  ➔ Used for a real possibility in the future based on a condition.

• He've got no precise maps, of course.

  ➔ Have got (Possession)

  ➔ A common informal way to say 'he has' for possession.

• I wouldn't have any idea that I will be standing here today.

  ➔ Mixed Conditional / Future in the Past

  ➔ Used to describe a perspective looking from the past toward a future event.

• We're keep getting matured.

  ➔ Continuous Passive / Process

  ➔ Describes an ongoing change or development over time.