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Love is infrastructure

I. Meet cute Barnabas and Mainspring grew up near at hand, about an hour apart with good traffic, but for a long time they weren’t close. They traded glimpses and occasional hellos and then went about their business. Both of them carried on livelier conversations with farther-flung neighbors, who were richer and had more to offer.

Barnabas 和 Mainspring 在附近长大，交通顺畅时大约相隔一小时车程，但很长一段时间里他们并不亲近。他们偶尔交换眼神和问候，然后各忙各的。他们两人都与更遥远的邻居进行过更活跃的交流，那些邻居更富有，也更有价值。

When Mainspring did interact with Barnabas, it was cringe. Mainspring liked to puff themself up, to strut around like a big deal—an innovator, a titan of industry—but they would turn shy at the worst moments, especially in any intimate conversation. Barnabas, meanwhile, had a dancer’s flair, an artsy, enigmatic glamour, except that when they tried to talk about real life, they’d blurt out hundreds of rapid-fire words—overtalking, overthinking, and generally overwhelming whomever they were trying to impress.

当 Mainspring 与 Barnabas 互动时，场面总是很尴尬。Mainspring 喜欢自我膨胀，像个大人物一样昂首阔步——一个创新者，一个工业巨头——但他们总在最糟糕的时刻变得害羞，尤其是在任何亲密的谈话中。与此同时，Barnabas 拥有一种舞者的风采，一种艺术且神秘的魅力，只是当他们试图谈论现实生活时，会脱口而出数百个连珠炮般的词汇——说得太多、想得太多，通常会让任何他们试图打动的人感到不知所措。

So when Barnabas and Mainspring were young, they minded their own business. Until they’d both come into their own, and they saw each other properly. A group of geographers got together every year in a different place to talk about everything they had learned, and they were considering coming to visit either Mainspring or Barnabas. Both of them put on their best faces and tried to coax the geographers into choosing them as host.

所以当 Barnabas 和 Mainspring 年轻时，他们各行其是。直到他们都成熟起来，才真正看清了对方。一群地理学家每年都会在不同的地方聚会，讨论他们所学的一切，他们正在考虑去访问 Mainspring 或 Barnabas。他们两人都拿出了最好的状态，试图诱导地理学家选择自己作为东道主。

“Uh, hi-hello,” Mainspring said haltingly to Barnabas, whose full official name was St. Barnabas. “I really think it would be better if those geographers came to my place. I have more space, you see, and … and I am a titan of industry. I can show them practical applications of their research. It just makes more sense.”

“呃，嗨，你好，”Mainspring 对 Barnabas 结结巴巴地说，后者的正式全名是圣巴拿巴（St. Barnabas）。“我真的认为那些地理学家来我这里会更好。你看，我有更多的空间，而且……我是一个工业巨头。我可以向他们展示他们研究的实际应用。这更有意义。”

“Oh, really?” Barnabas laughed, making Mainspring more antsy. “Well, I can give them an elevated, artisanal experience. I have fresh croissants that were just written up in the Times. And I have plenty of space! I have so many friends who are great thinkers and architects. It’ll be lovely.”

“哦，真的吗？”Barnabas 笑了，这让 Mainspring 更加焦躁不安。“好吧，我可以给他们一种高雅的、手工制作的体验。我有刚被《泰晤士报》报道过的新鲜羊角面包。而且我有足够的空间！我有很多伟大的思想家和建筑师朋友。那会很棒的。”

Barnabas carried on, basically calling Mainspring uncultured. Mainspring had a prickly feeling, like the worst heat dome of midsummer. For their part, Barnabas couldn’t bear the meanness they were inculcating inside themself. This feeling that they were small-time, no-account, a dilettante. They couldn’t stop aiming a flood of nervous words at Mainspring.

Barnabas 继续说着，基本上是在说 Mainspring 没有文化。Mainspring 感到一阵刺痛，就像盛夏最糟糕的热浪。就 Barnabas 而言，他们无法忍受自己内心滋生的刻薄。那种觉得自己是小角色、无名小卒、业余爱好者的感觉。他们无法停止向 Mainspring 倾泻一连串紧张的言语。

At last, Mainspring had had enough—with the help of their city council and mayor, they offered the geographers a much-too-lavish deal that Barnabas could never hope to match. Totally worth it to hear Barnabas’s stream of self-aggrandizing nonsense peter out as they realized they’d been defeated.

最终，Mainspring 受够了——在市议会和市长的帮助下，他们向地理学家提供了一份过于奢华的方案，这是 Barnabas 永远无法企及的。听到 Barnabas 在意识到自己失败后，那连串自我吹嘘的废话逐渐平息，这一切完全值得。

“There,” Mainspring said. “I’m going to show these geographers a time they’ll never forget. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve wasted enough energy—I have some sewer maintenance and a lovely parade to deal with. Goodbye.”

“就这样，”Mainspring 说。“我要让这些地理学家度过一段他们永远不会忘记的时光。现在请原谅，我已经浪费了足够的精力——我还有一些下水道维护工作和一个可爱的游行要处理。再见。”

Mainspring was skilled enough at multitasking that they could have fixed the sewer, ensured the smooth running of the parade, dealt with the geographers, and done a thousand other things all at the same time. But they were making a point. “St. Barnabas is such a fool,” Mainspring complained to their friend Turnbull. “They are totally unserious but determined to be taken seriously. It drives me to gridlock.”

Mainspring 的多任务处理能力非常娴熟，他们本可以同时修理下水道、确保游行顺利进行、接待地理学家，并完成其他一千件事。但他们是在表明立场。“圣巴拿巴真是个傻瓜，”Mainspring 向他们的朋友 Turnbull 抱怨道。“他们一点也不严肃，却执意要被认真对待。这让我陷入了僵局。”

“I know what you mean,” lamented Turnbull. “We live in a world of posers.” Turnbull lived an hour and 15 minutes from Mainspring but at least two hours’ travel from Barnabas. Turnbull was even richer than Mainspring and had a certain surety of purpose that made Mainspring feel even more like a stammering numpty.

“我明白你的意思，”Turnbull 感叹道。“我们生活在一个充斥着装模作样者的世界里。”Turnbull 住在距离 Mainspring 一小时 15 分钟路程的地方，但距离 Barnabas 至少要两小时车程。Turnbull 比 Mainspring 更富有，并且有一种确定的目标感，这让 Mainspring 感觉自己更像个结结巴巴的笨蛋。

“Whatever,” said Mainspring. “It’s over, and now I’ll never worry about St. Barnabas again. I have better things to fuss about. Like ensuring that every last detail of this geographer meeting goes perfectly.”

“无所谓了，”Mainspring 说。“一切都结束了，现在我再也不用担心圣巴拿巴了。我有更重要的事情要操心。比如确保这次地理学家会议的每一个细节都完美无缺。”

II. How they came alive Everybody voted all the time. Well, some people voted more than others, but the median resident of the cities of Mainspring and St. Barnabas voted a dozen times a day—though of course some outliers might vote occasionally, or constantly.

II. 他们是如何活过来的 每个人都在不停地投票。好吧，有些人比其他人投得更多，但 Mainspring 和圣巴拿巴市的普通居民每天投票十几次——当然，一些离群值可能会偶尔投票，或者不停地投票。

A lot of the votes were more like complaints, or bug tickets. Like: “The storm drain on my street corner clogs and becomes a lagoon every time it rains.” Or: “The cars go too fast on my block.” Or: “I can’t get to work because the bus is too slow.”

许多投票更像是投诉或错误报告。比如：“我街角的雨水渠每次下雨都会堵塞，变成一个泻湖。”或者：“我这条街上的车开得太快了。”或者：“我因为公交车太慢而无法准时上班。”

But there were also votes along the lines of: “There should be a park here.” And: “This neighborhood is a food desert—we need a grocery store.” And: “The crossing guard by the elementary school is a hero who deserves some recognition and maybe a raise.”

但也有一些投票是这样的：“这里应该有一个公园。”以及：“这个社区是食物沙漠——我们需要一家杂货店。”还有：“小学旁边的过街守卫是个英雄，他应该得到一些认可，也许还有加薪。”

Nobody expected that by voting, they were prodding their cities to grow minds of their own; they just had stuff to get off their metaphorical chests. But it transpired that every vote was a building block of thought. Much later, some fancy expert summed up: “Turns out the smallest unit of consciousness is a vote.”

没有人预料到，通过投票，他们是在促使自己的城市长出自己的思想；他们只是想倾诉心声。但事实证明，每一次投票都是思想的基石。很久以后，一些高级专家总结道：“事实证明，意识的最小单位就是一次投票。”

Take Sandi, the librarian at the Nine Corners branch in Mainspring. She noticed things all day, like the people using the book drop box as a trash can, or the folks who came in off the street who could use easier access to social services. There were books she knew her patrons wanted, books that undoubtedly sat unwanted on people’s shelves all over the city.

以 Mainspring 九角分馆的图书管理员 Sandi 为例。她整天都在观察事物，比如有人把还书箱当成垃圾桶，或者从街上进来的人需要更容易地获得社会服务。她知道她的读者想要哪些书，而这些书无疑正被闲置在城市各处的书架上。

But also, Sandi shared things that came to mind—like, hey, what if the library book sale were a block party? What if the shopping district on the West Side were easier to get to from the Longneck neighborhood, where all the warehouses had been converted to housing and hipster coworking spaces, during peak after-work hours? Sandi had opinions about everything from street cleaning to the power grid, because she listened to people all day.

此外，Sandi 还会分享她想到的事情——比如，嘿，如果图书馆的图书义卖变成一场街区派对会怎样？如果西区的购物区在下班高峰期能更容易从 Longneck 社区到达（那里所有的仓库都已改建成住房和时髦的联合办公空间）会怎样？Sandi 对从街道清洁到电网的一切都有自己的看法，因为她整天都在倾听人们的声音。

Then there was Raeford, a bartender at the Wild Goose Chase in the middle of Gallery Row in St. Barnabas. He also listened to people’s problems from evening until the wee hours, and solutions came to him like clockwork when he woke at noon the next day. He saw St. Barnabas at night, so he knew the unsafe blocks that could use brighter streetlights, the places where hydroelectric jitneys drove too fast at 3 a.m., and

还有 Raeford，他是圣巴拿巴画廊街中间“野鹅追逐”（Wild Goose Chase）酒吧的一名调酒师。他也从傍晚一直倾听人们的问题到凌晨，当他第二天中午醒来时，解决方案就会像时钟一样准时出现在他脑海中。他在晚上观察圣巴拿巴，所以他知道哪些不安全的街区需要更亮的街灯，哪些地方的水力出租车在凌晨 3 点开得太快，以及