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AntonioDamasio_2011-_了解意识的一次探索_
I'm here to talk about the wonder and the mystery of conscious minds. 我在这里是要向 大家讲述大脑意识 的奇妙和神秘。
conscious:adj.意识到的;故意的;神志清醒的;
The wonder is about the fact that we all woke up this morning and we had with it the amazing return of our conscious mind. 奇妙之处在于 我们大家每天早上醒来 并令人惊异的重新获得 我们的大脑意识。
We recovered minds with a complete sense of self and a complete sense of our own existence, yet we hardly ever pause to consider this wonder. 我们完全的重获自我意识 并完全的意识到我们自己的存在, 我们几乎从来没有停下来思考过这个奇迹。
hardly ever:几乎不;几乎从来不;
We should, in fact, because without having this possibility of conscious minds, we would have no knowledge whatsoever about our humanity; we would have no knowledge whatsoever about the world. 事实上,我们应该（仔细思考） 因为如果没有大脑意识, 我们不会有所谓的 有关我们人类的知识; 我们也不会有所谓的有关世界的知识。
whatsoever:pron.无论什么;
We would have no pains, but also no joys. 我们将不会有痛苦,但同时也不会有欢乐、
We would have no access to love or to the ability to create. 我们将不会有拥有爱的机会 或者创造爱的能力。
And of course, Scott Fitzgerald said famously that "he who invented consciousness would have a lot to be blamed for." 当然,菲茨杰拉德有一句名言 创造了意识的人 应该被狠狠的责备。
famously:adv.著名地;极好地; consciousness:n.意识;知觉;觉悟;感觉;
But he also forgot that without consciousness, he would have no access to true happiness and even the possibility of transcendence . 但是他也忘了 如果没有意识 他也不能感受到真实的幸福 并且甚至不会有超越的可能。
transcendence:n.超越;卓越;超然存在;
So much for the wonder, now for the mystery. 奇妙就说到这,现在我们来谈谈神秘。
This is a mystery that has really been extremely hard to elucidate . 这是一种 真的极其难以阐明的神秘。
extremely:adv.非常,极其;极端地; elucidate:vt.阐明;说明;
All the way back into early philosophy and certainly throughout the history of neuroscience , this has been one mystery that has always resisted elucidation , has got major controversies . 回到早期的哲学 当然也通过神经科学的历史, 这是一个经常被抵抗的阐明 的迷, 它经常有很多的争论。
philosophy:n.哲学;哲理;人生观; throughout:adv.自始至终,到处;全部;prep.贯穿,遍及; neuroscience:n.神经系统科学(指神经病学,神经化学等); resisted:v.抵制;阻挡;反抗;回击;抵抗;忍住;(resist的过去分词和过去式) elucidation:n.说明;阐明; controversies:n.争论;辩论(controversy的复数);
And there are actually many people that think we should not even touch it; we should just leave it alone, it's not to be solved. 事实上有很多人 认为我们甚至都没有摸到它, 我们仅仅应该远离它,它是不会被解决的。
I don't believe that, and I think the situation is changing. 我并不相信, 我认为情况正在改变。
It would be ridiculous to claim that we know how we make consciousness in our brains, but we certainly can begin to approach the question, and we can begin to see the shape of a solution . 如果声称我们知道在我们的大脑中 意识是怎样产生的 是很可笑的, 但是我们确实可以开始 探寻这个问题, 并且我们可以大约看到答案的模样。
ridiculous:adj.可笑的;荒谬的; claim:v.要求;声称;需要;认领;n.要求;声称;索赔;断言;值得; approach:n.方法;路径;v.接近;建议;着手处理; solution:n.解决方案;溶液;溶解;解答;
And one more wonder to celebrate is the fact that we have imaging technologies that now allow us to go inside the human brain and be able to do, for example, what you're seeing right now. 另一个要赞美的奇迹是 我们有制图科技 让我们可以看到人脑内部 并且可以做一些事,例如, 你现在正看到的。
imaging:n.[物]成像;造像;v.反映;想像;作…的像;象征;(image的现在分词形式) technologies:n.技术;科技(technology的复数);
These are images that come from Hanna Damasio's lab, and which show you, in a living brain, the reconstruction of that brain. 这些是来自汉娜·达玛西欧的实验室的图像, 现在给你们展示的是在一个活的大脑里, 复原大脑。
images:n.印象;声誉;形象;画像;雕像;(image的第三人称单数和复数) reconstruction:n.再建,重建;改造;复兴;
And this is a person who is alive. 这是一个活着的人。
This is not a person that is being studied at autopsy . 这不是一个人 在尸检的时候被研究。
autopsy:n.验尸;[病理][特医]尸体解剖;[病理][特医]尸体剖检;
And even more -- and this is something that one can be really amazed about -- is what I'm going to show you next, which is going underneath the surface of the brain and actually looking in the living brain at real connections, real pathways . 甚至—— 这是一个可以真正使人吃惊的东西—— 我接下来要给你们展示的 是大脑表层下的活动 并且准确的看看活动的大脑 在真实的联系,真实的路。
underneath:prep.在…的下面;在…的支配下;n.下面;底部;adj.下面的;底层的; pathways:n.小路;小径(pathway的复数);
So all of those colored lines correspond to bunches of axons , the fibers that join cell bodies to synapses . 这里所有的染了色的线 与轴突的束相符合, 这些纤维加入细胞体 形成突触。
correspond:vi.符合,一致;相应;通信; bunches:束; axons:n.[解剖]轴突;轴索(axon的复数形式); fibers:n.纤维(fiber的复数); synapses:n.(神经元的)突触(synapse的复数;synapsis的复数)
And I'm sorry to disappoint you, they don't come in color. 我非常抱歉让你们失望了,他们并不是彩色的。
But at any rate , they are there. 但是无论如何,他们在那。
at any rate:无论如何,至少;
The colors are codes for the direction, from whether it is back to front or vice versa . 这些颜色是方向的代码, 从它的后面到前面 或者反之亦然。
vice versa:反之亦然;
At any rate, what is consciousness? 无论如何,什么是意识？
What is a conscious mind? 什么是大脑的意识？
And we could take a very simple view and say, well, it is that which we lose when we fall into deep sleep without dreams, or when we go under anesthesia , and it is what we regain when we recover from sleep or from anesthesia. 我们可以非常简单的观察一下 并且说,好吧,它在我们陷入深度睡眠 并且不做梦的时候会失去的, 或者当我们麻木的时候, 但是当我们睡醒 或者从麻木状态中醒来时 我们又会获得（意识）。
anesthesia:n.麻醉;麻木(等于anaesthesia); regain:vt.再次得到;重新获得,恢复;返回;n.恢复;收复;收回
But what is exactly that stuff that we lose under anesthesia, or when we are in deep, dreamless sleep? 但是准确的来说我们在麻木状态下,或者当我们睡觉并不做梦的时候, 我们倒底失去的是什么呢？
stuff:n.东西:物品:基本特征:v.填满:装满:标本: dreamless:adj.无梦的,不做梦的;
Well first of all , it is a mind, which is a flow of mental images. 首先, 它是一种意识, 是一种源源不断的精神图像。
first of all:adv.首先; mental:adj.精神的;脑力的;疯的;n.精神病患者;
And of course consider images that can be sensory patterns, visual , such as you're having right now in relation to the stage and me, or auditory images, as you are having now in relation to my words. 当然考虑到这些图像 是可以被感知的类型, 是可视的,例如你现在看到的 关于我和这个讲台的图像, 或者听觉的图像, 就像你现在可以听见我讲话。
sensory:adj.感觉的;知觉的;传递感觉的; visual:adj.视觉的,视力的;栩栩如生的; auditory:n.听众;礼堂;adj.听觉的;耳朵的;
That flow of mental images is mind. 这些源源不断的图像 就是意识。
But there is something else that we are all experiencing in this room. 但是这里还有一些其他的东西 是我们所有在这间房子里的人正在经历的。
We are not passive exhibitors of visual or auditory or tactile images. 我们并不是被动的 视觉或者听觉 或触觉图像的展出者。
passive:adj.被动的,消极的;被动语态的;n.被动语态; exhibitors:n.参展商;(美)电影放映者(exhibitor的复数); tactile:adj.[生理]触觉的,有触觉的;能触知的;
We have selves. 我们拥有自我。
We have a Me that is automatically present in our minds right now. 我们有一个自己 是现在在我们的意识中 自动地呈现的。
automatically:adv.自动地;机械地;无意识地;adj.不经思索的;
We own our minds. 我们拥有我们的意识。
And we have a sense that it's everyone of us that is experiencing this -- not the person who is sitting next to you. 我们有意识是我们每一个人 都在经历这些—— 不是坐在你旁边的人在（经历）。
So in order to have a conscious mind, you have a self within the conscious mind. 所以为了有一个神志清醒的意识, 在你的清醒的意识中有一个自我。
So a conscious mind is a mind with a self in it. 所以一个清醒的意识是一个有着自我在其中的意识。
The self introduces the subjective perspective in the mind, and we are only fully conscious when self comes to mind. 这个自我在意识中引入了一个个人的观点, 而且我们只有在自我存在于意识中的时候 会达到完全的神志清醒。
subjective:adj.主观的;个人的;自觉的; perspective:n.观点;远景;透视图;adj.透视的;
So what we need to know to even address this mystery is, number one, how are minds are put together in the brain, and, number two, how selves are constructed . 所以要弄清这个谜我们需要知道的是 第一,意识在大脑中是怎样放在一起的, 第二,自我是怎么样构造的。
put together:..放在一起;组合;装配; constructed:v.修建;建造;组成;编制,绘制;(construct的过去分词和过去式)
Now the first part, the first problem, is relatively easy -- it's not easy at all -- but it is something that has been approached gradually in neuroscience. 现在我们来说第一部分,第一个问题 相对比较简单——但是它一点都不简单—— 但是在神经系统科学中他正在被渐渐地接近（挖掘）。
relatively:adv.相当程度上;相当地;相对地; approached:v.走近;临近;探讨;建议;(approach的过去分词和过去式) gradually:adv.渐渐地;逐步地;
And it's quite clear that, in order to make minds, we need to construct neural maps. 而且它现在非常清晰,为了制造意识, 我们需要构造神经地图。
neural:adj.神经的;神经系统的;背的;神经中枢的;
So imagine a grid , like the one I'm showing you right now, and now imagine, within that grid , that two-dimensional sheet , imagine neurons. 所以幻想一个网格,就像我现在正在给你展示的这个, 现在幻想在那个网格中, 那个二维的薄片中, 想象神经元。
grid:n.网格;格子,栅格;输电网; two-dimensional:adj.二维的;缺乏深度的; sheet:n.薄板;床单;纸张;报纸;v.覆盖;展开;给…铺床单;铺开;adj.片状的;
And picture, if you will, a billboard , a digital billboard , where you have elements that can be either lit or not. 如果你愿意可以想成图像, 像一个广告牌,一个数字广告牌, 在那上面有既可以被点亮,又可以灭掉的 又可以被灭掉的元素。
billboard:n.(大幅)广告牌;v.宣传; digital:adj.数字的;手指的;n.数字;键; elements:n.要素;基本部分;少量;一群;(element的复数)
And depending on how you create the pattern of lighting or not lighting, the digital elements, or, for that matter, the neurons in the sheet, you're going to be able to construct a map. 而且取决于你怎么样创造 亮着的或不亮的的类型, 这些数字的元素, 或者,就此而言,这个薄片上的神经元, 你就可以构造一个地图。
This, of course, is a visual map that I'm showing you, but this applies to any kind of map -- auditory, for example, in relation to sound frequencies , or to the maps that we construct with our skin in relation to an object that we palpate . 当然,我正在给你展示的这个是一个可视的地图, 但是这个可以应用于任何类型的地图—— 例如,听觉的（地图）与声音频率有关的, 或者由我们的皮肤构成的地图 与我们的触觉有关项目。
applies:v.适用;申请;运用;专心;(apply的第三人称单数) frequencies:n.频率;发生率;重复率;频繁;(frequency的复数) palpate:adj.有触须的;vt.触诊;
Now to bring home the point of how close it is -- the relationship between the grid of neurons and the topographical arrangement of the activity of the neurons and our mental experience -- 现在我要清楚的说明 这个是多么的相似—— 神经元的网格和 神经元活动的 地形的布局的关系 和我们精神的经历——
topographical:adj.地志的;地形学的(等于topographic); arrangement:n.安排;筹备;布置;商定;约定;改编乐曲;
I'm going to tell you a personal story. 我讲给你讲述一个个人的故事。
personal:adj.个人的;身体的;亲自的;n.人事消息栏;人称代名词;
So if I cover my left eye -- 如果我盖住我的左眼——
I'm talking about me personally , not all of you -- if I cover my left eye, 我现在说的是我个人,并不是你们每个人—— 如果我盖住我的左眼,
personally:adv.个人;亲自;本人;就本人而言;
I look at the grid -- pretty much like the one I'm showing you. 我看这个网格——和我现在展示给你们看的这个非常相似。
Everything is nice and fine and perpendicular . 所有都线条都很好,漂亮并且垂直。
perpendicular:adj.垂直的,正交的;直立的;陡峭的;n.垂线;垂直的位置;
But sometime ago, I discovered that if I cover my left eye, instead what I get is this. 但是有一次,我发现 如果我盖住我的左眼, 我得到是这样的图像。
I look at the grid and I see a warping at the edge of my central-left field. 我在看着这个网格并且我看到 在中央偏左的地方的边缘有一个弯曲。
warping:n.翘曲;v.弯曲;曲解(warp的ing形式);adj.翘曲的;
Very odd -- I've analyzed this for a while . 非常古怪——我分析了一阵这个现象。
odd:adj.古怪的;奇数的;n.奇数; analyzed:v.分析(analyze的过去式和过去分词);检讨; for a while:adv.片刻;暂时;一会儿;一时;
But sometime ago, through the help of an opthamologist colleague of mine, 但是有一次, 我的眼科同事
colleague:n.同事,同僚;
Carmen Puliafito, who developed a laser scanner of the retina , 卡门 佩拉法特, 她完善了一个视网膜的激光扫描仪,
scanner:n.[计]扫描仪;扫描器;光电子扫描装置; retina:n.[解剖]视网膜;
I found out the the following. 在她的帮助下我发现了下列（事情）。
If I scan my retina through the horizontal plane that you see there in the little corner, what I get is the following. 如果我用水平的平面 扫描我的视网膜你可以看见一个小角, 我得到的事情是这样的
horizontal:n.水平线;水平面;横线;水平位置;adj.水平的;与地面平行的;横的;
On the right side, my retina is perfectly symmetrical . 在右边,我的视网膜是非常匀称的。
symmetrical:adj.匀称的,对称的;
You see the going down towards the fovea where the optic nerve begins. 你通过这个小凹可以向下看到 眼睛神经的开端。
fovea:n.[解剖]凹,小凹(尤指视网膜的中央凹);小窝; optic:adj.光学的;视觉的;眼睛的;n.眼睛;镜片; nerve:n.神经;勇气;神经质;神经紧张;v.鼓足勇气;振作精神;
But on my left retina there is a bump , which is marked there by the red arrow. 但是在我左边的视网膜上有一个肿块, 在这里用红色的箭头标记出来。
bump:n.肿块,隆起物;撞击;v.碰撞,撞击;颠簸而行;adv.突然地,猛烈地;
And it corresponds to a little cyst that is located below. 它和那里的下面 有个小囊肿是符合的。
corresponds:v.相一致;符合;类似于;相当于;通信;(correspond的第三人称单数) cyst:n.[肿瘤]囊肿;[生物]包囊;膀胱; located:adj.位于; v.确定…的准确地点; (locate的过去分词和过去式)
And that is exactly what causes the warping of my visual image. 这就是引起我的视觉图像 弯曲的原因。
So just think of this: you have a grid of neurons, and now you have a plane mechanical change in the position of the grid, and you get a warping of your mental experience. 所以想想这个: 你有一个神经网格, 在这个网格的位置 有一个平面的力学的改变, 而且你得到一个精神的经历的弯曲。
mechanical:adj.机械的;力学的;呆板的;无意识的;手工操作的;
So this is how close your mental experience and the activity of the neurons in the retina, which is a part of the brain located in the eyeball , or, for that matter, a sheet of visual cortex . 所以这就是 你的精神经历 和视网膜的神经活动有多接近, 它是坐落在眼球当中一部分大脑, 或者,就此而言,一片视觉皮质。
eyeball:n.眼球;眼珠;v.瞪着;逼视;盯住 cortex:n.[解剖]皮质;树皮;果皮;
So from the retina you go onto visual cortex. 所以从视网膜 你了解到视觉皮质。
And of course, the brain adds on a lot of information to what is going on in the signals that come from the retina. 当然,大脑增加了 许多的信息 在视网膜正在传来 的信号上。
And in that image there, you see a variety of islands of what I call image-making regions in the brain. 在那个图像中, 你可以看到各种岛 我把这叫做大脑中的图像生成区域。
variety:n.多样;种类;杂耍;变化,多样化; image-making:图像制作; regions:n.地区;地域;行政区;左近;(region的复数)
You have the green for example, that corresponds to tactile information, or the blue that corresponds to auditory information. 用这个绿色的做例子, 与触觉的信息一致, 或者这个蓝色的部分与听觉信息一致。
And something else that happens is that those image-making regions where you have the plotting of all these neural maps, can then provide signals to this ocean of purple that you see around, which is the association cortex, where you can make records of what went on in those islands of image-making. 而且另一些事发生在 图像生成区域 在这里你进行所有的神经地图 的绘制, 然后可以给 你看到的这周围的紫色的海洋提供信号, 这些是联络皮质, 在这里你可以记录在那些小岛里 图像生成的进程。
plotting:v.密谋;暗中策划;(在地图上)标出;绘制(图表);(plot的现在分词) purple:n.紫色;紫袍;v.变紫;使成紫色;adj.紫色的;华丽的文辞; association:n.协会;关联;联想;交往;
And the great beauty is that you can then go from memory, out of those association cortices , and produce back images in the very same regions that have perception . 而且最美妙的是 你可以从 这些联合皮质中找到回忆, 而且产生回放图像 在同样的地区拥有感觉。
cortices:n.外皮;[解]皮质;[药](药用植物的)皮;(cortices是cortex的复数); perception:n.感知;知觉;看法;洞察力;
So think about how wonderfully convenient and lazy the brain is. 所以想想大脑是 多么的方便和懒惰啊。
wonderfully:adv.精彩地;惊人地;极好地; convenient:adj.实用的;便利的;方便的;
So it provides certain areas for perception and image-making. 所以它在特定的区域 产生知觉和图像生成。
And those are exactly the same that are going to be used for image-making when we recall information. 当我们回忆信息的时候, 那些准备用作图像生成的 都是极其相似的。
recall:v.记起;回想起;使想到;勾起;召回;n.记忆力;记性;回归请求;回收令;
So far the mystery of the conscious mind is diminishing a little bit because we have a general sense of how we make these images. 到目前为止,大脑意识的迷幻之处 减少了一点 因为我们对于我们怎样生成这些图像 有了大概的了解。
diminishing:v.减少; adj.逐渐缩小的;
But what about the self? 但是有关自我呢？
The self is really the elusive problem. 自我确实是一个非常难懂的问题。
elusive:adj.难懂的;易忘的;逃避的;难捉摸的;
And for a long time, people did not even want to touch it, because they'd say, "How can you have this reference point , this stability , that is required to maintain the continuity of selves day after day ?" 长时间以来, 人们甚至没有触摸到它, 因为他们说, 你怎么能涉及这个点,这是恒心, 这是需要我们自己 每天不断坚持的？
reference point:n.参比点;参照标准; stability:n.稳定性;坚定,恒心; maintain:v.维持;保持;维修;保养;坚持(意见); continuity:n.连续性;一连串;分镜头剧本; day after day:日复一日;
And I thought about a solution to this problem. 我对这个问题的答案进行了思考。
It's the following. 它是如下的。
We generate brain maps of the body's interior and use them as the reference for all other maps. 我们生成我们身体内部 的大脑地图 而且把它们用作其他所有的地图。
generate:v.产生;引起; interior:n.内部;内陆;内地;里面;adj.内部的;里面的;
So let me tell you just a little bit about how I came to this. 所以让我告诉你们一点点我是如何想到这个答案的。
I came to this because, if you're going to have a reference that we know as self -- the Me, the I in our own processing -- we need to have something that is stable , something that does not deviate much from day to day . 我想到这个是因为 如果你们参考一下我们是如何了解自我的—— 宾格的我,主格的我 在我们自己的加工中—— 我们需要一些是稳定的东西, 一些随着日子增长 并不脱离的东西。
processing:v.加工;处理;审核;数据处理;v.列队行进;缓缓前进;(process的现在分词) stable:n.马厩;牛棚;adj.稳定的;牢固的;坚定的;vi.被关在马厩;赶入马房; deviate:vi.脱离;越轨;vt.使偏离; from day to day:一天天地;
Well it so happens that we have a singular body. 所以我们有一个单一的形体。
singular:adj.单数的;单一的;非凡的;异常的;n.单数;
We have one body, not two, not three. 我们有一个身体,不是两个,也不是三个。
And so that is a beginning. 这就是开端。
There is just one reference point, which is the body. 这只是涉及到其中的一个点,是身体。
But then, of course, the body has many parts, and things grow at different rates, and they have different sizes and different people; however, not so with the interior. 当然,之后身体有许多的部分, 所有的事情在不同的速率下增长, 而且我们有不同的大小和不同的人; 无论如何,不是内部
The things that have to do with what is known as our internal milieu -- for example, the whole management of the chemistries within our body are, in fact, extremely maintained day after day for one very good reason.
have to do with:与…有关; internal:n.内脏;本质;adj.内部的;里面的;体内的;(机构)内部的; milieu:n.环境;周围;出身背景; management:n.管理;管理人员;管理部门;操纵;经营手段; maintained:v.维持;维修;保养;固执己见;(maintain的过去式和过去分词)
If you deviate too much in the parameters that are close to the midline of that life-permitting survival range, you go into disease or death.
parameters:n.决定因素;规范;范围;(parameter的复数) midline:n.中线;中间线; survival:n.幸存,残存;幸存者,残存物; disease:n.病,[医]疾病;弊病;vt.传染;使…有病;
So we have an in-built system within our own lives that ensures some kind of continuity.
in-built:adj.内置的;与生俱来的;同时附有的; ensures:v.保证,确定(原形为ensure);
I like to call it an almost infinite sameness from day to day.
infinite:adj.无限的,无穷的; n.无限; sameness:n.相同;千篇一律;单调;
Because if you don't have that sameness, physiologically , you're going to be sick or you're going to die.
physiologically:adv.生理学方面;
So that's one more element for this continuity.
And the final thing is that there is a very tight coupling between the regulation of our body within the brain and the body itself, unlike any other coupling.
regulation:n.规则;法规;控制;规章制度;adj.规定的;必须穿戴的;必须使用的;
So for example, I'm making images of you, but there's no physiological bond between the images I have of you as an audience and my brain.
However, there is a close, permanently maintained bond between the body regulating parts of my brain and my own body.
permanently:adv.永久地,长期不变地; regulating:vt.调节;校正(regulate的现在分词);
So here's how it looks. Look at the region there.
There is the brain stem in between the cerebral cortex and the spinal cord .
stem:n.花草的茎或梗;高脚酒杯的脚;烟斗柄;词干;v.阻止;封堵;遏止; cerebral:adj.大脑的,脑的; spinal cord:n.脊髓;
And it is within that region that I'm going to highlight now that we have this housing of all the life-regulation devices of the body.
highlight:vt.突出;强调;使显著;加亮;n.最精彩的部分;最重要的事情;加亮区; devices:n.[机][计]设备;[机]装置;[电子]器件(device的复数);
This is so specific that, for example, if you look at the part that is covered in red in the upper part of the brain stem, if you damage that as a result of a stroke , for example, what you get is coma or vegetative state, which is a state, of course, in which your mind disappears , your consciousness disappears.
specific:adj.特殊的,特定的;明确的;详细的;[药]具有特效的;n.特性;细节;特效药; upper:adj.上面的;内陆的;n.靴面;兴奋剂; as a result:结果; stroke:n.中风;笔画;钟声;抚摩;v.抚摩(动物的毛皮);轻抚;轻挪;轻触; coma:n.[医]昏迷;[天]彗形像差; vegetative:adj.植物的;植物人状态的,无所作为的;促使植物生长的;有生长力的; disappears:v.消失;不见;消亡;失踪;丢失;(disappear的第三人称单数)
What happens then actually is that you lose the grounding of the self, you have no longer access to any feeling of your own existence, and, in fact, there can be images going on, being formed in the cerebral cortex, except you don't know they're there.
You have, in effect, lost consciousness when you have damage to that red section of the brain stem.
But if you consider the green part of the brain stem, nothing like that happens.
It is that specific.
So in that green component of the brain stem, if you damage it, and often it happens, what you get is complete paralysis , but your conscious mind is maintained.
component:n.成分;部件;组成部分;adj.构成的; paralysis:n.麻痹;无力;停顿;
You feel, you know, you have a fully conscious mind that you can report very indirectly .
indirectly:adv.间接地;不诚实;迂回地;
This is a horrific condition. You don't want to see it.
horrific:adj.可怕的;令人毛骨悚然的;
And people are, in fact, imprisoned within their own bodies, but they do have a mind.
imprisoned:v.监禁;关押;(imprison的过去分词和过去式)
There was a very interesting film, one of the rare good films done about a situation like this, by Julian Schnabel some years ago about a patient that was in that condition.
patient:adj.有耐心的,能容忍的;n.病人;患者;
So now I'm going to show you a picture.
I promise not to say anything about this, except this is to frighten you.
frighten:v.使惊吓;吓唬…;害怕,惊恐;
It's just to tell you that in that red section of the brain stem, there are, to make it simple, all those little squares that correspond to modules that actually make brain maps of different aspects of our interior, different aspects of our body.
modules:n.[计]模块(module的复数);加载模块列表; aspects:n.方面;相位;面貌(aspect的复数);
They are exquisitely topographic and they are exquisitely interconnected in a recursive pattern.
exquisitely:adv.精致地;精巧地;敏锐地; interconnected:adj.连通的;有联系的;v.互相连接(interconnect的过去式); recursive:adj.[数]递归的;循环的;
And it is out of this and out of this tight coupling between the brain stem and the body that I believe -- and I could be wrong, but I don't think I am -- that you generate this mapping of the body that provides the grounding for the self and that comes in the form of feelings -- primordial feelings, by the way .
primordial:adj.原始的;根本的;原生的; by the way:顺便说一下;
So what is the picture that we get here?
Look at "cerebral cortex," look at "brain stem,"
look at "body,"
and you get the picture of the interconnectivity in which you have the brain stem providing the grounding for the self in a very tight interconnection with the body.
interconnectivity:n.相互连结性;网络连接;互联性; interconnection:n.[计]互连;互相连络;
And you have the cerebral cortex providing the great spectacle of our minds with the profusion of images that are, in fact, the contents of our minds and that we normally pay most attention to, as we should, because that's really the film that is rolling in our minds.
spectacle:n.景象;场面;奇观;壮观;公开展示;表相,假相n.(复)眼镜; profusion:n.丰富,充沛;慷慨; contents:n.内容; v.知足; (content的第三人称单数和复数) normally:adv.正常地;通常地,一般地;
But look at the arrows.
They're not there for looks.
They're there because there's this very close interaction .
interaction:n.[计]交互,相互作用;相互交流;干扰;
You cannot have a conscious mind if you don't have the interaction between cerebral cortex and brain stem.
You cannot have a conscious mind if you don't have the interaction between the brain stem and the body.
Another thing that is interesting is that the brain stem that we have is shared with a variety of other species .
species:n.[生物]物种;种类;
So throughout vertebrates , the design of the brain stem is very similar to ours, which is one of the reasons why I think those other species have conscious minds like we do.
vertebrates:n.[脊椎]脊椎动物(vertebrate的复数);
Except that they're not as rich as ours, because they don't have a cerebral cortex like we do.
That's where the difference is.
And I strongly disagree with the idea that consciousness should be considered as the great product of the cerebral cortex.
Only the wealth of our minds is, not the very fact that we have a self that we can refer to our own existence, and that we have any sense of person.
wealth:n.财富;大量;富有;
Now there are three levels of self to consider -- the proto , the core and the autobiographical .
proto:n.原型;样机;典型; core:n.核心;要点;果心;[计]磁心;vt.挖...的核; autobiographical:adj.自传的;自传体的;自传作家的;
The first two are shared with many, many other species, and they are really coming out largely of the brain stem and whatever there is of cortex in those species.
largely:adv.主要地;大部分;大量地;
It's the autobiographical self which some species have, I think.
Cetaceans and primates have also an autobiographical self to a certain degree.
Cetaceans:n.鲸目动物;鲸类物种(cetacean的复数形式); primates:n.灵长类;
And everybody's dogs at home have an autobiographical self to a certain degree.
But the novelty is here.
novelty:n.新奇;新奇的事物;新颖小巧而廉价的物品;
The autobiographical self is built on the basis of past memories and memories of the plans that we have made; it's the lived past and the anticipated future.
on the basis of:根据;基于…; anticipated:adj.预期的; v.预期; (anticipate的过去式和过去分词)
And the autobiographical self has prompted extended memory, reasoning, imagination , creativity and language.
prompted:v.促使;导致;提示;给(演员)提词;(prompt的过去分词和过去式) extended:adj.延长了的;扩展了的;v.使伸长;扩大;扩展;(extend的过去式和过去分词) imagination:n.想象;想象力;创造力;想象的事物;
And out of that came the instruments of culture -- religions, justice , trade, the arts, science, technology .
instruments:n.器械;仪器;器具;手段(instrument的复数) justice:n.公平;公正;司法制度;审判; technology:n.技术;工艺;术语;
And it is within that culture that we really can get -- and this is the novelty -- something that is not entirely set by our biology .
biology:n.(一个地区全部的)生物;生物学;
It is developed in the cultures.
It developed in collectives of human beings.
collectives:adj.集体的;共同的;集合的;集体主义的;n.集团;集合体;集合名词;
And this is, of course, the culture where we have developed something that I like to call socio-cultural regulation.
socio-cultural:adj.社会文化的;
And finally , you could rightly ask, why care about this?
finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地; rightly:adv.正确地;恰当地;公正地;合适地;
Why care if it is the brain stem or the cerebral cortex and how this is made?
Three reasons. First, curiosity .
curiosity:n.好奇,好奇心;珍品,古董,古玩;
Primates are extremely curious -- and humans most of all.
curious:adj.好奇的,有求知欲的;古怪的;爱挑剔的;
And if we are interested, for example, in the fact that anti-gravity is pulling galaxies away from the Earth, why should we not be interested in what is going on inside of human beings?
anti-gravity:反重力; galaxies:n.银河; (galaxy的复数)
Second, understanding society and culture.
We should look at how society and culture in this socio-cultural regulation are a work in progress.
And finally, medicine.
Let's not forget that some of the worst diseases of humankind are diseases such as depression ,
diseases:n.[医]病(disease的复数);[医]疾病;[植保]病害;疾病种类; humankind:n.人类(总称); depression:n.沮丧;洼地;不景气;忧愁;
Alzheimer's disease, drug addiction .
addiction:n.瘾;嗜好;入迷;
Think of strokes that can devastate your mind or render you unconscious .
strokes:n.中风; v.轻抚; (stroke的第三人称单数和复数) devastate:v.彻底破坏;摧毁;毁灭;使震惊;使极为忧伤; render:v.提供;给予;提交;翻译;n.粉刷;[建](墙壁的)初涂;抹灰;精制油; unconscious:adj.无意识的;失去知觉的;未发觉的;
You have no prayer of treating those diseases effectively and in a non-serendipitous way if you do not know how this works.
treating:v.以…态度对待;把…看作;处理;讨论;(treat的现在分词)
So that's a very good reason beyond curiosity to justify what we're doing, and to justify having some interest in what is going on in our brains.
justify:v.证明合法;整理版面;替…辩护;
Thank you for your attention. 谢谢你们
(Applause) 掌声