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FredericKaplan_2013X-_我如何建造出信息时间旅行机器_
This is an image of the planet Earth. 这是一张地球的图像。
It looks very much like the Apollo pictures that are very well known . 看上去很像那非常有名的 从阿波罗号上发回的地球图像。
Apollo:n.阿波罗(太阳神);美男子; well known:adj.著名的;众所周知的;清楚明白的;
There is something different; you can click on it, and if you click on it, you can zoom in on almost any place on the Earth. 但这里的图像又有一些不同的地方; 你可以用鼠标点击它, 如果你点击了这个图像, 你也就可以放大图像中地球上的几乎任何一个地方。
For instance , this is a bird's-eye view of the EPFL campus . 举个例子来看,这是一张俯瞰 洛桑联邦理工学院校园的图像。
instance:n.实例;情况;建议;v.举...为例; campus:n.(大学)校园;大学,大学生活;校园内的草地;
In many cases, you can also see how a building looks from a nearby street. 通常,你也可以像从附近的街道上一样, 看看这里的一座建筑是什么样子的。
nearby:adj.附近的,邻近的;adv.在附近;prep.在…附近;
This is pretty amazing. 这非常令人惊叹。
But there's something missing in this wonderful tour: 但这场绝妙的旅程中似乎又忽略了什么:
It's time. 那便是时间。
i'm not really sure when this picture was taken. 我不确定这张图片是什么时候拍的;
I'm not even sure it was taken at the same moment as the bird's-eye view. 我甚至不确定它是不是 和前面俯瞰学院的那张照片一起拍的。
In my lab, we develop tools to travel not only in space but also through time. 在我的实验室里,我们在开发一种 能让我们不仅在空间里旅行的, 而且在时间中旅行的工具。
The kind of question we're asking is 我们想探讨的问题是
Is it possible to build something like Google Maps of the past? 我们有没有可能做出一种像 关于过去的谷歌地图一样的东西？
Google:谷歌;谷歌搜索引擎;
Can I add a slider on top of Google Maps and just change the year, seeing how it was 100 years before, 1,000 years before? 我能不能在谷歌地图的顶端添加 一行可以滑动变化年份的时间条, 来看看这里一百年前是什么样子的, 一千年前又是什么样子的？
slider:n.滑动器;滑雪者;会滚动之物;
Is that possible? 这可能吗？
Can I reconstruct social networks of the past? 我能不能重新构建出过去的社交网络？
reconstruct:vt.重建;改造;修复;重现;
Can I make a Facebook of the Middle Ages ? 我能不能做出中世纪的脸书（Facebook）？
Middle Ages:n.中世纪(欧洲历史上从公元1000年到1450年);
So, can I build time machines? 我,能不能做出时间机器？
Maybe we can just say, "No, it's not possible." 或许我们可以直接说,“不,这不可能的。”
Or, maybe, we can think of it from an information point of view . 又或许我们可以从信息学的角度来思考这个问题。
point of view:观点;见地;立场;
This is what I call the information mushroom. 我把这个东西叫做信息蘑菇。
Vertically , you have the time. 数轴上是年代,
Vertically:adv.垂直地;
and horizontally , the amount of digital information available. 横轴上是我们能获得的关于那个年代的数字信息。
horizontally:adv.水平地;地平地; digital:adj.数字的;手指的;n.数字;键;
Obviously, in the last 10 years, we have much information. 很显然,我们有非常多的关于过去十年的信息,
And obviously the more we go in the past, the less information we have. 但在越来越久远的年代,我们能获得的信息也越来越少。
If we want to build something like Google Maps of the past, or Facebook of the past, we need to enlarge this space, we need to make that like a rectangle . 如果我们想做类似过去的谷歌地图、 过去的脸书（Facebook）这样的东西, 我们需要扩大图片中获得的数字信息的区域（橙色部分）, 我们需要让这块区域变成矩形的形状。
rectangle:n.矩形;长方形;
How do we do that? 那我们该怎么做呢？
One way is digitization . 一种方法是把所有我们能得到的资料数字化,
digitization:n.[计]数字化,数位化,数码化;
There's a lot of material available -- newspaper, printed books, thousands of printed books. 我们手边有很多过去的资料, 从报纸到数千的纸质图书。
I can digitize all these. 我可以把所有这些资料数字化。
digitize:vt.[计]数字化;
I can extract information from these. 我可以从它们之中提取信息。
extract:v.提取;取出;摘录;榨取;n.汁;摘录;榨出物;选粹;
Of course, the more you go in the past, the less information you will have. 当然,在越来越久远的年代,我们有的资料也越来越少。
So, it might not be enough. 所以,仅仅这样可能还是不够。
So, I can do what historians do. 但我还可以做一些历史学家做的事情。
I can extrapolate . 我可以从拥有的资料信息对未知的那些事实进行推断。
extrapolate:vt.外推;推断;vi.外推;进行推断;
This is what we call, in computer science , simulation . 在计算机学中我们把这个叫做模拟。
computer science:n.计算机科学; simulation:n.仿真;模拟;模仿;假装;
If I take a log book, 如果我有一本航海日志,
log:原木,日志
I can consider, it's not just a log book of a Venetian captain going to a particular journey . 我可以这么想,这不仅仅是一本 关于一个威尼斯船长某次特定航程的航海日志。
Venetian:adj.威尼斯的;威尼斯人的;威尼斯文化的;威尼斯风格的;n.威尼斯人; journey:n.旅行;行程;vi.旅行;
I can consider it is actually a log book which is representative of many journeys of that period. 它可以是一本 代表了那个年代很多类似航程的航海日志。
representative:n.代表; adj.典型的;
I'm extrapolating . 我在做的便是一个推断的过程。
extrapolating:外推;进行推断(extrapolate的现在分词形式);
If I have a painting of a facade , 如果我有一张建筑的照片,
facade:n.正面;表面;外观;
I can consider it's not just that particular building, but probably it also shares the same grammar of buildings where we lost any information. 我可以认为这不仅仅反映的是那一座特定的建筑的特征, 它可能也反映了同时代那些建筑的特征, 而那些建筑可能正是我们所知甚少的。
So if we want to construct a time machine , we need two things. 如果我们想建成一个时间机器, 我们需要两样东西。
time machine:n.时间机器;
We need very large archives , and we need excellent specialists. 一方面,我们需要大量的档案, 另一方面,我们需要一批杰出的专家。
archives:n.档案;档案馆;v.把…存档;(archive的第三人称单数和复数)
The Venice Time Machine, the project I'm going to talk to you about, is a joint project between the EPFL and the University of Venice Ca'Foscari. 我将和你们介绍的便是 威尼斯时间机器项目, 这是一个由洛桑联邦理工学院 和威尼斯大学合作的项目。
Venice:n.威尼斯(意大利港市); joint:n.关节; adj.共同的; v.连接,贴合;
There's something very peculiar about Venice, that its administration has been very, very bureaucratic . 关于威尼斯很特别的一点便是, 它的管理模式 非常的官僚主义。
peculiar:adj.特殊的;独特的;奇怪的;罕见的;n.特权;特有财产; bureaucratic:adj.官僚的;官僚政治的;
They've been keeping track of everything, almost like Google today. 他们几乎记录下这里发生的一切, 而这很像今天的谷歌。
track:n.小道;足迹;车辙;轨道;v.追踪;跟踪;
At the Archivio di Stato, you have 80 kilometers of archives documenting every aspect of the life of Venice over more than 1,000 years. 在威尼斯的国家档案馆, 你可以找到80千米长的档案资料, 它们记录下了过去一千多年中威尼斯人们 生活的方方面面。
aspect:n.方面;层面;外观;方位;
You have every boat that goes out, every boat that comes in. 你可以了解到每一艘 出入的小船的信息。
You have every change that was made in the city. 你可以了解到这座城市发生的每一丁点儿变化。
This is all there. 它们都被记录在那里。
We are setting up a 10-year digitization program which has the objective of transforming this immense archive into a giant information system. 我们正在开展一个长达十年的数字化项目, 它的目标就是 把这些海量的档案信息 全部转化成一个巨大的信息系统。
objective:n.目标; adj.客观的; transforming:v.使改变形态;使改变外观(或性质);使改观;(transform的现在分词) immense:adj.巨大的,广大的;无边无际的;非常好的; giant:n.巨人;伟人;巨兽;adj.巨大的;特大的
The type of objective we want to reach is 450 books a day that can be digitized . 要达成这个目标, 我们每天要把450本书数字化。
digitized:adj.数字化的;v.使数字化(digitize的过去分词);
Of course, when you digitize, that's not enough, because these documents, most of them are in Latin, in Tuscan , in Venetian dialect , so you need to transcribe them, to translate them in some cases, to index them, and this is obviously not easy. 当然,仅仅数字化是不够的, 这些档案中, 很多是用拉丁语、托斯卡纳语、 威尼斯方言记录下的。 所以你需要转写它们, 一些情况下你需要翻译它们, 你需要将它们编入索引, 你需要将它们编入索引,
Tuscan:n.托斯卡纳人;托斯卡纳语;adj.托斯卡纳的; dialect:n.方言;地方话;土话; transcribe:vt.转录;抄写; translate:v.翻译;被翻译;被译成;(使)转变; index:n.指标;指数;索引;指针;v.做索引;指出;编入索引中;
In particular , traditional optical character recognition method that can be used for printed manuscripts , they do not work well on the handwritten document. 尤其要指出的是,传统的光学字符识别方法 虽然对于印刷本可以使用且非常有效, 但对于这些手写的档案似乎并不太行之有效。
In particular:尤其,特别; traditional:传统的,惯例的, optical character recognition:n.光符识别(用光学方法识别印刷字符,以便用于计算机系统); manuscripts:n.[图情]手稿;草稿(manuscript的复数形式); handwritten:adj.手写的;v.handwrite的过去分词;
So the solution is actually to take inspiration from another domain : speech recognition. 我们的解决方案是从语音识别这个领域 寻找一些启发。
solution:n.解决方案;溶液;溶解;解答; domain:n.领域;域名;产业;地产;
This is a domain of something that seems impossible, which can actually be done, simply by putting additional constraints . 这个领域看上去做的是一些不可能完成的事情, 但其实只要加上一些限制条件, 它们完全是可以做到的。
additional:adj.附加的,额外的; constraints:n.[数]约束;限制;约束条件(constraint的复数形式);
If you have a very good model of a language which is used, if you have a very good model of a document, how well they are structured . 如果你有一个关于被使用的语言的 很好的模型; 如果你有一个关于一份条理清晰的 档案的很好的模型,
structured:adj.有结构的;有组织的;v.组织;构成(structure的过去分词);建造;
And these are administrative documents. 这便是那些行政管理的档案文献,
administrative:adj.管理的,行政的;
They are well structured in many cases. 这便是那些行政管理的档案文献,
If you divide this huge archive into smaller subsets where a smaller subset actually shares similar features, then there's a chance of success. 如果你把这些海量的档案划分成一些小的部分, 其中每一个部分都和其他部分有相近的特征, 那么我们便有成功的机会。
subsets:n.子集合(subset的复数);
If we reach that stage, then there's something else: we can extract from this document events. 如果我们到了那个阶段,我们便可以做一些别的事情: 我们可以从这些档案文献中提取事件。
Actually probably 10 billion events can be extracted from this archive. 实际上大概一百亿件事件 可以从这些档案中提取出来。
extracted:adj.萃取的;引出的;v.提取(extract的过去式及过去分词);
And this giant information system can be searched in many ways. 而这巨大的信息系统 又可以被很多种方法搜索。
You can ask questions like, "Who lived in this palazzo in 1323?" 你可以问这样的问题, “1323年的时候,谁住在这个宫殿里？”
palazzo:n.(意大利)豪华的宫殿;美国妇女穿的短衬裤;adj.睡衣裤的;
'"How much cost a sea bream at the Realto market in 1434?" “1434年的时候,里亚托的一个集市里, 海鲷卖多少钱？
sea bream:海鲤;海鲷;
'"What was the salary of a glass maker in Murano maybe over a decade?" “穆拉诺岛的一个玻璃工人 大约十多年前的工资 是多少？”
You can ask even bigger questions because it will be semantically coded . 因为这些信息会被用语义编码, 你又可以问一些更宏大的问题。
semantically:adv.语义地; coded:adj.[计]编码的;电码的;译成电码的;v.译成密码(code的过去式和过去分词);
And then what you can do is put that in space, because much of this information is spatial . 然后我们便需要把这些存在于空间中的信息 放回到它们原来的空间中去。
spatial:adj.空间的;存在于空间的;受空间条件限制的;
And from that, you can do things like reconstructing this extraordinary journey of that city that managed to have a sustainable development over a thousand years, managing to have all the time a form of equilibrium with its environment. 这样,我们便可以 重新构建出这场令人惊叹的关于这座城市的旅程, 让它能有一个持续的、 超过数千年的发展过程, 能让所有的时间 和它所在的空间环境达到一种平衡状态。
reconstructing:v.再现,重建;改造(reconstruct的ing形式); extraordinary:adj.非凡的;特别的;离奇的;临时的;特派的; sustainable development:可持续发展; equilibrium:n.均衡;平静;保持平衡的能力;
You can reconstruct that journey, visualize it in many different ways. 我们可以重新建构这场旅行, 用不同的方法将它图像化。
visualize:vt.形象,形象化;想像,设想;vi.显现;
But of course, you cannot understand Venice if you just look at the city. 但当然,如果我们仅仅考察威尼斯这一座城市,我们便不能做到完全理解它
You have to put it in a larger European context . 我们需要把它放到更大的欧洲的背景下去观察研究。
context:n.环境;上下文;来龙去脉;
So the idea is also to document all the things that worked at the European level. 这便意味着我们需要记录下 在欧洲层面上发生的所有事情。
We can reconstruct also the journey of the Venetian maritime empire, how it progressively controlled the Adriatic Sea, how it became the most powerful medieval empire of its time, controlling most of the sea routes from the east to the south. 我们也可以重新建构 威尼斯海上帝国时期的旅程, 看它如何一步步控制了亚得里亚海, 看它如何变成那个时代 最强大的中世纪帝国, 它如何几乎控制了从东到南的 所有海上航线。
maritime:adj.海的;海事的;沿海的;海员的; progressively:adv.渐进地;日益增多地; medieval:adj.中世纪的;原始的;仿中世纪的;老式的; routes:n.路线;途径;路途;渠道;v.按某路线发送;(route的第三人称单数和复数)
But you can even do other things, because in these maritime routes, there are regular patterns. 同时,因为这些海上航线 有着自己的模式和规律, 我们甚至可以做一些别的事情。
You can go one step beyond and actually create a simulation system, create a Mediterranean simulator which is capable actually of reconstructing even the information we are missing, 我们可以更进一步, 创造出一个模拟系统, 模拟出地中海区域的历史, 这能让我们甚至重建出 我们丢失的信息,
Mediterranean:n.地中海;adj.地中海的; simulator:n.模拟器;假装者,模拟者; capable:adj.能干的,能胜任的;有才华的;
which would enable us to have questions you could ask like if you were using a route planner . 能让我们回答出一些别的问题。 比如如果你在进行路线规划,你想问,
enable:v.使能够;使有机会;使成为可能;使可行; planner:n.计划者,规划师;
'"If I am in Corfu in June 1323 and want to go to Constantinople, where can I take a boat?" “如果我在1323年6月科孚岛, 想前往君士坦丁堡, 我能在哪里找到船？”
Probably we can answer this question with one or two or three days' precision . 或许我们可以在当时的两三天的精确度内 回答这个问题。
precision:n.精度,[数]精密度;精确;adj.精密的,精确的;
'"How much will it cost?" “它需要多少钱？”
'"What are the chance of encountering pirates?" “遇到海盗的几率有多少？”
encountering:v.遭遇,遇到;偶然碰到;意外地遇见;(encounter的现在分词)
Of course, you understand, the central scientific challenge of a project like this one is qualifying , quantifying and representing uncertainty and inconsistency at each step of this process . 当然,你也应该理解, 对于这样一个项目,最核心的科学性质疑便是 能否量化出 它每一步中的不确定性和不一致性。
scientific:adj.科学的,系统的; qualifying:adj.使具有资格的; quantifying:n.定量法;v.量化(quantify的ing形式);定量; representing:v.代表;维护…的利益;等于;相当于;(represent的现在分词) uncertainty:n.不确定,不可靠; inconsistency:n.不一致;易变; process:v.处理;加工;列队行进;n.过程,进行;方法,adj.经过特殊加工(或处理)的;
There are errors everywhere, errors in the document, it's the wrong name of the captain, some of the boats never actually took to sea. 因为到处都有错误, 档案中有错误,或许是船长的名字错了, 或许是有一些小船从来没有出过海,
There are errors in translation, interpretative biases , and on top of that, if you add algorithmic processes , you're going to have errors in recognition, errors in extraction , so you have very, very uncertain data. 翻译中也有错误,我们的解释可能有偏差, 最关键的是,如果我们加上算法的过程, 我们将会在信息识别、 信息提取中都存在错误, 这样我们拥有的便是非常不确定的信息资料。
interpretative:adj.解释的;作为说明的; biases:n.偏差,偏见(bias的复数形式);v.偏见(bias的三单形式); algorithmic:adj.[数]算法的;规则系统的; processes:n.过程; v.处理(process的第三人称单数形式); extraction:n.取出;抽出;拔出;抽出物;出身;
So how can we detect and correct these inconsistencies ? 那我们如何发现并纠正这些偏差呢？
detect:vt.察觉;发现;探测; inconsistencies:矛盾;
How can we represent that form of uncertainty? 我们如何表示出这种不确定性呢？
It's difficult. One thing you can do is document each step of the process, not only coding the historical information but what we call the meta-historical information, how is historical knowledge constructed , documenting each step. 这是非常困难的,我们能做的 便是记录下我们过程中的每一步, 这不仅仅是翻译出那些历史信息, 而且是翻译出那些我们叫做元历史的信息, 关于那些历史是如何构建的, 我们要记录下每一步。
coding:n.译码;v.把…编码;(code的现在分词) historical:adj.历史的;史学的;基于史实的; constructed:v.修建;建造;组成;编制,绘制;(construct的过去分词和过去式)
That will not guarantee that we actually converge toward a single story of Venice, but probably we can actually reconstruct a fully documented potential story of Venice. 这当然不会保证我们真的能汇聚出 关于威尼斯的最可靠的过去, 但或许我们真的能重建出 一个可能的威尼斯的过去。
guarantee:n.保证;担保;保证人;保证书;抵押品;v.保证;担保; converge:vt.使汇聚;vi.聚集;靠拢;收敛; potential:n.潜能;可能性;[电]电势;adj.潜在的;可能的;势的;
Maybe there's not a single map. 也许不仅仅有一张地图,
Maybe there are several maps. 也许有很多张地图。
The system should allow for that, because we have to deal with a new form of uncertainty, which is really new for this type of giant databases. 这个系统应该承认并接受这些事实, 因为我们必须要面对并处理这种新的不确定性, 它对于我们这种巨大的数据库而言确实是非常新的。
And how should we communicate this new research to a large audience? 然后,我们应该怎样 和更多的人交流我们这项全新的研究呢？
Again, Venice is extraordinary for that. 再一次地,威尼斯在这里非常地特别,它有自己的优势。
With the millions of visitors that come every year, it's actually one of the best places to try to invent the museum of the future. 在威尼斯每年有数百万的游客前来观光, 这使它实际上变成了 构建出未来博物馆的最佳的选择之一。
Imagine, horizontally you see the reconstructed map of a given year, and vertically, you see the document that served the reconstruction , paintings, for instance. 想象一下,在横轴上你看到某个特定年份的 重新组织建构好的地图, 重新组织建构好的地图, 档案资料, 比如说绘画作品。
reconstructed:adj.重建的;改造的;v.重建;改造(reconstruct的过去式); reconstruction:n.再建,重建;改造;复兴;
Imagine an immersive system that permits to go and dive and reconstruct the Venice of a given year, some experience you could share within a group. 想象一下,这样一个身临其境的系统 能让你深入到威尼斯的每一个特定年份去体验, 这显然是你应该和他人分享的经历。
immersive:n.沉浸式;沉浸感;增加沉浸感; dive:n.潜水;跳水;俯冲;猛冲;v.猛冲;(头朝下)跳入水中;[体]跳水(运动);
On the contrary , imagine actually that you start from a document, a Venetian manuscript, and you show, actually, what you can construct out of it, how it is decoded , how the context of that document can be recreated . 另一方面,实际上你体验的这一切 都是从一份档案、一份威尼斯的手稿出发构建的, 你看到你能从那些档案资料中得到什么, 它们是如何被解读出来的, 那些档案中的内容又是如何被重现的。
On the contrary:正相反; decoded:译解; recreated:v.再现;再创造;(recreate的过去分词和过去式)
This is an image from an exhibit which is currently conducted in Geneva with that type of system. 这便是这样一件展览品的概念, 而它现在正在和这种信息系统一起 在日内瓦进行着。
exhibit:v.展览;表现;展出;n.陈列品;(在法庭上出示的)物证; currently:adv.当前;一般地; conducted:v.组织;安排;实施;执行;指挥;带领;引导;(conduct的过去分词和过去式)
So to conclude , we can say that research in the humanities is about to undergo an evolution which is maybe similar to what happened to life sciences 30 years ago. 总而言之,我们可以说 现在研究人类相关的人文学很像 30多年前在生命科学领域 发生的一场革命性的变化。
conclude:v.断定:得出结论:终止:达成:缔结(协定) humanities:n.人文学科(humanity的复数); is about to:眼看就要;即将;正要;行将; undergo:vt.经历,经受;忍受; evolution:n.演变;进化;发展;渐进; life sciences:n.生命科学;
It's really a question of scale . 这真的是个规模的问题。
scale:n.规模;比例;鳞;刻度;天平;数值范围;v.衡量;攀登;剥落;生水垢;
We see projects which are much beyond any single research team can do, and this is really new for the humanities, which very often take the habit of working in small groups or only with a couple of researchers. 我们看到很多项目, 它们在做的远远超过任何一个单一的研究小组, 这对人文学者来说确实是非常新颖的, 因为他们通常适应于 在小的团队里工作或仅仅和一些研究者一起工作。
When you visit the Archivio di Stato, you feel this is beyond what any single team can do, and that should be a joint and common effort. 当你参观威尼斯国家档案馆的时候, 你会觉得这远远超过了任何一个团队能做的事情, 那应该是共同努力的结果。
So what we must do for this paradigm shift is actually foster a new generation of "digital humanists " 所以应对这种模式的转换 我们应该培养出新的一代人, 他们便是“数字人文主义者”,
paradigm shift:n.范式转移(指行事或思维方式的重大变化); foster:vt.培养;养育,抚育;抱(希望等);adj.收养的,养育的; humanists:n.人道主义者;人类学者,人文学者;人文主义者;adj.人文主义的;人道主义的;
that are going to be ready for this shift. 他们应该能准备好迎接这种转变。
I thank you very much. 非常感谢。
(Applause) （鼓掌）