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GeorgeWhitesides_2010-_走向简单的本质_
Most of the talks that you've heard in the last several fabulous days have been from people who have the characteristic that they have thought about something, they are experts, they know what's going on. 大多数的演讲 你在前几天那些美妙的日子听到的 都是来自一些很有特点的人 就是他们都已经思考过一些事 他们都是这方面的专家,他们知道这个领域的现状
fabulous:adj.难以置信的;传说的,寓言中的;极好的; characteristic:n.特征;特点;品质;adj.典型的;独特的;特有的;
All of you know about the topic that I'm supposed to talk about. 你们都知道 今天我要谈的这个话题
supposed:adj.误信的;所谓的;v.认为;假设;设想;(suppose的过去分词和过去式)
That is, you know what simplicity is, you know what complexity is. 的确,你知道简洁是什么 你也知道复杂是什么
simplicity:n.朴素;简易;天真;愚蠢; complexity:n.复杂性;难以理解的局势
The trouble is, I don't. 问题是,我不知道
And what I'm going to do is share with you my ignorance on this subject. 我接下来要做的就是和你们交流一下 我对这个话题不清楚的地方
ignorance:n.无知,愚昧;不知,不懂;
I want you to read this, because we're going to come back to it in a moment . 我希望你来读这些 因为我们过一会将重新回到这个问题上来
in a moment:立刻;
The quote is from the fabled Potter Stewart opinion on pornography . 这段引文来自 传说中的Potter Stewart 关于色情文学的观点
quote:v.引用;报价;举例说明;开价;为(企业的股份)上市;n.引用; fabled:adj.寓言中的,虚构的;v.虚构(fable的过去分词); pornography:n.淫秽作品;色情书刊(或音像制品等)
And let me just read it, the important details here: " Shorthand description , ['hardcore pornography']; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly defining it. 我来读一下 重要的细节 简化的描述,赤裸裸的色情 可能我从来都不能给它下一个容易理解的定义。
Shorthand:n.速记;速记法;adj.速记法的; description:n.说明;形容;描写(文字);类型; defining:v.解释(词语)的含义;给(词语)下定义;阐明;界定;(define的现在分词)
But I know it when I see it." 但是我一看见这句话我就明白它的意思
I'm going to come back to that in a moment. 我们一会就会重新回到这里
So, what is simplicity? 那,什么事简洁？
It's good to start with some examples. 举一些例子作为开头可能会好一些。
A coffee cup -- we don't think about coffee cups, but it's much more interesting than one might think -- a coffee cup is a device , which has a container and a handle . 一个咖啡杯。我们不去想它们 但是这可能比去想更有意义。 咖啡杯是个物件,是的 它是一个容器,是的,还带一个把手,没错。
device:n.装置;策略;图案; handle:n.[建]把手;柄;手感;口实;v.处理;操作;运用;买卖;触摸;
The handle enables you to hold it when the container is filled with hot liquid. 把手可以使你拿起它 当咖啡杯里装满热的液体时,嗯~
enables:v.使得; (enable的第三人称单数)
Why is that important? 为什么这很重要？
Well, it enables you to drink coffee. 因为,这能让你喝咖啡。
But also, by the way , the coffee is hot, the liquid is sterile; you're not likely to get cholera that way. 但是,提醒一下,咖啡是热的, 液体是无菌的。 这样你就不大可能会感染霍乱。
by the way:顺便说一下; cholera:n.[内科]霍乱;
So the coffee cup, or the cup with a handle, is one of the tools used by society to maintain public health. 所以咖啡杯,或者是一个有把手的杯子 是被人类社会应用的一种工具 来维护公众健康
maintain:v.维持;保持;维修;保养;坚持(意见);
Scissors are your clothes, glasses enable you to see things and keep you from being eaten by cheetahs or run down by automobiles , and books are, after all, your education. 剪刀成就你的衣服。 眼镜让你看清东西 防止你被猎豹吃掉 或者被汽车撞到 最后,书籍,是你们的教育。
Scissors:n.剪刀;v.剪断;删除;(scissor的第三人称单数和复数) automobiles:n.[车辆]汽车,发动器(automobile复数);关于汽车;
But there's another class of simple things, which are also very important. 但是还有另外一类简单的东西 它们也很重要
Simple in function, but not at all simple in how they're constructed . 在功能上很简单 但是它们的构造上上却一点都不简单。
not at all:毫无;一点也不;不用谢; constructed:v.修建;建造;组成;编制,绘制;(construct的过去分词和过去式)
And the two here are just examples. 这里有两个例子
One is the cellphone , which we use every day. 一个是手机,我们每天都用
cellphone:n.蜂窝式便携无线电话;大哥大;
And it rests on a complexity, which has some characteristics very different from those that my friend 它依赖于一个复杂系统 有一些特性 与我朋友Benoit Mandelbrot
characteristics:n.特征;特点;品质;(characteristic的复数)
Benoit Mandelbrot discussed, but are very interesting. 说的非常的不同 但是非常有趣
And the other, of course, is a birth control pill , which, in a very simple way, fundamentally changed the structure of society by changing the role of women in it by providing to them the opportunity to make reproductive choices. 另一个例子,当然,是避孕药 一个非常简单的方式 它却从根本上改变了社会的结构 通过改变女人在社会中的角色 通过给她们提供 选择是否怀孕生子
birth control:adj.节育的;避孕的; pill:n.[医]药丸;药品; fundamentally:adv.从根本上;基础地;重要地 structure:n.结构;构造;建筑物;vt.组织;构成;建造; reproductive:adj.生殖的;再生的;复制的;
So, there are two ways of thinking about this word, I think. 我认为有两种方式来看待这个词
And here I've corrupted the Potter Stewart quotation by saying that we can think about something -- which spans all the way from scissors to the cell phone, 而且我在这里曲解 Potter Stewart的引言 通过举例说我们可以想一些事情 一些从剪刀跨度 到手机的各种方式
corrupted:v.使腐化;使堕落;破坏;损坏;(corrupt的过去分词和过去式) quotation:n.报价;引用;引文;引语; spans:n.[建]跨度;一段时间(span的复数);v.跨越;持续;贯穿(span的第三人称单数);
Internet and birth control pills -- by saying that they're simple, the functions are simple, and we recognize what that simplicity is when we see it. 从网络到避孕药 通过谈他们是简单的 功能是简单的 然后我们认识到什么事简洁 当我们看到的时候
pills:n.药丸; v.起球; (pill的第三人称单数和复数) recognize:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到;
Or there may be another way of doing it, which is to think about the problem in terms of what -- if you associate with moral philosophers -- is called the teapot problem. 又或,可能有另一种方式来解释 即根据什么来考虑这个问题 如果你与思想哲学家交往 被称作茶壶问题
associate with:v.联合;与…联系在一起;和…来往; moral:n.寓意;品行;教益;adj.道德的;道义上的;道德上的;品行端正的; philosophers:n.哲学家(philosopher的复数); teapot:n.茶壶;小题大做;
The teapot problem I'll pose this way. 茶壶问题,我来解释一下
Suppose you see a teapot, and the teapot is filled with hot water. 假设你看见一个茶壶 并且这个茶壶 装满了热水
And you then ask the question: 然后你问了个问题
Why is the water hot? 为什么水是热的？
And that's a simple question. 这是个简单的问题
It's like, what is simplicity? 就像:什么事简洁？
One answer would be: because the kinetic energy of the water molecules is high and they bounce against things rapidly -- that's a kind of physical science argument. 其中一个答案可能是 因为水分子的动能很高 使得他们之间迅速碰撞 这是个物理学要讨论的问题
kinetic:adj.[力]运动的;活跃的; molecules:n.[化学]分子,微粒;[化学]摩尔(molecule的复数); bounce:v.反弹;反射;(使)弹起;n.弹跳;跳动;弹性; physical science:n.自然科学;物理科学;
A second argument would be: because it was sitting on a stove with the flame on -- that's an historical argument. 第二个答案可能是 因为它仍然在点着火的火炉上 那是个时间上的论点
stove:n.火炉;窑;烘房;[园]温室;v.用火炉烤[烘干];把…放入温室内培育; historical:adj.历史的;史学的;基于史实的;
A third is that I wanted hot water for tea -- that's an intentional argument. 第三个解释是,我想要热水 来泡茶 那是个内在意识的问题
intentional:adj.故意的;蓄意的;策划的;
And, since this is coming from a moral philosopher, the fourth would be that it's part of God's plan for the universe. 然而,来自道德哲学家的答案 即第四可能是,那是上帝对宇宙计划的一部分
All of these are possibilities. 所有的这些答案都是可能的
The point is that you get into trouble when you ask a single question with a single box for an answer, in which that single question actually is many questions with quite different meanings, but with the same words. 问题是,你陷入了麻烦 当你问一个问题 只能有一个答案 然而这一个问题实际上是许多的问题 这些问题有不同的含义 却能用相同的文字描述
Asking, "What is simplicity?" I think falls in that category . 问题,什么事简洁？我认为应归于类别范畴
category:n.种类,分类;[数]范畴;
What is the state of science? 什么是科学的国度？
And, interestingly , complexity is very highly evolved . 完整,复杂 是高端的进化
interestingly:adv.有趣地; highly:adv.高度地;非常;非常赞许地; evolved:v.(使)逐渐形成;进化;进化形成;(evolve的过去分词和过去式)
We have a lot of interesting information about what complexity is. 我们有很多关于复杂是什么的 有趣信息
Simplicity, for reasons that are a little bit obscure , is almost not pursued , at least in the academic world. 简洁,由于 它有些模糊 所以几乎不能达到 至少在学术界很难实现
obscure:n.朦胧; adj.无名的; v.使模糊; pursued:v.追击,追踪;继续从事(pursue的过去分词形式); academic:adj.学术的;理论的;学院的;n.大学生,大学教师;学者;
We academics -- I am an academic -- we love complexity. 我们的一些学者--我也是学者 我们喜欢复杂
academics:n.学术水平;学术知识;专业学者;
You can write papers about complexity, and the nice thing about complexity is it's fundamentally intractable in many ways, so you're not responsible for outcomes . (Laughter) 我们可以写关于复杂的论文 关于复杂有趣的是 在许多方面它从根本上难以把握 因此,你不必为结果负责
intractable:adj.棘手的;难治的;倔强的;不听话的; responsible:adj.负责的,可靠的;有责任的; outcomes:n.结果;成果;后果;出路;(outcome的复数)
Simplicity -- all of you really would like your Waring Blender in the morning to make whatever a Waring Blender does, but not explode or play Beethoven . 简洁---你们大家喜欢的 早上你的搅拌机 来做搅拌机该做的 但绝不是爆炸或者演奏贝多芬曲目
Waring:n.华林(一数学问题,自定义记录中删除将不会付诸循环);华陵(姓氏); Blender:n.(电动)食物搅拌器; explode:v.爆炸;爆裂;勃然(大怒);突然发生(危险); Beethoven:n.贝多芬(德国作曲家);
You're not interested in the limits of these things. 你对这些东西的局限性不感兴趣
So what one is interested in has a lot to do with the rewards of the system. 你感兴趣的是 这个系统的许多好处
rewards:n.[劳经]奖励; v.[劳经]奖赏;
And there's a lot of rewards in thinking about complexity and emergence , not so much in thinking about simplicity. 去思考一下 复杂和紧急情况将会有很多好处 而去想简单就没有那么什么好处
emergence:n.出现,浮现;发生;露头;
One of the things I want to do is to help you with a very important task -- which you may not know that you have very often -- which is to understand how to sit next to a physicist at a dinner party and have a conversation. (Laughter) 其中我想做的一件事是 是帮助你完成一项重要的工作 这项工作你可能没有意识到呢经常做 那就是理解 在晚宴中怎样坐在物理学家旁边 怎样和他交谈
physicist:n.物理学家;物理学研究者; dinner party:晚宴;
And the words that I would like you to focus on are complexity and emergence, because these will enable you to start the conversation and then daydream about other things. 我想让你把焦点集中在这两个词上 复杂 和紧急 因为它们会让你开始一段对话 然后幻想其它事情
daydream:vi.做白日梦;n.白日梦;
(Laughter) （笑）
All right, what is complexity in this view of things, and what is emergence? 好了,观察下这件事什么是复杂的？ 什么是紧急的？
We have, actually, a pretty good working definition of complexity. 事实上我们已经有了一个很好的关于复杂的定义
definition:n.定义;清晰度;(尤指词典里的词或短语的)释义;解释;
It is a system, like traffic, which has components . 它是一个系统,就像交通 有很多的组成部分
components:n.部件;组件;成份(component复数);
The components interact with one another. 这些部分整合在一起形成一个整体
interact:v.互相影响;互相作用;n.幕间剧;幕间休息;
These are cars and drivers. They dissipate energy. 有汽车和司机。他们消耗能量
dissipate:v.消散;驱散;(使)消失;挥霍;浪费;消磨;
It turns out that, whenever you have that system, weird stuff happens, and you in Los Angeles probably know this better than anyone. 结果是,无论何时,你拥有那个系统 奇怪的事情都会发生 可能身处洛杉矶的你 知道这个比任何一个都好
weird:adj.奇怪的;奇异的;离奇的;n.命运;宿命;命运女神; stuff:n.东西:物品:基本特征:v.填满:装满:标本:
Here's another example, which I put up because it's an example of really important current science. 这里还有个例子 我举这个例子是因为 这是个现代科学中一个真实而重要的例子
You can't possibly read that. It's not intended that you read it, but that's a tiny part of the chemical reactions going on in each of your cells at any given moment. 你不可能读过。你不会想去读。 但是这只是发生在体内 每个细胞中的化学反应的 一小部分
intended:adj.预定的;计划的;v.打算;计划;想要;(intend的过去分词和过去式) chemical:n.化学制品,化学药品;adj.化学的; reactions:n.反应;回应;抗拒;生理反应;副作用(reaction的复数)
And it's like the traffic that you see. 这就像你看到的交通
The amazing thing about the cell is that it actually does maintain a fairly stable working relationship with other cells, but we don't know why. 关于细胞让人不可思议的是 它确确实实与其它细胞保持 稳定的工作协同关系 但是我们不知道原因
fairly:adv.相当地;公平地;简直; 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;
Anyone who tells you that we understand life, walk away. 任何告诉你我们理解生命人 请走开
And let me reduce this to the simplest level. 接着,让我把这件事降到最简单的水平
We've heard from Bill Gates recently . 我们曾经收到Bill Gates 的来信
recently:adv.最近;新近;
All of us, to some extent , study this thing called a Bill Gates. 我们所有的人,在某种程度上, 学习Bill Gates
extent:n.程度;范围;长度;
Terrific . You learn everything you can about that. 非常好！你学习到了你能学到的东西
Terrific:adj.极好的;极其的,非常的;可怕的;
And then there's another kind of thing that you might study, and you study that hard. 然后又有一些其它方面的东西你可以学 你努力的学习
That's a Bono , this is a Bono. 那是Bono,这是Bono
Bono:n.宝鸟服饰;报喜鸟(品牌名);
But then, if you know everything you can know about those two things, and you put them together, what can you say about this combination ? 但是然后,假如你了解了你可以了解的关于这两样东西的所有细节 又把他们总结在一起 那么,你能对这种结合说些什么呢？
combination:n.结合;组合;联合;[化学]化合;
The answer is, not a lot. 答案是:并不多！
And that's complexity. 那就是复杂
Now, imagine building that up to a city, or to a society, and you've got, obviously, an interesting problem. 现在,想象一下一个城市一个社会的建立 很明显,你发现了一个有趣的问题
All right, so let me give you an example of simplicity of a particular kind. 好的,现在让我给你们举个 简单的例子 详细说明
And I want to introduce a word that I think is very useful, which is stacking . 然后我想介绍一个词 我想这个词很有用 就是堆积
stacking:n.[交]堆垛;v.堆叠,堆积(stack的现在分词);
And I'm going to use stacking for a kind of simplicity that has the characteristic that it is so simple and so reliable that I can build things with it. 我要简单的堆叠一下 这是很典型的 它简单 又可行 我可以用它来组合东西
reliable:adj.可信赖的;可依靠的;真实可信的;可靠的;
Or I'm going to use simple to mean reliable, predictable , repeatable . 或者说我要用简单的东西来实现 可靠性,可预言性和可重复性
predictable:adj.可预言的; repeatable:adj.可重复的;可复验的;
And I'm going to use as an example the Internet, because it's a particularly good example of stacked simplicity. 我想用一个例子,互联网 因为它是个特别好的关于 堆积简单的例子
particularly:adv.特别地,独特地;详细地,具体地;明确地,细致地; stacked:adj.放有大量…的; v.(使)放成整齐的一叠(或一摞、一堆); (stack的过去分词和过去式)
We call it a complex system, which it is, but it's also something else. 我们就称之为复杂系统 但是也意味着其它
The Internet starts with mathematics , it starts with binary . 互联网起始于数学 起始于二进制法则
mathematics:n.数学;数学运算; binary:adj.[数]二进制的;二元的,二态的;
And if you look at the list of things on the bottom, we are familiar with the Arabic numbers one to 10 and so on. 如果你看下底部的菜单 有我们熟知的阿拉伯数字 1到10等
familiar:adj.熟悉的;常见的;亲近的;n.常客;密友;
In binary, one is 0001, seven is 0111. 在二进制中,1用001表示 7用0111表示
The question is: Why is binary simpler than Arabic? 问题是:为什么二进制 比阿拉伯数字简单？
And the answer is, simply, that if I hold up three fingers, you can count that easily, but if I hold up this, it's sort of hard to say that I just did seven. 答案是,简单 如果你举起三个手指,你可以很容易的数清 但是如果你举起这个 就很难这是7
The virtue of binary is that it's the simplest possible way of representing numbers. 它的优点是这可能是表示数字 最简单的方式
virtue:n.美德;优点;贞操;功效; representing:v.代表;维护…的利益;等于;相当于;(represent的现在分词)
Anything else is more complicated . 其它都是复杂的
complicated:adj.复杂的;难懂的;v.使复杂化;(complicate的过去分词和过去式)
You can catch errors with it, it's unambiguous in its reading, there are lots of good things about binary. 你可能会犯错 在读取时很模糊 关于二进制还有很多好的方面
unambiguous:adj.不含糊的;清楚的;明白的;
So it is very, very simple once you learn how to read it. 因此它非常非常简单 只要你知道怎么去读
Now, if you like to represent this zero and one of binary, you need a device. 现在如果你想表示 一下二进制的和1 你需要一个工具
And think of things in your life that are binary, one of them is light switches. 想象一下你生活中 是用二进制表示的东西 其中一个是电灯开关
They can be on and off. That's binary. 它们可以是开或关,这是二元的
Now wall switches, we all know, fail. 我们都知道,墙体开关,会失败
But our friends who are condensed matter physicists managed to come up, some 50 years ago, with a very nice device, shown under that bell jar , which is a transistor . 但是我们的高分子物理学家朋友们 可以做到,在50多年前 用一种很好的设备,就是钟罩 它是一种晶体管
condensed:adj.压缩的,精简的; v.(由气体)冷凝; (condense的过去式和过去分词) physicists:n.物理学家;机械唯物论者(physicist的复数); bell jar:n.钟形玻璃罩(科学家使用); transistor:n.晶体管(收音机);
A transistor is nothing more than a wall switch. 晶体管于墙体开关没有区别
It turns things on and off, but it does so without moving parts and it doesn't fail, basically , for a very long period of time. 它也是开或关 但是,它做到这一点不用动任何一部分 基本上,可以保持很长一段时间,不会失效
basically:adv.主要地,基本上;
So the second layer of simplicity was the transistor in the Internet. 因此,第二简单的 是晶体管和互联网
layer:n.层,层次; vt.把…分层堆放; vi.形成或分成层次;
So, since the transistor is so simple, you can put lots of them together. 因此,既然晶体管如此简单 你可以将大量的晶体管组合在一起
And you put lots of them together and you come with something called integrated circuits . 组合在一起后,你可以组成 完整的集成电路
integrated:adj.综合的; v.整合; (integrate的过去式和过去分词) circuits:n.环行路线;电路;线路;巡回赛;v.巡回;周游;(circuit的第三人称单数和复数)
And a current integrated circuit might have in each one of these chips something like a billion transistors , all of which have to work perfectly every time. 集成电路 可能存在于这些芯片之中 像是十亿个晶体管 它们每次都必须以完美的状态工作
integrated circuit:n.集成电路; chips:炸土豆条(chip的复数) transistors:n.[电子]晶体管;晶体三极管(transistor的复数);
So that's the next layer of simplicity, and, in fact, integrated circuits are really simple in the sense that they, in general , work really well. 这是另一个层次的简洁 并且,实际上,集成电路 确实是简单的 就它们总体上运转的很好来说
in general:总之,通常;一般而言;
With integrated circuits, you can build cellphones . 用集成电路,你可以制造出手机
cellphones:n.手机;移动电话;(cellphone的复数)
You all are accustomed to having your cellphones work the large majority of the time. 你们早已习惯于手机 在大部分时间都能正常工作
accustomed to:习惯于; majority:n.大部分:大多数:多数票:成年人:
In Boston ... Boston is a little bit like Namibia in its cell phone coverage , (Laughter) 在波士顿,波士顿与纳米比亚有些相似 在她们的手机信号覆盖方面
Boston:n.波士顿(美国城市); coverage:n.覆盖,覆盖范围;
so that we're not accustomed to that all the time, but some of the time. 所以我们还并不总是那么适应 只是一段时间
But, in fact, if you have cell phones, you can now go to this nice lady who's somewhere like Namibia, and who is extremely happy with the fact that although she does not have an master's degree in electrical engineering from MIT, she's nonetheless able to hack her cell phone to get power in some funny way. 但是,实际上,如果你有手机 你现在可以看这位美女 她像是个纳米比亚人 并且她非常激动 尽管她没有 一个麻省理工 电子工程硕士学位 但她还是能够修改她的手机 使它能以某种滑稽的方式充电
extremely:adv.非常,极其;极端地; electrical engineering:n.电气工程;电机工程学; nonetheless:adv.尽管如此,但是; hack:n.砍; v.砍; adj.出租的;
And from that comes the Internet. 放下手机,我们来看看因特网
And this is a map of bitflows across the continent . 这是一幅大洲之间数据流量的图
continent:n.大陆,洲,陆地;adj.自制的,克制的;
The two blobs that are light in the middle there are the United States and Europe. 图中非常亮的两块区域 分别是美国和欧洲
blobs:n.斑点(blob的复数);v.溅污(blob的三单形式); United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式)
And then back to simplicity again. 然后,我们回到有关简单的讨论
So here we have what I think is one of the great ideas, which is Google . 我们现在有Google 我认为那是最伟大的点子之一
Google:谷歌;谷歌搜索引擎;
Which, in this simple portal makes the claim that it makes accessible all of the world's information. 在它简洁的页面中 Google称 可以使用户访问 全世界的信息
portal:n.大门,入口; claim:v.要求;声称;需要;认领;n.要求;声称;索赔;断言;值得; accessible:adj.易接近的;可进入的;可理解的;
But the point is that that extraordinary simple idea rests on layers of simplicity each compounded into a complexity that is itself simple, in the sense that it is completely reliable. 然而,要点是 这个非凡的简单创意 是基于若干简单的底层 而每层叠加起来就成为了一个复杂的东西 但就其可靠程度而言 它自身也确实是简单的
extraordinary:adj.非凡的;特别的;离奇的;临时的;特派的; layers:n.层;表层;层次;阶层;v.把…分层堆放;(layer的第三人称单数和复数) compounded:adj.[生物]复合的,化合的;v.混合;组成(compound的过去式和过去分词);
All right, let me then finish off with four general statements , an example and two aphorisms . 好了,让我来总结一下 总共有四个陈述 一个例子和两条格言
statements:n.说明; v.(英国)对儿童进行特殊教育评估认定; (statement的第三人称单数和复数) aphorisms:n.格言;警句(aphorism的复数);
The characteristics, which I think are useful to think about for simple things: 我想到了一些特征 它们有助于我们思考简洁的事物
First, they are predictable. 首先,它们是可预测的
Their behavior is predictable. 它们的行为是可以预测的
Now, one of the nice characteristics of simple things is you know what it's going to do, in general. 这样,简洁的事物 具有的一个很好的特征就是 你通常知道它会去做什么
So simplicity and predictability are characteristics of simple things. 所以说,简洁和可预测 是简单事物的特点
predictability:n.可预测性;可预言;
The second is, and this is a real world statement, they're cheap. 第二点,是源于实际的一点 它们要便宜
If you have things that are cheap enough, people will find uses for them, even if they seem very primitive . 如果你手中的东西足够廉价 人们就会去寻找它们的用途 即使它看起来相当原始
primitive:adj.原始的,远古的;简单的,粗糙的;n.原始人;
So, for example, stones. 比如石头
You can build cathedrals out of stones, you just have to know what it does. 你可以用石头建成教堂 你只需要知道它用来做什么
cathedrals:教堂;
You carve them in blocks and then you pile them on top of one another, and they support weight. 你将石头削成砖,然后你 将它们一个一个垒起来 然后它们就能承重
carve:vt.雕刻;切开;开创;vi.切开;做雕刻工作; pile:n.桩;堆;摞;桩柱;v.堆放;摞起;叠放;放置;
So there has to be function, the function has to be predictable and the cost has to be low. 所以说,它们要有一定的功能,功能要可以想得到 此外开销也必须低廉
What that means is that you have to have a high performance or value for cost. 这就意味着 必须要有良好的性能 或者价值成本
performance:n.性能;表现;业绩;表演;
And then I would propose as this last component that they serve, or have the potential to serve, as building blocks . 然后,我会提出 最后一个要素 即它们能作为,或者有潜力成为 构成的要素
propose:v.建议;提议;求婚;打算; potential:n.潜能;可能性;[电]电势;adj.潜在的;可能的;势的; building blocks:(儿童玩的)积木;建筑砌块;堆积木;建筑砖块;基石;
That is, you can stack them. 那就是说,你可以堆砌它们
And stack can mean this way, or it can mean this way, or it can mean in some arbitrary n-dimensional space. 所说的堆砌可以是这样的,也可以是那样的 再或者意味着任意的n维空间
arbitrary:adj.[数]任意的;武断的;专制的;
But if you have something that has a function, and it's really cheap, people will find new ways of putting it together to make new things. 但是如果你有些具有某种功能的东西 而且它非常便宜 人们就会找到新的方法将它们组合 来制作出新的事物
Cheap, functional , reliable things unleash the creativity of people who then build stuff that you could not imagine. 廉价、有一定功能并且可靠的东西 解放了人们的创造力 那些人之后制作出你想象不到的事物
functional:adj.功能的; unleash:vt.发泄;突然释放;使爆发;
There's no way of predicting the Internet based on the first transistor. 若是基于第一个晶体管 肯定将没有办法预测因特网
predicting:v.预言;预告;预报;(predict的现在分词)
It just is not possible. 它就是不可能
So these are the components. 以上就是这些要素
Now, the example is something that I want to give you from the work that we ourselves do. 现在我想展示的 这个例子是 来源于我们进行的工作
We are very interested in delivering health care in the developing world, and one of the things that we wish to do in this particular business is to find a way of doing medical diagnosis at as close to zero cost as we can manage. 我们致力于 对第三世界提供医疗援助 并且我们在这件事情上想完成的 是尽可能找到 一种几乎是零费用的 医疗诊断方法
health care:n.卫生保健; diagnosis:n.诊断;
So, how does one do that? 嗯,一个人怎么才能做到这些？
This is a world in which there's no electricity , there's no money, there's no medical competence . 第三世界没有电力 那里没有资金,没有医疗能力
electricity:n.电力;电流;强烈的紧张情绪; competence:n.能力,胜任;权限;作证能力;足以过舒适生活的收入;
And I don't want to spend your time in going through the details, but in the lower right-hand corner, you see an example of the kind of thing that we have. 我不想用过程的细节浪费大家的时间 但在右下角 你们可以看到我们现有的方案
right-hand:adj.得力的;右手的,用右手的;
It's a little paper chip. 那是一个很小的纸芯片
It has a few things printed on it using the same technology that you use for making comic books, which was the inspiration for this particular idea. 上面印了一些东西 印刷技术与 印制漫画书的相同 正是这项技术为我们提供了灵感
technology:n.技术;工艺;术语;
And you put a drop, in this case, of urine at the bottom. 你滴一滴液体,对于这个纸芯片来说要滴上尿液
urine:n.尿;
It wicks its way up into these little branches. 它被吸上去,进入这些小分支
wicks:n.灯芯;蜡烛芯;(电)电极芯;导火线;(wick的复数)
You know, no power required. 你要知道,不需要其它能量
It turns colors. In this particular case, you're reading kidney function. 它会变色。在这个特定情况下 正在看的是肾功能读数
kidney:n.[解剖]肾脏;腰子;个性;
And, since the health care worker of much of this part of the world is an 18 year-old with an AK-47, who happens to be out of work and is willing to go around and do this sort of thing, he can take a picture of it with his cellphone, send the picture back to where there is a doctor, and the doctor can look at it. 另外,由于这个地方的 医疗工作者 通常是18岁左右,手拿AK-47 碰巧没有工作,并且愿意 四处转转然后做这类事情 他可以用自己的手机拍张照片 而后将照片送回有医生的地方 这样医生就能看到结果
care worker:n.(精神病人、残疾人、尤指住院治疗者的)护理员;
So what you've done is to take a technology, which is available everywhere, make a device, which is extremely cheap, and make it in such a fashion that it is very, very reliable. 所以说,你所做的就是,用一种 在任何地方都能用上的技术 做出一种极为廉价的装置 并且做成这种样子 使它非常非常可靠
If we can pull this off, if we can build more function, it will be stackable . 如果我们能成功做到这些 如果我们可以加入更多功能 它将会是可以堆叠的
stackable:adj.易叠起堆放的;可叠起堆放的;
That is to say , if we can make the basic technology of one or two things work, it will be applicable to a very, very large variety of human conditions, and hence , extendable in both vertical and horizontal directions. 那就是说,如果我们可以使一两样东西中 基本的技术生效 那它将可以适用于 各种不同的个人条件下 因此,也就具有延伸的潜力 无论是在水平、纵深方向
That is to say:就是;即;换言之; applicable:adj.可适用的;可应用的;合适的; variety:n.多样;种类;杂耍;变化,多样化; hence:adv.因此;今后; extendable:adj.可延长的;可延伸的;可延期的; vertical:n.垂直线;垂直位置;adj.竖的;垂直的;直立的;纵向的; 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;
Part of my interest in this, I have to say, is that I would like to -- how do I put this politely? -- change the way, or maybe eviscerate , the capital structure of the U.S. health care system, which I think is fundamentally broken. 不得不说,我的兴趣一部分 是我希望,或者说的客气一点 改变,或者去除美国医疗体制 中资本就够的本质部分 我认为那是从根本上坏掉的
eviscerate:vt.取出内脏;除去精华;vi.内脏凸出;adj.内脏被取出的;
So, let me close -- 让我以--
(Applause) （掌声）
Let me close with my two aphorisms. 让我以这两句警语作为结束
One of them is from Mr. Einstein, and he says, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." 其中一条来自爱因斯坦 他说,“所有的事物都要做到 尽量简洁但又不过分简单。”
And I think that's a very good way of thinking about the problem. 我认为那是思考这个问题非常好的方式
If you take too much out of something that's simple, you lose function. 如果你从简单的东西里 去除太多,你就失去了它的功能
You have to have low cost, but you also have to have a function. 你必须要做到低开销 但是你还需要功能
So you can't make it too simple. 所以说你不可以做得过于简单
And the second is a design issue , and it's not directly relevant , but it's a nice statement. 第二条是设计的事情 它并不是那么相关,但它却是很好的叙述
issue:n.重要议题;争论的问题;v.宣布;公布;发出;发行; directly:adv.直接地;立即;马上;正好地;坦率地;conj.一…就; relevant:adj.相关的;切题的;中肯的;有重大关系的;有意义的,目的明确的;
This is by de Saint-Exupery. 这是de Saint-Exupery说的
And he says, "You know you've achieved perfection in design, not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away." 他说道:“你知道你的设计达到完美 不是因为你没有什么可以加上去, 而是当你当你不能再去除些什么的时候。”
perfection:n.完善;完美;
And that certainly is going in the right direction. 这句话的方向当然是对的
So, what I think one can begin to do with this kind of cut at the word simplicity, which doesn't cover Brancusi, it doesn't answer the question of why Mondrian is better or worse or simpler or less simpler than Van Gogh, and certainly doesn't address the question of whether Mozart is simpler than Bach. 这是一个人可以用到并以之为开始的 就我所想, 以简洁为目的 的精简 这解释不了为什么说 蒙德里安的画比梵高的好还是坏 或者是比梵高的画简单还是复杂 而且也没有解释 莫扎特的音乐是不是比巴赫的简单
But it does make a point -- which is one which, in a sense , differentiates the real world of people who make things, and the world of people who think about things, which is, there is an intellectual merit to asking: How do we make things as simple as we can, as cheap as we can, as functional as we can and as freely interconnectable as we can? 但它确实明确了一点 就是,在某种意义上 区分开制造的人 和考虑这些东西的人 这意味着,提出 “如何才能制造出 尽可能简单 尽可能廉价,尽量能发挥机能 并能尽可能自由联系的东西”有了科学意义
in a sense:在某种意义上; differentiates:区分;差别;使有差别; intellectual:n.知识分子;脑力劳动者;adj.智力的;脑力的;理智的;有才智的; merit:n.价值;优点;功绩;美德;v.值得;应得;
If we make that kind of simplicity in our technology and then give it to you guys, you can go off and do all kinds of fabulous things with it. 如果我们在技术中加入这种简洁 然后将其传给你们 你们离开之后就可以利用它做各种精彩纷呈的东西
Thank you very much. 非常感谢
(Applause) （掌声）
Chris Anderson: Quick question. Chris Anderson: 问几个问题
So can you picture that a science of simplicity might get to the point where you could look out at various systems -- say a financial system or a legal system, health system -- and say, "That has got to the point of danger or dysfunctionality for the following reasons, and this is how we might simplify it"? 你能想象一下 有关简单的科学 可以切中要害,不管 你查看的是什么样系统, 比如说,财政系统或者法律系统、医疗系统,再比如说 若是这些系统到了危险的境地 或者因为某些原因无法工作 这是我们应该简化的方法么？
get to the point:言归正传;直奔主题; financial:adj.金融的;财政的,财务的; legal:adj.法律的;合法的;法定的; dysfunctionality:n.机能不良,功能紊乱,官能障碍; simplify:vt.简化;使单纯;使简易;
George Whitesides: Yes, I think you could. Because if you look at the components from which the system is made and examine their fragility , or their stability , you can probably build a kind of risk assessment based on that basis. George Whitesides:是的,我想你可以,因为如果你 查看系统的组成部分 并且检查它们的脆弱度,或者是它们的牢固度 你没准可以在那些基础之上建立起一种风险评估方式
fragility:n.脆弱;[力]易碎性;虚弱; stability:n.稳定性;坚定,恒心; assessment:n.评定;估价;
CA: Have you started to do that? CA:你开始做这些了么？
I mean, with the health system, you got a sort of radical solution on the cost side, but in terms of the system itself? 我的意思是,对于医疗系统,你有一种 在财政方面的根本方法 但是对于这个系统自身呢？
radical:n.自由基;激进分子;游离基;adj.根本的;彻底的;完全的;全新的; solution:n.解决方案;溶液;溶解;解答;
GW: Well, no. GW:厄,没有
How do I put that simply? No. 我怎么去把它变得简单,不可能
CA: That was a simple, powerful answer. GW: Yes. CA:这是个简单、有力的回答。 GW:是的
CA: So, in terms of that diagnostic technology that you've got, where is that, and when do you see that maybe getting rolled out to scale . CA:那么,对于 你所掌握的诊断技术而言 什么时候,并且你认为什么时候 这种诊断方式会规模壮大
diagnostic:adj.诊断的;特征的;n.诊断法;诊断结论; 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;
GW: That's coming out soon. I mean, the systems work, and we have to find out how to manufacture them and do things of this kind, but the basic technology works. GW:那即将出现,我的意思是,那个系统开始工作 并且我们必须找出怎么去制造出它们,并做这一类的事情 但是最基本的技术起了作用
manufacture:v.(用机器)大量生产; n.大量制造;
CA: You've got a company set up to ... CA:你已经建立了一家公司来--
GW: A foundation , a foundation. Not-for-profit . GW:是一个基金会,基金会,非盈利的
foundation:n.基础;地基;基金会;根据;创立; Not-for-profit:adj.非营利的;无利可图的;
CA: All right. Well, thank you so much for your talk. Thank you. (Applause) CA:好的,非常感谢您的演讲,谢谢