I would like to tell you all that you are all actually cyborgs, but not the cyborgs that you think. You're not RoboCop, and you're not Terminator, but you're cyborgs every time you look at a computer screen or use one of your cell phone devices. So what's a good definition for cyborg? Well, traditional definition is "an organism to which exogenous components have been added for the purpose of adapting to new environments." That came from a 1960 paper on space travel, because, if you think about it, space is pretty awkward. People aren't supposed to be there. But humans are curious, and they like to add things to their bodies so they can go to the Alps one day and then become a fish in the sea the next.
我想同你哋講, 其實你哋都係半機械人, 不過唔係你哋念嘅果種半機械人。 你哋唔係鐵甲威龍,亦都唔係終結者, 但係每次你望住個屏幕 或者用手機果陣,你就係一個半機械人。 甘點先為止正宗嘅半機械人呢? 嗱,傳統嚟講就係 “一個有機體為咗適應新環衛 而被添加外部組件。” 呢種講法係源於1960年一篇記錄太空漫遊嘅文章。 因為你認真唸下,太空其實好可怕; 人類本嚟就唔應該係果度。 不過人類都係好有奇心嘅,佢哋鐘意係自己身上加啲嘢, 所以總有一日佢地可以爬上阿爾卑斯山, 跟住另外一日又變成海底嘅一條魚。
So let's look at the concept of traditional anthropology. Somebody goes to another country, says, "How fascinating these people are, how interesting their tools are, how curious their culture is." And then they write a paper, and maybe a few other anthropologists read it, and we think it's very exotic. Well, what's happening is that we've suddenly found a new species. I, as a cyborg anthropologist, have suddenly said, "Oh, wow. Now suddenly we're a new form of Homo sapiens, and look at these fascinating cultures, and look at these curious rituals that everybody's doing around this technology. They're clicking on things and staring at screens."
等我哋嚟睇下傳統概唸上嘅人類學係觀點。 有條友去咗另一個國家, 佢話:“呢度啲人真係神奇,佢哋嘅架撐真係得意, 距哋嘅文化好盞鬼。” 跟住佢地係張紙度寫咗啲也,或者咁啱有幾個人類學家睇度, 我哋就會覺得呢單也靈舍有異國情調。 而同時發生嘅係我哋突然發現咗 一個新品種。 我,作為一個研究半機械人嘅人類學家,實會話: “哇,依家我哋突然間成為咗新新人類啦。 過嚟睇下呢啲引人入勝嘅文化, 再睇下呢啲令人好奇嘅儀式, 個個都圍繞呢項技術做嘢。 佢哋一路點擊,一路望著個屏幕。”
Now there's a reason why I study this, versus traditional anthropology. And the reason is that tool use, in the beginning -- for thousands and thousands of years, everything has been a physical modification of self. It has helped us to extend our physical selves, go faster, hit things harder, and there's been a limit on that. But now what we're looking at is not an extension of the physical self, but an extension of the mental self, and because of that, we're able to travel faster, communicate differently. And the other thing that happens is that we're all carrying around little Mary Poppins technology. We can put anything we want into it, and it doesn't get heavier, and then we can take anything out. What does the inside of your computer actually look like? Well, if you print it out, it looks like a thousand pounds of material that you're carrying around all the time. And if you actually lose that information, it means that you suddenly have this loss in your mind, that you suddenly feel like something's missing, except you aren't able to see it, so it feels like a very strange emotion.
我之所以去研究呢樣也, 而唔係傳統人類學係有原因嘅。 因為工具嘅使用, 係一開始,經過咗千萬年, 所有也都係人類挪嚟改造自身。 工具幫助我哋擴展自身嘅技能, 令我哋跑得更快,錘嘢錘得更有力, 雖然一切都有個限度。 但係依家我哋睇度嘅唔係人類自身技能嘅擴展, 而係心智嘅延伸。 由於咁,我哋可以走得更快, 更多元化咁交流。 第二件發生哽嘅嘢就係 我哋都隨身攜帶住Mary Poppins嘅技術。 我地可以將任何野擺在我地想放噶任何地方,唔重咖, 然之後又可以從入面挪距出來。 你台電腦入面究竟有啲咩呢? 嗱,如果你將佢打印出嚟,就好似你要運輸 成千磅重嘅信息材料。 而且,如果你真係唔見咗果啲信息, 你個心就會覺得突然之間冇咗一啲嘢, 就好似突然之間感覺失去咗一啲嘢, 除非你無辦法見度呢啲嘢,距就好似D好奇怪噶感覺。
The other thing that happens is that you have a second self. Whether you like it or not, you're starting to show up online, and people are interacting with your second self when you're not there. And so you have to be careful about leaving your front lawn open, which is basically your Facebook wall, so that people don't write on it in the middle of the night -- because it's very much the equivalent. And suddenly we have to start to maintain our second self. You have to present yourself in digital life in a similar way that you would in your analog life. So, in the same way that you wake up, take a shower and get dressed, you have to learn to do that for your digital self. And the problem is that a lot of people now, especially adolescents, have to go through two adolescences. They have to go through their primary one, that's already awkward, and then they go through their second self's adolescence, and that's even more awkward because there's an actual history of what they've gone through online. And anybody coming in new to technology is an adolescent online right now, and so it's very awkward, and it's very difficult for them to do those things.
另外一件發生咗嘅嘢就係你擁有第二個自己。 無論你鐘唔鍾意,你都開始係線上出現, 當你唔係果度, 人哋就開始同第二個你交流, 咁你就要小心, 唔好輕易開放你嘅第一道防線, 基本上嚟講就係你嘅Facebook, 唔好比人哋係深夜係上面寫嘢, 因為呢個效果同現實生活係好大程度上係等價嘅。 所以突然之間,我哋開始維護第二個自己, 你不得不以一種你係現實中呈現嘅方式 相似咁係數碼生活中呈現。 就好似你起身,冲個涼,著衫, 你一樣要學識係數碼生活中去做同樣嘅也。 不過問題在於家陣好多人, 尤其係青少年, 需要經歷兩個青春期。 佢哋要經歷第一個青春期已經好唔容易, 依家仲要經歷自己第二個青春期。 咁就更加之難。 因為係呢個真實嘅網絡歷史入面 佢哋經歷都會被記錄。 依家每個啱開始接觸新科技嘅人, 都係網上嘅青少年。 所以,要佢地去做果啲嘢 係好奇怪同埋困難嘅。
So when I was little, my dad would sit me down at night and he would say, "I'm going to teach you about time and space in the future." And I said, "Great." And he said one day, "What's the shortest distance between two points?" And I said, "Well, that's a straight line. You told me that yesterday." I thought I was very clever. He said, "No, no, no. Here's a better way." He took a piece of paper, drew A and B on one side and the other and folded them together so where A and B touched. And he said, "That is the shortest distance between two points." And I said, "Dad, dad, dad, how do you do that?" He said, "Well, you just bend time and space, it takes an awful lot of energy, and that's just how you do it." And I said, "I want to do that." And he said, "Well, okay." And so, when I went to sleep for the next 10 or 20 years, I was thinking at night, "I want to be the first person to create a wormhole, to make things accelerate faster. And I want to make a time machine." I was always sending messages to my future self using tape recorders.
係我好細個果陣,夜晚我老窦會叫我坐低跟住同我講: “我要教你一樣關於未來時間同空間嘅嘢。” 我話:“好啊!” 有一日佢問我:“兩點之間最短嘅距離係咩?” 我話:“哦,直線啰。你琴日係咁同我講嘅。” 我唸住我好醒目, 點知佢話:“唔啱,唔啱,呢個先係更短嘅路徑。” 佢挪咗一張紙, 係一面寫咗個A,另外一面寫咗個B, 跟住折埋兩邊令到A掂到B。 佢話:”呢個先系兩點之間最短嘅距離。“ 我跟住問:”老窦,老窦,老窦,你點做度嘎?“ 佢話:“嗱,呢個先係兩點之間最短嘅距離, 要用好多能量, 跟住就可以做到喇。” 我話:“我都想做到啊!” 佢話:“好啊!” 跟住,係接落嚟呢10幾20年,每當我夜晚訓覺時 我就會唸, “我一定會係第一個創造出“蟲洞”嘅人, 令事物加速。 我仲要製造一台時光機。” 我經常用錄音機嚟發信息 比未來嘅自己。
But then what I realized when I went to college is that technology doesn't just get adopted because it works. It gets adopted because people use it and it's made for humans. So I started studying anthropology. And when I was writing my thesis on cell phones, I realized that everyone was carrying around wormholes in their pockets. They weren't physically transporting themselves; they were mentally transporting themselves. They would click on a button, and they would be connected as A to B immediately. And I thought, "Oh, wow. I found it. This is great."
但係當我讀大學果陣,我意識到, 技術唔會因為佢有用 而被人類接受, 而係人類用過之後先會被接受。 因為佢係為滿足人類所需而創造嘅。 所以,我開始研究人類學。 當我係度寫哽關於手機嘅論文時, 我意識到每個人嘅口袋入面都隨身帶著個”蟲洞“。 呢個“蟲洞”唔係通過身體接觸嚟傳遞信息, 而係從心智上傳遞。 人類點擊一下按鈕, 跟住以A身份同B取得聯繫。 跟住我唸:“噢,哇,我穩到啦!真係太好啦!”
So over time, time and space have compressed because of this. You can stand on one side of the world, whisper something and be heard on the other. One of the other ideas that comes around is that you have a different type of time on every single device that you use. Every single browser tab gives you a different type of time. And because of that, you start to dig around for your external memories -- where did you leave them? So now we're all these paleontologists that are digging for things that we've lost on our external brains that we're carrying around in our pockets. And that incites a sort of panic architecture -- "Oh no, where's this thing?" We're all "I Love Lucy" on a great assembly line of information, and we can't keep up.
所以,隨住時間推移,時間同空間 都因為咁而被壓縮埋一齊。 你可以企係地球嘅一邊, 細細聲講嘢,而且可以比另外一邊嘅人聽到。 仲有就係, 你用嘅唔同設備可以比你擁有唔同類型嘅時間。 每一個瀏覽標籤都比你一個唔同嘅時間軸。 而且因為咁,你開始到處發掘延伸嘅記憶, 將佢哋收埋咗係邊呢? 所以話依家我哋都係古生物學家, 不停咁發掘我哋失去嘅嘢, 我哋將外部大腦隨身帶係口袋入面。 咁樣會促發一種恐慌。 弊,啲嘢究竟存咗係邊度? 係信息狂潮嚟臨前,我哋都好似”我愛Lucy“電視入面演嘅咁狼狽, 而且我哋冇辦法追得上信息嘅腳步。
And so what happens is, when we bring all that into the social space, we end up checking our phones all the time. So we have this thing called ambient intimacy. It's not that we're always connected to everybody, but at anytime we can connect to anyone we want. And if you were able to print out everybody in your cell phone, the room would be very crowded. These are the people that you have access to right now, in general -- all of these people, all of your friends and family that you can connect to.
由於咁, 我哋將所有嘢帶入到社交空間, 結果就係我哋會不停咁查看電話。 呢個就係稱之為親密環境。 咁樣唔係話我哋經常同每個人聯繫, 而係話我哋可以隨時聯繫上我哋想聯繫嘅人。 如果你可以將電話簿入面嘅人全部打印出嚟, 果間房就會變得非常壁, 一般嚟講呢哋就係你可以聯繫到嘅人 同埋同你保持聯繫嘅朋友,家人。
And so there are some psychological effects that happen with this. One I'm really worried about is that people aren't taking time for mental reflection anymore, and that they aren't slowing down and stopping, being around all those people in the room all the time that are trying to compete for their attention on the simultaneous time interfaces, paleontology and panic architecture. They're not just sitting there. And really, when you have no external input, that is a time when there is a creation of self, when you can do long-term planning, when you can try and figure out who you really are. And then, once you do that, you can figure out how to present your second self in a legitimate way, instead of just dealing with everything as it comes in -- and oh, I have to do this, and I have to do this, and I have to do this. And so this is very important. I'm really worried that, especially kids today, they're not going to be dealing with this down-time, that they have an instantaneous button-clicking culture, and that everything comes to them, and that they become very excited about it and very addicted to it.
隨之而嚟嘅係我哋會有一種心理效應。 一種我好擔心嘅心理效應, 就係人類唔再花費時間嚟反省自己, 佢地唔再放慢節奏同埋停落嚟, 時刻同屋入面嘅人係埋一齊, 嘗試係同一時間內 獲得所有人嘅注意力, 同時活係研究 古生物學同埋面對恐慌嘅架構中。 佢地唔止係坐埋一齊咁簡單。 講真果句,當你唔再受黎自外部嘅影響果陣, 你就有一段可以創造自我嘅時間, 一段可以作長遠計劃嘅時間, 嘗試發覺究竟自己係點樣一個人。 而一旦你咁樣做,你就會搞清楚 應該點樣合理咁呈現第二個自己, 而唔係等所有嘢發生之後再臨時應對—— 哦,我要做呢個,我要做那個,我一定做呢個。 所以呢一點係非常重要嘅。 我真係好擔心,尤其對依家嘅細路仔, 佢地冇靜低心嚟處理事情嘅時間, 因為佢地生活係一個不停點擊按鈕嘅文化中, 咩嘢都向佢地湧埋嚟, 佢地就會變得好興奮,甚至沉迷其中。
So if you think about it, the world hasn't stopped either. It has its own external prosthetic devices, and these devices are helping us all to communicate and interact with each other. But when you actually visualize it, all the connections that we're doing right now -- this is an image of the mapping of the Internet -- it doesn't look technological. It actually looks very organic. This is the first time in the entire history of humanity that we've connected in this way. And it's not that machines are taking over. It's that they're helping us to be more human, helping us to connect with each other.
你唸下,呢個世界都未試過停落嚟。 佢都有自己嘅外部修復設備, 而且呢啲設備都係度幫哽我哋 互相溝通同交流。 如果你可以見度呢啲 將我哋聯繫埋一齊嘅網路, 你會發覺呢個係一幅互聯網嘅地圖—— 佢睇起身無乜技術含量; 不過事實上係有機化嘅。 呢個係人類歷史上第一次 以咁樣嘅方式嚟連接每個人。 而且唔係部機器係度話事, 而係佢幫我哽我哋變得更人性化, 更好咁同每個人溝通。
The most successful technology gets out of the way and helps us live our lives. And really, it ends up being more human than technology, because we're co-creating each other all the time. And so this is the important point that I like to study: that things are beautiful, that it's still a human connection -- it's just done in a different way. We're just increasing our humanness and our ability to connect with each other, regardless of geography. So that's why I study cyborg anthropology.
最成功嘅技術係幫我哋排除障礙, 幫助我哋生活得更美好。 確切嚟講, 機器令到我哋最後變得更人性化而非技術化, 因為我哋一路都係度互相合作,共同創造。 呢個就係我想研究嘅一個重點: 事物係美好嘅,不過依然需要人與人之間嘅聯繫; 只不過係以一種唔同嘅方式。 我哋正係度增強自身嘅特性, 聯繫彼此嘅能力,不受地域嘅限制。 呢個就係點解我要研究半機械人類學。
Thank you.
多謝噻!
(Applause)
(掌聲)