What if our plants could sense the toxicity levels in the soil and express that toxicity through the color of its leaves? What if those plants could also remove those toxins from the soil? Instead, what if those plants grew their own packaging, or were designed to only be harvested by their owners' own patented machines? What happens when biological design is driven by the motivations of mass-produced commodities? What kind of world would that be?
如果我們的植物 能夠感知土壤遭受污染的程度 並且通過葉子的色彩 表達污染的程度,那會如何? 如果這些植物還能夠移除 土壤中的有毒物質,那該多好? 又或者,假如這些植物 可以長出自己的包裝 或者設計成只能用 專利所有權人的機器收割,會如何? 如果生物是為了大規模生產而設計的 世界會變成什麼模樣?
My name is Ani, and I'm a designer and researcher at MIT Media Lab, where I'm part of a relatively new and unique group called Design Fiction, where we're wedged somewhere between science fiction and science fact. And at MIT, I am lucky enough to rub shoulders with scientists studying all kinds of cutting edge fields like synthetic neurobiology, artificial intelligence, artificial life and everything in between. And across campus, there's truly brilliant scientists asking questions like, "How can I make the world a better place?" And part of what my group likes to ask is, "What is better?" What is better for you, for me, for a white woman, a gay man, a veteran, a child with a prosthetic? Technology is never neutral. It frames a reality and reflects a context. Can you imagine what it would say about the work-life balance at your office if these were standard issue on the first day?
我是安妮,是麻省理工學院 媒體實驗室的設計師和研究員 屬於新的、獨特的「虛構設計」組 我們徘徊在科幻小說和科學事實之間 在麻省理工,我有幸 和其他科學家並肩 學習各種尖端科技 比如合成神經生物學 人工智能、人工生命 和所有介於其中的學問 整個校園,那些真正卓越的科學家 會問這樣的問題: 「我如何使世界變得更美好?」 我的團隊喜歡問的 部分問題是:「什麼是更好?」 對你、我 對白種女性、男同性戀者 退伍老兵,或有義肢的兒童 什麼是更好? 科技永遠不是中立的 它形成了現實 反映周遭的環境 如果這些是第一天的標準問題 你能想像辦公室的 工作與生活平衡的情況嗎?
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
I believe it's the role of artists and designers to raise critical questions. Art is how you can see and feel the future, and today is an exciting time to be a designer, for all the new tools becoming accessible. For instance, synthetic biology seeks to write biology as a design problem. And through these developments, my lab asks, what are the roles and responsibilities of an artist, designer, scientist or businessman? What are the implications of synthetic biology, genetic engineering, and how are they shaping our notions of what it means to be a human? What are the implications of this on society, on evolution and what are the stakes in this game?
我相信,是藝術家和設計師的責任 來提出尖銳的問題 藝術是你如何看待與感知未來 當今,成為設計師是令人興奮的 因為可以使用很多新的工具 比如,合成生物學 把生物學寫成設計的問題 通過這些發展 我的實驗室問: 藝術家、設計師、科學家 和商人的角色和責任是什麼? 合成生物學、基因科學 將意味什麼? 它們將怎樣影響我們對於人類的定義? 它將如何影響社會、進化? 這其中有哪些利害關係?
My own speculative design research at the current moment plays with synthetic biology, but for more emotionally driven output. I'm obsessed with olfaction as a design space, and this project started with this idea of what if you could take a smell selfie, a smelfie?
我目前臆想的設計實驗 與合成生物學有關 但是更與情感的表達有關 我癡迷於氣味的設計 這個專案來自這個想法: 如果你能做氣味自拍,會怎樣?
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
What if you could take your own natural body odor and send it to a lover? Funny enough, I found that this was a 19th century Austrian tradition, where couples in courtship would keep a slice of apple crammed under their armpit during dances, and at the end of the evening, the girl would give the guy she most fancied her used fruit, and if the feeling was mutual, he would wolf down that stinky apple.
如果你可以將自己的自然體味 傳送給愛人,會怎樣? 有趣的很,我發現這是 19 世紀奧地利人的傳統 在求愛的情侶們,會把一片蘋果 在跳舞的時候夾在腋下 當晚 女孩會把她用過的水果 給她最喜歡的男士 如果這種感覺是相互的 他會狼吞虎嚥的吃掉那個有味的蘋果
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Famously, Napoleon wrote many love letters to Josephine, but perhaps amongst the most memorable is this brief and urgent note: "Home in three days. Don't bathe."
眾所周知,拿破崙 曾經寫很多情書給约瑟芬 最難忘的可能是 下面這簡單迫切的描述: 「三天內會回到家。別洗澡」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Both Napoleon and Josephine adored violets. Josephine wore violet-scented perfume, carried violets on their wedding day, and Napoleon sent her a bouquet of violets every year on their anniversary. When Josephine passed away, he planted violets at her grave, and just before his exile, he went back to that tomb site, picked some of those flowers, entombed them in a locket and wore them until the day he died.
拿破崙和約瑟芬都喜歡紫羅蘭 約瑟芬擦紫羅蘭味的香水 在結婚那天捧著紫羅蘭 拿破崙在每個結婚紀念日 都送她紫羅蘭花束 當約瑟芬去世時 他在她的墓前種下紫羅蘭 就在他被流放前 他回到墓前 摘了一些花放入項鍊墜的小盒子裡 直戴到他去世
And I found this so moving, I thought, could I engineer that violet to smell just like Josephine? What if, for the rest of eternity, when you went to visit her site, you could smell Josephine just as Napoleon loved her? Could we engineer new ways of mourning, new rituals for remembering? After all, we've engineered transgenic crops to be maximized for profit, crops that stand up to transport, crops that have a long shelf life, crops that taste sugary sweet but resist pests, sometimes at the expense of nutritional value. Can we harness these same technologies for an emotionally sensitive output?
我覺得這很感人 我想,我可以使得紫羅蘭 聞起來和約瑟芬一樣嗎? 如果在未來 你去到她的墳前 能聞到約瑟芬的味道 就像當初拿破崙愛她那般? 我們是否能設計新的悼念方式 以新的儀式去懷念? 畢竟,我們改變了植物的基因 使利潤最大化 方便被運輸 能儲存很久 味道甜但防蟲害 有時以犧牲營養價值為代價 我們是否能夠同樣 用科技來表達情感呢?
So currently in my lab, I'm researching questions like, what makes a human smell like a human? And it turns out it's fairly complicated. Factors such as your diet, your medications, your lifestyle all factor into the way you smell. And I found that our sweat is mostly odorless, but it's our bacteria and microbiome that's responsible for your smells, your mood, your identity and so much beyond. And there's all kinds of molecules that you emit but which we only perceive subconsciously.
目前,我的實驗室研究 「什麼使得人聞起來像人」 這樣的問題 結果,這相當複雜 你的飲食、藥物、生活方式等因素 都會影響你的氣味 我發現我們的汗水多半沒氣味 而是我們的細菌和微生物 造就了你的味道氣味、心情和特性 還有很多 你散發各式各樣的分子 被我們無意識地感受到
So I've been cataloging and collecting bacteria from different sites of my body. After talking to a scientist, we thought, maybe the perfect concoction of Ani is like 10 percent collarbone, 30 percent underarm, 40 percent bikini line and so forth, and occasionally I let researchers from other labs take a sniff of my samples. And it's been interesting to hear how smell of the body is perceived outside of the context of the body. I've gotten feedback such as, smells like flowers, like chicken, like cornflakes, like beef carnitas.
所以我對身體不同部位的細菌 進行分類、收集 在與科學家討論後,我們想 也許完美的安妮混合物 可能是 10% 鎖骨、30% 腋下 40% 比基尼線,諸如此類 偶爾,我讓別的實驗室的人員 聞一點點我的樣本 聽身體的氣味離開身體之外 被他們感知成什麼樣子 非常有趣 我聽到如下的反饋: 聞起來像花、雞肉 像玉米片 像慢燉牛肉絲 (註:一種墨西哥食物)
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
At the same time, I cultivate a set of carnivorous plants for their ability to emit fleshlike odors to attract prey, in an attempt to kind of create this symbiotic relationship between my bacteria and this organism. And as it so happens, I'm at MIT and I'm in a bar, and I was talking to a scientist who happens to be a chemist and a plant scientist, and I was telling him about my project, and he was like, "Well, this sounds like botany for lonely women."
同時,我培育食肉植物 因為它們能散發吸引獵物的味道 試圖造成我的細菌 和那有機體之間的共生關係 就這樣,我在麻省理工,一家酒吧 和一個科學家談話 他碰巧是個植物科學家和化學家 我告訴他我的研究專案 他說,聽起來像是孤獨女性的園藝
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Unperturbed, I said, "OK." I challenged him. "Can we engineer a plant that can love me back?" And for some reason, he was like, "Sure, why not?"
我忐忑地說:「好吧」 我挑戰他 「我們能造出 會回應我的愛的植物嗎?」 他回答:「當然可以」
So we started with, can we get a plant to grow towards me like I was the sun? And so we're looking at mechanisms in plants such as phototropism, which causes the plant to grow towards the sun by producing hormones like auxin, which causes cell elongation on the shady side. And right now I'm creating a set of lipsticks that are infused with these chemicals that allow me to interact with a plant on its own chemical signatures -- lipsticks that cause plants to grow where I kiss it, plants that blossom where I kiss the bloom.
我們從能否造個 朝向我生長的植物開始 就像我是太陽一般 我們研究光合作用之類的機制 它使得植物朝向太陽生長 通過產生如激素般的植物生長素 會使得不受光那一邊的細胞拉長 現今我在製作一組口紅 裡頭注入了這些化學物質 讓我根據植物的化學特徵與它互動 口紅會使植物在我親吻過的地方生長 我在哪裡親吻,植物就在哪裡盛開
And through these projects, I'm asking questions like, how do we define nature? How do we define nature when we can reengineer its properties, and when should we do it? Should we do it for profit, for utility? Can we do it for emotional ends? Can biotechnology be used to create work as moving as music? What are the thresholds between science and its ability to shape our emotional landscape?
通過這些專案 我問的問題像是 我們如何定義自然? 當我們能重塑特性時 如何定義自然? 我們何時該去做? 我們應該為利潤、為實用性去做嗎? 我們能為情緒目的而做嗎? 生物技術能製造出像音樂般的產品 讓人感動嗎? 科學與它塑造情感景觀的能力
It's a famous design mantra that form follows function.
兩者之間的界限是什麼?
Well, now, wedged somewhere between science, design and art I get to ask, what if fiction informs fact? What kind of R&D lab would that look like and what kind of questions would we ask together?
有句熟知的設計行語 說「形式遵循功能」 如今徘徊在交錯的科學、 設計與藝術之間 我想問 如果虛構啟迪事實會怎樣? 研發實驗室看起來會是什麼模樣? 我們將會一起問什麼樣的問題?
We often look to technology as the answer, but as an artist and designer, I like to ask, but what is the question?
我們常將技術視為解答 但身為藝術家和設計師 我想問,問題是什麼?
Thank you.
謝謝
(Applause)
(鼓掌)