I have all my life wondered what "mind-boggling" meant. After two days here, I declare myself boggled, and enormously impressed, and feel that you are one of the great hopes -- not just for American achievement in science and technology, but for the whole world. I've come, however, on a special mission on behalf of my constituency, which are the 10-to-the-18th-power -- that's a million trillion -- insects and other small creatures, and to make a plea for them. If we were to wipe out insects alone, just that group alone, on this planet -- which we are trying hard to do -- the rest of life and humanity with it would mostly disappear from the land. And within a few months. Now, how did I come to this particular position of advocacy?
Cijelog života pitao sam se što znači riječ "zapanjujuće". Nakon dva dana ovdje, tvrdim da sam zapanjen i silno impresioniran i osjećam da ste vi velika nada -- ne samo za američka dostignuća u znanosti i tehnologiji, nego za cjelokupan svijet. Međutim, ovdje sam na posebnom zadatku u ime svoje izborne jedinice, a to je 10 na osamnaestu -- to je milijun bilijuna kukaca i ostalih sitnih bića, kako bih se založio za njih. Ako bismo istrijebili samo kukce, samo tu jednu skupinu na planetu, što se jako trudimo učiniti, ostatak života, uključujući čovječanstvo, uglavnom bi nestao sa zemlje. I to za nekoliko mjeseci. A kako sam zauzeo ovu posebnu poziciju zalaganja?
As a little boy, and through my teenage years, I became increasingly fascinated by the diversity of life. I had a butterfly period, a snake period, a bird period, a fish period, a cave period and finally and definitively, an ant period. By my college years, I was a devoted myrmecologist, a specialist on the biology of ants, but my attention and research continued to make journeys across the great variety of life on Earth in general -- including all that it means to us as a species, how little we understand it and how pressing a danger that our activities have created for it.
Kao dječak, i tijekom tinejdžerstva, sve više me opčinjavala raznolikost života. Imao sam fazu leptira, fazu zmija, fazu ptica, fazu riba, fazu pećina te konačno, i definirajuće, fazu mrava. Do fakultetskog doba bio sam posvećeni mirmekolog, specijalist za biologiju mrava, ali moja pažnja i istraživanja nastavili su vrludati velikom raznolikošću života na Zemlji općenito, uključujući sve što to znači za nas kao vrstu; koliko malo ga razumijemo i koliko prijeteća je opasnost po život stvorena našim aktivnostima.
Out of that broader study has emerged a concern and an ambition, crystallized in the wish that I'm about to make to you. My choice is the culmination of a lifetime commitment that began with growing up on the Gulf Coast of Alabama, on the Florida peninsula. As far back as I can remember, I was enchanted by the natural beauty of that region and the almost tropical exuberance of the plants and animals that grow there. One day when I was only seven years old and fishing, I pulled a "pinfish," they're called, with sharp dorsal spines, up too hard and fast, and I blinded myself in one eye. I later discovered I was also hard of hearing, possibly congenitally, in the upper registers. So in planning to be a professional naturalist -- I never considered anything else in my entire life -- I found that I was lousy at bird watching and couldn't track frog calls either. So I turned to the teeming small creatures that can be held between the thumb and forefinger: the little things that compose the foundation of our ecosystems, the little things, as I like to say, who run the world. In so doing, I reached a frontier of biology so strange, so rich, that it seemed as though it exists on another planet. In fact, we live on a mostly unexplored planet. The great majority of organisms on Earth remain unknown to science.
Iz tog širokog proučavanja proizašla je briga i ambicija, utjelovljena u želji koju ću sada poželjeti od vas. Moj odabir je kulminacija cjeloživotne posvećenosti koja je počela odrastanjem na Zaljevskoj obali Alabame, na poluotoku Florida. Koliko me sjećanje služi, bio sam oduševljen prirodnim ljepotama regije i gotovo tropskim bogatstvom biljaka i životinja koje rastu i obitavaju ondje. Jednog dana kada sam imao samo sedam godina, pecao sam i izvukao prebrzo "ribu-iglu", kako je zovu, oštrih leđnih bodlji, i oslijepio sam na jedno oko. Poslije sam otkrio da također slabo čujem, vjerojatno nasljedno, frekvencije višeg registra. I tako, planirajući postati profesionalnim prirodnjakom, nikada ništa drugo nije ozbiljno dolazilo u obzir cijelog mog života, otkrio sam da sam loš u promatranju ptica te da ne mogu pratiti niti žablje zvukove. Zato sam se okrenuo bujajućim sitnim bićima koje možete držati između palca i kažiprsta: malim stvarima koje čine temelj naših ekosustava, malim stvarima koje, kako volim reći, pokreću naš svijet. U tom zanimanju dosegao sam tako čudan rub biologije, tako bogat, da se činilo gotovo kao da postoji na drugom planetu. Zapravo, mi živimo na uglavnom neistraženom planetu. Velika većina organizama na Zemlji ostaje nepoznata znanosti.
In the last 30 years, thanks to explorations in remote parts of the world and advances in technology, biologists have, for example, added a full one-third of the known frog and other amphibian species, to bring the current total to 5,400, and more continue to pour in. Two new kinds of whales have been discovered, along with two new antelopes, dozens of monkey species and a new kind of elephant -- and even a distinct kind of gorilla. At the extreme opposite end of the size scale, the class of marine bacteria, the Prochlorococci -- that will be on the final exam -- although discovered only in 1988, are now recognized as likely the most abundant organisms on Earth, and moreover, responsible for a large part of the photosynthesis that occurs in the ocean. These bacteria were not uncovered sooner because they are also among the smallest of all Earth's organisms -- so minute that they cannot be seen with conventional optical microscopy. Yet life in the sea may depend on these tiny creatures.
Posljednjih 30 godina, zahvaljujući istraživanjima zabačenih dijelova svijeta te tehnološkom napretku, biolozi su za trećinu uvećali broj poznatih žabljih i drugih vodozemnih vrsta i sada je ukupan broj 5400 vrsta, a nove se stalno pojavljuju. Otkrili smo dvije nove vrste kita, kao i dvije nove antilope, desetke vrsta majmuna te novu vrstu slona -- pa čak i posebnu vrstu gorile. Na posve suprotnom kraju skale veličine, klasa morskih bakterija, Prochlorococci -- to će biti u završnom ispitu -- iako je otkrivena 1988. godine, sada je prepoznata kao najrašireniji organizam, štoviše, odgovorna je za najveći dio fotosinteze koja se događa u oceanu. Ovu bakteriju nije bilo moguće otkriti ranije zato što su među najmanjim organizmima na Zemlji -- tako sitne da ih se ne može vidjeti uobičajenom optičkom mikroskopijom. Pa ipak, život u moru ovisi o tim sitnim stvorenjima.
These examples are just the first glimpse of our ignorance of life on this planet. Consider the fungi -- including mushrooms, rusts, molds and many disease-causing organisms. 60,000 species are known to science, but more than 1.5 million have been estimated to exist. Consider the nematode roundworm, the most abundant of all animals. Four out of five animals on Earth are nematode worms -- if all solid materials except nematode worms were to be eliminated, you could still see the ghostly outline of most of it in nematode worms. About 16,000 species of nematode worms have been discovered and diagnosed by scientists; there could be hundreds of thousands of them, even millions, still unknown. This vast domain of hidden biodiversity is increased still further by the dark matter of the biological world of bacteria, which within just the last several years still were known from only about 6,000 species of bacteria worldwide. But that number of bacteria species can be found in one gram of soil, just a little handful of soil, in the 10 billion bacteria that would be there. It's been estimated that a single ton of soil -- fertile soil -- contains approximately four million species of bacteria, all unknown.
Ovakvi primjeri tek su mali uvid u naše neznanje o životu na planetu. Zamislite gljive -- pečurke, plijesan, i mnoge organizme koji izazivaju bolesti. Znanosti je poznato 60 000 takvih vrsta, a procjenjuje se da ih postoji 1,5 milijun. Zamislite puža oblića, najrasprostranjeniju od svih životinja. Četiri od pet životinja na Zemlji su puževi oblići -- ako bismo odstranili sve čvrste tvari osim tih puževa, i dalje biste mogli vidjeti obrise većine tvari u puževima oblićima. Oko 16 000 vrsta puževa oblića otkrili su i dijagnosticirali znanstvenici; moglo bi ih biti stotine tisuća, čak i milijuna, i dalje nepoznatih. Ovo široko područje skrivene bioraznolikosti se još uvećava tamnom tvari biološkog svijeta bakterija, unutar koje je u zadnjih nekoliko godina bilo poznato tek 6000 bakterija u cijelom svijetu. Ali taj broj bakterijskih vrsta može se pronaći u jednom gramu zemlje, u samo maloj šaci zemlje, od 10 milijardi bakterija koje možda postoje. Procjenjuje se da jedna tona zemlje -- plodne zemlje -- sadrži oko 4 milijuna vrsta bakterija, i sve su nepoznate.
So the question is: what are they all doing? The fact is, we don't know. We are living on a planet with a lot of activities, with reference to our living environment, done by faith and guess alone. Our lives depend upon these creatures. To take an example close to home: there are over 500 species of bacteria now known -- friendly bacteria -- living symbiotically in your mouth and throat probably necessary to your health for holding off pathogenic bacteria.
Pa se pitamo: što one rade? Činjenica je da to ne znamo. Živimo na planetu punom aktivnosti koje se odnose na naše životno okruženje, u koje samo vjerujemo i o kojima nagađamo. Naši životi ovise o tim bićima. Uzmimo blizak primjer: postoji preko 500 vrsta trenutno poznatih bakterija -- dobrih bakterija -- koje simbiotski žive u vašim ustima i grlu, a koje su vjerojatno nužne za zdravlje jer odbijaju patogene bakterije.
At this point I think we have a little impressionistic film that was made especially for this occasion. And I'd like to show it. Assisted in this by Billie Holiday. (Video)
A sada ćemo vidjeti kratak impresionistički film snimljen posebno za ovu prigodu. Volio bih vam ga pokazati. Pritom će mi pomoći Billie Holiday. (Filmska snimka)
And that may be just the beginning! The viruses, those quasi-organisms among which are the prophages, the gene weavers that promote the continued evolution in the lives of the bacteria, are a virtually unknown frontier of modern biology, a world unto themselves. What constitutes a viral species is still unresolved, although they're obviously of enormous importance to us. But this much we can say: the variety of genes on the planet in viruses exceeds, or is likely to exceed, that in all of the rest of life combined. Nowadays, in addressing microbial biodiversity, scientists are like explorers in a rowboat launched onto the Pacific Ocean.
A ovo bi mogao biti tek početak! Virusi, ti pseudoorganizmi, kao što su profagi, pletači gena koji promiču evoluciju u životima bakterija, gotovo su sasvim nepoznat rub moderne biologije, svijet su za sebe. Još nije razriješeno ni što sačinjava vrstu virusa, iako je očito da su od ogromne važnosti za nas. Ali ovoliko možemo reći: raznovrsnost gena na planetu sadržana u virusima premašuje, ili vjerojatno premašuje raznovrsnost u svim ostalim oblicima života. Kada danas pogledamo bioraznolikost mikroba, znanstvenici su poput istraživača u čamcu na vesla koji pluta Tihim oceanom.
But that is changing rapidly with the aid of new genomic technology. Already it is possible to sequence the entire genetic code of a bacterium in under four hours. Soon we will be in a position to go forth in the field with sequencers on our backs -- to hunt bacteria in tiny crevices of the habitat's surface in the way you go watching for birds with binoculars. What will we find as we map the living world, as, finally, we get this underway seriously? As we move past the relatively gigantic mammals, birds, frogs and plants to the more elusive insects and other small invertebrates and then beyond to the countless millions of organisms in the invisible living world enveloped and living within humanity? Already what were thought to be bacteria for generations have been found to compose, instead, two great domains of microorganisms: true bacteria and one-celled organisms the archaea, which are closer than other bacteria to the eukaryota, the group that we belong to.
Ali to se brzo mijenja pomoću nove genomske tehnologije. Već sada je moguće izdvojiti cijeli genski kôd bakterije za manje od 4 sata. Uskoro ćemo moći napredovati na tom polju pomoću uređaja na vlastitim leđima -- kako bismo hvatali bakterije u sitnim prorezima na površini životnog prostora, isto kao što promatramo ptice dvogledom. Što li ćemo pronaći mapirajući živi svijet kada napokon pristupimo tome ozbiljno? Kako se udaljavamo od prilično krupnih sisavaca, ptica, žaba i biljaka prema zagonetnijim kukcima i drugim sitnim beskralježnjacima, te dalje prema milijunima organizama u nevidljivom živom svijetu, učahurenima unutar čovječanstva? Već ono što smo generacijama smatrali bakterijama, umjesto toga, otkrili smo, dva su velika svijeta mikroorganizama: prave bakterije i jednostanični organizmi, arheje, koji su bliži eukariotima od ostalih bakterija; skupini kojoj mi pripadamo.
Some serious biologists, and I count myself among them, have begun to wonder that among the enormous and still unknown diversity of microorganisms, one might -- just might -- find aliens among them. True aliens, stocks that arrived from outer space. They've had billions of years to do it, but especially during the earliest period of biological evolution on this planet. We do know that some bacterial species that have earthly origin are capable of almost unimaginable extremes of temperature and other harsh changes in environment, including hard radiation strong enough and maintained long enough to crack the Pyrex vessels around the growing population of bacteria. There may be a temptation to treat the biosphere holistically and the species that compose it as a great flux of entities hardly worth distinguishing one from the other. But each of these species, even the tiniest Prochlorococci, are masterpieces of evolution. Each has persisted for thousands to millions of years. Each is exquisitely adapted to the environment in which it lives, interlocked with other species to form ecosystems upon which our own lives depend in ways we have not begun even to imagine. We will destroy these ecosystems and the species composing them at the peril of our own existence -- and unfortunately we are destroying them with ingenuity and ceaseless energy.
Neki ozbiljni biolozi, a i sebe smatram takvim, počeli su sumnjati da među ogromnom i još nepoznatom raznolikošću mikroorganizama moglo bi se naći -- možda -- naći izvanzemaljce. Pravi izvanzemaljci, vrste pristigle iz svemira. Imale su milijarde godina da to učine, posebno tijekom najranijeg razdoblja biološke evolucije na ovom planetu. Doista znamo da neke bakterijske vrste zemaljskog porijekla mogu izdržati gotovo nezamislive temperaturne raspone i druge okrutne promjene u okolišu, uključujući radijaciju dovoljno snažnu i trajnu da slomi otporne posude od stakla uokolo rastuće populacije bakterija. Postoji izazov da biosferu promatramo holistički, a vrste koje ju čine kao veliki niz entiteta koje jedva da uopće vrijedi razlikovati. Ali svaka od tih vrsta, čak i najsitniji Prochlorococci, remek-djela su evolucije. Svaka je opstala tisuće i milijune godina. Svaka je izvrsno prilagođena okolišu u kojem živi, povezana s drugim vrstama kako bi oformile ekosustave o kojima naši životi ovise na načine koje još nismo niti počeli spoznavati. Uništit ćemo te ekosustave i vrste koje ih stvaraju na štetu našeg vlastitog postojanja -- a na nesreću, uništavamo ih vješto te neiscrpnom energijom.
My own epiphany as a conservationist came in 1953, while a Harvard graduate student, searching for rare ants found in the mountain forests of Cuba, ants that shine in the sunlight -- metallic green or metallic blue, according to species, and one species, I discovered, metallic gold. I found my magical ants, but only after a tough climb into the mountains where the last of the native Cuban forests hung on, and were then -- and still are -- being cut back. I realized then that these species and a large part of the other unique, marvelous animals and plants on that island -- and this is true of practically every part of the world -- which took millions of years to evolve, are in the process of disappearing forever. And so it is everywhere one looks.
Doživio sam prosvjetljenje zalažući se za očuvanje vrsta 1953. kao student Harvarda, tragajući za rijetkim mravima u planinskim šumama Kube, mravima koji sjaje na Sunčevoj svjetlosti metalno zeleno i plavo, već prema vrsti, a jedna vrsta, otkrio sam, metalno zlatno. Našao sam svoje čarobne mrave, ali tek nakon napornog uspona u planine gdje su se još održale posljednje kubanske prašume, i već tada -- a i sada -- bile su uveliko posječene. Tada sam shvatio da ove vrste, i velik broj drugih jedinstvenih, čudesnih životinja i biljaka na tom otoku, a ovo vrijedi za gotovo svaki dio svijeta kojemu je trebalo milijune godina da se razvije, su u procesu trajnog nestanka. I to se događa kamo god pogledamo.
The human juggernaut is permanently eroding Earth's ancient biosphere by a combination of forces that can be summarized by the acronym "HIPPO," the animal hippo. H is for habitat destruction, including climate change forced by greenhouse gases. I is for the invasive species like the fire ants, the zebra mussels, broom grasses and pathogenic bacteria and viruses that are flooding every country, and at an exponential rate -- that's the I. The P, the first one in "HIPPO," is for pollution. The second is for continued population, human population expansion. And the final letter is O, for over-harvesting -- driving species into extinction by excessive hunting and fishing. The HIPPO juggernaut we have created, if unabated, is destined -- according to the best estimates of ongoing biodiversity research -- to reduce half of Earth's still surviving animal and plant species to extinction or critical endangerment by the end of the century. Human-forced climate change alone -- again, if unabated -- could eliminate a quarter of surviving species during the next five decades. What will we and all future generations lose if much of the living environment is thus degraded? Huge potential sources of scientific information yet to be gathered, much of our environmental stability and new kinds of pharmaceuticals and new products of unimaginable strength and value -- all thrown away.
Ljudska sila trajno uništava prastaru biosferu Zemlje kombiniranim silama koje se mogu podvesti pod kraticu "HIPPO", kao životinja hippo (nilski konj). H je uništenje staništa (habitata) klimatskim promjenama uslijed stakleničkih plinova. I su invazivne vrste kao vatreni mravi, zebraste školjke, otrovne trave, patogene bakterije i virusi koji napadaju svaku zemlju eksponencijalnim rastom. Prvo P u "HIPPO" je zagađenje (pollution). Drugo P je stalno rastuća populacija, širenje ljudske populacije. I konačno, slovo O je za prekomjerno (over) ubiranje plodova zemlje, što vodi vrste u izumiranje prekomjernim lovom te izlovom ribe. Ta HIPPO sila koju smo stvorili, ako je ne zauzdamo, prema najboljim procjenama stalnog istraživanja bioraznolikosti -- dovest će polovicu preostalih životinjskih i biljnih vrsta na Zemlji do izumiranja ili kritičnog ugrožavanja do kraja ovog stoljeća. Samo ljudski izazvane klimatske promjene -- opet, ako ih ne zauzdamo -- mogle bi odstraniti četvrtinu preživjelih vrsta u sljedećih pet desetljeća. Što ćemo mi i svi budući uzrasti izgubiti ako ovako unazadimo naš životni okoliš? Ogromne moguće izvore znanstvenih podataka koje tek treba prikupiti, veći dio stabilnosti našeg okoliša i nove vrste lijekova te novih proizvoda nezamislive snage i vrijednosti -- sve ćemo to odbaciti.
The loss will inflict a heavy price in wealth, security and yes, spirituality for all time to come, because previous cataclysms of this kind -- the last one, that ended the age of dinosaurs -- took, normally, five to 10 million years to repair. Sadly, our knowledge of biodiversity is so incomplete that we are at risk of losing a great deal of it before it is even discovered. For example, even in the United States, the 200,000 species known currently actually has been found to be only partial in coverage; it is mostly unknown to us in basic biology. Only about 15 percent of the known species have been studied well enough to evaluate their status. Of the 15 percent evaluated, 20 percent are classified as "in peril," that is, in danger of extinction. That's in the United States. We are, in short, flying blind into our environmental future. We urgently need to change this. We need to have the biosphere properly explored so that we can understand and competently manage it. We need to settle down before we wreck the planet. And we need that knowledge.
Za taj gubitak platit ćemo visoku cijenu u zdravlju, sigurnosti, da, i u duhovnosti za sva buduća vremena, zato što je nakon prethodnih kataklizmi ove vrste, posljednja je dokrajčila doba dinosaura, trebalo 5 do 10 milijuna godina da se popravi šteta. Nažalost, naše znanje o bioraznolikosti je toliko nepotpuno, da riskiramo izgubiti velik dio prije nego što ga uopće otkrijemo. Primjerice, čak i u SAD-u, 200 000 vrsta koje trenutno poznajemo zapravo smo samo djelomice proučili i većinom su nam nedostupne u osnovnoj biologiji. Tek 15 posto poznatih vrsta proučeno je dovoljno da bismo im vrednovali status. Od 15 posto vrednovanih, 20 posto je proglašeno "u opasnosti", to jest, pod prijetnjom izumiranja. To se odnosi na SAD. Ukratko, slijepi letimo u budućnost našeg okoliša. Ovo hitno moramo promijeniti. Moramo temeljito istražiti biosferu kako bismo je razumjeli te ispravno upravljali njome. Moramo se suspregnuti prije nego što razorimo planet. A potrebno nam je to znanje.
This should be a big science project equivalent to the Human Genome Project. It should be thought of as a biological moonshot with a timetable. So this brings me to my wish for TEDsters, and to anyone else around the world who hears this talk. I wish we will work together to help create the key tools that we need to inspire preservation of Earth's biodiversity. And let us call it the "Encyclopedia of Life." What is the "Encyclopedia of Life?" A concept that has already taken hold and is beginning to spread and be looked at seriously? It is an encyclopedia that lives on the Internet and is contributed to by thousands of scientists around the world. Amateurs can do it also. It has an indefinitely expandable page for each species.
Ovo bi trebao postati veliki znanstveni projekt poput Projekta ljudskog genoma. Trebalo bi ga smatrati biološkim letom na Mjesec s točnim rasporedom. A to me dovodi do moje želje za TED-ovce i za svakoga na svijetu tko sluša ovaj govor. Želim da surađujemo kako bismo stvorili ključne alate koje trebamo da bismo nadahnuli očuvanje bioraznolikosti planeta. Nazovimo to "Enciklopedijom života". Što je Enciklopedija života? Ideja koja je već zaživjela i počinje se širiti i uzimati zaozbiljno? To je enciklopedija koja živi na internetu i kojoj doprinosi tisuće znanstvenika iz cijelog svijeta. Laici također mogu doprinijeti. Ima beskonačno proširivu stranicu za svaku vrstu.
It makes all key information about life on Earth accessible to anyone, on demand, anywhere in the world. I've written about this idea before, and I know there are people in this room who have expended significant effort on it in the past. But what excites me is that since I first put forward this particular idea in that form, science has advanced. Technology has moved forward. Today, the practicalities of making such an encyclopedia, regardless of the magnitude of the information put into it, are within reach. Indeed, in the past year, a group of influential scientific institutions have begun mobilizing to realize this dream. I wish you would help them. Working together, we can make this real.
Čini ključne podatke o životu na Zemlji pristupačne svakome, na zahtjev, bilo gdje u svijetu. Pisao sam ranije o ovoj ideji i znam da ovdje ima ljudi koji su do sada uložili u nju značajne napore. Ali uzbuđuje me, otkad sam prvi put uobličio ovu ideju, da je znanost je napredovala. Tehnologija je napredovala. Danas, praksa sastavljanja takve enciklopedije, bez obzira na obim unesenih podataka, je nadohvat ruke. Uistinu, prošle godine skupina utjecajnih znanstvenih institucija počela se pokretati u smjeru ostvarenja ovoga sna. Volio bih da im pomognete. Radeći zajedno, možemo ovo ostvariti.
The encyclopedia will quickly pay for itself in practical applications. It will address transcendent qualities in the human consciousness, and sense of human need. It will transform the science of biology in ways of obvious benefit to humanity. And most of all, it can inspire a new generation of biologists to continue the quest that started, for me personally, 60 years ago: to search for life, to understand it and finally, above all, to preserve it. That is my wish. Thank you.
Enciklopedija će se brzo isplatiti svojom primjenom u praksi. Obuhvatit će uzvišene osobine ljudske svijesti i osjećaj ljudske potrebe. Preoblikovat će znanost biologije na načine očite koristi čovječanstvu. A ponajviše bi mogla nadahnuti novi naraštaj biologa da nastave pothvat koji sam započeo prije 60 godina: potragu za životom, za razumijevanjem života i konačno, za njegovim očuvanjem. To je moja želja. Hvala.