Why can't we solve these problems? We know what they are. Something always seems to stop us. Why? I remember March the 15th, 2000. The B15 iceberg broke off the Ross Ice Shelf. In the newspaper it said "it was all part of a normal process." A little bit further on in the article it said "a loss that would normally take the ice shelf 50-100 years to replace." That same word, "normal," had two different, almost opposite meanings.
為何我們無法解決這些問題? 我們知道問題在那 但會有困難阻撓著我們 為什麼? 我記得2000年的三月十五日 B15冰山從羅斯冰架斷落 報紙中這樣寫著 這是正常過程的一部份 文章接著提到 這樣的冰正常需要 50到100年來復原 正常 有兩個不同 幾乎相反的意思
If we walk into the B15 iceberg when we leave here today, we're going to bump into something a thousand feet tall, 76 miles long, 17 miles wide, and it's going to weigh two gigatons. I'm sorry, there's nothing normal about this. And yet I think it's this perspective of us as humans to look at our world through the lens of normal is one of the forces that stops us developing real solutions. Only 90 days after this, arguably the greatest discovery of the last century occurred. It was the sequencing for the first time of the human genome. This is the code that's in every single one of our 50 trillion cells that makes us who we are and what we are. And if we just take one cell's worth of this code and unwind it, it's a meter long, two nanometers thick. Two nanometers is 20 atoms in thickness.
如果我們走入B15冰山 我是說在今日會後的時候 我們會見到 一千英呎高 76英里長 17英哩寬 且重達兩億頓的冰 這一點都不正常 而我們人類就是用這樣的觀點 在看我們的世界 把所有事物看作正常 就是這股力量 阻止了我們來找出真正的解決方案 冰山斷落3個月後 可能是本世紀 最偉大的發現出現了 人們第一次排序出 人的基因 這是我們體內50兆細胞中的 密碼 這個密碼決定了人的一切 如果我們了解了一個細胞 攤開其中的密碼 它長約一公尺 兩奈米寬 兩奈米是20個原子的厚度
And I wondered, what if the answer to some of our biggest problems could be found in the smallest of places, where the difference between what is valuable and what is worthless is merely the addition or subtraction of a few atoms? And what if we could get exquisite control over the essence of energy, the electron? So I started to go around the world finding the best and brightest scientists I could at universities whose collective discoveries have the chance to take us there, and we formed a company to build on their extraordinary ideas.
我就在想 如果大問題的解答 可以在最小的地方找到 且小到由幾個原子就能決定 一件事的價值 那會是怎樣的 一個情況呢? 要是 我們能夠精確得控制 能量的精髓 電子呢? 於是我走遍世界各地的大學 尋找最優秀的科學家 希望他們的合作 希望他們共同的研究可以 幫助我們達成 我們成立了一家公司 來將他們的想法付諸行動
Six and a half years later, a hundred and eighty researchers, they have some amazing developments in the lab, and I will show you three of those today, such that we can stop burning up our planet and instead, we can generate all the energy we need right where we are, cleanly, safely, and cheaply. Think of the space that we spend most of our time. A tremendous amount of energy is coming at us from the sun. We like the light that comes into the room, but in the middle of summer, all that heat is coming into the room that we're trying to keep cool. In winter, exactly the opposite is happening. We're trying to heat up the space that we're in, and all that is trying to get out through the window.
六年半後 一共180位研究人員 在實驗室中有了 驚人的發展 我今天會給各位看其中三個 如此我們就能停止燃燒地球 而且 我們能產生所需的所有電力 不論你在那裡 乾淨、安全、廉價 想一想我們大部份時間身處 的空間 有大量的能源從太陽 正射向我們 我們喜歡屋裡有光線 但是在夏天最炎熱時 當這些熱氣一直進到屋裡時 我們卻想保持屋內涼爽 冬天時則完全相反 我們會想讓我們身處的 空間抱持溫暖 而這些暖氣卻又從窗子溜走
Wouldn't it be really great if the window could flick back the heat into the room if we needed it or flick it away before it came in? One of the materials that can do this is a remarkable material, carbon, that has changed its form in this incredibly beautiful reaction where graphite is blasted by a vapor, and when the vaporized carbon condenses, it condenses back into a different form: chickenwire rolled up. But this chickenwire carbon, called a carbon nanotube, is a hundred thousand times smaller than the width of one of your hairs. It's a thousand times more conductive than copper. How is that possible? One of the things about working at the nanoscale is things look and act very differently. You think of carbon as black. Carbon at the nanoscale is actually transparent and flexible. And when it's in this form, if I combine it with a polymer and affix it to your window when it's in its colored state, it will reflect away all heat and light, and when it's in its bleached state it will let all the light and heat through and any combination in between. To change its state, by the way, takes two volts from a millisecond pulse. And once you've changed its state, it stays there until you change its state again.
如果我們能 需要熱氣時 將它留在屋內或在它進來前 折射回去,這會有多好? 有一個材料就可以做得到 這個了不起的材料就是碳 碳經過一個美妙的反應後改變了它的樣貌 它被蒸氣衝擊而汽化 然後當它冷凝後 它凝結成不一樣的外貌,看起來像 圈起來的鐵絲網 但這個網狀的鐵絲網 叫做奈米碳管 它比你的毛髮 還細上10萬倍 而導電性又比銅 高上一千倍 怎麼可能有這樣的東西? 東西在奈米大小時 功能與外觀都非常不一樣 你認為碳是黑的 但是奈米碳 其實是透明的 且具彈性的 當碳在這個狀態時 將它與聚合物結合 黏到你的窗上時 在有色的狀態下 它會將光熱隔絕在外 而在無色的狀態下 光與熱卻能穿透它 及中間的任何物質 順道一提,只需要 從1毫秒脈衝中提取2伏特電力即可改變它的狀態。 而一旦你改變了它的狀態,它就會維持在那個狀態 一直到你再改變它為止
As we were working on this incredible discovery at University of Florida, we were told to go down the corridor to visit another scientist, and he was working on a pretty incredible thing. Imagine if we didn't have to rely on artificial lighting to get around at night. We'd have to see at night, right? This lets you do it. It's a nanomaterial, two nanomaterials, a detector and an imager. The total width of it is 600 times smaller than the width of a decimal place. And it takes all the infrared available at night, converts it into an electron in the space of two small films, and is enabling you to play an image which you can see through. I'm going to show to TEDsters, the first time, this operating. Firstly I'm going to show you the transparency. Transparency is key. It's a film that you can look through. And then I'm going to turn the lights out. And you can see, off a tiny film, incredible clarity.
當我們在佛羅里達大學進行這項 不可思議的研究時 有人叫我們到同樣在那裡做研究的 另外一名科學家 他在研究的是 相當了不起的東西 相像一下 如果我們在夜晚時 不再須要仰賴人工照明了 但是我們又要能看得見,對吧? 用這個就做得到 這是兩種奈米材料組成的 偵測器及顯像器 它們的總寬度比 小數點還小上 600倍 它會將夜間的紅外線 在這兩片薄膜間 轉變成電子 它不只能播放影像 它還是透明的 我現在要展示給在TED的各位 這是它第一次運作 首先你們看到的是 透明薄膜 這透明性是關鍵 你能完全看透它 然後我要把燈關掉 你透過這個薄膜 看的非常清楚
As we were working on this, it dawned on us: this is taking infrared radiation, wavelengths, and converting it into electrons. What if we combined it with this? Suddenly you've converted energy into an electron on a plastic surface that you can stick on your window. But because it's flexible, it can be on any surface whatsoever. The power plant of tomorrow is no power plant. We talked about generating and using. We want to talk about storing energy, and unfortunately the best thing we've got going is something that was developed in France a hundred and fifty years ago, the lead acid battery. In terms of dollars per what's stored, it's simply the best.
而在研究它時,我們突然想到 它會將紅外線及波長 轉換成電子 要是我們將它與這個 結合呢? 如此你就能將能源 在你黏於窗上的塑料上 轉換成電子 但是因為它是有彈性的 它可以附著於任何表面 未來的發電廠 不在是ㄧ座座的工廠 我們已經聊了發電跟應用 我們現在要聊如何蓄電 很不幸的是 我們手上最好的蓄電器材 是法國在ㄧ百五十年前 所發展出來的 鉛蓄電池 從成本來考量的話 這是最好的選擇
Knowing that we're not going to put fifty of these in our basements to store our power, we went to a group at University of Texas at Dallas, and we gave them this diagram. It was in actually a diner outside of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. We said, "Could you build this?" And these scientists, instead of laughing at us, said, "Yeah." And what they built was eBox. EBox is testing new nanomaterials to park an electron on the outside, hold it until you need it, and then be able to release it and pass it off. Being able to do that means that I can generate energy cleanly, efficiently and cheaply right where I am. It's my energy. And if I don't need it, I can convert it back up on the window to energy, light, and beam it, line of site, to your place. And for that I do not need an electric grid between us.
雖然這樣,但我們不想要放五十個鉛蓄電池 在我們的地下室來存儲電力 我們在德州大學找到ㄧ個研究小組 然後我們給他們看了這張設計圖 當時我們其實是在 達拉斯的沃斯堡機場外的ㄧ個小餐廳 我們問:「你們能建造這個東西嗎?」 而這些科學家 非但沒嘲笑我們的想法,反而回答:「可以」 他們作出來的東西叫做電子盒 目前正在測試新的奈米材料 用以存儲戶外的電子 直到我們要用的時候 再把電子釋放出來 擁有這樣的能力代表 我能在任何地方 乾淨的、有效的、便宜的 發電 這是我的能源 如果我不需要它,我可以將它 放回窗上,並轉變成 電與光,甚至傳送它 到你所見之處、到你的地方 傳送電力時我們之間 是不需要有電纜的
The grid of tomorrow is no grid, and energy, clean efficient energy, will one day be free. If you do this, you get the last puzzle piece, which is water. Each of us, every day, need just eight glasses of this, because we're human. When we run out of water, as we are in some parts of the world and soon to be in other parts of the world, we're going to have to get this from the sea, and that's going to require us to build desalination plants. 19 trillion dollars is what we're going to have to spend. These also require tremendous amounts of energy. In fact, it's going to require twice the world's supply of oil to run the pumps to generate the water. We're simply not going to do that. But in a world where energy is freed and transmittable easily and cheaply, we can take any water wherever we are and turn it into whatever we need.
以後就不會有電纜了 而乾淨又有效能的能源 電將會是免費的 如果你做到了,那我們就只剩一個問題 水 我們每天 需要8杯的水 因為我們是人類 當我們沒有水的時候 世界上有些地方是沒有水的 而世界上其它地方也將面臨這樣的問題 我們將必須從海中取水 屆時,我們將必須建造海水淡化廠 到時我們需要花費19兆美元 這些淡化廠也需要用到非常大量的能源 事實上,我門需要目前石油蘊藏量的兩倍 才能讓這些幫浦運轉 來淨化水 而我們不需要這麼做 當世界上的能源是免費的 且能便宜又簡單的 傳送時,我們在任何地方都能 將水 轉變成我們所需的任何東西
I'm glad to be working with incredibly brilliant and kind scientists, no kinder than many of the people in the world, but they have a magic look at the world. And I'm glad to see their discoveries coming out of the lab and into the world. It's been a long time in coming for me. 18 years ago, I saw a photograph in the paper. It was taken by Kevin Carter who went to the Sudan to document their famine there. I've carried this photograph with me every day since then. It's a picture of a little girl dying of thirst. By any standard this is wrong. It's just wrong. We can do better than this. We should do better than this.
我很高興能夠與 這些聰明又親切的科學家共事 雖然還不是 世界上最親切的人 但他們用獨到的眼光來看這個世界 我很高興能夠看到他們的研究 能夠走出實驗室並進到這個世界 這對我來說是一段非常漫長的等待 十八年前 我在報紙上看到一張照片。 那是凱文・卡特 在蘇丹進行 當地飢荒紀實時所拍攝下來的。 從那時起我每天都 把這張照片帶在身上。 照片裡是一個因乾荒而瀕臨死亡的小女孩。 不管用什麼標準來看這都不對 這種事是不該發生的。 我們可以做得更好 我們應該要做得更好
And whenever I go round to somebody who says, "You know what, you're working on something that's too difficult. It'll never happen. You don't have enough money. You don't have enough time. There's something much more interesting around the corner," I say, "Try saying that to her." That's what I say in my mind. And I just say "thank you," and I go on to the next one. This is why we have to solve our problems, and I know the answer as to how is to be able to get exquisite control over a building block of nature, the stuff of life: the simple electron.
不論我去到哪裡 都會有人對我說: 「你研究的東西太困難了, 你不會成功的。你的資金不夠, 你也沒有那麼多時間。 還有其它更有趣的東西可以研究吧。」 我想說:「對照片裡的小女孩說吧!」 當然這些話只是在心裡想想而已。我真正說的是: 「謝謝。」然後繼續我的研究。 這就是為什麼我們需要解決我們的問題 而我知道答案就是 精確的掌握自然界中 簡單的東西 生命所需的 那就是電子
Thank you.
謝謝
(Applause)
(掌聲)