"To do two things at once is to do neither." It's a great smackdown of multitasking, isn't it, often attributed to the Roman writer Publilius Syrus, although you know how these things are, he probably never said it. What I'm interested in, though, is -- is it true? I mean, it's obviously true for emailing at the dinner table or texting while driving or possibly for live tweeting at TED Talk, as well. But I'd like to argue that for an important kind of activity, doing two things at once -- or three or even four -- is exactly what we should be aiming for.
「同時做兩件事, 等於什麼都沒做。」 這是直接打了「多工」 一巴掌,對吧, 通常,這句話被認為出自 羅馬作家普布里烏斯西魯斯, 不過你也知道這類資訊就是這樣, 他很可能沒有說過這句話。 不過,我感興趣的是—— 這句話說的是真的嗎? 我是指,很顯然在飯桌上 寫電子郵件時的確是如此, 或者開車時傳簡訊, 或是在 TED 演說中 即時發推特訊息可能也是。 但我想要談的是, 對一種很重要的活動來說, 同時做兩件事,或三、四件事, 正是我們想要做到的目標。
Look no further than Albert Einstein. In 1905, he published four remarkable scientific papers. One of them was on Brownian motion, it provided empirical evidence that atoms exist, and it laid out the basic mathematics behind most of financial economics. Another one was on the theory of special relativity. Another one was on the photoelectric effect, that's why solar panels work, it's a nice one. Gave him the Nobel prize for that one. And the fourth introduced an equation you might have heard of: E equals mc squared. So, tell me again how you shouldn't do several things at once.
看看愛因斯坦就好。 1905 年,他發表了 四篇很驚人的科學論文。 其中一篇是談布朗運動, 該論文提出經驗證據, 說明原子存在, 它展示出了大部分財務經濟 背後的基礎數學。 另一篇是談到狹義相對論。 還有一篇是光電效應, 太陽能板能夠實現就是 靠它,很棒的論文。 他因為那篇研究得到諾貝爾獎。 第四篇則提出了一條方程式, 你們可能聽過: E = mc 平方。 所以,再跟我說一次, 為何你不該同時做好幾件事?
Now, obviously, working simultaneously on Brownian motion, special relativity and the photoelectric effect -- it's not exactly the same kind of multitasking as Snapchatting while you're watching "Westworld." Very different. And Einstein, yeah, well, Einstein's -- he's Einstein, he's one of a kind, he's unique. But the pattern of behavior that Einstein was demonstrating, that's not unique at all. It's very common among highly creative people, both artists and scientists, and I'd like to give it a name: slow-motion multitasking.
很顯然,同時研究 布朗運動、相對論, 以及光電效應—— 這和一邊看《西方極樂園》 一邊上社交平台的 那種多工不太一樣。 非常不一樣。 而愛因斯坦,嗯,是啊, 愛因斯坦就是愛因斯坦, 他是獨一無二的。 但愛因斯坦所展現出的行為模式, 一點也不獨特。 在非常有創意的人身上 就很常看到這種模式, 藝術家和科學家都是, 而我想給它取個名字: 慢動作多工。
Slow-motion multitasking feels like a counterintuitive idea. What I'm describing here is having multiple projects on the go at the same time, and you move backwards and forwards between topics as the mood takes you, or as the situation demands. But the reason it seems counterintuitive is because we're used to lapsing into multitasking out of desperation. We're in a hurry, we want to do everything at once. If we were willing to slow multitasking down, we might find that it works quite brilliantly. Sixty years ago, a young psychologist by the name of Bernice Eiduson began a long research project into the personalities and the working habits of 40 leading scientists. Einstein was already dead, but four of her subjects won Nobel prizes, including Linus Pauling and Richard Feynman. The research went on for decades, in fact, it continued even after professor Eiduson herself had died. And one of the questions that it answered was, "How is it that some scientists are able to go on producing important work right through their lives?" What is it about these people? Is it their personality, is it their skill set, their daily routines, what?
慢動作多工感覺 像是種反直覺的想法。 我在這裡要描述的, 是同時有多個專案計畫在進行中, 而你在各主題之間 來來回回,就看心情如何, 或是看狀況需要你怎麼做。 但,它之所以會看似反直覺的原因 是因為我們很習慣 陷入拼命不顧一切的多工。 我們在趕時間, 想要一次搞定所有事情。 如果我們願意把多工給慢下來, 我們可能會發現它很成功。 六十年前,年輕的 心理學家伯尼斯艾杜生 開始進行一項漫長的研究計畫, 研究的是四十位頂尖科學家的 個性和工作習慣。 愛因斯坦已經過世了, 但她的研究對象中 有四位都得過諾貝爾獎, 包括萊納斯鮑林和理察費曼。 這項研究進行了數十年, 事實上,到了艾杜生教授死後, 該研究都還在持續進行。 它回答了一個問題: 「為什麼有些科學家一生中能夠 一直產出重要的研究?」 這些人有什麼特別之處? 是他們的人格?他們的各種技巧? 他們的日常慣例?是什麼?
Well, a pattern that emerged was clear, and I think to some people surprising. The top scientists kept changing the subject. They would shift topics repeatedly during their first 100 published research papers. Do you want to guess how often? Three times? Five times? No. On average, the most enduringly creative scientists switched topics 43 times in their first 100 research papers. Seems that the secret to creativity is multitasking in slow motion. Eiduson's research suggests we need to reclaim multitasking and remind ourselves how powerful it can be. And she's not the only person to have found this. Different researchers, using different methods to study different highly creative people have found that very often they have multiple projects in progress at the same time, and they're also far more likely than most of us to have serious hobbies. Slow-motion multitasking among creative people is ubiquitous. So, why?
有一個模式清楚顯現出來, 我想,它讓一些人很吃驚。 頂尖的科學家會不斷改變主題。 在他們發表前一百篇 研究論文的這段期間, 他們會反覆地轉變題目。 你們想猜猜看有多頻繁嗎? 三次? 五次? 不。平均來說, 創造力最持久的科學家, 在他們的前一百篇研究論文期間, 會換四十三次題目。 似乎,創意的秘密 就是慢動作的多工。 艾杜生的研究指出, 我們得要改正多工, 並提醒我們自己,它能夠多強大。 發現這一點的人並不只有她。 不同的研究者,用不同的方法, 研究不同的高度創意人才, 都發現,他們手邊常常 有多項計畫同時在進行, 且比起我們大部分人,他們有 嚴肅嗜好的可能性高出許多。 有創意的人幾乎 普遍地會做慢動作多工。 為什麼會這樣?
I think there are three reasons. And the first is the simplest. Creativity often comes when you take an idea from its original context and you move it somewhere else. It's easier to think outside the box if you spend your time clambering from one box into another. For an example of this, consider the original eureka moment. Archimedes -- he's wrestling with a difficult problem. And he realizes, in a flash, he can solve it, using the displacement of water. And if you believe the story, this idea comes to him as he's taking a bath, lowering himself in, and he's watching the water level rise and fall. And if solving a problem while having a bath isn't multitasking, I don't know what is.
我認為有三個理由。 第一個理由最簡單。 通常當你把一個想法 從它原本的情境中移出來, 移入其他地方時,創意就會出現。 如果你大部分的時間都在 從一個盒子爬到另一個, 就比較容易跳脫盒子思考。 試想最原始的「我發現了!」時刻 就是這方面的例子。 阿基米德在努力解決 一個困難的問題。 一瞬間,他發現, 他可以用排掉的水 來解決這個問題, 如果你相信這個故事, 他想到這個點子的時候, 是在洗澡的時候, 讓他自己下沉時, 他觀察到水面會升降。 如果一邊洗澡一邊解題不算是多工, 那我也不知道多工是什麼了。
The second reason that multitasking can work is that learning to do one thing well can often help you do something else. Any athlete can tell you about the benefits of cross-training. It's possible to cross-train your mind, too. A few years ago, researchers took 18 randomly chosen medical students and they enrolled them in a course at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where they learned to criticize and analyze works of visual art. And at the end of the course, these students were compared with a control group of their fellow medical students. And the ones who had taken the art course had become substantially better at performing tasks such as diagnosing diseases of the eye by analyzing photographs. They'd become better eye doctors. So if we want to become better at what we do, maybe we should spend some time doing something else, even if the two fields appear to be as completely distinct as ophthalmology and the history of art.
多工可以成功的第二個理由, 是因為學習把一件事做好, 通常可以協助你做其他事。 運動員可以告訴你 交叉訓練的益處。 你的大腦也可以被交叉訓練。 幾年前,研究者隨機選了 十八位醫學院學生, 他們讓這些學生參與 費城藝術博物館的一堂課, 他們在那堂課學如何評論 和分析視覺藝術作品。 在課程尾聲, 這些學生被拿來和對照組做比較, 對照組是其他醫學院學生。 有上藝術課的學生 能把工作任務做得好很多, 比如透過分析照片 來診斷眼睛疾病。 他們成為比較好的眼科醫生。 所以,如果我們想要把 我們在做的事做得更好, 也許我們應該花點 時間做其他的事, 即便兩個領域看似完全不相關, 就像眼科學和藝術史。
And if you'd like an example of this, should we go for a less intimidating example than Einstein? OK. Michael Crichton, creator of "Jurassic Park" and "E.R." So in the 1970s, he originally trained as a doctor, but then he wrote novels and he directed the original "Westworld" movie. But also, and this is less well-known, he also wrote nonfiction books, about art, about medicine, about computer programming. So in 1995, he enjoyed the fruits of all this variety by penning the world's most commercially successful book. And the world's most commercially successful TV series. And the world's most commercially successful movie. In 1996, he did it all over again.
如果你想要聽一個例子, 我們來講個不像愛因斯坦 那麼嚇人的例子吧? 麥可克萊頓,《侏羅紀公園》 和《急診室的春天》的原著作者。 七○年代時,他受的訓練 本來是要成為醫生, 但接著他去寫小說, 接著他導了原始的 《鑽石宮》電影。 但,還有一點是較少人知道的, 他也會寫非小說類的書, 內容包括藝術、醫學、 電腦程式設計。 1995 年,他享受到了 這種多樣性所結的果實, 寫出了世上最暢銷的書籍, (The Lost World) 世上收視率最高的電視影集, (急診室的春天) 還有世上最賣座的電影。 (剛果驚魂) 1996 年,他再創佳績。
There's a third reason why slow-motion multitasking can help us solve problems. It can provide assistance when we're stuck. This can't happen in an instant. So, imagine that feeling of working on a crossword puzzle and you can't figure out the answer, and the reason you can't is because the wrong answer is stuck in your head. It's very easy -- just go and do something else. You know, switch topics, switch context, you'll forget the wrong answer and that gives the right answer space to pop into the front of your mind.
還有第三個理由, 說明為什麼慢動作多工 能協助我們解決問題。 當我們卡住的時候, 它能提供協助。 這不會馬上發生。 所以,想像一下在解 縱橫填字謎的感覺, 你想不出答案, 你想不出來是因為 錯的答案卡在你的腦袋裡。 很簡單——只管去做些別的事。 你們知道的, 換一下主題,換一下情境, 你就會把錯的答案忘掉, 這樣就會有空間,讓對的答案 能在你的腦袋中跳出來。
But on the slower timescale that interests me, being stuck is a much more serious thing. You get turned down for funding. Your cell cultures won't grow, your rockets keep crashing. Nobody wants to publish you fantasy novel about a school for wizards. Or maybe you just can't find the solution to the problem that you're working on. And being stuck like that means stasis, stress, possibly even depression. But if you have another exciting, challenging project to work on, being stuck on one is just an opportunity to do something else.
但在我感興趣的慢速時間尺度上, 被卡住是更嚴重的狀況。 你申請的資金會被駁回。 你的細胞培養不會成長, 你的火箭不斷墜毀。 沒有人想要出版你的 巫師學校奇幻小說。 或者,也許你就是無法為 手上的問題找到解決方案。 像這類卡住的狀況,就意味著 停滯、壓力,甚至可能造成憂鬱。 但如果你手上還有另一個讓你興奮 且很有挑戰的計畫在進行中, 在一個計畫上被卡住, 只代表有機會去做其他事。
We could all get stuck sometimes, even Albert Einstein. Ten years after the original, miraculous year that I described, Einstein was putting together the pieces of his theory of general relativity, his greatest achievement. And he was exhausted. And so he turned to an easier problem. He proposed the stimulated emission of radiation. Which, as you may know, is the S in laser. So he's laying down the theoretical foundation for the laser beam, and then, while he's doing that, he moves back to general relativity, and he's refreshed. He sees what the theory implies -- that the universe isn't static. It's expanding. It's an idea so staggering, Einstein can't bring himself to believe it for years. Look, if you get stuck and you get the ball rolling on laser beams, you're in pretty good shape.
我們所有人都可能在某個時點 被卡住,愛因斯坦也不例外。 我剛才描述的是愛因斯坦 很有獨創性、很不凡的一年, 在那十年之後,他絞盡腦汁要把 廣義相對論的各片段拼湊起來, 那是他最偉大的成就。 而他累壞了。 所以他轉向一個比較簡單的問題。 他提出了受激輻射。 你們可能知道,雷射的全名就是 「『受激輻射』式光波放大」。 他為雷射光束奠定了理論基礎, 接著,當他在做這件事時, 他回到廣義相對論, 他重新充電過了。 他看出該理論的意涵—— 宇宙不是靜態的。 宇宙在擴張。 這個想法令人難以相信, 多年來愛因斯坦 自己都無法相信它。 聽著,如果你卡住了, 而你在雷射光束上有進展, 那你的情況是很好的。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
So, that's the case for slow-motion multitasking. And I'm not promising that it's going to turn you into Einstein. I'm not even promising it's going to turn you into Michael Crichton. But it is a powerful way to organize our creative lives.
那就是慢動作多工的狀況。 我並不是在保證這個方式 能把你變成愛因斯坦。 我甚至無法保證它會 把你變成麥可克萊頓。 但它是一種很強大的方式, 可以用來整理你的創意生活。
But there's a problem. How do we stop all of these projects becoming completely overwhelming? How do we keep all these ideas straight in our minds? Well, here's a simple solution, a practical solution from the great American choreographer, Twyla Tharp. Over the last few decades, she's blurred boundaries, mixed genres, won prizes, danced to the music of everybody, from Philip Glass to Billy Joel. She's written three books. I mean, she's a slow-motion multitasker, of course she is. She says, "You have to be all things. Why exclude? You have to be everything." And Tharp's method for preventing all of these different projects from becoming overwhelming is a simple one. She gives each project a big cardboard box, writes the name of the project on the side of the box. And into it, she tosses DVDs and books, magazine cuttings, theater programs, physical objects, really anything that's provided a source of creative inspiration. And she writes, "The box means I never have to worry about forgetting. One of the biggest fears for a creative person is that some brilliant idea will get lost because you didn't write it down and put it in a safe place. I don't worry about that. Because I know where to find it. It's all in the box." You can manage many ideas like this, either in physical boxes or in their digital equivalents.
但,有一個問題。 我們要如何避免這些專案計畫 變得讓人無法招架? 我們要如何把這些點子 留在我們的腦袋裡? 嗯,有一個簡單的解決方案, 一個實際的解決方案, 來自美國的編舞家,崔拉莎普。 在過去數十年間, 她讓界線變模糊, 混合了各種類別,贏了許多獎, 配合任何人的音樂來舞蹈, 從菲利普葛拉斯到比利喬。 她寫過三本書。 她就是個慢動作多工的人,當然囉。 她說:「你必須要成為所有一切。 為什麼要排除? 你必須要成為一切。」 莎普有個方法可以預防 所有這些不同的計畫 變得讓她無法招架, 這個方法很簡單。 她給予每個計畫一個大紙箱, 在箱子的側邊寫上計畫的名字。 她丟到箱子中的東西包括 DVD、書籍、雜誌剪報、 劇院節目單、實體物件, 什麼都有,只要能提供 創意靈感的來源就放進去。 她會寫: 「這個箱子表示我永遠 不用擔心會忘記。 創意人最大的恐懼之一, 就是失去很棒的點子, 只因為沒寫下來並放到 安全的地方,就這麼忘記了。 我不擔心這一點。 因為我知道要到哪裡找它。 全都在箱子裡。」 你可以用這種方式 來管理許多點子, 不論是放在實體的箱子, 或是在數位的分類中。
So, I would like to urge you to embrace the art of slow-motion multitasking. Not because you're in a hurry, but because you're in no hurry at all.
所以,我想鼓勵各位, 擁抱慢動作多工的藝術。 並不是因為你在趕時間, 而是因為你完全不趕時間。
And I want to give you one final example, my favorite example. Charles Darwin. A man whose slow-burning multitasking is so staggering, I need a diagram to explain it all to you.
我想舉最後一個例子, 我最愛的例子, 查爾斯達爾文。 他那慢慢燃燒的多工實在很驚人, 我需要用圖才能夠向各位說明。
We know what Darwin was doing at different times, because the creativity researchers Howard Gruber and Sara Davis have analyzed his diaries and his notebooks. So, when he left school, age of 18, he was initially interested in two fields, zoology and geology. Pretty soon, he signed up to be the onboard naturalist on the "Beagle." This is the ship that eventually took five years to sail all the way around the southern oceans of the Earth, stopping at the Galápagos, passing through the Indian ocean. While he was on the "Beagle," he began researching coral reefs. This is a great synergy between his two interests in zoology and geology, and it starts to get him thinking about slow processes. But when he gets back from the voyage, his interests start to expand even further: psychology, botany; for the rest of his life, he's moving backwards and forwards between these different fields. He never quite abandons any of them.
我們知道達爾文 在不同時期做了什麼, 那是因為創意研究者 霍華德格魯貝和莎菈戴維斯 分析過他的日記和筆記。 所以,當他在十八歲離開學校時, 他最初感興趣的是兩個領域: 動物學和地質學。 沒多久,他報名擔任 「獵犬號」上的隨船博物學家。 這艘船最後花了五年時間 航行過地球南邊的海洋, 在科隆群島停靠,穿過印度洋。 當他在「獵犬號」上時, 他開始研究珊瑚礁。 這是將他的兩項興趣 做了很好的整合, 動物學和地質學。 這讓他開始思考慢速的流程。 但當他航行回來之後, 他的興趣開始進一步擴張: 心理學、植物學; 他接下來的餘生, 就一直在這些不同的 領域中來來回回。 他從來沒有真正拋棄任何一項。
In 1837, he begins work on two very interesting projects. One of them: earthworms. The other, a little notebook which he titles "The transmutation of species." Then, Darwin starts studying my field, economics. He reads a book by the economist Thomas Malthus. And he has his eureka moment. In a flash, he realizes how species could emerge and evolve slowly, through this process of the survival of the fittest. It all comes to him, he writes it all down, every single important element of the theory of evolution, in that notebook.
1837 年,他開始投入 兩項非常有趣的計畫。 其中一項:蚯蚓。 另一項:一本小筆記本,他取名為 《物種的演變》。 接著,達爾文開始研究 我的領域:經濟學。 他讀了一本由經濟學家 托馬斯馬爾薩斯所寫的書。 他的「我發現了!」時刻發生了。 馬上,他就了解到物種如何 能夠很緩慢地出現和演化, 透過這個適者生存的過程。 想法湧入腦中,他把它寫下來, 演化論的每一個重要元素, 都寫在那本筆記中。
But then, a new project. His son William is born. Well, there's a natural experiment right there, you get to observe the development of a human infant. So immediately, Darwin starts making notes. Now, of course, he's still working on the theory of evolution and the development of the human infant. But during all of this, he realizes he doesn't really know enough about taxonomy. So he starts studying that. And in the end, he spends eight years becoming the world's leading expert on barnacles.
但,接著,一個新計畫。 他的兒子威廉出生了。 那就是一個自然實驗, 你可以觀察人類嬰兒的發展。 所以,達爾文馬上就開始寫筆記。 當然,他仍然在研究演化論, 以及人類嬰兒的發展。 但,在這期間, 他發現他對分類學的 了解不太足夠。 所以他開始研究分類學。 最終,他花了八年, 成為世界上最頂尖的 藤壺(甲殼動物)專家。
Then, "Natural Selection." A book that he's to continue working on for his entire life, he never finishes it. "Origin of Species" is finally published 20 years after Darwin set out all the basic elements. Then, the "Descent of Man," controversial book. And then, the book about the development of the human infant. The one that was inspired when he could see his son, William, crawling on the sitting room floor in front of him. When the book was published, William was 37 years old. And all this time, Darwin's working on earthworms. He fills his billiard room with earthworms in pots, with glass covers. He shines lights on them, to see if they'll respond. He holds a hot poker next to them, to see if they move away. He chews tobacco and --
接著,《天擇說》。 這是他投入一生在撰寫的書, 他一直沒有完成它。 《物種起源》終於出版了, 這已經是達爾文提出 所有基礎元素之後的二十年。 接著,很爭議的書 《人類的由來》出版了。 再來出版的是關於 人類嬰兒發展的書。 這本書的靈感是來自於他在客廳 看著他的兒子威廉在他面前爬行。 這本書出版時, 威廉已經三十七歲。 這段時間, 達爾文都在研究蚯蚓。 他在他的撞球房裡放滿蚯蚓, 用罐子裝著,加上玻璃蓋。 他對牠們照光, 看牠們是否會有反應。 他用熱火鉗靠近牠們, 看牠們是否會遠離。 他會嚼菸草,且——
(Blows)
(吹氣)
He blows on the earthworms to see if they have a sense of smell. He even plays the bassoon at the earthworms.
他會對蚯蚓吹氣, 看牠們是否有嗅覺。 他甚至會對蚯蚓演奏巴松管。
I like to think of this great man when he's tired, he's stressed, he's anxious about the reception of his book "The Descent of Man." You or I might log into Facebook or turn on the television. Darwin would go into the billiard room to relax by studying the earthworms intensely. And that's why it's appropriate that one of his last great works is the "Formation of Vegetable Mould Through The Action of Worms."
我喜歡想想這位偉人, 當他疲累了,當他倍感壓力, 當他對他的書《人類的由來》 推出後的反應感到焦慮。 你我可能會上臉書,或打開電視。 達爾文則會進到撞球室去放鬆, 放鬆的方式就是認真地研究蚯蚓。 那就是為什麼 《腐植土的產生與蚯蚓的作用》 做為他的最後大作之一, 真的很適合。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
He worked upon that book for 44 years. We don't live in the 19th century anymore. I don't think any of us could sit on our creative or scientific projects for 44 years. But we do have something to learn from the great slow-motion multitaskers. From Einstein and Darwin to Michael Crichton and Twyla Tharp. The modern world seems to present us with a choice. If we're not going to fast-twitch from browser window to browser window, we have to live like a hermit, focus on one thing to the exclusion of everything else. I think that's a false dilemma. We can make multitasking work for us, unleashing our natural creativity. We just need to slow it down.
他投入了四十四年寫那本書。 我們已經不是活在十九世紀了, 我不認為有任何人能夠 將我們的創意或科學計畫 擱置四十四年之久。 但我們確實可以從這些偉大的 慢動作多工者身上學到一些東西。 從愛因斯坦與達爾文, 到麥可克萊頓,到崔拉莎普。 現代世界似乎要我們做一個選擇。 如果我們不打算在視窗 和視窗間快速切換, 就得過隱士般的生活, 把焦點放在一樣東西上, 排除所有其他的。 我認為那兩難局面不是真的。 我們可以實現多工, 釋放出我們天生的創造力。 我們只需要慢下來。
So ... Make a list of your projects. Put down your phone. Pick up a couple of cardboard boxes. And get to work.
所以…… 把你手邊的計畫列出來。 放下你的手機。 拿一些紙箱子。 上工吧。
Thank you very much.
非常謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)