How do schools of fish swim in harmony? - Nathan S. Jacobs

翻译人员: Jing Zhou 校对人员: Gabriella Hu

How do schools of fish swim in harmony?

鱼群是怎样和谐共游的呢？

And how do the tiny cells in your brain give rise to the complex thoughts,

你大脑的微小细胞如何产生你的

memories,

复杂思想，

and consciousness that are you?

记忆和意识？

Oddly enough, those questions have the same general answer:

奇怪的是，一个答案 能够回答这些问题:

emergence,

涌现，

or the spontaneous creation of sophisticated behaviors and functions

或是说一大群简单元素同时

from large groups of simple elements.

构建的复杂行为和功能。

Like many animals, fish stick together in groups,

和许多动物一样，鱼类成群行动，

but that's not just because they enjoy each other's company.

不是因为人多热闹大，

It's a matter of survival.

而是关乎生死。

Schools of fish exhibit complex swarming behaviors

鱼群展示了能够 帮助他们逃离

that help them evade hungry predators,

饥饿的捕食者的复杂群集行为

while a lone fish is quickly singled out as easy prey.

一个落单的鱼会很快被捕食。

So which brilliant fish leader is the one in charge?

所以是谁在指挥 他们聪明的鱼领袖呢？

Actually, no one is,

事实上，没人是

and everyone is.

又所有人都是。

So what does that mean?

所以，这到底是什么意思？

While the school of fish is elegantly twisting, turning, and dodging sharks

当一群鱼优雅的旋转， 扭转，躲避着鲨鱼，

in what looks like deliberate coordination,

尽管看起来像是特意的编排

each individual fish is actually just following two basic rules

每条鱼只是在遵循 最基本的两个规则

that have nothing to do with the shark:

这两条规则和鲨鱼无关。

one, stay close, but not too close to your neighbor,

规则一：靠近但别太靠近旁边的鱼

and two, keep swimmming.

规则二：别停下。

As individuals, the fish are focused on the minutiae of these local interactions,

作为个体，这些鱼 集中在这些局部互动上，

but if enough fish join the group, something remarkable happens.

但如果足够多的鱼加入了这个群体， 非凡的事情就发生了。

The movement of individual fish is eclipsed by an entirely new entity:

个体鱼的行动被新的实体覆盖：

the school, which has its own unique set of behaviors.

自己有着一套独特行为的鱼群。

The school isn't controlled by any single fish.

鱼群不被任何一条鱼控制。

It simply emerges if you have enough fish following the right set of local rules.

只要有足够数量的遵循正确规矩 的鱼聚在一起鱼群就会出现。

It's like an accident that happens over and over again,

就像一个意外一次又一次地发生，

allowing fish all across the ocean to reliably avoid predation.

这样海洋所有的鱼 都可以可靠地避开猎杀。

And it's not just fish.

而且，不光是鱼

Emergence is a basic property of many complex systems of interacting elements.

涌现是许多交互元素的 复杂系统的一个基本特征。

For example, the specific way in which millions of grains of sand

打个比方，数以万计的沙粒

collide and tumble over each other

撞击并轮来轮去的特殊的方式

almost always produces the same basic pattern of ripples.

几乎总是会产生 相同基本模式的涟漪。

And when moisture freezes in the atmosphere,

当潮湿的空气大气层冻住的时候

the specific binding properties of water molecules

水分子特定的结合特点

reliably produce radiating lattices that form into beautiful snowflakes.

可靠地产生了辐射状框架， 最终变成雪花。

What makes emergence so complex

使涌现如此复杂的是

is that you can't understand it by simply taking it apart,

你不能通过简单的 把它像汽车引擎一样

like the engine of a car.

拆开来理解它。

Taking things apart is a good first step to understanding a complex system.

把东西拆看是研究复杂系统 的一个良好的开端。

But if you reduce a school of fish to individuals,

但是如果你把一群鱼减少到个体，

it loses the ability to evade predators,

它就失去了逃离捕食者的能力，

and there's nothing left to study.

也就没有什么可研究的了。

And if you reduce the brain to individual neurons,

如果你把大脑减少 到独立的神经元，

you're left with something that is notoriously unreliable,

就只剩下一堆 特别不可靠的东西了，

and nothing like how we think and behave,

和我们如果思考及行动完全不沾边，

at least most of the time.

至少大部分时候是这样的。

Regardless, whatever you're thinking about right now

不管怎样，不管你现在在想什么，

isn't reliant on a single neuron lodged in the corner of your brain.

都不是你大脑某个角落 的一个神经元在起作用。

Rather, the mind emerges from the collective activities

不如说，思想来源于许多许多

of many, many neurons.

神经元的集合活动。

There are billions of neurons in the human brain,

人体大脑中有上亿个神经元，

and trillions of connections between all those neurons.

这些神经元之间有数十亿的连接。

When you turn such a complicated system like that on,

当你打开这样一个复杂的系统时，

it could behave in all sorts of weird ways, but it doesn't.

他可以有各种稀奇古怪的表现， 但是事实上并没有。

The neurons in our brain follow simple rules, just like the fish,

我们大脑里的脑细胞 遵循简单的规则，就像鱼类，

so that as a group, their activity self-organizes into reliable patterns

所以以一个群体来说， 他们的行动自组织成可靠的模式，

that let you do things like recognize faces,

让你可以干好多事，比如识别面部，

successfully repeat the same task over and over again,

一遍又一遍地成功重复同一个任务，

and keep all those silly little habits that everyone likes about you.

以及保持大家喜欢的 你的那些傻傻的小习惯。

So, what are the simple rules when it comes to the brain?

所以，对于大脑来说， 这些简单的规矩是什么呢？

The basic function of each neuron in the brain

每个神经元的基本功能

is to either excite or inhibit other neurons.

就是或使兴奋或抑制其他的神经元。

If you connect a few neurons together into a simple circuit,

如果你把几个神经元 围成一个简单的线路。

you can generate rhythmic patterns of activity,

你可以引起韵律性的行为模式，

feedback loops that ramp up or shut down a signal,

能够加强或者关掉 一个信号的反馈循环，

coincidence detectors,

巧合探测器，

and disinhibition,

以及反抑制，

where two inhibitory neurons can actually activate another neuron

也就是两个抑制性神经元 可以通过去除抑制闸

by removing inhibitory brakes.

来启动另一个神经元。

As more and more neurons are connected,

当越来越多的神经元被关联，

increasingly complex patterns of activity emerge from the network.

更加复杂的行为模式便从这个网涌现。

Soon, so many neurons are interacting in so many different ways at once

不久，这么多神经元 同时用这么多不同的方式互相影响

that the system becomes chaotic.

系统便变得混乱

The trajectory of the network's activity cannot be easily explained

这网的行为轨迹无法简单地

by the simple local circuits described earlier.

用之前描述的简易局部线路来解释

And yet, from this chaos, patterns can emerge,

然而，模式从这混乱中涌现

and then emerge again and again in a reproducible manner.

然后一次又一次 以可复写的方式涌现

At some point, these emergent patterns of activity

在某一时刻， 这些涌现的行为模式

become sufficiently complex,

变得足够复杂和好奇，

and curious to begin studying their own biological origins,

来开始研究 它们自己的生物起源

not to mention emergence.

更不必说涌现了。

And what we found in emergent phenomena at vastly different scales

我们在广大的不同规模的 “涌现”现象中所发现的

is that same remarkable characteristic as the fish displayed:

是跟鱼群所表现的 一样的非凡的特征：

That emergence doesn't require someone or something to be in charge.

“涌现”不需要某人或某物来指挥。

If the right rules are in place,

如果适当的位置有正确的规则，

and some basic conditions are met,

且达到一些基本条件，

a complex system will fall into the same habits over and over again,

一个复杂的系统将会 一次又一次落入同样的规律，

turning chaos into order.

转混乱为秩序。

That's true in the molecular pandemonium that lets your cells function,

这是真的， 在让你的细胞工作的分子混乱局面中，

the tangled thicket of neurons that produces your thoughts and identity,

缠结的神经元丛产生你的思想与身份，

your network of friends and family,

你的朋友圈和家庭，

all the way up to the structures and economies of our cities across the planet.

一直到全世界的城市的结构与经济。