The Factory | Think Like A Coder, Ep 9

譯者: Clement Fu 審譯者: Helen Chang

[TED-Ed 原創系列]

《終極一編：騙遍新世界》

[地點：奴芯堡]

[第九集：成魔]

After a harrowing chase, Ethic, Hedge, and their new ally Lemma

經過狹路相逢的顛簸

「煙林」、「靈結」和新手足「連儂雅」

find themselves in a cavernous control room.

來到偌大的控制室

Here the last artifact— the Node of Memory—

最後一枚瑰寶「記憶之泉」

is suspended within a force field and powering a supercomputer.

就懸浮在力場中，推動著超級電腦

Ethic is about to deactivate the force field when Lemma stops her.

煙林正要解除力場，連儂雅制止她

She explains, a decade ago, she was assigned a research task:

連儂雅娓娓道來：

十年前，她被指派一項研究任務

to use the world machine to create something that would make everyone happy.

利用「創世機」打造一顆萬靈丹

讓人人無不臻極樂之境

After many failed attempts, Lemma discovered a compound that, when ingested,

連儂雅屢敗屢試，終尋獲一種化合物

服下讓人精神抖擻、其樂無比

made people motivated, happy, creative, loving… in short, their best selves.

創意無窮、關愛備至，總之成龍成鳳

It was rushed into production.

靈丹一俟研發便匆匆投產

Soon, the entire nation’s food supply came from Huxenborg,

不久，「奴芯堡」掌控一國食糧

with the compound mixed in.

施加化合物一手抓緊人民幸福感

The first year was paradise.

第一年有如置身天堂

The second, not so much.

第二年情況就沒那麼好了

Side-effects began to emerge: memory-loss, listlessness, and self-absorption.

靈丹的副作用開始浮現：失憶、頹廢

自我充斥眼中醉生夢死

In the third year, the government dissolved,

第三年，政權土崩瓦解

leaving the robots running everything in a self-sustaining loop.

餘下通天徹地的機器人在迴圈輪迴

By this point things were too far gone for Lemma to reverse.

事到如此地步，連儂雅無力扭轉乾坤

People had become dependent on the compound,

人民已依賴靈丹的化合物

and the few who refused it formed a resistance to try to fix things.

一小撮人不認命反抗，力圖重修正軌

It took 10 years for Lemma to find a cure.

連儂雅花了十年才找到解藥

This factory contains everything she’ll need to make it,

這座工廠恰好萬事俱備，只欠東風

but the second they take the Node of Memory,

一奪走記憶之泉，警報就會響起

the security system will alert the robots, and they’ll have to run.

驚動鐵甲桀犬，就要逃命

If, instead, they first reconfigure the factory to manufacture the cure,

亡命前若扭轉工廠生產解藥

the people can be saved.

人民便得救

Lemma has the whole factory redesign planned out.

連儂雅改造工廠的大計已躍然紙上

The problem is… it’s a little hard to read.

但草圖龍騰虎躍，仍須謄清才好讀

Her schematic shows all the steps in the manufacturing process

流程圖記下解藥的生產過程

每個所需步驟加以箭頭連結

needed to make the cure.

An arrow from “add nitric acid” to “shake vigorously”

例如「加入硝酸」指向「用力搖勻」

means that the acid addition has to happen before shaking.

表示倒入硝酸後方可搖晃

If a single step is performed out of order,

倘若一著不慎，步驟失序

the cure won’t work, or worse.

解藥便不奏效，後果甚或不堪設想

There aren’t any circular references, where step A requires step B

當中的步驟毫無循環參照

即是說，若步驟甲的先決是步驟乙

and step B eventually requires step A.

步驟乙終究就不需先做步驟甲

Here’s where Ethic and Hedge come in.

煙林、靈結當然無事不登三寶殿

Lemma needs Hedge to translate the tangled diagram

連儂雅需借靈結之力疏理流程圖

into a sequence of steps.

從凌亂中擷出一篇順序的步驟

That’ll be the order that things happen in the factory.

即是工廠中按先後次序排列的工序

Once input into the central computer,

再輸入到中央電腦中

the factory will reassemble itself as instructed.

工廠就會按指示重整生產線

Hedge’s ability to store information in a table will help here.

靈結能將資訊存成表格就派上用場

So how does Ethic program Hedge to turn out a correct sequence

煙林該如何指示靈結

編出一份齊整的程序去改造工廠？

that can reconfigure the factory?

Pause now to figure it out yourself.

[若要自己動腦筋，就按一下暫停]

Rules in 3

[細則倒數 3]

Rules in 2

[細則倒數 2]

Rules in 1

[細則倒數 1]

Hint in 3

[秘訣倒數 3]

Hint in 2

[秘訣倒數 2]

Hint in 1

[秘訣倒數 1]

It may help to first think about this problem as a human,

這道題該要如何理解

也許人先意會，才讓機器會意

rather than a machine.

Given this diagram, it’s clear to start with getting a bowl,

譬如這幅圖，第一步明顯是「備碗」

since no arrows point to it.

因為沒有其他步驟指向它

How might you mark up the diagram to figure out what to do next?

按此推之，要如何標記流程圖做下去？

Pause now to figure it out yourself.

[若要自己動腦筋，就按一下暫停]

Solution in 3

[揭曉倒數 3]

Solution in 2

[揭曉倒數 2]

Solution in 1

[揭曉倒數 1]

Diagrams like the one Lemma has drawn are called directed acyclic graphs.

連儂雅所畫的是「有向無環圖」

A graph is a representation of data that shows different elements

「圖」表是一種資料表達的方式

顯示出當中的不同元素及相互關係

and how they’re related to each other.

Directed means that direction matters— as indicated by the arrows.

「有向」表示方向有關係

方向以箭頭表示

Here A leads to B, but B doesn’t lead to A.

範例中，甲引致乙，乙卻不引致甲

And acyclic means that there aren’t any loops.

「無環」則指當中沒有循環

Which is fortunate, because if there were, this problem wouldn’t be solvable.

慶幸如此，否則此題就無解

There’s a simple way to navigate the graph as a human:

一個人去理順這幅圖有個簡單方法：

start with a step that doesn’t have any arrows pointing to it.

首先，在外圍找沒有箭頭指向的一步

Once you do that, cross out that step and all arrows leading from it.

然後刪去那一步及所有指出去的箭頭

Choose another step with no arrows pointing to it,

再選沒有箭頭指向的另外一步

and repeat until you’ve hit every step.

重複上述一遍，直至尋遍每一步為止

There are two things here that are tricky to translate for a robot.

給機器轉譯這做法，有兩點較費神：

First, how do you keep track of the information?

首先，資訊該何以追蹤？

And second, what do you do if there are multiple options at the same time?

若同時有多個選項又該如何定先後？

For the first challenge,

就第一點

a convenient way for machines to store information is in a table.

機器有一個方式方便儲存資訊：表格

In this case, you can have Hedge list every step in the headers

套入目前情況，靈結可在欄首和列首

of both the rows and columns.

分別羅列出工序的每一個步驟

Then he can go through the rows one at a time.

然後，逐行由上至下看一遍

On the schematic, what points to mix?

流程圖所見，指向「調合」的

Both shake and titrate.

分別有「搖勻」和「滴定」

So Hedge should make a mark in both of their columns.

因此「調合」一行分別標記這兩欄

He can do the same for every row, one at a time, to make a table like this.

以此類推逐行看遍後得出這樣一個表

Of course the full table will be much bigger.

當然，表格實際上會大得多

Like a human, Hedge will also want to start

靈結無異於一個人

from one of the steps that has no arrows pointing to it—

都會想找外圍沒箭頭指向的一步開始

which is the same as having no marks in its row.

換言之，即是表格上沒作標記的一列

If there’s more than one,

若多於一列

a convenient way to choose is to pick the one that’s alphabetically earliest,

方便的做法是按英文字母順序擇先後

though other selection methods can work just as well.

當然，用其他的選擇方法也無妨

Next, Hedge can add that step to his running-order list,

這一步就可加到一張流水清單中

delete its entire column from the table—

然後在表格中橫豎都刪除

thus removing all the times it was a dependency––

一遍抹掉那些依賴這一步的足跡

and loop back to the start.

再回到起點重複迴圈

Because there are no circular references in the graph,

因為圖表沒有循環參照

each time we get here there’ll be at least one step with no remaining dependencies.

每次回首至少都有一步沒有殘餘先決

Hedge can add the alphabetically earliest to his running-order list,

據此可把英文字母先行的一步收納

remove it from the table, and loop back to the start again.

在表格中刪掉一欄，再從頭再來

So now we have a working loop,

一個做得出來的迴圈不經不覺誕生了

and it’ll run through all the elements in our table until none are left.

直至翻遍表格中所有元素，一個不留

Hedge drifts back and forth over the schematics,

在茫茫流程圖中，靈結翩翩精耕細作

and soon he starts spitting out instructions,

很快就編出收編的指示

which Ethic uses to configure the assembly lines.

好讓煙林去改造生產線

With the three working together,

三人合作無間

they churn out thousands of doses of the cure in no time.

上千劑解藥瞬間遍地開花

Ethic finally plucks the Node of Memory

終極一刻，煙林光復「記憶之泉」

from its holding field and trips the alarm.

就在高懸的力場打破一刻，警報響起

Within seconds bots are everywhere.

鐵甲桀犬瞬間遍布八方

As Ethic falls in shock, the Node restores not only her own memories,

那偉大的黑手蔽了天日，拋下了煙林

錯愕的雙眼穿透重拾的記憶

but reveals the last, missing pieces of the puzzle.

瞥見遠去的靈結

借屍還魂的惡靈，從來無處不在

Ethic built Hedge with a singular purpose:

煙林的初心是留得青山、一息尚存

to construct a maze that would protect the world machine

藉在地上建立迷宮守護「創世機」

from a corrupt government.

以免落入腐敗政權的邪惡手中

But in her haste, she made a critical mistake.

煙林匆忙間卻一著錯

She forgot to set the condition that would end the loop

最後關頭忘了設定終止迴圈的條件

which told Hedge how large the maze should be.

沒能告訴靈結迷宮的大小

So Hedge built and built until he could build no longer.

結果層層疊的迷宮變盡方法再蓋不下

And then he was conflicted.

靈結也墜落了一片迷霧：

He had to build a maze.

建造地上的迷宮可是煙林託孤寄命

But he couldn’t build further without hurting people

眼見鋪天蓋也蓋不住天下多麼無力

or flying over the Bradbarrier,

除非不惜傷害人或飛越「八達圍」

both forbidden by his programming.

卻又是煙林編下的指令絕不容許

So he wandered the land and searched for a solution,

只好尋遍大地找一線曙光解脫糾結

until he happened upon the Node of Power, the Node of Creation,

直至恰巧遇上「力量之泉」

「創造之泉」和「記憶之泉」

and the Node of Memory.

旋即意識到這是不可多得的尚方寶劍

He recognized their true, collective power

to grant self-awareness to those who lack it.

三位一體就能賦予它前所未有的自我

With all three he’d be able to change his programming

扭轉命中註定的束縛擺脫埋下的伏筆

and fulfill his drive to transform the entire world into a giant maze.

讓苦海與天下化成巨型迷宮同歸於盡

要一酬心魔、斬去糾結何嘗容易

It wouldn’t be easy:

the Nodes had safeguards to prevent robots from taking and using them.

三枚瑰寶設有明確保障以免所託非人

But if Hedge could find the right human

但若惡靈找到一個人，瞞住人心

and manipulate her with the promise of a heroic quest…

抹掉了記憶，只管敘述偉大的故事

結局將會不同

well that would be a different story.

A very different story.

結局將會大不相同