Stuart Firestein: The pursuit of ignorance

Prevoditelj: Senzos Osijek Recezent: Ivan Stamenković

There is an ancient proverb that says

Postoji stara poslovica koja kaže

it's very difficult to find a black cat in a dark room,

vrlo je teško naći crnu mačku u tamnoj sobi,

especially when there is no cat.

pogotovo kada mačke nema.

I find this a particularly apt description of science

Smatram ovo posebno prikladnim opisom znanosti

and how science works --

i načina na koji radi --

bumbling around in a dark room, bumping into things,

motati se uokolo u tamnoj sobi, sudarati se u stvari.

trying to figure out what shape this might be,

pokušavati dokučiti kojeg oblika bi to moglo biti,

what that might be,

što bi to moglo biti,

there are reports of a cat somewhere around,

postoje glasine o mački negdje blizu,

they may not be reliable, they may be,

možda nisu pouzdane, možda jesu

and so forth and so on.

i tako dalje i tako bliže.

Now I know this is different than the way most people

Znam da je ovo drugačije od načina na koji ljudi

think about science.

razmišljaju o znanosti.

Science, we generally are told,

Znanost, obično nam kažu,

is a very well-ordered mechanism for

je vrlo dobro organiziran mehanizam za

understanding the world,

razumijevanje svijeta,

for gaining facts, for gaining data,

za dobivanje činjenica, za dobivanje podataka,

that it's rule-based,

da je temeljen na pravilima,

that scientists use this thing called the scientific method

da znanstvenici koriste tu stvar nazvanu znanstvena metoda

and we've been doing this for 14 generations or so now,

i da to radimo već 14 generacija ili tako nekako ,

and the scientific method is a set of rules

i da je znanstvena metoda skup pravila

for getting hard, cold facts out of the data.

za dobivanje čvrstih, nepobitnih činjenica iz podataka.

I'd like to tell you that's not the case.

Htio bih vam reći da to nije slučaj.

So there's the scientific method,

Dakle postoji znanstvena metoda,

but what's really going on is this. (Laughter)

ali ono što se doista događa je ovo. (Smijeh)

[The Scientific Method vs. Farting Around]

[Znanstvena metoda vs. Prdenje uokolo]

And it's going on kind of like that.

I događa se otprilike ovako.

[... in the dark] (Laughter)

[... u mraku.] (Smijeh)

So what is the difference, then,

Stoga koja je razlika, onda,

between the way I believe science is pursued

između načina na koji ja vjerujem da se znanost vrši

and the way it seems to be perceived?

i načina na koji se čini da je drugi percipiraju?

So this difference first came to me in some ways

Ova razlika mi je prvo postala jasna na neki način

in my dual role at Columbia University,

u mojoj dvostrukoj ulozi na sveučilištu Columbia,

where I'm both a professor and run a laboratory in neuroscience

gdje sam i profesor i vodim laboratorij za neuroznanost

where we try to figure out how the brain works.

gdje pokušavamo dokučiti kako mozak radi.

We do this by studying the sense of smell,

Radimo to tako što proučavamo osjet mirisa,

the sense of olfaction, and in the laboratory,

olfaktivni osjet, i u laboratoriju,

it's a great pleasure and fascinating work

to je veliko zadovoljstvo i fascinantan rad

and exciting to work with graduate students and post-docs

i uzbudljivo je raditi s diplomskim i postdiplomskim studentima

and think up cool experiments to understand how this

i smišljati eksperimente za razumijevanje kako taj

sense of smell works and how the brain might be working,

osjet mirisa radi i kako bi mozak mogao raditi.,

and, well, frankly, it's kind of exhilarating.

i, pa iskreno, prilično je uzbudljivo.

But at the same time, it's my responsibility

Ali u isto vrijeme, moja je odgovornost

to teach a large course to undergraduates on the brain,

predavati veliki kolegij preddiplomcima o mozgu,

and that's a big subject,

a to je velika tema,

and it takes quite a while to organize that,

i potrebno je puno vremena da se sve to organizira,

and it's quite challenging and it's quite interesting,

i prilično je zahtjevno, i prilično je zanimljivo

but I have to say, it's not so exhilarating.

ali moram priznati, nije toliko uzbudljivo.

So what was the difference?

Dakle, u čemu je razlika?

Well, the course I was and am teaching

Pa, predmet koji sam predavao i predajem

is called Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience - I. (Laughs)

zove se „Stanična i molekularna neuroznanost - I“. (Smijeh)

It's 25 lectures full of all sorts of facts,

To su 25 predavanja puna različitih činjenica,

it uses this giant book called "Principles of Neural Science"

koristi ovu divovsku knjigu pod nazivom „Temelji neuroznanosti“

by three famous neuroscientists.

koju su napisali tri poznata neuroznanstvenika.

This book comes in at 1,414 pages,

Ova knjiga sadrži 1,414 stranica,

it weighs a hefty seven and a half pounds.

teži 3 kg i 400 grama.

Just to put that in some perspective,

Samo kako bih vam to bolje predočio,

that's the weight of two normal human brains.

to je težina dva normalna ljudska mozga.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

So I began to realize, by the end of this course,

Stoga sam počeo shvaćati, da do kraja kolegija,

that the students maybe were getting the idea

studenti možda dobivaju ideju

that we must know everything there is to know about the brain.

da zasigurno znamo sve što se ima znati o mozgu.

That's clearly not true.

To očito nije istina.

And they must also have this idea, I suppose,

I da moraju također imati ideju, pretpostavljam,

that what scientists do is collect data and collect facts

da ono što znanstvenici rade je da skupljaju podatke i skupljaju činjenice

and stick them in these big books.

i stavljaju ih u ove velike knjige.

And that's not really the case either.

A to također nije slučaj.

When I go to a meeting, after the meeting day is over

Kada idem na sastanak, nakon što je dan sastanka završio

and we collect in the bar over a couple of beers with my colleagues,

i skupimo se u kafiću uz par piva sa mojim kolegama

we never talk about what we know.

nikada ne pričamo o onome što znamo.

We talk about what we don't know.

Pričamo o onome što ne znamo.

We talk about what still has to get done,

Pričamo o onome što još treba napraviti.

what's so critical to get done in the lab.

što je ključno za napraviti u laboratoriju

Indeed, this was, I think, best said by Marie Curie

Doista, ovo je, ja mislim, najbolje opisala Marie Curie

who said that one never notices what has been done

koja je rekla da nikad ne zapažamo što je napravljeno

but only what remains to be done.

već ono što ostaje za napraviti.

This was in a letter to her brother after obtaining

ovo je bilo u pismu njenom bratu nakon što je stekla

her second graduate degree, I should say.

drugu dipomu, trebao bih reći.

I have to point out this has always been one of my favorite pictures of Marie Curie,

Moram istaknuti da je ovo bila jedna meni omiljena slika Marie Curie,

because I am convinced that that glow behind her

zato što sam uvjeren da taj sjaj iza nje

is not a photographic effect. (Laughter)

nije fotografski efekt. (Smijeh)

That's the real thing.

To je prava stvar.

It is true that her papers are, to this day,

Istina je da su njeni spisi, do današnjeg dana,

stored in a basement room in the Bibliothèque Française

pohranjeni u podrumskoj sobi u Bibliothèque Française

in a concrete room that's lead-lined,

u betonskoj sobi obloženoj olovom,

and if you're a scholar and you want access to these notebooks,

i ako ste znanstvenik i želite pristup ovim bilježnicama,

you have to put on a full radiation hazmat suit,

morate obući potpuno zaštitno odijelo protiv radijacije,

so it's pretty scary business.

dakle prilično je strašan posao.

Nonetheless, this is what I think we were leaving out

Bilo kako bilo, ovo je ono što sam mislio da izostavljamo

of our courses

iz naših kolegija

and leaving out of the interaction that we have

i izostavljamo iz interakcije koju imamo

with the public as scientists, the what-remains-to-be-done.

sa javnosti kao znanstvenici, ono što ostaje za napraviti.

This is the stuff that's exhilarating and interesting.

Ovo su stvari koje su uzbudljive i zanimljive.

It is, if you will, the ignorance.

To je, ako dopustite, neznanje.

That's what was missing.

To je nedostajalo.

So I thought, well, maybe I should teach a course

Stoga sam pomislio, pa, možda bih trebao držati predmet

on ignorance,

o neznanju,

something I can finally excel at, perhaps, for example.

nešto u čemu napokon mogu briljirati, možda, na primjer.

So I did start teaching this course on ignorance,

Stoga sam počeo podučavati ovaj predmet o neznanju

and it's been quite interesting

i bilo je prilično zanimljivo

and I'd like to tell you to go to the website.

i htio bih vam reći da odete na web stranicu.

You can find all sorts of information there. It's wide open.

Možete naći svakakve vrste informacija tamo. Posve je otvoreno.

And it's been really quite an interesting time for me

I bilo je doista zanimljivo vrijeme za mene.

to meet up with other scientists who come in and talk

sastajati se sa drugim znanstvenicima koji dolaze i pričaju

about what it is they don't know.

o tome što je to što oni ne znaju.

Now I use this word "ignorance," of course,

Koristim, ovu riječ „neznanje“ naravno

to be at least in part intentionally provocative,

da bih bio barem dijelom namjerno provokativan,

because ignorance has a lot of bad connotations

jer neznanje ima puno loših konotacija

and I clearly don't mean any of those.

i očito ne mislim ni na jednu od njih.

So I don't mean stupidity, I don't mean a callow indifference

Dakle ne mislim na glupost, ne mislim na neiskusnu ravnodušnost

to fact or reason or data.

za činjenice ili razlog ili podatke.

The ignorant are clearly unenlightened, unaware,

Neuki su očito neprosvijećeni, nesvjesni,

uninformed, and present company today excepted,

neinformirani, i uz iznimku danas prisutnog društva,

often occupy elected offices, it seems to me.

često sjede na izabranim mjestima, čini mi se.

That's another story, perhaps.

To je druga priča, možda.

I mean a different kind of ignorance.

Mislim na drugčiju vrstu neznanja.

I mean a kind of ignorance that's less pejorative,

mislim na vrstu neznanja koje je manje pogrdno,

a kind of ignorance that comes from a communal gap in our knowledge,

vrstu neznanja koja potječe iz cjelokupne praznine u našem znanju,

something that's just not there to be known

nešto što nije tamo da bi bilo poznato

or isn't known well enough yet or we can't make predictions from,

ili nije još dovoljno poznato ili ne možemo to predvidjeti,

the kind of ignorance that's maybe best summed up

vrsta neznanja koja je možda najbolje pojašnjena

in a statement by James Clerk Maxwell,

u izjavi Jamesa Clerka Maxvella,

perhaps the greatest physicist between Newton and Einstein,

možda najboljeg fizičara između Newtona i Einsteina,

who said, "Thoroughly conscious ignorance

koji je rekao: „Potpuno svjesno neznanje

is the prelude to every real advance in science."

je uvod u svaki pravi napredak u znanosti."

I think it's a wonderful idea:

Mislim da je to divna ideja:

thoroughly conscious ignorance.

potpuno svjesno neznanje.

So that's the kind of ignorance that I want to talk about today,

Dakle to je vrsta neznanja o kojem želim pričati danas,

but of course the first thing we have to clear up

ali prva stvar koju moramo rasčistiti

is what are we going to do with all those facts?

je što ćemo napraviti sa svim tim činjenicama?

So it is true that science piles up at an alarming rate.

Istina je da se znanost gomila uznemiravajućom brzinom.

We all have this sense that science is this mountain of facts,

Svi imamo taj osjećaj da je znanost brdo činjenica,

this accumulation model of science, as many have called it,

taj akumulacijski model znanosti, kako su ga mnogi prozvali,

and it seems impregnable, it seems impossible.

i čini se nesavladiv, čini se nemoguć.

How can you ever know all of this?

Kako ikada možeš znati sve ovo?

And indeed, the scientific literature grows at an alarming rate.

I doista, znanstvena literatura raste alarmirajućom brzinom.

In 2006, there were 1.3 million papers published.

2006. godine, bilo je 1,3 milijuna radova objavljeno.

There's about a two-and-a-half-percent yearly growth rate,

Postoji otprilike 2,5% godišnji rast,

and so last year we saw over one and a half million papers being published.

stoga smo prošle godine vidjeli objavljeno preko 1,5 milijun radova.

Divide that by the number of minutes in a year,

Podijelite to sa brojem minuta u godini,

and you wind up with three new papers per minute.

i završite sa tri nova rada po minuti.

So I've been up here a little over 10 minutes,

Ja sam tu malo dulje od deset minuta,

I've already lost three papers.

Već sam izgubio tri rada.

I have to get out of here actually. I have to go read.

Zapravo moram otići odavde, moram ići čitati

So what do we do about this? Well, the fact is

Dakle što da napravimo u vezi toga? Pa, činjenica je

that what scientists do about it is a kind of a controlled neglect, if you will.

da ono što znanstvenici rade po pitanju toga je vrsta kontroliranog zanemarivanja.

We just don't worry about it, in a way.

Jednostavno se ne brinemo o tome, na neki način.

The facts are important. You have to know a lot of stuff

Činjenice su važne, morate znati puno toga

to be a scientist. That's true.

da bi bili znanstvenik. To je istina.

But knowing a lot of stuff doesn't make you a scientist.

Ali veliko znanje vas ne čini znanstvenikom.

You need to know a lot of stuff to be a lawyer

Morate puno toga znati da biste bili odvjetnik

or an accountant or an electrician or a carpenter.

ili računovođa ili električar ili stolar.

But in science, knowing a lot of stuff is not the point.

Ali u znanosti, znati puno toga nije poanta.

Knowing a lot of stuff is there to help you get

Znati puno toga je tu da vam pomogne da dođete

to more ignorance.

do više neznanja.

So knowledge is a big subject, but I would say

Znanje je velika tema, ali rekao bih da je

ignorance is a bigger one.

neznanje još i veća.

So this leads us to maybe think about, a little bit

Ovo nas vodi do toga da možda razmislimo, pomalo

about, some of the models of science that we tend to use,

o nekim tumačenjima znanosti koje smo skloni koristiti,

and I'd like to disabuse you of some of them.

i htio bih vas izvesti iz zablude o nekima od njih.

So one of them, a popular one, is that scientists

Jedno od njih, popularno, je da znanstvenici

are patiently putting the pieces of a puzzle together

strpljivo slažu dijelove slagalice zajedno

to reveal some grand scheme or another.

da bi otkrili nekakvu veliku shemu ili nešto slično.

This is clearly not true. For one, with puzzles,

Ovo očito nije istina. Za početak, kod slagalice

the manufacturer has guaranteed that there's a solution.

proizvođač je zajamčio da postoji rješenje.

We don't have any such guarantee.

Mi nemamo nikakvo takvo jamstvo.

Indeed, there are many of us who aren't so sure about the manufacturer.

Doista, postoje mnogi od nas koji nisu posve sigurni ni u proizvođača.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

So I think the puzzle model doesn't work.

Stoga mislim da model slagalice ne funkcionira.

Another popular model is that science is busy unraveling things

Drugo popularno tumačenje je da je znanost zaposlena otkrivanjem stvari

the way you unravel the peels of an onion.

na način na koji se gule slojevi luka

So peel by peel, you take away the layers of the onion

Dakle sloj po sloj, skidate slojeve luka

to get at some fundamental kernel of truth.

da bi došli do neke temeljne jezgre ili istine

I don't think that's the way it works either.

Ne mislim ni da je to način na koji funkcionira.

Another one, a kind of popular one, is the iceberg idea,

Još jedna, donekle popularna je ideja o ledenjaku,

that we only see the tip of the iceberg but underneath

da vidimo samo vrh ledenjaka ali ispod površine

is where most of the iceberg is hidden.

je tamo gdje je većina ledenjaka skrivena.

But all of these models are based on the idea of a large body of facts

Ali svi ovi primjeri su temeljeni na ideji o velikoj količini činjenica

that we can somehow or another get completed.

koje možemo na jedan ili drugi način okončati.

We can chip away at this iceberg and figure out what it is,

Možemo odlomiti ovaj ledenjak i shvatiti o čemu se radi,

or we could just wait for it to melt, I suppose, these days,

ili možemo pričekati da se otopi, pretpostavljam, ovih dana,

but one way or another we could get to the whole iceberg. Right?

ali na oba načina možemo shvatiti cijeli ledenjak. Jesam li u pravu?

Or make it manageable. But I don't think that's the case.

Ili ga učiniti upravljivim. Ali mislim da to nije slučaj.

I think what really happens in science

Mislim da ono što se doista događa u znanosti

is a model more like the magic well,

je više nalik čarobnom bunaru,

where no matter how many buckets you take out,

gdje bez obzira koliko kanti izvadio,

there's always another bucket of water to be had,

tu je uvijek nova kanta vode,

or my particularly favorite one,

ili meni posebno dragi,

with the effect and everything, the ripples on a pond.

sa efektima i svime, valovi na jezercu.

So if you think of knowledge being this ever-expanding ripple on a pond,

Stoga ako razmišljate o znanju kao neprekidno širećem valu na jezercu,

the important thing to realize is that our ignorance,

važna stvar koju moramo shvatiti je da naše neznanje,

the circumference of this knowledge, also grows with knowledge.

obujam ovog neznanja, također raste sa znanjem.

So the knowledge generates ignorance.

Stoga znanje proizvodi neznanje.

This is really well said, I thought, by George Bernard Shaw.

Ovo je vrlo dobro rekao, smatram, George Bernard Shaw.

This is actually part of a toast that he delivered

Ovo je zapravo dio zdravice koju je održao

to celebrate Einstein at a dinner celebrating Einstein's work,

u cilju veličanja Einsteina na večeri posvećenoj Einsteinovom radu,

in which he claims that science

u kojoj tvrdi da znanost

just creates more questions than it answers. ["Science is always wrong. It never solves a problem without creating 10 more."]

samo stvara više pitanja nego ih odgovori. ["Znanost je uvijek u krivu. Nikada ne riješi problem bez da stvori deset novih."]

I find that kind of glorious, and I think he's precisely right,

Smatram to pomalo veličanstvenim, i mislim da je potpuno u pravu,

plus it's a kind of job security.

uz to, to je vrsta sigurnosti radnog mjesta.

As it turns out, he kind of cribbed that

Ispostavlja se da je to na neki način prepisao

from the philosopher Immanuel Kant

od filozofa Immanueala Kanta

who a hundred years earlier had come up with this idea

koji je sto godina ranije došao na ovu ideju

of question propagation, that every answer begets more questions.

propagiranja pitanja, da svaki odgovor stvara više pitanja.

I love that term, "question propagation,"

Sviđa mi se taj izraz „propagacija pitanja“

this idea of questions propagating out there.

ideja da pitanja propagiraju negdje vani.

So I'd say the model we want to take is not

Stoga mislim da model koji želimo uzeti nije

that we start out kind of ignorant and we get some facts together

da počnemo na neki način neuki pa skupimo neke činjenice

and then we gain knowledge.

i onda steknemo znanje.

It's rather kind of the other way around, really.

Zapravo je na neki način posve obrnuto, doista.

What do we use this knowledge for?

Za što koristimo ovo znanje?

What are we using this collection of facts for?

Za što koristimo ovu zbirku činjenica?

We're using it to make better ignorance,

Koristimo ga da napravimo bolje neznanje,

to come up with, if you will, higher-quality ignorance.

da steknemo, ako tako hoćete, visokokvalitetno neznanje.

Because, you know, there's low-quality ignorance

Zato što postoji niskokvalitetno neznanje

and there's high-quality ignorance. It's not all the same.

i postoji visokokvalitetno neznanje. Nije sve jednako.

Scientists argue about this all the time.

Znanstvenici se svađaju oko ovoga cijelo vrijeme.

Sometimes we call them bull sessions.

Ponekad to zovemo neformalnim razgovorom.

Sometimes we call them grant proposals.

Ponekad to zovemo formalnim prijedlogom.

But nonetheless, it's what the argument is about.

Ali svejedno, to je ono o čemu je rasprava.

It's the ignorance. It's the what we don't know.

To je neznanje. To je ono što ne znamo.

It's what makes a good question.

To je ono što čini dobro pitanje.

So how do we think about these questions?

Kako razmišljamo o ovim pitanjima?

I'm going to show you a graph that shows up

Pokazat ću vam grafikon koji se pojavljuje

quite a bit on happy hour posters in various science departments.

na velikom broju happy hour postera u različitim znanstevnim odjeljenjima.

This graph asks the relationship between what you know

Ovaj graf pokazuje odnos između onoga što znaš

and how much you know about it.

i toga koliko o tome znaš.

So what you know, you can know anywhere from nothing to everything, of course,

Dakle ono što znaš, možeš znati bilo gdje između ništa i sve, naravno

and how much you know about it can be anywhere

i koliko znaš o tome može biti bilo gdje

from a little to a lot.

između malo i puno.

So let's put a point on the graph. There's an undergraduate.

Pa stavimo točku na graf. To je prediplomac.

Doesn't know much but they have a lot of interest.

Ne znaju puno ali imaju jako puno interesa.

They're interested in almost everything.

Zanima ih gotovo sve.

Now you look at a master's student, a little further along in their education,

Sada pogledajmo diplomca, malo dalje u njegovom obrazovanju,

and you see they know a bit more,

i vidite da znaju malo više,

but it's been narrowed somewhat.

ali nekako je suženo.

And finally you get your Ph.D., where it turns out

I napokon dovršite svoj doktorat gdje se ispostavi

you know a tremendous amount about almost nothing. (Laughter)

da znate ogromnu količinu o skoro ničemu. (Smijeh)

What's really disturbing is the trend line that goes through that

Ono što je doista uznemiravajuće je trend linije koja ide kroz to

because, of course, when it dips below the zero axis, there,

zato što, naravno, kada zađe ispod osi, tamo,

it gets into a negative area.

dođe u negativno područje

That's where you find people like me, I'm afraid.

Tamo nađete ljude kao što sam ja, nažalost.

So the important thing here is that this can all be changed.

Stoga važna stvar je da se sve ovo može promijeniti.

This whole view can be changed

Cijeli ovaj pogled se može promijeniti

by just changing the label on the x-axis.

tako da samo promijenimo oznaku na x osi.

So instead of how much you know about it,

Stoga umjesto koliko znaš o tome,

we could say, "What can you ask about it?"

mogli bismo reći:„Što možeš pitati o tome?“

So yes, you do need to know a lot of stuff as a scientist,

Stoga da, morate znati puno stvari kao znanstvenik,

but the purpose of knowing a lot of stuff

ali svrha tog velikog znanja

is not just to know a lot of stuff. That just makes you a geek, right?

nije da znate puno stvari. To vas čini štreberom, zar ne?

Knowing a lot of stuff, the purpose is

Svrha znanja velikog broja stvari je

to be able to ask lots of questions,

da možete pitati puno pitanja,

to be able to frame thoughtful, interesting questions,

da možete postaviti promišljena, zanimljiva pitanja,

because that's where the real work is.

jer tu se pravi posao nalazi.

Let me give you a quick idea of a couple of these sorts of questions.

Dopustite da vam dam brzu ideju o pitanjima ove vrste.

I'm a neuroscientist, so how would we come up

Ja sam neuroznanstvenik, stoga kako bismo došli

with a question in neuroscience?

do pitanja u neuroznanosti?

Because it's not always quite so straightforward.

Zato što nije uvijek tako očito

So, for example, we could say, well what is it that the brain does?

Stoga, na primjer, mogli bismo reći, što je to što mozak radi?

Well, one thing the brain does, it moves us around.

Pa, jedna stvar koju mozak radi, pokreće nas unaokolo.

We walk around on two legs.

Hodamo unaokolo na dvije noge.

That seems kind of simple, somehow or another.

To se doima jednostavno, na neki način.

I mean, virtually everybody over 10 months of age

Mislim, gotovo svatko preko 10 mjeseci starosti

walks around on two legs, right?

hoda na dvije noge, zar ne?

So that maybe is not that interesting.

To možda nije toliko zanimljivo.

So instead maybe we want to choose something a little more complicated to look at.

Umjesto toga možda želimo izabrati nešto kompliciranije za proučavati.

How about the visual system?

Što kažete na vidni sustav?

There it is, the visual system.

Evo ga ovdje, vidni sustav.

I mean, we love our visual systems. We do all kinds of cool stuff.

Mislim, mi volimo naš vidni sustav. Radimo svakakve vrste kul stvari.

Indeed, there are over 12,000 neuroscientists

Doista, postoji preko 12 000 neuroznanstvenika

who work on the visual system,

koji rade na vidnom sustavu,

from the retina to the visual cortex,

od mrežnice do vidnog korteksa,

in an attempt to understand not just the visual system

u pokušaju shvaćanja ne samo vidnog sustava

but to also understand how general principles

već i općih načela

of how the brain might work.

po kojima bi mozak mogao funkcionirati.

But now here's the thing:

Ali u ovome je stvar:

Our technology has actually been pretty good

Naša tehnologija je zapravo bila prilično dobra

at replicating what the visual system does.

u kopiranju onoga što vidni sustav radi.

We have TV, we have movies,

Imamo tv, imamo filmove,

we have animation, we have photography,

imamo animacije, imamo fotografiju,

we have pattern recognition, all of these sorts of things.

imamo prepoznavanje uzoraka, sve vrste ovih stvari.

They work differently than our visual systems in some cases,

Oni rade drugačije od našeg vidnog sustava u nekim slučajevima,

but nonetheless we've been pretty good at

ali svejedno, bili smo prilično uspješni u tome da

making a technology work like our visual system.

postignemo da tehnologija radi kao naš vidni sustav.

Somehow or another, a hundred years of robotics,

Na jedan ili drugi način, sto godina robotike,

you never saw a robot walk on two legs,

nikada niste vidjeli robota koji hoda na dvije noge,

because robots don't walk on two legs

zato što roboti ne hodaju na dvije noge

because it's not such an easy thing to do.

zato što to nije tako lagana stvar za napraviti.

A hundred years of robotics,

Sto godina robotike,

and we can't get a robot that can move more than a couple steps one way or the other.

i nemamo robota koji se kreće više od par koraka u nekom smjeru.

You ask them to go up an inclined plane, and they fall over.

Zamolite ih da odu na kosinu i oni padnu.

Turn around, and they fall over. It's a serious problem.

Okrenu se i padnu. To je ozbiljan problem.

So what is it that's the most difficult thing for a brain to do?

Stoga što je to što je najteže mozgu za napraviti?

What ought we to be studying?

Što bismo trebali proučavati?

Perhaps it ought to be walking on two legs, or the motor system.

Možda bi to trebalo biti hodanje na dvije noge, ili motorički sustav.

I'll give you an example from my own lab,

Dati ću vam primjer iz vlastitog laboratorija

my own particularly smelly question,

moje osobno posebno smrdljivo pitanje,

since we work on the sense of smell.

s obzirom da radimo na osjetu mirisa.

But here's a diagram of five molecules

Ovo je skica pet molekula

and sort of a chemical notation.

i oblik kemijskog zapisa.

These are just plain old molecules, but if you sniff those molecules

Ovo je samo pet običnih molekula, ali ako pomirišete te molekule

up these two little holes in the front of your face,

kroz ove dvije male rupe na prednjoj strani vašeg lica

you will have in your mind the distinct impression of a rose.

imat ćete na umu jasnu predodžbu ruže

If there's a real rose there, those molecules will be the ones,

Da je tamo prava ruža, te molekule bi bile prave

but even if there's no rose there,

ali čak i ako tamo nema ruže,

you'll have the memory of a molecule.

imat ćete sjećanje molekule.

How do we turn molecules into perceptions?

Kako pretvorimo molekule u opažanje?

What's the process by which that could happen?

Što je proces kojim bi se to moglo odvijati?

Here's another example: two very simple molecules, again in this kind of chemical notation.

Evo još jednog primjera: 2 jednostavne molekule, u ovom obliku kemijskog zapisa.

It might be easier to visualize them this way,

Moglo bi biti lakše zamisliti ih ovako,

so the gray circles are carbon atoms, the white ones

znači sivi krugovi su atomi ugljika, bijeli

are hydrogen atoms and the red ones are oxygen atoms.

su atomi vodika i crveni su atomi kisika.

Now these two molecules differ by only one carbon atom

Ove dvije molekule se razlikuju u samo jednom atomu ugljika

and two little hydrogen atoms that ride along with it,

i dva mala atoma vodika koji su vezana na njega,

and yet one of them, heptyl acetate,

pa ipak jedan od njih, heptil acetat

has the distinct odor of a pear,

ima jasan miris kruške,

and hexyl acetate is unmistakably banana.

a heksil acetat je nepogrešivo banana.

So there are two really interesting questions here, it seems to me.

Stoga su ovdje dva zanimljiva pitanja, tako mi se čini.

One is, how can a simple little molecule like that

Jedno je, kako može jednostavna mala molekula kao ta

create a perception in your brain that's so clear

stvoriti percepciju u našem mozgu koja je toliko jasna

as a pear or a banana?

kao kruška ili banana?

And secondly, how the hell can we tell the difference

I drugo, kako dovraga možemo prepoznati razliku

between two molecules that differ by a single carbon atom?

između dvije molekule koje se razlikuju u samo jednom atomu ugljika?

I mean, that's remarkable to me,

Mislim, za mene je to izvanredno,

clearly the best chemical detector on the face of the planet.

očito najbolji kemijski detektor na zemlji.

And you don't even think about it, do you?

A vi čak i ne razmišljate o tome, zar ne?

So this is a favorite quote of mine that takes us

Ovo je moj omiljeni citat koji nas vraća

back to the ignorance and the idea of questions.

natrag na neznanje i ideju o pitanjima.

I like to quote because I think dead people

Volim citirati jer mislim da mrtvi ljudi

shouldn't be excluded from the conversation.

ne bi trebali biti izostavljeni iz razgovora.

And I also think it's important to realize that

I također mislim da je važno za shvatiti

the conversation's been going on for a while, by the way.

da razgovor traje već neko vrijeme.

So Erwin Schrodinger, a great quantum physicist

Dakle Erwin Schrodinger, veliki kvantni fizičar

and, I think, philosopher, points out how you have to

i smatram, filozof, ističe kako morate

"abide by ignorance for an indefinite period" of time.

"pokoriti se neznanju na neodređeni period" vremena.

And it's this abiding by ignorance

I ovo pokoravanje neznanju

that I think we have to learn how to do.

to je ono što moramo naučiti raditi.

This is a tricky thing. This is not such an easy business.

Ovo je nezgodna stvar. To nije tako jednostavan posao.

I guess it comes down to our education system,

Izgleda da se to svodi na obrazovni sustav,

so I'm going to talk a little bit about ignorance and education,

stoga ću govoriti malo o neznanju i obrazovanju

because I think that's where it really has to play out.

jer mislim da se tamo sve mora odigrati.

So for one, let's face it,

Kao prvo, suočimo se s time

in the age of Google and Wikipedia,

u doba Googlea i Wikipedie,

the business model of the university

poslovni model sveučilišta

and probably secondary schools is simply going to have to change.

i vjerojatno srednjoškolskog obrazovanja će se morati promijeniti

We just can't sell facts for a living anymore.

Ne možemo više prodavati činjenice da opstanemo.

They're available with a click of the mouse,

Dostupne su pritiskom miša,

or if you want to, you could probably just ask the wall

ili ako želite, vjerojatno možete samo pitati zid

one of these days, wherever they're going to hide the things

jednog dana, gdjegod budu sakrili stvari

that tell us all this stuff.

koje nam govore sve to.

So what do we have to do? We have to give our students

Stoga što moramo napraviti? Moramo dati našim učenicima

a taste for the boundaries, for what's outside that circumference,

osjet za granice, za ono što je izvan tog obujma,

for what's outside the facts, what's just beyond the facts.

za ono što je izvan činjenica, ono što je odmah iznad činjenica

How do we do that?

Kako to napravimo?

Well, one of the problems, of course,

Pa, jedan od problema, naravno

turns out to be testing.

izgleda da je testiranje.

We currently have an educational system

Trenutno imamo obrazovni sustav

which is very efficient but is very efficient at a rather bad thing.

koji je vrlo djelotvoran, ali je vrlo djelotvoran u prilično lošoj stvari

So in second grade, all the kids are interested in science,

Dakle u drugom razredu, sva djeca su zainteresirana za znanost,

the girls and the boys.

djevojčice i dječaci.

They like to take stuff apart. They have great curiosity.

Vole rastavljati stvari. Vrlo su radoznali.

They like to investigate things. They go to science museums.

Vole istraživati stvari. Idi u znanstvene muzeje

They like to play around. They're in second grade.

Vole se igrati okolo. U drugom su razredu.

They're interested.

Zainteresirani su.

But by 11th or 12th grade, fewer than 10 percent

Ali do drugog ili trećeg razreda srednje, manje od 10 posto

of them have any interest in science whatsoever,

njih ima bilo kakav interes za znanost.

let alone a desire to go into science as a career.

a kamoli želju da odaberu znanost kao karijeru.

So we have this remarkably efficient system

Stoga imamo ovaj izuzetno djelotvoran sustav

for beating any interest in science out of everybody's head.

Za istjerivanje bilo kakvog zanimanja za znanost iz svačije glave.

Is this what we want?

Je li to ono što želimo?

I think this comes from what a teacher colleague of mine

Mislim da ovo dolazi iz onoga što moj kolega učitelj

calls "the bulimic method of education."

zove „bulimična metoda edukacije.“

You know. You can imagine what it is.

Znate. Možete zamisliti što je to.

We just jam a whole bunch of facts down their throats over here

Samo natrpamo hrpu činjenica niz njihova grla ovdje

and then they puke it up on an exam over here

i onda oni to ispovraćaju tamo na ispitu

and everybody goes home with no added intellectual heft whatsoever.

i svi odu kući bez ikakvog dodanog intelektualnog tereta.

This can't possibly continue to go on.

Ovo se ne može nastaviti događati.

So what do we do? Well the geneticists, I have to say,

Stoga što trebamo napraviti? Pa genetičari, moram priznati,

have an interesting maxim they live by.

imaju zanimljivu maksimu po kojoj žive.

Geneticists always say, you always get what you screen for.

Genetičari uvijek kažu, uvijek dobiješ ono što tražiš.

And that's meant as a warning.

I to je zamišljeno kao upozorenje.

So we always will get what we screen for,

Stoga ćemo uvijek dobiti ono što tražimo,

and part of what we screen for is in our testing methods.

i dio onoga što tražimo je u našim metodama testiranja.

Well, we hear a lot about testing and evaluation,

Pa, čujemo puno toga o testiranju i ocjenjivanju,

and we have to think carefully when we're testing

i moramo pažljivo razmisliti kad testiramo

whether we're evaluating or whether we're weeding,

ocjenjujemo li ili plijevimo,

whether we're weeding people out,

plijevimo li van ljude,

whether we're making some cut.

radimo li neke rezove.

Evaluation is one thing. You hear a lot about evaluation

Ocjenjivanje je jedna stvar. Čujete puno o ocjenjivanju

in the literature these days, in the educational literature,

u literaturi ovih dana, u obrazovnoj literaturi,

but evaluation really amounts to feedback and it amounts

ali ocjenjivanje se zapravo svodi na povratne informacije i svodi se na

to an opportunity for trial and error.

mogućnost za pokušaj i promašaj.

It amounts to a chance to work over a longer period of time

Svodi se na priliku za rad na dulji period vremena

with this kind of feedback.

sa ovom vrstom povratnih informacija.

That's different than weeding, and usually, I have to tell you,

To je drugčije od plijevljenja i obično, moram vam reći

when people talk about evaluation, evaluating students,

kada ljudi govore o ocjenjivanju, ocjenjivanju učenika,

evaluating teachers, evaluating schools,

ocjenjivanju učitelja, ocjenjivanju škola,

evaluating programs, that they're really talking about weeding.

ocjenjivanju programa, da zapravo govore o plijevljenju.

And that's a bad thing, because then you will get what you select for,

I to je loša stvar, jer onda ćete dobiti ono što ste izabrali

which is what we've gotten so far.

što je ono što smo dobivali do sada

So I'd say what we need is a test that says, "What is x?"

Stoga ja bih rekao da trebamo test koji kaže „Što je x?“

and the answers are "I don't know, because no one does,"

i odgovor je „Ne znam, jer nitko ne zna“

or "What's the question?" Even better.

ili „Što je pitanje?“ čak bolje.

Or, "You know what, I'll look it up, I'll ask someone,

Ili, „Znaš što, pogledat ću, pitat ću nekoga,

I'll phone someone. I'll find out."

Nazvat ću nekoga. Saznat ću."

Because that's what we want people to do,

Zato jer je to ono što želimo da čine,

and that's how you evaluate them.

i tako ih ocjenjujete.

And maybe for the advanced placement classes,

I možda za napredne razrede,

it could be, "Here's the answer. What's the next question?"

moglo bi biti „Ovo je odgovor. Što je sljedeće pitanje?"

That's the one I like in particular.

Taj mi se posebno sviđa.

So let me end with a quote from William Butler Yeats,

Dopustite da završim citatom Williama Butlera Yeatsa

who said "Education is not about filling buckets;

koji je rekao „Obrazovanje nije punjenje kanti;

it is lighting fires."

to je paljenje vatri."

So I'd say, let's get out the matches.

Stoga kažem, izvadimo šibice.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)

Thank you. (Applause)

Hvala vam. (Pljesak)