Chris Anderson (TED): A vision for TED

翻译人员: Jenny Yang 校对人员: Halei Liu

This is your conference,

这是你们的大会。

and I think you have a right to know a little bit right now, in this transition period,

在这个转折时期，你们有权了解一下

about this guy who's going to be looking after it for you for a bit.

这个将要掌门的家伙。

So, I'm just going to grab a chair here.

所以，我现在抓把椅子坐下。

Two years ago at TED, I think --

我想， 是在两年以前的TED大会上吧--

I've come to this conclusion --

我得出一个结论--

I think I may have been suffering from a strange delusion.

我想我可能得了奇怪的错觉，

I think that I may have believed unconsciously,

我认为，我可能已经不自觉地认为，

then, that I was kind of a business hero.

自己是一个生意场的英雄

I had this company that I'd spent 15 years building. It's called Future;

我原来有个叫“未来”的公司，是我花了15年时间打造的。

it was a magazine publishing company.

那是一个杂志出版公司。

It had recently gone public

那时候它才上市

and the market said that it was apparently worth two billion dollars,

股市表明它价值20亿美元，

a number I didn't really understand.

那个数字我也看不懂。

A magazine I'd recently launched called Business 2.0

最近我又发行了 <<商业 2.0>> 杂志，

was fatter than a telephone directory,

它比电话薄还要厚，

busy pumping hot air into the bubble.

它正在忙于给商业泡沫充加热气

(Laughter)

(笑声)

And I was the 40 percent owner of a dotcom

我拥有这个即将上市互联网公司40%的份额

that was about to go public and no doubt be worth billions more.

那无疑又是好几个亿的市值。

And all this had come from nothing.

而这一切如今都已经成了泡影。

Fifteen years earlier, I was a science journalist who people just laughed at

15年前我还是一名科技记者的时候，

when I said, "I really would like to start my own computer magazine."

每当我跟人们说：“ 我打算创办一份计算机杂志”，人们只会朝我笑笑。

And 15 years later, there are 100 of them

而15年后，这样的杂志就有100 多种。

and 2,000 people on staff and it was just such heady times.

员工多达2000多名 ，发展势头十分迅猛，

The date was February 2000.

那是在2000年的二月。

I thought the little graph of my business life

我当初也以为我的商业生涯

that kind of looked a bit like Moore's Law --

会跟摩尔定律描述的那样，

ever upward and to the right -- it was going to go on forever.

不断攀升，永无止境。我是说

I mean, it had to. Right? I was in for quite a surprise.

它不就得那样发展，不是吗？可是事与愿违。

The dotcom, ironically called Snowball,

那个上市的网络公司， 很可笑地取名为“雪球”，

was the very last consumer web company to go public

是纳斯达克崩盘前最一个月最后一个上市的消费用户网络公司，

the next month before NASDAQ exploded, and I entered 18 months of business hell.

然后我就在这个商业地狱里过了18个月。

I watched everything that I'd built crumbling,

我看着-- 目睹我创建的一切倒塌下来。

and it looked like all this stuff was going to die

看上去一切都要完蛋了。

and 15 years work would have come for nothing.

15年的工作都付之东流。

And it was gut wrenching.

那是令人断肠的痛楚。

It took eight years of blood, sweat and tears to reach 350 employees,

开始我们用了8年的血泪才成功的把员工人数

something which I was very proud of in the business.

增加到350人，我对此是感到非常自豪的。

February 2001 -- in one day we laid off 350 people,

然而， 在2001年二月， 我们一天就裁了350名员工，

and before the bloodshed was finished, 1,000 people had lost their jobs

而到这一腥风血雨结束前， 我们公司总共

from my companies. I felt sick.

失去了1000名员工，我感到非常难受。

I watched my own net worth falling

我看着我的净资产以每天100万美元的

by about a million dollars a day, every day, for 18 months.

速度在跌落，18个月，每天如此。

And worse than that, far worse than that,

而比这一切更糟糕的是

my sense of self-worth was kind of evaporating.

我对自我的价值认同也随之蒸发。

I was going around with this big sign on my forehead: "LOSER."

我走来走去都觉得脑袋上顶着“失败者”几个字。

(Laughter)

(笑声)

And I think what disgusts me more than anything, looking back,

而那次经历最让我感到厌恨是，我竟然会把我快乐与商业上的成败挂起钩来。

is how the hell did I let my personal happiness

现在回头看看， 最让我感到愧疚的是

get so tied up with this business thing?

我怎么会把我个人的快乐与商场的成败联系在一起？

Well, in the end, we were able to save Future and Snowball,

后来我们总算也把“未来”和“雪球” 挽救了，

but I was, at that point, ready to move on.

但是那个时候我已经站在了决定另谋发展的转折点

And to cut a long story short, here's where I came to.

长话短说，这里， 就是我来到的地方。

And the reason I'm telling this story is that I believe, from many conversations,

我之所以告诉大家我的故事，是因为我跟大家聊起时，

that a lot of people in this room have been through a similar kind of rollercoaster --

发现在座的很多人都有过类似的经历，

emotional rollercoaster -- in the last couple years.

过去几年都经历了感情上的大起大伏。

This has been a big, big transition time,

这个阶段是一个以个很大的转折时期，

and I believe that this conference can play a big part for all of us

我相信这个会议会成为我们生活中重要的一部分

in taking us forward to the next stage to whatever's next.

无论下一个舞台会是什么，它都将把我们引领到那里。

The theme next year is re-birth.

明年大会的主题是“再生”。

It was at the same TED two years ago

这也是两年前TED的主题。

when Richard and I reached an agreement on the future of TED.

当时， 我和理查德就就TED的未来形成了共识。

And at about the same time, and I think partly because of that,

也在那一刻， 我认为正是那个契机，

I started doing something that I'd forgotten about in my business focus:

促使我重拾起了一个因埋头于商业活动而遗忘的习惯，

I started to read again.

我重新开始阅读。

And I discovered that while I'd been busy playing business games,

我发现，就在我沉溺于商业游戏的时候，

there'd been this incredible revolution in so many areas of interest:

很多领域里都出现了惊人的革新，

cosmology to psychology to evolutionary psychology to anthropology

从天文学、到心理学、到进化心理学、到人类学，

to ... all this stuff had changed.

到其他的很多领域， 你可以看到所有的事物都发生了变化。

And the way in which you could think about us as a species

如果你从我们是一个物种的角度去想一下，

and us as a planet had just changed so much, and it was incredibly exciting.

我们身处的星球发生了那么大的变化，

And what was really most exciting --

这些变化真是令人兴奋的，而最令人兴奋的是

and I think Richard Wurman discovered this at least 20 years before I did --

我想理查德乌玛 在20年就发现了这个秘密，

was that all this stuff is connected.

那就是这一切都是互相关联的。

It's connected; it all hooks into each other.

它们连在一起， 环环相扣。

We talk about this a lot,

对此我们谈论了很多，

and I thought about trying to give an example of this. So, just one example:

我想举个例子，就一个例子，

Madame de Gaulle, the wife of the French president,

法国总统戴高乐夫人曾经被问到：

was famously asked once, "What do you most desire?"

“你最希望得到的是什么？”

And she answered, "A penis."

她的回答是："a penis." (发音接近英语的Happiness，意为阴茎。)

And when you think about it, it's very true:

其实你想想，这是非常正确的

what we all most desire is a penis --

我们都最希望得到的就是 " a penis".

or "happiness" as we say in English.

或者， 你知道，用英语来说就是： “happiness"

(Laughter)

笑声 (快乐的英语发音跟 a penis 很接近)

And something ... good luck with that one in the Japanese translation room.

噢， 对了， 日语翻译室的仁兄祝你好运啊。

(Laughter)

笑声。( * 这一英文典故很难用外语翻译。)

(Applause)

掌声

But something as basic as happiness,

然而就是基本的快乐问题，

which 20 years ago would have been just something for discussion

那个20年前人们只会在

in the church or mosque or synagogue,

教堂或清真寺里讨论的话题，

today it turns out that there's dozens of TED-like questions

今天你可以用TED的角度提出一打

that you can ask about it, which are really interesting.

十分有趣的问题。

You can ask about what causes it biochemically:

你可以从生物学的角度来寻找幸福的根源

neuroscience, serotonin, all that stuff.

从神经系统科学， 血液复合胺等各个角度来研究。

You can ask what are the psychological causes of it:

你也可以从心理学的角度来分析，

nature? Nurture? Current circumstance?

是先天、后天，还是环境的作用更大？

Turns out that the research done on that is absolutely mind-blowing.

这方面的研究结果是绝对令人吃惊的。

You can view it as a computing problem, an artificial intelligence problem:

你还可以把它看作是一个计算机科学的问题，

do you need to incorporate

比如，你们是不是应该为机器人输入

some sort of analog of happiness into a computer brain to make it work properly?

快乐的元素使它可以象人类一样感受快乐，

You can view it in sort of geopolitical terms

你还可以从地缘政治学的角度来分析，

and say, why is it that a billion people on this planet

为什么地球上会有近10亿极其贫穷的人们

are so desperately needy that they have no possibility of happiness,

永远得不到快乐，

and whereas almost all the rest of them,

而另外其他的人，

regardless of how much money they have -- whether it's two dollars a day or whatever --

无论他们有多少钱，两美金一天也罢，

are almost equally happy on average?

其他数字也罢，快乐的感受都差不多？

Or you can view it as an evolutionary psychology kind of thing:

或者，你还可以用进化心理学来分析，

did our genes invent this as a kind of trick

是不是我们的基因本身存在某种机制

to get us to behave in certain ways? The ant's brain, parasitized,

促使我们形成某种既定的行为方式？也许蚂蚁把人脑当成了宿主，

to make us behave in certain ways so that our genes would propagate?

操控着我们某些行为，使我们的基因可以繁殖。

Are we the victims of a mass delusion?

我们是不是妄想的受害者？

And so on, and so on.

等等，等等

To understand even something as important to us as happiness,

因此，要真正理解象快乐这样对我们大家来说很重要的问题，

you kind of have to branch off in all these different directions,

我们需要从多个不同的角度进行探讨

and there's nowhere that I've discovered -- other than TED --

据我所知，除了TED大会以外，没有其他场合更适合这样的探索。

where you can ask that many questions in that many different directions.

这里你可以从各种角度，提出各种问题

And so, it's the profound thing that Richard talks about:

正如理查德所说：

to understand anything, you just need to understand the little bits;

要了解任何一样东西，你都需要

a little bit about everything that surrounds it.

知道一点点与之相关的许多事物。

And so, gradually over these three days,

因此， 在为期三天的TED会议里，

you start off kind of trying to figure out,

你开始会试图弄明白

"Why am I listening to all this irrelevant stuff?"

为什么我要听这些彼此无关的演讲？

And at the end of the four days,

而等到会议介绍的第四天，

your brain is humming and you feel energized, alive and excited,

你就会发现你的头脑里充满了能量、动力和激情。

and it's because all these different bits have been put together.

那是因为当我们把这一切放在一起，

It's the total brain experience, we're going to ...

我们将经历的是一次大脑的整体体验，

it's the mental equivalent of the full body massage.

就好象精神的全身按摩，

(Laughter)

(笑声)

Every mental organ addressed. It really is.

思想的每个器官都受到刺激。

Enough of the theory, Chris. Tell us what you're actually going to do, all right?

你会说：” 别说大道理了，克里斯, 告诉我们你到底要做什么吧。“

So, I will. Here's the vision for TED.

好吧， 下面我谈谈我的TED愿景。

Number one: do nothing. This thing ain't broke, so I ain't gonna fix it.

第一：什么也不做。TED没什么毛病，所以不需要我来治理。

Jeff Bezos kindly remarked to me,

杰夫毕则斯 曾经很客气地跟我说，

"Chris, TED is a really great conference.

“TED大会是一个非常了不起的大会，

You're going to have to fuck up really badly to make it bad."

你要把它搞砸了都不是很容易的事。”

(Laughter)

(笑声)

So, I gave myself the job title of TED Custodian for a reason,

所以我给自己的职务取名为：”TED监护人“。

and I will promise you right here and now

在此，我向大家保证，

that the core values that make TED special are not going to be interfered with.

代表TED特色核心价值是不会被改变的，

Truth, curiosity, diversity, no selling, no corporate bullshit,

真实、好奇、多元，不搞推销，不吹牛，

no bandwagoning, no platforms.

不跟风，随波逐流, 不搞特权平台。

Just the pursuit of interest, wherever it lies,

只有对兴趣的追求，不管它存在何处，

across all the disciplines that are represented here.

所有我重申过的原则，

That's not going to be changed at all.

都不会改变。

Number two: I am going to put together

第二，明年我将会为大家

an incredible line up of speakers for next year.

带来一批最优秀的演讲人

The time scale on which TED operates is just fantastic

TED运作的时间跨度也正合适，

after coming out of a magazine business with monthly deadlines.

我从每个月都有严格截稿期的杂志业出来，

There's a year to do this, and already --

现在则有一年的时间去做这件事，

I hope to show you a bit later --

事实上, 等一会儿我就想告诉你们，

there's 25 or so terrific speakers signed up for next year.

已经有25位杰出的演讲者登记参加明年的TED演讲。

And I'm getting fantastic help from the community;

此外，TED也社区给予了我们极大的帮助

this is just such a great community. And combined, our contacts

那是一个非常优秀的社区，如果把所有的人脉都汇合起来，

reach pretty much everyone who's interesting in the country, if not the planet.

即便不能覆盖全球，也可以挖掘到国内最有意思的人才

It's true.

这是真的。

Number three: I do want to, if I can, find a way

第三，如果我可以做到的话， 我想找到一条途径，

of extending the TED experience throughout the year a little bit.

把TED的体验延伸到整个年度中，

And one key way that we're going to do this is to introduce this book club.

我们正在做的一件事就是建立这个读书俱乐

Books kind of saved me in the last couple years,

书本在过去的几年里成了我的救星，

and that's a gift that I would like to pass on.

我想把那个礼物传递给他人。

So, when you sign up for TED2003, every six weeks you'll get a care package

所以，要是你登记参加2003年的TED，每隔6周你会收到一个邮包

with a book or two and a reason why they're linked to TED.

里面会是一两本书，以及说明为何那些书是和TED大会相关的。

They may well be by a TED speaker,

它们很可能是TED演讲人的著作

and so we can get the conversation going during the year

这样，我们就能把我们的对话一直延伸下去，

and come back next year having had the same intellectual, emotional journey.

等到来年我们在此相会的时候，大家都拥有一些共同的

I think it will be great.

思想和感情经历， 我认为这个主意很不错。

And then, fourthly: I want to mention the Sapling Foundation,

最后，我要提到Sapling基金会，

which is the new owner of TED.

它是TED大会的新主人。

What Sapling's ownership means is that all of the proceeds of TED

Sapling拥有TED的所有权， 就是意味着TED大会

will go towards the causes that Sapling stands for.

带给我们的一切都是为Sapling基金会的宗旨服务的。

And more important, I think, the ideas that are exhibited and realized here

而更重要的是，在这个会上展示的和了解的想法

are ideas that the foundation can use, because there's fantastic synergy.

可以为这个基金会使用，因为大家可以非常好的协作

Already, just in the last few days,

就在过去的几天里，

we've had so many people talking about stuff that they care about,

我们已经听到了人们在此谈论他们关心的，

that they're passionate about, that can make a difference in the world,

热衷的事物，以及怎样利用它们改变世界。

and the idea of getting this group of people together --

把这样一群人集合到一块的愿望，

some of the causes that we believe in,

是因为这个群体有某些共同的理想，

the money that this conference can raise and the ideas --

大会能筹措到一些经费和好的解决问题的办法。

I really believe that that combination will, over time, make a difference.

我相信这一切加在一起， 经过一段时间后肯定可以

I'm incredibly excited about that.

帮助改变世界。对此我感到非常的兴奋。

In fact, I don't think, overall, that I've been as excited by anything ever in my life.

坦白而言，我一生人还从来没有这么兴奋过，

I'm in this for the long run,

我是来TED打持久战的，

and I would be greatly honored and excited

如果你们愿意加入这个旅程，

if you'll come on this journey with me.

我会感到无尚的光荣和兴奋