Beware online "filter bubbles" | Eli Pariser

翻译人员: Angelia King 校对人员: Fengqiao Liu

Mark Zuckerberg,

马克·扎克伯格

a journalist was asking him a question about the news feed.

曾被一位记者问及动态消息的问题。

And the journalist was asking him,

这位记者问他，

"Why is this so important?"

“为什么滚动新闻如此重要？”

And Zuckerberg said,

扎克伯格说，

"A squirrel dying in your front yard

“此时，你前院奄奄一息的松鼠

may be more relevant to your interests right now

可能与你的兴趣更加“相关”，

than people dying in Africa."

比起非洲那些挣扎在死亡线上的人们。”

And I want to talk about

我想谈谈

what a Web based on that idea of relevance might look like.

建立在这个“相关”的思路上的一个网络会是什么样子。

So when I was growing up

当我生活在缅因州、

in a really rural area in Maine,

一个非常典型农村地区的时候，

the Internet meant something very different to me.

互联网对我而言，有着完全不同的意义。

It meant a connection to the world.

它意味着与整个世界的联系，

It meant something that would connect us all together.

它意味着与将所有人联系起来。

And I was sure that it was going to be great for democracy

那时，我确信它对民主、

and for our society.

对我们的社会而言，都是件了不起的事。

But there's this shift

但是，网上的信息流动

in how information is flowing online,

发生了改变，

and it's invisible.

并且这种改变是隐形的。

And if we don't pay attention to it,

假如我们对此毫不留意，

it could be a real problem.

它会成为一个真正的问题。

So I first noticed this in a place I spend a lot of time --

所以，我最早是在我花了很多时间的地方注意到了这个问题--

my Facebook page.

我的脸谱页面。

I'm progressive, politically -- big surprise --

政治上，我是改革派--很意外吧--

but I've always gone out of my way to meet conservatives.

但我常常会特意去一些保守派的页面去看看。

I like hearing what they're thinking about;

我喜欢听他们的想法；

I like seeing what they link to;

我喜欢看他们有哪些链接；

I like learning a thing or two.

我喜欢从中学到一两件新鲜事。

And so I was surprised when I noticed one day

但有一天，我注意到，

that the conservatives had disappeared from my Facebook feed.

我脸谱新闻组里的保守派全都消失了，这让我很吃惊。

And what it turned out was going on

结果是

was that Facebook was looking at which links I clicked on,

脸谱会看我点击的链接，

and it was noticing that, actually,

实际上，它注意到

I was clicking more on my liberal friends' links

相比我保守党派的朋友们，

than on my conservative friends' links.

我点击了更多的自由派朋友们的链接。

And without consulting me about it,

在没有告知我的情况下，

it had edited them out.

脸谱就把保守派信息编辑并删除了。

They disappeared.

保守派的朋友们在我的页面上消失了。

So Facebook isn't the only place

脸谱不是唯一

that's doing this kind of invisible, algorithmic

进行这样隐形的、算法的

editing of the Web.

编辑网络的地方。

Google's doing it too.

谷歌也是如此。

If I search for something, and you search for something,

假如我搜索某种信息，你也搜索这种信息，

even right now at the very same time,

甚至是现在，在同一时间，

we may get very different search results.

我们得到的搜索结果可能大不相同。

Even if you're logged out, one engineer told me,

一位工程师告诉我，即使你退出帐号，

there are 57 signals

还会有57种信号

that Google looks at --

可供谷歌参考--

everything from what kind of computer you're on

几乎所有的信息：从你使用的电脑型号

to what kind of browser you're using

到你用的浏览器

to where you're located --

到你所在的位置--

that it uses to personally tailor your query results.

谷歌利用这些为你定制出个性化的查询结果。

Think about it for a second:

稍微想想看：

there is no standard Google anymore.

从此不再会有标准版谷歌。

And you know, the funny thing about this is that it's hard to see.

你知道，有趣一点的是，对此，人们很难察觉得到。

You can't see how different your search results are

你不会看到你的搜索结果

from anyone else's.

与别人的搜索结果有什么不同。

But a couple of weeks ago,

但几周前，

I asked a bunch of friends to Google "Egypt"

我请一群朋友用谷歌搜索“埃及”，

and to send me screen shots of what they got.

然后将他们搜索结果的屏幕截图发给我。

So here's my friend Scott's screen shot.

这是我朋友斯科特的截屏。

And here's my friend Daniel's screen shot.

这个是我朋友丹尼尔的。

When you put them side-by-side,

当你把它们并排放在一起，

you don't even have to read the links

你甚至不必查看链接，

to see how different these two pages are.

就能看出这2个搜索页面有多大差别。

But when you do read the links,

但当你查看这些链接后面的内容时，

it's really quite remarkable.

差别真的相当相当大！

Daniel didn't get anything about the protests in Egypt at all

在谷歌搜索结果的第一页，丹尼尔根本就没有

in his first page of Google results.

任何有关埃及抗议报道的新闻。

Scott's results were full of them.

斯科特的搜索结果却全是这类新闻。

And this was the big story of the day at that time.

在当时，这可是当天的头条新闻。

That's how different these results are becoming.

搜索结果就是会如此的不同。

So it's not just Google and Facebook either.

这不仅指谷歌，也不仅指脸谱。

This is something that's sweeping the Web.

这种现象正在席卷整个网络。

There are a whole host of companies that are doing this kind of personalization.

有一大批的公司正在做这样的个性化定制服务。

Yahoo News, the biggest news site on the Internet,

雅虎新闻，网络上最大的新闻网站，

is now personalized -- different people get different things.

现在也个性化服务了--不同的人们得到不同的信息。

Huffington Post, the Washington Post, the New York Times --

赫芬顿邮报，华盛顿邮报，纽约时报--

all flirting with personalization in various ways.

它们都以不同的方式与个性化定制搭上边。

And this moves us very quickly

这会将我们很快地

toward a world in which

推向这样一个世界——

the Internet is showing us what it thinks we want to see,

网络给我们显示它认为我们想要看到的信息，

but not necessarily what we need to see.

而未必是我们需要的信息。

As Eric Schmidt said,

正如埃里克·施密特所言，

"It will be very hard for people to watch or consume something

“要人们观看或消费一些

that has not in some sense

在某种意义上并非

been tailored for them."

为他们个性定制的东西，是很难的。”

So I do think this is a problem.

所以，我认为这确实是个问题。

And I think, if you take all of these filters together,

我认为，如果你把所有这些过滤器放在一起，

you take all these algorithms,

还有所有这些算法，

you get what I call a filter bubble.

你会得到一个我所谓的“过滤气泡”。

And your filter bubble is your own personal,

你的“过滤泡沫”是你自己个人的

unique universe of information

独一无二的信息世界——

that you live in online.

也就是你所生活其中的网络世界。

And what's in your filter bubble

你的“过滤气泡”中包含了什么

depends on who you are, and it depends on what you do.

取决于你是谁，也取决于你做的事情。

But the thing is that you don't decide what gets in.

但问题是你不能决定什么信息可以通过“过滤气泡”。

And more importantly,

更重要的是，

you don't actually see what gets edited out.

实际上，你也看不到那些被删除的信息。

So one of the problems with the filter bubble

所以奈飞DVD在线租赁公司（Netflix）的一些研发人员发现了

was discovered by some researchers at Netflix.

“过滤气泡”的一个问题。

And they were looking at the Netflix queues, and they noticed something kind of funny

他们在查看奈飞数据队列时，注意到一些有意思的事；

that a lot of us probably have noticed,

可能我们很多人也已经注意到了，

which is there are some movies

那就是，有些电影

that just sort of zip right up and out to our houses.

脱颖而出，直接进入到千家万户。

They enter the queue, they just zip right out.

它们进入数据队列，然后直接脱颖而出。

So "Iron Man" zips right out,

因此，“钢铁侠”脱颖而出，

and "Waiting for Superman"

而“等待超人”

can wait for a really long time.

要等待很长一段时间。

What they discovered

他们发现,

was that in our Netflix queues

在奈飞数据队列中,

there's this epic struggle going on

在未来满心抱负的我们与

between our future aspirational selves

今天更为冲动的我们之间

and our more impulsive present selves.

始终存在着史诗般的斗争。

You know we all want to be someone

大家知道，我们都想成为

who has watched "Rashomon,"

看过“罗生门”的那个人，

but right now

但现在

we want to watch "Ace Ventura" for the fourth time.

我们想第四次看“神探飞机头”。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So the best editing gives us a bit of both.

而最好的编辑能兼顾这两方面的信息。

It gives us a little bit of Justin Bieber

它会为我们提供一点儿有关贾斯汀·比伯的信息，

and a little bit of Afghanistan.

也会提供一点儿有关阿富汗的信息。

It gives us some information vegetables;

它会为我们提供一些信息“蔬菜”，

it gives us some information dessert.

同时也为我们提供一些信息“甜点”。

And the challenge with these kinds of algorithmic filters,

这些算法过滤器和

these personalized filters,

这些个性化定制过滤器的挑战，

is that, because they're mainly looking

在于，因为它们主要参考

at what you click on first,

你最先点击的东西，

it can throw off that balance.

所以，它可能最后无法实现那种（信息间的）平衡。

And instead of a balanced information diet,

非但不是平衡的信息“食谱”，

you can end up surrounded

大家最终得到的可能

by information junk food.

全是信息“垃圾食品”.

What this suggests

这表明，

is actually that we may have the story about the Internet wrong.

实际上，我们在讲的可能是一个网络欺骗的故事。

In a broadcast society --

在广播社会里--

this is how the founding mythology goes --

最初的虚构事实就是这样进行的--

in a broadcast society,

在广播社会里，

there were these gatekeepers, the editors,

有这些审核者，编辑，

and they controlled the flows of information.

他们控制着信息流通。

And along came the Internet and it swept them out of the way,

随后出现了互联网，它取而代之了过去所有的信息流通方式，

and it allowed all of us to connect together,

它让我们所有人都联系在一起，

and it was awesome.

这曾经妙不可言。

But that's not actually what's happening right now.

但今天，实际上，情况已经发生了变化。

What we're seeing is more of a passing of the torch

现在的情况，更像是(信息甄选的)“火炬”

from human gatekeepers

从人工审核者

to algorithmic ones.

传递给了计算机算法“审核者”。

And the thing is that the algorithms

但问题是，这些计算机算法

don't yet have the kind of embedded ethics

自身并没有编辑们

that the editors did.

所具备的职业道德。

So if algorithms are going to curate the world for us,

所以，假若让算法为我们去创建一个世界，

if they're going to decide what we get to see and what we don't get to see,

假若它们来决定我们能看到什么、不能看到什么，

then we need to make sure

那么，我们必须要确保

that they're not just keyed to relevance.

它们不仅仅只是围绕“相关性”而已。

We need to make sure that they also show us things

我们得确保它们也会给我们展示

that are uncomfortable or challenging or important --

那些不合意的、具有挑战性的或重要的信息--

this is what TED does --

这也是TED的所追求的--

other points of view.

其他的观点。

And the thing is, we've actually been here before

问题是，作为社会，我们实际上以前

as a society.

有过如此的经历。

In 1915, it's not like newspapers were sweating a lot

在1915年，报纸并没有报道很多有关

about their civic responsibilities.

有关公民责任的信息。

Then people noticed

那是，人们意识到，

that they were doing something really important.

报纸正在做的事情非常的重要。

That, in fact, you couldn't have

事实上，假如得不到充分的信息

a functioning democracy

公民不可能

if citizens didn't get a good flow of information,

实现有效的民主。

that the newspapers were critical because they were acting as the filter,

报纸很关键，因为它们起的是信息过滤器的作用，

and then journalistic ethics developed.

随后，新闻职业道德应运而生。

It wasn't perfect,

那时，它并不完美，

but it got us through the last century.

但是，它带我们走过了上个世纪。

And so now,

所以，现在，

we're kind of back in 1915 on the Web.

我们在网络上好像又回到了1915年。

And we need the new gatekeepers

我们需要新的信息审核者

to encode that kind of responsibility

将这种道德责任

into the code that they're writing.

输入到他们所写的算法代码中。

I know that there are a lot of people here from Facebook and from Google --

我知道，这里有很多来自脸谱和谷歌的朋友--

Larry and Sergey --

拉里和谢尔盖--

people who have helped build the Web as it is,

有很多帮助建起现有互联网的朋友，

and I'm grateful for that.

对此，我是表示感谢的。

But we really need you to make sure

但我们真的需要你们来确保

that these algorithms have encoded in them

互联网中的这些算法中考虑了

a sense of the public life, a sense of civic responsibility.

公共生活和公民责任感。

We need you to make sure that they're transparent enough

我们需要你们来确保这些算法有一定的透明，

that we can see what the rules are

使人们能了解些那些决定什么

that determine what gets through our filters.

能够通过我们的过滤器的运行规则。

And we need you to give us some control

我们需要你们给我们一些管理权限，

so that we can decide

这样，我们就能决定

what gets through and what doesn't.

什么信息可以通过，什么不能通过。

Because I think

因为我认为

we really need the Internet to be that thing

我们真的需要互联网成为

that we all dreamed of it being.

我们所梦想的那样。

We need it to connect us all together.

我们需要它使我们都联系在一起。

We need it to introduce us to new ideas

我们需要它向我们介绍新想法、

and new people and different perspectives.

新面孔及不同的视角。

And it's not going to do that

它不可能实现这些，

if it leaves us all isolated in a Web of one.

假如它把我们都孤立在个性化的网络中。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）