Clay Shirky: How the Internet will (one day) transform government

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

翻译人员: Yuguo Zhang 校对人员: Chunting Guo

I want to talk to you today about something

今天我想要探讨一些事情

the open-source programming world can teach democracy,

从开放代码的网络世界中感受民主

but before that, a little preamble.

在此之前，先来点开胃菜

Let's start here.

我们以此开始

This is Martha Payne. Martha's a 9-year-old Scot

这是玛莎。佩恩，一个九岁的苏格兰小女孩

who lives in the Council of Argyll and Bute.

她住在阿盖尔-比特区的康斯尔

A couple months ago, Payne started a food blog

几个月前，佩恩开了一个关于美食的博客

called NeverSeconds, and she would take her camera

叫做“独一无二”，然后她每天…

with her every day to school to document

都带着相机去学校，记录下

her school lunches.

学校的午餐

Can you spot the vegetable? (Laughter)

你能辨认出蔬菜吗？

And, as sometimes happens,

然后，发生了一些有意思的事，

this blog acquired first dozens of readers,

刚开始她的博客吸引了十几个读者

and then hundreds of readers,

然后有了几百个读者

and then thousands of readers, as people tuned in

然后又有了几千个读者，人们乐于

to watch her rate her school lunches,

看她对学校午餐的评价

including on my favorite category,

包括我最爱做的事之一

"Pieces of hair found in food." (Laughter)

”食物里有几根头发“（笑声）

This was a zero day. That's good.

这天的午餐得到零分。幸好

And then two weeks ago yesterday, she posted this.

然而，两周前的一天，她发了一篇日志

A post that read: "Goodbye."

日志里写到：“再见了”

And she said, "I'm very sorry to tell you this, but

然后她说：很抱歉的告诉你们，但是

my head teacher pulled me out of class today and told me

我的班主任把我叫出教室，告诉我

I'm not allowed to take pictures in the lunch room anymore.

我被禁止在食堂里拍照

I really enjoyed doing this.

我真的很喜欢做这件事

Thank you for reading. Goodbye."

感谢你们的浏览，再见了

You can guess what happened next, right? (Laughter)

你们可以猜到后来发生了什么，是吧？

The outrage was so swift, so voluminous, so unanimous,

民愤一瞬间就被点燃了，一时间群情激愤，各种谴责不绝于耳，

that the Council of Argyll and Bute reversed themselves

当局随之撤销了之前的决定

the same day and said, "We would,

就是在同一天，他们辩解到：我们绝对…

we would never censor a nine-year-old." (Laughter)

绝对不会审查一个九岁小孩的博客

Except, of course, this morning. (Laughter)

当然，除了今天早上

And this brings up the question,

这就产生了一个问题

what made them think they could get away

他们凭什么认为

with something like that? (Laughter)

他们能逃避这样的事

And the answer is, all of human history prior to now.

答案就是，人类自古以来就是如此

(Laughter) So,

所以

what happens when a medium suddenly puts

当媒体突然把一堆新观点公之于众的时候

a lot of new ideas into circulation?

会发生一些什么

Now, this isn't just a contemporaneous question.

如今，这不是当代才有的问题

This is something we've faced several times

这个问题在过去的几个世纪里

over the last few centuries.

我们已经面对了无数次

When the telegraph came along, it was clear

当电报问世的时候，很明显…

that it was going to globalize the news industry.

它意味着全球化新闻产业

What would this lead to?

这会带来什么？

Well, obviously, it would lead to world peace.

很显然，这一定会让世界和平

The television, a medium that allowed us not just to hear

电视作为一个媒介，不仅让我们听世界

but see, literally see, what was going on

还有看世界，是直接地看到世界上…

elsewhere in the world, what would this lead to?

正在发生着什么，这些事件又导致了什么？

World peace. (Laughter)

就是世界和平

The telephone?

那么电话呢？

You guessed it: world peace.

你猜得没错：世界和平

Sorry for the spoiler alert, but no world peace. Not yet.

抱歉剧透了，但是世界尚未和平，暂时还没有

Even the printing press, even the printing press

甚至还有印刷机

was assumed to be a tool that was going to enforce

被视为促使天主教知识霸权

Catholic intellectual hegemony across Europe.

散布到欧洲的工具

Instead, what we got was Martin Luther's 95 Theses,

但是由此，我们得到的却是《马丁.路德的95条论纲》

the Protestant Reformation, and, you know,

新教改革，你知道的…

the Thirty Years' War. All right,

三十年的战争，对吧，

so what all of these predictions of world peace got right

那么世界和平的预言有多少可信？

is that when a lot of new ideas suddenly

只有许多的新观念迅速地

come into circulation, it changes society.

开始被传播，社会才会改变

What they got exactly wrong was what happens next.

但他们想错的是接下来发生的事

The more ideas there are in circulation,

越多的观点被传播

the more ideas there are for any individual to disagree with.

就意味着更多的观点被反对

More media always means more arguing.

媒体越多，争议越多

That's what happens when the media's space expands.

这就是媒体扩张时代带来的结果

And yet, when we look back on the printing press

然后我们回首一下印刷机的时代

in the early years, we like what happened.

在过去的日子里，我们挺喜欢所发生的事情

We are a pro-printing press society.

我们处在一个速印时代。

So how do we square those two things,

所以，我们如何平衡这两件事：

that it leads to more arguing, but we think it was good?

更多争议；但我们认为这有益社会

And the answer, I think, can be found in things like this.

至于答案，我想可以通过这样的事情来得出

This is the cover of "Philosophical Transactions,"

这是《哲学学报》

the first scientific journal ever published in English

第一本英语的科学读物

in the middle of the 1600s,

发行于16世纪中期

and it was created by a group of people who had been

”它由一个自称为隐形

calling themselves "The Invisible College,"

隐形学院“的团体创办

a group of natural philosophers who only later

这群自然派哲学家

would call themselves scientists,

后来称自己为科学家

and they wanted to improve the way

他们致力于提升

natural philosophers argued with each other,

自然派哲学家之间争辩的方式

and they needed to do two things for this.

他们需要做的有两件事

They needed openness. They needed to create a norm

他们需要开诚公布，他们需要创造基准

which said, when you do an experiment,

换句话说，当你要进行一个实验的时候

you have to publish not just your claims,

你不能只是公开你的结论

but how you did the experiment.

也要公开实验的过程

If you don't tell us how you did it, we won't trust you.

如果你不告诉我们你做了什么，我们就无法信任你

But the other thing they needed was speed.

另一件他们所需的事情，就是速度

They had to quickly synchronize what

他们必须同步掌握

other natural philosophers knew. Otherwise,

其他自然派科学家的资讯，否则

you couldn't get the right kind of argument going.

你就会错过正在开展的辩论

The printing press was clearly the right medium for this,

印刷是一个清楚传达信息的正确媒介

but the book was the wrong tool. It was too slow.

但是书籍却是一个错误的工具。传播得太慢

And so they invented the scientific journal

所以他们创造了科学期刊

as a way of synchronizing the argument

借此来传播自然派科学家

across the community of natural scientists.

对于社会的争辩

The scientific revolution wasn't created by the printing press.

科学革命不是因为印刷机而起的

It was created by scientists,

是因为科学家而起的

but it couldn't have been created if they didn't have

但是如果没有印刷机这个工具

a printing press as a tool.

这场革命也不可能兴起

So what about us? What about our generation,

那么我们呢？我们这一代

and our media revolution, the Internet?

我们的传媒革命呢，互联网？

Well, predictions of world peace? Check. (Laughter)

那么，对于世界和平的预测呢？当然！

More arguing? Gold star on that one. (Laughter)

更多的争论？这个观点可以加一颗星！（笑声）

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I mean, YouTube is just a gold mine. (Laughter)

我的意思是，YouTube就是一个金库（笑声）

Better arguing? That's the question.

更好地争辩？这也是一个问题

So I study social media, which means,

我所研究的社会传媒学

to a first approximation, I watch people argue.

最接近的解释就是：我从旁观察人们的争论

And if I had to pick a group that I think is

如果我要选择一个群体，代表

our Invisible College, is our generation's collection of people

我们这一代的隐形学院，那么他们

trying to take these tools and to press it into service,

尝试使用各种工具

not for more arguments, but for better arguments,

并不是为了更多的争论，而是更有益的争论

I'd pick the open-source programmers.

我选择了开放源代码的程序

Programming is a three-way relationship

这个程序有一个三方的关联

between a programmer, some source code,

有程序设计师还有一些源代码

and the computer it's meant to run on, but computers

以及电脑的运行，不过电脑

are such famously inflexible interpreters of instructions

需要固定的程式还进行解读和操作

that it's extraordinarily difficult to write out a set

所以要明确写出一套让电脑知道如何去运行的程序

of instructions that the computer knows how to execute,

真的很难很难很难

and that's if one person is writing it.

尤其是当这仅由一个人去撰写的时候

Once you get more than one person writing it,

当撰写程序的人超过一个的时候

it's very easy for any two programmers to overwrite

如果他们用相同文件进行操作，要写出2个程序或者

each other's work if they're working on the same file,

互相充实各自的程序会变得很容易

or to send incompatible instructions

否则传输一个没有完成的程序

that simply causes the computer to choke,

很容让电脑当机

and this problem grows larger

问题会变得很严重

the more programmers are involved.

会有更多的程序被牵连其中

To a first approximation, the problem of managing

最近有一次，有一个大型的管理软件

a large software project is the problem

产生了一点问题

of keeping this social chaos at bay.

在海湾区造成了社会的动乱

Now, for decades there has been a canonical solution

如今的几十年里，有一个标准的

to this problem, which is to use something called

解决问题的办法，就是使用 “视频监控系统”

a "version control system,"

“视频监控系统”

and a version control system does what is says on the tin.

这个系统会丝毫不差地做你要它做的事

It provides a canonical copy of the software

它能提供在服务器上

on a server somewhere.

软件运行的备份

The only programmers who can change it are people

唯一能能对此系统作出调整的程预员

who've specifically been given permission to access it,

只能是有特别受权的人

and they're only allowed to access the sub-section of it

他们也只被允许去读取子部分的档案

that they have permission to change.

他们也要被授权去进行修改

And when people draw diagrams of version control systems,

人们把系统运行的图示画出来

the diagrams always look something like this.

就好像这样

All right. They look like org charts.

类似于组织结构图

And you don't have to squint very hard

其实不用很费力地

to see the political ramifications of a system like this.

你就可以看出这个系统产生的社会分流

This is feudalism: one owner, many workers.

这其实就是封建制度：一个所有者，无数工人

Now, that's fine for the commercial software industry.

对于商务软件产业来说这都是可行的

It really is Microsoft's Office. It's Adobe's Photoshop.

必然微软，即以Adobe公司的Photoshop

The corporation owns the software.

集团企业拥有这些软件

The programmers come and go.

程序员却是进进出出

But there was one programmer who decided

但是有一个程序员决定

that this wasn't the way to work.

工作不应该这样

This is Linus Torvalds.

这个人就是林納斯.托瓦茲

Torvalds is the most famous open-source programmer,

托瓦茲是著名的开放源代码的程序员

created Linux, obviously, and Torvalds looked at the way

开发了Linux操作协同，很显然，托瓦茲着眼于

the open-source movement had been dealing with this problem.

用开放源代码举动来处理这个问题

Open-source software, the core promise of the open-source license,

开放了源代码的软件，其核心就是授权

is that everybody should have access to all the source code

是不是每一个人都可以使用开放的源代码

all the time, but of course, this creates

随时随地都可以？当然了，这样的创举

the very threat of chaos you have to forestall

也有可能在你试图让程序运作的时候

in order to get anything working.

带来极大的混乱

So most open-source projects just held their noses

所以，大部分开放源代码的程序，硬着头皮地

and adopted the feudal management systems.

采用封闭管理系统。

But Torvalds said, "No, I'm not going to do that."

托瓦茲说：我绝不会这么做

His point of view on this was very clear.

他的观点非常明确

When you adopt a tool, you also adopt

当你接受使用一种工具，你也要接受

the management philosophy embedded in that tool,

这种工具所包含的管理理念

and he wasn't going to adopt anything that didn't work

他不会接受没有操作性的方式

the way the Linux community worked.

而Linux操作系统却得到实现了

And to give you a sense of how enormous

为了让你们更直接的感受到

a decision like this was, this is a map

这样的决定带来的巨大影响，这里有一张地图

of the internal dependencies within Linux,

显示了Linux的内部关系

within the Linux operating system, which sub-parts

在Linux系统运行的时候，一个个子部门…

of the program rely on which other sub-parts to get going.

都依赖于另一些子部门才能运作

This is a tremendously complicated process.

这是极其庞大而复杂的工序

This is a tremendously complicated program,

这是极其庞大而复杂的程序

and yet, for years, Torvalds ran this

很多年下来，托瓦茲在运营这个系统

not with automated tools but out of his email box.

并不是使用自动化的工具，而是他的电子邮箱

People would literally mail him changes

人们会把每一个他们所认同地改变逐字逐句写给他

that they'd agreed on, and he would merge them by hand.

然后他会自己着手去合并这些改变。

And then, 15 years after looking at Linux and figuring out

十五年后，回顾Linux的运行

how the community worked, he said, "I think I know

他指出：我想我知道了

how to write a version control system for free people."

如何撰写一个版本控制系统，让人们去免费使用

And he called it "Git." Git is distributed version control.

他称之为Git，即分布式版本控制系统

It has two big differences

它与传统的版本控制系统

with traditional version control systems.

有两大不同

The first is that it lives up to the philosophical promise

首先他要遵守一个理念

of open-source. Everybody who works on a project

就是开放源代码，每一个为此项目工作的人

has access to all of the source code all of the time.

都可以随时使用全部的代码

And when people draw diagrams of Git workflow,

当人们绘制Git流程图的时候

they use drawings that look like this.

就会像这样

And you don't have to understand what the circles

你必须要理解这些循环

and boxes and arrows mean to see that this is a far more

方块和箭头的意义，这远远比

complicated way of working than is supported

传统的版本控制系统

by ordinary version control systems.

要复杂的多

But this is also the thing that brings the chaos back,

当然也会带来一些混乱

and this is Git's second big innovation.

这就是Git的第二个改革

This is a screenshot from GitHub, the premier Git hosting service,

这是GitHub的截图，这是Git的首要主机伺服

and every time a programmer uses Git

每当程序员使用Git

to make any important change at all,

去进行任何改变

creating a new file, modifying an existing one,

都会构建新的文件，修改现存文件

merging two files, Git creates this kind of signature.

合并多个文件，Git就会生成这么个签名

This long string of numbers and letters here

这是一串由字幕和数字组成的代码

is a unique identifier tied to every single change,

每一个改变都会有其独一无二的代码

but without any central coordination.

而且并不会经过其他程序的处理

Every Git system generates this number the same way,

每一个Git的系统以相同的方式生成这些代码

which means this is a signature tied directly

也就是说这些签名是直接

and unforgeably to a particular change.

连接到每一个独立的改变上的

This has the following effect:

这会带来如下影响：

A programmer in Edinburgh and a programmer in Entebbe

一个在爱丁堡的程序员和一个在乌干达恩德培德程序员

can both get the same -- a copy of the same piece of software.

可以得到相同的软件的的备份

Each of them can make changes and they can merge them

每个人都可以进行修改，然后整合

after the fact even if they didn't know

即使他们互相不知道

of each other's existence beforehand.

彼此的存在也没关系

This is cooperation without coordination.

这是不需要协调的合作

This is the big change.

这就是巨大的改革

Now, I tell you all of this not to convince you that it's great

我之所以告诉你们这些，不是想要你们觉得

that open-source programmers now have a tool

这些开放源码程式设计师这下有了好工具

that supports their philosophical way of working,

可以帮助实践他们的工作哲学，真是太棒了

although I think that is great.

虽然我真的觉得这的确很棒

I tell you all of this because of what I think it means

我告訴你们这些，是因为我从中看到了

for the way communities come together.

这对不同社群间的整合产生的意义

Once Git allowed for cooperation without coordination,

自从Git的开创了“互相合作而不需居中整合”的方式

you start to see communities form

你就会开始看到非常巨大

that are enormously large and complex.

而且复杂的社群形式

This is a graph of the Ruby community.

这是一个Ruby的社群的图示

It's an open-source programming language,

红宝石是一种开放原始码程式语言

and all of the interconnections between the people --

而在其中人们之间的关系 - -

this is now not a software graph, but a people graph,

这不是一个软体图示，而是人际的图示

all of the interconnections among the people

所有在同一个企划共同工作的人们

working on that project —

这是他们之间的连结

and this doesn't look like an org chart.

而这一点都不像个组织结构图

This looks like a dis-org chart, and yet,

还比较像个反组织结构图，然而

out of this community, but using these tools,

从这个社群里，而不单单只是使用那些工具

they can now create something together.

人们可以一起合作，制作程式

So there are two good reasons to think that

所以现在有两个很好的理由这样想：

this kind of technique can be applied

这种方式可以应用在

to democracies in general and in particular to the law.

普遍的民主制度，尤其是在法律上

When you make the claim, in fact,

但事实上，当你这样告诉别人：

that something on the Internet is going to be good

网路上有些东西对民主制度是​​好的

for democracy, you often get this reaction.

你通常会得到这样的反应

(Music) (Laughter)

（音乐）（笑声）

Which is, are you talking about the thing

意思是，你是指像会唱歌的猫

with the singing cats? Like, is that the thing

这类东西吗？这就是你说的

you think is going to be good for society?

对社会有帮助的事物吗？

To which I have to say, here's the thing

我必须说，像唱歌的猫这种东西

with the singing cats. That always happens.

总是会有的

And I don't just mean that always happens with the Internet,

我并不只是指这总是发生在网路上

I mean that always happens with media, full stop.

我是指任何媒体都会产生这类事情。

It did not take long after the rise

在商业性印刷兴起后

of the commercial printing press before someone

没多久就有人发现

figured out that erotic novels were a good idea. (Laughter)

印制色情小说是门好生意（笑声）

You don't have to have an economic incentive to sell books

你不必靠经济诱因来卖书单价，卖多久

very long before someone says, "Hey, you know what I bet

就会有人说：“欸，想知道我赌多少在

people would pay for?" (Laughter)

大家愿意花多少钱买这些书吗？“（笑声）

It took people another 150 years to even think

人们甚至还要多花150年才想到

of the scientific journal, right? So -- (Laughter) (Applause)

创办科学杂志，对吧？所以 - （笑声，掌声）

So the harnessing by the Invisible College

所以“无形学院”利用印刷机

of the printing press to create the scientific journal

创办了科学杂志

was phenomenally important, but it didn't happen big,

这是个重要事件，但并不是个划时代的里程碑

and it didn't happen quick, and it didn't happen fast, so

而且它发展的速度不快

if you're going to look for where the change is happening,

所以如果你想知道改变发生在哪里

you have to look on the margins.

你必须从边缘地带寻找

So, the law is also dependency-related.

法律也是互相依赖的

This is a graph of the U.S. Tax Code,

这是一张美国税法的图示

and the dependencies of one law on other laws

显示法规与法规之间的依赖关系

for the overall effect.

以及其整体效果

So there's that as a site for source code management.

所以，我们有了管理程式码的网站

But there's also the fact that law is another place

但是事实上，法律也是一个

where there are many opinions in circulation,

供许多不同意见传播的地方

but they need to be resolved to one canonical copy,

但是它们最终都必须变成一个标准版本

and when you go onto GitHub, and you look around,

而当你到GitHub上上看看

there are millions and millions of projects,

你会看到难以计数的制作计画

almost all of which are source code,

几乎全部都是程式码

but if you look around the edges, you can see people

但如果你往网路边缘找，你会发现

experimenting with the political ramifications

有人正在实验这种系统的

of a system like that.

政治效应

Someone put up all the Wikileaked cables

有人把维基解密发布的美国国务院电报

from the State Department, along with software used

和用来解读的软体一起放上网路

to interpret them, including my favorite use ever

包括一种我最爱用在他们公布的

of the Cablegate cables, which is a tool for detecting

国务院电报的软体，那是种专门用来侦测

naturally occurring haiku in State Department prose.

国务院电报里自然产生的俳句的工具

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Right. (Laughter)

是啊（笑声）

The New York Senate has put up something called

纽约州参议院设立了名为

Open Legislation, also hosting it on GitHub,

“公开立法”法案，也使用GitHub上的服务

again for all of the reasons of updating and fluidity.

同样是为了更新速度与流畅度

You can go and pick your Senator and then you can see

你可以上去浏览你们区的参议员

a list of bills they have sponsored.

就可以看到他们支持的法案

Someone going by Divegeek has put up the Utah code,

有人透过Divegeek发布了犹他法规

the laws of the state of Utah, and they've put it up there

就是犹他州的州法，而他们这么做

not just to distribute the code,

并不是只为了

but with the very interesting possibility that this could

也为了可以将这个用在进一步

be used to further the development of legislation.

发展立法过程的有趣可能性

Somebody put up a tool during the copyright debate

去年参议院的著作权辩论里

last year in the Senate, saying, "It's strange that Hollywood

有人发布了一样工具，说：

has more access to Canadian legislators

“好莱坞比加拿大公民有更多接触

than Canadian citizens do. Why don't we use GitHub

加拿大立法委员的管道，这非常奇怪。我们来用GitHub上

to show them what a citizen-developed bill might look like?"

让他们看看一个公民规划的法案会是什么样子。“

And it includes this very evocative screenshot.

而这张非常令人震撼的截图也包含在内

This is a called a "diff," this thing on the right here.

右边这块称为“差异”

This shows you, for text that many people are editing,

这部分是给你看许多人一起编辑的内容

when a change was made, who made it,

什么时候改的，谁改的

and what the change is.

以及改动的内容是什么

The stuff in red is the stuff that got deleted.

红色是被删除的东西

The stuff in green is the stuff that got added.

绿色则是多加进去的东西

Programmers take this capability for granted.

程式设计师真是物尽其用了

No democracy anywhere in the world offers this feature

世上没有任何民主国家可以提供

to its citizens for either legislation or for budgets,

公民这样的机会，不论是关于立法或预算

even though those are the things done

就算那些事是在我们的

with our consent and with our money.

同意和金钱之下通过的

Now, I would love to tell you that the fact

如果可以的话，我很想告诉你们

that the open-source programmers have worked out

开源程式设计师已经想出了

a collaborative method that is large scale, distributed,

一种规模广大的合作方式

cheap, and in sync with the ideals of democracy, I would love

便宜而且和民主的理想一致，我很想告诉

to tell you that because those tools are in place,

你们，这些工具都已经准备好了

the innovation is inevitable. But it's not.

因此改革是必然的，但事实并不是这样

Part of the problem, of course, is just a lack of information.

当然，部分的原因只是出在缺乏资讯

Somebody put a question up on Quora saying,

有人在问答网站上问了一个问题

"Why is it that lawmakers don't use

“为什么立法的人

distributed version control?"

不使用分散式版本控制的方式吗？“

This, graphically, was the answer. (Laughter)

这个则是图像示的答案（笑声）（图中文字 左：拥有Github 帐号的人 右：律师）

(Laughter) (Applause)

（笑声，掌声）

And that is indeed part of the problem, but only part.

这的确是一部分的问题，但只是一部分而已

The bigger problem, of course, is power.

当然，更大的问题出在权力

The people experimenting with participation don't have

那些实际参与以实验这个政治效应的人

legislative power, and the people who have legislative

并没有立法权，而有立法权的人

power are not experimenting with participation.

却不去参与这个实验

They are experimenting with openness.

这些实验是关于公开性

There's no democracy worth the name that doesn't have

如果没有公开透明的程序

a transparency move, but transparency is openness

那就不叫做民主，但是透明性只不过是

in only one direction, and being given a dashboard

公开性的一种面向，而给一艘

without a steering wheel has never been the core promise

沒有舵的船，也並不是民主国家

a democracy makes to its citizens.

对人民的中心承諾

So consider this.

所以想想看这些

The thing that got Martha Payne's opinions

玛莎。佩恩的想法能传达给大众

out into the public was a piece of technology,

是因为一点科技的幫助

but the thing that kept them there was political will.

但让它持续曝光的是政治意愿

It was the expectation of the citizens

大众期望著

that she would not be censored.

她不用接受审查

That's now the state we're in with these collaboration tools.

这才是我们目前和这些合作性工具的发展情況

We have them. We've seen them. They work.

我们拥有过，见识过过它们。它们可用。

Can we use them?

我们可以利用它们吗？

Can we apply the techniques that worked here to this?

我们可以将左边的方式应用在右边这里吗？

T.S. Eliot once said, "One of the most momentous things

T.S.艾略特曾说：”一个文化里

that can happen to a culture

所能发生的最重大的事

is that they acquire a new form of prose."

是发现新的散文形式。“

I think that's wrong, but -- (Laughter)

我不这么认为，不过 --（笑声）

I think it's right for argumentation. Right?

这是一个正确的理论方式，对吧？

A momentous thing that can happen to a culture

一个文化里能发生的最重大的事情是

is they can acquire a new style of arguing:

他们可以发展出新的论辩方式：

trial by jury, voting, peer review, now this. Right?

法官审判、投票、同侪审查、然后是这个，对吧？

A new form of arguing has been invented in our lifetimes,

在我们的人生里，一种新的论辩方式已被发明

in the last decade, in fact.

而且其实是在过去十年里发生的

It's large, it's distributed, it's low-cost,

它规模巨大、很广泛、低成本

and it's compatible with the ideals of democracy.

而且它很适合实现民主制度的理想

The question for us now is, are we going to let

而现在的问题是：我们要继续只让

the programmers keep it to themselves?

这些程式设计师使用它吗？

Or are we going to try and take it and press it into service

或者，我们可以试着使用它、让它

for society at large?

为社会大众服务？

Thank you for listening. (Applause)

感谢大家出席聆听（掌声）

(Applause)

（掌声）

Thank you. Thank you. (Applause)

谢谢，谢谢（掌声）