How to see past your own perspective and find truth | Michael Patrick Lynch

翻译人员: 易帆 余 校对人员: Xin Lin

So, imagine that you had your smartphone miniaturized

想像你把智能手机缩小到

and hooked up directly to your brain.

可以直接安装进你脑袋里，

If you had this sort of brain chip,

如果你有这样的大脑晶片，

you'd be able to upload and download to the internet

你就能在网上

快速地下载和上传资料。

at the speed of thought.

Accessing social media or Wikipedia would be a lot like --

当你在使用社群媒体或查询维基百科时，

well, from the inside at least --

至少是从你脑内读取的，

like consulting your own memory.

就像是在咨询你自己的记忆一样。

It would be as easy and as intimate as thinking.

跟你在思考时一样简单、直接。

But would it make it easier for you to know what's true?

但这样做，能让你 更轻易地辨别出真相吗？

Just because a way of accessing information is faster

虽然这个方法可以让你 更快速地撷取信息，

it doesn't mean it's more reliable, of course,

却不能代表这些信息 是更可靠的，当然，

也不代表我们每个人的 解读都会一致，

and it doesn't mean that we would all interpret it the same way.

And it doesn't mean that you would be any better at evaluating it.

更不代表，你比别人 更会判断信息的重要性。

In fact, you might even be worse,

实际上，搞不好更糟糕，

because, you know, more data, less time for evaluation.

因为信息愈多，你判断的时间愈少。

Something like this is already happening to us right now.

这样的事情现在正在发生。

We already carry a world of information around in our pockets,

全球的信息都唾手可得，

but it seems as if the more information we share and access online,

但似乎我们在网上 接触、分享愈多的信息，

the more difficult it can be for us to tell the difference

就越难区分

between what's real and what's fake.

信息的真伪。

It's as if we know more but understand less.

我们变得知道越多，懂得却越少。

Now, it's a feature of modern life, I suppose,

我想，这就是现代生活的 其中一个特色吧，

that large swaths of the public live in isolated information bubbles.

一堆人活在孤立的信息泡泡里。

We're polarized: not just over values, but over the facts.

我们不仅对价值观有不一样的认知， 对事实的认知也是呈现对立的状况。

One reason for that is, the data analytics that drive the internet

原因就是主导网路的"数据分析"，

get us not just more information,

不仅给了我们更多的信息，

but more of the information that we want.

还超出了信息本身的范围。

Our online life is personalized;

人们的网络生活是定制的；

everything from the ads we read

我们所浏览的信息，广告，

to the news that comes down our Facebook feed

到脸书塞给我们的新闻，

is tailored to satisfy our preferences.

都是为了满足我们的个人喜好 而经过修改的。

And so while we get more information,

在我们获取更多资讯的同时，

a lot of that information ends up reflecting ourselves

不少信息到最后 会反映出我们自身，

as much as it does reality.

如同反映整个现实一样。

It ends up, I suppose,

我想，到最后

inflating our bubbles rather than bursting them.

这些泡泡不但刺不破， 反而越来越大。

And so maybe it's no surprise

说我们是活在一个

that we're in a situation, a paradoxical situation,

似是而非的世界里， 一点也不令人讶异，

of thinking that we know so much more,

我们懂这么多知识，

and yet not agreeing on what it is we know.

但到底懂什么，却看法不一。

So how are we going to solve this problem of knowledge polarization?

那么要如何解决知识对立的问题？

One obvious tactic is to try to fix our technology,

其中一个很明显的策略是， 试着修复科技，

重新设计我们的数字平台，

to redesign our digital platforms,

so as to make them less susceptible to polarization.

以减少看法两极化的现象。

And I'm happy to report

我很高兴向各位报告，

that many smart people at Google and Facebook are working on just that.

谷歌和脸书里优秀的人才 正朝此方向努力。

And these projects are vital.

这些研究项目相当重要。

I think that fixing technology is obviously really important,

我认为修复科技显然至关重要，

but I don't think technology alone, fixing it, is going to solve the problem

但我不认为光靠修复科技就能解决

of knowledge polarization.

知识对立的问题。

我不这么认为，是因为到头来，

I don't think that because I don't think, at the end of the day,

终究不是科技的问题，

it is a technological problem.

I think it's a human problem,

而是人的问题，

having to do with how we think and what we value.

跟我们如何思考、 和重视的价值有关。

In order to solve it, I think we're going to need help.

为了解决问题， 我们需要各方的协助，

We're going to need help from psychology and political science.

需要心理学与政治科学的辅助。

But we're also going to need help, I think, from philosophy.

不过我认为， 我们也能从哲学当中获得帮助，

Because to solve the problem of knowledge polarization,

因为想要解决认知对立的问题，

we're going to need to reconnect

我们必须重新思考

with one fundamental, philosophical idea:

一个基本的哲学概念：

that we live in a common reality.

我们是活在同一个现实里的。

The idea of a common reality is like, I suppose,

我觉得活在同一个现实的这个想法

a lot of philosophical concepts:

与众多哲学概念类似：

说起来简单，

easy to state

but mysteriously difficult to put into practice.

但做起来却相当困难。

要面对这样的现实，

To really accept it,

I think we need to do three things,

我们有三件事要做，

each of which is a challenge right now.

目前，每一项都很有挑战性。

First, we need to believe in truth.

首先，我们需要相信真相。

You might have noticed

大家可能也注意到，

that our culture is having something of a troubled relationship

我们的文化对于这样的概念

with that concept right now.

似乎不太认同。

It seems as if we disagree so much that,

就像一位政治评论员不久前所说的，

as one political commentator put it not long ago,

我们越是不认同对方，

it's as if there are no facts anymore.

事实就越似不存在一样。

But that thought is actually an expression

但这种想法实际上只是

of a sort of seductive line of argument that's in the air.

一种充斥在我们身边、 引人注意的陈述方式而已。

It goes like this:

有点像是:

we just can't step outside of our own perspectives;

我们就是跳脱不出个人的观点，

we can't step outside of our biases.

放不下个人的偏见。

Every time we try,

我们每次试着这么做，

只会从个人的观点 产生出更多的信息。

we just get more information from our perspective.

So, this line of thought goes,

所以，这样的想法就变成：

we might as well admit that objective truth is an illusion,

我们干脆承认， 客观的事实只是假象，

or it doesn't matter,

或者根本不重要，

because either we'll never know what it is,

因为，要么我们无知，

or it doesn't exist in the first place.

要么就是真相根本就不存在。

That's not a new philosophical thought --

这不是一个崭兴的哲学思想——

skepticism about truth.

真相怀疑论。

During the end of the last century, as some of you know,

在上世纪末，可能有人知道，

it was very popular in certain academic circles.

怀疑论在特定学术圈大受欢迎。

But it really goes back all the way to the Greek philosopher Protagoras,

但这要回朔到 希腊哲学家普罗泰戈拉，

if not farther back.

应该是他最早提出的。

Protagoras said that objective truth was an illusion

普罗泰戈拉认为， 客观的事实只是假象。

because "man is the measure of all things."

因为"人是丈量万物的准则"。

Man is the measure of all things.

人是丈量万物的准则。

That can seem like a bracing bit of realpolitik to people,

像是权力政治对人们 灌输的价值观，

深深地烙印在我们身上。

or liberating,

它会让每个人探索或 创造出属于自己的真相。

because it allows each of us to discover or make our own truth.

But actually, I think it's a bit of self-serving rationalization

但我觉得这其实 就是哲学上所说的——

disguised as philosophy.

"把个人的自私合理化"。

It confuses the difficulty of being certain

它大大地降低了

with the impossibility of truth.

确认真相的可能性。

Look --

大家想想，

of course it's difficult to be certain about anything;

要确认真相的确很困难；

we might all be living in "The Matrix."

我们可能都活在 《黑客帝国》的世界里。

You might have a brain chip in your head

你的大脑被植入晶片，

错误的信息被灌输在你的大脑里。

feeding you all the wrong information.

But in practice, we do agree on all sorts of facts.

但实际上，我们却认同 各式各样的事实。

We agree that bullets can kill people.

我们认同子弹能杀人，

We agree that you can't flap your arms and fly.

我们认同人不能 挥挥手臂就飞起来，

我们认同--——或我们应该认同——

We agree -- or we should --

that there is an external reality

外面还有一个“现实世界"，

and ignoring it can get you hurt.

若你视而不见的话，可能会受伤。

Nonetheless, skepticism about truth can be tempting,

但怀疑真相会令人着迷，

because it allows us to rationalize away our own biases.

因为这样可以合理化我们的偏见。

When we do that, we're sort of like the guy in the movie

当我们这么做，就像电影中的男主角，

who knew he was living in "The Matrix"

知道他自己活在《黑客帝国》里，

but decided he liked it there, anyway.

但最后却决定留在里面。

After all, getting what you want feels good.

毕竟，得到你想要的 会让你快乐。

Being right all the time feels good.

老觉得自己是对的，让你感觉良好。

So, often it's easier for us

所以，对我们来说， 通常这样比较容易：

to wrap ourselves in our cozy information bubbles,

把自己浸泡在舒适的信息泡泡中，

活在错误的信仰中、

live in bad faith,

and take those bubbles as the measure of reality.

将这些泡泡当作衡量现实的标准。

An example, I think, of how this bad faith gets into our action

举个例子，我们对假新闻事件的反应，

is our reaction to the phenomenon of fake news.

会深深地影响我们的行为。

The fake news that spread on the internet

在2016美国总统大选期间，

during the American presidential election of 2016

散布于网络上的假新闻

was designed to feed into our biases,

就是被设计用来加深我们的偏见，

designed to inflate our bubbles.

膨胀我们的泡泡的。

But what was really striking about it

但真正令人讶异的

was not just that it fooled so many people.

不只是假新闻愚弄了许多人，

What was really striking to me about fake news,

真正令我讶异的是，

the phenomenon,

假新闻现象

is how quickly it itself became the subject of knowledge polarization;

很快地成为了认知对立的议题；

so much so, that the very term -- the very term -- "fake news"

结果，＂假新闻＂这个词，

now just means: "news story I don't like."

现在却演变成：＂我讨厌的新闻＂。

That's an example of the bad faith towards the truth that I'm talking about.

这就是我所说的对真相失去信仰的例子。

But the really, I think, dangerous thing

不过我想更危险的是，

about skepticism with regard to truth

对真相的怀疑

is that it leads to despotism.

会演变成＂专制独裁＂。

"Man is the measure of all things"

＂人是丈量万物的准则＂，

inevitably becomes "The Man is the measure of all things."

无可避免地会变成， ＂那个人＂就是丈量万物的准则，

Just as "every man for himself"

像是＂每个人都能生存＂，

always seems to turn out to be "only the strong survive."

会演变成＂只有强者才能生存＂。

At the end of Orwell's "1984,"

在英国作家乔治·欧威尔的小说 《一九八四》的故事结尾，

the thought policeman O'Brien is torturing the protagonist Winston Smith

思想警察欧布莱恩虐待主角史密斯，

into believing two plus two equals five.

让主角相信二加二等于五。

What O'Brien says is the point,

欧布莱恩所说的观点在于，

is that he wants to convince Smith that whatever the party says is the truth,

他想说服史密斯相信， 凡是党说的就真相，

and the truth is whatever the party says.

真相就是党说了算。

And what O'Brien knows is that once this thought is accepted,

因为欧布莱恩知道， 一旦这个思想被接受了，

critical dissent is impossible.

异议者就不可能存在。

You can't speak truth to power

如果当权者诠释了什么是真相，

if the power speaks truth by definition.

你就不能跟当权者说， 什么才是真相。

I said that in order to accept that we really live in a common reality,

为了彻底接受我们活在现实里，

we have to do three things.

必须做三件事情。

The first thing is to believe in truth.

第一就是相信真相，

The second thing can be summed up

第二，则能用一句拉丁文总结，

by the Latin phrase that Kant took as the motto for the Enlightenment:

康德视之为启蒙时期的座右铭，

"Sapere aude,"

＂Sapere aude＂，

or "dare to know."

或是＂勇于求知＂，

Or as Kant wants, "to dare to know for yourself."

或如康德所说的，＂勇于为自己求知＂。

I think in the early days of the internet,

在网络诞生的早期，

许多人认为

a lot of us thought

that information technology was always going to make it easier

信息技术能帮助我们

for us to know for ourselves,

更了解自己。

and of course in many ways, it has.

当然从很多方面来说，确实如此。

But as the internet has become more and more a part of our lives,

不过，当网络渐渐渗透人们的生活，

our reliance on it, our use of it,

让人们更依赖网络，

has become often more passive.

这会让人们更被动。

Much of what we know today we Google-know.

众所周知，如今我们都 使用谷歌查询信息。

We download prepackaged sets of facts

我们下载事先包装的事实，

并重新在社群媒体上分享。

and sort of shuffle them along the assembly line of social media.

Now, Google-knowing is useful

没错，谷歌搜寻很有用，

precisely because it involves a sort of intellectual outsourcing.

这都要归功于谷歌收集了 很多外部的资源。

我们投入很多精力在 别人的网络与算法当中。

We offload our effort onto a network of others and algorithms.

And that allows us, of course, to not clutter our minds

当然，它能让我们的脑袋

with all sorts of facts.

不被各类事实所淹没。

We can just download them when we need them.

我们只有在需要这些信息时才会下载，

And that's awesome.

这是很棒的事情。

But there's a difference between downloading a set of facts

但下载一整套的事实与 透彻辨析这些真相，

and really understanding how or why those facts are as they are.

两者之间还是有差距的。

Understanding why a particular disease spreads,

了解为何某个疾病会散播，

or how a mathematical proof works,

了解数学验证如何运作，

or why your friend is depressed,

或了解你的朋友为何忧郁，

involves more than just downloading.

其意义都远超过单纯的下载动作。

It's going to require, most likely,

前者更需要

doing some work for yourself:

你自己也要下点功夫，

having a little creative insight;

多一点创造巧思、

using your imagination;

运用想像力、

getting out into the field;

亲身实践、

doing the experiment;

做点小实验、

working through the proof;

引经据典验证、

talking to someone.

与人聊聊。

Now, I'm not saying, of course, that we should stop Google-knowing.

当然我不是要大家停止谷歌搜寻，

I'm just saying

我是说，

我们不该太看重搜寻结果。

we shouldn't overvalue it, either.

We need to find ways of encouraging forms of knowing that are more active,

我们需设法鼓励更积极的求知方式，

and don't always involve passing off our effort into our bubble.

别老是让自己待在信息泡泡里，

Because the thing about Google-knowing is that too often it ends up

因为谷歌知识最后多半变成，

being bubble-knowing.

泡泡知识，

And bubble-knowing means always being right.

而泡泡知识总认为自己是对的。

But daring to know,

但是勇于求知，

daring to understand,

勇于理解，

means risking the possibility that you could be wrong.

意味着你要冒可能搞错的风险，

It means risking the possibility

意味着到头来有可能，

that what you want and what's true are different things.

你想知道的事和真相有出入。

Which brings me to the third thing that I think we need to do

这就引出了如果我们想直面现实世界

if we want to accept that we live in a common reality.

就必须要做的第三件事。

That third thing is: have a little humility.

那就是谦卑一点，

By humility here, I mean epistemic humility,

我指的是知识上的谦卑。

which means, in a sense,

也就是说，

knowing that you don't know it all.

明白你其实不是万事通。

But it also means something more than that.

但这也进一步意味着，

It means seeing your worldview as open to improvement

借由佐证与他人交流的经验，

by the evidence and experience of others.

开启你的世界观，且精益求精。

Seeing your worldview as open to improvement

借由佐证与他人交流的经验，

by the evidence and experience of others.

开启你的世界观，且精益求精。

这不只是打开心胸、拥抱改变，

That's more than just being open to change.

也不只是打开心胸、自我进步，

It's more than just being open to self-improvement.

It means seeing your knowledge as capable of enhancing

而是要明白你个人的知识，

or being enriched by what others contribute.

能透过他人的贡献而有所提升。

That's part of what is involved

这就是认同现实世界存在

in recognizing there's a common reality

必须经历的一个过程，

that you, too, are responsible to.

而你也要负起责任。

I don't think it's much of a stretch to say

我认为说我们的社会

that our society is not particularly great at enhancing or encouraging

不擅于提高或鼓励这种谦卑

that sort of humility.

其实毫不夸张。

That's partly because,

部分原因是由于，

well, we tend to confuse arrogance and confidence.

我们分不清自大与自信，

And it's partly because, well, you know,

有部分是因为，

arrogance is just easier.

自大比自信来得容易。

It's just easier to think of yourself as knowing it all.

认为自己是万事通可简单多了，

It's just easier to think of yourself as having it all figured out.

认为自己能了解一切也简单多了。

But that's another example of the bad faith towards the truth

但这是我刚才提到

that I've been talking about.

对真相有错误信仰的另一个例子。

So the concept of a common reality,

所以现实世界的概念

like a lot of philosophical concepts,

与很多哲学概念雷同，

can seem so obvious,

看起来很显眼，

that we can look right past it

但我们却视而不见，

and forget why it's important.

并忘掉其重要性。

Democracies can't function if their citizens don't strive,

人民若不努力，民主就无法运作，

at least some of the time,

至少有时候是这样，

to inhabit a common space,

如果人民不努力

a space where they can pass ideas back and forth

在共有的时空里交流意见，

when -- and especially when --

尤其是，

they disagree.

当大家想法不一致时。

But you can't strive to inhabit that space

但如果你还没接受，

if you don't already accept that you live in the same reality.

大家是处在同一个现实里， 你就无法待在那个时空里。

To accept that, we've got to believe in truth,

想要接受的话， 我们就必须相信真相，

we've got to encourage more active ways of knowing.

我们必须鼓励更积极的求知方法，

And we've got to have the humility

我们同时也必须保持谦卑，

to realize that we're not the measure of all things.

才能认识到我们不是丈量万物的准则。

We may yet one day realize the vision

也许脑袋里配备网络的想法

of having the internet in our brains.

会有实现的一天。

But if we want that to be liberating and not terrifying,

但如果我们想要解放思想， 并无所惧地执行，

if we want it to expand our understanding

如果我们想扩展视野，

and not just our passive knowing,

不只是被动地汲取知识，

we need to remember that our perspectives,

我们就要记住，我们的观点

as wondrous, as beautiful as they are,

是如此奇妙、美丽，

are just that --

只要我们认同——

perspectives on one reality.

我们是活在同一个现实世界里。

Thank you.

谢谢各位！

(Applause)

(掌声)