Lessons from fungi on markets and economics | Toby Kiers

翻译人员: psjmz mz 校对人员: Jiasi Hao

So I stand before you as an evolutionary biologist,

我作为进化生物学家 站在你们面前，

a professor of evolutionary biology,

进化生物学教授，

这个头衔听起来很花哨， 如果我可以如此自称的话。

which sounds like a rather fancy title, if I may say so myself.

And I'm going to talk about two topics

我要打算讨论两个

that aren't normally talked about together,

通常不被放在一起讨论的话题，

and that's market economies and fungi.

那就是市场经济和真菌。

Or is it fun-GUY, or, as we say in Europe now, fun-GEE?

（英语发音）或叫“番菌（ fun-GUY）”， 或在欧洲的读法，“番基（fun-GEE）“？

There's still no consensus on how to say this word.

人们尚未对这个词的发音取得共识。

So I want you to imagine a market economy

我想让你们想象 一个长达4亿年之久的

that's 400 million years old,

市场经济，

one that's so ubiquitous that it operates in almost every ecosystem of the world,

这种市场经济无处不在地存在 世界上的每一个生态系统中，

so huge that it can connect millions of traders simultaneously,

它庞大到能够同时且持久地连接 数百万的交易方

and so persistent

它顽强到可从数场大灭绝中生存下来。

that it survived mass extinctions.

It's here, right now, under our feet.

它就在这里，就在此刻，在我们脚下。

You just can't see it.

你只是看不见。

And unlike human economies

跟人类市场经济

that rely on cognition to make decisions,

依靠认知来做决定不同，

traders in this market, they beg, borrow, steal, cheat,

这个市场中的交易员， 它们乞讨，借取，偷窃，欺骗，

all in the absence of thought.

全都在无思想的情况下发生。

So hidden from our eyes,

隐藏在我们的眼皮底下，

plant roots are colonized by a fungus called arbuscule mycorrhizae.

植物的根茎被一种 叫做丛枝菌根的真菌定殖。

Now the fungus forms these complex networks underground

现在真菌在地下形成的 这些复杂网络，

of fine filaments thinner than even threads of cotton.

它们的这些细丝比棉线还细。

So follow one of these fungi,

所以顺着其中一种真菌，

and it connects multiple plants simultaneously.

它同时连接着多个植物。

You can think of it as an underground subway system,

你可以把它想成地下铁系统，

where each root is a station,

每个根是一个站，

在那里资源被装载和卸载。

where resources are loaded and unloaded.

And it's also very dense,

并且它非常紧密，

so roughly the length of many meters, even a kilometer,

在一克土里，大概有几米长，

in a single gram of dirt.

甚至一公里长。

So that's the length of 10 football fields

在一丁点的土壤里， 真菌网络细丝

in just a thimbleful of soil.

就有10个足球场长。

And it's everywhere.

并且它无处不在。

So if you passed over a tree, a shrub, a vine, even a tiny weed,

所以如果你经过一棵树，一片灌木， 一条藤蔓，甚至是一棵小草，

you passed over a mycorrhizal network.

你就穿越过了一个菌根网络。

Roughly 80 percent of all plant species

大概 80% 的植物品种

are associated with these mycorrhizal fungi.

与这些菌根真菌连接。

So what does a root covered in fungi

那么被真菌覆盖的根茎

和我们全球经济有什么关系？

have to do with our global economy?

And why as an evolutionary biologist have I spent the last 10 years of my life

我这个进化生物学家 为什么要花过去 10 年

learning economic jargon?

来研究经济学术语？

Well, the first thing you need to understand

你需要理解的第一件事是

植物和真菌合作伙伴 达成的贸易协议

is that trade deals made by plant and fungal partners

are surprisingly similar

和我们人类制定的贸易协定

to those made by us,

非常相似，

but perhaps even more strategic.

但或许更具策略性。

You see, plant and fungal partners,

你看，植物和真菌合作伙伴，

they're not exchanging stocks and bonds,

它们不交易股票和证券，

they're exchanging essential resources,

它们交换重要的资源。

and for the fungus, that's sugars and fats.

对于真菌而言，那是糖和脂肪。

It gets all of its carbon directly from the plant partner.

它所有的碳源都是直接从 植物伙伴那里获得的。

So much carbon, so every year, roughly five billion tons of carbon

如此大量的碳， 以至于每年，有大约 50 亿吨的碳

from plants go into this network underground.

从植物进入到这个地下网络。

For the root, what they need is phosphorus and nitrogen,

对根茎而言，它们需要的是磷和氮，

so by exchanging their carbon

因此，通过交换它们的碳，

they get access to all of the nutrients collected by that fungal network.

它们能够获得真菌网络 收集的所有营养。

So to make the trade,

所以为了达成交易，

the fungus penetrates into the root cell of the host

真菌渗透到宿主的根细胞中

and forms a tiny structure called an arbuscule,

形成一个叫做丛枝的微小结构，

which is Latin for "little tree."

在拉丁语中是“小树”的意思。

Now, you can think of this as the physical stock exchange

现在，你可以把这个想成 贸易市场中的实体的

证券交易所。

of the trade market.

So up until now, it seems very harmonious.

所以到目前为止，一切看似都很和谐。

Right? I scratch your back, you scratch mine,

对吧？我给你挠挠背， 你也给我挠挠，

both partners get what they need.

双方都各得所需。

But here is where we need to pause

但这里我们需要暂停一下，

and understand the power of evolution and natural selection.

来了解进化和自然选择的力量。

You see, there's no room for amateur traders on this market.

在这个市场可没有 业余交易员的位置。

Making the right trade strategy

正确交易策略的制定

determines who lives and who dies.

决定着谁活谁死。

Now, I use the word strategy,

现在，我使用“策略”这个词，

but of course plant and fungi, they don't have brains.

但当然植物和真菌， 它们没有大脑。

They're making these exchanges

它们的这些策略

in the absence of anything that we would consider as thought.

是在我们认为的认知缺失 的情况下制定出的。

But, as scientists, we use behavioral terms

但，作为科学家， 我们使用行为术语，

such as strategy

诸如“策略”

to describe behaviors to certain conditions,

来描述特定情况下

actions and reactions

被编入生物体 DNA 的

that are actually programmed into the DNA of the organism.

行为，动作和反应。

So I started studying these trade strategies

我是在 19 岁的时候

when I was 19 years old

开始研究这些交易策略的，

and I was living in the tropical rainforests of Panama.

我当时住在巴拿马的热带雨林。

Now, everybody at the time was interested in this incredible diversity aboveground.

在当时，每个人都对地面上的这种 令人惊诧的多样性而感兴趣。

And it was hyperdiversity. These are tropical rainforests.

它确实极其多样。这些可是热带雨林。

But I was interested in the complexity belowground.

但我的兴趣， 却在于地下的复杂性。

We knew that the networks existed, and we knew they were important,

我们知道这些网络的存在， 我们知道它们很重要，

and I'm going to say it again, by important I mean important,

并且我要再说一次， “重要”我的意思是重要，

so the basis of all plant nutrition

是你在地面上看到的

for all the diversity that you do see aboveground.

所有多样植物的营养基础。

But at the time, we didn't know how these networks worked.

但那时，我们不知道 这些网络是如何运作的。

We didn't know how they functioned.

我们不知道它们是如何起作用的。

Why did only certain plants interact with certain fungi?

为什么只有特定的植物 会和特定的真菌交互。

So fast-forward to when I started my own group,

所以快进到我成立小组的时候，

and we really began to play with this trade market.

于是我们真正开始涉足 这个交易网络。

You see, we would manipulate conditions.

你看，我们会操纵条件。

We would create a good trading partner by growing a plant in the sun

我们会把植物种在阳光下 来创建一位良好的交易伙伴，

and a poor trading partner by growing it in the shade.

也会在阴暗环境中种植植物， 以创建一位糟糕的交易伙伴。

We would then connect these with a fungal network.

我们然后将这些植物跟 一个真菌网络连接。

And we found that the fungi were consistently good

我们发现：真菌一直很擅长

at discriminating among good and bad trading partners.

识别贸易伙伴的好坏。

They would allocate more resources to the host plant giving them more carbon.

它们会分配更多的资源给 能回馈自己更多碳的寄主植物。

如今，我们也进行了交互实验，

Now, we would run the reciprocal experiments

where we would inoculate a host plant with good and bad fungi,

让宿主植物接种有益菌和有害菌，

and they were also good at discriminating between these trade partners.

我们发现：它们也非常擅长 区分交易伙伴。

So what you have there is the perfect conditions for a market to emerge.

这里有着市场出现的完美条件。

It's a simple market,

这是个简单的市场，

但它仍然是个市场，

but it's a market nonetheless,

where the better trading partner is consistently favored.

在这个市场中， 更好的交易伙伴总是受到偏爱。

But is it a fair market?

但这是个公平的市场吗？

Now this is where you need to understand that, like humans,

现在这是你需要理解的， 跟人类类似，

plants and fungi are incredibly opportunistic.

植物和真菌都是不可思议的 机会主义者。

There's evidence that the fungus, once it penetrates into the plant cell,

有证据表明，真菌一旦 它渗透进植物细胞中，

it can actually hijack the plant's own nutrient uptake system.

它其实会劫持植物自己 的营养摄取系统。

It does this by suppressing the plant's own ability

它通过抑制植物自身 从土壤中吸收养分的能力

to take up nutrients from the soil.

来做到这一点。

So this creates a dependency of the plant on the fungus.

于是这造成了植物对真菌的依赖。

It's a false addiction, of sorts,

这有点是那种虚假的上瘾，

whereby the plant has to feed the fungus

也就是说，植物必须为真菌提供养料，

just to get access to the resources right around its own root.

才能获得自己根茎周围的营养资源。

There's also evidence that the fungi are good at inflating the price of nutrients.

也有证据表明，真菌很擅长 抬高营养物质的价格。

They do this by extracting the nutrients from the soil,

通过吸收土壤中的养分，

but then rather than trading them with the host,

它们并不选择与其跟宿主交换，

they hoard them in their network,

而是将养分存储在自己的网络中，

so this makes them unavailable to the plant and other competing fungi.

这就使植物和其他竞争真菌 没法获得这些养分。

So basic economics,

这是基本的经济学，

as resource availability goes down, the value goes up.

随着资源获取的难度上升， 其价值上升。

The plant is forced to pay more for the same amount of resources.

植物被迫为同样数量的资源 支付更多。

But it's not all in favor of the fungus.

但这并非全有益于真菌。

Plants can be extremely cunning as well.

植物也可以非常狡猾。

有一些兰花——

There are some orchids --

and I always think orchids somehow seem like the most devious

我总觉得兰花像是地球上

最阴险狡猾的物种 ——

of the plant species in the world --

and there are some orchids

有一些兰花

that just tap directly into the network

它们直接进入真菌网络，

and steal all their carbon.

并偷走所有的碳。

So these orchids, they don't even make green leaves to photosynthesize.

这些兰花，它们甚至 不生长绿叶来进行光合作用。

They're just white.

它们就是纯白的。

So rather than photosynthesizing,

所以它不是通过光合作用，

tap into the network,

而是进入网络，

steal the carbon

偷走碳

and give nothing in return.

并从不回报。

Now I think it's fair to say that these types of parasites

现在我觉得以公平来讲， 这样的寄生生物

also flourish in our human markets.

在人类市场中也不少。

So as we began to decode these strategies,

随着我们对这些策略的解码，

we learned some lessons.

我们也学到了一些东西。

And the first one was that there's no altruism in this system.

第一点是这个系统 没有利他主义，

There's no trade favors.

没有贸易优惠。

我们没有看到显著的的证据表明

We don't see strong evidence

of the fungus helping dying or struggling plants

真菌会帮助将死 或处于困境的植物，

unless it directly benefits the fungus itself.

除非这跟真菌的直接利益相关。

Now I'm not saying if this is good or bad.

我不评论这个好还是坏。

Unlike humans, a fungus, of course, cannot judge its own morality.

与人类不同， 真菌自然无法评判自己的道德。

而且作为一个生物学家，

And as a biologist,

I'm not advocating for these types of ruthless neoliberal market dynamics

我也不倡议真菌所执行的这种无情的

新自由主义市场动态。

enacted by the fungi.

但交易系统，

But the trade system,

it provides us with a benchmark

它为我们提供了一个

to study what an economy looks like

研究市场经济模样的基准，

when it's been shaped by natural selection

当它在道德缺失的环境下

被几亿年的自然选择

for hundreds of millions of years

in the absence of morality,

所塑造时，

when strategies are just based

当策略仅仅基于

on the gathering and processing of information,

收集和处理信息，

uncontaminated by cognition:

不受认知影响：

no jealousy, no spite,

没有妒忌，没有怨恨，

but no hope, no joy.

但没有希望，也没有快乐。

So we've made progress

所以我们此刻已经

解码了最基本的交易原则，

in decoding the most basic trade principles at this point,

but as scientists we always want to take it one step further,

但作为科学家， 我们总是想要再进一步，

and we're interested in more complex economic dilemmas.

我们感兴趣的是更复杂的 经济两难的窘境。

And specifically we're interested in the effects of inequality.

我们尤其感兴趣不平等的影响。

So inequality has really become a defining feature

不平等真的成为了 今天经济图景中

of today's economic landscape.

一个决定性特征。

But the challenges of inequality

但不平等的挑战

are not unique to the human world.

不是人类社会所特有的。

I think as humans we tend to think that everything's unique to us,

作为人类，我们倾向于 认为我们一切都是独一无二的，

但是自然界的生物

but organisms in nature

must face relentless variation in their access to resources.

必须要面对不断变化以获取资源。

How does a fungus that can again be meters long

当一种真菌同时暴露在

change its trade strategy when it's exposed simultaneously

一块肥沃的和一块贫瘠的土地上时，

to a rich patch and a poor patch?

它是如何改变自己的交易策略的呢？

And, more generally,

并且，更普遍的，

how do organisms in nature use trade to their advantage

自然界中的有机体在面对

获取资源的不确定性时，

when they're faced with uncertainty

in terms of their access to resources?

是如何利用交易来为自己牟取资源？

Here's where I have to let you in on a secret:

这里我要告诉你们一个秘密：

studying trade underground is incredibly difficult.

研究地下交换网络非常困难。

You can't see where or when important trade deals take place.

你不知道在何处与何时 重要的交易会发生。

So our group helped pioneer a method, a technology,

于是我们团队帮助开拓了 一种方法，一种技术，

whereby we could tag nutrients with nanoparticles,

用纳米颗粒标记营养物质，

fluorescing nanoparticles called quantum dots.

荧光纳米颗粒叫做量子点。

这些量子点可以让我们

What the quantum dots allow us to do

is actually light up the nutrients

点亮营养物质，

so we can visually track their movements

这样我们就能视觉监测

across the fungal network

它们在真菌网络

and into the host root.

到宿主根茎的运动。

So this allows us finally to see the unseen,

这让我们终于能够看到 原本看不到的东西，

so we can study how fungi bargain at a small scale with their plant hosts.

于是我们能够研究真菌 在微观上是如何跟它们的植物宿主议价的。

所以为了研究不平等，

So to study inequality,

we exposed a fungal network

我们将一个真菌网络

to these varying concentrations of fluorescing phosphorus,

暴露在这些不同浓度的荧光磷中，

mimicking patches of abundance and scarcity

在这片人工景观中模拟

across this artificial landscape.

肥沃与贫瘠的小块土地。

We then carefully quantified fungal trade.

然后我们仔细地量化真菌的交易。

And we found two things.

我们发现了两件事情。

The first thing we found

我们发现的第一件事是

was that inequality encouraged the fungus to trade more.

不平等会鼓励真菌交易更多。

So I can use the word "encouraged" or "stimulated" or "forced,"

所以我可以使用 “鼓励”、“刺激”或“迫使”这样的词。

但基本结论是 与控制条件相比，

but the bottom line is that compared to control conditions,

inequality was associated with higher levels of trade.

不平等与更高水平的交换有关。

This is important,

这很重要，

because it suggests that evolving a trade partnership in nature

因为这说明 在自然中积极发展交易伙伴

can help organisms cope with the uncertainty of accessing resources.

可以帮助生物体 应对资源获取的不确定性。

Second, we found that, exposed to inequality,

第二，我们发现， 在不平等条件下，

the fungus would move resources from the rich patch of the network,

真菌会将资源从网络的肥沃部分

actively transport them to the poor side of the network.

积极地传输到网络的贫瘠部分。

Now, of course, we could see this

当然，我们能够看到这个

because the patches were fluorescing in different colors.

是因为这两块土地 呈现不同颜色。

So at first, this result was incredibly puzzling.

所以起初， 这个结果真的非常令人费解。

真菌是在帮助网络中的贫瘠部分吗？

Was it to help the poor side of the network?

No. We found that the fungus gained more by first moving the resources

不是，我们发现 真菌通过将资源转送到需求更高的地方

to where demand was higher.

可以赚取更多。

Simply by changing where across the network the fungus was trading,

只需要改变 真菌进行交易资源的位置，

it could manipulate the value of those resources.

它就可以操纵这些资源的价值。

Now this stimulated us to really dig deeper into how information is shared.

这激发我们去更深层次地挖掘 信息是如何共享的。

It suggests a high level of sophistication,

这现象暗示了 在一个不具备认知能力的生物体中

or at least a medium level of sophistication

具有的高度的复杂性，

in an organism with no cognition.

或者至少中等程度的复杂性。

How is it that a fungus can sense market conditions across its network

这个真菌是如何能够感知到 自己网络中的市场状况

并且计算得出何时何地交易的？

and then make calculations of where and when to trade?

So we wanted to look about information and how it's shared across this network,

我们想要研究信息、 信息是如何在这整个网络中共享的，

how the fungus integrates cues.

以及真菌是如何整合这些线索的。

So to do that, what you need to do is dive deep in and get a higher resolution

为找寻这些问题的答案， 你需要做的是钻的更深

into the network itself.

并拿到该网络更高清晰度的成像。

We began to study complex flows inside the hyphal network.

我们开始研究 菌丝网络内部的复杂流动。

So what you're looking at right now is a living fungal network

所以你现在看到的 是活的真菌网络，

有细胞内容在流动。

with the cellular contents moving across it.

This is happening in real time,

这是实时发生的，

so you can see the time stamp up there.

你可以看到上面的时间标记。

So this is happening right now. This video isn't sped up.

所以这是现在正在发生的， 视频没有被加速处理过。

This is what is happening under our feet right now.

这是我们脚下正在发生的。

And there's a couple of things that I want you to notice.

有几件事我想让你们注意。

It speeds up, it slows down, it switches directions.

它会加速，它会慢下来， 它会改变方向。

So we're working now with biophysicists

我们现在和生物物理学家一起

to try to dissect this complexity.

在尝试剖析这种复杂性。

How is the fungus using these complex flow patterns

真菌是如何利用这种 复杂的流动模式

to share and process information

来分享和处理信息

and make these trade decisions?

从而去做这些交易决定的？

Are fungi better at making trade calculations than us?

真菌的交易计算的能力 比我们的强吗？

Now here's where we can potentially borrow models from nature.

这是我们可能可以 从自然中借用的模型。

We're increasingly reliant on computer algorithms

我们日益依赖于

to make us profitable trades in split-second time scales.

能让我们在即刻盈利的 电脑算法。

But computer algorithms and fungi,

但电脑算法和真菌，

they both operate in similar, uncognitive ways.

它们同样都以， 无认知的方式运行着。

The fungi just happens to be a living machine.

真菌只是碰巧是个活体。

What would happen if we compare and compete

如果我们让这两种交易策略 进行对比和竞争

the trading strategies of these two?

会怎样？

Who would win?

谁会获胜？

这个在恐龙时代之前

The tiny capitalist that's been around

since before and the fall of the dinosaurs?

就存在的小资本家？

My money is on the fungus.

我会给真菌下赌注。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）