What’s It like to Be a Giant Sequoia Tree? | Ersin Han Ersin | TED

翻译人员: Cong Wei 校对人员: Sue Lu

I was a mosquito once,

我曾经是一只蚊子,

carried by the breeze in the Grizedale forest

随风漂浮在英格兰北部的

in the north of England.

格里泽代尔森林里。

As I drifted between the trees,

当我在树木间漂流时，

surrounded by the chatter of the forest,

四周都是森林的喧闹声，

swirling waves of pink and purple engulfed me.

粉红色和紫色的涡流将我环绕。

Plumes of carbon dioxide and oxygen as the forest breathed,

森林呼吸着二氧化碳和氧气的羽流，

mesmerized by the beauty never before glimpsed by human eyes.

被人眼从未见过的美景迷惑。

And I was in awe.

我心生敬畏之情。

Then I was eaten by a dragonfly.

然后，我被一只蜻蜓吃掉了。

I became a dragonfly

我成了一只蜻蜓，

and discovered a magical world

发现了一个神奇的世界，

in which the entire forest unfurled like a film in slow motion,

整个森林像一部慢动作的电影展开，

yet faster than your iPhone camera could capture it.

却又转瞬既逝, iPhone 相机也无法捕捉。

Through my dragonfly eyes, I took in my surroundings

透过蜻蜓的眼睛，

with pretty much a full spectrum of light,

用几乎完整的光谱感知周围环境，

unlike my human self had ever been able to perceive.

这是我作为人类从未体验过的。

These forays into becoming something other than human

尝试成为非人类生物的探索，

came about as part of our experiential art piece

是我们的体验艺术作品

called “In the Eyes of the Animal,”

“动物眼中”的一部分，

which I developed with my creative partners, Barney and Robin,

我与创意伙伴巴尼和罗宾，

alongside the members of our art collective, Marshmallow Laser Feast.

以及我们的艺术团队 Marshmallow Laser Feast一起开发的。

Our aim was to translate the sensory perception of different species --

我们希望将不同物种的感知传递出来，

a mosquito, a dragonfly, a frog and an owl --

例如蚊子、蜻蜓、青蛙和猫头鹰，

so we can more deeply understand how they see, hear and feel.

以更深地了解其视觉、听觉和感觉。

It was for us a step into umwelt,

这是步入“环境世界”（UMWELT）的举动， 【UMWELT - 影响动物行为的环境因素】

a concept coined by the pioneering biologist Jakob Von Uexküll

此概念由开创性生物学家 雅各布·冯·奥克塞尔提出，

to describe the unique sensory world of an organism.

用来描述生物的独特感官世界。

Human notion of reality is just one among millions.

人类对现实的看法只是众多看法之一。

Each species has its own extraordinary

每个物种都有自己非凡的

and unknowable experience of reality

和不可知的现实体验，

based on the unique ways their senses translate the world around them.

基于它们的感官如何传达周围世界。

In essence,

从本质上讲，

your and my umwelt fundamentally differs

你我的环境世界本质上

from the umwelt of a mosquito or a dragonfly.

与蚊子或蜻蜓的不同。

Marcel Proust once wrote

马塞尔·普鲁斯特曾经写道：

"The only true voyage of discovery

“唯一真正的探索之旅是

is to behold the universe through the eyes of another."

通过他人的眼睛观察宇宙。”

Our voyage of discovery into animal kingdom

我们对动物王国的探索之旅，

led us to plant kingdom

引领我们进入植物王国，

and eventually to trees where miracles appear in every level of magnification.

最终来到树木面前， 这里每一层放大看都有奇迹出现。

All we need to do is to look closely.

我们所要做的就是仔细观察。

In 2016,

2016 年，

we found ourselves standing in front of a giant sequoia tree

我们来到加利福尼亚州红衫国家公园

in Sequoia National Park in California.

一棵巨大的红杉树前。

These giant trees are portals

这些巨树是通向另一世界的门户，

through which you leave your human self-importance behind

通过它们，你抛开人类的自我重要性，

and embody something much larger, much stranger,

成为一种更大、更奇特、

much more than human.

更超越人类存在的东西。

All I could think of was,

当时我唯一能想到的是：

"What is it like to be a tree?"

“做一棵树是什么感觉？”

What is it like to be one of the largest organisms that has ever existed?

成为有史以来最大生物之一，

One that has endured more than 2,500 years?

历经超过 2500 年风雨， 那是什么感觉？

How does it feel to host a vast web of relationships

拥有一个庞大的关系网络，

that anchor an entire ecosystem?

支撑整个生态系统，那又是什么感觉？

Now step with me into this giant

现在请和我一起进入这棵巨树中，

as we peer through the bark,

我们透过树皮窥视，

the vascular system of the tree reveals itself.

树木的维管系统展现在我们眼前。

Infinitely complex patterns and relationships,

无限复杂的模式和关系将所有生命形式

connect all forms of life into a tapestry of interdependence.

连接成相互依赖的图景。

Carbon and water,

碳和水，

more than 1,000 liters of water, in fact,

实际上超过1000升的水，

flow freely through the phloem and xylem tubes carry it along.

自由流动于韧皮部和木质部的管道中。

We ascend to the canopy. Among the neon green moss

我们登上树冠，在霓绿色的苔藓

and the lichen-covered branches,

和长满地衣的树枝之间，

we shrink in size and sit upon a pine needle.

我们微缩后坐在一根松针上。

A photon of light hits the surface, water turns into oxygen

一束光线击中表面，水变成氧气，

and the life we know it materializes in front of us.

我们熟悉的生命在眼前呈现出来。

This extraordinary journey of water inspired us to create our multi-sensory,

这段非凡的水之旅 激发了我们创造多感官、

mixed-reality installation called “Tree Hugger.”

混合现实装置“环保极端者r”。

With a team of scientists,

我们与科学家、

programmers, engineers, LiDAR scanners and scent makers,

程序员、工程师、激光雷达扫描仪 和气味制造商组成的团队一起，

we immerse ourselves in the inner workings of a sequoia

投入到研究红杉树的内部机制中，

to render visible what was otherwise invisible to human eyes.

从而将人眼无法看到的东西呈现出来。

Mileece L'Anson, composer and a musician,

麦莉丝·安森（Mileece L’Anson）， 一名作曲家和音乐家，

recorded human and plant bioelectrical signals

记录了人类和植物的生物电信号，

to give us a symphony,

为我们带来了一个交响曲，

a soundscape composed in collaboration with the flora.

一个与植物群合作创作的声景。

In fact, that's what you've been hearing all along.

实际上，你一直在听的就是这乐曲。

Participants wore a haptic vest to feel these vibrations

参与者穿着触觉马甲，感受这些振动，

as if their own heartbeat,

就像感受自己的心跳一样，

bringing us a step closer, imagining what it is like to be a tree.

让我们更接近，想象成为一棵树的感觉。

When we contemplate the relationship between our breathing cells

当思考我们的呼吸细胞

and the breathing planet,

与呼吸的星球之间的关系时，

we encounter this great question.

我们遇到了这个重要问题。

Where does my body end and where does the world begin?

我的身体在哪里结束，世界在哪里开始？

As you ask yourself this question,

当你问自己这个问题时，

I'd like you to pay attention to your breath.

我希望你注意你的呼吸。

Inhale slowly.

慢慢地吸气，

And exhale.

然后呼气。

Feel your tree-like lungs filling and emptying with a rhythmic flow of air.

感受你像树一样的肺 随着气流的节奏充满，排空。

Oxygenated blood reaches your heart.

富氧的血液到达你的心脏，

Your heart pumps like a murmuration of birds,

心脏像一群鸟儿嗡嗡作响地跳动，

feeding rivers from the center outwards to touch every cell in your body.

从中心向外流淌，触及体内每一个细胞。

Under your skin, you realize you are much like a forest ecosystem.

肌肤之下，你就像一个森林生态系统。

In modern industrial societies,

在现代工业社会中，

we tend to limit our being to our body.

我们倾向于将存在局限于我们的身体。

Shaped by the confines of your skin,

在你的皮肤的限制下，

your body is you and that’s where your you ends.

你的身体就是你，那就是你的界限。

Yet, when we trace our outbreath,

然而，当我们追溯呼气时

the boundary between inside and outside,

内外之间的边界，

between self and other, blurs.

自我与他人之间的边界模糊了。

The air we breathe transcends boundaries,

我们呼吸的空气超越了界限，

sustaining life as it flows between all beings.

流动在所有生物之间，维持生命。

We take anywhere from 17,000 to 30,000 breaths a day.

我们每天呼吸 17000 到 30000 次，

A third of those breaths coming from the forests

其中三分之一的呼吸来自森林，

and the rest coming from the oceans.

其余的来自海洋。

This puts us in an intimate relationship with the trees

这使我们与树建立亲密的关系，

thousands of times a day.

每天有成千上万次。

You might think you've never met a giant sequoia before, but in fact,

你可能认为你从未见过巨型红杉，

you've been enmeshed and entangled with one

但实际上，在你活着的每一刻，

every moment you've been alive.

你都与之交织在一起。

In other words,

换句话说，

we are as much trees as trees are us.

我们是树，就像树也是我们一样。

Our multisensory, mixed-reality installation

我们的多感知，混合现实装置

called “We Live in an Ocean of Air”

“我们生活在空气的海洋中”，

started with this realization.

始于这个认知。

By translating the umwelt of trees for human understanding,

通过解读帮助人类理解树的生物环境，

it underscores the bond between humans

它强调了呼吸将人类与

and the wider family of life through respiration.

更广泛的生命大家庭联系在一起。

As participants follow their outbreath into a tree, they become one.

当参与者跟随其呼气 进入树体时，他们变成了一体。

Now notice your outbreath again.

现在再次注意你的呼气。

Carbon dioxide that leaves your body

离开你的身体的二氧化碳

lands on a leaf.

落在一片叶子上，

Opens its pores to drink it in.

叶子张开孔来吸收它。

Carbon travels through the phloem into the branches,

碳通过韧皮部传到树枝，

down the tree trunk and even all the way down to the soil.

沿着树干甚至一路传到土壤中。

Here,

在这里，

trees are in ancient cooperation with the kingdom of fungi.

树木延续着古老的与真菌王国的合作。

These fine threads of mycelium,

这些细小的菌丝，

those intelligent, root-like fungal networks

聪慧的、根状的真菌网络，

that nurture and feed an entire ecosystem.

滋养并培育着整个生态系统。

By simply tracing our outbreath,

只要追溯我们的呼气，

we realize the reciprocity between all major kingdoms of life

就能明白所有生命王国间的互惠关系

pulsing with one harmonious rhythm.

脉动着一个共同的和谐节奏。

This exploration of rich and diverse life

探索土壤表面下存在的

that exists beneath the surface of the soil

丰富多样的生命，

is the next journey we are embarking on.

是我们即将踏上的下一个旅程。

As fungi capture the public imagination through groundbreaking research,

随着真菌通过开创性研究激发公众想象力，

we are very much inspired by the works of Suzanne Simard,

我们也受到了苏珊·西马德、

Merlin Sheldrake and many others.

梅林·谢尔德雷克等人作品的启发。

“The Wood Wide Web,” which is the working title,

暂定标题为“森林万维网”的作品，

will bring us into the primordial relationship between trees, plants,

将引导我们了解树木、植物、

animals and fungi,

动物和真菌之间的原始关系，

and aim to dismantle the myth of human separation

旨在打破人类与

from the natural world.

自然界分离的神话。

As an artist collective,

作为一个艺术家群体，

we seek to find emotional resonance in scientific stories,

我们努力在科学故事中找到情感共鸣，

stories that connect us to the more-than-human world

将我们与超越人类的世界联系在一起，

and, coupled with emerging technologies,

再用上新兴技术，

deepen our understanding of what is it to be something other than human.

深化我们对人类以外的存在的理解。

Modern science is revealing

现代科学正在揭示

something Indigenous knowledge has always held to be true.

土著知识一直认定是正确的事实，

That what is outside of us

即我们身外的世界

is not separate from us.

并没脱离我们。

We need this ancient wisdom more than ever today

我们比任何时候都更需要这古老智慧，

and it compels us to use our technology to both honor

它促使我们使用技术来

and enhance our relationship with the web of beings.

尊重并加强我们与众生之网的关系。

The ability to perceive the world through the eyes and ears of other beings,

能通过其他生物的眼睛耳朵，

through the phloem and xylem of trees,

通过树的韧皮部和木质部，来感知世界，

even reconnects us, humans, to the fantastic

甚至将人类重新与构成共享地球的

and richly diverse network of organisms that make up our shared Earth.

奇妙且丰富多样的生物网络相联系。

It gives us a greater appreciation of what is it to be non-human,

它让我们更加理解非人类是什么，

which in turn lets us more fully grasp what is it to be human, too.

进而也更全面地理解人类是什么。

And it reminds us with awe

它让我们敬畏地意识到，

that we are all but extensions of one another,

我们都只是彼此的延伸，

from tree to tree, to you and me.

从树到树，到你，到我。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause and cheers)

（掌声和欢呼）