The Joy of Learning Random Things on Wikipedia | Annie Rauwerda | TED

翻译人员: Xiaoqi Gai 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

When I was younger,

当我年轻的时候，

I used to be really into Trivial Pursuit

我曾经非常喜欢玩 常识问答游戏 （Trivial Pursuit）。

and sometimes I would memorize the backs of the cards so I could win.

有时候为了赢，我会记下牌背面的答案。

And that's how I learned some of my favorite trivia.

我就是这样学到了 一些我喜爱的冷知识。

Like, there's a name for those three asterisks in the book

比如，书中的那三个星号是有名字的，

when the vibe changes.

表示氛围发生了变化。

It's called a dinkus.

它叫 dinkus。

And I also learned that Oklahoma has a state vegetable

我还了解到俄克拉荷马州有一种州果，

and it's a watermelon.

它是一种西瓜。

I've always really liked trivia

我一直很喜欢这些冷知识，

precisely because it's information that carries no responsibility at all.

因为获取这些信息没有负担。

If you forget the information that's going to be on your test

如果你忘记了考试内容，

or your mom's birthday, you might have consequences,

或你妈妈的生日， 你可能要承担后果。

but you never have a test on state vegetables.

但你永远不会遇到有关州果的考试。

It's learning that's just for fun.

了解这些知识只是为了好玩。

I've always been pretty curious.

我的好奇心一直很旺盛。

I graduated in 2022

我于 2022 年毕业，

and my favorite parts of my neuroscience classes

我在神经科学课上最喜欢的部分，

were not necessarily the nitty gritty physiology.

并不是那些正经的生理学知识。

I really liked the funnier stuff,

我喜欢更有趣的东西。

like the protein in limb development named after Sonic the hedgehog,

比如以刺猬索尼克命名的 肢体发育中的蛋白质，

or this bridged bicyclic molecule

或者这个看起来像忍者神龟的 桥接双环分子。

that looks like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

Not all of my coursework was so charming,

并非我所有的课程都如此迷人，

but I tried to convince myself

但我试图说服自己，

that everything was at least a little bit interesting.

所有的东西都至少有一点有趣。

One of the best ways to make things more interesting

让事情更有趣的最好方法之一，

is to learn more than you have to.

就是学习那些超出你需要学的东西。

My favorite place for a long time, to quench my curiosity is Wikipedia,

很长一段时间以来， 我都喜欢用维基百科来满足我的好奇心，

the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

这是一个任何人 都可以编辑的免费在线百科全书。

I've been a longtime fan.

我一直是它的忠实粉丝。

I journaled about my Wikipedia reading habits when I was in fifth grade.

我在读五年级时， 还记录过自己的维基百科阅读习惯，

And when classes went online in 2020,

而当 2020 年课程转为线上教学时，

I found myself scrolling through all these Wikipedia articles

我发现自己在浏览各种各样的维基百科文章， 并参与贡献。

and contributing.

Anyone can edit the site.

任何人都可以编辑该网站。

Some of the things I read had to do with my coursework.

我读到的一些内容与我的课程有关。

Like, I learned that the p in pH doesn't stand for anything.

比如我了解到 pH 中的 p 不代表任何东西。

OK.

好的。

I also learned about things that had no relation to my classes --

我还了解到了一些 与我的课程完全无关的东西——

Fictional worms,

虚构的蠕虫，

non-water floods.

没有水的洪水。

Before I could think too long about what it would have been like

啤酒满街流淌的伦敦生活会是什么样子，

to live in London when beer was flowing through the streets,

在我细想这个景象之前，

I was reading about Goblu and Beatosu, fake towns.

我就读到了关于虚构的小镇 Goblu和Beatosu的故事。

They don't exist,

这两个小镇根本不存在，

but they were put on the official Michigan map

但是在70年代，

in the Ohio section at the bottom

它们出现在了密歇根州的官方地图上，

by mischievous mapmakers in the '70s.

顽皮的地图制作者 把它们放在俄亥俄州部分的底部。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I started screenshotting my favorite pieces of trivia on Wikipedia

我开始截屏我在维基百科上 看到的最喜欢的冷知识，

and I put them on Instagram.

并把它们放在Instagram上。

And that was in the early pandemic and I'm still doing it.

那是在疫情初期的时候， 而我现在依然在做这件事。

I posted things like the Michigan State professor

我发布了一些内容，

who took this model kidney to Disney World

比如密歇根州立大学的教授 带着这个肾脏模型去了迪斯尼乐园，

to see if roller coasters help pass kidney stones.

观察过山车是否有助于排出肾结石，

They do.

结论是可以。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Good to know.

这是个好消息。

Wikipedia is created by real people.

维基百科是由真实的人创建的。

Unlike traditional publishers or other encyclopedias,

与传统出版商或其他百科全书不同，

it doesn't require that you're an expert in your field.

它不要求你是该领域的专家。

This is a user whose name is Diannaa,

这个用户名叫 Diannaa，

who has written probably everything you know about World War II.

她可能编辑了你所知道的 所有关于第二次世界大战的内容。

And also P Diddy.

还有关于P . Diddy的知识。

There are thousands of people like this.

还有成千上万这样像她这样的人。

You don't have to be an expert.

你不必是专家。

You just have to be able to synthesize sources

你只需要能够整合资源，

and follow style guidelines.

并遵循文体指南即可。

Those guidelines are strict,

这些指南很严格，

but not so strict that a little personality

但也不至于太严格，

doesn't shine through sometimes.

以至于有时一点个性都不能彰显出来。

This article about the Popemobile

我认为这篇关于 教皇座驾（Popemobile）的文章很有个性。

I think has quite a bit of personality.

It says "John Paul II requested

上面写道：“约翰 . 保罗二世 要求媒体停止称呼这辆车为教皇摩托车，

that the media stop referring to the car as the popemobile,

saying that the term was ‘undignified.’

他称这个词是'不庄重的'。

The popemobile ... ”

这辆教皇摩托车……“

and then it goes on and on.

之后就不言而喻了。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I'm also a fan of the Wikipedia editor

我也是这位维基百科编辑者的粉丝，

who saw this caption about a bagpiper and a penguin

当看到这个 关于风笛手和企鹅的图片注释时，

and decided to clarify which was the bagpiper.

这位编辑者决定澄清哪个是风笛手。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Thank you, very helpful.

谢谢，很有帮助。

I'm a fan of the Wikipedia editor that submitted this photo for Vienna bread

我还是这位维基百科编辑者的粉丝，

他为维也纳面包提交了一张照片，

that has motion blur for some reason.

但不知为何，这张照片上有动态模糊。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Wikipedia sometimes feels infinite.

维基百科有时候给人一种无穷的感觉。

And I'm sure you've heard warnings that it's not perfect.

而且我敢肯定， 你也听过一些关于它并不完美的警告。

Maybe your seventh grade teacher said, "Don't use Wikipedia, anyone can edit it."

也许你的七年级老师说过：

“不要使用维基百科， 因为任何人都可以编辑它。”

And it's true that there is some misinformation and disinformation

维基百科上确实 存在着一些错误和虚假信息

on the site.

Often, it's only up for a few seconds or minutes,

通常，这些错误信息 只会存在几秒钟或几分钟，

but sometimes hoaxes last longer.

但有时骗局会持续更长的时间。

For example,

例如，十年以来，

there was an article for 10 years

about an Aboriginal god called Jar'Edo Wens.

存在着一篇关于澳大利亚原住民神 Jar'Edo Wens的文章。

It didn't cite any sources.

它没有引用任何消息来源。

It should have been deleted, but it wasn't.

它本应被删除，但却没有。

And eventually, this information was printed in books

最终，这些信息被印在了书中，

and told in university lectures.

并在大学讲座中被讲述。

Until after 10 years, somebody realized that the article was just created

直到十年后，有人意识到，

by probably an Australian teenager named Jared Owens.

这篇文章可能是由一个

名叫贾里德·欧文斯（Jared Owens）的 澳大利亚少年创作的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So Wikipedia is not perfect,

所以维基百科并不完美，

but studies have shown that it contains fewer factual inaccuracies

但研究表明， 与大英百科全书相比，

than Encyclopedia Britannica.

它包含的事实错误更少。

And I think that's really impressive.

我认为这确实很令人印象深刻。

When I was in the --

在2020年夏天的时候，

In the summer of 2020, I kept posting my favorite trivia.

我一直在发布我最喜欢的冷知识。

Physically, I was quarantined, but I was exploring the world.

身体上，我被隔离了， 但我仍在探索这个世界。

Things like breast-shape hills or this unusual chess opening.

例如乳房形状的山丘， 或这个不寻常的国际象棋开局之类的东西。

I definitely was aware that there were islands in lakes.

我当然知道湖里会有岛屿。

Like, I knew that was a thing.

我知道有这种可能性。

But it had never occurred to me

但我从没想过，

that there could be an island in a lake on an island.

在岛上的湖里可能有一座岛。

I also had never thought about the possibility

我也从未考虑过，

of an island in a lake on an island in a lake.

这个湖中的小岛上 还可能有一个湖中小岛

And I had definitely never considered the idea

而且我更是没想到过，

of an island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island.

岛屿上的湖中小岛里的湖中可能有一个岛

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Wikipedia is just huge.

维基百科非常庞大。

It has 6.6 million articles in English alone.

仅英文版就有660万篇文章。

But it's not done.

但它还没有完善。

Wikipedia needs editors like you to contribute to free knowledge,

维基百科需要像你这样的编辑 为自由知识添砖加瓦，

whether that's small things like fixing commas or adding sources

无论是修复逗号或添加来源之类的小事，

or big things like heavy content editing

还是诸如编辑大量内容

or making sure people aren't using it for advertisements.

或者确保人们不会将其 用于广告之类的大事。

There are some fun ways to contribute.

有一些有趣的方式可以参与。

This is a website called wikishootme.toolforge.org

这是一个名为 wikishootme.toolforge.org 的网站，

and it shows you what landmarks nearby need photos.

它向你展示了附近哪些地标需要照片。

That's a fun way to contribute.

这是一种有趣的投稿方式。

Wikipedia should be representative of everything in the world

Wikipedia应该反映世界上的各个方面，

and you would hope that its contributors also reflected the world's population.

你会期望Wikipedia的投稿者群体 也能够反映世界的人口。

By best estimates,

根据最优估测，

the contributors are about 80 percent male,

贡献者中约80％是男性，

so there are a lot of efforts with edit-a-thons

所以为了吸引更多人进行编辑，

and marketing campaigns to get more people editing.

人们在编辑马拉松活动和推广活动上， 做出了很多努力。

I'll remind you, it's created by very normal, real people.

我要提醒你，维基百科是由 非常普通的、真实的人创建的。

This couple in 2008

2008年，这对夫妻发现 维基百科中没有击掌的图片，

noticed that there were no photos on the Wikipedia article for high five,

so they took matters in their own hands,

所以他们亲自上手解决，

acting out the sequence: up high,

演绎出了这个击掌顺序：

down low, victim misses, and too slow with finger guns.

举高、放低、没打着 以及你太慢了（手指枪射击）。

And then they added a hyperlink

然后他们添加了一个超链接，

so you can go visit the finger gun article if you want to.

如果你愿意， 你可以去访问手指枪（finger gun）词条。

I thought this was very charming when I first saw it.

当我第一次看到它时， 我觉得它非常有趣。

And so I reached out to them, I tracked them down.

于是我联系并找到了他们。

It turns out after this, after they did this, they started dating,

原来在做了这件事之后， 他们开始约会，

they got married, they had kids,

他们结婚了，还有了孩子，

and they agreed to recreate the photos with their kids.

并且他们同意和孩子们一起重现这些照片。

(Laughter and applause)

（笑声和掌声）

So I ...

所以我……

People take the task of writing an encyclopedia very seriously.

人们非常认真地对待编写百科全书的任务。

I said that I get really into trivia.

我说过我对冷知识非常感兴趣。

Some of these people will spend a long time doing very trivial things.

有些人会花费很多时间 在这些微不足道的事情上。

There was a long debate on whether the caption "Guy Standing sitting"

关于图片题注“坐着的盖·斯坦丁” （Guy Standing siting）

was too funny for an encyclopedia.

对于百科来说是否过于滑稽， 人们曾进行了长时间的争论。

They eventually removed the caption.

他们最终删除了这个标题。

There was a 40,000-word discussion on whether to capitalize the I

还有一场长达 4 万字争论，

是有关于 《星际迷航：黑暗 》 （Star Trek Into Darkness）中的 “I”是否大写。

in “Star Trek Into Darkness.”

There was an even longer discussion

人们甚至花了更长篇幅来讨论

on whether this thing should be called corn or maize.

这个东西应该被叫做玉米还是玉蜀黍。

Maize is winning, as Ann Arbor will be happy to know.

玉蜀黍这个说法更受欢迎， 安娜堡市的人肯定会很高兴。

So ultimately, I kind of laugh at this sort of meticulous detail,

因此总的来说， 我觉得这种细枝末节的事很搞笑，

but I'm glad that people are thinking this deeply about things,

但我很高兴人们 对事情进行了如此深入的思考，

especially in an era of social media filter bubbles

尤其是在这个有着社交媒体的信息茧房

and 24-hour news cycles,

和全天候新闻报道的时代 ，

when truth looks different depending on where you look.

真相会因观察角度的不同 而呈现不同的样貌。

People on Wikipedia are coming together to write history in real time.

维基百科上的人们正在共同实时书写历史。

I think the inner workings of an online encyclopedia are fascinating.

我认为在线百科全书的内部运作方式令人着迷。

Turns out, other people do too.

事实证明，其他人也这么认为。

When I was a student here last year,

去年我还在这里上学的时候，

I started moonlighting as a journalist,

我开始以记者的身份兼职，

explaining how a site this big gets made by volunteers.

解释志愿者们是如何制作出这么大的网站。

I wrote about how, when after Russia invaded Ukraine,

我曾写过关于俄乌战争开始后，

downloads of Wikipedia skyrocketed in Russia

由于新闻自由受到限制，

as the state was limiting free press.

维基百科在俄罗斯的下载量激增。

Wikipedia is not perfect,

维基百科并不完美，

but clearly it's an information source that people desire.

但很显然，它是人们渴望的一处信息来源。

Or when the Queen died, I wrote about the Wikipedia editor

当女王去世时，我写了一篇文章，

that was so quick to change her article into past tense.

是有关于维基百科的编辑者

是如何迅速地把女王的词条 内容都改成了过去式。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I kept posting online and I was getting a following

我坚持在网上发布内容 并收获了一些支持者，

and I started leading edit-a-thons to get more people to contribute.

我开始主持编辑马拉松活动， 以吸引更多的人来参与。

Then I started doing comedy shows

然后我开始做喜剧表演

and I was surprised to learn that one,

令我惊讶的是，

I thought it was fun,

首先，我能从中获得乐趣，

but also people were excited to pay money to go to a show about an encyclopedia.

此外人们也愿意花钱 去看一场关于百科全书的表演。

I'm still really drawn to useless knowledge.

我仍然被无用的知识所吸引。

Like Diego, the tortoise who had so much sex

就像迭戈（Diego）一样，

that he saved his species.

那只性生活如此之多， 以至于拯救了自己的物种的乌龟。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

(Applause)

（掌声）

Some applause for him, great.

给他点掌声，太好了。

I'll let him know.

我告诉他的。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Or I like "Boops boops in a bucket,"

或者我喜欢 “桶里的Boops boops鱼” （牛眼鲷），

I just like that.

我就是喜欢这个。

But I really wouldn't call it useless knowledge.

但我不会真的称这些为无用的知识。

I don't think I would call anything useless knowledge,

我想我不会将任何内容称之为无用的知识，

because the thing about trivia

因为这些冷知识的意义

is that it's an invitation to learn more about a subject.

在于它邀请人们更深入地了解某个主题。

You might learn a trivia fact and suddenly you're far more interested

你可能会学到一个冷知识，

and you're learning about things

然后突然对它们产生了浓厚的兴趣，

you never thought were interesting before.

你会开始学习一些之前从未觉得有趣的事物。

Ken Jennings once said trivia was the bait on the fishhook of education.

肯·詹宁斯（Ken Jennings）曾经说过， 冷知识就是“教育鱼钩”上的诱饵。

I previously had little interest in the romantic period of piano music,

我以前对钢琴音乐的浪漫时期几乎没有兴趣，

and then I learned that Franz Liszt,

然后我了解到，

he had such good looks and dramatic performances

弗朗茨·李斯特（Franz Liszt）的长相俊美， 并且演奏风格充满戏剧性，

that these girls in the 1800s in Europe

以至于在1800年代的欧洲，

were getting diagnosed with something called Liszt fever

一些女孩被诊断出 患有一种叫做李斯特狂热的病，

because they were such fan girls.

因为她们都是李斯特的狂热粉丝。

Suddenly, I'm interested in piano music history.

突然间，我就对钢琴音乐史产生了兴趣。

Similarly, I didn't have a lot of interest in life in the 13th century.

同样，我对13世纪的生活也没有太大的兴趣。

And then I learned about this boy named Onfim

然后我了解到了这个名叫 昂芬（Onfim）的男孩，

and he was a six-year-old

他只有六岁，

and his random birch bark drawings were preserved.

他随手画的白桦树皮画被保存了下来。

And he wrote things that you would see a six-year-old draw today,

他写的东西有些就像今天一个六岁的孩子 可能会写的那样。

like these proclamations like, "I am a wild beast."

比如像这样的口号， “我是一头野兽”。

And his stick figure drawings with too many fingers,

还有他手指过多的简笔画，

they look like something that a six-year-old would draw today.

它们看起来就像 今天一个六岁的孩子会画的东西。

It reminded me that for all of history, people have always been people.

它提醒我， 纵观历史，人始终是人。

Sometimes with trivia, you start somewhere random

有时候在这些冷知识中， 你会从某一点出发，

and then you start thinking about empathy

然后你开始思考同理心，

and geopolitics and who knows, science, what have you.

地缘政治，科学等等。

Facts are really powerful, even fun facts.

事实是非常有力量的， 即使是有趣的事实也是如此。

And luckily, we live at a time

幸运的是，

where information has never been easier to access.

我们生活在一个 信息获取从未如此容易的时代。

Whether you're looking for fictional worms

无论你是在寻找虚构的蠕虫

or non-water floods

还是没有水的洪水，

or more serious things like atmospheric carbon data.

还是更重要的东西， 比如大气中的碳数据。

If nothing else,

即使没有别的作用，

trivia reminds you that the world is huge

冷知识也会提醒你，

and it's amazing

这个世界是多么广阔和令人惊奇，

and it's really interesting

以及如此的有趣，

and I don't think that's trivial at all.

我认为它并不是微不足道的。