How to find a wonderful idea | OK Go

翻译人员: Hancheng Li 校对人员: Qing Ying Sun

(Dominoes fall)

（多米诺倒下）

(Toy car)

（玩具车开动）

(Ball rolls)

（桌球滚动）

(Music: "This Too Shall Pass")

（音乐：《一切都会过去》）

(Singing)

（演唱）

You know you can't keep letting it get you down,

你知道不能让琐事使你心情低落

and you can't keep dragging that dead weight around.

也不能让不必要的烦恼跟随着你

If there ain't all that much to lug around

如果没有太多的阻碍

better run like hell when you hit the ground

从你呱呱坠地起 就疯狂地奔跑吧

When the morning comes

当早晨来临的时候

When the morning comes

当早晨来临的时候

You can't stop these kids from dancing,

你不能阻止孩子们舞蹈

but why would you want to,

而又何必这么做呢？

especially when you're already getting yours?

特别是当你也有孩子的时候

(Xylophone)

（木琴）

(Singing) 'Cause if your mind don't move and your knees don't bend,

如果你的心情不愉快 你的身体不摇摆

well don't go blaming the kids again.

就不要再埋怨孩子们了

(Xylophone)

（木琴）

(Singing) When the morning comes

当早晨来临的时候

When the morning comes

当早晨来临的时候

When the morning comes

当早晨来临的时候

When the morning comes

当早晨来临的时候

When the morning comes

当早晨来临的时候

When the morning comes

当早晨来临的时候

(Xylophone)

（木琴）

(Singing) Let it go,

随它去吧

this too shall pass

一切都会过去的

Let it go,

随它去吧

this too shall pass

一切都会过去的

You know you can't keep letting it get you down,

你知道不能让琐事使你心情低落

you can't keep letting it get you down --

不能让琐事使你心情低落

this too shall pass

一切都会过去的

If there ain't all that much to lug around,

如果没有太多阻碍

你知道不能让琐事使你心情低落

you can't keep letting it get you down --

this too shall pass

一切都会过去的

When the morning comes --

当早晨来临的时候

you can't keep letting it get you down,

你知道不能让琐事使你心情低落

no you can't keep letting it

不，你不能这样

When the morning comes --

当早晨来临的时候

you can't keep letting it get you down,

你不能让琐事使你心情低落

no you can't keep letting it

不，你不能这样

When the morning comes --

当早晨来临的时候

you can't keep letting it get you down,

你不能让琐事使你心情低落

no you can't keep letting it

不，你不能这样

When the morning comes --

当早晨来临的时候

you can't keep letting it get you down,

你不能让琐事使你心情低落

no you can't keep letting it

不，你不能这样

When the morning comes

当早晨来临的时候

(Paint guns fire)

（漆弹枪发射）

(Applause)

（掌声）

Damian Kulash: Thank you, thanks very much.

达米安·克拉斯: 谢谢，非常感谢！

We are OK Go,

我们是 OK Go 组合，

and we've been together as a band since 1998.

我们的乐队组于1998年。

But in the last decade,

但是在过去十年里，

we've become known as much for the elaborate music videos,

我们因为精心制作的 音乐视频（MV）而被大家知晓，

like the one we just saw,

就像刚才这个，

as for the songs they accompany.

还有视频里伴奏的这些曲子。

So we will play along with another one of those in a few minutes,

我们一会儿还会再演奏一首，

but in the meantime,

但是现在，

we want to address this question that we get asked all the time

我们希望回答一个被经常问到的问题，

but we've really never come up with an adequate answer for it,

但说实在的，我们一直 也没有找到太好的答案，

and that is, how do we think of those ideas?

这个问题就是： 我们是怎么想出这些点子的。

The videos are not all Rube Goldberg machines, by the way.

另外提一下，我们的 MV里也 不全是这种戈德堡机械。

Last year we did a dance in zero gravity,

去年我们做了一个 在零重力场景下的舞蹈MV，

and once we set up an obstacle course

还有一次我们建了一条障碍赛道，

out of thousands of musical instruments in the desert,

把成千种乐器放在沙漠中，

and then played them by stunt driving a car through them.

用一辆特技驾驶的车来演奏他们。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

For one of the videos,

在其中一个 MV 中，

we choreographed hundreds of people with umbrellas

我们编排了上百个带着雨伞的人，

in an abandoned parking lot outside Tokyo,

在东京郊区某个闲置的停车场跳舞，

and then filmed them from a drone a half a mile in the air.

然后用一台无人机从800米的高空拍摄。

So it's all of these ideas that people are curious about,

人们对我们这些创意特别好奇，

and the reason we've had so much trouble describing how we think of these ideas

但我们却很难解释 我们是怎么想到这些点子的，

is that it doesn't really feel like we think of them at all.

因为我们并不觉得我们“想”到了它们。

It feels like we find them.

更像是我们“找”到了它们。

And by way of explanation --

如果要解释的话——

well, I have a compulsive habit.

我有一点强迫症，

I play parallax and perspective games with my eyes pretty much all the time,

我的眼睛几乎总是在 玩视差和透视的游戏，

and it's something I've been doing since I was a teenager.

从我青少年时期就开始了。

And I think the big contributing factor may have been

养成这个习惯很可能是因为

that this is how I decorated my high school bedroom.

我高中的寝室这样乱七八糟。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And being a teenager,

作为一名青少年，

在房间里无非是跟人煲电话粥，

what I did in there, of course, was just talk on the phone

for staggering amounts of time.

而且煲很长很长时间。

So I was in this visual maelstrom

我会陷到这个视觉漩涡中，

just pretty much usually sitting in one place,

通常是坐在一个地方

and I guess just the overload in general --

盯着眼前的一堆——

my brain kind of tried to make sense of it, and I would --

我的大脑会试图去理解 这些图案和规律——

If I could move my head off to one side a little bit,

比如说，如果我稍微歪一下头，

在我眼里桌子的边沿就完美地

the edge of the desk would line up just perfectly

和对面墙上的海报对齐了；

with that poster on the opposite wall;

或者如果我伸出我的大拇指，

or if I put my thumb out,

我可以依次闭上我的左眼， 再换成右眼，

I could close first my left eye and then my right,

and my thumb would bounce back and forth

我的拇指看上去会像是在前后跳动，

between Jimi Hendrix's left eye and his right.

就在吉米·亨得利斯海报的 左右眼之间跳动。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

It was not a conscious thing, of course,

当然，我并不是有意识地在做这些，

this is just kind of the equivalent of doodling while you're talking,

就像当你讲话的时候可能会胡乱涂写，

而且时至今日我还是经常会这样做。

and it's still something I do all the time.

This is my wife, Kristin --

这是我的妻子，克莉丝汀——

(Applause)

（掌声）

Yeah!

耶！

Woo!

哇奥！

And it's not uncommon that we are out at dinner,

我们经常出去吃饭，

and in the middle of a great conversation she'll just stop mid-sentence,

正聊得热火朝天的时候， 她突然就安静了，

and when she stops is when I realize that I'm the one who's acting weird

而当她停下来的时候，我就会 意识到我肯定又干了什么奇怪的事情，

because I'm like bobbing and weaving.

因为发现我整个身体 正在不安分地扭动。

And what I'm trying to do is get that ficus back there

事实上，我正在努力 把她背后那棵树跟她对齐，

to stick out of her head like a ponytail.

让它像一根马尾辫一样 从她后脑勺伸出来。

（笑声）

(Laughter)

The point of telling you all this is that --

我告诉大家这些的原因是——

对我来说，这就是找到新点子的感觉。

for me this is what it feels like to have an idea.

It's like they're made of these disparate parts,

它就好像是由零碎的部件组成，

these disparate chunks sort of floating out there.

而这些零碎部件很随机地浮现在周围。

And if you're receptive and you're observant,

当你具有足够的感应及观察能力，

and crucially, if you're in exactly the right place,

更关键的是，当你处于观察的最佳位置，

you can get them to just line up.

你就能让它们刚好对齐。

So if you get used to --

所以，如果你习惯于——

if it's your job to think of ideas this way,

如果你在工作中 运用这样的思考模式的话，

they'll start beckoning to you

那么这些点子就会召唤你，

the way that Jimi's eyes beckoned from that poster,

就像来自海报上吉米的眼睛的召唤，

or the ficus beckons from behind Kristin's head.

或者是克莉丝汀脑后 探出的榕树的召唤。

Writing music feels like that process just over and over again,

写歌就像是不停地重复这个过程，

like you've got a bunch of sounds or a groove or a chord progression

就像是你得到了一系列声音， 一段节奏或者一个和弦，

and you're just looking for that thing on the other side,

而你还需要寻找另一样东西，

that little chunk over there, that puzzle piece that clicks right in.

寻找另外一小块恰恰般配的拼图。

And when it does click,

当拼图刚好合上的时候，

it doesn't feel like you thought up that puzzle piece,

那种感觉并非是你“想出”了那块拼图，

it feels like you found it --

而是感觉你“找到”它了，

like it was a set of relationships that you unlocked.

就好像解锁了一组联系物。

But with the videos in particular,

但是对于那些 MV 的制作，

we're usually looking for this specific feeling

我们常常在寻找一种特别的感觉，

which is wonder.

这种感觉叫做“神奇”。

And there's always a component of surprise to wonder,

这种“神奇”中往往带有惊喜的成分，

so we're not just looking for good ideas,

所以我们不仅是在寻找好点子，

我们找的好点子需要 以某种方式让我们感到惊喜。

we're looking for good ideas that surprise us in some way.

And this causes something of a problem,

于是问题就来了，

because ...

因为……

the process that we all use to make stuff,

我们用来制作这些东西的过程，

it actually has a very strong bias against surprising ideas.

其实对这些奇思妙想是非常不友好的。

The process I'm talking about is the one you all know --

我现在所讲的过程 其实大家都很熟悉——

we all do it all the time.

我们每时每刻都在用。

你想到了一个点子。

You think of an idea.

You just sit and think of your brilliant idea

然后你就坐在那儿 思考着这个绝佳的点子，

and then you come up with a plan

接着你制定了一个计划，

来实现这个想法。

for how you're going to make that idea happen.

And then with that plan in mind,

然后在你的脑海里

你不断来回思考你的初始想法，

you go back and double-check your original idea

and maybe revise it,

或许会加以修正，

and then bouncing back and forth between the idea and the plan,

接着继续来回思考你的想法和计划，

徘徊其中，

the plan and the idea,

直到你终于想出了一个极好的计划。

eventually you come up with a truly great plan.

而只有当个计划最终确定时，

And then once you have that, and only then,

你才动手开始实施计划。

do you go out and you execute.

And this is like --

这就好像——

this is sort of a flawless system

可以说是一种完美的体系，

in terms of maximizing your resources,

能最大限度地利用你的资源，

because this -- super cheap.

因为这个东西——它非常便宜。

Thinking usually costs very little,

思考常常花费甚少，

but this is really expensive most of the time,

但实施过程往往是十分昂贵的，

so by the time you get there,

所以开始行动前，

you want to make sure you're super prepared

你要确定你真的准备妥当了，

and you can squeeze every last drop out of what you've got.

并且能把你的想法都 毫无遗留地榨取出来。

But there are problems with this,

然而这个过程存在很多问题，

and math will help us reveal the biggest one.

而数学能告诉我们最大的问题是什么。

Go back to that video that we just showed you.

让我们回到刚才展示的 MV。

That Rube Goldberg machine,

那个戈德堡机械，

它大概有130个互动关节，

it had about 130 interactions in it.

That was 130 things

也就是说按照计划

that we had to have go according to our plan.

我们需要这130个东西正常运作。

So let's assume that we want to make a new video now,

那么假设我们现在想录一段新的 MV，

similarly complex -- 130 moving parts.

跟之前同样复杂—— 有130个活动部件。

If we're really good planners in that system,

如果我们制订了相当好的计划，

it seems like maybe we could be good enough

那么我们也许能够达到

to get every part of that system to be 90 percent reliable.

这个系统每个部件90%的可靠性。

90 percent sounds good, right?

90%听起来还不错吧？

Well, it's not.

然而并非如此。

It's terrible actually. The numbers say so.

它其实烂透了。数据是这么显示的。

The chance of getting all 130 things to not fail at the same time

在同一时间所有130个部件不失败的几率，

is .9 for 90 percent to the 130th power.

是0.9的130次方，

So calculate that out and you get ...

所以计算结果出来了：

(Ding)

（叮）

.000001,

0.000001，

which is one ten-thousandth of one percent,

也就是1%的万分之一，

so your chance for success is literally one in a million.

也就是说，成功几率是百万分之一。

(Whistle)

（哨声）

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I mean that's not a gamble I want to take,

这样的赌局我是一定不会参加的，

so let's ratchet up that reliability to 99 percent.

那我们试试看提高 这个可靠性，提到99%。

.99 to the 130th power is ...

0.99的130次方等于：

(Ding)

（叮）

.27 -- 27 percent.

0.27，也就是27%。

Significantly less daunting --

明显没那么吓人了——

like this might even be usable.

看上去好像行得通。

But really think about that.

但你仔细想想。

How many parts of your lives are 99 percent reliable?

你生活中有多少事情是99%可靠的呢？

And could you really get 130 of them all in one place at once?

你真的能让130个部件 都在同一时间成功吗？

And if you really could,

而如果你确实做到了，

doesn't it seem like you deserve to succeed?

你难道不觉得成功也是应该的吗？

Like that is --

就像是……

它必须得成功的，对吧？

that thing is going to work, right?

但并没有，它失败的次数 其实是成功次数的三倍。

But no, it actually fails three times more often than it succeeds.

So the upshot of all this

所以我想说的是，

is that if your project is pretty complex --

如果你的项目比较复杂——

like, you know, every ambitious project is --

你懂的，所有伟大的项目都很复杂，

if you've got a lot of moving parts,

如果有许多活动部件，

you're basically constrained to just reshuffling ideas

你能做的可能只是把 现成的，已经被证明

that have already demonstrably proven that they're 100 percent reliable.

100%可靠的那些点子 翻来覆去地推敲。

So now go back to me sitting with my thumb in the air

那么让我们回到之前的场景， 我举起大拇指

尝试组成某个神奇的东西。

trying to line up something surprising.

If the only things I'm allowed to consider in the first place

如果我唯一所能考虑的

are ideas that have already been done over and over and over again,

仅仅是那些被翻来覆去 用烂掉的点子的话，

I am screwed.

我就完蛋了。

However, there are ways around this,

幸好还是有办法的，

because we all know that there are tons of untried ideas still out there,

因为我们都知道，还有那么多点子 仍未被尝试、未被发掘，

and plenty of them will turn out to be every bit as reliable as we need,

而其中不少点子也会如 我们所需要的一样可靠，

it's just that we don't yet know they are reliable

只是在做计划的这个阶段，

when we are at this planning phase.

我们还不知道它们很可靠而已。

So what we do is we try to identify some place

那么我们需要做的就是，

where there might just be a ton of those untried ideas.

找到这个可能有许多 未被尝试的点子的地方。

We try to find a sandbox

我们去找到这样一个沙盘，

and then we gamble a whole bunch of our resources

然后我们赌上一大堆资源，

on getting in that sandbox and playing.

把我们扔进沙盘里各种折腾。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Because we have to trust that it's the process in the sandbox

因为我们必须坚信 这个折腾沙盘的过程

that will reveal to us which ideas are not only surprising,

能够告诉我们 哪些点子不但非常惊人，

but surprisingly reliable.

而且也出乎意料地可靠。

So some of the sandboxes that we've started videos with.

这是我们最早开始 做 MV 时的一些沙盘演练。

Let's play with optical illusions.

来倒腾视觉错觉效果吧。

Let's try to dance on moving surfaces.

在移动的平面上跳舞吧。

Let's try to make toast with a laser cutter.

来试试用激光切割机烤面包呗。

Or let's do something in one of those zero-gravity airplanes.

或者在零重力飞机里倒腾点什么呗。

But then instead of actually trying to sit there

当然我们不是坐在那儿发呆，

and think out what that something is,

苦思冥想着到底要倒腾些什么，

we spent a full third of our budget getting in an actual Vomit Comet

而是花了整整三分之一的预算， 跑进一架“呕吐彗星” （减重力飞机）里，

and bouncing off the walls for a week.

疯狂弹跳了一个礼拜。

So this may seem to you like testing,

在你们看来，这像是某种测试，

but it really isn't,

但真的不是。

because at this point we don't yet know what our idea is,

因为这时候我们甚至不知道 点子在哪里，

we don't have a plan to be testing.

我们并没有任何要测试的计划。

So we're just --

所以我们只是——

we're just playing,

我们只是在玩，

在尝试我们能想到的所有，

we're just trying everything we can think of,

because we need to get this idea space filled up with a chaos

因为我们要让思维的空间 堆满乱七八糟的东西，

like the one in my high school bedroom.

就像我高中时期的卧室一样。

Because then, if we can do the bob and weave thing,

因为只有这样，如果我们做那种 上下左右挪动的动作，

if we can put our thumbs up and get just a few things to line up --

然后当我们竖起大拇指， 让这些东西对齐——

(Ding)

（叮）

chances are no one else has ever made those same things line up before.

我们就很可能发现一些 其他人从未尝试的事情。

And when we're done with that project,

而当我们完成了整个项目之后，

people will ask us again how we thought of that idea,

其他人又问我们 怎样想出这些点子的，

我们就会很懵，因为在我们看来

and we'll be stumped, because from our perspective,

it doesn't feel like we thought of it at all,

根本不是我们“想出”了它，

而是我们“找到”了它。

it just feels like we found it.

So we'll play another video for you now and the song along with it.

现在我们为大家播放另一段 MV， 以及伴奏歌曲。

歌曲名称是《这一瞬》。

This is for the song "The One Moment,"

and for this one, the sandbox was ballistics and math.

这个 MV 的沙盘主题就是 弹道学和数学。

So I spent a full month putting together a giant spreadsheet for this.

我花了一整个月的时间 整理出了一大份电子表格。

It was like my playspace was 400 lines long

我的工作区好像有400行那么长，

and 25 columns wide --

还有25列那么宽——

which I presume that if anybody is going to understand that, it's this crowd.

我猜如果有人能听懂的话， 估计都在这屋子里了。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Nothing is better than a giant spreadsheet, right?

乱七八糟的表格什么的最棒了，对吧？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Well, thank you everyone, very much.

谢谢大家倾听，非常感谢。

We are OK Go,

我们是 OK Go，

and this is called "The One Moment."

《这一瞬》献给大家。

(Applause)

（掌声）

[The One Moment]

《这一瞬》

(Explosions)

（爆炸）

[What you just saw was real

刚才的一切都是真实发生的

and it took 4.2 seconds]

全程只有4.2秒

(Video) Let me know when it's safe.

（影片语音）准备好了开始。

(Percussion)

（打击乐器）

[Here's the same moment ...

让我们把刚才同样的过程

slowed down.]

用慢镜头播放

(Music)

（音乐）

(Guitar)

（吉他）

(Singing) You're right,

（唱）你说的对

there's nothing more lovely,

没什么比它更可爱

there's nothing more profound

没什么比它更深邃

than the certainty,

它就是必然

than the certainty that all of this will end

必然这一切都会消逝

That all of this will end

这一切都会消逝

So open your arms to me,

所以向我张开你的怀抱吧

open your arms to me

向我张开你的怀抱吧

And this will be the one moment that matters,

这，才是最重要的一瞬

and this will be the one thing we remember,

这，才是值得铭记的事

and this will be the reason to have been here,

这，才是存在世间的理由

and this will be the one moment that matters --

这，才是最重要的一瞬

Oh ...

哦……

(Guitar)

（吉他）

(Singing) So while the mud reclaims our footprints,

（唱）当我们的脚印被泥土洗刷

and while our bones keep looking back

当我们的尸骨还在缅怀过去

at the overgrowth that's swallowing the path --

杂草已经丛生，覆盖蜿蜒小径

but for the grace of God go we,

唯上帝恩典，指引我前行

but for the grace of God go we

唯上帝恩典，指引我前行

But for the grace of time and chance and entropy's cruel hands --

但时间与机遇不饶人， 熵增原理残酷地主宰……

So open your arms to me,

所以向我张开你的怀抱吧

open your arms to me

向我张开你的怀抱吧

And this will be the one moment that matters,

这，才是最重要的一瞬

and this will be the one thing we remember,

这，才是值得铭记的事

and this will be the reason to have been here,

这，才是存在世间的理由

and this will be the one moment that matters

这，才是最重要的一瞬

Oh ...

哦……

So won't you stay here with me

难道你不想在这里与我一起

and we'll build 'til we've blistered our hands

我们不断创造 直到双手磨出水泡

So won't you stay here with me and we'll build us some temples,

难道你不想在这里与我一起 让我们搭建寺庙

build us some castles,

让我们搭建城堡

build us some monuments

让我们搭建石碑

and burn them all right down

再把它们统统毁掉

(Music)

（音乐）

(Singing) So open your arms to me

（唱）所以向我张开你的怀抱吧

And this will be the one moment that matters,

这，才是最重要的一瞬

and this will be the reason to have been here,

这，才是存在世间的理由

and this will be the one thing we remember,

这，才是值得铭记的事

and this will be the one moment that matters

这，才是最重要的一瞬

So won't you stay here with me,

难道你不想在这里与我一起

we'll build 'til we blister our hands

我们不断创造 直到双手磨出水泡

And this will be the one moment that matters --

这，才是最重要的一瞬

So won't you stay here with me and build us some temples --

难道你不想在这里与我一起 让我们搭建寺庙

This will be the one moment that matters --

这，才是最重要的一瞬

Build us some temples --

让我们搭建寺庙

The one moment that matters --

最重要的一瞬

Build us some monuments --

让我们搭建石碑

The one moment that matters

最重要的一瞬

Build us some temples --

让我们搭建寺庙

The one moment that matters.

最重要的一瞬

Build us some monuments --

让我们搭建石碑

The one moment that matters, oh

最重要的一瞬 哦

(Guitar)

（吉他）

(Applause)

（掌声）