The Invisible Networks Shaping Your Everyday Life | Deb Chachra | TED

翻译人员: Yip Yan Yeung 校对人员: suya f.

I'm going to tell you about the most boring part of my day.

我要告诉你们 我一天中最无聊的部分。

So on a typical evening,

平常的夜晚，

I come home to my apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts,

我回到马萨诸塞州剑桥的公寓，

and I turn on the lights.

然后开灯。

I stream music to my stereo from my phone.

我把音乐从我的手机传到立体声音响。

I head into the kitchen to make dinner.

走进厨房做晚饭。

If I’m making something like pasta,

如果我要做意大利面这样的菜式，

I would get water from the sink, and I’d put it on the stove to heat up.

我会从水槽里取水， 然后把它放在炉子上加热。

I'd get vegetables out of the fridge,

我会把蔬菜从冰箱里拿出来，

I would get olive oil, spices, out of the pantry.

我会从储藏室里拿出橄榄油和香料。

I can have dinner on the table in about 20 minutes,

大约 20 分钟后我的晚饭就做好了，

I'm pretty good at this.

我很擅长。

And then it takes me maybe another 10 to clean up, right?

然后也许还要 再花上 10 分钟清理一下，对吧？

So that’s like, scraps in the garbage, wash the dishes, and I’m done.

把残渣丢进垃圾桶， 洗碗，完事儿。

Boring, right?

很无聊，对吧？

But here's the thing.

但关键是这样的。

When I come in the door, and I flip that light switch,

我走进大门，拨上电灯开关的时候，

those electrodes might be getting their push from a nuclear reactor,

那些电极可能被核反应堆推动了，

from a hydroelectricity project a thousand miles away.

来自一千英里以外的水利发电项目。

The gas in my stove comes from national and local pipelines,

我炉子里的煤气 来自国家和本地的管道，

it heats my house.

为我的房子供暖。

It also heats the hot water that I do the dishes in.

还能加热我洗碗时用的热水。

And then that water drains

然后水流向了 美国最大的一座污水处理厂，

to one of the largest wastewater treatment plants in the country,

and then out to Boston Harbor.

然后流进波士顿港。

So, alone in my kitchen,

我虽然一个人呆在厨房里，

I am a continent-spanning colossus, right?

但我是个横跨大陆的庞然大物，对吧？

Like, I am a cyborg,

我就像是个改造人，

I have these technological systems at my literal fingertips.

这些科技系统触手可及。

So these are infrastructural utilities, right?

这些都是公共基础设施，对吧？

It's energy, it's fuel, it's electricity, it's water,

是能源，是燃料， 是电力，是水，

it's sewage, it's telecommunications.

是污水，是通信。

It's the supply chains behind that.

这背后是供应链。

And these are the systems that make my life as I know it possible.

这些系统使我所知的生活成为可能。

And on that typical night,

在那个平常的夜晚，

they're basically invisible or at least invisible to me, right?

它们基本上是不可见的， 或者至少对我来说是看不见的，对吧？

There are thousands of people whose life and time and work

成千上万的人的生活、时间、劳动

and care goes into making sure these systems function.

和精力都花在了 让这些系统正常运转上。

They are the real world of technology in which we all live.

它们是所有人所在的 科技现实世界。

So Amartya Sen, he's a developmental economist,

阿马蒂亚·森（Amartya Sen）， 一位发展经济学家，

and he is known for studying some of the poorest communities on the planet.

他以研究地球上一些 最贫穷的社区而闻名。

He made the case that the reason why we want money

他指出，我们之所以想要钱，

is usually not because we want it for its own sake

通常不是因为我们想要钱本身，

but because it gives us agency.

而是因为它给了我们能动性。

In his words, it gives us the freedom to live the kind of life

用他的话说， 钱让我们有自由过上

that we have reason to value.

我们有理由珍视的那种生活。

So my parents moved from India to Canada before I was born.

我的父母在我出生之前 从印度搬到了加拿大。

I grew up in Canada.

我在加拿大长大。

And I think about the way that my foremothers would have spent

我想象我的祖先们每天耗费

so much of their day getting clean water, getting fuel for cooking.

大量时间获取干净的水， 获取做饭的燃料。

And I actually think about the fact

我其实想到了

that a very large fraction of the planet that is still true today.

这样的情况现在在地球上 相当多的地区依然如此。

And that is especially true for the people who look pretty much like me, right?

对于那些长得和我差不多的人来说 尤其如此，对吧？

This is the main thing that they do with their days.

这就是他们每天主要在干的事。

The difference between my life and theirs

我和他们的生活之间的区别

is not so much that I have a bank account,

不在于我有银行账户、

how much I get paid,

我得到多少报酬，

is a lot more to do with where I am.

而是更与我所在的位置有关。

Because my individual agency,

因为我的能动性，

my ability to do things in the world

即我在世界上做出行动的能力，

is really underpinned by these shared infrastructural networks.

是由这些公用基础设施网络支撑的。

I'm going to give you an example,

我来举个例子，

because the most significant example of this is artificial light, right.

因为最重要的例子就是人造光。

So having light on demand

按需照明

means that you can kind of do what you want when you want to do it.

意味着你可以 在你想的时候做你想做的事。

It's a superpower.

这是一种超能力。

And this is what I mean by agency, right?

这就是我所说的“能动性”的意思，对吧？

It's that ability to act in the world.

这就是在世界上采取行动的能力。

So these infrastructural networks make our life possible

这些基础设施网络 使我们的生活成为可能，

by bringing these resources to where we are and to where we use them.

它们将这些资源带到 我们所在的地方和使用它们的地方。

So as you heard, I'm an engineering professor,

正如你所听到的， 我是一名工程学教授，

and that means, I think a lot about the physical reality of the world.

这意味着我经常思考世界的物理现实。

And one of the great truths is that energy is the thing that we need

一个亘古不变的事实是 任何东西的运作都需要能量，对吧？

for anything to work, right?

Like we pay for it in dollars,

就像我们用美元支付一样，

but energy is the true currency of the material world.

但是能量是物质世界中真正的货币。

And in many cases,

在许多情况下，

the most efficient or the most powerful way

利用和分配资源的 最有效或最强大的方式

to harness and distribute resources is through networks.

是通过网络。

And networks are intrinsically collective, right?

而且网络本质上是共有的，对吧？

So if you think about like roads and rails,

想象一下道路和铁路，

they have to go somewhere.

它们必须通向某个地方。

Telecommunication systems become more valuable

越多人连接到通信系统， 它就越有价值。

when more and more people are connected to them.

Electricity is cheaper.

电力更便宜。

For thousands of years, people have had shared water supplies

几千年来， 人们一直共享供水，

because if you have a bunch of people living close together,

因为如果一群人住在一起，

everybody needs water every day,

每个人每天都需要水，

water flows downhill, right?

水会往下流，对吧？

So it makes sense to cooperate to build a reservoir,

所以合作建造水库、

to build an aqueduct,

建造沟渠、

to build pipelines, to bring water to where your shared community is.

修建管道、将水输送到 共享社区是有意义的。

And of course, you have a bunch of people living close together,

当然，一群人住在附近，

the value of some kind of shared sewage treatment

共享污水处理的价值

very quickly also becomes clear.

很快也会变得清晰起来。

So our infrastructural systems connect us to each other,

我们的基础设施系统 将我们彼此连接起来，

but they also connect us to the land around us.

但它们也将我们 与身边的土地连接了起来。

And this is now true really on a global scale, right?

现在放眼全球都是如此，对吧？

So if we think about the internet, we think about mobile phones,

一想到互联网， 我们就会想到手机，

we think about particularly sort of shipping and transportation, aviation.

我们会想到物流、交通、航空。

These are now planetary networks.

这些现在是星球网络。

And our infrastructural systems also connect us to our past and to our future,

我们的基础设施系统还 将我们与过去和未来联系起来，

because the networks that we live in today

因为我们今天生活的网络

are the physical manifestation of the values and choices

是前人所做的价值观 和选择的实际体现，对吧？

that were made by people who came before us, right?

It's like, what are those networks going to be?

那些网络会变成什么样子？

How will we use them?

我们将如何使用它们？

Who would benefit from them?

谁会从中受益？

And of course, who would be harmed by them?

当然，谁会因此受到伤害？

And of course, you know, we look at these networks today and we're like,

当然，我们现在看看这些网络， 我们就会想，

that seems like a really uneven distribution of benefits

似乎是非常不均衡的福利分配，

or even an unjust distribution of benefits.

甚至是不公平的福利分配。

That's worth keeping in mind, because, of course,

这一点值得牢记， 因为，当然，

we are the people who are now making the decisions

我们现在是在为后代做决定，对吧？

for those who are going to come after us, right?

So I think of this as infrastructural citizenship,

我将其视作“基础设施公民身份”，

the idea that we have a relationship to each other,

传达了我们彼此之间有联系，

actually, we have a responsibility to each other

其实，我们对彼此都有一份责任，

that has nothing to do with what it says on our passport,

这与我们护照上写了什么无关，

but it has everything to do with the fact that we are like physical,

却与我们是确确实实

生活在地球上某个地方的生物 这一事实紧密相关。

living beings that are located somewhere on the planet.

So, you know, I said that infrastructure is how we get our agency,

我说过基础设施 是我们获取能动性的方式，

our freedom to act in the world to do things.

是我们在世界上采取行动的自由。

And it's all powered by energy because everything is powered by energy.

而这一切都由能量驱动， 因为所有事物都由能量驱动。

And that means that for most of us,

这意味着，对于大多数人来说，

most of our energy usage is then mediated.

我们的大部分能量使用 都是需要通过传导的。

It goes through these infrastructural systems because they shape

它经过了这些基础设施系统， 因为这些系统塑造了，

and they enable what we can do every day.

也让我们每天能做的事成为可能。

So it's things like, where does your electricity come from?

比如说，你的电力从哪里来？

How is it generated,

怎么发电？

what kind of transportation options do you have?

有什么交通选择？

Do you drive,

你开车吗？

do you take public transit, do you fly?

你乘坐公共交通，坐飞机吗？

Things like, where does your water come from,

比如，你的水从哪里来，

or how do you heat or cool your home?

或者你如何为房屋供暖或降温？

So, many of these these physical systems, then they both enable what we can do,

这许多实体系统， 既能实现我们能做的事情，

but they also make it really hard to do other things,

又使我们很难做其他事情，

to do alternatives to those things.

采取其他替代措施。

Our infrastructural systems,

我们的基础设施系统，

basically because of the way that we use energy

主要是因为我们使用能源的方式，

and because they shape and enable what we can do,

也因为它们塑造 和实现我们能做的事情，

it means that they also constrain the things that we can't do, right?

就意味着它们也限制了 我们无法做的事情，对吧？

It makes it much harder to do things

这使得做一些不是这些系统 让我们做的事困难许多。

that are not the things that are made possible by these systems.

And what that means is actually,

这意味着其实，

this is a thing we're all familiar with, right?

这就是我们都熟知的事，对吧？

Because we know how hard it is

因为我们知道凭借个人的力量， 在气候变化问题上做出改变是多么困难。

to move the needle on climate change as individuals,

that our individual personal decisions like,

导致了我们个人的决策，

it's hard for them to do anything because there's really no such thing

很难做成什么事， 因为根本就不存在

as a personal carbon footprint

“个人碳足迹”这种东西，

because things go through these systems.

因为一切都要经过这些系统。

So what that means is that we know that we need to decarbonize these systems.

这意味着我们知道 我们需要对这些系统进行脱碳。

But these are physical systems that are embedded in the landscape.

但它们是嵌入宏观环境的实体系统。

And that means that we need to think about these sort of landscapes as a whole.

意味着我们得整体地考虑环境。

As we think about decarbonizing these systems,

当我们考虑对这些系统进行脱碳时，

we can think about making them resilient and transformative.

我们可以考虑 让它们具有韧性和变革性。

The reason why this matters is that these physical systems

这之所以重要，是因为 这些嵌入环境的实体系统，

that are embedded in our landscapes,

we think of them as boring and reliable.

我们认为它们既枯燥又可靠。

But our landscapes, of course, have been stable.

但是，我们的环境是稳定的。

And we know that that's not the case anymore, right?

我们知道现在情况不是这样了，对吧？

Climate change, that's what climate change is.

气候变化，这就是气候变化。

It's making our landscapes less stable.

它使我们的环境变得不那么稳定。

And that means this is a longer heat wave,

意味着更长时间的热浪、

this is stronger hurricanes,

更强的飓风、

this is fires, this is flooding.

火灾、洪水。

Everything that we think about as extreme weather events,

我们认知中的各种极端气候事件、

you know, this idea of a natural disaster, right?

自然灾害，对吧？

The thing that makes it a disaster is precisely that it's not natural, right?

之所以成为“灾难”， 恰恰是因为它不是自然的，对吧？

It's that it affects humans and human communities.

是因为它影响着人类和人类社区。

You know, we talk about the severity of natural disasters

我们谈论自然灾害的严重性，

and we often feel that severity through the impact

经常会通过对基础设施系统的影响 来感受到其严重性。

on infrastructural systems.

So we think about what systems go down,

我们会思考哪些系统出现故障，

how long they go down for,

故障多长时间，

how long it takes for them to come back up again,

重新恢复需要多长时间，

how big the outage is, right?

断供范围有多广，对吧？

And then who's affected.

还有谁受到了影响。

And because our landscapes are becoming less stable,

由于我们的环境越来越不稳定，

sooner or later, the "who's affected" will be all of us.

迟早“受影响的人”将是我们所有人。

But we can flip this around.

但是我们可以扭转局面。

Because as we decarbonize these systems,

因为当我们对这些系统进行脱碳时，

as we transform them,

当我们改造它们时，

we have the opportunity to make them resilient,

我们有机会使它们具有韧性,

to make them responsive, to make them more equitable.

使它们响应性更强， 使它们更加公平。

I mean, our infrastructure systems,

我们的基础设施系统，

they are the most powerful tool that we have

它们是我们应对气候变化 最有力的工具。

for how we can respond to climate change.

And we know that we can do this right,

我们知道我们能行，

because after decades of policy commitments,

因为经过数十年的政策承诺，

we've done the research.

我们做了研究。

We have the renewable energy technology to transform this.

我们有可再生能源技术 来改变这种状况。

We know that there's at least a pathway.

我们知道至少有一条路。

And once we know that a pathway exists,

我们一旦知道有一条路径存在，

we know that many pathways exist.

就会知道存在许多路径。

But we can only choose to walk those pathways together.

但是我们只能选择一起走这些路。

This is no longer an engineering problem to be solved.

这不再是一个 需要被解决的工程问题。

And this is where being an infrastructural citizen comes in,

这就是成为基础设施公民的用武之地，

It's this idea that we can sort of stand together to identify

我们可以团结起来识别

and articulate the benefits of these systems,

和阐明这些系统的好处，

starting with the fact that they're really not economic, right?

首先要知道它们确实 不是经济问题，对吧？

The way that these make our lives work is not just a question of money.

这些使我们的生活运转起来的方式 不仅仅是金钱的问题。

And that's even more true for the harms, right?

危害也不是，对吧？

That we can't think of these as sort of monetary harms,

我们不能将这些问题 视为一种金钱损害，

the harms that we do to each other,

而是我们对彼此造成的伤害，

the harms that we do to our communities,

我们对社区的伤害，

the harms that we do to our shared ecosystem.

对共享生态系统的伤害。

So I said, I think a lot about the physical reality, right?

我之前说， 我经常思考物理现实，对吧？

So the physical reality of our planet is that energy is decentralized,

我们星球的物理现实是， 能量是分散的、

it's distributed, it's abundant, it's endlessly renewing.

分布的、丰富的、不断更新的。

But that's not the case for matter.

但事实并非如此。

Our planet is mostly a closed system for matter.

就物质而言，我们的星球 基本上是一个封闭的系统。

And we know that we're really hitting these kind of physical limits

我们知道我们真的达到了物理极限，

of the idea that we can take stuff out of the ground and we transform it

我们可以把东西 从地下拿出来，然后转变、

and we consume it, and then we dump those atoms somewhere else, right?

消耗，然后把这些原子 丢到别的地方，对吧？

Because this is what happens with CO2 in the atmosphere from fossil fuels,

因为化石燃料产生的 二氧化碳就跑到了大气层里，

it's e-waste in landfills,

垃圾填埋场里的电子垃圾，

it's microplastics in the ocean.

海洋中的微塑料。

The thing that's changed is that we can now make the decision

不同的是，我们现在可以决定

to get off this one-way conveyor belt from extraction to pollution,

摆脱这条从开采到污染的单向传送带，

because we can use renewable energy to close these materials loops.

因为我们可以使用可再生能源 来合上这些物质循环。

And we know that we really want to do this.

我们知道我们真的很想这样做。

We actually really need to do this,

我们也确实需要这样做，

because what we're looking at doing is transforming

因为我们正在考虑要做的是改变

the entire technological basis of human civilization, right?

人类文明的整个科技基础，对吧？

No biggie.

没什么大不了的。

So this is the work,

这是大业，

and we are just at the beginning of this work.

而我们才刚刚开始这项工作。

And that means we know we don’t have all the answers.

这意味着我们知道 我们没有所有的答案。

But we do know that we want infrastructural networks

但是我们确实知道， 我们希望基础设施网络

that embody an ethics of care

体现关怀的伦理，

and not the utilitarian calculus of harms and benefits.

而不是功利主义 计较的危害和好处。

Because we know we don’t have all the answers.

因为我们知道 我们没有所有的答案。

We actually expect to get better answers.

我们其实希望能得到更好的答案。

It makes sense for us to build out systems that are small-scale,

我们有道理建造小规模、

that are reversible, that are responsive, that are exploratory,

可逆的、响应式的、探索性的系统，

and then to connect these together to make these larger networks.

然后将它们连接在一起， 形成这些更大的网络。

And they need to make sense for who they're for,

它们得让它们的用户理解，

because they give us the freedom to live the kind of lives

因为它们让我们能够自由地过上

that we have reason to value.

我们有理由珍视的生活。

We want to do this at a local scale,

我们希望在本地范围内做到这一点，

and we also want to do it at a global scale.

也希望在全球范围内做到这一点。

Because if you can't solve a problem with the same mindset that created it,

因为如果你不能用创造问题的 那种思路来解决问题，

you also can't solve a problem if you're not thinking on the same scale

那如果你不能以同样的规模思考问题， 你也不能解决这个问题，对吧？

as the problem, right?

So this is not a do-it-yourself thing.

这不是自己动手做的事情。

This is about do it together, but everywhere.

这是世界各地一起做的事情。

So in the 20 century,

20 世纪，

we built out these kind of massive monolithic systems.

我们建造了这种 大规模的一体系统。

And I have to say, like I am a fan of our charismatic mega structures.

我得说一句， 我很喜欢我们壮丽的巨型建筑。

So in the US,

在美国，

that's the Golden Gate Bridge, it's the Hoover Dam, right?

就是金门大桥、胡佛水坝，对吧？

These were built as monuments, and they were built to endure.

它们是作为纪念碑建造的， 也是为了经久耐用而建造的。

But in the 21 century,

但是到了 21 世纪，

our infrastructural systems will need to endure

我们的基础设施系统 不必像纪念碑那样经久耐用，

not like monuments -- but like forests.

而是要像森林那样。

So if you think about a forest ecosystem, it's powered by the sun.

想想森林生态系统， 它是由太阳供能的。

It's rooted in the Earth.

它植根于地球。

There's no waste.

没有废物。

Everything is basically used to grow new things.

一切基本上都是用来生生不息的。

It endures, but it actually evolves and changes with time.

它经久不衰，但它其实是 随着时间进化和变化的。

And of course, it provides a place where all who live there can thrive.

当然，它为所有生活在那里的生物 提供了一个可以茁壮成长的地方。

Our infrastructural systems are how we take care of each other at scale,

我们的基础设施系统是 我们大规模互相照料的方式，

so that we can take care of each other as individuals.

这样我们才能作为个人互相照料。

They underpin our agency.

它们支撑着我们的能动性。

And they really foster

它们确实促进又让我们 发展出了互相之间的社会关系。

and allow us to develop our social relationships with each other.

And that's especially true with things like global communications, right?

在全球通信这样的系统上 尤其如此，对吧？

That means that this is now culture on a global scale.

这意味着现在是全球范围的文化。

All of these are about what it means to be human, right?

这些都在说 作为人类意味着什么，对吧？

And that means that a commitment to a shared infrastructural future

这意味着对公用基础设施未来的承诺

is a commitment to our shared humanity.

是对我们共同全人类的承诺。

So this is the world that we can create together.

这是我们可以共同创造的世界。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）