Optical illusions show how we see | Beau Lotto

翻译人员: Guo Tang 校对人员: Zhu Jie

I want to start with a game. Okay?

我想以一个游戏开始今天的演讲

And to win this game,

要赢这个游戏

all you have to do is see the reality that's in front of you

你只要看清眼前的一切

as it really is, all right?

一切据实而观，好吗？

So we have two panels here, of colored dots.

这里有两个板子

上面有些彩色圆点

And one of those dots is the same in the two panels.

这两个板子上的圆点中有一对是相同的

清楚了吗?

And you have to tell me which one.

你要告诉我是哪一对

Now, I narrowed it down

现在，将范围缩小到

to the gray one, the green one, and, say, the orange one.

灰色的，绿色的和橙色的

So by a show of hands, we'll start with the easiest one.

大家举手示意吧，我们从最简单的开始

Show of hands: how many people think it's the gray one?

多少人认为是灰色的？

Really? Okay.

真的吗？好的

How many people think it's the green one?

有多少人认为是绿色的？

And how many people think it's the orange one?

那么又有多少人认为是橙色的？

Pretty even split.

人数都差不多

Let's find out what the reality is.

让我们来看看真相。

Here is the orange one.

这是橙色的。

(Laughter)

（笑）

Here is the green one.

绿色的。

And here is the gray one.

还有灰色的。

(Laughter)

（笑）

So for all of you who saw that, you're complete realists.

你们这些猜对的人是纯粹的现实主义者

All right?

(Laughter)

（笑）

So this is pretty amazing, isn't it?

这挺神奇的，对吧？

Because nearly every living system

因为几乎所有的生命系统

has evolved the ability to detect light in one way or another.

都演变出了对光线的感应能力

So for us, seeing color

所以对我们的大脑来说，看见颜色是最简单的事情

is one of the simplest things the brain does.

And yet, even at this most fundamental level,

然而，即便是在这个最基础的阶段

context is everything.

背景决定一切

What I'm going to talk about is not that context is everything,

其实我想谈论的并不是“背景决定了一切”这件事

but why context is everything.

而是“为什么背景决定了一切”。

Because it's answering that question

因为这不仅回答了关于

that tells us not only why we see what we do,

为什么我们可以看到我们所做的疑问，

but who we are as individuals,

还告诉我们作为一个个体，

and who we are as a society.

在社会中扮演怎样的角色

But first, we have to ask another question,

但首先，我们要提出另外一个问题，

which is, "What is color for?"

那就是，“颜色是用来做什么的”。

And instead of telling you, I'll just show you.

与其讲给你们听不如演示给你们看

What you see here is a jungle scene,

你所看到的是丛林的一景

and you see the surfaces according to the amount of light

你是根据这些表面反射光线的量

that those surfaces reflect.

来看它的表面的。

Now, can any of you see the predator that's about to jump out at you?

现在谁能看见那个正朝你们扑来的凶猛野兽？

And if you haven't seen it yet, you're dead, right?

如果你还没看见它就必死无疑了，对吧。

（笑）

(Laughter)

Can anyone see it? Anyone? No?

有人能看见吗？没有？

Now let's see the surfaces

现在，让我们来根据这些表面反射光线的性质来观察它。

according to the quality of light that they reflect.

And now you see it.

现在你能看见了吧。

So, color enables us to see

所以颜色让我们

the similarities and differences between surfaces,

能够分辨外观上的异同

according to the full spectrum of light that they reflect.

是根据他们表面反射的全部光谱

But what you've just done

但你刚刚所做的这些，从很多层面上是无法用数学方法论证的。

is in many respects mathematically impossible.

Why?

为什么？因为正如伯克利告诉我们的，

Because, as Berkeley tells us,

we have no direct access to our physical world,

我们没有进入外界世界的直接的方法

other than through our senses.

只能通过我们的感官。

And the light that falls onto our eyes

而我们眼睛所接收的光线

is determined by multiple things in the world,

是由很多因素决定的--

not only the color of objects,

不仅是物体的颜色，

but also the color of their illumination,

还有它们发出的光的颜色，

and the color of the space between us and those objects.

以及我们与物体之间空间的颜色。

You vary any one of those parameters,

你改变其中的任何一个参量

and you'll change the color of the light that falls onto your eye.

就会改变那些进入你眼睛的光的颜色

This is a huge problem,

这是一个很重要的问题，因为这代表

because it means that the same image

相同的影像可能来自于无限多的

could have an infinite number of possible real-world sources.

真实世界的像源

Let me show you what I mean.

让我来演示一下我所想表达的。试想一下这是你眼睛的背部

Imagine that this is the back of your eye, okay?

这里有两个来自外界的投影

And these are two projections from the world.

They're identical in every single way.

它们完全相同

Identical in shape, size, spectral content.

在形状上，大小上，光谱含量上全部完全相同。

They are the same, as far as your eye is concerned.

正如你肉眼所见，它们一模一样

And yet they come from completely different sources.

但是它们却来自于完全相异的像源。

The one on the right comes from a yellow surface,

右边的这个

来自于一个黄色的表面，

in shadow, oriented facing the left,

在阴影下，面向左侧

viewed through a pinkish medium.

通过一个粉红色的媒介物观察到的。

The one on the left comes from an orange surface,

左边的这个来自于一个橙色的表面，

under direct light, facing to the right,

在直射光之下，面朝右侧，

viewed through sort of a bluish medium.

通过一个蓝色的媒介物观察到的。

Completely different meanings,

完全不同的意义，

giving rise to the exact same retinal information.

却造成了完全相同的视网膜信息。

And yet it's only the retinal information that we get.

并且这些仅有的视网膜信息是

所有我们能得到的。

So how on Earth do we even see?

那么我们究竟是如何看的呢？

So if you remember anything in this next 18 minutes,

如果你要记住以下18分钟内的任何事情，

remember this:

记住这个：这些进入你眼睛的光，

that the light that falls onto your eye,

sensory information, is meaningless,

感官信息是完全无意义的。

because it could mean literally anything.

因为它可以意味任何事情

And what's true for sensory information is true for information generally.

感官信息就如同一般的信息，

There's no inherent meaning in information.

本身并没有意义。

It's what we do with that information that matters.

我们如何运用这些信息才是最重要的。

So, how do we see? Well, we see by learning to see.

那么，我们如何看？我们学习如何看然后看。

The brain evolved the mechanisms for finding patterns,

因此，我们的大脑进化了这种寻找模式的机制，

finding relationships in information,

寻找信息间的关系，

and associating those relationships with a behavioral meaning,

并且将这些关系

和行为上的意义

a significance, by interacting with the world.

即与外界的互动联系起来。

We're very aware of this

我们很清楚地意识到这种

in the form of more cognitive attributes, like language.

较偏向于认知性质的形式，如同语言。

I'm going to give you some letter strings,

现在我将给你们一些字母串并且希望你们为我读出来，

and I want you to read them out for me, if you can.

如果你们可以的话。

Audience: "Can you read this?"

观众：“你可以读这个吗？”

"You are not reading this."

“你并没有在读这个”

"What are you reading?"

“你在读什么？”

Beau Lotto: "What are you reading?" Half the letters are missing, right?

包拉托:"你们在读什么？" 有一半的字母不见了，对吧？

There's no a priori reason

这里没有一个优先的原因为什么"H"要在

why an "H" has to go between that "W" and "A."

"W"和"A”之间。

But you put one there. Why?

但是你把它放在了那里。为什么呢？

Because in the statistics of your past experience,

因为根据你过去经验的统计

it would have been useful to do so.

那样做会很有用。所以你再次这样做了。

So you do so again.

And yet you don't put a letter after that first "T."

然而你并没有在第一个“T”之前放任何一个字母，

Why? Because it wouldn't have been useful in the past.

为什么？因为过去这样做没有用。

So you don't do it again.

所以你不会再这样做。

So, let me show you how quickly our brains can redefine normality,

那么让我来给你演示一下你的大脑能够多么迅速的重新定义常态，

even at the simplest thing the brain does, which is color.

甚至于大脑所做的最简单的事情，也就是颜色。

So if I could have the lights down up here.

如果我将这里的灯关掉

I want you to first notice that those two desert scenes are physically the same.

我希望你首先注视到这两个沙漠的景象是完全一样的

一个是另外一个的翻转，好吗？

One is simply the flipping of the other.

Now I want you to look at that dot

现在我要你们看着那个

between the green and the red.

在绿色和红色之间的圆点，好吗？

And I want you to stare at that dot. Don't look anywhere else.

而且我希望你们盯着这个圆点，不要看其它的地方

We're going to look at it for about 30 seconds,

我们将看着它大约30秒，

这就是这18分钟演讲中最迷人的一部分

which is a bit of a killer in an 18-minute talk.

(Laughter)

（笑）

但是我其实是希望你们去学习

But I really want you to learn.

And I'll tell you -- don't look anywhere else --

我将告诉你--不要看任何其它的地方--

I'll tell you what's happening in your head.

我将告诉你在你的脑袋里面都发生了些什么。

Your brain is learning,

你的大脑在学习。它在学习视野的右边

and it's learning that the right side of its visual field

是在红色的照明之下；

is under red illumination;

the left side of its visual field is under green illumination.

视野左边是在绿色的照明之下。

That's what it's learning. Okay?

这就是它正在学习的。是吧？

Now, when I tell you, I want you to look at the dot between the two desert scenes.

现在，当我告诉你，我希望你看这个在两个沙漠图片中间的圆点。

So why don't you do that now?

现在为何不做做看？

(Laughter)

（笑）

Can I have the lights up again?

可以把灯打开吗？

I take it from your response they don't look the same anymore, right?

我从你们的反应中得知它们不再看起来一致了，对吗？

(Applause)

(鼓掌)

Why? Because your brain is seeing that same information

为什么？因为你们的大脑正在以相同的信息看

as if the right one is still under red light,

正如同右边的仍然在红色灯的照射下，

and the left one is still under green light.

左边的仍然在绿色灯的照射下。

那就是你的新常态。

That's your new normal.

Okay? So, what does this mean for context?

那么，这对背景意味着什么呢？

It means I can take two identical squares,

这意味着我可以将这两个完全相同的正方形，

put them in light and dark surrounds,

将它们放入明亮的和黑暗的环境当中，

and the one on the dark surround looks lighter than on the light surround.

现在这个在黑暗环境中的看起来比另一个在灯光环境下的要明亮些

重要的不是简单的明暗环境

What's significant is not simply the light and dark surrounds that matter.

It's what those light and dark surrounds meant for your behavior in the past.

而是这些明暗环境对你过去的行为意味着什么

So I'll show you what I mean.

我来给你演示一下是什么意思。这里我们有

Here we have that exact same illusion.

一模一样的错觉。

We have two identical tiles on the left,

在左边有两个完全一样的瓷砖

one in a dark surround, one in a light surround.

一个在黑暗的环境中，另一和在明亮的环境中。

And the same thing over on the right.

右边也是同样的情况

Now, I'll reveal those two scenes,

现在，我将检视这两幅景象

but I'm not going to change anything within those boxes,

但是我并不会改变这些盒子中的任何东西，

除了它们的意义。

except their meaning.

And see what happens to your perception.

然后看看你的感知发生了什么变化

Notice that on the left

注视左边的

the two tiles look nearly completely opposite:

两个瓷砖看起来几乎完全相反：

one very white and one very dark, right?

一个十分的明亮一个十分的黑暗

是不？然而，在左边的

Whereas on the right, the two tiles look nearly the same.

这两个瓷砖看起来几乎完全相同。

And yet there is still one on a dark surround,

但是它们仍然是一个在暗环境中，另一个在明环境中。

and one on a light surround.

Why?

为什么？因为如果在那个阴影的瓷砖

Because if the tile in that shadow were in fact in shadow,

是在真的阴影中的话，

and reflecting the same amount of light to your eye

它所反射出的到你的眼睛的光

as the one outside the shadow,

和另一个在阴影外的瓷砖反射的光将是同量

it would have to be more reflective -- just the laws of physics.

那么它应该反射出更多的光--这正是物理定理

So you see it that way.

所以你看见正是那种一明一暗的景象。

Whereas on the right, the information is consistent

然而在右边，那些信息是持续一致的

with those two tiles being under the same light.

即这两个瓷砖在同样的照明下。

If they're under the same light reflecting the same amount of light to your eye,

如果他们在同样的照明下，反射同量的光

向你的眼睛，

then they must be equally reflective.

那么他们必定有同等的反射力

So you see it that way.

所以你所看到的就是同样明暗的两个瓷砖的景象

Which means we can bring all this information together

也就是意味着我们可以将所有这些信息组合在一起

to create some incredibly strong illusions.

创造出不可思议的强烈的错觉

This is one I made a few years ago.

这个是我多年前做的一张图

And you'll notice you see a dark brown tile at the top,

你可以发现一个深褐色的瓷砖在顶部

and a bright orange tile at the side.

和一个亮橙色的瓷砖在侧面

That is your perceptual reality.

这是你感知的事实。但真实现实是

The physical reality is that those two tiles are the same.

这两个瓷砖实际上是一样的。

Here you see four gray tiles on your left,

你可以看见四个灰色的瓷砖在左边，

seven gray tiles on the right.

七个灰色的侧转在右边

I'm not going to change those tiles at all,

我将不会对这些瓷砖做任何变化

but I'm going to reveal the rest of the scene.

但是我将显示其余的画面

And see what happens to your perception.

然后看看你的感知发生了什么变化

The four blue tiles on the left are gray.

这四个在左边的蓝色瓷砖是灰色的

The seven yellow tiles on the right are also gray.

这七个在右边的黄色瓷砖也是灰色

They are the same. Okay?

他们是相同的，对吧？

Don't believe me? Let's watch it again.

你不相信我？让我们再来看一看

What's true for color is also true for complex perceptions of motion.

对于颜色适用的道理也同样对动态的复杂感知适用

So, here we have --

这儿我们有--

let's turn this around -- a diamond.

让我们将这个菱形转动起来

And what I'm going to do is, I'm going to hold it here,

接下来我将做什么呢，我将把它拿到这里，

and I'm going to spin it.

然后我将旋转它

And for all of you, you'll see it probably spinning this direction.

你们大家都会看到它向着这个方向旋转

Now I want you to keep looking at it.

现在我要你们持续看着它

Move your eyes around, blink, maybe close one eye.

转你的眼球，眨眼，或者闭上一只眼

And suddenly it will flip, and start spinning the opposite direction.

突然间他就翻转了，然后向着相反的方向旋转

Yes? Raise your hand if you got that. Yes?

是吗？如果你得到同样的结果就请举手。是吧？

Keep blinking.

继续眨眼睛。每眨一次眼睛它就会切换一次，对吧？

Every time you blink, it will switch.

So I can ask you, which direction is it rotating?

所以我问你，它在向哪个方向旋转？

How do you know?

你如何得知？

Your brain doesn't know, because both are equally likely.

你的大脑不知道。因为两种可能性都很相似

So depending on where it looks,

根据它从哪里看，它翻转在

it flips between the two possibilities.

两种可能性之间

Are we the only ones that see illusions?

我们是唯一看到错觉的吗？

The answer to this question is no.

答案是否定的

Even the beautiful bumblebee,

即便是美丽的大黄蜂，

with its mere one million brain cells,

有着仅仅一百万个脑细胞

which is 250 times fewer cells than you have in one retina,

比你一个视网膜上细胞的两百五十分之一还要少

sees illusions, does the most complicated things

也一样看到错觉，即便它们处理最复杂的事情

that even our most sophisticated computers can't do.

甚至于我们最精密的电脑都做不到。

So in my lab we work on bumblebees,

在我的实验室里，我们当然研究大黄蜂

because we can completely control their experience,

因为我们可以完全的控制它们的经验

and see how it alters the architecture of their brain.

并且观察那些经验如何改变它们大脑的结构

我们所做的这个叫做蜜蜂矩阵

We do this in what we call the Bee Matrix.

Here you have the hive.

这有蜂房。你可以看到蜂后，

You can see the queen bee, the large bee in the middle.

在中间的那只大的蜜蜂。这些卵是她的女儿们，

Those are her daughters, the eggs.

它们通过这个管子在蜂房

They go back and forth between this hive and the arena, via this tube.

和活动场所之间来回飞动

You'll see one of the bees come out here.

你将看到其中有一只蜜蜂从这里出来

You see how she has a little number on her?

你看到它是如何得到一个编号的啊？

There's another one coming out, she also has a number on her.

这里又有一只蜜蜂出来了。它身上有另外一个编号

Now, they're not born that way, right?

它们不是生来就有编号的，对吧？

We pull them out, put them in the fridge, and they fall asleep.

我们把它们拖出来，放到冰箱里，令它们睡着

Then you can superglue little numbers on them.

然后你就可以用强力胶把这些小编号粘在它们身上

（笑）

(Laughter)

And now, in this experiment they get a reward if they go to the blue flowers.

在这个实验中，它们如果去蓝色的花儿则被奖励

They land on the flower,

它们停留在花上，将舌头刺进那里，

stick their tongue in there, called a proboscis, and drink sugar water.

称作吸管，然后它们喝那些糖水

She's drinking a glass of water that's about that big to you and I,

现在她正在喝对于你我来说大概这么大的一杯水

will do that about three times, then fly.

大约喝三次之后飞走

And sometimes they learn not to go to the blue,

有些时候他们学习不要去那些蓝色的花，

but to go where the other bees go.

而是去那些别的蜜蜂去的地方

So they copy each other.

因此他们相互效仿。他们可以数到五，也可以分辨长相

They can count to five. They can recognize faces.

And here she comes down the ladder.

现在她正下来

And she'll come into the hive, find an empty honey pot,

进去蜂房之后找到空的蜜罐

and throw up, and that's honey.

然后吐出来，这就是蜂蜜

(Laughter)

（笑）

Now remember, she's supposed to be going to the blue flowers,

现在请记住--（笑）

--她理应去那些蓝色的花儿

but what are these bees doing in the upper right corner?

但是这些在右上边角落的蜜蜂在做什么呢？

It looks like they're going to green flowers.

看起来它们要去绿色的花儿

Now, are they getting it wrong?

现在，是他们弄错了吗？

And the answer to the question is no. Those are actually blue flowers.

这个问题的答案是否定的。那些其实是蓝色的花儿

But those are blue flowers under green light.

却是在绿色灯光之下的蓝色花儿

So they're using the relationships between the colors to solve the puzzle,

因此它们利用颜色间的关系来解开谜团

which is exactly what we do.

这也正是我们所做的

So, illusions are often used,

错觉常常被利用

especially in art, in the words of a more contemporary artist,

特别是运用在艺术上，以一名当代艺术家的话来说，

"to demonstrate the fragility of our senses."

“来证明我们感官的脆弱”

Okay, this is complete rubbish.

这纯粹是一派胡言

The senses aren't fragile. And if they were, we wouldn't be here.

感官并不脆弱，如果感官脆弱的话我们就不会在这里了

反之，颜色告诉我们完全相反的东西，

Instead, color tells us something completely different,

that the brain didn't actually evolve to see the world the way it is.

即大脑实际上并不是进化到能够看这真实的世界

We can't.

我们不能。取而代之的是，大脑进化为看到这个世界

Instead, the brain evolved to see the world

the way it was useful to see in the past.

过去曾经的样子

And how we see is by continually redefining normality.

我们之所以可以看是通过不断的更新对常态的定义

So, how can we take this incredible capacity of plasticity of the brain

那么我们如何可以利用这种

大脑不可思议的可塑性

and get people to experience their world differently?

令人们不同地体验他们的世界？

Well, one of the ways we do it in my lab and studio

其中一种方法我们在我的实验室和工作室里所做的

is we translate the light into sound,

就是我们把光翻译成声音

and we enable people to hear their visual world.

使得人们能够听到他们的视觉世界

And they can navigate the world using their ears.

于是他们就可以利用耳朵来航行于视觉世界

Here's David on the right, and he's holding a camera.

右边的这位是大卫。他拿着一个照相机

On the left is what his camera sees.

左边的是他相机的所见

And you'll see there's a faint line going across that image.

你可以看到这里有一条线，一条穿过那个影像的淡色的线

That line is broken up into 32 squares.

那条线被分成了三十二个正方形

In each square, we calculate the average color.

我们计算每个正方形的平均颜色

And then we just simply translate that into sound.

我们于是简单地将它翻译成声音

And now he's going to turn around,

现在他将

转过身，闭上眼睛

close his eyes,

and find a plate on the ground with his eyes closed.

闭着眼睛找到地上的一个板子

(Continuous sound)

(Sound changes momentarily)

(Sound changes momentarily)

(Sound changes momentarily)

(Sound changes momentarily)

(Sound changes momentarily)

Beau Lotto: He finds it. Amazing, right?

他找到了。很神奇。对吧？

So not only can we create a prosthetic for the visually impaired,

所以我们不仅仅能为视觉创伤创造出一个假体

but we can also investigate

而且我们还可以研究人们是如何

how people literally make sense of the world.

如实地感知这个世界

But we can also do something else.

但是我们还可以做别的事情。我们可以用颜色来创造音乐

We can also make music with color.

So, working with kids,

和孩子们合作

they created images,

他们创造影像，

thinking about what might the images you see

想象一下你可以看到什么影像

sound like if we could listen to them.

听起来就好像我们能够倾听它们

And then we translated these images.

于是我们翻译这些影像

And this is one of those images.

这是其中的一幅影像

And this is a six-year-old child composing a piece of music

这是一个六岁的孩子为一个

for a 32-piece orchestra.

三十二管弦乐团所创作的一曲音乐

And this is what it sounds like.

它听起来是这样的

(Electronic representation of orchestral music)

So, a six-year-old child. Okay?

一个六岁的孩子哦

Now, what does all this mean?

所有这些意味着什么呢？

What this suggests is that no one is an outside observer of nature, okay?

这些暗示我们没有任何一个人是置身于自然界之外的观察者

是吗？

We're not defined by our central properties,

我们并非由我们的中心特质所定义

by the bits that make us up.

也并非由组成我们的点点滴滴所定义

We're defined by our environment and our interaction with that environment,

我们是由我们周边的环境和我们与之的互动而定义的--

by our ecology.

即我们的生态

And that ecology is necessarily relative, historical and empirical.

而这个生态也必定是相对的，

历史的和经验的。

我想要以此作结

So, what I'd like to finish with is this over here.

Because what I've been trying to do is really celebrate uncertainty.

因为迄今我所尝试都是在歌颂不确定性

Because I think only through uncertainty is there potential for understanding.

因为我认为只有通过不确定性才会有潜力去理解

So, if some of you are still feeling a bit too certain,

所以，如果你们其中的一些人仍然觉得过于确定

I'd like to do this one.

我想要做这件事情

So, if we have the lights down.

让我们把灯熄灭

And what we have here --

这里我们有--

Can everyone see 25 purple surfaces on your left,

是否每位都能看见这二十五个紫色的面

在你的左边

and 25, call it yellowish, surfaces on your right?

和二十五个淡黄色的面在你的右边？

So now, what I want to do,

那么，现在我想要做的是：

I'm going to put the middle nine surfaces here

我将把中间的这九个面放在这里

under yellow illumination,

在黄色的照明之下

by simply putting a filter behind them.

只要简单地在它们后面放个滤片

好了，现在你可以看到那使灯光改变了

Now you can see that changes the light that's coming through there, right?

光从那里出来，对吧？

Because now the light is going through a yellowish filter

因为现在灯光通过一个淡黄色的滤片透出来

然后是一个紫色的滤片

and then a purplish filter.

I'm going to do the opposite on the left here.

我将在左边做相反的事情

I'm going to put the middle nine under a purplish light.

我将把中间这九个面放在紫色的灯光下

Now, some of you will have noticed that the consequence

现在，你们其中的一些人将会觉察到其结果就是

is that the light coming through those middle nine on the right,

从中间这九个面透出来的光

or your left, is exactly the same as the light

或者是在你的左侧

正好和从你右边透过中间九个面的光

coming through the middle nine on your right.

完全相同

Agreed? Yes?

同意吗？是的？

Okay. So they are physically the same.

好的，所以说它们实际上是完全相同的

Let's pull the covers off.

让我们拉掉这个罩子

Now remember --

现在请记住，

you know that the middle nine are exactly the same.

你知道这中间的九个面是完全相同的

Do they look the same?

它们看起来相同吗？不。

No.

The question is, "Is that an illusion?"

问题来了，“那是个错觉吗？”

And I'll leave you with that.

我把这个问题留给大家

So, thank you very much.

非常感谢。

(Laughter)

(Applause)

（掌声）