Maria Bezaitis: The surprising need for strangeness

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

翻译人员: xuan wang 校对人员: Wei Wu

"Don't talk to strangers."

"不要和陌生人说话。"

You have heard that phrase uttered

这句话已经被你的

by your friends, family, schools and the media for decades.

朋友、家人、学校和媒体重复了好多年了。

It's a norm. It's a social norm.

这是一个准则，一个社会行为规范。

But it's a special kind of social norm,

但这又是一个特殊的社会行为标准，

because it's a social norm that wants to tell us

因为这个准则试图要告诉我们

who we can relate to and who we shouldn't relate to.

我们应该或不应该接触什么样的人。

"Don't talk to strangers" says,

“不要和陌生人说话”的意思是，

"Stay from anyone who's not familiar to you.

“避开那些你不熟悉的人。

Stick with the people you know.

只跟那些你认识的

Stick with people like you."

和像你一样的人来往。“

How appealing is that?

这听上去有趣吗？

It's not really what we do, is it, when we're at our best?

这不是我们意气风发的时候做的事情，不是吗？

When we're at our best, we reach out to people

当我们意气风发的时候，我们和那些

who are not like us,

跟我们不同的人来往，

because when we do that, we learn from people

因为这样我们可以向这些与我们不同的人

who are not like us.

学习。

My phrase for this value of being with "not like us"

我认为这种“和我们不同”

is "strangeness,"

就是“陌生感”，

and my point is that in today's digitally intensive world,

我的意思是在今天已经电子化、虚拟化的世界里，

strangers are quite frankly not the point.

陌生人已经不是问题的重点。

The point that we should be worried about is,

我们需要担心的重点是，

how much strangeness are we getting?

这种陌生感有多少（两者之间有多陌生）？

Why strangeness? Because our social relations

为什么是陌生感？因为我们的社会关系

are increasingly mediated by data,

正在被数据量化，

and data turns our social relations into digital relations,

这些数据又把我们的社会关系转化成虚拟数字关系，

and that means that our digital relations

这意味着我们的数字生活

now depend extraordinarily on technology

很大程度上依赖于科技

to bring to them a sense of robustness,

带来的一种稳定感，

a sense of discovery,

一种探索感，

a sense of surprise and unpredictability.

一种惊喜和不可预测性。

Why not strangers?

为什么不通过陌生人来获得这种需求？

Because strangers are part of a world

因为陌生人是这个充满

of really rigid boundaries.

条条框框的世界的一部分。

They belong to a world of people I know

他们属于一个简单的把人分为我认识

versus people I don't know,

和我不认识的世界，

and in the context of my digital relations,

而在我的数字关系里，

I'm already doing things with people I don't know.

我已经在和我不认识的人有了交流。

The question isn't whether or not I know you.

问题已经不再是我到底认不认识你。

The question is, what can I do with you?

问题是，我们可以在一起做什么？

What can I learn with you?

我能从你那里学习什么？

What can we do together that benefits us both?

我们能在一起做些有益双方的事情？

I spend a lot of time thinking about

我花了很多时间思考

how the social landscape is changing,

人们的社会生活在发生着怎样的变化，

how new technologies create new constraints

新技术是如何为人类带来

and new opportunities for people.

新的限制和机遇。

The most important changes facing us today

今天我们面临的最重要的变化

have to do with data and what data is doing

与这些数据和它们如何

to shape the kinds of digital relations

塑造我们在未来拥有的

that will be possible for us in the future.

数字关系息息相关。

The economies of the future depend on that.

未来的经济发展依赖于此。

Our social lives in the future depend on that.

我们未来的社会生活依赖于此。

The threat to worry about isn't strangers.

我们应该担心的不是遇到陌生人。

The threat to worry about is whether or not

我们该担心的是我们会不会得到

we're getting our fair share of strangeness.

本应属于我们的那份“陌生感”（意为与他人产生有效联系的机会）。

Now, 20th-century psychologists and sociologists

20世纪的心理学家和社会学家

were thinking about strangers,

专注于陌生人，

but they weren't thinking so dynamically about human relations,

但是他们当年并没有料到人类关系的这种多样性，

and they were thinking about strangers

而且他们是在实践影响的范畴内

in the context of influencing practices.

讨论研究陌生人的。

Stanley Milgram from the '60s and '70s,

上世纪60到70年代的斯坦利·米尔格兰姆（美国著名社会心理学家）

the creator of the small-world experiments,

“小世界现象”实验的创造者，

which became later popularized as six degrees of separation,

这个实验就是以后著名的“六度分离”理论，

made the point that any two arbitrarily selected people

意思就是任何两个人

were likely connected from between five to seven intermediary steps.

都会在5到7人之间建立起联系。

His point was that strangers are out there.

他认为陌生人随处可见。

We can reach them. There are paths

我们可以与他们发生联系。

that enable us to reach them.

各种途径可以帮助我们建立这些联系。

Mark Granovetter, Stanford sociologist, in 1973

马克·格兰诺维特，斯坦福社会学家，1973年

in his seminal essay "The Strength of Weak Ties,"

在他的著名论文“弱连接的威力”中指出

made the point that these weak ties

这些“弱连接”（指与我们不熟的人）

that are a part of our networks, these strangers,

是我们社会关系网络的一部分，

are actually more effective at diffusing information to us

这些陌生人会有效的带给我们不同的信息，

than are our strong ties, the people closest to us.

这点要优于我们的“强连接”，那些我们非常亲近的人。

He makes an additional indictment of our strong ties

他同时指出了我们的“强连接”的另一个问题就是

when he says that these people who are so close to us,

这些在生活中和我们走的很近的人，

these strong ties in our lives,

这些“强连接”们，

actually have a homogenizing effect on us.

会不断的同化我们。

They produce sameness.

他们让我们变得越来越一致。

My colleagues and I at Intel have spent the last few years

我和我在因特尔的同事在过去的几年里

looking at the ways in which digital platforms

都在观察数字平台是如何

are reshaping our everyday lives,

重塑我们的日常生活的，

what kinds of new routines are possible.

哪些新的惯例正在产生。

We've been looking specifically at the kinds

我们主要特别观察了

of digital platforms that have enabled us

某些电子平台，它们让我们

to take our possessions, those things that used to be

把我们自己的东西，那些曾经只限于我们自己

very restricted to us and to our friends in our houses,

和来家里的朋友，

and to make them available to people we don't know.

分享给那些我们并不认识的人。

Whether it's our clothes, whether it's our cars,

不管是我们衣服，汽车，

whether it's our bikes, whether it's our books or music,

自行车，书籍还是音乐，

we are able to take our possessions now

我们现在都可以把我们自己的东西

and make them available to people we've never met.

让那些我们从未谋面的人接触到。

And we concluded a very important insight,

而且我们总结出了一条非常重要的结论，

which was that as people's relationships

就是当人与生活中的事物的关系

to the things in their lives change,

发生改变的同时，

so do their relations with other people.

他们与他人的关系也在改变。

And yet recommendation system

尽管这样，一代代的（智能）推荐系统

after recommendation system continues to miss the boat.

都还没有意识到这一点。

It continues to try to predict what I need

这些系统还在根据我过去的一些特征

based on some past characterization of who I am,

和我已经做了什么

of what I've already done.

来猜我需要什么。

Security technology after security technology

一代代的安全技术

continues to design data protection

还在设计抵御威胁和袭击的

in terms of threats and attacks,

数据保护方案，

keeping me locked into really rigid kinds of relations.

来让我困在一些非常教条的关系中。

Categories like "friends" and "family"

类似于“朋友”、“家人”、

and "contacts" and "colleagues"

“联系人”和“同事”的分类

don't tell me anything about my actual relations.

没有办法展现我实际的关系状态。

A more effective way to think about my relations

一个更有效的看待关系的方法

might be in terms of closeness and distance,

可能是根据亲疏关系和距离，

where at any given point in time, with any single person,

也就是说，在任意时刻，和任何人，

I am both close and distant from that individual,

我都和那个人既亲近又保持一定距离，

all as a function of what I need to do right now.

这都要看我现在需要做些什么。

People aren't close or distant.

人和人的关系不会只是亲近或者疏远。

People are always a combination of the two,

这种关系是两者的结合，

and that combination is constantly changing.

而且这种结合总是在变化。

What if technologies could intervene

如果科技可以打破

to disrupt the balance of certain kinds of relationships?

某些关系的平衡，结果会怎样呢？

What if technologies could intervene

如果科技可以帮助我

to help me find the person that I need right now?

找到我现在需要的那个人？

Strangeness is that calibration

"陌生感"就是评估亲疏关系

of closeness and distance

的一个标准，

that enables me to find the people that I need right now,

它帮助我找到那些我现在就需要的人，

that enables me to find the sources of intimacy,

帮助我找到那些我现在需要的亲密感、

of discovery, and of inspiration that I need right now.

探索感和灵感的源泉。

Strangeness is not about meeting strangers.

“陌生感”不是说我们要见陌生人。

It simply makes the point that we need

它其实就是告诉我们

to disrupt our zones of familiarity.

要突破我们那些熟悉的区域。

So jogging those zones of familiarity is one way to think about strangeness,

突破这些熟悉的区域是一种认识陌生感的方式，

and it's a problem faced not just by individuals today,

而且这不仅仅是个人问题，

but also by organizations,

也是那些想要抓住

organizations that are trying to embrace massively new opportunities.

更多新机遇的组织团体遇到的问题。

Whether you're a political party

或者你是一个政党

insisting to your detriment on a very rigid notion

教条得用谁是同盟和谁不是同盟的简单判断

of who belongs and who does not,

而让整个政党遭受不必要的损失，

whether you're the government

或者你是政府部门

protecting social institutions like marriage

试图保护那些社会机构如婚姻

and restricting access of those institutions to the few,

并只让很少的人可以接触到这些机构，

whether you're a teenager in her bedroom

或者你是一个在自己房间里

who's trying to jostle her relations with her parents,

和父母闹不和的青少年，

strangeness is a way to think about how we pave the way

“陌生感”为我们需要新的关系

to new kinds of relations.

铺平了道路。

We have to change the norms.

我们需要打破过去的陈规。

We have to change the norms in order to enable

我们需要打破这些规距才能带来

new kinds of technologies

新技术

as a basis for new kinds of businesses.

并在此之上创造新的商机。

What interesting questions lie ahead for us

在这个没有陌生人的世界里会出现

in this world of no strangers?

哪些有趣的问题呢？

How might we think differently about our relations with people?

我们对我们与他人的关系又会有怎样不同的思考？

How might we think differently about our relations

我们对我们与那些分散的人群的关系

with distributed groups of people?

又会有怎样不同的看法？

How might we think differently about our relations with technologies,

我们又对我们与那些

things that effectively become social participants

已经深入到我们生活中各个角落的科技之间的关系

in their own right?

有什么不同的看法呢？

The range of digital relations is extraordinary.

数字关系的范围是十分宽广的。

In the context of this broad range of digital relations,

在这个前提下，

safely seeking strangeness might very well be

安全的寻找“陌生感”很有可能是

a new basis for that innovation.

创新的新基础。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）