Mary Lou Jepsen: Could future devices read images from our brains?

翻译人员: Rong Han 校对人员: Tian Ye

I had brain surgery 18 years ago,

我18年前做过脑部手术，

and since that time, brain science has become

从那时起，

我就非常热衷于脑科学研究。

a personal passion of mine.

I'm actually an engineer.

我的本职其实是工程师。

And first let me say, I recently joined

首先我要声明，我最近参加了

Google's Moonshot group,

谷歌的登月组，

where I had a division,

我在谷歌X

the display division in Google X,

负责那里的显示部门。

and the brain science work I'm speaking about today

但是今天我要谈到的脑科学方面的研究，

is work I did before I joined Google

是我加入谷歌之前做的，

and on the side outside of Google.

在谷歌之外做的。

So that said, there's a stigma

现在说正题。¶

做过脑手术之后就出现这样一个问题：

when you have brain surgery.

Are you still smart or not?

你还和以前一样聪明吗?

And if not, can you make yourself smart again?

如果不是，你还能重新变聪明吗？

After my neurosurgery,

我做了神经手术之后，

part of my brain was missing,

大脑少了一部分，

and I had to deal with that.

而我得接受这个事实。

It wasn't the grey matter, but it was the gooey part dead center

不是灰质部分，而是正中间黏糊糊的部分，

that makes key hormones and neurotransmitters.

那里是产生关键的激素和神经递质的地方。

Immediately after my surgery,

在手术刚刚结束之后，

I had to decide what amounts of each of over

我就得决定每天要吃的十几种强力药物里，

a dozen powerful chemicals to take each day,

每一种吃多少。

because if I just took nothing,

如果什么药都不吃，

I would die within hours.

几个小时内我就会死掉。

Every day now for 18 years -- every single day --

18年来每天，每一天，

I've had to try to decide the combinations

我都得决定我需要吃什么样的

and mixtures of chemicals,

药以及如何搭配它们，

and try to get them, to stay alive.

把这些药找来吃，让自己活下去。

There have been several close calls.

有几次都差点没命。

But luckily, I'm an experimentalist at heart,

不过幸好我打心底里是个实验科学家，

so I decided I would experiment

所以我觉得我要试验一下，

to try to find more optimal dosages

找到更合适的剂量，

because there really isn't a clear road map

因为这方面实在是没有个详细的

on this that's detailed.

路线图可参考。

I began to try different mixtures,

我开始尝试不同的药物搭配，

and I was blown away by how

而我完全没有想到的是，

tiny changes in dosages

剂量上的微小改变

dramatically changed my sense of self,

竟然会剧烈地改变我的自我感觉，

my sense of who I was, my thinking,

我认为自己是谁，我的想法，

my behavior towards people.

我对待他人的行为。

One particularly dramatic case:

一个非常极端的例子：

for a couple months I actually tried dosages

有几个月我尝试的药物和剂量

and chemicals typical of a man in his early 20s,

正常是用于20出头的男性的。

and I was blown away by how my thoughts changed.

让我非常惊讶的是我的想法完全改变了。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I was angry all the time,

我总是非常生气，

I thought about sex constantly,

我不停地想到性，

and I thought I was the smartest person

而且我觉得自己是

in the entire world, and

世界上最聪明的人，

—(Laughter)—

（笑声）

of course over the years I'd met guys kind of like that,

当然这些年来我遇到过这样的男人，

or maybe kind of toned-down versions of that.

或者是没这么夸张但也类似的男人。

I was kind of extreme.

我那样的比较极端。

But to me, the surprise was,

对我来说，让我惊讶的是，

I wasn't trying to be arrogant.

我并不是想要做个傲慢的人，

I was actually trying,

我实际上是想，

with a little bit of insecurity,

虽然不是很确定，

to actually fix a problem in front of me,

要解决摆在我面前的一个问题，

and it just didn't come out that way.

可结果却不是那样的。

So I couldn't handle it.

我受不了了，

I changed my dosages.

于是改了药的剂量。

But that experience, I think, gave me

不过那段经历，我觉得，

a new appreciation for men

让我对男性有了新的认识，

and what they might walk through,

包括他们可能的感受。

and I've gotten along with men

而且从那以后

a lot better since then.

我和男性之间相处得也更好了。

What I was trying to do

我当时试图

with tuning these hormones

调节这些激素

and neurotransmitters and so forth

和神经递质等的剂量，

was to try to get my intelligence back

我想要做的是

在生病和手术之后，重新找回我的智慧，

after my illness and surgery,

my creative thought, my idea flow.

我的创造性思维，我的思考能力。

And I think mostly in images,

我主要是通过图像来思考的，

and so for me that became a key metric --

所以对我来说最关键的，

how to get these mental images

就是如何找回这些大脑中的图像，

that I use as a way of rapid prototyping,

因为我是用图像来快速地构建原型想法的。

if you will, my ideas,

只要我愿意，我的想法，

trying on different new ideas for size,

会尝试不同规模的新想法，

playing out scenarios.

设想各种场景。

This kind of thinking isn't new.

这种思维方式并不罕见。

Philiosophers like Hume and Descartes and Hobbes

哲学家们，像休谟、笛卡儿、霍布斯

saw things similarly.

也是这样看事情的。

They thought that mental images and ideas

他们认为脑中的图像和思想

were actually the same thing.

是一回事。

There are those today that dispute that,

现在有很多人质疑这一点，

and lots of debates about how the mind works,

也有很多关于大脑如何思考的争论，

but for me it's simple:

但对我来说很简单：

Mental images, for most of us,

对大多数人来说，大脑中的图像

are central in inventive and creative thinking.

是在创造性思考中处于核心地位。

So after several years,

在我试验了几年之后，

I tuned myself up and I have lots of great,

我找到了合适的药物剂量，

really vivid mental images with a lot of sophistication

我脑中开始出现了很多栩栩如生 又非常复杂的图像，

and the analytical backbone behind them.

还有图像中包含的思路。

And so now I'm working on,

现在我在做的，

how can I get these mental images in my mind

就是如何把我脑子中的这些图像

out to my computer screen faster?

更快地传到我的电脑屏幕上?

Can you imagine, if you will,

想像一下，

a movie director being able to use

如果一个电影导演仅靠她的想象力

her imagination alone to direct the world in front of her?

就可以导演她眼前的世界?

Or a musician to get the music out of his head?

或者一个音乐家这样就能把他脑子里的音乐传出来?

There are incredible possibilities with this

这件事有不可思议的可能性，

as a way for creative people

它可以让有创造性的人们

to share at light speed.

以闪电般的速度来分享想法。

And the truth is, the remaining bottleneck

事实上，要实现这一点

in being able to do this

现在剩下的瓶颈仅仅在于

is just upping the resolution of brain scan systems.

提高大脑扫描系统的分辨率。

So let me show you why I think we're pretty close to getting there

现在我要给大家看看， 为什么我觉得我们已经接近成功了，

by sharing with you two recent experiments

我要展示两个近期的实验，

from two top neuroscience groups.

分别是在两个顶级的脑科学研究组做的。

Both used fMRI technology --

他们都用了fMRI技术

functional magnetic resonance imaging technology --

也就是功能性核磁共振成像技术

to image the brain,

来对大脑进行造影。

and here is a brain scan set from Giorgio Ganis

这套大脑扫描图是

哈佛的吉奥吉欧•加尼斯和他的同事们做的。

and his colleagues at Harvard.

And the left-hand column shows a brain scan

左边一列扫描的

of a person looking at an image.

是一个正看着一张图的人的大脑。

The middle column shows the brainscan

中间一列

of that same individual

是同一个人的大脑扫描图，

imagining, seeing that same image.

但他只是在想像看刚才那张图片，

And the right column was created

右边一列是将

by subtracting the middle column from the left column,

中间的图从左边的图减去后得到的

showing the difference to be nearly zero.

可以看出来差别几乎为零。

This was repeated on lots of different individuals

这个实验在很多不同的人身上重复过，

with lots of different images,

而且用了很多不同的图片，

always with a similar result.

结果几乎总是一样。

The difference between seeing an image

真正看一张图片

and imagining seeing that same image

和想像看同一张图片

is next to nothing.

之间几乎没有差别。

Next let me share with you one other experiment,

下面我再给你们看一个实验，

this from Jack Gallant's lab at Cal Berkeley.

是在加州大学伯克利分校 杰克•加蓝特的实验室做的。

They've been able to decode brainwaves

他们有办法将脑电波

into recognizable visual fields.

转换成可识别的视图。

So let me set this up for you.

我来演示一下。

In this experiment, individuals were shown

在这个实验里，受试者

hundreds of hours of YouTube videos

要看几百小时的youtube视频，

while scans were made of their brains

看的时候他们的大脑会被扫描，

to create a large library of their brain reacting

这样就建立了一个巨大的数据库，里面纪录下了

to video sequences.

他们的大脑对一系列视频的反应，

Then a new movie was shown with new images,

然后给他们看一段新视频，里面有新的图像，

new people, new animals in it,

新的人物，新的动物，

and a new scan set was recorded.

并且新的大脑扫描图也被纪录下来。

The computer, using brain scan data alone,

电脑仅仅通过大脑扫描数据

decoded that new brain scan

就可以解析新的扫描图，

to show what it thought the individual was actually seeing.

推测出受试者实际看到的是什么图像。

On the right-hand side, you see the computer's guess,

右边是电脑的猜测，

and on the left-hand side, the presented clip.

而左边是给受试者看的片段。

This is the jaw-dropper.

这真是让人印象极为深刻。

We are so close to being able to do this.

我们离真正实现这一点已经不远了，

We just need to up the resolution.

只是需要提高分辨率。

And now remember that when you see an image

请记住当你看一副图片

versus when you imagine that same image,

或者你想同一副图片时，

it creates the same brain scan.

大脑扫描的结果是一样的。

So this was done with the highest-resolution

这是用当今分辨率最高的

brain scan systems available today,

大脑扫描系统做的。

and their resolution has increased really

这个系统的分辨率在近几年里

about a thousandfold in the last several years.

提高了将近一千倍。

Next we need to increase the resolution

下一步我们需要将分辨率

another thousandfold

再提高一千倍，

to get a deeper glimpse.

才能看得更深。

How do we do that?

我们怎样实现呢？

There's a lot of techniques in this approach.

这方面有很多技术可用。

One way is to crack open your skull and put in electrodes.

一种方法是把头骨撬开把电极放进去，

I'm not for that.

我不做这个。

There's a lot of new imaging techniques

还有很多新的成像技术被提出来，

being proposed, some even by me,

有些还是我提出来的，

but given the recent success of MRI,

不过考虑到最近在核磁共振上的成功，

first we need to ask the question,

我们首先应该问的问题是，

is it the end of the road with this technology?

这项技术已经发展到尽头了吗？

Conventional wisdom says the only way

传统的观点认为

to get higher resolution is with bigger magnets,

提高分辨率的唯一方法是用更大的磁铁，

but at this point bigger magnets

但是现在更大的磁铁只能

only offer incremental resolution improvements,

带来分辨率的提升只是固定增量的，

not the thousandfold we need.

不是我们想要的一千倍。

I'm putting forward an idea:

我提出了一个想法：

instead of bigger magnets,

不用更大的磁铁，

let's make better magnets.

我们来做更好的磁铁。

There's some new technology breakthroughs

纳米科学方面现在有些技术突破，

in nanoscience

when applied to magnetic structures

而用在磁铁结构上

that have created a whole new class of magnets,

已经制造出了一种全新类型的磁铁。

and with these magnets, we can lay down

用这些磁铁，我们可以

very fine detailed magnetic field patterns

在整个大脑里布置出结构非常细致的磁场模式，

throughout the brain,

在整个大脑里布置出结构非常细致的磁场模式，

and using those, we can actually create

这样我们就能造出

holographic-like interference structures

类似于全息的干扰结构，

to get precision control over many patterns,

可以对很多模式进行精确控制，

as is shown here by shifting things.

只要像这样移动一些东西就行了。

We can create much more complicated structures

我们还可以造出更复杂的结构，

with slightly different arrangements,

只要使用稍微不同的排列就可以了。

kind of like making Spirograph.

有点儿像画螺旋图。

So why does that matter?

这有什么用呢？

A lot of effort in MRI over the years

这些年来MRI领域很多人

has gone into making really big,

不是在试图做出

really huge magnets, right?

非常非常大的磁铁吗？

But yet most of the recent advances

但是最近分辨率领域的进步，

in resolution have actually come from

实际上是源于

ingeniously clever encoding and decoding solutions

MRI系统中

in the F.M. radio frequency transmitters and receivers

调频电波频率发射和接收器

in the MRI systems.

极为精巧的编码解码方法。

Let's also, instead of a uniform magnetic field,

另外，我们可以不再使用总是一样的磁场，

put down structured magnetic patterns

而是用有一定结构的磁场模式，

in addition to the F.M. radio frequencies.

再加上调频电波频率。

So by combining the magnetics patterns

这样就将磁场模式

with the patterns in the F.M. radio frequencies

与调频电波频率模式相结合，

processing which can massively increase

可以极大地增加

the information that we can extract

我们在一次扫描中所提取的信息。

in a single scan.

And on top of that, we can then layer

除此之外，

our ever-growing knowledge of brain structure and memory

我们在大脑结构和记忆方面的知识也在不断增加，

to create a thousandfold increase that we need.

我们可以把这些知识整合进去， 就能得到我们想要的1000倍的增长了。

And using fMRI, we should be able to measure

运用fMRI，我们不仅可以

not just oxygenated blood flow,

测量携氧的血液流动，

but the hormones and neurotransmitters I've talked about

还可以测量我刚才说的激素和神经递质，

and maybe even the direct neural activity,

甚至有可能直接测量神经活动，

which is the dream.

那就是梦。

We're going to be able to dump our ideas

那样我们就可以把我们的想法

directly to digital media.

直接下载到数字媒体上。

Could you imagine if we could leapfrog language

想像一下，如果我们可以不借助语言

and communicate directly with human thought?

而直接交流思想？

What would we be capable of then?

那时候我们能有什么样的成就呢？

And how will we learn to deal

我们要怎样学会面对

with the truths of unfiltered human thought?

未加修饰的，完全真实的人类思想呢？

你觉得互联网很大，

You think the Internet was big.

These are huge questions.

那这些问题就是巨大了。

It might be irresistible as a tool

把它作为一种工具来放大我们的思考和沟通能力，

to amplify our thinking and communication skills.

这个想法可能让人难以抗拒。

And indeed, this very same tool

确实，这个方法有可能会带来治疗

may prove to lead to the cure

for Alzheimer's and similar diseases.

阿尔兹海默式症或其它疾病的方法。

We have little option but to open this door.

除了开启这扇门之外，我们别无选择。

Regardless, pick a year --

不管怎样，预测一下，

will it happen in five years or 15 years?

五年还是十五年之后能实现呢？

It's hard to imagine it taking much longer.

很难想像要花更久的时间。

We need to learn how to take this step together.

我们要一起学习如何一起迈出这一步。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。

(Applause)

（掌声）