The awful logic of land mines -- and an app that helps people avoid them | Carlos Bautista

翻译人员: Echo Sun 校对人员: Windy Ma

When you walk around the place where you live,

当你在所住的地方四处走动时，

most of the times,

大部分时候，

you feel pretty safe and comfortable, right?

你会觉得很安全也很自在，对吗？

Now imagine if there were land mines

现在，想象一下，如果有地雷

buried right here,

就埋在这里，

scattered around,

散布在周围，

and you'd never know when you might step on one.

而你永远不会知道 会不会踩到其中一个。

That's how it is for many in my home country, Colombia.

在我的祖国，哥伦比亚， 很多人的生活就是如此。

As a result of a 50-year internal armed conflict,

经过了五十年的内部武装冲突，

we have an undetermined number of land mines

不知道有多少地雷

buried throughout the countryside,

埋在乡间各处，

affecting more than one third of the Colombian population.

影响到超过三分之一的哥伦比亚人口。

These anti-personnel mines

这些杀伤性地雷的设计，

are designed to maim, not to kill their targets.

是要让目标受重伤残废，而非死亡。

The logic behind this, which is awful,

这背后的逻辑十分可怕，

is that more resources are taken up caring for an injured soldier

因为比起处理被杀害的士兵，

than dealing with a person who has been killed.

照顾伤残的士兵要花费更多的资源。

I met Adriana Rodriguez about five years ago

五年前，我认识了阿德瑞娜·罗德里奎兹，

while I was working for the Colombian government

当时我在为哥伦比亚政府工作，

as a documentary filmmaker.

担任纪录片制作人。

During the conflict,

在冲突期间，

she was forced to leave her house ...

她被迫离开了她的家…

with her kids in her arms.

怀中抱着她的孩子。

One day, one of her neighbors was killed

有一天，她的一位邻居被杀了，

while he stepped on a land mine.

因为他踩到了一个地雷。

He was actually inside an abandoned house, not outside,

他当时其实是在一间 废弃房子的内部，不是外面。

a house exactly like the one Adriana was forced to leave.

让阿德瑞娜被迫离开的， 也是类似的房子。

Ever since, she has been living with the fear that she, or her children,

此后，她一直活在恐惧中， 担心她或她的孩子

might step on a land mine.

可能会踩到地雷。

You know, the Colombian conflict has been running for so long

哥伦比亚冲突持续了很久，

that neither me nor my mom have seen our country in peace,

我和我母亲都没有见过 我们的国家有和平的时候。

and for someone like me,

像我这样的人，

who has been living detached from all this suffering,

生活一直是和这些苦难没有关系的，

there was only two options:

只有两个选项：

either I get used to it,

我可以习惯它，

or I can try to change it with all my heart.

或是我可以尽全力来改变它。

And I have to admit that for almost 30 years,

我得承认，在几乎三十年的时间里，

I was getting used to it, you know?

我都在不断去习惯它。

But something changed for me when I met my wife.

但当我遇见我太太时，改变发生了。

She is a political scientist

她是个政治科学家，

completely passionate about the Colombian armed conflict.

对于哥伦比亚武装冲突非常有热忱。

She helped me to understand

她协助我了解了

how deeply our country has been affected by land mines and by war.

我们的国家受到地雷 及战争的影响有多深。

We decided to come here to the United States

我们决定来到这里，美国，

in search of new skills

来寻找新技能，

that would enable us to contribute in a fair way to our society,

让我们能用一种公正的方式 来对我们的社会做出贡献，

and maybe even help heal it.

甚至协助治愈它。

While in grad school,

在研究生阶段，

I started developing

我开始开发

an augmented reality, really broad application

一种增强现实技术， 其应用范围非常广泛，

to help military personnel to deactivate land mines more safely.

能协助军人用更安全的方式排除地雷。

During that time, I also realized

在那段时期，我也了解到

that Colombia is not the only country in the world

哥伦比亚并非世界上唯一

that has to worry about land mines.

要担心地雷的国家。

In fact, more than 58 countries

事实上，超过58个国家的土地

are still contaminated with any sort of explosive device.

仍然满是各种爆破性装置。

Only in 2015, due to an escalation of war

仅仅在2015年，因为在利比亚、

in countries like Libya, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen,

叙利亚、乌克兰、也门 等国家的战况加剧，

the number of [land mine casualties] almost doubled,

地雷（造成的受害者）数目加倍，

from 3,695 to 6,461 people.

从3695人增加到6461人。

Imagine that.

想看看那状况。

While some countries are trying to get rid of land mines,

虽然有些国家在试图避免使用地雷，

some others are increasing their use.

一些其他国家却用得更凶。

But what happens when a conflict that involved land mines

但当用到地雷的冲突结束之后，

comes to an end?

会发生什么事？

There are two consequences.

有两个结果。

On the one hand,

一方面，

the internally displaced population will start returning to their lands,

国内背井离乡的人口会开始返回家园，

and on the other hand,

另一方面，

hidden land mines are going to start exploding more often

隐藏的地雷会更多地被平民触发

on the civilian side.

而爆炸。

That's the reason why I decided to join

这就是为什么我决定加入

the Computer Science Department at NYU,

纽约大学的计算机科学系，

along with Professor Claudio Silva

和克劳迪奥·席尔瓦 （Claudio Silva）教授合作，

to start to develop an app called MineSafe.

一同开发一个叫做MineSafe （直译：地雷安全）的应用程序。

MineSafe uses information from the community

MineSafe用来自社区的信息，

to suggest paths that have been declared as the most transited

来建议最常有人通过，

without accident or incident caused by a land mine.

且没有发生过地雷意外的路径。

These traffic patterns can also be used to determine

这些交通模式也能被用来判定

the top priority zones to be de-mined.

哪些区域最需要扫雷。

Almost 15 million people are living now in the countryside of Colombia.

目前，在哥伦比亚乡间 几乎有1500万居民。

Imagine, for a moment, if we can crowdsource information from all of them

想像一下，如果我们能 从他们所有人身上收集信息，

to help people like Adriana and her children

来帮助像阿德瑞娜及 她的孩子那样的人，

to find safe and reliable paths.

找到安全可靠的路径会怎样。

This information can not only be used for that.

这些信息不只有这一种用途，

This information can also help them to become more productive.

也能协助他们提高生产力。

Farmers will be able to find

农夫将能够找到

which lands have been cleared from explosive devices,

哪些地方的爆破性装置已经被清除，

and in that way, they will be able to find new, fertile grounds

这么一来，他们就能找到新的肥沃土地，

to start growing food again.

再次开始种植作物。

MineSafe has now a partnership with the Colombian government

MineSafe目前正在跟 哥伦比亚政府

for the initial pilot,

合作进行初期计划，

and we have now some connections with Cambodia and Somalia as well.

现在，我们也和柬埔寨 及索玛利亚有了一些联系。

This project is being funded by private money

这个项目是由美国的

here in the United States,

私人资金所资助的，

but we don't want to stop here.

但一切才刚刚开始。

We want to go big,

我们想做得更大，

and we want to scale the project to every single place

把这个项目扩展到每一个

where land mines are still a threat.

受地雷威胁的地方。

The Colombian armed conflict is finally coming to an end,

哥伦比亚武装冲突终于要结束了，

but the consequences of years of war are still buried under our feet.

但多年战争造成的后果 仍然埋在我们的脚下。

We at MineSafe are working to help both people and land

我们MineSafe背后的一群人 正在努力协助人民以及土地

to find peace.

找到和平。

Thank you.

谢谢。

（掌声）

(Applause)