Margaret Wertheim: The beautiful math of coral (and crochet)

128,784 views ・ 2009-04-20

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翻译人员: lin qiang 校对人员: Tony Yet
00:18
I'm here today, as June said,
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我今天在此,就如琼所说,
00:20
to talk about a project
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要讲述一个我和同胞姐姐
00:22
that my twin sister and I have been doing for the past three and half years.
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做了三年半时间的项目。
00:26
We're crocheting a coral reef.
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我们在编织一个珊瑚礁。
00:29
And it's a project that we've actually
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实际上,现在已经有成百上千,来自世界各地的人们
00:32
been now joined by hundreds of people around the world,
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加入到我们的行列中,
00:35
who are doing it with us. Indeed thousands of people
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他们和我们一起工作,事实上,
00:38
have actually been involved in this project,
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成千上万的人们,已经通过各种各样的方式
00:40
in many of its different aspects.
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参与到这个项目中。
00:42
It's a project that now reaches across three continents,
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这个项目现在已经扩展到三个大陆。
00:45
and its roots go into the fields of mathematics,
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它的基础涉及数学,
00:49
marine biology, feminine handicraft
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海洋生物学,女性手工艺品
00:52
and environmental activism.
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和环保主义。
00:55
It's true.
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是这样的。
00:57
It's also a project
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这同时也是一个
00:59
that in a very beautiful way,
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十分美妙的项目,
01:01
the development of this
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因为项目在进行的同时
01:03
has actually paralleled the evolution of life on earth,
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也与地球生命进化的脉络并行,
01:07
which is a particularly lovely thing to be saying
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这是个很可爱的话题,
01:09
right here in February 2009 --
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2009年2月,
01:11
which, as one of our previous speakers told us,
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就如之前有位演讲者所说,
01:13
is the 200th anniversary
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是查尔斯·达尔文的
01:15
of the birth of Charles Darwin.
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200周年诞辰。
01:17
All of this I'm going to get to in the next 18 minutes, I hope.
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这就是接下来18分钟内,我所想要与你们分享的。
01:21
But let me first begin by showing you
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但首先请我给你们
01:23
some pictures of what this thing looks like.
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展示一些这些东西的图片。
01:26
Just to give you an idea of scale,
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为使你们对大小有个概念,
01:28
that installation there is about six feet across,
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那个作品大概6英尺宽,
01:31
and the tallest models are about two or three feet high.
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而最高的模型大约2到3英尺高。
01:35
This is some more images of it.
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这是它的另一些图片。
01:37
That one on the right is about five feet high.
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右边的那个大约有5英尺高。
01:39
The work involves hundreds of different crochet models.
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整个作品包含了数百件不同的针织模型。
01:43
And indeed there are now thousands and thousands of models that people
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事实上,类似这样的模型,现在已经有数千件,
01:46
have contributed all over the world as part of this.
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都来自世界各地人们的捐献。
01:49
The totality of this project
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整个项目
01:51
involves tens of thousands of hours
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包含了成千上万个小时
01:53
of human labor --
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的人力劳动——
01:55
99 percent of it done by women.
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99%是有妇女完成的。
01:57
On the right hand side, that bit there is part of an installation
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在右手边,那是一个大约12英尺长
02:00
that is about 12 feet long.
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的作品的一部分。
02:02
My sister and I started this project in 2005
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我和姐姐在2005年开始了这个项目,
02:05
because in that year, at least in the science press,
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因为那一年,至少在科学出版上,
02:07
there was a lot of talk about global warming,
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出现了很多有关全球变暖的讨论,
02:10
and the effect that global warming was having on coral reefs.
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而全球变暖将对珊瑚礁产生影响。
02:13
Corals are very delicate organisms,
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珊瑚是非常脆弱的生物。
02:15
and they are devastated by any rise in sea temperatures.
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海水温度稍一上升就会对它们产生致命的影响。
02:18
It causes these vast bleaching events
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这也导致了这些大规模的白化现象,
02:20
that are the first signs of corals of being sick.
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而这正是珊瑚生病的第一个征兆。
02:23
And if the bleaching doesn't go away --
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如果白化不能够消失,
02:25
if the temperatures don't go down -- reefs start to die.
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如果温度不下降,珊瑚礁就会开始死去。
02:28
A great deal of this has been happening in the Great Barrier Reef,
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在大堡礁已经有许多这样的情形出现,
02:31
particularly in coral reefs all over the world.
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全世界的珊瑚礁也同样如此。
02:33
This is our invocation in crochet of a bleached reef.
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这个白化珊瑚礁的针织模型寄托了我们的祈祷。
02:37
We have a new organization together called The Institute for Figuring,
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我们还一起成立了一个新的组织,称作计算研究所,
02:40
which is a little organization we started
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这是个小组织,目的是
02:42
to promote, to do projects about the
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促进并从事有关
02:44
aesthetic and poetic dimensions of science and mathematics.
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表现科学和数学中美学和诗意方面的项目。
02:47
And I went and put a little announcement up on our site,
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在我们的网站上我做了个小小的声明,
02:50
asking for people to join us in this enterprise.
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希望人们加入到这项事业中。
02:52
To our surprise, one of the first people who called
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出乎我们意料,首先打电话过来的
02:55
was the Andy Warhol Museum.
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竟是安迪·沃霍尔博物馆。
02:57
And they said they were having an exhibition
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他们说要举办一个有关
02:59
about artists' response to global warming,
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艺术家们对全球变暖作何反应的展览,
03:01
and they'd like our coral reef to be part of it.
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并希望我们的珊瑚礁能成为其中一部分。
03:03
I laughed and said, "Well we've only just started it,
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我笑了,说:“我们才刚刚开始,
03:05
you can have a little bit of it."
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你们可以拿一小部分去。”
03:07
So in 2007 we had an exhibition,
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因此2007年我们就办了个展览,
03:10
a small exhibition of this crochet reef.
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一次这种编织珊瑚的小展览。
03:12
And then some people in Chicago came along and they said,
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然后有些从芝加哥过来参观的人就说,
03:14
"In late 2007, the theme of the Chicago Humanities Festival is
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“2007年底,芝加哥人文艺术节的主题就是全球变暖,
03:19
global warming. And we've got this 3,000 square-foot gallery
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我们有3000平方英尺的展厅,
03:22
and we want you to fill it with your reef."
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希望你们用珊瑚礁来填满它。”
03:25
And I, naively by this stage, said, "Oh, yes, sure."
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而我,天真得很,说,“噢,好的,没问题。”
03:28
Now I say "naively" because actually
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我说“天真”其实是因为
03:30
my profession is as a science writer.
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我的职业是科学作家。
03:32
What I do is I write books about the cultural history of physics.
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我所做的是写有关物理学文化历史的书籍。
03:35
I've written books about the history of space,
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我已经写过有关太空历史、
03:37
the history of physics and religion,
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物理学和宗教历史的书,
03:39
and I write articles for people like the New York Times and the L.A. Times.
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我也为纽约时报和洛杉矶时报之类撰写文章。
03:42
So I had no idea what it meant to fill a 3,000 square-foot gallery.
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所以我对填满3000平方英尺的展厅没有丝毫概念。
03:46
So I said yes to this proposition.
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所以我就答应了这个提议。
03:48
And I went home, and I told my sister Christine.
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回家之后,我告诉了姐姐克里斯汀,
03:50
And she nearly had a fit
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她几乎大发雷霆,
03:52
because Christine is a professor at one of
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因为她在洛杉矶最主要的艺术学院,
03:54
L.A.'s major art colleges, CalArts,
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加州艺术学院里当教授,
03:57
and she knew exactly what it meant to fill a 3,000 square-foot gallery.
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十分清楚填满3000平方英尺的展厅是什么概念。
04:00
She thought I'd gone off my head.
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她认为我是发疯了。
04:03
But she went into crochet overdrive.
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但她还是加紧投入了编织中。
04:05
And to cut a long story short, eight months later
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长话短说,八个月之后,
04:07
we did fill the Chicago Cultural Center's
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我们真的把芝加哥文化中心3000平方英尺
04:10
3,000 square foot gallery.
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的展厅填满了。
04:12
By this stage the project had taken on
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通过这次展示,我们的项目
04:14
a viral dimension of its own,
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出现了“病毒式传播”的效应,
04:16
which got completely beyond us.
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完全出乎我们的想象。
04:18
The people in Chicago decided
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芝加哥的人们决定,
04:20
that as well as exhibiting our reefs, what they wanted to do
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在我们的珊瑚礁展览的同时,他们也希望
04:23
was have the local people there make a reef.
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当地的人们也能造一个珊瑚礁出来。
04:25
So we went and taught the techniques. We did workshops and lectures.
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所以我们就去教授技术。我们开培训班,开讲座,
04:28
And the people in Chicago made a reef of their own.
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芝加哥人就做出了自己的珊瑚礁,
04:31
And it was exhibited alongside ours.
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并在我们的展品旁展览。
04:33
There were hundreds of people involved in that.
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成百上千的人参与其中。
04:35
We got invited to do the whole thing
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我们受邀前往纽约、
04:38
in New York, and in London,
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伦敦和洛杉矶
04:40
and in Los Angeles.
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进行同样的工作。
04:42
In each of these cities, the local citizens,
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在每一个城市,当地居民,
04:44
hundreds and hundreds of them, have made a reef.
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成百上千的人们都来制作珊瑚礁。
04:46
And more and more people get involved in this,
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而且越来越多的人们参与进来,
04:49
most of whom we've never met.
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大部分都是新鲜的面孔。
04:51
So the whole thing has sort of morphed
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所以整个事情似乎渐渐演变成
04:53
into this organic, ever-evolving creature,
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这种有机的、不断进化的生物,
04:55
that's actually gone way beyond Christine and I.
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实际上已经远远超出我和克里斯汀的想象。
04:59
Now some of you are sitting here thinking,
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现在在座的一些人会想,
05:02
"What planet are these people on?
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“这些人到底是从哪里来的?
05:04
Why on earth are you crocheting a reef?
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你到底为什么要编织一个珊瑚礁?
05:07
Woolenness and wetness aren't exactly
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羊毛织物和湿漉漉的东西
05:09
two concepts that go together.
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根本就是风马牛不相及的两个东西。
05:11
Why not chisel a coral reef out of marble?
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为什么不用大理石来雕刻珊瑚礁?
05:13
Cast it in bronze."
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或者是用青铜来浇铸?”
05:15
But it turns out there is a very good reason
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但事实上我们为什么编织它
05:17
why we are crocheting it
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的原因很合理,
05:19
because many organisms in coral reefs
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因为许多珊瑚礁生物
05:21
have a very particular kind of structure.
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的形状结构都很特别。
05:23
The frilly crenulated forms that you see
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你们在珊瑚、海带、海绵和海兔等生物上看到
05:25
in corals, and kelps, and sponges and nudibranchs,
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的镶褶边的形状,
05:28
is a form of geometry known as hyperbolic geometry.
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实际上是一种称为双曲线的几何形状。
05:31
And the only way that mathematicians know
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而数学家们所知的
05:34
how to model this structure
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模拟这种结构的唯一方法,
05:36
is with crochet. It happens to be a fact.
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就是要靠编织。事实也刚好是这样。
05:38
It's almost impossible to model this structure any other way,
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几乎没有别的方法来模拟这种形状。
05:41
and it's almost impossible to do it on computers.
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在电脑上也几乎不可能做出来。
05:44
So what is this hyperbolic geometry
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那么珊瑚和海蛞蝓到底
05:46
that corals and sea slugs embody?
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展示了什么样的双曲线几何呢?
05:49
The next few minutes is, we're all going to get raised up
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接下来几分钟,我们要向
05:52
to the level of a sea slug.
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海蛞蝓的水平看齐。
05:54
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
05:55
This sort of geometry revolutionized mathematics
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在19世纪这种几何形状第一次被发现的时候,
05:58
when it was first discovered in the 19th century.
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它就引起了数学的革命。
06:01
But not until 1997 did mathematicians actually understand
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但直到1997年,数学家们才真正知道
06:04
how they could model it.
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怎么去模拟它。
06:06
In 1997 a mathematician
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1997年,康奈尔大学的数学家
06:08
at Cornell, Daina Taimina,
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Daina Taimina,
06:10
made the discovery that this structure
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发现可以用编织和钩针
06:12
could actually be done in knitting and crochet.
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来表现这种结构。
06:14
The first one she did was knitting.
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她的第一个作品是用针织法做的。
06:16
But you get too many stitches on the needle. So she quickly realized
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但这种方法会使针上面的缝线过多。因此她很快意识到,
06:18
crochet was the better thing.
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钩针编织是更好的方法。
06:20
But what she was doing was actually making a model
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但她所做的,其实是一个模型,
06:23
of a mathematical structure, that many mathematicians
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一个数学结构的模型,而许多数学家
06:25
had thought it was actually impossible to model.
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都认为这种结构是无法模拟的。
06:28
And indeed they thought that anything like this structure
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事实上他们认为像这种结构的东西
06:30
was impossible per se.
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本身是不存在的。
06:32
Some of the best mathematicians spent hundreds of years
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一些最好的数学家花费了数百年时间,
06:34
trying to prove that this structure was impossible.
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试图证明这种结构不可能存在。
06:37
So what is this impossible hyperbolic structure?
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那么这种不可能的双曲结构是什么呢?
06:40
Before hyperbolic geometry, mathematicians knew
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在双曲几何出现之前,数学家已经知道了
06:42
about two kinds of space:
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两种空间,
06:44
Euclidean space, and spherical space.
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欧几里得空间和球面空间。
06:47
And they have different properties.
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它们的特性不同。
06:49
Mathematicians like to characterize things by being formalist.
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数学家们喜欢用形式主义的方式来定义事物。
06:52
You all have a sense of what a flat space is, Euclidean space is.
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你们都会有平面空间,也就是欧几里得空间的概念。
06:56
But mathematicians formalize this in a particular way.
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但数学家们用一种特别的方式来定义它。
06:59
And what they do is, they do it through the concept
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他们是通过平行线的概念
07:01
of parallel lines.
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来解释的。
07:03
So here we have a line and a point outside the line.
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这里我们有一条直线和直线外的一点,
07:06
And Euclid said, "How can I define parallel lines?
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欧几里得说,“我怎么定义平行线呢?
07:09
I ask the question, how many lines can I draw through
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问,经过这一点我可以画多少条直线,
07:12
the point but never meet the original line?"
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且这些直线不与原直线相交?”
07:14
And you all know the answer. Does someone want to shout it out?
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你们都知道答案。有谁想大声喊出来的?
07:17
One. Great. Okay.
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一条,没错。好的。
07:19
That's our definition of a parallel line.
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这就是我们对平行线的定义。
07:21
It's a definition really of Euclidean space.
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它是欧几里得空间真正的定义。
07:24
But there is another possibility that you all know of:
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但还有另一种可能性,你们都知道
07:26
spherical space.
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球面空间,
07:28
Think of the surface of a sphere --
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想象一个球体的表面,
07:30
just like a beach ball, the surface of the Earth.
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如沙滩球,地球表面。
07:32
I have a straight line on my spherical surface.
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在这个球面上有一条直线,
07:35
And I have a point outside the line. How many straight lines
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在直线外有一个点,那么过这个点,我可以在
07:37
can I draw through the point
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球面上画多少条直线
07:39
but never meet the original line?
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而不与原直线相交呢?
07:41
What do we mean to talk about
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我们所说的弯曲表面上的
07:43
a straight line on a curved surface?
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直线是怎么回事呢?
07:46
Now mathematicians have answered that question.
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现在数学家们已经回答了这个问题。
07:49
They've understood there is a generalized concept
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他们对直线有个总体上的共识,
07:51
of straightness, it's called a geodesic.
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这被称为测地线。
07:53
And on the surface of a sphere,
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而在球体表面,
07:55
a straight line is the biggest possible circle you can draw.
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直线就是你所能画出的最大的圆圈。
07:58
So it's like the equator or the lines of longitude.
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就像赤道或经线。
08:02
So we ask the question again,
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因此我们再问一下,
08:04
"How many straight lines can I draw through the point,
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“经过这一点,我们能够画出多少条直线
08:06
but never meet the original line?"
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而不与原来的直线相交?”
08:08
Does someone want to guess?
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有谁想来猜一猜?
08:11
Zero. Very good.
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零。非常好。
08:13
Now mathematicians thought that was the only alternative.
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数学家们认为这只是其中一个答案。
08:15
It's a bit suspicious isn't it? There is two answers to the question so far,
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有点蹊跷是吧?目前这个问题有两个答案,
08:18
Zero and one.
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零和一。
08:20
Two answers? There may possibly be a third alternative.
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两个答案?还可能有第三个答案。
08:22
To a mathematician if there are two answers,
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对一个数学家来说,如果有两个答案,
08:24
and the first two are zero and one,
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分别是0和1,
08:26
there is another number that immediately suggests itself
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那另一个作为第三个答案的数字
08:28
as the third alternative.
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也就呼之欲出了。
08:30
Does anyone want to guess what it is?
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有谁想来猜一下是什么?
08:33
Infinity. You all got it right. Exactly.
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无穷多。你们都对了,没错。
08:36
There is, there's a third alternative.
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有第三个答案。
08:38
This is what it looks like.
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这就是那个答案。
08:40
There's a straight line, and there is an infinite number of lines
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这里有条直线,然后有无数多的直线
08:43
that go through the point and never meet the original line.
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能经过这点而不与原直线相交。
08:45
This is the drawing.
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画起来就是这样。
08:47
This nearly drove mathematicians bonkers
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这几乎使数学家们发疯,
08:49
because, like you, they're sitting there feeling bamboozled.
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因为,像你们一样,他们也是坐在那里感觉受到欺骗。
08:52
Thinking, how can that be? You're cheating. The lines are curved.
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想想,这怎么做到的?你在骗人,这些线是曲线。
08:55
But that's only because I'm projecting it onto a
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但之所以如此只是因为我是在
08:57
flat surface.
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平面上展示它。
08:59
Mathematicians for several hundred years
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数百年来,数学家们为此
09:01
had to really struggle with this.
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真的付出了太多了。
09:03
How could they see this?
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他们怎么看到这个的?
09:05
What did it mean to actually have a physical model
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在实际中用物理模型来表现它
09:08
that looked like this?
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意味着什么?
09:10
It's a bit like this: imagine that we'd only ever encountered Euclidean space.
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有点像这样:想象我们只看见过欧几里得空间,
09:13
Then our mathematicians come along
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然后数学家们走过来,
09:15
and said, "There's this thing called a sphere,
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说,“这种东西叫做球体,
09:17
and the lines come together at the north and south pole."
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它上面的线在南极和北极汇合。”
09:19
But you don't know what a sphere looks like.
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但你不知道球体看起来是什么样的。
09:21
And someone that comes along and says, "Look here's a ball."
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然后有人过来说,“看那有个球。”
09:24
And you go, "Ah! I can see it. I can feel it.
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你走过去,“啊!我能看到它,我能感觉它。
09:26
I can touch it. I can play with it."
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我们触摸它。它还能用来玩。”
09:29
And that's exactly what happened
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而这正是1997年,
09:31
when Daina Taimina
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当Daina Taimina展示出
09:33
in 1997, showed that you could crochet models
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可以用编织模型来模拟双曲空间
09:37
in hyperbolic space.
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时的情景。
09:39
Here is this diagram in crochetness.
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这里是钩针编织的一个图示。
09:42
I've stitched Euclid's parallel postulate on to the surface.
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我已经把欧几里得平行共设缝到了上面。
09:46
And the lines look curved.
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这些线看起来是弯的。
09:48
But look, I can prove to you that they're straight
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但请看,我向你们证明它们其实是直的,
09:51
because I can take any one of these lines,
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因为我可以随便拿起一条线,
09:53
and I can fold along it.
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然后顺着线折叠起来。
09:56
And it's a straight line.
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这是条直线。
09:58
So here, in wool,
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因此,这些毛线,
10:01
through a domestic feminine art,
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通过一种居家女性的艺术形式,
10:03
is the proof that the most famous postulate
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证明了数学史上最著名的假设
10:05
in mathematics is wrong.
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原来是错的。
10:08
(Applause)
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(掌声)
10:14
And you can stitch all sorts of mathematical
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你可以把各种各样的数学定理
10:16
theorems onto these surfaces.
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都缝在这些上面。
10:19
The discovery of hyperbolic space ushered in the field of mathematics
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双曲空间的发现导致了数学领域中
10:22
that is called non-Euclidean geometry.
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非欧几何学的出现。
10:24
And this is actually the field of mathematics
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正是这一数学的新领域
10:26
that underlies general relativity
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构成了广义相对论的基础
10:28
and is actually ultimately going to show us
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并将最终向我们揭示
10:30
about the shape of the universe.
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宇宙的形状。
10:32
So there is this direct line
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因此在女性手工艺和
10:34
between feminine handicraft,
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欧几里得以及广义相对论之间
10:36
Euclid and general relativity.
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有直接的联系。
10:39
Now, I said that mathematicians thought that this was impossible.
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好的,我说过数学家们曾认为这是不可能的。
10:42
Here's two creatures who've never heard of Euclid's parallel postulate --
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这是两种从未听过欧几里得平行公设的生物,
10:46
didn't know it was impossible to violate,
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它们并不知道这条不能违背的定理,
10:48
and they're simply getting on with it.
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依旧继续着简单的生活。
10:50
They've been doing it for hundreds of millions of years.
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亿万年来,它们一直保持这样的形态。
10:54
I once asked the mathematicians why it was
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我曾问过数学家它为什么会这样,
10:56
that mathematicians thought this structure was impossible
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而数学家们认为这种结构是不可能的,
10:59
when sea slugs have been doing it since the Silurian age.
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即使海蛞蝓从志留纪开始就一直是这样。
11:02
Their answer was interesting.
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他们的答案很有趣。
11:04
They said, "Well I guess there aren't that many mathematicians
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他们说,“呃,我猜也没有多少数学家
11:06
sitting around looking at sea slugs."
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会坐下来观察海蛞蝓。”
11:08
And that's true. But it also goes deeper than that.
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这是真的。但这背后还有更多东西。
11:11
It also says a whole lot of things
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它能告诉我们很多,
11:13
about what mathematicians thought mathematics was,
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数学家们对数学是什么、
11:16
what they thought it could and couldn't do,
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数学能做到和不能做到的
11:18
what they thought it could and couldn't represent.
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数学能表达和不能表达出来的等的思考。
11:20
Even mathematicians, who in some sense
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甚至数学家,他们在某种程度上
11:22
are the freest of all thinkers,
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是最自由的思想者,
11:24
literally couldn't see
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不仅不能确实看到
11:26
not only the sea slugs around them,
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身边的海蛞蝓,
11:28
but the lettuce on their plate --
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也看不到盘子里的生菜叶,
11:30
because lettuces, and all those curly vegetables,
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因为生菜叶,还有所有有褶的蔬菜,
11:32
they also are embodiments of hyperbolic geometry.
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它们都能体现出双曲几何。
11:36
And so in some sense they literally,
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某种程度上他们确实,
11:39
they had such a symbolic view of mathematics,
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他们对数学有种符号化的观点,
11:41
they couldn't actually see what was going on
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他们看不到面前的生菜叶
11:44
on the lettuce in front of them.
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到底体现了什么。
11:47
It turns out that the natural world is full of hyperbolic wonders.
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而事实上自然界到处都有双曲线的奇观。
11:51
And so, too, we've discovered
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同样,我们已经发现
11:53
that there is an infinite taxonomy
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编织出来的双曲线型生物
11:55
of crochet hyperbolic creatures.
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也有无穷无尽的种类。
11:57
We started out, Chrissy and I and our contributors,
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我们着手开始,克丽希和我,还有我们的志愿者,
12:00
doing the simple mathematically perfect models.
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从简单的,数学上完美的模型开始做。
12:02
But we found that when we deviated from the specific
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但我们发现,当我们偏离了那一整套
12:06
setness of the mathematical code
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特定的数学准则,
12:09
that underlies it -- the simple algorithm
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以简单的运算法则为基础的数学准则,
12:11
crochet three, increase one --
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钩针编织三次,放一次针。
12:13
when we deviated from that and made embellishments to the code,
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当我们偏离了这些准则并对它做了一些修饰之后,
12:16
the models immediately started to look more natural.
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模型立刻变得更加自然起来。
12:20
And all of our contributors, who are an amazing
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而且我们的志愿者们,他们来自世界各地,
12:22
collection of people around the world,
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非常出色的一群人,
12:24
do their own embellishments.
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他们用自己的方式进行修饰。
12:26
As it were, we have this ever-evolving,
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由此,我们拥有了一棵不断演化
12:28
crochet taxonomic tree of life.
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的编织分类学生命之树。
12:30
Just as the morphology
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就好比地球上的生命
12:32
and the complexity of life on earth is never ending,
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从未停止在形态学和复杂性上的进化,
12:34
little embellishments and complexifications
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对DNA编码稍微的
12:37
in the DNA code
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修饰和复杂化,
12:39
lead to new things like giraffes, or orchids --
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就导致了像长颈鹿或兰花这样的新物种出现。
12:42
so too, do little embellishments in the crochet code
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同样的,对钩针编织法则一点点的修饰
12:45
lead to new and wondrous creatures
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就能导致在编织生命进化树上
12:48
in the evolutionary tree of crochet life.
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新的,更完美的生物的出现。
12:51
So this project really has
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所以这一项目真正地
12:53
taken on this inner organic life of its own.
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具有它本身内在的有机的生命力。
12:56
There is the totality of all the people who have come to it.
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这里是所有参加这个项目的人的总数。
12:59
And their individual visions,
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还有他们的个人观点,
13:01
and their engagement with this mathematical mode.
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和他们对这一数学模式的理解。
13:04
We have these technologies. We use them.
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我们有这些技术,我们利用这些技术。
13:06
But why? What's at stake here? What does it matter?
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但为什么?什么才是利害攸关的?什么才是重要的?
13:09
For Chrissy and I, one of the things that's important here
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对于克里希和我来说,这里最重要的事情之一,
13:12
is that these things suggest
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就是这些东西表明了
13:14
the importance and value of embodied knowledge.
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具体表达出知识的重要性和价值。
13:17
We live in a society
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我们生活在一个
13:19
that completely tends to valorize
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完全趋向于为各种象征性的表述方式
13:21
symbolic forms of representation --
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规定价格的社会,
13:23
algebraic representations,
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代数式的表述,
13:25
equations, codes.
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等式,编码等等。
13:27
We live in a society that's obsessed
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我们生活的社会深深迷恋上
13:29
with presenting information in this way,
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这一种表述信息
13:31
teaching information in this way.
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和传授信息的方式。
13:34
But through this sort of modality,
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但通过模型的方式,
13:37
crochet, other plastic forms of play --
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如钩针编织,其他塑料形式的展示,
13:41
people can be engaged with the most abstract,
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人们能理解那些最抽象的,
13:44
high-powered, theoretical ideas,
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高难度的理论化的概念,
13:46
the kinds of ideas that normally you have to go
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也就是那些你通常需要跑到
13:48
to university departments to study in higher mathematics,
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大学里面才能学到的高等数学,
13:51
which is where I first learned about hyperbolic space.
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其实我也是在那里才第一次学到双曲空间的。
13:54
But you can do it through playing with material objects.
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但你们可以用实际的物件来做到这些。
13:58
One of the ways that we've come to think about this
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我们已经想到了这一点,
14:00
is that what we're trying to do with the Institute for Figuring
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这也是我们想要通过计算研究所来尝试的一个项目,
14:03
and projects like this, we're trying to have
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像这样的项目,我们想要
14:05
kindergarten for grown-ups.
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建一个属于成人的幼儿园。
14:07
And kindergarten was actually a very formalized
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幼儿园其实是一种非常形象化
14:09
system of education,
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的教育系统,
14:11
established by a man named Friedrich Froebel,
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由19世纪一位名叫福禄贝尔
14:13
who was a crystallographer in the 19th century.
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的检晶科学家创立。
14:15
He believed that the crystal was the model
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他认为晶体可以作为
14:17
for all kinds of representation.
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所有表述方式的模型。
14:19
He developed a radical alternative system
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他发展了一套激进另类的系统,
14:22
of engaging the smallest children
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即使最小的孩子也能够通过
14:24
with the most abstract ideas
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寓于物理形式的玩耍
14:26
through physical forms of play.
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来理解最抽象的概念。
14:28
And he is worthy of an entire talk on his own right.
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他自己本身就值得作一整个演讲了。
14:30
The value of education
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福禄贝尔通过
14:32
is something that Froebel championed,
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娱乐的可塑模式
14:35
through plastic modes of play.
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捍卫了教育的价值。
14:37
We live in a society now
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我们现在身处的社会,
14:39
where we have lots of think tanks,
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有许多的“智库”,
14:41
where great minds go to think about the world.
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许多优秀的头脑在那里思索世界问题。
14:44
They write these great symbolic treatises
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他们写下这些伟大的符号化的专著,
14:46
called books, and papers,
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也叫书籍,和论文,
14:48
and op-ed articles.
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还有专栏文章。
14:50
We want to propose, Chrissy and I,
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我们,克里希和我想要提出,
14:52
through The Institute for Figuring, another alternative way of doing things,
355
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通过计算研究所来提出,另一种做事情的方式,
14:55
which is the play tank.
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我们称之为“玩库”。
14:58
And the play tank, like the think tank,
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玩库,就像智库,
15:00
is a place where people can go
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是一个人们过来
15:02
and engage with great ideas.
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认识那些伟大思想和概念的地方。
15:04
But what we want to propose,
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但我们想提议的,
15:06
is that the highest levels of abstraction,
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是那些最高层次的抽象思维,
15:08
things like mathematics, computing, logic, etc. --
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如数学,计算,逻辑等等,
15:11
all of this can be engaged with,
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所有这些都能够,
15:13
not just through purely cerebral algebraic
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不仅仅通过单纯的代数性的,
15:15
symbolic methods,
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符号化的方法,
15:17
but by literally, physically playing with ideas.
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也可以通过文学的,物理上的方法“玩转”概念。
15:21
Thank you very much.
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非常感谢。
15:23
(Applause)
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(掌声)
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