Chris Anderson (TED): A vision for TED

譯者: Jenny Yang 審譯者: Peiru Liao

This is your conference,

這個大會是你們的

and I think you have a right to know a little bit right now, in this transition period,

在這個轉折時期，你們有權了解一下

about this guy who's going to be looking after it for you for a bit.

這個將要掌門的傢伙。

So, I'm just going to grab a chair here.

所以，我先抓把椅子坐下

Two years ago at TED, I think --

我想， 是在兩年以前的TED大會上吧--

I've come to this conclusion --

我得出一個結論----

I think I may have been suffering from a strange delusion.

我想我可能得了奇怪的錯覺，

I think that I may have believed unconsciously,

我認為，我可能已經不自覺地認為，

then, that I was kind of a business hero.

自己是一個生意場上的英雄

I had this company that I'd spent 15 years building. It's called Future;

我原來有個叫“未來”的公司，是我花了15年時間打造的。

it was a magazine publishing company.

那是一個雜誌出版公司。

It had recently gone public

那時候它才上市

and the market said that it was apparently worth two billion dollars,

股市表明它價值20億美元，

a number I didn't really understand.

那個數字我也看不懂。

A magazine I'd recently launched called Business 2.0

最近我又發行了 <<商業 2.0>> 雜誌，

was fatter than a telephone directory,

它比電話簿還要厚，

busy pumping hot air into the bubble.

也幫忙膨脹了當時的商業泡沫

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

And I was the 40 percent owner of a dotcom

我擁有這個即將上市網路公司40%的股份

that was about to go public and no doubt be worth billions more.

那無疑又是好幾個億的市值。

And all this had come from nothing.

而這一切如今都已經成了泡影。

Fifteen years earlier, I was a science journalist who people just laughed at

15年前我還是一名科技記者的時候，

when I said, "I really would like to start my own computer magazine."

每當我跟人們說：“ 我打算創辦一份電腦雜誌”，人們只會朝我笑笑。

And 15 years later, there are 100 of them

而15年後，這樣的雜誌就有100 多種。

and 2,000 people on staff and it was just such heady times.

員工多達2000多名，發展勢頭十分迅猛

The date was February 2000.

那是在2000年的二月。

I thought the little graph of my business life

我當初也以為我的商業生涯

that kind of looked a bit like Moore's Law --

會跟摩爾定律描述的那樣，

ever upward and to the right -- it was going to go on forever.

不斷攀升，永無止境。我是說

I mean, it had to. Right? I was in for quite a surprise.

它不就得那樣發展，不是嗎？可是事與願違。

The dotcom, ironically called Snowball,

那個上市的網路公司， 有個很諷刺的名字叫“雪球”

was the very last consumer web company to go public

是納斯達克崩盤前一個月，最後一個上市的消費用戶網路公司

the next month before NASDAQ exploded, and I entered 18 months of business hell.

然後我就在這個商業地獄裡過了18個月。

I watched everything that I'd built crumbling,

我看著-- 目睹我創建的一切倒塌下來。

and it looked like all this stuff was going to die

看上去一切都要完蛋了。

and 15 years work would have come for nothing.

15年的工作都付之東流。

And it was gut wrenching.

那是令人斷腸的痛楚。

It took eight years of blood, sweat and tears to reach 350 employees,

首先我們用了8年的血淚才成功地把員工人數

something which I was very proud of in the business.

增加到350人，我對此是感到非常自豪的。

February 2001 -- in one day we laid off 350 people,

然而， 在2001年二月， 我們一天就裁了350名員工，

and before the bloodshed was finished, 1,000 people had lost their jobs

而到這一腥風血雨結束前， 我們公司總共

from my companies. I felt sick.

失去了1000名員工，我感到非常難受。

I watched my own net worth falling

我看著我的淨資產以每天100萬美元的

by about a million dollars a day, every day, for 18 months.

速度在跌落，18個月，每天如此。

And worse than that, far worse than that,

而比這一切更糟糕的是

my sense of self-worth was kind of evaporating.

我對自我的價值認同也隨之蒸發。

I was going around with this big sign on my forehead: "LOSER."

我走來走去都覺得腦袋上頂著“失敗者”幾個字。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

And I think what disgusts me more than anything, looking back,

而那次經歷

is how the hell did I let my personal happiness

現在回頭看看， 最讓我感到愧疚的是

get so tied up with this business thing?

我怎麼會把我個人的快樂與商場的成敗聯繫在一起？

Well, in the end, we were able to save Future and Snowball,

後來我們總算也把“未來”和“雪球” 挽救了，

but I was, at that point, ready to move on.

但是那個時候我已經站在了決定另謀發展的轉折點

And to cut a long story short, here's where I came to.

長話短說，這裡， 就是我到達的地方。

And the reason I'm telling this story is that I believe, from many conversations,

我之所以告訴大家我的故事，是因為我跟大家聊起時，

that a lot of people in this room have been through a similar kind of rollercoaster --

發現在座的很多人都有過類似的經歷，

emotional rollercoaster -- in the last couple years.

過去幾年都經歷了情緒上的大起大伏。

This has been a big, big transition time,

這個階段是一個很大的轉折時期，

and I believe that this conference can play a big part for all of us

我相信這個會議會成為我們生活中重要的一部分

in taking us forward to the next stage to whatever's next.

無論下一個舞台會是什麼，它都將把我們引領到那裡。

The theme next year is re-birth.

明年大會的主題是“重生”。

It was at the same TED two years ago

這也是兩年前TED的主題。

when Richard and I reached an agreement on the future of TED.

當時， 我和理查德就TED的未來形成了共識。

And at about the same time, and I think partly because of that,

也在那一刻， 我認為正是那個契機，

I started doing something that I'd forgotten about in my business focus:

促使我重拾之前因為埋頭於商業活動而遺忘的習慣

I started to read again.

我重新開始閱讀。

And I discovered that while I'd been busy playing business games,

我發現，就在我沉溺於商業遊戲的時候，

there'd been this incredible revolution in so many areas of interest:

很多領域裡都出現了驚人的革新，

cosmology to psychology to evolutionary psychology to anthropology

從天文學、到心理學、到進化心理學、到人類學，

to ... all this stuff had changed.

到其他的很多領域， 你可以看到所有的事物都發生了變化。

And the way in which you could think about us as a species

如果你從我們是一個物種的角度去想一下，

and us as a planet had just changed so much, and it was incredibly exciting.

我們身處的星球發生了那麼大的變化，

And what was really most exciting --

這些變化真是令人興奮的，而最令人興奮的是

and I think Richard Wurman discovered this at least 20 years before I did --

我想Richard Wurman 在20年就發現了這個秘密，

was that all this stuff is connected.

那就是這一切都是互相關聯的。

It's connected; it all hooks into each other.

它們連在一起， 環環相扣。

We talk about this a lot,

對此我們談論了很多，

and I thought about trying to give an example of this. So, just one example:

我想舉個例子，就一個例子，

Madame de Gaulle, the wife of the French president,

法國總統戴高樂夫人曾經被問到：

was famously asked once, "What do you most desire?"

“你最希望得到的是什麼？”

And she answered, "A penis."

她的回答是："a penis." (發音接近英語的Happiness，意為陰莖。法語中H不發音，因此有這個笑話)

And when you think about it, it's very true:

其實你想想，這是非常正確的

what we all most desire is a penis --

我們都最希望得到的就是 " a penis".

or "happiness" as we say in English.

或者， 你知道，用英語來說就是： “happiness"

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

And something ... good luck with that one in the Japanese translation room.

噢， 對了， 日語翻譯室的仁兄祝你好運啊。

(Laughter)

笑聲。 ( * 這一典故很難用外語翻譯。)

(Applause)

(掌聲)

But something as basic as happiness,

然而就是基本的快樂問題，

which 20 years ago would have been just something for discussion

那個20年前人們只會在

in the church or mosque or synagogue,

教堂或清真寺裡討論的話題，

today it turns out that there's dozens of TED-like questions

今天你可以用TED的角度提出一打

that you can ask about it, which are really interesting.

十分有趣的問題。

You can ask about what causes it biochemically:

你可以從生物學的角度來尋找幸福的根源

neuroscience, serotonin, all that stuff.

從神經系統科學， 血液複合胺等各個角度來研究。

You can ask what are the psychological causes of it:

你也可以從心理學的角度來分析，

nature? Nurture? Current circumstance?

是先天、後天，還是環境的作用更大？

Turns out that the research done on that is absolutely mind-blowing.

這方面的研究結果是絕對令人吃驚的。

You can view it as a computing problem, an artificial intelligence problem:

你還可以把它看作是一個計算機科學的問題，一個人工智慧的問題

do you need to incorporate

比如，你們是不是應該為機器人輸入

some sort of analog of happiness into a computer brain to make it work properly?

快樂的元素使它可以像人類一樣感受快樂，

You can view it in sort of geopolitical terms

你還可以從地緣政治學的角度來分析，

and say, why is it that a billion people on this planet

為什麼地球上會有近10億極其貧窮的人們

are so desperately needy that they have no possibility of happiness,

永遠得不到快樂，

and whereas almost all the rest of them,

而另外其他的人，

regardless of how much money they have -- whether it's two dollars a day or whatever --

無論他們有多少錢，兩美金一天也罷，

are almost equally happy on average?

其他數字也罷，快樂的感受都差不多？

Or you can view it as an evolutionary psychology kind of thing:

或者，你還可以用進化心理學來分析，

did our genes invent this as a kind of trick

是不是我們的基因本身存在某種機制

to get us to behave in certain ways? The ant's brain, parasitized,

促使我們形成某種既定的行為方式？也許螞蟻把人腦當成了宿主，

to make us behave in certain ways so that our genes would propagate?

操控著我們某些行為，使我們的基因可以繁殖。

Are we the victims of a mass delusion?

我們是不是大眾的受害者？

And so on, and so on.

等等，等等

To understand even something as important to us as happiness,

因此，要真正理解像「快樂」這樣對我們大家來說很重要的課題，

you kind of have to branch off in all these different directions,

我們需要從多個不同的角度進行探討

and there's nowhere that I've discovered -- other than TED --

據我所知，除了TED大會以外，沒有其他場合更適合這樣的探索。

where you can ask that many questions in that many different directions.

這裡你可以從各種角度，提出各種問題

And so, it's the profound thing that Richard talks about:

正如理查德所說：

to understand anything, you just need to understand the little bits;

要了解任何一樣東西，你都需要

a little bit about everything that surrounds it.

知道一點點與之相關的許多事物。

And so, gradually over these three days,

因此， 在為期三天的TED會議裡，

you start off kind of trying to figure out,

你開始會試圖明白

"Why am I listening to all this irrelevant stuff?"

為什麼我要聽這些彼此無關的演講？

And at the end of the four days,

而等到會議介紹的第四天，

your brain is humming and you feel energized, alive and excited,

你就會發現你的頭腦裡充滿了能量、動力和激情。

and it's because all these different bits have been put together.

那是因為當我們把這一切放在一起，

It's the total brain experience, we're going to ...

我們將經歷的是一次大腦的整體體驗

it's the mental equivalent of the full body massage.

就好像精神的全身按摩，

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

Every mental organ addressed. It really is.

思想的每個器官都受到刺激。

Enough of the theory, Chris. Tell us what you're actually going to do, all right?

你會說：” 別說大道理了，Chris, 告訴我們你到底要做什麼吧。“

So, I will. Here's the vision for TED.

好吧， 下面我談談我的TED願景。

Number one: do nothing. This thing ain't broke, so I ain't gonna fix it.

第一：什麼也不做。 TED沒什麼毛病，所以不需要我來治理。

Jeff Bezos kindly remarked to me,

Jeff Bezos 曾經很客氣地跟我說，

"Chris, TED is a really great conference.

“TED大會是一個非常了不起的大會

You're going to have to fuck up really badly to make it bad."

你要把它搞砸了都不是很容易的事。 ”

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

So, I gave myself the job title of TED Custodian for a reason,

所以我給自己的職務取名為：”TED監護人“。

and I will promise you right here and now

在此，我向大家保證，

that the core values that make TED special are not going to be interfered with.

代表TED特色核心價值是不會被改變的，

Truth, curiosity, diversity, no selling, no corporate bullshit,

真實、好奇、多元，不搞推銷，不吹牛，

no bandwagoning, no platforms.

不跟風，隨波逐流, 不搞特權平台。

Just the pursuit of interest, wherever it lies,

只有對興趣的追求，不管它存在何處，

across all the disciplines that are represented here.

所有我重申過的原則，

That's not going to be changed at all.

都不會改變。

Number two: I am going to put together

第二，明年我將會為大家

an incredible line up of speakers for next year.

帶來一批最優秀的演講人

The time scale on which TED operates is just fantastic

TED運作的時間跨度也正合適，

after coming out of a magazine business with monthly deadlines.

我從每個月都有嚴格截稿期的雜誌業出來，

There's a year to do this, and already --

現在則有一年的時間去做這件事，

I hope to show you a bit later --

事實上, 等一會兒我就想告訴你們，

there's 25 or so terrific speakers signed up for next year.

已經有25位傑出的演講者登記參加明年的TED演講。

And I'm getting fantastic help from the community;

此外，TED社群也給予了我們極大的幫助

this is just such a great community. And combined, our contacts

那是一個非常優秀的社群，如果把所有的人脈都匯合起來，

reach pretty much everyone who's interesting in the country, if not the planet.

即便不能覆蓋全球，也可以挖掘到國內最有意思的人才

It's true.

這是真的。

Number three: I do want to, if I can, find a way

第三，如果我可以做到的話， 我想找到一條途徑，

of extending the TED experience throughout the year a little bit.

把TED的體驗延伸到整個年度中，

And one key way that we're going to do this is to introduce this book club.

我們正在做的一件事就是建立這個讀書會，

Books kind of saved me in the last couple years,

書本在過去的幾年裡成了我的救星，

and that's a gift that I would like to pass on.

我想把那個禮物傳遞給他人。

So, when you sign up for TED2003, every six weeks you'll get a care package

所以，要是你登記參加2003年的TED，每隔6週你會收到一個郵包

with a book or two and a reason why they're linked to TED.

裡面會是一兩本書，以及說明為何那些書是和TED大會相關的。

They may well be by a TED speaker,

它們很可能是TED演講人的著作

and so we can get the conversation going during the year

這樣，我們就能把我們的對話一直延伸下去，

and come back next year having had the same intellectual, emotional journey.

等到來年我們在此相會的時候，大家都擁有一些共同的

I think it will be great.

思想和感情經歷， 我認為這個主意很不錯。

And then, fourthly: I want to mention the Sapling Foundation,

最後，我要提到Sapling基金會

which is the new owner of TED.

它是TED大會的新主人。

What Sapling's ownership means is that all of the proceeds of TED

Sapling擁有TED的所有權， 就是意味著TED大會

will go towards the causes that Sapling stands for.

帶給我們的一切都是為Sapling基金會的宗旨服務的。

And more important, I think, the ideas that are exhibited and realized here

而更重要的是，在這個會上展示的和了解的想法

are ideas that the foundation can use, because there's fantastic synergy.

可以為這個基金會使用，因為大家展現了非凡的協同作用

Already, just in the last few days,

就在過去的幾天裡，

we've had so many people talking about stuff that they care about,

我們已經聽到了人們在此談論他們關心的，

that they're passionate about, that can make a difference in the world,

熱衷的事物，以及怎樣利用它們改變世界。

and the idea of getting this group of people together --

把這樣一群人集合到一塊的願望，

some of the causes that we believe in,

是因為這個群體有某些共同的理想，

the money that this conference can raise and the ideas --

大會能籌措到一些經費和好的解決問題的辦法。

I really believe that that combination will, over time, make a difference.

我相信這一切加在一起， 經過一段時間後肯定可以

I'm incredibly excited about that.

幫助改變世界。對此我感到非常的興奮。

In fact, I don't think, overall, that I've been as excited by anything ever in my life.

坦白而言，我一生還從來沒有這麼興奮過，

I'm in this for the long run,

我是來TED打持久戰的，

and I would be greatly honored and excited

如果你們願意加入這個旅程，

if you'll come on this journey with me.

我會感到無上的光榮和興奮