The way we think about work is broken | Barry Schwartz

譯者: Joy Tong 審譯者: Allen Kuo

Today I'm going to talk about work.

今天我想談談有關工作的話題

And the question I want to ask and answer is this:

而我想提出和回答的問題是：

"Why do we work?"

「我們為何工作？」

Why do we drag ourselves out of bed every morning

為何我們要每天早上將自己拖下床

instead of living our lives

而不是好好的享受

just filled with bouncing from one TED-like adventure to another?

充滿一個接著一個 TED般的探險的人生？

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

You may be asking yourselves that very question.

你可能也捫心自問過這個問題

Now, I know of course, we have to make a living,

我當然曉得我們需要工作賴以為生

but nobody in this room thinks that that's the answer to the question,

但這房間裡不會有人認為這就能回答 「我們為何工作？」這個問題

"Why do we work?"

For folks in this room, the work we do is challenging,

對在座諸位而言， 我們的工作充滿挑戰性

it's engaging, it's stimulating, it's meaningful.

令人著迷、令人振奮而充滿意義

And if we're lucky, it might even be important.

而再幸運一點的話，可能還十分重要

So, we wouldn't work if we didn't get paid,

所以，雖然我們拿不到錢就不工作

but that's not why we do what we do.

但這並非我們行動的理由

And in general,

而一般而言

I think we think that material rewards are a pretty bad reason

我想我們都認為， 物質上的回報對於工作而言

for doing the work that we do.

實在是個挺糟糕的理由

When we say of somebody that he's "in it for the money,"

當我們說某人「為財推磨」

we are not just being descriptive.

這可不單單只是形容而已

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

Now, I think this is totally obvious,

我想這相當明顯

but the very obviousness of it raises what is for me

但就是這個明顯的事實

令我產生一個非常深切的問題

an incredibly profound question.

Why, if this is so obvious,

為什麼 ─ 如果這麼顯而易見 ─

why is it that for the overwhelming majority of people on the planet,

為什麼這星球上絕大多數的人

the work they do has none of the characteristics

都從事著毫無特色、無法讓他們

that get us up and out of bed and off to the office every morning?

每天早上起床、離開床舖、 到公司報到的工作？

How is it that we allow the majority of people on the planet

我們怎麼任由這星球上大部分的人

to do work that is monotonous, meaningless and soul-deadening?

從事著單調、無意義 而扼殺靈魂的工作？

Why is it that as capitalism developed,

為何隨著資本主義逐漸發展，

it created a mode of production, of goods and services,

一個製造商品和服務的模式隨之產生

in which all the nonmaterial satisfactions that might come from work were eliminated?

卻使得工作原本能帶來的 所有非物質滿足全消失了？

Workers who do this kind of work,

做著這種工作的員工，

whether they do it in factories, in call centers,

無論他們是在工廠、在客服中心

or in fulfillment warehouses,

還是在運貨倉儲中心

do it for pay.

都為了酬勞而工作

There is certainly no other earthly reason to do what they do except for pay.

他們之所以工作，很明顯地 沒有報酬之外的任何理由了

So the question is, "Why?"

所以這便是問題，「為什麼？」

And here's the answer:

答案就在這裡：

the answer is technology.

答案就是科技

Now, I know, I know --

好，我懂，我懂…

yeah, yeah, yeah, technology, automation screws people, blah blah --

是是是，科技、自動化腐蝕人性， 諸如此類陳腔濫調…

that's not what I mean.

但這不是我要說的

I'm not talking about the kind of technology

我不是在談論那一種科技

that has enveloped our lives, and that people come to TED to hear about.

那種包圍了我們的生活、 大家來TED想聽到的科技

I'm not talking about the technology of things,

我也不是要談論那種關於實物的科技

profound though that is.

雖然它的影響也很深遠

I'm talking about another technology.

我是在談論另一種科技

I'm talking about the technology of ideas.

我在談論和想法有關的科技，

I call it, "idea technology" --

我稱之為「想法科技」─

how clever of me.

看看我多聰明

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

In addition to creating things, science creates ideas.

在創作實物之外，科學也創造想法

Science creates ways of understanding.

科學創造理解事物的方式

And in the social sciences,

而在社會科學中，

the ways of understanding that get created are ways of understanding ourselves.

我們創造出理解事物的方式， 就是理解我們自己的方式

And they have an enormous influence on how we think, what we aspire to,

它們大大影響了我們 如何思考、渴望什麼

and how we act.

以及如何行動

If you think your poverty is God's will, you pray.

如果你認為你的貧困是 上天的旨意，你會祈禱

If you think your poverty is the result of your own inadequacy,

如果你認為你的貧困來自於自身的不足

you shrink into despair.

你會失落而萎靡不振

And if you think your poverty is the result of oppression and domination,

而如果你認為你的貧困 來自於他人的壓迫和統治

then you rise up in revolt.

你便會起而反抗

Whether your response to poverty is resignation or revolution,

無論你對貧困的回應 是服從認分或是發動革命

depends on how you understand the sources of your poverty.

一切要看你如何理解自己貧困的來源

This is the role that ideas play in shaping us as human beings,

這就是想法在將我們 形塑成人時扮演的角色

and this is why idea technology may be the most profoundly important technology

這也是為何想法科技可能是 科學帶給我們的一切中

that science gives us.

最深切重要的一種科技

And there's something special about idea technology,

想法科技有一個特點

that makes it different from the technology of things.

讓它和跟實物的科技有所不同

With things, if the technology sucks,

跟實物有關的科技，要是它爛透了

it just vanishes, right?

它就會直接消失，對吧？

Bad technology disappears.

差勁的科技會失去蹤影

With ideas --

至於想法呢 ─

false ideas about human beings will not go away

關於人類的錯誤想法很難真正消失

if people believe that they're true.

只要有人對其深信不疑

Because if people believe that they're true,

因為只要有人深信不疑

they create ways of living and institutions

他們創造的生活方式和機構

that are consistent with these very false ideas.

就會和那些非常錯誤的想法一致

And that's how the industrial revolution created a factory system

而這就是工業革命 如何創造了工廠系統

in which there was really nothing you could possibly get out of your day's work,

讓人在這個系統裡日日勞碌， 卻什麼也得不到

except for the pay at the end of the day.

除了一天結束時的工資之外

Because the father -- one of the fathers

正因為那位 ─ 其中一位 ─

of the Industrial Revolution, Adam Smith --

工業革命之父，亞當·史密斯─

was convinced that human beings were by their very natures lazy,

深深相信人類的天性就是懶惰

and wouldn't do anything unless you made it worth their while,

除非覺得划得來，否則什麼也不幹

and the way you made it worth their while

而讓他們值回票價的方法

was by incentivizing, by giving them rewards.

就是激勵他們，給他們回報

That was the only reason anyone ever did anything.

這是天底下任何人 會去做任何事的唯一理由

So we created a factory system consistent with that false view of human nature.

因此基於對人性的錯誤想法， 我們創立了相對應的工廠系統

But once that system of production was in place,

但是一旦這種生產系統上了軌道

there was really no other way for people to operate,

我們就再也找不到 另一種可能的運作方式，

except in a way that was consistent with Adam Smith's vision.

只剩下和亞當·史密斯 觀點一致的這種方式

So the work example is merely an example

所以這個工作的案例僅僅是一個範例

of how false ideas can create a circumstance

告訴我們錯誤的想法如何創造出

最後讓它變成事實的環境

that ends up making them true.

It is not true

世上其實沒有什麼 真正「已經無計可施」的情況

that you "just can't get good help anymore."

It is true

真正「無計可施」的情況發生在

that you "can't get good help anymore"

when you give people work to do that is demeaning and soulless.

你丟給他們那些毫無意義 又沒有靈魂的工作時

And interestingly enough, Adam Smith --

而相當有趣的是，亞當·史密斯─

the same guy who gave us this incredible invention

那個給了我們這個不可思議的發明

of mass production, and division of labor

給了我們大量製造、 勞務分工的構想的人

-- understood this.

─ 很清楚這件事

He said, of people who worked in assembly lines,

他說過，在組裝線上工作的人

of men who worked in assembly lines, he says:

對於組裝線上的員工，他說：

"He generally becomes as stupid as it is possible for a human being to become."

「他通常會變成人類愚蠢到 最極致的狀態」

Now, notice the word here is "become."

好好注意，他用的詞是「變成」

"He generally becomes as stupid as it is possible for a human being to become."

「他通常會變成人類愚蠢到 最極致的狀態」

Whether he intended it or not, what Adam Smith was telling us there,

無論他是不是故意的， 亞當·史密斯告訴我們的是

is that the very shape of the institution within which people work

正是這個我們在其中工作的機構型態

creates people who are fitted to the demands of that institution

製造出符合這個機構需求的人

and deprives people of the opportunity

同時從他們認為理所當然的工作中

to derive the kinds of satisfactions from their work that we take for granted.

剝奪了他們從中獲得各種滿足的機會

The thing about science -- natural science --

科學這回事 ─ 自然科學 ─

is that we can spin fantastic theories about the cosmos,

就是我們可以對於宇宙理論 進行天馬行空的構想

and have complete confidence

同時可以完全確信

that the cosmos is completely indifferent to our theories.

這個宇宙完完全全不會 受到我們製造的理論影響

It's going to work the same damn way

一切將該死地一如往常運轉

no matter what theories we have about the cosmos.

無論我們製造出什麼關於宇宙的理論

But we do have to worry about the theories we have of human nature,

但我們確實該擔心 我們製造出的、關於人性的理論

because human nature will be changed by the theories we have

因為人性是會被改變的，

被這些我們設計出來、為了解釋 和協助我們更加瞭解人類的理論所改變

that are designed to explain and help us understand human beings.

The distinguished anthropologist, Clifford Geertz, said, years ago,

著名的人類學家 克利福德·格爾茨幾年前曾說

that human beings are the "unfinished animals."

人類是「不完全的動物」

And what he meant by that was that it is only human nature

而他的意思是，只有人性

to have a human nature

是一種幾乎可說是被我們生活在其中 的社會所製造出來的本質

that is very much the product of the society in which people live.

That human nature, that is to say our human nature,

那種人性 ─ 也就是說我們人性本質

is much more created than it is discovered.

被創造出來的部分， 遠比被發現的部分更多

We design human nature

我們設計了人性 ─

by designing the institutions within which people live and work.

─透過設計人類生活和工作其中的機構

And so you people --

所以在座各位 ─

pretty much the closest I ever get to being with masters of the universe --

恐怕是我能遇到、 最接近能夠主宰宇宙萬物的人群 ─

you people should be asking yourself a question,

當你們回去繼續運作你們的組織時， 應該問自己一個問題

as you go back home to run your organizations.

Just what kind of human nature do you want to help design?

你們想要設計什麼樣的人性?

Thank you.

謝謝各位

(Applause)

(掌聲)

Thanks.

謝謝