Adam Ostrow: After your final status update

譯者: Sheng-Ju Hsu 審譯者: Diwen Mueller

By the end of this year,

截止到今年年底之前，

there'll be nearly a billion people on this planet

全世界總計將會有近十億的人口

that actively use social networking sites.

活躍於各個社群網絡之中。

The one thing that all of them have in common

他們擁有一個共通點

is that they're going to die.

那就是有一天他們將會面臨死亡。

While that might be a somewhat morbid thought,

雖然這樣的想法似乎有些病態，

I think it has some really profound implications

但我認為這之中蘊藏了一些深遠意涵

that are worth exploring.

值得我們去發掘。

What first got me thinking about this

首先讓我認真去思考這件事情的

was a blog post authored earlier this year by Derek K. Miller,

是一個叫做Derek K. Miller的作家在今年初所發布的一篇部落格文章。

who was a science and technology journalist

Miller是一個科學和科技類的新聞工作者，

who died of cancer.

因罹癌而離開人世，

And what Miller did was have his family and friends write a post

而他要求他的家人和朋友在他死後

that went out shortly after he died.

把他生前預先寫好的一篇文章發布到網路上。

Here's what he wrote in starting that out.

以下是他所發布文章中的一段

He said, "Here it is. I'm dead,

他說：「就在此刻，我已經死了，

and this is my last post to my blog.

而這也是我最後發佈的一篇部落格文章。

In advance, I asked that once my body finally shut down

我要求我的家人和朋友，

from the punishments of my cancer,

當我的身體最終敵不過癌症的折磨而停止運作時，

then my family and friends publish this prepared message I wrote --

將這則事先準備好的訊息發佈出去，

the first part of the process

作為將這個活躍的網站

of turning this from an active website to an archive."

轉變為歷史檔案的起點。」

Now, while as a journalist,

現在，身為一名新聞工作者，

Miller's archive may have been better written

Miller的個人歷史檔案可能比起其他多數的檔案

and more carefully curated than most,

更好且更加謹慎的被管理和保存著。

the fact of the matter is that all of us today

事實上，

are creating an archive

現在我們每個人都在創造著一份檔案

that's something completely different

這些檔案跟以往幾個世代

than anything that's been created

任何時期創造出來的儲存方式

by any previous generation.

都完全不同。

Consider a few stats for a moment.

讓我們花點時間來瞭解以下幾個數據

Right now there are 48 hours of video

就在此刻，每分鐘總計有48小時的影片

being uploaded to YouTube every single minute.

被上傳到YouTube網站；

There are 200 million Tweets being posted every day.

每天有兩億則推特發佈；

And the average Facebook user

而平均每個Facebook用戶

is creating 90 pieces of content each month.

每個月會發佈九十則訊息。

So when you think about your parents or your grandparents,

所以想一想你的父母親或是你的祖父母，

at best they may have created

他們可能頂多在某個角落的箱子裡

some photos or home videos,

保存了一些照片或家庭生活影片

or a diary that lives in a box somewhere.

或是一本日記簿。

But today we're all creating this incredibly rich digital archive

但是如今，我們正在創造多元豐富的數位檔案庫。

that's going to live in the cloud indefinitely,

即使在我們離開人世之後，

years after we're gone.

這個檔案仍會被永久的保留在雲端運算之中，

And I think that's going to create some incredibly intriguing opportunities

而我認為這將為從事科技工作者

for technologists.

開創一些別開生面的機會。

Now to be clear, I'm a journalist and not a technologist,

我得先表明，我是一個新聞工作者，並不是科技領域的專家，

so what I'd like to do briefly

所以我想要呈現給各位的

is paint a picture

是一幅

of what the present and the future are going to look like.

描繪現在以及未來將會出現的畫面。

Now we're already seeing some services

現在已經有一些服務

that are designed to let us decide

他可以讓我們決定

what happens to our online profile and our social media accounts

在我們死後，我們線上的個人檔案和社群帳號

after we die.

能有甚麼變化。

One of them actually, fittingly enough,

實際上，這當中有某一家服務得很稱職

found me when I checked into a deli

它通過Foursquare網站，

at a restaurant in New York

在我進入紐約一家餐廳的以後

on foursquare.

立馬找到在熟食部的我

(Recording) Adam Ostrow: Hello.

(錄音)Adam Ostrow: 哈囉！

Death: Adam?

死神：Adam？

AO: Yeah.

AO: 是的。

Death: Death can catch you anywhere, anytime,

死神：死神可以隨時隨地將你抓走

even at the Organic.

甚至是在擁有生機之處。

AO: Who is this?

AO: 你到底是誰？

Death: Go to ifidie.net

死神：在一切都還來得及時，

before it's too late.

快登錄到ifidie.net

(Laughter)

(大笑)

Adam Ostrow: Kind of creepy, right?

有點令人毛骨悚然，對吧？

So what that service does, quite simply,

其實該項服務所做的，非常簡單，

is let you create a message or a video

就是讓你在死後，可以在Facebook上發布

that can be posted to Facebook after you die.

你生前完成的訊息或影片。

Another service right now

有另外一項

is called 1,000 Memories.

現在叫做［千憶］的服務

And what this lets you do is create an online tribute to your loved ones,

這項服務允許你設立一個線上空間，讓你所愛的人們

complete with photos and videos and stories

在你死後

that they can post after you die.

得以上傳照片、影片和故事。

But what I think comes next is far more interesting.

但我預想未來的發展將比這些更加有趣。

Now a lot of you are probably familiar with Deb Roy

你們大概都對Deb Roy還滿熟悉的吧，

who, back in March,

他在三月份的時候

demonstrated how he was able to analyze more than 90,000 hours of home video.

演示了他成功分析90,000多小時的家庭影片。

I think as machines' ability

我認為，機器對於

to understand human language and process vast amounts of data

人類語言的理解和處理龐大數字的能力

continues to improve,

在持續的進步之中，

it's going to become possible

想藉由我們正大量製造的

to analyze an entire life's worth of content --

Tweets、照片、影片和部落格文章中

the Tweets, the photos, the videos, the blog posts --

去解析一個生命所留下的內涵

that we're producing in such massive numbers.

將不再是不可能的事。

And I think as that happens,

而當這樣的情況真的發生時，

it's going to become possible for our digital personas

我們各種數位分身將真的可能

to continue to interact in the real world long after we're gone

在我們死後繼續和這個真實世界互動

thanks to the vastness of the amount of content we're creating

而這得感謝那些我們正大量製造的訊息內容

and technology's ability to make sense of it all.

以及具有將這一切變得可能的科技能力。

Now we're already starting to see some experiments here.

現在我們要來觀察一個實驗。

One service called My Next Tweet

有一個叫作My Next Tweet的服務

analyzes your entire Twitter stream, everything you've posted onto Twitter,

他可藉由分析你所有的推特串，以及所有你已經發布在Twitter上的內容，

to make some predictions as to what you might say next.

去預測你下一步可能會說些甚麼。

Well right now, as you can see,

嗯...不過現在，就像你所看到的，

the results can be somewhat comical.

這些結果可能有點滑稽。

You can imagine what something like this might look like

但隨著我們的科技能力的改進，

five, 10 or 20 years from now

你可以想像在五年、十年，

as our technical capabilities improve.

甚至二十年之後這會變成甚麼樣子。

Taking it a step further,

讓這一切更進一步的，

MIT's media lab is working on robots

還有MIT的Media Lab正在研究製造

that can interact more like humans.

可以更趨近於人類互動模式的機器人。

But what if those robots were able to interact

但假若這些機器人與人互動的基礎

based on the unique characteristics of a specific person

是奠基在專屬某個特定個人的的個性、

based on the hundreds of thousands of pieces of content

以及此人終其一生所發布

that person produces in their lifetime?

數以萬計的訊息內容而成的情況之下呢？

Finally, think back to this famous scene

最後，我們回想一下過去一個有名的場景

from election night 2008

時間是美國在2008年的

back in the United States,

總統大選之夜，

where CNN beamed a live hologram

在CNN的現場出現了嘻哈歌手

of hip hop artist will.i.am into their studio

will.i.am的全息圖，

for an interview with Anderson Cooper.

讓他接受Anderson Cooper的訪談。

What if we were able to use that same type of technology

我們是否也能應用同樣的科技

to beam a representation of our loved ones into our living rooms --

製造出一個可以投射在客廳，作為我們所愛之人象徵的全息圖，

interacting in a very lifelike way

用他們生前所發出的訊息內容做為材料

based on all the content they created while they were alive?

讓這個全息圖可以活生生的與我們互動呢？

I think that's going to become completely possible

我認為當我們所使用的數據訊息量

as the amount of data we're producing

以及能夠解讀這些訊息的科技能力

and technology's ability to understand it

都呈指數式的擴充時，

both expand exponentially.

這是非常有可能的。

Now in closing, I think what we all need to be thinking about

以此作為演說的尾聲，我認為我們都應該去思考的是

is if we want that to become our reality --

如果我們希望這種情況成真－

and if so,

而如果他的確成真了，

what it means for a definition of life and everything that comes after it.

這對人生的定義，以及與人生相關的種種又意味著什麼。

Thank you very much.

非常謝謝你們。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）