What I learned from 2,000 obituaries | Lux Narayan

譯者: 庭芝 梁 審譯者: ZHENG Shu

Joseph Keller used to jog around the Stanford campus,

約瑟夫·凱勒習慣在 史丹福大學校園周圍慢跑，

and he was struck by all the women jogging there as well.

在那裡慢跑的其他女性， 引發了他的好奇：

Why did their ponytails swing from side to side like that?

為什麼她們的馬尾總是左右晃動著？

Being a mathematician, he set out to understand why.

身為一名數學家， 他決定要弄清楚原因。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Professor Keller was curious about many things:

凱勒教授對許多事情都很好奇：

why teapots dribble

為什麼茶水會順著壺嘴滴下來，

or how earthworms wriggle.

或是蚯蚓如何蠕動。

Until a few months ago, I hadn't heard of Joseph Keller.

幾個月之前， 我還不知道約瑟夫·凱勒是誰。

I read about him in the New York Times,

我在紐約時報看到他的消息，

in the obituaries.

在訃聞版。

The Times had half a page of editorial dedicated to him,

紐約時報的編輯 用了半個版面來向他致敬。

which you can imagine is premium space for a newspaper of their stature.

你可以想像得到， 對一家大報社來說，

這代表著極高的尊崇。

I read the obituaries almost every day.

我幾乎每天都會閱讀訃聞版。

My wife understandably thinks I'm rather morbid

我的妻子曉得我這個 有點病態的習慣：

to begin my day with scrambled eggs and a "Let's see who died today."

每天早晨，我會一邊吃著炒蛋， 一邊閱讀訃聞版：

「我們來看看今天有誰去世了」。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

But if you think about it,

但是如果你仔細想想，

the front page of the newspaper is usually bad news,

報紙的頭版通常刊登壞消息，

and cues man's failures.

這暗示我們某人失敗了。

An instance where bad news cues accomplishment

然而有一種情況： 壞消息卻暗示了某人的成就，

is at the end of the paper, in the obituaries.

那就是在報紙的最後一版， 在訃聞版。

In my day job,

我平常的工作，

I run a company that focuses on future insights

是經營一間企管顧問公司， 我們關注未來的發展趨勢，

that marketers can derive from past data --

並分析過去所累積的數據──

a kind of rearview-mirror analysis.

這是一種稱為「回顧分析」的技術。

And we began to think:

我們開始思考：

What if we held a rearview mirror to obituaries from the New York Times?

如果我們對紐約時報的訃聞版， 進行回顧分析？

Were there lessons on how you could get your obituary featured --

能否從裡面學到 「如何讓訃聞變得更為獨特」──

even if you aren't around to enjoy it?

即使你以後也看不到自己的訃聞？

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Would this go better with scrambled eggs?

這樣做能讓訃聞更適合搭配炒蛋嗎？

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And so, we looked at the data.

所以，我們檢視了數據。

2,000 editorial, non-paid obituaries

我們分析了總共 2000 篇 由編輯部刊登，非付費的訃聞，

over a 20-month period between 2015 and 2016.

範圍是 2015 到 2016 年的 20 個月之間。

What did these 2,000 deaths -- rather, lives -- teach us?

究竟這 2000 個死亡 ──應該說是生命──

教導了我們什麼？

Well, first we looked at words.

好，首先來看訃聞的用字。

This here is an obituary headline.

這是一篇訃聞的標題。

This one is of the amazing Lee Kuan Yew.

這一位是傳奇人物李光耀。

If you remove the beginning and the end,

移除開頭和結尾後的內容，

you're left with a beautifully worded descriptor

只剩短短的幾句話， 一些優美的描述辭彙，

that tries to, in just a few words, capture an achievement or a lifetime.

能讓你捕捉到亡者的成就， 或是他的一生。

Just looking at these is fascinating.

看著這些詞彙就夠令人著迷了。

Here are a few famous ones, people who died in the last two years.

這裡有幾位， 在這兩年內過世的名人。

Try and guess who they are.

試著猜猜看他們是誰。

[An Artist who Defied Genre]

「一位顛覆形式的藝術家」

That's Prince.

這是王子。

[Titan of Boxing and the 20th Century]

「二十世紀的拳擊巨星」

Oh, yes.

是的，

[Muhammad Ali]

拳王阿里。

[Groundbreaking Architect]

「開創未來的建築師」

Zaha Hadid.

札哈．哈蒂。

So we took these descriptors

因此，我們找出這些描述詞，

and did what's called natural language processing,

進行所謂的自然語言處理。

where you feed these into a program,

也就是你將文字輸入程式，

it throws out the superfluous words --

它能剔除不必要的文字， 例如 「the」--

"the," "and," -- the kind of words you can mime easily in "Charades," --

並且剔除在玩「比手畫腳」遊戲時， 很容易以手勢表示的文字，

and leaves you with the most significant words.

最後留下最重要的詞彙。

And we did it not just for these four,

我們不只分析上面這四則，

but for all 2,000 descriptors.

而是分析了所有 2000 則 訃聞的描述詞彙。

And this is what it looks like.

我們來看看結果是什麼樣子。

Film, theatre, music, dance and of course, art, are huge.

電影，戲劇，音樂，舞蹈。 當然「藝術」是最明顯的。

Over 40 percent.

出現的頻率多出 40%。

You have to wonder why in so many societies

你不得不驚訝的是， 為什麼在大多數的社會中，

we insist that our kids pursue engineering or medicine or business or law

我們一直認為讓孩子讀工程、 醫學、商業或法律科系，

to be construed as successful.

才是所謂的成功。

And while we're talking profession,

當我們關注職業時，

let's look at age --

也來看看年齡──

the average age at which they achieved things.

這些人功成名就的平均年齡。

That number is 37.

這個數字是37年。

What that means is, you've got to wait 37 years ...

這意味著什麼？ 就是你平均必須等待 37 年……

before your first significant achievement that you're remembered for --

才能獲得第一個成就，

on average --

44 年後，

44 years later, when you die at the age of 81 --

當你過世時才會被紀念，

on average.

平均年齡是 81 歲。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Talk about having to be patient.

這告訴我們要有耐心。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Of course, it varies by profession.

當然，這會因職業而異。

If you're a sports star,

如果你是體育明星，

you'll probably hit your stride in your 20s.

你可能會在 20 多歲打破紀錄。

And if you're in your 40s like me,

如果你和我一樣已經 40 多歲了，

you can join the fun world of politics.

你可以加入有趣的政治圈。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Politicians do their first and sometimes only commendable act in their mid-40s.

政治家完成他們的第一項成就， 可能也是唯一的一次，

大約是在45歲左右。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

If you're wondering what "others" are,

如果你想知道「其他職業」是什麼，

here are some examples.

這裡有一些例子。

Isn't it fascinating, the things people do

這些人所做的，

and the things they're remembered for?

和他們被紀念的事蹟， 是不是很令人著迷？

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Our curiosity was in overdrive,

我們的好奇心被點燃了，

and we desired to analyze more than just a descriptor.

我們不只想要分析描述詞。

So, we ingested the entire first paragraph of all 2,000 obituaries,

所以，我們輸入了 2000 則 訃聞的第一段全文，

but we did this separately for two groups of people:

但是將亡者分為兩群：

people that are famous and people that are not famous.

知名人士，以及非知名人士。

Famous people -- Prince, Ali, Zaha Hadid --

知名人士例如：王子、 阿里、札哈．哈蒂。

people who are not famous are people like Jocelyn Cooper,

非知名人士例如：喬斯林庫柏、

Reverend Curry

嘉里牧師

or Lorna Kelly.

或羅娜．凱利。

I'm willing to bet you haven't heard of most of their names.

我敢打賭，你絕對沒聽過 大多數這些人的名字。

Amazing people, fantastic achievements, but they're not famous.

這些人有著令人驚訝，稀奇古怪的成就，

但是他們並不出名。

So what if we analyze these two groups separately --

因此，如果我們分析一下這兩群人，

the famous and the non-famous?

知名和非知名人士，

What might that tell us?

可能得到什麼結果？

Take a look.

我們來看一下。

Two things leap out at me.

有兩個結果讓我驚訝。

First:

第一個：

"John."

「約翰」。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Anyone here named John should thank your parents --

如果這裡有人也叫約翰的， 應該感謝你的父母──

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

and remind your kids to cut out your obituary when you're gone.

而且記得提醒你的孩子， 當你過世時要把訃聞剪下來。

And second:

另一個結果是：

"help."

「幫助」。

We uncovered, many lessons from lives well-led,

我們發現了，這些已經逝去， 在報紙上令我們緬懷的事蹟，

and what those people immortalized in print could teach us.

教導我們許多事情， 教導我們如何好好活著。

The exercise was a fascinating testament to the kaleidoscope that is life,

這次的實驗就是 萬花筒般生命的迷人見證。

and even more fascinating

甚至更迷人的是，

was the fact that the overwhelming majority of obituaries

在大多數的訃聞中，

featured people famous and non-famous,

無論是知名或非知名人士，

who did seemingly extraordinary things.

他們所做的不平凡事蹟。

They made a positive dent in the fabric of life.

他們在不停編織的人生中， 留下了有意義的印記。

They helped.

他們幫助他人。

So ask yourselves as you go back to your daily lives:

所以問問自己， 當你回到日常生活中：

How am I using my talents to help society?

我如何運用我的才華， 幫助這個社會？

Because the most powerful lesson here is,

因為在這裡，最重要的一課是：

if more people lived their lives trying to be famous in death,

如果有更多的人， 在活著時努力過著自己的人生，

而能在過世時變得知名，

the world would be a much better place.

這個世界將會變得更加美好。

Thank you.

謝謝大家。

(Applause)

（掌聲）