Different ways of knowing | Daniel Tammet

譯者: Inder Peng(彭) 審譯者: Adrienne Lin

I'm a savant,

我有學者症候群(一種認知障礙)，

or more precisely,

更確切地說

a high-functioning

我是具超智商的

autistic savant.

自閉症認知障礙者。

It's a rare condition.

有學者症的人是很稀少的。

And rarer still when accompanied,

而我的情況更是罕見,

as in my case,

因為我還具有

by self-awareness

自我認知和

and a mastery of language.

能掌握語言的能力。

Very often when I meet someone

常常當很多人與我初次相遇,

and they learn this about me,

當他們知道我的行情時,

there's a certain kind of awkwardness.

場面就會變得有些尷尬。

I can see it in their eyes.

我從他們的眼神中可讀到

They want to ask me something.

他們有問題要問我。

And in the end, quite often,

通常到最後

the urge is stronger than they are

他們不法再忍耐下去,

and they blurt it out:

於是就會脫口而出的問到:

"If I give you my date of birth,

"假如我告訴你-我的出生日期，

can you tell me what day of the week I was born on?"

你能告訴我-我是星期幾出生的嗎？”

(Laughter)

（笑）

Or they mention cube roots

或者跟我討論數學立方根，

or ask me to recite a long number or long text.

或要求我背誦很長的數字或文章。

I hope you'll forgive me

我希望你們能原諒我，

if I don't perform

如果我今天沒有表演

a kind of one-man savant show for you today.

這種學者症獨角戲給你們欣賞。

I'm going to talk instead

我將要談

about something

的話題是比

far more interesting

出生年月日

than dates of birth or cube roots --

或立方根更有趣-

a little deeper

帶你們更深入更接近我的內在世界;

and a lot closer, to my mind, than work.

而不是只看我超智商的表面相。

I want to talk to you briefly

我想和你們簡短的談談

about perception.

什麼是認知。

When he was writing the plays and the short stories

安東契訶夫是以他寫的戲劇和

that would make his name,

短篇小說而聞名,

Anton Chekhov kept a notebook

他總是在隨身

in which he noted down

攜帶的筆記本中

his observations

記下所觀察到的

of the world around him --

周遭世界-

little details

一些其他人

that other people seem to miss.

似乎沒注意到的小細節。

Every time I read Chekhov

每次當我讀到契訶夫的書,

and his unique vision of human life,

與他的獨特眼光來品味人生，

I'm reminded of why I too

就再次提醒我自己這也是

became a writer.

為什麼我也成了一名作家的原因。

In my books,

在我的書中，

I explore the nature of perception

我探索認知的本質，

and how different kinds of perceiving

經由各種不同類型的察覺

create different kinds of knowing

進而創造不同的知識

and understanding.

和理解。

Here are three questions

我準備了三個問題

drawn from my work.

告訴您們我的世界,

Rather than try to figure them out,

與其要你們試著去解答,

I'm going to ask you to consider for a moment

我要你們考慮片刻,利用你們的

the intuitions

立即直覺

and the gut instincts

和本能的反應,

that are going through your head and your heart

就是那種當一入眼簾後,通過你的頭跟心(身體)

as you look at them.

之後的直覺來回答問題。

For example, the calculation:

舉例來說,這個計算題,

can you feel where on the number line

是否你可以大約推測出它

the solution is likely to fall?

最可能的數字?

Or look at the foreign word and the sounds:

或是看到這些外國語或聽到它的發音。

can you get a sense of the range of meanings

你能感覺到它們所要表達出

that it's pointing you towards?

的意義嗎?

And in terms of the line of poetry,

在這首詩的章節中,

why does the poet use the word hare

為什麼詩人用"野兔"

rather than rabbit?

而不用"兔子"這個詞呢?

I'm asking you to do this

我要求你們這樣做，

because I believe our personal perceptions, you see,

是因為我認為我們個人對事務的認知

are at the heart

是我們如何獲取

of how we acquire knowledge.

知識的主要方式。

Aesthetic judgments,

用對感觀上的感受(審美觀),

rather than abstract reasoning,

取代依靠抽象推理，

guide and shape the process

引導和塑造的過程來

by which we all come to know

認識學習知識。然後

what we know.

瞭解事務。

I'm an extreme example of this.

而我個人就是一個極佳的例子。

My worlds of words and numbers

在我的世界裡,文字和數字

blur with color, emotion

是混雜帶有顏色,有情感

and personality.

和個性的。

As Juan said,

就像關(Juan)所說的

it's the condition that scientists call synesthesia,

是科學家們稱之的"聯覺"症狀,

an unusual cross-talk

也就是一種感覺和另一種感覺之間

between the senses.

不尋常的交際。

Here are the numbers one to 12

這是數字1至12的圖，

as I see them --

但我看它們是-

every number with its own shape and character.

每一個數字有專屬的形狀和特色。

One is a flash of white light.

1是閃爍的白光。

Six is a tiny and very sad black hole.

6是一個憂傷微小的黑洞。

The sketches are in black and white here,

呈現你們眼前的這圖只有黑色和白色，

but in my mind they have colors.

但在我心中，他們有顏色。

Three is green.

3是綠色。

Four is blue.

4是藍色的。

Five is yellow.

5是黃色的。

I paint as well.

我也畫畫。

And here is one of my paintings.

這是我的其中一個作品。

It's a multiplication of two prime numbers.

顯示兩個質數的乘法。

Three-dimensional shapes

呈三次空間的形狀,

and the space they create in the middle

而在兩個質數中間的空間中有

creates a new shape,

另一個新的形狀，

the answer to the sum.

也就是解答。

What about bigger numbers?

那麼如果是較大的數字呢?

Well you can't get much bigger than Pi,

沒有任何數字比Pi(π,圓周率)更無限，

the mathematical constant.

π是數學常數。

It's an infinite number --

是一個無限的數字-

literally goes on forever.

理論上是永無止境的延伸。

In this painting that I made

在此畫中我畫出的π是

of the first 20 decimals of Pi,

直到小數點後的第20位為止，

I take the colors

我用了許多色彩,

and the emotions and the textures

情緒和質感

and I pull them all together

一同來顯現出一種

into a kind of rolling numerical landscape.

滾動的數字景觀。

But it's not only numbers that I see in colors.

對我而言,不是只有數字具有顏色。

Words too, for me,

對我來說，字也一樣

have colors and emotions

有顏色,情感

and textures.

和質感紋路.

And this is an opening phrase

納博科夫知名小說

from the novel "Lolita."

"洛麗塔"的開場白。

And Nabokov was himself synesthetic.

大量利用聯感詞(用某種感覺的字眼表達另一種感覺)。

And you can see here

你可以看到,

how my perception of the sound L

在這裡因我對 L發音的感覺

helps the alliteration

有助於我瞭解

to jump right out.

句中的字頭押韻，

Another example:

另一例子:

a little bit more mathematical.

牽扯到一點數學。

And I wonder if some of you will notice

我很好奇想知道是否在此有些人

the construction of the sentence

會注意到"大亨小傳"

from "The Great Gatsby."

中句法的結構?

There is a procession of syllables --

一連串有組織的音節--

wheat, one;

麥，1個音節;

prairies, two;

草原，2個音節;

lost Swede towns, three --

失城記(消失的瑞典城鎮),3個音節-

one, two, three.

1，2，3。

And this effect is very pleasant on the mind,

很有節奏,讀起來心情非常愉快，

and it helps the sentence

所以句子

to feel right.

很通暢恰好。

Let's go back to the questions

讓我們回到我

I posed you a moment ago.

剛才提出的問題上。

64 multiplied by 75.

64乘以75。

If some of you play chess,

如果你下國際象棋，

you'll know that 64

你就會知道，

is a square number,

64是一個平方數，

and that's why chessboards,

這就是為什麼棋盤，

eight by eight,

八乘八，

have 64 squares.

有64個方格。

So that gives us a form

這給了我們一個

that we can picture, that we can perceive.

們可以想像的模型，

What about 75?

那75呢?

Well if 100,

就用100來想像，

if we think of 100 as being like a square,

如果我們認為100是廣場，

75 would look like this.

75就是這樣的的大小。

So what we need to do now

所以我們現在

is put those two pictures

只要把那兩張照片

together in our mind --

在我們的腦海中併在一起 -

something like this.

像這樣。

64 becomes 6,400.

64變為6400。

And in the right-hand corner,

而在右下角，

you don't have to calculate anything.

你不須要計算。

Four across, four up and down --

4個格子,上下四個格子-

it's 16.

所以是16。

So what the sum is actually asking you to do

那麼真正須要計算的總和

is 16,

是16，

16, 16.

16，16(3個16)。

That's a lot easier

很簡單吧!

than the way that the school taught you to do math, I'm sure.

我相信比學校教的計算方法容易多了。

It's 16, 16, 16, 48,

那16，16，16，48(3個16)，

4,800 --

4800(48x100)

4,800,

- 4800，

the answer to the sum.

就是正確答案。

Easy when you know how.

當你知道方法就很簡單!

(Laughter)

（笑）

The second question was an Icelandic word.

第二個問題是有關冰島文字。

I'm assuming there are not many people here

我推測在座沒有多少人

who speak Icelandic.

會說冰島話。

So let me narrow the choices down to two.

因此，讓我縮小你們的選擇範圍到兩個。

Hnugginn:

Hnugginn：

is it a happy word,

這是一個表示高興的字，

or a sad word?

或悲傷的字？

What do you say?

你怎麼想？

Okay.

好!

Some people say it's happy.

有人說是快樂的字。

Most people, a majority of people,

但很多人，大多數的人說是

say sad.

悲傷的詞字。

And it actually means sad.

它實際上意味著悲哀。

(Laughter)

（笑）

Why do, statistically,

在統計學上為什麼

a majority of people

大多數人說這一個字

say that a word is sad, in this case,

,在此例,是悲傷的意思,

heavy in other cases?

別的例子可能指強勢?

In my theory, language evolves in such a way

我的理論是:語言的發展是

that sounds match,

與聲音相襯的方式進行，

correspond with, the subjective,

加上相對應的主觀感覺，

with the personal,

及聽者個人的

intuitive experience

直覺經驗

of the listener.

來演化。

Let's have a look at the third question.

讓我們來看第三個問題。

It's a line from a poem by John Keats.

這是約翰濟慈詩中的一句。

Words, like numbers,

文字就像數字一樣,

express fundamental relationships

呈現對於目標,事件之間

between objects

的根本互動關係,

and events and forces

驅動組成

that constitute our world.

我們的世界。

It stands to reason that we, existing in this world,

這也為什麼生存在這世界的我們,

should in the course of our lives

理所當然的會在此過程中

absorb intuitively those relationships.

直覺地承接這些關係。

And poets, like other artists,

詩人們，像其他的藝術家一樣，

play with those intuitive understandings.

細細把玩著對直覺的理解。

In the case of hare,

像這例子為什麼用野兔這詞，

it's an ambiguous sound in English.

野兔在英語的用法有另一個含糊不清的意義。

It can also mean the fibers that grow from a head.

也可指長在頭上的毫毛。

And if we think of that --

那麼如果我們想像一下-

let me put the picture up --

-讓我用圖像來告訴您們-

the fibers represent vulnerability.

毫毛代表脆弱。

They yield to the slightest movement

它們會被任何輕微的風吹草動

or motion or emotion.

或情緒所影響。

So what you have is an atmosphere

所以可以創造出

of vulnerability and tension.

脆弱和緊張氣氛。

The hare itself, the animal --

野兔本身-

not a cat, not a dog, a hare --

不是貓，不是狗，而是野兔 -

why a hare?

為什麼用野兔這個詞？

Because think of the picture --

想像 這個情景的圖片

not the word, the picture.

而不是字，想像圖片。

The overlong ears,

過長的耳朵，

the overlarge feet,

超大的腳，

helps us to picture, to feel intuitively,

幫助我們去想像，直觀地去感受，

what it means to limp

這意味著什麼:

and to tremble.

跛腳，顫抖。

So in these few minutes,

我希望在這幾分鐘裡

I hope I've been able to share

我已經跟您們分享

a little bit of my vision of things

一些些我視野中的世界,

and to show you

並且讓你們知道

that words can have colors and emotions,

文字有色彩和情感，

numbers, shapes and personalities.

數字，形狀和個性。

The world is richer,

這世界是比我們

vaster

常以為的

than it too often seems to be.

更富麗的，更遼闊的。

I hope that I've given you the desire

我希望我已經挑起你們

to learn to see the world with new eyes.

用新的眼光學習看世界的動機。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）