Andrew Blum: What is the Internet, really?

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

譯者: Cheno Chen 審譯者: Anna Dung

I've always written primarily about architecture,

我主要的著作都有關建築學、或建物

about buildings, and writing about architecture

而寫這些建築時

is based on certain assumptions.

都要從一個特定的假設開始

An architect designs a building, and it becomes a place,

有一個建築師設計了一座建築，然後變成一個地點

or many architects design many buildings, and it becomes

或是許多建築師設計許多建築，然後成為一個城市

a city, and regardless of this complicated mix of forces

而無論這些造就了這些地方的文化或社會力量、經濟

of politics and culture and economics that shapes

有多麼的錯綜複雜

these places, at the end of the day, you can go

在最終，變成一個你能去的地方

and you can visit them. You can walk around them.

你能拜訪各處，你能繞著他們走

You can smell them. You can get a feel for them.

你能聞到這些建築、你能感覺到這些建築

You can experience their sense of place.

你能感覺這個地方的氛圍

But what was striking to me over the last several years

但這幾年嚇到我自己的是

was that less and less was I going out into the world,

我越來越少走出外面的世界

and more and more, I was sitting in front of my computer screen.

取而代之的是越來越常坐在電腦螢幕前面

And especially since about 2007, when I got an iPhone,

特別是2007年開始，我買iPhone以後

I was not only sitting in front of my screen all day,

我不只是整天坐在電腦螢幕前

but I was also getting up at the end of the day

我還開始在每天結束前爬起來

and looking at this little screen that I carried in my pocket.

看著我口袋裡帶著的那塊小螢幕

And what was surprising to me was how quickly

令我驚訝的是

my relationship to the physical world had changed.

我與外在世界的關係改變得如此迅速

In this very short period of time, you know, whether you

在如此短暫的時間內

call it the last 15 years or so of being online, or the last,

不管你認為這個線上時代是在十五年前

you know, four or five years of being online all the time,

或是四、五年前開始

our relationship to our surroundings had changed in that

我們與外在的關係已經改變

our attention is constantly divided. You know,

我們的注意力也時常地被分散

we're both looking inside the screens and we're looking

我們都在往螢幕裡看

out in the world around us.

去看我們身處的世界

And what was even more striking to me, and what I really

而更令我震驚的是，也讓我真正

got hung up on, was that the world inside the screen

開始注意的是，這個螢幕裡頭的世界

seemed to have no physical reality of its own.

似乎自己沒有一點實際的存在

If you went and looked for images of the Internet,

如果你想看一張網路的圖

this was all that you found, this famous image by Opte

你會找到這張由Opte計畫所生成的著名圖片

of the Internet as the kind of Milky Way, this infinite expanse

把網路看作銀河一般，這樣無限

where we don't seem to be anywhere on it.

好像我們沒辦法身在其中任一處

We can never seem to grasp it in its totality.

我們好像永遠無法完全掌握它

It's always reminded me of the Apollo image of the Earth,

這張圖總讓我聯想到阿波羅號上看到的地球

the blue marble picture, and it's similarly meant to suggest,

那張藍寶石的圖片，而它的相似度也暗示了

I think, that we can't really understand it as a whole.

我認為，我們永遠無法完全整體地去了解它

We're always sort of small in the face of its expanse.

我們永遠會是它擴張中的一小部分

So if there was this world and this screen, and if there was

所以如果有這麼一個世界和這塊螢幕

the physical world around me, I couldn't ever get them

好像現實世界這樣圍繞著我的話

together in the same place.

我永遠無法把他們放在一起

And then this happened.

然後這件事發生了

My Internet broke one day, as it occasionally does,

有一天，我網路如同偶而會發生地，壞了

and the cable guy came to fix it, and he started with

工程師前來維修

the dusty clump of cables behind the couch,

然後他從沙發後沾滿灰塵的一團線開始

and he followed it to the front of my building and into the basement and out to the back yard,

然後他跟著那條線到了我大樓前面，下了地下室，然後再出了後院

and there was this big jumble of cables against the wall.

那兒有個很大的集線區安在牆上

And then he saw a squirrel running along the wire,

然後他看見一隻松鼠在電纜上跑著

and he said, "There's your problem.

然後他說，＂這就是你的問題

A squirrel is chewing on your Internet." (Laughter)

有一隻松鼠在咀嚼你的網路＂（笑聲）

And this seemed astounding. The Internet is

這看來挺驚人的

a transcendent idea. It's a set of protocols that has changed

網路是個形而上的概念。網路是種囊括

everything from shopping to dating to revolutions.

購物到約會到革命等等的各種東西在上面的交換協議

It was unequivocally not something

這本來不是個

a squirrel could chew on. (Laughter)

松鼠能咬的東西（笑聲）

But that in fact seemed to be the case.

但事實上看來如此

A squirrel had in fact chewed on my Internet. (Laughter)

一隻松鼠真的咬了我的網路（笑聲）

And then I got this image in my head of what would happen

然後我腦袋就開始幻想這樣一個圖像

if you yanked the wire from the wall and if you started

如果你把網路線扯出牆壁

to follow it. Where would it go?

然後開始跟著它走，它會走到哪?

Was the Internet actually a place that you could visit?

網路是否真的為一個你能拜訪的地方

Could I go there? Who would I meet?

我能到那嗎?，我會遇到誰

You know, was there something actually out there?

你懂?就是網路是否是否真的在＂外面＂？

And the answer, by all accounts, was no.

而這個答案，按照認知來說，應該是沒有

This was the Internet, this black box with a red light on it,

這該是網路，有著紅燈亮著的黑箱子

as represented in the sitcom "The IT Crowd."

如同喜劇"The IT Crowd所呈現的樣子

Normally it lives on the top of Big Ben,

通常會設在大笨鐘的頂層

because that's where you get the best reception,

因為是收訊最好的地方

but they had negotiated that their colleague could borrow it

但他們在協商後把它借到了大學校園裡

for the afternoon to use in an office presentation.

所以當天下午的簡報能夠使用

The elders of the Internet were willing to part with it

網路的管理者們願意短暫的把它借出

for a short while, and she looks at it and she says,

然後她看著這個盒子然後說

"This is the Internet? The whole Internet? Is it heavy?"

這就是網路?整個網路?它重嗎?

They say, "Of course not, the Internet doesn't weigh anything."

他們說，當然不重，網路一點重量都沒有

And I was embarrassed. I was looking for this thing

然後我尷尬了。我像是笨蛋一樣

that only fools seem to look for.

在找一個不存在的東西

The Internet was that amorphous blob, or it was a silly

網路要麼不是無形的一小滴

black box with a blinking red light on it.

要麼就是一個有著會閃紅燈的小黑盒

It wasn't a real world out there.

網路之外好像沒甚麼實際形體

But, in fact, it is. There is a real world of the Internet out there,

但，事實上，它有的。網路外有個實際的形體

and that's what I spent about two years visiting,

而我花了大概兩年派訪這些網路的「地點」

these places of the Internet. I was in large data centers

我拜訪了大型資訊中心

that use as much power as the cities in which they sit,

那個中心的電力消耗和它所坐落城市的電力消耗相同

and I visited places like this, 60 Hudson Street in New York,

我還拜訪了這種地方，紐約哈德遜街60號

which is one of the buildings in the world,

它是世界上的其中一棟

one of a very short list of buildings, about a dozen buildings,

一種為數不多的建築，大約十來棟左右

where more networks of the Internet connect to each other

網路在那編織成網、互相連通

than anywhere else.

量比其他地方都大

And that connection is an unequivocally physical process.

裏頭的連接是靠著實際的物理運作的

It's about the router of one network, a Facebook or

這大約是一個網路架構的路由器，如臉書

a Google or a B.T. or a Comcast or a Time Warner, whatever it is,

或是Google、BT、Comcast或是Time Warner，不管是甚麼

connecting with usually a yellow fiber optic cable up into

都通常是用黃色的光纖電纜牽入天花板

the ceiling and down into the router of another network,

然後走進路由器去連接其他網路

and that's unequivocally physical, and it's surprisingly intimate.

那是實際的物質，也看來意外地親切

A building like 60 Hudson, and a dozen or so others,

如哈德遜街60號這樣的建築，或是其他十幾個

has 10 times more networks connecting within it

都有著比身邊一排建築物

than the next tier of buildings.

相加起來的十倍連接量

There's a very short list of these places.

這些地方並不多

And 60 Hudson in particular is interesting because it's home

而哈德遜街六十號特別有趣的地方在於

to about a half a dozen very important networks,

它是好幾個非常重要網路的家

which are the networks which serve the undersea cables

那些網路通聯著

that travel underneath the ocean

在海裡蜿蜒的海底電纜

that connect Europe and America and connect all of us.

牽起歐美，和我們所有人

And it's those cables in particular that I want to focus on.

這些特別的電纜就是我想要專注的地方

If the Internet is a global phenomenon, if we live

如果網際網路是種全球現象

in a global village, it's because there are cables underneath

如果我們住在一個地球村，就是因為海底的網路

the ocean, cables like this.

像這樣的電纜

And in this dimension, they are incredibly small.

在這樣的特點下，它們微不足道

You can you hold them in your hand. They're like a garden hose.

你能將他們握在手中，他們像是花園水管一樣

But in the other dimension they are incredibly expansive,

但在另一個面向來看，他們不可思議的廣布

as expansive as you can imagine.

你能想像有多廣布就有多廣布

They stretch across the ocean. They're three or five

他們爬佈滿海底。

or eight thousand miles in length, and

大概是三、五或八千英里長

if the material science and the computational technology

要說這項材料科學和電機記算數學

is incredibly complicated, the basic physical process

是極為複雜的，但它的物理過程

is shockingly simple. Light goes in on one end of the ocean

又驚人地簡單，光從海洋的一端傳入

and comes out on the other, and it usually comes

然後從另外一端傳出。

from a building called a landing station that's often

它通常在下水前進入一個叫做陸地站的建築

tucked away inconspicuously in a little seaside neighborhood,

通常很不起眼地座落在海邊的一小區

and there are amplifiers that sit on the ocean floor

然後在海床上會有增幅器

that look kind of like bluefin tuna, and every 50 miles

長的有點像藍鰭鮪魚

they amplify the signal, and since the rate of transmission

每五十英里他們就會強化訊號，

is incredibly fast, the basic unit is a 10-gigabit-per-second

當他們以如此快的速度傳遞，最小單位是每道光每秒內傳遞10G

wavelength of light, maybe a thousand times your own

速度或許是你網路的一千倍

connection, or capable of carrying 10,000 video streams,

或是能夠下載10000部影片的流量

but not only that, but you'll put not just one wavelength of light

旦不只如此，你能在光纖中放入不只一道光

through one of the fibers, but you'll put maybe

一條光纖能大概放入

50 or 60 or 70 different wavelengths or colors of light

50、60、70條不同長短或是顏色的光波

through a single fiber, and then you'll have maybe

然後一條電纜之中

eight fibers in a cable, four going in each direction.

大概會有八條光纖，來去各四條

And they're tiny. They're the thickness of a hair.

他們非常細，如髮絲一樣細小

And then they connect to the continent somewhere.

然後他們連接到大陸的某地

They connect in a manhole like this. Literally,

他們會連接到像這樣的沙井，實質上的

this is where the 5,000-mile cable plugs in.

5000英里路的電纜最後會插在這裡

This is in Halifax, a cable that stretches from Halifax to Ireland.

這在哈利法克斯（Halifax），中間有條連接到愛爾蘭（Ireland）的電纜

And the landscape is changing. Three years ago,

整體地貌也在都改變。三年前

when I started thinking about this, there was one cable

當我開始琢磨這些東西時，在西非海底下

down the Western coast of Africa, represented

有一條電纜，在Steve Song畫的這張地圖中

in this map by Steve Song as that thin black line.

看來就像一條小黑線

Now there are six cables and more coming, three down each coast.

現在那裏有六條電纜，三條會分別鋪設在東西岸，接下來還有

Because once a country gets plugged in by one cable,

因為只要插入了一條電纜

they realize that it's not enough. If they're going to build

那個國家就會意識到根本不夠

an industry around it, they need to know that their connection

如果們他們想在附近發展產業

isn't tenuous but permanent, because if a cable breaks,

他們得確保連線是穩定而非不穩定的

you have to send a ship out into the water, throw

因為如果電纜壞了，你得送艘船下水

a grappling hook over the side, pick it up, find the other end,

然後伸出鉤子，把電纜溝起來，在找到另一端

and then fuse the two ends back together and then dump it over.

然後把兩邊焊接後，再丟回水里

It's an intensely, intensely physical process.

這是極度、極度精密的物理處理

So this is my friend Simon Cooper, who until very recently

所以我和我的朋友Simon Cooper

worked for Tata Communications, the communications wing

這個最近在Tata電信工作的朋友，

of Tata, the big Indian industrial conglomerate.

Tata是一個印度大工業企業集團的通訊部門

And I've never met him. We've only communicated

我從未真正見過他

via this telepresence system, which always makes me

我們只能透過電話聯絡，而這總是讓我去想像

think of him as the man inside the Internet. (Laughter)

他是一個住在網路裡的人（笑聲）

And he is English. The undersea cable industry

而他是英格蘭人。海底電纜工業是

is dominated by Englishmen, and they all seem to be 42.

被英國人主導，而且好像都是四十二歲

(Laughter) Because they all started at the same time

（笑聲）因為他們都是在20年前

with the boom about 20 years ago.

這項工業開始發展時加入

And Tata had gotten its start as a communications business

而Tata就從買下兩條電纜開始他們的通訊營運

when they bought two cables, one across the Atlantic

一條通過大西洋

and one across the Pacific, and proceeded to add pieces

一條通過太平洋，然後一段一段加建

onto them, until they had built a belt around the world,

直到他們建立了圍繞整個世界的紐帶

which means they will send your bits to the East or the West.

這表示他們能夠將你的資訊位元送過整個地球

They have -- this is literally a beam of light around the world,

他們已經，這是實際光線在世界傳導的樣子

and if a cable breaks in the Pacific, it'll send it around

如果電纜在太平洋斷掉，資訊能繞往其他方向

the other direction. And then having done that,

而他們在完成了這個建設後

they started to look for places to wire next.

就開始找下一個鋪設纜線的地方

They looked for the unwired places, and that's meant

他們想找沒鋪設過的地點，代表

North and South, primarily these cables to Africa.

北方和南方，大抵上是通往非洲

But what amazes me is Simon's incredible geographic imagination.

但是我覺得很驚奇的是，Simon對地理不可思議的想像

He thinks about the world with this incredible expansiveness.

在他的思考世界裡充滿著無限的廣闊

And I was particularly interested because I wanted to see

而我特別感興趣因為我想要去看

one of these cables being built. See, you know, all the time

電纜建設的過程，你知道，一直以來

online we experience these fleeting moments of connection,

我們在線上所體驗到那些瞬間連接的快感

these sort of brief adjacencies, a tweet or a Facebook post

這些短暫的銜接，一封推特文或者是臉書更新

or an email, and it seemed like there was a physical corollary to that.

或是電子郵件，這看來是有個實際的推移過程

It seemed like there was a moment when the continent

看起來像是在某個時機

was being plugged in, and I wanted to see that.

陸地之間會被電纜插入，我就想看那個

And Simon was working on a new cable,

而Simon正忙於新的電纜

WACS, the West Africa Cable System, that stretched

WACS，西非光纖電纜系統

from Lisbon down the west coast of Africa,

從里斯本（Lisbon）延伸到西非海岸

to Cote d'Ivoire, to Ghana, to Nigeria, to Cameroon.

到柯特狄瓦（Cote d'Ivoire）、到迦納（Ghana）、奈及利亞（Nigeria）、卡麥隆（Cameroon）

And he said there was coming soon, depending

然後他說工程日期將近，

on the weather, but he'd let me know when,

看天氣如何，但時候到了他會讓我知道

and so with about four days notice, he said to go

所以大概工程四天前，他通知了我

to this beach south of Lisbon, and a little after 9,

去里斯本南方的海岸，而大約九點過後不久

this guy will walk out of the water. (Laughter)

這傢伙會從水中走出來（笑聲）

And he'll be carrying a green nylon line, a lightweight line,

然後他會帶著一條綠色的尼龍線、很輕的線

called a messenger line, and that was the first link

叫做傳輸線，然後那就是

between sea and land, this link that would then be

陸地和海洋的第一次接觸，這個連接之後將會

leveraged into this 9,000-mile path of light.

光經過九千英里路後的連接橋梁

Then a bulldozer began to pull the cable in from this

然後一台推土機開始將電纜從

specialized cable landing ship, and it was floated

特製的電纜登陸船上拉下，並會在

on these buoys until it was in the right place.

定好位之前靠著這些浮標飄在海面

Then you can see the English engineers looking on.

接著就能看見這些英國工程師在旁看著

And then, once it was in the right place, he got back

然後，一旦它就定位，這傢伙

in the water holding a big knife, and he cut each buoy off,

拿著一把大刀回到海中，然後把每個浮標砍下

and the buoy popped up into the air, and the cable

浮標飄出水面，然後電纜

dropped to the sea floor, and he did that all the way out

沉入海底，那個男人一路砍到船那端

to the ship, and when he got there,

當他到船那端時

they gave him a glass of juice and a cookie,

他們給他一杯果汁和一塊餅乾

and then he jumped back in, and he swam back to shore,

之後他跳回海中，游回岸邊

and then he lit a cigarette. (Laughter)

然後他開始抽起菸來了（笑聲）

And then once that cable was on shore,

一旦電纜到了海岸上

they began to prepare to connect it to the other side,

他們開始準備把它連接到另外一端

for the cable that had been brought down from the landing station.

因為電纜那時已經開始有點被扯離陸地站

And first they got it with a hacksaw, and then they start

他們先拿了一把鋼鋸，他們開始

sort of shaving away at this plastic interior with a --

用像是廚師的手法開始刮除塑膠內皮

sort of working like chefs, and then finally they're working

接著他們終於開始用像珠寶商的手法

like jewelers to get these hair-thin fibers to line up

把這些髮絲般細的光纖排成一束

with the cable that had come down,

跟牽來電纜一起

and with this hole-punch machine they fuse it together.

然後他們用這些打洞機把它們焊接起來

And when you see these guys going at this cable with a hacksaw,

當你看到這些工人用鋼鋸來處理這些電纜時

you stop thinking about the Internet as a cloud.

你不會再去把網路想做雲朵

It starts to seem like an incredibly physical thing.

它開始看來像個非常真實存在的東西

And what surprised me as well was that as much as this

同樣讓我驚訝的

is based on the most sophisticated technology, as much

除了這樣一項高度精密的技術，和這個

as this is an incredibly new thing, the physical process

不可思議的新工藝外

itself has been around for a long time, and the culture is the same.

是它的操作手法已經存在了很久，連同其中蘊含的文化也是

You see the local laborers. You see the English engineer

你會看到當地勞工，在後指揮的英國工程師

giving directions in the background. And more importantly,

還有更重要地

the places are the same. These cables still connect

都還在同樣的地點，這些電纜連接的

these classic port cities, places like Lisbon, Mombasa,

仍是一些古老的港都，像是里斯本，蒙巴薩

Mumbai, Singapore, New York.

孟買、新加坡、紐約

And then the process on shore takes around three or four days,

而接下來這些海岸邊的工程大概需要三四天

and then, when it's done, they put the manhole cover

當一切完成時，他們重新填上沙井

back on top, and they push the sand over that,

他們用沙重新覆上

and we all forget about it.

直到大家都忘了它

And it seems to me that we talk a lot about the cloud,

就我看來，我們花很多時間在談論雲端

but every time we put something on the cloud,

但每當我們能夠將東西放到雲端之上

we give up some responsibility for it.

我們便放棄了一些責任

We are less connected to it. We let other people worry about it.

我們就更少與它連結，我們讓別人去操心

And that doesn't seem right.

這好像不大對勁

There's a great Neal Stephenson line where he says

Neal Stephenson有句名言

that wired people should know something about wires.

他說:「被連接的人應該熟知連接他們的橋樑」

And we should know, I think, we should know

而我們也該知道，我認為，我們應該知道

where our Internet comes from, and we should know

我們的網路從何而來，而我們該知道

what it is that physically, physically connects us all.

實際上、物理上連接著我們的東西是甚麼

Thank you. (Applause)

謝謝各位(鼓掌)

(Applause)

(鼓掌)

Thanks. (Applause)

謝謝(鼓掌)