Maria Bezaitis: The surprising need for strangeness

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

譯者: William Choi 審譯者: Marssi Draw

"Don't talk to strangers."

「不要跟陌生人說話。」

You have heard that phrase uttered

幾十年來，你已聽過了

by your friends, family, schools and the media for decades.

你的朋友、家人、學校、媒體 說這句話。

It's a norm. It's a social norm.

這是一種規範， 這是一種社會規範，

But it's a special kind of social norm,

但它是一種特殊的社會規範。

because it's a social norm that wants to tell us

因為這社會規範告訴我們

who we can relate to and who we shouldn't relate to.

可以與誰親近，不應與誰親近。

"Don't talk to strangers" says,

「不要跟陌生人說話」即是

"Stay from anyone who's not familiar to you.

「遠離不熟悉的人，

Stick with the people you know.

和熟悉的人在一起，

Stick with people like you."

和像你的人在一起。」

How appealing is that?

這樣聽起來吸引人嗎？

It's not really what we do, is it, when we're at our best?

在我們於最佳狀態的時候， 其實我們不會這麼做，對吧？

When we're at our best, we reach out to people

當我們處於最佳狀態的時候，

who are not like us,

會接觸其他和我們不同的人，

because when we do that, we learn from people

因為當我們這樣做的時候，

who are not like us.

可從和我們不同的人身上學習，

My phrase for this value of being with "not like us"

我稱這價值觀 「與其他和我們不同的人接觸」

is "strangeness,"

為「陌生感」，

and my point is that in today's digitally intensive world,

我認為在現今數位密集的世界，

strangers are quite frankly not the point.

坦白說，陌生人並不是重點。

The point that we should be worried about is,

我們應該擔心的是，

how much strangeness are we getting?

我們得到了多少陌生感？

Why strangeness? Because our social relations

為什麼是陌生感？ 因為我們的社會關係

are increasingly mediated by data,

越來越多地透過數據傳達，

and data turns our social relations into digital relations,

而數據把我們的社會關係 轉為數位關係，

and that means that our digital relations

意味著我們的數位關係

now depend extraordinarily on technology

強烈地依賴科技，

to bring to them a sense of robustness,

以帶來穩健感、

a sense of discovery,

發現感、

a sense of surprise and unpredictability.

驚奇感和不可預測。

Why not strangers?

為什麼不是陌生人？

Because strangers are part of a world

因為陌生人屬於

of really rigid boundaries.

界限鮮明世界的一部分，

They belong to a world of people I know

他們屬於我所熟識的人的世界，

versus people I don't know,

和我不認識的人的世界，

and in the context of my digital relations,

在數位關係的背景下，

I'm already doing things with people I don't know.

我已經和不認識的人一起做事。

The question isn't whether or not I know you.

問題不在於我到底是否認識你，

The question is, what can I do with you?

問題是，我們可以一起做什麼呢？

What can I learn with you?

我們可以一起學習什麼？

What can we do together that benefits us both?

我們可以一起做些什麼， 以致雙方得益？

I spend a lot of time thinking about

我花了很多時間去思考，

how the social landscape is changing,

社會地景是怎樣改變的，

how new technologies create new constraints

新科技如何帶給人類新的限制

and new opportunities for people.

與新的機會。

The most important changes facing us today

今天我們面對的最重要改變是

have to do with data and what data is doing

必須處理數據和處理哪些數據去

to shape the kinds of digital relations

塑造各類不同的數位關係，

that will be possible for us in the future.

未來對我們有用的關係。

The economies of the future depend on that.

未來的經濟依靠著這些關係，

Our social lives in the future depend on that.

我們的社交生活依靠著這些關係，

The threat to worry about isn't strangers.

令人擔心的並不是陌生人，

The threat to worry about is whether or not

我們須擔心的威脅是

we're getting our fair share of strangeness.

能否得到本屬於 我們份額的陌生感。

Now, 20th-century psychologists and sociologists

二十世紀的心理學家和社會學家

were thinking about strangers,

過去在關於陌生人的議題上，

but they weren't thinking so dynamically about human relations,

沒有隨著時代變遷思考人類關係，

and they were thinking about strangers

在這個議題上，

in the context of influencing practices.

他們把陌生人放在 實踐影響的脈絡來思考。

Stanley Milgram from the '60s and '70s,

六、七十年代， 斯坦利·米爾格拉姆 (Stanley Milgram) ──

the creator of the small-world experiments,

小世界實驗的創造者，

which became later popularized as six degrees of separation,

這實驗後來普及為六度分隔理論，

made the point that any two arbitrarily selected people

即是任何兩個隨意揀選的人，

were likely connected from between five to seven intermediary steps.

很可能由五至七個中間人 連接在一起，

His point was that strangers are out there.

他認為陌生人就在那裡。

We can reach them. There are paths

我們能夠接觸他們，

that enable us to reach them.

總有些路徑使我們能夠接觸他們。

Mark Granovetter, Stanford sociologist, in 1973

在1973年，史丹佛社會學家 馬克．格蘭諾維特 (Mark Granovetter)，

in his seminal essay "The Strength of Weak Ties,"

寫了一篇具開創性的論文， 名為「弱連結的力量」，

made the point that these weak ties

指出這些弱連結

that are a part of our networks, these strangers,

是我們網絡的一部分，這些陌生人

are actually more effective at diffusing information to us

較強連結、與我們最接近的人，

than are our strong ties, the people closest to us.

更有效地向我們傳播信息，

He makes an additional indictment of our strong ties

他對我們的強連結提出額外指控，

when he says that these people who are so close to us,

當他說這些人那麼接近我們，

these strong ties in our lives,

這些我們生活中的強連結，

actually have a homogenizing effect on us.

事實上對我們有著均質化的影響，

They produce sameness.

他們產生相同性，

My colleagues and I at Intel have spent the last few years

在英特爾，我和同事 曾經花掉了數年時間去尋找，

looking at the ways in which digital platforms

數位平台正以何種方式

are reshaping our everyday lives,

改變我們的日常生活，

what kinds of new routines are possible.

哪些新的常規可能造成影響？

We've been looking specifically at the kinds

我們曾特別地尋找

of digital platforms that have enabled us

各式各樣的數位平台，

to take our possessions, those things that used to be

讓我們把佔有物 ──那些曾只限於

very restricted to us and to our friends in our houses,

我們在自家裡和朋友使用──

and to make them available to people we don't know.

分享給我們不認識的人。

Whether it's our clothes, whether it's our cars,

不管是我們的衣服， 不管是我們的車，

whether it's our bikes, whether it's our books or music,

不管是我們的自行車， 不管是我們的書或音樂，

we are able to take our possessions now

現在我們也可以把自己的東西，

and make them available to people we've never met.

交給那些未曾謀面的陌生人。

And we concluded a very important insight,

而且我們總結出一條非常重要的見解，

which was that as people's relationships

就是當人與生活中的事物

to the things in their lives change,

改變關係的時候，

so do their relations with other people.

他們與其他人的關係也改變了。

And yet recommendation system

一代又一代的推薦系統

after recommendation system continues to miss the boat.

持續讓我們坐失良機。

It continues to try to predict what I need

這系統還根據我過往的

based on some past characterization of who I am,

一些特徵和做過什麼事情，

of what I've already done.

來預測我的需要。

Security technology after security technology

一代又一代的保安技術

continues to design data protection

也持續設計數據保護方案

in terms of threats and attacks,

來抵禦威脅和攻擊。

keeping me locked into really rigid kinds of relations.

讓我聚焦在真正制式的各類關係，

Categories like "friends" and "family"

分類如「朋友」和「家庭」，

and "contacts" and "colleagues"

「聯絡人」和「同事」，

don't tell me anything about my actual relations.

不要告訴我任何現實生活的關係是什麼。

A more effective way to think about my relations

一個更有效的方法去思考我的關係，

might be in terms of closeness and distance,

就是根據親密和距離來說，

where at any given point in time, with any single person,

在某一特定的時間，與任何一個人，

I am both close and distant from that individual,

讓我與那人親近，同時保持距離，

all as a function of what I need to do right now.

一切都取決於我現在需要做什麼。

People aren't close or distant.

我們與其他人並不親密，也不疏離，

People are always a combination of the two,

人們總是兩者的結合，

and that combination is constantly changing.

而這結合是不斷變化的。

What if technologies could intervene

假如科技能夠介入

to disrupt the balance of certain kinds of relationships?

並破壞某類關係的平衡呢？

What if technologies could intervene

假如科技能夠介入

to help me find the person that I need right now?

幫助我去找尋那些 我現在就需要的人呢？

Strangeness is that calibration

陌生感就是

of closeness and distance

親密感和距離的衡量標準，

that enables me to find the people that I need right now,

讓我們找到我們現在就需要的人，

that enables me to find the sources of intimacy,

讓我們找到親密感與

of discovery, and of inspiration that I need right now.

發現的來源，和我現在就需要的靈感。

Strangeness is not about meeting strangers.

陌生感並不是與陌生人會面，

It simply makes the point that we need

簡言之，我們需要

to disrupt our zones of familiarity.

瓦解我們熟悉的圈子。

So jogging those zones of familiarity is one way to think about strangeness,

所以在熟悉地帶慢跑， 就是思考陌生感的方式之一。

and it's a problem faced not just by individuals today,

這並不只是今日個人所面對的問題，

but also by organizations,

不同機構也同樣面對這問題，

organizations that are trying to embrace massively new opportunities.

機構正嘗試迎接大量的新機會。

Whether you're a political party

無論你是否一身為個政黨，

insisting to your detriment on a very rigid notion

堅持於受到嚴格條件的限制

of who belongs and who does not,

不論屬於誰，或不屬於誰；

whether you're the government

無論你是否身為一個政府，

protecting social institutions like marriage

要保護社會制度，如婚姻，

and restricting access of those institutions to the few,

並只讓很少人接觸這些制度；

whether you're a teenager in her bedroom

無論你是否是一個 身處自己臥房的年輕人，

who's trying to jostle her relations with her parents,

試圖與父母修補關係。

strangeness is a way to think about how we pave the way

陌生感是一種讓我們思考

to new kinds of relations.

要如何建立新關係的方式。

We have to change the norms.

我們必須改變規範，

We have to change the norms in order to enable

我們一定要改變規範，

new kinds of technologies

使各種類型的新科技，

as a basis for new kinds of businesses.

能夠成為各類新商業活動的基礎。

What interesting questions lie ahead for us

在這個沒有陌生人的世界，

in this world of no strangers?

擺在我們面前的是什麼有趣問題？

How might we think differently about our relations with people?

我們怎樣以不同的方式 去思考與其他人的關係？

How might we think differently about our relations

我們怎樣以不同的方式去思考

with distributed groups of people?

與其他異己大眾間的關係？

How might we think differently about our relations with technologies,

我們怎樣以不同的方式去思考 我們與科技的關係？

things that effectively become social participants

而事實上，科技憑藉著自身的重要性

in their own right?

變成了社會參與者。

The range of digital relations is extraordinary.

數位關係涉及範圍超乎相像，

In the context of this broad range of digital relations,

在這廣大數位關係的時空背景下，

safely seeking strangeness might very well be

我們安全地尋求陌生感

a new basis for that innovation.

也許就能成為創新的一種新基礎了。

Thank you.

謝謝！

(Applause)

（掌聲）