Amber Case: We are all cyborgs now

譯者: Wang-Ju Tsai 審譯者: Shelley Krishna Tsang

I would like to tell you all

我要告訴你們

that you are all actually cyborgs,

大家都是賽博格（機器化生人）

but not the cyborgs that you think.

但不是你們想的那種賽博格。

You're not RoboCop, and you're not Terminator,

你不是機器戰警，也不是魔鬼終結者

but you're cyborgs every time you look at a computer screen

但是每一次你看電腦螢幕

or use one of your cell phone devices.

或使用手機時你就變成一個機器生化人。

So what's a good definition for cyborg?

所以“賽博格（機器生化人）”該怎麽定義？

Well, traditional definition is "an organism

傳統的定義是說

to which exogenous components have been added

“被加上外來元件

for the purpose of adapting to new environments."

以便能適應新環境的生物組織。”

That came from a 1960 paper on space travel,

這是1960年一篇有關太空旅行的文章所定義的。

because, if you think about it, space is pretty awkward.

因爲，認真想想，太空是很可怕的，

People aren't supposed to be there.

人們不太會去那裏；

But humans are curious, and they like to add things to their bodies

但人們好奇心又強，喜歡在身體上加掛東西

so they can go to the Alps one day

這樣一來可以爬上阿爾卑斯山

and then become a fish in the sea the next.

又可以下海游。

So let's look at the concept of traditional anthropology.

讓我們看看傳統人類學的概念

Somebody goes to another country,

有個人到了其他的國家，他說

says, "How fascinating these people are, how interesting their tools are,

“這些人真有趣，用的工具也很有意思，

how curious their culture is."

他們的文化真特別！”

And then they write a paper, and maybe a few other anthropologists read it,

所以他們把這些見聞寫下來，可能其他人類學家會讀

and we think it's very exotic.

我們讀了也會覺得很新奇。

Well, what's happening

這是爲什麽？

is that we've suddenly found a new species.

因爲我們突然發現了一個新品種。

I, as a cyborg anthropologist, have suddenly said,

而我，身為會說機器生化物學家會說

"Oh, wow. Now suddenly we're a new form of Homo sapiens,

“哇，突然間我們變成了新品種人類

and look at these fascinating cultures,

你看看這些超炫的文化

and look at these curious rituals

看，這些奇特的儀式

that everybody's doing around this technology.

每個人都在使用這樣科技

They're clicking on things and staring at screens."

他們都在觸碰和注視著螢幕。”

Now there's a reason why I study this,

爲什麽我要來研究這種新的人類學

versus traditional anthropology.

是有原因的。

And the reason is that tool use,

這是因爲，從一開始

in the beginning -- for thousands and thousands of years,

在過去的幾千年來，工具的使用

everything has been a physical modification of self.

一向是人類自身肢體的改造

It has helped us to extend our physical selves,

工具幫我們超越自身肢體的極限

go faster, hit things harder,

讓我們跑得更快、更有力

and there's been a limit on that.

而工具最終也是有其極限的。

But now what we're looking at is not an extension of the physical self,

現在我們研究的不是自身肢體的延伸

but an extension of the mental self,

而是心理的延伸

and because of that, we're able to travel faster,

而正因如此，我們能更快地移動

communicate differently.

用不同的方式溝通。

And the other thing that happens

還有一件跟以前不一樣的是

is that we're all carrying around little Mary Poppins technology.

那就是我們都攜帶著魔法的科技

We can put anything we want into it, and it doesn't get heavier,

我們可以把想帶的東西加進來卻不會增加重量

and then we can take anything out.

我們還可以把所有的東西都拿出來。

What does the inside of your computer actually look like?

你的電腦裏面長什麽樣子？

Well, if you print it out, it looks like a thousand pounds of material

你如果把所有的東西列印出來的話

that you're carrying around all the time.

你帶著到處跑的東西總共大概有幾千磅重。

And if you actually lose that information,

這些資訊，你要是遺失了的話

it means that you suddenly have this loss in your mind,

這表示你的心理上遭到這些損失，

that you suddenly feel like something's missing,

你突然覺得有些東西不見了

except you aren't able to see it, so it feels like a very strange emotion.

但是你卻看不見，這是很奇怪的感覺。

The other thing that happens is that you have a second self.

還有一個新的現象：你有了第二個你

Whether you like it or not, you're starting to show up online,

不管你喜不喜歡，你開始在綫上出現

and people are interacting with your second self

其他人會和綫上的第二個你互動

when you're not there.

即使你不在場。

And so you have to be careful

所以你必須很小心

about leaving your front lawn open,

防衛你的第一道防綫

which is basically your Facebook wall,

基本上也就是臉書的塗鴉墻

so that people don't write on it in the middle of the night --

要提防別人不會在半夜

because it's very much the equivalent.

你不知道的時候來留言。

And suddenly we have to start to maintain our second self.

突然間我們也要維護這個第二個自己。

You have to present yourself in digital life

你在數位世界裏也要跟別人介紹這個“你”

in a similar way that you would in your analog life.

跟真實世界裏一樣。

So, in the same way that you wake up, take a shower and get dressed,

就像一早你起床、洗澡、更衣

you have to learn to do that for your digital self.

你也要學著為數位的你做這些事

And the problem is that a lot of people now,

問題在於，現在有很多人

especially adolescents,

特別是青少年

have to go through two adolescences.

要經歷兩次青春期。

They have to go through their primary one, that's already awkward,

現實生活的這一次已經夠糟了

and then they go through their second self's adolescence,

他們還要經歷第二個自己的青春期

and that's even more awkward

這更是可怕

because there's an actual history

因爲他們經歷過的一切

of what they've gone through online.

都被記錄在網路上。

And anybody coming in new to technology

此外，剛接觸新科技的人

is an adolescent online right now,

在網路上都算青春期少年

and so it's very awkward,

所以這是很可怕的

and it's very difficult for them to do those things.

對他們而言這些都是很難的。

So when I was little, my dad would sit me down at night and he would say,

當我小的時候，一晚我爸跑來我旁邊坐跟我說

"I'm going to teach you about time and space in the future."

“我要教教你未來的時間和空間的概念。”

And I said, "Great."

我說，“好啊”

And he said one day, "What's the shortest distance between two points?"

他說，“空間裏兩點最近的距離是什麽？”

And I said, "Well, that's a straight line. You told me that yesterday."

我說，“你昨天說是一直綫。”

I thought I was very clever.

我還以爲我很聰明

He said, "No, no, no. Here's a better way."

他說，”不不，這有個更好的答案“

He took a piece of paper,

他拿起一張紙

drew A and B on one side and the other

在上面畫了A、B兩點

and folded them together so where A and B touched.

把紙對折使AB兩點相觸

And he said, "That is the shortest distance between two points."

他告訴我，”這纔是兩點間最短的距離。“

And I said, "Dad, dad, dad, how do you do that?"

我說，”爸，你是怎麽辦到的？“

He said, "Well, you just bend time and space,

他說，”你必須扭轉時間和空間

it takes an awful lot of energy,

這需要花很多能量的

and that's just how you do it."

只有這樣才能辦到。”

And I said, "I want to do that."

我說，“我也想那樣做。”

And he said, "Well, okay."

他說，“好哇。”

And so, when I went to sleep for the next 10 or 20 years,

就這樣，接下來的10年20年間

I was thinking at night,

晚上在床上我常在想

"I want to be the first person to create a wormhole,

“我要成爲第一個發明時光隧道的人

to make things accelerate faster.

我要加速事件的發生

And I want to make a time machine."

我還要做一台時光機。”

I was always sending messages to my future self

我一直用錄音機

using tape recorders.

給未來的我送訊息。

But then what I realized when I went to college

但是後來上了大學後我才了解

is that technology doesn't just get adopted

科技不會只是因爲有用

because it works.

就會被人採用；

It gets adopted because people use it

一項科技之所以會被人們採用

and it's made for humans.

是因爲有人用，是因爲那是順應人性的設計。

So I started studying anthropology.

所以我開始讀人類學。

And when I was writing my thesis on cell phones,

當我在寫有關手機的論文時

I realized that everyone was carrying around wormholes in their pockets.

我領悟到了，每個人口袋裏的手機就是時空隧道

They weren't physically transporting themselves;

穿越時空的不是我們的身體

they were mentally transporting themselves.

而是我們的心理

They would click on a button,

你按個按鍵

and they would be connected as A to B immediately.

就能聯繫AB兩點

And I thought, "Oh, wow. I found it. This is great."

我想，“我找到了，太棒了。”

So over time, time and space

所以，漸漸地，因爲有了手機

have compressed because of this.

時間和空間都越來越緊密

You can stand on one side of the world,

你可以在世界的一端耳語

whisper something and be heard on the other.

在另一端的人也都還聼得見。

One of the other ideas that comes around

另一個延伸的概念就是

is that you have a different type of time on every single device that you use.

事實上每個我們使用的每個裝置都是一種時間

Every single browser tab gives you a different type of time.

每個瀏覽螢幕可以代表不同的時間軸

And because of that, you start to dig around

也因爲如此，我們開始要在這些外接記憶體裏搜尋

for your external memories -- where did you leave them?

到底我要找的東西是存放在哪裏了呢？

So now we're all these paleontologists

所以我們每個人都變成了古生物學家

that are digging for things that we've lost

我們都在我們放在口袋裏的外接大腦（硬碟、記憶裝置）裏

on our external brains that we're carrying around in our pockets.

試圖去挖掘出我們遺忘的事。

And that incites a sort of panic architecture --

這是基本上是會引人恐慌的

"Oh no, where's this thing?"

吼，東西是存到哪裏去了？！

We're all "I Love Lucy" on a great assembly line of information,

我們都變成了面對資訊洪流的小主婦

and we can't keep up.

無法跟上其腳步。

And so what happens is,

當這一部分反映到社群交際面

when we bring all that into the social space,

導致的結果就是

we end up checking our phones all the time.

我們會不斷地查閲我們的手機。

So we have this thing called ambient intimacy.

所以有了一種叫“身歷其境的親密”

It's not that we're always connected to everybody,

我們並沒有跟所有的親朋好友實體地泡在一起

but at anytime we can connect to anyone we want.

但是要的話我們隨時可以和他們通話。

And if you were able to print out everybody in your cell phone,

要是你能把你手機裏聯絡人的清單列印出來

the room would be very crowded.

那你的房間會擠斃了

These are the people that you have access to right now, in general --

這些人，這些親朋好友

all of these people, all of your friends and family that you can connect to.

基本上都是你立即可以接觸聯絡的人。

And so there are some psychological effects that happen with this.

這種精神上的距離很近也帶來了一些心理影響

One I'm really worried about

第一個，也是讓我擔心的

is that people aren't taking time for mental reflection anymore,

那就是，大家不再花時間停下來去思考

and that they aren't slowing down and stopping,

大家慢不下來也停不下來

being around all those people in the room all the time

因爲一直跟這麽多的人同處一室

that are trying to compete for their attention

大家變得要在平行的多個時間界面，

on the simultaneous time interfaces,

在考古人類學和有恐慌傾向的架構下

paleontology and panic architecture.

要相互競爭吸引最多的注意力。

They're not just sitting there.

他們不是只坐在那裏而已。

And really, when you have no external input,

當你沒有外界的輸入的空閒時候

that is a time when there is a creation of self,

你可以用來創造自己

when you can do long-term planning,

用來作長期規劃

when you can try and figure out who you really are.

也是試著了解你自己的時候。

And then, once you do that, you can figure out

你必須要有時間去思考，你才知道

how to present your second self in a legitimate way,

要如何正確地在網路上介紹這個“第二個你”

instead of just dealing with everything as it comes in --

而不是被動地被外來的需求拖著走

and oh, I have to do this, and I have to do this, and I have to do this.

噢，我該做這，我該做那，還有這個那個、、、

And so this is very important.

所以，這是很重要的。

I'm really worried that, especially kids today,

我很擔心，特別是現在的青少年

they're not going to be dealing with this down-time,

他們現在沒有所謂的休息時間

that they have an instantaneous button-clicking culture,

他們又有這種手不離機的文化

and that everything comes to them,

一有任何動靜或訊息

and that they become very excited about it and very addicted to it.

他們就變得很興奮，又很容易對此上癮。

So if you think about it, the world hasn't stopped either.

如果你想到這點，這世界並未就此停止。

It has its own external prosthetic devices,

現在多了好幾個外接的裝置

and these devices are helping us all

這些外接的裝置幫助我們

to communicate and interact with each other.

跟其他人聯絡和互動。

But when you actually visualize it,

你要是實際去show出

all the connections that we're doing right now --

我們現在所有的連係

this is an image of the mapping of the Internet --

這事實上是網際網路的一個映像

it doesn't look technological.

這看起來不太像冷冰冰的科技

It actually looks very organic.

倒比較像有機的組織。

This is the first time in the entire history of humanity

我們透過這樣的方式來聯係

that we've connected in this way.

這在人類的歷史上還是第一次。

And it's not that machines are taking over.

並不是機器接管了我們之間的聯係

It's that they're helping us to be more human,

而是機器幫助我們更加人性化

helping us to connect with each other.

幫助我們互相聯係。

The most successful technology gets out of the way

最成功的科技是優秀又顯著易見的

and helps us live our lives.

可以幫我們活得更便利。

And really,

真的

it ends up being more human than technology,

科技最終變得更人性化

because we're co-creating each other all the time.

因爲我們和科技互相創造對方

And so this is the important point that I like to study:

這也就是我想研究的重點：

that things are beautiful, that it's still a human connection --

事物都是美好的，終究還是人性的連接；

it's just done in a different way.

只是連接的方法不同罷了。

We're just increasing our humanness

我們只是在人性化上更進一步

and our ability to connect with each other, regardless of geography.

與彼此的聯係更爲緊密，而無視地理上的區隔。

So that's why I study cyborg anthropology.

這就是爲什麽我要研究機器生化物人類學。

Thank you.

謝謝大家

(Applause)

（掌聲）