TED英语演讲：第六感到底准不准

An evolutionary biologist at Purdue University named William Muir studied chickens. He was interested in productivity — I think it's something that concerns all of us — but it's easy to measure in chickens because you just

I've been intrigued by this question of whether we could evolve or develop a sixth sense -- a sense that would give us seamless access and easy access to meta-information or information that may exist somewhere that may be relevant to help us make the right decision about whatever it is that we're coming across.

有一个问题我思考了很久， 就是我们能否进化出一种第六感官。 这种感官可以让我们快速的 便捷的获得元信息， 或者是其他的一些信息， 在我们需要做出一些决定的时候， 这些信息能帮助我们做出正确的选择。

And some of you may argue, well, don't today's cell phones do that already? But I would say no. When you meet someone here at TED -- and this is the top networking place, of course, of the year -- you don't shake somebody's hand and then say, "Can you hold on for a moment while I take out my phone and Google you?"

你们可能会说， 当今的手机不正是如此吗? 但是，我不认同。 假设，当你在TED遇到某人， TED，毫无疑问，是每年最佳的社交场所。 难道你会不跟人家握手， 然后说：“你能等一会吗? 我要用手机Google一下你。”

Or when you go to the supermarket and you're standing there in that huge aisle of different types of toilet papers, you don't take out your cell phone, and open a browser, and go to a website to try to decide which of these different toilet papers is the most ecologically responsible purchase to make.

或者，当你在超市里， 站在一排巨大的货架前， 面对着各种各样的厕纸， 难道你会拿出手机，打开浏览器 登录一个网站，尝试去决定 到底哪一种厕纸 才是最环保的，最应该买的?

So we don't really have easy access to all this relevant information that can just help us make optimal decisions about what to do next and what actions to take. And so my research group at the Media Lab has been developing a series of inventions to give us access to this information in a sort of easy way, without requiring that the user changes any of their behavior.

所以说，我们并没有一个便捷的渠道 去获取这些信息，这些能帮助我们做出应该要干什么的最佳决定的信息。 因此，我的实验室的研发团队完成了一系列的发明，在不改变用户行为的条件下， 帮助用户快速简单的 获取这些信息。

And I'm here to unveil our latest effort, and most successful effort so far, which is still very much a work in process. I'm actually wearing the device right now and we've sort of cobbled it together with components that are off the shelf -- and that, by the way, only cost 350 dollars at this point in time.

现在，我将这个设备展示给大家。 这是我们至今最成功的版本， 仍然在不断改进。 我现在正佩戴着 我们其实是把市面上常见的 一些组件组装在了一起。 顺便提一下，目前这个设备 的'成本是350美元。

I'm wearing a camera, just a simple webcam, a portable, battery-powered projection system with a little mirror. These components communicate to my cell phone in my pocket which acts as the communication and computation device. And in the video here we see my student Pranav Mistry, who's really the genius who's been implementing and designing this whole system.

我佩戴着一个相机，就是一个简单的网络摄像头， 一个便携的用电池供电的投影仪和一个小镜子。 这些组件跟我口袋中的手机进行通讯， 手机作为一个通讯和计算的设备。 画面中，是我的天才学生Pranav Mistry， 他设计并制造了 这整套系统。

And we see how this system lets him walk up to any surface and start using his hands to interact with the information that is projected in front of him. The system tracks the four significant fingers. In this case, he's wearing simple marker caps that you may recognize. But if you want a more stylish version you could also paint your nails in different colors.

我们可以看到， 当他靠近任何表面时， 信息就会被投影到表面上， 他就用双手来进行操作。 系统会跟踪四个主要的手指。 在这里，你可以看到 他戴着用于标示的指套。 如果你想要更美观， 可以把你的指甲染成不同的颜色。

And the camera basically tracks these four fingers and recognizes any gestures that he's making so he can just go to, for example, a map of Long Beach, zoom in and out, etc. The system also recognizes iconic gestures such as the "take a picture" gesture, and then takes a picture of whatever is in front of you.

摄像头会跟踪这四个手指， 识别他的任何手势， 例如，他可以打开Long Beach的地图， 进行放大或者缩小等等操作。 这个系统也能识别“象征性手势”， 比如，当你做出这个“拍照手势”， 系统就会拍照，把你面前的东西拍下来。

And when he then walks back to the Media Lab, he can just go up to any wall and project all the pictures that he's taken, sort through them and organize them, and re-size them, etc., again using all natural gestures. So, some of you most likely were here two years ago and saw the demo by Jeff Han or some of you may think, "Well, doesn't this look like the Microsoft Surface Table?"

当他回到Media Lab实验室之后， 他可以走近任何一面墙， 投影出他拍的所有照片， 用各种自然手势，进行整理，归类， 改变大小等各种操作。 所有操作都用手势来完成。 你们当中有些人两年前在这里 应该看过Jeff Han演示微软的Surface系统， 你们可能觉得：这套系统跟Surface看起来很像。

And yes, you also interact using natural gestures, both hands, etc. But the difference here is that you can use any surface, you can walk to up to any surface, including your hand if nothing else is available and interact with this projected data. The device is completely portable, and can be ... (Applause)

没错，这两套系统都是用自然手势， 用双手来操作。 但区别是，我这套系统可以在任何表面上操作， 你可以走近任何表面， 如果没有可用的表面，你还可以用自己的手 与投影的数据进行交互。 这个设备的使用是完全没有限制的， 而且可以用来…… (掌声)

So one important difference is that it's totally mobile. Another even more important difference is that in mass production this would not cost more tomorrow than today's cell phones and would actually not sort of be a bigger packaging -- could look a lot more stylish than this version that I'm wearing around my neck.

所以，最重要的区别就是，我这套系统是完全便携移动的。 另一个更重要的区别是，这个设备将来量产， 不会比今天的手机贵， 也不会像我现在戴着的这么笨重， 会变得更时尚更美观， 比我现在戴着的这个要好看。

But other than letting some of you live out your fantasy of looking as cool as Tom Cruise in "Minority Report," the reason why we're really excited about this device is that it really can act as one of these sixth-sense devices that gives you relevant information about whatever is in front of you. So we see Pranav here going into the supermarket and he's shopping for some paper towels.

这个设备除了让你们的幻想变为现实， 让你们看起来跟《少数派报告》里的Tom Cruise一样酷之外， 真正值得振奋的是， 它确实可以充当一种“第六感官”， 为你提供在你面前的 任何物体的相关信息。 我们看到Pranav现在去了超市， 他打算买一些纸巾。

And, as he picks up a product the system can recognize the product that he's picking up, using either image recognition or marker technology, and give him the green light or an orange light. He can ask for additional information. So this particular choice here is a particularly good choice, given his personal criteria. Some of you may want the toilet paper with the most bleach in it rather than the most ecologically-responsible choice.

当他拿起一种纸巾时， 系统会通过图像识别或者是标识技术 自动识别这种纸巾， 然后显示一个绿灯，或者是橙灯。 他可以取得更多信息。 所以现在这个选择， 根据他个人的标准，是一个最佳选择。 你们有些人可能想要含有最多漂白剂的厕纸， 而不是最环保的厕纸。

(Laughter)

(笑声)

If he picks up a book in the bookstore, he can get an Amazon rating -- it gets projected right on the cover of the book. This is Juan's book, our previous speaker, which gets a great rating, by the way, at Amazon. And so, Pranav turns the page of the book and can then see additional information about the book -- reader comments, maybe sort of information by his favorite critic, etc. If he turns to a particular page he finds an annotation by maybe an expert of a friend of ours that gives him a little bit of additional information about whatever is on that particular page. Reading the newspaper -- it never has to be outdated.

当他在书店拿起一本书时， 他会获得亚马逊网站对于这本书的评价。 这些信息直接被投影到书的封面上。 这本是之前的演讲者Juan的著作， 在亚马逊大受好评。 然后，当Pranav翻开这本书， 会看到这本书的更多相关信息-- 读者评论，他最喜欢的书评家对于此书的评论，等等。 如果他翻到特定的某页， 他会看到我们的朋友中的某个专家 所作的一个注脚，给他提供一些 关于这一页的附加信息。 看报纸的时候， 永远都有最及时的信息。

You can get video annotations of the event that you're reading about You can get the latest sports scores etc. This is a more controversial one.

你可以看到事件的视频报道， 可以看到体育比赛的最及时的比分，等等。 接下来是一个有争议的功能。

As you interact with someone at TED, maybe you can see a word cloud of the tags, the words that are associated with that person in their blog and personal web pages. In this case, the student is interested in cameras, etc. On your way to the airport, if you pick up your boarding pass, it can tell you that your flight is delayed, that the gate has changed, etc. And, if you need to know what the current time is it's as simple as drawing a watch -- (Laughter) (Applause) on your arm.

当你在这遇到某人， 你会看到一个标签云， 这些标签是跟这个人相关的， 是从这个人的博客和个人主页中提取的。 在这个例子中，我们看到这位学生对相机感兴趣，等等。 在你去机场的路上， 当你拿出你的登机牌，它会告诉你航班延误了， 登机口改换了，等等。 还有，如果你想知道时间的话， 非常简单，在你的手臂上 (笑声) (掌声) 画一个表盘。

So that's where we're at so far in developing this sixth sense that would give us seamless access to all this relevant information about the things that we may come across. My student Pranav, who's really, like I said, the genius behind this.

这就是我们开发的第六感官目前的进展。 这种让我们可以随时随地获取相关信息， 方便我们的生活， 帮助我们更好的生活。 我的天才学生 Pranav，

(Applause) (Standing ovation)

(掌声)

He does deserve a lot of applause because I don't think he's slept much in the last three months, actually. And his girlfriend is probably not very happy about him either. But it's not perfect yet, it's very much a work in progress. And who knows, maybe in another 10 years we'll be here with the ultimate sixth sense brain implant. Thank you.

应该得到这些掌声， 他过去三个月废寝忘食的工作。 他的女朋友肯定是一肚子牢骚。 但是，这个设备目前还不完善。 或许在未来十年之内， 我们的大脑中会植入超级的第六感官。 谢谢。

(Applause)

(掌声)