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There have been over the ages many models of the mind.
过去数十年来，人类有过很多关于大脑的模型。
The mind is an empty vessel, waiting to be filled; or the mind is a machine, breaking down sometimes.
大脑就像一个空容器，时刻等待着把自己填满；大脑也可以是一个机器，有时候会失灵。
Nowadays, the mind is often described as being a computer, processing information.
如今，人们总是将大脑比作计算机，因为它会处理信息。
Writer and social theorist Theodore Rozak disputes that model in his book The Cult of Information.
作家兼社会理论学家希欧多尔在他的书《信息崇拜》里讨论过大脑模型的问题。
He says that the word is over-used, and the mind works more by juggling ideas than sifting through information.
他说，用模型这个词未免言重了，与其说大脑是筛选信息，不如说大脑是处理信息。
In fact, says Rozak, some of the most important ideas have no information at all.
他说，实际上，一些最为重要的观点根本就无需明确的信息来传达。
"The example I use most prominently in the book is one that should be of...familiar enough to all Americans: All men are created equal.
我在书里用的最明显的例子也是所有美国人耳熟能详的：人人生而平等。
Very powerful idea, has absolutely no connection with information.
这是很有力的观点，与信息绝对无关。
The people who developed that idea and used it for revolutionary purposes were not drawing upon some body of research,
想出这个观点并将它用于变革性用途的人并未利用任何研究机构、
some facts and figures about the whole human race.
事实、关于整个人类的数据。
That's not what that idea is based upon. It's based upon experience and upon moral vision.
这些都不是这个观点的基础，它的基础是经验和道德观。
And there are so many ideas like that, and I try to remind people, in this critique,
跟它相似的观点也有很多，我想要在这个评论文章中提醒大家，
that most of what's going through their mind when they're thinking most of the time,
自打出生以来，人们绝大多数时候
the run of ideas that they've learned from the cradle on up, many of which are matters of wisdom,
划过脑海的都是有关智慧、
of judgment, of insight, of intuition that have nothing to do with facts and figures or with information."
判断、洞察力、直觉的问题，这些都跟事实、数据、信息无关。
"You write on page 213, you say, 'What I am suggesting is that in little things and big,
您在第213页写道，我想说的是，无论是大事还是小事，
the mind works more by way of Gestalt than by algorithmic processes.
人类的大脑与其说是在执行算法，不如说是在进行完形。
That is because our life as a whole is made up of the hierarchy of projects, some trivial and repetitive, some special and spectacular.
这是因为我们整个的生活都是由不同层级的项目组成的，有些项目是琐碎而又机械重复的，有些是特殊而又意义非凡的。
Pondering choices, making projects: these are the mind's first order of business.
考虑抉择就是做项目；这是大脑处理的次序。
This is so obvious, so basic that perhaps we are only prompted to reflect upon it
这一点再明显、再基础不过了，所以但凡有新观点出现的时候，
when a different idea about thinking is presented, such as that thought is connecting data points in formal sequences."
我们都会不由自主地想到这个观点，也就是思考的过程就是将数据点以正式的顺序连接起来。
"What I'm trying to defend is the idea that thinking takes place on many levels.
我想力挺的论点是：思考是在很多层面上进行的。
And the lowest level of all is data procelling or information processing.
最低的层面是数据处理，或者说信息处理。
And it worries me if we try to sell people on the idea, and especially kids in the classroom
我可不想向大家灌输一种观点，尤其是不想向孩子灌输一种观点，
that what they are doing when they are thinking is essentially something that should be modelled upon what a computer does.
即他们做事情以及思考的时候其实是像计算机一样在运作。
Well, I think that's a disaster because it is lowering the capacities of the human mind to the lowest levels of thinking
我觉得这样做无异于人间灾难，因为这种观点太过看轻人类大脑的能力，
rather than acquainting kids gracefully and critically with all the higher levels of thinking
而非以优雅、辩证的方式来教会孩子最高层级的思考方式，
that we normally go through in the course of every day of our life."
而我们本来每天都在进行最高层级的思考方式。
"All right. There are things that are subjective. There are things like creativity and intuition.
怎么说呢，这些事情都是主观的，比如创造性和直觉。
But suppose that our experience of those things that is what we experience on the subjective level;
但假设我们对这些事情的体验都是主观层面的，
on another level, the level that scientists study, these things are in fact productions and outcomes of conscious computational processes."
那么在另一个层面上，也就是科学家研究的层面上，这些事情其实都是有意识的计算流程的产出和结果。
"As a hypothesis, it's perfectly respectable.
这个假设完全是值得受到尊敬的。
The problem is that people working in the field of artificial intelligence have found themselves,
问题是，人工智能领域的工作人员发现无论他们自己是否愿意，
willingly or not, linked to a piece of machinery, a computer which they use as their model.
都与机械原理有关，就像是他们用作模型的计算机一样。
I think this has had a very corrupting influence upon people working in the academies, in the field of artificial intelligence.
我认为这种想法会让学术界和人工智能领域的人自甘堕落。
It links them with a massive vested economic interest in our society which is our to sell computers for every purpose you can think of,
这种想法将人和社会上大规模的既得经济利益联系在一起，就好像我们做什么事情都是在推广计算机一样，
from storing recipes in your kitchen at home to running the Star Wars anti-ballistic missile defensive system."
无论是厨房里的菜谱还是《星球大战》中的反弹道导弹防御系统。
"And yet, if you muck about with people who are doing artificial intelligence,
不过如果跟人工智能领域的人闲聊的时候，
some of the discussions are the most fascinating discussions I've ever had in my life."
有些对话是我人生中最有意思的一些了。
"The people in artificial intelligence have been making promises of the highest level for a very long period of time
很长时间以来，人工智能领域的从业者都会做高大的不能更高大的承诺，
and always telling us that great breakthrough in their field
他们总是跟我们说，人工智能领域的巨大突破
is going to happen within the next few years, three years, five years, something of that sort.
将在未来几年内发生，可能三五年就会出现。
you know, my question to the people in that field is a very simple one, you know.
但我想问他们的问题也再简单不过。
Deliver the goods, show us that you can do it.
拿出鲜活的例证，做给我们看。
And my suspicion that it can't be done, because they're using the wrong model of the human mind.
我甚至怀疑这件事是否能做成，因为他们从最开始就不应该将人类大脑比作计算机，这是错误的。
Well, we could go on disputing that academically for a very long period of time.
未来的很长一段时间里，我们依然可以从学术角度辩驳这个问题。
The fact is they're already involved in selling that idea to the public as a form of machinery out there in the world."
但事实是他们已经开始用一个观点给公众洗脑了，那就是：人脑就是计算机。
Theodore Rozak is author of The Cult of Information: The Floklore of Computers and the True Art of Thinking.
希欧多尔是《信息崇拜：计算机的民间传说以及思考的真正艺术原理》的作者。
