The stupidest people are always the ones who think they have the right answers.

最愚蠢的人總是那些自以為有正確答案的人。

Yeah, so getting back to my studies of the ancient world, which is the main part of me, one thing that always excited me was this concept of the ancient Greeks, that more harm is caused in this world by stupid, incompetent people than by evil people, right?

是的，回到我對古代世界的研究，這是我的主要部分，有一件事一直讓我興奮不已，那就是古希臘人的概念，在這個世界上，愚蠢無能的人比邪惡的人造成的傷害更大，對嗎？

And there's a word in Greek called phronesis, which is a form of wisdom, to use your title here, but it's a form of practical wisdom, to be able to get things done, to navigate through life, navigate through people, to be balanced and get things done, okay?

希臘語中有一個詞叫phronesis，這是一種智慧，用你的標題來說，是一種實用智慧，能夠把事情做好，在生活中游刃有餘，在人際交往中游刃有餘，保持平衡，把事情做好，好嗎？

So what makes people stupid, and right now we have a lot of stupid people in this world, there always have been stupid people, because there are more people on the planet, exponentially there are more stupid people on the planet.

所以，是什麼讓人們變得愚蠢，現在我們這個世界上有很多愚蠢的人，一直都有愚蠢的人，因為這個星球上的人越來越多，呈指數增長，這個星球上的愚蠢的人也越來越多。

What makes people stupid, and I'm sorry, I'm just going to tell it like it is, is their certainty that they have all the answers.

人們之所以愚蠢，對不起，我只是想實話實說，是因為他們自以為掌握了所有答案。

This is what's going on with our government, this is what's wrong with this or that, this is what people should be like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

這就是我們政府的問題所在，這就是這個或那個的問題所在，這就是人們應該有的樣子，諸如此類。

So you're narrowing your focus to this little tiny little rail, something that you heard from somebody else, it's not even your own stupid idea, you've absorbed it on the internet, whatever, and you're going down on this kind of monorail path.

所以，你把注意力縮小到了這條小小的鐵軌上，這條鐵軌是你從別人那裡聽來的，甚至不是你自己的愚蠢想法，而是你從互聯網上吸收來的，不管是什麼，然後你就走上了這條單軌鐵路的道路。

Meanwhile, the world is all around you and you're just going like, zoom, like that, because you're so certain you have the answer.

與此同時，世界就在你的周圍，而你就像那樣，"zoom"（放大），"zoom"（縮小），因為你確信自己已經找到了答案。

And when you have leaders, to get back to the Greek thing, when you have leaders who are source certain, they enter a country into a war that they haven't been thought out of, and so the paradigm in ancient culture was the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, the war that ended up kind of being the end of Athenian democracy and of their golden era, right?

是以，古代文化的典範是雅典和斯巴達之間的伯羅奔尼撒戰爭，這場戰爭最終成為雅典民主和黃金時代的終結，對嗎？

And it was the idea, and Thucydides, one of the greatest writers who ever lived, wrote the history of the Peloponnesian War, living at that time, he was saying that people, the leaders thought, oh, this will be so easy, and think of all the great things when we go and we take Sicily and we conquer that, the whole world, the Sparta will be destroyed, right?

修昔底德是有史以來最偉大的作家之一，他寫了《伯羅奔尼撒戰爭史》，生活在那個時代，他說，人們、領袖們認為，哦，這將是如此容易，想想所有偉大的事情，當我們去，我們採取西西里島，我們征服了，整個世界，斯巴達將被摧毀，對不對？

It wasn't thought through.

沒有經過深思熟慮。

They were so certain of the answer that they didn't think of the parameters, right, they didn't think really on a grand strategic level.

他們對答案如此肯定，以至於沒有考慮到參數，對吧，他們沒有真正從宏大的戰略層面去思考。

So people who are certain of things are very stupid, and when they have power, they're very, very dangerous.

是以，對事情有把握的人是非常愚蠢的，而一旦他們掌握了權力，他們就會非常非常危險。

I'm not saying evil people aren't dangerous, but incompetent, stupid people who are so certain, who haven't thought things through, are just as dangerous as evil people.

我並不是說邪惡的人不危險，但那些無能的、愚蠢的、篤定的、沒有經過深思熟慮的人和邪惡的人一樣危險。

I think there's far more stupid people than there are evil people as well. Probably, yeah.

我覺得愚蠢的人也比邪惡的人多得多。 也許吧

Yeah.

是啊

It's very interesting to think about where the Venn diagram intersects for people who are always cynical and people who always have the right answer or who always know.

想想總是憤世嫉俗的人和總是有正確答案或總是知道答案的人的維恩圖交集在哪裡，會非常有趣。

They go hand in hand.

它們是相輔相成的。

Correct.

正確。

Totally overlap, yeah.

完全重疊，是的。

Right.

對

Yeah.

是啊

So, one of your fellow countrymen from 200 years ago, exactly 200 years ago, a gentleman named John Keats, a poet, came up with a concept called negative capability.

是以，200 年前，也就是整整 200 年前，你們的一位同胞，一位名叫約翰-濟慈的紳士，一位詩人，提出了一個叫做 "負能力 "的概念。

And negative capability, he wanted to answer the question was, why is Shakespeare another one of your countrymen?

他想回答的問題是，為什麼莎士比亞是你的另一個同胞？

Why was Shakespeare so brilliant?

莎士比亞為何如此才華橫溢？

Well, his characters were so realistic because he made them as real human beings, and what he could do was, they weren't stick figures.

他筆下的人物之所以如此逼真，是因為他把他們塑造成了真實的人 他能做到的是，他們並不是木頭人。

Shakespeare could think of a person and entertain two things about them at the same time.

莎士比亞能想到一個人，並同時娛樂到關於他的兩件事。

They could be both evil, but also have a strain of goodness inside of them.

他們可能既是邪惡的，但也有善良的一面。

They were complex.

它們很複雜。

Human beings are complex.

人類是複雜的。

And negative capability is the essence of being creative.

而消極能力正是創造力的精髓所在。

It means you can hold two thoughts in your head at the same time, two thoughts that apparently contradict each other, but you can entertain them and not grasp at one or the other.

這意味著你可以同時在頭腦中持有兩種想法，兩種表面上相互矛盾的想法，但你可以接受它們，而不是抓住其中一個。

Not pass judgment immediately.

不立即下結論。

Yeah.

是啊

So, you're kind of able to deal with ambiguity, and you're able to say, life isn't that, it isn't that.

所以，你能夠處理模稜兩可的問題，你能夠說，生活不是那樣的，不是那樣的。

It's kind of both at the same time.

這兩者同時存在。

That is creativity.

這就是創造力。

That is real thinking.

這才是真正的思考。

You know?

你知道嗎？

I mean, I could go on and on about my ideas about live ideas and dead ideas, but this is real, live thinking.

我的意思是，我可以滔滔不絕地講述我對 "活思想 "和 "死思想 "的看法，但這是真正的、活生生的思考。

I have been playing with an idea that's basically the same thing, just repurposed with a silly meme from me, which is a cognitive superposition.

我一直在研究一個基本相同的想法，只是用了我的一個愚蠢的備忘錄，即認知疊加。

So, like, how in physics, yes.

所以，就像物理學中的方法一樣，是的。

And then when you decide, you collapse the superposition down.

然後，當你做出決定時，你就會將疊加坍縮下來。

But I try to, you know, think in superpositions as much as possible.

但我儘量用疊加的方式來思考。

There's a very good book written about like that.

有一本很好的書就是這樣寫的。

It's not perfect.

它並不完美。

It's a pretty good book called The Possibility Principle.

這是一本相當不錯的書，名叫《可能性原理》。

You can look that up.

你可以查一查。

He tries to apply those kind of ideas in physics to day-to-day life in psychology.

他試圖將物理學中的這些想法應用到心理學的日常生活中。

It is interesting.

這很有趣。

It's worth looking at.

值得一看。