Welcome back to Smarter Every Day.

歡迎回到 Smarter Every Day

You've heard people say,

你或許曾經聽別人說過

"It's just like riding a bike"

這就像騎腳踏車一樣

meaning it's really easy and you can't forget how to do it, right?

意思是它非常簡單，簡單到你根本不可能忘記怎麼做，對吧？

But I did something.

但我做了一件事

I did something that damaged my mind.

我做了一件破壞我思維的事

It happened on the streets of Amsterdam

這發生在阿姆斯特丹的街頭

and I got really scared honestly.

而且老實說我真的很害怕

I can't ride a bike like you can anymore.

我再也無法像你們一樣騎腳踏車

Before I show you the video of what happened

在我向你們展示發生了什麼事之前

I need to tell you the back story.

我必須先告訴你們背後的故事

Like many six year olds with a MacGyver mullet

就像許多六歲孩子留著馬蓋先頭

I learned how to ride a bike when I was really young.

我在很小的時候就學會騎腳踏車

I had learned a life skill and I was really proud of it.

我學到一生受用的技能，而且我真的為此感到很自豪

Everything changed though when my friend Barney called me 25 years later.

然而，當我的朋友Barney在25年之後打給我，所有的一切都改變了

Where I work, the welders are geniuses, and they like to play jokes on the engineers.

在我工作的地方，那些焊接工人都是天才，而且他們很喜歡開工程師的玩笑

He had a challenge for me.

他為我準備了一項挑戰

He had built a special bicycle and he wanted me to try to ride it.

他製作了一台特殊的腳踏車，並且要我試著騎騎看

He had only changed one thing.

他只改了普通腳踏車的一個部分

When you turn the handlebar to the left, the wheel goes to the right.

當你將腳踏車的手把轉向左邊，車輪卻會往右

When you turn it to the right, the wheel goes to the left.

當你將手把轉向右邊，車輪則會往左

I thought this would be easy so I hopped on the bike

我認為這會很容易，所以我就雀躍地跳上腳踏車

ready to demonstrate how quickly I could conquer this.

準備好要展示一下我有多快就能克服它

- And here he is ladies and gentlemen,

先生女士們，請看

Mr Destin Sandlin.

Destin Sandlin 先生

First attempt riding the bicycle.

第一次嘗試騎腳踏車

- Yeah, yeah.

好耶，好耶

I couldn't do it.

我無法辦到

You can see that I'm laughing but I'm actually really frustrated.

你可以看到我正在笑，但事實上我還挺挫敗的

In this moment I had a really deep revelation.

在這一刻我得到一個非常深刻的啟示

My thinking was in a rut.

我的思維過於僵化枯燥

This bike revealed a very deep truth to me.

這台腳踏車向我透露了一個非常深刻的事實

I had the knowledge of how to operate the bike,

我知道如何操作腳踏車

but I did not have the understanding.

但我並不了解腳踏車

Therefore, knowledge is not understanding.

因此，擁有知識並非真正了解

Look I know what you're probably thinking.

聽著，我大概知道你們現在在想什麼

Destin's probably just an uncoordinated engineer and can't do it.

你們在想，Destin 可能只是一個手腳不協調的工程師所以他辦不到，

But that's not the case at all.

但事實並非如此

The algorithm that's associated with riding a bike,

與騎腳踏車相關的演算法

in your brain, is just that complicated.

在你的腦中就是那麼複雜

Think about it.

想想看

Downwards force on the pedals,

踏板上有向下的力

leaning your whole body,

你的整個身體呈現傾斜

pulling and pushing the handlebars,

拉扯並推動車子的把手

gyroscopic procession in the wheels,

車輪裡的迴轉儀

every single force is part of this algorithm.

每一種力都是這個演算法的一部分

And if you change any one part it affects the entire control system.

如果你改變任何一個部分，它會影響到整個控制系統

I do not make definitive statements that often,

我並不經常做明確的發言，

but I'm telling you right now,

但我現在要告訴你

you cannot ride this bicycle.

你是沒辦法騎這台腳踏車的

You might think you can, but you can't.

你可能覺得自己可以做到，但你無法

I know this because I'm often asked to speak at universities and conferences

我會知道這一點是因為我經常受邀在大學和會議中發表演說

and I take the bike with me.

並且隨身帶著這台腳踏車

It's always the same.

結果都是同樣的情況

People think they're gonna try some trick or they're just gonna power through it.

人們總認為他們能嘗試用一些伎倆，或是直接用蠻力

It doesn't work.

但都沒有用

Your brain cannot handle this.

你的大腦無法處理這個

For instance, this guy.

舉例來說，看看這個人

I offered him two hundred dollars just to ride this bike ten feet across the stage.

只要他能騎這台腳踏車跨越舞台十英尺，我就給他兩百美元

Everybody thought he could do it.

每個人都覺得他會成功

[crowd exclaims] No no no. You didn't understand.

[觀眾尖叫] 不不不，你不瞭解

So.. this way, not that way. [crowd laughs]

是往這個方向，而不是往那個方向 [觀眾大笑]

Alright so, whenever you're ready.

好，你準備好隨時可以開始

Remember you have to keep your feet on.. [crowd laughs]

記得你必須把腳維持在踏板上 [觀眾大笑]

[laughing crowd]

[爆笑的觀眾]

You've gotta start rolling at least. And go.

你至少要開始轉動你的輪子，開始 !

Keep your feet on the pedal, go.

保持腳在踏板上，走 !

[laughing crowd]

[爆笑的觀眾]

Just keep your feet on the pedals.

只要把腳放在踏板上

Alright, one more time.

好，再來一次

Once you have a rigid way of thinking in your head,

一旦你的腦中有個既定僵固的思維模式

sometimes you cannot change that, even if you want to.

就算你想要改，有時候也無法改變它

So here's what I did.

所以我是這麼做的

It was a personal challenge.

這是一項個人的挑戰

I stayed out here in this driveway

我待在這個車道

and I practiced about 5 minutes every day.

並且每天練習五分鐘

My neighbors made fun of me.

我的鄰居嘲笑我

I had many wrecks.

我經歷很多挫折

But after 8 months, this happened.

但在過了八個月之後，這件事發生了

One day I couldn't ride the bike, and the next day I could.

某天我不會騎腳踏車，但隔天我會了

It was like I could feel some kind of pathway in my brain that was now unlocked.

這就像是我感覺到腦中形成一種路徑，而它現在被開啟了

It was really weird though.

雖然這真的很奇怪

It's like there's this trail in my brain,

就像是我大腦中有這麼一條軌跡

but if I wasn't paying close enough attention to it,

但如果我沒有足夠的專注

my brain would easily lose that neural path and jump back onto the old road it was more familiar with.

我的大腦會很容易錯失那條神經路徑，並跳回它更熟悉的舊路上

Any small distractions at all, like a cellphone ringing in my pocket,

任何使注意力分散的微小事物，像是手機在我的口袋中響起

would instantly throw my brain back to the old control algorithm and I would wreck.

都會馬上把我的大腦丟回原本的控制演算法，而我就會失敗

But at least I could ride it.

但至少我會騎它

My son is the closest person to me genetically

就基因上來說，我的兒子是我最親近的人

and he's been riding a normal bike for 3 years,

他騎正常的腳踏車三年了

that's over half his life.

那超過他人生一半的時間

I wanted to know how long it would take him to learn how to ride a backwards bike

我想知道他要花多久才能學會騎一台反向的腳踏車

so I told him if he learned how to ride a backwards bike

所以我告訴他如果他學會騎反向的腳踏車

he could go with me to Australia and meet a real astronaut.

他就可以跟我一起去澳洲，而且去見真正的太空人

Are you gonna give up?

你要放棄嗎 ?

- No.

不

- Go ahead.

去吧

This is how it starts.

這是這樣開始的

Look at this.

看看這個

This is such a big deal.

這真的是一件大事

Get up, you got it.

起來，你可以的

Did you see his brain get it?

你們有看到他的大腦學會了嗎 ?

So he, in.. How many weeks we been doing this? Two weeks?

我們花了多少週做這件事 ? 兩週 ?

In two weeks he did something that took me 8 months to do,

兩週之內他就學會我花了八個月才會的東西

which demonstrates that a child has more neural plasticity,

這展現出一個孩子有更多的神經可塑性

am I even saying that right?

我說的是對的嗎 ?

Than an adult.

比起一個成人

It's clear from this experiment that children have a much more plastic brain than adults.

從這個實驗很清楚的看出孩子們比成人擁有更可塑的大腦

That's why the best time to learn a language is when you're a young child.

這也是為什麼我們常說學習語言的最好時機就是當你是個孩子的時候

Alright, today's bike log.

好，這是今天的腳踏車日誌

I can ride smooth, I can ride fast.

我可以騎得很平穩，我可以騎得很快

I'm thinking the experiment is over.

我想這個實驗就到此結束

OK now I'm in Amsterdam,

我現在人在阿姆斯特丹

a city that has more bicycles than people.

一個腳踏車比人多的城市

The question is, can I ride a normal bike now?

問題是，我現在還會不會騎一台正常的腳踏車 ?

I mean I have spent all this time unlearning how to ride a bike,

我是指一直以來我花了這麼久來忘掉怎麼騎正常的腳踏車

If I go back and try to ride a normal one will my brain mess up?

如果我現在回去試騎一台正常的，我的大腦會不會錯亂 ?

So I've tweeted a Smarter Every Day.. meetup, if you will.

所以我在推特上發布一則 Smarter Every Day 約見面的訊息

And I'm gonna see if somebody brings a bicycle and I'm gonna try to ride a normal bike.

我要來看看如果有人帶著腳踏車來，那我就要試騎看看

It's backwards, it's backwards.

它是反向的，是反向的

This was one of the most frustrating moments of my life.

這是我人生中最挫折的時刻之一

I had ridden a normal bike since I was six,

我從六歲就開始騎正常的腳踏車了

but in this moment I couldn't do it anymore.

但在這個瞬間我辦不到了

I had set out to prove that I could free my brain from a cognitive bias,

我開始要證明我能使我的大腦不受認知偏見的約束

but at this point I'm pretty sure that all I've proved is that I can only re-designate that bias.

但在此刻我很確定我所證明的是我只能再次標出那個偏見

So what you're not seeing is there's a group of people here,

你沒看到的是有一大群人在這裡

looking at me.

正在看著我

Looking at the strange American,

正看著這個奇怪的美國人

that can't ride a bike, cause they think I'm dumb.

他竟然不會騎腳踏車，他們覺得我很蠢

But I'm actually two levels deep into this,

但實際上我比這更深兩個層級

because I've learned and un-learned. Alright.

因為我學會又忘掉了

After 20 minutes of making a fool out of myself,

在經過二十分鐘的自我愚弄之後

suddenly my brain clicked back into the old algorithm.

突然間我的大腦又跳回原本的演算法

I can't explain it, but it happened in a very specific moment.

我沒辦法解釋，但它確實發生在一個特定的瞬間

[laughter]

[大笑]

I've got it, I've got it, I've got it!

我抓到感覺了，我抓到感覺了，我抓到感覺了 !

I'm back.

我回來了

Oh it clicked. It clicked!

噢有感覺了，有感覺了 !

I've got it, I've got it!

我會了，我會了 !

OK there it is.

好，我找到感覺了

There was the moment.

現在我會了

OK I can ride a bike.

我會騎腳踏車了

I tried to explain this to the people around me,

我試著將這一切解釋給我身邊的人聽

and they just didn't get it.

而他們就是無法理解

They thought I was faking the previous 20 minutes

他們認為前面那二十分鐘我在造假

and I couldn't get anybody to believe me.

我無法讓任何人相信我

That looked like I faked it, didn't it.

那看起來像是我裝的，但我沒有

You think I'm faking. You don't believe me.

你也覺得我在造假，你不相信我

- It looked so weird...

它看起來好怪

- You think I'm lying, don't you?

你也覺得我在騙人對吧 ?

I'm not lying.

我並沒有騙人

I felt like the only person on the planet who had ever un-learned how to ride a bike,

我感覺自己是世界上唯一一個曾經忘掉怎麼騎腳踏車的人

and I couldn't articulate it to anyone

而且還不能向任何人說明白

because everybody just knew that you can't forget how to ride a bike.

因為每個人只會覺得你不可能忘記怎麼騎腳踏車

So I learned 3 things from this experiment.

所以我從這項實驗學到三件事

I learned that welders are often smarter than engineers,

我學到了焊接工通常比工程師聰明

I learned that knowledge does not equal understanding,

我學到了知識並不等於真正了解

and I learned that truth is truth.

並且我學到了事實就是事實

No matter what I think about it.

無論我當初是怎麼看它的

So be very careful how you interpret things

所以在理解一件事情的時後要很謹慎小心

because you're looking at the world with a bias

因為你正在以帶有偏見的眼光看這個世界

whether you think you are or not.

無論你覺得自己是否是如此

I'm Destin,

我是Destin

you're getting Smarter Every Day,

你每天都會越來越聰明

have a good one.

祝你有個美好的一天

OK if you wanna support Smarter Every Day

好，如果你想要支持 Smarter Every Day

you can download a free audio book at audible.com/smarter

你可以到audible.com/smarter下載一本免費的有聲書

I recommend Commander Hadfield's book

我推薦指揮官 Hadfield 的書

which is An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth.

它是一個太空人寫給地球上生命的指南

I read it, it was awesome!

我讀過了，很棒 !

If you think about it, I had to learn how to ride a different kind of bicycle

如果你細想一下，我必須學會怎麼騎一台不同種的腳踏車

and my son did it as well,

而我的兒子也同樣試過

but Commander Hadfield had to learn how to ride a different space ship.

但指揮官 Hadfield 卻必須學習如何去開一輛不同的太空船

Not only that, but a different type of space station.

不只那樣，而是完全不同類型的太空站

He was on Mir and the International Space Station.

他在和平號太空站和國際太空站

Anyway, if you're interested in supporting Smarter Every Day,

總之，如果你對支持 Smarter Every Day 有興趣

audible.com/smarter, An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth.

歡迎到這個網址 audible.com/smarter 下載"一個太空人寫給地球上生命的指南"

I'm Destin, you're getting Smarter Every Day.

我是Destin，你每天都會越來越聰明

Have a good one.

祝你有個美好的一天

[crowd cheers]

[群眾歡呼]

Everything is wrong... My instinctive reaction is wrong.

每件事都錯了，我的直覺反應錯了

(Destin) Why don't you ride it? You just build it?

(Destin) 為什麼你不騎看看 ? 是你製造的耶 ?

- I can't ride it, I just build it.

我沒辦法騎它，我只是製造它

[laughs]

[大笑]