Probably none. I think we're all Darwinians.

我們這兒有多少神創論者？

And yet many Darwinians are anxious, a little uneasy --

可能沒有。估計在座都是達爾文主義者。

would like to see some limits on just how far the Darwinism goes.

不過，許多達爾文主義者都有點急切不安，

It's all right.

想看看達爾文主義的極限，看它到底能走多遠。

You know spiderwebs? Sure, they are products of evolution.

這沒有問題。

The World Wide Web? Not so sure.

你們知道蜘蛛網嗎？當然了，這是進化來的。

Beaver dams, yes. Hoover Dam, no.

全球資訊網呢？不太確定。

What do they think it is that prevents the products of human ingenuity

水獺壩，是。 胡佛大壩，不是。

from being themselves, fruits of the tree of life,

到底是什麼讓人認為人類的機靈智巧

and hence, in some sense, obeying evolutionary rules?

不會是生命樹上長出來的果實

And yet people are interestingly resistant

因此在某種意義上並不遵守進化的法則呢？

to the idea of applying evolutionary thinking to thinking -- to our thinking.

然而有趣的是，人們抵制這樣的想法：

And so I'm going to talk a little bit about that,

抵制把進化論應用到思維上—應用到我們的思維上。

keeping in mind that we have a lot on the program here.

我將對此發表一些看法，

So you're out in the woods, or you're out in the pasture,

同時提醒自己，節目上還有許多其他的東西。

and you see this ant crawling up this blade of grass.

你到森林裏或到田園中，

It climbs up to the top, and it falls,

你看見一隻螞蟻爬上一片草葉。

and it climbs, and it falls, and it climbs --

它爬到頂上，又落下來，

trying to stay at the very top of the blade of grass.

然後又爬到頂，又落下來，然後又再爬—

What is this ant doing? What is this in aid of?

總想停留在草葉的最尖端

What goals is this ant trying to achieve by climbing this blade of grass?

它在幹嘛？它想做什麼？

What's in it for the ant?

試圖爬到草葉尖端，它想達到什麼目的？

And the answer is: nothing. There's nothing in it for the ant.

這對它有什麼好處呢？

Well then, why is it doing this?

答案是：沒有。對它而言，什麼好處也沒有。

Is it just a fluke?

那為什麼要這樣做呢？

Yeah, it's just a fluke. It's a lancet fluke.

那只是碰巧嗎？

It's a little brain worm.

沒錯，正是碰巧，碰巧是枝雙腔吸蟲。

It's a parasitic brain worm that has to get into the stomach of a sheep or a cow

在大腦裏的小蟲。

in order to continue its life cycle.

這種大腦裏的蟲要鑽進羊或牛的肚子裏，

Salmon swim upstream to get to their spawning grounds,

好繼續它的生命週期。

and lancet flukes commandeer a passing ant,

三文魚逆流而上要到產卵場，

crawl into its brain, and drive it up a blade of grass like an all-terrain vehicle.

枝雙腔吸蟲霸佔一隻路過的螞蟻，

So there's nothing in it for the ant.

爬進它的大腦，像駕著越野車，使它爬上草葉頂端。

The ant's brain has been hijacked by a parasite that infects the brain,

因此對螞蟻來說，什麼好處都沒有。

inducing suicidal behavior.

這隻螞蟻的大腦被寄生蟲劫持了，

Pretty scary.

導致它的自殺行為。

Well, does anything like that happen with human beings?

相當可怕。

This is all on behalf of a cause other than one's own genetic fitness, of course.

那麼，類似的事情會發生在人的身上嗎？

Well, it may already have occurred to you

這種事情當然不會是順著人的基因特性而發生的。

that Islam means "surrender," or "submission of self-interest to the will of Allah."

你可能已經想到

Well, it's ideas -- not worms -- that hijack our brains.

「伊斯蘭」即是「服從」，或是說「為服從真主的意志而放棄自我利益」。

Now, am I saying that a sizable minority of the world's population

劫持我們大腦的是思想，不是蟲子。

has had their brain hijacked by parasitic ideas?

那我是不是在說，世界人口的一小部分

No, it's worse than that.

大腦已經被寄生思想劫持了呢？

Most people have.

不是，比這還糟糕呢。

(Laughter)

大部分的人都已經被劫持了。

There are a lot of ideas to die for.

（笑聲）

Freedom, if you're from New Hampshire.

有許多思想會教人獻身。

(Laughter)

比方說自由—如果你來自新罕布夏的話。

Justice. Truth. Communism.

（笑聲）

Many people have laid down their lives for communism,

正義、真理、共產主義。

and many have laid down their lives for capitalism.

許多人為共產主義捐軀，

And many for Catholicism. And many for Islam.

也有許多人為資本主義捐軀。

These are just a few of the ideas that are to die for.

許多人為天主教獻身，也有許多為伊斯蘭。

They're infectious.

這些只是一小部分會教人獻身的思想。

Yesterday, Amory Lovins spoke about "infectious repititis."

它們都具有傳染性。

It was a term of abuse, in effect.

昨天，阿莫銳•陸文斯提到「傳染性的複製品」。

This is unthinking engineering.

那其實是個貶義詞。

Well, most of the cultural spread that goes on

是未經思考的工程設計。

is not brilliant, new, out-of-the-box thinking.

瞧，大部分文化的傳播

It's "infectious repetitis,"

並非什麼了不得、嶄新、開箱即用的思想。

and we might as well try to have a theory of what's going on when that happens

都只是傳染性的複製品。

so that we can understand the conditions of infection.

也許可以找出一套解釋發生這種現象的理論，

Hosts work hard to spread these ideas to others.

讓人能理解傳染性所需的條件。

I myself am a philosopher, and one of our occupational hazards

寄主努力傳播那些思想給他人。

is that people ask us what the meaning of life is.

我自己是個哲學家，我們這行的公害之一

And you have to have a bumper sticker,

即是總有人要問我們生命的意義是什麼。

you know. You have to have a statement.

大家知道，你得在防撞桿上貼一張貼紙，

So, this is mine.

你得貼上某種宣言式的東西。

The secret of happiness is: Find something more important than you are

好，我的是這個。

and dedicate your life to it.

幸福的秘密在於：尋找某種比你更重要的東西，

Most of us -- now that the "Me Decade" is well in the past --

並將生命投入其中。

now we actually do this.

我們之中的大多數—「我」的時代已經過去了—

One set of ideas or another

都確實身體力行。

have simply replaced our biological imperatives in our own lives.

這一套或那一套理論

This is what our summum bonum is.

取代了我們生命中的生物性使命。

It's not maximizing the number of grandchildren we have.

這是我們存在的最高價值。

Now, this is a profound biological effect.

不在於金玉滿堂。

It's the subordination of genetic interest to other interests.

請注意，這是意義深刻的生物性效應。

And no other species does anything at all like it.

這是基因利益對其他利益的屈服。

Well, how are we going to think about this?

沒有任何其他物種會這麼做。

It is, on the one hand, a biological effect, and a very large one.

那我們對此該作何感想？

Unmistakable.

這一方面是生物性的效應，影響很大。

Now, what theories do we want to use to look at this?

毫無疑問。

Well, many theories. But how could something tie them together?

我們用什麼理論來探查它呢？

The idea of replicating ideas;

嗯，不少呢。但如何一言以蔽之呢？

ideas that replicate by passing from brain to brain.

那就是「複制思想」的概念，

Richard Dawkins, whom you'll be hearing later in the day, invented the term "memes,"

即傳遞於大腦之間而得到複製的那些思想。

and put forward the first really clear and vivid version of this idea

你們今天稍後會聽到理查•道金斯的演講，他發明「模因」這個詞，

in his book "The Selfish Gene."

而且是在他的《自私的基因》這本書裏第一個清晰生動地

Now here am I talking about his idea.

闡釋這個概念的人。

Well, you see, it's not his. Yes -- he started it.

我在這裏說他的思想。

But it's everybody's idea now.

當然也知道這已經不是他的了。沒錯—他是思想的創始人。

And he's not responsible for what I say about memes.

但這個思想現在已經是所有人的。

I'm responsible for what I say about memes.

他不必為我所說的模因負責。

Actually, I think we're all responsible

我所說的模因由我自己負責。

for not just the intended effects of our ideas,

事實上，我認為我們都要負責，

but for their likely misuses.

不僅要為我們的思想所要達到的效果負責，

So it is important, I think, to Richard, and to me,

也要為它們可能會被誤用而負責。

that these ideas not be abused and misused.

所以我想，對我和理查（道金斯）重要的是，

They're very easy to misuse. That's why they're dangerous.

確保這些想法不會被濫用或被誤用。

And it's just about a full-time job

它們很容易被誤用。這也是它們的危險之處。

trying to prevent people who are scared of these ideas

這幾乎是一份全職的工作：

from caricaturing them and then running off to one dire purpose or another.

要防止害怕這些想法的人

So we have to keep plugging away,

醜化這些思想，然後嚇跑了，去做出一件又一件可怕的事。

trying to correct the misapprehensions

所以我們必須堅持不懈，

so that only the benign and useful variants of our ideas continue to spread.

不斷試圖矯正各種誤解，

But it is a problem.

確保只有在我們思想中有用的、無害的部分得到傳播。

We don't have much time, and I'm going to go over just a little bit of this and cut out,

但這是個問題。

because there's a lot of other things that are going to be said.

我們的時間不多了，所以我只說一點就打住，

So let me just point out: memes are like viruses.

因為我還有許多其他的東西要說。

That's what Richard said, back in '93.

那麼讓我指出：模因如同病毒。

And you might think, "Well, how can that be?

這是理查93年就說過的。

I mean, a virus is -- you know, it's stuff! What's a meme made of?"

你可能會想：這怎麼可能？

Yesterday, Negroponte was talking about viral telecommunications

我是說大家都知道，病毒是「物質」！模因是什麼構成的呢？

but -- what's a virus?

昨天，尼葛洛龐帝提到病毒電子通訊，

A virus is a string of nucleic acid with attitude.

可是—病毒是什麼？

(Laughter)

病毒是一串具有態度的核酸。

That is, there is something about it

（笑聲）

that tends to make it replicate better than the competition does.

也就是說， 它具有某種東西，

And that's what a meme is. It's an information packet with attitude.

這東西使它在複製的競賽中脫穎而出。

What's a meme made of? What are bits made of, Mom?

這也就是模因，它是一包有態度的資訊。

Not silicon.

模因是什麼構成的呢？「媽，比特是什麼構成的呢？」

They're made of information, and can be carried in any physical medium.

反正不是矽。

What's a word made of?

它們是資訊構成的，載體可以是任何物理媒介。

Sometimes when people say, "Do memes exist?"

單詞是什麼構成的呢？

I say, "Well, do words exist? Are they in your ontology?"

有時會有人問：「模因存在嗎？」

If they are, words are memes that can be pronounced.

我說：「單詞存在嗎？它們存在於你的存有論中嗎？」

Then there's all the other memes that can't be pronounced.

若是存在，那麼單詞就是可以被發出聲音的模因。

There are different species of memes.

那麼也有其他不能被發出聲音的模因。

Remember the Shakers? Gift to be simple?

它們是模因中的不同物種。

Simple, beautiful furniture?

還記得震教徒嗎？天賦簡樸？

And, of course, they're basically extinct now.

簡單而漂亮的傢俱？

And one of the reasons is that among the creed of Shaker-dom

當然了，他們基本上已經滅絕了。

is that one should be celibate.

其中一個原因是，他們的信條之中

Not just the priests. Everybody.

有一條要求獨身。

Well, it's not so surprising that they've gone extinct. (Laughter)

不光是牧師，所有的人都要。

But in fact that's not why they went extinct.

嗯，難怪他們滅絕了（笑聲）

They survived as long as they did

事實上，這不是他們消失的原因。

at a time when the social safety nets weren't there.

他們維持了很久。

And there were lots of widows and orphans,

那時候還沒有社會保障制度，

people like that, who needed a foster home.

有許多鰥夫寡婦和孤兒，

And so they had a ready supply of converts.

像這樣需要被收容的人。

And they could keep it going.

因此他們有一個皈依信徒的供應鏈。

And, in principle, it could've gone on forever,

所以他們能夠繼續存在。

with perfect celibacy on the part of the hosts.

理論上可以直到永遠。

The idea being passed on through proselytizing,

儘管寄主們都是獨身的，

instead of through the gene line.

思想經由皈依得到傳遞，

So the ideas can live on in spite of the fact

不是經由基因遺傳，

that they're not being passed on genetically.

因此思想可以一直傳播下去，

A meme can flourish in spite of having a negative impact on genetic fitness.

儘管並不經由遺傳。

After all, the meme for Shaker-dom was essentially a sterilizing parasite.

即使模因對基因的適應性有負面影響，還是能夠繁衍；

There are other parasites that do this -- which render the host sterile.

畢竟震教徒們的模因，本質上是令人絕育的寄生蟲。

It's part of their plan.

還有許多這種讓寄主不育的寄生蟲。

They don't have to have minds to have a plan.

它們的計畫就是如此。

I'm just going to draw your attention to just one

它們不需要心靈來做計畫。

of the many implications of the memetic perspective, which I recommend.

從觀察模因的角度來看，在其眾多的意涵中，

I've not time to go into more of it.

我只指出一個我認為必須留意的意涵。

In Jared Diamond's wonderful book, "Guns, Germs and Steel,"

我沒有時間多說。

he talks about how it was germs, more than guns and steel,

在賈雷德•戴蒙德《槍炮，細菌和鋼鐵》這本奇書中，

that conquered the new hemisphere -- the Western hemisphere --

他談到為什麼是細菌，而非槍炮和鋼鐵

that conquered the rest of the world.

征服了新半球—也就是西半球—

When European explorers and travelers spread out,

然後西半球又征服了世界的其他部分。

they brought with them the germs

當歐洲的探險家和旅行者們分散出去，

that they had become essentially immune to,

他們隨身帶去

that they had learned how to tolerate over

他們已經形成免疫力的細菌；

hundreds and hundreds of years, thousands of years,

好幾百、上千年來，他們已經學會了

of living with domesticated animals who were the sources of those pathogens.

和那些細菌相安無事；

And they just wiped out -- these pathogens just wiped out the native people,

他們和帶有病原體的馴養動物一起生活，

who had no immunity to them at all.

然後它們—那些病原體—徹底摧毀了原住民

And we're doing it again.

因為原住民對它們毫無免疫力

We're doing it this time with toxic ideas.

現在我們又在做同樣的事

Yesterday, a number of people -- Nicholas Negroponte and others --

這次我們用的是有毒的思想。

spoke about all the wonderful things

昨天，尼古拉斯•尼葛洛龐帝等人

that are happening when our ideas get spread out,

說到這些奇妙的事情，

thanks to all the new technology all over the world.

這些在思想傳播出去時會發生的事情。

And I agree. It is largely wonderful. Largely wonderful.

這要歸功於整個世界的新科學技術。

But among all those ideas that inevitably flow out into the whole world

這點我同意；絕大部分都是美妙的—絕大部分。

thanks to our technology, are a lot of toxic ideas.

可是，當它們無可避免地傳遍全世界時，

Now, this has been realized for some time.

也夾帶大量有毒的思想—同樣歸功於我們的科技。

Sayyid Qutb is one of the founding fathers of fanatical Islam,

這已經發生一段時間了。

one of the ideologues that inspired Osama bin Laden.

薩伊德•庫是狂熱伊斯蘭教的創始人之一，

"One has only to glance at its press films, fashion shows, beauty contests,

也是奧薩馬•賓拉登的靈感源泉之一。

ballrooms, wine bars and broadcasting stations." Memes.

「看看他們的新聞、電影、時裝表演、選美比賽、

These memes are spreading around the world

舞會大廳、葡萄酒吧和廣播電臺」。這些是模因。

and they are wiping out whole cultures.

模因正傳遍全世界，

They are wiping out languages.

消滅整個整個的文化，

They are wiping out traditions and practices.

消滅語言，

And it's not our fault, anymore than it's our fault when our germs lay waste

消滅傳統和習俗。

to people that haven't developed the immunity.

這不能怪我們，正如同我們的細菌摧毀原住民那樣，

We have an immunity to all of the junk that lies around the edges of our culture.

也不是我們的錯。

We're a free society, so we let pornography and all these things -- we shrug them off.

對我們自己文化邊緣的各種破銅爛鐵，我們都具有免疫力。

They're like a mild cold.

我們是自由的社會，色情等等東西，我們不在乎。

They're not a big deal for us.

那些東西像是輕微的感冒。

But we should recognize that for many people in the world,

沒什麼大不了。

they are a big deal.

但我們應當意識到，對世界上許多人而言，

And we should be very alert to this.

這可是至關重要的。

As we spread our education and our technology,

我們應該保持高度警惕，

one of the things that we are doing is we're the vectors of memes

在我們傳播教育和科技時，

that are correctly viewed by the hosts of many other memes

我們就成了模因的帶原媒介，

as a dire threat to their favorite memes --

其他模因的寄主們當然要將我們視為敵人，

the memes that they are prepared to die for.

嚴重威脅到他們所愛之模因的敵人—

Well now, how are we going to tell the good memes from the bad memes?

那是他們願意為之捐軀獻身的模因。

That is not the job of the science of memetics.

那麼，如何區分模因的好壞呢？

Memetics is morally neutral. And so it should be.

這並不是模因學的工作。

This is not the place for hate and anger.

模因學在道德上是中性的，而且理應如此。

If you've had a friend who's died of AIDS, then you hate HIV.

這裏沒有喜怒愛憎。

But the way to deal with that is to do science,

如果你有朋友死于愛滋，你會恨HIV。

and understand how it spreads and why in a morally neutral perspective.

但對付病毒要用科學的方法，

Get the facts.

從中立的角度，探究病毒為何、如何傳播，

Work out the implications.

實事求是，

There's plenty of room for moral passion once we've got the facts

探明意涵；

and can figure out the best thing to do.

有了事實，道德情感自然有發揮的空間，

And, as with germs, the trick is not to try to annihilate them.

然後再決定該做什麼。

You will never annihilate the germs.

對於細菌，秘訣在於不要試圖消滅它們。

What you can do, however, is foster public health measures and the like

你永遠消滅不了細菌。

that will encourage the evolution of avirulence.

你能做的就是加強公共衛生之類的措施，

That will encourage the spread of relatively benign mutations

那會激勵病毒毒性的演化。

of the most toxic varieties.

那會激勵毒性最烈的病毒只散播出