the advent of the Macintosh,

25、26 年前

which was an astoundingly seminal event

麥金塔電腦系統問世，

in the history

而麥金塔系統的出現，

of human-machine interface

整體來說，

and in computation in general.

對人機界面和計算機的發展史

It fundamentally changed the way

影響非常重大。

that people thought about computation,

它從根本上改變了人們

thought about computers,

對於計算機

how they used them and who and how many people were able to use them.

和對於電腦的看法，

It was such a radical change, in fact,

人們是如何使用，以及是誰，還有多少人能夠使用它們。

that the early Macintosh development team

這是個非常極端的改變，事實上，

in '82, '83, '84

早期麥金塔研發團隊

had to write an entirely new operating system from the ground up.

在 1982 到 1984 年這三年間，

Now, this is an interesting little message,

必須從頭開始設計全新的操作系統。

and it's a lesson that has since, I think,

現在，這是個很有趣的訊息，

been forgotten or lost or something,

我想，也是個已經被遺忘

and that is, namely, that the OS is the interface.

或失去之類的的課題。

The interface is the OS.

也就是，換句話說，操作系統即是界面。

It's like the land and the king (i.e. Arthur) they're inseparable, they are one.

界面就是操作系統。

And to write a new operating system was not a capricious matter.

這就像是《亞瑟王》中的領土與國王，他們密不可分，是一體的。

It wasn't just a matter of tuning up some graphics routines.

而寫一個新的操作系統並不是個奇怪的想法。

There were no graphics routines. There were no mouse drivers.

這並不只是調整改善某些圖像程序而已。

So it was a necessity.

當年並沒有圖像程序，也沒有滑鼠驅動程式。

But in the quarter-century since then,

所以寫個新的操作系統是必要的。

we've seen all of the fundamental

但在那之後的 25 年，

supporting technologies go berserk.

我們看到了所有的

So memory capacity and disk capacity

基本輔助科技傾巢而出。

have been multiplied by something between 10,000 and a million.

記憶體容量還有硬碟容量

Same thing for processor speeds.

倍增十萬到百萬倍，

Networks, we didn't have networks at all

處理器的狀況也一樣。

at the time of the Macintosh's introduction,

網際網路，在麥金塔剛問世時，

and that has become the single most salient aspect

我們根本就談不上有網際網路。

of how we live with computers.

而網際網路是我們電腦生活中

And, of course, graphics: Today

最突出、最特別的東西。

84 dollars and 97 cents at Best Buy

當然，今天的顯示卡，

buys you more graphics power

在 Best Buy 用 84.97 美元

than you could have gotten for a million bucks from SGI only a decade ago.

就可以讓你買到功能更強大的顯示卡，

So we've got that incredible ramp-up.

這遠比十年前你用百萬美元在 SGI 買到的顯示卡還要好。

Then, on the side, we've got the Web

所以這是很不可思議的成長。

and, increasingly, the cloud,

接著，另一方面，我們有了網路，

which is fantastic,

再來有了雲端計算系統，

but also -- in the regard in which an interface is fundamental --

這真的很棒，

kind of a distraction.

但也指出在這之中，界面是很重要的，

So we've forgotten to invent new interfaces.

這有點讓我們分心了。

Certainly we've seen in recent years a lot of change in that regard,

我們忘了要研發出新的界面。

and people are starting to wake up about that.

當然在過去幾年中，我們在相關系統看到了許多改變。

So what happens next? Where do we go from there?

而人們也開始覺醒。

The problem, as we see it,

那接下來呢？我們要往那個方向進展？

has to do with a single, simple word: "space,"

問題是，當我們看待這件事時，

or a single, simple phrase:

如何看這個單一，簡單的字，「空間」

"real world geometry."

或一個簡單的詞

Computers and the programming languages

「真實世界中的幾何」

that we talk to them in, that we teach them in,

當我們使用程式語言來與電腦

are hideously insensate when it comes to space.

溝通，並嘗試教導電腦

They don't understand real world space.

關於空間的概念時，電腦變得很愚鈍，讓人無法忍受。

It's a funny thing because the rest of us occupy it quite frequently and quite well.

它們不理解真實世界的空間。

They also don't understand time, but that's a matter for a separate talk.

這真的很有趣，因為我們人類對空間概念的使用相當頻繁而且順手。

So what happens if you start to

它們也不懂時間，但這又是另一個話題了。

explain space to them?

那當你開始向這些電腦

One thing you might get is something like the Luminous Room.

解釋空間時又會發生什麼事呢？

The Luminous Room is a system

你可能得到的是像這個「光室」的東西。

in which it's considered that

光室是個

input and output spaces are co-located.

輸入和輸出的空間

That's a strangely simple,

重疊的系統。

and yet unexplored idea, right?

這是個極其簡單，

When you use a mouse, your hand is down here on the mouse pad.

卻還未有人研究的概念，對吧？

It's not even on the same plane as what you're talking about:

當你使用滑鼠時，你的手就在滑鼠上。

The pixels are up on the display.

你的手甚至與你所討論的東西不在同個平面上。

So here was a room in which all the walls, floors, ceilings,

那些像素是呈現在顯示器上。

pets, potted plants, whatever was in there,

這裡有個房間，裡面有所有的牆面，地板還有天花板，

were capable, not only of display but of sensing as well.

寵物，盆栽植物，還有其他有的沒的，

And that means input and output are in the same space

都能夠，不僅僅是用來顯示而已，同時也用來感測。

enabling stuff like this.

這意味著輸出和輸入可發生在同一空間，

That's a digital storage in a physical container.

讓這樣的事發生。

The contract is the same

這是在物理空間中的數位儲存體。

as with real word objects in real world containers.

反之亦然。

Has to come back out, whatever you put in.

就跟真實世界中的真實物體一樣。

This little design experiment

無論你輸入什麼，都可以拿出來。

that was a small office here knew a few other tricks as well.

這是個小小的設計實驗，

If you presented it with a chess board,

這是個小型辦公室，還能做些其他有趣的事。

it tried to figure out what you might mean by that.

如果你用西洋棋呈現的話，

And if there was nothing for them to do,

它會試著模擬出你可能的想法。

the chess pieces eventually got bored

如果他們沒有事可做，

and hopped away.

那這些西洋棋最後會覺得無聊

The academics who were overseeing this work

然後跳走。

thought that that was too frivolous,

在督導這項計畫的學術單位

so we built deadly serious applications

認為這很愚蠢，

like this optics prototyping workbench

所以我們做了相當正經的應用，

in which a toothpaste cap on a cardboard box

像是這個光學原型工作台，

becomes a laser.

我們把牙膏蓋放在厚紙板盒上，

The beam splitters and lenses are represented by physical objects,

做成一個雷射台。

and the system projects down the laser beam path.

分光器還有鏡片是以實物來呈現，

So you've got an interface that has no interface.

這個系統投影出雷射光的路線。

You operate the world as you operate the real world,

所以你有了沒有界面的界面。

which is to say, with your hands.

你操作這個虛擬世界就像是你在操作真實的世界，

Similarly, a digital wind tunnel with digital wind

也就是，用你自己的雙手。

flowing from right to left --

相同地，有著數位風的數位風洞，

not that remarkable in a sense; we didn't invent the mathematics.

由右至左吹過來。

But if you displayed that on a CRT or flat panel display,

從某個層面看沒那麼了不起;我們並沒有發明這其中的數學原理。

it would be meaningless to hold up an arbitrary object,

但如果你在 CRT 或平面面板上呈現，

a real world object in that.

隨意拿起一個物體，一個真實世界中的物體，

Here, the real world merges with the simulation.

就沒什麼意義了。

And finally, to pull out all the stops,

在這裡，真實的世界和虛擬的世界融合在一起。

this is a system called Urp, for urban planners,

最後，我們把剛提到的放在一起，

in which we give architects and urban planners back

這個系統叫做 Urp，專門為都市設計者所研發的，

the models that we confiscated

在這個系統中，

when we insisted that they use CAD systems.

我們提供建築師以及都市設計者模組，

And we make the machine meet them half way.

我們要求他們使用 CAD 系統。

It projects down digital shadows, as you see here.

我們做出這機器以滿足他們的需求。

And if you introduce tools like this inverse clock,

它可以投射出數位化陰影，就像你在這看到的。

then you can control the sun's position in the sky.

如果你啟用像這個反向時鐘的工具，

That's 8 a.m. shadows.

那你就可以控制天空中太陽的位置。

They get a little shorter at 9 a.m.

這是早上八點的陰影。

There you are, swinging the sun around.

到了九點會有點短。

Short shadows at noon and so forth.

就像這樣，任意移動太陽。

And we built up a series of tools like this.

中午影子更短，諸如此類的。

There are inter-shadowing studies

我們還設計了一系列像這樣的工具。

that children can operate,

還有一個連孩子都可以操作的

even though they don't know anything about urban planning:

互動陰影學習工具，

To move a building, you simply reach out your hand and you move the building.

即便他們不懂都市設計，

A material wand makes the building

想要移動一座建築物的話，只要伸出你的手，你就可以移動它。

into a sort of Frank Gehry thing that reflects light in all directions.

一根棒子就可以將一棟建築物

Are you blinding passers by and motorists on the freeways?

變成像是法蘭克•蓋瑞的作品，並反射出各個方向的光線。

A zoning tool connects distant structures, a building and a roadway.

這會不會讓路人還有高速公路上的汽車乘客覺得太刺眼了呢?

Are you going to get sued by the zoning commission? And so forth.

區域劃分工具可以連接地理位置上不相鄰的物體，將建築物還有道路連接起來。

Now, if these ideas seem familiar

可以看看你會不會被區域委員會控告等等之類的。

or perhaps even a little dated,

現在，如果這些想法有點耳熟

that's great; they should seem familiar.

或甚至有點過時，

This work is 15 years old.

這很好，因為你應該要對他們感到熟悉。

This stuff was undertaken at MIT and the Media Lab

這項計畫已進行十五年了。

under the incredible direction of Professor Hiroshi Ishii,

所以在石井裕教授英明的帶領下，

director of the Tangible Media Group.

麻省理工學院還有媒體實驗室一直都有這類的研究，

But it was that work that was seen

石井裕教授是 Tangible Media Group 的領導者。

by Alex McDowell,

亞歷克斯•麥克道爾發現了

one of the world's legendary production designers.

這個計劃，

But Alex was preparing a little, sort of obscure, indie, arthouse film

他是許多傳奇性產品的設計者。

called "Minority Report" for Steven Spielberg,

當時亞歷克斯正在為史蒂芬•史匹柏準備一部有點不好懂卻又獨樹一格的

and invited us to come out from MIT

科技藝術電影。

and design the interfaces

他邀請我們走出麻省理工學院

that would appear in that film.

並設計可在影片中

And the great thing about it was

出現的界面。

that Alex was so dedicated to the idea of verisimilitude,

最棒的事是

the idea that the putative 2054

亞歷克斯十分熱中於擬真這個想法，

that we were painting in the film be believable,

預設我們在片中所構想的 2054 年

that he allowed us to take on that design work

是有可能成真的，

as if it were an R&D effort.

亞歷克斯允許我們接手這項設計任務，

And the result is sort of

就好像這是個研發工作般。

gratifyingly perpetual.

結果還蠻令人

People still reference those sequences in "Minority Report"

相當滿意呢。

when they talk about new UI design.

當人們談到新的使用者界面設計，

So this led full circle, in a strange way,

仍然會參考在中的片段。

to build these ideas into what we believe

這形成了一個完整的循環，用一種特殊的方式，

is the necessary future of human machine interface:

建構出今天的這些新理念，

the Spatial Operating Environment, we call it.

我們相信這將是必然發生的未來人機界面，

So here we have a bunch of stuff, some images.

我們稱它為空間操作環境。

And, using a hand,

我們這裡有一些影像。

we can actually exercise six degrees of freedom,

接著，用一隻手，

six degrees of navigational control.

我們真的可以操作六個自由度，

And it's fun to fly through Mr. Beckett's eye.

六度的導航控制。

And you can come back out

飛過貝克先生的眼睛還蠻好玩的。

through the scary orangutan.

你還可以從可怕的紅毛猩猩前面

And that's all well and good.

退出來。

Let's do something a little more difficult.

這些都進行得非常順利。

Here, we have a whole bunch of disparate images.

我們再來做些有點難度的！

We can fly around them.

這裡，我們有一大堆不同的影像。

So navigation is a fundamental issue.

我們可以飛過他們。

You have to be able to navigate in 3D.

所以導航是個相當基本的條件。

Much of what we want computers to help us with in the first place

你必須要能在三度空間中導航。

is inherently spatial.

大部分我們一開始所希望電腦幫我們處理的是

And the part that isn't spatial can often be spatialized

內在空間。

to allow our wetware to make greater sense of it.

不是空間的部分時常可以轉為空間化，

Now we can distribute this stuff in many different ways.

讓我們人腦可以利用它做出更有意義的事。

So we can throw it out like that. Let's reset it.

現在我們可以用很多方法來分散這個東西。

We can organize it this way.

我們可以像這樣丟出去。 我們重新設置一下。

And, of course, it's not just about navigation,

我們可以這樣組合。

but about manipulation as well.

還有，當然，這不僅僅只是導航，

So if we don't like stuff,

還有牽扯到操控。

or we're intensely curious about

所以如果我們不喜歡這個東西，

Ernst Haeckel's scientific falsifications,

或是我們對恩斯特•海克爾的科學仿真

we can pull them out like that.

感到極度好奇，

And then if it's time for analysis, we can pull back a little bit

我們可以像這樣把他們拉出來。

and ask for a different distribution.

如果要做分析，我們可以退出一些，

Let's just come down a bit

然後用個不一樣的展示方式。

and fly around.

我們下來一點點，

So that's a different way to look at stuff.

然後飛一圈。

If you're of a more analytical nature

這又是另一個不一樣的方式來看這些東西。

then you might want, actually, to look at this

如果你有科學分析的特質，

as a color histogram.

那你可能會想，事實上，

So now we've got the stuff color-sorted,

把這個看成彩色的柱狀圖。

angle maps onto color.

所以我們把這些東西依據色彩來分類，

And now, if we want to select stuff,

把地圖彩色化。

3D, space,

現在，如果我們想要選擇像

the idea that we're tracking hands in real space

3D，空間這類的東西，

becomes really important because we can reach in,

我們在真實空間中移動手的軌跡

not in 2D, not in fake 2D, but in actual 3D.

就變得相當重要，因為我們可以控制的

Here are some selection planes.

並不是平面，也不是虛擬的平面，而是真實的三度空間。

And we'll perform this Boolean operation

這裡有一些供選擇的陳列版。

because we really love yellow and tapirs on green grass.

我們將進行這個布林運算

So, from there to the world of real work.

因為我們真的很喜歡黃色和在青草地上的貘。

Here's a logistics system,

所以，從那裏到真實存在的世界。

a small piece of one that we're currently building.

這裡有個後勤系統，

There're a lot of elements.

這是我們現在正建立的東西的一小部分。

And one thing that's very important is to combine traditional tabular data

有很多要素在裡面。

with three-dimensional and geospatial information.

其中有一個很重要的就是把傳統的表格數據

So here's a familiar place.

和三度空間還有地理空間資訊結合在一起。

And we'll bring this back here for a second.

這裡有個很熟悉的地方。

Maybe select a little bit of that.

我們把這個拉回來這裡一下。

And bring out this graph.

也許選一些那個。

And we should, now,

然後帶出這張圖表。

be able to fly in here

現在，我們應該

and have a closer look.

可以在這裡飛，

These are logistics elements

還可以再看近一點。

that are scattered across the United States.

這些是散布在整個美國

One thing that three-dimensional interactions

的物流要素。

and the general idea of imbuing

三度空間互動以及

computation with space affords you

完全的進入空間計算的基本概念

is a final destruction of that unfortunate

所提供給你的是

one-to-one pairing between human beings and computers.

徹底淘汰了不合時的

That's the old way, that's the old mantra:

人類與電腦一對一操作界面。

one machine, one human, one mouse, one screen.

這是老舊的方式，老舊的思維，對吧！

Well, that doesn't really cut it anymore.

一台機器，一個人類，一個滑鼠，一個螢幕。

In the real world, we have people who collaborate;

現在，不能光靠這些了。

we have people who have to work together,

所以在真實的世界中，我們有著跟我們合作的人，

and we have many different displays.

也有著和我們一起工作的人。

And we might want to look at these various images.

我們還有許多不同的展示方式。

We might want to ask for some help.

大家可能會想要看看這些不一樣的圖像。

The author of this new pointing device

我們可能會需要一些幫助。

is sitting over there,

這一套新的指向裝置的發明者

so I can pull this from there to there.

就坐在那裡，

These are unrelated machines, right?

所以我可以把這個從那拉到那裏。

So the computation is space soluble and network soluble.

這些是沒有關聯的機器，對吧！

So I'm going to leave that over there

所以這個計算是不受空間和網路限制的。

because I have a question for Paul.

我先把那些留在那裡，

Paul is the designer of this wand, and maybe its easiest

因為我有個問題要給保羅。

for him to come over here and tell me in person what's going on.

保羅是這魔杖的設計者，

So let me get some of these out of the way.

也許由他過來這裡親自告訴我到底發生什麼事是最簡單的了。

Let's pull this apart:

讓我先把這些東西移開。

I'll go ahead and explode it.

讓我先把這個拆開，