Good afternoon.

（音樂）

As you're all aware, we face difficult economic times.

午安。

I come to you with a modest proposal

你們都知道，我們面對著艱難的經濟時代。

for easing the financial burden.

我來這裡提出一個謙卑的建議

This idea came to me while talking to

來減輕財政負擔。

a physicist friend of mine at MIT.

這個想法是在我和一位麻省理工學院

He was struggling to explain something to me:

的物理學家朋友聊天時產生的。

a beautiful experiment that uses lasers to cool down matter.

他正在竭力向我解釋

Now he confused me from the very start,

一個美麗的實驗：利用鐳射冷卻物質。

because light doesn't cool things down.

他從一開始就把我弄糊塗了，

It makes it hotter. It's happening right now.

因為光不會降溫。

The reason that you can see me standing here is because

光會加熱。像是現在。

this room is filled with more than 100 quintillion photons,

你可以看到我站在這裡的原因 是因為

and they're moving randomly through the space, near the speed of light.

這個房間裡充滿了超過一萬兆顆光子，

All of them are different colors,

它們在空間中以接近光速隨機移動。

they're rippling with different frequencies,

它們是不同顏色的，

and they're bouncing off every surface, including me,

他們有不同的頻率，

and some of those are flying directly into your eyes,

且他們在各個表面間反彈，包括我在內，

and that's why your brain is forming an image of me standing here.

其中一些會直接進入你的眼睛，

Now a laser is different.

這就是為什麼你的大腦 形成我站在這裡的圖像。

It also uses photons, but they're all synchronized,

鐳射是不一樣的。

and if you focus them into a beam,

它也使用光子，但它們是同步的，

what you have is an incredibly useful tool.

且如果你把它們集中成一束，

The control of a laser is so precise

你就有個非常有用的工具。

that you can perform surgery inside of an eye,

鐳射可以非常精確地被控制，

you can use it to store massive amounts of data,

讓你可以執行眼內手術，

and you can use it for this beautiful experiment

你可以使用它來存儲大量的資料，

that my friend was struggling to explain.

你也可以使用它做這個

First you trap atoms in a special bottle.

我的朋友正在竭力解釋的美麗實驗。

It uses electromagnetic fields to isolate the atoms

首先你將原子捕捉在特別的瓶子當中。

from the noise of the environment.

它使用電磁場來孤立原子

And the atoms themselves are quite violent,

及環境中的雜訊。

but if you fire lasers that are precisely tuned to the right frequency,

原子本身是相當暴力的，

an atom will briefly absorb those photons

但如果你非常精確地 調整到合適的頻率，

and tend to slow down.

原子會暫時吸收這些光子

Little by little it gets colder

而且往往會慢下來。

until eventually it approaches absolute zero.

慢慢地它會變冷

Now if you use the right kind of atoms and you get them cold enough,

直到最終接近絕對零度。

something truly bizarre happens.

現在，如果你使用合適的原子且讓它們夠冷，

It's no longer a solid, a liquid or a gas.

非常奇怪的事情會發生。

It enters a new state of matter called a superfluid.

它不再是固體、 液體或氣體。

The atoms lose their individual identity,

它進入一個叫作超流體的新狀態。

and the rules from the quantum world take over,

原子失去了他們原來的特質，

and that's what gives superfluids such spooky properties.

接著量子世界的規則接管它們，

For example, if you shine light through a superfluid,

這是賦予超流體怪異特質的原因。

it is able to slow photons down

例如，如果你將光線通過超流體，

to 60 kilometers per hour.

它可以減緩光子速度

Another spooky property is that it flows

到每小時 60 公里。

with absolutely no viscosity or friction,

另一個怪異的特質是它

so if you were to take the lid off that bottle,

以一種完全沒有粘度及摩擦的方式流動，

it won't stay inside.

所以，如果你把瓶子的蓋子拿走，

A thin film will creep up the inside wall,

它不會留在裡面。

flow over the top and right out the outside.

一層薄膜會爬上牆內側，

Now of course, the moment that it does hit the outside environment,

流到上面並流到外面。

and its temperature rises by even a fraction of a degree,

現在很顯然的，當它到外部環境的時候，

it immediately turns back into normal matter.

它的溫度僅僅上升一點點，

Superfluids are one of the most fragile things we've ever discovered.

它馬上變回正常的物質。

And this is the great pleasure of science:

超流體是我們迄今發現最脆弱的東西之一。

the defeat of our intuition through experimentation.

這是科學的極大樂趣：

But the experiment is not the end of the story,

我們透過實驗發現我們的直覺是不成立的。

because you still have to transmit that knowledge to other people.

但實驗不是這故事的結尾，

I have a Ph.D in molecular biology.

因為你仍然要將知識傳給其它人。

I still barely understand what most scientists are talking about.

我有個分子生物學的博士學位。

So as my friend was trying to explain that experiment,

我仍只能勉強明白大多數科學家正在談論的東西。

it seemed like the more he said,

所以，當我的朋友試著解釋這個實驗時，

the less I understood.

感覺起來像他說得越多，

Because if you're trying to give someone the big picture

我懂得越少。

of a complex idea, to really capture its essence,

因為如果你想給某人 一個複雜概念的大架構，

the fewer words you use, the better.

要真正捕捉其本質，

In fact, the ideal may be to use no words at all.

那麼用越少字越好。

I remember thinking, my friend could have explained

事實上，最理想的是根本不用字。

that entire experiment with a dance.

我記得當時在想，我的朋友能夠

Of course, there never seem to be any dancers around when you need them.

用舞蹈解釋整個實驗。

Now, the idea is not as crazy as it sounds.

當然，當你需要舞者的時候身邊總是沒有舞者。

I started a contest four years ago called Dance Your Ph.D.

這個想法沒有聽起來這麼瘋狂。

Instead of explaining their research with words,

我四年前開始一個叫作「舞出你的博士」的比賽。

scientists have to explain it with dance.

科學家用舞蹈而不是文字，

Now surprisingly, it seems to work.

來解釋它的研究。

Dance really can make science easier to understand.

意想不到的是，似乎是辦得到的。

But don't take my word for it.

舞蹈真的可以讓科學更容易理解。

Go on the Internet and search for "Dance Your Ph.D."

但不要直接相信我的話。

There are hundreds of dancing scientists waiting for you.

到網路上搜索「舞出你的博士」。

The most surprising thing that I've learned while running this contest

有數以百計的舞蹈科學家們在等著你。

is that some scientists are now working directly with dancers on their research.

我在辦這個比賽時最令我驚訝的是

For example, at the University of Minnesota,

有些科學家現在正直接與舞者們作研究。

there's a biomedical engineer named David Odde,

例如，在明尼蘇達大學

and he works with dancers to study how cells move.

有位叫 David Odde 的生物醫學工程師，

They do it by changing their shape.

和舞者合作研究細胞的移動方式。

When a chemical signal washes up on one side,

他們透過改變形狀來這麼做。

it triggers the cell to expand its shape on that side,

當一個化學信號從一側出現，

because the cell is constantly touching and tugging at the environment.

它會在那一側引發一系列的形狀改變，

So that allows cells to ooze along in the right directions.

因為細胞是不斷與環境互動的。

But what seems so slow and graceful from the outside

這使細胞可以沿著正確的方向滲出。

is really more like chaos inside,

但從外面看來如此緩慢和優雅的事情，

because cells control their shape with a skeleton of rigid protein fibers,

在裡面可是非常混沌的，

and those fibers are constantly falling apart.

因為細胞用硬質蛋白纖維骨架來維持其形狀，

But just as quickly as they explode,

且這些纖維組織不斷地解散。

more proteins attach to the ends and grow them longer,

但正當它們炸開的時候，

so it's constantly changing

更多蛋白質連接到尾端並將其增長，

just to remain exactly the same.

所以它不斷地在變化

Now, David builds mathematical models of this and then he tests those in the lab,

才能維持原狀。

but before he does that, he works with dancers

David 建立數學模型，然後在實驗室測試，

to figure out what kinds of models to build in the first place.

但在他測試之前，他與舞者們合作

It's basically efficient brainstorming,

來建造這些模型。

and when I visited David to learn about his research,

基本上這是有效的集思廣益，

he used dancers to explain it to me

且當我訪問 David 來了解他的研究時，

rather than the usual method: PowerPoint.

他用舞蹈來給我解釋

And this brings me to my modest proposal.

而不是用常用的方法：PowerPoint。

I think that bad PowerPoint presentations

這就回到我謙卑的建議。

are a serious threat to the global economy.

我認為不好的 PowerPoint 演講

(Laughter) (Applause)

是對全球經濟的嚴重威脅。

Now it does depend on how you measure it, of course,

（笑聲）（掌聲）

but one estimate has put the drain at 250 million dollars per day.

當然這要看你如何衡量它，

Now that assumes half-hour presentations

但一項估計每天損失約 2 億 5000 萬美金。

for an average audience of four people

那是假定半小時的演講，

with salaries of 35,000 dollars,

觀眾約四人，

and it conservatively assumes that

每人薪水 35,000 美元，

about a quarter of the presentations are a complete waste of time,

且它保守估計

and given that there are some apparently

約有四分之一的演講是完全浪費時間的，

30 million PowerPoint presentations created every day,

有鑒於一天大約有

that would indeed add up to an annual waste

3 千萬個 PowerPoint 演講產生，

of 100 billion dollars.

這樣會累積成每年

Of course, that's just the time we're losing

一千億美金的損失。

sitting through presentations.

當然，這只是我們聽演講

There are other costs, because PowerPoint is a tool,

所浪費的時間。

and like any tool, it can and will be abused.

還有其他費用，因為 PowerPoint 是一個工具，

To borrow a concept from my country's CIA,

就像任何其它工具，它可以被濫用。

it helps you to soften up your audience.

借用我國中央情報局的概念，

It distracts them with pretty pictures, irrelevant data.

它可以幫你讓聽眾放鬆。

It allows you to create the illusion of competence,

它用漂亮的圖片和無關的資料來分散注意力，

the illusion of simplicity,

它創造一個完整的幻象、

and most destructively, the illusion of understanding.

一個簡易的假像，

So now my country is 15 trillion dollars in debt.

更糟的是建造一個認知的錯覺。

Our leaders are working tirelessly to try and find ways to save money.

所以現在我的國家有 15 兆美元的債務。

One idea is to drastically reduce public support for the arts.

我們的領導人努力地尋找省錢的方法。

For example, our National Endowment for the Arts,

其中一個是大量減少藝術的支援。

with its $150 million budget,

例如，國家藝術基金會有

slashing that program would immediately reduce the national debt

一億五千萬元的預算，

by about one one-thousandth of a percent.

砍掉這個預算可以馬上減少國家債務

One certainly can't argue with those numbers.

的千分之一個百分比。

However, once we eliminate public funding for the arts,

這當然是個不爭的事實。

there will be some drawbacks.

然而，一旦我們移除藝術發展的公共資金，

The artists on the street will swell the ranks of the unemployed.

會有一些缺點。

Many will turn to drug abuse and prostitution,

街上的藝術家會大幅增加失業人口。

and that will inevitably lower property values in urban neighborhoods.

大部份會轉去吸毒和賣淫，

All of this could wipe out the savings we're hoping to make in the first place.

無法避免地，土地價值將降低。

I shall now, therefore, humbly propose my own thoughts,

這一切可能花去我們原本想要的儲蓄金。

which I hope will not be liable to the least objection.

所以我現在要謙卑地提出我的想法，

Once we eliminate public funding for the artists,

希望不會有任何反對。

let's put them back to work

當我們移除藝術家的公共資金時，

by using them instead of PowerPoint.

我們讓他們重新投入工作，

As a test case, I propose we start with American dancers.

就是使用他們而不用 PowerPoint。

After all, they are the most perishable of their kind,

作為測試案例，我提議我們從用美國的舞者開始。

prone to injury and very slow to heal

畢竟，他們是同類中最容易凋零的，

due to our health care system.

容易受傷且 由於我們的衛生保健制度

Rather than dancing our Ph.Ds,

傷勢癒合緩慢。

we should use dance to explain all of our complex problems.

不只是跳我們的博士研究，

Imagine our politicians using dance

我們應該用舞蹈來解釋所有我們複雜的問題。

to explain why we must invade a foreign country

想像一下我們的政治家用舞蹈

or bail out an investment bank.

來解釋為什麼我們必須侵入外國

It's sure to help.

或紓困一家投資銀行。

Of course someday, in the deep future,

這一定有幫助的。

a technology of persuasion

當然很久後的某一天，

even more powerful than PowerPoint may be invented,

一種比 PowerPoint 更強大地說服技術

rendering dancers unnecessary as tools of rhetoric.

可能會被發明，

However, I trust that by that day,

讓舞者不再被需要用作為演講工具。

we shall have passed this present financial calamity.

不過，我相信當那天到來時，

Perhaps by then we will be able to afford the luxury

我們應該已經過了現在的金融風暴。

of just sitting in an audience

或許那時後我們能夠奢侈地

with no other purpose

只坐在觀眾席、

than to witness the human form in motion.

沒有其他目的地

(Music)

欣賞人體運動。

(Applause)

（音樂）