and since that time, brain science has become

18 年前我動了大腦手術，

a personal passion of mine.

從那個時候開始，大腦科學變成了

I'm actually an engineer.

我的一個個人愛好。

And first let me say, I recently joined

我其實是個工程師。

Google's Moonshot group,

首先我想說，我最近加入了

where I had a division,

谷歌的「科技登月」計畫， （Google X Moonshots）

the display division in Google X,

在那裏我有個部門，

and the brain science work I'm speaking about today

谷歌實驗室的顯示器部門，

is work I did before I joined Google

今天我要說的大腦科學，

and on the side outside of Google.

是我在加入谷歌之前的工作，

So that said, there's a stigma

以及不涉及谷歌的方面的事情。

when you have brain surgery.

所以有這麼一個汙名，

Are you still smart or not?

就是當妳進行了大腦手術，

And if not, can you make yourself smart again?

妳是不是依舊聰明？

After my neurosurgery,

如果不是，妳能再次變得聰明嗎？

part of my brain was missing,

在我的神經外科手術後，

and I had to deal with that.

我大腦的一部份遺失了，

It wasn't the grey matter, but it was the gooey part dead center

而且我需要解決這個問題。

that makes key hormones and neurotransmitters.

那一部份並不是灰質， 而是那個黏糊糊的死點，

Immediately after my surgery,

生產關鍵的荷爾蒙 和神經傳導物質的部分。

I had to decide what amounts of each of over

我的手術一結束，

a dozen powerful chemicals to take each day,

我需要決定

because if I just took nothing,

每天攝入多少那些強效的化學藥品。

I would die within hours.

因為如果我什麽都不做，

Every day now for 18 years -- every single day --

那我會在幾個小時以後死去

I've had to try to decide the combinations

18 年來的每一天，真的是每一天，

and mixtures of chemicals,

我不得不去決定如何組合 並且混合各種化學藥品，

and try to get them, to stay alive.

同時我也要獲取它們， 以便我能維持生命。

There have been several close calls.

曾經有幾次我已經幾乎面對死亡。

But luckily, I'm an experimentalist at heart,

但幸運地是， 我的本質是一個實驗者，

so I decided I would experiment

所以我決定我要通過實驗

to try to find more optimal dosages

去嘗試找出最佳的劑量，

because there really isn't a clear road map

因為這之前並沒有 一個清晰明確指導

on this that's detailed.

關於各種細節的介紹。

I began to try different mixtures,

我開始嘗試不同的混合，

and I was blown away by how

我已經強烈的感受到

tiny changes in dosages

一點點的劑量變化

dramatically changed my sense of self,

會戲劇性的改變我的 自我感知能力，

my sense of who I was, my thinking,

我對我自己的感受，我的思考，

my behavior towards people.

以及對待別人的行為。

One particularly dramatic case:

我有一個非常戲劇性的例子，

for a couple months I actually tried dosages

在幾個月的時間中我真的試驗了

and chemicals typical of a man in his early 20s,

給 20 歲出頭的男性 所用的藥品及劑量。

and I was blown away by how my thoughts changed.

而我被我自己的想法 因此改變而震驚。

(Laughter)

（笑~）

I was angry all the time,

那時我一直很生氣，

I thought about sex constantly,

我時常會想到性，

and I thought I was the smartest person

並且我覺得自己是世界上

in the entire world, and

是最聰明的人，

—(Laughter)—

（笑~）

of course over the years I'd met guys kind of like that,

當然這幾年我遇到了 一些很類似的傢伙

or maybe kind of toned-down versions of that.

或者說比那種稍微低調一點的人。

I was kind of extreme.

我其實是有點極端。

But to me, the surprise was,

但是對我而言，令我震驚的是

I wasn't trying to be arrogant.

我並不是去嘗試變得傲慢。

I was actually trying,

我實際上是在嘗試

with a little bit of insecurity,

帶著一點不安

to actually fix a problem in front of me,

去解決擺在我面前的問題，

and it just didn't come out that way.

只是結果總是不像我所設想的一樣。

So I couldn't handle it.

所以我並沒有辦法解決。

I changed my dosages.

我改變了我用藥的劑量。

But that experience, I think, gave me

但是那段經歷，我認為，讓我對於

a new appreciation for men

男人以及他們所經歷的一切 有了新的評價，

and what they might walk through,

所以從那時開始，

and I've gotten along with men

我和他們相處地更好了。

a lot better since then.

我想嘗試的是

What I was trying to do

去調節這樣的一些荷爾蒙，

with tuning these hormones

以及神經傳導物質等等，

and neurotransmitters and so forth

去恢復我的智力水平，

was to try to get my intelligence back

在我生病並且手術之後，

after my illness and surgery,

以及我那些我充滿創意的想法。

my creative thought, my idea flow.

並且我是以圖像思考的人，

And I think mostly in images,

所以對我而言這是一個重要的指標，

and so for me that became a key metric --

如何獲得這些心智圖像，

how to get these mental images

你也可以這樣說，讓我快速建立

that I use as a way of rapid prototyping,

我的想法原型的圖像，

if you will, my ideas,

嘗試各種新想法，

trying on different new ideas for size,

推演不同的情節。

playing out scenarios.

這種想法並不新鮮。

This kind of thinking isn't new.

哲學家像休謨、笛卡兒以及霍布斯，

Philiosophers like Hume and Descartes and Hobbes

也有著相同的想法。

saw things similarly.

他們覺得心智圖像以及想法

They thought that mental images and ideas

其實是一樣的東西。

were actually the same thing.

現今有很多懷疑這樣的觀點，

There are those today that dispute that,

也有很多關於心智如何工作的辯論，

and lots of debates about how the mind works,

但是對我而言，這很簡單：

but for me it's simple:

心智圖像，對大多數我們而言，

Mental images, for most of us,

其實是發明以及創造性想法的中心。

are central in inventive and creative thinking.

所以很多年後，

So after several years,

我調整好了我自己， 並且擁有了很多很好、

I tuned myself up and I have lots of great,

非常生動，有著各種複雜的心智圖像，

really vivid mental images with a lot of sophistication

並且有很多分析支撐著這樣的觀點。

and the analytical backbone behind them.

我現在開始研究，

And so now I'm working on,

我如何才能將我大腦裡的心智圖像

how can I get these mental images in my mind

更快速的顯示在我的電腦螢幕上？

out to my computer screen faster?

你能夠想像，這麼說吧，

Can you imagine, if you will,

一個電影的導演能夠只用

a movie director being able to use

她大腦的想像力去操縱 她眼前的世界的想法？

her imagination alone to direct the world in front of her?

或者一個音樂家 直接從頭裡取得音樂？

Or a musician to get the music out of his head?

這種方式創造出不可思議的可能性

There are incredible possibilities with this

對於那些有創造性的人們而言

as a way for creative people

他們可以以光速來分享他們的想法。

to share at light speed.

但事實上，有待突破的瓶頸是，

And the truth is, the remaining bottleneck

想實現這樣的效果

in being able to do this

必須提高腦部斷層掃描的解析度。

is just upping the resolution of brain scan systems.

現在讓我展示爲什麽我認為 我們幾乎已經成功了，

So let me show you why I think we're pretty close to getting there

通過我們最近的兩個實驗，

by sharing with you two recent experiments

來自我們兩個頂尖的神經學小組。

from two top neuroscience groups.

他們都採用了 fMRI 技術，

Both used fMRI technology --

也就是功能性核磁共振造影

functional magnetic resonance imaging technology --

去給大腦成像，

to image the brain,

這裡有一組從哈佛的喬治·甘尼斯

and here is a brain scan set from Giorgio Ganis

以及他的同事得到的大腦掃描圖。

and his colleagues at Harvard.

左手邊的一列顯示了大腦的掃描圖，

And the left-hand column shows a brain scan

是一個人正在看一張圖片的時候掃描的。

of a person looking at an image.

中間這一列顯示的大腦掃描圖

The middle column shows the brainscan

是同樣的一個人

of that same individual

去想像那張圖片的時候掃描的。

imagining, seeing that same image.

右邊的這一列圖則是

And the right column was created

用左邊的圖減去中間的圖的結果，

by subtracting the middle column from the left column,

你可以發現幾乎沒有差別。

showing the difference to be nearly zero.

已經在很多人身上做了這個實驗

This was repeated on lots of different individuals

得到大量不同的圖片，

with lots of different images,

都得到了相同的結果。

always with a similar result.

看一張圖以及

The difference between seeing an image

想像同一張圖

and imagining seeing that same image

大腦幾乎沒有變化。

is next to nothing.

接下來讓我分享另外的一個實驗，

Next let me share with you one other experiment,

來自柏克萊的傑克·格蘭特的實驗室

this from Jack Gallant's lab at Cal Berkeley.

他們能夠解密腦電波，

They've been able to decode brainwaves

轉化成可以辨認的視場。

into recognizable visual fields.

讓我來為你解釋這個。

So let me set this up for you.

在這個試驗中，我們給每個人

In this experiment, individuals were shown

播放了上百小時 YouTube 的影片

hundreds of hours of YouTube videos

同時掃描著他們的大腦，

while scans were made of their brains

並且根據大腦的反應 建立一個龐大的數據庫，

to create a large library of their brain reacting

依照影片的順序。

to video sequences.

然後我們播放有著新圖像，

Then a new movie was shown with new images,

新人物，新動物的新電影，

new people, new animals in it,

並且記錄了新的一系列掃描結果。

and a new scan set was recorded.

而電腦則使用之前的 大腦掃描數據庫

The computer, using brain scan data alone,

對這個新的大腦掃描圖解碼，

decoded that new brain scan

並且展示電腦認為 人們看見的圖像。

to show what it thought the individual was actually seeing.

在右手邊，你可以看見電腦的猜測，

On the right-hand side, you see the computer's guess,

左手邊則是我們提供的影片片段。

and on the left-hand side, the presented clip.

這樣的結果是令人震驚的。

This is the jaw-dropper.

我們就要成功的實現這樣的技術，

We are so close to being able to do this.

我們要做的只是去提高解析度。

We just need to up the resolution.

現在請記住當你看到一張圖片

And now remember that when you see an image

同時當你想像同樣的圖片的時候，

versus when you imagine that same image,

它會產生相同的大腦變化。

it creates the same brain scan.

這是用現今可得的最高解析度

So this was done with the highest-resolution

大腦掃描系統得到的結果

brain scan systems available today,

它們的解析度最近幾年都是

and their resolution has increased really

以千倍的速度增長。

about a thousandfold in the last several years.

下一步我們需要再一次

Next we need to increase the resolution

以千倍的速度提高解析度，

another thousandfold

以獲得更深層次的變化。

to get a deeper glimpse.

那我們應該如何做呢？

How do we do that?

現在有很多科學方法 可以用於實現。

There's a lot of techniques in this approach.

一種方法是打開 你的腦殼並放入電極。

One way is to crack open your skull and put in electrodes.

我並不支持這種方法。

I'm not for that.

現在有很多新的成像技術

There's a lot of new imaging techniques

正在開發，有些則是由我負責，

being proposed, some even by me,

想到最近 MRI（核磁共振成像） 的成功，

but given the recent success of MRI,

首先我們要問的是，

first we need to ask the question,

這項科技已經走到了盡頭嗎？

is it the end of the road with this technology?

傳統意義上講，只有採用更大的磁體

Conventional wisdom says the only way

才能產生更高解析度的圖片，

to get higher resolution is with bigger magnets,

但是所謂更大的磁體

but at this point bigger magnets

只能夠持續改進成像解析度，

only offer incremental resolution improvements,

而不是我們所需要的千倍提高。

not the thousandfold we need.

我們有這樣的一個想法：

I'm putting forward an idea:

不要使用大型的磁體，

instead of bigger magnets,

而是採用更好的磁體。

let's make better magnets.

現在有一些技術 能夠取得突破性的進展，

There's some new technology breakthroughs

在納米科技中，

in nanoscience

當對磁體的結構進行改造，

when applied to magnetic structures

就能產生一個全新級別的磁體，

that have created a whole new class of magnets,

當使用這些磁體的時候，我們可以

and with these magnets, we can lay down

在大腦中產生 非常精細的磁場圖案

very fine detailed magnetic field patterns

並且通過這樣的技術，我們可以產生

throughout the brain,

如全像攝影般的干涉結構，

and using those, we can actually create

便能精確地控制不同的圖案，

holographic-like interference structures

就像這裡通過移動 而展示出來的效果。

to get precision control over many patterns,

我們可以創造更多複雜的結構，

as is shown here by shifting things.

通過一點點不同的排列安排

We can create much more complicated structures

就像製作呼吸運動記錄器。

with slightly different arrangements,

爲什麽這個這麼重要？

kind of like making Spirograph.

這些年來在 MRI（核磁共振成像）的努力，

So why does that matter?

已經取得了巨大的成果，

A lot of effort in MRI over the years

非常大的磁體，對不對？

has gone into making really big,

但是近些年來在解析度上的進步

really huge magnets, right?

實際上來自

But yet most of the recent advances

在 MRI （核磁共振成像）系統中

in resolution have actually come from

對調頻信號頻率的傳輸和接收

ingeniously clever encoding and decoding solutions

巧妙的加密和解密的方法。

in the F.M. radio frequency transmitters and receivers

同樣的，我們不採用標準的磁場，

in the MRI systems.

而是記下有結構磁性的圖案

Let's also, instead of a uniform magnetic field,

以及所對應的調頻信號頻率。

put down structured magnetic patterns

通過結合磁性的圖案

in addition to the F.M. radio frequencies.

以及調頻信號頻率中產生的圖案，

So by combining the magnetics patterns

一次掃描所提取的資訊 取得了巨大的進展

with the patterns in the F.M. radio frequencies

在僅僅的一次掃描中。

processing which can massively increase

最重要的是，我們可以將

the information that we can extract

我們持續增長的 大腦結構和記憶分層，

in a single scan.

產生我們所需要的成千倍的增長。

And on top of that, we can then layer

使用 fMRI（功能性磁共振成像）， 我們不僅僅能夠測量

our ever-growing knowledge of brain structure and memory

血液含氧量，

to create a thousandfold increase that we need.

還有我之前說的荷爾蒙 以及神經傳導物質，

And using fMRI, we should be able to measure

甚至是直接的神經活動，

not just oxygenated blood flow,

就是我們所說的夢。

but the hormones and neurotransmitters I've talked about

我們能夠實現將我們的想法

and maybe even the direct neural activity,

直接轉換為數位媒體資訊。

which is the dream.

你能想像我們能夠不使用語言

We're going to be able to dump our ideas

而直接通過人類的思想進行交流嗎？

directly to digital media.

那我們還能再做甚麼？

Could you imagine if we could leapfrog language

我們要如何學習處理

and communicate directly with human thought?

未篩選的人類想法中真實的內容？

What would we be capable of then?

你們認為網路的問題很大。

And how will we learn to deal

這些都是很大的問題。

with the truths of unfiltered human thought?

這可能是一個不可抵擋的工具

You think the Internet was big.

用來放大你的想法以及交流的技能。

These are huge questions.

確實，也就是這個相同的工具

It might be irresistible as a tool

可能是解決

to amplify our thinking and communication skills.

阿茲海默症以及 相似的疾病的方法。

And indeed, this very same tool

我們別無選擇，只能打開這扇門

may prove to lead to the cure

無論如何，隨便選一年，

for Alzheimer's and similar diseases.

5 年後還是 15 年後?

We have little option but to open this door.

很難想像這會花費太多時間。

Regardless, pick a year --

我們需要學習 如何一起走過這一步。

will it happen in five years or 15 years?

謝謝。

It's hard to imagine it taking much longer.

（掌聲~）

We need to learn how to take this step together.

Thank you.

(Applause)