walking into a room,

我要各位去想像一個場景，

a control room with a bunch of people,

你走進了一個房間，

a hundred people, hunched over a desk with little dials,

這個控制室裡有一群人，

and that that control room

一百多人縮在布置着 各種小儀表盤的辦公桌前，

will shape the thoughts and feelings

而這間控制室，即將影響

of a billion people.

十億多人的想法與感受。

This might sound like science fiction,

這聽起來像是科幻小說，

but this actually exists

但它確實存在，

right now, today.

就在當下，今天。

I know because I used to be in one of those control rooms.

我會知道的原因，是因為 我也曾經是控制室裡的一員。

I was a design ethicist at Google,

我曾經是谷歌的倫理設計學家，

where I studied how do you ethically steer people's thoughts?

我在研究如何在符合道德的前提下， 控制人們的思想。

Because what we don't talk about is how the handful of people

因為我們不會去討論

working at a handful of technology companies

這幾家科技公司裡面的人

through their choices will steer what a billion people are thinking today.

會如何以他們的選擇意志 去控制十幾億人的想法。

Because when you pull out your phone

因為當你拿出手機時，

and they design how this works or what's on the feed,

因為當你拿出手機時，

it's scheduling little blocks of time in our minds.

他們已經設計好如何運作 或者要給你什麼資訊。

If you see a notification, it schedules you to have thoughts

它已經在我們的腦中 安排好很多小時段。

that maybe you didn't intend to have.

如果你看了通知， 這會促使你產生一個

If you swipe over that notification,

你也許不想要的想法。

it schedules you into spending a little bit of time

如果你跳過那個通知，

getting sucked into something

它就會讓你多花點時間

that maybe you didn't intend to get sucked into.

投入到你不想要的東西上，

When we talk about technology,

而你原本也許不想要 花時間在那上面。

we tend to talk about it as this blue sky opportunity.

當我們在談論科技時，

It could go any direction.

我們傾向於把它當作是 湛藍天空的機會。

And I want to get serious for a moment

它可以往任何方向發展。

and tell you why it's going in a very specific direction.

但我想認真地說，

Because it's not evolving randomly.

我要告訴各位， 為什麼科技正在往特定的方向發展。

There's a hidden goal driving the direction

因為科技的演變不是隨機的。

of all of the technology we make,

在我們所有創造的科技背後，

and that goal is the race for our attention.

都隱藏著一個特定目標，

Because every news site --

而那個目標就是 競相爭奪我們的注意力。

TED, elections, politicians,

因為每一個新網頁──

games, even meditation apps --

TED 網頁、選舉網頁、政客網頁、

have to compete for one thing,

遊戲網頁，甚至是冥想的應用軟體──

which is our attention,

都必須競爭同樣的東西，

and there's only so much of it.

也就是我們的注意力，

And the best way to get people's attention

但市場就這麼大。

is to know how someone's mind works.

而要獲得人們注意力的最佳方法，

And there's a whole bunch of persuasive techniques

就是去了解使用者的腦袋 是如何運作的。

that I learned in college at a lab called the Persuasive Technology Lab

有很多說服的技巧，

to get people's attention.

我是從大學的 「說服力技術實驗室」學來的，

A simple example is YouTube.

他們教你如何獲得別人的注意力。

YouTube wants to maximize how much time you spend.

一個簡單的例子就是 YouTube。

And so what do they do?

YouTube 想要最大化 你花費在他們網站的時間。

They autoplay the next video.

那他們會怎麼做？

And let's say that works really well.

他們會幫你自動撥放下一部片。

They're getting a little bit more of people's time.

這一招真的很有效，

Well, if you're Netflix, you look at that and say,

他們也因此得到 使用者更多的時間。

well, that's shrinking my market share,

但，如果你是 Netflix， 你看到了這樣的狀況，你會說，

so I'm going to autoplay the next episode.

不行，這樣會把我的客戶給搶走，

But then if you're Facebook,

所以，我也要自動播放下一集。

you say, that's shrinking all of my market share,

但如果你是 Facebook，

so now I have to autoplay all the videos in the newsfeed

你會說，那這樣我的市場 都被你們瓜分掉了，

before waiting for you to click play.

所以我會在你點擊播放按鍵前

So the internet is not evolving at random.

自動播放所有的影片給你看。

The reason it feels like it's sucking us in the way it is

所以，網際網路的演化不是隨機的。

is because of this race for attention.

它會讓你感覺欲罷不能的原因，

We know where this is going.

就是因為這場注意力的爭奪賽。

Technology is not neutral,

我們知道這會有什麼後果。

and it becomes this race to the bottom of the brain stem

因為科技不是中立的。

of who can go lower to get it.

這個競賽已變成

Let me give you an example of Snapchat.

看誰可以更深地滲入 使用者腦袋的比賽。

If you didn't know, Snapchat is the number one way

我跟各位舉個例子， Snapchat。

that teenagers in the United States communicate.

不知道各位是否了解， Snapchat 目前是

So if you're like me, and you use text messages to communicate,

美國年輕人之間， 最熱門的社交軟體。

Snapchat is that for teenagers,

所以，如果你們和我一樣， 有在用簡訊在與人交流，

and there's, like, a hundred million of them that use it.

應該知道 Snapchat 就是專門 設計給年輕人使用的，

And they invented a feature called Snapstreaks,

差不多將近有一億人在使用它。

which shows the number of days in a row

這家公司發明了一個叫做 Snapstreaks 的特色功能，

that two people have communicated with each other.

它會告訴你，

In other words, what they just did

你跟你朋友兩個人之間， 連續不間斷地聊了幾天。

is they gave two people something they don't want to lose.

換句話說，它們給予的是一種

Because if you're a teenager, and you have 150 days in a row,

兩人都捨不得放棄的東西。

you don't want that to go away.

因為，如果你是年輕人 而有著連續 150 天的聊天紀錄，

And so think of the little blocks of time that that schedules in kids' minds.

你不會想讓紀錄就此中斷的。

This isn't theoretical: when kids go on vacation,

所以想想孩子們 腦袋裡被設定好的時間模式。

it's been shown they give their passwords to up to five other friends

我沒在騙你：已經有人證實， 當孩子在度假時，

to keep their Snapstreaks going,

他們會把密碼給另外五位朋友，

even when they can't do it.

請他們幫忙維持 Snapstreaks 的聊天記錄，

And they have, like, 30 of these things,

就算他們不能用手機。

and so they have to get through taking photos of just pictures or walls

他們差不多有 30 種類似 這樣的東西要維護，

or ceilings just to get through their day.

所以他們每天要東拍拍、西拍拍

So it's not even like they're having real conversations.

拍牆壁、拍天花板， 不然當天他們會渾身不舒服。

We have a temptation to think about this

所以這根本不像是 他們在真正的交流。

as, oh, they're just using Snapchat

我們可能會這麽想，

the way we used to gossip on the telephone.

他們用 Snapchat 的方式

It's probably OK.

就像我們曾經用電話聊八卦一樣。

Well, what this misses is that in the 1970s,

應該還好吧！

when you were just gossiping on the telephone,

但，不同於 1970 年代的是：

there wasn't a hundred engineers on the other side of the screen

當你們用電話聊八卦時，

who knew exactly how your psychology worked

旁邊並沒有數百位工程師在監控你，

and orchestrated you into a double bind with each other.

準確地知道你的心理，

Now, if this is making you feel a little bit of outrage,

並操控著你們倆緊緊地綁在一起。

notice that that thought just comes over you.

如果現在你有點生氣了，

Outrage is a really good way also of getting your attention,

有沒有注意到，你生氣了？

because we don't choose outrage.

因為激怒你也是引起你 注意的方式之一，

It happens to us.

因為就算我們不想生氣，

And if you're the Facebook newsfeed,

它還是會發生。

whether you'd want to or not,

如果你是 Facebook 的新聞推送者，

you actually benefit when there's outrage.

不管你是刻意或是不經意，

Because outrage doesn't just schedule a reaction

人們憤怒的時候，實際上你是受益的。

in emotional time, space, for you.

因為憤怒不僅僅在 情感上讓你有個宣洩的出口，

We want to share that outrage with other people.

更提供了你一個發洩的空間。

So we want to hit share and say,

我們還會想和其他人 分享我們的憤怒。

"Can you believe the thing that they said?"

所以我們會按下分享鍵然後說，

And so outrage works really well at getting attention,

「你敢相信他們說的嗎？」

such that if Facebook had a choice between showing you the outrage feed

所以讓人發怒，可以吸引到注意力，

and a calm newsfeed,

所以，如果 Facebook 可以在

they would want to show you the outrage feed,

向你展示令人憤怒或者 令人平靜的消息之間進行選擇，

not because someone consciously chose that,

他們會選擇向你展示令人憤怒的消息，

but because that worked better at getting your attention.

不是因為有人刻意如此選，

And the newsfeed control room is not accountable to us.

只是因為這樣可以讓你 更注意到他們。

It's only accountable to maximizing attention.

新聞控制室不對我們負責。

It's also accountable,

它只對最大化注意力負責。

because of the business model of advertising,

它也要向──

for anybody who can pay the most to actually walk into the control room

因為商業模式的關係，

and say, "That group over there,

它也要向走進控制室 付廣告費的人負責，

I want to schedule these thoughts into their minds."

他們會說，「那個團體在那邊，

So you can target,

我想要灌輸一些想法到他們腦裡。」

you can precisely target a lie

所以你可以定位，

directly to the people who are most susceptible.

你可以準確直接定位到

And because this is profitable, it's only going to get worse.

那些最容易被受到影響的人。

So I'm here today

因為這是有利可圖的， 所以狀況只會越來越糟。

because the costs are so obvious.

所以我今天來到這裡的原因，

I don't know a more urgent problem than this,

是因為這件事的代價太高了。

because this problem is underneath all other problems.

我認為沒有其它事 比這問題還要緊急，

It's not just taking away our agency

因為其它所有問題的背後， 都與這個問題有關。

to spend our attention and live the lives that we want,

它不僅剝奪我們的自主權，

it's changing the way that we have our conversations,

還浪費我們的注意力， 影響我們的生活方式。

it's changing our democracy,

也改變了我們的交流方式，

and it's changing our ability to have the conversations

改變了我們的民主制度，

and relationships we want with each other.

而且還改變了我們 想要與他人交流、

And it affects everyone,

維持關係的能力。

because a billion people have one of these in their pocket.

這會影響到每一個人，

So how do we fix this?

因為十幾億人口的口袋裡 都有一台這個東西。

We need to make three radical changes

所以我們要如何修復這個問題？

to technology and to our society.

我們需要對科技和我們的社會

The first is we need to acknowledge that we are persuadable.

做三大激進的改變。

Once you start understanding

首先，我們需要了解 我們是會被說服的。

that your mind can be scheduled into having little thoughts

一旦你了解

or little blocks of time that you didn't choose,

人腦可以被有計劃性地 注入一些思想

wouldn't we want to use that understanding

或被占用掉一些時間時，

and protect against the way that that happens?

我們難道不會利用這點

I think we need to see ourselves fundamentally in a new way.

來防止這樣的事發生嗎？

It's almost like a new period of human history,

我認為我們需要以全新的方式審視自己。

like the Enlightenment,

就像是人類歷史上新的篇章，

but almost a kind of self-aware Enlightenment,

就像啟蒙運動，

that we can be persuaded,

但是是自覺性的啟蒙運動，

and there might be something we want to protect.

瞭解到我們是會被說服的，

The second is we need new models and accountability systems

並意識到我們也有想要保護的東西。

so that as the world gets better and more and more persuasive over time --

第二點是我們需要新的 模式和責任系統，

because it's only going to get more persuasive --

如此，當世界變得越來越好、 我們越來越容易被說服時──

that the people in those control rooms

因為它只會變得更有說服力──

are accountable and transparent to what we want.

這樣在控制室裡的那些人

The only form of ethical persuasion that exists

才會對我們想要的東西負責 並把它透明化。

is when the goals of the persuader

道德說服存在的唯一前提就是：

are aligned with the goals of the persuadee.

只有當說服者的目標

And that involves questioning big things, like the business model of advertising.

和被說服者的目標是一致時才存在。

Lastly,

而這涉及到對大型事件的質疑， 像是廣告的商業模式。

we need a design renaissance,

最後，

because once you have this view of human nature,

我們需要一個經過設計的 科技文藝復興，

that you can steer the timelines of a billion people --

因為一旦你對人性本質 有一定的了解，

just imagine, there's people who have some desire

那你就可以控制十億人的時間軸──

about what they want to do and what they want to be thinking

想像一下，人都會有一些慾望，

and what they want to be feeling and how they want to be informed,

會有想做的事、想思考的事、

and we're all just tugged into these other directions.

想感受的事物、想了解的事物，

And you have a billion people just tugged into all these different directions.

而我們卻只能被引導到其它方向。

Well, imagine an entire design renaissance

十億人只會被引導到這些不同的方向。

that tried to orchestrate the exact and most empowering

所以，試想一下 一個完整的文藝復興設計，

time-well-spent way for those timelines to happen.

可以幫助我們引導至 正確的、有自主性的、

And that would involve two things:

時間分配良好的路上。

one would be protecting against the timelines

那就得包含兩件事：

that we don't want to be experiencing,

一是我們要保護自己的時間軸

the thoughts that we wouldn't want to be happening,

不被支配到不想經歷的事情上、

so that when that ding happens, not having the ding that sends us away;

不去產生我們不想要的想法，

and the second would be empowering us to live out the timeline that we want.

如此，當簡訊的提醒聲響起時， 我們就不會被牽著鼻子走；

So let me give you a concrete example.

二是要讓我們能活出 自己想要的時光。

Today, let's say your friend cancels dinner on you,

我給各位舉個例子。

and you are feeling a little bit lonely.

比如說，今天你朋友取消了 與你的晚餐約會，

And so what do you do in that moment?

所以你感到有點寂寞。

You open up Facebook.

那當下你會做甚麼？

And in that moment,

你會打開 Facebook。

the designers in the control room want to schedule exactly one thing,

而就在那一刻，

which is to maximize how much time you spend on the screen.

控制室裡的設計者 想要準確地規劃一件事，

Now, instead, imagine if those designers created a different timeline

那就是最大化你盯著螢幕的時間。

that was the easiest way, using all of their data,

現在，反過來，想像一下， 是否這些設計師可以創造出一個

to actually help you get out with the people that you care about?

不一樣的時間軸，以最簡單的方法、 利用他們所有的數據，

Just think, alleviating all loneliness in society,

幫你準確地約出你關心的人？

if that was the timeline that Facebook wanted to make possible for people.

試想一下，消除社會中所有的寂寞，

Or imagine a different conversation.

這樣的時間軸不就是 Facebook 想要為我們實現的嗎？

Let's say you wanted to post something supercontroversial on Facebook,

或試想另一個對話。

which is a really important thing to be able to do,

比方說你想要在 Facebook 上 發表備受爭議的言論，

to talk about controversial topics.

你覺得這個爭議性話題很重要，

And right now, when there's that big comment box,

需要被拿出來討論。

it's almost asking you, what key do you want to type?

現在，有一個很大的留言區，

In other words, it's scheduling a little timeline of things

它就像是在問你， 你想要輸入什麽東西？

you're going to continue to do on the screen.

換句話說，它正在安排一些時間軸，

And imagine instead that there was another button there saying,

好讓你可以繼續待在螢幕上。

what would be most time well spent for you?

試想如果有另一個按鈕跳出來說，

And you click "host a dinner."

你想怎麼安排你的時間？

And right there underneath the item it said,

然後你點選，「舉辦一個晚餐的聚會」。

"Who wants to RSVP for the dinner?"

然後，底下就會跳出一個，

And so you'd still have a conversation about something controversial,

「有誰想要聚餐，請盡速回覆」？

but you'd be having it in the most empowering place on your timeline,

所以，你的爭議性話題 可以被繼續討論，

which would be at home that night with a bunch of a friends over

而且可以放置在你時間軸上 最顯眼的位置，

to talk about it.

那天晚上，你就可以邀請到一堆朋友

So imagine we're running, like, a find and replace

來你家裡晚餐並討論這個話題。

on all of the timelines that are currently steering us

想像我們正在賽跑， 想盡快找到並替換掉

towards more and more screen time persuasively

所有那些正在促使我們

and replacing all of those timelines

花越來越多的時間在螢幕上的時間軸，

with what do we want in our lives.

並盡快把這些時間軸

It doesn't have to be this way.

用我們在生活中想做的事情替代掉。

Instead of handicapping our attention,

真的不須要這樣。

imagine if we used all of this data and all of this power

不需要癱瘓我們的注意力，

and this new view of human nature

試想如果我們利用所有這些數據和能力，

to give us a superhuman ability to focus

加上對人性本質的全新認識，

and a superhuman ability to put our attention to what we cared about

來讓我們擁有超人般的注意力、

and a superhuman ability to have the conversations

讓我們更關心我們在乎的事情、

that we need to have for democracy.

讓我們擁有超人般的能力，

The most complex challenges in the world

來進行民主所需要的互動交流。

require not just us to use our attention individually.

世界上最複雜的挑戰，

They require us to use our attention and coordinate it together.

不僅需要我們每個人的注意力。

Climate change is going to require that a lot of people

也需要我們的同心協力才能克服。

are being able to coordinate their attention

地球暖化議題需要大家

in the most empowering way together.

一起使用最有力的方式

And imagine creating a superhuman ability to do that.

將所有人的注意力整合起來。

Sometimes the world's most pressing and important problems

試想如果有了這樣的超人能力會怎樣。

are not these hypothetical future things that we could create in the future.

有時世界上最要緊、最重要的問題

Sometimes the most pressing problems

不是未來我們可以創造的 假設性事物。

are the ones that are right underneath our noses,

有時最要緊的問題，

the things that are already directing a billion people's thoughts.

就是我們眼前的問題，

And maybe instead of getting excited about the new augmented reality

已經在影響著十億人思想的事情。

and virtual reality and these cool things that could happen,

與其花時間對擴增實境感到興奮、

which are going to be susceptible to the same race for attention,

對虛擬實境這類酷炫產品感到興奮──

if we could fix the race for attention

對這些注意力競賽的產品感到興奮──

on the thing that's already in a billion people's pockets.

不如把時間放在修正注意力競賽上，

Maybe instead of getting excited

修正十億人口袋裡的那台機器上。

about the most exciting new cool fancy education apps,

與其花時間對刺激、

we could fix the way kids' minds are getting manipulated

酷炫的教育軟體感到興奮，