This episode is supported by Prudential.

本片由 Prudential 贊助

[Music]

[配樂]

With more than 7 billion people on Earth and one car for every six of us,

地球上超過七十億人口，而平均每六個人就有一輛車

traffic is bad just about everywhere.

幾乎所有地方的交通都很糟

[HONKING]

[喇叭聲]

Last year, American drivers wasted nearly a million collective years staring at each other's tail-lights.

去年，美國駕駛浪費了共計將近一百萬年的時間在看別人的車尾燈

The average driver in London has it the worst,

平均起來倫敦的駕駛最慘

spending more than four days a year in gridlock.

每年花了超過四天的時間在大塞車

"There's Big Ben, kids! Parliament!"

「到大笨鐘了，孩子們！國會！」

But Earth is home to another great commuter, whose populations number in the trillions,

地球上有另一種厲害的通勤者，數量多達上兆

and they don't get stuck in traffic.

但他們不會塞車

An army ant's day is a lot like ours.

行軍蟻的生活和我們很像

Set off in the morning alongside thousands of our neighbors, moving out and back in neat little lines

從早上開始，上千個小鄰居在旁邊來回移動，排成整齊細小的隊伍

so we can provide for our brood…

好供養我們這一窩 ...

I mean family.

我的意思是家庭

Crowding, bottlenecks, slowpokes, ants face the same traffic challenges we do.

擁擠、瓶頸、龜速，螞蟻和我們面臨相同的交通挑戰

But they don't get in traffic jams, which is why scientists are looking to them for solutions to human traffic.

但他們不會塞車，這正是為什麼科學家從牠們身上找尋解決人類交通問題的方法

In a perfect world cars could pack in bumper-to-bumper and drive at that magic speed,

理想上車子可以一輛接著一輛並以這種神奇的速度行駛

but we're not perfect.

但我們不是完美的

One wrong tap on the gas or brakes, and OH COME ON!

油箱或是剎車的一個小問題，然後拜託！

GET MOVING!

繼續走！

When speed and density hit a tipping point, jams are inevitable.

當速度和密度達到尖峰時，塞車是無可避免的

Yet in the ant world, traffic jams don't happen, even when things get crowded.

但是在螞蟻的世界，根本不會塞車，即使是很擁擠的時候

The easiest solution to an overcrowded road is to make it bigger.

改善過擠道路的最簡單辦法就是拓寬道路

But ants can't just cut trails as wide as they want.

但是螞蟻不會把路徑隨意延展成牠們想要的寬度

Wider roads take time and energy to maintain,

因為加寬的路徑需要更多時間與精力去維護

and the pheromones that mark them become weaker.

而且標記的費洛蒙也會變弱

Instead, ants get organized.

因此，螞蟻是有組織的

It might not look like it, but there's lanes here.

可能看不出來，但這裡有路徑

Ants headed back to the colony loaded up with food use the center lane,

帶著食物回巢的螞蟻使用中間的線道

while outbound ants stay to the edges.

而出巢的螞蟻用兩側的線道

Why three lanes and not two, like our roads?

為什麼是三線道，而不是像我們的雙線道？

When two ants are on a collision course, eventually one's gotta give.

當兩隻螞蟻碰到彼此時，其中一個要讓步

The loaded inbound ants are less maneuverable,

背著東西回巢的螞蟻比較比較沒機動性

so the empty-handed ant almost always turns first,

所以兩手空空的螞蟻通常會先轉彎

half the time to either side.

有一半的機會走到任何一側

And voila! Three lanes, no crashes, no traffic jams.

你瞧！三線道，沒有衝突，不會塞車

If you think you're so different from an army ant, pay attention next time you're in a busy crosswalk.

如果你覺得自己和行軍蟻不同，下次留意一下在繁忙路口的自己

We naturally form similar lanes in crowds,

我們自然地形成類似的路徑

mindless individuals contributing to a larger pattern.

每個人無意識地構成了更大的型態

But put us behind the wheel, and this happens.

但是當我們開車的時候，就會這樣

[HONKING]

[喇叭聲]

There's a simple reason we hate traffic.

我們痛恨塞車的原因很簡單

Because we hate waiting in line.

因為我們討厭排隊等候

Queueing up plays weird tricks on our brains' sense of time.

排隊會對欺騙大腦對時間的感受

Occupied time feels shorter than unoccupied time.

忙碌的時間感覺起來比閒置的時間還要快

This is why people listen to the radio, or play that license plate game.

這就是人們聽廣播或是玩車牌遊戲的原因

And it's the same reason supermarkets put magazines in the checkout lines.

這也和超市會在結帳區放雜誌的道理一樣

Ever been late for a big meeting and felt like the universe is standing in your way?

你曾經有重要會議遲到了，而且還覺得全世界都在擋你的路嗎？

Anxiety makes waits seem longer.

焦慮會讓等待變得更漫長

Ever been in a traffic jam with no obvious cause?

你有過幽靈塞車的經驗嗎？

The worst.

那是最糟的

Uncertain or unexplained waits are longer than known or explained waits.

不明確或沒道理的等待比有原因的等待更漫長

But traffic engineers have learned that simple information signs can change how we experience delays.

不過交通工程師發現，簡單的訊息就可以改變我們對時間拖延的感受

But more than anything else, we hate unfair waits.

除此之外，我們討厭不公平的等待

You see a sign that says "lane closed ahead",

當你看到「前方車道縮減」的號誌

so you get over with plenty of time to spare,

度過瓶頸後你就會省下很多時間

only to see some jerk zip past you and get over at the last second.

不過有個飆仔在最後一刻衝到你前面

What… you can't wait like the rest of us, Mr. Hurrypants?

蛤！你就不能像其他人一樣慢慢等嗎，急性子先生？

Quick side note.

快速補充說明

Gonna let you in on a little secret.

告訴你一個小秘密

Traffic researchers have found that late merging is actually better.

研究交通的專家發現合併車道其實比較好

If everyone drives up to the bottleneck and goes one-by-one like a zipper,

如果大家到瓶頸路口都交叉合併，像拉鍊一樣

traffic moves up to 15% faster.

交通速度最多可以快 15%

We use both lanes at max capacity, no one gets cheated, everyone wins!

最大容量時，我們都用同一個車道，沒有人例外，大家都是贏家

The more you know.

你又知道更多知識了

And where were we?

我們到哪裡了？

Oh yeah.

喔對！

Our innate sense of "what's fair" leads to the biggest psychological illusion that we experience on the road.

我們天生對於「公平」的直覺，導致開車時心理上嚴重的錯覺

Why does traffic always move faster in the other lane?

為什麼總是覺得別的車道比較快？

Well, spoilers first : It doesn't.

破梗一下 : 其實不是這樣

Let's say two cars enter your standard stop-and-go traffic jam side by side.

我們假設兩台車在塞車的標準車陣中並列

Let's count the time each one spends passing versus getting passed.

我們來計時，看看被超越以及超越別人的時間

One driver zips past a few cars in the other lane,

其中一台超了幾台車切到另一個車道

only to stop and wait and watch other cars pass.

又要停下來等其它車經過

And then go!

又走了一段

WOO HOO!

唷呼！

And then wait.

等一下

Even if the two cars cross some invisible finish line together, the same way they started,

即使兩輛車並列於無形的起點，並同時起步

each driver will feel like they spent more time being passed than passing,

駕駛會覺得被別人超越的時間比起超越別人的時間還要多

because they did.

因為真的是這樣

Our brains pay more attention to the losses than the gains.

比起收穫，我們的大腦更在意損失

All of this points to the real problem with traffic.

這就是交通的實際問題

(It's) Our ego.

是我們的自我

Human drivers care about minimizing their travel time

駕駛們在意的是把行車時間減到最少

and don't give two honks about what other drivers want.

一點都不在乎其他駕駛想怎樣

"Driving slower may be faster for everyone else, but it's not faster for me!"

「慢慢開車可能對有些人來說比較快，但對我來說不是！」

"I don't care if we all get where we're going at the same time,

「我不在意大家都在同一個時間抵達

I don't like being passed!"

我只是不喜歡被超越！」

When leaf-cutter ants get stuck on a twig behind a heavily-loaded slowpoke,

當切葉蟻被搬重物的緩速螞蟻堵在樹梢

do they honk and yell bad ant words?

牠們有按喇叭或是飆髒話嗎？

No!

沒有！

They simply slow down and march behind the ant returning with the goods,

牠們只是放慢速度，然後排在搬著物資回巢的螞蟻後面

because that's what's best for the group.

因為這麼做對團體是最好的

Worker ants are all related and working toward the same goal, the good of the colony.

工蟻之間息息相關，為的是共同的目標，群體利益

That's the cooperative genetic programming that underlies their awesome traffic systems.

基因遺傳著互助合作的本能，成為牠們優秀交通系統的基礎

The fact that we have big, complicated brains is the very reason that we get stuck in traffic

事實上就是我們複雜的大腦把我們困在車陣裡

and ants don't.

而螞蟻卻不會

We think of traffic as something that happens to us rather than admitting we are the problem.

我們認為難免會碰上塞車，而不承認問題在我們身上

Ants are essentially tiny machines with simple programming.

螞蟻本質上就是程式簡單的小機器人

Put them on a trail with a few rules, allow individuals to communicate and interact with each other,

把牠們放在規則簡單的道路上，讓牠們彼此溝通互動

and voila, you've got complex traffic networks running at near-maximum efficiency.

你看，複雜的交通網絡幾乎以最高效率運作

Sound familiar?

似曾相識嗎？

It should!

應該的！

That's basically what we'll get when we stop letting our egos drive

基本上我們只要停止帶著自我開車

and put traffic in the hands of a network of self-driving cars optimized to serve the collective good.

並把方向盤自動駕駛系統就可以最大化全體的利益

Sure, sentient machines may enslave humanity,

當然，有感知的機器人可能會奴役人類

but at least they'll cut down on our commute!

但是它們至少不會中斷我們的交通

But that's a video for another day.

但那是改天的影片了

Stay curious.

保持好奇

Thanks to Prudential for sponsoring this episode.

感謝 Prudential 對這支影片的贊助

Saving a little more today, even just one percent more of your annual income,

每天省下多一點，即使只是你每年的百分之一

can go a long way toward building a better retirement tomorrow.

都有助於建立良好的退休生活

Let's do a math equation.

來題數學題

Say a 25 year-old that earns $40,000 a year is planning on retiring at 70.

有一個 25 歲的人每年賺 4 萬元，並打算在 70 歲退休

If they save an additional 1% of their salary by deducting $33 from their monthly paycheck

如果他們將 1% 的薪水存下來，也就是每個月扣除 33 塊錢

and earn 6% compounding interest,

然後獲得 6% 的複合利息

they could increase their retirement savings by about $97,944.

他們退休時儲存金將增加到 97,944 元

You can go to RaceForRetirement.com for more information.

你可以到 RaceForRetirement.com 找到更多相關資訊