about 10 blocks from here.

距離這裡有十個街區。

This is the Grand Cafe here in Oxford.

這是牛津的「偉人咖啡館」。

I took this picture because this turns out to be

我為它照相的原因是那裡原本

the first coffeehouse to open

是全英格蘭第一家咖啡館，

in England in 1650.

開幕於 1650 年。

That's its great claim to fame,

這造就了它的廣大名氣。

and I wanted to show it to you,

而我要說它的故事，

not because I want to give you the kind of Starbucks tour

不是因為要帶你們進行一場老英格蘭的

of historic England,

星巴克之旅，

but rather because

而是因為

the English coffeehouse was crucial

英國的咖啡館是

to the development and spread

知識發展的重要關鍵，

of one of the great intellectual flowerings of the last 500 years,

過去五百年間，偉大知識在此茁壯，

what we now call the Enlightenment.

今日我們稱此為「啟蒙時代」。

And the coffeehouse played such a big role

而咖啡館就在啟蒙運動萌芽期間

in the birth of the Enlightenment,

扮演一個非常重要的角色，

in part, because of what people were drinking there.

有部份是因為人們都會聚集在這裡用餐飲。

Because, before the spread

因為在咖啡與茶

of coffee and tea through British culture,

普遍英國文化之前，

what people drank -- both elite and mass folks drank --

人們 —— 不論精英還是平民 ——

day-in and day-out, from dawn until dusk

從早晨到黃昏，從日出到日落，

was alcohol.

都是喝酒的。

Alcohol was the daytime beverage of choice.

酒精是屬於白天的飲品。

You would drink a little beer with breakfast and have a little wine at lunch,

你會以一點啤酒配早餐，紅酒配午餐，

a little gin -- particularly around 1650 --

而少量琴酒 —— 特別在 1650 年代，

and top it off with a little beer and wine at the end of the day.

將此混合一點啤酒及紅酒是一天結束時的飲品。

That was the healthy choice -- right --

在那個時候算是個健康的選擇，沒錯，

because the water wasn't safe to drink.

因為當時的水質太差而不適飲用。

And so, effectively until the rise of the coffeehouse,

而實際上，咖啡館興起的時候，

you had an entire population

幾乎所有人

that was effectively drunk all day.

都願意整天在那裡灌咖啡。

And you can imagine what that would be like, right, in your own life --

而你能想像那是什麼樣子，對，在你的生活中 ——

and I know this is true of some of you --

我知道你們有些人真的就是這樣 ——

if you were drinking all day,

如果你整天在咖啡館暢飲，

and then you switched from a depressant to a stimulant in your life,

你的日子會一直在沉靜和興奮之間轉換，

you would have better ideas.

你就會有好靈感。

You would be sharper and more alert.

你的思考會更為清晰警覺。

And so it's not an accident that a great flowering of innovation happened

所以完全不意外地，思想的大綻放是基於

as England switched to tea and coffee.

茶和咖啡飲品開始盛行於英格蘭。

But the other thing that makes the coffeehouse important

而讓咖啡館佔有重要地位的要素還有

is the architecture of the space.

建築的空間。

It was a space where people would get together

咖啡館是個讓不同背景的人們

from different backgrounds,

聚集在一起的空間，

different fields of expertise, and share.

大家會分享不同領域的知識。

It was a space, as Matt Ridley talked about, where ideas could have sex.

這是一個空間，就像 Matt Ridley 說的那樣，思想交配的地方。

This was their conjugal bed, in a sense --

某方面來說，咖啡館就是思想的洞房。

ideas would get together there.

各方的思想會在此交合。

And an astonishing number of innovations from this period

而這時期的創新達到一個驚人的數量，

have a coffeehouse somewhere in their story.

正因為人們的生活有一家咖啡館。

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about coffeehouses

最近五年，我不斷思索關於咖啡館

for the last five years,

的種種事聞，

because I've been kind of on this quest

因為我一直在探討

to investigate this question

這樣一個問題：

of where good ideas come from.

偉大思想是怎麼誕生的。

What are the environments

什麼樣的環境

that lead to unusual levels of innovation,

能引發革新及創造力

unusual levels of creativity?

至非凡的境界？

What's the kind of environmental --

這樣的環境會有什麼要素 ——

what is the space of creativity?

簡言之，什麼是有創造力的空間？

And what I've done is

而我的作法是

I've looked at both environments like the coffeehouse;

觀察像咖啡館那樣的環境；

I've looked at media environments, like the world wide web,

有引發爆炸性革新的媒體環境，

that have been extraordinarily innovative;

像全球資訊網。

I've gone back to the history of the first cities;

我回到城市最初發展史；

I've even gone to biological environments,

我還去了生物的環境，

like coral reefs and rainforests,

如珊瑚礁及熱帶雨林，

that involve unusual levels of biological innovation;

它們在生物學的創新表現也相當不凡。

and what I've been looking for is shared patterns,

我一直尋找的是他們共同的模式，

kind of signature behavior that shows up

這些環境重複顯現的，

again and again in all of these environments.

標誌性的特徵。

Are there recurring patterns that we can learn from,

是否有一種我們可以借鑒的模式

that we can take and kind of apply to our own lives,

讓我們採用來改善人類全體的生活，

or our own organizations,

或是組織，

or our own environments to make them more creative and innovative?

或是讓我們的環境更加創意及新穎？

And I think I've found a few.

我覺得我已經發現了幾個。

But what you have to do to make sense of this

但你必須釐清這種創新模式，

and to really understand these principles

而且，如果要真正瞭解這些原則，

is you have to do away

你得避免循著傳統模式走，

with a lot of the way in which our conventional metaphors and language

包括我們習慣的隱喻以及語言，

steers us towards

傳統模式一直限制著

certain concepts of idea-creation.

我們現今對於「創意」的概念。

We have this very rich vocabulary

我們有非常多的詞彙

to describe moments of inspiration.

來形容瞬間的靈感。

We have the kind of the flash of insight,

例如「靈光一閃」、

the stroke of insight,

「當頭棒喝」，

we have epiphanies, we have "eureka!" moments,

有「頓悟」，也有 "Eureka!" （大發現），

we have the lightbulb moments, right?

我們還會以發亮的燈泡形容靈感，對吧？

All of these concepts,

這些概念，

as kind of rhetorically florid as they are,

戴著華麗修辭形式，

share this basic assumption,

都表達出一個基本設想，

which is that an idea is a single thing,

一個思想，是獨立的事物，

it's something that happens often

這種事總是會在

in a wonderful illuminating moment.

神奇的啟蒙時刻來臨。

But in fact, what I would argue and what you really need to kind of begin with

但實際上，我會主張，而且是你應該先知道的 ——

is this idea that an idea is a network

一個思想就是一個網路，

on the most elemental level.

在最基本的概念上是如此。

I mean, this is what is happening inside your brain.

我的意思是，靈感是你大腦內發生的事。

An idea -- a new idea -- is a new network of neurons

一個新思想就是神經元建立的新網路，

firing in sync with each other inside your brain.

你大腦內的神經元會互相同步反應。

It's a new configuration that has never formed before.

這是一個前所未有的新結構。

And the question is: how do you get your brain into environments

而關鍵的問題是：如何讓你的大腦進入

where these new networks are going to be more likely to form?

更容易形成新網路的環境？

And it turns out that, in fact, the kind of network patterns of the outside world

而事實證明，這種對外網路的模式

mimic a lot of the network patterns

模仿很多

of the internal world of the human brain.

人類心智的網路模式。

So the metaphor I'd like the use

所以我想以此來比喻

I can take

它是來自

from a story of a great idea that's quite recent --

一個偉大想法的故事，相當現代 ——

a lot more recent than the 1650s.

比 1650 年代來講現代很多。

A wonderful guy named Timothy Prestero,

有個超棒的夥伴叫 Timothy Prestero，

who has a company called ... an organization called Design That Matters.

有家公司，或是說組織，叫做 "Design that Matters" （切實的設計）。

They decided to tackle this really pressing problem

他們決定解決一個迫切的問題，

of, you know, the terrible problems we have with infant mortality rates

像是開發中國家面對的糟糕問題：

in the developing world.

嬰兒死亡率。

One of the things that's very frustrating about this is that we know,

其中一件令人沮喪的事，我們知道

by getting modern neonatal incubators

透過現代的嬰兒保育器

into any context,

在任何情況下，

if we can keep premature babies warm, basically -- it's very simple --

基本上只要為早產兒做好保暖措施 —— 這很簡單 ——

we can halve infant mortality rates in those environments.

我們就能在相同環境下，減少一半的嬰兒死亡率。

So, the technology is there.

所以，就是這個技術，

These are standard in all the industrialized worlds.

這個技術是已開發國家的標準設施。

The problem is, if you buy a $40,000 incubator,

問題是，如果你買個四萬美元的保育器，

and you send it off

把它送到非洲

to a mid-sized village in Africa,

的一個中等規模的村落，

it will work great for a year or two years,

它會良好運作一至兩年

and then something will go wrong and it will break,

然後會故障、失修，

and it will remain broken forever,

再也不堪使用。

because you don't have a whole system of spare parts,

因為缺乏整個系統的備件，

and you don't have the on-the-ground expertise

也沒有在地的專家

to fix this $40,000 piece of equipment.

來維修這四萬美元的設備。

And so you end up having this problem where you spend all this money

所以最後會有這個問題：援助基金用來

getting aid and all these advanced electronics to these countries,

資助這些先進電子產品到開發中國家，

and then it ends up being useless.

到頭來完全派不上用場。

So what Prestero and his team decided to do

所以 Prestero 以及他的團隊決定這麼做，

is to look around and see: what are the abundant resources

他們觀察周圍環境：在這些開發中國家

in these developing world contexts?

有什麼豐富的資源？

And what they noticed was they don't have a lot of DVRs,

他們發現這些地方沒有什麼錄影機，

they don't have a lot of microwaves,

也沒有微波爐，

but they seem to do a pretty good job of keeping their cars on the road.

但那裡的汽車，似乎運作得還不錯。

There's a Toyota Forerunner

豐田 "Forerunner" SUV 車

on the street in all these places.

在這些地方很普遍。

They seem to have the expertise to keep cars working.

當地的人們看來是有一定水準的汽車保養知識。

So they started to think,

所以他們開始構想，

"Could we build a neonatal incubator

「我們能做出一種完全

that's built entirely out of automobile parts?"

由汽車零件所組成的保育器嗎？」

And this is what they ended up coming with.

而這是他們最後的成品。

It's called a "neonurture device."

這叫「新型保育設備」。

From the outside, it looks like a normal little thing

外表看來像是你會在

you'd find in a modern, Western hospital.

歐美的現代醫院看到的設備。

In the inside, it's all car parts.

而裡面全都是汽車零件。

It's got a fan, it's got headlights for warmth,

它有風扇、保暖用的頂燈，

it's got door chimes for alarm --

還有開門警示鈴。

it runs off a car battery.

它的動力是汽車蓄電池。

And so all you need is the spare parts from your Toyota

因此你只需要豐田的備件

and the ability to fix a headlight,

就能夠修理它的頂燈

and you can repair this thing.

以及保養整個機器。

Now, that's a great idea, but what I'd like to say is that, in fact,

對，這是個很棒的點子。但我要說，事實上，

this is a great metaphor for the way that ideas happen.

這個點子本身也是一個很好的比方。

We like to think our breakthrough ideas, you know,

我們喜歡有突破性的想法，你知道，

are like that $40,000, brand new incubator,

就像四萬美元的全新款保育器，

state-of-the-art technology,

全國最先進的技術，

but more often than not, they're cobbled together

但更多的想法則是從周圍的事物

from whatever parts that happen to be around nearby.

擷取一小部份後，拼湊起來的。

We take ideas from other people,

我們汲取他人的思想，

from people we've learned from, from people we run into in the coffee shop,

從我們的老師，或是在咖啡店交談的朋友們，

and we stitch them together into new forms and we create something new.

而我們將這些小零件融合出一個新形式，創造新的事物。

That's really where innovation happens.

這就是創新的由來。

And that means that we have to change some of our models

這代表我們必須改變對「創新」的既定概念

of what innovation and deep thinking really looks like, right.

以及深思創新的本質，沒錯。

I mean, this is one vision of it.

現在我們有一個例子。

Another is Newton and the apple, when Newton was at Cambridge.

另一個是牛頓，以及在劍橋那棵蘋果樹。

This is a statue from Oxford.

這是位於牛津的牛頓像。

You know, you're sitting there thinking a deep thought,

你知道，你坐在那裡進行沉思，

and the apple falls from the tree, and you have the theory of gravity.

然後一顆蘋果從樹上掉下來，你就發現地心引力了。

In fact, the spaces that have historically led to innovation

事實上，這歷史性的創新發源地

tend to look like this, right.

會看起來像這樣，沒錯。

This is Hogarth's famous painting of a kind of political dinner at a tavern,

這是威廉·賀加斯的名畫，主題是酒館內的政治應酬，

but this is what the coffee shops looked like back then.

但這表現了當時咖啡館的樣貌。

This is the kind of chaotic environment

這是一種混雜的環境，

where ideas were likely to come together,

讓各方想法聚集一堂，

where people were likely to have

在此聚集的人們會有

new, interesting, unpredictable collisions -- people from different backgrounds.

新穎、有趣、不可預測的交流 —— 來自不同背景。

So, if we're trying to build organizations that are more innovative,

所以，如果我們試著建立具有創意的組織，

we have to build spaces that -- strangely enough -- look a little bit more like this.

我們需要多一點像這酒館一樣的空間，很怪沒錯。

This is what your office should look like,

你們的辦公室也該是這樣，

is part of my message here.

這是我想表達的意思之一。

And one of the problems with this is that

而對於此，其中一個問題是

people are actually -- when you research this field --

人們實際上 —— 當你研究這個領域就會發現 ——

people are notoriously unreliable,

人是非常不可靠的，

when they actually kind of self-report

當他們自己表述

on where they have their own good ideas,

在哪裡產生好點子，

or their history of their best ideas.

或是他們偉大思想的故事時，尤其是如此。

And a few years ago, a wonderful researcher named Kevin Dunbar

而在幾年前，一個很優秀的研究者 Kevin Dunbar，

decided to go around

決定出去走走，

and basically do the Big Brother approach

他決定用老大哥（小說《1984》中的獨裁人物）的方法

to figuring out where good ideas come from.

來找出最好的思想是如何誕生的。

He went to a bunch of science labs around the world

他走訪世界各地的科學實驗室，

and videotaped everyone

並且錄影實驗室成員

as they were doing every little bit of their job.

的工作細節。

So when they were sitting in front of the microscope,

所以，當實驗室成員使用顯微鏡時，

when they were talking to their colleague at the water cooler, and all these things.

或是和同事談論水冷卻器時，以至於全部的工作，

And he recorded all of these conversations

他都錄下了對話，

and tried to figure out where the most important ideas,

並試著找出最重要的想法

where they happened.

發生的那一刻。

And when we think about the classic image of the scientist in the lab,

當我們想像實驗室科學家的傳統形象時，

we have this image -- you know, they're pouring over the microscope,

我們就會想到，科學家守著顯微鏡，

and they see something in the tissue sample.

並觀察組織樣本內的細節。

And "oh, eureka," they've got the idea.

然後，「喔，我發現了！」靈光一現。

What happened actually when Dunbar kind of looked at the tape

實際上，Dunbar 在錄影帶中發現的

is that, in fact, almost all of the important breakthrough ideas

是這樣，幾乎所有重大突破的靈感

did not happen alone in the lab, in front of the microscope.

並不是在實驗室中、顯微鏡前誕生的。

They happened at the conference table

靈感都是誕生在

at the weekly lab meeting,

實驗室每週的會議中，

when everybody got together and shared their kind of latest data and findings,

當大家聚在一起，並分享他們最新的資料以及發現時，

oftentimes when people shared the mistakes they were having,

時常也會有人報告他們的錯誤、

the error, the noise in the signal they were discovering.

故障，他們發現的狀況。

And something about that environment --

還有一些和環境有關的事，

and I've started calling it the "liquid network,"

而我稱它為「液態網路」，

where you have lots of different ideas that are together,

聚集各方思想的網路，

different backgrounds, different interests,

各色的背景，各色的志趣，

jostling with each other, bouncing off each other --

互相衝撞，互相對映 ——

that environment is, in fact,

這種環境，事實上

the environment that leads to innovation.

就是引發創新的最佳環境。

The other problem that people have

另外一個問題是，人們傾向於

is they like to condense their stories of innovation down

將他們的創新故事濃縮到

to kind of shorter time frames.

較短的時間範圍。

So they want to tell the story of the "eureka!" moment.

所以他們要說明自己的發現時，

They want to say, "There I was, I was standing there

他們會想說「我只是在站在那裡，

and I had it all suddenly clear in my head."

然後我就瞭解了。」

But in fact, if you go back and look at the historical record,

但實際上，如果你回朔過往的紀錄，