演講者：尤瓦爾·諾亞·赫拉利 (Yuval Noah Harari)

2015年，《人類簡史：從動物到上帝》的作者 尤瓦爾·赫拉利 在TED做了一個相關演講。

What explains the rise of humans？ ?為什么人類會崛起？

Seventy thousand years ago, our human ancestors were insignificant animals, just minding their own business in a corner of Africa with all the other animals. But now, few would disagree that humans dominate planet Earth; we've spread to every continent, and our actions determine the fate of other animals (and possibly Earth itself). How did we get from there to here? Historian Yuval Noah Harari suggests a surprising reason for the rise of humanity.

七萬年前，我們的人類祖先是微不足道的動物，和其他所有動物一樣，在非洲一角，只管他們自己的事。但是現在，很少有人會不同意人類主宰地球；人類的足跡已經遍及每個大陸，我們的行為決定了其他動物（可能還有地球本身）的命運。我們是如何從那時到現在的？歷史學家尤瓦爾·諾亞·赫拉利（Yuval Noah Harari）提出了人類崛起的一個令人驚訝的原因。

因為十分贊同演講中的觀點，所以整理了演講稿雙語版，供大家閱讀并思考

Yuval Noah Harari: 《What explains the rise of humans?》

尤瓦爾·諾亞·赫拉利：《為什么人類會崛起？》 演講稿雙語版

00:01

Seventy-thousand (70,000) years ago, our ancestors were insignificant animals. The most important thing to know about prehistoric humans is that they were unimportant. Their impact on the world was not much greater than that of jellyfish or fireflies or woodpeckers. Today, in contrast, we control this planet. And the question is: How did we come from there to here? How did we turn ourselves from insignificant apes, minding their own business in a corner of Africa, into the rulers of planet Earth?

七萬年前，我們的先祖只是無足輕重的動物。關于史前人類所要了解的最重要的事是他們并不重要。 他們對這個世界的影響，并不比水母、螢火蟲或啄木鳥大。 今天, 我們卻稱霸這個星球。 所以問題是：我們是怎么實現這一步的呢？ 我們是如何把自己從 在非洲的一角自生自滅、毫不起眼的人猿，變成地球主宰者的呢？

00:39

Usually, we look for the difference between us and all the other animals on the individual level. We want to believe -- I want to believe -- that there is something special about me, about my body, about my brain, that makes me so superior to a dog or a pig, or a chimpanzee. But the truth is that, on the individual level, I'm embarrassingly similar to a chimpanzee. And if you take me and a chimpanzee and put us together on some lonely island, and we had to struggle for survival to see who survives better, I would definitely place my bet on the chimpanzee, not on myself. And this is not something wrong with me personally. I guess if they took almost any one of you, and placed you alone with a chimpanzee on some island, the chimpanzee would do much better.

通常，我們會在個體水平上尋找我們與其它所有動物的差異。我們想要相信 － 我想要相信，我有與眾不同之處，我的身體、我的大腦，讓我比狗、豬，或是黑猩猩更高等。 但事實卻是尷尬的，在個體層面上，我和黑猩猩很相似。并且如果把我和一頭黑猩猩放在孤島上，我們必須努力生存以便比較我們之間誰能生存的更好，我一定會賭是黑猩猩，而不是我自己。 這不是我個人的問題， 我猜如果把你們中的任何一個人和一頭黑猩猩一起放在孤島上， 黑猩猩幾乎絕對會生存得好很多。

01:38

The real difference between humans and all other animals is not on the individual level; it's on the collective level. Humans control the planet because they are the only animals that can cooperate both flexibly and in very large numbers. Now, there are other animals -- like the social insects, the bees, the ants -- that can cooperate in large numbers, but they don't do so flexibly. Their cooperation is very rigid. There is basically just one way in which a beehive can function. And if there's a new opportunity or a new danger, the bees cannot reinvent the social system overnight. They cannot, for example, execute the queen and establish a republic of bees, or a communist dictatorship of worker bees.

讓人類與其它動物分別開來的根本特質，不是在個體層面上，而是在群體層面上。人類能稱霸這個星球是因為他們是唯一可以靈活大規(guī)模合作的動物。 有一些其它動物，像那些社會性昆蟲，蜜蜂、螞蟻，它們也可以大規(guī)模地合作，但沒有像我們這么靈活。它們的合作方式十分死板。 蜂巢總是用同一種方式運轉。如果出現了新的機遇或危險，蜜蜂也無法很快改造他們的社會系統(tǒng)。比如說，它們無法處死蜂后并建立蜜蜂共和國，或工蜂領導的共產主義專政。

02:32

Other animals, like the social mammals, the wolves, the elephants, the dolphins, the chimpanzees… ?they can cooperate much more flexibly, but they do so only in small numbers, because cooperation among chimpanzees is based on intimate knowledge, one of the other. I'm a chimpanzee and you're a chimpanzee, and I want to cooperate with you. I need to know you personally. What kind of chimpanzee are you? Are you a nice chimpanzee? Are you an evil chimpanzee? Are you trustworthy? If I don't know you, how can I cooperate with you?

其他的動物，像群居的哺乳類動物， 比如 狼、大象、海豚、黑猩猩，它們可以更靈活地合作，但只能是小規(guī)模的， 因為黑猩猩合作的基礎是相互之間的熟悉。 要是你我都是黑猩猩，我想和你合作，我需要先了解你。你是哪種黑猩猩？ 好的黑猩猩？ 還是壞的黑猩猩？ 你值得信賴嗎？ 如果我不了解你， 我怎么和你合作呢？

03:09

The only animal that can combine the two abilities together and cooperate both flexibly and still do so in very large numbers is us, Homo sapiens. One versus one, or even 10 versus 10, chimpanzees might be better than us. But, if you put 1,000 humans against 1,000 chimpanzees, the humans will win easily, for the simple reason that a thousand chimpanzees cannot cooperate at all. And if you now try to cram 100,000 chimpanzees into Oxford Street, or into Wembley Stadium, or Tiananmen Square or the Vatican, you will get chaos, complete chaos. Just imagine Wembley Stadium with 100,000 chimpanzees. Complete madness.

唯一能將這兩種能力結合在一起，能靈活地大規(guī)模合作的動物，是我們——智人。 一對一，甚至十對十， 黑猩猩也許比我們強。 ?但是，如果你讓1000個人類對抗1000個黑猩猩，人類將輕易獲勝。因為一個簡單的原因，一千只黑猩猩根本無法合作。并且如果你嘗試把十萬頭黑猩猩放進牛津大街、或溫布利體育場、或天安門廣場、或梵蒂岡， 那兒絕對會陷入混亂，完全混亂。 想象一下，溫布利體育館里有十萬只黑猩猩，完全是瘋了。

04:00

In contrast, humans normally gather there in tens of thousands, and what we get is not chaos, usually. What we get is extremely sophisticated and effective networks of cooperation. All the huge achievements of humankind throughout history, whether it's building the pyramids or flying to the moon, have been based not (only) on individual abilities, but on this ability to cooperate flexibly in large numbers.

相比之下，經常會有幾萬人聚集在那里，通常產生的也不是混亂，反而是極其復雜和有效的合作網絡。人類歷史上所有的巨大成就，無論是建造金字塔還是登月（飛向月球），都不（僅僅）是基于個體能力，而是基于大規(guī)模靈活合作的能力。

04:31

Think even about this very talk that I'm giving now: I'm standing here in front of an audience of about 300 or 400 people, most of you are complete strangers to me. Similarly, I don't really know all the people who have organized and worked on this event. I don't know the pilot and the crew members of the plane that brought me over here, yesterday, to London. I don't know the people who invented and manufactured this microphone and these cameras, which are recording what I'm saying. I don't know the people who wrote all the books and articles that I read in preparation for this talk. And I certainly don't know all the people who might be watching this talk over the Internet, somewhere in Buenos Aires or in New Delhi.

甚至想想我現在正在進行的這個演講：我站在三四百個人面前，你們中的大多數我完全不認識。同樣地，我也真的不認識所有組織和為這個活動工作的人。 我不認識昨天帶我飛抵倫敦的飛行員和機組人員。我不認識發(fā)明和制造 這些正在記錄我的演講的麥克風和攝像機的人。我也不認識，在準備這個演講時，我所讀的所有書籍和文章的作者。 我當然也不知道，可能在布宜諾斯艾利斯或是在新德里，通過網絡觀看這個演講的人。

05:24

Nevertheless, even though we don't know each other, we can work together to create this global exchange of ideas. This is something chimpanzees cannot do. They communicate, of course, but you will never catch a chimpanzee traveling to some distant chimpanzee band to give them a talk about bananas or about elephants, or anything else that might interest chimpanzees.

然而，盡管我們不認識彼此， 我們卻可以共同合作來進行這次全球思想交流。這是黑猩猩所做不到的。當然，它們也交流，但你不會看到一只黑猩猩去到某個遙遠的黑猩猩群體中，做一個關于香蕉或大象的演講，或關于其他任何一個能引起黑猩猩興趣的東西的演講。

06:05

Now cooperation is, of course, not always nice; all the horrible things humans have been doing throughout history, and we have been doing some very horrible things, all those things are also based on large-scale cooperation. Prisons are a system of cooperation; slaughterhouses are a system of cooperation; concentration camps are a system of cooperation. Chimpanzees don't have slaughterhouses and prisons and concentration camps.

合作當然不總是好的。歷史上人們做過的那些可怕的事情，我們的確做過一些非?？植赖氖?，所有這些事也是基于大規(guī)模合作。 監(jiān)獄是一種合作體系，屠宰場是一種合作體系，集中營是一種合作體系。黑猩猩是沒有屠宰場、監(jiān)獄、和集中營的。

06:24

Now suppose I've managed to convince you perhaps that yes, we control the world because we can cooperate flexibly in large numbers. The next question that immediately arises in the mind of an inquisitive listener is: How, exactly, do we do it? What enables us alone, of all the animals, to cooperate in such a way? The answer is our imagination. We can cooperate flexibly with countless numbers of strangers, because we alone, of all the animals on the planet, can create and believe fictions, fictional stories. And as long as everybody believes in the same fiction, everybody obeys and follows the same rules, the same norms, the same values.

現在假設我已經成功地使你相信，我們稱霸世界是因為我們可以靈活地進行大規(guī)模合作，也許是的。 好奇的聽眾的腦海里立即浮現的下一個問題將是： 我們是怎么做到的呢？ 是什么讓我們，在這個星球上的所有動物中，只有我們能以這種方式合作呢？ 答案是我們的想象力。 我們之所以可以和無數陌生人一起合作， 因為在這星球上的所有動物中，只有我們能創(chuàng)造并相信虛構的故事。只要大家都相信同樣的虛構故事， 每個人便會遵守同樣的規(guī)定， 同樣的準則，同樣的價值觀。

07:18

All other animals use their communication system only to describe reality. A chimpanzee may say, "Look! There's a lion, let's run away!" Or, "Look! There's a banana tree over there! Let's go and get bananas!" Humans, in contrast, use their language not merely to describe reality, but also to create new realities, fictional realities. A human can say, "Look, there is a god above the clouds! And if you don't do what I tell you to do, when you die, God will punish you and send you to hell."

其他所有動物都只使用他們的交流系統(tǒng)來描述事實。黑猩猩可能說：“看！有一頭獅子！咱們快跑！” 或是：“看！有一顆香蕉樹！咱們去摘香蕉吧！” 相比之下，人類不僅使用他們的語言來描述現實，而且還使用他們的語言來創(chuàng)造新的現實，虛構的現實。人類可以說：“看，上帝在云霄之上！如果你不按照我的吩咐去做，當你死的時候，上帝會懲罰你，讓你下地獄。”

And if you all believe this story that I've invented, then you will follow the same norms and laws and values, and you can cooperate. This is something only humans can do. You can never convince a chimpanzee to give you a banana by promising him, "... after you die, you'll go to chimpanzee heaven ..." (Laughter) "... and you'll receive lots and lots of bananas for your good deeds. So now give me this banana." No chimpanzee will ever believe such a story. Only humans believe such stories, which is why we control the world, whereas the chimpanzees are locked up in zoos and research laboratories.

如果你們都相信我創(chuàng)造的這個故事，那么你們將遵循同樣的準則、法律和價值觀，你們便可以合作。你永遠無法說服黑猩猩給你一根香蕉，通過承諾他，“......你死后，你會到黑猩猩的天堂......”（笑聲）“…...到時候你會因為你的善行而收到很多很多的香蕉。所以現在把這根香蕉給我?！备緵]有黑猩猩會相信這樣的故事。只有人類才會相信這樣的故事。這就是為什么我們稱霸世界，而黑猩猩則被關在動物園和實驗室里。

08:34

Now you may find it acceptable that yes, in the religious field, humans cooperate by believing in the same fictions. Millions of people come together to build a cathedral or a mosque or fight in a crusade or a jihad, because they all believe in the same stories about God and heaven and hell. But what I want to emphasize is that exactly the same mechanism underlies all other forms of mass-scale human cooperation, not only in the religious field.

現在或許你可以接受，在宗教領域，人類通過相信相同的虛構故事來合作。數百萬人聚集在一起共同建造大教堂或清真寺，或者在（中世紀的）十字軍東征戰(zhàn)爭或（為保衛(wèi)伊斯蘭進行的）抵抗戰(zhàn)爭（又稱圣戰(zhàn)）中戰(zhàn)斗，因為他們都相信關于上帝、天堂和地獄的相同的故事。但我想強調的是，正是這相同的機制，支持著所有其他形式的大規(guī)模人類合作，不僅僅是在宗教領域。

09:11

Take, for example, the legal field. Most legal systems today in the world are based on a belief in human rights. But what are human rights? Human rights, just like God and heaven, are just a story that we've invented. They are not an objective reality; they are not some biological effects about homo sapiens. Take a human being, cut him open, look inside, you will find the heart, the kidneys, neurons, hormones, DNA, but you won't find any rights. The only place you find rights are in the stories that we have invented and spread around over the last few centuries. They may be very positive stories, very good stories, but they're still just fictional stories that we've invented.

以法律領域為例。當今世界上大多數法律制度都基于（人們）對人權的信仰。但什么是人權？人權，就像上帝和天堂一樣，只是我們創(chuàng)造的一個故事。它們不是客觀現實。 它們不是關于智人的一些生物學效應。 找一個人，切開他，往里面看，你會發(fā)現心臟，腎臟，神經元，荷爾蒙，脫氧核糖核酸（DNA），但你不會找到任何權利。 你唯一能找到權利的地方是我們在過去幾個世紀里創(chuàng)造出來并傳播的故事。它們可能是非常正面的故事，非常好的故事，但它們仍然只是我們虛構的故事。

10:03

The same is true of the political field. The most important factors in modern politics are states and nations. But what are states and nations? They are not an objective reality. A mountain is an objective reality. You can see it, you can touch it, you can even smell it. But a nation or a state, like Israel or Iran or France or Germany, this is just a story that we've invented and became extremely attached to.

政治領域也一樣（這同樣適用于政治領域）?，F代政治中最重要的因素是國家和民族。但什么是國家和民族？它們不是客觀現實。一座山是客觀現實。你可以看到它，你可以觸摸它，你甚至可以聞到它（的氣味）。但是一個國家，比如以色列、伊朗、法國或德國，這只是我們創(chuàng)造并變得非常依賴的一個故事。

10:34

The same is true of the economic field. The most important actors today in the global economy are companies and corporations. Many of you today, perhaps, work for a corporation, like Google or Toyota or McDonald's. What exactly are these things? They are what lawyers call legal fictions. They are stories invented and maintained by the powerful wizards we call lawyers. (Laughter) And what do corporations do all day? Mostly, they try to make money. Yet, what is money? Again, money is not an objective reality; it has no objective value.

經濟領域也一樣（這同樣適用于經濟領域）。當今全球經濟中最重要的參與者是大大小小的公司和企業(yè)。今天，你們中的許多人可能都在為公司工作，比如谷歌、豐田或麥當勞。這些東西到底是什么呢？它們就是律師所說的法律虛擬。它們是由我們稱之為律師的強大巫師創(chuàng)造和維護的故事。（笑聲） 那么企業(yè)整天都在做什么呢？大多數情況下，他們都在努力賺錢。然而，錢是什么呢？ 同樣，錢也不是客觀現實；它沒有客觀價值。

Take this green piece of paper, the dollar bill. Look at it, it has no value. You cannot eat it, you cannot drink it, you cannot wear it. But then came along these master storytellers -- the big bankers, the finance ministers, the prime ministers -- and they tell us a very convincing story: "Look, you see this green piece of paper? It is actually worth 10 bananas." And if I believe it, and you believe it, and everybody believes it, it actually works. I can take this worthless piece of paper, go to the supermarket, give it to a complete stranger whom I've never met before, and get, in exchange, real bananas which I can actually eat. This is something amazing. You could never do it with chimpanzees. Chimpanzees trade, of course: "Yes, you give me a coconut, I'll give you a banana." That can work. But, you give me a worthless piece of paper and you except me to give you a banana? No way! What do you think I am, a human? (Laughter)

拿著這張綠色的紙，美元鈔票?？纯此鼪]有任何（客觀）價值。你不能吃它，不能喝它，也不能穿它。但后來這些講故事的大師來了，大銀行家、財政部長、首相，他們告訴我們一個非常有說服力的故事： “看，你看到這張綠色的紙了嗎？它實際上值10根香蕉?！?如果我相信它，你相信它，每個人都相信它，它便真的有效。我可以拿著這張毫無價值的紙，去超市，把它給一個素未謀面的陌生人，換來我可以吃的真正的香蕉。這是一件驚奇的事。你永遠不能和黑猩猩做這件事。黑猩猩當然也會交易：“是的，你給我一個椰子，我就給你一根香蕉。這行得通。但是，你給我一張沒有價值的紙，就期望我給你一根香蕉？沒門！你覺得我是什么，人類嗎？

12:24

Money, in fact, is the most successful story ever invented and told by humans, because it is the only story everybody believes. Not everybody believes in God, not everybody believes in human rights, not everybody believes in nationalism, but everybody believes in money, and in the dollar bill. Take, even, Osama Bin Laden. He hated American politics and American religion and American culture, but he had no objection to American dollars. He was quite fond of them, actually. (Laughter)

事實上，錢是人類迄今為止創(chuàng)造并講述的最成功的故事，因為它是唯一一個每個人都相信的故事。不是所有人都相信上帝，不是所有人都相信人權，不是所有人都信奉民族主義，但每個人都相信錢，相信美元紙幣。 甚至是本拉登，他恨美國的政治、美國的宗教、美國的文化，但他絕對對美金沒有意見。事實上，他挺愛它們的。（笑聲）

13:04

To conclude, then: We humans control the world because we live in a dual reality. All other animals live in an objective reality. Their reality consists of objective entities, like rivers and trees and lions and elephants. We humans, we also live in an objective reality. In our world, too, there are rivers and trees and lions and elephants. But over the centuries, we have constructed on top of this objective reality a second layer of fictional reality, a reality made of fictional entities, like nations, like gods, like money, like corporations. And what is amazing is that as history unfolded, this fictional reality became more and more powerful so that today, the most powerful forces in the world are these fictional entities. Today, the very survival of rivers and trees and lions and elephants depends on the decisions and wishes of fictional entities, like the United States, like Google, like the World Bank -- entities that exist only in our own imagination.

總結一下：我們人類稱霸世界，因為我們生活在雙重現實中。所有其它動物都只生活在客觀現實中。它們的現實由客觀實體組成，像河流、樹木、獅子和大象。 我們人類也活在客觀現實中。在我們的世界里，也有河流、樹木、獅子和大象。但經過幾千年，我們已經在這客觀現實上，建構了第二層虛構現實，一個由虛構實體構成的現實，比如國家、神、錢、公司。令人驚訝的是，隨著歷史逐漸發(fā)展，這個虛構的現實變得越來越強大，于是今天，世界上最強大的力量就是這些虛構的實體。今天，河流、樹木、獅子和大象的生存竟取決于這些虛構實體的決定和意愿，像美國、谷歌、世界銀行 － 這些只存在于我們想象中的實體。

14:32 ?Thank you. (Applause) ?

演講結束后，主持人和演講者的交談

14:44

Bruno Giussani: Yuval, you have a new book out. After Sapiens, you wrote another one, and it's out in Hebrew, but not yet translated into ...

Bruno Giussani：尤瓦爾，你有一本新書出版了。 繼《人類簡史》后，你又寫了一本書，用西伯利亞出版的，但還沒翻譯成......

14:50

Yuval Noah Harari: I'm working on the translation as we speak.

尤瓦爾·諾亞·.赫拉利： 我目前正在進行這本書的翻譯工作。

14:53

BG: In the book, if I understand it correctly, you argue that the amazing breakthroughs that we are experiencing right now not only will potentially make our lives better, but they will create -- and I quote you -- "... new classes and new class struggles, just as the industrial revolution did." Can you elaborate for us?

在這本書里，如果我理解得沒錯的話，你認為我們現在經歷的這些令人驚訝的突破，不只會很可能讓我們的生活更好，也可能創(chuàng)造 － 引用你說的 － “新的階級和新的階級斗爭，就像工業(yè)革命時期一樣。” ?你可以給我們詳細解釋一下嗎？

15:12

YNH: Yes. In the industrial revolution, we saw the creation of a new class of the urban proletariat. And much of the political and social history of the last 200 years involved what to do with this class, and the new problems and opportunities. Now, we see the creation of a new massive class of useless people. (Laughter) As computers become better and better in more and more fields, there is a distinct possibility that computers will out-perform us in most tasks and will make humans redundant. And then the big political and economic question of the 21st century will be, "What do we need humans for?", or at least, "What do we need so many humans for?"

赫拉利：好的。在工業(yè)革命中，我們見證了一個新階級的誕生——城市無產階級。 過去兩百年的大部分政治和社會歷史，都與怎么應對這個階層以及新的問題和機會有關?，F在，我們見證了新的龐大階級的誕生——由無用之人組成的階級。（笑聲） ?隨著電腦在越來越多的領域變得越來越好用（隨著電腦應用在越來越多的領域中并不斷精進），一個很明顯的可能就是電腦會在大多數任務中勝過我們，使人類變得多余。如果真是這樣的話，21世紀的一個重大政治和經濟問題將是，“我們需要人類干什么？”或者至少是，“我們需要這么多人干什么？”

15:58

BG: Do you have an answer in the book?

BG：在書中，你對這個問題有解答嗎？

16:01

YNH: At present, the best guess we have is to keep them happy with drugs and computer games ... (Laughter) but this doesn't sound like a very appealing future.

赫拉利：目前，我們能想到的最好的猜想是，能用藥物、電子游戲讓他們保持幸福 （笑聲）。 但這好像并不是一個非常吸引人的未來。

16:11

BG: Ok, so you're basically saying in the book and now, that for all the discussion about the growing evidence of significant economic inequality, we are just kind of at the beginning of the process?

BG：好的，所以你基本上已經在書中和現在說了這個問題。那，對于所有關于顯著經濟不平等的日益增強的證據的討論，我們僅僅在這個過程的開始而已嗎？

16:22

YNH: Again, it's not a prophecy; it's seeing all kinds of possibilities before us. One possibility is this creation of a new massive class of useless people. Another possibility is the division of humankind into different biological castes, with the rich being upgraded into virtual gods, and the poor being degraded to this level of useless people.

哈拉利：再說一遍，這不是預言，只是展現我們面前的所有可能性。其中一種可能是誕生了一個新的龐大階級——由無用之人組成的階級。另一種可能是把人類分成不同的“生物性”社會等級，富人升級為人類眼中的神，窮人則貶到無用之人的階級。

16:47

BG: I feel there is another TED talk coming up in a year or two. Thank you, Yuval, for making the trip.

BG：我感覺一兩年后會有另一個TED演講。 尤瓦爾，感謝你的到來！

16:52 Yuval Noah Harari: Thanks!

16:53 (Applause)

致謝：TED、必應翻譯