CHAPTER 8

1.5?Evolvingis life’s greatest accomplishment and its greatest reward.

進(jìn)化是生命最偉大的成就，是最大的回報。

It is instinctually that way,which is why most of us feel the pull of it—in other words, we instinctivelywant to get better at things and have created and evolved technology to helpus. History has shown that all species will either go extinct or evolve intoother species, though with our limited time window that is hard for us to see.But we do know that what we call mankind was simply the result of DNA evolvinginto a new form about two hundred thousand years ago, and we know that mankindwill certainly either go extinct or evolve into a higher state. I personallybelieve there is a good chance man will begin to evolve at an accelerating pacewith the help of man-made technologies that can analyze vast amounts of dataand “think” faster and better than we can. I wonder how many centuries it willtake for us to evolve into a higher-level species that will be much closer toomniscience than we are now—if we don’t destroy ourselves first.

進(jìn)化是一種本能，也是大多數(shù)人能感覺到進(jìn)化在拉動我們—換句話說，我們總是本能的想要更好，擁有創(chuàng)造，發(fā)展技術(shù)去幫助我們。歷史已經(jīng)展示了所有的物種要么滅絕要么進(jìn)化成另一個物種，盡管我們的時間太有限很難讓我們看到這些。但我們的確知道我們稱為的人類其實僅僅是dna進(jìn)化的結(jié)果—進(jìn)化成一個新形態(tài)大約在20萬年前，而且我們知道人類必將滅絕或者進(jìn)化成更高級狀態(tài)。我個人更愿意相信人類有很大機(jī)會將開始進(jìn)化進(jìn)入到一個加速車道-得益于人造的計劃-能分析巨量的數(shù)據(jù)并能快速思考遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過我們?nèi)祟?。我好奇的是需要多少世紀(jì)才能讓人類達(dá)到更高級的物種-能夠接近無所不知—前提是我們沒有摧毀我們自己。

One of the great marvels ofnature is how the whole system, which is full of individual organisms acting intheir own self-interest and without understanding or guiding what’s going on,can create a beautifully operating and evolving whole. While I’m not an expertat this, it seems that it’s because evolution has produced a) incentives andinteractions that lead to individuals pursuing their own interests andresulting in the advancement of the whole, b) the natural selection process,and c) rapid experimentation and adaptation.

大自然最偉大的奇跡之一就是整個系統(tǒng)—充滿了獨立組織按照自己的利己主義，無需理解或指引方向的組織，就能創(chuàng)造一個完美運行和進(jìn)化的整體。當(dāng)然我關(guān)于這些我并不專業(yè)，似乎因為進(jìn)化產(chǎn)生了a）激勵和互動導(dǎo)致個體順從他們的興趣并導(dǎo)致整個群體向前發(fā)展，b）自然選擇進(jìn)程和c）快速試驗和適應(yīng)。

a.?The individual’sincentives must be aligned with the group’s goals.To give you a quick exampleof nature creating incentives that lead to individuals pursuing their owninterests that result in the advancement of the whole, look at sex and naturalselection. Nature gave us one hell of an incentive to have sex in the form ofthe great pleasure it provides, even though the purpose of having sex is tocontribute to the advancement of the DNA. That way, we individually get what wewant while contributing to the evolution of the whole.

A．個體的激勵必須與組織的目標(biāo)相一致。給你一份大自然創(chuàng)造個體根據(jù)自身興趣選擇進(jìn)化方向的案例來看看對于整體的發(fā)展的案例，來看看性和自然選擇。大自然給予我們性愛的歡愉為形式的一種激勵的地獄，即使性交的初衷是為dna發(fā)展做出貢獻(xiàn)。那樣的話，我們單獨個體能在得到我們想要的同時對整體的進(jìn)化有所貢獻(xiàn)。

b.?Reality is optimizing for

the whole—not for you. Contribute to the whole and you will likely be rewarded.

Natural selection leads to better qualities being retained and passed along

(e.g., in better genes, better abilities to nurture others, better products,

etc.). The result is a constant cycle of improvement forthe whole.

B．真實是對整體的優(yōu)化—不只是你，為整體貢獻(xiàn)，你可能希望得到回報。自然選擇也在選擇更好的質(zhì)量通過保留和長期篩選。結(jié)果就是為整體提升不斷循環(huán)的閉環(huán)。

c.?Adaptation

through rapid trial and error is invaluable.Natural selection’strial-and-error process allows improvement without anyone understanding or guidingit. The same can apply to how we learn. There are at least three kinds oflearning that foster evolution: memory-based learning (storing the informationthat comes in through one’s conscious mind so that we can recall it later);subconscious learning (the knowledge we take away from our experiences thatnever enters our conscious minds, though it affects our decision making); and“l(fā)earning” that occurs without thinking at all, such as the changes in DNA thatencode a species’ adaptations. I used to think that memory-based, consciouslearning was the most powerful, but I’ve since come to understand that itproduces less rapid progress than experimentation and adaptation. To give youan example of how nature improves without thinking, just look at the strugglethat mankind (with all its thinking) has experienced in trying to outsmartviruses (which don’t even have brains). Viruses are like brilliant chessopponents. By evolving quickly (combining different genetic material acrossdifferent strains), they keep the smartest minds in the global health communitybusy thinking up countermoves to hold them off. Understanding that isespecially helpful in an era when computers can run large numbers ofsimulations replicating the evolutionary process to help us see what works andwhat doesn’t.

c．通過快速試驗和出錯適應(yīng)是無價的。自然選擇是一場試驗-犯錯的反復(fù)過程-只允許進(jìn)步而無需任何人理解或指引他。同樣的過程也存在于我們學(xué)習(xí)的過程。培育進(jìn)化至少存在三種類型的學(xué)習(xí)：記憶為基礎(chǔ)的學(xué)習(xí)（來自于人類意識的存儲信息-以便我們后面能喚醒記憶）；潛意識學(xué)習(xí)（我們從實驗中得到的知識-這些知識從不進(jìn)入我們的意識當(dāng)中，盡管他們會影響我們的決策制定）；不加思考的學(xué)習(xí)，例如dna的改變-重新編碼物種的適應(yīng)性。我過去認(rèn)為記憶基礎(chǔ)，意識學(xué)習(xí)是最具力量的，但我已經(jīng)知道他們相比試驗和適應(yīng)性而言還是在快速進(jìn)展上乏力。讓我們來看看無需思考的自然進(jìn)化的一個案例，只看人類的生存斗爭（所有的思考）已經(jīng)經(jīng)歷了嘗試超越病菌（他們甚至沒有大腦）。病毒就像一個卓越的象棋對手。通過快速進(jìn)化（綜合組合不同鏈條的遺傳物質(zhì)），他們得以維持最聰明的思想-全世界健康社區(qū)都在積極思考對策想去除他們。計算能運行巨量的模擬復(fù)制進(jìn)化過程以幫助我們看看能什么，不能干什么是非常有益的。

In the next chapter Iwill describe a process that has helped me, and I believe can help you, evolvequickly. But first I want to emphasize how important your perspective is intrying to decide what is important to you and what to go after.

下一章我將描述一個已經(jīng)在幫助我的過程，我相信也能幫助你快速進(jìn)化。但是首先我想強(qiáng)調(diào)你的視野是多么的重要，他決定了什么事最重要的，然后才是什么。

d.?Realize

that you are simultaneously everything and nothing—and decide what you want to

be.It is a great paradox that individually we are simultaneously everything andnothing. Through our own eyes, we are everything—e.g., when we die, the wholeworld disappears. So to most people (and to other species) dying is the worstthing possible, and it is of paramount importance that we have the best lifepossible. However, when we look down on ourselves through the eyes of nature weare of absolutely no significance. It is a reality that each one of us is onlyone of about seven billion of our species alive today and that our species isonly one of about ten million species on our planet. Earth is just one of about100 billion planets in our galaxy, which is just one of about two trilliongalaxies in the universe. And our lifetimes are only about 1/3,000 ofhumanity’s existence, which itself is only 1/20,000 of the Earth’s existence.In other words, we are unbelievably tiny and short-lived and no matter what weaccomplish, our impact will be insignificant. At the same time, weinstinctually want to matter and to evolve, and wecanmatter a tiny bit—and it’s all those tiny bits that add up to drive theevolution of the universe.

D．你必須意識到你是全部同時也不是—想清楚你想成為什么。這是一個偉大的悖論。盡管我們擁有眼睛，我們就是所有—例如如果我們死了，整個世界就消失了。所以對大多數(shù)人（對其他物種也是一樣），死亡是最糟糕的事情，死亡時我們能有的可能的生活永恒重要的。然而當(dāng)我們從整個自然的視角觀察我們自己我們很明顯是無意義的。很明顯我們只是70億人中的一個，我們?nèi)祟愐仓皇沁@個地球上數(shù)以億計的物種中的一個。地球是銀河系中上千億星球中的一個，而宇宙中存在著大約200一個這樣的河系。而我們的時代只是整個人類生存史得到1/3000 ，而人類生存史是地球存在時間的1/20000，換句話說，我們微不足道，短暫而一無所有，我們的影響毫無意義。同時我們本能的想要占有和進(jìn)化，我們只有那么一點點，但就是那一點點的東東驅(qū)動了整個宇宙的進(jìn)化。

The question ishowwe matter and evolve. Do we matter to others (who alsodon’t matter in the grand scope of things) or in some greater sense that wewill never actually achieve? Or does it not matter if we matter so we shouldforget about the question and just enjoy our lives while they last?

e.?What

you will be will depend on the perspective you have.Where you goin life will depend on how you see things and who and what you feel connectedto (your family, your community, your country, mankind, the whole ecosystem,everything). You will have to decide to what extent you will put the interestsof others above your own, and which others you will choose to do so for. That’sbecause you will regularly encounter situations that will force you to makesuch choices.

問題是我們?nèi)绾斡绊懞瓦M(jìn)化。我們對別人來說重要（從宏觀的范圍來看也不重要）或者在一些偉大的意義上說我們其實從未獲得過？或者因為號不重要所以我們就應(yīng)該忘記這個問題去享受我們的生活而讓問題繼續(xù)？

E．你想成為什么取決于你的視角。你處于什么位置取決于你如何看待事物，誰和你想要聯(lián)系的東西（你的家庭，你的社群，你的國家，人類，整個生態(tài)系統(tǒng)，任何事）。你將不得不決定你能你的興趣放在何種地方，你會選擇那些要這樣做的事情。正是因為這些你可能會常遇到的情況會迫使你做出此類的選擇。

While such decisionsmight seem too erudite for your taste, you will make them either consciously orsubliminally, and they will be very important.

For me personally, I nowfind it thrilling to embrace reality, to look down on myself through nature’sperspective, and to be an infinitesimally small part of the whole. Myinstinctual and intellectual goal is simply to evolve and contribute toevolution in some tiny way while I’m here and while I am what I am. At the sametime, the things I love most—my work and my relationships—are what motivate me.So, I find how reality and nature work, including how I and everything willdecompose and recompose, beautiful—though emotionally I find the separationfrom those I care about difficult to appreciate.

而此類的決定可能對你的偏好來說太廣博了，你可能下意識的或者潛移默化的做出決定，而他們都非常重要。

個人化的來看，現(xiàn)在我發(fā)現(xiàn)擁抱真實非常的刺激，從自然的視角俯視我自己，作為一個整體的微不足道一份子，我本能的，心智目標(biāo)就是去進(jìn)化，并將這種進(jìn)化以一種非常細(xì)微的方式傳播-我存在，我合理。同時我最愛的事情是-我的工作和社交—時刻激勵著我。所以我發(fā)現(xiàn)真實和自然是如何運作的，包括我和萬事萬物都會分解和重組，美麗-非常情緒化我發(fā)現(xiàn)同那些我非常在意的分離是非常難以認(rèn)同的。

讀后感：

坦白說這一節(jié)的內(nèi)容我沒完全理解，對不起不是意思不了解，是意義不理解，與作者自己的主題好像不搭嘎，沒有聯(lián)系，而且雷老爺子走的太遠(yuǎn)了，個人的進(jìn)化放在整個地球長河中當(dāng)然是及其短暫的，但卻意義重大，我們從不否認(rèn)。但這與我們的主題何干?。總€人的進(jìn)化當(dāng)然不是在自然或者生物上的進(jìn)化，我們今天談的進(jìn)化我認(rèn)為更多的是指思想和個人內(nèi)在的，綜合能力的提升，而不必或者沒必要大談特談自然的進(jìn)化。老爺子耗費大量的筆墨在談自然和宇宙的進(jìn)化，以及這種自然進(jìn)化和選擇對他的影響，個人覺得是偏離了。所以讀者可以忽略，只要掌握每個原則的主旨即可。