TED2011
Rajesh Rao: A Rosetta Stone for a lost language
羅傑許： 古印度河文字符號的羅賽塔石碑
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Readability: 4.2
2,103,451 views
羅傑許樂談『填字文字遊戲之始』，呈現解讀4000年前的印度抽象符號之道。他解釋如何藉由現代電腦科技幫助解讀古印度河文字，解開印度古文明之謎。
Rajesh Rao - Computational neuroscientist
Rajesh Rao seeks to understand the human brain through computational modeling, on two fronts: developing computer models of our minds, and using tech to decipher the 4,000-year-old lost script of the Indus Valley civilization. Full bio
Rajesh Rao seeks to understand the human brain through computational modeling, on two fronts: developing computer models of our minds, and using tech to decipher the 4,000-year-old lost script of the Indus Valley civilization. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
I'd like to begin with a thought experiment.
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首先，我們先做個實驗
00:19
Imagine that it's 4,000 years into the future.
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想像距今4000年後
00:22
Civilization as we know it
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我們所瞭解的文明
00:24
has ceased to exist --
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已不存在
00:26
no books,
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沒有書
00:28
no electronic devices,
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沒有電子產品
00:31
no Facebook or Twitter.
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沒有臉書或推特
00:34
All knowledge of the English language and the English alphabet
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所有以英文寫成的知識甚至是英文符號
00:37
has been lost.
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都已經消失
00:39
Now imagine archeologists
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現在，再來想想考古學家們
00:41
digging through the rubble of one of our cities.
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在某個城市的殘磚瓦片中挖掘
00:43
What might they find?
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他們會發現什麼呢？
00:45
Well perhaps some rectangular pieces of plastic
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可能會發現長形的塑膠碎片
00:48
with strange symbols on them.
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上面印怪異的符號
00:51
Perhaps some circular pieces of metal.
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又或者發現一些圓形的金屬碎片
00:54
Maybe some cylindrical containers
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也可能是些圓柱型的容器
00:56
with some symbols on them.
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上頭有些符號
00:58
And perhaps one archeologist becomes an instant celebrity
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還可能有某個考古學家一夕成名
01:01
when she discovers --
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是因為她發現了
01:03
buried in the hills somewhere in North America --
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埋沒在北美的某個山上的
01:05
massive versions of these same symbols.
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一堆大量相同符號的圖片
01:10
Now let's ask ourselves,
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現在讓我們捫心自問
01:12
what could such artifacts say about us
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對4000年後欲瞭解我們現在生活的人們
01:15
to people 4,000 years into the future?
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這些物品有什麼意義？
01:18
This is no hypothetical question.
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這不是假設
01:20
In fact, this is exactly the kind of question we're faced with
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事實上，這正是當我們去瞭解
01:23
when we try to understand the Indus Valley civilization,
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4000年前印度河文明
01:26
which existed 4,000 years ago.
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所必須面對的問題
01:28
The Indus civilization was roughly contemporaneous
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古印度河文明和較為人所熟知的
01:31
with the much better known Egyptian and the Mesopotamian civilizations,
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埃及以及美所不達米亞文化同時期
01:34
but it was actually much larger than either of these two civilizations.
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但實際上印度河文明的範圍比這兩者還要大
01:37
It occupied the area
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它所佔的範圍
01:39
of approximately one million square kilometers,
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近乎100萬平方公里
01:41
covering what is now Pakistan,
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涵蓋了今天的巴基斯坦
01:43
Northwestern India
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東北印度
01:45
and parts of Afghanistan and Iran.
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和部份的阿富汗及伊朗
01:47
Given that it was such a vast civilization,
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如此廣大的文明
01:49
you might expect to find really powerful rulers, kings,
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你可能會期待尋找到主權者，國王
01:53
and huge monuments glorifying these powerful kings.
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以及用來紀念王者的巨大紀念碑
01:56
In fact,
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事實上
01:58
what archeologists have found is none of that.
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考古學者沒有發現那些
02:00
They've found small objects such as these.
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他們發現了像這些的小東西
02:03
Here's an example of one of these objects.
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這裡有其中的一樣物品
02:06
Well obviously this is a replica.
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很明顯地這只是個複製品
02:08
But who is this person?
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但這是誰呢？
02:11
A king? A god?
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是某個國王？是某個神？
02:13
A priest?
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是某個祭司？
02:15
Or perhaps an ordinary person
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又或者只是一個普通人
02:17
like you or me?
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就像你我一樣？
02:19
We don't know.
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我們不知道
02:21
But the Indus people also left behind artifacts with writing on them.
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但是古印度河的人們也在他們的人造品後面留了支字片語
02:24
Well no, not pieces of plastic,
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不，不是塑膠片
02:26
but stone seals, copper tablets,
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是 石頭章,銅牌
02:29
pottery and, surprisingly,
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陶器還有一個令人驚訝的
02:31
one large sign board,
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大的符號版
02:33
which was found buried near the gate of a city.
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這被掩埋在城門附近
02:35
Now we don't know if it says Hollywood,
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我們不知道在好萊塢
02:37
or even Bollywood for that matter.
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還是寶萊塢這些物品能有什麼功用
02:39
In fact, we don't even know
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事實上，我們甚至不知道
02:41
what any of these objects say,
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這些物件有什麼意義
02:43
and that's because the Indus script is undeciphered.
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因為這些印度河文字是解不開的謎
02:46
We don't know what any of these symbols mean.
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我們不知道這些符號的意思
02:48
The symbols are most commonly found on seals.
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這些符號常出現在印章上
02:51
So you see up there one such object.
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你們可以看到這裡有個類似的物品
02:53
It's the square object with the unicorn-like animal on it.
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這個方形的物品上有個像是獨角獸的動物
02:56
Now that's a magnificent piece of art.
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這是一件很壯觀的藝術品
02:58
So how big do you think that is?
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你覺得這塊有多大呢？
03:00
Perhaps that big?
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這麼大？
03:02
Or maybe that big?
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還是這麼大？
03:04
Well let me show you.
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讓我告訴你吧！
03:07
Here's a replica of one such seal.
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這裡有個印章的複製品
03:10
It's only about one inch by one inch in size --
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只有一英吋平方大
03:12
pretty tiny.
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非常小
03:14
So what were these used for?
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那這些東西用來作什麼呢？
03:16
We know that these were used for stamping clay tags
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這些用來蓋在黏土標簽上
03:19
that were attached to bundles of goods that were sent from one place to the other.
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然後貼在一堆貨品，以利於從此地運送到其他地方
03:22
So you know those packing slips you get on your FedEx boxes?
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所以你知道會從FedEx箱子上拿到這些送貨單了嗎？
03:25
These were used to make those kinds of packing slips.
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這些泥版就是用來作為包裹送貨單
03:28
You might wonder what these objects contain
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你可能想用上面的文字來猜測
03:31
in terms of their text.
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這些東西的內容
03:33
Perhaps they're the name of the sender
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可能是寄送者的名字
03:35
or some information about the goods
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或是關於產品
03:37
that are being sent from one place to the other -- we don't know.
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從某地送到其他地方的資訊--我們不知道
03:40
We need to decipher the script to answer that question.
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我們需要解開這段文字才能知道回答這問題
03:42
Deciphering the script
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解謎這些文字符號
03:44
is not just an intellectual puzzle;
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不單只是一個得動腦思考的謎題
03:46
it's actually become a question
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事實上還牽涉到
03:48
that's become deeply intertwined
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與南亞的政治與文化歷史
03:50
with the politics and the cultural history of South Asia.
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極為相關的問題
03:53
In fact, the script has become a battleground of sorts
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實際上，對這些文字符號
03:56
between three different groups of people.
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有三種不同的解讀意見
03:58
First, there's a group of people
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第一，有一群人
04:00
who are very passionate in their belief
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他們堅決相信
04:02
that the Indus script
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認為古印度河文字
04:04
does not represent a language at all.
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根本不是種語言
04:06
These people believe that the symbols
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這些人認為這些符號就像是
04:08
are very similar to the kind of symbols you find on traffic signs
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交通號誌
04:11
or the emblems you find on shields.
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或者是盾上面的一些象徵符號
04:14
There's a second group of people
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還有第二群人
04:16
who believe that the Indus script represents an Indo-European language.
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認為印度河文字代表著某個印歐語言
04:19
If you look at a map of India today,
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如果來看今天的印度地圖
04:21
you'll see that most of the languages spoken in North India
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你會看到北印度大部份使用的語言
04:24
belong to the Indo-European language family.
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都來自於印歐語系
04:27
So some people believe that the Indus script
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所以一些人相信古印度河文字
04:29
represents an ancient Indo-European language such as Sanskrit.
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是某種古老的印歐語，就像梵語一樣
04:32
There's a last group of people
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最後一群人
04:34
who believe that the Indus people
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相信古印度人
04:37
were the ancestors of people living in South India today.
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是現在住在南印度人的祖先
04:40
These people believe that the Indus script
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這些人覺得古印度文字
04:42
represents an ancient form
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是德拉威語系下的
04:44
of the Dravidian language family,
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的某個語系
04:46
which is the language family spoken in much of South India today.
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現今南印度多數人皆使用德拉威語系
04:49
And the proponents of this theory
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支持這理論者
04:51
point to that small pocket of Dravidian-speaking people in the North,
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指出一小部份使用德拉威語的北印度人
04:54
actually near Afghanistan,
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確實鄰近阿富汗
04:56
and they say that perhaps, sometime in the past,
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他們認為或許在過去的某個時期
04:59
Dravidian languages were spoken all over India
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全印度皆使用德拉威語
05:02
and that this suggests
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這也意味著
05:04
that the Indus civilization is perhaps also Dravidian.
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印度河文明或許就是德拉威文明
05:07
Which of these hypotheses can be true?
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這些假設哪個是真的呢？
05:10
We don't know, but perhaps if you deciphered the script,
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我們不知道，但若能解開這些文字符號
05:12
you would be able to answer this question.
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就可以找到答案
05:14
But deciphering the script is a very challenging task.
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但解開這些文字內容不容易
05:16
First, there's no Rosetta Stone.
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第一，我們沒有羅薩塔石
05:18
I don't mean the software;
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我不是指語言學習軟體
05:20
I mean an ancient artifact
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我是說一件古物
05:22
that contains in the same text
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分別以我們知道與不知道的文字
05:24
both a known text and an unknown text.
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書寫著同樣文字內容
05:27
We don't have such an artifact for the Indus script.
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印度河文化中並沒有像那樣的古物
05:30
And furthermore, we don't even know what language they spoke.
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說得更明白一點，我們不知道他們使用哪種語言
05:33
And to make matters even worse,
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而且更糟的是
05:35
most of the text that we have are extremely short.
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大部份的文字都相當短
05:37
So as I showed you, they're usually found on these seals
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就像我給大家看的，最常發現的是這些印章類的東西
05:39
that are very, very tiny.
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他們都非常非常地小
05:41
And so given these formidable obstacles,
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這讓我們更難解讀
05:43
one might wonder and worry
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有些人或許會擔心
05:45
whether one will ever be able to decipher the Indus script.
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是否真的有誰可以解開古印度河文字呢？
05:48
In the rest of my talk,
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在我接下來的演講中
05:50
I'd like to tell you about how I learned to stop worrying
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我要來告訴各位我怎麼克服這些解讀障礙
05:52
and love the challenge posed by the Indus script.
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並喜歡上解讀古印度河文字所帶來的挑戰
05:54
I've always been fascinated by the Indus script
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我熱衷於古印度河文字
05:57
ever since I read about it in a middle school textbook.
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大概始自於在中學課本
05:59
And why was I fascinated?
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為什麼我如此著迷？
06:01
Well it's the last major undeciphered script in the ancient world.
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因為這是目前唯一未被解開的重要古文字符號
06:05
My career path led me to become a computational neuroscientist,
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我的職業是計算神經科學
06:08
so in my day job,
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所以我每天的工作
06:10
I create computer models of the brain
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就是製造出大腦的電腦模型
06:12
to try to understand how the brain makes predictions,
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來試圖瞭解大腦如何預知事物
06:15
how the brain makes decisions,
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如何下判斷
06:17
how the brain learns and so on.
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如何學習等
06:19
But in 2007, my path crossed again with the Indus script.
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但在2007年，我與古印度河文字重逢
06:22
That's when I was in India,
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我當時人在印度
06:24
and I had the wonderful opportunity
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有著很好的機會
06:26
to meet with some Indian scientists
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與印度科學家見面
06:28
who were using computer models to try to analyze the script.
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他們使用電腦模型去分析那些文字符號
06:31
And so it was then that I realized
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我想到
06:33
there was an opportunity for me to collaborate with these scientists,
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可以藉由這次機會與這些科學家合作
06:36
and so I jumped at that opportunity.
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所以我抓住了這次機會
06:38
And I'd like to describe some of the results that we have found.
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我想說明我們所發現的一些成果
06:40
Or better yet, let's all collectively decipher.
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甚至，讓我們一起來解讀這些文字符號
06:43
Are you ready?
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準備好了嗎？
06:45
The first thing that you need to do when you have an undeciphered script
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當你有段未解的文字符號時，你必須先
06:48
is try to figure out the direction of writing.
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去分辨書寫的方向
06:50
Here are two texts that contain some symbols on them.
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這裡有兩段相同符號的文字
06:53
Can you tell me
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你能告訴我
06:55
if the direction of writing is right to left or left to right?
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書寫的方向是由右到左還是左到右呢？
06:58
I'll give you a couple of seconds.
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我給大家幾分鐘的時間
07:01
Okay. Right to left, how many? Okay.
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好！右到左。有多少？好
07:04
Okay. Left to right?
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左到右呢？
07:06
Oh, it's almost 50/50. Okay.
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喔，大概一半一半。好
07:08
The answer is:
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答案是：
07:10
if you look at the left-hand side of the two texts,
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如果你看這兩段文字的左側
07:12
you'll notice that there's a cramping of signs,
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你會注意到左邊的符號有點擁擠
07:15
and it seems like 4,000 years ago,
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似乎是4000年前
07:17
when the scribe was writing from right to left,
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當書寫者從右寫到左時
07:19
they ran out of space.
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因空間不夠
07:21
And so they had to cram the sign.
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只得縮小間距
07:23
One of the signs is also below the text on the top.
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其中有一個符號也出現在下面的文字符號中
07:25
This suggests the direction of writing
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意味著書寫的方向
07:27
was probably from right to left,
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應該是從右到左
07:29
and so that's one of the first things we know,
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所以我們知道的第一件事是
07:31
that directionality is a very key aspect of linguistic scripts.
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書寫方向是語言符號中的關鍵項目
07:34
And the Indus script now has
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古印度河文字有個
07:36
this particular property.
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特別的特徵
07:38
What other properties of language does the script show?
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這文字符號中還有什麼其他語言特徵？
07:40
Languages contain patterns.
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語言會有一定模式
07:42
If I give you the letter Q
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如果我給你一個字母Ｑ
07:44
and ask you to predict the next letter, what do you think that would be?
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然後請你猜下一個字母，你們覺得會是什麼呢？
07:47
Most of you said U, which is right.
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大部份人都會說Ｕ，答對了
07:49
Now if I asked you to predict one more letter,
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現在我請你們再猜下個字母
07:51
what do you think that would be?
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你們覺得會是什麼呢？
07:53
Now there's several thoughts. There's E. It could be I. It could be A,
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現在這邊有很多種答案，有人說Ｅ，有人說Ｉ，也可能是Ａ
07:56
but certainly not B, C or D, right?
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但絕對不是Ｂ,C,Ｄ,對吧？
07:59
The Indus script also exhibits similar kinds of patterns.
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印度河文字也有類似的模式
08:02
There's a lot of text that start with this diamond-shaped symbol.
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有很多段文字的開頭都有菱形符號
08:05
And this in turn tends to be followed
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接著下個字
08:07
by this quotation marks-like symbol.
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會有類似引號的符號
08:09
And this is very similar to a Q and U example.
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這非常的類似Ｑ跟Ｕ的例子
08:11
This symbol can in turn be followed
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這符號之後
08:13
by these fish-like symbols and some other signs,
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會有著類似魚等其他的符號
08:16
but never by these other signs at the bottom.
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但不會是最底下出現的這些符號
08:18
And furthermore, there's some signs
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更詳細來說，有些符號
08:20
that really prefer the end of texts,
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比較常出現在文章結尾
08:22
such as this jar-shaped sign,
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像是這壺型的記號
08:24
and this sign, in fact, happens to be
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事實上，這記號剛好是
08:26
the most frequently occurring sign in the script.
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在這些文句中最常出現的記號
08:28
Given such patterns, here was our idea.
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看出這些慣用模式後，我們有個想法
08:31
The idea was to use a computer
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就是用電腦
08:33
to learn these patterns,
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去瞭解這些圖案
08:35
and so we gave the computer the existing texts.
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我們將這些文字符號輸入電腦
08:38
And the computer learned a statistical model
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然後電腦以某種統計模型
08:40
of which symbols tend to occur together
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算出哪些符號會一起出現
08:42
and which symbols tend to follow each other.
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而哪些符號常以先後順序出現
08:44
Given the computer model,
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使用此電腦模式
08:46
we can test the model by essentially quizzing it.
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我們可以以測驗的方式測試此模式
08:49
So we could deliberately erase some symbols,
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如此我們可以知道某些符號可以被省去
08:51
and we can ask it to predict the missing symbols.
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甚至可以重建不完整的文字符號
08:54
Here are some examples.
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這裡有些例子
09:00
You may regard this
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大家可以參考一下
09:02
as perhaps the most ancient game
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比如說像是命運轉輪
09:04
of Wheel of Fortune.
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這種古老的遊戲
09:08
What we found
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我們發現
09:10
was that the computer was successful in 75 percent of the cases
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電腦預測符號的成功率
09:12
in predicting the correct symbol.
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達75%
09:14
In the rest of the cases,
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而剩下的25%
09:16
typically the second best guess or third best guess was the right answer.
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理論上來說，電腦提供的第二或第三選項也會是正確答案
09:19
There's also practical use
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這種預測途徑
09:21
for this particular procedure.
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很實用
09:23
There's a lot of these texts that are damaged.
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很多文字符號都已經損毀
09:25
Here's an example of one such text.
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這裡有個例子
09:27
And we can use the computer model now to try to complete this text
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我們可以使用電腦模式來修復這段文字內容
09:30
and make a best guess prediction.
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且做出最佳的猜測
09:32
Here's an example of a symbol that was predicted.
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這邊有一成功預測的例子
09:35
And this could be really useful as we try to decipher the script
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它真的非常有用，在解開文字的過程中
09:37
by generating more data that we can analyze.
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讓我們得到了更多可供分析的數據
09:40
Now here's one other thing you can do with the computer model.
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現在多了一件藉由電腦模式解決的例子
09:43
So imagine a monkey
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請想像有隻猴子
09:45
sitting at a keyboard.
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坐在鍵盤上
09:47
I think you might get a random jumble of letters that looks like this.
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我猜會得到ㄧ堆像這樣隨機跑出的字母
09:50
Such a random jumble of letters
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這些隨機混亂的字母
09:52
is said to have a very high entropy.
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說明了很高的熵
09:54
This is a physics and information theory term.
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這是物理跟資訊理論說法
09:56
But just imagine it's a really random jumble of letters.
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但想像這是相當隨機混亂的字母排列
09:59
How many of you have ever spilled coffee on a keyboard?
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你們有誰曾經將咖啡濺在鍵盤上？
10:03
You might have encountered the stuck-key problem --
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可能會有鍵盤卡住的問題
10:05
so basically the same symbol being repeated over and over again.
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所以基本上有些同樣的符號會一再的重複
10:08
This kind of a sequence is said to have a very low entropy
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這類的數列可以說有著非常低的熵
10:11
because there's no variation at all.
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因為它們一點都沒變化
10:13
Language, on the other hand, has an intermediate level of entropy;
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語言，從別個角度說，有著中間程度的熵
10:16
it's neither too rigid,
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他的排列不會太單調
10:18
nor is it too random.
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也不會過於隨機
10:20
What about the Indus script?
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而古印度河文字呢？
10:22
Here's a graph that plots the entropies of a whole bunch of sequences.
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我們看到以上所有例子的數值
10:26
At the very top you find the uniformly random sequence,
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最上面是排序最為隨機的序列
10:28
which is a random jumble of letters --
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是一連串隨機的字母
10:30
and interestingly, we also find
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有趣的是，我們還發現
10:32
the DNA sequence from the human genome and instrumental music.
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人類ＤＮＡ的排序以及旋律優美的音樂
10:35
And both of these are very, very flexible,
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兩者排序都很有彈性
10:37
which is why you find them in the very high range.
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這是兩者數值較高
10:39
At the lower end of the scale,
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在圖表較下方的地方
10:41
you find a rigid sequence, a sequence of all A's,
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你可以看到最單調的排序是一串字母Ａ
10:43
and you also find a computer program,
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你也會發現一種電腦程式
10:45
in this case in the language Fortran,
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一種電腦翻譯語言Fortran
10:47
which obeys really strict rules.
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即是照著這種嚴謹的規則
10:49
Linguistic scripts
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語言文字符號
10:51
occupy the middle range.
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正落於這些中間值
10:53
Now what about the Indus script?
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古印度河文字呢？
10:55
We found that the Indus script
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我們發現它落於
10:57
actually falls within the range of the linguistic scripts.
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語言文字範圍值中
10:59
When this result was first published,
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這結果首次被公開
11:01
it was highly controversial.
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即引起高度爭議
11:04
There were people who raised a hue and cry,
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有人提出強烈批評
11:07
and these people were the ones who believed
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這些批評的人相信
11:09
that the Indus script does not represent language.
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古印度河文字根本不是文字
11:12
I even started to get some hate mail.
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我甚至收到一些惡意信函
11:14
My students said
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我的學生說
11:16
that I should really seriously consider getting some protection.
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我應該要好好保護自身安危
11:19
Who'd have thought
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誰能料到
11:21
that deciphering could be a dangerous profession?
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解讀古文字會變成一種危險職業
11:23
What does this result really show?
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這結果說明了什麼？
11:25
It shows that the Indus script
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他說明了古印度河文字
11:27
shares an important property of language.
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有著重要的語言特徵
11:29
So, as the old saying goes,
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所以，就像古老的諺語說得
11:31
if it looks like a linguistic script
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如果這看起來像是語言性文字
11:33
and it acts like a linguistic script,
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且它也有語言性文字的功用
11:35
then perhaps we may have a linguistic script on our hands.
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那麼我們所擁有的就是語言性文字
11:38
What other evidence is there
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有什麼其他證據顯示
11:40
that the script could actually encode language?
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這類文字能對解譯語言呢？
11:42
Well linguistic scripts can actually encode multiple languages.
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語言性文字的確能解譯多種語言
11:45
So for example, here's the same sentence written in English
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例如，一句英文
11:48
and the same sentence written in Dutch
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還有一句相同的荷蘭文
11:50
using the same letters of the alphabet.
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都用同樣的字母
11:52
If you don't know Dutch and you only know English
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如果你不懂荷蘭文，只懂英文
11:55
and I give you some words in Dutch,
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你看一些荷蘭文
11:57
you'll tell me that these words contain
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你會告訴我裡面有些字
11:59
some very unusual patterns.
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的排序很奇怪
12:01
Some things are not right,
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有點不對勁
12:03
and you'll say these words are probably not English words.
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你會說這些字不是英文
12:06
The same thing happens in the case of the Indus script.
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在古印度河文字中，也是同樣的道理
12:08
The computer found several texts --
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電腦發現了一些文字
12:10
two of them are shown here --
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這裡有兩段
12:12
that have very unusual patterns.
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他們都有著非常少見的符號
12:14
So for example the first text:
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以第一個例子來說
12:16
there's a doubling of this jar-shaped sign.
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可以看到兩個壺形記號出現
12:19
This sign is the most frequently-occurring sign
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這種記號是最常在古印度河文字中
12:21
in the Indus script,
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發現的符號
12:23
and it's only in this text
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但只有在這
12:25
that it occurs as a doubling pair.
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以一對的方式出現
12:27
Why is that the case?
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為什麼在這裡是是這樣呢？
12:29
We went back and looked at where these particular texts were found,
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我們回頭看這些文字符號的出處
12:32
and it turns out that they were found
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發現他們來自
12:34
very, very far away from the Indus Valley.
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離古印度河文明非常非常遠的地方
12:36
They were found in present day Iraq and Iran.
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他們來自現今的伊拉克以及伊朗
12:39
And why were they found there?
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為何出處會在那裡？
12:41
What I haven't told you is that
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我還沒跟你說的是
12:43
the Indus people were very, very enterprising.
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古印度人很會做生意
12:45
They used to trade with people pretty far away from where they lived,
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他們常和遠地區的人們做生意
12:48
and so in this case, they were traveling by sea
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也因此，他們會越洋交易
12:51
all the way to Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq.
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交易地區遍及美索不達米亞，亦即現今的伊拉克
12:54
And what seems to have happened here
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我們所看到的
12:56
is that the Indus traders, the merchants,
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是印度商人
12:59
were using this script to write a foreign language.
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用他們的文字符號寫下外來語
13:02
It's just like our English and Dutch example.
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就像我們這邊所舉的英文以及荷蘭語意思相同
13:04
And that would explain why we have these strange patterns
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這也是我們看到這些異常排序的原因
13:06
that are very different from the kinds of patterns you see in the text
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它們和你看到古印度河文字符號
13:09
that are found within the Indus Valley.
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大相徑庭
13:12
This suggests that the same script, the Indus script,
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這也意謂著，同樣的古印度文字符號
13:14
could be used to write different languages.
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可能被用在不同的語言上
13:17
The results we have so far seem to point to the conclusion
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我們從此可論斷
13:20
that the Indus script probably does represent language.
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古印度河的文字符號，的確是語言
13:23
If it does represent language,
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它的確代表一種語言
13:25
then how do we read the symbols?
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我們如何解讀這些符號呢？
13:27
That's our next big challenge.
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這是我們接下來的難題
13:29
So you'll notice that many of the symbols
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所以你會注意到這些符號
13:31
look like pictures of humans, of insects,
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看起來像是人，像是昆蟲
13:33
of fishes, of birds.
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像魚，像鳥
13:36
Most ancient scripts
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大部份的古代文字符號
13:38
use the rebus principle,
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都是象形字
13:40
which is, using pictures to represent words.
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以圖像代表文字
13:43
So as an example, here's a word.
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像之前的例子，這裡有個字
13:46
Can you write it using pictures?
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你可以用圖畫來寫它嗎？
13:48
I'll give you a couple seconds.
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我給你幾分鐘時間
13:50
Got it?
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好了嗎？
13:52
Okay. Great.
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很好！
13:54
Here's my solution.
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這是我的解決方法
13:56
You could use the picture of a bee followed by a picture of a leaf --
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你可以先畫一隻蜜蜂，接著畫一片樹葉
13:58
and that's "belief," right.
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這就代表 “相信”，對吧
14:00
There could be other solutions.
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還有其他畫法
14:02
In the case of the Indus script,
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在古印度河文字裡
14:04
the problem is the reverse.
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問題剛好相反
14:06
You have to figure out the sounds of each of these pictures
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你必須先瞭解每個圖像的聲音
14:09
such that the entire sequence makes sense.
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才能瞭解整個排序的意思
14:11
So this is just like a crossword puzzle,
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就像是字謎遊戲
14:14
except that this is the mother of all crossword puzzles
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只不過這是所有字謎遊戲之始
14:17
because the stakes are so high if you solve it.
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因為代價實在太高了
14:21
My colleagues, Iravatham Mahadevan and Asko Parpola,
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我的同事，曼哈達凡以及巴布達
14:24
have been making some headway on this particular problem.
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對這問題都頗有心得
14:26
And I'd like to give you a quick example of Parpola's work.
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我可以讓你看一下巴布達的成果
14:28
Here's a really short text.
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這是很短的文字符號
14:30
It contains seven vertical strokes followed by this fish-like sign.
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有七條直線後面有一條魚的圖象
14:33
And I want to mention that these seals were used
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我想要說明這些印章是被用來
14:35
for stamping clay tags
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蓋在黏土標簽
14:37
that were attached to bundles of goods,
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然後被貼在貨物上
14:39
so it's quite likely that these tags, at least some of them,
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所以它會很像這些標簽，至少其中的某些
14:42
contain names of merchants.
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有著商號的名字
14:44
And it turns out that in India
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在印度
14:46
there's a long tradition
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長久以來即習慣
14:48
of names being based on horoscopes
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以星座來命名
14:50
and star constellations present at the time of birth.
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以星群象徵出生時間
14:53
In Dravidian languages,
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在德拉威語系裡
14:55
the word for fish is "meen"
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魚的發音是 “meen"
14:57
which happens to sound just like the word for star.
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而這個字的發音跟星星剛好相同
15:00
And so seven stars
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所以七顆星星
15:02
would stand for "elu meen,"
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代表 "elu meen"
15:04
which is the Dravidian word
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就是德拉威語的
15:06
for the Big Dipper star constellation.
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北斗七星
15:08
Similarly, there's another sequence of six stars,
376
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同樣地，這裡有六顆星
15:11
and that translates to "aru meen,"
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可以翻成 ”aru meen"
15:13
which is the old Dravidian name
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在德拉威語
15:15
for the star constellation Pleiades.
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代表昴宿星團
15:17
And finally, there's other combinations,
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事實上，還有其他的組合
15:20
such as this fish sign with something that looks like a roof on top of it.
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像是，魚的圖象上有個蓋子
15:23
And that could be translated into "mey meen,"
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可以翻成 "mey meen"
15:26
which is the old Dravidian name for the planet Saturn.
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在德拉威語意思是土星
15:29
So that was pretty exciting.
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讓人感到振奮的是
15:31
It looks like we're getting somewhere.
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我們似乎有所進展
15:33
But does this prove
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這證明
15:35
that these seals contain Dravidian names
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這些印章有著以行星
15:37
based on planets and star constellations?
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以及星群來命名的德威語
15:39
Well not yet.
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但不是這樣就結束了
15:41
So we have no way of validating
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我們仍無法證實
15:43
these particular readings,
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這樣的解讀方式無誤
15:45
but if more and more of these readings start making sense,
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但如果越來越多的解讀都有道理
15:48
and if longer and longer sequences
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越來越長的排序解讀
15:50
appear to be correct,
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都是正確的
15:52
then we know that we are on the right track.
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我們就能知道這樣的方法是對的
15:54
Today,
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今天
15:56
we can write a word such as TED
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我們可以用埃及象形文字以及楔形文字
15:59
in Egyptian hieroglyphics and in cuneiform script,
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寫下ＴＥＤ這樣的名字
16:02
because both of these were deciphered
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因為人們在十九世紀
16:04
in the 19th century.
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早已解開兩者的文字符號內容
16:06
The decipherment of these two scripts
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對於兩種文字的解讀
16:08
enabled these civilizations to speak to us again directly.
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使得我們現在能瞭解過去的文明
16:11
The Mayans
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二十世紀
16:13
started speaking to us in the 20th century,
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我們也開始瞭解馬亞文明
16:15
but the Indus civilization remains silent.
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但我們至今仍無法瞭解古印度河文明
16:18
Why should we care?
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為什麼我們需要這麼在乎
16:20
The Indus civilization does not belong
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印度河文明不僅屬於
16:22
to just the South Indians or the North Indians
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南印度或是北印度人
16:24
or the Pakistanis;
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或是巴基斯坦人
16:26
it belongs to all of us.
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這屬於我們所有人
16:28
These are our ancestors --
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這些是我們的祖先
16:30
yours and mine.
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你我共同的祖先
16:32
They were silenced
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他們因為遭遇了
16:34
by an unfortunate accident of history.
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某個不幸的歷史意外而不為人知
16:36
If we decipher the script,
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如果我們解開了這些文字符號
16:38
we would enable them to speak to us again.
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就能再次瞭解這些符號的意義
16:40
What would they tell us?
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他們會傳達什麼呢？
16:43
What would we find out about them? About us?
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我們又會發現什麼呢？是關於我們的事情嗎？
16:46
I can't wait to find out.
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我等不及發現
16:49
Thank you.
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謝謝大家
16:51
(Applause)
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（鼓掌）
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Rajesh Rao - Computational neuroscientistRajesh Rao seeks to understand the human brain through computational modeling, on two fronts: developing computer models of our minds, and using tech to decipher the 4,000-year-old lost script of the Indus Valley civilization.
Why you should listen
Rajesh Rao is looking for the computational principles underlying the brain's remarkable ability to learn, process and store information -- hoping to apply this knowledge to the task of building adaptive robotic systems and artificially intelligent agents.
Some of the questions that motivate his research include: How does the brain learn efficient representations of novel objects and events occurring in the natural environment? What are the algorithms that allow useful sensorimotor routines and behaviors to be learned? What computational mechanisms allow the brain to adapt to changing circumstances and remain fault-tolerant and robust?
By investigating these questions within a computational and probabilistic framework, it is often possible to derive algorithms that not only provide functional interpretations of neurobiological properties but also suggest solutions to difficult problems in computer vision, speech, robotics and artificial intelligence.
Rajesh Rao | Speaker | TED.com