TEDSalon London 2010
Thomas Thwaites: How I built a toaster -- from scratch
Thomas Thawaites: 我怎样从头开始做烤面包机
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设计师Thomas Thwaite通过一台烤面包机的制作经历了整个文明的发展过程，他历经周折， 尝试由画稿开始制造一台完整的烤面包机。他采矿炼铁，炼油成塑，令人吃惊地完成了他现在取得的成果。他的故事为设计师和消费者揭示了我们这个社会是如何紧密相连的。
Thomas Thwaites - Designer
Thomas Thwaites is a designer "of a more speculative sort," he says. Full bio
Thomas Thwaites is a designer "of a more speculative sort," he says. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
If we look around us,
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如果我们环顾四周
00:18
much of what surrounds us
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很多我们身边的东西
00:20
started life as various rocks and sludge
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都是从石块泥污里开始它们的生命的
00:23
buried in the ground in various places in the world.
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它们被埋在世界上各个角落的地下
00:27
But, of course, they don't look like rocks and sludge now.
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当然，现在你已经看不出他跟石头和泥污有什么相似的
00:29
They look like TV cameras, monitors,
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它们看上去就是摄像机、电脑屏幕
00:32
annoying radio mics.
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让人讨厌的无线话筒
00:34
And so this magical transformation
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而我的这个项目想尝试着要接触的
00:36
is what I was trying to get at with my project,
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就是这个神奇的转变
00:39
which became known as the Toaster Project.
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这就是大家都知道的烤面包机项目
00:41
And it was also inspired by this quote
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它也是受Douglas Adams的
00:43
from Douglas Adams,
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这句名言的启发
00:45
and the situation is from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
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故事发生在“银河系漫游指南”中
00:48
And the situation it describes
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这个故事所讲述的
00:50
is the hero of the book -- he's a 20th-century man --
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是一个活在20世纪的人
00:53
finds himself alone on a strange planet
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发现自己活在一个奇怪的星球上
00:56
populated only by a technologically primitive people.
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这个星球上人都只会最原始的技术活
00:59
And he kind of assumes that, yes,
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于是他就想，是的，
01:01
he'll become -- these villagers --
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他将成为 -- 这些村民的--
01:03
he'll become their emperor
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他将成为他们的国王
01:05
and transform their society
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并且帮他们完成社会转型
01:07
with his wonderful command of technology
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凭借他极好的对技术
01:09
and science and the elements,
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科学和原理的掌握，
01:11
but, of course, realizes
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但是，他也认识到
01:13
that without the rest of human society,
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在没有其他社会资源的条件下，
01:15
he can barely make a sandwich,
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他很难做出一个三明治，
01:18
let alone a toaster.
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更不用说一台烤面包机了。
01:20
But he didn't have Wikipedia.
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因为这个人不能查阅维基百科。
01:22
So I thought, okay,
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所以我就想，那好，
01:24
I'll try and make an electric toaster from scratch.
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我要试着从头开始做出一台能通电的烤面包机。
01:26
And, working on the idea
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而且，因为我认为
01:28
that the cheapest electric toaster
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最便宜的电烤面包机
01:30
would also be the simplest to reverse-engineer,
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也应该是最容易让我逆向制造的，
01:32
I went and bought the cheapest toaster I could find,
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所以我去买了台我能找到的最便宜的烤面包机，
01:35
took it home
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把它带回家
01:37
and was kind of dismayed to discover
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但是我还是失望的发现
01:39
that, inside this object,
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这个东西
01:41
which I'd bought for just 3.49 pounds,
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这个我只花了3.94磅买的东西
01:44
there were 400 different bits
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居然有400个不同的部件
01:47
made out of a hundred-plus different materials.
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而且这些部件是由100个以上不同材料构成的。
01:51
I didn't have the rest of my life to do this project.
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我不想把我余下的生命全部花在这个项目上；
01:54
I had maybe nine months.
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我只有大概9个月的时间。
01:56
So I thought, okay, I'll start with five.
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所以我就想，那好，我就从5个东西开始入手。
01:58
And these were steel, mica,
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这5个东西分别是钢，云母
02:00
plastic, copper and nickel.
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塑料，铜和镍
02:03
So, starting with steel: how do you make steel?
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于是，从钢铁开始：我们是怎么炼出钢铁的？
02:06
I went and knocked on the door
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我去皇家矿业学院访问了
02:08
of the Rio Tinto Chair
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力拓集团
02:10
of Advanced Mineral Extraction at the Royal School of Mines
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高级矿物提炼部门的主席，
02:13
and said, "How do you make steel?"
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并问道，“你们是怎么做钢铁的？”
02:15
And Professor Cilliers was very kind
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那个Cilliers教授人很好，
02:17
and talked me through it.
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他向我介绍了整个提炼过程
02:19
And my vague rememberings from GCSE science --
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加上对中学科学的模糊记忆--
02:22
well, steel comes from iron,
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钢铁应该是由铁炼出来的，
02:24
so I phoned up an iron mine.
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所以我就打电话给了一个铁矿厂。
02:27
And said, "Hi, I'm trying to make a toaster.
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我说：“你好，我想要做一个烤面包机，
02:29
Can I come up and get some iron?"
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我能到你们那里拿点铁吗?"
02:33
Unfortunately, when I got there -- emerges Ray.
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很不幸的是，当我到那里-- 见到了Ray。
02:36
He had misheard me
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他在电话里听错了我的意思，
02:38
and thought I was coming up because I was trying to make a poster,
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他认为我来他那里只是为了做一个画报，
02:41
and so wasn't prepared to take me into the mines.
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所以就没有准备让我下矿井。
02:44
But after some nagging, I got him to do that.
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但对他唠叨一会之后，他还是带我去了。
02:46
(Video) Ray: It was Crease Limestone,
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（视频）Ray： 它以前是石炭石灰岩，
02:50
and that was produced
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是由
02:52
by sea creatures
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海洋生物
02:55
350 million years ago
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在3亿5千万年前
02:58
in a nice, warm,
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在温暖，
03:00
sunny atmosphere.
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阳光充足的环境下形成的。
03:02
When you study geology,
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当你学地质学的时候，
03:04
you can see what's happened in the past,
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你就能知道这里过去都发生过什么。
03:07
and there were terrific changes in the earth.
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这里都发生过巨大的变化。
03:16
Thomas Thwaites: As you can see, they had the Christmas decorations up.
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正如你看到的，他们已把这里装扮好准备过圣诞节了。
03:20
And of course, it wasn't actually a working mine anymore,
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当然，事实上这个矿井已经不工作了，
03:23
because, though Ray was a miner there,
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因为，虽然Ray曾是这里的矿工
03:26
the mine had closed
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但是这矿井已经被关闭了
03:28
and had been reopened as a kind of tourist attraction,
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而且后来又作为一个旅游景点重新开放，
03:31
because, of course, it can't compete
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因为，很明显
03:33
on the scale of operations which are happening
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它在运营规模上比不上
03:36
in South America, Australia, wherever.
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南美洲，澳大利亚，或其他什么地方。
03:39
But anyway, I got my suitcase of iron ore
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但是不管怎样，我还是把铁矿石装到了到我旅行箱里
03:42
and dragged it back to London on the train,
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并坐火车把它带了伦敦，
03:44
and then was faced with the problem:
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之后我又面临一个问题：
03:46
Okay, how do you make this rock
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那好，我要怎样把这个石头
03:48
into components for a toaster?
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变成烤面包机的部件呢？
03:50
So I went back to Professor Cilliers,
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所以我就回去找了Cilliers教授，
03:52
and he said, "Go to the library."
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他告诉我，“去图书馆吧。”
03:54
So I did
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然后我就去了
03:56
and was looking through the undergraduate textbooks on metallurgy --
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我在那翻阅了本科生冶金学教材--
03:59
completely useless for what I was trying to do.
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但这根本没用
04:02
Because, of course, they don't actually tell you how to do it
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因为，当然，书里面实际上并没有提到
04:05
if you want to do it yourself and you don't have a smelting plant.
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在没有冶炼厂的情况下该如何炼铁。
04:08
So I ended up going to the History of Science Library
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所以我最后去了科学史图书馆
04:10
and looking at this book.
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阅读了这本书
04:12
This is the first textbook on metallurgy
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这是冶金学的第一本教材
04:14
written in the West, at least.
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至少在西方是第一本。
04:16
And there you can see that woodcut
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在这里你们看见的木雕
04:18
is basically what I ended up doing.
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就是我最终做到的
04:20
But instead of a bellows, I had a leaf blower.
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但是我没有风箱，只有一个叶风机。
04:23
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
04:25
And that was something that reoccurred throughout the project,
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在整个项目过程中，我一直有一个感叹，
04:28
was, the smaller the scale you want to work on,
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那就是，你越想从小的地方做起，
04:30
the further back in time you have to go.
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你就得追溯到越远的过去。
04:33
And so this is after
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所以这就是我花了
04:35
a day and about half a night
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一个白天加一半个晚上
04:37
smelting this iron.
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提炼这个铁矿之后。
04:39
I dragged out this stuff,
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我得到了这个东西，
04:41
and it wasn't iron.
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这并不是铁。
04:43
But luckily,
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但幸运的是，
04:45
I found a patent online
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我在网上找了一个专利
04:47
for industrial furnaces that use microwaves,
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就是说可以用微波炉代替工业熔炉。
04:50
and at 30 minutes at full power,
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所以在30分钟全功率运作之后，
04:52
and I was able to finish off the process.
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我终于能够完成这个工序。
04:57
So, my next --
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之后，我接下来的--
04:59
(Applause)
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（掌声）
05:03
The next thing I was trying to get was copper.
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接下来我要试着得到的就是铜。
05:06
Again, this mine
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同样，这里
05:09
was once the largest copper mine in the world.
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曾经是世界上最大的铜矿山。
05:11
It's not anymore,
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现在已经不是了。
05:13
but I found a retired geology professor
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但是我找到了一位退休的地质学教授
05:15
to take me down,
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把我带了下去。
05:17
and he said, "Okay, I'll let you have some water from the mine."
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他说，“那好，我会让你从矿井里取些水走。”
05:20
And the reason I was interested in getting water
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至于我想得到一些水的原因
05:23
is because water which goes through mines
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就是因为流过矿井的水
05:25
becomes kind of acidic
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会含有酸性物质
05:27
and will start picking up,
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矿中的矿物质会渗透
05:29
dissolving the minerals from the mine.
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并溶解在水里
05:31
And a good example of this is the Rio Tinto,
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一个很好的例子就是力拓
05:34
which is in Portugal.
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这是他在葡萄牙的一个分厂。
05:36
As you can see, it's got lots and lots of minerals dissolved in it.
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正如你所见的，有许多的矿物都溶在了这水里。
05:39
So many such
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这东西太多了，
05:41
that it's now just a home for bacteria
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以至于现在都成了那些
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who really like acidic, toxic conditions.
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喜欢在酸性，有毒的环境下生活的细菌的家。
05:47
But anyway, the water I dragged back
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但是不管怎样，那些我从
05:49
from the Isle of Anglesey where the mine was --
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Anglesey岛上，就是铜矿所在地，带回的水--
05:51
there was enough copper in it
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里面有足够的铜矿
05:53
such that I could cast the pins
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这足以让我浇铸出
05:55
of my metal electric plug.
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我要的金属插头。
05:57
So my next thing: I was off to Scotland
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然后接下来：我去了苏格兰
06:00
to get mica.
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去找云母。
06:03
And mica is a mineral
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云母也是一种矿物，
06:06
which is a very good insulator
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是一种很好的绝缘体
06:09
and very good at insulating electricity.
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能很好的阻隔电流.
06:12
That's me getting mica.
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这是我得到了云母的照片。
06:15
And the last material I'm going to talk about today is plastic,
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我今天最后要说的原材料就是塑料。
06:18
and, of course,
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当然，
06:20
my toaster had to have a plastic case.
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我的面包机需要一个塑料的外包装。
06:22
Plastic is the defining feature
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塑料包装是
06:24
of cheap electrical goods.
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便宜电子产品的共同特点。
06:26
And so plastic comes from oil, so I phoned up BP
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塑料是由石油炼来的，所以我给BP公司打了电话
06:29
and spent a good half an hour
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花了大半个小时
06:31
trying to convince the PR office at BP
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试图说服他们的公关部门
06:33
that it would be fantastic for them
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说如果他们能带我去钻油塔，
06:35
if they flew me to an oil rig
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并给我一壶油
06:37
and let me have a jug of oil.
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那简直就太好了。
06:39
BP obviously has a bit more on their mind now.
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若现在找他们，估计没人理我，因为他们现在有很多事缠身。
06:43
But even then
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但是就是当时，
06:45
they weren't convinced
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他们也没有答应我
06:47
and said, "Okay, we'll phone you back" -- never did.
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他们说，“好的，我们会给你回电话。”-- 从来没回过。
06:50
So I looked at other ways of making plastic.
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所以我就看了其他做塑料的方法。
06:53
And you can actually make plastic
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后来发现，我们除了
06:55
from obviously oils which come from plants, but also from starches.
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用由植物演变的石油可以提炼之外，用淀粉也行。
06:58
So this is attempting to make
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这就是我尝试着做
07:00
potato starch plastic.
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土豆淀粉塑料。
07:02
And for a while that was looking really good.
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刚做好时，它看上去很棒。
07:04
I poured it into the mold, which you can see there,
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正如你们所见，我把它倒进了模子
07:06
which I've made from a tree trunk.
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这模子是用我树干做的
07:08
And it was looking good for a while,
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这东西刚出来时，看上去很好，
07:10
but I left it outside, because you had to leave it outside to dry,
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因为需要晒干，所以我把它放在了外面，
07:13
and unfortunately I came back
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但不幸的是，我再出来看的时候
07:15
and there were snails eating the unhydrolyzed bits of potato.
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我发现有蜗牛正在吃那些未水解的土豆。
07:19
So kind of out of desperation,
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失望之余
07:22
I decided that I could think laterally.
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我决定来点创新。
07:25
And geologists have actually christened --
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地质学家已经将这个时代命名为--
07:27
well, they're debating whether to christen --
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事实上，他们正在争论
07:29
the age that we're living in --
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是否要命名--
07:31
they're debating whether to make it a new geological epoch
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是否需要取一个新的地质纪元名称
07:34
called the Anthropocene, the age of Man.
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叫做“人类世”， 一个属于人类的时代。
07:37
And that's because geologists of the future
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这样做是因为未来的地质学家
07:39
would kind of see a sharp shift
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可能会在由我们现在埋下的岩层中
07:41
in the strata of rock that is being laid down now.
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发现明显的转变。
07:43
So suddenly, it will become kind of radioactive from Chernobyl
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突然间，它会有像切尔诺贝利核电那样的放射污染
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and the 2,000 or so nuclear bombs
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或者是从1945年开始到现在
07:48
that have been set off since 1945.
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引爆的2000个左右的核炸弹那样的危害。
07:52
And there'd also be an extinction event --
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这可能会是一个毁灭性的灾难---
07:55
like fossils would suddenly disappear.
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就像化石可能突然消失一样。
07:58
And also, I thought
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所以，我认为
08:00
that there would be
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应该会有
08:02
synthetic polymers,
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人造聚合体和
08:04
plastics, embedded in the rock.
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塑料元素夹杂在岩层中。
08:06
So I looked up a plastic --
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所以我查阅了一种塑料--
08:08
so I decided that I could mine
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我决定去开采一下
08:10
some of this modern-day rock.
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一些现代岩石。
08:12
And I went up to Manchester
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我去了曼彻斯特
08:14
to visit a place called Axion Recycling.
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造访了一个叫Axion Recycling的地方
08:17
And they're at the sharp end of what's called the WEEE,
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那儿的人正处在一个叫WEEE项目中的最艰难的阶段，
08:20
which is this European electrical and electronic waste directive.
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WEEE是“欧洲电子电器垃圾”官方指南。
08:25
And that was brought into force
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这个项目正在实施
08:27
to try and deal with the mountain of stuff
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目的是处理堆积如山的电子垃圾
08:30
that is just being made
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这些东西一般是刚做出来
08:33
and then living for a while in our homes
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被我们买回家用一段时间
08:35
and then going to landfill.
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但他们很快就被人送去了垃圾填埋场
08:37
But this is it.
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事实就是这样
08:46
(Music)
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音乐响起
09:47
(Laughter)
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笑声一片
09:49
So there's a picture
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这儿有一副图片
09:51
of my toaster.
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是我的烤面包机
09:53
(Applause)
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（鼓掌）
09:57
That's it without the case on.
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它没有壳子
10:00
And there it is on the shelves.
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这儿，它被安放在架子上
10:03
Thanks.
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谢谢
10:05
(Applause)
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（鼓掌）
10:09
Bruno Giussani: I'm told you did plug it in once.
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Bruno Giussani: 我听说你有一次没有接入电源插进去？
10:11
TT: Yeah, I did plug it in.
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呃，是的，我没有把它接入进去
10:13
I don't know if you could see,
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我不知道这样你是否能看得见
10:15
but I was never able to make insulation for the wires.
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不过我一向不会做电线外的绝缘材料
10:18
Kew Gardens were insistent
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Kew 庄园的人很顽固
10:20
that I couldn't come and hack into their rubber tree.
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所以我不能去砍他们家的橡胶树来弄点绝缘材料
10:23
So the wires were uninsulated.
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所以，这些电线都是不绝缘的
10:25
So there was 240 volts
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这儿有240伏的电压
10:27
going through these homemade copper wires,
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将要通过这些自制的铜电线
10:29
homemade plug.
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通过自制的插座
10:31
And for about five seconds,
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大约五秒过后
10:33
the toaster toasted,
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烤面包机运作起来了，
10:35
but then, unfortunately,
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但是，不幸的是
10:37
the element kind of melted itself.
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这些电器元件自熔了
10:40
But I considered it a partial success, to be honest.
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不过，说实话，我仍当作这是部分成功
10:43
BG: Thomas Thwaites. TT: Thanks.
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®谢谢
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Thomas Thwaites - DesignerThomas Thwaites is a designer "of a more speculative sort," he says.
Why you should listen
Thomas Thwaites calls himself "a designer (of a more speculative sort)." His thoughtful projects look deeply at the science behind technology, as in the Toaster Project, which sent spiralling him into the history and techniques of metallurgy and plastics production, and Policing Genes, a thought experiment around amateur genetics. We will not mention Honeytrap, an attempt to explore modern criminality through a bicycle theft gone horribly wrong. He's currently working on a project investigating counterfactual histories in science, supported by the Wellcome Trust.
Thomas Thwaites | Speaker | TED.com