TED2011
Daniel Tammet: Different ways of knowing
丹尼尔·塔曼特Daniel Tammet: 感知的不同方式
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丹尼尔·塔曼特对语言、数字和视觉有连带感觉——意思是他对文字、数字、色彩的感觉全部混合纠结在一起，形成一种新的感知和理解世界的方式。他著有自传体小说《出生在一个蓝天下》。塔曼特分享了他在语言方面的艺术和热情，以此我们瞥见他美妙的思维。
Daniel Tammet - Linguist, educator
Daniel Tammet is the author of "Born on a Blue Day," about his life with high-functioning autistic savant syndrome. He runs the language-learning site Optimnem, and his new book is "Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Mind." Full bio
Daniel Tammet is the author of "Born on a Blue Day," about his life with high-functioning autistic savant syndrome. He runs the language-learning site Optimnem, and his new book is "Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Mind." Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
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I'm a savant,
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我是个学者
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or more precisely,
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或者更准确地说，
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a high-functioning
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一个高功能
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autistic savant.
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自闭症学者。
00:23
It's a rare condition.
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这是一种少见的情况。
00:25
And rarer still when accompanied,
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更罕见的是，
00:28
as in my case,
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我的这种状况，
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by self-awareness
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还伴随自我感知意识
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and a mastery of language.
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而且还精通语言。
00:35
Very often when I meet someone
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比较常见的是，当我遇到一些人
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and they learn this about me,
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他们知道我的这些情况，
00:40
there's a certain kind of awkwardness.
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这就会有点尴尬。
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I can see it in their eyes.
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我能从他们的眼里看出来
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They want to ask me something.
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他们想问我一些事情
00:49
And in the end, quite often,
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经常是到了最后
00:51
the urge is stronger than they are
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他们的强烈好奇就绷不住了
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and they blurt it out:
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他们会脱口而问：
00:56
"If I give you my date of birth,
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“如果我告诉你我的生日，
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can you tell me what day of the week I was born on?"
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你能告诉我，我是星期几出生的吗？”
01:00
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
01:03
Or they mention cube roots
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或者他们会提到立方根
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or ask me to recite a long number or long text.
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又或者让我背一个很长的数字或文字。
01:10
I hope you'll forgive me
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请你们原谅我
01:12
if I don't perform
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今天我不会在这儿展示
01:15
a kind of one-man savant show for you today.
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这类似的“学者表演”
01:19
I'm going to talk instead
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今天我不谈这些
01:22
about something
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说点其它的
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far more interesting
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更有趣的话题
01:26
than dates of birth or cube roots --
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而不是生日和立方根之类的--
01:29
a little deeper
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会有一点深奥
01:31
and a lot closer, to my mind, than work.
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会比我的天赋更接近我的思想。
01:34
I want to talk to you briefly
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我想简单的和你们谈谈
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about perception.
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关于感知。
01:39
When he was writing the plays and the short stories
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契诃夫写那些让他扬名的
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that would make his name,
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剧本和小故事时，
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Anton Chekhov kept a notebook
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他习惯随身带着笔记本，
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in which he noted down
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随手记录
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his observations
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记录下他的观察
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of the world around him --
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记录下他周围的世界
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little details
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那些都是些小细节
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that other people seem to miss.
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可其他人易忽略那些细节。
01:58
Every time I read Chekhov
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每次我读契诃夫的作品
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and his unique vision of human life,
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以及他对人们生活的独特见解
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I'm reminded of why I too
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我都认识到
02:07
became a writer.
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为什么我也能成为一个作家。
02:09
In my books,
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在我的书里，
02:11
I explore the nature of perception
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我探索了感知的本质，
02:13
and how different kinds of perceiving
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以及不同的感觉
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create different kinds of knowing
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如何创造出不同的感知
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and understanding.
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和不同的理解。
02:23
Here are three questions
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下面有三个问题
02:25
drawn from my work.
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源于我的研究。
02:27
Rather than try to figure them out,
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与其说要解决这些问题，
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I'm going to ask you to consider for a moment
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我更想邀请你们感受一下
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the intuitions
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那种直觉
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and the gut instincts
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和那种本能
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that are going through your head and your heart
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那些当你看到题目时
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as you look at them.
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在你的头脑和内心里出现的直觉和本能。
02:41
For example, the calculation:
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例如这个计算题，
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can you feel where on the number line
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你能感知到那行数字
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the solution is likely to fall?
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答案可能是多少吗？
02:49
Or look at the foreign word and the sounds:
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或者看看这个外语单词和读音
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can you get a sense of the range of meanings
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你能猜到大概的意思吗
02:54
that it's pointing you towards?
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那种直觉给出的答案？
02:57
And in terms of the line of poetry,
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这行诗，
03:00
why does the poet use the word hare
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诗人为什么用hare （兔）这个词
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rather than rabbit?
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而不是用rabbit（兔）？
03:06
I'm asking you to do this
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我请你们思考这些
03:08
because I believe our personal perceptions, you see,
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因为我相信我们的个人感知
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are at the heart
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是我们如何获取知识的
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of how we acquire knowledge.
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核心
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Aesthetic judgments,
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感知判断，
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rather than abstract reasoning,
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而非抽象推理，
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guide and shape the process
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指导并塑造了我们了解事物的过程
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by which we all come to know
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由此我们都会了解到
03:26
what we know.
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我们所感知的东西。
03:28
I'm an extreme example of this.
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我是一个极端的例子。
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My worlds of words and numbers
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在我的文字和数字世界里，
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blur with color, emotion
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色彩，情感
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and personality.
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和个性都是混合在一起的。
03:38
As Juan said,
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就像Juan胡安所说的，
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it's the condition that scientists call synesthesia,
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科学家们称这种情况是联觉，
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an unusual cross-talk
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一种不常见的通感
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between the senses.
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连结各种感觉。
03:51
Here are the numbers one to 12
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这里是数字1到12
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as I see them --
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在我眼里
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every number with its own shape and character.
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每个数字都有着自己的形状和特点。
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One is a flash of white light.
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1是一闪的白光
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Six is a tiny and very sad black hole.
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6是微小而悲伤的黑洞
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The sketches are in black and white here,
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这些速写是黑白的
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but in my mind they have colors.
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但是在我眼里他们是有色彩的。
04:11
Three is green.
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3是绿色的
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Four is blue.
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4是蓝色的
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Five is yellow.
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5是黄色的
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I paint as well.
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我把它们画下来
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And here is one of my paintings.
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这是我的一幅画。
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It's a multiplication of two prime numbers.
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这是两个素数的乘法
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Three-dimensional shapes
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呈三维形状
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and the space they create in the middle
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和中间形成的空间
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creates a new shape,
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又组成了一个新的形状，
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the answer to the sum.
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就是他们的总和。
04:39
What about bigger numbers?
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更"大"的数字会怎么样呢？
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Well you can't get much bigger than Pi,
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你不能得到一个比圆周率派Pi更“大”的数字了，
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the mathematical constant.
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它是数学常数。
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It's an infinite number --
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是一个无限的数字--
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literally goes on forever.
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就是说它永远不会结束。
04:51
In this painting that I made
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在我画的这个图里，
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of the first 20 decimals of Pi,
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是派Pi的前20位数字，
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I take the colors
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我使用颜色，
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and the emotions and the textures
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情感和纹理
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and I pull them all together
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我把这些组合到一起，
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into a kind of rolling numerical landscape.
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就成了一个起伏的数字风景画。
05:09
But it's not only numbers that I see in colors.
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在我眼里不仅数字是有颜色的，
05:12
Words too, for me,
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对我来说，文字也一样
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have colors and emotions
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有颜色，情感，
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and textures.
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和纹理。
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And this is an opening phrase
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这是
05:20
from the novel "Lolita."
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出自小说《洛丽塔》的开场白(Lolita, light of my life)。
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And Nabokov was himself synesthetic.
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作者纳博科夫本身就是有联觉的
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And you can see here
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你从这里可以看出来，
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how my perception of the sound L
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我对L这个音的感觉
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helps the alliteration
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使得字头押韵
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to jump right out.
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能突出感觉。
05:36
Another example:
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另一个例子
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a little bit more mathematical.
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稍微有一点数学化了。
05:40
And I wonder if some of you will notice
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我想知道你们中的某些人是否会注意到
05:42
the construction of the sentence
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出自
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from "The Great Gatsby."
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《了不起的盖茨比》 （又译《大亨小传》）的这个句子结构。
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There is a procession of syllables --
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有这么一行音节--
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wheat, one;
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谷物，一个音节；
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prairies, two;
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大草原，二个音节；
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lost Swede towns, three --
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丢失的瑞典人镇，三个音节--
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one, two, three.
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一，二，三。
06:00
And this effect is very pleasant on the mind,
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这种押韵的效果让人感到身心非常愉悦，
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and it helps the sentence
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也让我们感到句子
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to feel right.
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很通畅。
06:09
Let's go back to the questions
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让我们回到
06:11
I posed you a moment ago.
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我之前提出的问题上来
06:14
64 multiplied by 75.
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64乘以75
06:17
If some of you play chess,
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如果你们中有人下棋，
06:20
you'll know that 64
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你会知道64
06:22
is a square number,
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是一个平方数
06:25
and that's why chessboards,
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这也是为什么棋盘
06:27
eight by eight,
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边长为8×8
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have 64 squares.
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而有了64个方格
06:32
So that gives us a form
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这样我们就得到一个表格
06:34
that we can picture, that we can perceive.
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用来画图和感知。
06:37
What about 75?
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那么如果是75呢？
06:40
Well if 100,
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假如是100
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if we think of 100 as being like a square,
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如果我们把100想成一个正方形，
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75 would look like this.
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75就会是这个样子。
06:48
So what we need to do now
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那么我们现在要做的就是
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is put those two pictures
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把这两个图组合起
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together in our mind --
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一同放入脑海中-
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something like this.
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就是这个样子。
06:57
64 becomes 6,400.
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64就成了6,400
07:01
And in the right-hand corner,
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在右下角
07:05
you don't have to calculate anything.
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你不需要任何计算
07:07
Four across, four up and down --
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4个横跨的，4个上下的--
07:09
it's 16.
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得到16.
07:12
So what the sum is actually asking you to do
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那么你需要做的就是
07:14
is 16,
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加总和16，
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16, 16.
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16， 16。
07:19
That's a lot easier
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这简单多了
07:21
than the way that the school taught you to do math, I'm sure.
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我相信比学校教给你的方法简单。
07:24
It's 16, 16, 16, 48,
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16，16，16， 得到48.
07:26
4,800 --
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那么就是4,800--
07:28
4,800,
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4,800
07:30
the answer to the sum.
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这就是最后答案。
07:33
Easy when you know how.
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当你知道怎么做，问题就容易了。
07:35
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
07:38
The second question was an Icelandic word.
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第二个问题是一个冰岛单词。
07:41
I'm assuming there are not many people here
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我相信在座的没有几个人
07:44
who speak Icelandic.
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会说冰岛语的。
07:46
So let me narrow the choices down to two.
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那么我把问题缩减成两个。
07:51
Hnugginn:
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Hnugginn:
07:53
is it a happy word,
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这单词是指快乐的意思
07:55
or a sad word?
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还是指悲伤的？
07:57
What do you say?
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你怎么认为？
08:00
Okay.
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好的。
08:02
Some people say it's happy.
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有人说是快乐的，
08:04
Most people, a majority of people,
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但是大多数人
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say sad.
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说是悲伤的。
08:08
And it actually means sad.
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这个词实际意思是悲伤的。
08:12
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
08:15
Why do, statistically,
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为什么统计下来
08:18
a majority of people
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在此，大多数人认为
08:20
say that a word is sad, in this case,
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这个词是悲伤的，
08:22
heavy in other cases?
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而在另一个情景里，是痛苦的意思？
08:25
In my theory, language evolves in such a way
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根据我的理论，语言的发展经历了这样的过程
08:28
that sounds match,
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匹配声音
08:30
correspond with, the subjective,
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对应主题
08:33
with the personal,
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同时伴随着
08:35
intuitive experience
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听者个人
08:37
of the listener.
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的直观经验来发展。
08:40
Let's have a look at the third question.
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让我们看看第三个问题。
08:44
It's a line from a poem by John Keats.
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这是约翰·济慈的诗里的一句。
08:47
Words, like numbers,
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文字像数字，
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express fundamental relationships
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能够表达本质关系
08:53
between objects
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由外物
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and events and forces
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事件和力量
08:57
that constitute our world.
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组成我们的世界。
08:59
It stands to reason that we, existing in this world,
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显然，我们生存在这个世界上
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should in the course of our lives
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应该在我们的有生之年
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absorb intuitively those relationships.
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直观地汲取这些关系。
09:07
And poets, like other artists,
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诗人就像其他艺术家一样，
09:10
play with those intuitive understandings.
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演绎着那些直观的理解。
09:13
In the case of hare,
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兔子的那个问题，
09:16
it's an ambiguous sound in English.
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hare在英语里是一个有点含糊的词
09:18
It can also mean the fibers that grow from a head.
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这个词也可以是头上的毛发的意思。
09:21
And if we think of that --
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如果我们考虑到这个--
09:23
let me put the picture up --
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让我把这个图拿上来--
09:25
the fibers represent vulnerability.
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毛发代表着脆弱
09:29
They yield to the slightest movement
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他们让步于最轻微的运动
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or motion or emotion.
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或手势，或情感。
09:35
So what you have is an atmosphere
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所以你就得到一种
09:39
of vulnerability and tension.
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脆弱紧张的感觉气氛。
09:41
The hare itself, the animal --
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那个兔子，一个动物-
09:43
not a cat, not a dog, a hare --
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不是猫，不是狗，而是一只兔子--
09:46
why a hare?
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为什么是一只兔子？
09:48
Because think of the picture --
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因为联想到这副图，
09:50
not the word, the picture.
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不是这句话，而是这个图。
09:52
The overlong ears,
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超长的耳朵
09:54
the overlarge feet,
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超大的脚
09:56
helps us to picture, to feel intuitively,
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帮助我们描绘、去凭直觉感知
09:59
what it means to limp
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跛脚的感觉
10:02
and to tremble.
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和颤抖的感觉。
10:05
So in these few minutes,
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在这几分钟里，
10:07
I hope I've been able to share
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我希望我能够分享
10:09
a little bit of my vision of things
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一些我的视角
10:12
and to show you
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并向你们展现
10:15
that words can have colors and emotions,
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文字也有颜色，情感
10:18
numbers, shapes and personalities.
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数字，形状和性格。
10:21
The world is richer,
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这世界
10:23
vaster
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比它看起来会更丰富，
10:25
than it too often seems to be.
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更广阔。
10:28
I hope that I've given you the desire
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希望我给你们带来一种渴望
10:31
to learn to see the world with new eyes.
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从新视角来看待这个世界。
10:34
Thank you.
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谢谢。
10:36
(Applause)
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（掌声）
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Daniel Tammet - Linguist, educatorDaniel Tammet is the author of "Born on a Blue Day," about his life with high-functioning autistic savant syndrome. He runs the language-learning site Optimnem, and his new book is "Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Mind."
Why you should listen
Daniel Tammet is a writer, linguist and educator. He is the creator of Optimnem, a website that has provided language learning instruction to thousands around the globe. His 2006 memoir Born on a Blue Day describes his life with high-functioning autistic savant syndrome; his new book, Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Mind, is a personal and scientific exploration of how the brain works and the differences and similarities between savant and non-savant minds.
Tammet set a European record on March 14, 2004, when he recited the mathematical constant pi (3.141...) to 22,514 decimal places from memory in a time of 5 hours, 9 minutes.
Daniel Tammet | Speaker | TED.com