ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Stuart Firestein - Neuroscientist
Stuart Firestein teaches students and “citizen scientists” that ignorance is far more important to discovery than knowledge.

Why you should listen

You’d think that a scientist who studies how the human brain receives and perceives information would be inherently interested in what we know. But Stuart Firestein says he’s far more intrigued by what we don’t. “Answers create questions,” he says. “We may commonly think that we begin with ignorance and we gain knowledge [but] the more critical step in the process is the reverse of that.”

Firestein, who chairs the biological sciences department at Columbia University, teaches a course about how ignorance drives science. In it -- and in his 2012 book on the topic -- he challenges the idea that knowledge and the accumulation of data create certainty. Facts are fleeting, he says; their real purpose is to lead us to ask better questions.

More profile about the speaker
Stuart Firestein | Speaker | TED.com
TED2013

Stuart Firestein: The pursuit of ignorance

Stuart Firestein: Ne ndjekje te injorances

Filmed:
2,046,254 views

Ç'pamje ka puna e vërtetë shkencore? Sikunder ben shaka neuroshkencetari Stuart Firestein: Duket shumë më pak si metode shkencore dhe shumë më tepër si "te berit gazra perreth ... në errësirë​​." Në këtë bisedë te mprehtë, Firestein arrin në zemër të shkencës së vërtetë dhe sugjeron se ne duhet të vlerësojmë atë që ne nuk e dimë - ose "injoranca me cilësi të lartë", - po aq sa ate që ne e dimë.
- Neuroscientist
Stuart Firestein teaches students and “citizen scientists” that ignorance is far more important to discovery than knowledge. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
There is an ancient proverb that says
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Një proverb i vjetër thotë që,
00:16
it's very difficult to find a black cat in a dark room,
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është shumë e vështirë të gjesh një mace të zezë në një dhomë të errët,
00:20
especially when there is no cat.
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sidomos kur nuk ka mace.
00:22
I find this a particularly apt description of science
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Mendoj që ky është përshkrim me vend i shkencës
00:26
and how science works --
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dhe mënyrës se si shkenca funksionon --
00:28
bumbling around in a dark room, bumping into things,
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shkon përrreth dhomës, përplases në gjëra
00:31
trying to figure out what shape this might be,
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dhe provon të kuptosh se çfarë forme kjo mund të jetë
00:33
what that might be,
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dhe çfarë mund të jetë,
00:35
there are reports of a cat somewhere around,
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raportohet që ka një mace diku,
00:37
they may not be reliable, they may be,
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por mund të jenë informata të pabesueshme,
00:39
and so forth and so on.
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dhe kështu me rradhë.
00:41
Now I know this is different than the way most people
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E di që kjo ndryshon nga mënyra se si shumica e njerëzve
00:43
think about science.
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mendojnë për shkencën.
00:44
Science, we generally are told,
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Shkenca, thuhet,
00:46
is a very well-ordered mechanism for
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është një mekanizëm i rregulluar mire
00:49
understanding the world,
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për të kuptuar botën,
00:50
for gaining facts, for gaining data,
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dhe për të fituar fakte dhe të dhëna.
00:52
that it's rule-based,
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Bazohet në rregulla,
00:54
that scientists use this thing called the scientific method
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shkencëtarët e përdorin atë që quhet metoda shkencore
00:57
and we've been doing this for 14 generations or so now,
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dhe e kemi bërë këtë per 14 gjenerata,
01:00
and the scientific method is a set of rules
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dhe metoda shkencore është një listë e rregullave
01:02
for getting hard, cold facts out of the data.
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për të krijuar fakte të mira nga të dhënat që kemi.
01:07
I'd like to tell you that's not the case.
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Dua t'ju them që nuk është kështu.
01:09
So there's the scientific method,
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Kemi metodën shkencore,
01:10
but what's really going on is this. (Laughter)
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por ajo që ndodh me të vërtet është kjo. (Te qeshura)
01:13
[The Scientific Method vs. Farting Around]
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[Metoda Shkencore kundër Pordhjes]
01:14
And it's going on kind of like that.
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Dhe ndodh kështu disi.
01:17
[... in the dark] (Laughter)
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[..në errësirë] (Te qeshura)
01:18
So what is the difference, then,
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Pra cili është dallimi mes mënyrës se si
01:23
between the way I believe science is pursued
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unë mendoj që ndiqet shkenca,
01:27
and the way it seems to be perceived?
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dhe menyrës se si e mendojnë shumica?
01:29
So this difference first came to me in some ways
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E kuptova këtë dallim gjatë kohës
01:32
in my dual role at Columbia University,
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kur kisha rol të dyfishtë në Universitetin Columbia,
01:34
where I'm both a professor and run a laboratory in neuroscience
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ku jam profesor dhe udhëheq një laborator të neuroshkencës
01:38
where we try to figure out how the brain works.
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kur mundohemi të kuptojmë se si punon truri.
01:41
We do this by studying the sense of smell,
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E bëjmë këtë duke e studiuar shqisën e të nuhaturit,
01:43
the sense of olfaction, and in the laboratory,
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dhe në laborator kjo është një
01:46
it's a great pleasure and fascinating work
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kënaqësi e madhe dhe punë magjepese
01:48
and exciting to work with graduate students and post-docs
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dhe është kënaqësi të punoj me studentë të doktoratures
01:51
and think up cool experiments to understand how this
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dhe të mendoj për eksperimente të mrekullueshme për të
01:54
sense of smell works and how the brain might be working,
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kuptuar se si ndjesia e erës dhe truri funksionojnë,
01:56
and, well, frankly, it's kind of exhilarating.
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dhe është punë shumë gazmore.
01:59
But at the same time, it's my responsibility
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Në të njejtën kohë, është përgjigjësia ime
02:02
to teach a large course to undergraduates on the brain,
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të mësoj një klasë të madhe të studentëve për trurin,
02:05
and that's a big subject,
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dhe kjo është një temë e madhe,
02:06
and it takes quite a while to organize that,
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dhe merr shumë kohë për ta organizuar,
02:08
and it's quite challenging and it's quite interesting,
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dhe është sfiduese dhe shume interesante,
02:11
but I have to say, it's not so exhilarating.
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por duhet të them, nuk është dhe aq gazmore.
02:14
So what was the difference?
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Cili është dallimi?
02:16
Well, the course I was and am teaching
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Kursi që po u mësoj quhet
02:18
is called Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience - I. (Laughs)
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Neuroshkence Qelizore dhe Molekulare. (Te qeshura)
02:24
It's 25 lectures full of all sorts of facts,
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Përbëhet nga 25 ligjerata me shumë lloje të fakteve,
02:29
it uses this giant book called "Principles of Neural Science"
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dhe përdorim një libër gjigand të quajtur "Parimet e Shkencës Nervore"
02:33
by three famous neuroscientists.
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i cili u shkrua nga 3 neuroshkencëtarë të famshëm.
02:36
This book comes in at 1,414 pages,
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Ky libër ka 1414 faqe,
02:39
it weighs a hefty seven and a half pounds.
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dhe peshon 7.5 pounds (3.4 kile).
02:42
Just to put that in some perspective,
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Për të kuptuar më mirë mund t'ju them që
02:44
that's the weight of two normal human brains.
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kjo është pesha e 2 truve normal të njerëzve.
02:47
(Laughter)
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(Te Qeshura)
02:51
So I began to realize, by the end of this course,
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Fillova të kuptoj, gjatë fundit të klasës,
02:54
that the students maybe were getting the idea
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që studentët mendonin se duhet të dimë
02:56
that we must know everything there is to know about the brain.
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çdo gjë që mund të dime për trurin.
02:59
That's clearly not true.
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Kjo nuk është e vërtetë.
03:01
And they must also have this idea, I suppose,
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Ata po ashtu mund të mendojnë që
03:04
that what scientists do is collect data and collect facts
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shkencëtarët grumbullojnë të dhëna dhe fakte
03:07
and stick them in these big books.
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dhe i vendosin ata në libra të mëdhenj.
03:09
And that's not really the case either.
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Por as kjo nuk ndodh.
03:11
When I go to a meeting, after the meeting day is over
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Kur shkoj në mbledhje, dhe pasi përfundon mbledhja
03:14
and we collect in the bar over a couple of beers with my colleagues,
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ne mblidhemi në një lokal dhe pijmë birra,
03:17
we never talk about what we know.
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por asnjehere nuk flasim për atë që dimë.
03:19
We talk about what we don't know.
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Flasim për atë që nuk dimë.
03:21
We talk about what still has to get done,
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Flasim për gjërat që duhet ti përfundojmë,
03:24
what's so critical to get done in the lab.
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ajo që është kritike per tu perfunduar në laborator.
03:26
Indeed, this was, I think, best said by Marie Curie
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Mendoj që kjo u shpjegua më së miri nga Marie Curie
03:29
who said that one never notices what has been done
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e cila tha, "Ne nuk shohim atë që është bërë
03:31
but only what remains to be done.
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por atë që duhet bërë".
03:33
This was in a letter to her brother after obtaining
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Kjo thuhej në një letër që i shkroi vëllait të saj pasi
03:35
her second graduate degree, I should say.
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mori magjistraturën e dytë.
03:39
I have to point out this has always been one of my favorite pictures of Marie Curie,
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Duhet të pranoj që kjo është një prej fotografive të mia të preferuara të Marie Curie,
03:42
because I am convinced that that glow behind her
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sepse jam i sigurt që shkëlqimi prapa saj
03:44
is not a photographic effect. (Laughter)
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nuk është një efekt fotografik. (Te Qeshura)
03:47
That's the real thing.
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Është e vërtetë.
03:48
It is true that her papers are, to this day,
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Është e vërtetë që artikujt e saj
03:53
stored in a basement room in the Bibliothèque Française
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ruhen në një dhomë përdhese në Bibloteken Franceze
03:56
in a concrete room that's lead-lined,
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qe eshte e veshur me shtrese plumbi,
03:58
and if you're a scholar and you want access to these notebooks,
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dhe nëse je një akademik dhe dëshiron ti shikosh fletoret
04:01
you have to put on a full radiation hazmat suit,
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duhet të veshës një kostum që të mbron kundër rrezatimit,
04:03
so it's pretty scary business.
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kështu që është punë e frikëshme.
04:06
Nonetheless, this is what I think we were leaving out
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Gjithsesi, mendoj që kjo mungonte tek
04:08
of our courses
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ligjeratat tona,
04:10
and leaving out of the interaction that we have
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dhe tek bashkëveprimin ynë
04:13
with the public as scientists, the what-remains-to-be-done.
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me publikun si shkencëtarë, çfarë-duhet-të-bëhet.
04:16
This is the stuff that's exhilarating and interesting.
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Këto janë gjërat gazmore dhe interesante.
04:18
It is, if you will, the ignorance.
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Ajo për të cilën po flas është injoranca.
04:21
That's what was missing.
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Kjo po mungonte.
04:22
So I thought, well, maybe I should teach a course
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Kështu që mendova se duhet të jap një klasë
04:25
on ignorance,
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mbi injorancën,
04:27
something I can finally excel at, perhaps, for example.
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diçka në të cilën mund të jem shembullor, ndoshta.
04:31
So I did start teaching this course on ignorance,
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Dhe fillova të jap mësim për injorancën,
04:33
and it's been quite interesting
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dhe është shumë interesante
04:34
and I'd like to tell you to go to the website.
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dhe dua t'ju tregoj për një web-faqe.
04:36
You can find all sorts of information there. It's wide open.
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Mund të gjeni shumë informata aty. Është e hapur për këdo.
04:39
And it's been really quite an interesting time for me
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Ka qenë një kohë shumë interesante për mua
04:43
to meet up with other scientists who come in and talk
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të takohem me shkencëtarë të tjerë të cilët vijnë
04:45
about what it is they don't know.
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dhe flasin për atë që nuk e dinë.
04:46
Now I use this word "ignorance," of course,
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E përdor fjalen "injorancë", në një mënyrë
04:48
to be at least in part intentionally provocative,
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qe mund te jete edhe pjeserisht provokuese me qellim,
04:51
because ignorance has a lot of bad connotations
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sepse injoranca ka një kuptim të keq
04:54
and I clearly don't mean any of those.
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dhe unë nuk po flas për atë kuptim.
04:56
So I don't mean stupidity, I don't mean a callow indifference
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Nuk po flas për idiotësi, apo një indiferencë të papërvojë
04:59
to fact or reason or data.
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për fakte, arsye apo të dhëna.
05:02
The ignorant are clearly unenlightened, unaware,
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Injorantët janë qartësisht të paedukuar, të pavetëdijëshëm,
05:05
uninformed, and present company today excepted,
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të pa informuar, duke perjashtuar publikun e sotëm ketu,
05:08
often occupy elected offices, it seems to me.
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shpesh herë zgjidhen si zyrtarë.
05:11
That's another story, perhaps.
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Ajo është një temë tjetër ndoshta.
05:13
I mean a different kind of ignorance.
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Unë po flas për një injorancë tjetër.
05:15
I mean a kind of ignorance that's less pejorative,
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Flas për një injorancë më pak përbuzëse.
05:17
a kind of ignorance that comes from a communal gap in our knowledge,
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Një lloj injorance që vjen nga një boshllëk i përbashkët në
05:20
something that's just not there to be known
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njohuritë tona. Diç për të cilën nuk dimë mjaft
05:22
or isn't known well enough yet or we can't make predictions from,
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apo nuk e njohim mjaft mirë, apo nga e cila nuk mund të krijojmë parashikime.
05:25
the kind of ignorance that's maybe best summed up
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Një lloj injorance që përmblidhet më së miri
05:27
in a statement by James Clerk Maxwell,
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nga një deklaratë e James Clark Maxwell,
05:29
perhaps the greatest physicist between Newton and Einstein,
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ndoshta fizikanti më i madh mes Njutonit dhe Ajnshtajnit,
05:33
who said, "Thoroughly conscious ignorance
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i cili tha, "Injoranca tërësisht e vetëdijshme
05:35
is the prelude to every real advance in science."
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paraprin çdo avancim të vërtetë në shkencë."
05:38
I think it's a wonderful idea:
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Mendoj që kjo është një ide e mrekullueshme:
05:39
thoroughly conscious ignorance.
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injoranca tërësisht e vetëdijëshme.
05:42
So that's the kind of ignorance that I want to talk about today,
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Kjo është injoranca për të cilën dua të flas sot,
05:44
but of course the first thing we have to clear up
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por së pari duhet të kuptojmë se çfarë do
05:46
is what are we going to do with all those facts?
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bëjmë me gjithë ato fakte?
05:48
So it is true that science piles up at an alarming rate.
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Është e vërtetë që shkenca mblidhet në një shkallë alarmuese.
05:52
We all have this sense that science is this mountain of facts,
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Të gjithë e kemi një ndjesi që shkenca është një mal me fakte,
05:55
this accumulation model of science, as many have called it,
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një akumulim i modelit të shkencës, sic e kanë quajtur disa,
05:59
and it seems impregnable, it seems impossible.
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dhe kjo duket e pamundëshme.
06:01
How can you ever know all of this?
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Si mund të dini gjithë këtë?
06:02
And indeed, the scientific literature grows at an alarming rate.
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Është e vërtetë që literatura shkencore mblidhet në një shkallë alarmuese.
06:06
In 2006, there were 1.3 million papers published.
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Në 2006, kishte 1.3 milion artikuj të publikuar.
06:10
There's about a two-and-a-half-percent yearly growth rate,
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Shkalla vjetore e rritjes është 2.5%
06:12
and so last year we saw over one and a half million papers being published.
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kështë që vitin e kaluar përjetuam publikimIN e 1.5 milion artikujve.
06:17
Divide that by the number of minutes in a year,
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Pjesto këtë me numrin e minutave në vIt,
06:19
and you wind up with three new papers per minute.
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dhe do gjeni që 3 artikuj u publikuan çdo minutë.
06:22
So I've been up here a little over 10 minutes,
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Qëndroj në këtë skenë që 10 minuta,
06:23
I've already lost three papers.
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kështu që kam humbur 3 artikuj.
06:25
I have to get out of here actually. I have to go read.
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Duhet të shkoj. Kam për të lexuar.
06:28
So what do we do about this? Well, the fact is
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Çfarë mund të bëjmë rreth kësaj? E vërteta është
06:32
that what scientists do about it is a kind of a controlled neglect, if you will.
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që shkencëtarët kanE një lloj të mospërfillje të kontrolluar.
06:36
We just don't worry about it, in a way.
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Nuk brengosemi shumë për këtë.
06:39
The facts are important. You have to know a lot of stuff
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Faktet janë të rëndësishme. Duhet të dish shumë
06:41
to be a scientist. That's true.
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për të qenë shkencëtar. Është e vërtetë.
06:43
But knowing a lot of stuff doesn't make you a scientist.
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Por vetëm të dish shume fakte nuk të bën shkencëtarë.
06:46
You need to know a lot of stuff to be a lawyer
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Duhet të dini shumë gjëra për të qenë avokat,
06:48
or an accountant or an electrician or a carpenter.
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apo kontabilist, apo elektriçist apo tavanxhi.
06:52
But in science, knowing a lot of stuff is not the point.
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Por ne shkence, te diturit e shume gjerave nuk eshte kryesore.
06:56
Knowing a lot of stuff is there to help you get
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Te diturit e shume gjerave te ndihmon te arrish
06:59
to more ignorance.
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tek me shume injorance.
07:01
So knowledge is a big subject, but I would say
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Pra, dija eshte nje subjekt mjaft i madh, por do te thosha
07:03
ignorance is a bigger one.
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se injoranca eshte edhe me e madhe.
07:06
So this leads us to maybe think about, a little bit
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Ndaj, kjo na con te mendojme pak,
07:08
about, some of the models of science that we tend to use,
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Rreth disa prej modeleve qe perdorim ne shkence,
07:11
and I'd like to disabuse you of some of them.
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dhe do desha t'ju largoja prej disa prej tyre.
07:13
So one of them, a popular one, is that scientists
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Nje prej tyre, mjaft e njohur, eshte qe shkencetaret, me durim,
07:15
are patiently putting the pieces of a puzzle together
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po vendosin se bashku pjeset e ndryshme te misterit duke krijuar imazhin
07:18
to reveal some grand scheme or another.
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qe zbulon nje skeme a nje tjeter.
07:20
This is clearly not true. For one, with puzzles,
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Kjo eshte absolutisht e pavertete. Per arsye
07:23
the manufacturer has guaranteed that there's a solution.
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se me imazhet, prodhuesi e ka garantuar zgjidhjen.
07:27
We don't have any such guarantee.
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Ne nuk kemi garanci te ketilla.
07:28
Indeed, there are many of us who aren't so sure about the manufacturer.
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Ne te vertete ka shume prej nesh qe nuk kane dyshime persa i perket prodhuesit.
07:31
(Laughter)
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(Te Qeshura)
07:34
So I think the puzzle model doesn't work.
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Ndaj mendoj se modeli i imazhit nuk funksionon.
07:36
Another popular model is that science is busy unraveling things
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Nje tjeter model mjaft i famshem eshte qe shkenca merret me zbulimin e gjerave
07:40
the way you unravel the peels of an onion.
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ashtu sic qerojme nje qepe.
07:42
So peel by peel, you take away the layers of the onion
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Pra, cipe pas cipe, ti heq shtresat e qepes
07:45
to get at some fundamental kernel of truth.
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per te arritur ne thelbin e te vertetes.
07:47
I don't think that's the way it works either.
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Por edhe keshtu nuk mendoj se funksionon.
07:49
Another one, a kind of popular one, is the iceberg idea,
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Nje tjeter ide mjaft e njohur eshte edhe ajo e idese se akullnajes,
07:52
that we only see the tip of the iceberg but underneath
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qe ne i shohim vec majen por nen uje
07:55
is where most of the iceberg is hidden.
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eshte ku fshihet pjesa me e madhe e akullnajes.
07:57
But all of these models are based on the idea of a large body of facts
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Por te gjitha keto ide jane te bazuara ne nje trup te madh faktesh
08:01
that we can somehow or another get completed.
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qe ne nje menyre a nje tjeter mund te kompletohen.
08:03
We can chip away at this iceberg and figure out what it is,
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Ne mund ta presim majen e kesaj akullnaje dhe te kuptojme c'eshte,
08:06
or we could just wait for it to melt, I suppose, these days,
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ose, keshtu si po ecin gjerat, mund te presim deri sa te shkrije.
08:09
but one way or another we could get to the whole iceberg. Right?
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Por ne nje menyre a nje tjeter do t'ja arrinim ne fund te akullnajes. Apo jo?
08:12
Or make it manageable. But I don't think that's the case.
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Ose ta bejme te menaxhueshme. Por, qe nuk mendoj se ky eshte rasti.
08:15
I think what really happens in science
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Mendoj se ajo c'ka ndodh ne shkence
08:17
is a model more like the magic well,
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eshte nje model me teper si pusi magjik,
08:19
where no matter how many buckets you take out,
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qe pak rendesi ka se sa kova nxjerr jashte,
08:21
there's always another bucket of water to be had,
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do kete gjithnje nje tjeter kove me uje,
08:23
or my particularly favorite one,
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ose e preferuara ime,
08:25
with the effect and everything, the ripples on a pond.
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me efektin dhe gjithcka tjeter te gurgullimes se pellgut me uje.
08:28
So if you think of knowledge being this ever-expanding ripple on a pond,
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Pra, nese e mendoni dijen si nje gurgullime qe sa vjen e zgjerohet ne nje pellg uji,
08:31
the important thing to realize is that our ignorance,
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nje gje e rendesishme eshte te kuptojme se injoranca jone,
08:34
the circumference of this knowledge, also grows with knowledge.
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perimetri i kesaj dije rritet se bashku me dijen vete.
08:38
So the knowledge generates ignorance.
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Pra, dija gjeneron injorance.
08:41
This is really well said, I thought, by George Bernard Shaw.
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Kjo me mire nga gjithkush eshte thene nga George Bernard Shaw.
08:43
This is actually part of a toast that he delivered
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Faktikisht, kjo ishte pjese e nje dollie qe ai mbajti
08:46
to celebrate Einstein at a dinner celebrating Einstein's work,
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ne nder te Ajnshtajnit, ne nje darke shtruar per te kremtuar punen e tij,
08:50
in which he claims that science
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ku ai deklaton se shkenca
me shume se sa pergjigje krijon pyetje.
08:51
just creates more questions than it answers.
["Science is always wrong. It never solves a problem without creating 10 more."]
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[ Shkenca eshte gjithnje gabim. Nuk zgjidh asnjehere nje problem pa krijuar 10 te tjere.]
08:53
I find that kind of glorious, and I think he's precisely right,
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Sa e madherishme eshte kjo gje dhe me duket se i ka rene pikes,
08:57
plus it's a kind of job security.
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plus qe te krijon dhe nje siguri per punen.
09:00
As it turns out, he kind of cribbed that
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Sic rezulton, eshte frymezuar
09:02
from the philosopher Immanuel Kant
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nga filozofi Immanuel Kant
09:04
who a hundred years earlier had come up with this idea
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i cili ka e ka menduar kete rreth 100 vite me pare
09:07
of question propagation, that every answer begets more questions.
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qe cdo pergjigje krijon me shume pyetje.
09:11
I love that term, "question propagation,"
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E adhuroj termin, "shumim i pyetjeve,"
09:13
this idea of questions propagating out there.
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ideja e pyetjeve qe shumohen ne vazhdimesi.
09:16
So I'd say the model we want to take is not
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Me kete dua te them qe modeli qe duam te zgjedhim
09:17
that we start out kind of ignorant and we get some facts together
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nuk eshte se fillojme disi injorant dhe gjate rruges mbledhim fakte
09:21
and then we gain knowledge.
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e me pas dije.
09:23
It's rather kind of the other way around, really.
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Ne fakt, eshte teresisht e kunderta.
09:25
What do we use this knowledge for?
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Per cfare e perdorim kete dije?
09:27
What are we using this collection of facts for?
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Perse po e perdorim kete grumbullim faktesh atehere?
09:30
We're using it to make better ignorance,
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Po i perdorim per te bere nje injorance me te mire,
09:33
to come up with, if you will, higher-quality ignorance.
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per te krijuar, le te themi nje injorance te cilesise se larte.
09:36
Because, you know, there's low-quality ignorance
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Pasi, ka injorance te cilesise se ulet
09:38
and there's high-quality ignorance. It's not all the same.
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dhe injorance te cilesise se larte. Nuk eshte e njejta gje.
09:40
Scientists argue about this all the time.
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Shkencetaret debatojne gjithnje mbi kete teme.
09:42
Sometimes we call them bull sessions.
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Ndonjehere i quajme seksion demash.
09:44
Sometimes we call them grant proposals.
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Ndonjehere i quajme propozime per grante.
09:46
But nonetheless, it's what the argument is about.
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Po gjithesesi, rendesi ka argumenti.
09:50
It's the ignorance. It's the what we don't know.
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Eshte injoranca. Eshte ajo qe nuk dime.
09:52
It's what makes a good question.
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Eshte ajo c'ka ben nje pyetje te mire.
09:54
So how do we think about these questions?
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Atehere, si ndjehemi rreth ketyre pyetjeve?
09:56
I'm going to show you a graph that shows up
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Dua t'ju tregoj nje grafik qe tregon
09:58
quite a bit on happy hour posters in various science departments.
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disa postera qe tregojne oret e argetimit ne disa departamente shkence.
10:02
This graph asks the relationship between what you know
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Ky grafik pyet per lidhjen ndermjet asaj qe ti di
10:06
and how much you know about it.
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dhe se sa shume di rreth saj.
10:08
So what you know, you can know anywhere from nothing to everything, of course,
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Pra, ajo qe di, mund te dish nga gjithcka te asgje, padyshim,
10:12
and how much you know about it can be anywhere
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dhe se sa di per te mund te varioje nga
10:13
from a little to a lot.
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shume pak ne absolutisht shume.
10:16
So let's put a point on the graph. There's an undergraduate.
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Le te vendosim nje pike ne grafik. Ky eshte nje student universitar.
10:20
Doesn't know much but they have a lot of interest.
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Nuk di shume por ka mjaft interes.
10:22
They're interested in almost everything.
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Ka interes per pothuajse gjithcka.
10:24
Now you look at a master's student, a little further along in their education,
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Te shohim tani nje student master, i cili ndodhet pak me tutje ne edukimin e tij,
10:28
and you see they know a bit more,
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dhe sic e shihni ata dine pak me shume,
10:29
but it's been narrowed somewhat.
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por eshte kufizuar disi.
10:31
And finally you get your Ph.D., where it turns out
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Dhe ne fund doktorantet, te cilet dine absolutisht shume
10:34
you know a tremendous amount about almost nothing. (Laughter)
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pothuajse per asgje. (Te qeshura)
10:39
What's really disturbing is the trend line that goes through that
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Ajo qe eshte me shqetesuese eshte vija e trendit qe shkon perreth saj
10:42
because, of course, when it dips below the zero axis, there,
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pasi, padyshim, kur zbret poshte aksit zero aty,
10:46
it gets into a negative area.
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shkon ne nje zone negative.
10:48
That's where you find people like me, I'm afraid.
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Aty gjen njerez si une, kam frike.
10:51
So the important thing here is that this can all be changed.
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Gjeja me rendesishme ketu eshte qe e gjithe kjo mund te ndryshoje.
10:55
This whole view can be changed
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I gjithe ky kendveshtirm mund te ndryshoje
10:57
by just changing the label on the x-axis.
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vetem duke ndryshuar emertimin e segmentit te x-ve.
11:00
So instead of how much you know about it,
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Pra, ne vend te asaj cka ti di rreth saj,
11:02
we could say, "What can you ask about it?"
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ne mund te themi, "Cfare mund te pyesesh rreth saj?"
11:05
So yes, you do need to know a lot of stuff as a scientist,
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Pra po, si shkencetar te duhet te dish shume rreth shume gjerave,
11:08
but the purpose of knowing a lot of stuff
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por rendesia e te diturit shume gjera,
11:11
is not just to know a lot of stuff. That just makes you a geek, right?
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nuk eshte vetem te diturit e shume gjerave apo jo. Kjo ju ben nje gik, apo jo?
11:13
Knowing a lot of stuff, the purpose is
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Te diturit e shume gjerave, ka si qellim
11:15
to be able to ask lots of questions,
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te dish te besh shume pyetje,
11:17
to be able to frame thoughtful, interesting questions,
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te jesh i zoti qe te formosh pyetje me mend dhe interesante,
11:20
because that's where the real work is.
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sepse ketu qendron puna e vertete.
11:22
Let me give you a quick idea of a couple of these sorts of questions.
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Me lejoni t'ju jap nje ide te karakterit te ketyre pyetjeve.
11:24
I'm a neuroscientist, so how would we come up
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Une jam nje neuroshkencetar, pra si do mund ta benim nje
11:27
with a question in neuroscience?
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pyetje ne neuroshkence?
11:28
Because it's not always quite so straightforward.
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Sepse jo gjithnje eshte kaq e drejtperdrejte.
11:31
So, for example, we could say, well what is it that the brain does?
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2559
Keshtuqe, per shembull, mund te themi, cfare roli ka truri yne?
11:33
Well, one thing the brain does, it moves us around.
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1814
Nje gje qe ben truri yne, eshte qe na mundeson levizjen.
11:35
We walk around on two legs.
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2005
Ne ecim mbi dy kembe.
11:37
That seems kind of simple, somehow or another.
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1851
Kjo duke disi e thjeshte nje menyre a nje tjeter.
11:39
I mean, virtually everybody over 10 months of age
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Dua te them, cdonjere qe eshte 10 muajsh e siper
11:42
walks around on two legs, right?
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ecen me te dyja kembet apo jo?
11:44
So that maybe is not that interesting.
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Kjo ndoshta nuk eshte dhe aq shume interesante.
11:45
So instead maybe we want to choose something a little more complicated to look at.
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Ndoshta, ne vend te saj, na duhet te zgjedhim dicka me shume te komplikuar per ta pare.
11:48
How about the visual system?
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Si thoni per sistemin vizual?
11:51
There it is, the visual system.
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Ja ku eshte sistemi vizual.
11:53
I mean, we love our visual systems. We do all kinds of cool stuff.
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Dua te them, qe ne e duam sistemin vizual. Bejme shume gjera te bukura me te.
11:56
Indeed, there are over 12,000 neuroscientists
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Faktikisht, jane mbi 12,000 shkencetar neuronesh
11:59
who work on the visual system,
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1580
qe punojne mbi sistemin vizual,
12:01
from the retina to the visual cortex,
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2081
nga retina deri ne korteksin vizual,
12:03
in an attempt to understand not just the visual system
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ne nje perpjekje per te kuptuar jo vetem sistemin vizual
12:06
but to also understand how general principles
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3024
por qe te kuptojme gjithashtu se si funksionojne principet gjenerale
12:09
of how the brain might work.
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1951
te trurit.
12:11
But now here's the thing:
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Por e verteta eshte qe
12:12
Our technology has actually been pretty good
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teknologjia ka qene mjaft ndihmese
12:15
at replicating what the visual system does.
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ne kopjimin e asaj c'ka ben sistemi vizual.
12:17
We have TV, we have movies,
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3023
Kemi TV, filma,
12:20
we have animation, we have photography,
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kemi filma vizatiomore, fotografi,
12:23
we have pattern recognition, all of these sorts of things.
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3151
njohjen e modeleve dhe gjera te tjera si kjo.
12:26
They work differently than our visual systems in some cases,
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2646
Ato funksionojne ndryshe nga sistemi yne vizual ne shume raste,
12:29
but nonetheless we've been pretty good at
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1591
por gjithesesi ne jemi treguar te zote
12:30
making a technology work like our visual system.
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te bejme qe nje teknologji te punoje si sistemi yne vizual.
12:34
Somehow or another, a hundred years of robotics,
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Ne nje meyre a nje tjeter, 100 vite robotike,
12:37
you never saw a robot walk on two legs,
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2266
ende nuk e kemi pare nje robot te ece mbi dy kembe,
12:39
because robots don't walk on two legs
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2163
sepse robotet nuk ecin dot mbi dy kembe
12:41
because it's not such an easy thing to do.
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2390
pasi eshte nje gje jo e lehte kjo per tu arritur.
12:43
A hundred years of robotics,
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1528
Njeqind vite robotike,
12:45
and we can't get a robot that can move more than a couple steps one way or the other.
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3367
e ne nuk mund ta bejme dot nje robot te ece me shume se disa hapa.
12:48
You ask them to go up an inclined plane, and they fall over.
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2572
I kerkon qe te ecin ne nje rrafsh te pjerret e ata rrezohen.
12:51
Turn around, and they fall over. It's a serious problem.
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2004
I kerkon te kthehen dhe rrezohen. Nje problem mjaft serioz ky.
12:53
So what is it that's the most difficult thing for a brain to do?
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3547
Pra cila qenkerka gjeja me e veshtire per nje tru qe te beje?
12:57
What ought we to be studying?
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Atehere cfare na duhet te studiojme?
12:58
Perhaps it ought to be walking on two legs, or the motor system.
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4295
Ndoshta duhet te ecin ne dy kembe, ose ne sistem motorik.
13:02
I'll give you an example from my own lab,
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1735
Po ju jap nje shembull nga laboratori im,
13:04
my own particularly smelly question,
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1725
pyetja ime vecanerisht qelbese,
13:06
since we work on the sense of smell.
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2099
pasi ne po punojme mbi sensin e nuhatjes.
13:08
But here's a diagram of five molecules
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3228
Ketu eshte nje diagram me 5 molekula
13:11
and sort of a chemical notation.
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dhe nje shenim kimik.
13:13
These are just plain old molecules, but if you sniff those molecules
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Keto jane thjesht nje grumbull molekulash te vjetra, te cilat nese i nuhat
13:16
up these two little holes in the front of your face,
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2470
nepermjet ketyre dy gropezave ne mes te fytyres tende,
13:18
you will have in your mind the distinct impression of a rose.
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3874
do te te vi ne mendje aroma e larget e nje trendafili.
13:22
If there's a real rose there, those molecules will be the ones,
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2158
Nese aty ka nje trendafil te vertete, ato do jene molekulat e duhura,
13:24
but even if there's no rose there,
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1560
por edhe nese nuk ka trendafil,
13:26
you'll have the memory of a molecule.
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1591
ti do te kesh memorjen e nje molekule.
13:27
How do we turn molecules into perceptions?
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3104
Por si i kthejme molekulat ne perceptime?
13:30
What's the process by which that could happen?
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1857
Cili eshte procesi qe e mundeson kete?
13:32
Here's another example: two very simple molecules, again in this kind of chemical notation.
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3960
Ja nje tjeter shembull: 2 molekula mjaft te thjeshta, ne te njejtin simbol kimik.
13:36
It might be easier to visualize them this way,
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2077
Ndoshta keshtu mund te vizualizohen me lehtesisht,
13:38
so the gray circles are carbon atoms, the white ones
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2794
rrathe gri jane atomet e karbonit, te bardhet
13:41
are hydrogen atoms and the red ones are oxygen atoms.
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809667
2775
jane atome hidrogjeni dhe te kuqet jane atome oksigjeni.
13:44
Now these two molecules differ by only one carbon atom
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4298
Keto molekula ndryshojne nga njera tjetra vec nga nje atom karbon
13:48
and two little hydrogen atoms that ride along with it,
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2688
dhe dy atome hidrogjen qe i vine pas karbonit,
13:51
and yet one of them, heptyl acetate,
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819428
1986
por njeri prej tyre, acetate heptyl,
13:53
has the distinct odor of a pear,
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821414
2311
ka aromen e dardhes,
13:55
and hexyl acetate is unmistakably banana.
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823725
3839
ndersa acetate heksyl ate te bananes.
13:59
So there are two really interesting questions here, it seems to me.
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2557
Pra, dy pyetje tejet te rendesishme lindin nga ketu.
14:02
One is, how can a simple little molecule like that
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3215
E para eshte, se si ka mundesi qe nje molekule e vogel si kjo
14:05
create a perception in your brain that's so clear
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2468
ka forcen te krijoje ne mendjen tone perceptimin
14:07
as a pear or a banana?
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835804
1742
e dardhes a bananes?
14:09
And secondly, how the hell can we tell the difference
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3121
Dhe e dyta, si mund ta dalljme ne diferencen mes
14:12
between two molecules that differ by a single carbon atom?
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4315
dy molekulave qe ndryshojne vec nga nje atom karbon?
14:16
I mean, that's remarkable to me,
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1646
Kjo, per mua eshte e mrekullueshme,
14:18
clearly the best chemical detector on the face of the planet.
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3032
qartesisht detektori me i zote kimik ne faqen e rruzullit tokesor.
14:21
And you don't even think about it, do you?
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2776
Dhe ne as qe na shkon mendja aty, apo jo?
14:24
So this is a favorite quote of mine that takes us
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2617
Ky eshte nje nder citatet e mia te preferuara qe na con
14:27
back to the ignorance and the idea of questions.
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855053
1746
pas tek injoranca dhe idea e pyetjeve.
14:28
I like to quote because I think dead people
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856799
2019
Me pelqen te citoj, pasi mendoj se njerezit e vdekur
14:30
shouldn't be excluded from the conversation.
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2543
nuk duhen perjashtuar nga biseda.
14:33
And I also think it's important to realize that
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1939
Dhe gjithashtu pasi mendoj se eshte e rendesishme te kuptosh se
14:35
the conversation's been going on for a while, by the way.
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2462
qe kjo bisede ka kohe qe po zhvillohet.
14:37
So Erwin Schrodinger, a great quantum physicist
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2758
Erwin Schrodinger, nje fizicist i njohur kuantik si dhe
14:40
and, I think, philosopher, points out how you have to
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2566
filozof, ka verejtur se si eshte e nevojshme qe ne duhet ti
14:43
"abide by ignorance for an indefinite period" of time.
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3465
"permbahemi injorances per nje perudhe te pacaktuar kohe".
14:46
And it's this abiding by ignorance
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1987
Dhe eshte pikerisht kjo permbajtje ndaj injorances
14:48
that I think we have to learn how to do.
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1666
te cilen duhet te mesojme si ta bejme mire.
14:50
This is a tricky thing. This is not such an easy business.
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2977
Kjo eshte mjaft e koklavitur, Nuk eshte dicka e thjeshte.
14:53
I guess it comes down to our education system,
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881181
1959
Kjo ka te beje me sistemin tone edukativ,
14:55
so I'm going to talk a little bit about ignorance and education,
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2457
ndaj do te flas per pak rreth injorances dhe edukimit,
14:57
because I think that's where it really has to play out.
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2268
pasi mendoj se kjo eshte shume e rendesishme.
14:59
So for one, let's face it,
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2267
Ka ardhur koha ta pranojme,
15:02
in the age of Google and Wikipedia,
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3352
ne kohen e Google dhe Wikipedia,
15:05
the business model of the university
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893484
1793
modeli i biznesit te universiteteve
15:07
and probably secondary schools is simply going to have to change.
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3421
dhe ndoshta edhe gjimanzeve, do duhet te ndryshojne.
15:10
We just can't sell facts for a living anymore.
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1901
Nuk mundemi me qe ti shesim faktet per te siguruar jeten.
15:12
They're available with a click of the mouse,
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2050
Ato jane te disponueshme me nje trokitje ne tastiere,
15:14
or if you want to, you could probably just ask the wall
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902649
2496
ose nese deshiron, mund te pyesesh murin
15:17
one of these days, wherever they're going to hide the things
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905145
1712
se ku fshihen keto gjera
15:18
that tell us all this stuff.
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1417
per te na treguar te gjitha keto.
15:20
So what do we have to do? We have to give our students
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908274
2883
Pra, cfare duhet te bejme? Duhet tu japim studenteve tane
15:23
a taste for the boundaries, for what's outside that circumference,
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3896
nje shije te kufijve, te asaj cka eshte jashte siperfaqes se rrethuar,
15:27
for what's outside the facts, what's just beyond the facts.
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4308
per ate cka eshte jashte fakteve, pertej tyre.
15:31
How do we do that?
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2157
Si mund ta bejme kete?
15:33
Well, one of the problems, of course,
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1508
Nje nga problemet baze qe kemi
15:35
turns out to be testing.
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2109
padyshim eshte menyra e testimit.
15:37
We currently have an educational system
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925135
2649
Momentalisht kemi nje sistem edukimi qe eshte mjaft efikas
15:39
which is very efficient but is very efficient at a rather bad thing.
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3709
por efikasitetin e ka per gjerat e keqija.
15:43
So in second grade, all the kids are interested in science,
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931493
2974
Ne klase te dyte te gjithe femijet jane te interesuar ne shkence,
15:46
the girls and the boys.
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934467
1263
si djemte dhe vajzat.
15:47
They like to take stuff apart. They have great curiosity.
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935730
3974
I pelqen te shperbejme gjera. Kane mjaft kuriozitet.
15:51
They like to investigate things. They go to science museums.
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939704
2499
I pelqen te investigojne gjera. Shkojne ne muzeume shkencore.
15:54
They like to play around. They're in second grade.
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942203
6188
Atyre u pelqen te luajne perqark, Jane ne klase te dyte.
16:00
They're interested.
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948407
1494
Jane te interesuar.
16:01
But by 11th or 12th grade, fewer than 10 percent
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949901
2934
Por ne vitin e 11 ose te 12 te shkollimit me pak se 10 perqind
16:04
of them have any interest in science whatsoever,
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952835
3075
kane ndonje interes te vogel ne shkence,
16:07
let alone a desire to go into science as a career.
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955910
2945
le te mos flasim pastaj per deshire per ta bere shkencen nje karriere.
16:10
So we have this remarkably efficient system
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958855
2982
Ne kemi kete sistem me se te perfeksionuar
16:13
for beating any interest in science out of everybody's head.
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961837
3973
per ti bere te gjithe aspak te interesuar ne shkence.
16:17
Is this what we want?
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965810
1914
Kjo eshte c'ka duam?
16:19
I think this comes from what a teacher colleague of mine
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967724
2342
Kjo vjen si rezultat i dickaje qe nje kolegu im mesues
16:22
calls "the bulimic method of education."
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2722
e quan "metoda bolemike e edukimit."
16:24
You know. You can imagine what it is.
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972788
1373
E dini. Ose mund ta imagjinoni se cfare eshte.
16:26
We just jam a whole bunch of facts down their throats over here
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2948
Ne thjesht i ngopim me nje tufe fakte
16:29
and then they puke it up on an exam over here
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977109
2354
te cilat ato vine dhe i vjellin te gjitha ne provim
16:31
and everybody goes home with no added intellectual heft whatsoever.
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979463
4579
dhe gjithesecili shkon ne shtepi pa akumuluar asnje vlere intelektuale.
16:36
This can't possibly continue to go on.
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984042
2081
Kjo nuk mund te vazhdoje me keshtu.
16:38
So what do we do? Well the geneticists, I have to say,
377
986123
2334
Por cfare bejme ne? Epo gjenetistet kane nje maksim
16:40
have an interesting maxim they live by.
378
988457
1983
te cilen e kane moto jete.
16:42
Geneticists always say, you always get what you screen for.
379
990440
5252
Gjenetistet gjithnje thone, "Ti merr ate per cfare kerkon".
16:47
And that's meant as a warning.
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995692
2861
Dhe ky eshte nje paralajmerim.
16:50
So we always will get what we screen for,
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998553
2319
Si rrjedhoje do te marrim gjithnje ato per cfare kerkojme,
16:52
and part of what we screen for is in our testing methods.
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1000872
3455
dhe nje pjese e asaj per cfare kerkojme gjendet ne metodat tona te testimit.
16:56
Well, we hear a lot about testing and evaluation,
383
1004327
3243
Degjojme shume per testime dhe vleresime,
16:59
and we have to think carefully when we're testing
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2187
dhe duhet ta mendojme me kujdes kur bejme testime
17:01
whether we're evaluating or whether we're weeding,
385
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3087
nese jemi duke vleresuar ose jemi duke ciftuar,
17:04
whether we're weeding people out,
386
1012844
1459
nese jemi duke ciftuar njerez,
17:06
whether we're making some cut.
387
1014303
3134
apo jemi duke i ndare gjerat.
17:09
Evaluation is one thing. You hear a lot about evaluation
388
1017437
2641
Vleresimi ehste nje gje. Degjohet shpesh rreth vleresimit
17:12
in the literature these days, in the educational literature,
389
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2910
ne studimet keto kohet e fundit, ne ato te edukimit,
17:14
but evaluation really amounts to feedback and it amounts
390
1022988
2958
por vleresimi shkon deri tek reagime dhe
17:17
to an opportunity for trial and error.
391
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2154
kjo le vend per gabime.
17:20
It amounts to a chance to work over a longer period of time
392
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4494
Krijon nje shanc qe te punohet per periudhe te gjate kohe
17:24
with this kind of feedback.
393
1032594
1910
me keto reagime.
17:26
That's different than weeding, and usually, I have to tell you,
394
1034504
2938
Kjo eshte ndryshe nga ciftezimi, dhe zakonisht,
17:29
when people talk about evaluation, evaluating students,
395
1037442
2726
kur njerezit flasin per vleresim, studentesh
17:32
evaluating teachers, evaluating schools,
396
1040168
2787
mesuesish, shkollash, programesh
17:34
evaluating programs, that they're really talking about weeding.
397
1042955
4161
ne fakt jane duke folur per ciftezime.
17:39
And that's a bad thing, because then you will get what you select for,
398
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4210
Por kjo eshte dicka e keqe, pasi ti merr ato qe ke zgjedhur,
17:43
which is what we've gotten so far.
399
1051326
1958
c'ka eshte ajo qe kemi marre deri me tash.
17:45
So I'd say what we need is a test that says, "What is x?"
400
1053284
3441
Une do te kerkoja nje test qe kerkonte per X
17:48
and the answers are "I don't know, because no one does,"
401
1056725
3092
dhe pergjigjet ishin "nuk e di, pasi askush nuk e di,"
17:51
or "What's the question?" Even better.
402
1059817
1741
ose "Kush eshe pyetja?" Akoma me mire.
17:53
Or, "You know what, I'll look it up, I'll ask someone,
403
1061558
2390
Ose, "E di cfare, do te pyes dike, do ta gjej nje pergjigje,
17:55
I'll phone someone. I'll find out."
404
1063964
2700
do ti telefonoj dikujt, do ta gjej patjeter."
17:58
Because that's what we want people to do,
405
1066664
1550
Sepse kjo eshte c'ka duam qe njerezit te bejne,
18:00
and that's how you evaluate them.
406
1068214
1371
dhe kjo eshte se si i vleresojme.
18:01
And maybe for the advanced placement classes,
407
1069585
1943
Dhe ndoshta per klasat disi me te avancuara,
18:03
it could be, "Here's the answer. What's the next question?"
408
1071528
3714
mund te jete, " Ja pergjigja. Kush eshte pyetja e rradhes?"
18:07
That's the one I like in particular.
409
1075242
1511
Kjo eshte ajo qe preferoj vecanerisht.
18:08
So let me end with a quote from William Butler Yeats,
410
1076753
2177
Me lejoni ta mbyll me nje citim nga William Butler Yeats,
18:10
who said "Education is not about filling buckets;
411
1078930
3167
i cili ka thene, "Edukimi nuk eshte njesoj me mbushjen e kovave;
18:14
it is lighting fires."
412
1082097
2153
eshte njesoj me ndezjen e zjarreve."
18:16
So I'd say, let's get out the matches.
413
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3875
Do te thoja, le te nxjerrim shkrepeset.
18:20
Thank you.
414
1088125
1208
Faleminderit.
18:21
(Applause)
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3227
(Duartrokitje)
18:24
Thank you. (Applause)
416
1092560
3816
Faleminderit. (Duartrokitje)
Translated by Iris Xholi
Reviewed by Helena Bedalli

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Stuart Firestein - Neuroscientist
Stuart Firestein teaches students and “citizen scientists” that ignorance is far more important to discovery than knowledge.

Why you should listen

You’d think that a scientist who studies how the human brain receives and perceives information would be inherently interested in what we know. But Stuart Firestein says he’s far more intrigued by what we don’t. “Answers create questions,” he says. “We may commonly think that we begin with ignorance and we gain knowledge [but] the more critical step in the process is the reverse of that.”

Firestein, who chairs the biological sciences department at Columbia University, teaches a course about how ignorance drives science. In it -- and in his 2012 book on the topic -- he challenges the idea that knowledge and the accumulation of data create certainty. Facts are fleeting, he says; their real purpose is to lead us to ask better questions.

More profile about the speaker
Stuart Firestein | Speaker | TED.com