TED2011
Rajesh Rao: A Rosetta Stone for a lost language
Rajesh Rao: 破解印度河文字的罗塞塔石碑
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Rajesh Rao 着迷于“所有填字游戏的鼻祖”， 破解具有4000年历史的印度河文字。 在TED2011年大会上， 他讲述了他怎样运用现代计算机技术来解读印度河流域的语言文字，帮助解开印度古文明之谜的关键。
Rajesh Rao - Computational neuroscientist
Rajesh Rao seeks to understand the human brain through computational modeling, on two fronts: developing computer models of our minds, and using tech to decipher the 4,000-year-old lost script of the Indus Valley civilization. Full bio
Rajesh Rao seeks to understand the human brain through computational modeling, on two fronts: developing computer models of our minds, and using tech to decipher the 4,000-year-old lost script of the Indus Valley civilization. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
I'd like to begin with a thought experiment.
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首先，我们来做个思考的实验
00:19
Imagine that it's 4,000 years into the future.
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想像距今4000年后
00:22
Civilization as we know it
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我们所了解的文明
00:24
has ceased to exist --
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不复存在
00:26
no books,
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没有书籍
00:28
no electronic devices,
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没有电子设备
00:31
no Facebook or Twitter.
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没有脸书没有推特
00:34
All knowledge of the English language and the English alphabet
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英语和英语字母
00:37
has been lost.
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也都消失殆尽
00:39
Now imagine archeologists
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现在再来想想考古学家们
00:41
digging through the rubble of one of our cities.
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在我们城市残砖碎瓦中挖掘
00:43
What might they find?
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他们会发现什么呢？
00:45
Well perhaps some rectangular pieces of plastic
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可能会发现长方形的塑胶
00:48
with strange symbols on them.
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上面印着奇怪的符号
00:51
Perhaps some circular pieces of metal.
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或者发现一些圆形的金属碎片
00:54
Maybe some cylindrical containers
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也可能是些圆柱型的容器
00:56
with some symbols on them.
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上头有些符号
00:58
And perhaps one archeologist becomes an instant celebrity
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还可能有某个考古学家在
01:01
when she discovers --
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北美的某个地方
01:03
buried in the hills somewhere in North America --
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发现了大量相似的符号后
01:05
massive versions of these same symbols.
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一夜成名
01:10
Now let's ask ourselves,
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让我们来问问我们自己
01:12
what could such artifacts say about us
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我们的这些残存给4000年后
01:15
to people 4,000 years into the future?
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的人们展示了一个怎样的我们
01:18
This is no hypothetical question.
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这不是假设
01:20
In fact, this is exactly the kind of question we're faced with
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事实上，这正是我们面对
01:23
when we try to understand the Indus Valley civilization,
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4000年前存在的印度河流域文明时
01:26
which existed 4,000 years ago.
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面对的问题
01:28
The Indus civilization was roughly contemporaneous
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古印度河流域文明和较为人所熟知的
01:31
with the much better known Egyptian and the Mesopotamian civilizations,
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埃及以及美所不达米亚文化大概处于同时期
01:34
but it was actually much larger than either of these two civilizations.
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但其实它的范围超过这两个文明中的任何一个
01:37
It occupied the area
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它涵盖了
01:39
of approximately one million square kilometers,
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大约一百万平方公里
01:41
covering what is now Pakistan,
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包括今天的巴基斯坦
01:43
Northwestern India
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印度的西北部
01:45
and parts of Afghanistan and Iran.
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部分阿富汗和伊朗
01:47
Given that it was such a vast civilization,
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如此广大的文明
01:49
you might expect to find really powerful rulers, kings,
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你可能会期待有强大的统治者，国王
01:53
and huge monuments glorifying these powerful kings.
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以及用来纪念王者的巨大纪念碑
01:56
In fact,
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事实上
01:58
what archeologists have found is none of that.
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考古学者没有发现那些
02:00
They've found small objects such as these.
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他们发现了这样一些小物件
02:03
Here's an example of one of these objects.
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这就是其中的一样
02:06
Well obviously this is a replica.
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当然这只是个复制品
02:08
But who is this person?
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但这是谁呢？
02:11
A king? A god?
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是一个国王？一个神？
02:13
A priest?
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还是某个祭祀？
02:15
Or perhaps an ordinary person
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或者是一个普通人
02:17
like you or me?
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如你和我？
02:19
We don't know.
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我们不知道
02:21
But the Indus people also left behind artifacts with writing on them.
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但是古印度流域的人们也留下了背面写有字符的手工制品
02:24
Well no, not pieces of plastic,
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不是在塑料片上
02:26
but stone seals, copper tablets,
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而是在石头图章，铜片上
02:29
pottery and, surprisingly,
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陶器，还有令人惊讶的
02:31
one large sign board,
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在很大的符号石板上
02:33
which was found buried near the gate of a city.
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掩埋在城门附近的
02:35
Now we don't know if it says Hollywood,
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所以我们不知道上面是否写了好莱坞
02:37
or even Bollywood for that matter.
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甚至是宝莱坞
02:39
In fact, we don't even know
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事实上，我们不知道
02:41
what any of these objects say,
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上面写的任何东西
02:43
and that's because the Indus script is undeciphered.
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因为我们还不能破译这些印度河文字
02:46
We don't know what any of these symbols mean.
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我们不知道这些符号是什么意思
02:48
The symbols are most commonly found on seals.
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这些符号大多数出现在印章上
02:51
So you see up there one such object.
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你们可以看到这个物品
02:53
It's the square object with the unicorn-like animal on it.
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这个方形的物品上有个像是独角兽的动物
02:56
Now that's a magnificent piece of art.
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这是一件很精致的艺术品
02:58
So how big do you think that is?
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你觉得这块有多大呢？
03:00
Perhaps that big?
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这么大？
03:02
Or maybe that big?
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也许这么大？
03:04
Well let me show you.
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让我来给你看看
03:07
Here's a replica of one such seal.
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这是这枚印章的复制品
03:10
It's only about one inch by one inch in size --
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只有一平方英吋大
03:12
pretty tiny.
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很小
03:14
So what were these used for?
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那这是干什么用的呢？
03:16
We know that these were used for stamping clay tags
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我们知道这是用来盖在黏土标签上的
03:19
that were attached to bundles of goods that were sent from one place to the other.
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一捆捆的货物被附上标签，从一地被运往另一地
03:22
So you know those packing slips you get on your FedEx boxes?
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你知道联邦快递盒子里的那种装箱单吧？
03:25
These were used to make those kinds of packing slips.
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这些就是用来做那些送货单的
03:28
You might wonder what these objects contain
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你也许会想知道这些东西
03:31
in terms of their text.
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包涵了什么文字含义
03:33
Perhaps they're the name of the sender
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也许是寄件人的名字
03:35
or some information about the goods
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或者是某些货物的信息
03:37
that are being sent from one place to the other -- we don't know.
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从一地被送往别处-我们不知道
03:40
We need to decipher the script to answer that question.
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我们需要破解这段文字才能回答那个问题
03:42
Deciphering the script
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破解这段文字
03:44
is not just an intellectual puzzle;
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不只是破解一个智力难题
03:46
it's actually become a question
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事实上这个问题
03:48
that's become deeply intertwined
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深深地和南亚的政治
03:50
with the politics and the cultural history of South Asia.
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文化历史交织在一起
03:53
In fact, the script has become a battleground of sorts
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而对这些文字的争论已经形成了一个战场
03:56
between three different groups of people.
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三群持不同见解团体各持己见
03:58
First, there's a group of people
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第一群人
04:00
who are very passionate in their belief
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热切地坚信
04:02
that the Indus script
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这些印度河流域的字符
04:04
does not represent a language at all.
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完全不代表语言
04:06
These people believe that the symbols
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这些人认为这些符号
04:08
are very similar to the kind of symbols you find on traffic signs
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和交通标示的符号相似
04:11
or the emblems you find on shields.
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也像盾上面的一些象征符号
04:14
There's a second group of people
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第二群人
04:16
who believe that the Indus script represents an Indo-European language.
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相信印度河文字代表着某个印欧语言
04:19
If you look at a map of India today,
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如果你看看印度今日的版图
04:21
you'll see that most of the languages spoken in North India
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很多在印度北部使用的语言
04:24
belong to the Indo-European language family.
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都是属于印欧语系
04:27
So some people believe that the Indus script
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所以一些人相信古印度河文字
04:29
represents an ancient Indo-European language such as Sanskrit.
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是某种古老的印欧语，就像梵语一样
04:32
There's a last group of people
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最后一群人
04:34
who believe that the Indus people
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相信古印度人
04:37
were the ancestors of people living in South India today.
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是现居南印度的人的祖先
04:40
These people believe that the Indus script
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这些人觉得古印度文字
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represents an ancient form
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是达罗毗荼语系下的
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of the Dravidian language family,
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一种古老的文字形式
04:46
which is the language family spoken in much of South India today.
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现今南印度多数人皆使用达罗毗荼语
04:49
And the proponents of this theory
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支持这一理论的人
04:51
point to that small pocket of Dravidian-speaking people in the North,
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指出印度北部有一小部份使用达罗毗荼语的人
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actually near Afghanistan,
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事实上靠近阿富汗
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and they say that perhaps, sometime in the past,
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他们说或许，过去曾经有一段时间
04:59
Dravidian languages were spoken all over India
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整个印度都使用达罗毗荼语
05:02
and that this suggests
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这也意味着
05:04
that the Indus civilization is perhaps also Dravidian.
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印度河文明或许就是达罗毗荼文明
05:07
Which of these hypotheses can be true?
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这些假设哪个是真的呢？
05:10
We don't know, but perhaps if you deciphered the script,
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我们不知道， 但如果你能解开这些文字符号
05:12
you would be able to answer this question.
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你就能回答这个问题
05:14
But deciphering the script is a very challenging task.
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但是破解文字密码是一项很具有挑战性的任务
05:16
First, there's no Rosetta Stone.
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首先， 我们没有罗塞塔石碑
05:18
I don't mean the software;
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我不是指那软件
05:20
I mean an ancient artifact
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我是指那件文物
05:22
that contains in the same text
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上面用我们知道和不知道的文字
05:24
both a known text and an unknown text.
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书写了同样的内容。
05:27
We don't have such an artifact for the Indus script.
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印度河文化中并没有发现同样的古物
05:30
And furthermore, we don't even know what language they spoke.
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而且，我们不知道他们说的是什么语言
05:33
And to make matters even worse,
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更糟的是
05:35
most of the text that we have are extremely short.
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大部份的文字都相当短
05:37
So as I showed you, they're usually found on these seals
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就像我刚才给大家看的，最常发现的是在印章类的东西上
05:39
that are very, very tiny.
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他们都非常非常地小
05:41
And so given these formidable obstacles,
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给我们解读带来了难以克服的障碍
05:43
one might wonder and worry
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有些人或许会担心
05:45
whether one will ever be able to decipher the Indus script.
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是否真的有谁可以解开古印度河文字之谜呢？
05:48
In the rest of my talk,
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在我接下来的演讲中
05:50
I'd like to tell you about how I learned to stop worrying
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我要来告诉各位我怎么学会停止担心
05:52
and love the challenge posed by the Indus script.
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并喜欢上解读古印度河文字所带来的挑战
05:54
I've always been fascinated by the Indus script
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我对古印度河文字的痴迷
05:57
ever since I read about it in a middle school textbook.
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从在中学课本中读到便开始
05:59
And why was I fascinated?
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我为什么会着迷呢？
06:01
Well it's the last major undeciphered script in the ancient world.
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因为这是历史上目前唯一未被破解的重要的古文字
06:05
My career path led me to become a computational neuroscientist,
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我的职业生涯让我成为一个计算机神经科学家
06:08
so in my day job,
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我白天的工作
06:10
I create computer models of the brain
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是在电脑上模拟大脑
06:12
to try to understand how the brain makes predictions,
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试图了借大脑是怎样预知事物的
06:15
how the brain makes decisions,
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大脑是怎样做决定的，
06:17
how the brain learns and so on.
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大脑是怎样学习的等等
06:19
But in 2007, my path crossed again with the Indus script.
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但在2007年，我与古印度河文字重逢
06:22
That's when I was in India,
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当时在印度
06:24
and I had the wonderful opportunity
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我有幸得到机会
06:26
to meet with some Indian scientists
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跟一些印度科学家会面
06:28
who were using computer models to try to analyze the script.
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他们在用计算机模型分析这些文字
06:31
And so it was then that I realized
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那个时候我认识到
06:33
there was an opportunity for me to collaborate with these scientists,
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这是我跟这些科学家合作的一个机会
06:36
and so I jumped at that opportunity.
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所以我立刻就抓住了这个机会
06:38
And I'd like to describe some of the results that we have found.
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我想在这里介绍我们发现的一些结果
06:40
Or better yet, let's all collectively decipher.
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或者更好的是，让我们一起来破解吧
06:43
Are you ready?
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你们准备好了吗？
06:45
The first thing that you need to do when you have an undeciphered script
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当你想要破解文字符号时，首先你要
06:48
is try to figure out the direction of writing.
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分辨书写的方向
06:50
Here are two texts that contain some symbols on them.
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这里有两段相同符号的文字
06:53
Can you tell me
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你能告诉我
06:55
if the direction of writing is right to left or left to right?
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书写的方向是从右到左还是从左到右？
06:58
I'll give you a couple of seconds.
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我给大家几秒钟想一想
07:01
Okay. Right to left, how many? Okay.
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好， 从右到左，有多少人同意？好
07:04
Okay. Left to right?
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从左到右呢？
07:06
Oh, it's almost 50/50. Okay.
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噢，大约是一半一半
07:08
The answer is:
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答案是：
07:10
if you look at the left-hand side of the two texts,
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如果你看这两段文字的左边
07:12
you'll notice that there's a cramping of signs,
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你会注意到左边的符号挤在一起
07:15
and it seems like 4,000 years ago,
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好像是4000年前
07:17
when the scribe was writing from right to left,
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当书写者从右写到左时
07:19
they ran out of space.
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因为最后没地方了写了
07:21
And so they had to cram the sign.
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只能缩小间距
07:23
One of the signs is also below the text on the top.
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其中有一个符号也出现在下面的文字上面
07:25
This suggests the direction of writing
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意味着书写的方向
07:27
was probably from right to left,
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是从右到左的
07:29
and so that's one of the first things we know,
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所以我们知道的第一件事是
07:31
that directionality is a very key aspect of linguistic scripts.
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书写方向是语言符号中一个很关键的方面
07:34
And the Indus script now has
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因此古印度河文字就有了这个
07:36
this particular property.
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特别的特征
07:38
What other properties of language does the script show?
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这文字符号中还有什么其他语言特征？
07:40
Languages contain patterns.
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语言会有一定模式
07:42
If I give you the letter Q
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如果我给你一个字母Q
07:44
and ask you to predict the next letter, what do you think that would be?
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然后请你猜下一个字母，你们觉得会是什么呢？
07:47
Most of you said U, which is right.
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大部份人都会说U，那是对的
07:49
Now if I asked you to predict one more letter,
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现在我请你们再猜下个字母
07:51
what do you think that would be?
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你们觉得会是什么呢？
07:53
Now there's several thoughts. There's E. It could be I. It could be A,
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现在这边有很多种答案，有人说E，可能是I, 也可能是一个A,
07:56
but certainly not B, C or D, right?
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但是肯定不是B,C,或者D,对吗？
07:59
The Indus script also exhibits similar kinds of patterns.
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印度河文字也有类似的模式
08:02
There's a lot of text that start with this diamond-shaped symbol.
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有很多段文字的开头都有菱形符号
08:05
And this in turn tends to be followed
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接着常常是跟着一个
08:07
by this quotation marks-like symbol.
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有点象引号那样的符号
08:09
And this is very similar to a Q and U example.
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这就跟Q跟U的例子很相似
08:11
This symbol can in turn be followed
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这符号之后
08:13
by these fish-like symbols and some other signs,
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会有着类似鱼等其他的符号
08:16
but never by these other signs at the bottom.
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但从来不会是最底下出现的这些符号
08:18
And furthermore, there's some signs
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进一步来说，有些符号
08:20
that really prefer the end of texts,
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常常出现在文章结尾
08:22
such as this jar-shaped sign,
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像是这壶型的记号
08:24
and this sign, in fact, happens to be
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事实上，这记号刚好是
08:26
the most frequently occurring sign in the script.
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在这些文句中最常出现的记号
08:28
Given such patterns, here was our idea.
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看出这些惯用模式后，我们有个想法
08:31
The idea was to use a computer
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就是用电脑
08:33
to learn these patterns,
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去了解这些图案
08:35
and so we gave the computer the existing texts.
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我们将这些现存的文字符号输入电脑
08:38
And the computer learned a statistical model
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然后电脑以某种统计模型
08:40
of which symbols tend to occur together
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算出哪些符号会一起出现
08:42
and which symbols tend to follow each other.
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而哪些符号常以先后顺序出现
08:44
Given the computer model,
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使用此电脑模式
08:46
we can test the model by essentially quizzing it.
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我们可以用考试的方法来测试这个模式
08:49
So we could deliberately erase some symbols,
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我们可以故意去掉某些符号
08:51
and we can ask it to predict the missing symbols.
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我们让计算机来预测缺少的字符
08:54
Here are some examples.
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这是一些例子
09:00
You may regard this
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你们可以把这个看作
09:02
as perhaps the most ancient game
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最古老的
09:04
of Wheel of Fortune.
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幸运大转盘游戏（一个填字游戏）
09:08
What we found
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我们发现
09:10
was that the computer was successful in 75 percent of the cases
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计算机预测正确字符的
09:12
in predicting the correct symbol.
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成功率是75%
09:14
In the rest of the cases,
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剩下的例子中
09:16
typically the second best guess or third best guess was the right answer.
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正确答案不是在第二选择就是在第三选择中
09:19
There's also practical use
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这种预测方法
09:21
for this particular procedure.
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会派到实际的用处
09:23
There's a lot of these texts that are damaged.
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很多文字符号都已经损坏
09:25
Here's an example of one such text.
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这里有个例子
09:27
And we can use the computer model now to try to complete this text
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我们可以使用电脑模式来修复这段文字内容
09:30
and make a best guess prediction.
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并做出最好的猜测
09:32
Here's an example of a symbol that was predicted.
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这就是一个预测的例子
09:35
And this could be really useful as we try to decipher the script
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这非常有用， 在我们破解字符的过程中
09:37
by generating more data that we can analyze.
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让我们得到了更多可供分析的数据
09:40
Now here's one other thing you can do with the computer model.
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还有另一件事也是可以利用电脑模式来做的
09:43
So imagine a monkey
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想象有个猴子
09:45
sitting at a keyboard.
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坐在键盘上
09:47
I think you might get a random jumble of letters that looks like this.
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我猜会得到一堆像这样随机跑出的字母
09:50
Such a random jumble of letters
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这些随机混乱的字母
09:52
is said to have a very high entropy.
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说明了很高的熵
09:54
This is a physics and information theory term.
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这是物理学和信息理论的说法
09:56
But just imagine it's a really random jumble of letters.
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但想像这是相当随机混乱的字母排列
09:59
How many of you have ever spilled coffee on a keyboard?
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你们中多少人曾经将咖啡溅在键盘上？
10:03
You might have encountered the stuck-key problem --
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你也许会碰到键盘卡住的问题
10:05
so basically the same symbol being repeated over and over again.
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所以同一个字符会一再重复
10:08
This kind of a sequence is said to have a very low entropy
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这类的数列可以说有着非常低的熵
10:11
because there's no variation at all.
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因为它们一点都没变化
10:13
Language, on the other hand, has an intermediate level of entropy;
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语言，从别个角度说，有着中间程度的熵
10:16
it's neither too rigid,
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它不是很严格
10:18
nor is it too random.
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也不是很随机
10:20
What about the Indus script?
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那印度河字符呢？
10:22
Here's a graph that plots the entropies of a whole bunch of sequences.
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这个图表显示了一大堆顺序的熵值
10:26
At the very top you find the uniformly random sequence,
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你会在上面发现那些随机顺序
10:28
which is a random jumble of letters --
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那是一些杂乱随机放置的字母
10:30
and interestingly, we also find
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有趣的是， 我们同时发现
10:32
the DNA sequence from the human genome and instrumental music.
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人类基因的DNA排序和乐器演奏的音乐
10:35
And both of these are very, very flexible,
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它们都非常非常灵活
10:37
which is why you find them in the very high range.
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所以他们处在高程度的范围里
10:39
At the lower end of the scale,
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在低端范围里
10:41
you find a rigid sequence, a sequence of all A's,
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你可以发现很严格的顺序， 比如全是字母A的排列
10:43
and you also find a computer program,
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你还会发现一个计算机程序
10:45
in this case in the language Fortran,
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是用FORTRAN语言写的
10:47
which obeys really strict rules.
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它遵循严格的规则
10:49
Linguistic scripts
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语言文字
10:51
occupy the middle range.
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占中间段
10:53
Now what about the Indus script?
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那印度河文字呢？
10:55
We found that the Indus script
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我们发现印度河流域的文字
10:57
actually falls within the range of the linguistic scripts.
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的数值正好落在语言文字段里
10:59
When this result was first published,
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这个结果刚公布的时候
11:01
it was highly controversial.
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引起了很大的争议
11:04
There were people who raised a hue and cry,
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有人提出强烈反对
11:07
and these people were the ones who believed
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这些批评的人认为
11:09
that the Indus script does not represent language.
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古印度河文字根本不是文字
11:12
I even started to get some hate mail.
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我甚至收到一些恶意信函
11:14
My students said
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我的学生说
11:16
that I should really seriously consider getting some protection.
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我应该要严肃地考虑怎样保护自身安危
11:19
Who'd have thought
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谁会想到
11:21
that deciphering could be a dangerous profession?
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解读古文字会变成一种危险职业
11:23
What does this result really show?
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这结果说明了什么呢？
11:25
It shows that the Indus script
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说明了古印度河文字
11:27
shares an important property of language.
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有着重要的语言特征
11:29
So, as the old saying goes,
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所以，就像老话说的那样
11:31
if it looks like a linguistic script
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如果这看起来像是语言性文字
11:33
and it acts like a linguistic script,
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且它也有语言性文字的功用
11:35
then perhaps we may have a linguistic script on our hands.
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恐怕我们手里捧着的大概就是一种语言文字
11:38
What other evidence is there
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有什么其他证据显示
11:40
that the script could actually encode language?
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这类文字事实上包涵语言
11:42
Well linguistic scripts can actually encode multiple languages.
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语言字符其实可以被包括在多种语言中
11:45
So for example, here's the same sentence written in English
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比如，这是同样一句话写成英语
11:48
and the same sentence written in Dutch
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这是这句话写成荷兰语
11:50
using the same letters of the alphabet.
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用到同样的字母
11:52
If you don't know Dutch and you only know English
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如果你不懂荷兰语只知道英语
11:55
and I give you some words in Dutch,
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我给你看一些荷兰语单词
11:57
you'll tell me that these words contain
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你会说这些词包涵了
11:59
some very unusual patterns.
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一些独特的模式
12:01
Some things are not right,
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有些地方不对
12:03
and you'll say these words are probably not English words.
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你也会说这些不是英文单词
12:06
The same thing happens in the case of the Indus script.
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这同样也发生在印度河文字中
12:08
The computer found several texts --
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计算机也发现一些文字
12:10
two of them are shown here --
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这里有两三个
12:12
that have very unusual patterns.
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他们具有很独特的模式
12:14
So for example the first text:
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比如，第一个例子
12:16
there's a doubling of this jar-shaped sign.
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这个壶形字符被重复
12:19
This sign is the most frequently-occurring sign
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这个符号是印度河文字里
12:21
in the Indus script,
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最常见的一个记号
12:23
and it's only in this text
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而只在这段文字里
12:25
that it occurs as a doubling pair.
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它以成对的模式出现
12:27
Why is that the case?
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为什么呢？
12:29
We went back and looked at where these particular texts were found,
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我们回去找这些特殊的文字是在哪里找到的
12:32
and it turns out that they were found
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我们发现它们出现在离
12:34
very, very far away from the Indus Valley.
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印度河谷十分遥远的地方
12:36
They were found in present day Iraq and Iran.
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它们是在现在的伊朗和伊拉克被发现的
12:39
And why were they found there?
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它们怎么会出现在那里呢？
12:41
What I haven't told you is that
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我还没有告诉你们
12:43
the Indus people were very, very enterprising.
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印度人相当会做生意
12:45
They used to trade with people pretty far away from where they lived,
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他们曾跑到离他们居住很远的地方去做交易
12:48
and so in this case, they were traveling by sea
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在这个例子中，他们跨越海洋
12:51
all the way to Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq.
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到了两河流域，也就是今天的伊拉克
12:54
And what seems to have happened here
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看起来
12:56
is that the Indus traders, the merchants,
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印度的生意人，商人
12:59
were using this script to write a foreign language.
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在用这些文字记录外语
13:02
It's just like our English and Dutch example.
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就好比英语和荷兰语的例子
13:04
And that would explain why we have these strange patterns
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这可以解释为什么我们会发现这些奇怪的规律
13:06
that are very different from the kinds of patterns you see in the text
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它们和在印度河流域发现的文字的规律
13:09
that are found within the Indus Valley.
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非常不同
13:12
This suggests that the same script, the Indus script,
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这说明印度河文字，同样的文字
13:14
could be used to write different languages.
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可能被用来记录不同的语言
13:17
The results we have so far seem to point to the conclusion
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根据我们现有的研究结果指向的结论来看
13:20
that the Indus script probably does represent language.
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印度河流域的这些字符代表语言
13:23
If it does represent language,
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而如果它的确代表语言
13:25
then how do we read the symbols?
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那么我们怎样来解读这些符号
13:27
That's our next big challenge.
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这是对我们最大的挑战
13:29
So you'll notice that many of the symbols
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你注意到很多这些符号
13:31
look like pictures of humans, of insects,
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看上去像人和昆虫的图画
13:33
of fishes, of birds.
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或者鱼，鸟
13:36
Most ancient scripts
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很多古代的字符
13:38
use the rebus principle,
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都使用了画谜原则
13:40
which is, using pictures to represent words.
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也就是用图画代表字词
13:43
So as an example, here's a word.
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比如， 这是一个词
13:46
Can you write it using pictures?
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你能用图画来书写吗？
13:48
I'll give you a couple seconds.
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我给你们几秒钟
13:50
Got it?
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画好了吗
13:52
Okay. Great.
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好
13:54
Here's my solution.
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这是我的答案
13:56
You could use the picture of a bee followed by a picture of a leaf --
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你可以用一片树叶(leaf)跟了一只蜜蜂(bee)
13:58
and that's "belief," right.
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那就是"相信“(发音跟bee加leaf接近）对吗？
14:00
There could be other solutions.
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也可能有其他的答案
14:02
In the case of the Indus script,
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对印度河字符来说
14:04
the problem is the reverse.
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我们的面临着反向的挑战
14:06
You have to figure out the sounds of each of these pictures
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你得找到每幅图的发声
14:09
such that the entire sequence makes sense.
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整个排列秩序意义通顺
14:11
So this is just like a crossword puzzle,
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所以这就跟填字游戏一样
14:14
except that this is the mother of all crossword puzzles
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只不过这是所有填字游戏的鼻祖
14:17
because the stakes are so high if you solve it.
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因为破解它的价值太可观了
14:21
My colleagues, Iravatham Mahadevan and Asko Parpola,
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我的同事， Iravatham Mahadevan 和 Asko Parpola
14:24
have been making some headway on this particular problem.
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已经在这个特殊的问题上取得了一定的进展
14:26
And I'd like to give you a quick example of Parpola's work.
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我给你你们看一个Parpola研究的例子
14:28
Here's a really short text.
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这是一段很短的文字
14:30
It contains seven vertical strokes followed by this fish-like sign.
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它里面有7个竖笔，跟了一个象鱼的形状
14:33
And I want to mention that these seals were used
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我得提一下这些章用于
14:35
for stamping clay tags
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印在黏土标签上
14:37
that were attached to bundles of goods,
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然后附在一捆捆的货物上
14:39
so it's quite likely that these tags, at least some of them,
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所以这些标签，至少其中的一些
14:42
contain names of merchants.
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有商品的名字
14:44
And it turns out that in India
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而在印度
14:46
there's a long tradition
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这是一个久远的传统
14:48
of names being based on horoscopes
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名字是根据星座
14:50
and star constellations present at the time of birth.
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和生日的时候展示的星宿来定的
14:53
In Dravidian languages,
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在达罗毗荼语系中
14:55
the word for fish is "meen"
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鱼的发音是“meen”
14:57
which happens to sound just like the word for star.
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而这个字的发音跟星星刚好相同
15:00
And so seven stars
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所以七颗星星
15:02
would stand for "elu meen,"
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代表“elu meen”
15:04
which is the Dravidian word
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就是达罗毗荼语的
15:06
for the Big Dipper star constellation.
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北斗七星
15:08
Similarly, there's another sequence of six stars,
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同样地，这里有六颗星
15:11
and that translates to "aru meen,"
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可以听作“aru meen”
15:13
which is the old Dravidian name
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是一个达罗毗荼语的旧名词
15:15
for the star constellation Pleiades.
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代表昴宿星团
15:17
And finally, there's other combinations,
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最后， 还有其他的组合
15:20
such as this fish sign with something that looks like a roof on top of it.
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比如鱼的符号上有个顶
15:23
And that could be translated into "mey meen,"
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可以说成“MEY meen”
15:26
which is the old Dravidian name for the planet Saturn.
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在旧达罗毗荼语中指土星
15:29
So that was pretty exciting.
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让人感到振奋的是
15:31
It looks like we're getting somewhere.
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我们似乎有所进展
15:33
But does this prove
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但这样是否就能证明
15:35
that these seals contain Dravidian names
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这些印章上达罗毗荼语的名字
15:37
based on planets and star constellations?
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是基于星球和星座呢？
15:39
Well not yet.
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还不能
15:41
So we have no way of validating
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我们没有办法验证
15:43
these particular readings,
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这些解读方式是正确的
15:45
but if more and more of these readings start making sense,
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但是如果越来越多的解读开始有道理
15:48
and if longer and longer sequences
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而越来越长的排序
15:50
appear to be correct,
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显示出正确性
15:52
then we know that we are on the right track.
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那我们就知道我们走上了正道
15:54
Today,
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今天
15:56
we can write a word such as TED
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我们可以用埃及象形文字以及楔形文字
15:59
in Egyptian hieroglyphics and in cuneiform script,
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写下的TED这样的名字
16:02
because both of these were deciphered
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因为人们在十九世纪
16:04
in the 19th century.
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就破解了这两种文字符号
16:06
The decipherment of these two scripts
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这两种文字的破解
16:08
enabled these civilizations to speak to us again directly.
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使得这些古文明能与我们再次直接的交流
16:11
The Mayans
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玛雅文明
16:13
started speaking to us in the 20th century,
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也在20世纪开始与我们对话
16:15
but the Indus civilization remains silent.
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而印度河流域的文明至今保持沉默
16:18
Why should we care?
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我们为什么在乎呢？
16:20
The Indus civilization does not belong
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印度河流域的文化不仅仅属于
16:22
to just the South Indians or the North Indians
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南印度或者是北印度
16:24
or the Pakistanis;
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或者是巴基斯坦
16:26
it belongs to all of us.
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它是属于我们大家的
16:28
These are our ancestors --
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他们是我们的祖先
16:30
yours and mine.
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你们的也是我们的
16:32
They were silenced
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因为在历史发展中不幸
16:34
by an unfortunate accident of history.
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偶然地沉寂了
16:36
If we decipher the script,
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如果我们破解了这些字符
16:38
we would enable them to speak to us again.
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我们可以让他们再一次和我们交流
16:40
What would they tell us?
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他们会告诉我们什么呢？
16:43
What would we find out about them? About us?
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我们会在他们身上和我们自己身上发现什么呢？
16:46
I can't wait to find out.
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我迫不及待地想要找到答案
16:49
Thank you.
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谢谢
16:51
(Applause)
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（掌声）
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Rajesh Rao - Computational neuroscientistRajesh Rao seeks to understand the human brain through computational modeling, on two fronts: developing computer models of our minds, and using tech to decipher the 4,000-year-old lost script of the Indus Valley civilization.
Why you should listen
Rajesh Rao is looking for the computational principles underlying the brain's remarkable ability to learn, process and store information -- hoping to apply this knowledge to the task of building adaptive robotic systems and artificially intelligent agents.
Some of the questions that motivate his research include: How does the brain learn efficient representations of novel objects and events occurring in the natural environment? What are the algorithms that allow useful sensorimotor routines and behaviors to be learned? What computational mechanisms allow the brain to adapt to changing circumstances and remain fault-tolerant and robust?
By investigating these questions within a computational and probabilistic framework, it is often possible to derive algorithms that not only provide functional interpretations of neurobiological properties but also suggest solutions to difficult problems in computer vision, speech, robotics and artificial intelligence.
Rajesh Rao | Speaker | TED.com