David Eagleman: Can we create new senses for humans?
David Eagleman: 我们能为人类创造新感官吗?
David Eagleman decodes the mysteries of the tangled web of neurons and electricity that make our minds tick -- and also make us human. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
a very large cosmos,
very good at understanding reality
哪一个尺度我们都无法
the world at that scale.
感知世界的程度。
very thin slice of perception
这两者中间,
that slice of reality that we call home,
再熟悉不过,
对我们是不可见的。
of the action that's going on.
radiation that bounces off objects
光波和电磁辐射,
in the back of our eyes.
all the waves out there.
of what's out there.
passing through your body right now
the proper biological receptors
可以感知这些波的
of cell phone conversations
are inherently unseeable.
in their reality,
in their view of the world,
in the dashboards of our cars
仪表盘内设立装置
in the radio frequency range,
to pick up on the X-ray range.
any of those by yourself,
是绝对感知不到这些波的,
with the proper sensors.
没有配备这种传感器。
our experience of reality
the common sense notion
and our fingertips
the objective reality that's out there.
just a little bit of the world.
现实世界的一小部分“浅尝辄止”。
on different parts of reality.
and deaf world of the tick,
are temperature and butyric acid;
by electrical fields;
out of air compression waves.
that they can pick up on,
for the surrounding world.
objective reality out there,
还有其他存在。
what we can sense.
is we accept reality
200 million scent receptors in it,
that attract and trap scent molecules,
so you can take big nosefuls of air.
这样你就可以大口的嗅空气。
with a revelation.
and you think,
impoverished nose of a human?
人类鼻子会是怎样的情景?”
a feeble little noseful of air?
会是怎样的感觉?
a cat 100 yards away,
this very spot six hours ago?"
that world of smell,
into our umwelt.
do we have to be stuck there?
in the way that technology
the experience of being human.
非常感兴趣。
our technology to our biology,
技术和生物学相结合,
of people walking around
and artificial vision.
a microphone and you digitize the signal,
拿一个话筒,将信号数字化,
directly into the inner ear.
you take a camera
and then you plug an electrode grid
these technologies wouldn't work.
speak the language of Silicon Valley,
as our natural biological sense organs.
how to use the signals just fine.
处理这些信号。
or seeing any of this.
and darkness inside your skull.
electrochemical signals
and nothing more.
除此之外并无其他。
at taking in these signals
and assigning meaning,
and puts together a story
内部环境来整合信息,
and it doesn't care,
it just figures out what to do with it.
它都会做相应的处理。
kind of machine.
computing device,
what it's going to do with it,
sorts of input channels.
model of evolution,
too technical here,
that all these sensors
and our ears and our fingertips,
像我们的眼睛,耳朵,以及指尖,
plug-and-play devices:
即插即用的设备:
with the data that comes in.
the animal kingdom,
with which to detect infrared,
探测红外线的感热小坑,
electroreceptors,
a 3D model of the world,
构建出三维世界,
so they can orient
所以它们能够
nature doesn't have to continually
of brain operation established,
is designing new peripherals.
really special or fundamental
come to the table with.
sensory substitution.
information into the brain
what to do with it.
published in the journal Nature in 1969.
发表在1969年的《自然》杂志。
in a modified dental chair,
牙科手术椅上,
in front of the camera,
with a grid of solenoids.
in front of the camera,
got pretty good
what was in front of the camera
in the small of their back.
modern incarnations of this.
现代的实例。
right in front of you
and get closer and farther,
start getting pretty good
盲人就开始很好地习惯
through the ears:
on the forehead,
you're feeling it on your forehead.
你都可以通过前额感应到。
using it for much else.
因为它平时基本没什么用处。
is called the brainport,
that sits on your tongue,
these little electrotactile signals,
that they can throw a ball into a basket,
他们甚至能投篮,
complex obstacle courses.
coursing around in your brain.
where the signals come from.
is sensory substitution for the deaf,
为听障人士寻找感官替代,
in my lab, Scott Novich,
sound from the world gets converted
can understand what is being said.
and ubiquity of portable computing,
我们决定这么做,
would run on cell phones and tablets,
手机和平板电脑上运行,
to make this a wearable,
under your clothing.
is getting captured by the tablet,
我的声音被平板电脑捕捉,
that's covered in vibratory motors,
to a pattern of vibration on the vest.
and I'm wearing the vest right now.
而且我正穿着这样的背心。
into dynamic patterns of vibration.
震动模式。
with deaf people now,
just a little bit of time,
they can start understanding
他们能够开始理解
He has a master's degree.
他37岁,拥有硕士学位。
of his umwelt that's unavailable to him.
for four days, two hours a day,
这个背心训练了4天,每天2小时,
Jonathan feels it on the vest,
Jonathan通过背心感受到了,
this complicated pattern of vibrations
of what's being said.
because the patterns are too complicated,
因为这个模式太复杂,
the pattern that allows it to figure out
试图来理解
after wearing this for about three months,
他能在穿这个背心约三个月后,
perceptual experience of hearing
passes a finger over braille,
without any conscious intervention at all.
不需要任何有意识的干预。
to be a game-changer,
for deafness is a cochlear implant,
就是耳蜗植入,
than a cochlear implant,
even for the poorest countries.
甚至包括贫困国家。
by our results with sensory substitution,
实验结果的极大鼓舞,
is sensory addition.
to add a completely new kind of sense,
增加一种全新的感官,
real-time data from the Internet
perceptual experience?
感知体验吗?
we're doing in the lab.
数据网实时的信息流,
streaming feed from the Net of data
and he has to make a choice.
他必须选择一个。
and he gets feedback after one second.
一秒后得到反馈。
what all the patterns mean,
at figuring out which button to press.
他是否能搞清楚应该按哪个按钮。
whether he did the right thing or not.
can we expand the human umvelt
我们是否能拓宽人类的“环境”,
after several weeks,
of the economic movements of the planet.
to see how well this goes.
we've been automatically scraping Twitter
an automated sentiment analysis,
words or negative words or neutral?
(来表达他们的感想)?
to the aggregate emotion
because now I can know
因为我能知道
and how much you're loving this.
以及你们多么喜欢这个演讲。
than a human can normally have.
范围要大的多。
nine different measures
背心可以分流来自这个直升机的
and orientation and heading,
this pilot's ability to fly it.
his skin up there, far away.
很远的地方。
a modern cockpit full of gauges
遍布仪表的现代驾驶舱,
to read the whole thing, you feel it.
between accessing big data
to the possibilities
being able to feel
of the International Space Station,
the invisible states of your own health,
本不可见的健康状况,
and the state of your microbiome,
or seeing in infrared or ultraviolet.
或者能看见红外或紫外线。
As we move into the future,
在我们步入未来的过程中,
to choose our own peripheral devices.
for Mother Nature's sensory gifts
按照她自己的时间尺度和节奏来
she's given us the tools that we need
她已经给了我们需要的工具,
定义自己的人生轨迹。
and experience your universe?
DE: Yeah.
DE:当然。
I felt applause on the vest.
通过背心感受掌声。
Twitter's going mad.
that secures its funding forevermore,
永久资助的实验,
have to write to NIH anymore.
(美国国家卫生研究院)申请经费了。
skeptical for a minute,
but isn't most of the evidence so far
不过目前大部分实验证据是不是都表明
that sensory addition works?
blind person can see through their tongue
是不是可能
ready to process,
时刻准备处理信息,
We actually have no idea
实际上我们也不知道
关于这个的理论局限是什么。
kind of data the brain can take in.
is that it's extraordinarily flexible.
唤醒视皮质的任务
what we used to call their visual cortex
by touch, by hearing, by vocabulary.
如触觉,听觉,词汇。
the cortex is kind of a one-trick pony.
只会一种把戏的小马驹。
of computations on things.
at things like braille, for example,
through bumps on their fingers.
to think there's a theoretical limit
要相信我们的认知边缘
you're going to be deluged.
你肯定会一夜爆红。
possible applications for this.
excited about, the direction it might go?
是未来的方向吗?
a lot of applications here.
the things I started mentioning
they spend a lot of their time
他们花了很多时间
just get what's going on,
相反他们可以直接知道进展,
is multidimensional data.
are good at detecting blobs and edges,
善于探测障碍和边缘,
at what our world has become,
with lots and lots of data.
with our attentional systems.
feeling the state of something,
自己身体状态的方法一样。
of your body as you're standing around.
了解一个工厂的状态,
feeling the state of a factory,
it'll go right away.
这就是这项技术即将要实现的。
mind-blowing talk. Thank you very much.
激动人心的演讲。非常感谢。
(Applause)
(掌声)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
David Eagleman - NeuroscientistDavid Eagleman decodes the mysteries of the tangled web of neurons and electricity that make our minds tick -- and also make us human.
Why you should listen
As the creator of stacks of compelling research, books and now the 6-part PBS series The Brain, grey matter expert David Eagleman is our most visible evangelist for neuroscience. He has helmed ground-breaking studies on time perception, brain plasticity and neurolaw. His latest research explores technology that bypasses sensory impairment -- such as a smartphone-controlled vest that translates sound into patterns of vibration for the deaf.
Eagleman is also the author of Sum, an internationally bestselling short story collection speculating on life, death and what it means to be human. Translated into 28 languages, Sum has been turned into two separate operas at the Sydney Opera House and the Royal Opera House in London.
David Eagleman | Speaker | TED.com