TED演讲:我们的意识(3)

 　　Now, that's the way a lot of people feel about consciousness.  好了，那就是很多人对意识的感觉。

　　Real consciousness is not a bag of tricks.  真正的意识不是魔术师的口袋

　　If you're going to explain this as a bag of tricks,  如果你把它解释为魔术师的口袋，

　　then it's not real consciousness, whatever it is.  那它就不是真正的意识，不管它是什么。

　　And, as Marvin said, and as other people have said, "Consciousness is a bag of tricks." 可是，Marvin和其他的人说，“意识是魔术师的口袋。”

　　This means that a lot of people are just left 这意味着很多人

　　completely dissatisfied and incredulous when I attempt to explain consciousness. 会感到不满和怀疑，在我尝试解释意识的时候。

　　So this is the problem.  所以，这就是个问题。

　　So I have to do a little bit of the sort of work that a lot of you won't like, 我需要做一点点尝试，你们很多人不会喜欢它，

　　for the same reason that you don't like to see a magic trick explained to you. 因为你们不愿意看到魔术被揭秘。

　　How many of you here, if somebody -- some smart aleck --  在座有多少人，在别人，一些自作聪明的人，

　　starts telling you how a particular magic trick is done,  开始揭露魔术的秘密时，

　　you sort of want to block your ears and say, "No, no, I don't want to know!  你们想要塞上耳朵然后说，“不，不，我不想知道！

　　Don't take the thrill of it away. I'd rather be mystified. Don't tell me the answer." 不要破坏它的刺激。我宁愿被蒙在鼓里。不要告诉我答案。”

　　A lot of people feel that way about consciousness, I've discovered.  我发现，很多人对待意识是这样的态度。

　　And I'm sorry if I impose some clarity, some understanding on you.  所以我对给你们做的分析和解释感到抱歉。

　　You'd better leave now if you don't want to know some of these tricks.  如果你不想了解这些思维的秘密，最好现在就离开。

　　But I'm not going to explain it all to you.  不过我也不会向你们解释所有。

　　I'm going to do what philosophers do.  我会做哲学家所做的。

　　Here's how a philosopher explains the sawing-the-lady-in-half trick.  哲学家如何解释将女士锯成两半的魔术呢。

　　You know the sawing-the-lady-in-half trick?  你们知道将人锯成两半的魔术吧？

　　The philosopher says, "I'm going to explain to you how that's done.  哲学家说，“我来解释那是怎么做到的。

　　You see, the magician doesn't really saw the lady in half."  你看，魔术师并没有真正把那位女士锯成两半。”

　　"He merely makes you think that he does." “他仅仅是让你们以为他这样做了。”

　　And you say, "Yes, and how does he do that?"  然后他说 “是啊，他怎么做到呢？”

　　He says, "Oh, that's not my department, I'm sorry."  他说，“喔，那不是我的研究范围，不好意思。”

　　So now I'm going to illustrate¹ how philosophers explain consciousness.  现在我将描述哲学家是如何解释意识的。

　　But I'm going to try to also show you that consciousness isn't quite as marvelous 我也将向你们展示意识并不是那么神奇

　　your own consciousness isn't quite as wonderful as you may have thought it is. 你的意识并不像你所设想的那么神奇。

　　This is something, by the way, that Lee Siegel talks about in his book.  顺便说，这就是 Lee Siegal在他的书中所谈到的事情。

　　He marvels² at how he'll do a magic show, 他的魔术表演非常神奇，

　　and afterwards people will swear they saw him do X, Y, and Z. 所以有些人发誓目睹他曾做过甲事、乙事还有丙事。

　　He never did those things.  但其实他从来没做过。

　　He didn't even try to do those things.  他甚至都没有尝试过。

　　People's memories inflate³ what they think they saw.  当人们认为看到了的时候，他们的记忆就会自以为是。

　　And the same is true of consciousness.  意识也是这样。

　　Now, let's see if this will work. All right. Let's just watch this. Watch it carefully. 现在，让我们看看这个。仔细看。

　　I'm working with a young computer-animator documentarian named Nick Deamer, 我在和一个年轻的计算机动画纪录片专家合作，他的名字叫Nick Deamer。

　　and this is a little demo that he's done for me,  这是他帮我做的一个小演示，

　　part of a larger project some of you may be interested in.  是你们或许会感兴趣的大项目中的一小部分。

　　We're looking for a backer.  我们在寻求赞助。

　　It's a feature-length documentary on consciousness.  是一部关于意识的正片长度纪录片

1 illustrate   

v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图

参考例句：

• The company's bank statements illustrate its success.这家公司的银行报表说明了它的成功。
• This diagram will illustrate what I mean.这个图表可说明我的意思。

2 marvels   

n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The doctor's treatment has worked marvels : the patient has recovered completely. 该医生妙手回春，病人已完全康复。 来自辞典例句
• Nevertheless he revels in a catalogue of marvels. 可他还是兴致勃勃地罗列了一堆怪诞不经的事物。 来自辞典例句

3 inflate   

vt.使膨胀，使骄傲，抬高（物价）

参考例句：

• The buyers bid against each other and often inflate the prices they pay.买主们竞相投标，往往人为地提高价钱。
• Stuart jumped into the sea and inflated the liferaft.斯图尔特跳到海里给救生艇充气。