2023年经济学人 人工智能彻底改变科学(2)（在线收听）

    Then, starting in the late 19th century, the establishment of research laboratories, which brought together ideas, people and materials on an industrial scale, gave rise to further innovations such as artificial fertiliser, pharmaceuticals and the transistor, the building block of the computer.

    然后，从19世纪末开始，科研实验室的建立，将思想、人员和材料以工业规模汇集在一起，催生了人工肥料、药品和晶体管(计算机的基本组成部分)等进一步的创新。

    From the mid-20th century, computers in turn enabled new forms of science based on simulation and modelling, from the design of weapons and aircraft to more accurate weather forecasting.

    从20世纪中期开始，计算机反过来使基于模拟和建模的新形式科学成为了现实，从武器和飞机的设计到更准确的天气预报。

    And the computer revolution may not be finished yet.

    计算机革命可能还没有结束。

    As we report in a special Science section, AI tools and techniques are now being applied in almost every field of science, though the degree of adoption varies widely:

    正如我们在科学专题部分所报道的那样，人工智能工具和技术几乎被应用于当今每个科学领域，尽管采用的程度差异很大:

    7.2% of physics and astronomy papers published in 2022 involved AI, for example, compared with 1.4% in veterinary science.

    例如，2022年发表的物理学和天文学论文中，有7.2%涉及人工智能，而兽医科学中这一比例为1.4%。

    AI is being employed in many ways.

    人工智能在很多方面都有应用。

    It can identify promising candidates for analysis, such as molecules with particular properties in drug discovery, or materials with the characteristics needed in batteries or solar cells.

    它可以识别有潜力的候选物进行分析，比如在药物发现中具有特殊性质的分子，或者具有电池或太阳能电池所需特性的材料。

    It can sift through piles of data such as those produced by particle colliders or robotic telescopes, looking for patterns.

    它可以筛选大量的数据，比如粒子对撞机或机器人望远镜产生的数据，寻找固定模式。

    And AI can model and analyse even more complex systems, such as the folding of proteins and the formation of galaxies.

    人工智能还可以模拟和分析更复杂的系统，比如蛋白质的折叠和星系的形成。

    AI tools have been used to identify new antibiotics, reveal the Higgs boson and spot regional accents in wolves, among other things.

    人工智能工具已被用于识别新的抗生素，揭示希格斯玻色子，发现狼群地区口音等。

    All this is to be welcomed.

    所有这些都是广受欢迎的。

    But the journal and the laboratory went further still: they altered scientific practice itself and unlocked more powerful means of making discoveries, by allowing people and ideas to mingle in new ways and on a larger scale.

    但该杂志和实验室走得更远:他们改变了科学实践本身，并通过允许人和思想以新的方式和更大的规模融合，开启了更有力的手段来做出发现。

    AI, too, has the potential to set off such a transformation.

    人工智能也有可能引发这样的转变。