Seventy-thousand years ago, our ancestors were insignificant animals.
七万年前，我们的先祖不过是各种动物中的一种。
The most important thing to know about prehistoric humans is that they were unimportant.
当你想到原人时，最重要的是他们有多不重要。
Their impact on the world was not much greater than that of jellyfish or fireflies or woodpeckers.
他们对世界的影响力，和水母、萤火虫、啄木鸟差别不大。
Today, in contrast, we control this planet. And the question is: How did we come from there to here?
今天，相反地，我们变成地球的霸主。所以问题是：我们是怎么走到这一步的？
How did we turn ourselves from insignificant apes, minding their own business in a corner of Africa, into the rulers of planet Earth?
我们是如何从毫不起眼的人猿，在非洲的角落自生自灭，摇身一变成为地球霸主的？
Usually, we look for the difference between us and all the other animals on the individual level.
通常，我们会在个体差异上检视我们与其它动物的差别。
We want to believe -- I want to believe -- that there is something special about me,
我们想要相信--我想要相信，我有些特别的地方
about my body, about my brain, that makes me so superior to a dog or a pig, or a chimpanzee.
我的身体，我的大脑，让我比狗、猪或是黑猩猩更高级。
But the truth is that, on the individual level, I'm embarrassingly similar to a chimpanzee.
但事实是，就个体差异来说，我和黑猩猩尴尬地相似。
And if you take me and a chimpanzee and put us together on some lonely island,
如果你把我和一头黑猩猩放在孤岛上，
and we had to struggle for survival to see who survives better,
看我们之间谁能生存的更好，
I would definitely place my bet on the chimpanzee, not on myself.
我会赌是黑猩猩，而不是我。
And this is not something wrong with me personally.
这不是我个人的错，
I guess if they took almost any one of you,
我想如果有人把你们其中任何人，
and placed you alone with a chimpanzee on some island, the chimpanzee would do much better.
和一头黑猩猩一起放在孤岛上，黑猩猩绝对会生存的更好。
The real difference between humans and all other animals is not on the individual level; it's on the collective level.
真正让人类与其它动物分别开来的特质不是个体的，而是群体的。
Humans control the planet because they are the only animals that can cooperate both flexibly and in very large numbers.
人类控制地球，是因为我们是唯一可以大规模灵活合作的动物。
Now, there are other animals -- like the social insects, the bees, the ants
其它动物，那些社会性昆虫，蜜蜂、蚂蚁，
that can cooperate in large numbers, but they don't do so flexibly.
它们也可以大规模地合作，但没有像我们这么灵活。
Their cooperation is very rigid. There is basically just one way in which a beehive can function.
它们的合作方式是固定的。蜂巢总是用同一种方式运作。
And if there's a new opportunity or a new danger, the bees cannot reinvent the social system overnight.
就算遇见新的机会或威胁，蜜蜂也无法在一夜之间创造一种社会制度。
They cannot, for example, execute the queen and establish a republic of bees, or a communist dictatorship of worker bees.
比如说，它们无法处死蜂后，建立蜜蜂共和国，工蜂也不能组成共产政权。
Other animals, like the social mammals -- the wolves, the elephants, the dolphins, the chimpanzees
其它群居的哺乳类动物，像是狼、大象、海豚、黑猩猩
they can cooperate much more flexibly, but they do so only in small numbers,
它们的合作更灵活，但规模有限，
because cooperation among chimpanzees is based on intimate knowledge, one of the other.
因为黑猩猩合作的基础是对彼此的亲密的认知。
I'm a chimpanzee and you're a chimpanzee, and I want to cooperate with you. I need to know you personally.
要是你我都是黑猩猩，我想和你合作，我会需要先认识你。
What kind of chimpanzee are you? Are you a nice chimpanzee? Are you an evil chimpanzee? Are you trustworthy?
你是哪种黑猩猩？善良的黑猩猩？还是邪恶的黑猩猩？你可靠吗？
If I don't know you, how can I cooperate with you?
如果我不认识你，我们怎么合作？
The only animal that can combine the two abilities together and cooperate both flexibly and still do so in very large numbers is us, Homo sapiens.
唯一拥有这两种特质，能大规模合作又能保持灵活的，只有我们，智人。
One versus one, or even 10 versus 10, chimpanzees might be better than us.
一比一，甚至十比十，黑猩猩都比我们优秀。
But, if you pit 1,000 humans against 1,000 chimpanzees, the humans will win easily,
但，如果数目提高到一千个人和一千头黑猩猩，人类就能轻易获胜。
for the simple reason that a thousand chimpanzees cannot cooperate at all.
因为上千头黑猩猩无法一起合作。
And if you now try to cram 100,000 chimpanzees into Oxford Street, or into Wembley Stadium,
如果你尝试把十万头黑猩猩塞进牛津街、温布利体育馆、
or Tienanmen Square or the Vatican, you will get chaos, complete chaos.
天安门广场或梵蒂冈，绝对会陷入一片混乱。
Just imagine Wembley Stadium with 100,000 chimpanzees. Complete madness.
想象塞满十万头黑猩猩的温布利体育馆，那个景象将有多疯狂。
In contrast, humans normally gather there in tens of thousands, and what we get is not chaos, usually.
相对的，就算成千上万的人在会场里，通常也不会陷入混乱。
What we get is extremely sophisticated and effective networks of cooperation.
我们有效率、有制度地合作。
All the huge achievements of humankind throughout history,
人类在历史上达成的巨大成就，
whether it's building the pyramids or flying to the moon, have been based not on individual abilities,
无论是金字塔还是上月球，都不是建立在个体的能力，
but on this ability to cooperate flexibly in large numbers.
而是群体的灵活合作。
Think even about this very talk that I'm giving now:
想想我这场演讲，
I'm standing here in front of an audience of about 300 or 400 people, most of you are complete strangers to me.
我在三四百个人面前演讲，你们中的大多数我都不认识。
Similarly, I don't really know all the people who have organized and worked on this event.
我不认识所有组织或参与这个活动的人。
I don't know the pilot and the crew members of the plane that brought me over here, yesterday, to London.
我不认识昨天带我飞抵伦敦的驾驶员和机组人员。
I don't know the people who invented and manufactured this microphone and these cameras, which are recording what I'm saying.
我不认识是谁发明和制造这些正在拍摄我的演讲的录像机和麦克风。
I don't know the people who wrote all the books and articles that I read in preparation for this talk.
为了准备这段演讲，我读了不少书和论文，我却不认识它们的作者。
And I certainly don't know all the people who might be watching this talk over the Internet,
我更不知道那些正在网上观看这个演讲的人，
somewhere in Buenos Aires or in New Delhi.
他们可能在布宜诺斯艾利斯或是在新德里。
Nevertheless, even though we don't know each other, we can work together to create this global exchange of ideas.
而且，尽管我们不认识彼此，却能在世界的舞台上，一同参与、创造、交换意见。
This is something chimpanzees cannot do.
这是黑猩猩所做不到的。
They communicate, of course, but you will never catch a chimpanzee traveling to some distant chimpanzee band
当然，它们也能沟通，但你不会看到一只黑猩猩远渡重洋，
to give them a talk about bananas or about elephants, or anything else that might interest chimpanzees.
对另一群黑猩猩讲解香蕉或大象，或任何黑猩猩有兴趣的事。
Now cooperation is, of course, not always nice; all the horrible things humans have been doing throughout history
合作自然不是只有好事。人类历史上所有恐怖的事件
and we have been doing some very horrible things -- all those things are also based on large-scale cooperation.
我们的确做过一些非常恐怖的事--它们同样也是人类大规模合作达成的。
Prisons are a system of cooperation; slaughterhouses are a system of cooperation; concentration camps are a system of cooperation.
监狱是一种合作系统，屠宰场是一种合作系统，集中营是一种合作系统。
Chimpanzees don't have slaughterhouses and prisons and concentration camps.
黑猩猩没有屠宰场、监狱或集中营。
Now suppose I've managed to convince you perhaps that yes,
现在或许我已经说服你，
we control the world because we can cooperate flexibly in large numbers.
由于我们大规模灵活合作的能力，我们掌控了世界。
The next question that immediately arises in the mind of an inquisitive listener is: How, exactly, do we do it?
下一个问题随之而来。好奇的听众心里想：我们是怎么做到的？
What enables us alone, of all the animals, to cooperate in such a way? The answer is our imagination.
在所有动物中，为什么只有我们这样合作？答案是我们的想象力。
We can cooperate flexibly with countless numbers of strangers,
我们之所以可以和无数陌生人一同合作，
because we alone, of all the animals on the planet, can create and believe fictions, fictional stories.
因为在这星球上的所有动物中，只有我们能创造和相信虚构的故事。
And as long as everybody believes in the same fiction,
只要大家一同相信同一个故事，
everybody obeys and follows the same rules, the same norms, the same values.
每个人服从并执行一样的规则，一样的基准，一样的价值观。
All other animals use their communication system only to describe reality.
其它动物的沟通只限于描述真实的事物。
A chimpanzee may say, "Look! There's a lion, let's run away!"
黑猩猩说：“看啊！有狮子！快跑！”
Or, "Look! There's a banana tree over there! Let's go and get bananas!"
或是：“看啊！那有香蕉树！去摘香蕉吧！”
Humans, in contrast, use their language not merely to describe reality,
而人类呢，我们的语言不只是用来描述现实，
but also to create new realities, fictional realities.
更能用来创造新的现实，想象的现实。
A human can say, "Look, there is a god above the clouds!
人可以说：“看啊！云上有神！
And if you don't do what I tell you to do, when you die, God will punish you and send you to hell."
如果你不听从命令，神会在你死后惩罚你直达地狱。”
And if you all believe this story that I've invented,
如果你相信我发明的故事，
then you will follow the same norms and laws and values, and you can cooperate.
你就会依循一样的基准、法则、价值观，你就会合作。
This is something only humans can do.
这件事只有人类做得到。
You can never convince a chimpanzee to give you a banana by promising him, "After you die, you'll go to chimpanzee heaven"
你永远无法说服一只黑猩猩交出香蕉，就算你承诺它：“死后，你可以到黑猩猩天堂...”
"And you'll receive lots and lots of bananas for your good deeds. So now give me this banana."
“到时候你的善行，会为你赢得无数的香蕉。现在，快把香蕉给我。”
No chimpanzee will ever believe such a story.
没有一只黑猩猩会相信这种故事。
Only humans believe such stories, which is why we control the world,
只有人类会相信这种故事。这就是我们称霸世界，
whereas the chimpanzees are locked up in zoos and research laboratories.
而黑猩猩关在动物园或实验室的原因。
Now you may find it acceptable that yes, in the religious field, humans cooperate by believing in the same fictions.
或许你现在可以接受，在宗教领域，拥有相同信念的人一同合作。
Millions of people come together to build a cathedral or a mosque or fight in a crusade or a jihad,
百万人同心合力建造教堂、清真寺一同参加圣战，
because they all believe in the same stories about God and heaven and hell.
因为他们信仰神、天堂和地狱。
But what I want to emphasize is that exactly the same mechanism underlies all other forms of mass-scale human cooperation,
但我想说的是，同样的机制存在于人类各种的大规模合作，
not only in the religious field.
不限于宗教领域。
Take, for example, the legal field.
譬如，法制领域。
Most legal systems today in the world are based on a belief in human rights. But what are human rights?
现在世界上大部分的法律，都以人权为基础。但人权是什么？
Human rights, just like God and heaven, are just a story that we've invented.
人权，就像神和天堂，都是我们发明的故事。
They are not an objective reality; they are not some biological effect about homo sapiens.
它们不是客观的事实；它们不是某种智人的生理反应。
Take a human being, cut him open, look inside, you will find the heart,
解剖人体，往里探看，里面有心脏、
the kidneys, neurons, hormones, DNA, but you won't find any rights.
肾脏、神经元、荷尔蒙、基因，但你找不到什么权利。
The only place you find rights are in the stories that we have invented and spread around over the last few centuries.
权利只存在故事里，我们在这几个世纪里创造、散播的故事。

They may be very positive stories, very good stories, but they're still just fictional stories that we've invented.
这些故事很好、很正面，但仍然是我们虚构的。
The same is true of the political field.
政治领域也一样。
The most important factors in modern politics are states and nations.
国家是今日政治里最重要的元素。
But what are states and nations? They are not an objective reality.
但国家是什么？它们不是客观事实。
A mountain is an objective reality. You can see it, you can touch it, you can ever smell it.
山陵是客观事实。你看得到，摸得到，甚至闻得到。
But a nation or a state, like Israel or Iran or France or Germany,
但国家，以色列、伊朗、法国或德国，
this is just a story that we've invented and became extremely attached to.
只是我们创造，并且非常依赖的故事。
The same is true of the economic field.
经济领域也一样。
The most important actors today in the global economy are companies and corporations.
公司和企业是今日全球金融中不可或缺的元素。
Many of you today, perhaps, work for a corporation, like Google or Toyota or McDonald's.
你们当中的许多人为企业工作，像谷歌或丰田或麦当劳。
What exactly are these things? They are what lawyers call legal fictions.
它们是什么？律师叫它们法人。
They are stories invented and maintained by the powerful wizards we call lawyers.
需要有巫师创造和维持，不过我们通常叫这些巫师叫律师。
And what do corporations do all day? Mostly, they try to make money.
企业都在做些什么？它们主要的功能是赚钱。
Yet, what is money? Again, money is not an objective reality; it has no objective value.
但钱是什么？钱也不是客观事实。
Take this green piece of paper, the dollar bill. Look at it -- it has no value.
这张绿色的纸，一元钞票。它其实一文不值。
You cannot eat it, you cannot drink it, you cannot wear it.
你不能吃它，不能喝它，不能把它穿在身上。
But then came along these master storytellers
但这些大故事家来了
the big bankers, the finance ministers, the prime ministers, and they tell us a very convincing story:
大银行家，各国的财政部长，总理，他们说着同一个动人的故事：
"Look, you see this green piece of paper? It is actually worth 10 bananas."
“你看这张绿色的纸，它可以换十个香蕉。”
And if I believe it, and you believe it, and everybody believes it, it actually works.
如果我信了，你也信了，大家都信了，这事就成了。
I can take this worthless piece of paper, go to the supermarket,
我可以拿着这张一文不值的纸，到任何超市，
give it to a complete stranger whom I've never met before, and get, in exchange, real bananas which I can actually eat.
把它交给一位素昧平生的陌生人，拿到我可以吃的真的香蕉。
This is something amazing. You could never do it with chimpanzees.
这未必太神气了。黑猩猩可办不到。
Chimpanzees trade, of course: "Yes, you give me a coconut, I'll give you a banana." That can work.
当然，黑猩猩也懂得交换：“你给我一颗椰子，我给你一根香蕉。”也行。
But, you give me a worthless piece of paper and you except me to give you a banana?
但如果你给我一张废纸然后要我给你一根香蕉？
No way! What do you think I am, a human?
想都别想！你把我当什么了，人类吗？
Money, in fact, is the most successful story ever invented and told by humans, because it is the only story everybody believes.
钱，其实是人类史上最成功的故事。因为它是唯一一个所有人都相信的故事。
Not everybody believes in God, not everybody believes in human rights, not everybody believes in nationalism,
不是每个人都相信神，不是每个人都追求人权，不是每个人都爱国，
but everybody believes in money, and in the dollar bill.
但每个人都相信钱，相信现金。
Take, even, Osama Bin Laden. He hated American politics and American religion and American culture,
就像拉登。他憎恨美国的政策和信仰、美国文化，
but he had no objection to American dollars. He was quite fond of them, actually.
但他绝对对美金没有意见。他其实挺爱它们的。
To conclude, then: We humans control the world because we live in a dual reality.
结论是：我们人类称霸世界，因为我们活在双重现实里。
All other animals live in an objective reality.
其他动物活在客观事实里。
Their reality consists of objective entities, like rivers and trees and lions and elephants.
它们的真实世界存在于客观现实，像河流、树木、狮子和大象。
We humans, we also live in an objective reality.
我们人类也活在客观现实里。
In our world, too, there are rivers and trees and lions and elephants.
我们也有河流、树木、狮子和大象。
But over the centuries, we have constructed on top of this objective reality a second layer of fictional reality,
但几个世纪来，我们在客观现实上建构了另一个层次的虚拟现实，
a reality made of fictional entities, like nations, like gods, like money, like corporations.
一个由虚拟现实组成的真实世界，比如国家、神、钱、企业。
And what is amazing is that as history unfolded,
厉害的是，在历史进程里，
this fictional reality became more and more powerful so that today,
虚构的现实日渐强大，直到今日，
the most powerful forces in the world are these fictional entities.
世界上最强大的力量，是这些虚构的主体。
Today, the very survival of rivers and trees and lions and elephants
今天，幸存的河流、树、狮子和大象，
depends on the decisions and wishes of fictional entities,
仰赖着这些虚构主体的决定和期待生存，
like the United States, like Google, like the World Bank -- entities that exist only in our own imagination. Thank you.
像美国、谷歌、世界银行--这些只存在于我们想象中的主体。谢谢各位。
Yuval, you have a new book out.
乌瓦尔，你有一本新书即将出版。
After Sapiens, you wrote another one, and it's out in Hebrew, but not yet translated into...
出版《人类大历史》后，你又写了一本，希伯来文的版本已经出版了，但还没翻译成...
I'm working on the translation as we speak.
我现在正在翻译。
In the book, if I understand it correctly, you argue that
在这本书里，如果我想得没错的话，你说
the amazing breakthroughs that we are experiencing right now not only will potentially make our lives better,
我们现在经历的这些奇妙的技术突破，不只会让我们的生活更好，
but they will create -- and I quote you -- "new classes and new class struggles, just as the industrial revolution did."
更有可能创造--你这么说--“新的阶级和新的阶级斗争，就像工业革命时期一样。”
Can you elaborate for us?
你可以多说一点吗？
Yes. In the industrial revolution, we saw the creation of a new class of the urban proletariat.
好的。在工业革命时期，我们创造了城市中的无产阶级。
And much of the political and social history of the last 200 years
过去两百年的社经历史，
involved what to do with this class, and the new problems and opportunities.
都在处理由此而生的新问题和机会。
Now, we see the creation of a new massive class of useless people.
现在，一群没用的人组成了一个新阶级。
As computers become better and better in more and more fields,
计算机在各个领域越来越强。
there is a distinct possibility that computers will out-perform us in most tasks and will make humans redundant.
很快的，计算机在许多领域上会胜过人类，人类将变得多余。
And then the big political and economic question of the 21st century will be,
这个世纪最大的政治和经济问题是，
"What do we need humans for?", or at least, "What do we need so many humans for?"
“我们需要人类做什么？”或者至少是，“我们需要这么多人做什么？”
Do you have an answer in the book?
书里会找到答案吗？
At present, the best guess we have is to keep them happy with drugs and computer games...
目前，我们只能用药物、电子游戏尽量让他们开心...
but this doesn't sound like a very appealing future.
虽然好像也不是什么值得期待的前景。
Ok, so you're basically saying in the book and now,
所以你在书里和现在所说的是，
that for all the discussion about the growing evidence of significant economic inequality,
各种讨论和证据都显示，所有的贫富差距、经济不平等，
we are just kind of at the beginning of the process?
都只是刚刚开始而已？
Again, it's not a prophecy; it's seeing all kinds of possibilities before us.
这不是预言；只是评估眼前的所有可能性。
One possibility is this creation of a new massive class of useless people.
其中一种可能是创造了一种无用阶级。
Another possibility is the division of humankind into different biological castes,
另一种可能是用生理把人类分成几种阶级，
with the rich being upgraded into virtual gods, and the poor being degraded to this level of useless people.
富人升等为神，穷人则贬到无用之人的阶级。
I feel there is another TED talk coming up in a year or two.
我想一两年内会有这个TED演说。
Thank you, Yuval, for making the trip. Thanks!
谢谢你远道而来。谢谢！