閱讀筆記＆雜思：克里斯多夫・諾蘭《追求現實》

Chase Reality, Sir Christopher Edward Nolan

• 來自導演克里斯多夫·諾蘭2015年在普林斯頓大學（Princeton University）的畢業演講，英文逐字稿來源於此
• 起初是我發現網路上的只有碎片化的各段翻譯，因此重新讀了全文稿件，將原有的線上翻譯資源和我自己的翻譯整合成一份。下收相對完整的中英對照（省略了前段比較輕鬆的招呼語），我不是專業的譯者，如有任何翻譯建議也歡迎留言告訴我
• 參考的線上翻譯資源，但並無直接搬運：Wisdom Bread 智慧麵包＆與軒軒聽與說

（前略）

We were ready to leave, we were ready to get out there. And we felt very much as if we had accumulated this sort of whole wheel of Brie of knowledge. Of course what I realize it's actually a Swiss cheese and those gaps in there are the point.

我跟太太當時準備離開學校，準備去到外面的世界，感覺自己滿懷布里起司般豐滿可口的知識。當然，我後來理解到，那些從學校得來的所學所知實際上更像瑞士乾酪，而上頭的空隙，才是重點。

They're the they're the important part because you're gonna get out there and you're gonna fill those gaps that you don't even know you have. Your gaps in your knowledge, you're going to fill them with experience. Some of it marvelous, some of it terrible and you're going to learn that way.

空隙之所以重要，是因為接下來，你們會離開學校到更大的世界，學會如何填補它們，甚至那些你不知道自己有的空隙。
你們會通過經驗來填補那些知識缺口，有些是美妙的，有些很糟糕，而你將透過這種方式學習。

But what you have achieved here will see you through that. What you've achieved here, you haven't just learned a body of knowledge, you've learned how to learn. You’ve learned the value of learning.

但你從學校習得的，會幫助你度過那些困境。你從這裡所達到的成就，不僅僅是學到一些知識，而是學習的能力本身。你已經理解了學習的價值。

And I can say in all honesty – 20 years on – I'm a much better student now than I was when I was at college and I think the same will be true for most of you and true.

我可以誠實地說──經過了20年之後──現在的我要比大學時代的我是個更好的學生，而我相信在場的多數人也會面臨同樣的處境。

You’ll carry on learning, you'll carrying on expanding, and most importantly, some of those gaps will be filled with the most precious thing of all: which is new thought. New ideas. Things that are going to change the world.

你會繼續學習，你會繼續擴充你的所知，最重要的是，有些空隙會被最寶貴的東西填補：新的念頭，新的點子，那些將改變世界的東西。

As a believer in the concept of inception. As a believer in the idea that you can plant the seed of an idea that will grow into something more substantial over time, I do feel some responsibility to try and say something to you that you would carry forward and might help you in some way.

作為一個相信植入一個想法的種子，隨著時間、這個想法必定會慢慢變得更重要的人，我覺得我有責任告訴你們一些在未來能夠幫助你們的事情。

So I thought back to the world of my graduation, when Emma and I were was sitting there 20 odd years ago. And I thought about what were the problems of the world, what were the terrible things we faced. Racism, income inequality, warfare, I could go on, but you know this list and the reason you know it is it's exactly the same today.
And what that made me think is, well, what are we been doing for the last twenty years?

所以我開始回憶我畢業時的世界，當我和太太Emma大約20多年前坐在大學校園的時候。然後我想起當時世界上的問題，那些我們面臨的糟糕事情，種族主義、貧富收入不均、戰爭⋯⋯我可以繼續說下去，但我相信你們一定都很清楚，因為那跟現在面臨的一模一樣。這讓我思考，好，那我們過去20年做了什麼呢？

Because if I'm gonna give you any advice, I have to sort of take a bit of a hard look about my generation, about what we have done. And the truth is I think we've we failed to address a lot of the fundamentals. Possibly for a good reason.
And that reason is, I think we went out into the world believing that if we could connect the world, if we could allow the free exchange of ideas across geographical boundaries, economic boundaries, if we could all talk, these problems would go away.

如果要我給你們忠告，我勢必得認真審視我這一代到底對世界做了什麼。事實上，我想我們有很多基本的問題沒有解決。因為我這一代相信，一但連結了全世界、允許了跨越空間藩籬的自由知識交換、我們通通有了發言權，這些問題就會被解決。

And unfortunately I think by now, we have to acknowledge that we were wrong, that's not the case. That communication is not everything. And so much of the resources, intellectual resources, financial resources, of my generation have gone into communications infrastructure and achieved wonderful things. But perhaps not as wonderful as we claim them to be.

不幸的是，時至今日，我們必須承認我們錯了，事情才不是我們想的那回事。訊息的傳達無法解決所有事。我那一代在通信的基礎建設上，投入大量的智慧、經濟資源等等，然後完成了一些我們自以為很美好的東西。

I mean, barely a week goes by that I don't read some comparison between a new way of sharing videos or something that's compared to the invention of the printing press. And you only have to say that out loud to realize how silly that is.

我的意思是，幾乎每一週你都能讀到某種新的影音分享方式或某種被比作印刷術發明的東西的比較，但凡你大聲唸出來，就會意識到這有多麽愚蠢。

The long and the short of it is to give you an example. When I was flying out here, I had an experience that I've had with increasing frequency: you get on an airplane on a day flight to take you across America. And the shades are down because they don't want the cabin to get too hot, save on the air-conditioning. Good idea.

長話短說，給你們舉一個例子。當我坐飛機來這裡演講時，我發現到一個越來越常見的搭乘體驗：當你登上一架要在白天飛越美洲大陸的飛機時，遮陽板都是拉下來的，因為他們不想要讓機艙變得太熱，以節省空調。這是個好主意。

And nobody lifts the shade as you take off. Nobody lifts the shade as you fly all the way across this amazing country. Nobody looks out the window. Everybody’s there with their screen with whatever it is they're doing. I look out the window and people give me dirty looks because I'm interfering with the light on their screen.
And not to imitate one of your previous class day speakers Stephen Colbert, you know, you could construe this as an insult to America. I mean, we were flying over the Grand Canyon. I would go further than that: I would say it's an insult to reality.

可這也代表，沒有人在你起飛時拉開遮陽板，沒有人在你飛越這個令人驚嘆的城市時拉開遮陽板，再也沒有人看向窗外，所有人都盯著他們的螢幕做他們正在做的事；當我望向窗外時，人們對我投來嫌惡的目光，因為外頭的光干擾了他們螢幕的光源。
不是要模仿你們之前的講者Steven Colbert，但你知道，你可以把這些解釋為對美國的侮辱。我是說，當時我們正飛越大峽谷（而無人在欣賞）。進一步地說：這是對現實的侮辱。

But when you are flying in an airplane across this incredible country, you're enjoying one of the great modern marvels. You’re getting a perspective on America, on our landscape, and where we are, that no one's ever had before.
And it speaks to the theme that I want to introduce, which is a respect for reality.

當你搭上一架飛機，飛越這個美得難以置信的國度時，你正享受於其中一個偉大的現代奇蹟。你正在獲得美國、我們的地景，乃至我們所處位置的視野，而這是無人曾經企及的。而這引出了我想要切入的主題，就是對現實的尊重。

I feel that over the last couple decades, I feel that over time, we've started to view reality as the poor cousin to our dreams in a sense. We've started to think of reality as this kind of grey pebble at the center of wonderful abstract thought that transcends it.
And I want to make the case to you that our dreams are virtual realities, these abstractions that we enjoy and we surround ourselves with, they are subsets of reality.

幾十年過去，隨時間變迭，我感覺我們開始將現實視為夢想的窮親戚。我們開始將現實看作一種灰色的鵝卵色，卡在那些美好的抽象思路的心臟位置。但我要告訴你們的是，夢想或是虛擬的現實，這些圍繞在我們生活周邊抽象又美好的概念，其實都只是現實中的一個子集合。

Inception had something to say about this, and I apologize to those of you you haven't seen it, because I'm about to spoil the ending of it for you. But at the end of the film there's a spinning top that's spinning, and if it falls or doesn't fall – is the key idea – is it a dream, is it reality?

《全面啟動》裡有這一段，我向對那些還沒看過電影的人說聲抱歉，因為我準備要暴雷了。
在電影的結尾，有一個旋轉的陀螺，而它最終有沒有倒下——這是一個關鍵的問題——一切究竟是夢境？還是現實呢？

And the way the end of that film worked, Leonardo DiCaprio's character, Cobb, he was off with his kids, he was in his own subjective reality and didn't really care anymore, and that makes a statement that perhaps all levels of reality are equally valid.

電影以這樣的方式作為結尾，Leonardo DiCaprio飾演的角色Cobb，跟他失去的孩子團聚了。他身處於他自己的主觀現實中，他也不再去在乎了，這或許可以說明，每個層面的現實都是同樣存在的。

The camera moves over to the spinning top and just before the spinning top appears to be wobbling, there's a cut to black and I skip out of the back of the theater before people catch me.

鏡頭轉向旋轉的陀螺，就在陀螺開始搖晃不穩的時候，畫面突然切黑，我趁被觀眾發現之前，趕緊從電影院後面溜走。

And there's a very, very strong reaction from the audience, usually a bit of a groan. But the point is, objectively, it matters to the audience in absolute terms. Even though what they're watching is a fiction, is its own virtual reality.
But the question of whether that's a dream or whether it's real is the one I've been asked the most about any of the films I've made.

這引起觀眾非常強烈的反應，有點像是一陣哀號。但客觀看來，觀眾非常在乎電影的結尾。即便他們看的只是一部虛構作品，一個虛擬的現實世界，但結局到底是夢、還是現實，是我所有的作品中，被問及最多次的問題。

It matters to people enormously, and that's the point about reality. Reality matters, it won't be transcended. We had a dream of being outside for this this occasion. A reality intervened and we're in here. We live in the real world, we deal in the real world.

答案對人們來說意義重大，這就是現實的意義所在。現實很重要，它不會被超越。我們曾夢想跳脫這個景況，但現實介入了，所以我們在這裡。我們生活在現實世界中，我們在現實世界中處理問題。

And I think what I was saying earlier about communications: it's time for something of a reframing. And it's something that your generation could do, that my generation can’t.

回到我前頭說的「溝通」：我想是時候改變觀念了。這是你們這一代人可以做到，而我這一代人無法完成的事情。

We are firmly embedded in the belief that we have changed the world in all kinds of incredible ways.
And we have all kinds of ways of selling this to you. And you know we use fancy words like disruption, which is essentially a form of sort of economic nihilism whereby you judge the value of a company by how much it can stop other companies making money, rather than what they actually make themselves.

我們這一代人深信，我們以種種方式深刻地改變了世界。我們又用各種方式，將這些觀念都售給你們。你們知道，我們使用花俏的詞彙，像是「顛覆市場」，這其實就是經濟虛無主義的一種形式，人們通過一家公司阻止對手賺取財富的能力來評價其好壞，而忽視該公司本身創造財富的能力。

That’s there for those of you going into finance by the way, just trying to lay a little groundwork there. And we use words, slippery words like algorithm. If you hear someone use the word algorithm and they're not a mathematics professor or a computer scientist, they're probably trying to obscure what it is they actually do, what their company does. At the very least, they're trying to evade any responsibility for what it is that their company does or what it actually does.I would love for you to be suspicious of this.

你們當中要進入金融業的要聽好了，順便給你們打點基礎。我們（這一代人）使用某些花俏的詞彙，像是「演算法」這個詞。如果你聽到有人用「演算法」這個詞，而那人卻不是數學系教授，也不是計算機科學家，那他們很可能是在試圖掩蓋他們實際上在做的事情，他們公司真正的業務。至少，他們在試圖逃避他們公司或個人應承擔的責任。我希望你們對此保持懷疑的態度。

I would love for you to look at fundamentals, to look at what are we really doing in the world. What is the change that is being effected? How can we actually move the ball forward, progress in this way?

我希望你們看看事物的基本面，我們要如何才能改變世界？這種影響實際上帶來什麼改變？我們能如何真正推動事情前進，以這種方式取得進展呢？

Oscar Wilde once said 'the old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything'. You do know everything. I’m clearly in my suspicious phase, and I'd love to impart some of that to you, because I think there's an enormous amount of work to be done. And in the great tradition of these speeches, I don't have to tell you how to do it, I just have to tell you that it's your problem now.

Oscar Wilde曾說：「老年人相信一切，中年人懷疑一切，青年人知道一切。」你們處在了解一切的年紀，我明顯處於懷疑一切的階段，我很樂意把這些懷疑分享給你們，因為我認為還有很多事必須做。按照這些畢業演講的優良傳統，我無需告訴你們該怎麼做，我只需要告訴你們，現在這些是你們的問題了。

And in the great tradition of these speeches, generally what happens is the speaker says something along the lines of "you need to chase your dreams”, but I'm not going to say that because I don't believe it. I don't want you to chase your dreams, I want you to chase your reality.And I want you to understand that you chase your reality not at the expense of your dreams, but as the foundation of your dreams.

同時，在畢業演講的偉大傳統裡，通常演講者都會勉勵大家要去「追尋夢想」之類的話，但我不會這麼說，因為我不相信這一套。
我不鼓勵你們追求夢想，我希望你們追求現實。我希望你們明白，你們追求現實，不是以夢想作為代價，而是以夢想作為基礎。

FIN.

〖譯者的話〗

首先，必須謝謝鼓勵我把噗浪上的閱讀雜思／翻譯放到方格子的 縱光☆興趣使然的小說家，也謝謝閱讀到最後的你。

儘管演講內文與受眾跟創作無線性關係，但我很喜歡裏頭說到的「填補空隙／追求現實（chase reality）」，因此決定要整理出比較全面的中英對照。

因為我很執迷於抽象概念，如何實踐或以平易近人的方式讓他人理解（例如寫小說或運用簡單易懂的譬喻手法），也是我在努力跟現實世界產生連結的方式。

隨時日推移，我益發覺得「那些角色／故事好像真實存在」是非常珍貴的反饋，也由衷感謝曾告訴我這些的讀者，因為那些在我生命中的理所當然（例如突然在我腦中浮現的人事物），不盡然是他人的理所當然，而當這些「真實感（authenticity）」的公約數堆砌起來，虛擬的現實或許也能成為我、讀者或者某些人內心的主觀現實。

我覺得，愛是人類物種最奧妙且密不可分的主觀現實。