河海研究生英語(yǔ)課文翻譯U-8.docx

U-8 IS A RACE OF ROBOTS POSSIBLE?可能會(huì)出現(xiàn)機(jī)器人種族嗎？A good many technical people become angry when you call a computer a giant brain. They insist that computer does only what thinking humans have planned to have it do.假如你把計(jì)算機(jī)稱為巨人腦，許多技術(shù)人員會(huì)感到氣憤。他們堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為，計(jì)算機(jī)只不過(guò)是做有思維的人類安排它做的事情罷了。Yet one authority states categorically, A machine can handle information; it can calculate, conclude, and choose; it can perform reasonable operations with information. A machine, therefore, can think. Famed mathematician Norbert Wiener, of MIT, foresees a machine that can learn and will in no way be obliged to make such decisions as we should have made, or will be acceptable to us. Evidently, he thinks machines can think.不過(guò)，一位權(quán)威人士明確地說(shuō)：“機(jī)器能處理信息，能進(jìn)行計(jì)算、做出決定和選擇，能利用信息從事各種合理的工作，因此，機(jī)器能夠思維。”麻省理工學(xué)院著名的數(shù)學(xué)家諾伯特威納做出展望認(rèn)為，機(jī)器能學(xué)習(xí)，它“決不會(huì)被迫做出我們必須作的決定，或是迎合我們?！憋@然，他認(rèn)為機(jī)器能夠思維。There is popular anecdote about a computer programmer who, just for a good fun, spent days setting up the machine to destroy itself, then watched delightedly as the computer dutifully proceeded to commit suicide. If that machine could have thought, would it not have got the better of him?一個(gè)有關(guān)一位計(jì)算機(jī)程序設(shè)計(jì)員的軼事廣為流傳。這位程序設(shè)計(jì)員只是為了取樂(lè)，花了幾天的時(shí)間，裝了一臺(tái)毀滅機(jī)器自身的機(jī)器，然后興高采烈地觀看這臺(tái)計(jì)算機(jī)忠實(shí)地自殺，那臺(tái)計(jì)算機(jī)假如能夠思維的話，難道不會(huì)用謀略去戰(zhàn)勝他嗎？To me the controversy boils down to a definition of the word think. There is no area in physiology that is less understood than the human brain. Practically all that is known is that the brain contains some ten billion tiny cells called neurons.對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，這場(chǎng)爭(zhēng)論歸根結(jié)底就是對(duì)“思維”一詞如何下定義。從生理學(xué)的角度看，沒(méi)有哪個(gè)領(lǐng)域比人腦了解得更少的了。實(shí)際上我們所知道的只是大腦約含有100億個(gè)稱為神經(jīng)原的微小細(xì)胞。Apparently, neurons are elementary memory units, capable of storing the same kind of information bits that a machine can store. The completely materialistic view is that neurons, along with an extraordinary network of nerve-communication lines, comprise all there is to the brain. But such an explanation fails to account for how the brain originates thought.很顯然，神經(jīng)原是基本的記憶單位，能儲(chǔ)存的信息“塊”種類與機(jī)器是相等的。徹底唯物的觀點(diǎn)是，大腦是由神經(jīng)原與一個(gè)特殊的神經(jīng)通訊網(wǎng)共同組成的。但這一解釋并沒(méi)有說(shuō)明大腦是如何產(chǎn)生思維的。 Probably the clearest difference between man and machine is a quantitative one. The brain has roughly a million times as many parts as the best computer. On the other hand, the difference may lie in a spiritual factor, embraced by religion. At any rate, a machine cannot exercise free will or originate anything not yet. Whether it ever will is still an open argument.人和機(jī)器之間最明顯的區(qū)別大概是量的不同。人腦的組成元件大約是最好的計(jì)算機(jī)的100萬(wàn)倍。從另一個(gè)方面來(lái)說(shuō)，區(qū)別也許在于宗教所能接受的某精神因素。不管怎樣，機(jī)器不能行使自由意志或創(chuàng)造任何東西現(xiàn)在還不能。將來(lái)是否可以尚存爭(zhēng)議。Computers can already do a lot of surprising things, which include predicting the weather. The machine is able to make forecasts by absorbing vast quantities of data, but his, as well as most of the other tasks now performed by the thinking machines, is routine, requiring thinking of a very low order. Let us see what happens when we go beyond this step.計(jì)算機(jī)已經(jīng)能做許多令人吃驚的事，其中包括預(yù)報(bào)天氣。它可以接收大量的數(shù)據(jù)、并以此做出預(yù)報(bào)，但與思維機(jī)器現(xiàn)在所完成的大多數(shù)別的工作一樣，這只是它的日常工作，只需要低思維層次。我們跨越這一步后，再看看會(huì)出現(xiàn)什么情況吧。A great many outstanding men are preoccupied with computers that do nonumerical work: that is, machines that go on fro there after all the figures are in. These men want to see, for example, whether lifeless devices can exercise judgment, make choices, give birth to ideas, and play games intelligently. At the far limit of possibility, they wish to know whether, at least on paper, machines can reproduce themselves. In other words, are we really certain that a machine can do only what its programmer wills it to do? Already there are in existence a number of machines that approach these powers. The simplest type is the computer that understands logic.許多杰出的人才在潛心研制從事“非數(shù)字”工作的計(jì)算機(jī)。也就是說(shuō)，所有的數(shù)字輸入后，機(jī)器能夠“以此為基點(diǎn)繼續(xù)干下去”。比方說(shuō)，這些人想看看無(wú)生命的裝置是否能進(jìn)行判斷、做出選擇、產(chǎn)生思想、伶俐地玩游戲，他們想知道，至少在理論上，機(jī)器是否可以再生，再生的可能性究竟有多大。換句話說(shuō)，我們真的確信機(jī)器只能做其程序設(shè)計(jì)員要它做的事嗎? 一些差不多具有這些能力的機(jī)器現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)有了。最簡(jiǎn)單的一種是懂邏輯的計(jì)算機(jī)。The mathematics of logic, upon which such machines work, was originated a century ago by an obscure Englishman named George Boole. Boolen algebra, as it is now called, has proved to be of great service to telephone engineers in designing automatic switching apparatus.這種機(jī)器賴以工作的邏輯數(shù)學(xué)是一個(gè)世紀(jì)以前一位毫無(wú)名氣的叫喬治布爾的英國(guó)人創(chuàng)造的?，F(xiàn)在的布爾代數(shù)，在電話工程師設(shè)計(jì)自動(dòng)交換機(jī)的過(guò)程中已經(jīng)證實(shí)了其強(qiáng)大的功能。Boolean algebra caught the eye of two Harvard students some years ago, and they built a machine called the Logical Truth Calculator. It created quite a stir in Cambridge, because it worked extremely well at solving rather simple logical problems. Soon more complicated machines were developed machines that could play games. The mechanical game-players fall into a number of classes. The simplest has a dictionary of rules in its memory, including all possible moves to be made in answer to an opponent. A second class plays only according to a strict formula, and can never lose.好多年前，布爾代數(shù)引起了哈佛大學(xué)兩位學(xué)生的注意，他們?cè)炝艘慌_(tái)叫做“邏輯真值計(jì)算機(jī)”的機(jī)器。在劍橋引起了轟動(dòng)，因?yàn)樗诮鉀Q較簡(jiǎn)單的邏輯問(wèn)題的過(guò)程中表現(xiàn)得異常出色。不久，更復(fù)雜的機(jī)器能夠下棋的機(jī)器研制出來(lái)了。這種機(jī)械棋手被分成了幾類，在最簡(jiǎn)單的一類的儲(chǔ)存器中有一部規(guī)則辭典，其中包含了機(jī)器所能走的所有對(duì)應(yīng)招法。第二類只按照嚴(yán)格的程式下，決不會(huì)出現(xiàn)失誤。A third category applies the principles of approximations, choosing the probable best move by thinking over all imaginable moves and testing each against a certain standard. The games these machines can play include checkers, chess, bridge, poker, and many other card games. They cant always win, because an approximately right move isnt necessarily the best one, but few human opponents can do better.第三類采用近似值原理，對(duì)所有可以想象得出的招數(shù)加以“考慮”，并根據(jù)某一標(biāo)準(zhǔn)進(jìn)行試驗(yàn)，然后選擇可能是最佳的一著。這些機(jī)器能玩的游戲包括西洋跳棋、象棋、橋牌、撲克和其他許多紙牌游戲。它們不能每回都贏，因?yàn)榻普_的一著不一定是最好的一著，但人類與它們對(duì)壘很少能比它們做得更好。Dr. Claude Shannon of Bell Telephone Laboratories, and his colleague, E.F.Moore, once built a machine to play the game known as Hex, using an analog computer working on electrical voltages. It beat them about 70 percent of the time. It frequently surprised its designers, Shannon comments, by selecting odd-looking moves which, on analysis, proved sound.貝爾電話實(shí)驗(yàn)所的克勞德香農(nóng)博士和他的同事EF穆?tīng)栐捎迷陔妷何画h(huán)境中工作的模擬計(jì)算機(jī)制造過(guò)一臺(tái)名為“巫婆”的游戲機(jī)，他們十回有七回要被它打敗。香衣評(píng)論說(shuō)，“它常常選擇一些貌似奇怪的招法，而分析證明這些招法都是正確的。這常使它的設(shè)計(jì)者感到驚訝?！?Each of these mechanical game-players is said to learn because it is so programmed that it follows the Boolean algebra pattern, discovering by sad experience that one thing or another doesnt work and profiting by the mistake. One of Shannons more whimsical triumphs is the magnetized mouse which, when place in a complicated maze consisting of partitions, is supposed to find the one and only path to the cheese. On the first try the mouse will blunder aimlessly around, running into one wall after another. Eventually, by repeated trial and error, it will locate the cheese.據(jù)說(shuō)，每一個(gè)這樣的機(jī)械棋手都在“學(xué)習(xí)”，因?yàn)闉樗幹频某绦蚓褪且裱紶柎鷶?shù)模式，通過(guò)自己吃的苦頭，發(fā)現(xiàn)這樣做或那樣做行不通，因而從犯錯(cuò)誤中汲取教訓(xùn)。香農(nóng)更古怪的一個(gè)成就就是磁化“鼠”。如果將它放在一個(gè)有許多隔板的復(fù)雜的迷宮里，鼠一定能找到通向“奶酪”的那條、也是唯一的道路。這只老鼠在第一次嘗試時(shí)會(huì)毫無(wú)目標(biāo)、跌跌撞撞地亂跑，到處碰壁。經(jīng)過(guò)反復(fù)的嘗試和犯錯(cuò)誤，它最終會(huì)找到奶酪。 If the mouse is given a second try it will go straight to the cheese without hitting a single blind alley. It will do it from any part of the maze. Moreover, if its trainer changes the maze on it by relocating the partitions, the mouse blunders only where the terrain has become unfamiliar. It can recognize at once portions that have not been changed. Eventually the mouse learns enough to forget all former arrangements and remember only the latest, successful ones.如果讓這只老鼠再試一次，它會(huì)直接奔向奶酪，而不會(huì)闖進(jìn)某個(gè)死胡同。它從迷宮中任何一部分出發(fā)都可以做到這一點(diǎn)。此外，如果它的訓(xùn)練者重新安排隔板，改變迷宮路線，這只鼠只在地形變得不熟悉的地方碰壁，它會(huì)馬上辨認(rèn)出沒(méi)有改變的部分。最后老鼠所學(xué)的東西足以使它忘記以前的一切安排，只記住成功的最新布置。The mouse itself does not think, but it is difficult to argue against the thinking done by the electromagnet and computer that drive the mouse. The device does have the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, and to revise its standards on the basis of its own experience.這只老鼠本身沒(méi)有動(dòng)腦筋，但很難說(shuō)不是驅(qū)動(dòng)鼠的電磁體和計(jì)算機(jī)動(dòng)了腦筋。這個(gè)裝置確實(shí)有能力辨別正誤，有能力根據(jù)自己的經(jīng)歷修正它的各種標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。Samuel Butler, the great English author, took a prophetic view of the future world of machines in his novel Erewhon, published in 1872. Ever since, authors with less sense of satire than Butler have spun tales of monster machines that take over and destroy the world. In varying degrees, their imaginary monsters have been endowed with the power of reproduction, which permitted them to multiply until they could capture and crush mankind.英國(guó)大作家塞纓爾勃特勒在他1872年出版的長(zhǎng)篇小說(shuō)烏有鄉(xiāng)中展望了未來(lái)的機(jī)器世界。從那以后，一些作家捏造了許多大機(jī)器接管并摧毀世界的故事，但作品的諷刺意味比勃特勒少得多。他們虛構(gòu)的那些龐然大物在不同程度上被賦予了繁殖能力，這使它們的數(shù)量不斷增加，最終俘獲、消滅人類。Science today is not laughing at such extremes. Dr. J. Von Neumann, of the Institute of advanced Study in Princeton, very carefully considered the question: Can machines become highly organized enough to reproduce themselves? His conclusion was that they may, provided they are complicated enough. Mathematically, a certain degree of complication seems to be necessary for reproduction. Below that, the iron mothers can only give birth to more primitive forms than themselves, and any race of robot monsters would soon lose the reproductive function. 現(xiàn)代科學(xué)并不嘲笑這種極端的設(shè)想。普林斯頓高級(jí)研究院的J馮諾伊曼博士對(duì)這個(gè)問(wèn)題進(jìn)行了認(rèn)真思考：機(jī)器能成為本身可以繁殖的高級(jí)有機(jī)體嗎？他的結(jié)論是，只要它們達(dá)到充分復(fù)雜的程度，這是可以做到的。從數(shù)學(xué)上說(shuō)，一定的復(fù)雜程度對(duì)繁殖來(lái)說(shuō)似乎是必不可少的。若沒(méi)有達(dá)到那個(gè)程度，鐵媽媽們就只能產(chǎn)生比它們自己更原始的形式，任何機(jī)器怪物的“種族”將很快喪失繁殖能力。If mathematicians are to be believed, we can rest fairly secure for a while yet. Human physiology is still millions of times mo