巴别塔重建之日——AI 翻译之后，世界变得更近还是更远

"X"——

"X" —

也就是马斯克手里的，

that is, the platform in Musk's hands,

那个原来叫"推特"的平台——

the one originally called "Twitter" —

向全球用户，

opened, to its global users,

正式开放了，

the official rollout of

基于 Grok 人工智能的，

its Grok-AI-powered

自动翻译功能。

automatic translation feature.

你打开"X"，

Open "X,"

看到一个日本人写的日语，

see a Japanese person's Japanese post,

软件会立刻，

and the app will immediately

帮你翻成你的语言。

translate it into your language.

不用你点任何按钮。

You don't have to tap any button.

你写的中文，

What you write in Chinese,

外国人那边，

on a foreigner's side,

也会被自动翻译。

will also be auto-translated.

这件事，

This rollout

其实从三月底，

actually began at the end of March,

就在分批上线。

in batches.

最早是英语用户，

The earliest were English-speaking users,

然后慢慢扩展到全世界。

then it gradually expanded across the world.

听起来，

On the surface,

这只是一个，

it's just a

不算很大的产品功能。

not-very-big product feature.

功能其实已经用了，

The feature has, in fact, been in use

两个多月。

for over two months.

但是进入五月以后，

But after May arrived,

这件事，

this matter,

在中文互联网上，

on the Chinese internet,

突然变成了一个，

suddenly turned into a

全民讨论的话题。

nationwide discussion topic.

为什么是现在？

Why now?

因为越来越多说中文的人，

Because more and more Chinese-speaking people

开始注意到：

started noticing:

以前看不到的日语世界、

the Japanese-language world,

韩语世界、

Korean-language world,

阿拉伯语世界——

Arabic-language world they couldn't see before —

现在突然，

suddenly,

都摆在自己眼前了。

are all laid out before their eyes.

网上爆出一个词：

A phrase exploded online:

"马斯克建起了巴别塔"。

"Musk has built the Tower of Babel."

今天，

Today,

我们就从这个比喻出发，

starting from this metaphor,

聊一些更大的话题：

we'll talk about some bigger topics:

"语言"，

"Language" —

到底是连接，

is it ultimately connection,

还是分隔？

or division?

当 AI 翻译，

When AI translation

把语言这堵墙，

takes the wall of language

彻底拆掉的时候，

and tears it completely down,

我们看到的，

what

究竟是什么？

do we actually see?

我们先说"巴别塔"这个故事。

Let's first tell the story of "the Tower of Babel."

"巴别塔"，

"The Tower of Babel"

出自《圣经·创世纪》。

comes from Genesis in the Bible.

故事说：

The story goes:

很久以前，

long ago,

全世界的人，

all the people of the world

都说同一种语言。

spoke one and the same language.

他们集中在一处，

They gathered in one place

要造一座，

and tried to build

通天的高塔，

a tower reaching the sky,

让自己的名字，

to make their name

被记住。

be remembered.

神看见了，

God saw,

说了一句很有意思的话：

and said something very interesting:

"看哪，

"Behold,

"他们成为一样的人民，

"they are one people

"都是一样的语言。

"and all have one language.

"如今既做起这事来，

"If they have begun to do this,

"以后他们所要做的事，

"then nothing they propose

"就没有不成就的了。

"will be impossible for them.

意思是：

The meaning is:

如果人类继续团结，

if humans stay united,

他们的力量，

their power

会大到神都担心。

will grow large enough that even God worries.

所以神做了一件事：

So God did one thing:

让所有人，

he made all people

开始说不一样的语言。

start speaking different languages.

人们听不懂彼此，

People couldn't understand each other,

工程停了，

the project stopped,

人也分散了，

the people scattered,

去了世界的各个角落。

and went to the four corners of the world.

这就是，

And this is,

今天世界上，

in today's world,

有几千种不同语言的，

the source of the thousands of different languages,

神话源头。

their mythic root.

"巴别塔"在西方文化里，

"The Tower of Babel," in Western culture,

是一个非常重要的，

is a deeply important

象征。

symbol.

它代表：

It represents:

人类一旦摆脱语言的分隔，

once humans throw off the division of language,

就有可能，

they may be able

做出原本做不到的事——

to do things they couldn't before —

不管是伟大的，

whether magnificent

还是危险的。

or dangerous.

所以网友们说，

That is why netizens are saying

马斯克的 AI 翻译，

Musk's AI translation

是"建起巴别塔"——

is "building the Tower of Babel" —

人类正在，

humanity is, in reverse,

反向走完那个故事：

walking through that story:

神拆掉了，

God tore it down;

我们又一砖一瓦，

we, brick by brick,

把它建回来。

are building it back.

那么，

So,

"巴别塔"建起来以后，

after "the Tower of Babel" was built,

人类看到了什么？

what did humanity see?

我们要分两层来谈。

We'll talk about two layers.

第一层，

The first layer

是好的一面：

is the good side:

连接。

connection.

很多事情，

A lot of things

是真实地变好了。

have really gotten better.

不同国家的人，

People from different countries

第一次能够，

for the first time can,

不通过翻译软件、

without going through a translator app,

不靠中间人，

without a middleman,

直接在同一条评论下，

directly under the same comment

互相对话。

talk to each other.

韩国网友开玩笑说：

A Korean netizen joked:

"现在打开 X，

"Right now, opening X

"就像半夜起床，

"is like getting up in the middle of the night

"发现意大利大叔，

"to find an Italian uncle

"和印尼阿姨，

"and an Indonesian auntie

"在我家厨房，

"in my kitchen,

"翻我的冰箱。

"going through my fridge.

意大利网友看到，

Italian netizens, seeing

日本人做的"日式意大利面"，

the Japanese "Japanese-style Italian pasta,"

惊呼："我们意大利人，

cried out: "What did we Italians

"到底做错了什么？

"do wrong?

葡萄牙语世界的人，

People in the Portuguese-speaking world

和中文世界的人，

and in the Chinese-speaking world

发现彼此的幽默感，

found that each other's sense of humor

其实非常像。

is actually very similar.

这些瞬间，

These moments

是过去几十年，

are the kind that, for decades,

任何"国际交流"项目，

any "international exchange" program

都很难做到的事。

could barely deliver.

人类发现，

Humans found

撕掉语言这层翻译，

that, with the language layer of translation peeled off,

我们之间的距离，

the distance between us

比想象中要小得多。

is much smaller than imagined.

但是，

But

还有第二层。

there's also a second layer.

而第二层，

And the second layer

要复杂得多。

is much more complicated.

最有代表性的，

The most representative example

就是日本。

is Japan.

日本花了几十年时间，

Japan spent decades

建立起一个国际形象——

building an international image —

礼貌、

polite,

干净、

clean,

精致、

refined,

有文化。

cultured.

宫崎骏的动画，

Miyazaki's animation,

京都的樱花，

Kyoto's cherry blossoms,

富士山的照片，

Mount Fuji photographs,

寿司和茶道——

sushi and tea ceremony —

这些是日本，

these are Japan's

精心打造、

carefully crafted,

也确实有效的"文化软实力"。

and genuinely effective, "cultural soft power."

但是翻译功能，

But the translation feature

打开了一扇，

opened a window

原本被语言挡着的窗。

that had been blocked by language.

透过这扇窗，

Through this window,

全世界第一次直接看到了：

the whole world directly saw, for the first time:

日本网友，

what Japanese netizens,

在自己的日语社区里，

inside their own Japanese-language communities,

真实说了些什么。

actually say.

其中很多内容，

A lot of the content

让人非常不舒服。

makes people very uncomfortable.

有的日本网友，

Some Japanese netizens

公开否认南京大屠杀，

publicly deny the Nanjing Massacre,

说那是"中国人编出来的"。

saying it was "made up by Chinese people."

有的人，

Some

把泰国游客，

call Thai tourists

叫做"未开化的猴子"。

"uncivilized monkeys."

还有人，

Others

对中国人、

said extremely ugly things

韩国人，

about Chinese people

说了非常难听的话。

and Korean people.

有的人，

Some

一边骂"盗版动漫是文化窃贼"，

on one hand curse "pirated anime is cultural theft" —

但数据显示，

but data shows

全球最大盗版网站，

that on the world's largest piracy site,

访问者里，

of all visitors,

日本人占了将近一半。

Japanese users make up nearly half.

这些内容，

This kind of content

被翻译出来，

got translated,

被全世界看到、

was seen by the whole world,

被截图、

screenshotted,

被传播。

and spread.

而中文互联网，

And the Chinese internet —

之所以最近才爆，

the reason it only blew up recently

不是因为功能突然开通——

is not that the feature suddenly opened —

是因为大家终于，

it's that everyone finally,

一点一点意识到了：

bit by bit, realized:

原来隔壁的网上，

the internet next door

和自己想的不一样。

is not what we thought it was.

一位阿拉伯网友的话，

A quote from one Arabic netizen

被很多人引用：

was widely shared:

"日本花了几十年、

"The good image Japan spent decades

"用了大量的外交预算，

"and an enormous diplomatic budget

"塑造的好形象——

"to build —

"马斯克和他的翻译机器人，

"Musk and his translation robot

"用了不到一星期，

"destroyed most of it

"就把它毁掉了一大半。

"in less than a week.

当然这话有夸张。

That is, of course, an exaggeration.

但它指出了一个，

But it points to a

非常真实的现象：

very real phenomenon:

每一个语言社区，

every language community

其实都有两套话——

in fact has two sets of speech —

一套是"对外说的话"，

one is "what we say outward,"

一套是"在自己人里说的话"。

one is "what we say among our own."

这两套话，

These two sets

有时候差距非常大。

sometimes differ enormously.

以前，

In the past,

语言是天然的墙，

language was a natural wall

把"对内说的话"挡在内部。

holding "what we say inward" inside.

现在，

Now,

这堵墙倒了。

that wall has fallen.

你在自己语言里说的每一句话，

Every sentence you say in your own language

都可能，

might

被全世界读到。

be read by the whole world.

更重要的是：

More importantly:

这件事不只发生在日本。

this isn't only happening to Japan.

中国网友说的话，

What Chinese netizens say,

现在阿拉伯人能看到。

Arabs can now see.

阿拉伯网友说的话，

What Arabic netizens say,

日本人能看到。

the Japanese can see.

韩国网友的争吵，

The fights between Korean netizens,

美国人能围观。

Americans can watch.

每一个语言社区，

Every language community

都在被其他语言社区，

is now being, by every other language community,

观察、

observed,

记录、

recorded,

评价。

judged.

这带来了，

This brings about

两个互相矛盾的效果。

two contradictory effects.

一方面，

On one hand,

"虚伪"变得更难了——

"hypocrisy" gets harder —

你不能一边对外说"我很好"，

you can't say "I'm great" outward

一边在自己国家里，

while, inside your own country,

说完全相反的话。

saying the exact opposite.

全世界都在听。

The whole world is listening.

另一方面，

On the other hand,

"刻板印象"也被加强了——

"stereotypes" also get reinforced —

我们读到的，

what we read

往往是别人语言里，

tends to be the most extreme content

最极端的内容。

from another language.

因为极端内容，

Because extreme content

最容易被截图、

is the easiest to screenshot

被传播。

and spread.

我们用极端样本，

We use extreme samples

来判断整个国家。

to judge a whole country.

所以 AI 翻译，

So AI translation

不只是"打破语言的墙"。

isn't just "breaking the wall of language."

它同时是"连接"和"暴露"。

It is at once "connection" and "exposure."

它让我们彼此更近，

It brings us closer to each other,

但它也让，

but it also makes

每一个人的每一句话，

every one of every person's sentences

变成了潜在的，

into potential

全球内容。

global content.

说到最后，

To close,

我想留给你两个问题。

I want to leave you with two questions.

第一个：

The first:

你认为，

do you believe

当语言不再是墙的时候，

that when language is no longer a wall,

人类是会变得，

humans will become

更团结、

more united,

更互相理解，

more mutually understanding —

还是会发现，

or will discover

我们之间的分歧，

that the divisions between us

比想象中更大？

are bigger than imagined?

第二个，

The second,

也许更难——

and perhaps harder —

现在你说的每一句话，

right now, every sentence you say,

理论上，

in theory,

都有可能，

could be read by

被你这辈子，

someone you will, your whole life,

从来不会认识的人读到。

never meet.

这件事，

Should this matter

应该改变你说话的方式吗？

change the way you speak?

还是说，

Or

你应该坚持，

should you hold the line,

做你自己——

be yourself —

让世界，

let the world

看到一个真实的，

see a real,

不修饰的人？

unedited person?

这两个问题，

These two questions

没有标准答案。

have no standard answer.

但是它们，

But they

值得你慢慢地想。

are worth thinking about slowly.

好。

Okay.

今天就说到这里。

That's all for today.

我们下个故事见。

See you in the next story.