What You Can't Say

January 2004 (This essay is about heresy: how to think forbidden thoughts, and what to do with them.

2004 年 1 月（这篇文章是关于异端邪说：如何思考被禁止的想法，以及如何处理它们。

The latter was till recently something only a small elite had to think about.

直到最近，后者还只是少数精英不得不考虑的事情。

Now we all have to, because the Web has made us all publishers.) --> Have you ever seen an old photo of yourself and been embarrassed at the way you looked?

现在我们都必须这样做，因为网络使我们成为了出版商。） --> 您是否曾经看过自己的旧照片，并为自己的样子感到尴尬？

Did we actually dress like that?

我们真的是这样穿的吗？

We did.

我们做到了。

And we had no idea how silly we looked.

我们不知道自己看起来有多傻。

It's the nature of fashion to be invisible, in the same way the movement of the earth is invisible to all of us riding on it.

时尚的本质是隐形的，就像我们骑在地球上的人都看不见地球的运动一样。

What scares me is that there are moral fashions too.

让我害怕的是道德时尚也存在。

They're just as arbitrary, and just as invisible to most people.

它们同样任意，并且对大多数人来说同样是看不见的。

But they're much more dangerous.

但它们危险得多。

Fashion is mistaken for good design; moral fashion is mistaken for good.

时尚被误认为是好的设计；道德时尚被误认为是善。

Dressing oddly gets you laughed at.

穿着奇怪会被人嘲笑。

Violating moral fashions can get you fired, ostracized, imprisoned, or

违反道德时尚可能会让你被解雇、排斥、监禁或

even killed.

甚至被杀。

If you could travel back in a time machine, one thing would be true no matter where you went: you'd have to watch what you said.

如果你可以乘坐时光机回到过去，那么无论你去哪里，有一件事都是正确的：你必须注意自己所说的话。

Opinions we consider harmless could have gotten you in big trouble.

我们认为无害的观点可能会给你带来大麻烦。

I've already said at least one thing that would have gotten me in big trouble in most of Europe in the seventeenth century, and did get Galileo in big trouble when he said it — that the earth moves.

我已经说过至少一件会让我在 17 世纪的欧洲大部分地区陷入大麻烦的事情，而且当伽利略说“地球在运动”时，他也确实陷入了大麻烦。

[1]

[1]

<!-- Nerds are always getting in trouble .

<!-- 书呆子总是会遇到麻烦。

They say improper things for the same reason they dress unfashionably and have good ideas: convention has less hold over them.

他们说不恰当的话，就像他们衣着不合时宜、有好主意一样：传统对他们的影响较小。

--> It seems to be a constant throughout history: In every period, people believed things that were just ridiculous, and believed them so strongly that you would have gotten in terrible trouble for saying otherwise.

--> 这似乎是整个历史上的一个常数：在每个时期，人们都相信一些荒谬的事情，并且如此强烈地相信它们，以至于如果你不这么说，就会遇到可怕的麻烦。

Is our time any different?

我们的时代有什么不同吗？

To anyone who has read any amount of history, the answer is almost certainly no. It would be a remarkable coincidence if ours were the first era to get everything just right.

对于读过大量历史的人来说，答案几乎肯定是否定的。如果我们的时代是第一个一切都恰到好处的时代，那将是一个了不起的巧合。

It's tantalizing to think we believe things that people in the future will find ridiculous.

想到我们所相信的事情在未来的人们看来是荒谬的，这真是令人着迷。

What would someone coming back to visit us in a time machine have to be careful not to say?

乘坐时光机器回来拜访我们的人必须小心不要说些什么？

That's what I want to study here.

这就是我想在这里学习的。

But I want to do more than just shock everyone with

但我想做的不仅仅是让所有人震惊

the heresy du jour.

当今的异端邪说。

I want to find general recipes for discovering what you can't say, in any era.

我想找到一些通用的方法来发现在任何时代你不能说的话。

The Conformist Test Let's start with a test: Do you have any opinions that you would be reluctant to express in front of a group of your peers?

墨守成规的测试 让我们从一个测试开始：你是否有任何不愿意在一群同龄人面前表达的观点？

If the answer is no, you might want to stop and think about that.

如果答案是否定的，您可能需要停下来思考一下。

If everything you believe is something you're supposed to believe, could that possibly be a coincidence?

如果你所相信的一切都是你应该相信的，那可能是巧合吗？

Odds are it isn't.

很可能事实并非如此。

Odds are

赔率是

you just think what you're told.

你只是想想别人告诉你的。

The other alternative would be that you independently considered every question and came up with the exact same answers that are now considered acceptable.

另一种选择是您独立考虑每个问题并得出现在被认为可以接受的完全相同的答案。

That seems unlikely, because you'd also have to make the same mistakes.

这似乎不太可能，因为你也不得不犯同样的错误。

Mapmakers deliberately put slight mistakes in their maps so they can tell when someone copies them.

地图制作者故意在他们的地图中加入一些小错误，这样他们就可以辨别出有人复制它们。

If another map has the same mistake, that's very convincing evidence.

如果另一张地图也有同样的错误，那就是非常有说服力的证据。

Like every other era in history, our moral map almost certainly contains a few mistakes.

与历史上的所有其他时代一样，我们的道德地图几乎肯定包含一些错误。

And anyone who makes the same mistakes probably didn't do it by accident.

任何犯同样错误的人都可能不是偶然犯的。

It would be like someone claiming they had independently decided in 1972 that bell-bottom jeans were a good idea.

这就像有人声称他们在 1972 年独立决定喇叭裤牛仔裤是个好主意。

If you believe everything you're supposed to now, how can you be sure you wouldn't also have believed everything you were supposed to if you had grown up among the plantation

如果你现在相信你应该相信的一切，你怎么能确定如果你是在种植园长大的，你不会也相信你应该相信的一切

owners of the pre-Civil War South, or in Germany in the 1930s — or among the Mongols in 1200, for that matter?

内战前南方的所有者，或者 1930 年代的德国，或者 1200 年的蒙古人，就此而言？

Odds are you would have.

很有可能你会的。

Back in the era of terms like "well-adjusted," the idea seemed to be that there was something wrong with you if you thought things you didn't dare say out loud.

回到“适应良好”这样的术语时代，人们的想法似乎是，如果你想到了不敢大声说出来的事情，那就是你出了问题。

This seems backward.

这看起来很落后。

Almost certainly, there is something wrong with you if you don't think things you don't dare say out loud.

几乎可以肯定，如果你不去思考那些不敢大声说出来的事情，那么你肯定有问题。

Trouble What can't we say?

麻烦 什么是我们不能说的？

One way to find these ideas is simply to look at things people do say, and get in trouble for.

找到这些想法的一种方法就是看看人们确实说过的话，以及因为这些话而惹上麻烦的事情。

[2] Of course, we're not just looking for things we can't say.

[2] 当然，我们不只是在寻找我们不能说的东西。

We're looking for things we can't say that are true, or at least have enough chance of being true that the question should remain open.

我们正在寻找一些我们不能说是真实的事情，或者至少有足够的机会是真实的，因此问题应该保持开放。

But many of the things people get in trouble for saying probably do make it over this second, lower threshold.

但人们因说出而陷入麻烦的许多事情可能确实能够跨越第二个较低的门槛。

No one

没有人

gets in trouble for saying that 2 + 2 is 5, or that people in Pittsburgh are ten feet tall.

因为说 2 + 2 等于 5 或者说匹兹堡人有 10 英尺高而遇到麻烦。

Such obviously false statements might be treated as jokes, or at worst as evidence of insanity, but they are not likely to make anyone mad.

这种明显虚假的陈述可能会被视为笑话，或者在最坏的情况下被视为精神错乱的证据，但它们不太可能让任何人生气。

The statements that make people mad are the ones they worry might be believed.

那些让人生气的言论正是他们担心可能会被相信的言论。

I suspect the statements that make people maddest are those they worry might be true.

我怀疑那些让人最疯狂的言论正是他们担心的言论可能是真的。

If Galileo had said that people in Padua were ten feet tall,

如果伽利略说帕多瓦的人有十英尺高，

he would have been regarded as a harmless eccentric.

他会被认为是一个无害的怪人。

Saying the earth orbited the sun was another matter.

说地球绕太阳运行是另一回事。

The church knew this would set people thinking.

教会知道这会引起人们的思考。

Certainly, as we look back on the past, this rule of thumb works well.

当然，当我们回顾过去时，这条经验法则是有效的。

A lot of the statements people got in trouble for seem harmless now.

许多曾让人们陷入麻烦的言论现在看来似乎无害。

So it's likely that visitors from the future would agree with at least some of the statements that get people in trouble today.

因此，来自未来的访客很可能至少会同意一些让今天的人们陷入困境的说法。

Do we have no Galileos?

我们没有伽利略吗？

Not

不

likely.

可能。

To find them, keep track of opinions that get people in trouble, and start asking, could this be true?

为了找到它们，记录那些让人们陷入麻烦的观点，并开始问，这是真的吗？

Ok, it may be heretical (or whatever modern equivalent), but might it also be true?

好吧，这可能是异端（或任何现代的等价物），但它也可能是真的吗？

Heresy This won't get us all the answers, though.

不过，这并不能为我们提供所有答案。

What if no one happens to have gotten in trouble for a particular idea yet?

如果碰巧没有人因为某个特定想法而陷入麻烦怎么办？

What if some idea would be so radioactively controversial that no one would dare express it in public?

如果某个想法引起如此大的争议以至于没有人敢在公开场合表达怎么办？

How can we find these too?

我们怎样才能找到这些呢？

Another approach is to follow that word, heresy.

另一种方法是遵循异端这个词。

In every period of history, there seem to have been labels that got applied to statements to shoot them down before anyone had a chance to ask if they were true or not.

在历史的每一个时期，似乎都有一些言论被贴上标签，在任何人有机会询问这些言论是否真实之前就将其驳倒。

"Blasphemy", "sacrilege", and "heresy" were such labels for a good part of western history, as in more recent times "indecent", "improper", and "unamerican" have been.

“亵渎”、“亵渎”和“异端”是西方历史的大部分标签，就像近代的“不雅”、“不正当”和“非美国”一样。

By now these labels have lost their sting.

到目前为止，这些标签已经失去了作用。

They always do.

他们总是这样做。

By now they're mostly used ironically.

到目前为止，它们大多被用来讽刺。

But in their time, they had real force.

但在他们的时代，他们拥有真正的力量。

The word "defeatist", for example, has no particular political connotations now.

例如，“失败主义者”这个词现在已经没有特定的政治含义了。

But in Germany in 1917 it was a weapon, used by Ludendorff in a purge of those who favored a negotiated peace.

但在 1917 年的德国，它是一种武器，被鲁登道夫用来清洗那些支持通过谈判达成和平的人。

At the start of World War II it was used extensively by Churchill and his supporters to silence their opponents.

第二次世界大战开始时，丘吉尔和他的支持者广泛使用它来压制对手。

In 1940, any argument against Churchill's aggressive policy was "defeatist".

1940年，任何反对丘吉尔侵略政策的论点都是“失败主义者”。

Was it right or wrong?

这是对还是错？

Ideally, no one got far enough to ask that.

理想情况下，没有人能够提出这样的问题。

<!-- (I have this commented out while I investigate whether the current fashion for the word "divisive" really began with the Republicans.

<！--（当我调查当前流行的“分裂”一词是否真的始于共和党时，我对此进行了评论。

So far it seems not.

目前看来还没有。

Oops; sorry.

哎呀；抱歉。

We have such labels today, of course, quite a lot of them.

当然，我们今天有这样的标签，而且相当多。

Many come from the left, including the startlingly general "inappropriate", but the most recent comes

许多人来自左翼，包括令人惊讶的普遍“不适当”，但最近的来自

from the right: "divisive", which the current administration uses to silence opponents on almost any topic.

右起：“分裂”，现任政府用它来压制几乎所有话题上的反对者。

--> We have such labels today, of course, quite a lot of them, from the all-purpose "inappropriate" to the dreaded "divisive." In any period, it should be easy to figure out what such labels are, simply by looking at what people call ideas they disagree with besides untrue.

--> 今天我们有这样的标签，当然，有很多，从万能的“不恰当”到可怕的“分裂”。在任何时期，只要看看人们所说的他们不同意的想法以及不真实的想法，就应该很容易弄清楚这些标签是什么。

When a politician says his opponent is

当政客说他的对手是

mistaken, that's a straightforward criticism, but when he attacks a statement as "divisive" or "racially insensitive" instead of arguing that it's false, we should start paying attention.

错误的是，这是一个直截了当的批评，但当他攻击一个声明为“分裂”或“种族不敏感”而不是辩称它是错误的时，我们应该开始关注。

So another way to figure out which of our taboos future generations will laugh at is to start with the labels.

因此，弄清楚我们的哪些禁忌会被后代嘲笑的另一种方法是从标签开始。

Take a label — "sexist", for example — and try to think of some ideas that would be called that.

以“性别歧视”这个标签为例，并尝试想出一些可以这样称呼的想法。

Then for each ask, might

然后对于每个问题，可能

this be true?

这是真的吗？

Just start listing ideas at random?

只是开始随机列出想法？

Yes, because they won't really be random.

是的，因为它们并不是真正随机的。

The ideas that come to mind first will be the most plausible ones.

首先想到的想法将是最合理的。

They'll be things you've already noticed but didn't let yourself think.

它们将是你已经注意到但没有让自己思考的事情。

In 1989 some clever researchers tracked the eye movements of radiologists as they scanned chest images for signs of lung cancer.

1989 年，一些聪明的研究人员在放射科医生扫描胸部图像以寻找肺癌迹象时跟踪了他们的眼球运动。

[3] They found that even when the radiologists

[3] 他们发现，即使放射科医生

missed a cancerous lesion, their eyes had usually paused at the site of it.

当他们错过了癌性病变时，他们的目光通常会停留在癌变部位。

Part of their brain knew there was something there; it just didn't percolate all the way up into conscious knowledge.

他们的大脑的一部分知道那里有东西；但也知道那里有什么东西。它只是没有完全渗透到意识知识中。

I think many interesting heretical thoughts are already mostly formed in our minds.

我想很多有趣的异端思想已经在我们的头脑中大体形成了。

If we turn off our self-censorship temporarily, those will be the first to emerge.

如果我们暂时关闭自我审查，这些将是最先出现的。

Time and Space If we could look into the future it would be obvious which

时间和空间 如果我们能够展望未来，那么显而易见的是

of our taboos they'd laugh at.

他们会嘲笑我们的禁忌。

We can't do that, but we can do something almost as good: we can look into the past.

我们做不到这一点，但我们可以做一些几乎同样好的事情：我们可以回顾过去。

Another way to figure out what we're getting wrong is to look at what used to be acceptable and is now unthinkable.

弄清楚我们哪里出了问题的另一种方法是看看什么曾经是可以接受的，而现在是不可想象的。

Changes between the past and the present sometimes do represent progress.

过去和现在的变化，有时确实代表着进步。

In a field like physics, if we disagree with past generations it's because we're right and they're wrong.

在物理学这样的领域，如果我们不同意过去几代人的观点，那是因为我们是对的，而他们是错的。

But this becomes rapidly less true as

但这很快就变得不那么真实了

you move away from the certainty of the hard sciences.

你远离了硬科学的确定性。

By the time you get to social questions, many changes are just fashion.

当你谈到社会问题时，很多变化都只是时尚。

The age of consent fluctuates like hemlines.

同意年龄就像裙摆一样波动。

We may imagine that we are a great deal smarter and more virtuous than past generations, but the more history you read, the less likely this seems.

我们可能会认为我们比前几代人更聪明、更有道德，但你读的历史越多，这种可能性就越小。

People in past times were much like us.

过去的人们很像我们。

Not heroes, not barbarians.

不是英雄，也不是野蛮人。

Whatever their ideas were, they were ideas

无论他们的想法是什么，它们就是想法

reasonable people could believe.

有理智的人都可以相信。

So here is another source of interesting heresies.

这是有趣异端的另一个来源。

Diff present ideas against those of various past cultures, and see what you get.

将当前的想法与过去各种文化的想法进行比较，看看你会得到什么。

[4] Some will be shocking by present standards.

[4] 以目前的标准来看，有些内容会令人震惊。

Ok, fine; but which might also be true?

好吧，好吧；但这也可能是真的？

You don't have to look into the past to find big differences.

你不必回顾过去就能发现巨大的差异。

In our own time, different societies have wildly varying ideas of what's ok and what isn't.

在我们这个时代，不同的社会对于什么可以、什么不可以有截然不同的看法。

So you can try diffing other cultures' ideas against ours as well.

所以你也可以尝试将其他文化的想法与我们的想法进行比较。

(The best way to do that is to visit them.) <!--17 You might find contradictory taboos.

（最好的方法就是拜访他们。）<!--17 你可能会发现相互矛盾的禁忌。

In one culture it might seem shocking to think x, while in another it was shocking not to.

在一种文化中，想到 x 可能会令人震惊，而在另一种文化中，不这么想则令人震惊。

But I think usually the shock is on one side.

但我认为通常震惊是在一方面。

In one culture x is ok, and in another it's considered shocking.

在一种文化中，x 是可以接受的，而在另一种文化中，x 则被认为是令人震惊的。

My hypothesis is that the side that's shocked is most likely to be the mistaken one.

我的假设是，感到震惊的一方最有可能是错误的一方。

I suspect the only taboos that we can be confident are more than taboos are the ones that are universal, or nearly so.

我怀疑我们唯一可以确信的禁忌不仅仅是普遍存在的禁忌，或者几乎是普遍存在的禁忌。

Murder for example.

例如谋杀。

But a--> Any idea that's considered harmless in a significant percentage of times and places, and yet is taboo in ours, is a candidate for something we're mistaken about.

但是——>任何在相当大比例的时间和地点被认为无害、但在我们看来是禁忌的想法，都可能是我们所误解的东西。

For example, at the high water mark of political correctness in the early 1990s, Harvard distributed to its

例如，在 20 世纪 90 年代初政治正确性达到顶峰时，哈佛向其

faculty and staff a brochure saying, among other things, that it was inappropriate to compliment a colleague or student's clothes.

给教职员工一本小册子，其中除其他内容外，还指出赞美同事或学生的着装是不恰当的。

No more "nice shirt." I think this principle is rare among the world's cultures, past or present.

不再有“漂亮的衬衫”。我认为这一原则在世界文化中无论过去还是现在都是罕见的。

There are probably more where it's considered especially polite to compliment someone's clothing than where it's considered improper.

赞美某人的着装被认为特别有礼貌的情况可能比被认为不恰当的情况更多。

Odds are this is, in a mild form, an example of one of

很可能，这是一种温和的形式，其中一个例子

the taboos a visitor from the future would have to be careful to avoid if he happened to set his time machine for Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1992.

如果来自未来的访客碰巧将时间机器设置为 1992 年马萨诸塞州剑桥，他必须小心避免这些禁忌。

[5] Prigs Of course, if they have time machines in the future they'll probably have a separate reference manual just for Cambridge.

[5] Prigs 当然，如果他们将来有时间机器，他们可能会有一本专门针对剑桥的单独的参考手册。

This has always been a fussy place, a town of i dotters and t crossers, where you're liable to get both your grammar and your ideas corrected in the same conversation.

这里一直是一个挑剔的地方，一个充满了爱与不爱的人的小镇，在那里你很可能在同一次对话中纠正你的语法和你的想法。

And that

还有那个

suggests another way to find taboos.

提出了另一种寻找禁忌的方法。

Look for prigs, and see what's inside their heads.

寻找自以为是的人，看看他们脑子里在想什么。

Kids' heads are repositories of all our taboos.

孩子们的头脑是我们所有禁忌的宝库。

It seems fitting to us that kids' ideas should be bright and clean.

孩子们的想法应该是明亮、干净的，这对我们来说似乎是合适的。

The picture we give them of the world is not merely simplified, to suit their developing minds, but sanitized as well, to suit our ideas of what kids ought to think.

我们向他们展示的世界图景不仅经过简化，以适应他们不断发展的思维，而且经过净化，以适应我们对孩子应该思考的想法。

[6] You can see this on a small scale in the matter of

[6] 你可以在小范围内看到这一点

dirty words.

脏话。

A lot of my friends are starting to have children now, and they're all trying not to use words like "fuck" and "shit" within baby's hearing, lest baby start using these words too.

我的很多朋友现在都开始有了孩子，他们都尽量不在宝宝的听力范围内使用“操”、“拉屎”之类的词语，以免宝宝也开始使用这些词语。

But these words are part of the language, and adults use them all the time.

但这些词是语言的一部分，成年人一直在使用它们。

So parents are giving their kids an inaccurate idea of the language by not using them.

因此，父母不使用孩子的语言，就会让他们对语言产生不准确的理解。

Why do they do this?

他们为什么要这样做？

Because they don't think it's

因为他们不认为这是

fitting that kids should use the whole language.

适合孩子们应该使用整个语言。

We like children to seem innocent.

我们喜欢孩子看起来天真无邪。

[7] Most adults, likewise, deliberately give kids a misleading view of the world.

[7]同样，大多数成年人故意向孩子们灌输误导性的世界观。

One of the most obvious examples is Santa Claus.

最明显的例子之一是圣诞老人。

We think it's cute for little kids to believe in Santa Claus.

我们认为小孩子相信圣诞老人是很可爱的。

I myself think it's cute for little kids to believe in Santa Claus.

我自己认为小孩子相信圣诞老人是很可爱的。

But one wonders, do we tell them this stuff for their sake, or for ours?

但有人想知道，我们告诉他们这些事情是为了他们，还是为了我们？

I'm not arguing for or against this idea here.

我在这里并不是支持或反对这个想法。

It is probably inevitable that parents should want to dress up their kids' minds in cute little baby outfits.

父母可能不可避免地想用可爱的小婴儿服装来装扮孩子的心灵。

I'll probably do it myself.

我可能会自己做。

The important thing for our purposes is that, as a result, a well brought-up teenage kid's brain is a more or less complete collection of all our taboos — and in mint condition, because they're untainted by experience.

对于我们的目的而言，重要的是，一个受过良好教育的青少年的大脑或多或少是我们所有禁忌的完整集合，并且处于完好状态，因为它们没有受到经验的污染。

Whatever we think that will later turn out to be ridiculous, it's almost certainly inside that head.

无论我们认为什么后来会被证明是荒谬的，它几乎肯定是在那个头脑里的。

How do we get at these ideas?

我们如何获得这些想法？

By the following thought experiment.

通过下面的思想实验。

Imagine a kind of latter-day Conrad character who has worked for a time as a mercenary in Africa, for a time as a doctor in Nepal, for a time as the manager of a nightclub in Miami.

想象一下现代康拉德人物，他曾在非洲当过雇佣兵，在尼泊尔当过医生，在迈阿密一家夜总会担任过经理。

The specifics don't matter — just someone who has seen a lot.

具体细节并不重要，重要的是见过很多东西的人。

Now imagine comparing what's inside this guy's head

现在想象一下比较这个人脑子里的东西

with what's inside the head of a well-behaved sixteen year old girl from the suburbs.

一个来自郊区、乖巧的十六岁女孩的脑子里到底在想什么。

What does he think that would shock her?

他认为什么会让她震惊？

He knows the world; she knows, or at least embodies, present taboos.

他了解世界；她知道，或者至少体现了当前的禁忌。

Subtract one from the other, and the result is what we can't say.

两者相减，结果是我们无法说的。

Mechanism I can think of one more way to figure out what we can't say: to look at how taboos are created.

机制 我可以想出另一种方法来弄清楚我们不能说的话：看看禁忌是如何产生的。

How do moral fashions arise, and why are they adopted?

道德时尚是如何产生的，为什么会被采用？

If we can understand this mechanism, we may be able to see it at work in our own time.

如果我们能够理解这种机制，我们也许就能在我们自己的时代看到它的运作。

Moral fashions don't seem to be created the way ordinary fashions are.

道德时尚似乎并不像普通时尚那样被创造出来。

Ordinary fashions seem to arise by accident when everyone imitates the whim of some influential person.

当每个人都模仿某个有影响力的人的突发奇想时，普通的时尚似乎是偶然出现的。

The fashion for broad-toed shoes in late fifteenth century Europe began because Charles VIII of France had six toes on one foot.

十五世纪末欧洲宽趾鞋的流行始于法国查理八世的一只脚有六个脚趾。

The fashion for the

时尚对于

name Gary began when the actor Frank Cooper adopted the name of a tough mill town in Indiana.

加里这个名字是在演员弗兰克·库珀采用印第安纳州一个艰难的磨坊小镇的名字时开始的。

Moral fashions more often seem to be created deliberately.

道德时尚似乎更多时候是有意创造的。

When there's something we can't say, it's often because some group doesn't want us to.

当有些事情我们不能说时，通常是因为某些团体不希望我们说。

The prohibition will be strongest when the group is nervous.

当团体紧张时，禁令会最强。

The irony of Galileo's situation was that he got in trouble for repeating Copernicus's ideas.

伽利略处境的讽刺之处在于，他因为重复哥白尼的思想而陷入麻烦。

Copernicus himself didn't.

哥白尼本人却没有。

In fact, Copernicus was a canon of a cathedral, and dedicated his book to the pope.

事实上，哥白尼是一位大教堂教士，并将他的书献给了教皇。

But by Galileo's time the church was in the throes of the Counter-Reformation and was much more worried about unorthodox ideas.

但到了伽利略时代，教会正处于反宗教改革的阵痛之中，并且更加担心非正统的思想。

To launch a taboo, a group has to be poised halfway between weakness and power.

为了发起禁忌，一个群体必须在软弱和权力之间保持平衡。

A confident group doesn't need taboos to protect it.

一个自信的群体不需要禁忌来保护它。

It's not considered improper to make disparaging remarks about Americans, or the English.

对美国人或英国人发表贬低性言论并不被认为是不恰当的。

And yet a group has to be powerful enough to enforce a taboo.

然而，一个团体必须足够强大才能执行禁忌。

Coprophiles, as of this writing, don't seem to be numerous or energetic enough to have had their interests promoted to a lifestyle.

截至撰写本文时，嗜粪者的数量和活力似乎不足以将他们的兴趣提升为一种生活方式。

I suspect the biggest source of moral taboos will turn out to be power struggles in which one side only barely has the upper hand.

我怀疑道德禁忌的最大根源将是权力斗争，其中一方仅勉强占上风。

That's where you'll find a group powerful enough to enforce taboos, but weak enough to need them.

在那里你会发现一个强大到足以执行禁忌但又弱到需要禁忌的团体。

Most struggles, whatever they're really about, will be cast as struggles between competing ideas.

大多数斗争，无论其真正的目的是什么，都会被视为相互竞争的想法之间的斗争。

The English Reformation was at bottom a struggle for wealth and power, but it ended up being cast as a struggle to preserve the souls of Englishmen from the corrupting influence of Rome.

英国宗教改革本质上是一场争夺财富和权力的斗争，但最终却被描绘成一场保护英国人的灵魂免受罗马腐败影响的斗争。

It's easier to get people to fight for an idea.

让人们为一个想法而奋斗更容易。

And whichever side wins, their ideas will also be considered to have triumphed, as if God

而无论哪一方获胜，他们的想法也将被认为胜利了，仿佛上帝

wanted to signal his agreement by selecting that side as the victor.

他想通过选择该方为胜利者来表示同意。

We often like to think of World War II as a triumph of freedom over totalitarianism.

我们常常喜欢将第二次世界大战视为自由战胜极权主义的胜利。

We conveniently forget that the Soviet Union was also one of the winners.

我们很容易忘记苏联也是胜利者之一。

I'm not saying that struggles are never about ideas, just that they will always be made to seem to be about ideas, whether they are or not.

我并不是说斗争从来都不是关于想法的，只是说它们总是会被认为是关于想法的，无论它们是否是想法。

And just as there is nothing so unfashionable as the last, discarded fashion, there is

正如没有什么比最后被丢弃的时尚更不时尚的了，也有

nothing so wrong as the principles of the most recently defeated opponent.

没有什么比最近击败的对手的原则更错误的了。

<!-- The ideas of the losers in the last war will always trade at a discount.

<!-- 上次战争中失败者的想法总是会打折。

--> Representational art is only now recovering from the approval of both Hitler and Stalin.

--> 具象艺术直到现在才从希特勒和斯大林的认可中恢复过来。

[8] Although moral fashions tend to arise from different sources than fashions in clothing, the mechanism of their adoption seems much the same.

[8] 尽管道德时尚往往与服装时尚的来源不同，但它们的采用机制似乎大致相同。

The early adopters will be driven by ambition:

早期采用者将受到野心的驱动：

self-consciously cool people who want to distinguish themselves from the common herd.

那些想要将自己与普通人群区分开来的人，自觉地冷静下来。

As the fashion becomes established they'll be joined by a second, much larger group, driven by fear.

随着时尚的确立，第二个规模更大的群体将在恐惧的驱使下加入他们的行列。

[9] This second group adopt the fashion not because they want to stand out but because they are afraid of standing out.

[9] 第二类人采用这种时尚并不是因为他们想脱颖而出，而是因为他们害怕脱颖而出。

So if you want to figure out what we can't say, look at the machinery of fashion and try to predict what it would make

因此，如果你想弄清楚什么是我们不能说的，请看看时尚的机制并尝试预测它会产生什么

unsayable.

不可言说的。

What groups are powerful but nervous, and what ideas would they like to suppress?

哪些群体强大但紧张，他们想压制哪些想法？

What ideas were tarnished by association when they ended up on the losing side of a recent struggle?

当哪些想法最终在最近的一场斗争中落败时，它们被联合玷污了？

If a self-consciously cool person wanted to differentiate himself from preceding fashions (e.g. from his parents), which of their ideas would he tend to reject?

如果一个自我意识很酷的人想要将自己与以前的时尚（例如他的父母）区分开来，他会倾向于拒绝他们的哪些想法？

What are conventional-minded people afraid of saying?

思想传统的人害怕说什么？

This technique won't find us all the things we can't say.

这种技术不会为我们找到所有我们不能说的事情。

I can think of some that aren't the result of any recent struggle.

我能想到一些并不是最近斗争的结果。

Many of our taboos are rooted deep in the past.

我们的许多禁忌深深植根于过去。

But this approach, combined with the preceding four, will turn up a good number of unthinkable ideas.

但这种方法与前四种方法相结合，会产生大量难以想象的想法。

Why Some would ask, why would one want to do this?

为什么有人会问，为什么要这样做？

Why deliberately go poking around among nasty, disreputable ideas?

为什么要故意去探索那些令人讨厌、声名狼藉的想法呢？

Why look

为什么看

under rocks?

在岩石下？

I do it, first of all, for the same reason I did look under rocks as a kid: plain curiosity.

首先，我这样做的原因和我小时候观察岩石下面的原因是一样的：纯粹的好奇心。

And I'm especially curious about anything that's forbidden.

我对任何被禁止的事情都特别好奇。

Let me see and decide for myself.

让我自己看看并决定。

Second, I do it because I don't like the idea of being mistaken.

其次，我这样做是因为我不喜欢被错误的想法。

If, like other eras, we believe things that will later seem ridiculous, I want to know what they are so that I, at least, can avoid believing them.

如果像其他时代一样，我们相信一些后来看起来很荒谬的事情，我想知道它们是什么，这样我至少可以避免相信它们。

Third, I do it because it's good for the brain.

第三，我这样做是因为它对大脑有益。

To do good work you need a brain that can go anywhere.

为了做好工作，你需要一个可以去任何地方的大脑。

And you especially need a brain that's in the habit of going where it's not supposed to.

你尤其需要一个习惯去不该去的地方的大脑。

Great work tends to grow out of ideas that others have overlooked, and no idea is so overlooked as one that's unthinkable.

伟大的作品往往源于其他人忽视的想法，而没有什么想法比不可思议的想法更容易被忽视。

Natural selection, for example.

例如，自然选择。

It's so simple.

就是这么简单。

Why didn't anyone think of it before?

为什么之前没有人想到呢？

Well,

嗯，

that is all too obvious.

这太明显了。

Darwin himself was careful to tiptoe around the implications of his theory.

达尔文本人也小心翼翼地回避他的理论的含义。

He wanted to spend his time thinking about biology, not arguing with people who accused him of being an atheist.

他想把时间花在思考生物学上，而不是与那些指责他是无神论者的人争论。

In the sciences, especially, it's a great advantage to be able to question assumptions.

尤其是在科学领域，能够质疑假设是一个很大的优势。

The m.o.

作案方式：

of scientists, or at least of the good ones, is precisely that: look for places where conventional wisdom is broken, and then try to pry apart the

科学家，或者至少是优秀科学家的核心理念正是：寻找传统智慧被打破的地方，然后尝试撬开传统智慧的界限。

cracks and see what's underneath.

裂缝并看看下面有什么。

That's where new theories come from.

这就是新理论的来源。

A good scientist, in other words, does not merely ignore conventional wisdom, but makes a special effort to break it.

换句话说，一位优秀的科学家不仅会忽视传统观念，而且会付出特别的努力来打破它。

Scientists go looking for trouble.

科学家们到处寻找麻烦。

This should be the m.o.

这应该是m.o.

of any scholar, but scientists seem much more willing to look under rocks.

任何学者都认为，但科学家似乎更愿意探索岩石下面。

[10] Why?

[10] 为什么？

It could be that the scientists are simply smarter; most physicists could,

可能只是科学家们更聪明而已。大多数物理学家可以，

if necessary, make it through a PhD program in French literature, but few professors of French literature could make it through a PhD program in physics.

如果有必要，可以通过法国文学博士学位课程，但很少有法国文学教授可以通过物理学博士学位课程。

Or it could be because it's clearer in the sciences whether theories are true or false, and this makes scientists bolder.

或者可能是因为在科学中更清楚理论是真是假，这让科学家更加大胆。

(Or it could be that, because it's clearer in the sciences whether theories are true or false, you have to be smart to get jobs as a scientist, rather than just a

（或者可能是，因为在科学中理论是真是假更清楚，你必须聪明才能找到科学家的工作，而不仅仅是一个

good politician.) Whatever the reason, there seems a clear correlation between intelligence and willingness to consider shocking ideas.

好政治家。）无论出于什么原因，智力和考虑令人震惊的想法的意愿之间似乎存在明显的相关性。

This isn't just because smart people actively work to find holes in conventional thinking.

这不仅仅是因为聪明人积极努力寻找传统思维中的漏洞。

I think conventions also have less hold over them to start with.

我认为，从一开始，惯例对他们的影响力就较小。

You can see that in the way they dress.

你可以从他们的着装中看出这一点。

It's not only in the sciences that heresy pays off.

异端邪说不仅仅在科学领域得到了回报。

In any competitive field, you can

在任何竞争领域，你都可以

win big by seeing things that others daren't.

通过看到别人不敢的事情来赢得大胜利。

And in every field there are probably heresies few dare utter.

每个领域都可能存在很少有人敢说出的异端邪说。

Within the US car industry there is a lot of hand-wringing now about declining market share.

在美国汽车行业，市场份额的下降现在引起了很多人的担忧。

Yet the cause is so obvious that any observant outsider could explain it in a second: they make bad cars.

然而，原因是如此明显，任何细心的局外人都可以立即解释：他们制造了糟糕的汽车。

And they have for so long that by now the US car brands are antibrands — something you'd buy a car despite, not because of.

长期以来，美国汽车品牌都已成为反品牌——尽管如此，但你还是会购买汽车，而不是因为它。

Cadillac stopped

凯迪拉克停了下来

being the Cadillac of cars in about 1970.

大约 1970 年，它被称为汽车界的凯迪拉克。

And yet I suspect no one dares say this.

但我怀疑没有人敢这么说。

[11] Otherwise these companies would have tried to fix the problem.

[11] 否则这些公司会尝试解决这个问题。

Training yourself to think unthinkable thoughts has advantages beyond the thoughts themselves.

训练自己去思考不可思议的想法比想法本身更有好处。

It's like stretching.

就像伸展运动一样。

When you stretch before running, you put your body into positions much more extreme than any it will assume during the run.

当你在跑步前进行伸展运动时，你的身体会处于比跑步过程中更极端的姿势。

If you can think things

如果你能思考事情

so outside the box that they'd make people's hair stand on end, you'll have no trouble with the small trips outside the box that people call innovative.

因此，跳出令人毛骨悚然的框框，你就可以毫无困难地进行人们称之为创新的跳出框框的小旅行。

Pensieri Stretti When you find something you can't say, what do you do with it?

Pensieri Stretti 当你发现一些你无法说出来的事情时，你会用它做什么？

My advice is, don't say it.

我的建议是，不要说出来。

Or at least, pick your battles.

或者至少，选择你的战斗。

Suppose in the future there is a movement to ban the color yellow.

假设将来有一场禁止黄色的运动。

Proposals to paint anything yellow are denounced as "yellowist", as is anyone suspected of liking the

将任何东西涂成黄色的提议都被谴责为“黄主义”，任何怀疑喜欢这种颜色的人都会被谴责为“黄主义”。

color.

颜色。

People who like orange are tolerated but viewed with suspicion.

喜欢橙色的人可以被容忍，但也会受到怀疑。

Suppose you realize there is nothing wrong with yellow.

假设您意识到黄色没有任何问题。

If you go around saying this, you'll be denounced as a yellowist too, and you'll find yourself having a lot of arguments with anti-yellowists.

如果你到处说这句话，你也会被指责为黄派，你会发现自己和反黄派有很多争论。

If your aim in life is to rehabilitate the color yellow, that may be what you want.

如果您的人生目标是恢复黄色，那可能就是您想要的。

But if you're mostly interested in other questions, being labelled as a yellowist will just be

但如果你最感兴趣的是其他问题，那么被贴上黄色主义者的标签只是

a distraction.

分散注意力。

Argue with idiots, and you become an idiot.

和白痴争论，你就变成白痴。

The most important thing is to be able to think what you want, not to say what you want.

最重要的是能够想你所想，而不是说你所想。

And if you feel you have to say everything you think, it may inhibit you from thinking improper thoughts.

如果你觉得你必须说出你所想的一切，它可能会阻止你思考不正确的想法。

I think it's better to follow the opposite policy.

我认为最好遵循相反的政策。

Draw a sharp line between your thoughts and your speech.

在你的想法和你的言论之间划清界限。

Inside your head, anything is allowed.

在你的头脑里，任何事情都是允许的。

Within my head I make a point of encouraging the most outrageous thoughts I can imagine.

在我的脑海里，我特别鼓励我能想象到的最离谱的想法。

But, as in a secret society, nothing that happens within the building should be told to outsiders.

但是，就像在秘密社团中一样，建筑物内发生的任何事情都不应该告诉外人。

The first rule of Fight Club is, you do not talk about Fight Club.

搏击俱乐部的第一条规则是，你不能谈论搏击俱乐部。

When Milton was going to visit Italy in the 1630s, Sir Henry Wootton, who had been ambassador to Venice, told him his motto should be "i pensieri stretti & il viso sciolto." Closed thoughts

1630年代，当弥尔顿准备访问意大利时，曾任驻威尼斯大使的亨利·伍顿爵士告诉他，他的座右铭应该是“i pensieri stretti & il viso sciolto”。封闭的思想

and an open face.

和一张开放的脸。

Smile at everyone, and don't tell them what you're thinking.

对每个人微笑，不要告诉他们你在想什么。

This was wise advice.

这是明智的建议。

Milton was an argumentative fellow, and the Inquisition was a bit restive at that time.

弥尔顿是一个好争论的人，当时的宗教裁判所也有些不安。

But I think the difference between Milton's situation and ours is only a matter of degree.

但我认为米尔顿的情况和我们的差别只是程度上的问题。

Every era has its heresies, and if you don't get imprisoned for them you will at least get in enough trouble that it becomes a complete

每个时代都有它的异端，如果你不因此而入狱，你至少会遇到足够多的麻烦，以至于它变成一个完整的时代。

distraction.

分散注意力。

I admit it seems cowardly to keep quiet.

我承认保持沉默似乎很懦弱。

When I read about the harassment to which the Scientologists subject their critics [12], or that pro-Israel groups are "compiling dossiers" on those who speak out against Israeli human rights abuses [13], or about people being sued for violating the DMCA [14], part of me wants to say, "All right, you bastards, bring it on." The problem is, there are so many things you can't say.

当我读到山达基教徒对他们的批评者进行骚扰时 [12]，或者亲以色列团体正在为那些公开反对以色列侵犯人权行为的人“编写档案”[13]，或者人们因违反 DMCA 而被起诉时 [14]，我想说，“好吧，你们这些混蛋，来吧。”问题是，有很多话不能说。

If you said them all you'd have no time left for your real work.

如果你把这些都说了，你就没有时间去做真正的工作了。

You'd have to turn into Noam Chomsky.

你必须变成诺姆·乔姆斯基。

[15] The trouble with keeping your thoughts secret, though, is that you lose the advantages of discussion.

[15] 然而，保守你的想法的麻烦在于你失去了讨论的优势。

Talking about an idea leads to more ideas.

谈论一个想法会带来更多想法。

So the optimal plan, if you can manage it, is to have a few trusted friends you can speak openly to.

因此，如果你能做到的话，最好的计划是拥有一些值得信赖的朋友，你可以与之开诚布公地交谈。

This is not just a way to develop ideas; it's also a good

这不仅仅是一种发展想法的方式；也是一种发展想法的方式。这也是一个很好的

rule of thumb for choosing friends.

选择朋友的经验法则。

The people you can say heretical things to without getting jumped on are also the most interesting to know.

那些你可以对他们说异端邪说而不被攻击的人也是最值得认识的。

Viso Sciolto?

维索·肖尔托？

I don't think we need the viso sciolto so much as the pensieri stretti.

我认为我们并不需要 viso sciolto，而是需要 pensieri stretti。

Perhaps the best policy is to make it plain that you don't agree with whatever zealotry is current in your time, but not to be too specific about what you disagree with.

也许最好的策略是明确表示你不同意你这个时代流行的任何狂热，但不要太具体地表达你不同意的内容。

Zealots

狂热者

will try to draw you out, but you don't have to answer them.

他们会试图把你拉出来，但你不必回答他们。

If they try to force you to treat a question on their terms by asking "are you with us or against us?" you can always just answer "neither".

如果他们试图通过询问“你是支持我们还是反对我们？”来强迫你按照他们的条件来处理问题。你总是可以回答“都不是”。

Better still, answer "I haven't decided." That's what Larry Summers did when a group tried to put him in this position.

更好的是，回答“我还没有决定”。当一群人试图让拉里·萨默斯担任这个职位时，拉里·萨默斯就是这么做的。

Explaining himself later, he said "I don't do litmus tests." [16] A lot of the

后来他在解释自己时说：“我不做石蕊测试。” [16] 很多

questions people get hot about are actually quite complicated.

人们热议的问题其实相当复杂。

There is no prize for getting the answer quickly.

快速得到答案并没有奖励。

If the anti-yellowists seem to be getting out of hand and you want to fight back, there are ways to do it without getting yourself accused of being a yellowist.

如果反黄派似乎失控，而你想要反击，有一些方法可以做到这一点，而不会被指责为黄派。

Like skirmishers in an ancient army, you want to avoid directly engaging the main body of the enemy's troops.

就像古代军队中的散兵一样，你要避免直接与敌方部队的主力交战。

Better to harass them

骚扰他们比较好

with arrows from a distance.

带有来自远处的箭头。

One way to do this is to ratchet the debate up one level of abstraction.

实现这一目标的一种方法是将辩论提升到一个抽象层次。

If you argue against censorship in general, you can avoid being accused of whatever heresy is contained in the book or film that someone is trying to censor.

如果您总体上反对审查制度，您可以避免被指控有人试图审查的书籍或电影中包含任何异端邪说。

You can attack labels with meta-labels: labels that refer to the use of labels to prevent discussion.

您可以使用元标签来攻击标签：指使用标签来阻止讨论的标签。

The spread of the term "political correctness" meant the beginning of

“政治正确”一词的传播意味着政治正确的开始

the end of political correctness, because it enabled one to attack the phenomenon as a whole without being accused of any of the specific heresies it sought to suppress.

政治正确性的终结，因为它使人们能够从整体上攻击这一现象，而不会被指控为它试图压制的任何具体异端邪说。

Another way to counterattack is with metaphor.

另一种反击的方法是使用隐喻。

Arthur Miller undermined the House Un-American Activities Committee by writing a play, "The Crucible," about the Salem witch trials.

阿瑟·米勒（Arthur Miller）写了一部关于塞勒姆女巫审判的戏剧《坩埚》，破坏了众议院非美活动委员会。

He never referred directly to the committee and so gave them

他从未直接向委员会提及，所以给了他们

no way to reply.

没办法回复。

What could HUAC do, defend the Salem witch trials?

HUAC 可以做什么来为塞勒姆女巫审判辩护？

And yet Miller's metaphor stuck so well that to this day the activities of the committee are often described as a "witch-hunt." Best of all, probably, is humor.

然而米勒的比喻如此深入人心，以至于直到今天，该委员会的活动仍经常被描述为“政治迫害”。最重要的可能是幽默。

Zealots, whatever their cause, invariably lack a sense of humor.

狂热分子，无论出于什么原因，总是缺乏幽默感。

They can't reply in kind to jokes.

他们不能以同样的方式回应笑话。

They're as unhappy on the territory of humor as a mounted knight on a skating rink.

他们对幽默的不满就像滑冰场上的骑马骑士一样。

Victorian prudishness, for example, seems to have been defeated mainly by treating it as a joke.

例如，维多利亚时代的拘谨似乎主要是通过将其视为笑话而被击败的。

Likewise its reincarnation as political correctness.

同样，它作为政治正确性的转世。

"I am glad that I managed to write 'The Crucible,'" Arthur Miller wrote, "but looking back I have often wished I'd had the temperament to do an absurd comedy, which is what the situation deserved." [17] ABQ A Dutch friend says I should use Holland as an example of a tolerant society.

“我很高兴我能写出《坩埚》，”阿瑟·米勒写道，“但回想起来，我常常希望自己有能力写一部荒诞喜剧，这是当时的情况应得的。” [17] ABQ 一位荷兰朋友说我应该以荷兰作为宽容社会的例子。

It's true they have a long tradition of comparative open-mindedness.

确实，他们有着相对开放思想的悠久传统。

For centuries the low countries were the place to go to say things you couldn't say anywhere else, and this helped to make the region a center of scholarship and industry (which have been closely tied for longer than most people realize).

几个世纪以来，低地国家都是说出你在其他地方无法说出的事情的地方，这有助于使该地区成为学术和工业的中心（两者之间紧密联系的时间比大多数人意识到的要长）。

Descartes, though claimed by the French, did much of his thinking in Holland.

笛卡尔虽然被法国人声称拥有主权，但他的大部分思想都是在荷兰进行的。

And yet, I wonder.

然而，我想知道。

The Dutch seem to live their lives up to their

荷兰人似乎过着他们的生活

necks in rules and regulations.

规则和条例的瓶颈。

There's so much you can't do there; is there really nothing you can't say?

那里有很多事情你做不到；真的没有什么不能说的吗？

Certainly the fact that they value open-mindedness is no guarantee.

当然，他们重视开放思想这一事实并不能保证。

Who thinks they're not open-minded?

谁认为他们思想不开放？

Our hypothetical prim miss from the suburbs thinks she's open-minded.

我们假设的来自郊区的拘谨小姐认为她思想开放。

Hasn't she been taught to be?

她不是被教过的吗？

Ask anyone, and they'll say the same thing: they're pretty open-minded, though they draw the line at things that are really

问任何人，他们都会说同样的话：他们思想非常开放，尽管他们对真正的事情划清界限。

wrong.

错了。

(Some tribes may avoid "wrong" as judgemental, and may instead use a more neutral sounding euphemism like "negative" or "destructive".) When people are bad at math, they know it, because they get the wrong answers on tests.

（有些部落可能会避免使用“错误”作为判断，而是使用听起来更中性的委婉语，例如“消极”或“破坏性”。）当人们数学不好时，他们会知道这一点，因为他们在测试中得到了错误的答案。

But when people are bad at open-mindedness they don't know it.

但当人们不善于开放思想时，他们自己并不知道。

In fact they tend to think the opposite.

事实上，他们倾向于相反的想法。

Remember, it's the nature of fashion to be invisible.

请记住，时尚的本质就是隐形的。

It wouldn't

不会的

work otherwise.

否则工作。

Fashion doesn't seem like fashion to someone in the grip of it.

对于那些掌握时尚的人来说，时尚似乎不再是时尚。

It just seems like the right thing to do.

这似乎是正确的做法。

It's only by looking from a distance that we see oscillations in people's idea of the right thing to do, and can identify them as fashions.

只有从远处观察，我们才能看到人们关于正确行为的想法的波动，并可以将它们识别为时尚。

Time gives us such distance for free.

时间免费给了我们这样的距离。

Indeed, the arrival of new fashions makes old fashions easy to see, because they seem so ridiculous by contrast.

确实，新时尚的到来使旧时尚很容易被看到，因为相比之下它们显得如此可笑。

From one end of a pendulum's

从钟摆的一端

swing, the other end seems especially far away.

荡秋千时，另一端显得格外遥远。

To see fashion in your own time, though, requires a conscious effort.

然而，要在自己的时代看到时尚，需要有意识的努力。

Without time to give you distance, you have to create distance yourself.

没有时间给你距离，你就必须自己创造距离。

Instead of being part of the mob, stand as far away from it as you can and watch what it's doing.

不要成为暴民的一部分，而是尽可能远离它并观察它在做什么。

And pay especially close attention whenever an idea is being suppressed.

当一个想法被压制时，要特别密切注意。

Web filters for children and employees often ban

针对儿童和员工的网络过滤器经常禁止

sites containing pornography, violence, and hate speech.

包含色情、暴力和仇恨言论的网站。

What counts as pornography and violence?

什么样的内容才算色情、暴力？

And what, exactly, is "hate speech?" This sounds like a phrase out of 1984.

到底什么是“仇恨言论”？这听起来像是 1984 年的一句话。

Labels like that are probably the biggest external clue.

像这样的标签可能是最大的外部线索。

If a statement is false, that's the worst thing you can say about it.

如果一个陈述是错误的，那是你能说的最糟糕的事情。

You don't need to say that it's heretical.

你不必说这是异端。

And if it isn't false, it shouldn't be suppressed.

如果它不是假的，就不应该被压制。

So when you see statements being

所以当你看到陈述时

attacked as x-ist or y-ic (substitute your current values of x and y), whether in 1630 or 2030, that's a sure sign that something is wrong.

被攻击为 x-ist 或 y-ic（替换您当前的 x 和 y 值），无论是在 1630 年还是 2030 年，这都是出现问题的明确信号。

When you hear such labels being used, ask why.

当您听到使用此类标签时，请询问原因。

Especially if you hear yourself using them.

尤其是当您听到自己使用它们时。

It's not just the mob you need to learn to watch from a distance.

你需要学会远距离观察的不仅仅是暴民。

You need to be able to watch your own thoughts from a distance.

你需要能够从远处观察自己的想法。

That's not a radical idea, by the way; it's the main difference between

顺便说一句，这并不是一个激进的想法。这是之间的主要区别

children and adults.

儿童和成人。

When a child gets angry because he's tired, he doesn't know what's happening.

当孩子因为累而生气时，他不知道发生了什么。

An adult can distance himself enough from the situation to say "never mind, I'm just tired." I don't see why one couldn't, by a similar process, learn to recognize and discount the effects of moral fashions.

成年人可以与这种情况保持足够的距离，说“没关系，我只是累了”。我不明白为什么人们不能通过类似的过程来学会识别和忽视道德时尚的影响。

You have to take that extra step if you want to think clearly.

如果你想清楚地思考，你就必须采取额外的步骤。

But it's harder, because now you're working against social customs

但这更难，因为现在你正在违背社会习俗

instead of with them.

而不是和他们在一起。

Everyone encourages you to grow up to the point where you can discount your own bad moods.

每个人都鼓励你成长到可以淡化自己坏情绪的程度。

Few encourage you to continue to the point where you can discount society's bad moods.

很少有人会鼓励你继续下去，以至于你可以忽视社会的坏情绪。

How can you see the wave, when you're the water?

当你是水时，你怎么能看到波浪呢？

Always be questioning.

永远保持质疑。

That's the only defence.

这是唯一的防御。

What can't you say?

什么不能说？

And why?

为什么？

Notes Thanks to Sarah Harlin, Trevor Blackwell, Jessica Livingston, Robert Morris, Eric Raymond and Bob van der Zwaan for reading drafts of this

感谢 Sarah Harlin、Trevor Blackwell、Jessica Livingston、Robert Morris、Eric Raymond 和 Bob van der Zwaan 阅读本文草稿

essay, and to Lisa Randall, Jackie McDonough, Ryan Stanley and Joel Rainey for conversations about heresy.

文章，以及丽莎·兰德尔、杰基·麦克唐纳、瑞安·斯坦利和乔尔·雷尼关于异端的对话。

Needless to say they bear no blame for opinions expressed in it, and especially for opinions not expressed in it.

不用说，他们对其中表达的观点，特别是其中未表达的观点不承担任何责任。