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A scent of Musk

马斯克的AI+人类

英文部分选自经济学人190720science and technology版块

Brain-machine interfaces

脑机接口

A scent of Musk

马斯克的嗅觉（AI+人类）

Elon Musk wants to link brains directly to machines

伊隆·马斯克意欲将人类大脑与机器直联

ELON MUSK, perhaps the world’s most famous entrepreneur, is sometimes referred to as “the Trump of technology”—not for political reasons, but because of his habit of making, at short notice, spectacular pronouncements that stretch the bounds of credibility. On July 16th he was at it again, unveiling a new type of brain-machine interface (BMI). If human beings do not enter a symbiosis with artificial intelligence (AI), he declared, they are sure to be left behind. And he, the announcement implied, was going to be the man who stopped that happening.

伊隆·马斯克，或许是当今世上最有名的企业家，有时人们会将他称作“科技界的特朗普”。这么称呼和政治无关，而是他常常毫无征兆地抛出惊人言论，在亦真亦假的边缘游走。七月十六号他又搞出了一个大新闻，他向人们展示了一种新型的人机交互接口---（BMI）。马斯克宣称人类若不能与人工智能（AI）合作共生，最终只能被淘汰。他同时暗示，他将成为阻止人类灭亡的救世主。

Connecting brains directly to machines is a long-standing aspiration. And it is already happening, albeit in a crude way. In deep-brain stimulation, for example, neurosurgeons implant a few electrodes into a patient’s brain in order to treat Parkinson’s disease. Utah arrays, collections of 100 conductive silicon needles, are now employed experimentally to record brain waves. A team at the University of Washington has built a “brain-to-brain network” that allows people to play games with each other using just their thoughts. And researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, have captured neural signals from people as they talk, and have then turned that information, via a computer, into intelligible speech.

长久以来，人类都渴望把大脑与机器直接相连。尽管还处于初级阶段，但是这一愿望正逐渐走向现实。比如深部脑刺激疗法，就是将少量电极植入患者大脑来治疗帕金森症。再比如犹他阵列，一个由100个硅传导针组合而成的方阵，现在已经被用于试验中记录脑电波。华盛顿大学的一个团队建立了一个“脑联网络”，利用这个网络，人们可以通过意念玩游戏。加利福尼亚大学旧金山分校的研究人员能够捕捉到人们谈话时的神经信号，继而在电脑上把该信号传递的信息转化为人类可以理解的语言。

As with all things Musk-related, Neuralink is much more ambitious. The firm does not just want to develop a better BMI. Its aim is to create a “neural lace”, a mesh of ultra-thin electrodes that capture as much information from the brain as possible. Unsurprisingly, hurdles abound. The electrodes needed to do this must be flexible, so that they do not damage brain tissue and will also last for a long time. They have to number at least in the thousands, to provide sufficient bandwidth. And to make the implantation of so many electrodes safe, painless and effective, the process has to be automated, much like LASIK surgery, which uses lasers to correct eyesight.

就像伊隆·马斯克涉足的所有项目一样，领神（Neuralink）雄心勃勃。该公司并不满足于仅仅开发一个更好的人机交互接口（BMI），它的目标是研制出一条“神经元丝带”，也就是一个由超薄电极构成的丝网，能够尽可能的收集来自大脑的信息。可以预见，前路障碍重重。制作神经带使用的电极必须足够柔韧，才不会损害脑组织，并且能持久耐用。同时这些电极数量必须以千计才能提供足够的带宽。要想安全、无痛、有效的植入如此大规模的电极，植入过程必须是自动化的，其过程与LASIK手术（一种激光矫视手术）十分相似。

Neuralink does indeed seem to have made progress towards these goals. Its presentation, at the California Academy of Sciences, in San Francisco, included videos of a neurosurgical robot that is best described as a sewing machine. This robot grabs “threads” (films, containing electrodes, that measure less than a quarter of the diameter of a human hair), and shoots them deep into the brain through a hole in the skull. It is capable of inserting six threads, each carrying 32 electrodes, per minute. The firm has also designed a chip that can handle signals from as many as 3,072 electrodes—ten times more than the best current systems—and transmit them wirelessly. 

领神（Neuralink）在这些方面的研发似乎也确实取得了进展。在旧金山加利福尼亚科学院的发布会上，领神（NeuralLink）展示了一部神经外科手术机器人的视频，这个机器人更像是一个缝纫机。机器人抓住“线”（包含电极的薄膜带，经测量不到人类头发直径的四分之一），然后通过头骨上的一个洞将“线”射入大脑深处。它能够每分钟插入六根“线”，每根“线”带有32个电极。该公司还设计了一种可以处理多达3072个电极所发信号的芯片，处理能力是当前最佳系统的十倍，并且能将信号以无线形式传播出去。

The real magic, however, kicks in only when the output is analysed—which happens in real time. Looked at superficially, neurons in the brain seem to fire at random. Software can, though, detect patterns when the individual those neurons are in does certain things. Stick enough electrodes into someone’s motor cortex, for instance, and it is possible to record what happens in the brain when he types on a keyboard or moves a mouse around. Those data can then be used to control a computer directly. Conversely, the electrodes can be employed to stimulate neurons, perhaps to give the person in question the feeling of touching something.

但是真正的神奇之处在于实时分析电极的输出信号。表面来看，大脑内部的神经冲动似乎是随机的，但是电脑软件可以侦测出受试者完成某一类特定动作时神经元所产生神经冲动的模式。举例来说，把足够数量的电极接入某人的运动神经中枢，就有可能记录下他用键盘输入字符或使用鼠标时大脑的活动情况。这些记录的数据可以直接用于控制电脑。反过来，电极也可以用来刺激神经元，比如让受试对象产生触碰感。

Neuralink has already tested its system successfully on rats and monkeys. These were, it says, able to move cursors on screens with it. The firm now hopes to work with human volunteers, perhaps as early as next year should America’s Food and Drug Administration play along.

领神（Neuralink）已经在老鼠和猴子体内成功测试了它的系统，并且声称受试对象可以通过该系统来移动屏幕上的光标。目前，该公司希望尽早与人类志愿者合作，如果能获得美国食品药品监督局放行，预计最早可以于明年开展试验。

The first goal is to use the technology to help people overcome such ailments as blindness and paralysis. Neuralink is, however, clearly aiming for a bigger market than this. It has also designed a small device that would sit behind someone’s ear, picking up signals from the implanted chip and passing them on as appropriate. In a few years, using a brain implant to control your devices may be as de rigueur among San Francisco’s techno-chics as wearing wireless earbuds is today. Ultimately, Mr Musk predicts, neural lace will allow humans to merge with AI systems, thus enabling the species to survive.

首要目标是利用这一技术攻克失明和瘫痪之类的疾病。但领神公司的市场野心显然不止于此。该公司还设计了一种可以安装在耳后的小型装置，这一装置从植入大脑的芯片中接收信号，再将信号视情况进行传输。不出几年，利用大脑内植芯片来控制各自的设备就会和如今戴无线耳机一样成为旧金山技术潮人们的“标配”。马斯克先生预言称，神经丝网将使人类与AI系统水乳交融，从而使人类这个物种得以延续。

注：
1. De rigueur: 必需品（常用于时尚界等潮流领域，由法语借来）

2. Techno-chic: chic（音sheek）一词没有对应的中文翻译，但一般常见于时尚圈中，可大致译为“有型、有范”；前有形容词修饰时与style类似，不过此类词汇均为表示某一款型的专有名词，chic本身常见单独使用。此处具体该如何翻译，供大家讨论。

Though, as this announcement shows, Mr Musk does have a habit of presenting himself as the saviour of the human race (his desire to settle Mars seems motivated partly by fear of what might, in the future, happen to Earth), the idea that some machines at least will come under the direct control of human brains seems plausible. The biggest obstruction to this happening will probably not be writing the software needed to interpret brainwaves, but rather persuading people that the necessary surgery, whether by sewing machine or otherwise, is actually a good idea.

虽然马斯克先生这次发表的言论表明他确实有自诩为全人类救世主的习惯（他之所以渴望在火星定居，似乎部分是因为害怕地球可能遭遇的未来）。但他所传达的至少有一部分机器可以由人脑直接控制的想法也确有可行之处。实现这一预想面临的最大困难也许不是编写解读脑波的软件，而是说服人们， 接受这一必需的手术（不论是通过编织机器或者其他手段）是个好主意。

翻译组：

Lee ，爱骑行的妇女之友，Timberland

Nikolai，子承父业，蛋糕厂员工，AKB49

校核组：

Rachel，学理工科，爱跳芭蕾，热爱文艺的非典型翻译

Alex，男，工科研究生，文学与科学爱好者，经济学人忠实读者

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