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什么是“电子人”？别想太多，电影里那些活像真人的“半机械人”还没出现。一位人类学的研究者告诉我们，当你盯着电脑屏幕，或者摆弄手机的时候，你已经变成了“电子人”；而生活中，还可能有另一个“自己”，这个“自己”只出现在网络生活中……
I would like to tell you all that you are all actually cyborgs, but not the cyborgs that you think. You’re not 2)Robo-Cop and you’re not 3)Terminator, but you’re cyborgs every time you look at a computer screen or use one of your cell phone devices.
So what’s a good definition for “cyborg”? Well, a traditional definition is: “an organism to which 4)exogenous components have been added for the purpose of adapting to new environments.” That came from a 1960 paper on space travel, because, if you think about it, space is pretty awkward. People aren’t supposed to be there. But humans are curious, and they like to add things to their bodies so that they can go to the Alps one day and then become a fish in the sea the next.
So let’s look at the concept of traditional anthropology. Somebody goes to another country, says, “how fascinating these people are, how interesting their tools are, how curious their culture is,” and then they write a paper and maybe a few other anthropologists read it, and we think it’s very 5)exotic. Well, what’s happening is that we’ve suddenly found a new species. I, as a cyborg anthropologist, have suddenly said, “Oh, wow, now suddenly we’re a new form of 6)homo sapiens, and look at these fascinating cultures and look at these curious rituals that everybody is doing around this technology. They’re clicking on things and staring at screens.”
Now, there’s a reason why I study this versus traditional anthropology, and the reason is that tool use, in the beginning, for thousands and thousands of years, everything has been a physical modification of self. It has helped us to extend our physical selves, go faster, hit things harder, and there’s been a limit on that. But now, what we’re looking at is not an extension of the physical self, but an extension of the mental self. And because of that, we’re able to travel faster, communicate differently, and the other thing that happens is that we’re all carrying around little 7)Mary Poppins technology. We can put anything we want into it and it doesn’t get heavier, and then we can take anything out. What does the inside of your computer actually look like? Well, if you print it out, it looks like a thousand pounds of material that you’re carrying around all the time. And if you actually lose that information, it means that you suddenly have this loss in your mind, that you suddenly feel like something’s missing, except you aren’t able to see it, so it feels like a very strange emotion.
The other thing that happens is that you have a second self. Whether you like it or not, you’re starting to show up online and people are interacting with your second self when you’re not there. And so you have to be careful about, you know, leaving your front lawn open, which is basically your Facebook wall, so that, you know, people don’t write on it in the middle of the night, because it’s very much the equivalent. And suddenly we have to start to maintain our second self. You have to present yourself in digital life in a similar way that you would in your 8)analogue life. So, in the same way that you wake up, take a shower and get dressed, you have to learn to do that for your digital self, and the problem is that a lot of people now, especially adolescences, have to go through two adolescences. They have to go through their primary one, that’s already awkward, and then they have to go through their second self’s adolescence, and that’s even more awkward because there’s an actual kind of history of what they’ve gone through online. And anybody coming in new to technology is an adolescent online right now. And so, it’s very awkward, and they, you know, it’s very difficult for them to do those things.
我想对你们说的是：你们其实全都是“电子人”，但不是你们想象中的那种半机械人，不是“机器战警”，也不是什么“终结者”。每当你们盯着电脑屏幕，或者使用手机的时候，你们就是“电子人”。
那么，如何给“电子人”下一个合适的定义呢？传统的定义是：为适应新环境而配备了一些装置的生物体。这个定义源自一份1960年关于太空旅行的论文。仔细想想，太空的环境其实很危险，人们不应该去那儿。但人们就是好奇，他们总是给身上带这挂那的，这样他们就可以上阿尔卑斯山，或者变成一条鱼在海里游。
我们再来看看人类学在传统意义上的概念。有人到了另一个国家，会发现：“这里的人们太棒了，他们用的东西多新奇啊，他们的文化多有意思啊。”然后他们将其记录下来，也许被其他一些人类学家读到，我们觉得这一切都十分新奇。其实，这就好像我们发现了一个新品种。而我，作为一个研究“电子人”的人类学家也突然发现：我们也是人类的新品种，看看这些奇妙的文化，看看那些大家围绕科技而形成的令人称奇的行为。他们不停地敲击着，盯着屏幕看。
好吧，我将这个问题与传统人类学进行对比研究是有原因的。那就是：人们使用的工具。从最开始，一直经过几千年的演变，所有的东西都经历自身物理特征的变化，这同时也帮助我们实现了身体上的衍变，我们走得更快也更有劲了，虽然仍旧有着限制。而现在，我们看到的已经不再是身体上的拓展，而是精神上的拓展。也正因为这个原因，我们的旅行速度更快了，交流方式也发生了改变。还有一个变化就是我们随身带着神奇的科技小玩意。我们可以随意地把我们想放的东西塞进去，它却丝毫不会变重，并且我们也可以随时把它们拿出来。你们的电脑里面实际上都有什么呢？啊，假如你把他们都打印出来，那将是重达上千磅的材料，而你每天都带着它们。如果有一天，这些信息丢失了，就意味着你的意识也缺了一块，你会突然觉得什么不见了，只是这个东西你看不到，你只是会有这种奇怪的感觉。
还有一个现象，那就是你有了第二个自己。不管你喜不喜欢，你开始在网络现身，就算你不在线，人们也可以跟“另一个你”交流。这时候你要注意，你知道，你要小心处理你的脸谱网页面，别让人半夜还在上面写些什么，你知道，这就相当于你忘了关前院的门。然后，我们得时刻运作“另一个自己”，你平日生活是怎么过的，那么你也要以相同的方式过网络生活。所以，就像你起床、洗澡、穿衣服一样，你也要学着在网络生活中也如此。而问题就是现在很多人，尤其是青少年，他们得过两个青春期。他们得先经历本身的青春期，这已经不容易，然后还得经历“另一个自己”的青春期，这就更困难了，因为你在网络生活中经历了什么，都被真实地记录了下来。任何一个青少年一旦接触了科技网络，都会立刻成为网络青年。所以，对他们来说，做到这些其实并不容易。
翻译：Susan
I would like to tell you all that you are all actually cyborgs, but not the cyborgs that you think. You’re not 2)Robo-Cop and you’re not 3)Terminator, but you’re cyborgs every time you look at a computer screen or use one of your cell phone devices.
So what’s a good definition for “cyborg”? Well, a traditional definition is: “an organism to which 4)exogenous components have been added for the purpose of adapting to new environments.” That came from a 1960 paper on space travel, because, if you think about it, space is pretty awkward. People aren’t supposed to be there. But humans are curious, and they like to add things to their bodies so that they can go to the Alps one day and then become a fish in the sea the next.
So let’s look at the concept of traditional anthropology. Somebody goes to another country, says, “how fascinating these people are, how interesting their tools are, how curious their culture is,” and then they write a paper and maybe a few other anthropologists read it, and we think it’s very 5)exotic. Well, what’s happening is that we’ve suddenly found a new species. I, as a cyborg anthropologist, have suddenly said, “Oh, wow, now suddenly we’re a new form of 6)homo sapiens, and look at these fascinating cultures and look at these curious rituals that everybody is doing around this technology. They’re clicking on things and staring at screens.”
Now, there’s a reason why I study this versus traditional anthropology, and the reason is that tool use, in the beginning, for thousands and thousands of years, everything has been a physical modification of self. It has helped us to extend our physical selves, go faster, hit things harder, and there’s been a limit on that. But now, what we’re looking at is not an extension of the physical self, but an extension of the mental self. And because of that, we’re able to travel faster, communicate differently, and the other thing that happens is that we’re all carrying around little 7)Mary Poppins technology. We can put anything we want into it and it doesn’t get heavier, and then we can take anything out. What does the inside of your computer actually look like? Well, if you print it out, it looks like a thousand pounds of material that you’re carrying around all the time. And if you actually lose that information, it means that you suddenly have this loss in your mind, that you suddenly feel like something’s missing, except you aren’t able to see it, so it feels like a very strange emotion.
The other thing that happens is that you have a second self. Whether you like it or not, you’re starting to show up online and people are interacting with your second self when you’re not there. And so you have to be careful about, you know, leaving your front lawn open, which is basically your Facebook wall, so that, you know, people don’t write on it in the middle of the night, because it’s very much the equivalent. And suddenly we have to start to maintain our second self. You have to present yourself in digital life in a similar way that you would in your 8)analogue life. So, in the same way that you wake up, take a shower and get dressed, you have to learn to do that for your digital self, and the problem is that a lot of people now, especially adolescences, have to go through two adolescences. They have to go through their primary one, that’s already awkward, and then they have to go through their second self’s adolescence, and that’s even more awkward because there’s an actual kind of history of what they’ve gone through online. And anybody coming in new to technology is an adolescent online right now. And so, it’s very awkward, and they, you know, it’s very difficult for them to do those things.
我想对你们说的是：你们其实全都是“电子人”，但不是你们想象中的那种半机械人，不是“机器战警”，也不是什么“终结者”。每当你们盯着电脑屏幕，或者使用手机的时候，你们就是“电子人”。
那么，如何给“电子人”下一个合适的定义呢？传统的定义是：为适应新环境而配备了一些装置的生物体。这个定义源自一份1960年关于太空旅行的论文。仔细想想，太空的环境其实很危险，人们不应该去那儿。但人们就是好奇，他们总是给身上带这挂那的，这样他们就可以上阿尔卑斯山，或者变成一条鱼在海里游。
我们再来看看人类学在传统意义上的概念。有人到了另一个国家，会发现：“这里的人们太棒了，他们用的东西多新奇啊，他们的文化多有意思啊。”然后他们将其记录下来，也许被其他一些人类学家读到，我们觉得这一切都十分新奇。其实，这就好像我们发现了一个新品种。而我，作为一个研究“电子人”的人类学家也突然发现：我们也是人类的新品种，看看这些奇妙的文化，看看那些大家围绕科技而形成的令人称奇的行为。他们不停地敲击着，盯着屏幕看。
好吧，我将这个问题与传统人类学进行对比研究是有原因的。那就是：人们使用的工具。从最开始，一直经过几千年的演变，所有的东西都经历自身物理特征的变化，这同时也帮助我们实现了身体上的衍变，我们走得更快也更有劲了，虽然仍旧有着限制。而现在，我们看到的已经不再是身体上的拓展，而是精神上的拓展。也正因为这个原因，我们的旅行速度更快了，交流方式也发生了改变。还有一个变化就是我们随身带着神奇的科技小玩意。我们可以随意地把我们想放的东西塞进去，它却丝毫不会变重，并且我们也可以随时把它们拿出来。你们的电脑里面实际上都有什么呢？啊，假如你把他们都打印出来，那将是重达上千磅的材料，而你每天都带着它们。如果有一天，这些信息丢失了，就意味着你的意识也缺了一块，你会突然觉得什么不见了，只是这个东西你看不到，你只是会有这种奇怪的感觉。
还有一个现象，那就是你有了第二个自己。不管你喜不喜欢，你开始在网络现身，就算你不在线，人们也可以跟“另一个你”交流。这时候你要注意，你知道，你要小心处理你的脸谱网页面，别让人半夜还在上面写些什么，你知道，这就相当于你忘了关前院的门。然后，我们得时刻运作“另一个自己”，你平日生活是怎么过的，那么你也要以相同的方式过网络生活。所以，就像你起床、洗澡、穿衣服一样，你也要学着在网络生活中也如此。而问题就是现在很多人，尤其是青少年，他们得过两个青春期。他们得先经历本身的青春期，这已经不容易，然后还得经历“另一个自己”的青春期，这就更困难了，因为你在网络生活中经历了什么，都被真实地记录了下来。任何一个青少年一旦接触了科技网络，都会立刻成为网络青年。所以，对他们来说，做到这些其实并不容易。
翻译：Susan