让世界变得更美好的自私理由 —— 利己的利他主义：英语精读讲义

Until recently,

直到最近，

the vast majority of the world population worked on farms 短語搭配

世界上绝大多数人口都在农场工作，

and the total production of the world's economy

而世界经济的总产出

was mostly the total agricultural output.

绝大部分是农业总产出。

And this output was limited by the fixed size of the land. 語法

这种产出受限于固定的土地面积。

The total output of the economy did not change a lot year by year. 短語搭配

经济的总产出年复一年变化不大。

The size of the pie was fixed.

蛋糕的大小是固定的。

The world was a zero-sum game. 用詞

世界是一个零和博弈。

In such a stagnating world,

在这样一个停滞的世界里，

the only way to get better off is if someone else gets worse off. 短語搭配

让你过得更好的唯一方法就是让别人过得更糟。

If you take a bigger piece of the pie,

如果你拿了更大的一块蛋糕，

someone else's gets smaller.

别人分到的就会变小。

If you want more food,

如果你想要更多食物，

then conquering, plundering, and stealing are great strategies.

那么征服、掠夺和偷窃就是绝佳的策略。

Your neighbor's loss is your gain.

邻居的损失就是你的收益。

This was the state of things for thousands of years. 短語搭配

几千年来，情况一直如此。

Societies invaded each other constantly to get more pie.

各个社会为了获得更多的蛋糕而不断地相互入侵。

Economic inequality was extreme.

经济极度不平等。

Some had all the pie they wanted,

有些人拥有他们想要的所有蛋糕，

while others had to live with the crumbs. 習語

而另一些人则只能靠面包屑度日。

Then the Industrial Revolution happened 文化背景

后来工业革命发生了，

and everything changed.

一切都改变了。

We developed machinery,

我们研发出了机械设备、

better crops, better fertilizers.

更好的农作物、更好的肥料。

Agricultural output skyrocketed.

农业产出猛增。

But we didn't just produce more food.

但我们不仅仅生产了更多食物。

Every industrial sector exploded in terms of productivity. 短語搭配

每一个工业部门的生产力都呈爆炸式增长。

From 1700 to 1870,

从1700年到1870年，

the production of iron in Britain increased 137-fold. 用詞

英国的生铁产量增加了137倍。

The Industrial Revolution led to a previously unimaginable increase in economic output.

工业革命带来了以前无法想象的经济产出增长。

This altered the nature of our societies.

这改变了我们社会的本质。

Economic growth changed the world from a zero-sum game to a positive-sum game. 語法

经济增长将世界从零和博弈变成了正和博弈。

We had found a way to create a bigger pie.

我们找到了一种做大蛋糕的方法。

But not only a bigger pie, 語法

而且不仅是更大的蛋糕，

but a pie that was growing bigger each year.

而是一个每年都在变大的蛋糕。

More people could have more at the same time.

更多的人可以同时拥有更多。

This development is spreading and continuing today.

这种发展在今天仍在蔓延和继续。

Antibiotics kill bacteria.

抗生素杀死细菌。

Power plants deliver energy.

发电厂输送能源。

Cell phones connect us.

手机将我们联系在一起。

Planes let us travel cheaply.

飞机让我们能以低廉的价格旅行。

Fridges store food.

冰箱储存食物。

Continuous progress in all sectors of the economy seems normal to us today.

今天，经济各部门的持续进步对我们来说似乎是常态。

But the change from stagnation to economic growth

但是从停滞到经济增长的转变

really was the most drastic shift in human history.

确实是人类历史上最剧烈的转变。

How was this possible?

这怎么可能呢？

At the very core of this massive transformation stand new ideas that lead to innovation. 語法

这场巨大变革的核心是带来创新的新思想。

Innovation has many different definitions,

创新有许多不同的定义，

but in the context of this video, 短語搭配

但在本视频的语境下，

we mean better solutions to existing problems

我们指的是对现有问题的更好解决方案，

and solutions to problems we didn't know we had. 語法

以及解决我们甚至不知道存在的问题的方案。

The more you innovate, 語法

你越是创新，

the more complex and interesting problems you discover

随着你的愿望和需求的发展，

as your wishes and needs evolve.

你就会发现越复杂和有趣的问题。

The average citizen in Norway 250 years ago

250年前的挪威普通公民

might have wanted some really good shoes.

可能想要一双真正的好鞋。

150 years ago,

150年前，

maybe a bicycle.

可能是一辆自行车。

80 years ago,

80年前，

a car.

一辆汽车。

30 years ago,

30年前，

cheap air travel.

廉价的航空旅行。

And so on.

等等。

Once we get what we want,

一旦我们得到了我们想要的，

we don't stop.

我们不会停歇。

We can see how we can improve things even more

我们能看到如何进一步改进事物，

and how to make things even better.

以及如何让事物变得更好。

The new positive-sum world has existed for 0.1% of human history

这个新的正和世界只存在了人类历史的0.1%，

and we have yet to get used to it. 講解

而我们还没有习惯它。

It has a consequence that feels really unintuitive.

它带来了一个感觉极其违反直觉的后果。

In a positive-sum world,

在一个正和世界中，

it's in your personal, selfish best interest 短語搭配

地球上每个人都过得好，

that every human on planet Earth is well off.

是符合你个人的自私的最大利益的。

It's good for you if people in obscure parts of countries

如果某些国家偏僻地区的人们过得越来越好，对你也有好处，

you've never heard of are prospering. 短語搭配

哪怕那些国家你从未听说过。

There is a genuine selfish argument for making the world a better place. 短語搭配

让世界变得更美好，其实有一个真正自私的理由。

In a positive-sum world,

在一个正和世界中，

the more people are well off,

越多人过得好，

the better your own life is.

你自己的生活就越好。

This is because of the nature of innovation.

这是因为创新的本质。

It is fundamentally driven by supply and demand. 短語搭配

它从根本上是由供需驱动的。

The supply increases

当更多人有自由和受教育的机会来做出贡献时，

when more people have the freedom and education to contribute.

供应就会增加。

They become inventors, researchers, engineers,

他们成为发明家、研究人员、工程师

or thinkers that come up with new ideas. 短語動詞

或提出新想法的思想家。

The demand for ideas increases as people get richer

随着人们变得更富裕

and can pay for new solutions.

并且能够为新的解决方案买单，对想法的需求就会增加。

They increase the size of the market for innovations.

他们扩大了创新市场的规模。

Innovation follows incentives. 用詞

创新追随激励。

So naturally,

因此自然而然地，

if many people want and can pay for something,

如果许多人想要并且有能力购买某样东西，

it will get the innovator's attention and energy.

它就会吸引创新者的关注和精力。

Improving the lives of those who are worse off

改善那些生活较差的人的生活

has a multiplying effect. 短語搭配

具有乘数效应。

It increases demand for ideas

它增加了对创意的需求，

while at the same time making it easier for ideas to be produced. 語法

同时使创意更容易产生。

Let's take an example that interests all of us, 表達脈絡

让我们举一个大家都感兴趣的例子，

a cure for cancer.

治愈癌症的方法。

If there are 1 billion people in the world that have the wealth to pay for cancer treatments,

如果世界上有10亿人拥有支付癌症治疗费用的财富，

innovation will follow this demand.

创新就会顺应这一需求。

So hundreds of billions of dollars have been invested in medical research. 語法

因此，数千亿美元已被投入到医学研究中。

This had a huge effect,

这产生了巨大的影响，

but we're still nowhere near to curing all forms of cancer. 習語

但我们距离治愈所有形式的癌症还差得很远。

Today,

今天，

every sixth person in the world dies of cancer 用詞

世界上每六个人中就有一人死于癌症，

and you might be one of them.

而你也可能成为其中之一。

Now, imagine if demand were higher. 語法

现在，想象一下如果需求更高。

Imagine instead of 1 billion people being able to pay for a cure for cancer,

想象一下，如果能支付癌症治疗费用的不是10亿人，

there were 4 billion or 7 billion.

而是40亿或70亿人。

Imagine how far medicine could have developed 語法

想象一下如果我们在治疗癌症上投入7倍的资金，

if we'd invested seven times as much in curing cancer.

医学能发展到什么程度。

On top of that, 表達脈絡

最重要的是，

there's so much human potential being wasted right now.

现在有大量的人类潜力被浪费了。

The work of a poor farmer in a developing nation is not useful to you, 用詞

发展中国家贫困农民的工作对你没有用处，

but if he becomes better off,

但如果他变得富裕，

his children might spend their time in university

他的孩子们可能会在大学里度过他们的时光，

developing things that are useful to you.

开发对你有用的东西。

Instead of having some hotspots of innovation in the developed world, 習語

我们的世界将不会只有发达国家的几个创新热点，

we would have many hotspots all over the world.

而是在世界各地都有许多创新热点。

The research output of humanity

人类的研究产出

would be many times what it is right now.

将是现在的许多倍。

Could we have cured cancer by now if that were the case?

如果是这样的话，我们现在能治愈癌症了吗？

Well, maybe.

嗯，也许吧。

If we spent seven times as much on research, 語法

如果我们在研究上花费7倍的钱，

had seven times as many people working on it,

有7倍的人参与这项工作，

and a global network of medical research,

并建立一个全球医学研究网络，

things would certainly be further ahead than they are now. 語法

情况肯定会比现在领先得多。

And this is the core of the argument. 表達脈絡

而这就是该论点的核心所在。

The more people want the same thing that you want,

想要和你一样东西的人越多，

the more likely you are to get it.

你就越有可能得到它。

That is what it means to live in a positive-sum world.

这就是生活在正和世界中的意义。

You don't gain more pie if poor places stay poor.

如果贫困地区保持贫困，你分到的蛋糕不会变大。

Instead, you get more pie if poor places get richer,

相反，如果贫困地区变得更富有，

contribute ideas,

贡献了创意，

and grow the global pie.

并做大了全球的蛋糕，你就会分到更多的蛋糕。

Do you like space travel?

你喜欢太空旅行吗？

Imagine there were billions of people in Africa and Asia

想象一下，非洲和亚洲有数十亿人

with their own space programs

拥有他们自己的太空计划，

and demand for satellites and moon bases and cities on Mars.

以及对卫星、月球基地和火星城市的需求。

Do you like being alive? 語氣意圖

你喜欢活着吗？

A few billion people paying for medical research

几十亿人为医学研究买单

could literally save your life.

实际上可以拯救你的生命。

It's in your interest for people around the world to become better off. 語法

全世界的人都过得好，这符合你的利益。

The faster we get to this version of the world,

我们越快到达这个版本的世界，

the better for you personally.

对你个人来说就越好。

No matter what your motivation is, 語法

无论你的动机是什么，

working on a better world is a very good thing to do.

为建设一个更好的世界而努力是一件非常好的事情。

For others and for you.

为了别人，也为了你。

This video was a collaboration with Max Roser and Our World in Data

本视频是与 Max Roser 和 Our World in Data 合作制作的，

and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

并由比尔及梅琳达·盖茨基金会提供支持。

If you want to help us stay afloat and make more videos, 習語

如果你想帮助我们维持运营并制作更多视频，

you can support us on Patreon or get some of our fancy posters.

你可以在 Patreon 上支持我们，或购买我们精美的海报。