FruitfulQuestions

1、2 fruitful questio ns获盘甌浅的问1 The other ni ght at the dinner table, my three kids- ages 9, 6 and 4-took time out from their food fight to teach me about p aradigm shifts, the limitati ons of lin ear thinking and how to refocusp arameters.不久前的一个晚上在養桌旁，我的三个孩 年龄分别为9岁&岁和4岁暂时停 止争抢&物腾出时间教我认识什么是范式变换、什么垦线性思考

2、的斶限以及如何电新看待相 关的各种因索2 Heres how it happen ed: We were p layi ng our own oral vers ion of the Sesame Street game, What Does nt Bel on g?, wherekids look at three p ictures and choose the one that does nt fit . I said, OK, what does nt bel ong, an ora nge, a tomato or a strawberry?扑悄臭这样的.当时我们在J&订1己那套只动

3、嘴的“卿个不是同一类厂的芝麻街游戏.本來 玩这游戏时*孩子们要fl三张価并挑出那张不属同一类的画.我说;“来吧，哪个不址同一类. 橘子,西红柿还楚單莓字3 The oldest did nt take more tha n a sec ond to deliver his smug an swer: Tomato because the other two are fruits. I agreed that this was the right an swer des pite the fact that some p urists in sist a tomato is a fruit. T

4、o those of us forced as kids to eat them in salads, tomatoes will always be vegetables. I was about to think up ano ther set of three whe n my 4-year-old said, The right an swer is strawberry because the other two are round and a strawberry isnt. How could I argue with that?老大很快就说岀rEiw为护常得意的答案西红柿因*K

5、他靖种炬水果r我承认这是 止确答案，尽管书些纯粹主义董坚决认为西红柿是种水果.对从小就被迫吃拌在 色拉里的西红柿的人来说-西红柿水远址蔬菜。我正准备再出一道三种东西为一组的题忖时* 我4岁的核子说廿确答案是草韓因为另外两种足圆的冲務却不虬T电怎么能驳斥这种论 点呢？4 Then my 6-year old said, Its the orange because the other two are red. Not to be outd one by his youn ger sibli ngs, the 9-year old said, It could also be the orange

6、 because the other two grow on vin es.接氛我右岁的孩子说:“不加同一类的是橘手，因为刘外的种臭红色的/勺岁的啓-r不想 辻弟妹上风，说逍广不是同一类的血可以是橘子個为川他两种长在蘇5 The middle one took this as a direct challe nge. It could be the strawberry because its the only one you put on ice cream.老二把这看作对他发出的挑战町凶是草宦屈为只有呻:侮会放在冰汛淋I丁6 Someth ing was defi nitely happe

7、ning here. It was messier tha n a food fight and much more imp orta nt tha n whether a tomato is a fruit or vegetable. My kids were doing what Coperni cus did whe n he p laced the sun at the cen ter of the uni verse, readjust ing the cen turies-old p aradigm of an Earth-ce ntered system. They were d

8、oing what Reube n Mattus did whe n he ren amed his Bronx ice cream Haage n-Dazs and raised the p rice without cha nging the p roduct. They were doing what Edward Jenner did whe n he discovered a vacc in ati on for small pox by aba ndoning his quest for a cure.髦无蹩问,这耳!iE发4;/HI-么事儿n这事儿比争抢食物还乱d匕四红柿是水果还

9、罷蔬菜电 要眷名.哥白足把丈阳观为宇雷中心，审新调整地心说这一悅达数址纪的范式，我的孩子们 正做着紙门尼当霁做的事.秤宾4修斯耙他的布期克斯冰淇淋故名为哈槪达斯往不廈变 产品的情况下提离了价楼,我的搂子们正做着鲁宾:马修斯檢过的寸匚，爱徳华-簡纳放弃了 寻找治疗天轮的特效药,从阳发现了能预防送一疾病的疫苗我的孩子们正做着爱德华-簡纳 做过的啡.In stead of study ing people who were sick with small pox , he began to study people who were exposed to it but never got sick.

10、 He found that theyd all con tracted a similar but milder disease, cow pox, which vaccinated them against the deadly small pox.他不去研究得r天花的患若，而公研究接触天花却从未染上此病的人.他发现他们都患 种类似犬花但比较轻微的疾病=牛痘:牛痘便他们得W防止染上致命的天花.2They were refocus ing the p arameters. They were redefi ning the p roblems. They were reframi ng th

11、e questi ons. In short, they were doing what every scientist whos ever made an important discovery throughout history has done, accord ing to Thomas Kuhn, in his book, The Structure of Scie ntific Revolutio ns: They were shift ing old p aradigms.他们在重新看待相关的各种因素.他们左重新认识他们的问題他们在航新表述他们的 问题。总之，据托q斯-库恩在他的

12、船科学革命的结构一书中所靑他们正做着历屯上有过直 尢发现的科学家都曾做过的事：他们花改变旧的范式.9 But if this had bee n a workbook exercise in school, every kid who did nt circle tomato would have bee n marked wrong. Every kid who framed the questio n differe ntly tha n Which is not a fruit? would have bee n wrong. Maybe that explains why_sd_man

13、y of the worlds most brillia nt scie ntists and inven tors were failures in school , the most no table being Albert Ein stei n,whowas p erha ps this cen turys most potent p aradigm-shifter.但假若我们的游戏是学校里做在作业本上的那习.那么段仃耙西红柿圏出采的接子全都 会按批为筠骯凡没冇把问题懈读为“哪个不是水果的孩子祁是借的.也许总种悄世说明 为什么|北界r最杰出的科学家和发明家中右那么爹的人渎书时是不及陪的

14、悌生，具中皿引人 注的悬刚尔贝特愛因斯坦,他也许是本m圮最右彩响的范變者.10 4This is not meant to be a critique of schools. Lord knows, thats easy eno ugh to do. This is, i nstead, a remin der that there are real limits to the value of in formatio n. I bring this up because we seem to be at a point in the evolutio n of our society whe

15、re every one is clamori ng for more tech no logy, for in sta nt access to ever-grow ing bodies of i nformatio n.这样说并不是想对学校评头品足.天知道，发一通议论丈容昴了。这样说不过是想提 醒大家信息的价值实在塔有限的.我提出这一点，是因为我们的社会似孚发展H这禅一个 阶段，人人都大声要求得到更多的技术，大声耍求即刻阜用不斯增多的信息。11 Stude nts must be on-li ne. Your home must be digitallyconn ected to the

16、World Wide Web. Busin esses must be able to dow nl oad volumes of data in sta ntan eously. But uni ess we shift our p aradigms and refocus our p arameters, the super in formatio n highway will lead us no where.学生们必须联机.你们家必须用数码打坏球信息网连通，企业必须能即时下载大童资 料。但是除非我们改变范式、呎新甘侍相关的齐种因素百则，倍息高速公路就不会给我们带 来朴么结果12 We

17、are not now, nor have we recently been suffering from a lack of i nformatio n. Think how much more in formati on we have tha n Coperni cus had four cen turies ago. And he did nt do any thi ng less Earth-shatteri ng (pun inten ded) tha n compi etely cha nge the way the uni verse was viewed. He did nt

18、 do it by uncovering more information - he did it by look ing differe ntly at in formati on every one else already had looked at. Edward Jenner did nt invent p reve ntive medic ine by accumulat ing in formati on; he did it by reframi ng the questi on.无论魁现在注绘近我们都不缺信息.试我WJ拥的殆息比四百甲iim口尼多了 多少a怛他柞甜r足以宾撼地球的(杈作収关墙)惊人之举,完令改人们討宇宙的看法 他护出此举不