TED演讲之说什么 语言如何改变人类(6)
And so some time around 200,000 years ago, our species confronted this crisis.
大约二十万年前，人类遇到了这一困境
And we really had only two options for dealing with the conflicts that visual theft would bring.
我们只有两种选择来解决观察性窃取导致的冲突
One of those options was that we could have retreated into small family groups.
一个选择是我们可以退回到小的家庭单位
Because then the benefits of our ideas and knowledge would flow just to our relatives.
如此一来我们的想法和知识仅仅在亲属间交流
Had we chosen this option, sometime around 200,000 years ago,
假如我们在大约二十万年前的时候选择了这个方法
we would probably still be living like the Neanderthals were
那也许4万年前我们进入欧洲的时候
when we first entered Europe 40,000 years ago.
还过着尼安德特人一样的生活
And this is because in small groups there are fewer ideas, there are fewer innovations.
这是因为小团体只能产生很少的想法和发明
And small groups are more prone to accidents and bad luck.
却更有发生事故和厄运的倾向
So if we’d chosen that path, our evolutionary path would have led into the forest — and been a short one indeed.
所以如果我们选择了那条路，我们的进化之路就会通向森林，并且是短命之路
The other option we could choose was to develop the systems of communication
另一个选择就是发展交流的系统
that would allow us to share ideas and to cooperate amongst others.
从而分享想法和相互合作
Choosing this option would mean that a vastly greater fund of accumulated knowledge and wisdom
选择这条路意味着积累起来的海量知识和智慧
would become available to any one individual
向每一个个体开放
than would ever arise from within an individual family or an individual person on their own.
而不仅仅是单个家庭的或者个人的积累。
演讲简介：
生物学家马克·佩格尔与我们分享了一个关于人类如何发展复杂的语言系统的有趣理论。他认为，语言是一种社会技术，它帮助人类早期部落获得了一个强有力的新工具：合作。