and by the way, I was little once --

在我小的時候 --

my father told me a story

對了，我也曾年輕過 --

about an 18th century watchmaker.

父親告訴我一個

And what this guy had done:

關於一位 18 世紀製錶匠的故事。

he used to produce these fabulously beautiful watches.

他做了什麼呢？

And one day, one of his customers came into his workshop

他會製造美麗絕倫的手錶。

and asked him to clean the watch that he'd bought.

有天，他店裡來了個客人，

And the guy took it apart,

請他清理自己買的錶。

and one of the things he pulled out was one of the balance wheels.

製錶匠拆開了錶，

And as he did so, his customer noticed

在取出的零件中有個平衡擺輪。

that on the back side of the balance wheel was an engraving,

就在他取出零件時，這名客人發現

were words.

在平衡擺輪的背面有刻痕，

And he said to the guy,

上面刻了字。

"Why have you put stuff on the back

於是他跟製錶匠說，

that no one will ever see?"

「幹嘛把字刻在背面

And the watchmaker turned around and said,

又沒人會看見？ 」

"God can see it."

製錶匠轉身回答，

Now I'm not in the least bit religious,

「上帝會看見。」

neither was my father,

其實我沒什麼宗教信仰，

but at that point, I noticed something happening here.

我父親也是，

I felt something

但在這一刻，我注意到似乎有些事情即將在這裡發生。

in this plexus of blood vessels and nerves,

我覺得有些東西

and there must be some muscles in there as well somewhere, I guess.

在這裡的血管和神經叢中萌發，

But I felt something.

當然，我想這裡面也有些肌肉吧。

And it was a physiological response.

不過，我確實感覺到了什麼。

And from that point on, from my age at the time,

而那是種生理反應。

I began to think of things in a different way.

從那一刻開始，在我當時那個年紀的時候，

And as I took on my career as a designer,

我開始用不同的方式思考事情。

I began to ask myself the simple question:

而當我選擇從事設計時，

Do we actually think beauty,

我開始問自己一個簡單的問題：

or do we feel it?

美，是我們的想法？

Now you probably know the answer to this already.

還是真實的感受？

You probably think, well, I don't know which one you think it is,

各位也許都已有了答案。

but I think it's about feeling beauty.

你或許會說，我不知道你怎麼想，

And so I then moved on into my design career

但我認為美是感受到的。

and began to find some exciting things.

就這樣，在我投身設計事業而且越做越深入的過程中，

One of the most early work was done in automotive design --

我開始發現一些令人興奮的東西。

some very exciting work was done there.

我最早的設計領域是汽車設計，

And during a lot of this work,

也做了一些很令人興奮的作品。

we found something, or I found something,

在許多這類作品中，

that really fascinated me, and maybe you can remember it.

我們發現了，或該說我發現了，

Do you remember when lights used to just go on and off,

一件令我十分著迷的事，也許大家還記得這件事。

click click, when you closed the door in a car?

還記得當你關上車門時，會發出喀喀兩聲，

And then somebody, I think it was BMW,

而車燈會突然亮一下然後熄滅？

introduced a light that went out slowly.

後來有人，我想是 BMW，

Remember that?

引進一種會慢慢漸暗的燈。

I remember it clearly.

想起來了嗎？

Do you remember the first time you were in a car and it did that?

我記憶猶新。

I remember sitting there thinking, this is fantastic.

還記得自己第一次在車裡看到燈光漸暗嗎？

In fact, I've never found anybody

我記得當時坐在車上想，這太棒了！

that doesn't like the light that goes out slowly.

事實上，我從沒遇過有人

I thought, well what the hell's that about?

不喜歡這種漸暗的車燈設計。

So I started to ask myself questions about it.

我思考著，這是怎麼回事?

And the first was, I'd ask other people: "Do you like it?" "Yes."

於是，我開始問自己和這相關的問題。

"Why?" And they'd say, "Oh, it feels so natural,"

首先，我會去問別人「你喜歡這樣的效果嗎？」「喜歡」

or, "It's nice."

「為什麼？」他們會說「喔，因為感覺非常自然」

I thought, well that's not good enough.

或者「因為很不錯」

Can we cut down a little bit further,

對我來說，這樣的答案還不夠好。

because, as a designer, I need the vocabulary, I need the keyboard,

可以再深入解釋嗎？

of how this actually works.

因為身為一個設計師，我需要那個關鍵字和正確工具

And so I did some experiments.

來解釋其成因。

And I suddenly realized

因此，我做了一些實驗。

that there was something that did exactly that --

之後我突然發現

light to dark in six seconds --

事實上，某種東西上就有這樣的效果 --

exactly that.

在 6 秒內由亮漸暗 --

Do you know what it is? Anyone?

完全一模一樣。

You see, using this bit, the thinky bit,

大家知道是什麼嗎？有人知道嗎？

the slow bit of the brain -- using that.

知道嗎? 要用這裡，這個思考的地方，

And this isn't a think, it's a feel.

要用大腦運轉比較慢的地方。

And would you do me a favor?

但不是去思考，而是去感受。

For the next 14 minutes or whatever it is,

能否請各位配合一下？

will you feel stuff?

在接下來的 14 分鐘或不論剩下多少時間，

I don't need you to think so much as I want you to feel it.

請大家試著去感覺。

I felt a sense of relaxation

請盡量不要去思考，去感覺就好。

tempered with anticipation.

我覺得放鬆

And that thing that I found

夾雜著一絲期待。

was the cinema or the theater.

而剛才我所說，我發現的那東西

It's actually just happened here --

就是電影院或劇場。

light to dark in six seconds.

其實那個效果剛剛在這裡出現過 --

And when that happens, are you sitting there going,

在 6 秒鐘內由亮漸暗。

"No, the movie's about to start,"

那時候，你坐在台下的感覺如何?

or are you going, "That's fantastic. I'm looking forward to it.

是「噢不，電影就要開始了」

I get a sense of anticipation"?

還是覺得「好棒喔！快點開始吧」

Now I'm not a neuroscientist.

「真令人期待」？

I don't know even if there is something called a conditioned reflex.

當然我不是神經學家。

But it might be.

我甚至不確定是不是有種東西叫「制約反射」。

Because the people I speak to in the northern hemisphere

也許這現象算是制約反射吧。

that used to go in the cinema get this.

因為在北半球我所接觸過的人裡，

And some of the people I speak to

常去電影院的人會有這種感覺。

that have never seen a movie or been to the theater

但我接觸的其他人，

don't get it in the same way.

若從沒看過電影或去過劇院

Everybody likes it,

就沒有這種感覺。

but some like it more than others.

所有人都喜歡這樣的效果，

So this leads me to think of this in a different way.

但有些人喜歡的程度比他人更甚。

We're not feeling it. We're thinking beauty is in the limbic system --

這就讓我用不同的觀點思考這個問題。

if that's not an outmoded idea.

我們並不是在感受，而是以大腦的邊緣系統在思考美 --

These are the bits, the pleasure centers,

這種想法還不算過時吧。

and maybe what I'm seeing and sensing and feeling

前面說到的部分就是快感中心，

is bypassing my thinking.

而也許我們的所見及所感

The wiring from your sensory apparatus to those bits

凌駕了我們的思考。

is shorter than the bits that have to pass through the thinky bit, the cortex.

從感覺器官到這些部份的連線

They arrive first.

比這些部分到思考區，也就是皮質的連線還短。

So how do we make that actually work?

所以前者傳出的訊號可以先到。

And how much of that reactive side of it

那麼我們如何利用這種現象？

is due to what we already know,

還有，反應的程度如何

or what we're going to learn, about something?

是取決於我們已知的

This is one of the most beautiful things I know.

還是即將得知的訊息？

It's a plastic bag.

這是我所知最美的東西之一。

And when I looked at it first, I thought, no, there's no beauty in that.

這是一個塑膠袋。

Then I found out,

剛看到它的時候，我不認為這有什麼美感可言。

post exposure,

然後，我才發現，

that this plastic bag if I put it into a filthy puddle

在第一次接觸後，

or a stream filled with coliforms

發現要是把這個塑膠袋放進一漥髒水

and all sorts of disgusting stuff,

或者細菌叢生

that that filthy water

還有各種噁心東西的流水中，

will migrate through the wall of the bag by osmosis

這些髒水

and end up inside it as pure, potable drinking water.

便會透過滲透原理滲進袋中

And all of a sudden, this plastic bag

最後變成純淨的飲用水。

was extremely beautiful to me.

突然間，這個塑膠袋

Now I'm going to ask you again

在我眼中就變得好美。

to switch on the emotional bit.

現在，我要請各位再次

Would you mind taking the brain out,

開啟你們感性的那個部分。

and I just want you to feel something.

大家暫時不要思考，

Look at that. What are you feeling about it?

我想讓各位感受一下。

Is it beautiful? Is it exciting?

看看這個，你有什麼感覺呢？

I'm watching your faces very carefully.

覺得美嗎？很令人興奮嗎？

There's some rather bored-looking gentlemen

我在仔細觀察各位的表情。

and some slightly engaged-looking ladies

有些男性聽眾的表情興味索然，

who are picking up something off that.

另外還有一些女性觀眾露出有點投入的表情

Maybe there's an innocence to it.

她們感受到作品透露出的某些訊息。

Now I'm going to tell you what it is. Are you ready?

也許是畫中的天真成分。

This is the last act on this Earth

現在我就要揭曉這件作品的主題，大家準備好了嗎？

of a little girl called Heidi, five years old,

這是某人臨終前所做的最後一件事。

before she died of cancer to the spine.

這個小女孩叫 Heidi，才五歲，

It's the last thing she did,

就因為癌細胞擴散到脊髓而死亡。

the last physical act.

這是她在世時所做的最後一件事，

Look at that picture.

最後的一個動作。

Look at the innocence. Look at the beauty in it.

看看這幅畫。

Is it beautiful now?

看看其中透露出的天真，看看其中的美感。

Stop. Stop. How do you feel?

現在各位覺得它美嗎？

Where are you feeling this?

現在停一下，各位感受如何？

I'm feeling it here. I feel it here.

各位是用什麼在感受？

And I'm watching your faces,

我用這裡在感受，就在這裡。

because your faces are telling me something.

而我同時也在注意各位的表情，

The lady over there is actually crying, by the way.

因為各位的表情透露出訊息。

But what are you doing?

那邊甚至有位女士現在已經哭了。

I watch what people do.

但是你在做什麼呢？

I watch faces.

我觀察人們的舉動。

I watch reactions.

觀察他們的表情。

Because I have to know how people react to things.

觀察反應。

And one of the most common faces

因為我必須了解人們對事物的反應。

on something faced with beauty,

面對美的

something stupefyingly delicious,

最常見表情之一，

is what I call the OMG.

那種面對難以置信美妙之物的反應，

And by the way, there's no pleasure in that face.

我稱之為「OMG」(天呀！)

It's not a "this is wonderful!"

這並不是一種喜悅的表情。

The eyebrows are doing this, the eyes are defocused,

也不是「太棒了！」那種喜出望外的樣子。

and the mouth is hanging open.

眉毛變成這樣，眼神失焦，

That's not the expression of joy.

而下巴都快掉下來了。

There's something else in that.

這並不是愉悅的表情。

There's something weird happening.

其中還參雜了更複雜的東西。

So pleasure seems to be tempered

出現了某種奇怪的現象。

by a whole series of different things coming in.

因此，這並不純然只是愉悅

Poignancy is a word I love as a designer.

還參雜了許多我們吸收到的外來事物。

It means something triggering a big emotional response,

身為設計師，我很喜歡「沉痛」這個詞。

often quite a sad emotional response,

這意指事物引起的強烈情感反應，

but it's part of what we do.

通常是悲傷的情感反應，

It isn't just about nice.

但這只是各種反應的一部分。

And this is the dilemma, this is the paradox, of beauty.

它不僅很棒。

Sensorily, we're taking in all sorts of things --

它也是美的矛盾衝突和兩難。

mixtures of things that are good, bad, exciting, frightening --

我們透過感官接收一切 --

to come up with that sensorial exposure,

所有引發好、壞、興奮、恐懼等感受的事物交織在一起 --

that sensation of what's going on.

最後成為我們的感官感受，

Pathos appears obviously

成為我們對事物的感覺。

as part of what you just saw in that little girl's drawing.

很明顯地，感傷成為了

And also triumph, this sense of transcendence,

你剛才看見那小女孩畫作時的感覺之一。

this "I never knew that. Ah, this is something new."

另外還有突破現狀，一種恍然大悟的感覺，

And that's packed in there as well.

就是「我之前都不知道。喔！這是新的知識。」的感覺

And as we assemble these tools,

也同時包含在其中。

from a design point of view, I get terribly excited about it,

當我們將這些感情成份組合在一起時，

because these are things, as we've already said,

從設計的眼光看來，我感到無比興奮，

they're arriving at the brain, it would seem,

因為這些事物，如剛才所說，

before cognition, before we can manipulate them --

在被我們察覺之前、被處理之前，

electrochemical party tricks.

似乎他們就已經抵達大腦，

Now what I'm also interested in is:

並萌發了電化學的效果。

Is it possible to separate

同時令我感興趣的還有：

intrinsic and extrinsic beauty?

有沒有可能將

By that, I mean intrinsically beautiful things,

原本的美感和附加的美感給分開來？

just something that's exquisitely beautiful,

我指的是本質上就美的事物，

that's universally beautiful.

也就是顯露出純然極致美感的事物，

Very hard to find. Maybe you've got some examples of it.

那種放諸四海皆準的美。

Very hard to find something that, to everybody,

這非常少見，但各位也許舉得出一些例子。

is a very beautiful thing,

很少有那種每個人

without a certain amount of information packed in there before.

都覺得極美的事物，

So a lot of it tends to be extrinsic.

在那種沒有事前獲得足夠情感訊息的狀況下。

It's mediated by information before the comprehension.

因此大多數事物的美是屬於外在附加的。

Or the information's added on at the back,

這種美會受事前獲得的訊息

like that little girl's drawing that I showed you.

或事後補充的訊息影響，

Now when talking about beauty

就像剛剛給各位看的小女孩畫作。

you can't get away from the fact

在談美的時候

that a lot experiments have been done in this way

大家都知道

with faces and what have you.

許多實驗的做法都是探究

And one of the most tedious ones, I think,

人們對臉孔的感受。

was saying that beauty was about symmetry.

而我覺得最無聊說法

Well it obviously isn't.

就是提出對稱就是美。

This is a more interesting one

事實顯然不是如此。

where half faces were shown to some people,

這是個更有趣的實驗

and then to add them into a list

只露出半張臉給受試者看，

of most beautiful to least beautiful

然後請他們依序排出

and then exposing a full face.

最美到最不美的部分

And they found that it was almost exact coincidence.

最後再給受試者看整張臉。

So it wasn't about symmetry.

結果恰好發現，

In fact, this lady has a particularly asymmetrical face,

美感跟對稱無關。

of which both sides are beautiful.

事實上，這個女生的臉很明顯並不對稱，

But they're both different.

但兩半邊都美。

And as a designer, I can't help meddling with this,

只是這兩半邊的臉完全不一樣。

so I pulled it to bits and sort of did stuff like this,

身為設計師，我忍不住一探究竟，

and tried to understand what the individual elements were,

因此我把圖片像這樣拆開，

but feeling it as I go.

然後試著了解每個元素，

Now I can feel a sensation of delight and beauty

在這過程中探究感受。

if I look at that eye.

看著眼睛

I'm not getting it off the eyebrow.

我感受到快樂和美。

And the earhole isn't doing it to me at all.

看眉毛則不然。

So I don't know how much this is helping me,

我對耳洞也沒有感覺。

but it's helping to guide me to the places

因此這對我沒什麼多大用處，

where the signals are coming off.

但至少讓我得以了解

And as I say, I'm not a neuroscientist,

美的訊號來源。

but to understand how I can start to assemble things

如我所說，我不是個神經學家，

that will very quickly bypass

但要是了解箇中道理，我就能設計出

this thinking part

能快速凌駕

and get me to the enjoyable precognitive elements.

思考部份

Anais Nin and the Talmud have told us time and time again

引發不受認知干擾的元素，進而令人感到享受的東西。

that we see things not as they are, but as we are.

Anais Nin 和 Talmud 告訴我們很多次，

So I'm going to shamelessly expose something to you,

我們看見事物的樣子並非依據它的本質，而是我們自己。

which is beautiful to me.

在此我要大膽展示這個

And this is the F1 MV Agusta.

我覺得很美的東西給大家看。

Ahhhh.

就是這輛 F1 MV Agusta。

It is really -- I mean, I can't express to you

啊～

how exquisite this object is.

這真是難以用言語形容

But I also know why it's exquisite to me,

它有多麼精緻。

because it's a palimpsest of things.

但我知道為什麼自己覺得它很美，

It's masses and masses of layers.

因為它集許多事物之大成。