and he was struck by all the women jogging there as well.

約瑟夫·凱勒習慣在 史丹福大學校園周圍慢跑，

Why did their ponytails swing from side to side like that?

在那裡慢跑的其他女性， 引發了他的好奇：

Being a mathematician, he set out to understand why.

為什麼她們的馬尾總是左右晃動著？

(Laughter)

身為一名數學家， 他決定要弄清楚原因。

Professor Keller was curious about many things:

（笑聲）

why teapots dribble

凱勒教授對許多事情都很好奇：

or how earthworms wriggle.

為什麼茶水會順著壺嘴滴下來，

Until a few months ago, I hadn't heard of Joseph Keller.

或是蚯蚓如何蠕動。

I read about him in the New York Times,

幾個月之前， 我還不知道約瑟夫·凱勒是誰。

in the obituaries.

我在紐約時報看到他的消息，

The Times had half a page of editorial dedicated to him,

在訃聞版。

which you can imagine is premium space for a newspaper of their stature.

紐約時報的編輯 用了半個版面來向他致敬。

I read the obituaries almost every day.

你可以想像得到， 對一家大報社來說，

My wife understandably thinks I'm rather morbid

這代表著極高的尊崇。

to begin my day with scrambled eggs and a "Let's see who died today."

我幾乎每天都會閱讀訃聞版。

(Laughter)

我的妻子曉得我這個 有點病態的習慣：

But if you think about it,

每天早晨，我會一邊吃著炒蛋， 一邊閱讀訃聞版：

the front page of the newspaper is usually bad news,

「我們來看看今天有誰去世了」。

and cues man's failures.

（笑聲）

An instance where bad news cues accomplishment

但是如果你仔細想想，

is at the end of the paper, in the obituaries.

報紙的頭版通常刊登壞消息，

In my day job,

這暗示我們某人失敗了。

I run a company that focuses on future insights

然而有一種情況： 壞消息卻暗示了某人的成就，

that marketers can derive from past data --

那就是在報紙的最後一版， 在訃聞版。

a kind of rearview-mirror analysis.

我平常的工作，

And we began to think:

是經營一間企管顧問公司， 我們關注未來的發展趨勢，

What if we held a rearview mirror to obituaries from the New York Times?

並分析過去所累積的數據──

Were there lessons on how you could get your obituary featured --

這是一種稱為「回顧分析」的技術。

even if you aren't around to enjoy it?

我們開始思考：

(Laughter)

如果我們對紐約時報的訃聞版， 進行回顧分析？

Would this go better with scrambled eggs?

能否從裡面學到 「如何讓訃聞變得更為獨特」──

(Laughter)

即使你以後也看不到自己的訃聞？

And so, we looked at the data.

（笑聲）

2,000 editorial, non-paid obituaries

這樣做能讓訃聞更適合搭配炒蛋嗎？

over a 20-month period between 2015 and 2016.

（笑聲）

What did these 2,000 deaths -- rather, lives -- teach us?

所以，我們檢視了數據。

Well, first we looked at words.

我們分析了總共 2000 篇 由編輯部刊登，非付費的訃聞，

This here is an obituary headline.

範圍是 2015 到 2016 年的 20 個月之間。

This one is of the amazing Lee Kuan Yew.

究竟這 2000 個死亡 ──應該說是生命──

If you remove the beginning and the end,

教導了我們什麼？

you're left with a beautifully worded descriptor

好，首先來看訃聞的用字。

that tries to, in just a few words, capture an achievement or a lifetime.

這是一篇訃聞的標題。

Just looking at these is fascinating.

這一位是傳奇人物李光耀。

Here are a few famous ones, people who died in the last two years.

移除開頭和結尾後的內容，

Try and guess who they are.

只剩短短的幾句話， 一些優美的描述辭彙，

[An Artist who Defied Genre]

能讓你捕捉到亡者的成就， 或是他的一生。

That's Prince.

看著這些詞彙就夠令人著迷了。

[Titan of Boxing and the 20th Century]

這裡有幾位， 在這兩年內過世的名人。

Oh, yes.

試著猜猜看他們是誰。

[Muhammad Ali]

「一位顛覆形式的藝術家」

[Groundbreaking Architect]

這是王子。

Zaha Hadid.

「二十世紀的拳擊巨星」

So we took these descriptors

是的，

and did what's called natural language processing,

拳王阿里。

where you feed these into a program,

「開創未來的建築師」

it throws out the superfluous words --

札哈．哈蒂。

"the," "and," -- the kind of words you can mime easily in "Charades," --

因此，我們找出這些描述詞，

and leaves you with the most significant words.

進行所謂的自然語言處理。

And we did it not just for these four,

也就是你將文字輸入程式，

but for all 2,000 descriptors.

它能剔除不必要的文字， 例如 「the」--

And this is what it looks like.

並且剔除在玩「比手畫腳」遊戲時， 很容易以手勢表示的文字，

Film, theatre, music, dance and of course, art, are huge.

最後留下最重要的詞彙。

Over 40 percent.

我們不只分析上面這四則，

You have to wonder why in so many societies

而是分析了所有 2000 則 訃聞的描述詞彙。

we insist that our kids pursue engineering or medicine or business or law

我們來看看結果是什麼樣子。

to be construed as successful.

電影，戲劇，音樂，舞蹈。 當然「藝術」是最明顯的。

And while we're talking profession,

出現的頻率多出 40%。

let's look at age --

你不得不驚訝的是， 為什麼在大多數的社會中，

the average age at which they achieved things.

我們一直認為讓孩子讀工程、 醫學、商業或法律科系，

That number is 37.

才是所謂的成功。

What that means is, you've got to wait 37 years ...

當我們關注職業時，

before your first significant achievement that you're remembered for --

也來看看年齡──

on average --

這些人功成名就的平均年齡。

44 years later, when you die at the age of 81 --

這個數字是37年。

on average.

這意味著什麼？ 就是你平均必須等待 37 年……

(Laughter)

才能獲得第一個成就，

Talk about having to be patient.

44 年後，

(Laughter)

當你過世時才會被紀念，

Of course, it varies by profession.

平均年齡是 81 歲。

If you're a sports star,

（笑聲）

you'll probably hit your stride in your 20s.

這告訴我們要有耐心。

And if you're in your 40s like me,

（笑聲）

you can join the fun world of politics.

當然，這會因職業而異。

(Laughter)

如果你是體育明星，

Politicians do their first and sometimes only commendable act in their mid-40s.

你可能會在 20 多歲打破紀錄。

(Laughter)

如果你和我一樣已經 40 多歲了，

If you're wondering what "others" are,

你可以加入有趣的政治圈。

here are some examples.

（笑聲）

Isn't it fascinating, the things people do

政治家完成他們的第一項成就， 可能也是唯一的一次，

and the things they're remembered for?

大約是在45歲左右。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Our curiosity was in overdrive,

如果你想知道「其他職業」是什麼，

and we desired to analyze more than just a descriptor.

這裡有一些例子。

So, we ingested the entire first paragraph of all 2,000 obituaries,

這些人所做的，

but we did this separately for two groups of people:

和他們被紀念的事蹟， 是不是很令人著迷？

people that are famous and people that are not famous.

（笑聲）

Famous people -- Prince, Ali, Zaha Hadid --

我們的好奇心被點燃了，

people who are not famous are people like Jocelyn Cooper,

我們不只想要分析描述詞。

Reverend Curry

所以，我們輸入了 2000 則 訃聞的第一段全文，

or Lorna Kelly.

但是將亡者分為兩群：

I'm willing to bet you haven't heard of most of their names.

知名人士，以及非知名人士。

Amazing people, fantastic achievements, but they're not famous.

知名人士例如：王子、 阿里、札哈．哈蒂。

So what if we analyze these two groups separately --

非知名人士例如：喬斯林庫柏、

the famous and the non-famous?

嘉里牧師

What might that tell us?

或羅娜．凱利。

Take a look.

我敢打賭，你絕對沒聽過 大多數這些人的名字。

Two things leap out at me.

這些人有著令人驚訝，稀奇古怪的成就，

First:

但是他們並不出名。

"John."

因此，如果我們分析一下這兩群人，

(Laughter)

知名和非知名人士，

Anyone here named John should thank your parents --

可能得到什麼結果？

(Laughter)

我們來看一下。

and remind your kids to cut out your obituary when you're gone.

有兩個結果讓我驚訝。

And second:

第一個：

"help."

「約翰」。

We uncovered, many lessons from lives well-led,

（笑聲）

and what those people immortalized in print could teach us.

如果這裡有人也叫約翰的， 應該感謝你的父母──

The exercise was a fascinating testament to the kaleidoscope that is life,

（笑聲）

and even more fascinating

而且記得提醒你的孩子， 當你過世時要把訃聞剪下來。

was the fact that the overwhelming majority of obituaries

另一個結果是：

featured people famous and non-famous,

「幫助」。

who did seemingly extraordinary things.

我們發現了，這些已經逝去， 在報紙上令我們緬懷的事蹟，

They made a positive dent in the fabric of life.

教導我們許多事情， 教導我們如何好好活著。

They helped.

這次的實驗就是 萬花筒般生命的迷人見證。

So ask yourselves as you go back to your daily lives:

甚至更迷人的是，

How am I using my talents to help society?

在大多數的訃聞中，

Because the most powerful lesson here is,

無論是知名或非知名人士，

if more people lived their lives trying to be famous in death,

他們所做的不平凡事蹟。

the world would be a much better place.

他們在不停編織的人生中， 留下了有意義的印記。

Thank you.

他們幫助他人。

(Applause)

所以問問自己， 當你回到日常生活中：