How to explain something complicated · TED-Ed
本视频以哈佛心理学家丹·吉尔伯特的TED演讲为例，拆解如何用“体验模拟器”等比喻和激发好奇心的方式，将“合成幸福”等复杂概念讲得通俗易懂。适合练习学术汇报、职场沟通中的逻辑表达与解释能力。
What if you need someone to understand an idea that's difficult to explain?
如果你需要别人理解一个难以解释的想法，该怎么办？
Explaining a complicated idea so that someone can understand it is one of the ways society moves forward.
把复杂想法解释到让人听懂，是社会进步的方式之一。
Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert came to TED with a difficult task.
哈佛心理学家 Dan Gilbert 带着一项艰巨任务来到TED。
In just a single short talk, he planned to explain a complicated concept called “Synthesized Happiness,” and why it leads us to make incorrect predictions about our own futures.
他计划只用一次简短的演讲，解释一个叫“合成幸福”的复杂概念，以及它为何让我们对未来做出错误预测。
Let's see how he goes about his task.
来看看他是如何完成这个任务的。
When you have 21 minutes to speak, 2 million years seems like a really long time.
当你有21分钟演讲时，200万年看起来真的很久。
But evolutionarily, 2 million years is nothing.
但从进化角度看，200万年根本不算什么。
And yet in 2 million years, the human brain has nearly tripled in mass; going from the one and a quarter pound brain of our ancestor here, Habilis, to the almost 3 pound meatloaf that everybody here has between their ears.
然而在200万年间，人类大脑质量增加了近三倍；从我们祖先能人1.25磅的大脑，发展到在座各位双耳间近3磅的“肉块”。
What is it about a big brain that nature was so eager for every one of us to have one?
大自然如此迫切让每个人都拥有大脑袋，究竟是为了什么？
Do you feel a little spark of curiosity?
你是否感到一丝好奇的火花？
That's the first step to a successful explanation.
这是成功解释的第一步。
Once a mind is curious, it opens up.
一旦心灵产生好奇，它就会敞开。
Gilbert continues to spark our curiosity.
Gilbert 继续激发我们的好奇心。
Well, it turns out when brains triple in size, they don't just get three times bigger, they gain new structures.
事实证明，大脑体积增至三倍时，不仅是变大三倍，还会获得新结构。
And one of the main reasons that our brain got so big is because it got a new part called the frontal lobe— and particularly a part called the prefrontal cortex.
我们大脑变得如此之大的主要原因之一，是它新增了一个叫额叶的部分——尤其是前额叶皮层。
Now, what does a prefrontal cortex do for you that should justify the entire architectural overhaul of the human skull in the blink of evolutionary time?
那么前额叶皮层究竟有什么功能，值得在进化瞬间对人类头骨结构进行彻底改造？
While keeping us interested, Gilbert introduced the first concept he’ll be building on: prefrontal cortex.
在保持我们兴趣的同时，Gilbert 引入了第一个基础概念：前额叶皮层。
Turns out the prefrontal cortex does lots of things.
原来前额叶皮层功能很多。
But one of the most important things it does is an experience simulator.
但最重要的功能之一，是充当经验模拟器。
Pilots practice in flight simulators so that they don't make real mistakes in planes.
飞行员在飞行模拟器中训练，以免在实际飞机上犯错。
Human beings have this marvelous adaptation that they can actually have experiences in their heads before they try them out in real life.
人类拥有这种奇妙的适应能力——他们能在真实尝试前，先在头脑中模拟体验。
This is a trick that none of our ancestors could do, that no other animal can do quite like we can.
这是我们所有祖先都无法做到、其他动物也无法像我们这样完成的技巧。
It's a marvelous adaptation.
这是一种惊人的适应能力。
It’s up there with opposable thumbs and standing upright and language as one of the things that got our species out of the trees and into the shopping mall.
它与可对握的拇指、直立行走和语言并列，是让我们这个物种走出丛林、走进商场的特质之一。
Gilbert just slipped in a second new concept: experience simulator.
Gilbert 悄然引入了第二个新概念：经验模拟器。
That’s another key building block in the big idea he’s planning to explain.
这是他计划解释的大理念中另一个关键组成部分。
The metaphor— that of a flight simulator— helps us understand what an experience simulator is.
飞行模拟器这个比喻，帮助我们理解什么是体验模拟器。
Now how about an example?
现在来看个例子？
All of you have done this.
你们都干过这事儿。
I mean, you know, Ben & Jerry’s doesn’t have liver and onion ice cream, and it’s not because they whipped some up, tried it, and went yuck!
我是说，Ben & Jerry's 没有推出过肝脏洋葱味冰淇淋，这可不是因为他们试做了、尝了之后觉得恶心才不卖的！
It’s because, without leaving your armchair, you can simulate that flavor and say yuck before you make it.
而是因为，你根本不用离开扶手椅，就能模拟出那个味道，并在制作前就说出'恶心'。
Gilbert uses a single strong example of how the experience simulator works, and then you totally get what it is.
Gilbert 用一个强有力的例子说明了体验模拟器如何运作，然后你就完全明白它是什么了。
But now the talk takes a turn.
但现在演讲发生了转折。
Gilbert asks the audience to use their experience simulators to imagine going through two very different life events: winning the lottery and becoming paraplegic— which means losing the use of your legs.
Gilbert 请观众运用他们的体验模拟器，想象经历两种截然不同的人生事件：赢得彩票和成为截瘫患者——也就是双腿失去功能。
He asks everyone which of these life events they would prefer to happen to them.
他问大家更希望哪件事发生在自己身上。
Then he shares a truly amazing piece of information.
接着他分享了一个真正惊人的信息。
Interestingly, there are data on these two groups of people, data on how happy they are.
有趣的是，有关于这两类人的数据，关于他们有多幸福的数据。
And this is exactly what you expected, isn't it?
这完全符合你的预期，对吧？
But these aren’t the data, I made these up.
但这些不是真实数据，是我编的。
These are the data.
这些才是真实数据。