Is AI Turning Us All into the Same Person? | Sandra Matz | TED · TED
AI正在改变我们的决策方式，但过度依赖可能导致我们失去探索和发现的本能。本文探讨AI如何影响人类独特性，并提供如何利用AI激发好奇心的建议，适合练习批判性思维和科技相关话题。
People worry about AI for all kinds of reasons.
人们出于各种原因对人工智能（AI）感到担忧。
It's polarizing, it spreads misinformation, it's coming for our jobs.
这种行为具有很强的争议性（即人们对此存在截然不同的看法）；它还会传播错误信息，并且正在威胁我们的工作机会。
And those are all good reasons to be nervous.
这些都是让人感到紧张的充分理由。
But what really keeps me up at night is something else.
但真正让我夜不能寐的，其实是另一件事。
Something that feels more personal and perhaps even more concerning for the human experience itself.
这似乎与人类的个人经历更为密切相关，甚至可能对人类的整体生存状态构成更为严重的威胁。
I worry that AI will make us boring.
我担心人工智能会让我们变得无趣（或：缺乏吸引力）。
You, me, all of us.
你、我，以及我们所有人。
That's because the more we outsource our decisions to AI, the more we surrender something deeply human.
这是因为，我们越是将决策权外包给人工智能（AI），就越是在放弃一些属于人类本质的东西。
Our capacity to explore, to take risks, to stumble into the unknown, and sometimes surprise even ourselves.
我们具备探索未知、勇于冒险、在未知中不断摸索的能力；有时，我们甚至能够让自己感到惊喜。
I worry that without the potential for discovery, for serendipity,
我担心，如果没有发现新事物的可能性，如果没有偶然发现的机会，……
we risk becoming more shallow and unidimensional versions of who we are and who we could be, not just as humans,
我们有可能变成一个更加肤浅、更加单一化的存在——既无法完全展现我们作为人类的本质，也无法实现我们应有的潜力。
as individuals, but as humanity.
作为个体，同时也是作为人类整体。
Now let me make this idea a bit more concrete and take you somewhere perhaps unexpected, but also totally relatable.
现在，让我把这个想法具体化一些，带你们去一个或许有些出乎意料的地方——不过这个地方其实与大家的生活息息相关。
Imagine walking into a Baskin-Robbins.
想象一下，你走进了一家 Baskin-Robbins（美国著名的冰淇淋连锁店）。
What you'll see is an illustrious assortment of 31 different ice cream flavors.
您将看到31种不同口味的冰淇淋，种类繁多、令人眼花缭乱。
There's chocolate chip, pistachio, almond, lemon sorbet, and many more.
有巧克力碎片口味的、开心果口味的、杏仁口味的、柠檬口味的雪糕，还有很多其他口味的雪糕。
You're now facing a difficult choice.
你现在面临着一个艰难的选择。
Are you going to go with an old favorite, chocolate maybe, or are you going to take a risk on something funky and new,
你是会选择一款经典的老款产品（比如巧克力），还是愿意尝试一些新颖、独特的东西呢？
like wild and reckless sherbet?
就像那种疯狂、无节制、毫无顾忌的“雪糕”一样（指某种行为或状态）？
And yes, it's a real flavor.
没错，这确实是一种真实存在的味道。
The choice you're facing is a classic human dilemma scientists call the exploitation- exploration trade-off.
你面临的选择是一个典型的人类困境，科学家们将其称为“开发与探索之间的权衡”（即如何在开发现有资源与探索新可能性之间做出选择）。
Are you going to play it safe and capitalize on what you know you like,
你是打算采取稳妥的做法，专注于那些你确实喜欢的东西吗？
or are you going to take a risk with the hope of finding something even better?
还是说，你愿意冒险，希望能找到更好的东西？
And our lives are full of these trade offs.
我们的生活充满了这样的权衡与取舍。
Stick with your favorite restaurant or try the fancy new spot on the corner.
你可以继续光顾你最喜欢的餐厅，也可以试试街角那家新开的高级餐厅。
Keep your usual haircut or ask for something new and edgy.
你可以保持原来的发型，也可以尝试一些新的、更具个性和时尚感的发型。
Stay in your stable job or finally try to become a pickleball champion?
是继续做你现有的稳定工作，还是终于尝试成为皮克尔球（Pickleball）冠军呢？
We all differ in our appetite for exploitation versus exploration.
我们在对待“利用”与“探索”的态度上存在差异。
But we're also all hardwired by evolution to strike a certain balance between the two, because for our ancestors on the African savanna,
但进化也让我们天生倾向于在这两者之间寻求某种平衡。因为对于生活在非洲大草原上的祖先来说，
the trade-off was actually pretty simple.
其实，这种权衡（即需要放弃某些东西以换取其他东西）非常简单明了。
Stick too closely to what's safe and you risk starvation when the grove runs dry.
如果过于拘泥于那些“安全”的选择，那么当森林里的食物资源耗尽时，你就可能面临饥饿的威胁。
Stray too far into the unknown and you might get poisoned or eaten by lions.
如果你在未知的领域走得太远，可能会中毒，或者被狮子吃掉。
Luckily for you and me, the trade offs we face today are far less about survival.
对你我来说幸运的是，如今我们面临的种种权衡与生存问题已经没有那么紧密地关联了。
But our choices are still governed by this instinct to balance caution with curiosity.
然而，我们的选择仍然受到这种本能的支配——即在谨慎与好奇之间寻求平衡。
If all you ever did in life was play it safe and exploit,
如果你一生中所做的只是追求安全、利用他人（或资源），
you'd never get disappointed, but you'd also never get a chance to advance and grow.
你永远不会感到失望，但同时你也永远没有机会取得进步和成长。
If all you did instead was discover and explore, you'd collect endless experiences, but you'd also never get a chance to capitalize on your learnings.
如果你所做的只是去发现和探索，那么你会积累无数宝贵的经验，但你也永远无法将这些经验转化为实际成果（或：你永远无法利用所学的知识来创造价值）。
So it's really this balance between exploitation and exploration that fuels our growth, not just as a species,
实际上，正是这种“开发与探索”之间的平衡推动了我们的发展——不仅仅是指作为一个物种而言。
but also as individuals.
但同时也作为个体。
But that's exactly where AI throws a wrench into the works, because AI hates risk.
但恰恰在这个环节，人工智能（AI）会带来麻烦——因为人工智能本质上厌恶风险。