SEtalk: The Myth of the Lone Genius

Close your eyes for a moment and picture a genius.

请闭上眼睛片刻，想象一位天才。

I'd bet most of you see the same image.

我敢打赌，你们大多数人看到的都是同一个画面。

A lone figure, hunched over a desk at midnight,

一个孤独的身影，半夜伏在书桌前，

struck by a flash of brilliance that changes the world!

突然灵光一闪，改变了整个世界！

It's a wonderful story. It's also almost always wrong.

这是个美好的故事。但它几乎总是错的。

Take Thomas Edison, the patron saint of lone geniuses.

就拿Thomas Edison来说吧，他可是孤独天才的代名词。

Edison didn't invent alone. He ran an invention factory.

Edison并不是独自发明的。他经营着一座发明工厂。

His lab in New Jersey employed dozens of skilled assistants:

他在New Jersey的实验室雇用了几十名技术娴熟的助手：

machinists, chemists, and glassblowers, all building on each other's work.

机械师、化学家和玻璃工匠，大家都在彼此的成果上继续推进。

Or consider the telephone.

或者，想想电话。

On the very same day in 1876,

1876年的同一天，

two different inventors filed papers for almost the same device!

2位不同的发明家为几乎相同的装置提交了文件！

Historians call this multiple discovery, and it's remarkably common.

历史学家称之为“多重发现”，而且这种现象出奇地常见。

Calculus, evolution, even the light bulb: each had several parents.

微积分、进化论，甚至电灯泡：每一项都有好几位“父亲”。

Why does this keep happening?

为什么这种事一再发生？

Because ideas aren't lightning bolts. They're more like ripe fruit.

因为想法不是闪电。它们更像熟透的果实。

When enough knowledge piles up, several people reach for it at once.

当知识积累到一定程度，就会有好几个人同时伸手去摘。

Even Isaac Newton admitted he'd stood on the shoulders of giants.

就连Isaac Newton也承认，他是站在巨人的肩膀上。

Today, the pattern is even clearer.

如今，这种规律更加明显。

Most important research is now done by teams, not individuals.

现在，大多数重要研究都是由团队完成的，而不是个人。

And papers written by teams tend to have far greater impact.

而且团队撰写的论文，影响力往往要大得多。

The genius, it turns out, is usually a crowd!

原来，所谓天才，通常是一群人！

So why does this matter to the rest of us?

那么，这对我们其他人又有什么意义呢？

Because the myth does real damage.

因为这个神话会造成真正的伤害。

As a young researcher, I hid my unfinished ideas from everyone.

我还是年轻研究员的时候，把自己没想成熟的点子藏起来，不让任何人知道。

I thought asking for help meant I wasn't clever enough.

我以为向别人求助，就说明我不够聪明。

I wasted two years working entirely on my own.

我白白浪费了2年时间，完全一个人埋头苦干。

So here's what I wish someone had told me.

所以，这是我希望当初有人告诉我的话。

Share your half-finished ideas. Borrow generously. Give credit loudly.

分享你们半成品的想法。大方地借鉴。大声地把功劳归给别人。

Your best idea may be sitting in someone else's head,

你们最好的点子，也许就在别人的脑子里，

just waiting for yours to meet it.

正等着和你们的想法相遇。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。