Beauty is being the best possible version of yourself.
美麗是成為最好版本的自己。
– Audrey Hepburn, Actress 奧黛麗‧赫本 (演員)
--- 外刊看世界編輯擇優推薦
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This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.
這裡是科學美國人——60秒科學。我是克里斯多福·因塔利亞塔。
If you've ever used a digital assistant like Siri or Alexa, you know the back and forth doesn't quite have the same rhythm as real human-to-human conversation. The pauses are just a little too long.
如果你曾經使用過Siri（蘋果智能語音助手）或Alexa（亞馬遜語音助手）這種數字助手，你就會知道人與它們的對話節奏和真人之間的對話節奏不太相同。人與數字助手的對話間隔時間有點過長了。
"We feel this sort of awkward silence building up." Sebastian Loth, a research psychologist at the University of Bielefeld in Germany. "If I ask you something and you just don't respond, it feels like, oh my god this silence is almost killing the room and you can feel it literally building up. So we try to avoid that. And that's the kind of effect that you're seeing with Siri taking a second to respond, you're kind of feeling odd about it."
「我們感覺到這種尷尬的沉默在逐漸形成。」德國比勒費爾德大學的研究心理學家塞巴斯蒂安·洛思說到。「如果我問你一些事，而你就是不回答，那感覺就像：哦我的天哪，這種沉默幾乎使整個房間都籠罩在尷尬中，你能感覺到尷尬在慢慢形成。所以我們會努力避免這種情況。而當Siri在一秒鐘之後才回答時，你就會看到這種效果，這會讓你感到很奇怪。」
To study how humans are able to have such fluent, sometimes even overlapping, conversations, Loth and his team set up what's called a "Ghost in the Machine" experiment, in a barroom situation. Real human customers bellied up to a bar, where a robot bartender was waiting. The robot was actually controlled by human operators behind the scenes, who could see and hear the customers through the robot's eyes and ears.
為了研究人類如何能進行如此順暢、有時甚至會出現重疊的對話，洛思及其團隊在酒吧間進行了被稱為「機器中的幽靈」的實驗。真人顧客挺著肚子走進酒吧，機器人酒保在那裡等著他們。機器人實際上由人類操作員在幕後控制，操作員可以通過機器人的眼睛看到顧客，也可以通過機器人的耳朵聽到顧客說話。
Then Loth and his team observed how the human operators behaved during a couple hundred orders. They found that when the customers started a phrase with "What," the human operators quickly triggered the robot to repeat the offerings of the bar, like "We have coke, orange juice and water," rather than waiting for customers to complete the sentence. But if the customers began a sentence with "I'd like" or "I want," the human operators tended to hesitate, to listen for what came next, rather than acting quickly—and perhaps incorrectly.
隨後，洛思和團隊對人類操作員處理幾百個訂單的行為進行了觀察。他們發現，當顧客用「什麼」開始一個短語時，人類操作員會迅速觸發機器人，讓他們重複酒吧供應的酒水，比如「我們有可樂、橙汁和水」，而不是等到顧客說完整個句子。但是如果顧客以「我想」或「我要」開始句子，那人類操作員往往會猶豫，仔細聽顧客接下來所說的話，而不是迅速做出反應——因為他們可能會做出不正確的回應。
"What we found was that they distinguish between the type of request. And more specifically by the error or cost of that. If I misunderstand you and give you the wrong drink that is actually quite an awkward situation. Because I kind of have to apologize, take the drink away from you, and replace it with the appropriate one. So it's a lot of action and maneuvering involved and it's quite embarrassing if the bartender gets it wrong." The details are in the journal PLOS ONE.
「我們發現，他們會區分請求類型。更具體地說，是通過錯誤或成本來進行區分。如果我誤解了你的意思，給了你錯誤的飲料，這實際上會是相當尷尬的情況。因為我必須道歉，把錯誤的飲料拿走，再換成正確的飲料。所以，這涉及很多動作和技巧，如果酒保出了差錯，那就太尷尬了。」研究詳情刊登在《美國公共科學圖書館·綜合》期刊上。
Loth says cataloguing interactions like these might help future robots better navigate the continuum between certainty and time: to be able to act quickly on limited evidence, to provide speedy service, but without getting things wrong so often that it annoys the user.
洛思說，這種分類互動可能會幫助未來的機器人更好地處理確定性和時間之間的連續體問題：能夠根據有限的證據迅速做出反應，提供快速服務，但不會頻繁出錯令顧客惱火。
And no, he doesn't really envision replacing human bartenders with robots. "What you'll probably see is that stuff like that will be incorporated in ticket machines, or in booking systems, or in request systems like Siri where you're asking for a route to be displayed on the phone."
但是洛思並不認為機器人會取代人類酒保。「未來你可能會看到的情況是，這種技術被整合進售票機或訂票系統，或是Siri這樣的請求系統，你可以要求請求系統在手機上顯示路線。」
After all, he says, a real human bartender does a lot more than serve drinks.
他說，畢竟，真人酒保能做的不僅僅是送酒。
"Hey, buddy, why the long face?"
「嘿，哥們，為什麼愁眉苦臉？」
Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.
謝謝大家收聽科學美國人——60秒科學。我是克里斯多福·因塔利亞塔。
腦筋急轉彎： 薛丁格的貓
每日一詞：我好方
「我好方」是一個網絡流行詞，字面意思為「I’m so square」，用來形容遇到某些麻煩或危險時「感到驚慌失措（ feel anxious or afraid）」，是一種比較調侃的說法。
在漢語中，「方（square，fāng）」與「慌（flurried;scared，huāng）」發音相近，「我好方」實際上是「我好慌（I’m so scared）」的諧音說法，用來調侃f、h發音分不清楚。
例句：
明天就要考試了，我好方。
The exam is tomorrow. I’m so nervous.
不要方！沒有危險。
Don't panic! There is no danger.
Editor: Jade
1、本期每日一句，由編輯選優推薦。
2、本期每日一播，取自影視宣傳資源。
3、本期每日一聞，取自Scientific American — 60-Second Science.
4、本期每日一詞，取自紐約時報中文網.
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