2011考研英語暑期特訓:看閱讀記單詞(五)

Planet Earth will do an electronic skin in the not-too-distance future. It will use the internet as a scaffold to transmit its sensations. This skin is being stitched together. It consists of millions of electronic measuring devices, such as thermostats, pollution detectors, cameras, EKGs. These will probe and monitor cities and endangered species, the atmosphere, and our ships, highway vehicles, and our bodies. For a decade or longer there will be no central nervous system to manage this vast signaling network. And there will be no central intelligence. But we believe that some qualities of self-awareness will emerge once the Net is sensually enhanced and emulated the complexity of the human brain.

Sensuality is only one force pushing the Net toward intelligence. An eerie symbiosis of human and machine effort is also starting to evolve. The Internet creates a channel for thousands of programmers around the world to collaborate on software development and debugging. Through collaboration, this community can push past the technical barriers to machine intelligence.

And though silicon networks today look nothing like the brain, nodes of the Net have begun to function as neuron. Researchers have already tackled complex computing problems, such as interpreting interstellar radio signals with about a million PCs working in concert. Before long, discrete microprocessors will probably be knitted together into ad hoc distributed computers. Don’t think of these as PC networks. The terminals would just as likely be cell phones of palm-like devices, each one far smarter than today’s heftiest desktops. We may think of this as a whole ecology, an information environment that’s massively connected.

Humanity is now preparing to cast its net across the solar system. At a NASA laboratory in California, scientists are devising a version of the Internet called Inter Planet that will weave the moon, Mars, and some asteroids and comets into the earth’s expanding nervous system.

Today’s communications between earth and unmanned probes are expensive, proprietary, and complex. With Inter Planet, we can simplify everything, cut costs, and engage the public more effectively. Then, the earth’s telemetric body will span the reaches of the solar system. The Net may not experience all the human thrills of exploration, but it will feel some tingles up and down its spine.

譯文

在不太遙遠的將來，地球將被上一層電子皮膚。地球將利用網際網路作為框架來傳輸它的感覺。這張電子皮膚正在縫合。它由數以百萬計的電子測量儀組成，例如恆溫計、汙染檢測器、攝像機、心電圖儀等。這些測量儀將對城市、瀕臨滅絕的物種、大氣層、輪船、高速公路上行駛的車輛和人體進行探測和監視。在10年或更長的時間裡，不會有中樞神經系統來管理這一龐大的新號網絡，不會出現中樞智能。但我們相信，一旦這張網絡的感覺能力得到提高並能模擬人腦的複雜功能，某些自我意識的性能就會隨之而來。

官能性只是驅動網絡智能化的一種力量。一種怪誕可怕的人機共生現象已開始出現。網際網路為世界各地成千上萬的編程人員在軟體的開發與測試方面進行合作提供了一個渠道這種協作可以使軟體編程界越過技術障礙，向機器智能的方向邁進。

雖然今天的矽片網絡看上去和大腦並沒有任何相似之處，但是網絡節點已開始發揮類似神經元的作用。研究人員早已解決了複雜的計算問題，例如通過約100萬臺個人電腦協同計算，來解譯星際無線電信號用不了多久，分散的微處理器可能被編織在一起，組成一臺臺執行特定任務的計算機。不要把這類系統認作是個人電腦網路，它們的終端機很可能是一些手掌般的手機，其智能程度遠遠超過如今最先進的臺式計算機。我們可以把這種系統看作為一個完整的生態圈系統，一種大規模連結的信息環境。

人類正準備把自己的網絡撒向整個太陽系。美國國家航空宇航局設在加利福尼亞州的一家實驗室的科學家們正在設計一種「星際網」的網際網路，該網將把月球、火星、一些小行星和彗星編入日益擴展的地球神經系統。

目前地球與無人駕駛之間的通信不僅費用昂貴，而且信息專有、操作複雜。有了星際網後，我們可以簡化所有程序，降低成本，能更有效地使公眾入網。到了那個時侯，地球的遙測體將遍布整個太陽系。網絡可能體會不到人類所有的激情，但其脊椎的上下會感覺到某些激動的震顫。

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