By the end of this year,
截止今年年底，
there'll be nearly a billion people on this planet
这个星球上将有接近十亿人口
that actively use social networking sites.
在很活跃地使用社交网站。
The one thing that all of them have in common
他们有一个共同点，
is that they're going to die.
就是他们终将死去。
While that might be a somewhat morbid thought,
也许这是个有点病态的想法，
I think it has some really profound implications
但是我认为它有一些深远的意义
that are worth exploring.
值得探究。
What first got me thinking about this
第一次让我思考这个问题，
was a blog post authored earlier this year by Derek K. Miller,
是今年早些时期，戴瑞克·米勒发布的一个博客。
who was a science and technology journalist
他曾是一名科学和科技记者，
who died of cancer.
死于癌症。
And what Miller did was have his family and friends write a post
米勒让他的家人和朋友
that went out shortly after he died.
在他去世不久后写一个通知。
Here's what he wrote in starting that out.
这是他最初写的。
He said, "Here it is. I'm dead,
他说，“这个时刻还是到了。我已经死了，
and this is my last post to my blog.
这是我在博客上的最后一条信息
In advance, I asked that once my body finally shut down
在此之前，我已恳请我的家人和朋友，
from the punishments of my cancer,
一旦我的身体因为癌症的折磨而停止运转，
then my family and friends publish this prepared message I wrote --
他们将发布这条我事先写好的信息－－
the first part of the process
这是把
of turning this from an active website to an archive."
一个活跃的网站转变成一种档案的第一部分。”
Now, while as a journalist,
现在，作为一名记者，
Miller's archive may have been better written
米勒的档案或许可以比其他人更好地被记录，
and more carefully curated than most,
更好地被展示，
the fact of the matter is that all of us today
事情的真相是今天我们所有的人
are creating an archive
都在创造一种档案，
that's something completely different
一种完全不同于
than anything that's been created
任何被前辈们
by any previous generation.
创造出的事物。
Consider a few stats for a moment.
请大家来看看这些数据。
Right now there are 48 hours of video
此时此刻，每分钟有48个小时的视频
being uploaded to YouTube every single minute.
正在被上传到Youtube上。
There are 200 million Tweets being posted every day.
每天，有2亿条的微博被发布。
And the average Facebook user
平均每个脸书用户每月
is creating 90 pieces of content each month.
产生90条的内容。
So when you think about your parents or your grandparents,
所以，当你回想你的父母或曾父母们时，
at best they may have created
他们至多制作了
some photos or home videos,
一些照片或家庭视频，
or a diary that lives in a box somewhere.
或者一本躺在某处箱子里的日记。
But today we're all creating this incredibly rich digital archive
但是今天，我们正在创造这个丰富到不可思议的数码档案，
that's going to live in the cloud indefinitely,
甚至在我们离开世界的若干年之后，
years after we're gone.
它们仍然可以在世界上永恒地存在。
And I think that's going to create some incredibly intriguing opportunities
我想，那将为技术专家创造很多有趣到难以置信的
for technologists.
机会。
Now to be clear, I'm a journalist and not a technologist,
我先声明，我是一个记者，而不是技术专家，
so what I'd like to do briefly
所以我主要想做的是
is paint a picture
描绘一幅画面，
of what the present and the future are going to look like.
一幅关于现在和未来将会怎样的画面。
Now we're already seeing some services
目前，我们已经看到一些服务，
that are designed to let us decide
它们被设定好以让我们决定
what happens to our online profile and our social media accounts
我们网上的个人主页和社交媒体的账户
after we die.
在我们去世之后会发生什么。
One of them actually, fittingly enough,
事实上，它们中的一个，很合时宜地，
found me when I checked into a deli
当我在纽约四方区的
at a restaurant in New York
一家餐馆买熟食的时候
on foursquare.
发现了我。
Adam Ostrow: Hello.
亚当·奥斯丘：你好。
Death: Adam?
死神：亚当？
AO: Yeah.
亚当：是。
Death: Death can catch you anywhere, anytime,
死神：死神可以在任何时间，任何地点抓到你，
even at the Organic.
甚至在你还是有机体的时候。
AO: Who is this?
亚当：你是谁？
Death: Go to ifidie.net
死神：去如果我死了.net
before it's too late.
在一切都太迟以前。
Adam Ostrow: Kind of creepy, right?
亚当·奥斯丘：有点吓人，对吧？
So what that service does, quite simply,
这种服务，其实很简单，
is let you create a message or a video
就是让你准备一条信息或一段视频，
that can be posted to Facebook after you die.
它们会在你死后被发布在脸书上。
Another service right now
最近的另一种服务，
is called 1,000 Memories.
叫做1000个回忆。
And what this lets you do is create an online tribute to your loved ones,
这种服务可以让你创造一种在线的称赞给你的亲友们，
complete with photos and videos and stories
他们可以在你去世后，
that they can post after you die.
发布照片、视频、和你们之间的故事。
But what I think comes next is far more interesting.
但是我认为下面的这个例子要有趣的多。
Now a lot of you are probably familiar with Deb Roy
现在，你们中的很多人可能都很熟悉戴·罗伊
who, back in March,
他在3月份的演讲中，
demonstrated how he was able to analyze more than 90,000 hours of home video.
演示了他是如何解析那长于9万小时的家庭录影。
I think as machines' ability
我想既然机器有能力
to understand human language and process vast amounts of data
去理解人类的语言，并处理大量的数据,
continues to improve,
如果持续地改进，
it's going to become possible
很有可能，它们将可以
to analyze an entire life's worth of content --
解析一个人的一生－－
the Tweets, the photos, the videos, the blog posts --
微博，照片，视频，博客－－
that we're producing in such massive numbers.
所有我们产生的，大量的信息。
And I think as that happens,
并且我认为，如果那真的发生了，
it's going to become possible for our digital personas
我们的数码角色就很有可能
to continue to interact in the real world long after we're gone
在我们离开很久之后持续地与现实世界中的我们互动。
thanks to the vastness of the amount of content we're creating
这要归功于我们创造的大量的内容
and technology's ability to make sense of it all.
和科技的力量，让它们得以付诸实践。
Now we're already starting to see some experiments here.
现在，我们已经开始着手一些实验。
One service called My Next Tweet
其中一个服务叫做”我的下一条微博“，
analyzes your entire Twitter stream, everything you've posted onto Twitter,
分析你的整个微博档案，所有你在微博上发布的信息，
to make some predictions as to what you might say next.
去预测你接下来会说什么。
Well right now, as you can see,
现在，正如你看到的，
the results can be somewhat comical.
结果会有点滑稽。
You can imagine what something like this might look like
你可以想象这样的事物在5年、10年，或者20年后
five, 10 or 20 years from now
会看起来怎样，
as our technical capabilities improve.
基于我们的科技能力在不断提升。
Taking it a step further,
进一步地说，
MIT's media lab is working on robots
麻省理工的媒体实验室正忙于研究
that can interact more like humans.
能更像人类那样互动的机器人。
But what if those robots were able to interact
但是如果这些机器人能够正常互动，
based on the unique characteristics of a specific person
基于具体个人的独特个性，
based on the hundreds of thousands of pieces of content
基于人一生中创造的千千万万条的内容，
that person produces in their lifetime?
那将会怎样？
Finally, think back to this famous scene
最后，让我们的思绪回到这个著名的一幕，
from election night 2008
2008年的选举之夜，
back in the United States,
在美国，
where CNN beamed a live hologram
CNN发送了一张嘻哈歌手”我是威尔“的
of hip hop artist will.i.am into their studio
现场全息图去他们的演播室，
for an interview with Anderson Cooper.
那是为安德森·库珀的采访准备的。
What if we were able to use that same type of technology
如果我们可以用同样的科技
to beam a representation of our loved ones into our living rooms --
发送一个我们亲人的重现影像到我们的客厅，
interacting in a very lifelike way
非常逼真地互动，
based on all the content they created while they were alive?
基于他们活着时候创造的内容，那将会怎样？
I think that's going to become completely possible
我认为这是完全有可能的，
as the amount of data we're producing
因为我们使用的数据流量
and technology's ability to understand it
和科技对其认知的能力，
both expand exponentially.
都在成倍地增长。
Now in closing, I think what we all need to be thinking about
在结束之际，我认为我们都需要思考的是，
is if we want that to become our reality --
我们是否想要此成为现实，
and if so,
如果是，
what it means for a definition of life and everything that comes after it.
它对生命的定义，以及随之而来的一切事物，又意味着什么？
Thank you very much.
非常感谢。