Words as Public Goods
Words as Public Goods / 公共財としての言葉
Plurality Tokyo: "Glen in Japan" 2024-01-03
Event page: 【 #GleninJapan 】グレン・ウェイル来日トークイベント hosted by Plurality Tokyo · Luma
Slide PDF
It is under CC-0, you can redistribute / translate / remix without any permission.
Links
For Japanese speaker, visit 和訳フォーラム: /plurality-japanese/初めに読んでね
For non-Japanese speaker, visit official README: https://github.com/pluralitybook/plurality
Replay Video
Words as Public Goods(Japanese Video)
English Replay(Work in progress)
Words as Public Goods English Replay(WIP)
Maybe after something released, I'll reorganize it
This is truly one of my favorite presentation decks I've seen around all this --- Glen Weyl on Discord
Following are slides, drafts and reference links:
Cover
https://gyazo.com/00dd2d39ca044062bfe9e80c597d6bd3
言葉は公共財
公共財
Difference between Common Goods and Public Goods
https://gyazo.com/945f91e3fa0c744796af82b5414a92e1
NISHIO Hirokazu
Menishio.icon: Researcher in Cybozu Labs.
Company: Cybozu
"selling productivity software" company
(quoted from Plural public media)
Cybozu's Purpose: Building a society brimming with teamwork
Vision｜Cybozu, Inc.
チームワークあふれる社会を創る
My Focus: Augmentation of intellectual productivity
知的生産性の増強
知的生産性の向上
エンジニアの知的生産術.icon
エンジニアの知的生産術
Why?
Improving individual intellectual productivity leads to better teamwork.
個人の知的生産性の向上がより良いチームワークをもたらす
https://gyazo.com/f8cf1dae00ad61c6eb35ad5babed1111
The "Plurality" Book
https://gyazo.com/db7d3abd4175a35c53bb84d1e3c069cd
by Glen Weyl and Audrey Tang
Plurality: Technology for Collaborative Diversity and Democracy
Technology
Collaborative Diversity
nishio.iconOh, it's about Technology to "Build a society brimming with teamwork" !
協働的多様性のための技術... これは「チームワークあふれる社会を創る」 技術だ!
Concept of "broad listening"
"people can hear the distilled essence of the distribution of opinion of their peers, empowering democratic deliberation at scale"
人々が大勢の仲間の意見分布を把握する技術: 大規模で民主的な熟議を可能にする
nishio.icon Oh, this is a technology that augment the ability to understand the opinions of many other people. It is augmentation of intellectual productivity!
「大勢の意見を理解する能力」の増強だ、知的生産性の向上だ!
https://gyazo.com/e54c13dc7f3a47c542f0892550c6fb23
So I made Japanese Translation Forum
https://gyazo.com/b2597afdf72fc00629458c56580b16d1
https://gyazo.com/04dd8195da0ae260376790aa11e89635
I forked that repository and implemented an automated translation flow using the GPT-3.5 API.
Then, considering the need for a space where Japanese people could freely discuss the contents of this book in Japanese, I created a forum using Scrapbox.
Source: https://github.com/pluralitybook/plurality
Japanese Translation: https://github.com/nishio/plurality-japanese/
Forum for free discussion:
/plurality-japanese
https://gyazo.com/60867e3efee223574fe9e0765160ed3d
Good undestanding is the foundation of good translation
The translation is a distant goal
翻訳は遠いゴール
The base text has not yet been finalized
まだ底本が確定していない
Therefore, we are currently focused on translation of more compact finalized peripheral information
周辺的情報をどんどん日本語にしていく
For example, talks in Plurality Seoul
Plurality Seoulとか
/plurality-japanese/Access in Plurality (by Gisele Chou)
/plurality-japanese/Audrey Tang Remarks in Plurality Seoul
https://gyazo.com/c282f7be958c4208e6f72c6aca66da36
How can a better understanding be created?
To make good understanding
shared understanding
How?
https://gyazo.com/cf4c46c1b2d61d3d8de27676611ebd5b
Building Network of knowledge
Example
https://scrapbox.io/files/65893a9df67b660023d01437.png
https://gyazo.com/84a262d5fc913d3003f5e21a856dc187
It links to a page:
https://gyazo.com/c2eaaaa4ccbb9eb1b9a53327a35bcc94
/plurality-japanese/Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations
https://gyazo.com/bd67996644796896ae2669182dc5dc0f
And then you will see:
https://gyazo.com/806a35c3a06432a2eb3d974fc5066387
https://gyazo.com/68d9ab1025b6dee4b407fc7803ea4059
The process of tying two items together is the important thing. ... he builds a trail of his interest ... his trails do not fade. --- Vannevar Bush (1945)
https://gyazo.com/d1b1ab2c980d322e6f44bb4ce2a49942
Road:
infrastructure for good understanding
By storing "trails of interest" as links, roads are created. Then those roads help the understanding of those who come later.
理解のための道を引いてる
理解を助ける
知識の世界を開墾している
Homesteading the Noosphere
協力学習(Collaborative Leaning)
https://gyazo.com/50df8bf678e304f17fa7ffb45da4ee5b
Two languages
https://gyazo.com/83a6a253607b64e2baf5e25a730acc39
I noticed something interesting during the translation process.
Often, translating from Mandarin into Japanese results in more natural Japanese than translating from English.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F8ndxAZagAAVmZ6?format=jpg&name=medium#.png
https://gyazo.com/79c2ef50cd632129b98f1125652aee06
Mandarin and Japanese have common characters
https://gyazo.com/de347eda3d590bd920becba5de33c861
漢字 - Wikipedia
https://gyazo.com/76e280987c502a556ab8beac2d999568
共通の表意文字が意味を伝える「道」になる
A common set of ideographic characters becomes the 'road' to convey meaning.
https://scrapbox.io/files/658b0940ed24260024935d46.png
This is what I want to show with this picture.
Reference: The base of this picture comes from Gisele Chou's slide: /plurality-japanese/⿻
https://gyazo.com/09779907aa292fa3fd23e53bd4ab5c03
Example
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ftf1qwnacAc9yIV.jpg
多元宇宙課！
Japanese can understand the meaning!
https://gyazo.com/46d9a89fd170e454937489868689c929
Glen's "Why I Am a Pluralist"(2022)
Mandarin version: 為何 我 是 多元宇宙人
https://gyazo.com/1d5fbfe84d13dc19722dd2a5d3898225
When I first saw this poem in English, I didn't quite understand it.
It became clearer to me after seeing the Mandarin version.
"Plural languages" helped my understanding!
https://gyazo.com/0abba4ebac67fed13941f75a0291b9c7
https://gyazo.com/319f8398a727062e141b96b6971b5da9
Whether one subscribes to versions of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, according to which some thoughts are unthinkable in some languages, or softer accounts, clearly some languages are better adapted to expressing certain thoughts than are others, so these linguistic differences matter in some ways and reflect the conditions of the societies that host them.
ある言語は他の言語よりも特定の考えを表現しやすい
https://gyazo.com/3078a19e2d9944b822cefd53cd92db7a
Speakers of languages with a vocabulary that describes a concept in greater detail can handle that concept more efficiently.
ある概念をより詳細に説明する語彙を持つ言語の話者は、その概念をより効率的に扱うことができる
現実の解像度
Unlike English, Russian makes an obligatory distinction between lighter blues (“goluboy”) and darker blues (“siniy”)... Russian speakers were faster to discriminate two colors when they fell into different linguistic categories in Russian...
https://gyazo.com/3ee3ddc5cc3d5947f221ec37548fb225
Sometimes a word in one language have no corresponding word in the other language
Example:
In a discussion on democratic processes at Code for Japan, a participant expressed the opinion:
"Democratic process is a process that generates as much 納得(Nattoku) feelings as possible among a wide range of people."
民主的プロセスとはなるべく多くの人の納得感を生み出すプロセスだ
I felt 納得 on the opinion.
But... how to translate 納得 into English?
https://gyazo.com/90d6e88490c390a60c0a5dfb365cd611https://gyazo.com/d1dc287d575f7f69aac7a66bf3fa135chttps://gyazo.com/8bd2427bb1aeecbaafacd57e8edc6cc9
'納得' can be translated as 'agreement' or 'understanding' in English
However, I feel that 'agreement' is more akin to '合意', and 'understanding' to '理解'.
納得
「納得」のニュアンス
「納得」は英語ではagreementやunderstandingと訳されるようです。しかし私は「agreement」は「合意」で、「understanding」は「理解」だと感じる
There is a void in English.
異言語マッピング
https://gyazo.com/53d171d5105b3cd5472d6e653a4e1187
There is a void in English but it's not a problem unique to English.
All languages are full of voids, and when we think in only one language, we fail to notice them.
That's why we need to collaborate with speakers of different languages.
英語に限った話ではない
すべての言語は穴だらけであり、単一の言語で考えているとそれに気付かない
だから我々は異なる言語の話者と協働する必要がある
https://gyazo.com/8c4f03c6a4f4c4e7c921f4df275d8806
Source: https://hbr.org/2017/07/being-the-boss-in-brussels-boston-and-beijing
Highlight by me
空気が支配する日本ではブロードリスニングが重要
Erin Meyerの研究によれば日本は階層的で合意重視の極端な文化
https://gyazo.com/d04ca9be867c45bfa8029d1001d8c6a2
To Lead Across Cultures, Focus on Hierarchy and Decision Making
https://gyazo.com/25754c3e6465e8f82104246a12f50338
我々は特殊な社会を構築しており、特殊な出来事を観察して、特殊な語彙を発達させている
We are building a unique society, observing unique phenomena, and developing a unique vocabulary.
In my words, Japan is extremely hierarchical, but extremely focused on consensus, a kind of outlier.
Many Japanese think the culture outdated in an era of global communication. I agree. We need to change our behavior and mindset.
However, Japanese vocabulary may help understand the societal harmonics in higher resolution.
(CUT)
Our traditional (or outdated) culture
Many Japanese consider this culture outdated in an era of global communication with people from diverse backgrounds.
I agree. We need to change our behavior and mindset.
However, the vocabulary we've created can help understand the world in higher resolution.
some languages are better adapted to expressing certain thoughts than are others
https://gyazo.com/da77455e06f268713e256c0a58a5087c
https://gyazo.com/c0b65482fd6df7e30b7eaee813c48323
Japanese speakers are minority
https://gyazo.com/e519dca1a8549bf31b09dfd47ff8c5d8
Think Words as Public Goods
Speakers of minority languages can increase the world's public goods by exporting words.
「言葉は公共財」「言葉を輸出しよう」
日本語話者は世界の中ではマイノリティ
https://gyazo.com/5f33535124b0994a5d610fa547d7dde7
Don't wait for the translation.
翻訳が終わるのを待っていてはいけない。
Let's participate in the plural thinking that are currently emerging.
emerge　湧いて現れる　湧現
いま湧き現れつつあるPlural Thinkingに参加しよう。
Your words can become common goods and help people around the world.
あなたの言葉は公共財となり、世界中の人々を助けることができる
https://gyazo.com/803b4ef247017dec8acf7d5f292cf7ee
開門造車 你行你来
Door is open. Let's join to create a car.
Next event: /plurality-japanese/1/20 Social Hack Day
Related
言葉は人間増強の四要素
en.icon