TDE精彩演講：腸胃里的大腦

　　導語：一起看看下面演講，看我們腸胃里的大腦是如何的吧!

　　This technology made a very important impact on us. It changed the way our history developed. But it's a technology so pervasive, so invisible, that we, for a long time, forgot to take it into account when we talked about human evolution. But we see the results of this technology, still. So let's make a little test. So everyone of you turns to their neighbor please. Turn and face your neighbors. Please, also on the balcony. Smile. Smile. Open the mouths. Smile, friendly. (Laughter) Do you -- Do you see any Canine teeth? (Laughter) Count Dracula teeth in the mouths of your neighbors? Of course not. Because our dental anatomy is actually made, not for tearing down raw meat from bones or chewing fibrous leaves for hours. It is made for a diet which is soft, mushy, which is reduced in fibers, which is very easily chewable and digestible. Sounds like fast food, doesn't it.

　　有一項技術 給我們帶來了重大沖擊。 它改變了我們歷史發(fā)展的道路。 但是這項技術非常普遍， 極不明顯， 以至于我們在很長時間里， 都忘了把它算入 我們所說的 人類的演化中。 但是，我們還是看到了這項技術的后果。 那么我們來做個小測驗。 現(xiàn)在請大家都轉過去面對你身邊的人。 轉過去面對旁邊的。 樓上的朋友也請照做。 微笑，微笑。張嘴。 微笑，友善點。 (觀眾笑聲) 你是否—— 你能看到犬牙嗎? (觀眾笑聲) 數(shù)數(shù)你旁邊的人 有多少吸血鬼尖牙? 當然沒有。 因為我們的牙體解剖學 并不是為了 從骨頭上扯下生肉 或花好幾個小時咀嚼纖維質(zhì)的樹葉。 它是為了進食那些 柔軟的，糊狀的東西 不含太多纖維， 非常容易咀嚼 和消化。 聽上去像快餐，是不是。

　　(Laughter)

　　(觀眾笑聲)

　　It's for cooked food. We carry in our face the proof that cooking, food transformation, made us what we are. So I would suggest that we change how we classify ourselves. We talk about ourselves as omnivores. I would say, we should call ourselves coctivors -- (Laughter) from coquere, to cook. We are the animals who eat cooked food. No, no, no, no. Better -- to live of cooked food. So cooking is a very important technology. It's technology. I don't know how you feel, but I like to cook for entertainment. And you need some design to be successful. So, cooking is a very important technology, because it allowed us to acquire what brought you all here: the big brain, this wonderful cerebral cortex we have. Because brains are expensive. Those have to pay tuition fees know. (Laughter) But it's also, metabolically speaking, expensive. You now, our brain is two to three percent of the body mass, but actually it uses 25 percent of the total energy we use. It's very expensive. Where does the energy come from. Of course, from food. If we eat raw food, we cannot release really the energy. So this ingenuity of our ancestors, to invent this most marvelous technology. Invisible -- everyone of us does it every day, so to speak. Cooking made it possible that mutations, natural selections, our environment, could develop us.

　　它是為了進食烹制過的食品。 我們的臉上就帶著證據(jù)表明 烹飪 也就是食物的轉化 造就我們今天的樣子。 所以我建議我們應該改變對自己的分類。 我們稱自己是雜食動物。 我要說，我們應該稱自己為煮食動物—— (觀眾笑聲) 烹飪，源自拉丁文coquere。 我們這種動物 要吃烹飪的食物。 不不不，更好的說法是—— 以烹煮過的食物為生。 所以說烹飪是一項非常重要的技術。 它的確是技術。 我不知道你們怎么看， 但是我喜歡把烹飪當成娛樂。 而且你需要一些構思 才能成功。 那么，烹飪之所以是重要的技術， 是因為它讓我們獲得了 令我們演化到今天這個地步的東西： 大的腦子， 就是我們神奇的大腦皮層。 因為腦子變大了， 所以我們現(xiàn)在必須要為此付費。 (觀眾笑聲) 但是同時，從新陳代謝角度看，這樣的腦也很昂貴。 要知道，我們的大腦占身體總量的2-3%， 但事實上它要消耗我們所需的總能量的25%。 這是很大的消耗。 那能量是從哪來的呢，當然是從食物來的。 如果我們吃生的食物， 就不能充分地釋放能量。 因此我們的祖先發(fā)揮聰明才智， 發(fā)明了這個最不可思議的技術。 說它是無形的——就是說，我們每天都做飯。 烹飪使得 突變， 自然選擇，我們的環(huán)境， 可以令我們發(fā)展演變。

　　So if we think about this unleashing human potential, which was possible by cooking and food, why do we talk so badly about food? Why is it always do and don'ts and it's good for you, it's not good for you? I think the good news for me would be if we could go back and talk about the unleashing, the continuation of the unleashing of human potential. Now, cooking allowed also that we became a migrant species. We walked out of Africa two times. We populated all the ecologies. If you can cook, nothing can happen to you, because whatever you find, you will try to transform it. It keeps also your brain working. Now the very easy and simple technology which was developed actually runs after this formula. Take something which looks like food, transform it, and it gives you a good, very easy, accessible energy.

　　所以如果我們想想 這一未釋放的人類潛能， 很可能來自烹飪和食物， 那我們?yōu)槭裁催�要說食物的壞話呢? 總是說吃這個，不能吃那個， 這個對你有好處，那個對你沒好處? 我認為對我來說的好消息 就是如果我們回到開頭 所說的未釋放的， 對釋放人類的潛能的延續(xù)。 現(xiàn)在，烹飪也讓我們 成為遷徙的物種。 我們兩次走出非洲。 我們在各種生態(tài)環(huán)境中繁衍。 如果你能煮食，你就什么也不用怕， 因為無論你找到什么， 你都會試圖轉化它們。 它也讓你開動腦筋想方設法。 目前所發(fā)展出來的非常 簡單易行的技術 事實上就是遵循這樣的公式。 拿來一些看上去像食物的東西，轉化它， 它就提供給你好的，容易獲取的能量。

　　This technology affected two organs, the brain and the gut, which it actually affected. The brain could grow, but the gut actually shrunk. Okay, it's not obvious to be honest. (Laughter) But it shrunk to 60 percent of primate gut of my body mass. So because of having cooked food, it's easier to digest. Now having a large brain, as you know, is a big advantage, because you can actually influence your environment. You can influence your own technologies you have invented. You can continue to innovate and invent. Now the big brain did this also with cooking. But how did it actually run this show? How did it actually interfere? What kind of criteria did it use? And this is actually taste reward and energy. You know we have up to five tastes, three of them sustain us. Sweet -- energy. Umami -- this is a meaty taste. You need proteins for muscles, recovery. Salty, because you need salt, otherwise your electric body will not work. And two tastes which protect you -- bitter and sour, which are against poisonous and rotten material. But of course, they are hard-wired but we use them still in a sophisticated way. Think about bittersweet chocolate; or think about the acidity of yogurt -- wonderful -- mixed with strawberry fruits.

　　這個技術影響到兩個器官， 大腦和腸胃，造成了實實在在的影響。 腦子變大了，但是腸胃卻縮小了。 好吧，老實說這點在我這里并不太明顯。 (觀眾笑聲) 但是它縮小到從前的60% 這是相對于我的體量的 靈長目動物的腸道而言。 因為有了熟食， 就更容易消化。 正如大家所知，有一個較大的腦子， 是一個很大的優(yōu)勢， 因為你能確實地影響你的.環(huán)境。 你可以影響你自己已經(jīng)發(fā)明的廚藝。 你可以繼續(xù)發(fā)明創(chuàng)造。 現(xiàn)在這個大個的腦子也要在烹飪方面發(fā)揮創(chuàng)意。 但具體是如何實現(xiàn)的呢? 事實上它是如何介入的呢? 它采用怎樣的條件? 而且確實會帶來更好的味道和能量。 你知道我們最多能有五種味覺， 其中三種是我們維持生命需要的。 甜——能量。 鮮——這是肉類的味道。 你需要蛋白質(zhì)生成肌肉，以及恢復健康。 咸， 因為你需要鹽份，否則你身體的電解質(zhì)無法運作。 而另外兩種味道是保護你的—— 苦和酸， 它們代表了 有毒和腐壞的物質(zhì)。 當然，這些都是與生俱來的， 但是我們還是可以通過精密的方法來利用它們。 想想又苦又甜的巧克力。 或是酸奶的酸味 很奇妙地 混合了草莓。

　　So we can make mixtures of all this kind of thing because we know that, in cooking, we can transform it to the form. Reward: this is a more complex and especially integrative form of our brain with various different elements -- the external states, our internal states, how do we feel, and so on are put together. And something which maybe you don't like but you are so hungry that you really will be satisfied to eat. So satisfaction was a very important part. And as I say, energy was necessary.

　　之所以我們可以混合所有這些東西 是因為我們知道 通過烹調(diào)，我們可以將它們轉化 成形。 獎賞：這是一個更為復雜 和特別一體化 的形式存在于我們的大腦中 其中包含了各種各樣的因素—— 外部環(huán)境，我們的內(nèi)部狀態(tài)， 我們?nèi)绾胃兄�以及其它所有這些都放在一起。 而且有些東西你可能未必喜歡， 但是你太餓了所以你也可以很滿意地吃下去。 所以滿足感是一個非常重要的部分。 而且正如我說的，能量也是必須的。

　　Now how did the gut actually participate in this development? And the gut is a silent voice -- it's going more for feelings. I use the euphemism digestive comfort -- actually -- it's a digestive discomfort, which the gut is concerned with. If you get a stomach ache, if you get a little bit bloated, was not the right food, was not the right cooking manipulation or maybe other things went wrong. So my story is a tale of two brains, because it might surprise you, our gut has a full-fledged brain. All the managers in the room say, "You don't tell me something new, because we know, gut feeling. This is what we are using." (Laughter) And actually you use it and it's actually useful. Because our gut is connected to our emotional limbic system, they do speak with each other and make decisions. But what it means to have a brain there is that, not only the big brain has to talk with the food, the food has to talk with the brain, because we have to learn actually how to talk to the brains.

　　那么事實上腸胃是如何 參與到這一發(fā)展當中呢? 腸胃能在無聲中發(fā)言。 它更強調(diào)感覺。 我用一種委婉的說法就是消化舒適。 事實上它是消化不適， 而這是腸胃所關心的。 如果你胃痛，如果你有點腹脹， 要不是食物不對，要不就是烹飪的方式不對。 或者是別的地方出了問題。 我要講的是兩個大腦的故事， 因為你可能會很驚訝， 我們的腸胃有一個訓練有素的大腦。 在座的所有管理層都會說， “你不用說這是什么新東西，因為我們知道，肚子里有數(shù)。 我們一直都是這么用的。” (觀眾笑聲) 而事實上，你的確是在使用它，它真的很有用。 因為我們的腸胃與我們的腦緣系統(tǒng)相連。 它們的確相互溝通 并作出決定。 但是在這里 擁有一個大腦意味著 不僅是那個大個的腦子 要與食物交談， 食物本身也要和大腦說話， 因為我們必須學習 如何真的和這些大腦交談。

　　Now if there's a gut brain, we should also learn to talk with this brain. Now 150 years ago, anatomists described very, very carefully -- here is a model of a wall of a gut. I took the three elements -- stomach, small intestine and colon. And within this structure, you see these two pinkish layers, which are actually the muscle. And between this muscle, they found nervous tissues, a lot of nervous tissues, which penetrate actually the muscle -- penetrate the submucosa, where you have all the elements for the immune system. The gut is actually the largest immune system, defending your body. It penetrates the mucosa. This is the layer which actually touches the food you are swallowing and you digest, which is actually the lumen. Now if you think about the gut, the gut is -- if you could stretch it -- 40 meters long, the length of a tennis court. If we could unroll it, get out all the folds and so on, it would have 400 sq. meters of surface.

　　如果腸胃里真有一個大腦， 我們也必須學習和這個腦溝通。 距今150年前， 解剖學家做了非常非常仔細的描述—— 這里是一個胃腸壁的模型—— 我取其中的三個成員—— 胃，小腸和結腸。 在這套結構中， 你可以看到這兩層粉紅色的東西， 這實際上是肌肉。 在這些肌肉之間，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)了神經(jīng)組織， 大量的神經(jīng)組織， 它們滲透在整層肌肉中， 進入粘膜下層， 那里都是免疫系統(tǒng)。 腸胃事實上是最大的免疫系統(tǒng)， 保護著你的身體。 它滲入到粘膜。 這層真正接觸到你吞咽下去 以及要消化的食物， 這就是內(nèi)腔。 現(xiàn)在如果你想想我們的腸胃， 如果你將其伸展開， 它有40米長， 相當于一個網(wǎng)球場的長度。 如果我們把它攤開， 把所有褶皺都攤平， 表面積將有400平方米。

　　And now this brain takes care over this, to move it with the muscles and to do defend the surface and, of course, digest our food we cook. So if we give you a specification, this brain, which is autonomous, have 500 million nerve cells, 100 million neurons -- so around the size of a cat brain, so there sleeps a little cat -- thinks for itself, optimizes whatever it digests. It has 20 different neuron types. It's got the same diversity you find actually in a pig brain, where you have 100 billion neurons. It has autonomous organized microcircuits, has these programs which run. It senses the food; it knows exactly what to do. It senses it by chemical means and very importantly by mechanical means, because it has to move the food -- it has to mix all the various elements which we need for digestion. This control of muscle is very, very important, because, you know, there can be reflexes. If you don't like a food, especially if you're a child, you gag. It's this brain which makes this reflex. And then finally, it controls also the secretion of this molecular machinery, which actually digests the food we cook.

　　現(xiàn)在這個腦子在管理著這一切， 調(diào)動肌肉使之運動，保護表面， 當然，還要消化我們所煮的食物。 如果要給你們一個更具體的認識， 那么這個獨立自主的大腦， 有5億個神經(jīng)細胞， 一億個神經(jīng)元—— 這差不多是一只貓的大腦， 所以我們的肚子里正睡著只小貓—— 自己在那里盤算著， 如何最大化地利用所消化的食物。 它有20種不同的神經(jīng)元。 和你能在豬腦子里發(fā)現(xiàn)的神經(jīng)元種類一樣多， 而豬有一千億個神經(jīng)元。 它具有自發(fā)組成的微電路， 還有各種程序在運轉。 它感受到食物，知道應該干什么。 它通過化學方式感受到食物， 更重要的是機械的方式， 因為它必須要移動這些食物， 它必須把我們消化吸收所需的所有不同元素 都攪和在一起。 對肌肉的控制是非常非常重要的， 因為，要知道這里存在著反射作用。 如果你不喜歡某類食物，尤其當你還是小孩時，你會作嘔。 正是這個大腦令你作出這個反射動作的。 最后還有， 它還控制著分子結構上的分泌作用， 這才是對我們所煮食物的真正消化。

　　Now how do the two brains work with each other? I took here a model from robotics -- it's called the Subsumption Architecture. What it means is that we have a layered control system. The lower layer, our gut brain, has its own goals -- digestion defense -- and we have the higher brain with the goal of integration and generating behaviors. Now both look -- and this is the blue arrows -- both look to the same food, which is in the lumen and in the area of your intestine. The big brain integrates signals, which come from the running programs of the lower brain, But subsumption means that the higher brain can interfere with the lower. It can replace, or it can inhibit actually, signals. So if we take two types of signals -- a hunger signal for example. If you have an empty stomach, your stomach produces a hormone called ghrelin. It's a very big signal; it's sent to the brain says, "Go and eat." You have stop signals -- we have up to eight stop signals. At least in my case, they are not listened to. (Laughter)

　　那么這兩個大腦是如何相互合作的呢? 在這里我使用了一個機器人學的模型。 叫做包容結構。 也就是說我們所擁有的是一個分層的控制系統(tǒng)。 較低層次是我們的腸胃大腦。 它有著自己的目標——消化和防御—— 我們還有一個較高級的大腦， 其目標是整合 和引起行動。 現(xiàn)在這兩個大腦都看到——就是這里的藍色箭頭—— 它們都看到同樣的食物在內(nèi)腔里， 以及在小腸部分。 大個的大腦整合所有信號， 這些信號來自較低層大腦 所運轉的程序， 但包容意味著， 高層大腦能夠干涉低層次的大腦。 它可以替換， 或甚至阻止那些信號。 因此如果我們收到兩種信號—— 比如一個是饑餓的信號—— 如果你的胃是空的， 它就會分泌出一種荷爾蒙叫饑餓激素。 這是一個非常強烈的信號。 它向你的大腦說， “去吃!” 你還收到停止的信號。 我們最多能收到8個停止的信號。 至少在我這里， 這些信號都不管用。 (觀眾笑聲)

　　So what happens if the big brain in the integration overrides the signal? So if you override the hunger signal, you can have a disorder, which is called anorexia. Despite generating a healthy hunger signal, the big brain ignores it and activates different programs in the gut. The more usual case is overeating. It actually takes the signal and changes it, and we continue, even [though] our eight signals would say, "Stop, enough. We have transferred enough energy." Now the interesting thing is that, along this lower layer -- this gut -- the signal becomes stronger and stronger if undigested, but digestible, material could penetrate. This we found from bariatric surgery. That then the signal would be very, very high.

　　那么會怎樣? 如果大的大腦從整體上 壓制了這個信號? 如果你壓制了饑餓的信號， 你就會造成失調(diào)，叫做神經(jīng)性食欲缺乏。 盡管出現(xiàn)了 一個正常的饑餓信號， 但你的大個大腦卻無視它， 并在腸胃里激活不同的程序。 更常見的情況 是過度進食。 大腦確實收到了信號 并改變了它， 然后我們就繼續(xù)吃， 甚至我們的八種信號都在說，“停!夠了。 我們已經(jīng)轉化了足夠的能量。” 這時有趣的地方就在于， 在腸胃這個較低的層次上， 這個信號會變得越來越強 如果我們吃了一些尚未吸收但是又可以吸收 的食物。 這種情況出現(xiàn)在縮減消化道的減肥手術中。 這種情況下饑餓信號會非常非常強烈。

　　So now back to the cooking question and back to the design. We have learned to talk to the big brain -- taste and reward, as you know. Now what would be the language we have to talk to the gut brain that its signals are so strong that the big brain cannot ignore it? Then we would generate something all of us would like to have -- a balance between the hunger and the satiation. Now I give you, from our research, a very short claim. This is fat digestion. You have on your left an olive oil droplet, and this olive oil droplet gets attacked by enzymes. This is an in vitro experiment. It's very difficult to work in the intestine. Now everyone would expect that when the degradation of the oil happens, when the constituents are liberated, they disappear, they go away because they [were] absorbed. Actually, what happens is that a very intricate structure appears. And I hope you can see that there are some ring-like structures in the middle image, which is water. This whole system generates a huge surface to allow more enzymes to attack the remaining oil. And finally, on your right side, you see a bubbly, cell-like structure appearing, from which the body will absorb the fat. Now if we could take this language -- and this is a language of structures -- and make it longer-lasting, that it can go through the passage of the intestine, it would generate stronger signals.

　　現(xiàn)在回到烹飪的問題。 回到設計菜式的問題。 我們已經(jīng)學習了要和大的大腦交談—— 你知道，就是味道和獎賞。 那么我們該用什么語言 和腸胃里的大腦交談? 它發(fā)出的信號強烈到 讓大的大腦都不能無視? 這樣我們就能得到 我們大家都想要的東西—— 處于饑餓和滿足之間的 平衡。 通過我們的研究，我可以告訴你們一個小結論。 這就是脂肪消化。 在你的左邊 是一滴橄欖油， 這種橄欖油會被酶類攻擊。 這是在試管中進行的實驗。 因為很難在腸道里做實驗。 現(xiàn)在每個人都知道 當油滴開始降解時， 當其中的組成成分被釋放出來時， 它們會消失，不見掉， 因為它們被吸收了。 但真正出現(xiàn)的是一個非常復雜的結構。 我希望你們可以看到 在中間這張圖里有一些環(huán)狀的結構， 那就是水。 這整個系統(tǒng)會生成巨大的表面積 可以讓更多的酶類 去攻擊那些剩余的油脂。 而最后，在你的右邊， 你會看到出現(xiàn)了一個泡泡狀的， 細胞一樣的結構， 身體會從中吸收脂肪。 現(xiàn)在如果我們能使這種語言—— 而這是一種結構語言—— 維持更長時間， 讓它維持在 整個腸道內(nèi)， 它就會產(chǎn)生更強烈的信號。

　　So our research -- and I think the research also at the universities -- are now fixing on these points to say: how can we actually -- and this might sound trivial now to you -- how can we change cooking? How can we cook that we have this language developed? So what we have actually, it's not an omnivore's dilemma. We have a coctivor's opportunity, because we have learned over the last two million years which taste and reward -- quite sophisticated to cook -- to please ourselves, to satisfy ourselves. If we add the matrix, if we add the structure language, which we have to learn, when we learn it, then we can put it back; and around energy, we could generate a balance, which comes out from our really primordial operation: cooking. So, to make cooking really a very important element, I would say even philosophers have to change and have to finally recognize that cooking is what made us.

　　因此我們的研究—— 而且我想大學里也有類似的研究—— 就是在修正這些地方 也就是說，我們?nèi)绾文苷嬲��?mdash;— 這對你們來說可能覺得有點無意義—— 我們?nèi)绾文芨淖兣腼兊募夹g? 我們該如何做飯 當我們發(fā)展出這門語言以后? 所以我們真正面對的，不是一個雜食動物的兩難處境。 而是一個煮食動物的機遇， 因為在過去的2百萬年里，我們已經(jīng)學習了 什么是好吃的和有營養(yǎng)的—— 學習了非常復雜的烹調(diào)技術—— 來讓自己高興，滿足。 如果我們再加上更精細的內(nèi)容， 如果我們加上結構性的語言，這是我們必須了解的， 當我們了解了這個語言，我們就可以把它用回去， 在能量之間， 我們就能產(chǎn)生一個平衡， 而這將來自 我們最為原始的行為：煮食。 因此，真的把烹飪當成 一個非常重要的因素來看， 我會說就連哲學家們都必須改變看法 并且最終不得不承認 是烹飪造就了我們。

　　So I would say, coquo ergo sum: I cook, therefore I am. Thank you very much.

　　因此我要說：coquo ergo sum(拉丁語) 我煮故我在。 非常感謝大家!

　　(Applause)

　　(觀眾鼓掌)

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