時差N小時:洛杉磯人和螞蟻

If you've ever driven in LA, you know that peopledon't cooperate terribly well.

如果你在洛杉磯開過車，你就會知道那里路上人們配合得不是很好，

Traffic jams, folks cutting folks off,people shouting atyou out their windows . . .it's a real headache.

致使交通阻塞，水泄不通，人們透過車窗口大嚷大叫，真是讓人頭痛!

We'd all do a lot better–at least, we'd allmovethrough congestion a lot faster–if we were ants.

如果我們能效仿螞蟻，那么，至少擁堵的交通移動地可以更快些!

Why ants, you ask?

你可能會問：為什么是螞蟻呢?

That's what Ian Couzin of Princeton University wanted to know.

普林斯頓大學的Ian Couzin也曾經(jīng)疑惑過。

You mayhave seen films of huge numbers of South American Army Ants zooming across thegrass onraids and coming back with all sorts of goodies to eat.

你可能曾看過電影里成群結(jié)隊的南美洲軍蟻 “行軍”穿過草叢，而后滿載而歸。

So why don't they crash into each otherand suffer ant-gridlock the way humans do?

那么，為什么他們不會撞上對方，像人類一樣，交通阻塞呢?

One answer: Couzin found is that army ants follow asimple procedure:

Couzin 發(fā)現(xiàn)有個原因能解釋：軍蟻行進的方式很簡單，

everybody coming home has the right-of-way.

所有螞蟻回家都有“優(yōu)先權(quán)”。

Even a simple rule like that: if you going out, same-phrase side; if you coming home, don'tsame-phrase side; works terrifically.

很簡單的守則：出門就走同向邊;回家就走逆向邊，屢試不爽。

It results in a stream of home-going ants passing unobstructedthrough the center of a crowd ofout-going ants.

這樣一來，回家的一群螞蟻會暢通無阻地穿過成群結(jié)隊的出門螞蟻群。

Among other things, this means raiding partiescan go any direction from the anthill, becausenobody has to remember some complicated ruleabout turning left or turning right.

這樣，蟻冢中的螞蟻群可以自由行進，因為無須忌諱向左或向右的復(fù)雜規(guī)則。

Also, the guys bringing home the goodies will always beprotected on both sides by out-goingants. Simple!

兩側(cè)要出門的螞蟻也會保護背著東西回家的螞蟻群。再簡單不過了!

So, would this work in LA?

那么，洛杉磯能借鑒嗎?

Probably not. Thousands of human beings just can't be made to followa behavioral rule likethat.

也許不行，成千上萬的人是不可能遵守螞蟻群的規(guī)則的。

Somebody would try to get a little bit ahead, then somebody else wouldsee that and get angry,and pretty soon, you're back to LA traffic.

有些人想方設(shè)法在更前面，其他人看到了就會生氣，不一會兒，又會回到洛杉磯交通的狀態(tài)。

For better or worse, people justdon't think like ants.

不管怎樣，人們是無法像螞蟻般思考的。