Introduction to Chinese translation of 00C When i was 20 years old i took my earnings from working at a local shipping warehouse to buy a plane ticket from New jersey to asia. I knew zero about asia. i had previously met onl one Chinese in my life, and i had never even eaten Asian food. i didnt know what to expect in this place far from my home. i had almost no money when i arrived, but i had plenty of time i spent the next eight years exploring many countries in asia, sometimes returning home to the United states to earn more money and then going back to see more of the east. i was young enough, and impressionable enough, that asia changed my mind. For one thing i caught a believe that almost anything was possible un serious case of optimism. I saw rapid progres happen right before my eyes, so i began More importantly, i began to think differently. i began to appreciate the decentralized ways in which large tasks could
11 Introduction to Chinese Translation of OOC When I was 20 years old I took my earnings from working at a local shipping warehouse to buy a plane ticket from New Jersey to Asia. I knew zero about Asia. I had previously met only one Chinese in my life, and I had never even eaten Asian food. I didn't know what to expect in this place far from my home. I had almost no money when I arrived, but I had plenty of time. I spent the next eight years exploring many countries in Asia, sometimes returning home to the United States to earn more money, and then going back to see more of the East. I was young enough, and impressionable enough, that Asia changed my mind. For one thing I caught a serious case of optimism. I saw rapid progress happen right before my eyes, so I began to believe that almost anything was possible. More importantly, I began to think differently. I began to appreciate the decentralized ways in which large tasks could
be accomplished with only a minimal amount of rules. i learned it was not necessary to have everything pre-planned. i kept thinking of the way that traffic flow on the streets of india is able to handle people walking, cows standing still, zipping bicycles, slow moving oxcarts, speeding motorcycles, huge trucks swaying buses, too many cars, herds of goats and more cows creeping, all going down the same two-lane road without crashing. Asia gave me a new per spective To one knows where their ideas ultimately come from, and i cant say that the ideas in this book came from asia for sure. but i think Asia prepared my mind for them. i think some of the ideas in this book - for instance the notions of building things from the bottom up rather from the top down, the virtues of decentralized systems, the continuum between the man-made and the born living - are sympathetic with some traditional ideas of Asia. That s one of the reason i am absolutely 12
12 be accomplished with only a minimal amount of rules. I learned it was not necessary to have everything pre-planned. I kept thinking of the way that traffic flow on the streets of India is able to handle people walking, cows standing still, zipping bicycles, slow moving oxcarts, speeding motorcycles, huge trucks, swaying buses, too many cars, herds of goats, and more cows creeping, all going down the same two-lane road without crashing. Asia gave me a new perspective. No one knows where their ideas ultimately come from, and I can't say that the ideas in this book came from Asia for sure, but I think Asia prepared my mind for them. I think some of the ideas in this book -- for instance the notions of building things from the bottom up rather from the top down, the virtues of decentralized systems, the continuum between the man-made and the born living -- are sympathetic with some traditional ideas of Asia. That's one of the reason I am absolutely
delighted this book of ideas has been translated into chinese My happiness with this translation is elevated even higher because the edition you hold in your hands has been created using some of the ideas i discuss in the book itself Rather than being translated by a single professional author (from the top), this book has been translated by a very loosely coordinated decentralized network of amateurs (from the bottom). i call this the process the result of the hive mind. the same idea meant by the fashionable term crowd-source. Even though i wrote about how well this method works in nature, I am still surprised it worked so well on my book i began writing this book in 1990, just about 20 years before the publication of this translation . i have often been asked what has changed in those 20 years and what would I update? The good news for you readers is that the book is as valid and current today as it was 20 years ago. The only thing that needs 13
13 delighted this book of ideas has been translated into Chinese. My happiness with this translation is elevated even higher because the edition you hold in your hands has been created using some of the ideas I discuss in the book itself. Rather than being translated by a single professional author (from the top), this book has been translated by a very loosely coordinated decentralized network of amateurs (from the bottom). I call this the process the result of the "hive mind," the same idea meant by the fashionable term "crowd-source." Even though I wrote about how well this method works in nature, I am still surprised it worked so well on my book! I began writing this book in 1990, just about 20 years before the publication of this translation. I have often been asked what has changed in those 20 years and what would I update? The good news for you readers is that the book is as valid and current today as it was 20 years ago. The only thing that needs
updating are some of the examples. Researchers have generated more evidence and many more and sometimes better examples of the ideas that i presented two decades ago, but the ideas themselves are still surprisingly current and p-to-date If anything this book is now more relevant than it was 20 years ago. When i first wrote this. there was no world wide web. The internet was just barely in service. Simulations were primitive. Computer graphics were rare. Electronic money was unknown. The ideas of virtual life, and decentralized power, and an ecology of machines did not mean anything to anyone, even in America. The stories and logic seemed too abstract and far away. all that has changed now. With the advent of the world wide web, the pervasive net, the realtime web of phones and iPads and PCs, and robot cars that can drive themselves. now the principles i outline in this book seem necessary and important. In fact, in the US
14 updating are some of the examples. Researchers have generated more evidence and many more and sometimes better examples of the ideas that I presented two decades ago, but the ideas themselves are still surprisingly current and up-to-date. If anything, this book is now more relevant than it was 20 years ago. When I first wrote this, there was no world wide web. The internet was just barely in service. Simulations were primitive. Computer graphics were rare. ELectronic money was unknown. The ideas of virtual life, and decentralized power, and an ecology of machines did not mean anything to anyone, even in America. The stories and logic seemed too abstract and far away. All that has changed now. With the advent of the world wide web, the pervasive net, the realtime web of phones and iPads and PCs, and robot cars that can drive themselves, now the principles I outline in this book seem necessary and important. In fact, in the US
this book is now selling better than when it was first released That is the good news. The bad news is that after 20 years there have been so few new ideas in our understanding of how to make very large complicated things work. i am sorry to report that there are no new big ideas in artificial life, or in robotics, or in ecology, or in simulations. Most of what we know now is what we knew 20 years and reported in this book Which brings me to the final reason i am so happy this book has been translated into Chinese. i am hoping that a few Chinese readers will go back to the original research papers when they finish this book, and will then go on to invent or discover the radical new principles that will make this book completely out of date. If that happens i will consider my work to be a success. In the meantime i hope you enjoy this investigation, and my follow-up book, What Technology Wants 15
15 this book is now selling better than when it was first released. That is the good news. The bad news is that after 20 years there have been so few new ideas in our understanding of how to make very large complicated things work. I am sorry to report that there are no new big ideas in artificial life, or in robotics, or in ecology, or in simulations. Most of what we know now is what we knew 20 years and reported in this book. Which brings me to the final reason I am so happy this book has been translated into Chinese. I am hoping that a few Chinese readers will go back to the original research papers when they finish this book, and will then go on to invent or discover the radical new principles that will make this book completely out of date. If that happens I will consider my work to be a success. In the meantime I hope you enjoy this investigation, and my follow-up book, What Technology Wants