文本选自：Harvard Business Review（哈佛商业评论）
作者：Gizem Yalcin and Stefano Puntoni
原文标题：How AI Affects Our Sense of Self
原文发布时间：30 Aug. 2023
How AI Affects Our Sense of Self
If you ever took a marketing course, you may remember the famous case from the 1950s about General Mills' launch of Betty Crocker cake mixes, which called for simply adding water, mixing, and baking. Despite the product's excellent performance, sales were initially disappointing. That was puzzling until managers figured out the problem: The mix made baking too easy, and buyers felt they were somehow cheating when they used it. On the basis of that insight, the company removed egg powder from the ingredients and asked customers to crack an egg and beat it into the mix. That small change made those bakers feel better about themselves and so boosted sales. Today, 70 years later, most cake mixes still require users to add an egg.
We can take a lesson from that story today. As companies increasingly embrace automated products and services, they need to understand how those things make their customers feel about themselves. To date, however, managers and academics have usually focused on something quite different: understanding what customers think about those things. Researchers have been studying, for example, whether people prefer artificial intelligence over humans (they don't), how moral or fair AI is perceived to be (not very), and the tasks for which people are likely to resist the adoption of automation (those that are less quantifiable and more open to interpretation).
All that is important to consider. But now that people are starting to interact frequently and meaningfully with AI and automated technologies, both at and outside work, it's time to focus on the emotions those technologies evoke.
人工智能如何影响我们的自我意识
精听党背景导读
科技与意识有何关联？
目前来看，人工智能技术已经在许多领域（比如自动驾驶）取得了长足的进步，但是相比于人工智能技术的真正潜力，这些进步还只是九牛一毛。也许在未来的重大技术突破之后，人工智能将可以意识到自己的存在，并且能够感知周遭的环境并且根据外界情况实时做出反应。未来，人们可以将人工智能送入太空，或者派往战场，让它们代替人类来执行危险的任务。除了给人类开车以外，人工智能还可以洗衣做饭、打扫卫生。而且，它们还可以在无人监督的情况下独立自主地完成这些工作。
文本选自：Harvard Business Review（哈佛商业评论）作者：Gizem Yalcin and Stefano Puntoni原文标题：How AI Affects Our Sense of Self原文发布时间：30 Aug. 2023关键词：AI 互动 科学
精听党带着问题听
1.“自我意识”用英语可以怎么表达？2. 如何理解段一中的“ingredient”？3. 随着自动化产品和服务被广泛接受，公司需要了解什么信息？
精听党选段赏析
标题解读
How AI Affects Our Sense of Self
人工智能如何影响我们的自我意识
affect vt. 影响；1. The new policy affects everyone in the company. 新政策影响公司里的每一个人。
sense of self 自我意识；1. Meditation can help you develop a stronger sense of self. 冥想可以帮助你培养更强的自我意识。
段一
If you ever took a marketing course, you may remember the famous case from the 1950s about General Mills’ launch of Betty Crocker cake mixes, which called for simply adding water, mixing, and baking. Despite the product’s excellent performance, sales were initially disappointing. That was puzzling until managers figured out the problem: The mix made baking too easy, and buyers felt they were somehow cheating when they used it. On the basis of that insight, the company removed egg powder from the ingredients and asked customers to crack an egg and beat it into the mix. That small change made those bakers feel better about themselves and so boosted sales. Today, 70 years later, most cake mixes still require users to add an egg.
performance n. 表现；1. The athlete’s performance in the race was outstanding. 这位运动员在比赛中的表现非常出色。
puzzling adj. 令人困惑的；1. The results of the experiment were puzzling. 实验结果是令人困惑的。
insight n. 洞察力；1. The detective’s insight helped solve the case. 侦探的洞察力帮助解决了这个案子。
ingredient n. 成分；1. The list of ingredients on the food label is important to check for allergies. 食品标签上的成分列表对于检查过敏源很重要。
boost vt. 提高；1. The new marketing campaign boosted sales significantly. 新的营销活动大大提高了销售额。
参考译文
如果你上过市场营销课程，你可能还记得20世纪50年代通用磨坊推出贝蒂克罗蛋糕粉的著名案例，它只需要简单地加水、混合和烘焙。尽管该产品表现优异，但最初的销售情况令人失望。这让人感到很困惑，直到管理者们发现了问题所在：这种蛋糕粉让烘焙变得太容易了，买家在使用这种蛋糕粉的时候觉得自己在某种程度上是在作弊。基于这一见解，通用磨坊从蛋糕粉配料中去掉了鸡蛋粉，并要求顾客打一个鸡蛋，然后将鸡蛋搅拌到蛋糕粉当中。这一小小的改变让烘焙者自我感觉更加良好，从而促进了销售。70年后的今天，大多数蛋糕粉仍然需要用户自己添加一个鸡蛋。
段二
We can take a lesson from that story today. As companies increasingly embrace automated products and services, they need to understand how those things make their customers feel about themselves. To date, however, managers and academics have usually focused on something quite different: understanding what customers think about those things. Researchers have been studying, for example, whether people prefer artificial intelligence over humans (they don’t), how moral or fair AI is perceived to be (not very), and the tasks for which people are likely to resist the adoption of automation (those that are less quantifiable and more open to interpretation).
embrace vt. 拥抱；欣然接受，乐意采纳；1. The company decided to embrace new technology to improve efficiency. 公司决定拥抱新技术以提高效率。
automated adj. 自动化的；1. The factory uses automated machines to increase productivity. 工厂使用自动化机器来提高生产力。
academic n. 大学教师，学者；1. The conference was attended by many renowned academics. 许多著名的学者参加了这次会议。
moral adj. 道德的；1. It is important to make moral decisions in life. 在生活中做出道德的决定是很重要的。
fair adj. 公平的；1. The judge made a fair decision in the case. 法官在这个案子中做出了一个公平的决定。
resist vt. 抵抗；1. He tried to resist the temptation to eat the cake. 他试图抵抗吃蛋糕的诱惑。
adoption n. 采纳；1. The adoption of new technology can improve efficiency. 采纳新技术可以提高效率。
quantifiable adj. 可量化的；1. The benefits of exercise are not always easily quantifiable. 锻炼的好处并不总是容易被量化。
interpretation n. 解释；1. The painting is open to many different interpretations. 这幅画可以有许多不同的解释。
参考译文
我们今天可以从这个故事中吸取教训。随着公司越来越多地采用自动化产品和服务，这些公司需要了解这些产品和服务如何让客户看待他们自己。然而，迄今为止，管理者和学者通常关注的是完全不同的东西：了解客户对这些东西的看法。例如，研究人员一直在研究，人们是否更喜欢人工智能而不是人类（他们没有），人们认为人工智能有多道德或公平（不是很道德或很公平），以及人们可能抵制采用自动化的任务（那些难以量化且更容易解释的任务）。
段三
All that is important to consider. But now that people are starting to interact frequently and meaningfully with AI and automated technologies, both at and outside work, it’s time to focus on the emotions those technologies evoke.
interact vi. 互动；1. Children learn by interacting with their environment. 孩子们通过与环境互动来学习。
frequently adv. 频繁地；
meaningfully adv. 有意义地；1. He contributed meaningfully to the discussion. 他对讨论做出了有意义的贡献。
focus on 专注于；关注；1. She needs to focus on her studies to do well in school. 她需要关注她的学习才能在学校表现出色。
evoke vt. 唤起；1. The smell of freshly baked cookies evokes memories of childhood. 新鲜烤饼干的香味唤起了童年的回忆。
参考译文
所有这些都是需要考虑的重要因素。但现在，人们开始在工作内外与人工智能和自动化技术进行频繁而有意义的互动，是时候关注这些技术所唤起的情感了。
精听党每日单词
affect
/əˈfekt/ vt. 影响；
sense of self
自我意识；
performance
/pərˈfɔːrməns/ n. 表现；
puzzling
/ˈpʌzlɪŋ/ adj. 令人困惑的；
insight
/ˈɪnsaɪt/ n. 洞察力；
ingredient
/ɪnˈɡriːdiənt/ n. 成分；
boost
/buːst/ vt. 提高；
embrace
/ɪmˈbreɪs/ vt. 拥抱；欣然接受，乐意采纳；
automated
/ˈɔːtəmeɪtɪd/ adj. 自动化的；
academic
/ˌækəˈdemɪk/ n. 大学教师，学者；
moral
/ˈmɔːrəl/ adj. 道德的；
fair
/fer/ adj. 公平的；
resist
/rɪˈzɪst/ vt. 抵抗；
adoption
/əˈdɑːpʃ(ə)n/ n. 采纳；
quantifiable
/ˈkwɑːntɪfaɪəblˌˌkwɑːntɪˈfaɪəbl/ adj. 可量化的；
interpretation
/ɪnˌtɜːrprəˈteɪʃ(ə)n/ n. 解释；
interact
/ˌɪntərˈækt/ vi. 互动；
frequently
/ˈfriːkwəntli/ adv. 频繁地；
meaningfully
/ˈmiːnɪŋfəli/ adv. 有意义地；
focus on
专注于；关注；
evoke
/ɪˈvoʊk/ vt. 唤起；
精听党文化拓展
大多数计算机科学家认为，随着技术的发展，「意识」会作为计算机系统的一种“特性”自然地显现出来。有人认为「意识」包含一系列行为，这些行为包括接受新信息、储存与检索信息、对信息进行处理并将其转化成为自己的认知与行动。如果这种观点是正确的，那么将来某天机器的确能够产生出“终极的”自我意识——机器收集信息的能力远远超过人类，能够存储的信息量超过许多图书馆的总和。机器还能在几毫秒时间内访问自身庞大的数据库，并且通过这些信息做出极其复杂、却又极具逻辑性的决策，任何人类都无法与之匹敌。
而在另一方面，也有一些物理学家与哲学家认为，人类的一些行为是机器所永远不能企及的。例如，人类的「创造力」以及无拘无束的「自由观念」是机器永远无法通过逻辑和计算获得的。
当然，这些并不是针对机器的自我意识问题的全部观点，学术界不同的看法还有很多。
意识与物质相互之间的关系会导致一系列悖论的产生，其中的一些问题在80年后的今天仍然悬而未决。「薛定谔的猫」悖论是其中最著名的一个：一只猫被放入一个密闭的环境中，在此之中它生存或死亡的概率都是50%，只有在对猫进行观察以后，人们才能真正确定它的生死。
而另一种相反的观点认为，意识是生物学上的产物——正如生物学本身来源于化学，而化学又来源于物理学那样。这种较为狭义的观点被称为意识的“小C（little-C）”论。这一理论与神经学家的观点相符，他们认为意识的活动与大脑的状态及活动过程相一致。
精听党每日美句
"True success is overcoming the fear of being unsuccessful." ——Paul Sweeney
“真正的成功是战胜害怕失败的恐惧。” ——保罗·斯威尼