We stood on the railroad tracks

コロンボのウェラワッタという高級住宅地で

that ran between my friend's house and the beach.

友人宅とビーチの間を走る

The tracks are elevated about eight feet from the waterline normally,

線路に私たちは立っていた

but at that point the water had receded

その線路は普段 水面から2.5メートル程かさ上げされているが

to a level three or four feet below normal.

そのときは1メートル程

I'd never seen the reef here before.

潮位が下がっていた

There were fish caught in rock pools left behind by the receding water.

初めてそこのサンゴを目にし

Some children jumped down and ran to the rock pools with bags.

引潮による潮だまりには魚が取り残されていた

They were trying to catch fish.

子供たちはそこに飛び込んで

No one realized that this was a very bad idea.

袋に魚を獲ろうとしていた

The people on the tracks just continued to watch them.

それが災いを招くことは誰も知らずに・・

I turned around to check on my friend's house.

線路に立つ人々はただ彼らを眺めていた

Then someone on the tracks screamed.

私は友人宅に引き返そうとしたその時

Before I could turn around, everyone on the tracks was screaming and running.

誰かが叫んだ

The water had started coming back. It was foaming over the reef.

すると 一目散に誰もが叫び逃げ出した

The children managed to run back onto the tracks.

サンゴに激しくぶつかりながら 潮が戻ってきたのだ

No one was lost there. But the water continued to climb.

子供たちはなんとか線路まで戻ったが

In about two minutes, it had reached the level of the railroad tracks

波はどんどん押し寄せてくる

and was coming over it. We had run about 100 meters by this time.

2分後には線路にまで達し さらにそれを超えてきた

It continued to rise.

この時点で私たちは100メートルは走ったが

I saw an old man standing at his gate, knee-deep in water, refusing to move.

波はまだ押し寄せる

He said he'd lived his whole life there by the beach,

老人がひざ丈まで水に浸かりながらも逃げずにいる

and that he would rather die there than run.

彼は「今までここで生きてきた

A boy broke away from his mother to run back into his house

逃げるなら死んだほうがましだ！」と叫び

to get his dog, who was apparently afraid.

少年は母親を振りほどき

An old lady, crying, was carried out of her house and up the road by her son.

恐怖におびえる自分の犬を助けに走り

The slum built on the railroad reservation

老女は息子に抱えられ家から逃げる

between the sea and the railroad tracks was completely swept away.

海と線路の間にあったスラム街は

Since this was a high-risk location, the police had warned the residents,

完全に波にさらわれた

and no one was there when the water rose.

危険地帯の住民には警報が出されており

But they had not had any time to evacuate any belongings.

逃げ遅れた者はいなかったが

For hours afterwards, the sea was strewn with bits of wood for miles around --

荷物を持って逃げる時間はなかった

all of this was from the houses in the slum.

数時間後にはスラム街からのがれきが

When the waters subsided, it was as if it had never existed.

海水とともにあたり中に散らばり

This may seem hard to believe --

水が引いたときには 跡形もなくなっていた

unless you've been reading lots and lots of news reports --

たくさんのニュースを目にしていなければ

but in many places, after the tsunami, villagers were still terrified.

信じ難いかもしれないが 津波の後も

When what was a tranquil sea swallows up people, homes

多くの場所で 住民はまだ恐れていた

and long-tail boats -- mercilessly, without warning --

穏やかだった海は 突然 無慈悲にも

and no one can tell you anything reliable about whether another one is coming,

人々や家々 ボートまでをも飲み込み

I'm not sure you'd want to calm down either.

次の津波が来るのかどうか 誰もわからない

One of the scariest things about the tsunami

それを知ってどうなるかもわからないが

that I've not seen mentioned is the complete lack of information.

あの津波の恐ろしさは

This may seem minor, but it is terrifying to hear rumor after rumor

情報がまるでなかったということであろう

after rumor that another tidal wave, bigger than the last,

些細なことのようだが 次の津波は午後１時ぴったりに

will be coming at exactly 1 p.m., or perhaps tonight, or perhaps ...

いや 今夜かも いやいや たぶん・・と、

You don't even know if it is safe to go back down to the water,

噂が噂を呼ぶのは 実際かなりの恐怖を煽る

to catch a boat to the hospital.

病院へ向かうため ボートに乗ることが

We think that Phi Phi hospital was destroyed.

安全かどうかさえわからない

We think this boat is going to Phuket hospital,

ファイファイ病院は波でやられただろう

but if it's too dangerous to land at its pier,

このボートはプーケット病院に向かうが

then perhaps it will go to Krabi instead, which is more protected.

波止場につけるのが危険すぎるなら

We don't think another wave is coming right away.

代わりにもっと安全なクラビに向かうだろう

At the Phi Phi Hill Resort,

次の津波がすぐに来ることはないだろうから

I was tucked into the corner furthest away from the television,

ファイファイ・ヒル・リゾートで

but I strained to listen for information.

私はテレビから遠くの部屋の隅に押し込まれたが

They reported that there was an 8.5 magnitude earthquake in Sumatra,

テレビからの情報に耳をそばだてていた

which triggered the massive tsunami.

その情報によると スマトラでM8.5の地震が起き

Having this news was comforting in some small way

それがあの巨大津波を引き起こした

to understand what had just happened to us.

ニュースから私たちは一体何が起きたのか知り

However, the report focused on what had already occurred

少しは安心することができた

and offered no information on what to expect now.

しかし その内容は何が起こったのか そればかりで

In general, everything was merely hearsay and rumor,

今後何が起こるのかはわからなかった

and not a single person I spoke to for over 36 hours

すべては単なる噂にすぎず

knew anything with any certainty.

私が36時間以上 人に訊ねまわっても

Those were two accounts of the Asian tsunami from two Internet blogs

誰も確かなことは知らなかった

that essentially sprang up after it occurred.

アジアの津波の後に急増したブログから

I'm now going to show you two video segments from the tsunami

津波の様子を紹介しました

that also were shown on blogs.

ブログでも紹介されていた

I should warn you, they're pretty powerful.

津波の映像を２本お見せします

One from Thailand, and the second one from Phuket as well.

かなり衝撃的です

(Screaming)

タイの映像 そして 同じくプーケットの映像です

Voice 1: It's coming in. It's coming again.

（叫び声）

Voice 2: It's coming again?

声１：　来る！また来るぞ！

Voice 1: Yeah. It's coming again.

声２：　またか？！

Voice 2: Come get inside here.

声１：　ああ また来てる！

Voice 1: It's coming again. Voice 2: New wave?

声２：　中に入ろう！

Voice 1: It's coming again. New wave!

声１：　また波来たぞ！　声２：　またか！

[Unclear]

声１：　そうだ！次の波が来てる！

(Screaming)

（叫び声）

They called me out here.

まだあそこに人がいるぞ！

James Surowiecki: Phew. Those were both on this site: waveofdestruction.org.

このサイトに載っていた動画でした waveofdestruction.org

In the world of blogs, there's going to be before the tsunami and after the tsunami,

ブログの世界は 津波の前後で大きく変わりました

because one of the things that happened in the wake of the tsunami was that,

津波に引き続いて起こったことは何かと言えば

although initially -- that is, in that first day --

最初こそ -- 初日こそブログには

there was actually a kind of dearth of live reporting, there was a dearth of live video

実況の報告もビデオもまったくありませんでしたが

and some people complained about this.

そのために

They said, "The blogsters let us down."

「ブログにはがっかりした」と 不満を漏らす人もいたほどです

What became very clear was that,

その後2, 3 日もすると

within a few days, the outpouring of information was immense,

膨大な情報が溢れかえり 起きたことの全てが

and we got a complete and powerful picture of what had happened

迫力をもって描き出されていることが はっきりしたのです

in a way that we never had been able to get before.

これまでにはなかったことでした

And what you had was a group of essentially unorganized, unconnected

それを行ったのは ばらばらで 実質的に組織されていない

writers, video bloggers, etc., who were able to come up with

ライターやビデオ・ブロガーなどで 情報の集積によって

a collective portrait of a disaster that gave us a much better sense

この災害の現場の様子を描き出しました

of what it was like to actually be there than the mainstream media could give us.

それは主流のメディアの情報よりも ずっと分かりやすかったのです

And so in some ways the tsunami can be seen as a sort of seminal moment,

故に あの津波は ブログが本領を発揮し始めた

a moment in which the blogosphere came, to a certain degree, of age.

歴史的なの瞬間だったとも言えるでしょう

Now, I'm going to move now from this kind of --

さて このような高尚で

the sublime in the traditional sense of the word,

いうなれば荘厳で恐ろしい話題から

that is to say, awe-inspiring, terrifying -- to the somewhat more mundane.

もっと身近なことへと話を進めましょう

Because when we think about blogs,

ブログについて考えるとき

I think for most of us who are concerned about them,

ほとんどの人が

we're primarily concerned with things like politics, technology, etc.

まず 政治やテクノロジーなどを 思い浮かべるでしょう

And I want to ask three questions in this talk,

そこで私は残り10分で ブログ界についての

in the 10 minutes that remain, about the blogosphere.

３つの疑問を挙げたいと思います

The first one is, What does it tell us about our ideas,

ひとつ目は 人を行動に駆り立てるものについて

about what motivates people to do things?

ブログから分かることは何か

The second is, Do blogs genuinely have the possibility

二つ目に これまで未開拓だった集団的知性に

of accessing a kind of collective intelligence

ブログが本当に到達する可能性はあるのか

that has previously remained, for the most part, untapped?

三つ目に

And then the third part is, What are the potential problems,

ブログの潜在的な問題

or the dark side of blogs as we know them?

ブログの抱える問題点とは何か という問いです

OK, the first question:

では 第一の質問

What do they tell us about why people do things?

人々を行動させる理由について

One of the fascinating things about the blogosphere specifically,

ブログから何がわかるか 特にブログ界で

and, of course, the Internet more generally --

さらに広く言えばインターネットで 魅力的なことは

and it's going to seem like a very obvious point,

―あたりまえと思われるかもしれませんが

but I think it is an important one to think about --

私は重要と考えていることで―

is that the people who are generating these enormous reams of content

ネットサイトの構築や リンクを張り コメントを残し

every day, who are spending enormous amounts of time organizing,

これほど多量のコンテンツを毎日載せる人たちが

linking, commenting on the substance of the Internet,

基本的に報酬なしで行っているという点です

are doing so primarily for free.

良い仕事に対して 注目を集め

They are not getting paid for it in any way other than in the attention and,

高い評価を獲得するということ以外には

to some extent, the reputational capital that they gain from doing a good job.

人々は何の報酬も得ていません

And this is -- at least, to a traditional economist -- somewhat remarkable,

これは 少なくとも伝統的な経済学者から見れば

because the traditional account of economic man would say that,

驚くべきことです 伝統的な見方では 基本的に

basically, you do things for a concrete reward, primarily financial.

人間は経済的には 明確な報酬 つまりお金のために働くものでした

But instead, what we're finding on the Internet --

しかし インターネットを見ると

and one of the great geniuses of it -- is that people have found a way

素晴らしいことに お金とは関係なく人々が協働する方法が

to work together without any money involved at all.

見出されたことが わかります

They have come up with, in a sense, a different method for organizing activity.

活動を組織化するための 新しい方法が創り出されています

The Yale Law professor Yochai Benkler, in an essay called "Coase's Penguin,"

エール法科大のヨーカイ・ベンクラーは 『ロナルド・コースのペンギン』という論文で

talks about this open-source model, which we're familiar with from Linux,

リナックスで良く知られた オープンソースモデルについて

as being potentially applicable in a whole host of situations.

あらゆる状況に適用可能だと述べています

And, you know, if you think about this with the tsunami,

あの津波を思いだしてください

what you have is essentially a kind of an army of local journalists,

ジャーナリストが各地に多数いて

who are producing enormous amounts of material

自分の話を伝えたいということだけを理由に

for no reason other than to tell their stories.

大量の記事を書きました

That's a very powerful idea, and it's a very powerful reality.

その意義は大きく 迫力のある真実です

And it's one that offers really interesting possibilities

このことは いずれ将来

for organizing a whole host of activities down the road.

この大量の活動を組織すると 面白い可能性があることを示します

So, I think the first thing that the blogosphere tells us

つまり ブログ界が示していることは

is that we need to expand our idea of what counts as rational,

私たちが理性的だとされていた考えを 拡張して

and we need to expand our simple equation of value equals money,

「モノの価値＝カネ」という方程式を拡張するか あるいは

or, you have to pay for it to be good,

ずっとカネを払い続けるかということです

but that in fact you can end up with collectively really brilliant products

しかし実際にはカネが動くことなく

without any money at all changing hands.

集合的に 本当に素晴らしいモノを創り出せるのです

There are a few bloggers -- somewhere maybe around 20, now --

ごく少数 ―20人ほどでしょう― の人は

who do, in fact, make some kind of money, and a few

ある意味 お金を稼いでいて

who are actually trying to make a full-time living out of it,

それで生計を立てようとする者も少しいます

but the vast majority of them are doing it because they love it

しかし大部分はただ好きでやっていたり

or they love the attention, or whatever it is.

注目されたいなどの理由からでしょう

So, Howard Rheingold has written a lot about this

ハワード・ラインゴールドはこの点について

and, I think, is writing about this more,

多く言及していますが

but this notion of voluntary cooperation

自発的な協力というものは

is an incredibly powerful one, and one worth thinking about.

信じ難いほど強力で 考察すべきものだとしています

The second question is, What does the blogosphere actually do for us,

二つ目の質問は 集合的知能にアクセスすることに関して

in terms of accessing collective intelligence?

ブログ界は実際にどんな役割を担っているのかです

You know, as Chris mentioned, I wrote a book called "The Wisdom of Crowds."

クリスに紹介された私の本 『「みんなの意見」は案外正しい』では

And the premise of "The Wisdom of Crowds" is that,

前提として 正しい条件下では

under the right conditions, groups can be remarkably intelligent.

グループは目覚ましい知性を発揮しうるとしています

And they can actually often be smarter

しばしば グループで一番賢い人よりも

than even the smartest person within them.

賢くなれるのです

The </