万劫不复的视觉技术

2018-12-08  本文已影响0人  留子儿

今年早些时候,一段视频在美国彻底火了一把。前总统奥巴马一本正经地坐在镜头前,说:“President Trump is a total and complete dipshit.”(特朗普是一个彻头彻尾的笨蛋)不要惊讶,这种出格的言论显然不是奥巴马能说出来的,一切都是通过 AI 技术合成的。

眼见也未必为实——无论是史前的洞穴画,还是现在被安上名人面孔的色情片,人的眼睛一直都在被欺骗。视觉骗术在过去一直都被广泛地应用在艺术领域,17世纪的法国人民可能被错位画迷乱了眼睛,虔诚的教徒也曾真情或假意地相信巴洛克教堂的穹顶即是天堂。但是令人遗憾的是,拥有了更先进技术的现代人,似乎志不在此,偏偏走上了下三路。

我们已经进入了视觉骗术的黄金年代,技术可以制造出任何假象。作为普通人,我们还是擦亮眼,更谨慎地对待眼前的“事实”吧。

本篇课程选自 The Economist Espresso APP

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Heaven to hell: the history of deception

① Pornography is awash with videos in which celebrity faces have been pasted onto the writhing, naked bodies of adult actors.

② Earlier this year Jordan Peele, an American comedian, used an artificial-intelligence face-swapping tool to create a clip of what appears to be Barack Obama calling his presidential successor "a total and complete dipshit".

③ These examples show the power of technology to bend reality.

④ But "Thrill of Deception", a new exhibition at the Kunsthalle in Munich, shows that humans have manipulated the senses for millennia.

⑤ The earliest known examples are cave paintings of overlapping bison and mammoths—like the rabbit-duck illusion—dating back 15,000 years.

⑥ Seventeenth-century audiences were bewitched by trompe-l'oeil, a realist-painting technique in which objects seem to emerge from the frame.

⑦ Baroque churches are famous for their ceiling frescos that lift the pious gaze into the heavens.

⑧ Modern virtual reality promises this too, only now we're more likely to be transported to hell.

▍生词好句

deception /dɪˈsepʃən/: n. 骗术;欺骗

· deceive /dɪˈsiːv/: vt. 欺骗

· trick /trɪk/: vt. 欺骗;诱骗

· fool /fuːl/: vt. 欺骗;愚弄

pornography /pɔːˈnɒɡrəfi, pɔːrˈnɑːɡrəfi/: n. 淫秽作品;色情书刊 (或电影等)

be awash with /əˈwɒʃ, əˈwɑːʃ/: 充斥着

be pasted onto /peɪst/: 被贴到……上

writhing /ˈrʌɪðɪŋ/: adj. 翻滚的;扭动的

comedian /kəˈmiːdiən/: n. 喜剧演员

face-swapping tool: 换脸工具

· swap /swɒp, swɑːp/: vt./vi. 交换

clip /klɪp/: n. (电影或电视节目的) 剪辑/片断

what appears to be: 貌似是 (用于弱化语气,减少肯定)

dipshit /ˈdɪpʃɪt/: n. 笨蛋

bend reality: 扭曲现实

· bend /bend/: vt. 扭曲;歪曲

manipulate the senses /məˈnɪpjəleɪt/: 操控感官

millennium /mɪˈleniəm/: n. 一千年 (复数 millennia)

bison /ˈbaɪsən/: n. 野牛

mammoth /ˈmæməθ/: n. 长毛象

be bewitched by /bɪˈwɪtʃt/: 受到……的迷惑/蛊惑

trompe-l'oeil: n. 错视;假象

realist-painting technique: 现实主义绘画技巧

baroque /bəˈrɒk, bəˈrɑːk, bəˈrəʊk/: adj. 巴洛克式的

ceiling frescos /ˈfreskəʊ/: 穹顶壁画

pious gaze /ˈpaɪəs/: 虔诚的注视

transport /trænˈspɔːt, trænˈspɔːrt/: vt. 流放;运输

▍补充例句

1. deceive: vt. 欺骗

我以为她是爱我的,但我只是在骗自己而已。

I thought she loved me, but I was deceiving myself.

我只是在骗自己。

I was just fooling myself.

2. be awash with: 充斥着

所有人行道上全都是垃圾。

All the pavements were awash with rubbish.

3. swap: vt./vi. 交换

我们俩决定互换角色一天。

We decided to swap roles for the day.

4. what appears to be: 貌似是 (用于弱化语气,减少肯定)

这类案子似乎是中国的第一例,她决定起诉这个人。

In what appears to be the first such case in China, she decided to sue this person.

5. bend: vt. 扭曲;歪曲

有时记者会歪曲事实。

Reporters sometimes bend the truth.

the rabbit-duck illusion

trompe-l'oeil

▍责任编辑

李焕、杨晶妍、陈鑫悦、章晓丹

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