东东 | L [ el ]

All right, fast forward to 1991. We did a system back at the University of Virginia called Virtual Reality on Five Dollars a Day. Just one of those unbelievable spectacular things. I was so scared back in those days as a junior academic. Jim Foley’s here, and I just love to tell this story. He knew my undergraduate advisor, Andy Van Dam, and I’m at my first conference and I’m just scared to death. And this icon in the user interface community walks up to me and just out of nowhere just gives me this huge bear hug and he says, that was from Andy. And that was when I thought, ok, maybe I can make it. Maybe I do belong.
好，快进到 1991年。我们早在维吉尼亚大学时做了个叫虚拟现实一天 5元的系统。只是那些令人难以置信的精彩东西的其中之一。那时候作为一个资浅的教员， 我非常战战兢兢。吉姆.佛勒在这里，我很爱讲这个故事。他认识我的本科导师，安迪.凡丹，我在我的第一次学术会议上，我怕得要死。这个用户界面圈的偶像走过来突然紧紧拥抱我说，这是来自安迪。自当时我就想，好吧，也许我能够成功。也许我确实属于这一行。

And a similar story is that this was just this unbelievable hit because at the time, everybody needed a half a million to do virtual reality. And everybody felt frustrated. And we literally hacked together a system for about five thousand dollars in parts and made a working VR system. And people were just like, oh my god, you know, the Hewlett Packard garage thing. This is so awesome. And so in giving this talk and the room has just gone wild, and during the Q and A, a guy named Tom Furness, who was one of the big names in virtual reality at the time, he goes up to the microphone and he introduces himself. I didn’t know what he looked like but I sure as hell knew the name. And he asked a question. And I was like, I’m sorry did you say you were Tom Furness? And he said yes. I said, then I would love to answer your question, but first, will you have lunch with me tomorrow? [laughter] And there’s a lot in that little moment, there’s a lot of humility but also asking a person where he can’t possibly say no. [laughter]
另一个类似的故事是，我们的系统是超乎意想的成功，因为在那个时候，大家都需要 50万做虚拟现实。大家都为此感到沮丧。而我们实际上用了 5千元部分的零件拼装了一套能用的系统。人们的反应是，我的上帝，惠普车库的故事又重来了。令人震憾。因此，我做报告时屋里都沸腾了，在其后的问答时间里， 一个叫汤姆.弗奈斯 的人走到麦克风前介绍了他自己，他是虚拟现实界那时的大腕。我虽不认识他，但可是久闻大名。他接着问了一个问题。我说，对不起，你说你是汤姆.弗奈斯？他说是的。我说，那么我很愿意回答你的问题，但首先，你愿意明天一起跟我吃午饭吗？ [笑] ，这个小插曲寓意很深，这里面有很多谦卑，但也让那人无法拒绝。 [笑]

And so Imagineering a couple of years later was working on a virtual reality project. This was top secret. They were denying the existence of a virtual reality attraction after the time that the publicity department was running the TV commercials. So Imagineering really had nailed this one tight. And it was the Aladdin attraction where you would fly a magic carpet, and the head mounted display, sometimes known as gator vision. And so I had an in. As soon as the project had just, you know they start running the TV commercials, and I had been asked to brief the Secretary of Defense on the state of virtual reality. OK, Fred Brooks and I had been asked to brief the Secretary of Defense, and that gave me an excuse. So I called them. I called Imagineering and I said, look, I’m briefing the Secretary of Defense. I’d like some materials on what you have because it’s one of the best VR systems in the world. And they kind of pushed back. And I said, look, is all this patriotism stuff in the parks a farce? And they’re like, hmm, ok. [laughter]
几年后迪士尼幻想工程在做一个绝密的虚拟现实项目。他们在宣传部门播了电视广告后，还否认存在一个虚拟现实的景点。所以迪士尼幻想工程真是把保密工作做的滴水不漏。这就是阿拉丁景点，在那里你可以飞魔毯，用头盔显示器，有时又称为短嘴鳄视像仪。那是我已不是默默无闻。当项目刚，你知道，它们开始放电视广告，我被要求向国防部长介绍虚拟现实的发展。嗯，是弗雷德布鲁克斯和我被要求做简报，这给了我一个借口。所以我打电话给他们说，你看，我要给国防部长做简报。我想从你们那里拿些材料，因为你们的虚拟现实是世界上最好的系统之一。他们有点不愿意。我说，你们看，你们整天在迪士尼乐园讲的爱国心都是装样的吗？他们说“嗯，好吧。 [笑]

But they said this is so new the PR department doesn’t have any footage for you, so I’m going to have to connect you straight through to the team who did the work. Jackpot! So I find myself on the phone with a guy named Jon Snoddy who is one of the most impressive guys I have ever met, and he was the guy running this team, and it’s not surprising they had done impressive things. And so he sent me some stuff, we talked briefly and he sent me some stuff, and I said, hey, I’m going to be out in the area for a conference shortly, would you like to get together and have lunch? Translation: I’m going to lie to you and say that I have an excuse to be in the area so I don’t look to anxious, but I would go to Neptune to have lunch with you! [laughter] And so Jon said sure, and I spent something like 80 hours talking with all the VR experts in the world, saying if you had access to this one unbelievable project, what would you ask? And then I compiled all of that and I had to memorize it, which anybody that knows me knows that I have no memory at all, because I couldn’t go in looking like a dweeb with, you know, [in dweeby voice] Hi, Question 72.
但他们说这项目很新，公关处没有任何视频给你，所以我必须要直接和做这个系统的部门直接联系。中大奖！所以，我就跟一个叫乔恩史诺地的人通电话，他是我曾见过人中最令人印象深刻的家伙，也是这个部门的头，难怪他们做出的活也让人印象深刻。所以他送我一些东西，我们短暂交谈， 他送我一些东西，我就说，嘿，我不久要到你那里参加一个会议，你想不想在一起吃午餐？翻译：我会撒谎找个借口说我要到你那里，这样显得我不是上赶着见你，但即使你在海王星我也会去和你吃午饭！ [笑] 乔恩说，好啊。 然后我花了大约 80个小时跟世界上所有虚拟现实的专家交谈，说如果你有机会访问这个令人难以置信的项目，您会问什么问题？然后，我把他们所说的整理好，背熟。熟悉我的人都知道我记不住事。因为我不能去像个呆子，你知道， [傻傻声音]嘿， 第 72个问题。

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