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If you line up the entire text of 'Moby Dick,' which was published in 1851, into a giant rectangle,
要是你把'白鲸迪克'，一本在1851年发表的小说，的字拼成一个很大的长方形，
you may notice some peculiar patterns, like these words,
你可能会发现一些奇怪的规律，像这些字：
which seem to predict the assassination of Martin Luther King, or these references to the 1997 death of Princess Di.
看起来像是预料到了马丁·路德·金的暗杀，或者看一看'戴安娜王妃'的死亡。
So, was Herman Melville a secret prophet?
所以，'赫尔曼梅尔维尔'是人们不知道的先知吗？
The answer is no, and we know that thanks to a mathematical principle called Ramsey theory.
答案是：他不是，因为一个数学定理：'拉姆齐理论'。
It's the reason we can find geometric shapes in the night sky,
这个理论让我们能够在空中找到几何形状，
it's why we can know without checking that at least two people in London have exactly the same number of hairs on their head,
让我们不用检查就能够知道伦敦肯定有至少两个人在头上会有一样多的头发，
and it explains why patterns can be found in just about any text, even Vanilla Ice lyrics.
这个定理很好的解释了为什么在无论那个文本当中都会有一些的规律，包括Vanilla Ice的歌词里。
So what is Ramsey theory?
所以什么是'拉姆齐理论'？
Simply put, it states that given enough elements in a set or structure,
简单来讲，'拉姆齐理论'告诉我们要是有很多的项目，
some particular interesting pattern among them is guaranteed to emerge.
肯定在那些项目中会有一些奇特的规律。
As a simple example, let's look at what's called the party problem, a classic illustration of Ramsey theory.
一个非常基本的例子就是“派对”问题，这是一个非常传统的例子。
Suppose there are at least six people at a party.
假设有至少6人一起在一个派对。
Amazingly enough, we can say for sure that some group of three of them either all know each other,
令人吃惊的是，我们可以肯定地说，必定有3个人认识彼此，
or have never met before, without knowing a single thing about them.
或者从未见过面，虽然我们不了解这些人的具体情况。
We can demonstrate that by graphing out all the possibilities.
我们可以用个图面来演示所有的可能性。
Each point represents a person, and a line indicates that the pair know each other.
每个点表示一个人，每条线表示两个人认识对方。
Every pair only has two possibilities: they either know each other or they don't.
每两个人只有两个可能性：他们认识对方或不认识对方。
There are a lot of possibilities, but every single one has the property that we're looking for.
这个案件有很多的可能性，但是每个可能性都会体现我所说的这个规律。
Six is the lowest number of guests where that's guaranteed to be the case, which we can express like this.
这个规律已验证要是派对中有至少六个人，我们能这么表示。
Ramsey theory gives us a guarantee that such a minimum number exists for certain patterns, but no easy way to find it.
'拉姆齐理论'能够为我们保证存在这样的最小数量特定的规律，但是没有简单的方法来找到这最少的数量。
In this case, as the total number of guests grows higher, the combinations get out of control.
在这个具体的例子当中，随着人数增大，可能性会变得无穷大。
For instance, say you're trying to find out the minimum size of a party
比如说你想要找出派对最少的人数，
where there's a group of five people who all know each other or all don't.
鉴于有五个人都认识对方或者都不认识对方。
Despite five being a small number, the answer is virtually impossible to discover through an exhaustive search like this.
虽然五是个非常少的数量，但要是我们一个一个可能性的来看，找出这道题的答案会非常难。
That's because of the sheer volume of possibilities.
这是因为这道题有太多的可能性了。
A party with 48 guests has 2^(1128) possible configurations, more than the number of atoms in the Universe.
一个有48个人的派对有2^(1128)个可能性，比在宇宙中的原子的数量还要多。
Even with the help of computers, the best we know is that the answer to this question is somewhere between 43 and 49 guests.
即使使用计算机的帮助下，我们只能知道我们的答案是介于43和49之间的。
What this shows us is that specific patterns with seemingly astronomical odds can emerge from a relatively small set.
这告诉我们，有着像天文数字般大的可能性的特定模式，可以源自于相对小的组合。
And with a very large set, the possibilities are almost endless.
而要是数据集非常大，可能性会无穷多。
Any four stars where no three lie in a straight line will form some quadrilateral shape.
任何4颗星，若有任3颗不共线，就会组成某种四边形。
Expand that to the thousands of stars we can see in the sky,
因此，观看天空中数千颗的星星，
and it's no surprise that we can find all sorts of familiar shapes, and even creatures if we look for them.
我们能看到各种熟悉的形状甚至动物的样子，就一点也不奇怪了。
So what are the chances of a text concealing a prophecy?
所以，文字中隐藏著预言的可能性有多少？
Well, when you factor in the number of letters, the variety of possible related words,
如果你计入字母的总数，它们所能组合的各式字词，
and all their abbreviations and alternate spellings, they're pretty high.
还有简写和替代拼法，可能性非常的高。
You can try it yourself. Just pick a favorite text, arrange the letters in a grid, and see what you can find.
你可以自己试试。选一篇你喜欢的文章，把字母排成格子状，看看你能找到什么。
The mathematician T.S. Motzkin once remarked that, 'while disorder is more probable in general, complete disorder is impossible.'
数学家莫兹金曾说：“虽然一般而言，混乱失序的机率较高，但是全然的混乱失序是不可能的。”
The sheer size of the Universe guarantees that some of its random elements will fall into specific arrangements,
在广大辽阔的宇宙中，必定有些随机的元素会形成特定的排列，
and because we evolved to notice patterns and pick out signals among the noise,
由于我们进化到能从杂音中找出信号和模式，
we are often tempted to find intentional meaning where there may not be any.
所以，我们常禁不住想从可能无意义的事物中找出隐含的信息。
So while we may be awed by hidden messages in everything from books, to pieces of toast, to the night sky,
因此，当我们惊叹隐藏于书中、吐司上或夜空中的信息时，
their real origin is usually our own minds.
其实，我们自己的心智才是发出信息的源头。
