While I spend the most time studying how the realities that affect me most work—i.e., those that drive the markets and the people I deal with—I also love to study nature to try to figure out how it works because, to me, nature is both beautiful and practical.

我大部分时间都在研究现实如何影响我的工作，比如是驱动市场的要素，如何与人打交道，其实我也爱研究自然规律，我觉得大自然美丽而现实。

Its perfection and brilliance staggers me. When I think about all the flying machines, swimming machines, and billions of other systems that nature created, from the microscopic level to the cosmic level, and how they interact with one another to make a workable whole that evolves through time and through multi-dimensions, my breath is taken away. It seems to me that, in relation to nature, man has the intelligence of a mold growing on an apple—man can’t even make a mosquito, let alone scratch the surface of understanding the universe.

大自然完美绚丽，令我惊叹。天上飞的，水里游的，千姿百态都是大自然创造的。从微观层面到宇宙宏观，世界万物相互联系，构成和谐运转的整体，随时间推移，层层演进，我惊叹得无法呼吸。同大自然相比，人类的智慧充其量也就苹果上的一小块霉斑，人类连只蚊子都没创造，更别说理解宇宙了，最多也就能知道点皮毛。

Though how nature works is way beyond man’s ability to comprehend, I have found that observing how nature works offers innumerable lessons that can help us understand the realities that affect us. That is because, though man is unique, he is part of nature and subject to most of the same laws of nature that affect other species.

大自然的运行规律，人类是难以完全理解的，但观察自然，能学到不少东西，有益于我们理解身边的现实。因为每个人虽是独立个体，但都是自然的一部分，受制于大自然支配一切物种的普遍规律。

For example, I have found that by looking at what is rewarded and punished, and why, universally—i.e., in nature as well as in humanity—I have been able to learn more about what is “good” and “bad” than by listening to most people’s views about good and bad. It seems to me that what most people call “good” and “bad” typically reflects their particular group’s preferences: the Taliban’s definitions are different than Americans’, which are different than others’—and within each group there are differences and they are intended to paint a picture of the world the way they’d like it to be rather than the way it really is. So there are many different takes on what is good and bad that each group uses to call others “bad” and themselves “good,” some of which are practical and others of which are impractical. Yet all of them, and everything else, are subject to the same laws of nature–i.e., I believe that we all get rewarded and punished according to whether we operate in harmony or in conflict with nature’s laws, and that all societies will succeed or fail in the degrees that they operate consistently with these laws.

举例来说，我们看看奖惩之道吧，大自然和人类是一样的，在这点上，我更能分辨好与坏，而不是随大流听别人的观点。我认为大多数人对好与坏的区分都是基于个人喜恶，塔利班和美国人对好与坏的定义就截然不同，对别的群体亦是如此。每个群体对好与坏的定义都不尽相同，都是基于自身期望，而非事实本身。每个群体对什么是好，什么是坏都有不同观点，有些切合实际，有些不然，即便世间万物都受制于同样的自然规律。我们获得奖励，还是得到惩罚，都取决于我们是符合自然规律，还是违背自然规律。所有社会群体成功与否，都取决于同自然规律相和谐的程度。

This perspective gives me a non-traditional sense of good and bad: “good,” to me, means operating consistently with the natural laws, while “bad” means operating inconsistently with these laws. In other words, for something to be “good” it must be grounded in reality. And if something is in conflict with reality—for example, if morality is in conflict with reality—it is “bad,” i.e., it will not produce good outcomes.

这种观点与传统意义上的好与坏不太一样，对我来说，符合自然规律的就是好的，不符合自然规律的就是不好的。也就是说，好的事情必须是基于现实规律的，如果一件事情同现实规律相冲突，比如道德和现实相冲突，那就是坏的，不会产生有益结果。

In other words, I believe that understanding what is good is obtained by looking at the way the world works and figuring out how to operate in harmony with it to help it (and yourself) evolve. But it is not obvious, and it is sometimes difficult to accept.

也就是说，判断事情是不是好的，要从大局看世界运行规律，指出如何与之相符合，进而使这件事（或你自己）获得发展。不过这种判断不好做，依据过于模糊，有时甚至让人难以接受。

For example, when a pack of hyenas takes down a young wildebeest, is this good or bad? At face value, this seems terrible; the poor wildebeest suffers and dies. Some people might even say that the hyenas are evil. Yet this type of apparently evil behavior exists throughout nature through all species and was created by nature, which is much smarter than I am, so before I jump to pronouncing it evil, I need to try to see if it might be good. When I think about it, like death itself, this behavior is integral to the enormously complex and efficient system that has worked for as long as there has been life. And when I think of the second- and third- order consequences, it becomes obvious that this behavior is good for both the hyenas, who are operating in their self-interest, and in the interests of the greater system, which includes the wildebeest, because killing and eating the wildebeest fosters evolution, i.e., the natural process of improvement. In fact, if I changed anything about the way that dynamic works, the overall outcome would be worse.

例如，一群土狼攻击一只羚羊，是好是坏？表面上看，这可糟透了，可怜的羚羊遭受痛苦而亡。有人会斥责说这群土狼真是太可恶了，可这种他们称为可恶的行为却在所有物种间无处不在，这是大自然创造的行为，这可比我聪明多了。我跳出来说这种行为多邪恶前我会想，这件事可能不是坏事。就死亡本身来看，是庞大、复杂、高效运转的大自然系统中的一部分，这种系统自世界上存在生命以来就存在了。再从生物圈的二、三级效应来看，显然这种行为有利于土狼群体，以及更大的生物圈。同时，也有利于羚羊本身，因为土狼捕食羚羊有利于羚羊进化，这是物种自身进化的自然过程。整个自然动态体系中有任何变动，结果都可能会更糟糕。

I believe that evolution, which is the natural movement toward better adaptation, is the greatest single force in the universe, and that it is good.Itaffects the changes of everything from all speciesto the entire solar system. It is good because evolution is the process of adaptation that leads to improvement. So, based on how I observe both nature and humanity working, I believe that what is bad and most punished are those things that don’t work because they are at odds with the laws of the universe and they impede evolution.

我认为，生物进化是大自然的正常活动，帮助生物更好地适应大自然，是宇宙最强大的一股力量，所以生物进化是好事情。生物进化影响着所有物种，甚至影响太阳系。生物进化是好事情，因为这是让生物更适应大自然的过程，能够改善物种本身。基于我对自然与人类的观察，我认为那些不好的、受惩罚的事情都是因为与宇宙规律相违背，影响了生物进化。

In fact, it appears to me that everything other than evolution eventually disintegrates and that we all are, and everything else is, vehicles for evolution.

事实上，我觉得似乎除了进化本身之外，其他一切事物都会最终瓦解。我们和其他所有东西都只是进化的工具。

I believe that the desire to evolve, i.e., to get better, is probably humanity’s most pervasive driving force.Enjoying your job, a craft, or your favorite sport comes from the innate satisfaction of getting better.Though most people typically think that they are striving to get things (e.g., toys, better houses, money, status, etc.) that will make them happy, that is not usually the case. Instead, when we get the things we are striving for, we rarely remain satisfied.It is natural for us to seek other things or to seek to make the things we have better. In the process of this seeking, we continue to evolve and we contribute to the evolution of all that we have contact with. The things we are striving for are just the bait to get us to chase after them in order to make us evolve, and it is the evolution and not the reward itself that matters to us and those around us.

渴望进化，渴望变得更好，也许是人类最普遍的驱动力。喜欢你的工作，欣赏一件工艺品，热爱一项体育运动，都是源自内心对更好生活的向往。尽管大多数人都觉得为实现梦想而苦苦挣扎，比如想要玩具，更好的住房，赚钱，名望等等，认为实现这些梦想就能开心。事实上并非如此，当我们努力实现了梦想后，人们很少会知足。我们会有新的目标，或想改善我们拥有的东西，这都是很正常的。追寻梦想的过程中，我们不断成长，也促使我们接触的人与事成长。我们想实现的梦想只是个诱饵，促使我们在实现之后去追求更多梦想，促使我们成长。和实现的那些梦想比起来，成长本身对我们和周围的人才是最有意义的。