2014年4月1日星期二

纽约时报:谁是世界上最有名的人?

文化評論DWIGHT GARNER2014年04月02日

麻省理工學院媒體實驗室的「宏連接」小組開發的「萬神殿」統計出的名人網。
麻省理工學院媒體實驗室的「宏連接」小組開發的「萬神殿」統計出的名人網。
名人也分很多種,如克萊夫·詹姆斯(Clive James)所言,耶穌基督是第一個「不是通過暴力征服世界」而享譽全球的名人。 而W·H·奧登(W. H. Auden)說,詩人所獲得的最好獎賞有點像山谷奶酪——「在本地生產,卻在別處獲得讚譽」。如果說所有名人都像政治家那樣,在某種程度上屬於本土,他們的名聲在整個世界,乃至整個歷史上的傳播到底有多廣泛,這個問題實在很難定量化,甚至根本就不可能。
「萬神殿」(Pantheon)是麻省理工學院媒體實驗室的「宏連接」(Macro Connections)小組開發的一個新項目,似乎一舉解決了這個問題。它從公元前4000年到公元2010年的文化產品中收集並解析數據。這個項目的網站剛剛上線不久,只需在上面點擊幾下,你就可以在時間與空間中暢遊,搞清巴西和白俄羅斯都出產過哪些名人(巴西主要是足球運動員,白俄羅斯則盛產政客)。它還為各種職業提供知名度排序,從化學家到法官再到色情明星(第一名是詹娜·傑姆森[Jenna Jameson],第二名是捷克的聖西爾維婭[Silvia Saint])。
目前,麻省理工的研究小組認為,凡是在維基百科上的條目擁有多於25種語言版本的,就可以被認定為名人。根據「萬神殿」的數據和分類,我們就可以對名人們有一個淺顯的認識,從而在「名氣」的兔子洞中漫遊。項目中潛藏着不少幽魂,它們都是項目的負責人凱撒·希達爾戈(César Hidalgo)所樂見的(排名系統中把名聲的長盛不衰程度也列入條件,這可以解釋為什麼系統中許多最著名的人都已經故去至少1500年以上)。「詩意地說,我們可以說艾薩克·牛頓(Isaac Newton)的幽魂作為一種信息,轉世化身而來,寓居在硬盤裡,居住在服務器群里,」他說。這些鬼魂聚在一起是有意義的。「他們留下了看得見摸得着的成就,」他說,「或許是歌曲、書籍、藝術品或科學發現,這些都是通往不朽的入場券,遠勝於積累物質財富。」
過去6000年里世界上最有名的人
1. 亞里士多德(Aristotle)
2. 柏拉圖(Plato)
3. 耶穌基督(Jesus Christ)
4. 蘇格拉底(Socrates)
5. 亞歷山大大帝(Alexander the Great)
6. 萊昂納多·達·芬奇(Leonardo Da Vinci)
7. 孔子
8. 尤里烏斯·凱撒(Julius Caesar)
9. 荷馬(Homer)
10. 畢達哥拉斯(Pythagoras)
20世紀最有名的足球運動員
1.克里斯蒂亞諾·羅納爾多(Cristiano Ronaldo)
2. 貝利(Pelé)
3. 里奧內爾·梅西(Lionel Messi)
4. 羅納爾多(Ronaldo)
5. 羅納爾迪尼奧(Ronaldinho)
6. 迭戈·馬拉多納(Diego Maradona)
7. 齊內丁·齊達內(Zinedine Zidane)
8. 大衛碧咸(David Beckham)
在名單上的全部足球運動員人數:1064人
在名單上的美式橄欖球運動員人數:一人(O·J·辛普森[O.J. Simpson])
最有名的「約翰」們
1. 施洗約翰(John the Baptist)
2. 約翰·洛克(John Locke)
3. 約翰·加爾文(John Calvin)
4. 約翰尼·德普(Johnny Depp)
5. 約翰·F·肯尼迪(John F. Kennedy)
6. 約翰·梅納德·凱恩斯(John Maynard Keynes)
7. 約翰·列儂(John Lennon)
8. 教皇約翰·保羅二世(Pope John Paul II)
最有名的「史蒂夫」們
1. 史蒂文·斯坦伯格(Steven Spielberg)
2. 史蒂文·席格(Steven Seagal)
3. 史蒂夫·喬布斯(Steve Jobs)
4. 史蒂夫·旺德(Stevie Wonder)
本文作者Dwight Garner 是《紐約時報》的書評作者。
本文最初發表於2014年3月16日。
編輯:Jon Kelly
翻譯:董楠

Who's More Famous Than Jesus?

By DWIGHT GARNERApril 02, 2014
A network of fame according to Pantheon, a new project from M.I.T.'s Media Lab.
A network of fame according to Pantheon, a new project from M.I.T.'s Media Lab.
There are many varieties of fame. Jesus Christ was the first person to achieve it globally, Clive James wrote, "without conquering the world by violence." The best kind for a poet to earn, W. H. Auden said, is like some valley cheese — "local, but prized elsewhere." Yet if all fame, like all politics, is to some degree local, how thoroughly it has been transmitted across the planet and through the centuries has been difficult, if not impossible, to quantify.
Pantheon, a new project from the Macro Connections group in M.I.T.'s Media Lab, is giving that a stab. It has collected and analyzed data on cultural production from 4,000 B.C. to 2010. With a few clicks on its website, which just went live, you can swing through time and geography, making plain the output of, say, Brazil (largely soccer players) or Belarus (politicians). It also ranks professions from chemists to jurists to porn stars (No. 1 is Jenna Jameson; No. 2 is the Czech Republic's Silvia Saint).
For now, you are legitimately famous, the M.I.T. team has decided, if a Wikipedia page under your name exists in more than 25 languages. We have taken a smattering of the most famous, according to Pantheon data and classifications, and wandered down rabbit holes of fame. There are many ghosts in the machine — spirits that César Hidalgo, the project's director, likes to tend. (The ranking system takes longevity into account, which helps explain why many of its most famous people have been dead for at least 1,500 years.) "Poetically, we can say that Isaac Newton's ghost — understood as information — lives reincarnated in the hard drives that populate server farms," he says. And these ghosts gather to make a point. Even in an era of Kardashians, actually making things matters. "Tangible achievements," Hidalgo says, "whether these are songs, books, works of art or scientific discoveries, are better tickets to long-term immortality than the accumulation of material wealth."
Most Famous People of the Last 6,000 Years
1. Aristotle
2. Plato
3. Jesus Christ
4. Socrates
5. Alexander the Great
6. Leonardo Da Vinci
7. Confucius
8. Julius Caesar
9. Homer
10. Pythagoras
Most Famous Soccer Players of the 20th Century
1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. Pelé
3. Lionel Messi
4. Ronaldo
5. Ronaldinho
6. Diego Maradona
7. Zinedine Zidane
8. David Beckham
 Number of Soccer Players on the List: 1,064
Number of American-Football Players: 1 (O.J. Simpson)
Most Famous Guys Named John
1. John the Baptist
2. John Locke
3. John Calvin
4. Johnny Depp
5. John F. Kennedy
6. John Maynard Keynes
7. John Lennon
8. Pope John Paul II
Most Famous Guys Named Steve
1. Steven Spielberg
2. Steven Seagal
3. Steve Jobs
4. Stevie Wonder
Dwight Garner is a book critic for The Times.
Editor: Jon Kelly

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