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2017年，整个美国媒体曾经为一个黑科技所疯狂，你小时候曾经幻想过“意念移物”吗？这个黑科技就能让意念移物成为可能。更值得称道的是，这个黑科技的发明者是一位年轻的女性，而且更更更神奇的是，她曾经的身份是一名偷渡客。
她叫Tan Le，她在TED做了两次演讲，一次关于她的黑科技，一次关于她的身世。你很难想象，一个偷渡的女孩子竟然在异国他乡做出这么伟大的事情，你更难以想象她所经历的痛苦和艰辛。
听了Tan的TED故事，我被感动到了，我很想将她的故事也分享给你们！或许我们生活工作中会遇到很多不顺和困难，但请相信自己，请相信家人，只要全家协心齐力、永不放弃，没有什么可以击败我们！
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Up until now, our communication with machines has always been limited to conscious and direct forms. Whether it's something simple like turning on the lights with a switch, or even as complex as programming robotics, we have always had to give a command to a machine, or even a series of commands, in order for it to do something for us. Communication between people, on the other hand, is far more complex and a lot more interesting because we take into account so much more than what is explicitly expressed. We observe facial expressions, body language, and we can intuit feelings and emotions from our dialogue with one another. This actually forms a large part of our decision-making process. Our vision is to introduce this whole new realm of human interaction into human-computer interaction so that computers can understand not only what you direct it to do, but it can also respond to your facial expressions and emotional experiences. And what better way to do this than by interpreting the signals naturally produced by our brain, our center for control and experience. 
Well, it sounds like a pretty good idea, but this task, as Bruno mentioned, isn't an easy one for two main reasons: First, the detection algorithms. Our brain is made up of billions of active neurons, around 170,000 km of combined axon length. When these neurons interact, the chemical reaction emits an electrical impulse, which can be measured. The majority of our functional brain is distributed over the outer surface layer of the brain, and to increase the area that's available for mental capacity, the brain surface is highly folded. Now this cortical folding presents a significant challenge for interpreting surface electrical impulses. Each individual's cortex is folded differently, very much like a fingerprint. So even though a signal may come from the same functional part of the brain, by the time the structure has been folded, its physical location is very different between individuals, even identical twins. There is no longer any consistency in the surface signals. 
Our breakthrough was to create an algorithm that unfolds the cortex, so that we can map the signals closer to its source, and therefore making it capable of working across a mass population. The second challenge is the actual device for observing brainwaves. EEG measurements typically involve a hairnet with an array of sensors, like the one that you can see here in the photo. A technician will put the electrodes onto the scalp using a conductive gel or paste and usually after a procedure of preparing the scalp by light abrasion. Now this is quite time consuming and isn't the most comfortable process. And on top of that, these systems actually cost in the tens of thousands of dollars. 
So with that, I'd like to invite onstage Evan Grant, who is one of last year's speakers, who's kindly agreed to help me to demonstrate what we've been able to develop. 
So the device that you see is a 14-channel, high-fidelity EEG acquisition system. It doesn't require any scalp preparation, no conductive gel or paste. It only takes a few minutes to put on and for the signals to settle. It's also wireless, so it gives you the freedom to move around. And compared to the tens of thousands of dollars for a traditional EEG system, this headset only costs a few hundred dollars. Now on to the detection algorithms. So facial expressions -- as I mentioned before in emotional experiences -- are actually designed to work out of the box with some sensitivity adjustments available for personalization. But with the limited time we have available, I'd like to show you the cognitive suite, which is the ability for you to basically move virtual objects with your mind. 
Now, Evan is new to this system, so what we have to do first is create a new profile for him. He's obviously not Joanne -- so we'll "add user." Evan. Okay. So the first thing we need to do with the cognitive suite is to start with training a neutral signal. With neutral, there's nothing in particular that Evan needs to do. He just hangs out. He's relaxed. And the idea is to establish a baseline or normal state for his brain, because every brain is different. It takes eight seconds to do this, and now that that's done, we can choose a movement-based action. So Evan, choose something that you can visualize clearly in your mind. 
Evan Grant: Let's do "pull." 
Tan Le: Okay, so let's choose "pull." So the idea here now is that Evan needs to imagine the object coming forward into the screen, and there's a progress bar that will scroll across the screen while he's doing that. The first time, nothing will happen, because the system has no idea how he thinks about "pull." But maintain that thought for the entire duration of the eight seconds. So: one, two, three, go. Okay. So once we accept this, the cube is live. So let's see if Evan can actually try and imagine pulling. Ah, good job! (Applause) That's really amazing. 
So we have a little bit of time available, so I'm going to ask Evan to do a really difficult task. And this one is difficult because it's all about being able to visualize something that doesn't exist in our physical world. This is "disappear." So what you want to do -- at least with movement-based actions, we do that all the time, so you can visualize it. But with "disappear," there's really no analogies -- so Evan, what you want to do here is to imagine the cube slowly fading out, okay. Same sort of drill. So: one, two, three, go. Okay. Let's try that. Oh, my goodness. He's just too good. Let's try that again. 
EG: Losing concentration. 
TL: But we can see that it actually works, even though you can only hold it for a little bit of time. As I said, it's a very difficult process to imagine this. And the great thing about it is that we've only given the software one instance of how he thinks about "disappear." As there is a machine learning algorithm in this -- 
Thank you. Good job. Good job. 
Thank you, Evan, you're a wonderful, wonderful example of the technology. 
So, as you can see, before, there is a leveling system built into this software so that as Evan, or any user, becomes more familiar with the system, they can continue to add more and more detections, so that the system begins to differentiate between different distinct thoughts. And once you've trained up the detections, these thoughts can be assigned or mapped to any computing platform, application or device. 
So I'd like to show you a few examples, because there are many possible applications for this new interface. In games and virtual worlds, for example, your facial expressions can naturally and intuitively be used to control an avatar or virtual character. Obviously, you can experience the fantasy of magic and control the world with your mind. And also, colors, lighting, sound and effects can dynamically respond to your emotional state to heighten the experience that you're having, in real time. And moving on to some applications developed by developers and researchers around the world, with robots and simple machines, for example -- in this case, flying a toy helicopter simply by thinking "lift" with your mind. 
The technology can also be applied to real world applications -- in this example, a smart home. You know, from the user interface of the control system to opening curtains or closing curtains. And of course, also to the lighting -- turning them on or off. And finally, to real life-changing applications, such as being able to control an electric wheelchair. In this example, facial expressions are mapped to the movement commands. 
Man: Now blink right to go right. Now blink left to turn back left. Now smile to go straight. 
TL: We really -- Thank you. 
We are really only scratching the surface of what is possible today, and with the community's input, and also with the involvement of developers and researchers from around the world, we hope that you can help us to shape where the technology goes from here. Thank you so much. 
Tan Le是谁？她是硅谷一家硬件公司 Emotiv Systems 的创始人。这家公司出产的产品是人机交互的终极形态——“读心（脑）术”，它有一套认知系统，可以通过读取人们用脑电波发出的指令，从而控制其他设备。
我们大脑里基本的意念控制指令，如推、拉，平衡，旋转，甚至是消失，它都能理解。无需动手，也无需动嘴，只凭意念就能操控无人机、小赛车、甚至是自动驾驶的汽车……就连孩子们脑海中那天马行空的想象力，也不愁无处安放了。简直完爆现有的智能人机互动产品。
这项技术在 TED 上精彩展示后便开始大热，更是达到了整个硅谷都为之疯狂的地步，产品 Emotiv Insight 也在之后众筹中也取得了非常耀眼的成绩。
然而，比起这项黑科技更加不可思议的是，它的发明者Tan Le,以及她的妈妈Mai Ho。这就要说到她在TED上面的另外一段讲述她的身世的演讲。
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How can I speak in 10 minutes about the bonds of women over three generations, about how the astonishing strength of those bonds took hold in the life of a four-year-old girl huddled with her young sister, her mother and her grandmother for five days and nights in a small boat in the China Sea more than 30 years ago, bonds that took hold in the life of that small girl and never let go -- that small girl now living in San Francisco and speaking to you today? This is not a finished story. It is a jigsaw puzzle still being put together. Let me tell you about some of the pieces.
Imagine the first piece: a man burning his life's work. He is a poet, a playwright, a man whose whole life had been balanced on the single hope of his country's unity and freedom. Imagine him as the communists enter Saigon, confronting the fact that his life had been a complete waste. Words, for so long his friends, now mocked him. He retreated into silence. He died broken by history. He is my grandfather. I never knew him in real life. But our lives are much more than our memories. My grandmother never let me forget his life. My duty was not to allow it to have been in vain, and my lesson was to learn that, yes, history tried to crush us, but we endured.
The next piece of the jigsaw is of a boat in the early dawn slipping silently out to sea. My mother, Mai, was 18 when her father died -- already in an arranged marriage, already with two small girls. For her, life had distilled itself into one task: the escape of her family and a new life in Australia. It was inconceivable to her that she would not succeed. So after a four-year saga that defies fiction, a boat slipped out to sea disguised as a fishing vessel. All the adults knew the risks. The greatest fear was of pirates, rape and death. Like most adults on the boat, my mother carried a small bottle of poison. If we were captured, first my sister and I, then she and my grandmother would drink.
My first memories are from the boat -- the steady beat of the engine, the bow dipping into each wave, the vast and empty horizon. I don't remember the pirates who came many times, but were bluffed by the bravado of the men on our boat, or the engine dying and failing to start for six hours. But I do remember the lights on the oil rig off the Malaysian coast and the young man who collapsed and died, the journey's end too much for him, and the first apple I tasted, given to me by the men on the rig. No apple has ever tasted the same.
After three months in a refugee camp, we landed in Melbourne. And the next piece of the jigsaw is about four women across three generations shaping a new life together. We settled in Footscray, a working-class suburb whose demographic is layers of immigrants. Unlike the settled middle-class suburbs, whose existence I was oblivious of, there was no sense of entitlement in Footscray. The smells from shop doors were from the rest of the world. And the snippets of halting English were exchanged between people who had one thing in common, they were starting again.
My mother worked on farms, then on a car assembly line, working six days, double shifts. Somehow she found time to study English and gain IT qualifications. We were poor. All the dollars were allocated and extra tuition in English and mathematics was budgeted for regardless of what missed out, which was usually new clothes; they were always secondhand. Two pairs of stockings for school, each to hide the holes in the other. A school uniform down to the ankles, because it had to last for six years. And there were rare but searing chants of "slit-eye" and the occasional graffiti: "Asian, go home." Go home to where? Something stiffened inside me. There was a gathering of resolve and a quiet voice saying, "I will bypass you."
My mother, my sister and I slept in the same bed. My mother was exhausted each night, but we told one another about our day and listened to the movements of my grandmother around the house. My mother suffered from nightmares all about the boat. And my job was to stay awake until her nightmares came so I could wake her. She opened a computer store then studied to be a beautician and opened another business. And the women came with their stories about men who could not make the transition, angry and inflexible, and troubled children caught between two worlds.
Grants and sponsors were sought. Centers were established. I lived in parallel worlds. In one, I was the classic Asian student, relentless in the demands that I made on myself. In the other, I was enmeshed in lives that were precarious, tragically scarred by violence, drug abuse and isolation. But so many over the years were helped. And for that work, when I was a final year law student, I was chosen as the young Australian of the year. And I was catapulted from one piece of the jigsaw to another, and their edges didn't fit.
Tan Le, anonymous Footscray resident, was now Tan Le, refugee and social activist, invited to speak in venues she had never heard of and into homes whose existence she could never have imagined. I didn't know the protocols. I didn't know how to use the cutlery. I didn't know how to talk about wine. I didn't know how to talk about anything. I wanted to retreat to the routines and comfort of life in an unsung suburb -- a grandmother, a mother and two daughters ending each day as they had for almost 20 years, telling one another the story of their day and falling asleep, the three of us still in the same bed. I told my mother I couldn't do it. She reminded me that I was now the same age she had been when we boarded the boat. No had never been an option. "Just do it," she said, "and don't be what you're not."
So I spoke out on youth unemployment and education and the neglect of the marginalized and the disenfranchised. And the more candidly I spoke, the more I was asked to speak. I met people from all walks of life, so many of them doing the thing they loved, living on the frontiers of possibility. And even though I finished my degree, I realized I could not settle into a career in law. There had to be another piece of the jigsaw. And I realized at the same time that it is okay to be an outsider, a recent arrival, new on the scene -- and not just okay, but something to be thankful for, perhaps a gift from the boat. Because being an insider can so easily mean collapsing the horizons, can so easily mean accepting the presumptions of your province. I have stepped outside my comfort zone enough now to know that, yes, the world does fall apart, but not in the way that you fear.
Possibilities that would not have been allowed were outrageously encouraged. There was an energy there, an implacable optimism, a strange mixture of humility and daring. So I followed my hunches. I gathered around me a small team of people for whom the label "It can't be done" was an irresistible challenge. For a year we were penniless. At the end of each day, I made a huge pot of soup which we all shared. We worked well into each night. Most of our ideas were crazy, but a few were brilliant, and we broke through. I made the decision to move to the U.S. after only one trip. My hunches again. Three months later I had relocated, and the adventure has continued.
Before I close though, let me tell you about my grandmother. She grew up at a time when Confucianism was the social norm and the local Mandarin was the person who mattered. Life hadn't changed for centuries. Her father died soon after she was born. Her mother raised her alone. At 17 she became the second wife of a Mandarin whose mother beat her. With no support from her husband, she caused a sensation by taking him to court and prosecuting her own case, and a far greater sensation when she won. (Laughter) (Applause) "It can't be done" was shown to be wrong.
I was taking a shower in a hotel room in Sydney the moment she died 600 miles away in Melbourne. I looked through the shower screen and saw her standing on the other side. I knew she had come to say goodbye. My mother phoned minutes later. A few days later, we went to a Buddhist temple in Footscray and sat around her casket. We told her stories and assured her that we were still with her. At midnight the monk came and told us he had to close the casket. My mother asked us to feel her hand. She asked the monk, "Why is it that her hand is so warm and the rest of her is so cold?" "Because you have been holding it since this morning," he said. "You have not let it go."
If there is a sinew in our family, it runs through the women. Given who we were and how life had shaped us, we can now see that the men who might have come into our lives would have thwarted us. Defeat would have come too easily. Now I would like to have my own children, and I wonder about the boat. Who could ever wish it on their own? Yet I am afraid of privilege, of ease, of entitlement. Can I give them a bow in their lives, dipping bravely into each wave, the unperturbed and steady beat of the engine, the vast horizon that guarantees nothing? I don't know. But if I could give it and still see them safely through, I would.
从偷渡的难民到硅谷精英
Tan出生在越南，在那个动乱的年代，父亲早早去世，为了生存，Tan的外婆和母亲带着年仅4岁的她还有妹妹坐船偷渡去澳大利亚。
即使在30年后，Tan仍然对当初的那一幕历历在目。一个黎明的清晨，天刚蒙蒙亮，Tan一家人踏上了一叶扁舟悄悄驶向大海。她们挤在船舱的底部，妈妈和外婆紧紧地抱着Tan和妹妹，四处一片漆黑、寂静，只听到浅浅的波浪声和发动机均匀的节奏。
对她们来说，最大的威胁并不是恶劣的环境，而是海盗和强奸。在选择偷渡这条不归路时，Tan的母亲就和其它偷渡客一样，随身携带了一小瓶毒药。她对孩子们说，一旦被海盗抓获，为了避免不受到伤害，她会让妹妹和Tan先喝下毒药，然后妈妈和外婆再依次服毒自尽。一家人同生共死，这个坚定的信念鼓励她们踏上了未知的旅程！

Tan的第一个记忆也就定格在了这艘偷渡的小船上。她已经不记得海盗来了几次，也不记得跟着小船停靠了多少次。
她只记得身边一个马来西亚的小伙因为虚脱而死去。她还记得在她又饥又渴的时候，身边一位叔叔分给她一个苹果，这是她吃过最好吃的苹果，在此后的日子里再也没有尝过那么美味的食物。
逆境中的坚持和努力
最后，她们终于来到了大洋彼岸，但生活依然十分艰难。
在难民集中营呆了三个月后，Tan一家四人定居在了墨尔本。她们当时很穷，母亲一开始在农村干活，后来去了汽车组装线，一周工作6天，白天黑夜双班倒。即使是工作如此辛苦，母亲还挤时间自学英语和计算机，后来她甚至还获得了IT证书。
母亲努力地节约每一分钱，除了生活上的必要开支，剩余的钱都被用来为姐妹俩缴纳英语和数学的学费。Tan从小就没有新衣服穿，穿的都是别人不要的旧衣服。她上学时总是穿两双袜子，因为可以用一双用来遮挡另一双上的洞。
偶尔会在街边看到“亚洲人，回家去吧”的涂鸦，“家？何处是家？”，倔强的 Tan总是会在心里默默告诉自己：有朝一日，我一定要超越你们！
内心的这股韧劲和不服输的精神，激励Tan不断向前。大学毕业后，她来到硅谷，创立了一个小组，开始尝试挑战着一个个“不可能完成”的任务。
整整一年，他们虽然一文不名，但却没有任何事情能撼动这个团队的目标。他们每晚都努力工作着，朝着那些被人看来是非常疯狂的想法不断突破。
家人的支持和鼓励
虽然生活很艰辛，但只要一家人在一起，再大的困难也能克服。
女儿是母亲的安慰。
很长一段时间，外婆、母亲、两个女儿，她们一家四口都睡在一张床上，母亲经常半夜做噩梦，梦到当年偷渡时候那艘小船和那瓶毒药，而每每这个时候，Tan会将母亲摇醒，然后轻轻依偎在母亲身边安慰她“没事没事”，直到妈妈再次入睡 ...
Tan Le 和她的妈妈Mai Ho
而母亲给了女儿无穷的动力和希望。
在创业路上，Tan也动摇过，有一次遇到巨大挫折时，她对妈妈哭诉说她实在坚持不下去了。但是妈妈给了女儿一个坚定的拥抱，然后告诉她，
“在你这个年纪时，妈妈选择了偷渡出国。NO永远不是一个选项，放手去做，做真正的自己！”
最让我动容的是这一幕，有一天外婆终于离她们而去，Tan紧紧地抓住外婆的手不肯松开，她问旁边的僧侣，“都说人死后身体是冰凉的，为什么外婆的手依然还那么温暖呢？”
僧侣告诉她，“那是因为你一直抓着她的手，给她传递了这份热量！”
正是源于家庭的温暖，家人的相偎相依，给了Tan无穷的力量，也是她事业成功的关键！
我很少写鸡汤，但我看到Tan一家人相亲相爱的故事真的被感动住了。因为我想到自己的人生，在很多迷茫颓废的时候，也都是家人给了我继续下去的力量。
记得我大学期间浑浑噩噩，到了快毕业的时候都不知路在何方，当时是病榻上的外婆点醒了我，激发了我考研的勇气和决心。当我拿到录取通知书时，外婆已经长眠地下，那天我在外婆坟前静静地坐了一个下午，我似乎还能感觉到外婆对我的那份鼓励和期望，而这也是我这么多年奋斗的力量源泉！
当我们为事业、为学业奋斗时，也请多点时间陪伴家人，你的孩子、你的配偶、你的父母，他们是支撑你奋斗下去的支柱，也只有一个幸福的家庭，才能激发你更强大的力量！
虽然Tan一家人生活仍很清苦，但是Tan妈妈却坚持让两个女儿读书学习，姐妹俩小时后从未穿过新衣服，省下来的钱都用来缴纳英语和数学的学费了。 
Tan偶尔会在街边看到“亚洲人，回家去吧”的涂鸦，但是Tan的家在哪里？没有，早已没有了！倔强的小Tan总是会在心里默默告诉自己：有朝一日，我一定要超越你们！是的，就像我们今天看到的一样，她做到了！
没有退路的Tan，只有一路向前，大学毕业后，Tan来到硅谷，创立了一个小组，时刻都努力工作着，朝着那些被人们看来是非常疯狂的想法不断突破，挑战着一个个“不可能完成”的任务，最后，把“不可能”变成了可能。
在创业路上，Tan也并非一帆风顺，在每一次遇到挫折，遇到困难时，Tan妈妈总会给女儿一个既坚定又温暖的拥抱，然后告诉她：“放手去做，做真正的自己！永远不要说NO！”
是的，Tan的妈妈在她这个年纪的时候选择了携家老小一同偷渡出国，寻求生机，追求幸福，是怎样的一份坚定与努力，才有了今天的生活。
Tan妈妈Mai Ho于1987年开启了自己的电脑业务，1990年又开了自己的美容沙龙，把电脑业务的管理交给另一位合伙人。与此同时，Mai与两位朋友在当地建立了一个越南社区支援服务。
1992年，Mai决定代表地方选举，虽然第一年未成功，但是第二年，她再次“出战”，并成功当选。1994年，她成为Maribyrnong市副市长，1995年和1996年在西墨尔本TAFE学院和VUT的董事会任职。1997年，麦再次当选，并成为市长。
Tan在中学的时候，每个星期三的下午都致力于课外活动，乐于投身社区组织。她16岁那年在蒙纳士大学攻读法律，18岁时当选澳大利亚——越南服务资源中心主席。20岁时，她在1998年1月被评为年度最佳澳大利亚青年。
正是家人们互相传递的温暖，才是每位成员前进力量的源泉，母亲的坚韧与格局，不但使自己不断蜕变，更是一直激励着Tan不断前行，使她成为了一位硅谷科技公司的CEO，研究着人机交互这种最前沿的科技。
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