——选自 Farnam Street / Let It ripple 网站（吉玛译）
Follow the Golden Rule.
答案是：遵守黄金规律。
“I had, also, during many years, followed a golden rule, namely, that whenever a published fact, a new observation or thought came across me, which was opposed to my general results, to make a memorandum of it without fail and at once; for I had found by experience that such facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape from memory than favorable ones.”
“多年以来，我遵循着一条黄金法则，即每当我偶然发现与我的研究结果截然相反的报道的事实，新的评述或想法，我务必马上将它们一一记录;因为经验告诉我，相较备忘录，单单靠记忆力往往容易忘记此类的事实和想法。
In his 1986 speech at the commencement of Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles (found in Poor Charlie's Almanack) Charlie Munger gave a short Johnny Carson-like speech on the things to avoid to end up with a happy and successful life. One of his most salient prescriptions comes from the life of Charles Darwin:
1986年，查理·芒格在位于洛杉矶的哈佛-韦斯特莱克大学毕业典礼上发表的演讲中（在他的年鉴中找到），就如何避免幸福和成功的生活结束，他简短地发表了类似于约翰尼·卡森的演讲。最突出诀窍，来源于自于查尔斯·达尔文的生活:
It is my opinion, as a certified biography nut, that Charles Robert Darwin would have ranked in the middle of the Harvard School graduating class if 1986. Yet he is now famous in the history of science. This is precisely the type of example you should learn nothing from if bent on minimizing your results from your own endowment.
作为传记迷，我认为，如果查尔斯·罗伯特·达尔文是1986年代哈佛大学的学生，他一定会在毕业班中名列前。然而，现在的他在科学领域亦是声名远扬。恰恰这个例子说明，如果你专心致志于从你的天赋中简化你的研究结果，那么你将会学无所成。
Darwin's result was due in large measure to his working method, which violated all my rules for misery and particularly emphasized a backward twist in that he always gave priority attention to evidence tending to disconfirm whatever cherished and hard-won theory he already had. In contrast, most people early achieve and later intensify a tendency to process new and disconfirming information so that any original conclusion remains intact. They become people of whom Philip Wylie observed: “You couldn't squeeze a dime between what they already know and what they will never learn.”
达尔文的研究结果在很大程度上归因于他的工作方式，这种方式违反我所有可悲的规则，尤其强调了一种倒向思维，因为他总是优先关注证据，以证明他所拥有的任何珍惜和来之不易的理论。与此相反，大多数人早期达到并强化了一种趋势，即处理新的和不确定的信息，如此以至于最初的所有结论都是完整的。他们变成了菲利普·怀利所观察到的人:“你不能在他们已经知道的东西和他们永远学不到的东西之间再挤出一点点东西。”
The life of Darwin demonstrates how a turtle may outrun a hare, aided by extreme objectivity, which helps the objective person end up like the only player without a blindfold in a game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.
达尔文的生活证明了，一只乌龟可能比一只兔子跑得快，在最大限度客观的有力条件下，帮助目标人物成为在游戏中唯一一个没有蒙眼的人将尾巴钉在驴上。
The great Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson agreed. In his book, Letters to a Young Scientist, Wilson argued that Darwin would have probably scored in the 130 range on a standard IQ test. And yet there he is, buried next to the calculus-inventing genius Isaac Newton in Westminster Abbey. (As Munger often notes.)
伟大的哈佛大学生物学家E.O. Wilson对此表示赞同。在《致年轻科学家的信》中，威尔逊指出，达尔文标准智商测试应该能达到130分。然而，他的才华却被埋没在西敏寺大教堂，跟随在微积分天才艾萨克·牛顿左右。(如芒格记载)
What can we learn from the working and thinking habits of Darwin?
我们能从达尔文的工作和思维习惯中学到什么？
Extreme Focus Combined with Attentive Energy
富有能量的极度专注力
The first clue comes from his own autobiography. Darwin was a hoover of information related to a topic he was interested in. After describing some of his specific areas of study while aboard the H.M.S. Beagle, Darwin concludes in his Autobiography:
第一个线索来自他的自传。只要是达尔文是他感兴趣的话题，可以说他就是这方面信息的专家。在贝格尔号上，他发表了自己一些特殊领域研究后，达尔文在他的自传中总结道:
The above various special studies were, however, of no importance compared with the habit of energetic industry and of concentrated attention to whatever I was engaged in, which I then acquired. Everything about which I thought or read was made to bear directly on what I had seen and was likely to see; and this habit of mind was continued during the five years of the voyage. I feel sure that it was this training which has enabled me to do whatever I have done in science.
然而，上述各种特殊的研究成果与我花费了大量精力且全身心投入所获得习惯相比，并没有什么重要的意义。我思考或了解到的一切，都与我所看到的和可能看到的东西息息相关;在航行的五年里，我一直保持着这种思维习惯。我确信正是这种训练，成就了我在科学领域所有做到的事情。
This habit of pure and attentive focus to the task at hand is, of course, echoed in many of our favorite thinkers, from Sherlock Holmes, to E.O. Wilson, Feynman, Einstein, and others. Munger himself remarked that “I did not succeed in life by intelligence. I succeeded because I have a long attention span.”
当然，这种纯粹专注于手头任务的习惯，也能够得到许多我们最喜欢的思想家们的共鸣，例如夏洛克·福尔摩斯，E.O.威尔逊，费曼，爱因斯坦，以及其他的思想家。芒格自己说过，“我的成功不靠智力。持续的专注力铸就了我的成功。
In Darwin's quest, there was almost nothing relevant to his task at hand — the problem of understanding the origin and development of species — which might have escaped his attention. He had an extremely broad antenna. Says David Quammen in his fabulous The Reluctant Mr. Darwin:
在达尔文的研究物种起源和发展期间，与他着手的研究无关的事情，似乎已经从他的意识中逃脱。他具有极其广的信息资源。David Quammen在《不情愿的达尔文先生》中说:
One of Darwin's great strengths as a scientist was also, in some ways, a disadvantage: his extraordinary breadth of curiosity. From his study at Down House he ranged widely and greedily, in his constant search for data, across distances (by letter) and scientific fields. He read eclectically and kept notes like a pack rat. Over the years he collected an enormous quantity of interconnected facts. He looked for patterns but was intrigued equally by exceptions to the patterns, and exceptions to the exceptions. He tested his ideas against complicated groups of organisms with complicated stories, such as the barnacles, the orchids, the social insects, the primroses, and the hominids.
作为一名科学家，达尔文有的其中一个优点是，在某种程度上来说他也有缺点: 他非凡的好奇心。从他在故居的书房里，他在收集资料时，充满野心，所涉及到的知识面广，超越距离(字母)和科学领域的束缚。折衷阅读，热衷记录。多年来，他收集了大量相互关联的事实。他寻找模式，但又沉迷于模式中的例外，例外中的例外。他利用错综复杂的生物群体来测试他的想法，如藤壶、兰花、群居昆虫、报春花和脊椎动物。
Not only was Darwin thinking broadly, taking in facts at all turns and on many subjects, but he was thinking carefully, This is where Munger's admiration comes in: Darwin wanted to look at the exceptions. The exceptions to the exceptions. He was on the hunt for truth and not necessarily to confirm some highly-loved idea. Simply put, he didn't want to be wrong about the nature of reality. To get the theory whole and correct would take lots of detail and time, as we will see.
达尔文不仅在思想上广泛，对于那些已被人们所接受的事实，他仍仔细思考，这就是芒格令赞赏之处:达尔文想要研究例外。例外中的例外。他在寻找真理，而不去证实那些别人吹捧的想法。简单地说，他不愿弄错现实的本质。众所周知，真理的完整和准确需要大量的细节和时间来填补。
The habit of study and observation didn't stop at the plant and animal kingdom for Darwin. In a move that might seem strange by today's standards, Darwin even opened a notebook to study the development of his own newborn son, William. This is from one of his notebooks:
研究和记录的习惯并没有停留在达尔文的动植物王国。达尔文甚至记录研究过他自己的孩子威廉的成长，就当今的标准而言，这似乎有点奇怪。其中，他记录到:
Natural History of Babies
婴儿的自然史
Do babies start (i.e., useless sudden movement of muscles) very early in life. Do they wink, when anything placed before their eyes, very young, before experience can have taught them to avoid danger. Do they know frown when they first see it?
婴儿在早期就有了生命迹象(即毫无用处的突发性突然肌肉运动)。很小的时候，无论什么东西出现在他们眼底，他们都会眨眼睛，唯有经验教他们避免危险。当他们第一次看到时，他们知道皱眉吗?
From there, as his child grew and developed, Darwin took close notes. How did he figure out that the reflection in the mirror was him? How did he then figure out it was only an image of him, and that any other images that showed up (say, Dad standing behind him) were mere images too – not reality? These were further data in Darwin's mental model of the accumulation of gradual changes, but more importantly, displayed his attention to detail. Everything eventually came to “bear directly on what I had seen and what I was likely to see.”
从那以后，随着他的孩子的成长和发展，达尔文做进一步记录。他怎么知道镜子里的映像是他?他怎么能想到这只是他的画像而已，任何出现在他身后的也都只是图像（他会说，爸爸站在我身后）—而不是实物? 达尔文不仅仅进一步积累了心智模型渐变的数据，更重要的是，体现出他对细节的关注。一切最终皆与“我所看到的和我可能看到的东西”息息相关。
And in a practical sense, Darwin was a relentless note-taker. Notebook A, Notebook B, Notebook C, Notebook M, Notebook N…all filled with observations from his study of journals and texts, his own scientific work, his travels, and his life. Once he sat down to write, he had an enormous amount of prior written thought to draw on. He could also see gaps in his understanding, which he diligently filled in.
从实际意义上讲，达尔文是笔记本狂魔。笔记本1,笔记本2,笔记本3,笔记本4,笔记本N…
这些笔记本里记录了他研究的所有期刊和文献，他的科研工作,他的旅行,他的生活。一旦他坐下来写作，他就可以利用大量的事先写好的想法。他亦能发现并填补他理解上的欠缺。
Become an Expert
成为一个专家
You can learn much about Darwin (and truthfully about anyone) by who he studied and admired. If Darwin held anyone in high esteem, it was Charles Lyell, whose Principles of Geology was his faithful companion on the H.M.S. Beagle. Here is his description of Lyell from his autobiography, which tells us something of the traits Darwin valued and sought to emulate:
你可以从达尔文研究和欣赏的人中学习到很多东西。如果说达尔文对谁有很高的评价，那就是查尔斯·莱尔，他的地质学原理是他在猎犬号上的忠实伙伴。这是他在自传中对莱尔的描述，它告诉我们达尔文所重视并试图仿效的品格:
I saw more of Lyell than of any other man before and after my marriage. His mind was characterized, as it appeared to me, by clearness, caution, sound judgment and a good deal of originality. When I made any remark to him on Geology, he never rested until he saw the whole case clearly and often made me see it more clearly than I had done before. He would advance all possible objections to my suggestions, and even after these were exhausted would long remain dubious. A second characteristic was his hearty sympathy with the work of other scientific men.
在我结婚前后，我从莱尔那了解到的比从任何人那了解都多。在我看来，他的思想具有清晰、谨慎、合理的判断和良好的创意。当我向他讨教关于地质学问题时，他会孜孜不倦的理清整个问题，并且让我能够较之前更叫清晰的了解这个问题。他会提出所有可能缺陷来给我建议，即使这些建议被否定，他仍会继续怀疑。第二个特点就是他对其他科学人的工作致上至诚的赞同。
Studying Lyell and geology enhanced Darwin's (probably natural) suspicion that careful, detailed, and objective work was required to create scientific breakthroughs. And once Darwin had expertise and grounding in the level of expertise required by Lyell to understand and explain the theory of geology, he had a basis for the rest of his scientific work. From his autobiography:
研究莱尔和地质学增强达尔文(天生的)疑心，正是这种疑心，使其能在仔细、详细和客观的工作中有科学性的突破。一旦达尔文具备了莱尔这种理解和解释地质学理论的专业知识和基础知识，他的科学工作就有了一定的基础基础。他的自传中写道：
After my return to England, it appeared to me that by following the example of Lyell in Geology, and by collecting all facts which bore in any way on the variation of animals and plants under domestication and nature, some light might perhaps be thrown on the whole subject.
在我回到英国之后，在我看来，以莱尔的地质学为例，收集动植物在驯化和自然条件下的变异事实，可能会对整个学科产生一些影响。
In fact, it was Darwin's study and understanding of geology itself that gave him something to lean on conceptually. Lyell's, and his own, theory of geology was of a slow-moving process that accumulated massive gradual changes over time. This seems like common knowledge today, but at the time, people weren't so sure that the mountains and the islands could have been created from such slow moving and incremental processes.
事实上，达尔文的研究和对地质学的理解使其有了一些概念性依据。莱尔和他自己的地质学理论是缓慢移动过程，随着时间的推移积累了巨大的渐变。对于现在，这仅仅是常识，但在当时，人们不太确定山和岛屿是由如此缓慢的移动和渐进的过程形成的。
Wallace & Gruber's book Creative People at Work, an analysis of a variety of thinkers and artists, argues that this basic mental model carried Darwin pretty far:
华莱士和格鲁伯的书《Creative People at Work》，分析了各种各样的思想家和艺术家，该书提到该基本的模型让达尔文走的更远:
Why was the acquisition of expert knowledge in geology so important to the development of Darwin's overall thinking? Because in learning geology Darwin ground a conceptual lens — a device for bringing into focus and clarifying the problems to which he turned his attention. When his attention shifted to problems beyond geology, the lens remained and Darwin used it in exploring new problems.
为什么地质学方面的专业知识对达尔文整体思维的发展如此重要? 因为在学习地质学的过程中，达尔文提出了概念透镜——这个装置能够专注并阐明他没有注意到的问题。当他的注意力转移到地质学以外的问题时，透镜能专注于此，达尔文则可以利用它来探索新的问题。
(Darwin's) coral reef theory shows that he had become an expert in one field…(and) the central idea in Darwin's understanding of geology was “gradualism” — that great things could be produced by long, continued accumulation of very small effects. The next phase in the development of this thought-form would involve his use of it as the basis for the construction of analogies between geology and new, unfamiliar subjects.
(达尔文)珊瑚礁理论表明,他已经成为一个领域的专家…(并且)达尔文学习地质学的中心思想是“渐进主义”——伟大的事情往往归功于长久以来对小事物的不断积累。该思想形态发展的下一个阶段，则是将其作为地质学与新的陌生学科进行类比的基础。
Darwin wrote his most explicit and concise statement of the nature and utility of his gradualism thought-form: “This multiplication of little means and bringing the mind to grapple with great effect produced is a most laborious & painful effort of the mind.” He recognized that it took patience and discipline to discover the “little means” that were responsible for great effects. With the necessary effort, however, this gradualism thought-form could become the vehicle for explaining many remarkable phenomena in geology, biology, and even psychology.
关于渐进主义思想形态的本质和效用，达尔文陈述他最简洁明了的说法:“盲目的累积和有意的巨大付出，在心灵上最费力的、痛苦的。”他认识到，想要“小方法”起大作用，需要耐心和自律。然而，通过必要的女里，这种渐进主义的思想形态可以成为解释地质学、生物学甚至心理学中许多令人瞩日的现象的工具。
It is amazing to note that Darwin did not write The Origin of Species until 1859 even though his notebooks show he had been pretty close to the correct idea at least 15 or 20 years prior. What was he doing in all that time? Well, for eight years at least, he was studying barnacles.
令人惊讶的是，尽管他的记录表明至少在15/20年之前已经相当接近正解，达尔文1859年才开始写《物种起源》，那么当时他在做什么?是的，他至少花费了八年的时间来研究藤壶。
One of the reasons Darwin went on a crusade of classifying and studying the barnacles in minute detail was his concern that if he wasn't a primary expert on some portion of the natural world, his work on a larger and more general thesis would not be taken seriously, and that it would probably have holes. He said as much to his friend Frederic Gerard, a French botanist, before he had begun his barnacle work: “How painfully (to me) true is your remark that no one has hardly a right to examine the question of species who has not minutely described many.” And, of course, Darwin being Darwin, he spent eight years remedying that unfathomable situation.
达尔文详尽无遗的分类和研究藤壶的原因是，他担心如果他不是在自然世界某个区域的主要专家,那么他的研究这个广泛的命题将不会被认可，甚至可能会有漏洞。在他研究藤壶之前，他和他的朋友法国植物学家弗雷德里克·杰拉德讨论很多，他说:“(对我来说)真的很痛苦的是，你说每个人都有权利去研究那些没有详细描述过的物种的问题。”当然，达尔文就是达尔文，他花了8年的时间来弥补这份不可思议。
It seemed like extraordinarily tedious work, unrelated to anything a scientist would consider important on a grand scale. It was taxonomy. Classification. Even Darwin admitted later on that he doubted it was worth the years he spent on it. Yet, in his detail-oriented journey for expertise on barnacles, he hit upon some key ideas that would make his theory of natural selection complete. Says Quammen:
这似乎是一项非常乏味的工作，与任何事物无关，大部分的科学家认为是重要。这是分类学。甚至达尔文也承认，自己花在这上面的时间是值得的。然而，在他以细节为导向的藤壶研究过程中，，他偶然发现了一些关键理念，使其能够完善他的自然选择理论。Quammen说:
He also found notable differences on another categorical level; within species. Contrary to what he'd believed all along about the rarity of variation in the wild, barnacles turned out to be highly variable. A species wasn't a Platonic essence or a metaphysical type. A species was a population of differing individuals.
同时，他还发现物种中另一分类级别的显著差异。一直以来，他认为野生动植物的变异程度是很小的，但是，恰恰相反的是，藤壶却是高度可变的。物种不是柏拉图或玄学论。物种是个体相异的种群。
He wouldn't have seen that if he hadn't assigned himself the trick job of drawing lines between one species and another. He wouldn't have seen it if he hadn't used his network of contacts and his good reputation as a naturalist to gather barnacle specimens, in quantity, from all over the world. The truth of variation only reveals itself in crowds. He wouldn't have seen it if he hadn't examined multiple individuals, not just single representatives, of as many species as possible….Abundant variation among barnacles filled a crucial role in his theory. Here they were, the minor differences on which natural selection works.
如果他没有去研究如何界定物种种类的诀窍，他不会发现。如果他没有利用他的人际关系网和他作为自然主义者的良好声誉来收集来自世界各地的藤壶标本，他是不会发现。相异的意义在于如何在在人群中显露出来。如果他没有研究多个个体,亦或是只是研究单一的代表物种,而不是尽可能多的物种…他不会发现。藤壶的丰富变异在他的理论中扮演了关键的角色。它们是自然选择工作种细微差别。
Darwin was so diligent it could be breathtaking at times. Quammen describes him gathering up various species to assess the data about their development and their variation. Birds, dead or alive, as many as possible. Foxes, dogs, ducks, pigeons, rabbits, cats…nothing escaped his purview. As many specimens as he could get his hands on. All while living in a secluded house in Victorian England, beset by constant illness. He was Big Data before Big Data was a thing, trying to suss out conclusions from a mass of observation.
有时，达尔文的勤奋会令人惊叹。Quammen记述了他收集各种物种，对它们的发展和变化数据进行评估。尽可能多的收集鸟，无论是死的或活的。狐狸,狗,鸭子,鸽子、兔子、猫…一切都难逃他的法眼。尽可能的收集标本。他的一生都住在维多利亚英国的一个僻静的房子里，即便被病魔困扰。他试图从大量的记录中得出结论，大数据在他面前简直就是小巫见大巫。
Follow the Golden Rule
遵循黄金法则
Eventually his work led him to something new: Species are not immutable, they are all part of the same family tree. They evolve through a process of variation — he didn't know how; that took years for others to figure out through the study of genetics — and differential survival through natural selection.
最终，他的研究让他有了新的发现: 物种不是一成不变的，它们都是族谱的一部分。它们在变异过程中得以进化—他不知道如何变化;人们通过数年才从遗传学的研究中得到答案--通过自然选择的差异生存。
Darwin was able to put his finger on why it took so long for humanity to come to this correct theory: It was extremely counter-intuitive to how one would naturally see the world. He admitted as much in the Origin of Species‘ concluding chapter:
达尔文能够确切的指出为什么人类需要这么长时间才能得出正确的理论: 这与人们自然地看待世界的方式完全相反。他在《物种起源》的最后一章中承认:
The chief cause of our natural unwillingness to admit that one species has given birth to other and distinct species, is that we are always slow in admitting any great changes of which we do not see the steps. The difficulty is the same as that felt by so many geologists, when Lyell first insisted that long lines of inland cliffs had been formed, and great valleys excavated, by the agencies which we still see at work. The mind cannot possibly grasp the full meaning of the term of even a million years; it cannot add up and perceive the full effects of many slight variations, accumulated during an almost infinite number of generations.
我们不愿承认某一物种已经衍生出其他不同物种主要原因是，我们对于我们没有看的到巨大变化后知后觉。许多地质学家也感到同样的困难，当莱尔第一次坚持认为巨大的山谷被挖掘，内陆悬崖已经形成了，我们在研究中可以看到。即使通过一百万年的时间变化，头脑不可能完全掌握这个词的全部含义;它不能增加和感知在无限的时间里中积累起来的微小变化的全部影响。
Counter-intuition was Darwin's speciality. And the reason he was so good was he had a very simple habit of thought, described in the autobiography and so cherished by Charlie Munger: He paid special attention to collecting facts which did not agree with his prior conceptions. He called this a golden rule.
违反直觉的是达尔文的专长。在自传中说到，他如此优秀的原因是他有个极简的思维习惯，这被查理·芒格所珍视:对于那些收集的不符合先前理念的事实以重视。他称之为黄金法则。
I had, also, during many years, followed a golden rule, namely, that whenever a published fact, a new observation or thought came across me, which was opposed to my general results, to make a memorandum of it without fail and at once; for I had found by experience that such facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape from memory than favorable ones. Owing to this habit, very few objections were raised against my views which I had not at least noticed and attempted to answer.
多年以来，我遵循着一条黄金法则，即每当我偶然发现与我的研究结果截然相反的报道的事实，新的评述或想法，我务必马上将它们一一记录;因为经验告诉我，相较备忘录，单单靠记忆力往往容易忘记此类的事实和想法。由于这个习惯，很少有人反对我没有注意到的的观点，并试图回答。
So we see that Darwin's great success, by his own analysis, owed to his ability to see, note, and learn from objections to his cherished thoughts. The Origin of Species has stood up in the face of 157 years of subsequent biological research because Darwin was so careful to make sure the theory was nearly impossible to refute. Later scientists would find the book slightly incomplete, but not incorrect.
因此，通过他自己的分析，我们明白达尔文的巨大成功，归功于他在反对他的观点中发现和学习的能力。在随后的157年的生物研究中，物种起源逐渐突显出来，因为达尔文的小心翼翼，确保这个理论几乎不可能被驳倒。后来科学家们发现这本书虽有点不完整，但观点正确。
This passage reminds one of, and probably influenced, Charlie Munger's prescription on the work required to hold an opinion: You must understand the opposite side of the argument better than the person holding that side does. It's a very difficult way to think, tremendously unnatural in the face of our genetic makeup (the more typical response is to look for as much confirming evidence as possible). Harnessed properly, though, it is a powerful way to beat your own shortcomings and become a seeing man amongst the blind.
这段话让人想起了查理·芒格关于工作处方中需要坚持的观点之一: 你必须比持这一立场的人更好地理解论点的反面。我们的反常的基因组成注定了这是一种非常困难的思考方式，(更典型的现象是寻找尽可能多的证实证据)。然而，合理地利用它是战胜你自己的缺点，成为明白人的强有力方法。
Thus, we can deduce that, in addition to good luck and good timing, it was Darwin's habits of completeness, diligence, accuracy, and habitual objectivity which ultimately led him to make his greatest breakthroughs. It was tedious. There was no spark of divine insight that gave him his edge. He just started with the right basic ideas and the right heroes, and then worked for a long time and with extreme focus and objectivity, always keeping his eye on reality.
因此，我们可以推断，除了好运和好的时机之外，达尔文的追求完整性、勤奋、准确和习以为常客观性习惯，最终使他取得了最大的突破。这是乏味的。神圣洞察没有赐予他任何优势。他只是从正确的基本思想和正在伟人开始，以极端的专注和客观的态度长时间研究，始终保持对真理的追求。
In the end, you can do worse than to read all you can find on Charles Darwin and try to copy his mental habits. They will serve you well over a long life.
最后，从查尔斯·达尔文身上找到并试着模仿他的精神习惯，这是一个不错的选择。它们将会伴随你的一生。
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“I had, also, during many years, followed a golden rule, namely, that whenever a published fact, a new observation or thought came across me, which was opposed to my general results, to make a memorandum of it without fail and at once; for I had found by experience that such facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape from memory than favorable ones.”
“多年以来，我遵循着一条黄金法则，即每当我偶然发现与我的研究结果截然相反的报道的事实，新的评述或想法，我务必马上将它们一一记录;因为经验告诉我，相较备忘录，单单靠记忆力往往容易忘记此类的事实和想法。
In his 1986 speech at the commencement of Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles (found in Poor Charlie's Almanack) Charlie Munger gave a short Johnny Carson-like speech on the things to avoid to end up with a happy and successful life. One of his most salient prescriptions comes from the life of Charles Darwin:
1986年，查理·芒格在位于洛杉矶的哈佛-韦斯特莱克大学毕业典礼上发表的演讲中（在他的年鉴中找到），就如何避免幸福和成功的生活结束，他简短地发表了类似于约翰尼·卡森的演讲。最突出诀窍，来源于自于查尔斯·达尔文的生活:
It is my opinion, as a certified biography nut, that Charles Robert Darwin would have ranked in the middle of the Harvard School graduating class if 1986. Yet he is now famous in the history of science. This is precisely the type of example you should learn nothing from if bent on minimizing your results from your own endowment.
作为传记迷，我认为，如果查尔斯·罗伯特·达尔文是1986年代哈佛大学的学生，他一定会在毕业班中名列前。然而，现在的他在科学领域亦是声名远扬。恰恰这个例子说明，如果你专心致志于从你的天赋中简化你的研究结果，那么你将会学无所成。
Darwin's result was due in large measure to his working method, which violated all my rules for misery and particularly emphasized a backward twist in that he always gave priority attention to evidence tending to disconfirm whatever cherished and hard-won theory he already had. In contrast, most people early achieve and later intensify a tendency to process new and disconfirming information so that any original conclusion remains intact. They become people of whom Philip Wylie observed: “You couldn't squeeze a dime between what they already know and what they will never learn.”
达尔文的研究结果在很大程度上归因于他的工作方式，这种方式违反我所有可悲的规则，尤其强调了一种倒向思维，因为他总是优先关注证据，以证明他所拥有的任何珍惜和来之不易的理论。与此相反，大多数人早期达到并强化了一种趋势，即处理新的和不确定的信息，如此以至于最初的所有结论都是完整的。他们变成了菲利普·怀利所观察到的人:“你不能在他们已经知道的东西和他们永远学不到的东西之间再挤出一点点东西。”
The life of Darwin demonstrates how a turtle may outrun a hare, aided by extreme objectivity, which helps the objective person end up like the only player without a blindfold in a game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.
达尔文的生活证明了，一只乌龟可能比一只兔子跑得快，在最大限度客观的有力条件下，帮助目标人物成为在游戏中唯一一个没有蒙眼的人将尾巴钉在驴上。
The great Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson agreed. In his book, Letters to a Young Scientist, Wilson argued that Darwin would have probably scored in the 130 range on a standard IQ test. And yet there he is, buried next to the calculus-inventing genius Isaac Newton in Westminster Abbey. (As Munger often notes.)
伟大的哈佛大学生物学家E.O. Wilson对此表示赞同。在《致年轻科学家的信》中，威尔逊指出，达尔文标准智商测试应该能达到130分。然而，他的才华却被埋没在西敏寺大教堂，跟随在微积分天才艾萨克·牛顿左右。(如芒格记载)
What can we learn from the working and thinking habits of Darwin?
我们能从达尔文的工作和思维习惯中学到什么？
Extreme Focus Combined with Attentive Energy
富有能量的极度专注力
The first clue comes from his own autobiography. Darwin was a hoover of information related to a topic he was interested in. After describing some of his specific areas of study while aboard the H.M.S. Beagle, Darwin concludes in his Autobiography:
第一个线索来自他的自传。只要是达尔文是他感兴趣的话题，可以说他就是这方面信息的专家。在贝格尔号上，他发表了自己一些特殊领域研究后，达尔文在他的自传中总结道:
The above various special studies were, however, of no importance compared with the habit of energetic industry and of concentrated attention to whatever I was engaged in, which I then acquired. Everything about which I thought or read was made to bear directly on what I had seen and was likely to see; and this habit of mind was continued during the five years of the voyage. I feel sure that it was this training which has enabled me to do whatever I have done in science.
然而，上述各种特殊的研究成果与我花费了大量精力且全身心投入所获得习惯相比，并没有什么重要的意义。我思考或了解到的一切，都与我所看到的和可能看到的东西息息相关;在航行的五年里，我一直保持着这种思维习惯。我确信正是这种训练，成就了我在科学领域所有做到的事情。
This habit of pure and attentive focus to the task at hand is, of course, echoed in many of our favorite thinkers, from Sherlock Holmes, to E.O. Wilson, Feynman, Einstein, and others. Munger himself remarked that “I did not succeed in life by intelligence. I succeeded because I have a long attention span.”
当然，这种纯粹专注于手头任务的习惯，也能够得到许多我们最喜欢的思想家们的共鸣，例如夏洛克·福尔摩斯，E.O.威尔逊，费曼，爱因斯坦，以及其他的思想家。芒格自己说过，“我的成功不靠智力。持续的专注力铸就了我的成功。
In Darwin's quest, there was almost nothing relevant to his task at hand — the problem of understanding the origin and development of species — which might have escaped his attention. He had an extremely broad antenna. Says David Quammen in his fabulous The Reluctant Mr. Darwin:
在达尔文的研究物种起源和发展期间，与他着手的研究无关的事情，似乎已经从他的意识中逃脱。他具有极其广的信息资源。David Quammen在《不情愿的达尔文先生》中说:
One of Darwin's great strengths as a scientist was also, in some ways, a disadvantage: his extraordinary breadth of curiosity. From his study at Down House he ranged widely and greedily, in his constant search for data, across distances (by letter) and scientific fields. He read eclectically and kept notes like a pack rat. Over the years he collected an enormous quantity of interconnected facts. He looked for patterns but was intrigued equally by exceptions to the patterns, and exceptions to the exceptions. He tested his ideas against complicated groups of organisms with complicated stories, such as the barnacles, the orchids, the social insects, the primroses, and the hominids.
作为一名科学家，达尔文有的其中一个优点是，在某种程度上来说他也有缺点: 他非凡的好奇心。从他在故居的书房里，他在收集资料时，充满野心，所涉及到的知识面广，超越距离(字母)和科学领域的束缚。折衷阅读，热衷记录。多年来，他收集了大量相互关联的事实。他寻找模式，但又沉迷于模式中的例外，例外中的例外。他利用错综复杂的生物群体来测试他的想法，如藤壶、兰花、群居昆虫、报春花和脊椎动物。
Not only was Darwin thinking broadly, taking in facts at all turns and on many subjects, but he was thinking carefully, This is where Munger's admiration comes in: Darwin wanted to look at the exceptions. The exceptions to the exceptions. He was on the hunt for truth and not necessarily to confirm some highly-loved idea. Simply put, he didn't want to be wrong about the nature of reality. To get the theory whole and correct would take lots of detail and time, as we will see.
达尔文不仅在思想上广泛，对于那些已被人们所接受的事实，他仍仔细思考，这就是芒格令赞赏之处:达尔文想要研究例外。例外中的例外。他在寻找真理，而不去证实那些别人吹捧的想法。简单地说，他不愿弄错现实的本质。众所周知，真理的完整和准确需要大量的细节和时间来填补。
The habit of study and observation didn't stop at the plant and animal kingdom for Darwin. In a move that might seem strange by today's standards, Darwin even opened a notebook to study the development of his own newborn son, William. This is from one of his notebooks:
研究和记录的习惯并没有停留在达尔文的动植物王国。达尔文甚至记录研究过他自己的孩子威廉的成长，就当今的标准而言，这似乎有点奇怪。其中，他记录到:
Natural History of Babies
婴儿的自然史
Do babies start (i.e., useless sudden movement of muscles) very early in life. Do they wink, when anything placed before their eyes, very young, before experience can have taught them to avoid danger. Do they know frown when they first see it?
婴儿在早期就有了生命迹象(即毫无用处的突发性突然肌肉运动)。很小的时候，无论什么东西出现在他们眼底，他们都会眨眼睛，唯有经验教他们避免危险。当他们第一次看到时，他们知道皱眉吗?
From there, as his child grew and developed, Darwin took close notes. How did he figure out that the reflection in the mirror was him? How did he then figure out it was only an image of him, and that any other images that showed up (say, Dad standing behind him) were mere images too – not reality? These were further data in Darwin's mental model of the accumulation of gradual changes, but more importantly, displayed his attention to detail. Everything eventually came to “bear directly on what I had seen and what I was likely to see.”
从那以后，随着他的孩子的成长和发展，达尔文做进一步记录。他怎么知道镜子里的映像是他?他怎么能想到这只是他的画像而已，任何出现在他身后的也都只是图像（他会说，爸爸站在我身后）—而不是实物? 达尔文不仅仅进一步积累了心智模型渐变的数据，更重要的是，体现出他对细节的关注。一切最终皆与“我所看到的和我可能看到的东西”息息相关。
And in a practical sense, Darwin was a relentless note-taker. Notebook A, Notebook B, Notebook C, Notebook M, Notebook N…all filled with observations from his study of journals and texts, his own scientific work, his travels, and his life. Once he sat down to write, he had an enormous amount of prior written thought to draw on. He could also see gaps in his understanding, which he diligently filled in.
从实际意义上讲，达尔文是笔记本狂魔。笔记本1,笔记本2,笔记本3,笔记本4,笔记本N…
这些笔记本里记录了他研究的所有期刊和文献，他的科研工作,他的旅行,他的生活。一旦他坐下来写作，他就可以利用大量的事先写好的想法。他亦能发现并填补他理解上的欠缺。
Become an Expert
成为一个专家
You can learn much about Darwin (and truthfully about anyone) by who he studied and admired. If Darwin held anyone in high esteem, it was Charles Lyell, whose Principles of Geology was his faithful companion on the H.M.S. Beagle. Here is his description of Lyell from his autobiography, which tells us something of the traits Darwin valued and sought to emulate:
你可以从达尔文研究和欣赏的人中学习到很多东西。如果说达尔文对谁有很高的评价，那就是查尔斯·莱尔，他的地质学原理是他在猎犬号上的忠实伙伴。这是他在自传中对莱尔的描述，它告诉我们达尔文所重视并试图仿效的品格:
I saw more of Lyell than of any other man before and after my marriage. His mind was characterized, as it appeared to me, by clearness, caution, sound judgment and a good deal of originality. When I made any remark to him on Geology, he never rested until he saw the whole case clearly and often made me see it more clearly than I had done before. He would advance all possible objections to my suggestions, and even after these were exhausted would long remain dubious. A second characteristic was his hearty sympathy with the work of other scientific men.
在我结婚前后，我从莱尔那了解到的比从任何人那了解都多。在我看来，他的思想具有清晰、谨慎、合理的判断和良好的创意。当我向他讨教关于地质学问题时，他会孜孜不倦的理清整个问题，并且让我能够较之前更叫清晰的了解这个问题。他会提出所有可能缺陷来给我建议，即使这些建议被否定，他仍会继续怀疑。第二个特点就是他对其他科学人的工作致上至诚的赞同。
Studying Lyell and geology enhanced Darwin's (probably natural) suspicion that careful, detailed, and objective work was required to create scientific breakthroughs. And once Darwin had expertise and grounding in the level of expertise required by Lyell to understand and explain the theory of geology, he had a basis for the rest of his scientific work. From his autobiography:
研究莱尔和地质学增强达尔文(天生的)疑心，正是这种疑心，使其能在仔细、详细和客观的工作中有科学性的突破。一旦达尔文具备了莱尔这种理解和解释地质学理论的专业知识和基础知识，他的科学工作就有了一定的基础基础。他的自传中写道：
After my return to England, it appeared to me that by following the example of Lyell in Geology, and by collecting all facts which bore in any way on the variation of animals and plants under domestication and nature, some light might perhaps be thrown on the whole subject.
在我回到英国之后，在我看来，以莱尔的地质学为例，收集动植物在驯化和自然条件下的变异事实，可能会对整个学科产生一些影响。
In fact, it was Darwin's study and understanding of geology itself that gave him something to lean on conceptually. Lyell's, and his own, theory of geology was of a slow-moving process that accumulated massive gradual changes over time. This seems like common knowledge today, but at the time, people weren't so sure that the mountains and the islands could have been created from such slow moving and incremental processes.
事实上，达尔文的研究和对地质学的理解使其有了一些概念性依据。莱尔和他自己的地质学理论是缓慢移动过程，随着时间的推移积累了巨大的渐变。对于现在，这仅仅是常识，但在当时，人们不太确定山和岛屿是由如此缓慢的移动和渐进的过程形成的。
Wallace & Gruber's book Creative People at Work, an analysis of a variety of thinkers and artists, argues that this basic mental model carried Darwin pretty far:
华莱士和格鲁伯的书《Creative People at Work》，分析了各种各样的思想家和艺术家，该书提到该基本的模型让达尔文走的更远:
Why was the acquisition of expert knowledge in geology so important to the development of Darwin's overall thinking? Because in learning geology Darwin ground a conceptual lens — a device for bringing into focus and clarifying the problems to which he turned his attention. When his attention shifted to problems beyond geology, the lens remained and Darwin used it in exploring new problems.
为什么地质学方面的专业知识对达尔文整体思维的发展如此重要? 因为在学习地质学的过程中，达尔文提出了概念透镜——这个装置能够专注并阐明他没有注意到的问题。当他的注意力转移到地质学以外的问题时，透镜能专注于此，达尔文则可以利用它来探索新的问题。
(Darwin's) coral reef theory shows that he had become an expert in one field…(and) the central idea in Darwin's understanding of geology was “gradualism” — that great things could be produced by long, continued accumulation of very small effects. The next phase in the development of this thought-form would involve his use of it as the basis for the construction of analogies between geology and new, unfamiliar subjects.
(达尔文)珊瑚礁理论表明,他已经成为一个领域的专家…(并且)达尔文学习地质学的中心思想是“渐进主义”——伟大的事情往往归功于长久以来对小事物的不断积累。该思想形态发展的下一个阶段，则是将其作为地质学与新的陌生学科进行类比的基础。
Darwin wrote his most explicit and concise statement of the nature and utility of his gradualism thought-form: “This multiplication of little means and bringing the mind to grapple with great effect produced is a most laborious & painful effort of the mind.” He recognized that it took patience and discipline to discover the “little means” that were responsible for great effects. With the necessary effort, however, this gradualism thought-form could become the vehicle for explaining many remarkable phenomena in geology, biology, and even psychology.
关于渐进主义思想形态的本质和效用，达尔文陈述他最简洁明了的说法:“盲目的累积和有意的巨大付出，在心灵上最费力的、痛苦的。”他认识到，想要“小方法”起大作用，需要耐心和自律。然而，通过必要的女里，这种渐进主义的思想形态可以成为解释地质学、生物学甚至心理学中许多令人瞩日的现象的工具。
It is amazing to note that Darwin did not write The Origin of Species until 1859 even though his notebooks show he had been pretty close to the correct idea at least 15 or 20 years prior. What was he doing in all that time? Well, for eight years at least, he was studying barnacles.
令人惊讶的是，尽管他的记录表明至少在15/20年之前已经相当接近正解，达尔文1859年才开始写《物种起源》，那么当时他在做什么?是的，他至少花费了八年的时间来研究藤壶。
One of the reasons Darwin went on a crusade of classifying and studying the barnacles in minute detail was his concern that if he wasn't a primary expert on some portion of the natural world, his work on a larger and more general thesis would not be taken seriously, and that it would probably have holes. He said as much to his friend Frederic Gerard, a French botanist, before he had begun his barnacle work: “How painfully (to me) true is your remark that no one has hardly a right to examine the question of species who has not minutely described many.” And, of course, Darwin being Darwin, he spent eight years remedying that unfathomable situation.
达尔文详尽无遗的分类和研究藤壶的原因是，他担心如果他不是在自然世界某个区域的主要专家,那么他的研究这个广泛的命题将不会被认可，甚至可能会有漏洞。在他研究藤壶之前，他和他的朋友法国植物学家弗雷德里克·杰拉德讨论很多，他说:“(对我来说)真的很痛苦的是，你说每个人都有权利去研究那些没有详细描述过的物种的问题。”当然，达尔文就是达尔文，他花了8年的时间来弥补这份不可思议。
It seemed like extraordinarily tedious work, unrelated to anything a scientist would consider important on a grand scale. It was taxonomy. Classification. Even Darwin admitted later on that he doubted it was worth the years he spent on it. Yet, in his detail-oriented journey for expertise on barnacles, he hit upon some key ideas that would make his theory of natural selection complete. Says Quammen:
这似乎是一项非常乏味的工作，与任何事物无关，大部分的科学家认为是重要。这是分类学。甚至达尔文也承认，自己花在这上面的时间是值得的。然而，在他以细节为导向的藤壶研究过程中，，他偶然发现了一些关键理念，使其能够完善他的自然选择理论。Quammen说:
He also found notable differences on another categorical level; within species. Contrary to what he'd believed all along about the rarity of variation in the wild, barnacles turned out to be highly variable. A species wasn't a Platonic essence or a metaphysical type. A species was a population of differing individuals.
同时，他还发现物种中另一分类级别的显著差异。一直以来，他认为野生动植物的变异程度是很小的，但是，恰恰相反的是，藤壶却是高度可变的。物种不是柏拉图或玄学论。物种是个体相异的种群。
He wouldn't have seen that if he hadn't assigned himself the trick job of drawing lines between one species and another. He wouldn't have seen it if he hadn't used his network of contacts and his good reputation as a naturalist to gather barnacle specimens, in quantity, from all over the world. The truth of variation only reveals itself in crowds. He wouldn't have seen it if he hadn't examined multiple individuals, not just single representatives, of as many species as possible….Abundant variation among barnacles filled a crucial role in his theory. Here they were, the minor differences on which natural selection works.
如果他没有去研究如何界定物种种类的诀窍，他不会发现。如果他没有利用他的人际关系网和他作为自然主义者的良好声誉来收集来自世界各地的藤壶标本，他是不会发现。相异的意义在于如何在在人群中显露出来。如果他没有研究多个个体,亦或是只是研究单一的代表物种,而不是尽可能多的物种…他不会发现。藤壶的丰富变异在他的理论中扮演了关键的角色。它们是自然选择工作种细微差别。
Darwin was so diligent it could be breathtaking at times. Quammen describes him gathering up various species to assess the data about their development and their variation. Birds, dead or alive, as many as possible. Foxes, dogs, ducks, pigeons, rabbits, cats…nothing escaped his purview. As many specimens as he could get his hands on. All while living in a secluded house in Victorian England, beset by constant illness. He was Big Data before Big Data was a thing, trying to suss out conclusions from a mass of observation.
有时，达尔文的勤奋会令人惊叹。Quammen记述了他收集各种物种，对它们的发展和变化数据进行评估。尽可能多的收集鸟，无论是死的或活的。狐狸,狗,鸭子,鸽子、兔子、猫…一切都难逃他的法眼。尽可能的收集标本。他的一生都住在维多利亚英国的一个僻静的房子里，即便被病魔困扰。他试图从大量的记录中得出结论，大数据在他面前简直就是小巫见大巫。
Follow the Golden Rule
遵循黄金法则
Eventually his work led him to something new: Species are not immutable, they are all part of the same family tree. They evolve through a process of variation — he didn't know how; that took years for others to figure out through the study of genetics — and differential survival through natural selection.
最终，他的研究让他有了新的发现: 物种不是一成不变的，它们都是族谱的一部分。它们在变异过程中得以进化—他不知道如何变化;人们通过数年才从遗传学的研究中得到答案--通过自然选择的差异生存。
Darwin was able to put his finger on why it took so long for humanity to come to this correct theory: It was extremely counter-intuitive to how one would naturally see the world. He admitted as much in the Origin of Species‘ concluding chapter:
达尔文能够确切的指出为什么人类需要这么长时间才能得出正确的理论: 这与人们自然地看待世界的方式完全相反。他在《物种起源》的最后一章中承认:
The chief cause of our natural unwillingness to admit that one species has given birth to other and distinct species, is that we are always slow in admitting any great changes of which we do not see the steps. The difficulty is the same as that felt by so many geologists, when Lyell first insisted that long lines of inland cliffs had been formed, and great valleys excavated, by the agencies which we still see at work. The mind cannot possibly grasp the full meaning of the term of even a million years; it cannot add up and perceive the full effects of many slight variations, accumulated during an almost infinite number of generations.
我们不愿承认某一物种已经衍生出其他不同物种主要原因是，我们对于我们没有看的到巨大变化后知后觉。许多地质学家也感到同样的困难，当莱尔第一次坚持认为巨大的山谷被挖掘，内陆悬崖已经形成了，我们在研究中可以看到。即使通过一百万年的时间变化，头脑不可能完全掌握这个词的全部含义;它不能增加和感知在无限的时间里中积累起来的微小变化的全部影响。
Counter-intuition was Darwin's speciality. And the reason he was so good was he had a very simple habit of thought, described in the autobiography and so cherished by Charlie Munger: He paid special attention to collecting facts which did not agree with his prior conceptions. He called this a golden rule.
违反直觉的是达尔文的专长。在自传中说到，他如此优秀的原因是他有个极简的思维习惯，这被查理·芒格所珍视:对于那些收集的不符合先前理念的事实以重视。他称之为黄金法则。
I had, also, during many years, followed a golden rule, namely, that whenever a published fact, a new observation or thought came across me, which was opposed to my general results, to make a memorandum of it without fail and at once; for I had found by experience that such facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape from memory than favorable ones. Owing to this habit, very few objections were raised against my views which I had not at least noticed and attempted to answer.
多年以来，我遵循着一条黄金法则，即每当我偶然发现与我的研究结果截然相反的报道的事实，新的评述或想法，我务必马上将它们一一记录;因为经验告诉我，相较备忘录，单单靠记忆力往往容易忘记此类的事实和想法。由于这个习惯，很少有人反对我没有注意到的的观点，并试图回答。
So we see that Darwin's great success, by his own analysis, owed to his ability to see, note, and learn from objections to his cherished thoughts. The Origin of Species has stood up in the face of 157 years of subsequent biological research because Darwin was so careful to make sure the theory was nearly impossible to refute. Later scientists would find the book slightly incomplete, but not incorrect.
因此，通过他自己的分析，我们明白达尔文的巨大成功，归功于他在反对他的观点中发现和学习的能力。在随后的157年的生物研究中，物种起源逐渐突显出来，因为达尔文的小心翼翼，确保这个理论几乎不可能被驳倒。后来科学家们发现这本书虽有点不完整，但观点正确。
This passage reminds one of, and probably influenced, Charlie Munger's prescription on the work required to hold an opinion: You must understand the opposite side of the argument better than the person holding that side does. It's a very difficult way to think, tremendously unnatural in the face of our genetic makeup (the more typical response is to look for as much confirming evidence as possible). Harnessed properly, though, it is a powerful way to beat your own shortcomings and become a seeing man amongst the blind.
这段话让人想起了查理·芒格关于工作处方中需要坚持的观点之一: 你必须比持这一立场的人更好地理解论点的反面。我们的反常的基因组成注定了这是一种非常困难的思考方式，(更典型的现象是寻找尽可能多的证实证据)。然而，合理地利用它是战胜你自己的缺点，成为明白人的强有力方法。
Thus, we can deduce that, in addition to good luck and good timing, it was Darwin's habits of completeness, diligence, accuracy, and habitual objectivity which ultimately led him to make his greatest breakthroughs. It was tedious. There was no spark of divine insight that gave him his edge. He just started with the right basic ideas and the right heroes, and then worked for a long time and with extreme focus and objectivity, always keeping his eye on reality.
因此，我们可以推断，除了好运和好的时机之外，达尔文的追求完整性、勤奋、准确和习以为常客观性习惯，最终使他取得了最大的突破。这是乏味的。神圣洞察没有赐予他任何优势。他只是从正确的基本思想和正在伟人开始，以极端的专注和客观的态度长时间研究，始终保持对真理的追求。
In the end, you can do worse than to read all you can find on Charles Darwin and try to copy his mental habits. They will serve you well over a long life.
最后，从查尔斯·达尔文身上找到并试着模仿他的精神习惯，这是一个不错的选择。它们将会伴随你的一生。
Link: What made Charles Darwin an Effective Thinker?