原文

Planet Earth will do an electronic skin in the not-too-distance future. It will use the internet as a scaffold to transmit its sensations. This skin is being stitched together. It consists of millions of electronic measuring devices, such as thermostats, pollution detectors, cameras, EKGs. These will probe and monitor cities and endangered species, the atmosphere, and our ships, highway vehicles, and our bodies. For a decade or longer there will be no central nervous system to manage this vast signaling network. And there will be no central intelligence. But we believe that some qualities of self-awareness will emerge once the Net is sensually enhanced and emulated the complexity of the human brain。

Sensuality is only one force pushing the Net toward intelligence. An eerie symbiosis of human and machine effort is also starting to evolve. The Internet creates a channel for thousands of programmers around the world to collaborate on software development and debugging. Through collaboration, this community can push past the technical barriers to machine intelligence。

And though silicon networks today look nothing like the brain, nodes of the Net have begun to function as neuron. Researchers have already tackled complex computing problems, such as interpreting interstellar radio signals with about a million PCs working in concert. Before long, discrete microprocessors will probably be knitted together into ad hoc distributed computers. Don't think of these as PC networks. The terminals would just as likely be cell phones of palm-like devices, each one far smarter than today's heftiest desktops. We may think of this as a whole ecology, an information environment that's massively connected。

Humanity is now preparing to cast its net across the solar system. At a NASA laboratory in California, scientists are devising a version of the Internet called Inter Planet that will weave the moon, Mars, and some asteroids and comets into the earth's expanding nervous system。

Today's communications between earth and unmanned probes are expensive, proprietary, and complex. With Inter Planet, we can simplify everything, cut costs, and engage the public more effectively. Then, the earth's telemetric body will span the reaches of the solar system. The Net may not experience all the human thrills of exploration, but it will feel some tingles up and down its spine.

译文

在不太遥远的将来，地球将被上一层电子皮肤。地球将利用因特网作为框架来传输它的感觉。这张电子皮肤正在缝合。它由数以百万计的电子测量仪组成，例如恒温计、污染检测器、摄像机、心电图仪等。这些测量仪将对城市、濒临灭绝的物种、大气层、轮船、高速公路上行驶的车辆和人体进行探测和监视。在10年或更长的时间里，不会有中枢神经系统来管理这一庞大的新号网络，不会出现中枢智能。但我们相信，一旦这张网络的感觉能力得到提高并能模拟人脑的复杂功能，某些自我意识的性能就会随之而来。

官能性只是驱动网络智能化的一种力量。一种怪诞可怕的人机共生现象已开始出现。因特网为世界各地成千上万的编程人员在软件的开发与测试方面进行合作提供了一个渠道这种协作可以使软件编程界越过技术障碍，向机器智能的方向迈进。

虽然今天的硅片网络看上去和大脑并没有任何相似之处，但是网络节点已开始发挥类似神经元的作用。研究人员早已解决了复杂的计算问题，例如通过约100万台个人电脑协同计算，来解译星际无线电信号用不了多久，分散的微处理器可能被编织在一起，组成一台台执行特定任务的计算机。不要把这类系统认作是个人电脑网络，它们的终端机很可能是一些手掌般的手机，其智能程度远远超过如今最先进的台式计算机。我们可以把这种系统看作为一个完整的生态圈系统，一种大规模连结的信息环境。

人类正准备把自己的网络撒向整个太阳系。美国国家航空宇航局设在加利福尼亚州的一家实验室的科学家们正在设计一种“星际网”的互联网，该网将把月球、火星、一些小行星和彗星编入日益扩展的地球神经系统。

目前地球与无人驾驶之间的通信不仅费用昂贵，而且信息专有、操作复杂。有了星际网后，我们可以简化所有程序，降低成本，能更有效地使公众入网。到了那个时侯，地球的遥测体将遍布整个太阳系。网络可能体会不到人类所有的激情，但其脊椎的上下会感觉到某些激动的震颤。

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