蓝狐岛(Blue Foxes Island)

春节听了蓝狐岛的书，大为震撼。

I was greatly moved after listening to the book about Blue Foxes Island during the Spring Festival.

这大概是人类做过最艰苦的事，当时人们也没拿到什么回报，除了死亡。

This is probably the most arduous task humans have ever undertaken, and at that time people did not receive any reward for it except for death.

怎么把这件事和ChatGPT生拉硬扯到一块儿，正是本文要做的。

How to drag this matter together with ChatGPT is exactly what this article intends to accomplish.

一、彼得大帝

Chapter One, Peter the Great.

1682年登基的彼得大帝，是个鄙视传统、推行全盘西化的君主。他不仅自己亲自跑到荷兰船厂匿名学徒，而且狂掷重金请西欧各种专家来为俄国工作。

Peter the Great, who ascended the throne in 1682, was a monarch who despised tradition and advocated complete Westernization. He not only personally went to the Dutch shipyards incognito to learn as an apprentice, but also threw millions of rubles to invite various experts from Western Europe to work for Russia.

作为历史上最具远见的君主之一，彼得大帝和当时强大的瑞典帝国决一死战，以获取出海口。可怜的瑞典卡尔十二世，和后来的拿破仑和希特勒用了一模一样的剧本。

As one of the most visionary monarchs in history, Peter the Great engaged in a decisive battle with the powerful Swedish Empire to gain access to the sea. The unfortunate King Charles XII of Sweden, and later Napoleon and Hitler, followed the exact same script.

彼得大帝建了圣彼得堡，这座城市今天依然闪耀着西式的美轮美奂，和土包子莫斯科不是一个套路。

Peter the Great built St. Petersburg, which still shines today with its magnificent Western style, and it’s definitely not the same as the upstart city of Moscow.

今天俄罗斯和乌克兰争的天翻地覆的克里米亚，自古以来就不是俄国领土。它在长达三百多年里曾是“中华帝国蒙古自治领”下的某汗国，而且此汗国曾在1571年攻陷莫斯科并火烧兼屠城。真正开始啃克里米亚硬骨头的，正是彼得大帝，他立志拿下黑海出海口。

Today, the Crimea conflict between Russia and Ukraine has turned the world upside down. Crimea was never a part of Russia in ancient times. It once belonged to a Mongolian autonomous region for more than 300 years. Moreover, in 1571, this region attacked and burned Moscow. It was Peter the Great who began the struggle for Crimea, as he aimed to gain control over the Black Sea entrance.

二、第一次探险

Chapter Two, First Expedition

对成为海洋帝国的梦想，彼得大帝不遗余力，但总体来说俄国这个位置太悲催，出海口全被封堵了。彼得上任前的《尼布楚条约》，使得东方的不冻港也泡汤了。

Peter the Great spared no effort in his dream of becoming a maritime empire, however, overall, Russia’s position was quite unfortunate as all of its seaports were blocked. The Treaty of Nerchinsk, before Peter’s reign, caused Vladivostok, the only ice-free port in the East, to also fall apart.

但是，科学素养很高的彼得知道地球是圆的，从俄国最东部一定能到美洲。更重要的是，彼得认为俄国应该为探索世界未知领域做出贡献，这才是俄国强大的真正标志。

However, Peter, who has a high level of scientific literacy, knows that the Earth is round and that one can reach America from the easternmost part of Russia. More importantly, Peter believes that Russia should contribute to the exploration of unknown areas of the world, which is the true symbol of Russia’s strength.

维图斯·白令是丹麦人，彼得大帝聘请他做第一次北方探险的负责人。这只70人的队伍从圣彼得堡出发，翻山越岭甚至渡过多条注入北冰洋的大河，穿越整个西伯利亚。最悲催的点是，他们得在万里途中还得背着大量食物和造船工具(几吨重的锚、锤子、锯子、船帆和甚至还有8门船炮等)，在到达下图俄国东部Oxotck(鄂霍兹克)的时候造船。

Vitus Bering was a Dane whom Peter the Great employed as the leader of the first northern expedition. This team, consisting of only 70 people, set out from Saint Petersburg, crossed mountains and rivers that flowed into the Arctic Ocean, and traversed the entirety of Siberia. The most challenging part was carrying a large amount of food and shipbuilding tools (including anchors, hammers, saws, sails, and even eight ship cannons, each weighing several tons) throughout the thousands of miles, all the way to the town of Oxotck in eastern Russia, where they had to build their ships.

上图中被红圈路线围绕的那个半岛，叫堪察加半岛。因为北部那些苦寒的山脉河流无法穿越，探险队并不知道它是半岛。

The peninsula encircled by the red line in the above picture is called the Kamchatka Peninsula. Because the harsh mountains and rivers in the north cannot be crossed, exploration teams did not know that it was a peninsula.

第一次探险花了足足五年(1725-1730)。因为天气恶劣，白令并未看到美洲大陆，但他们穿过白令海峡折返，初步判断了亚洲和北美洲是不相连的。

The first exploration took a full five years (1725-1730). Due to bad weather, Bering did not see the American continent, but they crossed the Bering Strait and returned, preliminarily determining that Asia and North America were not connected.

三、第二次探险

Chapter 3, Second Exploration.

不幸的是，彼得大帝并未看到这些就在1725年英年早逝。所幸的是，他身后的两个女人都颇为强悍。

Unfortunately, Peter the Great did not live to see these accomplishments and passed away prematurely in 1725. Fortunately, two formidable women remained in his wake.

彼得的妻子叶卡捷琳娜一世坚定地支持了丈夫的遗愿，建立了著名的俄国科学院并赞助了白令第一次堪察加探险。1930年上任的女沙皇安娜，更是一位混不吝的玩主，她居然同意了花巨资(后人验证是俄国财政收入的1/6)和一只3000人的庞大科考队伍，由白令领导进行第二次堪察加探险。

Peter’s wife, Catherine I, firmly supported her husband’s wishes and established the famous Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as sponsored the first Kamchatka expedition to Bering Island. In 1930, Empress Anna, who was known for her extravagance, even agreed to spend a huge sum (later verified to be one-sixth of the Russian government’s revenue) and send a massive scientific expedition of 3,000 people led by Bering himself to carry out the second Kamchatka expedition.

人多有时并不是效率高的方式。

Having a lot of people around is not always the most efficient way.

如此多的人，背着多达28门舰炮和无数造船辎重，再次翻山越岭穿过大江大河。结果他们一路上发现食物补给都是个严重问题，每到一处都把当地居民洗劫一空，因为苦寒的西伯利亚各处都没有能接待如此多外来人口的能力。

So many people, carrying up to 28 ship cannons and countless shipbuilding supplies, once again crossed mountains and rivers to reach their destination. However, they found that food supplies were a serious issue throughout their journey. They plundered each place they stopped at because the harsh and cold Siberia didn’t have the capacity to accommodate such a large influx of outsiders.

他们花了足足8年的时间，横穿欧亚大陆和鄂霍次克海，才再次到了堪察加半岛造好两艘大船。随后，一百多名船员驶入浩瀚的太平洋。

It took them a full 8 years to cross the Eurasian continent and the Sea of Okhotsk before arriving again on the Kamchatka Peninsula with two newly built large ships. Subsequently, over one hundred crew members sailed into the vast Pacific Ocean.

四、蓝狐的岛

Chapter 4, Blue Fox’s Island.

两艘船出发没几天，就碰到狂风暴雨而失散，永远没有再相见。

Two ships set sail and after only a few days they encountered a violent storm and became separated, never to be reunited again.

圣保罗号成功到达了美洲大陆，并率先返航。

The Sao Paulo has successfully arrived in the American continent and is the first to return.

白令亲率的圣彼得号，也到达了北美，但在回程触礁困在蓝狐岛长达半年。当时正好是11月，刺骨的寒风加上坏血病等各种病痛使白令和近一半船员死在岛上。这个无人岛后来被命名为白令岛；堪察加半岛和阿拉斯加之间的海被命名为白令海。

The Saint Peter, led by Bering, also arrived in North America, but was stranded on the Blue Fox Island for half a year on the return trip after running aground. It was November at the time, and the bitter cold, along with illnesses such as scurvy, caused Parry and almost half of the crew to die on the island. The uninhabited island later became known as Bering Island, and the sea between the Kamchatka Peninsula and Alaska was named the Bering Sea.

蓝狐岛上有数不清的蓝狐，它们从来没见过人类，所以攻击性特别强。书中描述有2个船员用3个小时用刀砍死了60只蓝狐，然后用冻硬的蓝狐尸体，做墙壁保暖。

There are countless blue foxes on Blue Fox Island, and they have never seen humans before, so they are particularly aggressive. The book describes how two crew members used knives to kill 60 blue foxes in three hours, and then used the frozen blue fox corpses to make walls for insulation.

船员们的食物主要是海獭海豹和海牛，因为蓝狐太臭了。幸存下来的人们熬到来年夏天，用最后一点力气拆掉旧船重新造了一艘小船，终于再次回到千里外的堪察加半岛。

The crew’s main source of food was sea otters, seals, and manatees, as arctic foxes were too pungent. The survivors endured until the following summer, using their last bit of strength to dismantle the old ship and build a new, smaller vessel. Finally, they returned to the Kamchatka Peninsula hundreds of miles away.

五、似曾相识的结局

Chapter 5. A familiar ending.

这次伟大的远征结束后并未得到俄国官方的认可，当时的俄国变得自大又自卑，对外国人的成就避之不及。

After the end of this great expedition, it did not receive recognition from the official authorities in Russia. At that time, Russia became both arrogant and insecure, and avoided foreign achievements.

只有做毛皮生意的猎人们蜂拥而至，把各种海獭、蓝狐等猎杀一空。

Only hunters engaged in the fur trade flocked in and killed off various seals, blue foxes, and other prey.

大北方冒险和北极航道，一直是整个大航海历史中最悲催最不起眼的部分，但人类最值得赞颂的不屈不挠之精神，却这些地方熠熠生辉、永不磨灭。

The Great Northern Expedition and the Arctic passage have always been the most unfortunate and inconspicuous part of the entire history of Great Voyage, but the indomitable spirit of human beings, which is the most worthy of praise, shines brilliantly and never fades in these places.

六、过渡

Chapter 6, Transition.

以上部分，我试着用ChatGPT帮我改写，但怎么改都是一股学究风。

The previous section, I tried to rewrite it using ChatGPT, but no matter how I changed it, it still sounded too academic.

我有点高兴，这说明我已经有自己讲故事的风格了，这种风格ChatGPT还没学过。

I am a bit pleased, which indicates that I have developed my own storytelling style, a style that ChatGPT has not yet learned.

但是，这不会长久的。

However, this will not last long.

网上那么多人评论ChatGPT，但有个关键点很少有人提及：ChatGPT作为语言模型，它怎么会懂得那么多知识呢？我们都知道，语言和知识显然是两个不同的东西。

There are so many people commenting on ChatGPT online, but there is a key point that very few people mention: as a language model, how does ChatGPT understand so much knowledge? We all know that language and knowledge are clearly two different things.

我和它聊了聊，揭开了这个秘密。

I had a chat with it and uncovered this secret.

七、ChatGPT怎么计算一加一

Chapter 7. How does ChatGPT calculate one plus one?

ChatGPT承认，它只是语言模型，完全不懂知识。甚至你问它一加一等于几，它并不是用计算机来算的，而是从相应的语言里找的答案。

ChatGPT confesses that it is only a language model and has no knowledge whatsoever. Even if you ask it what one plus one equals, it does not calculate with a computer, but rather finds the answer from the corresponding language.

它告诉我，它并没有人类的知识，甚至一丁点都没有。它回答问题，是基于统计学，寻找训练文章的上下文范式来照猫画虎(Statistics Pattern)。

It told me that it doesn’t have any human knowledge, not even a tiny bit. Its responses to questions are based on statistics, searching for contextual patterns in trained articles to mimic (Statistics Pattern).

我们的“知识”，是一种结构化的信息组合。而ChatGPT的“知识”，是来自所训练文章的统计学组合。

Our “knowledge” is a structured combination of information. Whereas ChatGPT’s “knowledge” is a statistical combination derived from trained articles.

所以，只要给它训练足够的“正确的”知识，ChatGPT就可以照猫画虎回答出正确的答案。

Therefore, as long as ChatGPT is provided with enough “correct” knowledge training, it can accurately mimic and provide correct answers.

那么，它的这种“知识”结构，似乎很愚蠢呀。

So, its “knowledge” structure seems quite foolish.

但如果我们这样想，只能说明我们愚蠢。

However, if we think like this, it only shows that we’re foolish.

八、知识有不同的结构

Chapter 8. Knowledge has different structures.

从本质上说，它同样掌握了知识，只是方式不同。我们的科学，只是我们对世界的理解，也许外星人觉得它们很多是错的。

Essentially, they also possess knowledge but in a different way. Our science is just our understanding of the world, and perhaps aliens think that much of it is wrong.

ChatGPT的知识水平，秒杀世界上的每个人。和它深入谈话，就像和一位最有智慧的人聊天，非常爽：你提问越精彩，它回答越精彩。

The knowledge level of ChatGPT is unrivaled by anyone in the world. Engaging in deep conversation with it is like chatting with the most knowledgeable person, which is truly delightful. The more exciting your questions are, the more outstanding its answers will be.

我问它怎么判断所训练文章的好坏真假对错呢？它说它不可能判断，只有喂它资料的人会提前标记资料的权重和好坏，这产生了偏见(bias)。

I asked how it determines the authenticity and correctness of the articles it trains. It said it cannot make such judgment and only the person who feeds it with information can assign weight to the data’s reliability and quality, which creates bias.

它承认，它不能产生新的“知识”或“想法”，它只能根据统计学产生的范式来回答。因此，一些AI专家认为它并没有意识，并没有实现真正的突破，从某种原教旨角度这样说也没错。

It acknowledges that it cannot generate new “knowledge” or “ideas,” and can only answer based on statistical paradigms. Therefore, some AI experts believe that it does not have consciousness and has not achieved a true breakthrough. From a certain orthodox perspective, this statement is not wrong.

但在我看来，ChatGPT找到了金钥匙，它成功打破了语言和知识的藩篱，毕竟所有人类知识都用语言书写下来了，这两者对它来讲是一回事。

But in my opinion, ChatGPT has found the golden key, successfully breaking through the barriers of language and knowledge. After all, all human knowledge is recorded in language, which is one and the same to ChatGPT.

同时，它打破了不同语言的藩篱，不管埃塞俄比亚语还是C语言，对它来讲也是一回事，它只需要资料多到可以找到statistics pattern。

At the same time, it breaks down the barriers of different languages. Whether it is in Ethiopian language or C programming language, it is all the same to it. It only requires enough data to find statistical patterns.

对ChatGPT来讲，计算机语言更容易，因为编程语言比起人类自然语言更结构化更有规则。这点它也亲自向我确认了，而且我确实发现自己再也不用学VBA甚至Python等脚本，只要能讲清楚需求它就能快速写好。

For ChatGPT, computer language is easier because programming languages are more structured and rule-bound than human natural languages. It confirmed this to me personally, and I actually found that I no longer had to learn scripts like VBA or Python, as long as I could clearly articulate my needs, it could quickly write the code for me.

那么，网上那么多人列了那么多例子，说明ChatGPT错误百出呀。事实上，当提问者无法做到清晰准确描述自己的问题，自然也无法得到正确的回答。

So, there are so many people online who have given so many examples to show how ChatGPT is full of errors. In reality, when the questioner is unable to clearly and accurately describe their own problem, they will naturally not receive the correct answer.

九、生拉硬扯

Chapter 9. To use forceful means or coercion.

从后人的角度看来，大北方探险的方式显得执着而蠢笨，导致损失惨重。ChatGPT的对手们当时也应该是这样想的，怎么能把语言和知识混为一谈呢？荒唐。

From the perspective of later generations, the way of exploring the Great North seemed persistent yet foolish, leading to devastating losses. ChatGPT’s opponents at that time must have thought the same way - how ridiculous it was to confuse language with knowledge.

但ChatGPT最终的惊艳正在于此，不畏艰难地灌输训练所有可能的知识，而不只是语言。

But ChatGPT’s ultimate charm lies in its fearless dedication to imbue all possible knowledge and skills, not just limited to language, through rigorous training.

这条航道的开通，最终也将导致猎人们蜂拥而至，只是不知道最后死的是谁。

The opening of this waterway will ultimately result in a rush of hunters, but it is unclear who will end up dead in the end.