part 21

200 The governor of a steam engine took its name from the fact that it governs the engine as a government governs a country. A government in a free country is a group of men and women to whom the people give the power to govern them. In free countries there is government of the people, by the people, for the good of the people. The government is the instrument by which the country controls itself. In a free country the people can change the government: they can take the power away from one group and give it to another. And there is a limit to the powers that any government is given or can take.

蒸汽机的掌舵人得名于他管理蒸汽机就像政府管理国家一样。 自由国家的政府是由一群男女组成的，人民赋予他们管理他们的权力。 在自由国家，政府有民有、民治、民享。 政府是国家控制自己的工具。 在一个自由的国家，人民可以改变政府：他们可以把权力从一个群体手中夺走，交给另一个群体。 而且，任何政府被赋予或获得的权力都是有限的。

201 In a free country the men and women in the government are dependent upon the people and responsible to them for the use made of the power which has been given them. In any good system of government, there must be ways of controlling and limiting the amount of power anyone has, as the flyball governor controls and limits the output of the steam engine. One of the chief controls over the power of a government is the law of a country. The law is a body of statements about what may be done to or by any person. In free countries all people are equal under the law which they are responsible for keeping. To help them to keep it there are police and judges.

在一个自由的国家里，政府中的男女工作人员依赖于人民，并在行使赋予他们的权力时对人民负责。 在任何一个好的政府体系中，都必须有办法控制和限制每个人拥有的权力，就像飞球总督控制和限制蒸汽机的输出一样。 制约政府权力的主要因素之一是国家法律。 法律是关于任何人可以做什么或被做什么的一系列陈述。 在自由国家，所有的人在法律面前都是平等的，他们有责任遵守法律。 帮助他们维持秩序的是警察和法官。

202 Our bodies govern themselves in many ways (pp. 87–91, 115) but we have to control them consciously too. We have to be their judges and police, when necessary. But in a well governed country there is little work for police and judges. A good education develops the power of people to govern themselves in more and more complex ways. As population increases and as people become more responsible for meeting their needs on a larger and larger scale, machines become more important. As the facts become more complex, machines (computers) are being used more and more to do all sorts of measuring, counting and controlling. Can machines think? In a sense, yes. In another sense, no. They can answer a question if we have built into them the power to answer that sort of question.

202 .我们的身体以多种方式自我管理（第396页）。 87-91, 115)但我们也必须有意识地控制它们。 我们必须在必要时成为他们的法官和警察。 但在一个治理良好的国家，警察和法官几乎没有工作。 良好的教育培养人们以越来越复杂的方式管理自己的能力。 随着人口的增长，人们越来越有责任在更大范围内满足自己的需求，机器变得更加重要。 随着事实变得越来越复杂，机器（计算机）被越来越多地用于各种测量、计数和控制。 机器会思考吗？从某种意义上说，是的。 从另一种意义上说，不是。如果我们赋予它们回答问题的能力，它们就能回答问题。

203 We can make machines work for us, but machines cannot tell us what that work should be. It is people who are responsible for the direction of the work. A person has to know not only how to do things but whether to do them and when. A machine has only to do what it is made to do. Free men and women have to make up their own minds about all important questions. How does one learn to do this? By being with, talking to and watching others who are able to think for themselves one may see how to think for oneself. One gets better at it by trying. Education in this cannot start too early.

我们可以让机器为我们工作，但是机器不能告诉我们应该做什么工作。 是人对工作的方向负责。 一个人不仅要知道如何做事情，而且要知道是否去做以及何时去做。 一台机器只需要做它该做的事。 自由的男女必须对所有重要问题作出自己的决定。 一个人如何学会这样做呢？ 通过与那些能够独立思考的人在一起、交谈和观察，一个人可能会看到如何独立思考。 一个人通过尝试会做得更好。 这方面的教育越早越好。

204 How do people come by their ideas about what is better and what is worse, about what things are important in life, what unimportant? How do they judge between things? We have grown to what we are out of the past. We have come a very long way through change and growth from the first living cells. All living things, however simple, control themselves to some degree. Many cannot be said to have ideas but they have direction. Within limits they have self-control.

204 .人们是如何得出自己的观点，什么是好的，什么是坏的，什么是重要的，什么是不重要的？ 他们如何判断事物？ 我们从过去成长到现在的样子。 从最初的活细胞开始，我们经历了漫长的变化和成长。 所有的生物，无论多么简单，都能在某种程度上控制自己。 许多人不能说有想法，但他们有方向。 在一定范围内，他们有自制力。

205 Thinking is the most complex sort of self-control; and our brains, with which we think, are the most complex systems of feed-back. The thermostat and the flyball governor are about the simplest of them. In feed-back systems, effects control their causes. In the thermostat feedback circle the effect of increased input of fuel is increased output of heat. This effect feeds back, through the thermostat, and cuts down the input of fuel when the increase becomes too great. In the flyball governor circle the effect of more steam is more output of work from the engine. This effect feeds back, through the governor, and cuts down the steam when the engine goes too fast. In the brain millions of feed-back circles are always controlling one another.

思考是最复杂的一种自我控制；而我们思考的大脑，是最复杂的反馈系统。 恒温器和飞球调速器是其中最简单的。 在反馈系统中，结果控制其原因。 在恒温器反馈循环中，燃料输入增加的效果是热量输出增加。 这种效果通过恒温器反馈，当燃料的增加变得太大时，就会减少燃料的输入。 在飞球调速器循环中，蒸汽越多，发动机输出的功就越多。 这种效果通过调速器反馈，当发动机跑得太快时减少蒸汽。 在大脑中，数以百万计的反馈圈总是相互控制。