正统思维盲点：为何安全表达观点本身就是一种特权
Paul Graham 指出一种被忽视的认知特权：越是思想正统的人，越难以想象存在“说出就会惹麻烦”的真话。这种盲点并非恶意，而是源于个人经历局限——因为你从未因表达主流观点而受罚，便理所当然地认为所有人都能安全发声。文章类比“高音频听力”现象，呼吁即使无法感知这类看不见的偏见，也应礼貌地相信他人的体验。
"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions." — Einstein
There has been a lot of talk about privilege lately. Although the concept is overused, there is something to it, and in particular to the idea that privilege makes you blind — that you can't see things that are visible to someone whose life is very different from yours.
But one of the most pervasive examples of this kind of blindness is one that I haven't seen mentioned explicitly. I'm going to call it orthodox privilege: The more conventional-minded someone is, the more it seems to them that it's safe for everyone to express their opinions.
"很少有人能够平静地表达与社会环境偏见相左的意见。大多数人甚至无法形成这样的意见。"——爱因斯坦
近来特权话题谈论得很多。尽管这个概念被滥用了，但其中确实有些道理，尤其是特权会让人变得盲目的观点——你无法看到那些生活与你截然不同的人所能看到的东西。
但这种盲目最普遍的例子之一，我还没见人明确提过。我称之为正统特权：一个人越是传统守旧，就越觉得人人表达意见都是安全的。
It's safe for them to express their opinions, because the source of their opinions is whatever it's currently acceptable to believe. So it seems to them that it must be safe for everyone. They literally can't imagine a true statement that would get you in trouble.
And yet at every point in history, there were true things that would get you in trouble to say. Is ours the first where this isn't so? What an amazing coincidence that would be.
Surely it should at least be the default assumption that our time is not unique, and that there are true things you can't say now, just as there have always been. You would think. But even in the face of such overwhelming historical evidence, most people will go with their gut on this one.
他们表达意见是安全的，因为他们的意见来源正是当前被广泛接受的信念。所以他们觉得每个人都必须是安全的。他们根本想象不出一个会让你惹麻烦的真实陈述。
然而在历史上的每一个时期，都有一些真实的事情说出来会惹麻烦。我们这个时代是第一个不是这样的吗？那该是多么惊人的巧合。
至少默认的假设应该是我们的时代并不特殊，现在也有不能说出口的真实事情，就像过去一直存在的那样。你会这么想。但即使面对如此压倒性的历史证据，大多数人仍会凭直觉判断。
In the most extreme cases, people suffering from orthodox privilege will not only deny that there's anything true that you can't say, but will accuse you of heresy merely for saying there is. Though if there's more than one heresy current in your time, these accusations will be weirdly non-deterministic: you must either be an xist or a yist.
在最极端的情况下，患有正统特权的人不仅否认存在任何你不能说的真实事情，而且仅仅因为你声称存在就会指控你异端。不过，如果你所处时代有一种以上的异端思潮，这些指控会奇怪地不确定：你必须要么是个某某主义者，要么是个某某主义者。
Frustrating as it is to deal with these people, it's important to realize that they're in earnest. They're not pretending they think it's impossible for an idea to be both unorthodox and true. The world really looks that way to them.
Indeed, this is a uniquely tenacious form of privilege. People can overcome the blindness induced by most forms of privilege by learning more about whatever they're not. But they can't overcome orthodox privilege just by learning more. They'd have to become more independent-minded. If that happens at all, it doesn't happen on the time scale of one conversation.
尽管与这些人打交道令人沮丧，但重要的是要认识到他们是真诚的。他们并不是假装认为一个观点不可能既不正统又正确。世界在他们眼里就是那样的。
确实，这是一种特别顽固的特权形式。人们可以通过更多地了解自己所不熟悉的事物来克服大多数特权带来的盲目性。但他们无法仅仅通过了解更多来克服正统特权。他们必须变得更加独立思考。即使这种情况发生，也不会在一次谈话的时间尺度内实现。
It may be possible to convince some people that orthodox privilege must exist even though they can't sense it, just as one can with, say, dark matter. There may be some who could be convinced, for example, that it's very unlikely that this is the first point in history at which there's nothing true you can't say, even if they can't imagine specific examples.
But in general I don't think it will work to say "check your privilege" about this type of privilege, because those in its demographic don't realize they're in it. It doesn't seem to conventional-minded people that they're conventional-minded. It just seems to them that they're right. Indeed, they tend to be particularly sure of it.
或许可以说服一些人相信正统特权必然存在，尽管他们感受不到，就像可以说服他们相信暗物质存在一样。有些人可能会被说服，例如，认为历史上第一次出现没有不能说出口的真实事情，这是非常不可能的，即使他们想象不出具体例子。
但总的来说，我认为对这种特权说“检查你的特权”不会奏效，因为身处其中的人并没有意识到自己身处其中。传统守旧的人并不觉得自己传统守旧。他们只觉得自己是对的。事实上，他们往往特别确信这一点。
Perhaps the solution is to appeal to politeness. If someone says they can hear a high-pitched noise that you can't, it's only polite to take them at their word, instead of demanding evidence that's impossible to produce, or simply denying that they hear anything. Imagine how rude that would seem. Similarly, if someone says they can think of things that are true but that cannot be said, it's only polite to take them at their word, even if you can't think of any yourself.
也许解决办法是诉诸礼貌。如果有人说他们能听到你听不到的高频噪音，礼貌的做法是相信他们的话，而不是要求他们提供不可能得出的证据，或者干脆否认他们听到任何东西。想象一下那会显得多么无礼。同样，如果有人说他们能想到一些真实但不可说的事情，即使你自己一个也想不出来，礼貌的做法也是相信他们的话。
Thanks to Sam Altman, Trevor Blackwell, Patrick Collison, Antonio Garcia-Martinez, Jessica Livingston, Robert Morris, Michael Nielsen, Geoff Ralston, Max Roser, and Harj Taggar for reading drafts of this.
感谢 Sam Altman、Trevor Blackwell、Patrick Collison、Antonio Garcia-Martinez、Jessica Livingston、Robert Morris、Michael Nielsen、Geoff Ralston、Max Roser 和 Harj Taggar 阅读本文的草稿。