2020年经济学人 空战--虚拟小牛(1)

Aerial combat

空战

Virtual mavericks¹

虚拟小牛

Fighter aircraft will soon get AI pilots. But they will be wingmen, not squadron leaders

战斗机很快就会有人工智能飞行员，不过他们只是僚机驾驶员，并非空军少校

Classic dogfights, in which two pilots match wits and machines to shoot down their opponent with well-aimed gunfire, are a thing of the past. Guided missiles have seen to that, and the last recorded instance of such duelling was 32 years ago, near the end of the Iran-Iraq war, when an Iranian F-4 Phantom² took out an Iraqi Su-22 with its 20mm cannon³.

传统空战中，双方驾驶员拼的是智慧和武器，炮火瞄准将对方击落。这种时代已经成为过去。导向飞弹已经可以做到这一点。据记载，最后一次此类空战发生在32年前，两伊战争接近尾声时伊朗的F-4幻影用它那20毫米的机关炮干掉了伊拉克的苏-22。

But memory lingers, and dogfighting, even of the simulated sort in which the laws of physics are substituted by equations running inside a computer, is reckoned a good test of the aptitude⁴ of a pilot in training. And that is also true when the pilot in question is, itself, a computer program. So, when America's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an adventurous⁵ arm of the Pentagon, considered the future of air-to-air combat and the role of artificial intelligence (AI) within that future, it began with basics that Manfred von Richthofen himself might have approved of.

不过记忆犹存。即便是用计算机中运行的方程式代替物理定律的模拟比赛，空战仍被认为是对训练中的飞行员能力的一个很好的测试。当试验者本身就是一个计算机程序时，情况也是如此。因此，当美国国防部高级研究计划局(DARPA)(五角大楼的冒险部门)考虑空对空作战的未来以及人工智能(AI)在未来的作用时，它会从曼弗雷德·冯·希特霍芬本人可能认同的基础原理开始。

In August eight teams, representing firms ranging from large defence contractors⁶ to tiny startups, gathered virtually under the auspices⁷ of the Johns Hopkins Applied⁸ Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, for the three-day final of DARPA's AlphaDogfight trials. Each had developed algorithms to control a virtual F-16 in simulated dogfights. First, these were to be pitted against each other. Then the winner took on a human being.

8月，在约翰霍普金斯应用物理实验室的赞助下，代表着从大型国防承包商到小型初创公司等不同集团的8个团队聚集在马里兰州的劳雷尔市，参加DARPA“阿尔法狗之战”为期三天的决赛。他们分别开发了算法在模拟空战中控制一架虚拟F-16战斗机。首先这些战斗机要相互厮杀。然后获胜者和人类较量。

Dropping the pilot?

将飞行员扔下去？

"When I got started", says Colonel Dan Javorsek, who leads DARPA's work in this area, "there was quite a bit of scepticism of whether the ai algorithms would be up to the task." In fact, they were. The winner, created by Heron Systems, a small firm in the confusingly named town of California, Maryland, first swept aside its seven digital rivals and then scored a thumping⁹ victory against the human, a pilot from America's air force, in five games out of five.

DARPA这一领域的负责人丹·贾沃塞克上校表示：开始时我对人工智能算法能否胜任这项任务抱有相当大的怀疑。”事实的确如此。获胜者由“苍鹭系统(Heron Systems)”公司创造，这家小公司位于马里兰州的一个有着奇怪名字的加州小镇。它先是横扫了七个数码对手，然后以五局全胜的战绩完胜人类，即一位来自美国空军的飞行员。

1 mavericks   

未烙印的牲畜( maverick的名词复数 )； 标新立异的人，不合常规的人

参考例句：

• And what about the Dallas Mavericks and Dirk Nowitzki? 那达拉斯小牛队和诺维斯基呢？
• And we see it with bringing Jason Kidd to the Dallas Mavericks. 而且我们看到它同实现基德向达拉斯小牛队。

2 phantom   

n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的

参考例句：

• I found myself staring at her as if she were a phantom.我发现自己瞪大眼睛看着她，好像她是一个幽灵。
• He is only a phantom of a king.他只是有名无实的国王。

3 cannon   

n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮

参考例句：

• The soldiers fired the cannon.士兵们开炮。
• The cannon thundered in the hills.大炮在山间轰鸣。

4 aptitude   

n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资

参考例句：

• That student has an aptitude for mathematics.那个学生有数学方面的天赋。
• As a child,he showed an aptitude for the piano.在孩提时代，他显露出对于钢琴的天赋。

5 adventurous   

adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的　

参考例句：

• I was filled with envy at their adventurous lifestyle.我很羨慕他们敢于冒险的生活方式。
• He was predestined to lead an adventurous life.他注定要过冒险的生活。

6 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 auspices   

n.资助，赞助

参考例句：

• The association is under the auspices of Word Bank.这个组织是在世界银行的赞助下办的。
• The examination was held under the auspices of the government.这次考试是由政府主办的。

8 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

9 thumping   

adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持

参考例句：

• Her heart was thumping with emotion. 她激动得心怦怦直跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He was thumping the keys of the piano. 他用力弹钢琴。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》