(Circus music) [Ted N' Ed's Carnival] [John Lloyd's Inventory of the Invisible] [Adapted from a TEDTalk given by John Lloyd in 2009] June Cohen: Our next speaker has spent his whole career eliciting that sense of wonder. Please welcome John Lloyd. (Applause) [Hall of Mirrors] The question is, "What is invisible?" There's more of it than you think, actually. Everything, I would say -- everything that matters -- Except every thing, and except matter. We can see matter but we can't see what's the matter. We can see the stars and the planets but we can't see what holds them apart, or what draws them together. With matter as with people, we see only the skin of things, we can't see into the engine room, we can't see what makes people tick, at least not without difficulty, and the closer we look at anything, the more it disappears. In fact, if you look really closely at stuff, if you look at the basic substructure of matter, there isn't anything there. Electrons disappear in a kind of fuzz, and there is only energy. One of the interesting things about invisibility is, the things that we can's see, we also can't understand. Gravity is one thing that we can't see, and which we don't understand. It's the least understood of all the four fundamental forces, and the weakest, and nobody really knows what it is or why it's there. For what it's worth, Sir Isaac Newton, the greatest scientist who ever lived, he thought Jesus came to Earth specifically to operate the levers of gravity. That's what he thought he was there for. So, bright guy, could be wrong on that one, I don't know. (Laughter) Consciousness. I see all your faces; I've no idea what any of you are thinking. Isn't that amazing? Isn't it incredible that we can't read each other's minds, when we can touch each other, taste each other, perhaps, if we get close enough, but we can't read each other's minds. I find that quite astonishing. In the Sufi faith, this great Middle Eastern religion which some claim is the root of all religions, Sufi masters are all telepaths, so they say, but their main exercise of telepathy is to send out powerful signals to the rest of us that it doesn't exist. So that's why we don't think it exists; the Sufi masters working on us. In the question of consciousness and artificial intelligence, artificial intelligence has really, like the study of consciousness, gotten nowhere, we have no idea how consciousness works. Not only have they not created artificial intelligence, they haven't yet created artificial stupidity. (Laughter) The laws of physics: invisible, eternal, omnipresent, all powerful. Remind you of anyone? Interesting. I'm, as you can guess, not a materialist, I'm an immaterialist. And I've found a very useful new word -- ignostic. Okay? I'm an ignostic. [God?] I refuse to be drawn on the question on whether God exists until somebody properly defines the terms. Another thing we can't see is the human genome. And this is increasingly peculiar, because about 20 years ago when they started delving into the genome, they thought it would probably contain around 100 thousand genes. Every year since, it's been revised downwards. We now think there are likely to be just over 20 thousand genes in the human genome. This is extraordinary, because rice -- get this -- rice is known to have 38 thousand genes. Potatoes have 48 chromosomes, two more than people, and the same as a gorilla. (Laughter) You can't see these things, but they are very strange. The stars by day, I always think that's fascinating. The universe disappears. The more light there is, the less you can see. Time. Nobody can see time. I don't know if you know this. There's a big movement in modern physics to decide that time doesn't really exist, because it's too inconvenient for the figures. It's much easier if it's not really there. You can't see the future, obviously, and you can't see the past, except in your memory. One of the interesting things about the past is you particularly can't see -- my son asked me this the other day, "Dad, can you remember what I was like when I was two? And I said, "Yes." He said, "Why can't I?" Isn't that extraordinary? You cannot remember what happened to you earlier than the age of two or three. Which is great news for psychoanalysts, because otherwise they'd be out of a job. Because that's where all the stuff happens (Laughter) that makes you who you are. Another thing you can't see is the grid on which we hang. This is fascinating. You probably know, some of you, that cells are continually renewed. Skin flakes off, hairs grow, nails, that kind of stuff -- but every cell in your body is replaced at some point. Taste buds, every ten days or so. Livers and internal organs take a bit longer. Spine takes several years. But at the end of seven years, not one cell in your body remains from what was there seven years ago. The question is: who then are we? What are we? What is this thing that we hang on? That is actually us? Atoms, can't see them. Nobody ever will. They're smaller than the wavelength of light. Gas, can't see that. Interesting, somebody mentioned 1600 recently. Gas was invented in 1600 by a Dutch chemist called van Helmont. It's said to be the most successful ever invention of a word by a known individual. Quite good. He also invented a word called "blas," meaning astral radiation. Didn't catch on, unfortunately. (Laughter) But well done, him. Light -- you can't see light. When it's dark, in a vacuum, if a person shines a beam of light straight across your eyes, you won't see it. Slightly technical, some physicists will disagree with this. But it's odd that you can't see the beam of light, you can only see what it hits. Electricity, can't see that. Don't let anyone tell you they understand electricity, they don't. Nobody knows what it is. (Laughter) You probably think the electrons in an electric wire move instantaneously down a wire, don't you, at the speed of light, when you turn the light on, they don't. Electrons bumble down the wire, about the speed of spreading honey, they say. Galaxies -- hundred billion of them, estimated in the universe. Hundred billion. How many can we see? Five. Five, out of a hundred billion galaxies, with the naked eye. And one of them is quite difficult to see, unless you've got very good eyesight. Radio waves. There's another thing. Heinrich Hertz, when he discovered radio waves, in 1887, he called them radio waves because they radiated. Somebody said to him, "What's the point of these, Heinrich? What's the point of these radio waves that you've found?" And he said, "Well, I've no idea, but I guess somebody will find a use for them someday. The biggest thing that's invisible to us is what we don't know. It is incredible how little we know. Thomas Edison once said, "We don't know one percent of one millionth about anything." And I've come to the conclusion -- because you ask this other question: "What's another thing we can't see?" The point, most of us. What's the point? The point -- what I've got it down to is there are only two questions really worth asking. "Why are we here?", and "What should we do about it while we are?" To help you, I've got two things to leave you with, from two great philosophers, perhaps two of the greatest philosopher thinkers of the 20th century. One a mathematician and engineer, and the other a poet. The first is Ludwig Wittgenstein, who said, "I don't know why we are here, but I am pretty sure it's not in order to enjoy ourselves." (Laughter) He was a cheerful bastard, wasn't he? (Laughter) And secondly, and lastly, W.H. Auden, one of my favorite poets, who said, "We are here on Earth to help others. What the others are here for, I've no idea." (Laughter) (Applause) (Circus music) [Get your souvenir photo here!] [Continue your journey into the unknown!] (Circus music)
(Glazba) [Karneval Teda i Eda, otvoren svaki dan - cijeli dan] [Inventar nevidljivoga Johna Lloyda] [Adaptirano iz TEDTalka Johna Lloyda iz 2009.] Naš sljedeći govornik proveo je čitavu karijeru izmamljujući taj osjećaj čuda. Molim vas pozdravite Johna Lloyda. (Pljesak) Pitanje je: što je nevidljivo? Više je toga nego što mislite, zapravo. Sve, rekao bih -- sve što je važno -- Osim svake stvari, i materije. Možemo vidjeti materiju ali ne možemo vidjeti u čemu je problem.(materija-igra riječi). Možemo vidjeti zvijezde i planete, ali ne možemo vidjeti što ih razdvaja, ili što ih privlači. S materijom kao i s ljudima, vidimo samo kožu stvari, ne možemo vidjeti u strojarnicu, ne možemo vidjeti što pokreće ljude, barem ne bez poteškoća, i što bliže gledamo bilo što, više nestaje. Zapravo, ako pogledate stvarno blizu neku stvar, ako pogledate osnovnu strukturu tvari, nema ničeg tamo. Elektroni nestaju u nekoj izmaglici, i postoji samo energija. Jedna od zanimljivosti kod nevidljivosti je da stvari koje ne vidimo, ne možemo ni razumjeti. Gravitacija je jedna stvar koju ne vidimo, i ne razumijemo. Ona je najmanje razumljiva od četiri osnovne sile, i najslabija, i nitko ne zna što je ona ni zašto je ovdje. Valja spomenuti kako je Sir Isaac Newton, najveći znanstvenik koji je ikad živio, mislio kako je Isus došao na zemlju kako bi upravljao ručicama gravitacije. Mislio je da je on zato bio tu. Dakle, bistar momak, mogao je pogriješiti vezano uz to, ne znam. (Smijeh) Svijest. Vidim vaša lica, ali nemam pojma o čemu razmišljate. Nije li to čudesno? Nije li nevjerojatno da ne možemo čitati tuđe umove, kada možemo dodirnuti jedni druge, okusiti jedni druge, ako se dovoljno približimo, ali ne možemo čitati umove. To mi je zapanjujuće. U Sufi vjeri, ovoj velikoj vjeri sa Bliskog istoka za koju tvrde da je korijen svih religija, majstori Sufija su svi telepati, tako kažu, ali njihova osnovna zadaća kao telepata je da nama ostalima šalju snažne signale kako telepatija ne postoji. Zato mislimo da ne postoji; Sufi majstori rade na nama. Po pitanju svijesti i umjetne inteligencije, umjetna inteligencija je zapravo kao i proučavanje svijesti, stigla nigdje, nemamo pojma kako svijest funkcionira. Ne samo da nisu stvorili umjetnu inteligenciju, nisu još kreirali umjetnu glupost. Zakoni fizike: nevidljivi, vječni, sveprisutni, svemoćni. Podsjeća li vas to na nekoga? Zanimljivo. Ja sam, kao što možete pogoditi, nematerijalist. I našao sam zanimljivu novu riječ -- ignostik. Okej? Ja sam ignostik, [Bog?] Odbijam biti uvučen u raspravu postoji li Bog dok netko propisno ne definira uvjete. Još jedna stvar koju ne možemo vidjeti je ljudski genom. I ovo je sve više čudno, jer prije otprilike 20 godina kada su počeli istraživati genom, pretpostavili su da će sadržavati oko sto tisuća gena. Svake godine otada, smanjili su brojku. Sada mislimo kako najvjerojatnije postoji tek nešto više od 20 tisuća gena u ljudskom genomu. Ovo je čudesno, jer riža -- pazite ovo -- riža ima 38 tisuća gena. Krumpir -- krumpir ima 48 kromosoma, dva više od ljudi, i isto koliko i gorila. (Smijeh) Ne možete vidjeti ove stvari, ali one su jako čudne. Zvijezde po danu, ja uvijek mislim kako je to fascinantno. Svemir nestaje. Što je više svjetla, manje možete vidjeti. Vrijeme. Nitko ne vidi vrijeme. Ne znam znate li ovo. Moderni fizičari -- postoji veliki pokret u modernoj fizici kako bi se odlučilo da vrijeme zapravo ne postoji, jer je previše neprikladno za brojke. Puno je jednostavnije ako nije zapravo tu. Ne možete vidjeti budućnost, očito, i ne možete vidjeti prošlost, osim u svom sjećanju. Kod prošlosti je zanimljivo to što osobito ne možete vidjeti -- moj sin pitao me neki dan, rekao je tata, sjećaš li se kakav sam bio kad sam imao dvije godine? I ja sam rekao da. On je pitao zašto ja ne mogu? Nije li to izvandredno? Ne sjećate se što vam se dogodilo prije nego ste napunili drugu ili treću godinu. Što je odlično za psihoanalitičare, jer bi inače bili bez posla. Jer se tada sve događa [smijeh] što vas čini onakvima kakvi jeste. Još jedna stvar koju ne možete vidjeti je mreža na kojoj visimo. To je fascinantno. Vjerojatno znate, neki od vas, da se stanice stalno obnavljaju. Koža otpada, kosa raste, nokti, te stvari -- ali svaka stanica u našem tijelu je zamijenjena u nekoj točci. Osjetni pupoljci, svakih 10 dana ili toliko. Jetra i unutarnji organi traju malo duže. Kralježnici je potrebno nekoliko godina. Ali na kraju sedam godina, niti jedna stanica u vašem tijelu nije preostala od onih stanica od prije sedam godina. Pitanje je: tko smo mi? Što smo mi? Što je ova stvar na kojoj visimo? To smo stvarno mi? Atomi, ne vidimo ih. Nitko nikad neće. Oni su manji od valne duljine svjetla. Plin, ne vidimo ga. Zanimljivo netko je spomenuo 1600. nedavno. Plin je izumljen 1600. godine od strane nizozemskog kemičara koji se zove Van Helmont. Kažu da je to najuspješnije izmišljanje riječi od strane poznatog pojedinca. Poprilično dobro. Također je izmislio riječ blas koja znači astralna radijacija. Nije prihvaćena, šteta. (Smijeh) Ali bravo on. Svjetlo -- ne možete vidjeti svjetlo. Kad je mrak, u vakuumu, ako netko posvijetli preko vaših očiju, nećete vidjeti svjetlost. Malo tehnički, neki fizičari se ne bi složili s ovim. Ali čudno je da ne možete vidjeti trak svjetla, vidite samo ono što pogodi. Elektricitet, ne vidite ga. Ne dozvolite da vam itko kaže da razumije elektricitet, ne razumije. Nitko ne zna što je to. (Smijeh) Vjerojatno mislite kako se elektroni u žici kreću trenutno kroz žicu, zar ne, brzinom svjetla, kada upalite svjetlo. Ne kreću se tako. Oni se kreću brzinom kojom mažete med, tako kažu. Galaksije -- stotine miljardi galaksija, toliko procjenjuju da ih je u svemiru, stotine milijardi. Koliko ih vidimo? Pet. Pet od stotinu milijardi galaksija, golim okom. I jednu od njih je jako teško vidjeti, osim ako nemate jako dobar vid. Radio valovi. To je još jedna stvar. Heinrich Hertz, kada je otkrio radio valove, 1887., nazvao ih je valovima jer su zračili. Netko mu je rekao, pa koja je poanta ovoga, Heinrich? Koja je svrha ovih radio valova koje si našao? A on je rekao, pa ne znam, ali pretpostavljam da će netko jednog dana naći nekakvu uporabu za njih. Najveća stvar koja nam je nevidljiva je ono što ne znamo. Zapanjujuće je koliko malo mi znamo. Thomas Edison je jednom rekao da ne znamo jedan posto milijuntog dijela nečega o nečem. I došli smo do zaključka -- zato što postavljate pitanje: što je još jedna stvar koju ne možemo vidjeti? Svrha, većini nas. Što je svrha? Svrha je -- ono do čega sam došao je da postoji samo dva pitanja koja vrijedi pitati. Zašto smo ovdje, i što bismo trebali činiti dok smo tu? Kako bi Vam pomogao, ostavit ću vam dvije stvari, od dva velika filozofa, možda i dva najveća filozofska mislioca dvadesetog stoljeća. Jedan matematičar i inžinjer, i drugi koji je pjesnik. Prvi je Ludwig Wittgenstein, koji je rekao, Ne znam zašto smo ovdje, ali sam siguran da nismo tu kako bismo uživali. On je bio veseli gad, zar ne? (Smijeh) I drugo i posljednje, W.H. Auden, jedan od mojih najdražih pjesnika rekao je, Ovdje smo na zemlji kako bi pomogli drugima. Zašto su drugi ovdje, nemam pojma. [Nabavite ovdje svoju fotografiju suvenir! Nastavite vaše putovanje u nepoznato!]