So the question is, what is invisible? There is more of it than you think, actually. Everything, I would say. Everything that matters except every thing and except matter.
Vprašanje je torej, kaj je nevidno? Pravzaprav več, kot si mislite. Rekel bi, da vse. Vse stvari, ki so pomembne, razen vseh stvari in razen snovi same.
We can see matter. But we can't see what's the matter. As in this cryptic sentence I found in The Guardian recently: "The marriage suffered a setback in 1965, when the husband was killed by the wife." (Laughter) There's a world of invisibility there, isn't there? (Laughter)
Stvari lahko vidimo. Ne moremo pa videti, v čem je stvar. Tako kot pri tem kodiranem sporočilu, ki sem ga pred kratkim našel v Guardianu: "Njun zakon je zašel v težave leta 1965, ko je žena ubila moža." (smeh) V tem je cel kup nevidnega, mar ne? (smeh)
So, 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. And you can't see energy.
Torej, lahko vidimo zvezde in planete, ne vidimo pa, kaj jih drži narazen ali kaj jih vleče skupaj. Pri snovi, tako kot pri ljudeh, lahko vidimo samo ovojnico. Ne vidimo strojnice. Ne moremo videti, kaj poganja ljudi, vsaj ne brez težav. In bolj od blizu ko gledamo, bolj stvari izginjajo. Pravzaprav, če pogledate res od blizu, če hočete videti temeljno strukturo snovi, tam ni nič. Elektroni izginejo v nekakšni megli, ostane samo energija. Te pa ne morete videti.
So everything that matters, that's important, is invisible. One slightly silly thing that's invisible is this story, which is invisible to you. And I'm now going to make it visible to you in your minds. It's about an M.P. called Geoffrey Dickens.
Vse, kar je torej pomembno, je nevidno. Ena od malo smešnih nevidnih stvari je tale zgodba, ki je ne morete videti. Zdaj bom naredil tako, da jo boste lahko videli v mislih. Gre za preminulega poslanca Geoffreya Dickensa.
The late Geoffrey Dickens, M.P. was attending a fete in his constituency. Wherever he went, at every stall he stopped he was closely followed by a devoted smiling woman of indescribable ugliness. (Laughter) Try as he might, he couldn't get away from her. A few days later he received a letter from a constituent saying how much she admired him, had met him at a fete and asking for a signed photograph. After her name, written in brackets was the apt description, horse face. (Laughter)
Dickens je sodeloval na zabavi v svojem volilnem okraju. Kamorkoli je šel, pri katerikoli stojnici se je ustavil, mu je tesno sledila zvesta smehljajoča se ženska, ki je bila nepopisno grda. (smeh) Nikakor ji ni mogel ubežati. Čez nekaj dni je od volivke prejel pismo, v katerem je napisala, kako ga občuduje, da ga je srečala na zabavi in da ga prosi za podpisano fotografijo V oklepaju poleg njenega imena je bil jasen opis: konjski obraz. (smeh)
"I've misjudged this women," thought Mr. Dickens. "Not only is she aware of her physical repulsiveness, she turns it to her advantage. A photo is not enough." So he went out and bought a plastic frame to put the photograph in. And on the photograph, he wrote with a flourish, "To Horse Face, with love from Geoffrey Dickens, M.P." After it had been sent off, his secretary said to him, "Did you get that letter from the woman at the fete? I wrote Horse Face on her, so you'd remember who she was." (Laughter)
"To žensko sem narobe ocenil," si je mislil Dickens. "Ne samo da se zaveda svoje fizične odvratnosti, spremeni jo celo v svojo prednost. Fotografija ni dovolj." Šel je in kupil plastičen okvir, v katerega je vstavil fotografijo. Nanjo je vzneseno zapisal: "Za konjski obraz, z ljubeznijo, poslanec Geoffrey Dickens" Potem ko so fotografijo poslali, ga je tajnik vprašal, "Ste dobili pismo tiste ženske z zabave? Nanj sem napisal 'konjski obraz', da bi se spomnili, kdo je bila." (smeh)
I bet he thought he wished he was invisible, don't you? (Laughter)
Stavit grem, da si je takrat želel biti neviden, kaj pravite? (smeh)
So, one of the interesting things about invisibility is that things that we can't 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.
Torej, ena od zanimivih stvari o nevidnosti je, da stvari, ki jih ne vidimo, tudi ne moremo razumeti. Težnost je ena takih nevidnih in nerazumljivih stvari. Od štirih temeljnih sil je najmanj razumljena in najšibkejša. Nihče pravzaprav ne ve, kaj je in zakaj obstaja.
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)
Še celo Isaac Newton, največji znanstvenik vseh časov, je mislil, da je Jezus prišel na svet zato, da bi upravljal zakone težnosti. To, je menil, je bila njegova vloga. Pameten možak, ampak pri temle se je morda zmotil, kaj pa vem. (smeh)
Consciousness. I see all your faces. I have no idea what any of you are thinking. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that incredible that we can't read each other's minds? But 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.
Zavest. Vidim vaše obraze. Pojma nimam, o čem razmišljate. Ni to noro? Ali ni neverjetno, da ne moremo brati misli drug drugega? Lahko se dotikamo, celo okušamo, če smo si dovolj blizu. A ne moremo brati misli. To se mi zdi kar šokantno.
In the Sufi faith, this great Middle Eastern religion, which some claim is the route 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.
V sufizmu, tej veliki bližnjevzhodni religiji, za katero nekateri trdijo, da je vodilo vseh religij, so vsi sufiji telepati, tako pravijo. Ampak njihova glavna telepatska dejavnost je pošiljanje močnih signalov nam ostalim, da telepatija ne obstaja. Zato mislimo, da ne obstaja, ker sufiji vplivajo na nas.
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. With artificial intelligence, not only have they not created artificial intelligence, they haven't yet created artificial stupidity. (Laughter)
Pri vprašanju zavesti in umetne inteligence z umetno inteligenco tako kot z raziskovanjem zavesti niso prišli nikamor. Pojma nimamo, kako zavest deluje. In ne samo da niso ustvarili umetne inteligence, ustvarili niso niti umetne neumnosti. (smeh)
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. I refuse to be drawn on the question of whether God exists, until somebody properly defines the terms. (Laughter)
Zakoni fizike: nevidna, večna, vseprisotna, vsemogočna. Vas to na koga spominja? Zanimivo. Kot lahko uganete, nisem materialist, ampak imaterialist. In iznašel sem uporabno novo besedo: ignostik. Prav? Jaz sem ignostik. Nočem se vpletati v razpravo o tem, ali bog obstaja, dokler nekdo ne bo pravilno opredelil pojmov. (smeh)
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 100,000 genes. Geneticists will know this, but every year since, it's been revised downwards. We now think there are likely to be only just over 20,000 genes in the human genome.
Še ena stvar, ki je ne moremo videti, je človeški genom. To je vse bolj čudna zadeva: pred 20 leti, ko so genom začeli raziskovati, so mislili, da bo verjetno vseboval okoli 100,000 genov. Genetiki to že vedo, ampak odtlej so številko vsako leto popravili navzdol. Zdaj menimo, da je v človeškem genomu verjetno le nekaj nad 20,000 genov.
This is extraordinary. Because rice -- get this -- rice is known to have 38 thousand genes. Potatoes, potatoes have 48 chromosomes. Do you know that? Two more than people, and the same as a gorilla. (Laughter) You can't see these things, but they are very strange. (Laughter)
To je nenavadno. Kajti riž - poslušajte tole - riž ima 38,000 genov. Krompir ima 48 kromosomov. Ste to vedeli? Dva več kot človek in prav toliko kot gorila. (smeh) Teh stvari ne morete videti, so pa zelo čudne. (smeh)
The stars by day. I always think that's fascinating. The universe disappears. The more light there is, the less you can see.
Zvezde podnevi. Vedno mislim, da je to fascinantno. Vesolje izgine. Več ko je svetlobe, manj lahko vidimo.
Time, nobody can see time. I don't know if you know this. Modern physics, there is 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.
Nihče ne vidi časa. Ne vem, ali ste vedeli. V moderni fiziki obstaja veliko gibanje, ki zahteva odločitev, da čas v resnici ne obstaja, ker se ne sklada s številkami. Veliko lažje je, če ga v resnici ni. Očitno je, da ne morete videti prihodnosti. Preteklosti tudi ne, razen v spominu.
One of the interesting things about the past is you particularly can't see. My son asked me this the other day, he said, "Dad, can you remember what I was like when I was two?" And I said, "Yes." And he said, "Why can't I?"
Ena od zanimivosti preteklosti je, da je vi sami še posebej ne vidite. Zadnjič me je sin vprašal: "Oči, se spomniš, kakšen sem bil, ko sem imel dve leti?" Rekel sem: "Ja." Odvrnil je: "Zakaj se pa jaz ne morem?"
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.
Ni to nenavadno? Ne morete se spomniti, kaj se vam je dogajalo pred starostjo dveh, treh let, kar je krasna novica za psihoanalitike, drugače bi ostali brez posla. Kajti tam se zgodijo vse stvari, (smeh) zaradi katerih ste, kakršni ste.
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. You can see it in skin and this kind of stuff. Skin flakes off, hairs grow, nails, that kind of stuff. But every cell in your body is replaced at some point. Taste buds, every 10 days or so. Livers and internal organs sort of take a bit longer. A 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?
Še ena nevidna stvar je ogrodje, na katerem visimo. To je res zanimivo. Verjetno nekateri veste, da se celice stalno obnavljajo. To lahko vidite na koži in podobnem. Koža se lušči, lasje rastejo, nohti, te stvari. Ampak vsaka celica v telesu se na neki točki zamenja. Okušalne brbončice približno vsakih deset dni. Jetra in notranji organi potrebujejo malo več časa. Hrbtenica rabi nekaj let. Ampak po sedmih letih niti ena celica v vašem telesu ni več ista kot pred sedmimi leti. Vprašanje torej je, kdo smo? Kaj smo? Na čem visimo, kar nas naredi to, kar smo?
Okay. Atoms, you can't see them. Nobody ever will. They're smaller than the wavelength of light. Gas, you 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. (Laughter)
Prav. Atomi, teh ne morete videti. Nihče jih nikoli ne bo. Manjši od valovne dolžine svetlobe so. Ne morete videti plina. Zanimivo. Nekdo je nedavno omenil leto 1600. Takrat so izumili plin, to je storil nizozemski kemik Van Helmont. To je menda najuspešnejši izum besede, ki ga je posameznik kdajkoli napravil. Kar dobro. Izumil je tudi besedo "blas" za astralno radiacijo. Se pa na žalost ni prijela. (smeh) No, vseeno, odlično je opravil. (smeh)
There is so many things that -- 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. I find that extraordinary, not to be able to see light, not to be able to see darkness.
Toliko stvari je, ki... svetloba. Ne morete videti svetlobe. Ko je temno, v vakuumu, če nekdo posveti žarek svetlobe naravnost čez vaše oči, je ne boste videli. To je malo tehnična stvar, nekateri fiziki se ne bodo strinjali. Ampak čudno je, da ne morete videti žarka svetlobe, temveč samo tisto, kar žarek zadene. Zdi se mi nenavadno, da ne moremo videti svetlobe, ne moremo videti teme.
Electricity, you 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. (Laughter)
Elektrika, ne morete je videti. Naj vam nihče ne trdi, da razume elektriko. Ne razumejo. Nihče ne ve, kaj to je. (smeh) Verjetno mislite, da elektroni po električni žici neprenehoma potujejo s svetlobno hitrostjo, ko prižgete luč. Pa ni tako. Elektroni se spotikajo navzdol po žici s hitrostjo tekočega medu, pravijo. (smeh)
Galaxies, 100 billion of them estimated in the universe. 100 billion. How many can we see? Five. Five out of the 100 billion galaxies, with the naked eye, and one of them is quite difficult to see unless you've got very good eyesight.
Galaksije, ocenjujejo, da jih je v vesolju sto milijard. Sto milijard. Koliko jih vidimo? Pet. Ped od sto milijard galaksij, s prostim očesom, od tega je eno težko opaziti, če nimate izjemno ostrega vida.
Radio waves. There's another thing. Heinrich Hertz, when he discovered radio waves in 1887, he called them radio waves because they radiated. And somebody said to him, "Well 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." And that's what they do, radio. That's what they discovered.
Radijski valovi. To je še ena stvar. Heinrich Hertz, ki jih je leta 1887 odkril, jih je imenoval radijski valovi, ker so oddajali energijo. In nekdo ga je vprašal: "Hja, v čem je njihov smisel, Heinrich? V čem je smisel radijskih valov, ki si jih našel?" Hertz je odgovoril: "No, pojma nimam. A menda bo nekdo nekoč ugotovil, da so za kaj uporabni." In to počnejo, oddajajo, radio. To so iznašli.
Anyway, so 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."
Kakorkoli že, največja stvari, ki je nevidna, je to, česar ne vemo. Neverjetno je, kako malo vemo. Thomas Edison je nekoč dejal: "Ne vemo niti enega odstotka ene milijoninke o čemerkoli."
And I've come to the conclusion -- because you've asked this other question, "What's another thing you can't see?" The point, most of us. What's the point? (Laughter) (Applause) You can't see a point. It's by definition dimensionless, like an electron, oddly enough.
To nas pripelje do zaključka... ker ste vprašali: "Česa še ne moremo videti?" Smisla, večina med nami. V čem je smisel? (smeh) (aplavz) Ne morete videti točke. Po definiciji je brez dimenzij, tako kot elektron, čudno, ne?
But 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? And 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 an engineer, and the other a poet.
Ampak smisel, kolikor razumem, je v tem, da je res vredno postaviti samo dve vprašanji. "Zakaj smo tu?" in "Kaj naj s tem napravimo, dokler smo tu?" Za pomoč vam dajem dve misli dveh velikih filozofov, morda dveh od najpomembnejših mislecev 20. stoletja, enega matematika in inženirja in enega pesnika.
The first is Ludwig Wittgenstein who said, "I don't know why we are here. But I'm pretty sure it's not in order to enjoy ourselves." (Laughter) He was a cheerful bastard wasn't he? (Laughter)
Prvi je Ludwig Wittgenstein, ki je dejal: "Ne vem, čemu smo tu. Sem pa dokaj prepričan, da ne zato, da bi se imeli lepo." (smeh) Res je bil dobrovoljček, kaj? (smeh)
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)
In drugi, zadnji, W. H. Auden, eden mojih najljubših pesnikov, ki je dejal: "Na svetu smo, da bi pomagali drugim. Čemu so na svetu drugi, pa nimam pojma." (smeh) (aplavz)