I'd like to apologize, first of all, to all of you because I have no form of PowerPoint presentation. So what I'm going to do is, every now and again, I will make this gesture, and in a moment of PowerPoint democracy, you can imagine what you'd like to see.
首先 我想向大家 為我沒有任何 投影片的事情先道個歉 所以 爲了補償 我會不時的做這個動作 並停一下 你可以用這個片刻 想像一下你有看到的投影片
I do a radio show. The radio show is called "The Infinite Monkey Cage." It's about science, it's about rationalism. So therefore, we get a lot of complaints every single week -- complaints including one we get very often, which is to say the very title, "Infinite Monkey Cage," celebrates the idea of vivisection. We have made it quite clear to these people that an infinite monkey cage is roomy.
我做了一個廣播節目 名字叫做“無限的猴子籠” 是關於科學和純理論想法 我們每週會收到 很多的抱怨 最常收到的就是關於 我們的這個特別的名字, "無限猴子籠" 提倡了活體解剖 然後我們都很明白的回覆了那些人 無限猴子籠是很寬廣的一個籠子
(Laughter)
(笑)
We also had someone else who said, "'The Infinite Monkey Cage' idea is ridiculous. An infinite number of monkeys could never write the works of Shakespeare. We know this because they did an experiment." Yes, they gave 12 monkeys a typewriter for a week, and after a week, they only used it as a bathroom.
也有人說道 無限猴子理論是荒謬的 無限數量的猴子 不可能打出莎士比亞的作品 我們是通過實驗知道的 是這樣的, 他們給了12個猴子一台打字機 過了一個星期,打字機只是被猴子當成了廁所
(Laughter)
(笑)
So the main element though, the main complaint we get -- and one that I find most worrying -- is that people say, "Oh, why do you insist on ruining the magic? You bring in science, and it ruins the magic." Now I'm an arts graduate; I love myth and magic and existentialism and self-loathing. That's what I do. But I also don't understand how it does ruin the magic. All of the magic, I think, that may well be taken away by science is then replaced by something as wonderful.
雖然大多都是在抱怨我們的標題 但有一個我感覺很焦慮的抱怨 是有人說道 爲什麽你總是毀滅我們的想像 你帶來了科學,然後它完全破壞了幻想 好吧, 這樣說吧!我是一個念藝術的人 我喜愛神話和幻想 還有存在主義和自我厭惡 這就是我 但是我還是不明白 科學是怎麼毀掉了幻想 我認為所有的幻想 被科學證明其錯誤後 都會被一個完美的東西代替掉
Astrology, for instance: like many rationalists, I'm a Pisces. (Laughter) Now astrology -- we remove the banal idea that your life could be predicted; that you'll, perhaps today, meet a lucky man who's wearing a hat. That is gone. But if we want to look at the sky and see predictions, we still can. We can see predictions of galaxies forming, of galaxies colliding into each other, of new solar systems. This is a wonderful thing. If the Sun could one day -- and indeed the Earth, in fact -- if the Earth could read its own astrological, astronomical chart, one day it would say, "Not a good day for making plans. You'll been engulfed by a red giant."
比如說 占星學 和很多理性主義者一樣我也是雙魚座 (笑) 占星學 我們廢棄了 我們的生活是可以被預知的古板的思想 像你今天可能碰到一個幸運的男人 一個戴帽子的男人 占星學已經過去了 但是假如我們觀測天空來預測點什麽,我們還是可以做到的 我們是可以預知星系的形成的 兩個星系相互碰撞成為新的星系 這是一件極為美妙的事情 假如太陽系有一天,舉說地球來說吧 假如地球人有一天能夠讀懂地球的星象, 有一天是有可能這樣的一幕的 今天並不是一個做事的日子 你將會被紅巨星包圍
And that to me as well, that if you think I'm worried about losing worlds, well Many Worlds theory -- one of the most beautiful, fascinating, sometimes terrifying ideas from the quantum interpretation -- is a wonderful thing. That every person here, every decision that you've made today, every decision you've made in your life, you've not really made that decision, but in fact, every single permutation of those decisions is made, each one going off into a new universe. That is a wonderful idea. If you ever think that your life is rubbish, always remember there's another you that's made much worse decisions than that. (Laughter) If you ever think, "Ah, I want to end it all," don't end it all. Remember that in the majority of universes, you don't even exist in the first place. This to me, in its own strange way, is very, very comforting.
我自己身上也能有這樣的例子 我其實在擔心消失的世界 平行世界論 你知道的 從量子論中得出的 一個很有意思 有時有相當駭人的理論 它是一個有趣的東西 我們每個人每天所作的決定 在你生活中的每個決定 也許不是真的想要做那樣的決定 但是實際上每個一決定間的置換 那麼每個都會形成一個新的宇宙 多麼奇妙的想法啊 假如你有想過你的生活很無聊 永遠記住 有那麼一個比你要慘的多的你 (笑) 你如何曾想過 我要結束這一切 別想不開 記住那裡還有宇宙的大多數 你不是宇宙第一的存在 雖然是個很奇怪的方法 但是對我而言是很有效的自我安慰
Now reincarnation, that's another thing gone -- the afterlife. But it's not gone. Science actually says we will live forever. Well, there is one proviso. We won't actually live forever. You won't live forever. Your consciousness, the you-ness of you, the me-ness of me -- that gets this one go. But every single thing that makes us, every atom in us, has already created a myriad of different things and will go on to create a myriad of new things. We have been mountains and apples and pulsars and other people's knees. Who knows, maybe one of your atoms was once Napoleon's knee. That is a good thing. Unlike the occupants of the universe, the universe itself is not wasteful. We are all totally recyclable. And when we die, we don't even have to be placed in different refuse sacs. This is a wonderful thing.
重生轉世,又是一個不在被相信的東西 但是它還沒走 是科學告訴我們 我們是可以永生的 但是這是有一個前提的 我們其實不能永生 沒有誰可以 你的意識 你的自我 我的自我 這是會消失的 但是組成我們的東西 每個組成我們的原子 是已經創造了各種東西的 然後再將來還會繼續創造 我們可能是山 是蘋果 是脈衝星 是別人的膝蓋 可能你的原子回事拿破崙的膝蓋 這是件好事 宇宙並不像 宇宙中的物質一樣是浪費的 我們是完全可回收的 但我們死了 我們不必把我們自己分類裝入不同的回收袋 這太有趣了
Understanding, to me, does not remove the wonder and the joy. For instance, my wife could turn to me and she may say, "Why do you love me?" And I can with all honesty look her in the eye and say, "Because our pheromones matched our olfactory receptors." (Laughter) Though I'll probably also say something about her hair and personality as well. And that is a wonderful thing there. Love does not die because of that thing.
真的 我並不是想否奇蹟和幻想 比如 我老婆會問我 我爲什麽愛他 然後我會十分真誠的 看著她的眼睛然後說 因為我們的費洛蒙 和我們的嗅覺神經是相匹配的 (笑) 可能我還會說點別的 比如她的頭髮和個性 我這樣回答是有好處的 因為如此 愛情是永恆的
Pain doesn't go away either. This is a terrible thing, even though I understand pain. If someone punches me -- and because of my personality, this is recently a regular occurrence -- I understand where the pain comes from. It is basically momentum to energy where the four-vector is constant -- that's what it is. But at no point can I react and go, "Ha! Is that the best momentum-to-energy fourth vector constant you've got?" No, I just spit out a tooth.
疼痛一樣是不會消失的 只是一件可怕的事情 儘管我理解疼痛 假如有人因為我的性格 打了我一拳 這是最近經常發生的事情 我知道疼痛是從哪裡來的 而且其本身只不過是動能所轉換出的能量 同時四維能量守恆的概念而起 但是我不可能這樣回應他啊 嘿 這就是你能做到的最好的動能轉換以維持四維能量守恆嗎? 當然不可能啊 我只會吐出一顆牙齒
(Laughter)
(笑)
And that is all of these different things -- the love for my child. I have a son. His name is Archie. I'm very lucky, because he's better than all the other children. Now I know you don't think that. You may well have your own children and think, "Oh no, my child's best." That's the wonderful thing about evolution -- the predilection to believe that our child is best. Now in many ways, that's just a survival thing. The fact we see here is the vehicle for our genes, and therefore we love it. But we don't notice that bit; we just unconditionally love. That is a wonderful thing. Though I should say that my son is best and is better than your children. I've done some tests.
這就是以上這些不同的事 我對我孩子的愛 我有個孩子就阿奇 我很幸運 因為他比任何一個小孩都要好 我知道你可能不那樣想 你可能有你自己的小孩 並認為:我的才是最棒的 這就是進化的美妙了 大家都傾向於相信 我的孩子最棒 但是從很多方面來說 那隻不過是生存的問題 實際上我們眼中看到的是我們基因的遺傳者 然後我們回去愛它 但是我們並沒有注意到這點 我們就無條件的去愛了 這是一件多麼好的事 但是我還是要說我兒子好 比你們的都好 我做了這樣一些實驗
And all of these things to me give such joy and excitement and wonder. Even quantum mechanics can give you an excuse for bad housework, for instance. Perhaps you've been at home for a week on your own. You house is in a terrible state. Your partner is about to return. You think, what should I do? Do nothing. All you have to do is, when she walks in, using a quantum interpretation, say, "I'm so sorry. I stopped observing the house for a moment, and when I started observing again, everything had happened." (Laughter) That's the strong anthropic principle of vacuuming.
然後這些東西 給了我很多快樂和幻想 甚至量子理論都可以幫你找到一個理由 比如說相當糟的家務 也許你一個人在家待了一個星期 你家的房子相當的亂 然後你的伴侶要回來了 你認為我該幹什麼 什麽也別做 你要做的就是 當她向你說教時,你可以用上量子理論 說:對不起 我停止觀察這個房間有一段時間了 但我再次觀察時 所有的事情發生了 (笑) 這就是在真空下強烈的人擇原理
For me, it's a very, very important thing. Even on my journey up here -- the joy that I have on my journey up here every single time. If you actually think, you remove the myth and there is still something wonderful. I'm sitting on a train. Every time I breathe in, I'm breathing in a million-billion-billion atoms of oxygen. I'm sitting on a chair. Even though I know the chair is made of atoms and therefore actually in many ways empty space, I find it comfortable. I look out the window, and I realize that every single time we stop and I look out that window, framed in that window, wherever we are, I am observing more life than there is in the rest of the known universe beyond the planet Earth. If you go to the safari parks on Saturn or Jupiter, you will be disappointed. And I realize I'm observing this with the brain, the human brain, the most complex thing in the known universe. That, to me, is an incredible thing. And do you know what, that might be enough.
對我來說快樂真的是一件很重要的事啊 從我活到現在 從我活到現在每一次都很快樂 如果屏除你的迷思你仔細想一想你扔然還有許多美好的事情 我現在就在一個火車上 每一次我呼吸 我都呼入了 無數的 氧原子 我坐在椅子上 就算我知道 椅子只不過是由原子構成的 而且有很多的空隙 但是我感覺它很舒服 我往窗戶外面看 然後我發現 每一次我們停下來看向窗外 鑲在窗戶上的 景象 我正在看比除了地球以外已知宇宙中 所有東西加起來 還顯得生機盎然 假如你去到在土星 或者冥王星上的徒步公園 你將會相當失望 然後是我發現了我在觀察這個 用的腦袋 人腦 在已知宇宙中最為複雜的東西 這對我而已是不可思議的 你知道你在做什麽 這已經不可思議了
Steven Weinberg, the Nobel laureate, once said, "The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it seems pointless." Now for some people, that seems to lead to an idea of nihilism. But for me, it doesn't. That is a wonderful thing. I'm glad the universe is pointless. It means if I get to the end of my life, the universe can't turn to me and go, "What have you been doing, you idiot? That's not the point." I can make my own purpose. You can make your own purpose. We have the individual power to go, "This is what I want to do." And in a pointless universe, that, to me, is a wonderful thing. I have chosen to make silly jokes about quantum mechanics and the Copenhagen interpretation. You, I imagine, can do much better things with your time.
史蒂夫溫伯格 諾貝爾的得獎人曾說過 宇宙越是看起來能理解 就越是沒有意義 現在這句話 對有些人理解成了虛無主義 但是對我不是這樣的 這是件美好的事 我很高興宇宙是不能定論的 這就意味著 當我死的時候 有種不看能對我說 傻子 你做了什麽啊 這都是無意義的 我可以做我自己的打算 你可以有你的想法 我們每個人都有能力 說 這是我想要的 在這沒有定論的宇宙中 這樣的感覺 對我是很有趣的事 我選擇了對量子論 和哥本哈根的理論做些愚蠢的笑話 我認為你們肯定可以用你們的時間做些更有價值的事
Thank you very much. Goodbye.
謝謝大家 再見
(Applause)
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