BBC 地平线系列：时空谜团（2008）

So all moments in time already exist.
就好象沿着这条路前行
It's like moving along this road.
过去 - 我们已经经历 但还是存在 我们在进入未来
The past - we've experienced it but it's still there, and we're moving forward into the future,
然而未来就在这同一条道上
but the future's there just in the same way that this road is there.
按照爱因斯坦的说法
According to Einstein,
过去 现在 将来一直存在着
the past, present and future all exist.
因此 感觉到我们我们对未来的展开是在误导
So, the feeling we have of our future unfolding is misleading.
整个空间和时间已经存在
All of space and all of time are there,
你的人生只是一条线
and your life would be just a line,
就像一段绳子 一段时空
like a piece of string, a route through space time.
你出生在这里 死亡会在这里 这就是你的人生 就在这里
So your birth would be here and your death would be there, and there's your life, and it just sits there.
所以真是这样 就意味着时间并未流逝
So at face value, that means that time doesn't pass.
完全没有时间推移那回事
There's no such thing as the passing of time.
只是一段线 一段你经过的时空
There's just a line, a path through space time that you took.
这是个令人震惊的想法
This is an astounding proposal.
按照爱因斯坦的说法 我的出生...
According to Einstein, my birth...
我上学的第一天...
my first day at school...
我的毕业 - 所有这一切都存在于时空的某个地方
my graduation - all these events still exist somewhere in space time.
然而还不止于此
But there's more than that.
如果你将爱因斯坦信以为真 那么将来就如过去那样真真实实
If you take Einstein at face value, the future is as real as the past.
下周二 我70大寿 甚至我去世 -
A week next Tuesday, my 70th birthday, even my death -
所有这将来的一切的那一刻都已经存在了
all these future moments in time already exist.
爱因斯坦的这个描述 即时间一直这个维度里
This picture that Einstein has of time being this dimension
未来全部都已标明 你的生涯只是陷入其中了
and the future being all mapped out and you just career headlong into it
不是非常令人满意的 感觉不对头
is not very satisfactory, it doesn't feel right.
事实上 在物理学上这是不对的
And actually, in physics it's not right,
因为爱因斯坦的理论是所谓的经典理论
because Einstein's theory is what's called a classical theory.
它忽略了量子世界 微观世界
It ignores the quantum world, the world of the small.
量子力学就是我如何去适应人生
Quantum mechanics is what I do for a living.
在量子世界 - 亚原子世界中 一切都是不确定的
In the quantum world, the world of sub-atomic particles, nothing is certain.
这是个概率的世界
It's a world of probabilities,
其中 未来肯定不是预先确定的
one in which the future is certainly not predetermined.
我们现在在物理学前沿所进行的尝试
The test we have now at the cutting edge of physics is to
就是找到将爱因斯坦的时空
find a way of getting Einstein's space time
与我们的现代量子力学协调起来的方法
to work with our modern picture of quantum mechanics.
这个挑战是理论物理学家费·道克一直在努力攻克的
This challenge is what theoretical physicist Fay Dowker has been working on.
她并没有将爱因斯坦抛开 而是努力将他带入21世纪
She's not throwing Einstein away but trying to bring him into the 21st century.
我们对时空的理解来自爱因斯坦的理论
Our understanding of space time that we get from Einstein's theory
不是最终的答案 也不是最终的故事
is not the final answer, it's not the final story.
它与我们其它最好的理论 - 物理理论不相吻合 这里有量子力学
It's not compatible with our other best theory, physical theory, that we have, which is quantum mechanics.
费的理论假设在微观层面 在量子层面上
Fay's theory assumes that at small scales, at the quantum level,
时空并不是爱因斯坦所说的平滑的构造
space time isn't the smooth structure that Einstein suggested
而是由许多小片段组成的
but is made up of tiny bits.
时空实际上是零零碎碎的 颗粒状的 如果这是对的话
Space time is in fact bitty, or granular, and if that's correct,
那么比方说 我们所感受到的时段
then what we experience as, say, the interval of a second
事实上并不是连续的
would in fact not be continuous
而是由单独的事件 时间颗粒组成的
but it would be made up of individual... individual events,
换句话说 就是一个又一个堆聚起来
grains of time, if you like, that accumulate one after the other.
这几乎就像时间的积累
It's almost like there are grains of time,
就像聚沙成堆 是吧？
like grains of sand, right?
所以这就像每一个事件都是颗粒
So it's like every event is a grain.
一个事件 就是一颗沙粒 然后另一颗在它上面
As one event happens, one grain of sand, then another one can happen
又一颗在它上面 又一颗在它上面
on top of it, and another one on top of it and another one on top of it,
你逐步进入了未来 就这样
and you build up the future, if you want.
你用这一层又一层的颗粒构建起宇宙
You build up the universe as layers and layers of these grains.
这个是如何来帮助我们理解时间究竟是什么的呢
How does that help us then understand what time actually is?
问题是 时空是否就是颗粒状的 是由颗粒堆聚起来的
One thing that space time could do if it was grainy would be to grow
有可能就是连续的时空并不存在
And that's a possibility that a continuous space time doesn't have.
它可能...
It can't...
可能...不是这个样子形成的
can't... come into being in that way,
一段接着一段 因为没有片段 因为它是连续的
piece by piece, because there are no pieces because it's a continuum.
过去和未来就是存在的？
The past and the future just there?
对 所以颗粒状情况确实... 它会增长的
Yes, so a grainy reality could... It could grow.
所以它的形成是..
So it could come into being,
元素接着元素 颗粒接着颗粒
element by element, grain by grain,
其自身的增长可能就是时间的推移
and that growth itself could be the passage of time.
在费的宇宙里 我们的现实就是细微的时空颗粒构成的
In Fay's universe, our reality is built up by tiny grains of space time.
这就意味着未来并不是一成不变的
This means that the future isn't set in stone.
它是从过去发展而来的
It grows out of the past.
这个时空的描述还是相当怪异的
This picture of space and time is still pretty strange,
然而至少感觉上去更加直观了 -
but at least it feels more intuitive -
就是 未来还是个未知数
you know, the future's not yet happened.
所以我认为 在这个将爱因斯坦与量子力学融合的尝试中
So I think, in this attempt to merge Einstein with quantum mechanics,
我们是在完善爱因斯坦
we're improving on Einstein.
我们逐步有了时间是什么以及 为什么时间会推移的较好的描述
We're getting a better picture of what time is and why time flows.
“时间是什么”是个深刻的问题
"What time is it?" is a profound question,
因为它需要你去思考时间的起点
because it needs you to think about where time began.
需要你去思考时间自开始以来 已经流逝了多少
It needs you to think about how much time has passed since time began.
需要你去思考如何分解时间 如何计量时间
It needs you to think about how you chop time up, how you count it.
如何去统计时间
How do you count moments?
通过从太阳到原子钟的过程 我们能够准确地追踪时间了
From the journey of the sun to atomic clocks, we can accurately track the passing of time.
然而时间是什么？
But what is time?
时间有起点吗 还是一直就存在的呢？
Did time have a beginning? Or has it always been?
我们可以创造我们的未来吗 还是它已经写就了呢？
Do we create our own future? Or is it already written?
时间困惑了我们数千年
Time has confounded us for millennia.
欧文 时间是什么？这个 要视情况而定
Irwin, what time is it? Well, that depends.
你提出的是宇宙时间呢 还是东部时间？
Are you talking about universal time or eastern time?
137亿年
It's 13.7 billion years.
那就是回答 我会说现在是4:45:54 但是我的表差了12秒
That's what time it is. I would say it's 4:45:54 but I'm 12 seconds off.
这个问题不好回答
It's not an easy question to answer.
给物理学家的美好时光
A great time to be a physicist.
到点回家吃饭
Time to go home and have dinner.
这是个深奥的问题 尽管有些深奥的问题
It's a great question, although some great questions
实际上会变成糊弄人的问题 对吧？
actually turn out to be trick ones, right?
现在 时间..
The time today...
就是我们一无所知的东西
is something we have no idea about.
我们眼下可能没有这个能力
We might not be in a position at this moment in time,
是由于我们目前对自然界的了解
with our current understanding of nature,
搞明白它究竟是什么 就是我们在苦苦思索的
to even understand what it is that we're asking.
♪ 弗兰克·西纳特拉的歌♥曲《Just In Time》 （正逢其时） ♪
♪ MUSIC: "Just In Time" by Frank Sinatra ♪
♪ Just in time ♪
♪ Just in time ♪
♪ I found you just in time ♪
♪ I found you just in time ♪
♪ Before you came, my time was runnin' low... ♪
♪ Before you came, my time was runnin' low... ♪