宇宙时空之旅：未知世界（2020）

Cosmos: Possible Worlds S01E02

Part 3 Aug. 24, 2022, 10:54 a.m.

of every culture throughout history,
从古至今不变的地方？
have done and still do?
是其他动物没有的特征？
Something that no other animal does?
柏拉图是最早定义何为人类的评论者
Plato was one of the earliest commentators to define what is human.
他宣称人类是没有羽毛的两足动物
He declared, "Man is a featherless biped."
哲学家第欧根尼听到柏拉图的定义
When news of Plato's definition reached the philosopher Diogenes,
他把一只拔毛的鸡带到柏拉图的学院
he brought a plucked chicken to Plato's academy,
要求在场学者向柏拉图的人类致敬
asking the assembled scholars to salute Plato's man.
柏拉图的门徒亚里士多德
Plato's protégé, Aristotle,
又试了一次
took another crack at it.
他说人类是社会性动物
He said, "Man is a social animal.
人类是政♥治♥性动物
Man is a political animal."
可是蚂蚁蜜蜂和白蚁的组织严明许多
But ants, bees and termites have much better organized
社会结构也比我们稳定的多
and much more stable social structures than we have.
16世纪法国哲学家米歇尔·德·蒙田写道
The 16th century French philosopher Michel de Montaigne wrote,
就忠诚而言世上没有动物像人类这样不可靠
"As to fidelity, there is no animal in the world so treacherous as man."
但他从没和萤火虫约会过
But he never dated a firefly.
萤火虫用闪光的方式引诱雌性
You know how fireflies blink on and off to attract a female?
有的雄性萤火虫会加上自己的闪光
Well, some males sabotage their fellow fireflies come-on
害其他萤火虫引诱异性失败
by adding their own blinks.
就像偷看朋友传给女友的讯息
It's like hacking a friend's romantic message to his
把情话变成侮辱
girlfriend and turning it into an insult.
等女方倒尽胃口这个坏事的家伙再趁虚而入
The female gets turned off and the saboteur now has his chance with her.
天呐好冷酷
Man, that's cold.
18世纪的苏格兰哲学家亚当斯密
Adam Smith, the 18th century Scottish philosopher,
为自♥由♥企业资本主义辩护的经典论述中
wrote in his classic justification of free enterprise capitalism that the propensity to barter,
提到物物交换，以物易物的倾向
to exchange one thing for another,
是其他动物都没有的行为
is to be found in no other race of animals.
真的吗？
Is this true?
黑猩猩喜欢交易
Chimpanzees are fond of trade
而且深谙其中奥妙
and understand the idea very well.
用食物换取性♥爱♥
Food for sex
用按♥摩♥背部来换取性♥爱♥
a back rub for sex,
背叛领袖来换取性♥爱♥
betrayal of the leader for sex,
"放过我的孩子"来换取性♥爱♥
"spare my baby's life" for sex.
什么都可以用来换取性♥爱♥
Virtually anything for sex.
好吧但只有我们人类会创作艺术吧
Okay, but we're the only species that makes art, right?
不过这件艺术品是一只园丁鸟的创作
Except this work of art was created by a bowerbird.
这个也是
As was this one.
还有这个
And this one.
只有我们人类会把儿女从青春期养到成年
We're the only species that parents their young through adolescence into adulthood.
又错了
Wrong again.
大象养育子女的时间也跟我们差不多长
The elephants parent at least as long as we do.
好吧只有人类会奴役和剥削其他动物
All right, well, we're the only species that enslaves
把它们囚禁起来
and exploits other animals, keeping them in captivity.
去跟非洲大草原上这只可怜的蟑螂说吧
Tell that to this poor cockroach of the African savanna.
扁头泥蜂偷偷跟踪它
An emerald wasp is stalking it to drug
下药之后关在地下室当奴隶
and enslave it in its basement.
扁头泥蜂注射毒液
The wasp administers a venom
让蟑螂失去逃脱的意志
which robs the cockroach of its will to escape.
开灯一看
Turn on the lights
这只蟑螂根本不会跑
and this is one roach that won't scurry away
现在扁头泥蜂把蟑螂拖回巢穴
Now the wasp drags the roach to her lair,
把一个卵放在蟑螂身上
depositing a single egg on the roach's body...
然后用石头和木块儿封锁入口
before boarding up the entrance with rocks and pieces of wood.
泥蜂的目的是尽量保住蟑螂的性命
The idea is to keep the roach alive as long as possible
这样器官才能保持新鲜
so that its organs will remain fresh.
扁头泥蜂的后代会钻进蟑螂体内大吃大喝
The wasp's offspring will bore into the roach's body and feast upon it.
长大之后再钻出蟑螂的坟墓
When it's full grown, it will tunnel out of the roach's grave.
好吧，但工具的使用? 还有科技呢？
Yeah, but what about using tools, technology?
接吻？
Kissing?
难道我们人类唯一与众不同之处
Could it be that after all,
其实是我们自命不凡的神经质需求？
our species' only real distinction is our neurotic need to feel special?
还记得这个地方吗？
Remember this place?
这里纪念的是生命树断裂的枝桠
It's the memorial to the broken branches of the tree of life.
主要是过去环境灾难和竞争的死难者
It's mostly filled with the casualties of environmental catastrophe and competition
当时我们连个影子都没有
that happened long before we ever got here,
不过有一条走廊是我们自己盖的
but there is a corridor that we built ourselves.
那条走廊上全是我们亲手灭绝的物种
What lies beyond are all those species we ourselves have rendered extinct.
我们普遍幻想人类在自然界与众不同
Could there be some connection to that widespread delusion of
会不会因此造成物种灭绝？
our separateness from the rest of nature?
人类和动物必须有鲜明的差异
A sharp distinction between humans and animals
才好让动物屈服于我们的意志
is essential if we are to bend them to our will
让动物为我们劳动穿他们的皮
make them work for us, wear them
吃它们的肉用它们做实验即使把他们彻底灭绝
eat them, experiment on them, wipe them out entirely
也不会因为内疚和悔恨而感到不安
without any disquieting tinges of guilt or regret.
人类纪
但我们都知道这种轻视
But we all know that this carelessness
已经开始对人类造成反噬
is starting to catch up with us.
难道我们是自动操作装置机器人
Are we automata, robots,
任由DNA决定命运想逃也逃不了吗？
our destiny written in our DNA with no possibility of escape?
难道DNA就是宿命？
Is DNA destiny?
如果是它能否写出英雄和圣贤的史诗传奇？
And if it is, does it have the power to write epic tales of heroism and saintliness?
好为了论证起见
Okay, just for argument's sake,
假设我们只是基因遗传的总和
suppose we're nothing more than the sum total of our genetic inheritance.
其实也没什么不好
That's not as bad as it sounds.
我们DNA的某些段落和所有的史诗英雄传奇一样英勇
There are passages in our DNA that are every bit as heroic as anything ever written in any epic saga.
这个母亲四脚弹跳故意拿自己的生命冒险
The mother is stotting, deliberately putting her own
向瞪羚群示意为它们争取时间
life in danger to alert the herd and buy time for them...
好让子女和其他瞪羚逃走
so that her offspring and the rest of the herd can get away.
如果这都不叫英勇？什么才叫英勇？
If this isn't heroism, what is?
这种英勇行径就写在这只汤普森瞪羚的DNA里
And yet, this act of valor is encoded in the Thomson's gazelle's programming.
难道这样就不叫勇敢吗？
Does that make it any less brave?
她冒着被吃掉的危险拯救亲属
She risks being eaten in order to save her kin.
这就是关键
And that's the key.
像亲属选择这种牺牲自我的遗传本能在生物王国普遍存在
Kin selection is that genetic impulse for self-sacrifice prevalent throughout the kingdoms of life,
人类也不例外
even us.
不相信？
Skeptical?
那和我一起做这个思想实验
Then do this thought experiment with me.
想象你晚上想好好睡一觉
Imagine trying to sleep soundly at night,
但明知道你的儿女吃不饱无家可归或重病缠身
knowing that your children are starving, homeless or gravely ill.
几乎我们每个人都会无法心安
For almost all of us, this would be unthinkable,
但每天有16000名儿童死于可轻易预防的饥饿疏忽或疾病
but 16,000 children die each day of easily preventable hunger, neglect, or disease.
孩子们继续死亡的同时我们照样睡的很好看着这个节目
Children continue to die as we sleep well and watch this show.
无穷的远方，无数的人们
They're far away.
和我们并无直接关系
They're not directly related to us.
现在再说你不相信亲属选择这回事
Now tell me you don't believe in the reality of kin selection.
我们会誓死保护拥有我们DNA的人
We will die to protect the carriers of our DNA and
却对其他人的苦难置之不理
turn away from the suffering of those who don't.
亲属选择会鼓励我们为拯救兄弟而死
Kin selection can inspire us to die saving a brother,
但煽动者和优越主义者也会利用这种驱动力
but it's also the drive exploited by the demagogue and the supremacist.
区分我们和他们
The "us" against "them."
再来一个思想实验：
Another thought experiment:
想象你初次探索刚发现的行星
Imagine you're making the first approach to a newly discovered planet.
你用了各种技术
You've used various techniques
确认这个世界的生物种类多到令人咂舌
to ascertain that this world supports an astonishing variety of life-forms.
你想和某些动物联♥系♥
You want to make contact,
但不是联♥系♥蝎子眼镜蛇或大白鲨
but not with their version of a scorpion, cobra, or great white shark.
你想找到最可能温和地回应的生物
You want to find the life-form that's most likely to respond gently,
具备同理心和智能
with empathy and intelligence.
这些猕猴可能是地球上最有同情心的物种
These macaque monkeys are members of what might be the most compassionate species on earth.
1960年代的一系列恐怖实验证明了这一点
This was demonstrated in a ghastly series of experiments conducted in the 1960s.
15只猕猴想吃东西
15 macaques were fed
就得自愿拉一条锁链电击毫无血缘关系的猴子
only if they were willing to pull a chain and electrically shock an unrelated macaque whose
它们从单向镜可以清楚看见后者的痛苦
agony was in plain view through a one-way mirror.
如果拒绝电击另一只猕猴就会饿肚子
If they refused to shock another macaque, they starved.
掌握了技巧之后
After learning the ropes,
猴子经常拒绝拉链子
the monkeys frequently refused to pull the chain.
在一次实验里只有极少数猕猴愿意这样做
In one experiment, only a small percentage would do so,
超过三分之二宁愿饿肚子
while more than two-thirds preferred to go hungry.
有一只猕猴挨饿将近两星期
One macaque went without food for nearly two weeks