了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

How the Universe Works S03E08

Part 6 Dec. 22, 2021, 6:46 p.m.

Perhaps the sun was unique,
只有一个太阳和第一个地球
And the earth alone in the milky way.
但在过去的20年中
But over the last 20 years,
我们发现了惊人的真♥相♥
We've revealed a mind-blowing truth.
看来星系中有一大部分的恒星
It seems that a large fraction of stars in the galaxy
都有行星
Have planets.
事实上这些恒星中的大多数都有很多个行星
And, in fact, many of those stars have multiple planets.
这些系外行星里
These exoplanets range in size
有比木星大的气体巨行星
From gas-giant planets bigger than jupiter
也有像地球的岩石行星
To rocky worlds like the earth.
放眼望去到处都是这种行星
And they're everywhere we look.
我们的地球并不是独一无二
Our planet earth is not unique.
它甚至并不罕见
It's not even rare.
有一大堆非常多的
There are tons, hoards, flocks, if you will,
类地行星存在于宇宙间
Of other earth-like planets out there
它们绕着其他恒星运行
Fluttering around the other stars.
有些恒星可能有多个类地行星围绕它们
Some stars probably have multiple earths orbiting them.
类地行星就是这么普遍
That's how common earth-like planets are.
在夜空中随便找五个恒星
Look into the night sky and count five stars.
其中一个恒星就有个地球大小的行星围绕它
One of those stars has an earth-sized planet around it,
也许会是我们的下一个家园
Maybe our next home.
用我们的发现推算银河系的其他区域
Apply what we've found to the rest of the milky way,
其结果是惊人的
And the results are staggering...
类似太阳的恒星周围有多达110亿个温暖潮湿的地球
Around sun-like stars, up to 11 billion warm, wet earths ...
围绕红矮星的有220亿个
Around red dwarf stars, another 22 billion,
而系外气体巨行星
And gas-giant exoplanets may be home
数百亿更多潜在的地球
To tens of billions more potential earths
也许有数百亿个类似地球
In the form of habitable exomoons.
适合人居的系外卫星
There are many earth-like planets
我们可以前往的类地行星数不胜数
That we're gonna have as options of places to go,
简直就像在看菜单一样
Almost sort of a menu spread out in front of us.
显然要找出新地球不是问题
Clearly, finding new earths is not the problem.
问题是要怎么去
The problem is getting there.
宇宙实际上一直诱人
The universe is actually kind of tantalizing us.
类地行星非常普遍到处都是
Earth-like planets are common. They're all over the place.
但它们那么远以我们目前的科技
But they're so far away that with our current technology,
我们无法想象如何到达那里
We cannot imagine how to get there.
搭载核聚变引擎的巨大太空方舟
A giant space ark, powered by fusion engines
载满数千名人类先锋
And filled with thousands of human volunteers,
可以让我们殖民到太阳附近的适居星球
Should allow us to colonize habitable worlds near our sun.
但要到银河系更远的地方
But to go beyond that, to the far reaches of the milky way,
我们需要计划B
We need plan "b."
一个激进的解决方案是
One radical solution would be
发送微型机器人到遥远的星球
To send miniature robots to distant planets
而不是人类
Instead of humans.
虽然我们要彻底了解
When i think about how much we're learning
人类的大脑以及它如何工作
About the human brain and how it works ...
还有很长的路要走
And there's still a long way to go ...
它我认为这件事会发生
It does seem to me fairly inevitable that someday,
我们一定能把人放进机器人里
We'll be able to put all of ourselves into a robot.
现在或许你会觉得很伤心
Now, you might say, "that's so sad,
人类似乎无法殖民到外星球
Because we want to get humans on those planets."
如果你要从科幻小说借鉴的话
Well, one, if you really want to think science fiction,
为何不用机器人
Why not ultimately take a machine
到外星球制♥造♥人类
That can build a human at the other end?
植物为了传播自己的基因
Plants spread their genes
会把大量的微小种子散播到风中
By sowing huge numbers of tiny, mobile seeds into the wind.
许多种子会被大自然摧毁
Many seeds will be lost to the elements,
但找到温暖潮湿土壤的种子便会萌发新芽
But those that find warm, wet earth come to life.
想象把微小的纳米机器人发射进太空就像种子一样
Imagine firing tiny nano-robots into space like seeds,
它们的硬盘存储有人类的基因
With human genomes burned onto their hard drives.
如果它们穿过了
If they fall through the atmosphere
适合人类生存的潮湿温暖的星球的大气层
Of a wet, warm planet suitable for humans,
它们就会展开行动
They spring into action.
登陆后用那个行星的材料
They'll land and make shelters
来搭建庇护所
From the materials they find on the planet.
并且
And, somehow,
制♥造♥出人类让他们在里面生活
They'll also make the humans that live inside them.
也许我们可以派出
Maybe we'll send thousands
很多艘所谓的纳米宇宙飞船
Of these nanoships, as they're called,
或多达几百万艘像种子一样飞往邻近的恒星
Maybe millions of them, like seeds, to a nearby star,
希望其中会有几艘
Hoping that just a few of them ... A few of them,
能够抵达目的地
Actually reach their destination.
要从头制♥造♥出人类的科技
The technology to create a human from scratch
显然需要很久才能成熟
Is clearly a long way off.
但它也引发了有趣的哲学问题
But it does raise intriguing philosophical questions.
为什么只保全人类？
Why should we only save humans?
地球上有870万种物种
There are 8.7 million species on earth.
我们就是唯一需要保全的吗？
Are we the only ones worth saving?
如果我们无法把所有物种送出地球
And if we can't send the full gamut of life on earth,
为何不干脆送细菌到遥远的世界
Why not simply send bacteria to distant worlds
让它们自行演化？
And let evolution do the rest?
谁知道呢？
And who knows?
也许外星物种早就在地球这么做了
Maybe an alien species has already done that on the earth.
也许在你家的后院
Maybe in your backyard,
就有一艘来自遥远恒星的纳米飞船
There's a nanoship from a distant star system,
但你永远不知情
And you would never know.
无论我们到哪里
Wherever we wind up
无论我们变成怎样
And whatever we ultimately become,
现在就开始规划延续人类命脉的行动
The time to start planning for our survival is right now.
想象力为我们开创了许多惊人的途径
The human imagination is taking us on some truly amazing paths,
也许这些途径可以带我们
And they may lead us to find a way
找到办法实现星际旅行
Where interstellar travel could really work.
我们的命运在我们自己手里
Our fate is, in many ways, in our own hands.
我们不是恐龙
We're not dinosaurs.
我们有太空计划我们很聪明
We have a space program. We're smart.
如果我们在其他行星上殖民
If we have colonies on other planets,
就算地球灰飞烟灭人类也不会灭绝
The earth can be wiped out, and humanity won't be.
在这个意义上我们长远的未来
In that sense, our future, our long-term future ...
在我们自己手中
That's in our own hands.