史蒂芬·霍金之大设计（2012）

大家好 我是史蒂芬·霍金
Hello. My name is Stephen Hawking.
一个物理学家 宇宙学家 有时还是个梦想家
Physicist,cosmologist,and something of a dreamer.
尽管我行动不便 还要通过电脑发声
Although I cannot move and I have to speak through a computer,
但我的思绪却在自♥由♥驰骋
In my mind,I am free...
得以探索关于宇宙的大问题
Free to explore the great questions of the universe.
比如 生命的意义是什么？
Such as: is there a meaning to life?
我们存在于暗淡珍贵的世界里有何来由吗？
Is there a reason that we exist here on our pale,precious world?
进一步钻研 究竟活着的意义为何
Finding out those deep into what it is to be alive...
思考
To think...
作为人类的意义为何 甚至探讨现实本身的极限
To be a human being. Right to the limits of reality itself.
一起看看吧
Check it out.
史蒂芬霍金 大设计
第二集 生命的意义
我们人类是好奇的物种
We humans are curious species.
我们心生疑惑 也会寻找答案
We wonder,we seek answers.
那么我们能回答这个终极问题吗
So can we answer the greatest question of all:
生命的意义是什么
Is there a meaning to life?
你也许认为这是一个哲学问题
You might think it is a philosophical question...
但是我认为哲学已死
But I think philosophy is dead.
我认为科学才是关键
I believe science holds the key.
科学改变一切
Science has changed everything.
不仅仅改变我们周遭的世界 也改变我们的自我感官
Not just the world around us,but how we see ourselves.
很难用言语表达这些发现是多么的深远
It's hard to overstate how profound this discoveries are.
首先 它们迫使我们抛开常识
First up,they force us to leave our common sense behind.
当我们清楚又客观地观察人类
When we look at the human race clearly and objectively,
我们看到的是与众不同的生物
what we see is a pretty extraordinary creature.
我们生活 相爱 享乐
We live,and love,and enjoy ourselves.
我们有时违反法律或不守规矩
We sometimes break the law or behave badly.
我们有希望 梦想 和欲望
We all have hopes,and dreams,and desires.
但在我们寻找生命意义时 首先必须了解的是
But the first thing we must accept just because searching for the meaning of life...
这一切是否只不过是物理现象？
is that always is nothing more than physics.
你看到整个宇宙根据自然法则运作 例如地心引力
You see the entire universe works according to the laws of nature,such as gravity.
一切都受控于这些法则
These laws control everything.
从原子的内部运作到巨大星系之间的碰撞
From the inner working of atoms to the collisions of colossal galaxies.
我们渺小的人类 实在没有理由会成为自然法则的例外
I see no reason why we tiny humans should be the exception to the rule.
毕竟 我们是由相同的物质组成的
After all,we are made of the exact same materials
也根据完全相同的原则运作
operating to the very same principles.
因此最大的挑战是要阐明 人类究竟是什么
So the challenge is to explain what humans really are...
我们微小又无足轻重的生命
And how we,small insignificant beings relate...
与创造我们的庞大古老却又美丽的宇宙
To the enormous,ancient and rather beautiful universe...
有何关联？
that produce us?
我认为唯有如此 才能发现与我们的生命是否相关
Only then,I think,can we discover if there is a meaning to our lives.
也许甚至能发现那个意义是什么
And perhaps,even what that meaning is.
第一个真正有进展提出这个争议性问题的人
The first person to make any real headway with this thorny question...
他的名字叫做勒奈·笛卡尔
Was a man by the name of René Descartes.
你也许知道笛卡尔是现代哲学之父
You may know Descartes as the father of modern philosophy...
但是我认为他是科学的开宗之祖
But I consider him to be a pioneering forefather of science.
笛卡尔主张人类是由两种不同的要素组成
Descartes propose that humans are made of two distinct components:
肉体和灵魂
The body and the mind.
他画了精细的人体解剖图
He made careful anatomical drawings of the body.
并视人体为复杂的生物机器
He saw it as a complex biological machine.
但他确信人的灵魂是不一样的
But he was certain the mind was different.
他用一个简单的假想实验来证明
He prove this with a simple thought experiment.
他努力想象自己没有肉体
He tried to imagine that he had no physical body.
如鬼魂一般飘来飘去
As if he was floating around like a ghost.
这个很容易做到 尽管有一点点奇怪
That was easy to do,even though it's a little strange.
接着他努力想象自己没有灵魂
Then,he tried to imagine having no mind.
但却做不到
But he couldn't.
毕竟 没有灵魂怎么想象任何事呢
After all,with no mind how can you imagine anything?
他用非常简洁的一句话提出结论
He summed it up rather neatly with the phrase:
我思故我在
I think,therefore I am.
他认为灵魂与肉体基本上是不同的事物
He believed that the mind and the body are fundamentally different kinds of things.
我们的下一步就是找出它们如何相互连接
Working out how they interconnect is the next step
才能了解生命意义的科学基础
for us to find the scientific basis for the meaning of life.
笛卡尔在这方面的想法也是领先于他的时代
Here too,Descartes was well ahead of his time.
他主张灵魂与肉体的连接点就在松果腺
He suggested the mind was connected to the body at the pineal gland:
那是位于脊椎顶端的一小片脑叶
A small lobe at the top of the spine.
尽管他并不完全正确 笛卡尔已经猜得很接近
Although he wasn't entirely right,Descartes was pretty close.
我们现在知道 意识是由整个大脑所创造的
We now know that the conscious mind is created by the brain as a whole.
这个器官如此错综复杂 实在令我啧啧称奇
An organ of such stupendous complexity,that I find it mind boggling.
人类的大脑远比你意想中更为错综复杂
The human brain is far more intricate than you may realize...
但若并非如此 你也不可能意想任何事
although you would not be able to realize anything if it weren't.
它包含了许多脑细胞 数目和银河系的星星一样多
It contains as many brain cells as there are stars in the Milky Way:
约有一千亿上下
100.000 billion. Give or take a few.
脑细胞连接在一起 彼此之间的连结
These cells are coupled together creating more connections...
比已知宇宙里的星系还要多
than there are galaxies in the known universe.
大脑研究似乎应该归类于神经科学
It may seem that studying the brain is a job for neuroscience...
但因为大脑受控于基本作用力
But since the brain is governed by fundamental forces...
例如电磁力
forces like electromagnetism...
因此思考动作本身最终还是归结到物理学
then thinking itself automatically bows down to physics.
这是快速复杂的物理现象
Fast complex physics.
作为物理学家 人类灵魂对我而言是宇宙中非常奇妙的产物
As a physicist,I see the human mind as one of the universe's more
非常奇妙的产物
wonderful creations...
唯有了解人类如何认知宇宙
It's understanding how the mind is aware of that universe
才能发现其中是否存有任何意义
that will lead us to finding out whether there is a meaning to it all.
古希腊人最先探讨
The ancient Greeks were among the first people to wonder...
灵魂是否受到自然法则的支配
if the mind was subject to the laws of nature.
那是很令人不安的想法
That was such an unsettling idea...
因此被掩盖了近乎两千年之久
It was swept under the rug for nearly 20 centuries.
毕竟 倘若我们只是生物机器 也许生命并无意义
After all,if we are just biological clockwork,perhaps there is no meaning to life?
也许什么意义都没有
Perhaps no meaning at all?
我们先别仓促地下定论吧
Well,let's not be too hasty.
举一个典型的人类场景为例 就在剑桥这里
Take it,typical human scene here in Cambridge.
三个人快乐地在康河上出游
Three people having a pleasant day out on the River Cam...
康河蜿蜒在各学院之间
which winds its way between the colleges.
这些人的身体被他们的大脑掌控
These people,whose body are controlled by their brains...
他们能彼此互动
Can interact with each other.
欣赏对方 也能欣赏周遭环境
Appreciate each other and their surroundings.
他们甚至可能决定弹一首歌♥
And might even decide to play a song...
或者坠入爱河
or fall in love.
他们的世界并非无意义 正好相反
Their world is not without meaning. Quite the opposite.
他们的世界充满意义
Their world is full of meaning.
即使是一个简单的凝视 对他们而言都充满了意义
To them,even a simple glance can be laden with meaning.
以至于一不小心就分神了
So much so that it's easy to get carried away.
因此查出意义何在
So finding out where the meaning is...
就属于科学要探讨的问题
is a problem for science.
这表示要钻研人到底为何会有意识
And it means delving into why we have consciousness at all.
此时科学最伟大的一项理论就登场了 演化论
Enter one of the greatest theories in science: evolution.
我们知道地球上的所有生物皆从一种复合分子演化而来
We know all life on earth evolved from complex molecules called:
叫氨基酸
Amino Acids.
这些分子随机碰撞创造出
These molecules collided randomly to create
最早的简单生物
the first simple living things.
经过数十亿年 这些生物演化得愈来愈精致
Over billions of years this life forms became ever more sophisticated.
一直到最后 复杂的多细胞生物
Until eventually complex multicellular creatures,
有大脑的动物出现了
animals with brains,arrived.
复杂的动物需要大脑才能够处理大量的资讯
Complex animals need brains in order to process large amount of information.
它们需要对周围环境作出反应 甚至提早规划
They need to be able to react to the world around them. And even plan ahead.
动物对环境的察觉能力越高
The more aware an animal is of its environment...
就越能成功
The more successful it will be.
到最后 察觉能力越来越强
Eventually awareness became so sophisticated...
某一种动物开始有自我意识
That one animal became aware of itself.
那就是我们 有自我意识的动物
And that is what we are: self-aware animals.
因为演化而拥有意识能力的动物
Animals that evolution has equipped with the ability to be conscious.
但这一切怎么可能呢
But how is this possible?
生物结构究竟是如何得到思考的能力 感受的能力
How can a biological structure possess the ability to think,to feel...
以及为事情赋予意义
and to assign meaning to things?
要回答这个问题可不容易
Not easy question to answer.
但有些理论解释了 意识可能是如何形成的
But there are theories about how consciousness could arise.
早在1970年代 一名叫约翰·康威的数学家有了意外的突破
Back in the 1970s,an unexpected breakthrough was made by a mathematician
就在剑桥大学
named John Conway,here in Cambridge.
他发明了一套"生命游戏"
He devised something called The Game of Life