与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞（2010）

Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman S02E08

Part 4 April 19, 2021, 2:37 p.m.

任何不足
that we have in our preservation technique today
如果利用某些未知的未来科技的话
using some unknown future technology.
我不能排除那是一种可能性
I can't rule that out as a possibility.
有朝一日我们与我们的亲人告别了几百年后
One day, centuries after we say goodbye to our loved ones,
我们冻结的身躯能够重新复活
our frozen bodies could be reanimated,
我们将重返人间
and we'll walk the Earth again.
不过可能有更好的路线达到长生
But there could be a better route to immortality,
它会改变
one that would change
意义上的人类的根本属性
the very nature of what it means to be human.
试想一下如果从来没人死去过
Imagine if no one ever died.
我们都将活在何处？
Where would we all live?
我们的星球早已人们为患了
Our planet is already crowded enough.
然而或许有一种长生不死之道
But maybe there is a way to live forever
根本无需这个累赘的皮囊
without all this excess baggage.
诗人说我们的灵魂在这里
Poets say the essence of us is here,
但我知道真正让我成为我的全都在这里
but I know what really makes me me is all up here.
因此如果我想坚持永生
So if I want to endure for eternity,
或许那就是我需要紧抓不放的
perhaps that's all I need to hang on to.
如果我们能找到方法上传我们的大脑
What if we could find a way to upload our brains,
数字化我们本人的灵魂又会怎样呢？
to digitize the very essence of ourselves?
我们的头脑能够继续活着虽然我们的肉体已经死去很久
Our minds could go on living long after our flesh has died.
但要做到这一点
But to make that happen,
我们需要了解大脑的结构
we need to understand the brain's architecture
搞明白是什么真正让我们成为了我们
and figure out what truly makes us who we are.
奥拉夫·斯鲍恩斯是印第安纳大学的神经学家
Olaf Sporns is a neuroscientist at Indiana University.
他正试图解读大脑错综复杂的网络
He is attempting to unscramble the brain's tangled web.
大脑宛如一个大城市
The brain is like a big city.
城市是典型的复杂系统
Cities are examples of complex systems --
数以千计的居民他们的社会交往
thousands of inhabitants and their social interactions,
他们的物流
their flow of materials.
大脑就是那样的——数以百万计的神经元
The brain is like that -- millions of neurons,
这些神经元之间的互动
interactions between these neurons.
一定意义上你的大脑就像是思想的城市
In a sense, your brain is like a city of the mind.
人脑
The human brain
是宇宙中最复杂的系统之一
is one of the most complex systems in the Universe.
如果你将其电气线路延展出去
If you stretched out all of its electrical wiring,
会从地球延伸到月球
it would extend from the Earth to the Moon.
搞明白我们细胞及线路是如何联♥系♥上
Figuring out how we get from cells and wires
思想和记忆的
to thoughts and memories
是科学上最大的挑战之一
is one of the greatest challenges known to science.
尽管我们一直在研究人脑
Even though we've been studying the human brain,
真的几十年来或许几百年来
really, for decades, perhaps centuries,
我们还是没有得到它如何联♥系♥在一起的复杂地图
we still don't have a complete map of how it's connected.
奥拉夫正在接受此项挑战
But Olaf is taking on this challenge.
他的目标是绘制每一个神经元和突触
His goal is to chart every single neuron and synapse
创建一幅完整的大脑地图叫做脑连接组
and create a complete map of the brain, called the connectome.
那是整套连接
It's a comprehensive set of connections
将使我们首次
that will allow us for the first time
更加详尽地了解
to understand in more detail
大脑区域相互之间是如何联♥系♥的
how brain regions are connected to each other.
奥拉夫创建脑连接组
Olaf is creating the connectome
所使用的领先技术叫做弥散成像
using a leading-edge technique called diffusion imaging.
它揭示大脑的长距离联♥系♥
It reveals the brain's long-distance connections
是通过跟踪沿着神经高速公路走的水分子
by tracking water molecules along the neural highways.
所呈现的是核心地带
And what emerges is a detailed map
脑细胞联♥系♥的详细地图
of the central core of brain-cell connections.
奥拉夫认为这里就是我们个性所在的区域
Olaf thinks this is the area where our personality resides.
我们最近已经发现
As we've been discovering recently,
有些大脑区域的联♥系♥要多于其他区域
some brain regions are more connected than others.
有些更加关键或许
Some are more essential, perhaps,
关系到大脑的整体运作
for the functioning of the brain as a whole.
那些区域我们称为枢纽
Those regions, we call hubs.
如果说大脑是座城市
If the brain is like a city...
枢纽就是主要的路口
...hubs are like major intersections
这里交通流量频繁
where a constant flow of traffic passes through,
把人们从一地送往另一地
getting people from one place to another.
这些路口至关重要
These intersections are so essential --
如果它们遭受任何破坏整座城市就将瘫痪
if they become disrupted in any way, the whole city shuts down.
就其性质而言枢纽就是信息传送的聚焦点
By their nature, hubs are focal points of information traffic.
信息汇集到这些区域
Information converges on these regions,
此起彼伏的信息
and it is that ebb and flow of information
巨大的信息流
and the magnitude of the information flow
从大脑的其他区域
that really sets these hubs apart
全都汇集到这些枢纽
from other regions of the brain.
奥拉夫正越来越接近
Olaf is getting closer
摸清意识的所在地了
to figuring out where consciousness resides.
寻找意识的起源
Searching for the origins of consciousness
是神经科学的圣杯
is the holy grail of neuroscience.
一旦这个谜团得到解决我们就能够复♥制♥人的大脑
Only when this mystery is solved can we replicate the human brain
取出个人的意识
and take consciousness from a person
将其输入机器作为永生的手段
and transfer it to a machine as a way to live for eternity.
奥拉夫认为他已经发现了
And Olaf believes he has discovered a hub
有可能解开这个谜团的一个枢纽——内侧顶叶皮层
that might solve this mystery -- the medial parietal cortex.
它位于大脑的两个半球之间
It's located between the brain's two hemispheres.
奥拉夫怀疑它有可能藏有我们的灵魂
Olaf suspects it might house the essence of who we are.
大脑大量的导线汇集到该处
A lot of wires from the brain converge on that region.
有许多证据链
There are many lines of evidence
指向该部分区域
that point to that part of the brain
是真正的核心极其重要
being really central and really important --
甚至关系到认知和意识
perhaps even for awareness and consciousness.
奥拉夫认为
Olaf believes
他可能已经解开了意识之谜
he may have solved the secrets of consciousness,
但还有更多的工作做完才能够使他得到肯定
but there is much more work to be done before he can be sure.
我认为我们越来越接近解答这个问题了
I think we're getting closer to answering this question.
随着我们确定了哪部分大脑关系到
And as we identify which parts of the brain are critical
实现特定的功能
in bringing about that particular functionality,
那就让我们更加接近回答这个问题：
that gets us closer to answering the question,
意识是什么？
"What is consciousness?"
以及究竟是大脑的哪些关键部位
And also "Where are the critical components of the brain
促成了它？
that contribute to it?"
神经科学已经朝着绘制大脑
Neuroscience has taken enormous steps
以及解决意识之谜
towards mapping the brain
迈出了巨大的步子
and solving the riddle of consciousness.
但是我们究竟能否捕获到
But will we ever be able to capture
数万亿个神经元数十亿个突触
the trillions of synapses, billions of neurons,
把我们自己下载到机器里呢？
and download ourselves onto a machine?
只要想象一下发生在现实世界里的所有的事情
Just imagine all the things that happen in the real world --
我们现在的交谈
the conversation we are having now,
我讲话的声音和手势
me producing speech sounds and gestures,
我们大脑在此种表现方式的互动
our brain's interacting in this embodied manner.
那是不可能发生在计算机上的
That could not happen in a computer,
然而说不定
and yet, it is somehow
生命的灵魂无处不在
the essence of what life is all about.
所以对此我持怀疑态度
So I'm skeptical about that.
大脑要永垂不朽或许实在是过于复杂
The brain might be far too complex to immortalize,
但是没准有一条简单的道路能达到永生
but maybe there's a simpler path to eternal life --
并不适合你
not for you...
而是针对我们从零开始打造的不朽之人
but for immortal beings that we create from scratch.
这个星球上的生命
Life on this planet
已有40亿年的进化史了
has had 4 billion years to evolve.
我们处在物种长链的最后位置上
We are the latest in a long line of species.
我们希望我们长盛不衰
We hope we're the last.
但我们对永垂不朽的追求可能会终结于灾难
But our quest for immortality could end in disaster
因为首个永生之人有可能并不是人类
because the first eternal beings may not be human.
他们可能就是要让我们灭绝
And they might just make us extinct.
复杂生命始于一些简单的规律
Complex life began from a few simple laws.
同理完全适合于人造生命
The same might be true for artificial life.
若是人类发现了那些规律就有机会
If humans discover those laws, there is a chance
我们能创造出长生不死的活生生的东西
we could create living things that live forever.
牛津大学的物理学家弗拉特科·韦德拉尔正试图了解
Oxford physicist Vlatko Vedral is trying to understand