与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞（2010）

Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman S04E02

Part 5 April 19, 2021, 2:52 p.m.

当它不断加以练习
As he practices more and more,
神经元联♥系♥就越来越快
his neurons fire faster and faster
电流传送到新通路
and electricity flows more efficiently
就更有效率
down the new pathway.
尤金和他的机器人学家小组
Eugene and his team of roboticists
正在搭建人工神经元网络
are building artificial networks of neurons
同样可以传送电流并创造其喜欢的通路
that fire spikes of electricity and create favored pathways
就像生物学脑中的神经元一样
just like the neurons in a biological brain.
他们想看如果在机器人身体内
They wanted to see what would happen
将这些神经元的活动连接
if they wired these spiking neurons
会发生什么
to a robotic body.
一个机器人能否全靠自己学习如何移♥动♥
Could a robot learn how to move and become aware of its body
并意识到自己的身体和周围的环境？
and its environment all by itself?
机器人会变得有意识吗？
Could a robot become conscious?
我们的机器人学方法
Our approach to robotics
和标准方法有很大的不同
is quite different from the standard approach.
我们不为机器人编程
We don't program robots.
我们赋予它们人工神经系统
We endow them with artificial nervous systems
和它们自己的体验
and their own experiences.
比如说，一个机器人开始时会移♥动♥它的手
For example, a robot starts by moving their hands
移♥动♥它的脖子
and moving their necks
就这样探索自己的身体
and just exploring their own body,
在这之后，使用者——人类——可以教给机器人
and after that, users -- people -- can teach the robots
就像人们通过不同方式教小狗或者小猫一样
the same way as they teach dogs and cats different tricks --
有奖励，也有惩罚
with reward and punishment.
尤金和他的小组使用不同形状的身体
Eugene and his team use different body shapes
来看机器人可以学习多少种运动方式
to see how many kinds of movements a robot can learn.
这个机器人在尝试学习如何站起来
This robot is trying to learn how to stand up.
它的人工脑正在告诉它的身体如何运动
Its artificial brain is telling its body how to move.
它们看起来就像活的一样
They look alive,
我把一些测试作品拿给我女儿看
and some of the demos that I show to my daughter
她说它们看起来很惊悚
look so creepy that she's said
说我们是在折磨小机器人
that we're torturing a baby robot.
通过给尤金的人工脑一个身体
By endowing Eugene's artificial brains with a body
让它们探索世界
and letting them explore the world,
这些机器人就能够获得经验
these robots acquire experience...
它们发展出了许多行为
...They development behaviors.
那它们活了吗？
Are they becoming alive?
你可以想象这样的场景，当你有一些机器人
You can imagine a situation when you have a set of robots
能够获得组成自身的原材料
having access to raw materials.
就可以假设它们能够使用这些材料
You can even hypothesize that it's possible for these robots
在某种程度上创造自己的复♥制♥品
to kind of create copies of themselves,
然后这样的一个机器人社会团体
and then such a community of robots
就可以像生物系统一样运行
would act as a life system.
也许会到这一天
Perhaps the day will come
当尤金的某个机器人产生情感
when one of Eugene's robots will feel emotion,
甚至会脸红的时候
maybe even blush.
人工生命之后会被
Artificial life will then be indistinguishable
和我们区别开
from our own...
但是建造机器人可能并不是唯一的
...but building robots may not be the only way
在地球上创造生命的方法
to create new life on earth.
丹麦的一位科学家
One scientist in Denmark
正在寻找完美的方法
is searching for the perfect recipe.
他认为产生新生物的条件
He thinks the ingredients to produce new life-forms
就近在眼前
are right under our noses.
如果我们制♥造♥的机器人可以产生自我意识
If we build robots that become self-aware,
那么人类就创造了一个完全崭新的生命形式
then humanity will have created an entirely new form of life.
这会是几十亿年里第一次
It will be the first time in billions of years
让无生命的东西活了过来
that something nonliving became living,
但或许有其他方法可以创造新型生命形式
but there might be another way to create brand-new life-forms,
不是在机器人中，而是在培养皿中
not in a robot, but in a petri dish.
马丁·汗考奇克
Martin Hanczyc
来自南丹麦大学
from the University of Southern Denmark
他试图阐明生命的起点
is trying to figure out when life begins
通过回溯到生命更为简单的时刻
by going back to a time when life was simpler.
作为一名生物化学家，他知道若要了解生命
As a biochemist, he knows that in order to understand life,
就需要观察很久很久之前
he has to look at the simplest form
地球上出现最简单的生命形式的时刻
that appeared on earth a very long time ago.
当我们思考生命的起源时
When we think about the origin of life,
肯定会有一个非常有趣的转变
there must've been a very interesting transition
将我们不认为是活着的物质材料
from material that we wouldn't consider living
转变成有机体
that gave rise to organize
就是我们现在称作的生命或生物学
what we would call life or biology.
这是个很大的谜团，非常有趣的谜题
So, it's a big mystery, and it's a fascinating mystery.
无生命的物质如何产生生命？
How can inanimate objects become animate?
从非生命到生命的转变发生了什么？
What sparked the transition from nonliving to living?
马丁作为生物化学家的工作鼓舞他
Martin's work as a biochemist inspires him
在他所到之处都问这个问题
to ask that question wherever he looks.
这里我们看到的是一座古老的风车
So, what we're looking at here is an old windmill.
它建造于，我认为是十九世纪三十年代，我们就在考虑
It's from, I think, the 1830s, and we are considering
像这样的人工建筑是否
whether an artificial construction like this
具有生命系统的类似特征
has any similarity to living systems.
生命系统需要有身体，可以新陈代谢
Living systems have a body, they have a metabolism,
并且具有一些遗传信息
and they have some sort of inheritable information.
显然，这座风车有身体
Clearly, this windmill has a body.
也有代谢作用
It has a metabolism
将来自外界的风能
that takes wind energy from the outside
转化为自身能量
and uses it as power,
它也有遗传信息
and it has inheritable information.
这是风车的蓝图，上面的信息告诉我们
There is a blueprint for this that has information
如何将不同的部分组装起来
about how to put the parts together
建成一个可以工作的风车
to make a functional windmill.
人类可以使用这些蓝图建造现代风车
Humans can use these blueprints and create modern windmills.
某种意义上，你可以说
In a sense, you could say
风车也可以进化和复♥制♥
that windmills have evolved and multiplied.
但是缺少了某些重要的东西
However, something important is missing.
风车不能自我成长
Windmills cannot grow all by themselves.
他们要靠人类组装
They rely on humans to assemble them,
但第一种生命形式肯定是自我组装的
but the first forms of life must've assembled themselves.
马丁想要知道
Martin wanted to see
他能否发现一种方法，用无生命的材料
if he could find a recipe made of nonliving materials
让它们自己组装然后活过来
that could build itself a body and become alive.
我们认为生命起源中关键一步
We think one of the key steps in the origin of life
就是不同分子自我组装到一起
is actually the self-assembly of molecules together.
马丁在想什么类型的化学物质
Martin wondered what kind of chemicals
会具有此类行为
might behave like this.
他意识到没必要比厨房♥储物柜
He realized he had to look no further
看得更远，那就是——油
than the kitchen pantry -- oil.
众所周知，当你混合油和水
As we all know, when you combine oil and water,
他们不能互溶
they don't mix,
但油分子之间的结合力
but the combination forces the oil molecules
可以自组装形成大油滴
to self-assemble and form big droplets.
这些油滴就是马丁决定
These are the bodies Martin decided to use
创造实验室生命的身体
for his lab-made life.
当我们在培养皿中制♥造♥一个油滴，什么都不会发生
So, when we make an oil droplet in a dish, nothing happens.
你得到的只是一个漂亮的球形油滴
You just get a nice, spherical oil drop
停留在培养皿之中
that just sits there in the dish,
关键就是，接下来如何
but the key was how to, then,
驱使系统内物质的运动
power some sort of movement of the system.
我们想在其中加个新陈代谢作用
We wanted to put in a metabolism.
马丁在油滴中加入了
Martin injected his oil droplets with molecules
遇到水后可将油滴降解为
that break down into soap bubbles
肥皂泡的分子
when they encounter water.
这些泡泡从油滴中心扩散到边缘
The bubbles spread from the middle of the droplets
像马达一样推动着油滴
to the edge, pushing them around like a motor.
这就是个正起作用的新陈代谢
It's a working metabolism.
你可以说它几乎是活的
You could say it's almost alive.
我们看到这个现象很激动
We were very excited when we saw this
不仅仅这的确起作用，而且作用发挥得很迅速
because not only does it work, but it worked rather quickly.
马丁成功地创造了一个自组装体
Martin has successfully created a self-assembling body