与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞（2010）

Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman S04E04

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

会比我们世界中的善于思考吗？
any better at thinking than the ones we know?
外星树木会用枝干思索吗？
Do alien trees contemplate their branches?
外星花朵会有对没有阳光的世界的噩梦吗？
Do alien flowers have nightmares about worlds with no sun?
也许外星植物已经发展出了
Perhaps alien plants have developed
复杂的思维，变得拥有自我意识
the complexity of thought it takes to become self-aware.
但这个人可能会说，“不会的”
This woman would say "No."
她认为不论地球还是外太空的生命形式
she believes that no life form here on earth or out in space
只要没有移♥动♥的能力就不会进化出复杂的思维
can evolve complex thought until it has the ability to move
这样也无法通过移♥动♥感知世界
and to sense the world as it moves through it.
对于认知科学家萨斯基亚·纳格尔来说
For cognitive scientist Saskia Nagel,
感觉输入和身体运动的相互影响
the interplay of sensory input and bodily motion
是意识出现的基础
is the foundation upon which consciousness is built.
比如说，我看到这个杯子
For instance, I see this cup,
我能够用手指感觉它
I can feel this cup with my fingers,
同样如果我拿起它也能感觉到
and also, I can sense the weight of this cup
它的重量
if I grab it.
这就是感觉输入
That's sensory input.
但这同时又是紧密耦合的
But at the same time, closely coupled,
当我观察的时候眼球可以转动
my eyes move when I look at it,
我要抓住什么东西时就要移♥动♥手臂
I have to move my arm to grab it,
如果我想感觉到它的重量
and I have to keep it like this
就必须这样行动
if I want to sense the weight of it,
我们认为偶联
and we think that the coupling
感觉过程和行动过程
of sensory processes and motor processes
才允许我们感知世界
is what allows us to perceive.
我们对于什么才是意识的想法
Our idea of what it means to be conscious
离不开我们人类特有的感受
is inextricably tied to our specific human senses --
看、闻、听、触和尝的能力
the ability to see, smell, hear, touch, and taste.
但萨斯基亚认为外星人可能发展出了丰富的精神生活
But Saskia believes that aliens could develop rich mental lives
即使他们以完全不同的方式感受世界
even if they sense their world in entirely different ways.
为了证明这一观点，她把外星人的感受
To prove it, she's feeding an alien sense
灌输到一组志愿者的神经系统中
into the nervous system of a group of volunteers.
这要让他们穿上称为空间感觉腰带的设备
By wearing a device called a feelspace belt,
受试者正在学习
test subjects are learning
如何去感觉地磁北极的方向
how to feel the position of magnetic north.
这就给了他们完美的方向感
This gives them a perfect sense of direction.
这就是个装有一些震动器的腰带
It's just a belt equipped with a number of vibrators.
在背面有一个小罗盘
On the back side, there's a little compass --
实际上是个非常好的罗盘
a very good one, actually --
在另一侧那边还有一个微型电脑
and a little computer at the other side down there,
罗盘和计算机可以指示
and the compass and the computer always tell one element
这些震动器中的一个在适当的时候震动
of these vibration elements at the time to vibrate,
通常都是指北的震荡器
and it's always that element that points north.
今天，萨斯基亚和她的研究小组
Today, Saskia and her team
让三名志愿者来到草坪上
have taken three volunteers into a forest.
志愿者戴着完全漆黑的护目镜
The volunteers put on blacked-out goggles.
接着转动他们直到无法分清方向
Next, they are spun around until they are disoriented.
现在他们必须找到到达萨斯基亚的方向
Now they have to find their way to Saskia,
她正站在准确的正北方向
who stands at a fixed position directly north.
通常情况下他们是不可能找到的
Ordinarily, they wouldn't stand a chance,
但每个志愿者都花了六周的时间
but each volunteer has spent six weeks
训练如何使用腰带
training with the belt.
他们已经形成了内在的罗盘
They have developed a built-in compass.
实际上，有趣的是他们在训练之后
Actually, it's interesting that they don't feel
就感觉不到也不需要震动刺♥激♥了
the tactile stimulation anymore after the training.
就好像这种新感觉总是存在了
It is as if this new sense has always been there,
他们的确形成了另一种空间感
and they really develop a different sense of space.
距离何时我们才能有
The day when we have solid evidence
外星人如何思考的确切证据还很远
of how aliens think may be a long way off,
但这样的实验给了我们方法来估计
but experiments like this give us a way of approximating
以不同方式感知世界的
what it's like in alien heads
外星人的头脑会是什么样
with an alien way of sensing the world.
结果表明思考的能力
They show us the ability to think
并不依赖于我们已知的感觉
is not dependent on the senses we know.
逻辑上来讲，外星人会进化出
Logically, aliens would evolve senses
与自己所处环境相符合的感觉
tailored to their own particular environments.
在一个暗淡无光的星球上，拥有内在的雷达系统
On a planet where light is dim, having a built-in radar system
会比拥有视觉更有价值
would be more valuable than the sense of sight.
外星人可能有着完全不同的一套感知系统
An alien could have a completely different set of senses
并始终在他们自己的世界中占着优势
and still dominate its world.
那么一群外星人如何思考呢？
But how do groups of aliens think?
他们如何互相交流、组织
How do they communicate with each other, organize,
来形成精密复杂的社会？
and form sophisticated societies?
答案也许就在脚下
The answer may be right under our feet.
你的脑就像曲折交错的铁轨迷宫
Your brain is like a maze of twisting railroad tracks.
随着神经元的生长，它们可以产生数万亿个联结
As neurons grow, they make trillions of connections,
通过这些难以置信的复杂网络
and out of this incredibly complex network
你的思维奇迹般的诞生了
arises the miracle of your mind.
但谁能肯定其他星球上的
But who's to say it works the same way
智慧生命用同样的方式运作呢？
for intelligent life on other planets?
如果外星人脑部的神经连接
What if the neural connections of alien brains
可以扩散到不同的个体呢？
are spread across many different bodies?
奈吉尔·弗兰克斯教授正在寻找答案
Professor Nigel Franks is looking for an answer
通过研究地球上最常见的生命形式
by closely studying the dominant form of life on earth --
昆虫
insects.
我专业研究蚂蚁
So, I've been working on ants professionally now
至今有30年了
for about 30 years,
每天我们都有成功的实验
and every day, we have a successful experiment.
它们使我惊讶，带给我乐趣
They surprise and delight me,
我认为让我一心研究它们的是
and I think the thing that's absolutely riveted me
它们比我们曾经认为的
is now we know that ants are so much more sophisticated
更加复杂
than we ever knew them to be.
当蚂蚁聚集起来
When ants get together,
它们形成了一个超个体——一个由微小、并不聪明的部分
they form a superorganism -- a large, intelligent life form
组成的庞大、智慧的生命形式
made of small, not especially intelligent parts.
我认为奇特的是
What's special, I think,
蚂蚁互相交流的方式
is that the way the ants communicate with one another,
整个群体高效的聚集
so the whole colony emerges effectively
就像脑部结构
as a brain-like structure.
为了观察这个聚集脑的行为
To see this mass brain in action,
奈吉尔让蚂蚁们进行室内狩猎
Nigel forces the ants to go house hunting.
是的，这个实验中
Right, so, in this experiment,
我们取了一个蚂蚁集落的部分蚂蚁
we've taken one of our ant colonies.
对于他们来说我们真的很坏，因为我们彻底摧毁了
We've been really mean to them, because we've totally destroyed
它们曾经居住的巢穴
the nest that they've been living in,
而这意味着他们需要找一个新家
and what that means is they have to find a new home,
我们给它们提供两个巢穴以供选择
and we've offered them a choice of two alternative nest sites.
这里的这个
There's one over here,
过于明亮，而且入口很宽
which is too light and got a very wide entrance,
这两点都是它们不喜欢的
which is two things they don't like,
相比起来它们会更喜欢这个巢穴
versus this nest that they really should prefer
因为它有着非常漂亮的狭窄入口
because it's got a beautiful narrow entrance.
里面有足够大的空间居住
It's got plenty of space for them to live in,
这张红色滤光片意味着巢穴内是黑暗的
and this red filter means that the nest is dark,
这些是它们喜欢的
and that's something they prefer, as well,
我们就期望它们能够选择这个巢穴
so we would expect them to be able to choose this nest.
而这个实验的有趣之处就是要
And the beauty of this experiment is we should be able
弄明白它们到底如何
to work out exactly how they go about
做出这样的决定的
making this kind of decision.
蚂蚁是挑剔的购物者
Ants are picky shoppers.
当他们估计一个新家时
When they size up a new home,
会仔细考虑天花板的高度
they carefully consider the height of the ceilings,
占地面♥积♥，房♥间宽度
the floor space, the width of the rooms,
以及入口数量
and the number of entrances.
它们还会排斥有卫生问题的巢穴
They will reject nests that have hygiene problems,
比如还有上个房♥客残留
such as the remains of a previous tenant.
如果蚂蚁喜欢某个巢穴
If an ant likes a particular nest,
它会回到群体那里找一个可以接受新巢穴的同伴
it goes home to the colony and finds a receptive nest mate,
它就带着它来到这里
and it leads it back to that nest site.
基本上领头的蚂蚁会告诉跟着它的蚂蚁
Basically, the leading ant teaches a single following ant