与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞（2010）

Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman S04E10

Part 2 April 19, 2021, 2:55 p.m.

比如这些机器人
As robots.
欢迎来到“深渊”
Welcome to the abyss.
我们在这个水池中创造了一个人造世界
We create an artificial world here in this tank
我们可以通过游动的仿生机器人重塑
for our swimming biorobots where we reanimate evolution
五亿年前的进化过程
that happened 500 million years ago.
约翰称它们叫做“进化机器人”
John's robots are called evolvobots.
它们正准备开始生命这场游戏
They are about to play the game of life.
这是一根仿生脊柱
This is a biomimetic vertebral column
由胶原制成
that's specially designed out of collagen,
我们可以改变脊椎的个数
and we can vary the number of vertebrae,
这也是我们能够使其进化的特征
and this is the feature that we're allowing to evolve.
约翰赋予其的脊索
John has given them notochords
由不同数目的脊椎组成
that can each be segmented with different numbers of vertebrae,
从0到5，到10或是15
from 0 to 5 to 10 to 15.
在他创造的世界中，光意味着生命和食物
He has created a world in which light means life or food.
进化机器人的任务就是找到它们的食物
The evolvobots' task is to find their next dinner.
我们从0开始，到5、10和15根脊椎
So, we go from 0 to 5 to 10 to 15,
我们希望得到的结果是
and what we're expecting to have happen, right,
拥有脊椎数最多的机器人
is that the robots with the most vertebrae,
就像这个
over here,
比脊椎最少的机器人可以获得更多的食物
will out-compete the robots with the fewest vertebrae.
那么结果应该是金牌获得者、
So, this should be gold-medal winner,
银牌获得者、铜牌获得者
silver-medal winner, bronze-medal winner,
以及感谢参与
and thank you for trying.
现在落后的像是0个脊椎的机器人
Now, dragging way behind now, looks like zero vertebrae.
有着分段脊柱的进化机器人
The evolvobots with segmented backbones
比没有分段的表现更为出色
are performing better than the one without.
分10段的现在位于首位
Look at number 10 -- way out in front now.
接着是分5段的
And then we have number 5,
分15段的在边上，不过慢一些
and 15 over on the side there is getting there, but slowly.
让约翰惊讶的是
To John's surprise,
有着10根脊椎骨的机器人打败了有着15根的
the evolvobot with 10 bones won, beating the one with 15.
那么我们能得到什么样的结论呢？
So, what do we have emerging here?
似乎中等脊椎数量的
It looks like intermediate number of vertebrae
更擅长寻找食物
is doing a better job at getting food.
所以脊椎数目并不是关键
So it's not just having a bunch of vertebrae,
关键在于其数目是否合适
it's having the right number.
约翰认为这表明了
John believes this shows
进化并不是一个设计好的过程
that evolution is not a designed process.
大自然可以已经随机试过了不同种类的脊柱
Nature may have randomly tried different kinds of backbones,
只是最合适的存活了下来
and the best ones survived.
我们发现如果存在一种增强觅食及
We find that when there's selection pressure
逃跑能力的选择压力
for enhanced feeding and fleeing,
就足够能驱动脊柱的进化
this is sufficient to drive the evolution of vertebrae.
通过他的研究
Using his research,
约翰可以追踪脊柱的发展进程
John can trace the path of backbone evolution
直到我们现在的脊柱
all the way up to us.
作为人类，一直困扰我们的想法是
So, as humans, we get bothered by the idea
我们进化出
that we could have evolved,
如此发达头脑的荣耀
in all our wonderful, brain-heavy glory,
只是一些随机过程
by random processes,
而让我们苦苦思索的
but one of the hard things
成为人类的难事之一
to wrap your head around as a human being
就是进化并不是经过设计的
is that evolution works not by design
而是无人控制的自发行为
but by hands-off emergent principles.
约翰的进化机器人向我们展示了
John's evolvobots give us a window
原始生物是如何进化成为
into how primitive organisms can evolve
复杂的人类的
into upright, complex human beings.
但地球是否拥有足够的时间
But has there been enough time in the history of earth
来进行缓慢而又不稳定的进化呢？
for this slow and unsteady process of evolution to happen?
一位麻省理工的复杂性理论学家，正在通过计算来找出答案
An M.I.T. Complexity theorist is doing the math to find out.
达尔文的进化论主要基于
Darwin's theory of evolution
物种通过遗传物质的错误及改变
hinges on the idea that species gradually evolve
来实现逐渐的进化的
through a process of genetic trial and error.
在地球生命产生的40亿年中
In the four-billion-year history of life on earth,
进化学家认为
evolutionists argue,
我们都是从第一个单细胞生命进化来的
the first single-celled organisms evolved to become me.
相信智慧设计论的人认为
Those who believe in intelligent design
遗传物质的错误及改变
argue that trial and error
在这四十亿年中无法创造出
could never create something so complex
如此复杂的生命
in that amount of time.
进化论也需要计算吗？
Does the theory of evolution add up?
这是个只有数学家能回答的问题
That's a question only a mathematician can answer.
当麻省理工的斯科特·阿伦森教授长大的时候
When M.I.T. Professor Scott Aaronson was growing up,
他有一个很大的梦想
he had big dreams.
我小时候
When I was a kid,
一生的梦想是创造自己的电子游戏
my dream in life was to create my own video games.
电子游戏让我感到惊讶
You know, video games just amazed me.
它就像是整个世界的微缩版
They were like these entire worlds in miniature,
然而又不同于真实世界
and yet, you know, unlike with the real world,
一定有谁很清楚这些模拟的世界，是如何运作的，对吧？
someone must understand exactly how they work, right?
因为有人制♥作♥了它们
Because someone made them.
斯科特经常想象游戏中的人物
Scott used to imagine that the characters in his video games
就像是机器一样在工厂中生产出来
were built in a factory like machines.
最后他发现
But he eventually figured out
它们实际上是通过数学建立的
they were actually built from math.
你可以说“这是游戏
You could say, "Here is the game,
然后这是游戏的代码。”
and then here's the code of the game."
而这些代码
and the code, you know,
并不是对游戏的某种描述
is not just some description of the game.
它的确是游戏，对吧？
It is the game, right?
你改变代码
You change the code,
你就可以看到游戏也发生了变化
and then you can watch the game do something different,
这就很像数学问题
which is really just a math problem.
这对于我就像是一种启示
And, you know, for me, I think that was a revelation
好像是刚得知婴儿从哪里来一样
comparable to learning where babies come from.
这种领悟激发了斯科特
This realization inspired Scott
深入探究于数学理论
to look for deep mathematical theories
来解决许多最大的科学谜团
to solve the biggest mysteries in science,
比如生物如何进化出现在的复杂性
like how organisms evolved into complex beings.
智慧设计论的信仰者认为
Believers in intelligent design like to say
像自然选择这种随机进程
that for some random process like natural selection
产生眼或鸟类的翅或人脑
to produce the eye or the wing of a bird or the human brain
都是不可能的
is about as improbable
就像是龙♥卷♥风♥扫过废物堆积场
as a toRNAdo passing through a junkyard
是不可能自发组装成可使用的建筑的
and somehow assembling a usable building.
这就是我工作的地方
This is where I work.
这里是麻省理工的史塔特中心
It's called the M.I.T. Stata center,
它看起来确实像是
and it does kind of look like
龙♥卷♥风♥经过之后
a toRNAdo passed through the place.
无论这栋建筑看起来如何
This building, despite how it may look,
都不是被自然进程设计的
was not designed by natural processes.
而是由建筑师弗兰克·盖里设计的
It was designed by the architect Frank Gehry,
但在数学和计算机科学中
but in math and computer science,
我们知道产生有趣的结构
we know that producing interesting structure
并不一定需要设计者
doesn't always require a designer.
神创论者通常认为
Creationists often argue
进化是随机的，穷尽于搜索
that evolution is a random, exhaustive search
所有可能的生物学组合
through all possible biological combinations.
这是一项不可能的任务
An impossible task
无法在仅仅的四十亿年中
that could never have gotten as far as it has
就达到像现在这样完美的地步
in only four billion years.
斯科特认为像人脑这样的复杂组织
Scott believes complex traits like the human brain
或细菌鞭毛
or a bacterium's tail
是能够在这个时间中进化出来的
can evolve in a reasonable amount of time
因为进化不是一个完全盲目的过程
because evolution is not a completely blind process.
实际上进化有一些巧妙的捷径
In fact, evolution has some clever shortcuts.
想象这块象棋棋盘是空白的
Imagine this chessboard is blank
斯科特的目标就是恰当为其上色
and Scott's goal is to properly color it
使得相邻两块的
so that no two neighboring squares