与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞（2010）

Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman S02E01

Part 5 April 19, 2021, 2:34 p.m.

For materialists,
灵魂只不过是一个稍纵即逝的幻觉
the soul is nothing more than a fleeting illusion,
幻觉长不过产生其的物理网络
an illusion that cannot outlive
幻觉长不过产生其的物理网络
the physical network from which it arises.
一旦电流沟通中止
Once that electrical traffic ceases
缘于大脑本身已不再工作
because the brain itself doesn't work anymore
神经元停止触发
and the neurons stop firing,
那么灵魂也将不复存在
then, also, the soul will cease to exist.
但知名认知科学家道格拉斯·霍夫斯塔德
But renowned cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter
并不那么快地否认死后之生的可能性
is not so quick to dismiss the possibility of life after death.
他认为灵魂并非我们一咽气就消失的
He believes the soul does not disappear the moment we die.
在我还是物理学研究生时
When I was a graduate student in physics,
我有一个我很喜欢的教授
I had a professor who I was very fond of
他是个宗教人士
who was a religious person.
他相信让我很震惊惊讶困惑
And he believed, to my shock and surprise and confusion,
在大脑里面
that inside the brain,
存在有某种粒子
there were certain kinds of particles
是我们尚未发现的
that we hadn't yet discovered
带来了灵魂和意识
that gave rise to soul and consciousness.
霍夫斯塔德对大脑采取了
Hofstadter took a more scientific approach
更科学的手段
to the brain.
他已是模拟复杂心理过程的先驱
He became a pioneer in modeling complex mental processes.
他思考人们的思考
He thinks about how people think.
人类做得最好的在他看来
And what humans do best, in his opinion,
就是制♥作♥了周围世界的心智地图
is make mental maps of the world around them.
感知世界的过程
The process of perceiving a world
产生了万物的内部表示
gives rise to internal representations of everything.
你知道如果我看到这个胡椒瓶
You know, if I look at this pepper shaker,
我就有了它的内在模型
I have an internal model of it.
我无需去观察它
And I don't need to look at it
因为我已见到它好多回了
because I've seen it so many times,
我已经有了它固定的内在模型了
I have an internal model of it that is stable.
所有的动物都会制♥作♥心智地图
All animals make mental maps.
动物越大地图就越复杂
The bigger the animal, the more complex the map.
蜜蜂知道太阳和它的蜂巢的方位
A bee knows the position of the sun and its hive.
蝠鲼学习遨游在
A manta ray learns to navigate
错综复杂的洋流里
the convoluted web of ocean currents.
狒狒必须遵循
A baboon must keep track
大队人马尊卑有序的社会秩序
of the troop's social pecking order.
我们地图的构建
Our maps are built
来自我们所遇到的人和物的寿命
from a lifetime of objects and people we've encountered...
还有另外一个关键因素
And one other crucial element.
我们不仅吸纳了其余的世界
We incorporate not only the rest of the world,
我们还吸纳了我们对我们是谁
but we incorporate our own understanding
我们是什么的自我认识
of who we are and what we are,
这里包括了肤浅有形的东西
which includes superficial, physical things
比如事实上我们有两只手
like the fact that we have two hands
每只手有五个指头
and five fingers on each hand,
我们所具有的那种幽默感
what kind of sense of humor we have,
我们是否擅长于篮球的远距离投篮
whether we're good at throwing free-throws in basketball
或是勾手投篮
or hook shots.
我们创造了一个概念反映了我们是谁
And we create a concept that reflects who we are.
霍夫斯塔德把这个世界地图
Hofstadter regards this map of the world
同时也包括了地图制♥作♥者的地图
that also includes a map of the map-maker
看作是心智反馈回路
as a mental feedback loop.
如果你将摄像机对准电视机屏幕
If you point a television camera at a television screen
于是屏幕就摄入了自己
and then the screen gets put onto itself,
等等等等
et cetera, et cetera,
你看到了一个非常复杂的视觉模式
and you get a very complex visual pattern --
系统本身就是自我感知
the system itself is perceiving itself.
对我来说灵魂是个浮现过程
To me, the soul is an emergent process,
一个几十年感知和反馈所产生的浮现体
an emergent entity that comes out of decades
一个几十年感知和反馈所产生的浮现体
of perception and feedback.
但这个意识观
But this view of consciousness
具有震撼的影响
has a shocking implication.
若说灵魂只是个奇怪的心智反馈回路
If the soul is just a strange mental feedback loop,
那么它不该是人类独有的
then it should not be unique to humans.
任何足够聪明的网络都应该能够体验它
Any sufficiently smart network should be able to experience it,
不管它是何物
whatever it is made of.
这就是为什么这个当代科学怪人
Which is why this latter-day Frankenstein
正在计划打造一个灵魂
is planning to build a soul.
他所研究的能够直指死后之生
What he learns could point the way to a life beyond death.
宗教告诉我们我们的灵魂能够超脱凡体
Religion tells us that our souls transcend the body.
这些只是我们世上走一回的皮囊而已
These are just shells that we walk around in for a while.
大多数科学家并不以为然
Most scientists don't believe that.
他们称我们所谓的灵魂
They say that what we call the soul
是大脑构成的自我意识的网络
is a self-aware network of brain connections
已经进化了数百万年了
that evolved over millions of years.
如果那时真的
If that's true,
那么如果我们来打造一个人脑的拷贝又当如何呢？
then what would happen if we built a copy of the human brain?
它会有灵魂么？
Would it have a soul?
我们即将有所突破
We're on the verge of finding out.
如果思想之谜
And if the mystery of the mind
是我们能够破解的东西
is something we can crack computationally,
那么它甚至可以给我们死里逃生的路线
it would even give us an escape route from death.
世界各地的研究人员
Around the world, teams of researchers
正在尝试逆向构建人脑
are attempting to reverse-engineer a human brain.
这是个艰巨的任务因为对于我们所有的研究来说
It's a tough job, because for all our research,
大脑仍然是已知的宇宙间
the brain is still the most complicated instrument
最为复杂的仪器
in the known Universe.
然而绘制大脑可能需要几十年时间才能完成
But mapping the brain could take decades to complete,
这就是为什么有些离经叛道的科学家
which is why some rebel scientists
决定利用鲜活的脑细胞
have decided to harness the firepower
内部的火力
inside living brain cells.
他们试图破解灵魂之谜
They're trying to crack the secrets of the soul
通过将生物学和技术融合在一起
by fusing biology and technology,
去上一些大脑并将它们杂交到一些硬件上
taking bits of brain and mating them to bits of hardware.
大多数计算机模拟
Most computer simulations
被限制在非常单纯的神经元上
are limited to very simplistic neurons.
我们这里培养皿里的东西
What we have here in our culture dishes
用得是鲜活的神经元
with real, live, wet, squishy neurons
完全利用它们的复杂性
with all their complexity,
其大大复杂于我们在
is immensely much more complicated
今天的计算机上所做的任何模拟
than anything we can simulate on today's computers.
史蒂夫·波特教授
Professor Steve Potter
任职于乔治亚技术学院
of the Georgia Institute of Technology
设计打造的大脑
designs and builds brains --
半生命半机器大脑
brains that are half-living, half-machine.
波特的研究小组从大鼠胚胎中提取培养的神经元
Potter's team takes neurons cultured from rat embryos
然后将它们种植在微型电极板上
then grows them on miniature plates of electrodes.
这是个多电极阵列培养皿
Here is a multi-electrode array culture dish.
你可以看到荧光示踪神经元生长在上面
You can see some fluorescently labeled neurons growing on it.
这些是电极
These are the electrodes
通过导线拦截电子
with leads heading off to the electronics
那是我们用来记录和刺♥激♥那些细胞的电子
that we use to record from and stimulate the cells.
这些全都是轴突和树突
These are all the axons and dendrites
表示细胞之间的联♥系♥
that represent the connections between the cells.
这些联♥系♥形成于
Those connections form
头四个小时的培养过程中
over the course of the first four hours in culture.
你这里可以看到时间推移
You can see on this time lapse here
联♥系♥的形成过程
connections forming.
这些就是突触连接
So, those are the synaptic connections
这样神经元就可以彼此交流
by which the neurons talk to each other,
我们可以拍摄到过程中的对话
and we can film that conversation in progress
利用这里的钙敏感染色剂
using a calcium-sensitive dye here.
这样你就可以看到细胞不停闪烁
So, here you can see the cells flashing.
每当有细胞发送信♥号♥♥给另一个细胞时
Every time the cell sends a signal to another cell,
都会有一个爆裂的钙
it has a little burst of calcium.
大脑长成后
When the brain has grown,
波特会通过电极给它发送信息
Potter send information to it through the electrodes,
大脑会做出反应