What's invisible? More than you think - John Lloyd

什么是那不可见之物? 比你想象的还要多 - John Lloyd

Translator: tom carter Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

翻译人员: Geoff Chen 校对人员: Coco Shen

（音乐）

(Circus music)

[Ted N' Ed's Carnival]

[Ted N' Ed 的嘉年华会；每日开放 – –开放一整天；Yew Chube Common – Google 高速道路入口]

[John Lloyd's Inventory of the Invisible]

[John Lloyd 隐形物的清单]

[Adapted from a TEDTalk given by John Lloyd in 2009]

[改编自 2009 年John Lloyd 的TED 演说]

我们接下来的讲者已经用他一整个 职业生涯探索这种奇妙的感觉，

June Cohen: Our next speaker has spent his whole career

eliciting that sense of wonder.

请欢迎 John Lloyd。（掌声）

Please welcome John Lloyd.

(Applause)

问题是： 什么是那不可见之物？

[Hall of Mirrors]

The question is, "What is invisible?"

事实上，在你可以想见的之外 还存在许多物质。

There's more of it than you think, actually.

Everything, I would say -- everything that matters --

一切，我会说，一切有关的物质，

Except every thing, and except matter.

除了每个物质，以及，除了物质。

We can see matter

我们可以看到问题，

but we can't see what's the matter.

但我们不能看到关联着这问题的是什么，

We can see the stars and the planets but we can't see what holds them apart,

我们可以可以见到恒星与行星， 但我们看不到是什么使它们互相分隔，

or what draws them together.

或者是什么吸引它们在一起。

With matter as with people, we see only the skin of things,

物质如同人类，我们只能看到表像，

我们不能进入引擎室，我们看不到 关联着人一举一动之物是什么，

we can't see into the engine room, we can't see what makes people tick,

at least not without difficulty,

至少，这很困难，

and the closer we look at anything, the more it disappears.

当我们愈是近看所有一切，

这一切消失地愈多。

In fact, if you look really closely at stuff,

事实上，如果你真的密切注视一物， 如果你看看物质的基本构造，

if you look at the basic substructure of matter,

there isn't anything there.

那儿空无一物。电子会消失，只剩下能量。

Electrons disappear in a kind of fuzz, and there is only energy.

One of the interesting things about invisibility is,

关于不可见之物的趣事 就是，我们若无法看到

the things that we can's see, we also can't understand.

我们便无从理解。

Gravity is one thing that we can't see, and which we don't understand.

重力即是如此，我们看不到它， 我们对它便一无所悉，

It's the least understood of all the four fundamental forces,

它是所有四种基本力中最神秘的、

and the weakest, and nobody really knows what it is or why it's there.

也是最弱的，并没有人真正 知道它是什么，或者它为何如此。

For what it's worth, Sir Isaac Newton, the greatest scientist who ever lived,

信不信由你，最伟大的科学家艾萨克·牛顿爵士认为

耶稣就是特地为了 操纵重力杠杆而来到地球的。

he thought Jesus came to Earth specifically

to operate the levers of gravity.

That's what he thought he was there for.

那是他认为他在那儿的原因。

So, bright guy, could be wrong on that one, I don't know.

所以，聪明的家伙， 可能也会出错，我不知道。（笑声）

(Laughter)

Consciousness. I see all your faces; I've no idea what any of you are thinking.

意识。我看到你们的脸 ， 却不知道你们在想什么。

Isn't that amazing?

我们无法阅读对方的心思， 那不是很棒、很妙的事吗？

Isn't it incredible that we can't read each other's minds,

我们可以彼此接触，嗯，或者， 品尝彼此，在我们很接近彼此的时候， 但我们仍然无法阅读对方的想法。

when we can touch each other, taste each other,

perhaps, if we get close enough, but we can't read each other's minds.

我觉得这相当奇特。

I find that quite astonishing.

In the Sufi faith, this great Middle Eastern religion

在苏菲的信仰中，在这个伟大的、 被认为是所有宗教之根的中东信仰中，

which some claim is the root of all religions,

Sufi masters are all telepaths, so they say,

苏菲的所有大师们都熟稔读心术，于是他们说，

but their main exercise of telepathy

他们主要行使的心灵感应能力 是发出强而有力的信号， 对我们剩下的所有不存在的人，

is to send out powerful signals to the rest of us that it doesn't exist.

So that's why we don't think it exists; the Sufi masters working on us.

这就是为什么我们不觉得它存在； 我们不觉得苏菲派大师对我们曾经做过努力。

In the question of consciousness and artificial intelligence,

关于意识和人工智能技术的问题，

artificial intelligence has really, like the study of consciousness,

人工智能真的就如同意识的研究，

gotten nowhere, we have no idea how consciousness works.

我们毫无进展，我们仍然 不知道意识是如何运作的，

Not only have they not created artificial intelligence,

他们不仅没有创建人工智能，

they haven't yet created artificial stupidity.

他们也还没造出人工愚蠢。

(Laughter)

The laws of physics: invisible, eternal, omnipresent, all powerful.

物理定律： 不可见之物，永恒，无所不在，无上至高的力量。

Remind you of anyone?

这让你想起谁吗？

Interesting.

有趣。如同你所猜到的，我不是 唯物主义者，我是一个非唯物主义者，

I'm, as you can guess, not a materialist, I'm an immaterialist.

And I've found a very useful new word -- ignostic.

而且我发现一个非常有用的新词：不可知论者 （ignostic）。是吧？我是不可知论者，[神？]

Okay? I'm an ignostic.

[God?]

I refuse to be drawn on the question on whether God exists

在有人正确地定义这个术语前，

until somebody properly defines the terms.

我拒绝涉入任何关于上帝存在与否的问题。

Another thing we can't see is the human genome.

我们不能看到的另一件事，是人类基因组。

And this is increasingly peculiar, because about 20 years ago

这变得越来越奇怪，因为大约 20 年前

when they started delving into the genome, they thought it would probably contain

当他们开始探究基因图谱时， 他们以为它可能会包含

大约 10 万个基因。打从那时开始，

around 100 thousand genes.

Every year since, it's been revised downwards.

每年它都被调低。现在我们认为， 在人类基因组中，可能恰恰包含了

We now think there are likely to be just over 20 thousand genes

in the human genome.

二万多一点点的基因。

This is extraordinary, because rice -- get this --

这是相当非凡的，因为稻米，看看这，

rice is known to have 38 thousand genes.

我们已知稻米含有三万八千个基因，

Potatoes have 48 chromosomes, two more than people,

马铃薯：马铃薯拥有 48 对染色体，比人多两个，

and the same as a gorilla.

但和一只大猩猩相同。（笑声）

(Laughter)

You can't see these things, but they are very strange.

你无法看到这些东西，但它们都很奇怪。

The stars by day, I always think that's fascinating.

白天的星星，我总为之着迷。

The universe disappears.

宇宙会消失。你看到的光多， 你能够见到的物质却越少。

The more light there is, the less you can see.

Time. Nobody can see time.

时间。没有人能够看到时间。

I don't know if you know this.

我不知道是否你知道这点。现代物理学家 — — 有个现代物理学中的大运动

There's a big movement in modern physics

to decide that time doesn't really exist,

确定时间并不真的存在， 因为它对数字来说太不方便了。

because it's too inconvenient for the figures.

It's much easier if it's not really there.

如果它并不真的存在，这便容易多了。

You can't see the future, obviously,

很明显，你见不到未来，

and you can't see the past, except in your memory.

你也看不到过去，除了在你的记忆之中。

One of the interesting things about the past

关于过去的一个很有趣的事情之一， 就是你特别看不见 — —

is you particularly can't see --

my son asked me this the other day,

有天，我儿子问我说： 爸爸， 你还记得我两岁时是什么样子吗？

"Dad, can you remember what I was like when I was two?

And I said, "Yes." He said, "Why can't I?"

我说我记得。他问，为什么我不能呢？

Isn't that extraordinary?

这难道不奇特吗？你无法 记得在你两三岁之前所发生的事，

You cannot remember what happened to you earlier than the age of two or three.

Which is great news for psychoanalysts, because otherwise they'd be out of a job.

这对精神分析师们来说是个好消息， 因为，倘若真如此，他们会失去工作。

因为那正是让你成为你的时刻，

Because that's where all the stuff happens

(Laughter)

that makes you who you are.

所有事物发生的时候 [笑]。

Another thing you can't see is the grid on which we hang.

另一件你们看不到的 是我们所依附的网格。

This is fascinating.

这很令人着迷。你可能知道， 你们一些人当中的细胞不断会更新。

You probably know, some of you, that cells are continually renewed.

Skin flakes off, hairs grow, nails, that kind of stuff --

皮肤剥落，毛发生长，指甲，这种东西 — —

but every cell in your body is replaced at some point.

但在你的身体里的每个细胞 在某些时候将会被替换

Taste buds, every ten days or so.

味蕾，每隔十天左右换一次，

Livers and internal organs take a bit longer.

肝脏和其他内部器官的时间略长。

Spine takes several years.

脊椎会需要几年时间，

But at the end of seven years, not one cell in your body

但七年后，在你的身体里，没有一个细胞

remains from what was there seven years ago.

仍然和七年前一样。

The question is: who then are we? What are we?

问题是： 然后我们又是谁呢？ 我们是什么？那维系着我们的东西是什么？

What is this thing that we hang on?

That is actually us?

这实际上是我们吗？

Atoms, can't see them. Nobody ever will.

原子，我们看不到它们。 没人看得到。它们比光的波长小得多。

They're smaller than the wavelength of light.

Gas, can't see that.

瓦斯，我们看不到。这很有趣， 最近，在1600 年时有人提到它，

Interesting, somebody mentioned 1600 recently.

Gas was invented in 1600 by a Dutch chemist called van Helmont.

瓦斯是由荷兰化学家 范•海尔蒙特在1600 年所发明的，

It's said to be the most successful ever invention of a word by a known individual.

它被认为是最成功的 一个已知的个人所发明的字。

Quite good. He also invented a word called "blas," meaning astral radiation.

非常不错。他还发明了一个 叫 blas 的字，意思是星的辐射。

Didn't catch on, unfortunately.

不幸的是，没抓到神韵。（笑声）

(Laughter)

But well done, him.

但他做得好。光 — — 你不能看见光。

Light -- you can't see light.

When it's dark, in a vacuum,

在黑暗的情况下，在真空中， 如果一个人在你的眼前 闪耀一束光，你看不到它。

if a person shines a beam of light

straight across your eyes, you won't see it.

Slightly technical, some physicists will disagree with this.

更技术性地说，有些物理学家不会赞同这的。 不过奇怪的是，你不能看见这束光，

But it's odd that you can't see the beam of light,

你只能看到它所击中的东西。

you can only see what it hits.

Electricity, can't see that.

电力，你们看不到。别让人 告诉你他们了解电力了，他们不。

Don't let anyone tell you they understand electricity, they don't.

Nobody knows what it is.

(Laughter)

没有人知道它是什么。（笑声）你们可能认为，

You probably think the electrons in an electric wire move instantaneously

down a wire, don't you, at the speed of light,

当你打开灯时，电子在电线中 以光的速度瞬间移动，不是吗？

when you turn the light on, they don't.

不。他们说，电子迟缓如蜂蜜流淌。

Electrons bumble down the wire,

about the speed of spreading honey, they say.

Galaxies -- hundred billion of them,

银河。他们估计宇宙有一千亿个星系。一千亿。

estimated in the universe. Hundred billion.

How many can we see?

我们可以看到的有几个？五个。 一千亿星系中的五个，用肉眼。

Five. Five, out of a hundred billion galaxies, with the naked eye.

And one of them is quite difficult to see, unless you've got very good eyesight.

而其中一个是很难看得到的， 除非你有很好的视力。

Radio waves. There's another thing.

无线电波。还有一件事。海因里希 · 赫兹， 当他在 1887 年发现无线电波时，

Heinrich Hertz, when he discovered radio waves, in 1887,

他把它们称为无线电波， 因为它们以辐射样貌传递。

he called them radio waves because they radiated.

有人对他说，嗯，海因里希，这有什么用处啊？ 这些你所发现的无线电波有啥用途？

Somebody said to him, "What's the point of these, Heinrich?

What's the point of these radio waves that you've found?"

他说，嗯，我也不知道，但我猜 有一天会有人知道怎么使用它们。

And he said, "Well, I've no idea,

but I guess somebody will find a use for them someday.

我们所看不到的最大的东西时那些我们我们所不知道的事物。

The biggest thing that's invisible to us is what we don't know.

It is incredible how little we know.

我们所知甚少，这真是令人难以置信。

Thomas Edison once said,

托马斯 · 爱迪生曾说过， 我们只知道任何百万事物之中的 1%。

"We don't know one percent of one millionth about anything."

And I've come to the conclusion --

我的结论是 — —

because you ask this other question: "What's another thing we can't see?"

因为你问了另一个问题： 有什么其他物质是我们所看不到的呢？

重点，我们大多数人。重点是什么？

The point, most of us. What's the point?

The point -- what I've got it down to

重点 — — 我把它缩减到只剩 两个真的值得我们探究的问题。

is there are only two questions really worth asking.

"Why are we here?",

为什么我们在这儿？以及， 我们在这儿时应当做些什么？

and "What should we do about it while we are?"

To help you, I've got two things to leave you with, from two great philosophers,

为了帮助你们，我从两个伟大的 哲学家那儿，汲取两个东西留给你们，

perhaps two of the greatest philosopher thinkers of the 20th century.

他们也许是两个二十世纪 最伟大的哲学家或思想家，

一位是数学家与工程师，另一位是诗人。

One a mathematician and engineer, and the other a poet.

The first is Ludwig Wittgenstein,

第一位是路德维希•维根斯坦 （Ludwig Wittgenstein）。他说，

who said, "I don't know why we are here,

我不知道为什么我们在这儿，但我确信的是， 我们在这儿不是为了享乐的。

but I am pretty sure it's not in order to enjoy ourselves."

(Laughter)

He was a cheerful bastard, wasn't he?

他真是一个性格开朗的混蛋，不是吗？（笑声）

(Laughter)

And secondly, and lastly, W.H. Auden, one of my favorite poets,

第二，也是最后一个，是威斯坦•休•奥登 （W.H. Auden），他是我最喜欢的诗人之一。

who said, "We are here on Earth to help others.

他说，我们在地球上是为了帮助他人。 至于其他人在这儿的原因是啥，我不知道。

What the others are here for, I've no idea."

(Laughter)

(Applause)

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[来这儿合影留念！继续你未知的旅程！]

[Continue your journey into the unknown!]

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