How many universes are there? - Chris Anderson

到底有多少个宇宙？

(Music)

翻译人员: Tiannan Zhan 校对人员: Minji Seo

（音乐）

Sometimes when I'm on a long plane flight,

有时候当我在孤单的长途飞行中，

I gaze out at all those mountains and deserts

我望向那些山脉与沙漠

and try to get my head around how vast our Earth is.

然后尝试去理解地球的广袤

And then I remember that there's an object we see every day

然后我想起来有一样东西我们天天看见，

that would literally fit one million Earths inside it.

它能字面意义上装下一百万个地球在里面

The sun seems impossibly big,

太阳，它看起来无限大，

but in the great scheme of things, it's a pinprick,

但从非常宏观的角度上讲，它就是个针刺，

one of about 400 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy,

只是银河系里四百亿颗恒星当中的一颗，

which you can see on a clear night

你能在一个明夜里看见它，像一团淡白色的雾一般横跨夜空

as a pale, white mist stretched across the sky.

And it gets worse.

但这还远远不止于此

There are maybe 100 billion galaxies detectable by our telescopes,

通过我们的望远镜，大概有100亿个星系可以被探知，

so if each star was the size of a single grain of sand,

所以如果每一颗恒星等于一颗细沙的大小，

just the Milky Way has enough stars to fill

仅仅是银河系就有足够的恒星来装满

a 30 foot by 30 foot stretch of beach three feet deep with sand.

一个平面是30英尺乘以30英尺，3英尺深的沙滩

And the entire Earth doesn't have enough beaches

而整个地球根本没有足够的沙滩，

to represent the stars in the overall universe.

来代表整个宇宙中的恒星

Such a beach would continue for literally hundreds of millions of miles.

如此的沙滩应当持续起码几亿英里之长

Holy Stephen Hawking, that is a lot of stars.

神圣的史蒂芬霍金啊，真是有太多星星了

But he and other physicists now believe in

但是他和其他物理学家如今相信一个真理，

a reality that is unimaginably bigger still.

那就是宇宙是无限大的

I mean, first of all, the 100 billion galaxies within range of our telescopes

我指，第一，在我们望远镜探测范围内的这一百亿个星系

are probably a minuscule fraction of the total.

大概只是整个宇宙的极微小的部分，

Space itself is expanding

空间自己是在以加速度不断膨胀着的

at an accelerating pace. The vast majority of the galaxies

这如此多数量的星系

are separating from us so fast

正在以飞快的速度远离我们而去

that light from them may never reach us.

快到它们发出的光线从未能够到达我们的眼里

Still, our physical reality here on Earth

虽然如此，我们在地球上的物理角度的真相，

is intimately connected to those distant, invisible galaxies.

还是与这些遥远的不可见的星系紧密地联系在一起

We can think of them as part of our universe.

我们可以想象它们，作为我们的宇宙的一部分

They make up a single, giant edifice,

它们组成了一单个巨大的组织，

obeying the same physical laws and all made from the same types of atoms, electrons,

遵守着相同的物理定律，并且由同样类型的原子、电子、

protons, quarks, neutrinos that make up you and me.

质子、夸克、中微子组成，这些也组成了你和我

However, recent theories in physics,

但是，最新的物理理论

including one called string theory,

包括其中的'弦理论'，

are now telling us there could be countless other universes,

正在告诉着我们，或许有无数个其它的宇宙存在着，

built on different types of particles,

由不同类型的粒子构成，

with different properties, obeying different laws.

有着不同的性质，遵守着不同的物理法则

Most of these universes could never support life,

这样的宇宙大部分永远无法支持生命体的存在，

and might flash in and out of existence in a nanosecond,

并且可能再纳秒之内诞生然后又消逝，

but nonetheless, combined

但仍然，在一起它们

they make up a vast multiverse of possible universes.

组成了一个广阔的多元宇宙，蕴藏着许多可能存在的宇宙

in up to 11 dimensions, featuring wonders beyond our wildest imagination.

在高至十一种维度里，它们制造着我们再疯狂的想象也不可及

And the leading version of string theory

的神奇。同时，最受支持的弦理论版本

predicts a multiverse made of up to 10 to the 500 universes.

预测一个多元宇宙可由十到五百个宇宙组成

That's a one followed by 500 zeroes,

那可是一个1后面跟着500个零的数字，

a number so vast that if every atom in our observable universe

一个如此大的数字，即使我们可观测的宇宙中，每一个

had its own universe

原子都有着它自己的宇宙，

and all of the atoms in all of those universes

并且所有这些宇宙中的每一个原子都还有

each had their own universe,

自己的宇宙，

and you repeated that for two more cycles,

你如此重复绕两遍，

you'd still be at a tiny fraction of the total --

你还是位于一个非常小的部分，在这整体上即是，

namely, one trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillionth.

一兆，兆，兆，兆，兆，兆，兆，兆，兆，兆，兆，兆，兆，兆，兆里

But even that number is minuscule compared to

可即使是这样一个数字还是如此微小

another number: infinity.

与另外一个数字相比—无限

Some physicists think the space-time continuum

有些物理学家认为，时空连续体（时间+空间的四维空间）

is literally infinite, and that it contains an infinite number

就是无限，并且它包含了一个无限的

of so-called pocket universes with varying properties.

所谓的有着各种性质的‘口袋宇宙’

How's your brain doing?

你的大脑现在觉得怎么样了？

But quantum theory adds a whole new wrinkle.

不过量子力学还要来加一重笔，

I mean, the theory's been proven true beyond all doubt,

我指，这个理论已经无可非议地被证实是正确的了，

but interpreting it is baffling.

但如何去理解这个理论却没这么简单

And some physicists think you can only un-baffle it

并且有些物理学家认为如果你想真正理解它，

if you imagine that huge numbers of parallel universes

你只能想象每一分钟都有

are being spawned every moment,

巨大数量的平行宇宙在诞生，

and many of these universes would actually be very like the world we're in,

并且这些宇宙许多都与我们所在的这个世界十分相似，

would include multiple copies of you.

也会包括着你的许多复制版本

In one such universe, you'd graduate with honors and marry the person of your dreams.

在其中的一个宇宙，你会荣誉地毕业并且与你梦想的人结婚，

In another, not so much.

而在其它宇宙中，或许就没有如此幸运了

There are still some scientists who would say, hogwash.

当然也有部分科学家会认为这是一派胡言

The only meaningful answer to the question of how many universes there are is one,

他们认为关于有几个宇宙的唯一有意义的答案是，

only one universe.

一个，只有一个宇宙

And a few philosophers and mystics

甚至一些哲学家和神秘主义者认为

might argue that even our own universe is an illusion.

我们的宇宙都可能只是一个幻象

So, as you can see,

所以，你可以看出来，

right now there is no agreement on this question,

现在在这个问题上没有统一的答案，

not even close.

是的，还没有

All we know is, the answer is somewhere between zero and infinity.

我们知道的是，这个答案介于零与无限之间

Well, I guess we know one other thing:

嗯，我想我们还知道另外一件事：

This is a pretty cool time to be studying physics.

这是一个很好的机会来学习物理

We just might be undergoing

我们大概正在面对着

the biggest paradigm shift in knowledge that humanity has ever seen.

人类历史上最大的知识理论体系的变化