How do you know you’re not dreaming? - Daniel Gregory

譯者: Camila Lin 審譯者: Amanda Zhu

You’re a butterfly, fluttering around pursuing a butterfly’s whims.

你是一隻蝴蝶，四處悠遊， 依照蝴蝶的慾望行事。

Then you wake up.

然後你就醒了。

But how do you know you’re not dreaming now?

但你怎麼知道你現在已經醒了？

The answer might seem obvious,

答案似乎一目了然，

but it’s actually very difficult to explain how, definitively,

但其實，要解釋 你怎麼確定自己已經醒來，

you know you’re awake.

是件非常困難的事。

So difficult, in fact, that it has puzzled philosophers since ancient times.

真的很困難，事實上從很久以前開始， 這問題就一直困擾著哲學家。

In the butterfly scenario,

在〈莊周夢蝶〉的故事中，

the ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi surfaced a mystifying possibility:

中國古代的哲學家莊子， 就已提出一個奇妙的可能性：

if we can dream of being an entirely different creature,

如果我們能夢到自己變成另一種生物，

who's to say we're not actually

那又有誰能確定，

a different creature dreaming of being human?

我們不是夢到變成人類的某種生物？

Bizarre things happen in dreams:

夢裡總會發生怪事：

you fly, or conjure an all-you-can-eat dessert buffet out of thin air,

你在飛，或是憑空變出甜點吃到飽，

or get chased by witches through the halls of your elementary school,

或是明明你正在小學禮堂中 被巫婆們追趕，

which suddenly looks a lot like Paris.

但場景卻突然跳到巴黎。

But the strange things that happen in dreams don’t seem strange at the time.

但這些在夢裡發生的怪事， 在做夢時卻覺得理所當然，

So how do you know you’re not in a dream right now

所以，你又怎麼知道你 現在不是在作夢呢？

that will seem very strange after you wake up?

搞不好你醒來後， 這一切都會變得很荒唐呢？

Well, it is possible to notice

我們的確有機會在做夢時

the strangeness of a dream while you’re dreaming.

意識到夢境的奇怪之處。

Lucid dreamers know they’re dreaming.

做清醒夢的人能知道自己在作夢。

By definition, if you were having a lucid dream, you would know it.

根據定義，如果你的夢是清醒夢， 你就會知道那是你的夢。

But all that proves is that you’re not having a lucid dream—

但這定義只能證明你的夢不是清醒夢，

it doesn’t prove you’re awake.

卻無法證明你確實清醒。

There has to be a surefire test—

必須來個萬無一失的測試才行：

something that never— or only— happens when you’re awake,

找出某件從來不會在你醒來後發生， 或是只在醒來時發生的事。

something that never— or only— happens in a dream.

不然就是某件從來不會在夢中發生， 或是只在夢中發生的事。

Wake up. No, that isn’t it—

醒來：不，這測試不了，

you can wake up in a dream.

因為你可以在夢中醒來。

Pinch yourself. If it hurts, aren’t you really awake?

捏自己。

如果覺得痛，不就代表你真的醒著嗎？

Try to read or write something.

試著讀書寫字。

Run around the room.

在房間內奔跑。

Does your pace seem normal or suspiciously slow?

你的跑速正常嗎？慢的可疑嗎？

Suspiciously fast?

還是快的可疑？

Can’t tell? Try to remember the last time you ran.

分不清楚嗎？

試著想想你上次跑步的情況。

Actually, that brings us to an even better test

事實上，那種邏輯給了 我們一個更好的測試，

from the 17th century French philosopher René Descartes.

也就是法國哲學家笛卡兒 在十七世紀提出的論點。

He pointed out that in our memories, dreams are disconnected—

他指出在我們的記憶中，夢境不連貫，

the events of a dream don’t fit in to the chain of events

夢中發生的事情

不像日常事件那樣有跡可循。

in our waking lives.

This seems rock solid, doesn't it?

這論點看起來無懈可擊，對吧？

You couldn’t possibly have swum with dolphins in a nameless pink sea

你不可能真的在聖誕節到跨年期間，

在不知名的粉紅海洋中 和海豚一起優游，

between Christmas and New Year’s Eve

because you didn’t leave Kansas and you have the receipts to prove it.

因為你根本沒離開過堪薩斯州， 而且你還有收據可以證明。

Well, one of Descartes’ contemporaries,

但和笛卡兒同年代的英國哲學家

the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, had something to say about that:

湯瑪斯‧霍布斯也有話想說：

what if Descartes was performing his test in a dream?

萬一笛卡兒是在夢中實驗呢？

What if we ask an expert?

要是我們去問問專家呢？

A neuroscientist can measure the activity in different parts of your brain

神經學家能測量大腦不同部位的活動，

and tell you whether you’re awake or sleeping.

告訴我們，我們是否真的清醒。

But that just brings us back to the idea that any test you might use

但這又把我們帶回那個老問題：

你能用來證明自己清醒的各種實驗， 在夢裡也能實施。

to prove you’re awake could take place in a dream.

So far, no one has found a convincing response to this.

目前為止，還沒有人找到 一個足夠讓人信服的答案。

But let’s be real: there’s a whole lot more detail in our waking experience

但讓我們實際一點：

和夢相比，我們在清醒時 經歷更多細節。

than in dreams.

We go to sleep and wake up again day after day for many years,

多年來，我們每天重複睡、醒的過程，

and each new day is full of countless people, places, things, experiences.

每天都遇見、經歷無數人與事。

Even our memories, which capture just a fraction of this experience,

就算是記憶，也只能保存 這些經驗的一小部分，

contain an almost incomprehensibly vast amount of detail:

卻已包含多到無法想像的細節：

we can recall a line from a favorite book decades later,

數十年後，我們仍記得 最愛的書中的一句話、

remember the musty smell of its pages

記得書頁散發的舊書氣味、

and the taste of the lemonade we drank while reading it,

記得我們讀那本書時 喝的檸檬汁是甚麼味道、

remember a dream we had about it and tell someone all this.

記得我們做過關於那本書的夢， 也記得我們把這些事情說給人聽。

Isn't it ridiculous to suggest a dream could ever simulate this richness?

要說夢也能模擬出這麼 豐富的細節，不是很荒謬嗎？

Well, as the Persian philosopher al-Ghazali pointed out,

就像波斯哲學家 穆罕默德·安薩里指出的，

in the same way we think we are now awake having woken from dreams,

一如我們覺得自己從夢中醒來的邏輯，

it is possible that we might wake from our current state

我們也很有可能從目前的狀態中清醒，

into another state of even greater wakefulness.

達到另一個更神智清醒的狀態。

Which would mean we’re really in a kind of dream-state

以這種觀點來看，我們其實都在夢中，

when we think we’re awake.

但我們卻認為自己相當清醒。

What philosophers really want to know is what justifies our belief

哲學家真正想知道的是，

我們如何證明自己處於清醒狀態。

that we’re awake.

We all want to believe things because we have reasons for them,

我們都想因為有理由 所以才相信某些事物，

not just because they seem right.

而不只因為它們看似非常合理。

Sometimes, the biggest challenge is to show why we should believe something

有時候，最大的挑戰是

說明我們為什麼應該相信某件 看起來理所當然的事。

that seems completely obvious to us all.