Seth Shostak: ET is (probably) out there — get ready

Translator: Morton Bast Reviewer: Thu-Huong Ha

Translator: Martina Salyova Reviewer: Ivana Kopisova

Is E.T. out there?

Existujú mimozemštania?

Well, I work at the SETI Institute.

Pracujem v inštitúte SETI.

That's almost my name. SETI:

Znie to skoro ako moje meno. SETI:

Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

skratka pre Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

In other words, I look for aliens,

Inými slovami – hľadám mimozemšťanov.

and when I tell people that at a cocktail party, they usually

Keď to poviem ľuďom na večierku, zvyčajne

look at me with a mildly incredulous look on their face.

sa na mňa neveriacky pozrú.

I try to keep my own face somewhat dispassionate.

Snažím sa tváriť pokojne.

Now, a lot of people think that this is kind of idealistic,

Veľa ľudí si myslí, že je to tak trochu idealistické,

ridiculous, maybe even hopeless,

nezmyselné, ba možno beznádejné,

but I just want to talk to you a little bit about why I think

ale ja vám chcem povedať, prečo si myslím,

that the job I have is actually a privilege, okay,

že moja práca je skutočne privilégiom,

and give you a little bit of the motivation for my getting into

a dodať vám trochu motivácie, ktorá mňa priviedla

this line of work, if that's what you call it.

k tejto práci, ak sa to tak dá povedať.

This thing — whoops, can we go back?

Toto – hops, možeme to vrátiť?

Hello, come in, Earth.

Haló, no tak, Zem!

There we go. All right.

Tak. Dobre.

This is the Owens Valley Radio Observatory

Toto je rádiologické observatórium Owens Valley

behind the Sierra Nevadas, and in 1968,

Radio Observatory za pohorím Sierra Nevada. V r. 1968 som tu

I was working there collecting data for my thesis.

zbieral údaje pre svoju záverečnú prácu.

Now, it's kinda lonely, it's kinda tedious, just collecting data,

Pri zbieraní údajov sa cítite tak trochu osamelo a je to trochu aj nuda,

so I would amuse myself by taking photos at night

takže som si po nociach krátil čas fotografovaním

of the telescopes or even of myself,

teleskopov či dokonca samého seba,

because, you know, at night, I would be the only hominid

lebo, viete, počas noci som bol jediným ľudským tvorom

within about 30 miles.

v okruhu 30 míľ.

So here are pictures of myself.

Tu som ja na fotografiách.

The observatory had just acquired a new book,

Observatórium získalo novú knihu

written by a Russian cosmologist

od ruského kozmológa

by the name of Joseph Shklovsky, and then expanded

Josifa Šklovského, ktorú neskôr rozšíril,

and translated and edited by a little-known

preložil a redigoval takmer neznámy astronóm

Cornell astronomer by the name of Carl Sagan.

Carl Sagan z univerzity Cornell.

And I remember reading that book,

Pamätám si, ako som tú knihu

and at 3 in the morning I was reading this book

čítal o 3-tej ráno a písalo sa v nej,

and it was explaining how the antennas I was using

ako sa antény, ktoré som používal

to measure the spins of galaxies could also be used

na meranie rotácie galaxií, dajú použiť

to communicate, to send bits of information

na komunikáciu, na odoslanie informácií

from one star system to another.

z jedného hviezdneho systému do iného.

Now, at 3 o'clock in the morning when you're all alone,

Keď ste o 3-tej ráno sami a nevyspatí,

haven't had much sleep, that was a very romantic idea,

považujete to za romantické,

but it was that idea -- the fact that you could in fact

ale práve táto myšlienka – fakt, že naozaj

prove that there's somebody out there

môžete dokázať, že tam niekto je

just using this same technology --

použitím tej istej technológie –

that appealed to me so much that 20 years later I took a job

ma oslovila natoľko, že o 20 rokov neskôr som začal pracovať

at the SETI Institute. Now, I have to say

v inštitúte SETI. Musím povedať,

that my memory is notoriously porous, and I've often

že mám deravú hlavu a často som sa zamýšľal,

wondered whether there was any truth in this story,

či je v tomto príbehu aspoň kúsok

or I was just, you know, misremembering something,

pravdy alebo som len niečo poplietol.

but I recently just blew up this old negative of mine,

Nedávno som však zväčšil jeden starý negatív

and sure enough, there you can see

a naozaj môžete vidieť knihu od Šklovského

the Shklovsky and Sagan book underneath that

a Sagana pod analógovým

analog calculating device.

počítacím zariadením.

So it was true.

All right. Now, the idea for doing this, it wasn't very old

Takže to bola pravda.

Tá myšlienka bola v období, keď som spravil

at the time that I made that photo.

túto fotografiu, pomerne nová.

The idea dates from 1960, when a young astronomer

Datuje sa do r. 1960, keď mladý astronóm

by the name of Frank Drake used this antenna

Frank Drake namieril anténu

in West Virginia, pointed it at a couple of nearby stars

v Západnej Virgínii na pár blízkych hviezd v nádeji,

in the hopes of eavesdropping on E.T.

že bude odpočúvať mimozemšťanov.

Now, Frank didn't hear anything.

Frank nič nepočul.

Actually he did, but it turned out to be the U.S. Air Force,

Vlastne počul, ale bolo to vojenské letectvo USAF,

which doesn't count as extraterrestrial intelligence.

ktoré sa za mimozemskú inteligenciu nepočíta.

But Drake's idea here became very popular

Ale Drakov nápad sa stal veľmi populárnym,

because it was very appealing — and I'll get back to that —

lebo bol veľmi pútavý – k tomu sa ešte dostanem –

and on the basis of this experiment, which didn't succeed,

a na základe tohto experimentu, hoci neúspešného,

we have been doing SETI ever since,

odvtedy hľadáme mimozemšťanov.

not continuously, but ever since.

Nie neustále, ale hľadáme.

We still haven't heard anything.

Dosiaľ sme stále nič nepočuli.

We still haven't heard anything.

Dosiaľ sme stále nič nepočuli.

In fact, we don't know about any life beyond Earth,

V skutočnosti nevieme o žiadnom živote mimo Zeme,

but I'm going to suggest to you that that's going to change

ale predpokladám, že to sa čoskoro zmení,

rather soon, and part of the reason, in fact,

a jedným z dôvodov, vlastne, hlavný

the majority of the reason why I think that's going to change

dôvod, prečo si myslím, že dôjde k zmene,

is that the equipment's getting better.

je neustále zlepšovanie vybavenia.

This is the Allen Telescope Array, about 350 miles

Toto je anténová smerová sústava ATA, okolo 350 míľ vzdialená

from whatever seat you're in right now.

od sedadiel, na ktorých práve sedíte.

This is something that we're using today

V súčasnosti ju využívame na hľadanie

to search for E.T., and the electronics have gotten

mimozemšťanov a elektronika sa tiež poriadne

very much better too.

zdokonalila.

This is Frank Drake's electronics in 1960.

Toto je elektronika, ktorú používal Frank Drake v r. 1960.

This is the Allen Telescope Array electronics today.

A toto je elektronika sústavy ATA dnes.

Some pundit with too much time on his hands

Nejaký učenec, ktorý mal priveľa času,

has reckoned that the new experiments are approximately

vypočítal, že nové experimenty sú približne

100 trillion times better than they were in 1960,

100 trilión ráz lepšie než boli v r. 1960,

100 trillion times better.

100 trilión ráz lepšie.

That's a degree of an improvement that would look good

To je úroveň zlepšenia, ktorá by sa dobre vynímala vo vašich

on your report card, okay?

výsledkoch, však áno?

But something that's not appreciated by the public is,

Čo však verejnosť neoceňuje, je, že

in fact, that the experiment continues to get better,

experiment sa v skutočnosti zdokonaľuje

and, consequently, tends to get faster.

a následne zvyčajne aj zrýchľuje.

This is a little plot, and every time you show a plot,

Toto je zápletka a zakaždým, keď ju odhalíte,

you lose 10 percent of the audience.

stratíte 10 % publika.

I have 12 of these. (Laughter)

A takýchto mám 12. (smiech)

But what I plotted here is just some metric

To, čo som zosnoval, je len meranie,

that shows how fast we're searching.

ktoré ukazuje, ako rýchlo hľadáme.

In other words, we're looking for a needle in a haystack.

Inými slovami, hľadáme ihlu v kope sena.

We know how big the haystack is. It's the galaxy.

Vieme, aká veľká je tá kopa sena. Ide o galaxiu.

But we're going through the haystack no longer

Ale už v nej viac nehľadáme lyžičkou,

with a teaspoon but with a skip loader,

ale rovno bagrom,

because of this increase in speed.

lebo rýchlosť sa zvyšuje.

In fact, those of you who are still conscious

Tí z vás, ktorí sú stále vo forme

and mathematically competent,

a zdatní v matematike,

will note that this is a semi-log plot.

si všimnú, že ide o semilogaritmickú zápletku.

In other words, the rate of increase is exponential.

Inými slovami, úroveň rastu je exponenciálna.

It's exponentially improving. Now, exponential is an

Zlepšovanie je exponenciálne. Slovo exponenciálny sa používa

overworked word. You hear it on the media all the time.

príliš často. V médiách ho počujete neustále.

They don't really know what exponential means,

Oni v skutočnosti nevedia, čo znamená,

but this is exponential.

ale toto je exponenciálne.

In fact, it's doubling every 18 months, and, of course,

Rýchlosť sa zdvojnásobuje každých 18 mesiacov a

every card-carrying member of the digerati knows

každý držiteľ karty digerati samozrejme vie,

that that's Moore's Law.

že ide o Moorov zákon.

So this means that over the course of the next

Znamená to, že o 24 rokov

two dozen years, we'll be able to look at a million star systems,

budeme schopní pozrieť sa na milióny hviezdnych systémov,

a million star systems, looking for signals

milióny hviezdnych systémov a hľadať signály,

that would prove somebody's out there.

ktoré by dokázali, že tam vonku naozaj niekto je.

Well, a million star systems, is that interesting?

Milióny hviezdnych systémov – nie je to zaujímavé?

I mean, how many of those star systems have planets?

Koľko z týchto hviezdnych systémov má planéty?

And the facts are, we didn't know the answer to that

Faktom je, že odpoveď na túto otázku sme nepoznali

even as recently as 15 years ago, and in fact, we really

pred 15 rokmi, vlastne, sme ju nepoznali ani

didn't know it even as recently as six months ago.

pred šiestimi mesiacmi, ale teraz ju už

But now we do. Recent results suggest

poznáme. Posledné výsledky ukazujú,

that virtually every star has planets, and more than one.

že prakticky každá hviezda má planéty, a to viac než jednu.

They're like, you know, kittens. You get a litter.

Sú ako... mačiatka. Rodia sa vo vrhu.

You don't get one kitten. You get a bunch.

Nie po jednom. Je ich niekoľko.

So in fact, this is a pretty accurate estimate

V skutočnosti poznáme celkom presný počet

of the number of planets in our galaxy,

planét v našej galaxii, áno, mimochodom,

just in our galaxy, by the way,

len v našej galaxii,

and I remind the non-astronomy majors among you

a pripomínam tej väčšine z vás, ktorá nepatrí medzi astronómov,

that our galaxy is only one of 100 billion

že naša galaxia je len jednou zo 100 miliárd,

that we can see with our telescopes.

ktoré dokážeme vidieť teleskopmi.

That's a lot of real estate, but of course,

To je veľa nehnuteľností, ale, samozrejme,

most of these planets are going to be kind of worthless,

väčšina z týchto planét bude nevyužiteľná,

like, you know, Mercury, or Neptune.

ako napríklad Merkúr alebo Neptún.

Neptune's probably not very big in your life.

Neptún asi nezohráva vo vašom živote podstatnú úlohu.

So the question is, what fraction of these planets

Takže otázkou zostáva, aký zlomok týchto planét

are actually suitable for life?

je naozaj vhodný na život?

We don't know the answer to that either,

Ani na túto otázku nepoznáme odpoveď,

but we will learn that answer this year, thanks to

ale dozvieme sa ju ešte tento rok vďaka Keplerovmu vesmírnemu

NASA's Kepler Space Telescope,

teleskopu v službách agentúry NASA

and in fact, the smart money, which is to say the people who work on this project,

a bystrým investíciám, mám na mysli ľudí, ktorí pracujú na tomto projekte,

the smart money is suggesting that the fraction of planets

bystré investície navrhujú, že zlomok planét,

that might be suitable for life is maybe one in a thousand,

na ktorých by bol možný život, je približne 1 : 1 000,

one in a hundred, something like that.

1 : 100 alebo tak nejako.

Well, even taking the pessimistic estimate, that it's

Aj keď sa prikloníme k pesimistickému odhadu,

one in a thousand, that means that there are

t.j. 1 : 1 000, znamená to, že Zem má aspoň

at least a billion cousins of the Earth

milión bratrancov a sesterníc

just in our own galaxy.

a to len v našej galaxii.

Okay, now I've given you a lot of numbers here,

Teraz som vás zavalil samými číslami,

but they're mostly big numbers, okay, so, you know,

ale sú to väčšinou veľké čísla. OK, snažte sa

keep that in mind. There's plenty of real estate,

zapamätať si ich. Vo vesmíre sa nachádza veľa,

plenty of real estate in the universe,

veľmi veľa nehnuteľností

and if we're the only bit of real estate in which there's

a ak je toto jediná nehnuteľnosť, ktorú obývajú

some interesting occupants, that makes you a miracle,

zaujímaví okupanti, to nás robí zázračnými

and I know you like to think you're a miracle,

a viem, že si radi o sebe myslíte, že ste zázrak,

but if you do science, you learn rather quickly that

ale ak ste vedcom, veľmi rýchlo zistíte, že zakaždým,

every time you think you're a miracle, you're wrong,

keď si pomyslíte, že ste zázrak, mýlite sa, takže to

so probably not the case.

zjavne nie je ten prípad.

All right, so the bottom line is this:

Takže záverom je:

Because of the increase in speed, and because of the

odhadujem, že vďaka zvýšeniu rýchlosti

vast amount of habitable real estate in the cosmos, I figure

a neuveriteľnému množstvu obývateľných nehnuteľností vo vesmíre

we're going to pick up a signal within two dozen years.

do 24 rokov zachytíme signál.

And I feel strongly enough about that to make a bet with you:

A veľmi ma to láka k tomu, aby som sa s vami stavil,

Either we're going to find E.T. in the next two dozen years,

že buď nájdeme mimozemšťanov do 24 rokov,

or I'll buy you a cup of coffee.

alebo vás pozvem na šálku kávy.

So that's not so bad. I mean, even with two dozen years,

To nie je zlé. Do 24 rokov buď otvoríte

you open up your browser and there's news of a signal,

internetový prehľadávač a nájdete správy o zachytenom signáli,

or you get a cup of coffee.

alebo dostanete šálku kávy.

Now, let me tell you about some aspect of this that

Ešte by som vám rád povedal o niektorých aspektoch

people don't think about, and that is,

toho, že ľudia nemyslia na to, čo sa stane

what happens? Suppose that what I say is true.

ďalej. Predpokladajme, že je to pravda.

I mean, who knows, but suppose it happens.

Ktovie čo bude, ale predpokladajme, že sa to stane.

Suppose some time in the next two dozen years

Prepokladajme, že niekedy v najbližších dvoch desiatkach

we pick up a faint line that tells us

rokov zachytíme slabý signál, ktorý nám

we have some cosmic company.

napovie, že máme vo vesmíre spoločnosť.

What is the effect? What's the consequence?

Aký to má efekt? Čo bude nasledovať?

Now, I might be at ground zero for this.

Ja možno budem v epicentre toho všetkého.

I happen to know what the consequence for me would be,

Viem, čo by to znamenalo pre mňa, lebo sme už párkrát

because we've had false alarms. This is 1997,

mali plané poplachy. Táto fotografia je z r. 1997

and this is a photo I made at about 3 o'clock in the morning

a urobil som ju okolo tretej ráno v meste

in Mountain View here, when we were watching

Mountain View, keď sme pozorovali monitory

the computer monitors because we had picked up a signal

počítačov, lebo sme zachytili signál, o ktorom sme si mysleli:

that we thought, "This is the real deal." All right?

„Teraz ide do tuhého.“ Jasné?

And I kept waiting for the Men in Black to show up. Right?

Čakal som, že sa objavia Muži v čiernom, chápete?

I kept waiting for -- I kept waiting for my mom to call,

Stále som čakal – čakal som, že mi zavolá mama,

somebody to call, the government to call. Nobody called.

že niekto zavolá, že zavolá vláda. Nikto nezavolal.

Nobody called. I was so nervous

Úplne nikto. Bol som taký nervózny,

that I couldn't sit down. I just wandered around

že som neobsedel. Len som sa premával hore-dole

taking photos like this one, just for something to do.

a robil som fotografie ako je táto, len aby som niečo robil.

Well, at 9:30 in the morning, with my head down

O 9.30 ráno s hlavou na stole, lebo som celú noc

on my desk because I obviously hadn't slept all night,

nezažmúril oka, zazvonil telefón

the phone rings and it's The New York Times.

a bol to novinár z The New York Times.

And I think there's a lesson in that, and that lesson is

A vtedy som sa poučil, dostal som lekciu, že ak zachytíme

that if we pick up a signal, the media, the media will be on it

nejaký signál, médiá, práve médiá sa toho ujmú rýchlejšie

faster than a weasel on ball bearings. It's going to be fast.

ako včela sadne na med. Bude to rýchle. Tým si

You can be sure of that. No secrecy.

môžete byť istí. Žiadne tajnosti.

That's what happens to me. It kind of ruins my whole week,

To sa stane mne. Tak trochu mi to zničí celý týždeň,

because whatever I've got planned that week is kind of out the window.

lebo čokoľvek som si naplánoval, bude už minulosťou.

But what about you? What's it going to do to you?

Ale čo vy? Čo to urobí s vami?

And the answer is that we don't know the answer.

Odpoveďou je, že na to nepoznáme odpoveď.

We don't know what that's going to do to you,

not in the long term, and not even very much in the short term.

Nevieme, čo to urobí s vami,

nie dlhodobo a veľmi ani krátkodobo.

I mean, that would be a bit like

Je to akoby sme sa pýtali

asking Chris Columbus in 1491, "Hey Chris,

Krištofa Kolumba v r. 1491: „Hej, Krištof,

you know, what happens if it turns out that there's a

čo sa stane, ak sa ukáže, že medzi Japonskom, kam sa

continent between here and Japan, where you're sailing to,

plavíš, a nami sa nachádza kontinent? Aké to bude mať

what will be the consequences for humanity

následky pre ľudstvo,

if that turns out to be the case?"

ak to bude pravda?“

And I think Chris would probably offer you some answer

Myslím si, že Krištof by vám pravdepodobne dal nejakú odpoveď,

that you might not have understood, but it probably

ktorej by ste nerozumeli, ale pravdepodobne

wouldn't have been right, and I think that to predict

by nebola správna, a myslím si, že predpovedať, čo bude

what finding E.T.'s going to mean,

pre nás znamenať, ak nájdeme mimozemšťanov,

we can't predict that either.

tiež nie je možné.

But here are a couple things I can say.

Ale môžem o tom povedať zopár vecí.

To begin with, it's going to be a society that's way in advance of our own.

Na začiatok, bude to práve spoločnosť, v ktorej budú mať náskok.

You're not going to hear from alien Neanderthals.

Nebudete počuť o mimozemských neandertálcoch.

They're not building transmitters.

Nevyrábajú vysielače.

They're going to be ahead of us, maybe by a few thousand

Budú pred nami možno o niekoľko tisícok rokov,

years, maybe by a few millions years, but substantially

možno o niekoľko miliónov rokov, ale značne

ahead of us, and that means, if you can understand

pred nami, a to znamená, že ak budeme rozumieť tomu,

anything that they're going to say, then you might be able

čo povedia, potom by ste mohli obísť

to short-circuit history by getting information from a society

históriu a získať informácie od spoločnosti,

that's way beyond our own.

ktorá je pred nami.

Now, you might find that a bit hyperbolic, and maybe it is,

Možno si poviete, že je to riadne zveličené, a možno to naozaj tak je,

but nonetheless, it's conceivable that this will happen,

ale jednako je možné, že sa to stane.

and, you know, you could consider this like, I don't know,

Mohli by ste to prirovnať k tomu, že by ste napríklad

giving Julius Caesar English lessons and the key

dali Júliovi Cézarovi lekcie angličtiny a kľúč

to the library of Congress.

do knižnice Kongresu.

It would change his day, all right?

Zmenilo by to jeho dobu, však áno?

That's one thing. Another thing that's for sure

To je jedna vec. Druhá vec, a tá sa istotne

going to happen is that it will calibrate us.

stane, je, že nás to prestaví.

We will know that we're not that miracle, right,

Zistíme, že naozaj nie sme zázrační,

that we're just another duck in a row,

že sme len jednými z mnohých,

we're not the only kids on the block, and I think that that's

nie sme jediné deti na ihrisku, a myslím si, že

philosophically a very profound thing to learn.

z filozofického hľadiska dostaneme dôležitú lekciu.

We're not a miracle, okay?

Nie sme zázrak, chápete?

The third thing that it might tell you is somewhat vague,

Tretia vec, ktorú by sme sa mohli dozvedieť, je trochu nejasná,

but I think interesting and important,

ale myslím, že zaujímavá a dôležitá,

and that is, if you find a signal coming from a more

a to, ak zachytíme signál prichádzajúci z vyspelejšej

advanced society, because they will be,

spoločnosti, lebo určite budú vyspelejší,

that will tell you something about our own possibilities,

mohlo by nám to povedať viac o našich možnostiach,

that we're not inevitably doomed to self-destruction.

že nie sme nevyhnutne odsúdení na samozničenie.

Because they survived their technology,

Keďže oni prežili svoje technológie,

we could do it too.

my by sme mohli tiež.

Normally when you look out into the universe,

Keď sa normálne pozeráte do vesmíru,

you're looking back in time. All right?

pozeráte sa späť v čase. OK?

That's interesting to cosmologists.

To je zaujímavosťou pre kozmológov.

But in this sense, you actually can look into the future,

Ale v tomto slova zmysle sa môžete skutočne pozrieť do budúcnosti,

hazily, but you can look into the future.

síce zahmlene, ale môžete.

So those are all the sorts of things that would come from a detection.

Všetko sú to veci, ktoré by priniesla detekcia signálu.

Now, let me talk a little bit about something that happens

Dovoľte, aby som teraz povedal trochu o tom, čo sa stane

even in the meantime, and that is,

medzičasom. Myslím si, že

SETI, I think, is important, because it's exploration, and

inštitúcia SETI je dôležitá, lebo ide o skúmanie,

it's not only exploration, it's comprehensible exploration.

a to nie hocijaké, je to zrozumiteľné skúmanie.

Now, I gotta tell you, I'm always reading books about

Musím vám povedať, že som vždy rád čítal knihy

explorers. I find exploration very interesting,

o výskumníkoch. Výskumy považujem za veľmi zaujímavé.

Arctic exploration, you know, people like Magellan,

Skúmanie Arktídy, ľudia ako Magalhães,

Amundsen, Shackleton, you see Franklin down there,

Amundsen, Shackleton alebo Franklin,

Scott, all these guys. It's really nifty, exploration.

Scott a mnohí iní. Skúmanie je naozaj dômyselné.

And they're just doing it because they want to explore,

A oni to robia len preto, že chcú skúmať,

and you might say, "Oh, that's kind of a frivolous opportunity,"

a mohli by ste si povedať: „To je trochu zbytočné,“

but that's not frivolous. That's not a frivolous activity,

ale nie je. Nie je to len rozmar.

because, I mean, think of ants.

Predstavte si také mravce.

You know, most ants are programmed to follow one another

Väčšina mravcov je naprogramovaná tak, aby išli jeden po druhom

along in a long line, but there are a couple of ants,

v dlhom rade, ale je niekoľko mravcov,

maybe one percent of those ants, that are what they call

možno 1 %, ktoré sa nazývajú

pioneer ants, and they're the ones that wander off.

priekopnícke mravce, a to sú tie, ktoré putujú.

They're the ones you find on the kitchen countertop.

Práve ich nájdete na kuchynskej linke.

You gotta get them with your thumb before they

Rozpučíte ich prstom skôr ako nájdu

find the sugar or something.

cukor alebo niečo iné.

But those ants, even though most of them get wiped out,

Tieto mravce, hoci väčšina z nich je vyhladená,

those ants are the ones that are essential to the survival

práve tieto mravce sú základom prežitia celého

of the hive. So exploration is important.

mraveniska. Takže skúmanie je dôležité.

I also think that exploration is important in terms of

Skúmanie považujem za dôležité aj v tom zmysle,

being able to address what I think is a critical

že oslovuje aj to, čo si myslím, že kriticky chýba

lack in our society, and that is the lack of science literacy,

našej spoločnosti, a to nedostatok vedeckej gramotnosti,

the lack of the ability to even understand science.

nedostatok spôsobilosti čo i len chápať vedu.

Now, look, a lot has been written about the

Pozrite, veľa sa už napísalo o poľutovaniahodnej

deplorable state of science literacy in this country.

situácii vedeckej gramotnosti v tejto krajine.

You've heard about it.

Už ste o tom počuli.

Well, here's one example, in fact.

Uvediem jeden príklad.

Polls taken, this poll was taken 10 years ago.

Prieskum verejnej mienky spred 10 rokov

It shows like roughly one third of the public thinks

ukazuje, že približne jedna tretina verejnosti si myslí,

that aliens are not only out there, we're looking for them

že mimozemštania nielenže existujú, my ich hľadáme,

out there, but they're here, right?

ale oni sú aj tu, však?

Sailing the skies in their saucers and occasionally

Brázdia si po oblohe v tých svojich tanieroch a príležitostne

abducting people for experiments their parents wouldn't approve of.

niekoho unesú na experimenty, ktoré by rodičia neschválili.

Well, that would be interesting if it was true,

To by bolo zaujímavé, keby to bola pravda,

and job security for me, but I don't think the evidence is

a zabezpečenie práce pre mňa, ale nemyslím si, že dôkazy sú

very good. That's more, you know, sad than significant.

kvalitné. Je to skôr smutné než závažné.

But there are other things that people believe

Ale existujú iné veci, ktoré ľudia považujú

that are significant, like the efficacy of homeopathy,

za závažné, ako napr. účinnosť homeopatie

or that evolution is just, you know, sort of a crazy idea

alebo že evolúcia je len akási bláznivá myšlienka,

by scientists without any legs, or, you know, evolution,

ktorú si len tak vymysleli vedci,

all that sort of thing, or global warming.

a veci podobné ako globálne otepľovanie.

These sorts of ideas don't really have any validity,

Takéto myšlienky naozaj nie sú presvedčivé nato,

that you can't trust the scientists.

aby ste nedôverovali vedcom.

Now, we've got to solve that problem, because that's

Tento problém musíme vyriešiť, lebo je to dosť

a critically important problem, and you might say,

kritický problém, a možno si poviete:

"Well, okay, how are we gonna solve that problem with SETI?"

„No dobre, ale ako nám inštitút SETI pomôže vyriešiť tento problém?“

Well, let me suggest to you that SETI obviously can't

Dovoľte, aby som vám navrhol, že inštitút SETI zjavne nedokáže

solve the problem, but it can address the problem.

vyriešiť problém, ale dokáže ho adresovať.

It can address the problem by getting young people

Snaží sa adresovať problém tým, že u mladých ľudí

interested in science. Look, science is hard, it

vzbudzuje záujem o vedu. Pozrite, veda je náročná,

has a reputation of being hard, and the facts are, it is hard,

má takú reputáciu a v skutočnosti taká naozaj aj je.

and that's the result of 400 years of science, right?

A to je výsledok 400 rokov... Mám tým na mysli to,

I mean, in the 18th century, in the 18th century

že v 18. stor. ste sa mohli stať

you could become an expert on any field of science

expertom v akomkoľvek vednom odbore za jedno

in an afternoon by going to a library,

popoludnie alebo ak ste zašli do knižnice,

if you could find the library, right?

ak sa vám ju podarilo nájsť.

In the 19th century, if you had a basement lab,

Ak ste v 19. stor. mali v pivnici laboratórium,

you could make major scientific discoveries

mohli ste uskutočniť významné vedecké objavy

in your own home. Right? Because there was all this

u vás doma. Veda sa len tak ponevierala

science just lying around waiting for somebody to pick it up.

naokolo a čakala, kým sa jej niekto chopí.

Now, that's not true anymore.

Také niečo už neexistuje.

Today, you've got to spend years in grad school

V súčasnosti musíte stráviť roky na škole, aby ste získali titul,

and post-doc positions just to figure out what

a na postdoktorandských pozíciách, len aby ste zistili,

the important questions are.

ktoré problémy sú dôležité.

It's hard. There's no doubt about it.

Je to náročné. O tom niet pochýb.

And in fact, here's an example: the Higgs boson,

A tu je jeden príklad – Higgsov bozón,

finding the Higgs boson.

objavenie Higgsovho bozónu.

Ask the next 10 people you see on the streets,

Opýtajte sa 10 ľudí na ulici:

"Hey, do you think it's worthwhile to spend billions

„Myslíte si, že stojí za to, aby sme míňali milióny

of Swiss francs looking for the Higgs boson?"

švajčiarskych frankov na hľadanie Higgsovho bozónu?“

And I bet the answer you're going to get, is,

A stavím sa, že dostanete odpoveď:

"Well, I don't know what the Higgs boson is,

„Ja ani neviem, čo je to Higgsov bozón

and I don't know if it's important."

a neviem, či je to dôležité.“

And probably most of the people wouldn't even know

A pravdepodobne by väčšina ľudí ani nepoznala

the value of a Swiss franc, okay?

hodnotu švajčiarskych frankov.

And yet we're spending billions of Swiss francs on this problem.

A aj tak sa míňajú milióny švajčiarskych frankov na riešenie tohto problému.

Okay? So that doesn't get people interested in science

OK? Takže príčinou, prečo ľudí nezaujíma veda, je,

because they can't comprehend what it's about.

že nedokážu pochopiť, o čom je.

SETI, on the other hand, is really simple.

Inštitúcia SETI je na druhej strane veľmi prostá.

We're going to use these big antennas and we're going to

Použijeme tieto veľké antény na odpočúvanie

try to eavesdrop on signals. Everybody can understand that.

signálov. To dokáže pochopiť každý.

Yes, technologically, it's very sophisticated,

Áno, technologicky je to veľmi prepracované,

but everybody gets the idea.

ale každý to chápe.

So that's one thing. The other thing is, it's exciting science.

To je jedna vec. Druhá vec je, že ide o vzrušujúcu vedu.

It's exciting because we're naturally interested

Je vzrušujúca, lebo nás prirodzene zaujímajú

in other intelligent beings, and I think that's

iné inteligentné bytosti a myslím si, že to je

part of our hardwiring.

súčasťou našej podstaty.

I mean, we're hardwired to be interested

Mám tým na mysli to, že nás zaujímajú

in beings that might be, if you will, competitors,

bytosti, ktoré môžu byť, ak chcete, našimi rivalmi

or if you're the romantic sort, possibly even mates. Okay?

alebo, ak ste skôr romantickej povahy, tak možno našimi partnermi.

I mean, this is analogous to our interest in things that

Je to analogické s naším záujmom o veci, ktoré majú

have big teeth. Right?

veľké zuby. OK?

We're interested in things that have big teeth, and you

Zaujímajú nás veci, ktoré majú veľké zuby, a môžete

can see the evolutionary value of that, and you can also see

v tom vidieť evolučnú opodstatnenosť a tiež môžete vidieť

the practical consequences by watching Animal Planet.

praktické následky, ak si pozriete kanál Animal Planet.

You notice they make very few programs about gerbils.

Všimnete si, že len málo programov je o pieskomiloch.

It's mostly about things that have big teeth.

Väčšina je o zvieratách s veľkými zubami.

Okay, so we're interested in these sorts of things.

OK, takže nás zaujímajú podobné veci.

And not just us. It's also kids.

A nielen nás. Deti tiež.

This allows you to pay it forward by using this subject as a

A to vám umožňuje odplatu použitia tejto témy ako

hook to science, because SETI involves all kinds of science,

lákadla na vedu, lebo SETI zahŕňa všetky vedné odvetvia.

obviously biology, obviously astronomy,

Určite tam je biológia, očividne aj astronómia,

but also geology, also chemistry, various scientific

ale tiež geológia, chémia a rôzne iné vedné

disciplines all can be presented in the guise of,

disciplíny nájdeme v prestrojení

"We're looking for E.T."

„Hľadáme mimozemšťanov“.

So to me this is interesting and important, and in fact,

Takže pre mňa je to zaujímavé a dôležité, dokonca

it's my policy, even though I give a lot of talks to adults,

je to moja politika, aj keď veľa dohováram dospelým,

you give talks to adults, and two days later they're back where they were.

vy dohovárate dospelým, a o dva dni sú tam, kde boli predtým.

But if you give talks to kids, you know,

Ale keď dohovárate deťom,

one in 50 of them, some light bulb goes off, and they think,

1 z 50 to pohne a povie si:

"Gee, I'd never thought of that," and then they go,

„Jéjda, o tom som nikdy nepremýšľal,“ a ide,

you know, read a book or a magazine or whatever.

prečíta si knihu alebo časopis alebo čokoľvek.

They get interested in something.

Dokáže ich zaujať hocičo.

Now it's my theory, supported only by anecdotal,

Mojou teóriou, ktorá je podporená len anekdotickými,

personal anecdotal evidence, but nonetheless,

osobnými dôkazmi, ale predsa, je,

that kids get interested in something between the ages

že deti získavajú záujem medzi 8. a 11.

of eight and 11. You've got to get them there.

rokom. To nepremeškajte.

So, all right, I give talks to adults, that's fine, but I try

Takže, dohováram dospelým, je to OK, ale snažím sa, aby

and make 10 percent of the talks that I give,

10 % prednášok mojich prednášok bolo

I try and make those for kids.

určených pre deti.

I remember when a guy came to our high school, actually,

Pamätám si, keď k nám na strednú školu prišiel jeden pán,

it was actually my junior high school. I was in sixth grade.

vlastne to bolo na 2. stupni základnej školy. Bol som šiestak.

And he gave some talk. All I remember from it

Mal prednášku. Pamätám si z nej len

was one word: electronics.

jedno slovo: elektronika.

It was like Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate," right,

Bolo to ako keď Dustin Hoffman vo filme Absolvent

when he said "plastics," whatever that means, plastics.

povie „plasty“, čokoľvek to znamená. Plasty.

All right, so the guy said electronics. I don't remember

OK, ten pán povedal elektronika. Nepamätám si nič iné.

anything else. In fact, I don't remember anything

Vlastne si nepamätám nič z toho, čo za celý rok

that my sixth grade teacher said all year,

povedal môj učiteľ, ale pamätám

but I remember electronics.

si elektroniku.

And so I got interested in electronics, and you know,

A tak som sa začal zaujímať o elektroniku, a, viete,

I studied to get my ham license. I was wiring up stuff.

študoval som, aby som získal licenciu na amatérsku stanicu.

Here I am at about 15 or something, doing that sort of stuff.

Hral som sa s káblikmi. Na tejto fotke mám približne 15 rokov.

Okay? That had a big effect on me.

OK? Veľmi ma to ovplyvnilo.

So that's my point, that you can have a big effect

To je moja pointa. Na deti môžete mať obrovský

on these kids.

vplyv.

In fact, this reminds me, I don't know, a couple years ago

Vlastne mi to pripomína, neviem, možno tak pred pár rokmi

I gave a talk at a school in Palo Alto

som prednášal na škole v meste Palo Alto,

where there were about a dozen 11-year-olds

kde bol asi tak tucet 11-ročných detí,

that had come to this talk.

ktoré sa zúčastnili prednášky.

I had been brought in to talk to these kids for an hour.

Týmto deťom som mal prednášať hodinu.

Eleven-year-olds, they're all sitting in a little semi-circle

11-roční. Všetci sedeli v polkruhu, pozerali sa

looking up at me with big eyes, and I started,

na mňa veľkými očami, a ja som začal.

there was a white board behind me, and I started off

Za mnou bola tabuľa a začal som tým, že som na ňu

by writing a one with 22 zeroes after it, and I said,

napísal jednotku a za ňou 22 núl. Povedal som:

"All right, now look, this is the number of stars

„Pozrite, toto je počet hviezd vo viditeľnom

in the visible universe, and this number is so big

vesmíre a toto číslo je také veľké, že preň

there's not even a name for it."

neexistuje ani názov.“

And one of these kids shot up his hand, and he said,

Jedno z tých detí zdvihlo ruku a povedalo:

"Well, actually there is a name for it.

„No, vlastne ono má pomenovanie.

It's a sextra-quadra-hexa-something or other." Right?

Je to sexta-kvadra-hexa-niečo alebo tak.“

Now, that kid was wrong by four orders of magnitude,

Pomýlil sa o štyri veľkostné rady,

but there was no doubt about it, these kids were smart.

ale niet pochýb, že tie deti boli múdre.

Okay? So I stopped giving the lecture.

OK? Takže som prestal prednášať.

All they wanted to do was ask questions.

Túžili len po jednom – klásť mi otázky.

In fact, my last comments to these kids, at the end I said,

Vlastne moje posledné slová, ktoré som tým deťom povedal, boli:

"You know, you kids are smarter

„Deti, viete, že ste múdrejšie

than the people I work with." Now — (Laughter)

ako ľudia, s ktorými pracujem?“ A – (smiech)

They didn't even care about that.

a ich to ani nezaujímalo.

What they wanted was my email address

Chceli moju e-mailovú adresu,

so they could ask me more questions. (Laughter)

aby sa mohli pýtať ešte viac otázok. (smiech)

Let me just say, look, my job is a privilege

Dovoľte, aby som povedal, že moja práca je privilégiom,

because we're in a special time.

lebo žijeme vo výnimočnej dobe.

Previous generations couldn't do this experiment at all.

Predchádzajúce generácie nemohli takto experimentovať.

In another generation down the line,

Myslím si, že nasledujúca generácia

I think we will have succeeded.

bude úspešná.

So to me, it is a privilege, and when I look in the mirror,

Pre mňa to znamená privilégium, a keď sa pozriem do zrkadla,

the facts are that I really don't see myself.

v skutočnosti nevidím seba.

What I see is the generation behind me.

To, čo vidím, je táto generácia.

These are some kids from the Huff School, fourth graders.

Sú to deti zo školy Huff School, štvrtáci.

I talked there, what, two weeks ago, something like that.

Prednášal som tam zhruba pred dvomi týždňami.

I think that if you can instill some interest in science

Myslím si, že ak dokážete vštepiť záujem o vedu

and how it works, well, that's a payoff

a o to, ako funguje, je to odmena

beyond easy measure. Thank you very much.

nadovšetko. Ďakujem veľmi pekne.

(Applause)

(potlesk)