Questioning the universe | Stephen Hawking

Translator: Rok Vidmar Reviewer: Nika Kotnik

There is nothing bigger or older than the universe.

Nič ni večje in starejše od vesolja.

The questions I would like to talk about are:

Vprašanja, o katerih bi želel govoriti, so:

one, where did we come from?

najprej, od kod izviramo?

How did the universe come into being?

Kako je vesolje nastalo?

Are we alone in the universe?

Smo v vesolju sami?

Is there alien life out there?

Je tam zunaj tuje življenje?

What is the future of the human race?

Kakšna je prihodnost človeštva?

Up until the 1920s,

Do 1920-ih

everyone thought the universe was essentially static

so vsi mislili, da je vesolje v bistvu statično

and unchanging in time.

in da se s časom ne spreminja.

Then it was discovered that the universe was expanding.

Potem so odkrili, da se vesolje širi.

Distant galaxies were moving away from us.

Daljne galaksije se odmikajo od nas.

This meant they must have been closer together in the past.

To pomeni, da so nekoč morale biti bolj skupaj.

If we extrapolate back,

Če zavrtimo čas nazaj,

we find we must have all been on top of each other

vidimo, da smo morali biti drug vrh drugega

about 15 billion years ago.

pred približno 15 milijardami let.

This was the Big Bang, the beginning of the universe.

To je bil Veliki pok, začetek vesolja.

But was there anything before the Big Bang?

Vendar, je bilo kaj pred začetkom Velikega poka?

If not, what created the universe?

Če ne, kaj je naredilo vesolje?

Why did the universe emerge from the Big Bang the way it did?

Zakaj se je vesolje pojavilo iz Velikega poka tako, kot je?

We used to think that the theory of the universe

Menili smo, da teorijo vesolja

could be divided into two parts.

lahko razdelimo na dva dela.

First, there were the laws

Prvi del, tu so zakoni

like Maxwell's equations and general relativity

kot so Maxwellove enačbe in splošna relativnost,

that determined the evolution of the universe,

ki so določili razvoj vesolja

given its state over all of space at one time.

glede na njegovo stanje v vsem prostoru ob določenem času.

And second, there was no question of the initial state of the universe.

Drugi del, začetno stanje vesolja, ni bilo vprašanje.

We have made good progress on the first part,

V prvem delu smo dobro napredovali

and now have the knowledge of the laws of evolution

in zdaj poznamo zakone razvoja v celoti,

in all but the most extreme conditions.

razen v najbolj ekstremnih pogojih.

But until recently, we have had little idea

A do nedavnega smo imeli o začetnih pogojih

about the initial conditions for the universe.

za vesolje bolj malo zamisli.

However, this division into laws of evolution and initial conditions

Vseeno, ta delitev na zakone razvoja in začetne pogoje

depends on time and space being separate and distinct.

zavisi od tega, ali sta čas in prostor ločena in različna.

Under extreme conditions, general relativity and quantum theory

V ekstremnih pogojih splošna relativnost in kvantna teorija

allow time to behave like another dimension of space.

dopuščata, da se čas obnaša kot še ena razsežnost prostora.

This removes the distinction between time and space,

To odstrani razliko med časom in prostorom

and means the laws of evolution can also determine the initial state.

in pomeni, da lahko tudi zakoni razvoja določajo začetno stanje.

The universe can spontaneously create itself out of nothing.

Vesolje se lahko spontano ustvari iz niča.

Moreover, we can calculate a probability that the universe

Poleg tega lahko izračunamo verjetnosti, ki jih je vesolje

was created in different states.

ustvarilo v različnih stanjih.

These predictions are in excellent agreement

Te napovedi se imenitno ujemajo

with observations by the WMAP satellite of the cosmic microwave background,

z opazovanji prasevanja, ki je odtis ranega vesolja,

which is an imprint of the very early universe.

s satelitom WMAP.

We think we have solved the mystery of creation.

Mislimo, da smo rešili skrivnost stvarjenja.

Maybe we should patent the universe

Morda bi morali patentirati vesolje

and charge everyone royalties for their existence.

in vsem zaračunavati tantieme za njihov obstoj.

I now turn to the second big question:

Zdaj se obračam k drugemu velikemu vprašanju:

are we alone, or is there other life in the universe?

smo sami, ali je kje še kakšno življenje v vesolju?

We believe that life arose spontaneously on the Earth,

Verjamemo, da se je na Zemlji življenje pojavilo spontano,

so it must be possible for life to appear on other suitable planets,

zato mora biti možno, da se življenje pojavlja na drugih primernih planetih,

of which there seem to be a large number in the galaxy.

ki jih je, kot kaže, v galaksiji veliko.

But we don't know how life first appeared.

Vendar ne vemo, kako se je pojavilo prvo življenje.

We have two pieces of observational evidence

Z opazovanji smo dobili dva dokaza

on the probability of life appearing.

glede verjetnosti, da se življenje pojavi.

The first is that we have fossils of algae from 3.5 billion years ago.

Prvi je, da imamo fosile alg izpred 3,5 milijarde let.

The Earth was formed 4.6 billion years ago

Zemlja se je oblikovala pred 4,6 milijardami let

and was probably too hot for about the first half billion years.

in je bila verjetno prevroča približno prvo polovico milijarde let.

So life appeared on Earth

Tako se je življenje na Zemlji pojavilo

within half a billion years of it being possible,

v pol milijarde let takoj, ko se je lahko,

which is short compared to the 10-billion-year lifetime

kar je malo glede na 10 milijardno življenjsko dobo

of a planet of Earth type.

planeta, kot je Zemlja.

This suggests that the probability of life appearing is reasonably high.

To pomeni, da je verjetnost, da se življenje pojavi, dokaj visoka.

If it was very low, one would have expected it

Če bi bila zelo nizka, bi bilo pričakovati,

to take most of the ten billion years available.

da bi to potrebovalo večino od 10 milijard let, ki so na voljo.

On the other hand, we don't seem to have been visited by aliens.

Po drugi strani kaže, da nas nezemljani niso obiskali.

I am discounting the reports of UFOs.

Poročil o NLP ne štejem.

Why would they appear only to cranks and weirdos?

Zakaj bi se prikazovali samo usekancem in čudakom?

If there is a government conspiracy to suppress the reports

Če pa gre za vladne zarote, da zadržujejo poročila

and keep for itself the scientific knowledge the aliens bring,

in zase obdržijo znanstvene dosežke, ki jih nezemljani prinašajo,

it seems to have been a singularly ineffective policy so far.

se zdi, da je to bila doslej neverjetno učinkovita politika.

Furthermore, despite an extensive search by the SETI project,

Nadalje, kljub obsežnemu iskanju s projektom SETI,

we haven't heard any alien television quiz shows.

nismo slišali še nobenega televizijskega kviza nezemljanov.

This probably indicates that there are no alien civilizations

To najbrž pomeni, da ni nobene tuje civilizacije

at our stage of development

na naši stopnji razvoja

within a radius of a few hundred light years.

v polmeru nekaj sto svetlobnih let.

Issuing an insurance policy

Izdati zavarovalno polico

against abduction by aliens seems a pretty safe bet.

proti ugrabitvi nezemljanov je videti precej varno.

This brings me to the last of the big questions:

To me pripelje do zadnjega od velikih vprašanj:

the future of the human race.

prihodnost človeške rase.

If we are the only intelligent beings in the galaxy,

Če smo edina inteligentna bitja v galaksiji,

we should make sure we survive and continue.

bi morali zagotoviti, da bomo preživeli in ostali.

But we are entering an increasingly dangerous period of our history.

Pa vstopamo v čedalje bolj nevarno obdobje naše zgodovine.

Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth

Naše prebivalstvo in naša uporaba omejenih virov planeta Zemlje

are growing exponentially,

naraščata eksponentno,

along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill.

skupaj z zmožnostjo naše tehnike, da spremenimo okolje na dobro ali slabo.

But our genetic code

A naš genetski kod

still carries the selfish and aggressive instincts

še vedno prenaša sebične in agresivne nagone,

that were of survival advantage in the past.

ki so bili v preteklosti prednost za preživetje.

It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster

Dovolj težko bo že v naslednjem stoletju,

in the next hundred years,

da se izognemo katastrofi,

let alone the next thousand or million.

kaj šele v naslednjih tisoč ali milijon let.

Our only chance of long-term survival

Naša edina možnost za dolgoročno preživetje ni,

is not to remain inward-looking on planet Earth,

da pozornost usmerjamo noter na planet Zemljo,

but to spread out into space.

ampak da se razširimo ven, v vesolje.

The answers to these big questions

Odgovori na ta velika vprašanja

show that we have made remarkable progress in the last hundred years.

kažejo, da smo v zadnjih sto letih naredili izjemen napredek.

But if we want to continue beyond the next hundred years,

A če želimo ostati tudi po naslednjih sto letih,

our future is in space.

je naša prihodnost v vesolju.

That is why I am in favor of manned --

Zato sem za vesoljske polete

or should I say, personned -- space flight.

z moštvi – ali naj raje rečem z osebjem.

All of my life I have sought to understand the universe

Vse svoje življenje sem skušal razumeti vesolje

and find answers to these questions.

in najti odgovore na ta vprašanja.

I have been very lucky

Imel sem veliko srečo,

that my disability has not been a serious handicap.

da me moja prizadetost ni ni resno ovirala.

Indeed, it has probably given me more time than most people

Dejansko mi je verjetno zagotovila več časa, kot večini ljudi,

to pursue the quest for knowledge.

da sem sledil iskanju znanja.

The ultimate goal is a complete theory of the universe,

Končni cilj je popolna teorija vesolja,

and we are making good progress.

in kar dobro napredujemo.

Thank you for listening.

Hvala za poslušanje.

Chris Anderson: Professor, if you had to guess either way,

Chris Anderson: Profesor, če bi morali ugibati v katero koli smer,

do you now believe that it is more likely than not

ali zdaj verjamete, da je verjetnost večja, kot ne,

that we are alone in the Milky Way,

da smo v Rimski cesti sami,

as a civilization of our level of intelligence or higher?

kot civilizacija na naši ravni inteligence ali višje?

This answer took seven minutes, and really gave me an insight

Za odgovor je bilo potrebnih sedem minut, kar mi je dalo dober vpogled v to,

into the incredible act of generosity this whole talk was for TED.

kako neverjetno velikodušno dejanje za TED je bil ves ta govor.

Stephen Hawking: I think it quite likely that we are the only civilization

Stephen Hawking: Mislim, da je zelo verjetno, da smo edina civilizacija

within several hundred light years;

v območju več sto svetlobnih let;

otherwise we would have heard radio waves.

sicer bi slišali radijske valove.

The alternative is that civilizations don't last very long,

Druga možnost je, da civilizacije ne trajajo zelo dolgo,

but destroy themselves.

ampak se uničijo.

CA: Professor Hawking, thank you for that answer.

CA: Profesor Hawking, hvala za ta odgovor.

We will take it as a salutary warning, I think,

Vzeli ga bomo, mislim, kot poslovilno opozorilo

for the rest of our conference this week.

za preostanek naše konference ta teden.

Professor, we really thank you for the extraordinary effort you made

Profesor, res hvala za izreden trud,

to share your questions with us today.

da ste danes z nami delili vaša vprašanja.

Thank you very much indeed.

Res najlepša hvala.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)