An inventory of the invisible | John Lloyd

譯者: Chih-Yuan Huang 審譯者: Leonard Lin

So the question is, what is invisible?

所以問題是，有哪些東西是看不見的？

There is more of it than you think, actually.

答案比你想的還要多。

Everything, I would say. Everything that matters

我會說，所有東西，所有重要的東西

except every thing and except matter.

除了所有的，也除了東西。

We can see matter. But we can't see what's the matter.

我們可以看到東西，但我們看不見的這些東西實質到底是甚麼。

As in this cryptic sentence I found in The Guardian recently:

就像我最近在《衛報》看到的一句晦澀的句子。

"The marriage suffered a setback in 1965,

「這段婚姻在1965年遭遇了重挫，

when the husband was killed by the wife."

那年妻子殺害了丈夫。」

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

There's a world of invisibility there, isn't there?

這其間可真有許多不可告人的秘密，不是嗎?

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

So, we can see the stars and the planets,

所以我們可以看到天空的許多星星

but we can't see what holds them apart

但我們看不到是什麼使他們分離

or what draws them together.

也看不到是什麼使他們聚集的。

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

對於物質，就如對於人們，我們只能看到表面

We can't see into the engine room.

無法深入核心。

We can't see what makes people tick, at least not without difficulty.

我們看不到人們做事的動機，至少不能輕鬆的就判斷而知 。

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

而我們觀察的越仔細，真相就越看不清楚。

In fact, if you look really closely at stuff,

事實上，如果你真的足夠靠近去觀察事物

if you look at the basic substructure of matter,

如果你觀察物質的基本構造

there isn't anything there.

那裡什麼都沒有

Electrons disappear in a kind of fuzz,

電子消失成一陣模糊的波動，

and there is only energy. And you can't see energy.

只剩下能量，而我們看不到能量

So everything that matters, that's important, is invisible.

因此對於任何事物來說，重要的是"看不見"的東西

One slightly silly thing that's invisible

還有一個比較可笑的東西，關於"看不見"的

is this story, which is invisible to you.

這個故事，現在對你們來說還是"看不見"的

And I'm now going to make it visible to you in your minds.

但我即將讓它現形在你們腦海之中。

It's about an M.P. called Geoffrey Dickens.

有一位前國會議員，傑佛瑞狄更斯(Geoffrey Dickens)

The late Geoffrey Dickens, M.P. was attending a fete in his constituency.

正在他的選區參加一個宴會

Wherever he went, at every stall he stopped he was closely followed

不管他走到哪裡，在他停下來的每一個地方他都被一個

by a devoted smiling woman of indescribable ugliness.

狂熱且奇醜而微笑的婦女緊緊跟隨者。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

Try as he might, he couldn't get away from her.

僅管他努力嘗試，還是始終無法擺脫她。

A few days later he received a letter from a constituent

幾天以後他收到了一位選民的來信，

saying how much she admired him,

傾述她的仰慕之情，

had met him at a fete and asking for a signed photograph.

回顧宴會的一面之緣以及索求一張簽名的照片。

After her name, written in brackets was the apt description, horse face.

在她的名字後面，括號內寫著一個恰如其分的描述詞:馬臉。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

"I've misjudged this women," thought Mr. Dickens.

"我錯怪這位女士了"狄更斯議員想到

"Not only is she aware of her physical repulsiveness,

"她不僅僅認知到自己的外表令人厭惡，

she turns it to her advantage.

她還將其加以利用。

A photo is not enough."

一張照片是不夠的。

So he went out and bought a plastic frame to put the photograph in.

於是他出去買了一個塑膠像框將照片放入其中。

And on the photograph, he wrote with a flourish,

而且在照片上他大筆一揮寫上

"To Horse Face, with love from Geoffrey Dickens, M.P."

"致馬臉，您親愛的議員-傑佛瑞狄更斯"

After it had been sent off, his secretary said to him,

當照片寄出去以後，他的秘書跟他說:

"Did you get that letter from the woman at the fete?

"你收到那個宴會上的女人的來信了嘛?

I wrote Horse Face on her, so you'd remember who she was."

我在上面寫上了'馬臉'，以便使您能記得她"

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

I bet he thought he wished he was invisible, don't you?

我想他寧可自己是隱藏起來，不是嘛?

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

So, one of the interesting things about invisibility

所以"看不見"的一個有趣的特點是

is that things that we can't see

我們無法看見的東西

we also can't understand.

我們也無法理解

Gravity is one thing that we can't see

重力就是一個我們看不見的東西

and which we don't understand.

我們也無法理解它

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

在四種基本力中它是最神秘的，

and the weakest.

也是最弱的力

And nobody really knows what it is or why it's there.

沒有人知道它是甚麼，為何存在

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

姑且不論真假，艾薩克牛頓爵士，史上最偉大的科學家，

he thought Jesus came to Earth specifically to operate the levers of gravity.

他認為耶穌的降臨就僅僅是為了操縱重力這個槓桿

That's what he thought he was there for.

他認為這就是耶穌的使命。

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

所以再聰明的人，在那裡也可能出錯，我不知道。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

Consciousness. I see all your faces.

意識。我可以看見您的臉。

I have no idea what any of you are thinking. Isn't that amazing?

但我卻不知道您們任何一人在想甚麼。這難道不令人驚訝嗎?

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

我們不能閱讀他人的想法，這難到不是很不可思議嗎?

But we can touch each other, taste each other perhaps, if we get close enough.

但是我們可以互相觸摸，如果我們夠親密的話，我們也可能相互的親熱

But we can't read each other's minds. I find that quite astonishing.

但是我們不能知道對方在想甚麼。我覺得這很讓人驚訝。

In the Sufi faith, this great Middle Eastern religion,

在中東的宗教蘇菲教派的信仰當中-

which some claim is the route of all religions,

有些人認為蘇菲教派是一切宗教的根源，

Sufi masters are all telepaths, so they say.

據說，蘇菲長老都懂讀心術

But their main exercise of telepathy

但是他們使用心靈感應的主要目的

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

就是向外界傳達這樣的一個強而有力的訊號:它不存在

So that's why we don't think it exists,

所以也就不難理解為甚麼我們不相信讀心術的存在，

the Sufi masters working on us.

這是蘇菲長老們對我們所作的好事

In the question of consciousness

談到意識

and artificial intelligence,

和人工智能

artificial intelligence has really, like the study of consciousness,

人工智能的研究如同對於意識的研究一樣，

gotten nowhere. We have no idea how consciousness works.

毫無進展。我們完全不知道意識是如何運作的。

With artificial intelligence, not only have they not created artificial intelligence,

使用人工智能技術不僅沒有創造出人工智慧，

they haven't yet created artificial stupidity.

也沒有創造出"人工愚蠢"

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

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

物理學的定理：不可見、永恆、全能、無所不在，全部都擁有強大的力量

Remind you of anyone?

這讓你們想起什麼了嗎？

Interesting. I'm, as you can guess,

很有趣。就如你們所想，

not a materialist, I'm an immaterialist.

我不是一個唯物論者，我是個非唯物主義者

And I've found a very useful new word, ignostic. Okay?

而我找到了一個很有用的新字，忽視主義者(ignostic)

I'm an ignostic.

我就是一位忽視主義者。

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

我拒絕被捲入上帝是否存在的問題中，

until somebody properly defines the terms.

除非有人恰當的定義這個名詞。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

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

另一個我們無法看見的是人類基因

And this is increasingly peculiar,

而且還越來越怪異

because about 20 years ago, when they started delving into the genome,

因為大約20年前，當人們開始探索基因圖譜時

they thought it would probably contain around 100,000 genes.

當時他們預估人類的基因組大概會在十萬個左右

Geneticists will know this, but every year since,

遺傳學家對這個比較熟悉，但是從那以後的每一年

it's been revised downwards.

這個數字不斷往下修正

We now think there are likely to be only just over 20,000

我們現在相信人類基因組

genes in the human genome.

大約只有將近兩萬個基因而已了

This is extraordinary. Because rice -- get this --

這真是奇特，因為稻米，聽好了

rice is known to have 38 thousand genes.

稻米是有三萬八千個基因的

Potatoes, potatoes have 48 chromosomes. Do you know that?

馬鈴薯擁有與48個染色體，你知道嗎？

Two more than people,

比人類多兩個

and the same as a gorilla.

大猩猩也這樣

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

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

你看不到這些東西。但他們確實存在，非常奇怪

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

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

白天的星空，我總覺得它令人著迷

The universe disappears.

整個宇宙好像都不見了。

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

光照越強，能看到的反而越少。

Time, nobody can see time.

時間，沒人能看到時間

I don't know if you know this. Modern physics,

我不知道你們有沒有聽過這個。現代物理，

there is a big movement in modern physics

有一個重大的突破

to decide that time doesn't really exist,

就是確定了時間並不存在

because it's too inconvenient for the figures.

因為它很難轉換到數學模式之中

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

所以乾脆不存在，這樣就省事多了

You can't see the future, obviously.

很顯然你看不到未來

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

而除了回憶之外你也看不到過去

One of the interesting things about the past is

一個關於過去的有趣事情

you particularly can't see. My son asked me this the other day,

是有一天我兒子問我，

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

他說"爸爸，你能記得我兩歲時候的樣子嗎?"

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

我說:"可以阿"他說:"為甚麼我不行呢?"

Isn't that extraordinary? You cannot remember

這難道不奇怪嗎?你記不得

what happened to you earlier than the age of two or three,

你兩三歲之前的事情

which is great news for psychoanalysts,

不過對於心理學家卻是一個好消息

because otherwise they'd be out of a job.

不然的話他們就要失業了

Because that's where all the stuff happens

因為所有的事情都是那段時間發生的

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

that makes you who you are.

使得你變成了今天這個樣子

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

另一個不可見的東西是我們依賴的架構

This is fascinating. You probably know, some of you,

這很有趣。你們之中的某些人也許知道

that cells are continually renewed. You can see it in skin and this kind of stuff.

細胞是不斷的更新的。你可以在皮膚和其他的外部器官上看到這種情況。

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

皮膚脫落，頭髮生長，指甲等諸如此類。

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

但是你身體裡的細胞在某一個時刻也會更新。

Taste buds, every 10 days or so.

味蕾大概十天左右更新。

Livers and internal organs sort of take a bit longer. A spine takes several years.

肝臟和其他的內部器官都可能護長一點。脊椎要幾年。

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

不過七年之後。你身體裡的每一個細胞

remains from what was there seven years ago.

都和七年前不在一樣了

The question is, who, then, are we?

那麼問題是我們是誰?

What are we? What is this thing that we hang on,

我們是甚麼，我們一直依賴的這個東西是甚麼，

that is actually us?

這真的是我們本身嗎?

Okay. Atoms, you can't see them.

原子，我們都無法看見

Nobody ever will. They're smaller than the wavelength of light.

沒人可以看見，它們比光的波長還要小

Gas, you can't see that.

氣體也不可見

Interesting. Somebody mentioned 1600 recently.

非常的有意思。最近有人提到了西元1600年

Gas was invented in 1600

Gas(氣體)這個字在西元1600年

by a Dutch chemist called Van Helmont.

被一位叫Van Helmont的荷蘭化學家所發明

It's said to be the most successful ever invention

這被認為是有史以來個人發明的

of a word by a known individual.

最成功的一個字。

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

非常的不錯。他還發明了一個字叫blass，

meaning astral radiation.

意即星的輻射

Didn't catch on, unfortunately.

很遺憾的是這個字沒有能流行起來

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

But well done, him.

不過他還是做的很棒。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

There is so many things that -- Light.

這樣的例子太多了-光

You can't see light. When it's dark, in a vacuum,

你不能看見光。當黑暗之中，在真空裡

if a person shines a beam of light straight across your eyes,

如果有人在你的眼前的正面發射出一道光，

you won't see it. Slightly technical, some physicists will disagree with this.

你是不會看見的。這有一點誇張了，一些物理學家不會贊同這樣的觀點

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

不過奇怪的是你並不能看見這束光

you can only see what it hits.

你只能看到它擊中的地方

I find that extraordinary, not to be able to see light,

我發現這是件很奇妙的事，不能直接看當光本身

not to be able to see darkness.

也不能看見黑暗

Electricity, you can't see that.

電，你看不見電

Don't let anyone tell you they understand electricity.

別相信任何人跟你說的電是甚麼一回事

They don't. Nobody knows what it is.

他們不懂，沒人知道是甚麼回事

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

You probably think the electrons in an electric wire

你以認為在你開燈的那個剎那，電子在電線中

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

以光速瞬間流過整條電線，是嗎?

when you turn the light on. They don't.

實際上並不是

Electrons bumble down the wire,

電子在電現中笨拙的移動，

about the speed of spreading honey, they say.

據說和蜂蜜的流動速度差不多

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

Galaxies, 100 billion of them estimated in the universe.

星系，估計有一千億個散布在我們宇宙中。

100 billion. How many can we see? Five.

一千億，而我們能看到多少呢？五個

Five out of the 100 billion galaxies, with the naked eye,

一千億個星系中，只有五個能用肉眼看見。

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

而其中一個還得有相當好的眼力才能看的到

Radio waves. There's another thing.

無線電，這又是一項

Heinrich Hertz, when he discovered radio waves in 1887,

海因里希·赫茲在1887年發現了無線電

he called them radio waves because they radiated.

他之所以叫它們無線電是因為它們是幅射的

And somebody said to him,

於是有人問他，

"Well what's the point of these, Heinrich?

"那些又有甚麼意義呢，海因里希?

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

你發現的這些無線電波有甚麼意義呢?"

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

他說，"其實我也不知道

But I guess somebody will find a use for them someday."

不過我想以後應該有人會發現它們的用處的"

And that's what they do, radio. That's what they discovered.

這就是他們所做的，無線電，就就是他們所發現的

Anyway, so the biggest thing

總而言之，對我們而言

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

最大的不可見事物就是我們不知道的

It is incredible how little we know.

我們所知道的竟是那麼樣的少

Thomas Edison once said,

愛迪生曾說，

"We don't know one percent of one millionth

對於任何事項而言，

about anything."

我們所知道的不過是其百分之一

And I've come to the conclusion --

於是我下了個結論

because you've asked this other question, "What's another thing you can't see?"

因為你們已經問了另外一個問題，"還有甚麼東西我們看不見"

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

意義對於我們大多數的人來說，這翻話到底有甚麼意義?

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

(Applause)

(掌聲)

You can't see a point. It's by definition dimensionless,

你無法看到一個點，這是在定義上，一個點不佔任何空間，

like an electron, oddly enough.

說來也怪，就像電子一樣

But the point, what I've got it down to,

但是重點，當我們不斷探索時

is there are only two questions really worth asking.

會發現最後只剩兩個問題值得一問

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

"我們為何存在?"和"我們存在這世界上是為了甚麼而來?"

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

為了幫助大家，我留下兩句話，來自兩位偉大的哲學家，

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

也許是20世紀最偉大的兩個思想家

one a mathematician and an engineer, and the other a poet.

一個是數學家也是工程師，另一個是一位詩人。

The first is Ludwig Wittgenstein who said,

首先是Ludvig Vitgenštajn，他說

"I don't know why we are here.

「我不知道我們為何存在，

But I'm pretty sure it's not in order to enjoy ourselves."

但我很確定我們不是為了玩樂而存在。」

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

He was a cheerful bastard wasn't he?

他可真是個讓人愉快的傢伙是吧

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

And secondly and lastly, W.H. Auden,

第二個也是最後的，W.H. Auden

one of my favorite poets, who said,

一個我最喜歡的詩人，他說

"We are here on earth

「我們來到這世界

to help others.

是為了幫助其他人。

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

至於其他人為什麼在世界上，我毫無頭緒。」

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

(Applause)

(掌聲)