Elaine Morgan says we evolved from aquatic apes

譯者: Dxm Online大小媒體 審譯者: Grace Tung

Well, this is 2009.

現在是2009年

And it's the Bicentenary of Charles Darwin.

查爾斯達爾文的兩百年紀念

And all over the world, eminent evolutionists

世界各地著名的進化論者

are anxious to celebrate this.

都迫不及待想要大肆慶祝

And what they're planning to do is to enlighten us

他們想要啟發我們

on almost every aspect

去了解達爾文所有的

of Darwin and his life,

思想與人生

and how he changed our thinking.

以及他如何改變我們的觀念

I say almost every aspect,

我說"幾乎"每一個面向

because there is one aspect of this story

是因為當中有一個面向

which they have thrown no light on.

他們並沒有提到

And they seem anxious to skirt around it and step over it

他們似乎急著走避和略過

and to talk about something else.

去談其他的事情

So I'm going to talk about it.

所以我決定來談一談

It's the question of, why are we so different from the chimpanzees?

那問題就是：為何我們跟黑猩猩如此不同？

We get the geneticists keeping on telling us

基因學家不斷告訴我們

how extremely closely we are related -- hardly any genes of difference,

人類和黑猩猩有多麼相像，基因幾乎一模一樣

very, very closely related.

是非常非常相近的物種

And yet, when you look at the phenotypes,

可是當你觀察外顯型時

there's a chimp, there's a man;

一邊是黑猩猩 一邊是人類

they're astoundingly different,

兩者的差異令人震驚

no resemblance at all.

完全沒有相似之處

I'm not talking about airy-fairy stuff

我不是在談不切實際的東西

about culture or psychology, or behavior.

如文化或心理或行為

I'm talking about ground-base, nitty-gritty,

而是基本關鍵的

measurable physical differences.

外表差異

They, that one,

牠們，那一群

is hairy and walking on four legs.

是多毛且用四腳走路

That one is a naked biped. Why?

另一群則是赤裸的兩足動物，為什麼？

I mean --

我是指

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

if I'm a good Darwinist, I've got to believe

如果我是個虔誠的達爾文主義者 我就要相信

there's a reason for that.

此事必有因

If we changed so much, something must have happened.

一定是發生了什麼事，讓我們的改變這麼大

What happened?

究竟發生了什麼事呢?

Now 50 years ago, that was a laughably simple question.

五十年前，這是個可笑的簡單問題

Everybody knew the answer.

人人都知道答案

They knew what happened.

他們知道發生了什麼事

The ancestor of the apes stayed in the trees;

人猿的祖先留在樹上

our ancestors went out onto the plain.

我們的祖先則移向平原

That explained everything.

這解釋了一切

We had to get up on our legs to peer over the tall grass,

我們必須站立才能看過高草原

or to chase after animals,

或追逐動物

or to free our hands for weapons.

或者張開手好握住武器

And we got so overheated in the chase

而在打獵中因為過熱

that we had to take off that fur coat and throw it away.

我們必須丟掉身上的厚毛

Everybody knew that, for generations.

好幾世代的人都知道這個演化過程

But then, in the '90s, something began to unravel.

可是到了90年代，有些事情開始浮現

The paleontologists themselves looked a bit more closely

古生物學家更仔細地研究

at the accompanying microfauna

一些伴隨型的微型動物

that lived in the same time and place as the hominids.

他們和原始人類生長在同一個時間，同一個地點

And they weren't savanna species.

但發現他們並非熱帶草原的物種

And they looked at the herbivores. And they weren't savanna herbivores.

古生物學家研究草食動物,發現他們不是大草原的草食動物

And then they were so clever, they found a way to analyze

接著聰明的學者發現一個方法，他們去分析

fossilized pollen.

花粉的化石

Shock, horror.

震驚，且難以置信

The fossilized pollen was not of savanna vegetation.

那些花粉化石並不是大草原的植物

Some of it even came from lianas,

有些甚至來自藤蔓植物

those things that dangle in the middle of the jungle.

那些懸盪在叢林裡的植物

So we're left with a situation where

現在面對的狀況是

we know that our earliest ancestors

我們知道自己最早的祖先

were moving around on four legs in the trees,

用四腳走動 住在樹上

before the savanna ecosystem even came into existence.

早在大草原生態形成之前就如此了

This is not something I've made up.

這不是我捏造的故事

It's not a minority theory.

這不是少數理論

Everybody agrees with it.

而是每個人都認同的

Professor Tobias came over from South Africa

南非教受托比亞斯

and spoke to University College London.

他到英國大學演講

He said, "Everything I've been telling you for the last 20 years,

他說：過去20年來我所告訴過你們的事

forget about it. It was wrong.

都忘掉吧 全是錯的

We've got to go back to square one and start again."

我們必須回到一壘 從頭開始

It made him very unpopular. They didn't want to go back to square one.

這讓他遭到排斥 因為大家都不想從頭開始

I mean, it's a terrible thing to happen.

這是件令人難過的事

You've got this beautiful paradigm.

眼前有個很好的典範

You've believed it through generations.

好幾世代以來都一直相信著

Nobody has questioned it.

大家都如此深信

You've been constructing fanciful things on top of it,

你在上面蓋了許多奇異的東西

relying on it to be as solid as a rock.

期望它就像石頭一樣堅實

And now it's whipped away from under you.

現在這基礎卻從你底下被抽離了

What do you do? What does a scientist do in that case?

你該怎麼辦？這時候科學家該怎麼做呢？

Well, we know the answer because

其實我們知道答案

Thomas S. Kuhn

因為湯姆士.孔恩

wrote a seminal treatise

寫了一篇相關的開創性論文

about this back in 1962.

在1962年

He said what scientists do

他說：科學家們要如何面對

when a paradigm fails

一個典範的殞落呢？

is, guess what -- they carry on as if nothing had happened.

猜他怎麼說？他說：就當一切都沒有發生過吧

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

If they haven't got a paradigm they can't ask the question.

如果科學家沒有典範就無法做學問

So they say, "Yes it's wrong,

於是他們就說：這是錯的

but supposing it was right ..."

但萬一它是對的呢？

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And the only other option open to them

另外唯一的選擇就是

is to stop asking the questions.

停止探討所有的問題

So that is what they have done now.

這正是他們現在所做的

That's why you don't hear them talking about it. It's yesterday's question.

這是你現在聽不到大家討論水猿理論的原因，

Some of them have even elevated it into a principle.

有些科學家甚至將這問題變成一種信念

It's what we ought to be doing.

一件我們都該遵照的事

Aaron Filler from Harvard said,

哈佛大學的菲勒博士曾說過：

"Isn't it time we stopped talking about selective pressures?

我們是否該停止討論選擇壓力了呢？

I mean, why don't we talk about, well, there's chromosomes, and there's genes.

我是指：為何不從染色體和基因來討論

And we just record what we see."

看到什麼就說什麼

Charles Darwin must be spinning in his grave!

查爾斯達爾文一定氣得在墳墓裡跳腳

He knew all about that kind of science.

他對那種科學再清楚不過

And he called it hypothesis-free science.

他稱之為「無假設科學」

And he despised it from the bottom of his heart.

達爾文打從心底鄙視這種科學

And if you're going to say,

如果你想說

"I'm going to stop talking about selective pressures,"

「我要開始停止討論選擇壓力」

you can take "The Origin of Species" and throw it out of the window,

那你大可把「物種原始」丟出窗外了

for it's about nothing else but selective pressures.

因為那整本書都在談選擇壓力

And the irony of it is,

諷刺的是

that this is one occasion of a paradigm collapse

這次典範的殞落

where we didn't have to wait for a new paradigm to come up.

並不需要等待新的典範出現才發生

There was one waiting in the wings.

其實早有另一典範準備取代

It had been waiting there since 1960

自1960年就開始等著了

when Alister Hardy, a marine biologist,

海洋生物學家哈帝爵士當時曾說：

said, "I think what happened,

我想原因是

perhaps our ancestors

也許我們的祖先

had a more aquatic existence

有更長的時間

for some of the time."

生活在水裡

He kept it to himself for 30 years.

他把這想法藏了三十年

But then the press got hold of it and all hell broke loose.

可是最後被媒體揭露，搞得天翻地覆

All his colleagues said, "This is outrageous.

他所有的同事都認為：這簡直駭人聽聞

You've exposed us to public ridicule!

你讓我們全成了眾人的笑話！

You must never do that again."

你以後永遠不准再犯

And at that time, it became set in stone:

在當時這理論被判了死刑

the aquatic theory should be dumped

水猿理論應該跟

with the UFOs and the yetis,

幽浮和雪人一起

as part of the lunatic fringe of science.

被當作瘋狂的邊緣科學被丟掉

Well I don't think that.

但我可不這麼想

I think that Hardy had a lot going for him.

我認為哈帝有許多有力的說法

I'd like to talk about just a handful

我想談談少數幾個

of what have been called the

被稱為

hallmarks of mankind,

人類正字標記的特徵

the things that made us different from everybody else,

和其他動物

and all our relatives.

以及近親動物不同的地方

Let's look at our naked skin.

先來看我們赤裸的皮膚

It's obvious that most of the things we think about

很明顯的，大多數我們想到的

that have lost their body hair, mammals without body hair,

無體毛的哺乳類動物

are aquatic ones, like the dugong, the walrus,

都是水生動物，比如像：儒艮 海象

the dolphin, the hippopotamus, the manatee.

海豚 河馬 海牛

And a couple of wallowers-in-mud like the babirusa.

還有一兩個在泥中打滾的動物 如鹿豬

And you're tempted to think, well perhaps,

你不禁會想 也許這就是

could that be why we are naked?

我們赤裸的原因

I suggested it and people said, "No no no.

我如此表明 別人就會說：不 不 不

I mean, look at the elephant.

看看大象

You've forgotten all about the elephant haven't you?"

難道你忘了大象嗎？

So back in 1982 I said,

1982年的時候我回答：

"Well perhaps the elephant had an aquatic ancestor."

也許大象的祖先也是水生動物啊

Peals of merry laughter!

這回答引來一陣陣的笑聲！

"That crazy woman. She's off again. She'll say anything won't she?"

「那瘋女人！她又錯亂了！老是胡言亂語…」

But by now, everybody agrees that the elephant had an aquatic ancestor.

但是現在，每個人都認同大象有個水生動物的祖先

This has come 'round to be that all those naked pachyderms

所有赤裸的厚皮動物的祖先

have aquatic ancestors.

都是水生動物

The last exception was supposed to be the rhinoceros.

排名最後的是犀牛

Last year in Florida they found extinct ancestor of a rhinoceros

去年在佛羅里達發現了犀牛已絕種的祖先

and said, "Seems to have spent most of its time in the water."

那些人說：看來似乎大部分的時間都生活在水裡

So this is a close connection between nakedness and water.

所以這就是赤裸皮膚與水之間的密切關聯

As an absolute connection, it only works one way.

這種絕對關係是單向的

You can't say all aquatic animals are naked,

你不能說所有水生動物都是赤裸的

because look at the sea otter.

看看海獺就會明白

But you can say

不過你可以說

that every animal that has become naked

所有赤裸的動物

has been conditioned by water, in its own lifetime,

牠或牠祖先的生命都跟水有關係

or the lifetime of its ancestors. I think this is significant.

我認為這具有重大意義

The only exception is the naked Somalian mole-rat,

只有索馬利亞鼴鼠例外

which never puts its nose above the surface of the ground.

牠的鼻子從不超出地面

And take bipedality.

看看用兩腳行動

Here you can't find anybody to compare it with,

你無法找到與人類相媲美的動物

because we're the only animal that walks upright on two legs.

因為我們是唯一以兩隻腳挺立行走的動物

But you can say this: all the apes and all the monkeys

但是你可以說

are capable of walking on two legs,

所有的黑猩猩和猴子也能用兩隻腳走路

if they want to, for a short time.

如果牠們願意的話 但只是暫時的

There is only one circumstance in which they

只有一種情況

always, all of them, walk on two legs,

會讓牠們全部一直用兩腳走路

and that is when they are wading through water.

就是費力走過水的時候

Do you think that's significant?

你覺得這有意義嗎？

David Attenborough thinks it's significant,

大衛艾登堡認為很有意義

as the possible beginning of our bipedalism.

因為這有可能就是兩足類的原始

Look at the fat layer.

看看體脂肪

We have got, under our skin, a layer of fat, all over:

我們全身的皮膚底下都鋪著厚厚一層的脂肪

nothing in the least like that in any other primate.

其他靈長類動物是沒有的

Why should it be there?

為什麼我們會有皮下脂肪呢

Well they do know, that if you look at other aquatic mammals,

專家知道如果你觀察其他水生哺乳類動物

the fat that in most land mammals

一般陸上動物的脂肪

is deposited inside the body wall,

都囤積在體內的體壁上

around the kidneys and the intestines and so on,

在腎臟和大小腸周圍等等

has started to migrate to the outside,

水生哺乳類的脂肪則轉移到體壁外

and spread out in a layer inside the skin.

分散成皮膚內的脂肪層

In the whale it's complete:

鯨魚是進化完整的

no fat inside at all, all in blubber outside.

體內毫無脂肪 全是體外的鯨脂

We cannot avoid the suspicion

我們不得不去懷疑

that in our case it's started to happen.

人類才正開始這樣的演化

We have got skin lined with this layer.

所以皮膚下才有脂肪層

It's the only possible explanation of why humans,

這是唯一能夠解釋為何人類

if they're very unlucky,

如果不幸

can become grossly obese,

就會變得極度肥胖

in a way that would be totally impossible for any other primate, physically impossible.

這是其他靈長類在體型上根本不會發生的事

Something very odd, matter-of-factly, never explained.

有些從未獲得解釋的奇怪現象

The question of why we can speak.

關於我們為何會說話的問題

We can speak.

我們會說話

And the gorilla can't speak. Why?

為什麼大猩猩不會說話？

Nothing to do with his teeth or his tongue or his lungs or anything like that --

跟牠的牙齒或舌頭或肺部等等都無關

purely has to do with its conscious control of its breath.

而是跟有意識的控制呼吸有關係

You can't even train a gorilla to say "Ah" on request.

你甚至無法訓練及要求大猩猩說「啊」

The only creatures that have got conscious control of their breath

唯一能夠有意識地控制呼吸的生物

are the diving animals and the diving birds.

就是潛水型的動物和鳥類

It was an absolute precondition for our being able to speak.

控制呼吸是我們會說話的絕對性先決條件

And then again, there is the fact that we are streamlined.

還有事實上我們是流線型的

Trying to imagine a diver

試想潛水者潛入水中

diving into water -- hardly makes a splash.

幾乎不激起任何水花

Try to imagine a gorilla

試想大猩猩

performing the same maneuver,

做出一樣的動作

and you can see that, compared with gorilla,

你將會發現，和大猩猩比起來

we are halfway to being shaped like a fish.

我們有一半的肢體就像魚一樣

I am trying to suggest that, for 40-odd years,

我想提出的是 在過去四十多年來

this aquatic idea has been miscategorized as lunatic fringe,

這個水猿理論一直被誤歸類為瘋狂的邊緣科學

and it is not lunatic fringe.

實際上並非如此

And the ironic thing about it is that

諷刺的是

they are not staving off the aquatic theory

人們並不是擊退水猿理論

to protect a theory of their own,

來維護他們自己所認同

which they've all agreed on, and they love.

而且熱愛的理論

There is nothing there.

根本就沒有其他理論存在

They are staving off the aquatic theory

他們避開水猿理論

to protect a vacuum.

只為了維護一片空白

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

How do they react when I say these things?

我談水猿理論時他們有何反應呢？

One very common reaction I've heard about 20 times

一個我已經聽過20次的普遍反應是：

is, "But it was investigated.

「已經有人調查過了」

They conducted a serious investigation of this at the beginning,

當哈帝公開他的論文時

when Hardy put forward his article."

他們徹底地對這理論進行過研究過了

I don't believe it.

我不相信

For 35 years I've been looking for any evidence

35年來我一直在尋找

of any incident of that kind,

類似的調查證據

and I've concluded that that's one of the urban myths.

我的結論是：這是現代的迷思之一

It's never been done.

哈帝的理論從來就沒有調查

I ask people sometimes, and they say,

有時候我會問人 他們就說：

"I like the aquatic theory!

我喜歡水猿理論！

Everybody likes the aquatic theory.

每個人都喜歡水猿理論

Of course they don't believe it, but they like it."

當然他們不會相信 可是卻會喜歡

Well I say, "Why do you think it's rubbish?"

我又問：為什麼你認為那是胡說呢？

They say "Well ...

他們回答：嗯…..

everybody I talk to says it's rubbish.

因為其他人都這麼說啊

And they can't all be wrong, can they?"

而且他們不可能全都錯吧？

The answer to that, loud and clear, is, "Yes! They can all be wrong."

那答案再明顯不過：沒錯 他們可能全都錯了！

History is strewn with the cases when they've all got it wrong.

歷史上到處都有我們全都錯了的實例

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

And if you've got a scientific problem like that,

如果你面對一個像這樣的科學問題

you can't solve it by holding a head count,

你不能用數人頭來解決

and saying, "More of us say yes than say no."

然後說：你看 大多數都同意啊

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Apart from that, some of the heads count more than others.

除此之外 有些人頭比其他人重要

Some of them have come over.

有些人則改變立場

There was Professor Tobias. He's come over.

像是托比亞斯教授就認同了水猿理論

Daniel Dennett, he's come over.

丹尼爾丹奈特認同了

Sir David Attenborough, he's come over.

大衛艾登堡也認同了

Anybody else out there? Come on in.

還有沒有人？都過來吧

The water is lovely.

水是非常迷人的

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

And now we've got to look to the future.

接著我們必須看向未來

Ultimately one of three things is going to happen.

到最後 以下三種情況之中，有一種可能會發生

Either they will go on for the next 40 years, 50 years, 60 years.

第一是人們在未來40 50 或60年會繼續說：

"Yeah well we don't talk about that. Let's talk about something interesting."

我們不討論那個 來討論更有趣的話題吧

That would be very sad.

這將令人非常難過

The second thing that could happen

第二個可能發生的是

is that some young genius will arrive,

有些年輕的天才會出現

and say, "I've found it.

然後說：我找到了！

It was not the savanna, it was not the water, it was this!"

不是大草原 也不是水 而是這個！

No sign of that happening either.

但看不到這個可能發生的跡象

I don't think there is a third option.

我不認為還有第三種理論

So the third thing that might happen is

第三個可能發生的情況

a very beautiful thing.

則是一樁美事

If you look back at the early years of the last century,

如果你回溯到上個世紀初期

there was a stand-off, a lot of bickering and bad feeling

總有僵持的局面 爭吵和彼此反感

between the believers in Mendel,

存在於孟德爾信徒

and the believers in Darwin.

與達爾文信徒之間

It ended with a new synthesis:

一個新綜合理論平息了爭執

Darwin's ideas and Mendel's ideas

將達爾文與孟德爾的思想

blending together.

結合在一起

And I think the same thing will happen here.

而我認為同樣的結果將會發生

You'll get a new synthesis.

大家將會得到一個全新綜合的理論

Hardy's ideas and Darwin's ideas

哈帝與達爾文的理論

will be blended together.

將會被結合在一起

And we can move forward from there,

接著我們就可以從新理論出發

and really get somewhere.

真正到達某個目的地

That would be a beautiful thing.

那將會很美好

It would be very nice for me if it happened soon.

如果這快點實現 對我來說將會很美好

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Because I'm older now than George Burns was when he said,

因為我現在比喬治伯恩斯說出這句話時還老

"At my age, I don't even buy green bananas."

他說：到我這把年紀 都不敢買青香蕉了

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

So if it's going to come and it's going to happen,

如果這日子就要到來 就快成真

what's holding it up?

是什麼阻礙了它呢？

I can tell you that in three words.

我可以用五個字回答你們：

Academia says no.

學術界說不

They decided in 1960,

學術界在1960年決定

"That belongs with the UFOs and the yetis."

「水猿理論就跟幽浮和雪人一樣」

And it's not easy to change their minds.

要改變他們的觀念是困難的

The professional journals

專業刊物

won't touch it with a barge pole.

不想與它有關連

The textbooks don't mention it.

教科書不會提到它

The syllabus doesn't mention even the fact that we're naked,

課程大綱甚至不提及我們是赤裸的事實

let alone look for a reason to it.

更不用提背後的原因了

"Horizon," which takes its cue from the academics,

Horizon雜誌由學術界主導

won't touch it with a barge pole.

也不想與水猿理論有任何瓜葛

So we never hear the case put for it,

所以我們從來聽不到任何關於水猿理論的資訊

except in jocular references

除了拿來消遣

to people on the lunatic fringe.

科學狂熱份子的時候才會出現

I don't know quite where this diktat comes from.

我不太確定這定見來自何處

Somebody up there

某個高高在上的人

is issuing the commandment,

正在發出聖誡：

"Thou shalt not believe in the aquatic theory.

汝等不可採信「水猿理論」

And if you hope to make progress in this profession,

如果你期許在這行做出成績

and you do believe it, you'd better keep it to yourself,

而且又相信「水猿理論」的話，你最好保持緘默

because it will get in your way."

因為它將會阻擾你的前程

So I get the impression that some parts

所以我感覺到

of the scientific establishment

科學組織的某些部分

are morphing into a kind of priesthood.

已經轉型成神職

But you know, that makes me feel good,

但是你知道嗎 這讓我覺得很好

because Richard Dawkins has told us

因為李察道金斯告訴過我們

how to treat a priesthood.

如何對付神職人員

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

He says, "Firstly, you've got to refuse to give it

他說：首先你必須拒絕過度的的敬畏

all the excessive awe and reverence

因為宗教一直以來

it's been trained to receive."

就被訓練獲得過度的敬畏與崇拜

Right. I'll go ahead with that.

很好 這我認同

And secondly, he says,

接著他又說：

"You must never be afraid to rock the boat."

你必需勇於打破現狀

I'll go along with that too.

我也同意這說法

Thank you very much.

謝謝大家

(Applause)

（鼓掌）