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DavidDeutsch_2019-_宇宙历经几十亿年的单调之后正在苏醒_-
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I'm thrilled to be talking to you by this high-tech method. |
我很激动能通过这种 高科技的方法与大家交谈, |
thrilled:adj.非常兴奋; v.使非常兴奋; (thrill的过去分词和过去式) high-tech:adj.高科技的,高技术的;仿真技术的;n.高科技;
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Of all humans who have ever lived, the overwhelming majority would have found what we are doing here incomprehensible , unbelievable . |
大多数曾生活在世上的人们 可能会觉得我们现在正在做的 是不可思议,且难以置信的。 |
overwhelming:adj.势不可挡的; v.压倒; (overwhelm的现在分词) majority:n.大部分:大多数:多数票:成年人: incomprehensible:adj.费解的;不可思议的;无限的; unbelievable:adj.(非正式)难以置信的;不可信的
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Because, for thousands of centuries, in the dark time before the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment , people had low expectations . |
因为,几千个世纪以来, 在科技革命和启蒙运动到来之前 的黑暗时期, 人们的期望值很低, |
scientific:adj.科学的,系统的; revolution:n.革命;旋转;运行;循环; Enlightenment:n.启迪;启蒙运动;教化; expectations:n.预料;预期;期待;希望;指望;(expectation的复数)
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For their lives, for their descendants' lives. |
不仅对他们自己, 对他们后代的生活也是如此。 |
Typically , they expected nothing significantly new or better to be achieved, ever. |
通常,他们从未指望 实现任何新的或更好的成就。 |
Typically:adv.代表性地;作为特色地; significantly:adv.意味深长地;值得注目地;
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This pessimism famously appears in the Bible , in one of the few biblical passages with a named author. |
这种悲观主义在《圣经》中很有名, 是圣经中为数不多 的标注了作者的章节之一。 |
pessimism:n.悲观,悲观情绪;厌世主义; famously:adv.著名地;极好地; Bible:n.有权威的书; biblical:adj.圣经的;依据圣经的(等于biblical);
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He's called Qohelet, he's an enigmatic chap . |
这位神秘的家伙 叫库赫莱特 (Qohelet)。 |
enigmatic:adj.神秘的;高深莫测的;谜一般的; chap:n.小伙子;家伙;龟裂;v.使皲裂;皲裂;
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He wrote, "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun ." |
他写道,“过去的一切,便是将来, 已行的事,后必再行; 日光之下并无新事。 |
under the sun:天下;究竟;
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Is there of which it is said, "Look, this is new." |
有没有什么东西可以称之为 ‘看!这是新的’吗? |
No, that thing was already done in the ages that came before us. |
没有,那事在我们之前的 时代就已经发生了。” |
Qohelet was describing a world without novelty . |
库赫莱特形容的是 一个没有新奇的时代。 |
describing:v.描述;形容;把…称为;做…运动;(describe的现在分词) novelty:n.新奇;新奇的事物;新颖小巧而廉价的物品;
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By novelty I mean something new in Qohelet's sense, not merely something that's changed, but a significant change with lasting effects, where people really would say, "Look, this is new," |
创新在库赫莱特看来是新事物, 不仅仅是改变了的东西, 而是一个有长远影响的重大改变, 对此人们会真心感叹, “看啊,这是新的,”, |
merely:adv.仅仅,只不过;只是;
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and, preferably , "good." |
且更倾向于认为这是“好”的。 |
preferably:adv.较好;宁可,宁愿;更适宜;
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So, purely random changes aren't novelty. |
纯粹的随机改变并不新奇。 |
purely:adv.完全;仅仅; random:adj.[数]随机的;任意的;胡乱的;n.随意;adv.胡乱地;
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OK, Heraclitus did say a man can't step in the same river twice, because it's not the same river, he's not the same man. |
赫拉克利特 (Herclitus) 曾说, 一个人不能两次踏进同一条河, 因为那不再是同一条河, 他也不是同一个人了。 |
But if the river is changing randomly , it really is the same river. |
但如果河流是随机变化的, 它依然是同一条河。 |
randomly:adv.随便地,任意地;无目的,胡乱地;未加计划地;
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In contrast , if an idea in a mind spreads to other minds, and changes lives for generations, that is novelty. |
相反, 如果一个人的想法 传播到很多人的心中, 改变了几代人的生活, 那就叫做新鲜感。 |
contrast:n.对比;对照;反差;明显的差异;v.对比;对照;形成对比;
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Human life without novelty is life without creativity, without progress. |
人类的生活若没了新鲜感, 就像生活没了创新,不再进步, |
It's a static society, a zero-sum game . |
成为了一成不变的社会,零和的游戏。 |
static:adj.静止的; n.[物]静电(干扰); zero-sum game:零和博奕;
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That was the living hell in which Qohelet lived. |
那就是库赫莱特生活的地狱, |
living hell:n.活受煎熬;活地狱;活受罪;人间地狱;
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Like everyone, until a few centuries ago. |
和每个人一样,直到几个世纪前。 |
It was hell, because for humans, suffering is intimately related to staticity. |
这就是地狱,因为对于人类, 受难和不变的社会是密切相关的。 |
intimately:adv.熟悉地;亲切地;私下地;
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Because staticity isn't just frustrating . |
固化不止令人沮丧, |
frustrating:adj.令人沮丧的;v.使沮丧;(frustrate的现在分词)
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All sources of suffering -- famine , pandemics , incoming asteroids , and things like war and slavery , hurt people only until we have created the knowledge to prevent them. |
所以受难的根源—— 饥荒,流行病,即将到来的小行星, 以及像战争和奴隶制度这样的事, 只会伤害他人,直到我们 创造了阻止他们的办法。 |
sources:n.来源;出处;起源;根源;原因;v.(从…)获得(source的第三人称单数和复数) famine:n.饥荒; pandemics:大流行;流行病; incoming:n.进来;收入;adj.新当选的;新任的; asteroids:n.[天]小行星(asteroid的复数); slavery:n.奴隶制;奴隶身份;蓄奴;adj.流口水的;被口水弄脏的;
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There's a story in Somerset Maugham's novel "Of Human Bondage " |
毛姆的书《人性的枷锁》中的一个故事, |
Bondage:n.奴役,束缚;奴役身份;
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about an ancient sage who summarizes the entire history of mankind as, "He was born, he suffered and he died." |
讲述了一位古时的圣人, 他将人类的整个历史总结为, “他出生了, “他受难了,和他死去了。” |
sage:n.圣人;贤人;哲人;adj.明智的;贤明的;审慎的; summarizes:v.概述;简而说明;摘要而言(summarize的第三人称单数); mankind:n.人类;男性;
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And it goes on: "Life was insignificant and death without consequence ." |
他继续写道, “生无意义,死无后果。” |
insignificant:adj.无关紧要的; consequence:n.结果;重要性;推论;
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And indeed, the overwhelming majority of humans who have ever lived had lives of suffering and grueling labor, before dying young and in agony . |
没错,绝大多数曾经 在这世上生活过的人类 都在痛苦和劳动中挣扎, 直到在痛苦中英年早逝。 |
grueling:adj.累人的;紧张的;使极度疲劳的; agony:n.苦恼;极大的痛苦;临死的挣扎;
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And yes, in most generations nothing had any novel consequence for subsequent generations. |
没错,大部分世代的人们, 都未为后代带来什么新奇的影响。 |
subsequent:adj.后来的,随后的;
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Nevertheless , when ancient people tried to explain their condition, they typically did so in grandiose cosmic terms. |
可是,当古人试图解释他们的状况时, 他们通常用宏大的宇宙作为术语, |
Nevertheless:adv.然而,不过;虽然如此;conj.然而,不过; grandiose:adj.宏伟的;堂皇的;浮夸的;宏大的; cosmic:adj.宇宙的;
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Which was the right thing to do, as it turns out. |
没想到他们的做法竟是正确的, |
Even though their actual explanations, their myths , were largely false. |
虽然他们实际的解释, 他们的神话 大多都是虚构的。 |
myths:神话;谬见; largely:adv.主要地;大部分;大量地;
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Some tried to explain the grimness and monotony of their world in terms of an endless cosmic war between good and evil , in which humans were the battleground . |
有些人曾试图 用善恶之间无休止的宇宙战争 来解释他们世界的冷酷和单调, 而人类就是战场。 |
grimness:n.严峻;严格;无情; monotony:n.单调;千篇一律; endless:adj.无止境的;连续的;环状的;漫无目的的; evil:adj.邪恶的;不幸的;有害的;讨厌的;n.罪恶,邪恶;不幸; battleground:n.战场;
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Which neatly explained why their own experience was full of suffering, and why progress never happened. |
这也很好的说明了为什么 他们的经历充满了煎熬, 为什么社会一直没有进步。 |
neatly:adv.整洁地;熟练地;灵巧地;
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But it wasn't true. |
但这不是真的。 |
Amazingly enough, all their conflict and suffering were just due to the way they processed ideas. |
令人惊奇的是, 他们所有的冲突和煎熬 都是由于他们处理思想的方式。 |
conflict:n.冲突;矛盾;争执;抵触;v.抵触; processed:v.加工,处理;审核;列队行进;(process的过去式和过去分词)
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Being satisfied with dogma , and just-so stories, rather than criticizing them and trying to guess better explanations of the world and of their own condition. |
满足于教义和编织的故事, 而非去质疑它们, 然后试图对世界和他们 自己的状况做出更好的解释。 |
satisfied with:满意;对…感到满意; dogma:n.教条,教理;武断的意见; criticizing:v.批评;批判;挑剔;指责;评论;评价;(criticize的现在分词)
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Twentieth-century physics did create better explanations, but still in terms of a cosmic war. |
二十世纪的物理学家 的确创造了更好的解释, 可依然是把宇宙战争作为依据。 |
This time, the combatants were order and chaos , or entropy . |
这一次,对阵双方是 秩序和混乱,或无序。 |
combatants:n.战士;争斗者;adj.战斗的;好斗的; chaos:n.混沌,混乱; entropy:n.[热]熵(热力学函数);
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That story does allow for hope for the future. |
这个故事的确给予了 人们对未来的希望。 |
But in another way, it's even bleaker than the ancient myths, because the villain , entropy, is preordained to have the final victory, when the inexorable laws of thermodynamics shut down all novelty with the so-called heat death of the universe. |
但从另一方面来说, 它也比古代神话还要凄凉, 因为当伴随着所谓的宇宙热死亡, 热力学不可抗拒的定律 阻挡了一切新奇事物的发生时, 反派,无序就注定 要取得最后的胜利。 |
bleaker:adj.荒凉的;阴郁的;令人沮丧的(bleak的比较级); villain:n.坏人,恶棍;戏剧,小说中的反派角色;顽童;罪犯; preordained:adj.注定的;天命的;v.预先注定;预定(preordain的过去式和过去分词); inexorable:adj.无情的;不屈不挠的;不可阻挡的;无法改变的; thermodynamics:n.热力学; so-called:adj.所谓的;号称的;
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Currently , there's a story of a local battle in that war, between sustainability , which is order, and wastefulness , which is chaos -- that's the contemporary take on good and evil, |
目前,在那场战争中 有一个在可持续性,也就是秩序, 与浪费,也就是混乱之间 的当地斗争的故事—— 这是当代人们对善与恶的理解, |
Currently:adv.当前;一般地; sustainability:n.持续性;永续性;能维持性; wastefulness:n.浪费;挥霍无度; contemporary:n.同时代的人;同时期的东西;adj.当代的;同时代的;属于同一时期的;
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often with the added twist that humans are the evil, so we shouldn't even try to win. |
通常伴随着人类是邪恶的念头, 所以我们根本不应该尝试去战胜。 |
twist:v.捻;扭转;曲折;扭动;n.捻;拧;扭动;搓;
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And recently , there have been tales of another cosmic war, between gravity, which collapses the universe, and dark energy, which finally shreds it. |
而最近, 又出现了另一个宇宙战争的传说, 使宇宙瓦解的重力, 与最终能把其撕裂 的暗能量之间的抗衡。 |
recently:adv.最近;新近; collapses:v.(突然)倒塌,坍塌;昏倒;坐下;(collapse的第三人称单数) finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地; shreds:v.切碎;撕碎;n.细条,碎片;极少量;(shred的第三人称单数和复数)
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So this time, whichever of those cosmic forces wins, we lose. |
所以,这次, 无论哪一个宇宙势力胜出 我们都会输。 |
whichever:pron.任何一个;无论哪个;adj.无论哪个;无论哪些;
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All those pessimistic accounts of the human condition contain some truth, but as prophecies , they're all misleading , and all for the same reason. |
所有那些对人类状况的悲观描述 都带着一丝真谛, 但就像预言, 它们都是因为同一个 原因在误导人们。 |
pessimistic:adj.悲观的,厌世的;悲观主义的; prophecies:n.预言(prophecy的复数); misleading:adj.误导的;引入歧途的;v.误导;引入歧途;使误信;(mislead的现在分词)
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None of them portrays humans as what we really are. |
没有任何一条真正 展现了人类的本质。 |
portrays:vt.描绘;扮演;
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As Jacob Bronowski said, "Man is not a figure in the landscape -- he is the shaper of the landscape." |
就像布鲁诺维奇 (Jacob Bronowski)所说, “人类不是风景的一部分—— 而是它的创造者。” |
landscape:n.景观;乡村风景画;(文件的)横向打印格式;v.对…做景观美化;美化…的环境; shaper:n.[电子]整形器,脉冲整形器;[机]牛头刨床;造型者;塑造者;
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In other words, humans are not playthings of cosmic forces, we are users of cosmic forces. |
换而言之, 人类不是宇宙势力的奴隶, 而是它的使用者。 |
playthings:n.[轻]玩具(plaything的复数);
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I'll say more about that in a moment , but first, what sorts of thing create novelty? |
稍后我会深入讨论, 但首先,什么样的东西 创造了新事物? |
in a moment:立刻;
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Well, the beginning of the universe surely did. |
当然,宇宙的诞生功不可没, |
The big bang , nearly 14 billion years ago, created space, time and energy, everything physical . |
大约 140 亿年前的大爆炸 创造了时空,时间和能量, 所有的物体。 |
bang:n.猛敲; v.猛敲; v.正好; physical:adj.[物]物理的;身体的;物质的;符合自然法则的;n.体格检查;
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And then, immediately, what I call the first era of novelty, with the first atom , the first star, the first black hole , the first galaxy . |
紧接着, 在我称之为第一个新世纪的时期, 诞生了第一颗原子,第一颗行星, 第一个黑洞, 第一片星系。 |
atom:n.原子; black hole:n.黑洞(宇宙中包括光线在内的任何东西都无法逃逸的强引力区域); galaxy:n.银河;[天]星系;银河系;一群显赫的人;
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But then, at some point, novelty vanished from the universe. |
可是,在某个瞬间, 宇宙中的创新之力消失了, |
vanished:v.消失了;突然消失;消亡;绝迹;(vanish的过去分词和过去式)
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Perhaps from as early as 12 or 13 billion years ago, right up to the present day , there's never been any new kind of astronomical object. |
也许是早在120 或 130 亿年以前, 直到今天, 一直没有什么新的天体诞生。 |
present day:adj.现代的;当今的;现在的;现时的; astronomical:adj.天文的,天文学的;极大的;
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There's only been what I call the great monotony. |
我称之为“大单调”。 |
So, Qohelet was accidentally even more right about the universe beyond the Sun than he was about under the Sun. |
所以,库赫莱特对太阳之外 的宇宙的认识, 碰巧比他对太阳之下 的认识更正确。 |
accidentally:adv.意外地:偶然,偶然地;
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So long as the great monotony lasts, what has been out there really is what will be. |
只要大单调还存在, 那些存在的, 将会一直在。 |
So long as:adv.只要;
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And there is nothing out there of which it can truly be said, "Look, this is new." |
也不会有别的新事物 可以被真正形容为 “看啊,这是新的”。 |
Nevertheless, at some point during the great monotony, there was an event -- inconsequential at the time, and even billions of years later, it had affected nothing beyond its home planet -- yet eventually , it could cause cosmically momentous novelty. |
然而, 在大单调的某一刻, 有一个事件—— 当时没有什么意义, 而且甚至几十亿年之后, 除了它的母星之外, 它什么也没有影响—— 可是最终,它可能会 引起大规模的创新。 |
inconsequential:adj.不重要的;不合理的;不合逻辑的; eventually:adv.最后,终于; cosmically:adv.大规模地;按照宇宙法则; momentous:adj.重要的;重大的;
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That event was the origin of life: creating the first genetic knowledge, coding for biological adaptations , coding for novelty. |
那事件就是生命的起源: 创造了第一个基因上的知识, 让生物开始学会适应, 学会创新。 |
origin:n.起源;起因;源头;出身; genetic:adj.基因的;遗传学的; coding:n.译码;v.把…编码;(code的现在分词) biological:adj.生物学的;生物的;与生命过程有关的;加酶的;n.[药]生物制品; adaptations:n.适应;改编(adaptation的复数);
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On Earth, it utterly transformed the surface. |
在地球上,它彻底地改变了地球面貌, |
utterly:adv.完全地;绝对地;全然地;彻底地,十足地; transformed:v.使改变形态;使改变外观(或性质);(transform的过去分词和过去式)
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Genes in the DNA of single-celled organisms put oxygen in the air, extracted CO2, put chalk and iron ore into the ground, hardly a cubic inch of the surface to some depth has remained unaffected by those genes. |
在单细胞生物 DNA 中的基因 将氧气释放到空中, 吸取二氧化碳, 将垩和铁矿融到地里, 几乎每一寸土地 在某种程度上都被 那些基因影响了, |
Genes:n.基因;(gene的复数) organisms:n.[生物]生物体(organism的复数);[生物]有机体; extracted:adj.萃取的;引出的;v.提取(extract的过去式及过去分词); ore:n.矿;矿石;矿砂; cubic:adj.立方体的,立方的; unaffected:adj.不受影响的;自然的;真挚的;不矫揉造作的;
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The Earth became, if not a novel place on the cosmic scale , certainly a weird one. |
就算地球没在宇宙层面上 变成了一个新颖的地方, 也至少是令人诧异的一个。 |
scale:n.规模;比例;鳞;刻度;天平;数值范围;v.衡量;攀登;剥落;生水垢; weird:adj.奇怪的;奇异的;离奇的;n.命运;宿命;命运女神;
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Just as an example, beyond Earth, only a few hundred different chemical substances have been detected . |
比如,在地球之外, 只有几百种不同的化学物质被发现, |
chemical:n.化学制品,化学药品;adj.化学的; substances:n.[物]物质;基本内容;物品药物(substance的复数); detected:v.发现;查明;侦察出;(detect的过去分词和过去式)
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Presumably , there are some more in lifeless locations , but on Earth, evolution created billions of different chemicals . |
据猜测,大概在没有 生命的地方还有更多, 但在地球上, 进化过程就造就了 几亿种化学物质。 |
Presumably:adv.大概;推测起来;可假定; lifeless:adj.无生命的;死气沉沉的;无趣味的; locations:n.地方;地点;位置;定位(location的复数) chemicals:n.化学制品;化学品;(chemical的复数)
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And then the first plants, animals, and then, in some ancestor species of ours, explanatory knowledge. |
随之出现了 第一棵植物,第一只动物, 然后,在我们的一些祖先物种中, 出现了解释性知识的概念。 |
species:n.[生物]物种;种类; explanatory:adj.解释的;说明的;
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For the first time in the universe, for all we know. |
据我们所知,这是宇宙中的首次。 |
Explanatory knowledge is the defining adaptation of our species. |
解释性知识可以用来 定义我们物种的适应性, |
defining:v.解释(词语)的含义;给(词语)下定义;阐明;界定;(define的现在分词)
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It differs from the nonexplanatory knowledge in DNA, for instance , by being universal . |
它不同于DNA中无法解释的知识, 例如, 它是普遍存在的。 |
instance:n.实例;情况;建议;v.举...为例; universal:adj.普遍的;全体的;全世界的;共同的;
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That is to say , whatever can be understood, can be understood through explanatory knowledge. |
也就是说,任何可以理解的东西, 都可以通过解释性知识理解。 |
That is to say:就是;即;换言之;
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And more, any physical process can be controlled by such knowledge, limited only by the laws of physics. |
此外,任何物理的过程, 都可以由这些知识控制, 只受物理法则的限制。 |
limited:adj.有限的; n.高级快车; v.限制; (limit的过去分词和过去式)
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And so, explanatory knowledge, too, has begun to transform the Earth's surface. |
所以说,解释性知识同样也 开始改变了地球的面貌。 |
And soon, the Earth will become the only known object in the universe that turns aside incoming asteroids instead of attracting them. |
不久之后,地球成为了 宇宙中我们唯一所知 能把小行星拒之门外, 而非吸引它们碰撞的星球。 |
Qohelet was understandably misled by the painful slowness of progress in his day. |
可以理解,库赫莱特被 他所在时代艰难而迟缓 的发展所误导了。 |
understandably:adv.可理解地; misled:v.把…带错方向(mislead的过去式); painful:adj.痛苦的;疼痛的;令人不快的; slowness:n.缓慢;迟钝;
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Novelty in human life was still too rare, too gradual , to be noticed in one generation. |
人类生活中的新奇事物仍然太罕见, 发展太缓慢, 不可能在一代人的时间里被发掘。 |
gradual:adj.逐渐的;平缓的;n.弥撒升阶圣歌集;
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And in the biosphere , the evolution of novel species was even slower. |
而在生物圈, 新物种的进化需要更长时间, |
biosphere:n.生物圈;
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But both things were happening. |
但两件事情同时都发生了。 |
Now, why is there a great monotony in the universe at large, and what makes our planet buck that trend ? |
是什么让我们的星球顺从那个趋势? |
buck:n.(美)钱,元;雄鹿;纨绔子弟;年轻的印第安人或黑人; trend:n.趋势;动向;趋向;动态;v.走向;趋向;
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Well, the universe at large is relatively simple. |
宇宙之大,其实很简单。 |
relatively:adv.相当程度上;相当地;相对地;
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Stars are so simple that we can predict their behavior billions of years into the future, and retrodict how they formed billions of years ago. |
行星也很简单, 我们可以推测未来数亿年以后的样子, 也可以预测它们亿年前如何形成。 |
predict:v.预报;预言;预告;
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So why is the universe simple? |
所以为什么宇宙如此简单呢? |
Basically , it's because big, massive , powerful things strongly affect lesser things, and not vice versa . |
基本上,这是因为巨大的、 强有力的事物强烈地影响着 较小的事物,反之则不然。 |
Basically:adv.主要地,基本上; massive:adj.大量的;巨大的,厚重的;魁伟的; lesser:adj.较少的;次要的;更小的;adv.较少地;更小地;不及; vice versa:反之亦然;
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I call that the hierarchy rule. |
我称之为“等级制度”。 |
hierarchy:n.层级;等级制度;
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For example, when a comet hits the Sun, the Sun carries on just as before, but the comet is vaporized . |
比如,一个彗星撞上了太阳, 太阳仍然会正常运转, 而那颗彗星却会蒸发殆尽。 |
comet:n.[天]彗星; vaporized:汽化了的;
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For the same reason, big things are not much affected by small parts of themselves, i.e., by details. |
同理, 大的物体不会那么 容易受到小物体的影响, 不容易受到细节影响。 |
Which means that their overall behavior is simple. |
也就是说,它的整体行为 很简单。 |
overall:v.全部; n.外套; adj.全面的;
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And since nothing very new can happen to things that remain simple, the hierarchy rule, by causing large-scale simplicity , has caused the great monotony. |
既然没有什么新鲜事会发生, 它会一直很简单, 等级制度导致了大规模的简单化, 也导致了大单调。 |
large-scale:adj.大规模的,大范围的;大比例尺的; simplicity:n.朴素;简易;天真;愚蠢;
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But, the saving grace is the hierarchy rule is not a law of nature. |
但是,令人耳目一新的是, 等级制度并不是大自然的规律, |
saving grace:n.仅有的优点;唯一可取之处;
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It just happens to have held so far in the universe, except here. |
是巧合让它延续至今, 除了这里。 |
In our biosphere, molecule-sized objects, genes, control vastly disproportionate resources . |
在我们的生物圈, 分子大小的物质,也就是基因, 控制着大量不平行的资源, |
vastly:adv.极大地;广大地;深远地; disproportionate:adj.不成比例的;不成比例地; resources:n.[计][环境]资源; v.向…提供资金(resource的第三人称单数);
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The first genes for photosynthesis , by causing their own proliferation , and then transforming the surface of the planet, have violated or reversed the hierarchy rule by the mind-blowing factor of 10 to the power 40. |
最早出现的掌管光合作用的基因 通过引起自身的增殖, 然后改变地球表面, 以令人吃惊的 10 的 40 次方的规模, 已经违背或扭转了等级制度。 |
photosynthesis:n.光合作用; proliferation:n.增殖,扩散;分芽繁殖; transforming:v.使改变形态;使改变外观(或性质);使改观;(transform的现在分词) violated:v.违反,违背(法律、协议等); (violate的过去分词和过去式) reversed:v.颠倒; (reverse的过去分词和过去式) mind-blowing:adj.使兴奋的;引起幻觉的; factor:n.因素;要素;[物]因数;代理人;v.做代理商;v.把…作为因素计入;
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Explanatory knowledge is potentially far more powerful because of universality , and more rapidly created. |
解释性知识由于其广泛性和更迅速 的创造过程而具有更大的潜力。 和创造得更快。 |
potentially:adv.可能地,潜在地; universality:n.普遍性;广泛性;一般性;多方面性;
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When human knowledge has achieved a factor 10 to the 40, it will pretty much control the entire galaxy, and will be looking beyond. |
当人的智慧增加到 10 的 40 次方, 基本就有能力掌握整个星系, 而且会进一步探索。 |
So humans, and any other explanation creators who may exist out there, are the ultimate agents of novelty for the universe. |
所以,人类 和其他可能存在的解释性创造者 是宇宙创新的最终代理人。 |
ultimate:adj.最终的;极限的;根本的;n.终极;根本;基本原则; agents:n.代理人,经纪人;原动力;(agent的复数)
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We are the reason and the means by which novelty and creativity, knowledge, progress, can have objective , large-scale physical effects. |
我们是新事物产生的原因和方法, 因为我们, 新事物,创造力,知识,发展 得以对现实有客观、大规模的影响。 |
objective:n.目标; adj.客观的;
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From the human perspective , the only alternative to that living hell of static societies is continual creation of new ideas, behaviors, new kinds of objects. |
从人类的角度来说, 去改变永恒不变的 地狱社会的唯一方法 便是不断地创造新的思想, 新的行为,新的事物。 |
perspective:n.观点;远景;透视图;adj.透视的; alternative:adj.供选择的;选择性的;交替的;n.二中择一;供替代的选择; continual:adj.持续不断的;频繁的; creation:n.创造,创作;创作物,产物;
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This robot will soon be obsolete , because of new explanatory knowledge, progress. |
这个机器人很快就会过时, 因为新的解释性知识和我们的发展。 |
obsolete:adj.废弃的;老式的;n.废词;陈腐的人;vt.淘汰;废弃;
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But from the cosmic perspective, explanatory knowledge is the nemesis of the hierarchy rule. |
从宇宙的角度来说, 解释性知识 是等级制度建设的克星, |
nemesis:n.报应;给与惩罚的人;天罚;n.主要敌人,强硬对手;
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It's the destroyer of the great monotony. |
它是大单调的终结者。 |
destroyer:n.驱逐舰;破坏者;起破坏作用的事物;
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So it's the creator of the next cosmological era, the Anthropocene. |
因而它将是下一个 宇宙时代的创造者, 人类世(Anthropocene)。 |
cosmological:adj.宇宙论的;宇宙哲学的;
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If one can speak of a cosmic war, it's not the one portrayed in those pessimistic stories. |
如果有人可以为宇宙大战说话的话, 它不会是那些悲观主义 故事中描绘的救世主, |
portrayed:v.描绘;描画;描写;表现;扮演(某角色)(portray的过去分词和过去式)
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It's a war between monotony and novelty, between stasis and creativity. |
它是一场单调对抗创新的战争, 一场停滞不前对抗创新改变的战争。 |
stasis:n.[医]郁积,停滞;血行停滞;
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And in this war, our side is not destined to lose. |
在这场战争中, 我们注定不会是失败者, |
destined:adj.注定的;命定的;去往…的;v.注定;(destine的过去式和过去分词)
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If we choose to apply our unique capacity to create explanatory knowledge, we could win. |
如果我们能选择运用我们 独特的能力来创造解释性知识, 我们就可以获得胜利。 |
apply:v.申请;涂,敷;应用;适用;请求; unique:adj.独特的,稀罕的;[数]唯一的;n.独一无二的人或物; capacity:n.能力;容量;资格,地位;生产力;
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Thanks. |
谢谢。 |
(Applause) |
(鼓掌) |