TED演讲:科学解释之新探(3)

 　　At the time, what they thought  在那个时候，启蒙学者们认为

　　distinguished¹ science was a radical² idea about things unseen, known as empiricism. 科学的独特标志是一个关于不可见事物的激进看法，叫做经验主义

　　All knowledge derives³ from the senses.  认为所有的知识来自我们的感官

　　Well, we've seen that that can't be true.  呵呵，我们知道这样说有些偏颇

　　It did help by promoting observation and experiment. 但经验主义成就了科学观察与实验

　　But, from the outset, it was obvious that there was something horribly wrong with it. 然而乍一看之下，似乎很明显地经验主义存在着可怕的漏洞

　　Knowledge comes from the senses. “知识源自感官”

　　In what language? Certainly not the language of mathematics,  那么感官得来的知识由什么语言承载呢？肯定不会是数学语言吧

　　in which, Galileo rightly said, the book of nature is written. 可伽利略却有此精辟一语，“自然之书乃数学著成”

　　Look at the world. You don't see equations carved on to the mountainsides. 看看这世界，你看不到山崖上刻着方程式

　　If you did, it would be because people had carved them. 就算碰巧看到了，那也是因为人们刻上去的

　　By the way, why don't we do that?  顺便问一句，我们干嘛不这样做呢？

　　What's wrong with us?  这不是有毛病嘛？

　　Empiricism is inadequate⁴ because, well, 经验主义本身是不足的，这大概是因为

　　scientific theories explain the seen in terms of the unseen.  科学理论用不可见的来解释可见的

　　And the unseen, you have to admit, doesn't come to us through the senses. 而那些不可见的--你得承认--可不是从感官得来的

　　We don't see those nuclear reactions in stars.  我们可看不见恒星中的核反应

　　We don't see the origin of species.  看不见物种起源

　　We don't see the curvature of space-time, and other universes. 还有时空弯曲其他的平行宇宙

　　But we know about those things. How? 但我们知道这些。我们是怎么做到的呢？

　　Well, the classic empiricist answer is induction⁵.  经验主义的经典的答案是“归纳法”

　　The unseen resembles the seen. But it doesn't. 认为不可见的与可见的相似。其实不然

　　You know what the clinching⁶ evidence was that space-time is curved? 你能找到一个决定性的反例。比如：时空是弯曲的这一事实

　　It was a photograph, not of space-time,  我们知道它的证据是一张照片，不是关于时空本身

　　but of an eclipse, with a dot there rather than there.  而是拍摄的一次日食，上面有个小点在这儿而不在那儿

　　And the evidence for evolution?  至于物种起源的证据呢？

　　Some rocks and some finches.  一些岩石和雀类化石

　　And parallel universes? Again: dots there, rather than there, on a screen. 平行宇宙的证据何在啊？又是屏幕上这儿有些点，而不是那儿

　　What we see, in all these cases,  这些事例中我们眼睛观察到的

　　bears no resemblance to the reality that we conclude is responsible 和事实没有什么相似之处，所以前面的“相似说”不成立

　　only a long chain of theoretical reasoning and interpretation⁷ connects them. 只有一条长长的理论推导与解读的链条，把它们连在一起

　　"Ah!" say creationists.  于是那些神创论者就说:“啊哈！”

　　"So you admit it's all interpretation. “所以你承认这些科学理论都只是某种解读

　　No one has ever seen evolution. We see rocks. 没人知道答案是什么。我们都看得见石头

　　You have your interpretation. We have ours.  你有你的理解，我们有我们的

　　Yours comes from guesswork, ours from the Bible." 你的理解来自理论猜测，我们的来自圣经。”

　　But what creationist and empiricists both ignore is that, in that sense, 可是有一点神创论者和经验主义者同时忽略了，那就是，从先前的那种意义上看

　　no one has ever seen a bible either,  没有人真正切实“观察”到一本圣经

　　that the eye only detects light, which we don't perceive.  眼睛只是探测到阳光，而我们无法有意识地感知它

　　Brains only detect nerve impulses.  大脑只侦测神经脉冲

　　And they don't perceive even those as what they really are, namely electrical crackles. 但却无法感知它们究竟本身是什么，而它们其实是带电粒子“小爆破”

　　So we perceive nothing as what it really is.  如此说来我们无法感知任何事物的现实究竟是什么

1 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

2 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

3 derives   

v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• English derives in the main from the common Germanic stock. 英语主要源于日耳曼语系。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derives his income from freelance work. 他以自由职业获取收入。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

5 induction   

n.感应，感应现象

参考例句：

• His induction as a teacher was a turning point in his life.他就任教师工作是他一生的转折点。
• The magnetic signals are sensed by induction coils.磁信号由感应线圈所检测。

6 clinching   

v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的现在分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议）

参考例句：

• Joe gets clinching evidence of the brains role when he dreams. 乔做梦时得到了大脑发生作用的决定性依据。 来自辞典例句
• Clinching, wrestling, pushing, or seizing, without attempting a throw or other technique. 抱，扭摔，推或抓而没有摔或其它的技术。 来自互联网

7 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。