美国国家公共电台 NPR Dan Brown Pits Creationism Against Science In His Latest Novel, 'Origin'

 

LAKSHMI SINGH, HOST:

And now from the big screen to the page. Author Dan Brown has used his books to challenge people with questions of God and faith all while sending readers on globe-trotting adventures that leave you feeling both dizzy and satisfied. And on those fronts, his latest book "Origin" does not disappoint. But while readers of his bestselling works, "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels And Demons¹" will once again follow Professor Robert Langdon, "Origin" covers new ground for Brown. He joined us while on a book tour in Barcelona, Spain. And first, I asked him to set the stage for his new novel.

DAN BROWN: The novel opens with a futurist who has made a scientific discovery that he believes will destroy the foundations of world religion. And, of course, Robert Langdon - because he has terribly bad luck - is in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets tangled² up in that. And the novel also features a character that is artificial intelligence, which I've never written before, and it was a lot of fun to do.

SINGH: In this novel, you address two mysteries of life. Where do we come from? And where are we going? And you do so with technology, as it seems the central character in this novel. Dan, what led you to explore these sort of explosive topics?

BROWN: You know, I've always been fascinated with big ethical³ questions. And, you know, where are we going? Where do we come from? These are issues that are at the core of what it is to be human. Every religion on earth tries to answer these questions. And, you know, in recent centuries, science has tried very hard to answer these questions.

It used to be we had a huge pantheon of gods and goddesses to describe the natural world. And bit by bit, science began picking away at that. You know, it used to be that the tides were the moods of Poseidon moving the tides. And eventually, we learned about the moon and gravity, and Poseidon disappeared. So the book really asks, what happens when science starts answering the final few questions? Will the gods of today survive?

SINGH: Have you arrived at a personal answer about God versus⁴ science?

BROWN: You know, it's interesting. A lot of people think I'm anti-religious. I'm actually quite the opposite. I am not an atheist⁵. I think I'm happily confused and a work in progress. I'm sort of more agnostic. I do think that science has become the lens through which we see the world more and more. You know, it used to be the recent earthquakes in Mexico would be seen as a punishment by an angry God. And now, even the most religious among us would see that as a geologic⁶ event. We wouldn't see it as a religious event. And I see that progressing. We seem to be becoming much more secular⁷ in the face of increased technology.

SINGH: Dan, one of the things that I found fascinating about this latest book, "Origin," is how prominently social media was featured in this book. There was a particular reference to teenagers coming upon a corpse⁸. They have discovered this corpse. And one would think their initial reaction would be horrified⁹ and shocked by what they found. But you write that they immediately took out their phones and started snapping photos so they could text to their friends. What were you thinking in that moment as you were writing that?

BROWN: Well, actually, you're the first person even to mention it, which actually makes me happy because it's a shocking moment, but it is so real in today's society that nobody else even tripped over it. It is what we do. We share absolutely everything now. And there's a moment in the book when a priest is noting that children are now staring down into their devices, rather than up into the heavens. And, you know, you can see it in any doctor's office, on any bus, walking down the street. We are so connected with our technology that many of us are having trouble connecting with each other and with the natural world.

SINGH: It is sparking interesting dialogue online. Ironically, as we're speaking about this, quite a bit of debate not only, you know, over whether God could survive science, as one headline read, but just creationism versus evolution. And like your other books, the debate is fiery¹⁰. What are you hoping the dialogue will sound like from this particular book?

BROWN: Well, you know, dialogue always takes two points of view. And I'm trying to create characters who argue both points of view. There are religious people in this book. There are scientists in these books. You know, I don't think anybody who reads this book will think that I have a soft spot in my heart for creationism.

I personally believe that it's shocking in the year 2017 that we can have American congressmen who openly proclaim the earth is 6,000 years old and that the fossil record was put there to test our faith. And because it's a religious idea, not only are we not allowed to question or ridicule¹¹ it, we are debating whether or not to teach it in our schools, and that's upsetting to me. I really feel that religion does itself no favors by declaring itself immune from rational scrutiny¹².

SINGH: What's your next project?

BROWN: Well, I often joke that there's an appropriate amount of time before one can ask that question just because I've got so many ideas. And I think I'll just probably take some time before I figure out what it will be.

SINGH: Well, I suppose it's because it's a little tougher to try to top your last work. Your books have been best-selling works. And it gets to be - I've been told by other authors - very difficult to try to set your latest work apart from your previous work. Tell me about what it's been like to make this, "Origin," stand completely apart from your other books.

BROWN: The other authors are correct. It's always very, very difficult, especially if you're writing a recurring¹³ character. The character has to mature. I just tried to tackle bigger and bigger questions. And this idea of will, you know - whether or not God will survive science is something that I find fascinating. I think it's one of the biggest and most important questions of our time. And I've been fascinated by the debate.

And, you know, I've talked to plenty of atheists who said, hey, there are about a billion atheists on the planet who are perfectly¹⁴ happy. And I've talked to a lot of religious people who make wonderful arguments for all the good religion has done in the world. So to set this book apart really was the decision to write about something that I found the biggest question I could possibly write about.

SINGH: That's Dan Brown, author of "Origin." He joined us from Barcelona, Spain. Dan, thank you.

BROWN: Thank you very much.

(SOUNDBITE OF TYCHO'S "AWAKE")

1 demons   

n.恶人( demon的名词复数 )；恶魔；精力过人的人；邪念

参考例句：

• demons torturing the sinners in Hell 地狱里折磨罪人的魔鬼
• He is plagued by demons which go back to his traumatic childhood. 他为心魔所困扰，那可追溯至他饱受创伤的童年。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

3 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

4 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

5 atheist   

n.无神论者

参考例句：

• She was an atheist but now she says she's seen the light.她本来是个无神论者，可是现在她说自己的信仰改变了。
• He is admittedly an atheist.他被公认是位无神论者。

6 geologic   

adj.地质的

参考例句：

• The Red Sea is a geologic continuation of the valley.红海就是一个峡谷在地质上的继续发展。
• Delineation of channels is the first step of geologic evaluation.勾划河道的轮廓是地质解译的第一步。

7 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

8 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

9 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

10 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

11 ridicule   

v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄

参考例句：

• You mustn't ridicule unfortunate people.你不该嘲笑不幸的人。
• Silly mistakes and queer clothes often arouse ridicule.荒谬的错误和古怪的服装常会引起人们的讪笑。

12 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

13 recurring   

adj.往复的，再次发生的

参考例句：

• This kind of problem is recurring often. 这类问题经常发生。
• For our own country, it has been a time for recurring trial. 就我们国家而言，它经过了一个反复考验的时期。

14 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。