2021年经济学人 《来自未来的人》书评

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书评

The history of science -- Martian's landing

科学的历史——火星人的登陆

The Man from the Future. By Ananyo Bhattacharya.

《来自未来的人》，作者：阿南约·巴塔查里亚。

In 1945, while in a state of exhaustion¹, the mathematician² John von Neumann had a kind of stammering³ premonition.

1945年，处于极度疲惫之下，数学家约翰·冯·诺伊曼产生了一种尚不明朗的预感。

He was in Los Alamos, working on the atom bomb, and he told his wife Klari that the “energy source” he was helping⁴ to develop would make scientists “the most hated and also the most wanted citizens of any country”.

他当时在洛斯阿拉莫斯研究原子弹，他告诉他的妻子Klari，他正在帮助开发的这种“能源”将使科学家“成为所有国家最讨厌也最想招入麾下的公民”。

Then he informed her that his other ongoing⁵ project, the computer, would one day be even more important—and potentially even more dangerous.

然后，他告诉她，他正在进行的另一个项目——计算机，有一天会变得更加重要——而且可能更加危险。

Good biographies of some of the greatest mathematical minds are rare: because they were polymaths, biographers who can interpret their manifold achievements for the ordinary mortal are themselves thin on the ground.

关于某些最伟大的数学家的优秀传记是很少的：因为这些数学家博学多才，能把他们的众多成就解释给普通人看的传记作家本身就寥寥无几。

This has been von Neumann’s fate, and the upshot is that he has not had the recognition he deserves.

这就是冯·诺伊曼的命运，结果就是他没能得到应有的认可。

Ananyo Bhattacharya, a science journalist formerly⁶ at The Economist⁷, sets out to correct that injustice⁸, and so fill a yawning gap in the history of science.

《经济学人》的一名前科学记者阿南约·巴塔查里亚打算纠正这种不公正，以此填补科学史上的一个巨大空白。

Von Neumann belonged to a small group of brilliant Hungarians, of mainly Jewish backgrounds, who in the 1930s fled Nazism⁹ for America, where they were dubbed¹⁰ “the Martians” because of their strange language and even stranger brains.

冯·诺伊曼是一小群才华横溢的匈牙利人中的一员，他们主要生长于犹太背景下，在20世纪30年代为逃离纳粹主义来到美国，在美国他们因拥有奇怪的语言和更奇怪的大脑而被称为“火星人”。

All would transform science, but von Neumann would transform daily life, and he did so in varied¹¹ and profound ways.

所有这些人都将改变科学，但冯·诺伊曼将改变日常生活，他以多样又深刻的方式做到了这一点。

He was undoubtedly¹² a genius, and reading this book gives you an inkling of what that overused word really means.

毫无疑问，他是一个天才，读了这本书，你就会对这个被滥用的词的真正含义有所了解。

More than one highly intelligent acquaintance remarks that it was as if von Neumann was the only person who was really awake.

不止一位极其聪明的熟识冯·诺伊曼的人说，冯·诺伊曼似乎是唯一一个真正清醒的人。

The problem facing the biographer of a mathematician is that conveying mathematical concepts in mere¹³ words risks either boring the cognoscenti or bemusing the uninitiated.

为数学家写传记的作家所面临的问题是，仅仅用文字来表达数学概念，要么会让专家感到厌烦，要么会让外行感到困惑。

Rather like the books of Stephen Hawking¹⁴ or Carlo Rovelli, though, this one is rewarding on different levels.

就像史蒂芬·霍金或卡洛·罗维里的传记一样，这本书在不同的层面上都很有价值。

Everyone can grasp the significance of the puzzles posed, and if readers want to follow the genius through the steps of his solutions then Mr Bhattacharya is a clear and authoritative¹⁵ guide.

每个人都能领会到这些谜题的意义，如果读者们想跟随这位天才一步步解开谜题，那么巴塔查里亚先生就是一位清晰而权威的向导。

Perhaps it was because he was fluent in the language of the universe that von Neumann flitted so easily between disciplines.

也许正是因为冯·诺伊曼精通全球语言，他才能如此轻松地穿梭于各个学科之间。

While still a young man he made important contributions to quantum mechanics.

他年轻时就对量子力学做出了重要贡献。

Later he played a seminal¹⁶ role in the Manhattan Project that built the bomb, and devised the architecture for the first programmable computers.

后来，他在制造原子弹的曼哈顿计划中发挥了影响甚远的作用，并为第一台可编程计算机设计了架构。

He laid the foundations of game theory (introducing the term “zero-sum” along the way), stimulating¹⁷ revolutions across the social sciences and biology.

他奠定了博弈论的基础（在此过程中引入了“零和”这一术语），推动了社会科学和生物学领域的革命。

At times he was in such demand that a US Air Force plane was kept on standby to whisk him from one top-secret government lab to another.

有时，对他的需求如此之大，以至于一架美国空军飞机随时待命，以将他从一个最高机密政府实验室送到另一个实验室。

He was equally comfortable in basic and applied¹⁸ research, sitting with pencil and paper in his dining room in Princeton or debating with top military brass¹⁹ out in the New Mexico desert; but his interests were clearly linked.

他在基础研究和应用研究方面同样得心应手，坐在他普林斯顿家中的餐厅里手拿纸笔演算，或者在新墨西哥州的沙漠里与高级军事将领辩论；不过他的兴趣显然是相互联系的。

He needed programmable computers to calculate the size and force of shock waves from explosions, and game theory to address the thorny²⁰ question of nuclear deterrence²¹.

他需要可编程的计算机来计算爆炸冲击波的大小和力量，还需要博弈论来解决核威慑这个棘手的问题。

The years of the second world war were especially productive for him, as if he were propelled by the destruction of the “perfect intellectual setting” that was the Central Europe of his youth, not to mention the deaths of millions of its inhabitants.

他在第二次世界大战的那些年间尤其高产，他年轻时生活的中欧“完美的智识环境”遭到的破坏，更不用说那里数百万居民的死亡，似乎在推动着他前进。

And yet, Mr Bhattacharya argues, the reputation that von Neumann acquired as the coldest of cold warriors²² was undeserved.

然而，巴塔查里亚认为，冯·诺伊曼的最冷酷的冷战分子这一名声有些冤枉。

He knew the depths to which humankind could sink, but he was by nature more co-operative than competitive.

他清楚人类能够堕落到什么程度，但他天生更愿意合作而不是竞争。

The man from the future had seen for himself that science could be used for both good and bad, and considered the only legitimate²³ response to be the exercise of intelligent judgment²⁴.

这位来自未来的人亲眼目睹了科学是把双刃剑，并且认为唯一合理的应对就是运用智慧的判断。

“For progress,” he wrote, “there is no cure.”

“对于进步，”他写道，“没有良方。”

1 exhaustion   

n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述

参考例句：

• She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
• His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了，显然是太累了。

2 mathematician   

n.数学家

参考例句：

• The man with his back to the camera is a mathematician.背对着照相机的人是位数学家。
• The mathematician analyzed his figures again.这位数学家再次分析研究了他的这些数字。

3 stammering   

v.结巴地说出( stammer的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He betrayed nervousness by stammering. 他说话结结巴巴说明他胆子小。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• \"Why,\" he said, actually stammering, \"how do you do?\" “哎呀，\"他说，真的有些结结巴巴，\"你好啊？” 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

6 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

7 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

8 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

9 Nazism   

n. 纳粹主义

参考例句：

• His philosophical eyes were obviously shortsighted by the evil influence of Nazism. 显然，他那双哲学家般的深邃的眼睛也被纳粹的妖氛所眩惑。 来自中国文学部分
• Nazism suppressed all three movements as degenerate. 纳粹把所有三个运动都作为颓废艺术而加以镇压。

10 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

12 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。

13 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

14 hawking   

利用鹰行猎

参考例句：

• He is hawking his goods everywhere. 他在到处兜售他的货物。
• We obtain the event horizon and the Hawking spectrumformula. 得到了黑洞的局部事件视界位置和Hawking温度以及Klein—Gordon粒子的Hawking辐射谱。

15 authoritative   

adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的

参考例句：

• David speaks in an authoritative tone.大卫以命令的口吻说话。
• Her smile was warm but authoritative.她的笑容很和蔼，同时又透着威严。

16 seminal   

adj.影响深远的；种子的

参考例句：

• The reforms have been a seminal event in the history of the NHS.这些改革已成为英国国民保健制度史上影响深远的一件大事。
• The emperor's importance as a seminal figure of history won't be diminished.做为一个开创性历史人物的重要性是不会减弱的。

17 stimulating   

adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的

参考例句：

• shower gel containing plant extracts that have a stimulating effect on the skin 含有对皮肤有益的植物精华的沐浴凝胶
• This is a drug for stimulating nerves. 这是一种兴奋剂。

18 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

19 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

20 thorny   

adj.多刺的，棘手的

参考例句：

• The young captain is pondering over a thorny problem.年轻的上尉正在思考一个棘手的问题。
• The boys argued over the thorny points in the lesson.孩子们辩论功课中的难点。

21 deterrence   

威慑，制止； 制止物，制止因素； 挽留的事物； 核威慑

参考例句：

• An extreme school of "disarmers" pronounced stable deterrence was a dangerous deception. “裁军论者”中的极端派声称，稳定的威摄是一种危险的骗局。
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。

22 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

23 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

24 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。