TED演講-口語練習(xí)：我們生活在一個(gè)被精心編排的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)中

在TED演講節(jié)目中，演講者清晰的口語表達(dá)及其內(nèi)容的寫作手法都是值得我們學(xué)習(xí)借鑒的。在本期的TED演講中，演講者將提出我們可能生活在一個(gè)由數(shù)學(xué)定律和常數(shù)精確模擬的宇宙中的觀點(diǎn)。請結(jié)合視頻內(nèi)容，開始口語練習(xí)吧！

原文及翻譯

We live in a vast universe on a small wet planet, where billions of years ago, single-celled life forms evolved from the same elements as all non-living material around them, proliferating and radiating into an incredible array of complex life forms. All of this, living and inanimate, microscopic and cosmic, is governed by mathematical laws with apparently arbitrary constants. 

我們生活在一個(gè)廣闊的宇宙中，在一個(gè)小小的濕潤星球上，數(shù)十億年前，單細(xì)胞生命形式從與周圍所有非生命物質(zhì)相同的元素進(jìn)化而來，不斷增殖并輻射成令人難以置信的復(fù)雜生命形式。所有這些，無論是生物還是非生物，微觀還是宇宙，都受數(shù)學(xué)定律的支配，這些定律顯然是任意常數(shù)。

This opens up a question: if the universe is completely governed by these laws, couldn't a powerful enough computer simulate it exactly? Could our reality actually be an incredibly detailed simulation set in place by a much more advanced civilization? This idea may sound like science fiction, but it has been the subject of serious inquiry. 

這就引出了一個(gè)問題：如果宇宙完全受這些定律支配，那么足夠強(qiáng)大的計(jì)算機(jī)難道不能完全模擬它嗎？我們的現(xiàn)實(shí)實(shí)際上是由更先進(jìn)的文明設(shè)定的極其詳細(xì)的模擬嗎？這個(gè)想法聽起來像科幻小說，但它一直是嚴(yán)肅研究的主題。

Philosopher Nick Bostrom advanced a compelling argument that we're likely living in a simulation, and some scientists also think it's a possibility. These scientists have started thinking about experimental tests to find out whether our universe is a simulation. They are hypothesizing about what the constraints of the simulation might be and how those constraints could lead to detectable signs in the world. 

哲學(xué)家尼克·博斯特羅姆提出了一個(gè)令人信服的論點(diǎn)，即我們很可能生活在模擬中，一些科學(xué)家也認(rèn)為這是一種可能性。這些科學(xué)家已經(jīng)開始考慮進(jìn)行實(shí)驗(yàn)測試，以確定我們的宇宙是否是模擬的。他們假設(shè)模擬的約束可能是什么，以及這些約束如何導(dǎo)致世界上可檢測到的跡象。

So where might we look for those glitches? One idea is that as a simulation runs, it might accumulate errors over time. To correct for these errors, the simulators could adjust the constants in the laws of nature. These shifts could be tiny. For instance, certain constants we've measured with accuracies of parts per million have stayed steady for decades, so any drift would have to be on an even smaller scale. 

那么我們可以在哪里尋找這些故障呢？一種想法是，隨著模擬的運(yùn)行，它可能會(huì)隨著時(shí)間的推移而積累錯(cuò)誤。為了糾正這些錯(cuò)誤，模擬器可以調(diào)整自然法則中的常數(shù)。這些變化可能很小。例如，我們以百萬分之一的精度測量的某些常數(shù)幾十年來一直保持穩(wěn)定，因此任何漂移都必須在更小的范圍內(nèi)。

But as we gain more precision in our measurements of these constants, we might detect slight changes over time. Another possible place to look comes from the concept that finite computing power, no matter how huge, can't simulate infinities. If space and time are continuous, even a tiny piece of the universe has infinite points and becomes impossible to simulate with finite computing power.

但隨著我們對這些常數(shù)的測量越來越精確，我們可能會(huì)檢測到隨著時(shí)間的推移而發(fā)生的細(xì)微變化。另一個(gè)可能的觀察點(diǎn)來自這樣一個(gè)概念：有限的計(jì)算能力，無論多么強(qiáng)大，都無法模擬無限。如果空間和時(shí)間是連續(xù)的，那么即使是宇宙的一小部分也有無限的點(diǎn)，用有限的計(jì)算能力就不可能模擬。

以上就是本期TED演講的分享，希望對您的口語、寫作水平都有幫助！您也可以訪問網(wǎng)站主頁，獲取最新的英語學(xué)習(xí)資料，全方位提升英語水平。