费曼科学的价值原文

费曼科学的价值原文

在夏威夷游览一座佛教寺院时，费曼学到了一条佛家关于谦卑的偈语：一念天堂，一念地狱。这篇是费曼最雄辩的一篇演讲，集中体现了他对科学与人类社会发展互相影响的思考。

原文

来自费曼的著作《What Do You Care What Other People Think?》

The Value of Science

 From time to time I hear from people that scientists need to consider social problems more - in particular, that they need to be more responsible when it comes to the impact of science on society. Pointless preoccupation with less essential scientific problems, the result will be very successful.

 It seems to me that we actually think about these problems from time to time, but we don’t invest a completely concentrated effort in them - and the reason is that we know that we don’t have any magic tricks for solving social problems, that social problems are much more difficult to solve than scientific problems, and that we usually don’t achieve any speak when we think of them.

 I think that the scientist looking at non-scientific problems is just as layman as anyone else - and when he talks about a non-scientific matter, he sounds as naive as anyone else who has not received professional training in this field.

 Since the question of the value of science is not a scientific topic, this lecture will be devoted to proving this point - to presenting a purpose.

 The first way in which science brings benefit known to everyone, is the scientific knowledge that allows us to do all kinds of things and produce all kinds of things. Of course, if we produce good things, it is not just a point due to science; It is also a point thanks to the moral choice that motivated us to do good work. Scientific knowledge is a force that allows us to do good or bad. - but it does not include the instructions for its use, such a lacquer has a clear value - although the power may be hidden, depending on what is done with it.

 I learned a way to express this common human problem on a trip to Honolulu. There was a Buddhist temple there, and the person in charge explained a little about the Buddhist religion to the tourists, and at the end of the conversation he told them that he had something to tell them that they would never forget - and I really didn’t forget it, it was a proverb from the Buddhist religion: each person is given the key to the gates Paradise; The same key opens the gates of hell.

 If so, what is the value of the key to heaven? The truth is that if we don’t have clear instructions that will allow us to determine which gate is heaven’s and which is hell’s, the key is a dangerous object to use. But it is quite clear that this key has value: how can we enter heaven without it?

 The instructions for use will be of no use without the key. Therefore, it is obvious that despite the fact that we are capable of creating terrible atrocities in the world, science has value, because it can create something.

 Another value of science is the fun called intellectual pleasure, which some people get from reading and studying and thinking about it, and others get from working on it. This is an important point, and it is not taken into account by those who tell us that we have a social responsibility to reflect on the impact of science on society.

 Does this completely private pleasure have value in terms of the wider society? No! But there is also a responsibility to think about the goals of the company itself. Is it designed to arrange things so that people can enjoy all kinds of things? If so, the enjoyment of science is as important as anything else.

 But I would prefer not to underestimate the value of the worldview that results from the scientific effort, we have come to the point that we can imagine all kinds of things that are far more wonderful than what the poets and dreamers imagined in the past. Science teaches that the imagination of nature is much, much greater than the imagination of man. For example, it is much more wonderful to think that we are all stuck - some of us upright, and some upside down - by a mysterious gravitational force to a rotating ball, which has been running through space for billions of years, than to think that we are standing on the back of an elephant standing on a turtle swimming in a bottomless sea.

 I have thought about these things on my own so many times, and I hope you will forgive me if I remind you of ideas that no doubt occurred to many of you, and no one could have thought of them before, because then people did not have the information that we have about the world today.

 For example, I stand on the seashore, alone, and start thinking.

 Here are the crashing waves, echoes of molecules,

 Each is foolishly engaged in her own affairs,

 Trillions apart - but they all form white foam

 together.

 Ages upon ages, before there were seeing eyes, year after year,

 banging furiously on the shore, then as now,

 For whom, for what?

 on a dead planet,

 no life for fun,

 no rest at all,

 in energy whipping

 that the sun wastes with a wide hand,

 disconnected from space.

 A grain causes the sea to roar.

 in the depths of the sea,

 All molecules repeat

 on each other’s features,

 until new, complex,

 They create others like themselves,

 And a new dance begins.

 increases in volume and complexity,

 living creatures,

 atomic masses,

 DNA, proteins,

 dancing in an increasingly complex format.

 the cradle method,

 to the dry land,

 Here he arose and was

 This thing:

 Atoms with consciousness:

 material with curiosity,

 standing on the seashore,

 Marveling at wonders:

 I, a universe of atoms

 atom in the universe.

 The same thrill, the same feeling of awe and mystery, comes again and again when we look at each question in depth, as knowledge increases the mystery becomes deeper, more wonderful, and tempts us to penetrate even deeper, without fearing for a moment that the answer will be disappointing, with pleasure and self-confidence, we Each new stone is turned over, and we find strangeness that we did not imagine, which leads to even more wonderful questions and mysteries - there is no doubt that this is a spectacular adventure!

 True, some non-scientific people come to this particular kind of religious experience. Our poets do not write about her; Our artists do not try to express this wonderful thing. I don’t know why, how come no one is inspired by the current picture of the universe we have? This value of science does not receive songs of glory: you are forced to hear not a poem or a poem, but a lecture after dinner, the scientific age has not yet begun.

 Perhaps one of the reasons for this silence is that you have to know how to read the music. For example, it can be written in a scientific article, “The radioactive phosphorus content of the cerebral cortex of a rat decreases to lignite over two weeks.” So what does that mean?

 This means that the phosphorus found in the rat’s brain - as well as mine, and yours - is not the same phosphorus that was there two weeks ago. This means that the atoms in the brain are changing: the ones that were there before are gone.

 So what is this soul of ours: what are the atoms with consciousness? Snow last year! Now they can remember what went through my brain a year ago - but the brain itself has long since changed. To understand that what I call my personality is only a pattern of a dance, this is the true meaning of discovering how long it takes for the atoms in the brain to be replaced by other atoms. The atoms come to my brain, dance their dance and leave - there will always be new atoms, but they will dance the same dance, and remember what the dance was yesterday. When we read about it in the newspaper, it says “The scientists say that this discovery may play an important role in the search for the cure for cancer.”

 The newspaper is only interested in the exploitation of the idea, not the idea itself. Almost no one can understand the importance of an idea, how wonderful it is. Although it may be that some children catch the and. And when a child grasps such an idea, we have a scientist. It is too late to instill this spirit in them when they reach university, so we should try to explain these ideas to children.

 Now I would like to turn to a third value that science has. He is a little less direct, but not by much. A scientist has a lot of experience with not knowing and doubt and uncertainty, and this experience is very important, I think. When a scientist does not know the answer to a problem, he is in a state of ignorance. When he has a guess as to the outcome, he is in a state of uncertainty. And when he is quite sure what the result will be he is still in some doubt. We discovered that it is extremely important if we want to move forward, to acknowledge our ignorance, and to leave room for doubt. The scientific information is a collection of statements with varying degrees of certainty - some are very uncertain, others are almost certain, but none are certain for the world.

 Well, we scientists are used to it, and it is quite clear to us that it is entirely consistent, to be uncertain; You can live and not know. Our freedom of doubt was born out of a struggle against authority, in the early days of science. This struggle was very deep and difficult: we were allowed to doubt - to doubt - to be uncertain. I think it is important not to forget this struggle, because that way we might lose what we have achieved. And this is our responsibility towards society.

 We are all saddened when we think of the marvelous abilities that human beings must have, compared to their paltry achievements. Again and again people think that we could have achieved much more, those who lived in the past saw the nightmare of their time as a dream for the future. We, their future, see that their dreams, which in some ways came true and even more than that, remain dreams in many ways, the hopes for the future today are, to a large extent, the hopes of yesterday.

 It used to be thought that the possibilities that people have did not develop because most people were burnt out. With universal education, can anyone be a Voltaire? The bad can be taught as effectively as the good. Education is a powerful force, but for better or for worse. Communication between nations must promote understanding - it was another dream, but the mechanisms of communication can be manipulated. What passes in the media can be true or false. The media is a powerful force, but again, for better or for worse.

 Applied science should free man from material problems, at the very least. Medicine fights diseases, and it seems that the achievements were all for the better. And yet there are some who are patiently working today to produce great plagues and poisons for use in tomorrow’s war. Almost everyone hates war, our dream today is peace. In peace, man can develop to the best of his tremendous possibilities. But maybe in the future it will become clear that peace can also be for good or for bad. Maybe people living in peace will start getting drunk out of boredom. Then, maybe the drinking will be the big problem that prevents the person from getting everything he thinks he should have gotten from his ability.

 Of course, peace is a tremendous force - like sobriety, material power, communication, education, honesty and the ideals of many dreamers. We have many more such forces to control than the ancients had, and we may be getting on with them a little better than most, but what we are supposed to be able to do seems enormous,

 Compared to our confused achievements.

 why is it? Why can’t we control ourselves?

 Because we find that even great powers and miraculous ability are not provided with clear instructions for use, for example, the great accumulation of understanding of the behavior of the physical world only convinces us that this behavior is more or less meaningless. The scientists do not directly teach what is good and what is bad.

 Throughout the past generations, people have tried to delve into the meaning of life. They realized that if they could provide some direction or meaning to our actions, tremendous human forces would be unleashed. Therefore, many answers were given to the question of what all this means. But the answers were of all kinds, and the advocates of one answer looked with horror at the actions of those who believed in another answer - horror, because from an opposite point of view, all the tremendous abilities of the race were channeled into a dead end, false and limiting. In fact, it was precisely from this history, of terrible monsters created by the power of false belief, that philosophers learned about the wonderful and almost infinite capacity of man. The dream is to find the open channel.

 If so, what is the meaning of all this? What can we say that will solve the mystery of existence? If we take everything into account - not only what the ancients knew, but also what we know today and they didn’t know - I think we have to admit with openness, A ḥan Ḥ Ḥ Ḥ ḥ ḥ ḥ ḥ ḥ ḥ ḥ ḥ ḥ ḥ ḥ ḥ ḥ ḥ Ḥ

 But in this admission, we probably find the open channel. This is not a new idea; This is the idea of the Age of Enlightenment. This is the philosophy that guided the people who established the democracy we live in. The idea that no one really knows how to run a government led to the idea that we need to build a method in which it will be possible to develop innovative ideas, try them, throw them in the trash if necessary, and make room for more new ideas - a method of trial and error. This method resulted from the fact that science had already proven itself to be a successful enterprise, at the end of the eighteenth century. It was already clear to those with a social conscience that the openness of possibilities is an opportunity, and that doubt and discussion are essential to progress into the unknown, if we want to solve a problem that we have never solved, we must leave the door to the unknown somewhat open.

 We are at the very beginning of the human race. It is expected and likely that we will face problems. But there are still thousands of years in the future, our priority is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions and pass them on. Our responsibility is to leave the people of the future a free hand. In the youthful fervor of humanity, we can make grave mistakes that will stifle development for a long time. And this is what we do if we say that the answers are already in our hands, because we are so young and clueless. If we stifle every argument, every criticism, and declare “this is the answer, my friend; Humanity is saved!” We will excuse the fate of humanity to be shackled for a long time in the chains of authority, to remain confined to the limits of our current imagination, this has happened many, many times in the past.

 Our responsibility as scientists, recognizing the great progress that has resulted from a satisfactory philosophy of ignorance, the great progress that is the fruit of freedom of thought, is to proclaim the value of that freedom; to teach that doubt is not a reason for fear, but for joy and discussion; and claim this freedom, as our duty to all future generations.

中文版本

来自中文版的《发现的乐趣》

科学的价值

  人们时常对我说，科学家应该多关心社会问题——尤其是科学会对社会造成很大冲击，你们科学家应该在这方面多担责任。其他科学家也一定会碰到类似的情况。大家似乎普遍认为，只要科学家们多花些时间来关注这些非常棘手的社会问题，而不是花那么多时间忙活一些无关紧要的科学研究，我们的社会就会有巨大的改观。

  在我看来，我们确实也会经常思考这些问题，只不过没有把它当成本职工作而已。因为，我们知道自己并没有解决社会问题的灵丹妙药——社会问题比自然科学问题棘手得多，而且，即便我们认真思考了那些问题，通常也没有什么结果。

  我认为，科学家在考虑非自然科学问题的时候，他比普通人高明不了多少——当他就社会问题发表意见时，他也会像其他门外汉一样幼稚。今天我要讲的话题“科学的价值”不是一个纯自然科学的问题，所以，大家会发现今天的演讲肯定会验证我刚才这句话。

  科学的第一重价值人人皆知，那就是“科学知识帮助人们做各种事情、制造出各种东西”。当然，如果我们做了善事，那也不单单是科学的功劳，引导我们行善的道德选择也很重要。科学知识是一种力量，我们用它行善，也能利用它作恶——它本身不能决定自己的用途。这样一种力量显然是有价值的，尽管可能由于使用不当而失去价值。

  我曾经去过檀香山，在那里我学到了一个说法，它可以表述这个具有普遍性的人类社会问题。有个寺庙的住持向游客讲了一点点佛法，最后他送游客一句话，说这会让他们终生铭记——我本人就一直没忘。那是佛经上的一句偈语：一念天堂，一念地狱。（原文：To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell.）

  如此说来，什么是打开天堂的钥匙的价值呢？确实，如果没有明确的指令指引我们打开天堂之门或是地狱之门，那么，我们手中的钥匙还真是个危险的物件。可是那把钥匙又显然有价值，没有了它，我们怎样去天堂呢？

  没有钥匙，指令就毫无意义。所以很明显，虽然科学可能给世界带来巨大伤害，毕竟它还是有价值的，因为它能制造出有价值的东西。

  科学的另一重价值是心智的享受。有人从阅读、学习和思索科学的过程中获得这种乐趣，还有人从科学研究中获得乐趣。这一点很真实，也很重要，而那些人对此却没有充分的认识——那些人说我们科学家有责任反思科学对社会的冲击和负面影响。

  相对于整个社会价值而言，这种科学价值是否仅仅等同于个人乐趣？话不能这样说。应该说，我们也有责任去考虑社会存在的价值。归根到底，倘若社会发展的目标就是让人们能够享乐一切，那么，享受科学带来的乐趣就像其他任何事情一样重要。

  但是我不能低估科学的世界观的价值——科学发现不断改变我们对于世界的看法。科学赋予我们想象力，那些恣肆汪洋的想象远比过往年月里诗人和梦想家所描述的更加不可思议和瑰丽多彩。科学研究告诉我们，自然的想象力远远超过人类的想象力。比如，我们这些地球人——其中一半人还头朝下——被一种神秘的吸引力吸附在一个不断旋转的球体上，而这个球体在茫茫宇宙中已经旋转了几十亿年，这难道不比“浩渺的大海里浮游着一只大海龟、海龟驮着象、象又驮着大地”这种想象更激荡人心吗？

  我常常独自思考这些问题。如果在这里我提起这些众所周知的常识，或者这一类的知识，我希望在座各位能谅解，可是过去的人们不可能知道这些知识，因为他们和我们不一样，没有办法认识这个世界。

比如，我一个人站在海边，思绪万千。海浪翻滚……那是无数分子堆积成的，每个分子只管傻傻地忙乎自己的事……分明是亿万独立的个体……合在一起便形成了白浪。

代复一代，年复一年……生灵万物出现之前……惊涛便如此这般拍击着海岸。所为何人？又所为哪般……在一个没有任何生命可取悦、死寂的星球上。

永不停息……能量驱使一切……太阳肆意挥霍……倾泻于宇宙……些许就引发海的咆哮。

大海深处，分子重复一样的排列，直到生成复杂的新组合。它们复制自身……然后，崭新一幕上演。

日益增长的规模和复杂性，生物，原子团、DNA、蛋白质，舞着一个更为复杂的世界。

跳出海洋摇篮，走上干燥的大地……天地间有了一个它……有知觉的一堆原子……充满好奇的一团物质。

站在海边……奇迹在惊异中出现……我……在一个原子的宇宙中……不过是宇宙中的一个原子。

  每当我们足够深入研究一个问题时，同样的激动、敬畏和神秘感，会一次又一次袭来。了解越多，研究越深入，就会发现更奇妙的秘密，诱使人们越发深入探究。从不在意结果可能令人失望，我们总是愉悦自信地翻开一块又一块石头，试图发现意想不到的奇妙之事，而它又会引领我们领略更美妙的问题和神秘之事——这无疑是一场伟大而美妙的冒险！

  确实，不做科学研究的人，没几个人能有这种宗教般的体验。我们的诗人不去歌颂它，我们的画家不去描绘这样不同寻常的情景。我也不理解。难道没有人从我们科学家现在对宇宙的描述中得到创作灵感吗？科学的这种价值，至今还没有一个歌手颂扬过它。所以，今晚，诸位不得不听我讲科学——不是一首科学赞歌，也不是一首诗歌，就是听一晚上的讲座。可见，科学的时代还是没有到来啊！

  造成这种局面的一个原因大概是，你需要看懂乐谱才能唱歌。举个例子，科学论文里说：“老鼠大脑里的放射性磷每两个星期减少一半。”好了，这什么意思呢？

  这意味着，老鼠的脑子（你我的脑子也一样）里面的磷已经不是两个星期以前的磷了。这意味着，脑子里的原子会被全部更替，原先的原子已经不存在了。

  所以，这个大脑到底是什么呢？这些有意识的原子又是什么呢？就像是上星期吃的土豆！现在，它能记得我脑子里一年以前的想法，而那时候的脑子早就已经被换过了。

  人们发现大脑里的原子需要多久会被别的原子替换，其意义就在于提醒大家，区别旁人和我的重要器官，只不过是一种组合，或说是一种舞步。原子来到我脑子里，跳一支舞，然后走人——原子常新，舞步依旧，永远记得昨天的跳法。

  当我们在报纸上看到这条消息：“科学家认为，这一发现可能帮助人类攻克癌症。”报纸只关注一个想法的用途，而不去注意那个想法本身。难得会有人懂得一个想法的重要性，以及它是多么不同寻常。尽管如此，还是有些孩子会对这个想法感兴趣。一旦某个孩子被这想法吸引，我们就多了一个科学家。这些想法的影响力确实会慢慢扩大（即便众说纷纭，说看电视会替代思考），很多孩子会开始注意科学的各种奇思妙想——这样他们就可能成为未来的科学家。一旦等他们上了大学，那就太晚喽。所以，我们必须尝试着给孩子们讲解这些想法。

  现在，我要讲讲科学的第三重价值了。这个价值不是那么直观，但并不牵强。科学家对于自己的无知、怀疑和不确定深有体会，我以为这些经历非常非常重要。当一个科学家不知道某个问题的答案时，他是无知的。当他凭直觉猜到结果会是怎样的，他并不确定。而当他对结果相当有把握时，他还是有一点点怀疑。我们发现，要进步，我们必须承认自己的无知，还要心中存疑——这种心态至关重要。科学知识是一些陈述的集合，这些陈述有不同程度的确定性——有的基本不确定，有的几乎可以确定，但没有一条陈述是绝对有把握的。

  如今，我们这些科学家已经接受这一点了，并且理所当然地认为：存疑与科学并不矛盾——无知是一种常态。可是，我不知道是否每个人都意识到了这一点。今天我们能存疑的自由，缘于科学在发展早期与权威势力的斗争。那是一场酷烈的斗争，意义极其深刻。我们争取到了质疑的权利，也就是允许我们去怀疑，凡事都不能那么确定。我认为这一点很重要：我们不能忘记这场斗争的重要性，即使有可能失去业已得到的东西。这是科学家对社会的责任。

  人类看来拥有无限的潜能，而相比之下成就却如此有限，每每想到这点，我们都会很难过。一次又一次，我们都认为自己本应做得更好些。前人在他们所处的黑暗时代中畅想未来；作为后来人，今天我们目睹他们的一些梦想实现了，而很多却仍然是梦想。今人对于未来的希望，很大程度上，依旧是古人对未来的梦想。

  曾经有人认为，人的潜能之所以没有被完全开发出来，是因为大多数人没有接受教育。照这样说的话，随着教育的普及，人人都能成为伏尔泰吗？就教学成效而言，教人为恶与教人向善一样立竿见影。教育的作用很大，但它既可能是好事，也可能是坏事。

  国家和民族间的交流必定会促进相互理解——这可能又是一个美好的梦想。可是，交流的渠道可以被操纵——或是畅通，或是被堵塞。交流的内容可能是真理，也可能是谎言。交流的作用很大，但是，同样地，它既可能是好事，也可能是坏事。

  应用科学至少应该能给人们物质生活的保障吧。医药能控制疾病，这方面的记载好像全都是正面的吧。其实不然，也有人在孜孜不倦地埋头研制瘟疫病毒和毒药，以便用于今后的战争。

  几乎所有人都讨厌战争。我们今天的梦想是和平。我们认为，在和平年代，人能够充分挖掘自己巨大的潜能。可是，一旦实现了永久和平，未来的人们可能会发现，和平同样是双刃剑，也有好坏两面。久享太平的人们也许会因为无所事事而酗酒，而酗酒对于一个想充分发挥自己潜能的人来说，将会是很大的一个障碍。

  显然，和平也是一大力量，就像其他力量一样，比如清醒、物质力量、交流、教育和诚实，还有，梦想家的很多共同理想。

  上述力量中，今天我们可以操控的力量比古人要多。或许，我们比大多数古人做得要好一点。但是，我们本来应该能做成更多且更伟大的事情，就此而言，我们那点可怜的成就只不过是沧海一粟。

  原因何在？为什么我们不能战胜自己？

  那是因为，我们发现，那些力量或是人的能量再也没有附带使用说明。例如，关于世界如何运行的知识，我们积累了很多。可是，这种知识越多，越让我们坚信，这些运行似乎毫无意义可言。各种各样的科学知识并不直接教人向善或是作恶。

  古往今来的人们一直在寻找人生的意义。他们认为，如果有一个方向或意义来指引人类的行动，人类自身巨大的潜能必定会被释放出来。于是乎，很多很多的答案应运而生。可是，这些形形色色的说法相去甚远，其中某一种说法的支持者，会把信奉另一种说法的人们的行为看作是洪水猛兽。之所以心怀恐惧，那是因为看法不同，他们会认为信奉不同理念的人们的所有潜能都会被引入歧途，进入一条狭隘的死胡同。历史上有无数因虚妄的信仰导致的恶性事件，哲学家正是从中才意识到人类拥有无穷的、神奇的潜能。于是，新的梦想来了：如何找到那个通道？

  那么，这其中的含义又是什么呢？如何一言道尽人生存在之谜呢？

  如果凭借我们所有已知的知识，既有古人掌握的知识，也有现代人知道的而古人未知的知识，那么，我们必须坦白承认，我们不知道。

  可是，坦白承认了这一点，也许我们已经找到了那个通道。

  这不是一个新的想法：这是理性时代的想法。正是这一哲理启发了我们的先贤们，他们创造了我们目前生活其中的民主制度。这个想法就是：没有谁真正知道如何管理政府，所以我们应当创造这么一个制度，在这一制度下，新想法有机会产生、被试验、有可能被丢弃、继而产生更多的新想法；这是一个“试错”的制度。这一做法的出现基于这个事实：到18世纪末，科学已经证明自身是一个成功的冒险。把科学精神引入社会运行适当其时。那时关心社会运行的人们就已经清楚地看到：坦然面对各种可能性就会带来机会，怀疑和讨论是探索未知世界的关键。假如我们要解决前人从未解决的问题，我们就必须打开未知之门。

  作为地球上的一个物种，人类还处在初期发展阶段，问题一箩筐也不足为怪。人类的未来还很长。我们有责任去做我们该做的、尽量去学习、寻求更好的解决办法，并将这些办法传给后人。我们有责任尽量不给后人遗留下问题。在人类的年少轻狂期，我们有可能犯下严重的错误，以至于长时期阻碍自己的成长。我们人类还处于青少年期，还很无知，假如我们说自己今天就已经知道了答案，那就会犯这样的错。如果我们压制言论，压制批评的声音，宣称：“这就是答案，朋友们，人类得救了！”这样一来，人类就会被长期套上权威的镣铐，并局限于眼前的想象。这样的事情已经发生得太多了。

  身为科学家，我们知道，“假定自己是无知的”这种哲学态度取得了长足的进步，它具有巨大的价值，而这种进步是解放思想、自由思考的结果，所以我们有责任大声赞扬自由思考的价值；我们有责任让大家知道：为什么不要害怕质疑，而是要张开双臂去欢迎质疑，并展开讨论；我们有责任要求子孙后代也要拥有这一自由。