聽力|精讀|翻譯|詞組
In praise of cyborgs
電子人的頌歌
英文部分選自經濟學人190727 Books and arts版塊
A life in science
傾注一生，只為科學
In praise of cyborgs
電子人的頌歌
A distinguished centenarian scientist prophesies the future
傑出百歲科學家的未來預言
Novacene: The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence. By James Lovelock with Bryan Appleyard. The MIT Press; 160 pages; $22.95. Allen Lane; £14.99
《新星世：超智能時代的到來》（書），由詹姆斯·洛夫洛克和布賴恩·阿普爾亞德合著。麻省理工出版社；160頁；$22.95。企鵝出版社；£14.99。
「My father was, in many ways, a hunter-gatherer,」 recalls James Lovelock on the patio of his cottage above Chesil Beach, on England’s south coast. In a poor household, the elder Lovelock not only scrabbled to feed the family, but taught young Jim the virtue of respecting nature and Earth. As a scientist, Mr Lovelock went on to develop Gaia theory, the idea that Earth is a single, complex, selfregulating system. Though initially rejected by life scientists, it became the main way many people conceive of the planet.
「很多時候，我父親靠狩獵謀生」，詹姆斯·洛夫洛克在位於英國南岸切西爾海海岸的鄉舍露臺上回憶道。在貧寒的家庭中，老洛夫洛克不僅要贍養家庭，還教導年幼的吉姆要尊重自然和地球。作為科學家，洛夫洛克先生建立了蓋亞理論，該理論認為地球是一個單一又複雜且具有自我調節能力的系統。儘管最初蓋亞理論遭到生命科學家的質疑，但它最終成為人類認知地球的主要方式。
註：蓋亞假說（Gaia Hypothesis）是由詹姆斯·洛夫洛克在1972年提出的一個假說。簡單地說，蓋亞假說是指在生命與環境的相互作用之下，能使得地球適合生命持續的生存與發展。
That is just one of his many contributions to science. Mr Lovelock honed a method to look for life on other planets while at nasa in the 1960s. He found and quantified cfcs in the atmosphere in the 1970s, which led eventually to a ban on the harmful chemicals. His nomination to Britain’s Royal Society in 1974 cited a plethora of work in biology, chemistry and physics—all before the popularisation of the theory for which he is best-known (it is named after Gaia, the ancient Greek goddess of Earth).
蓋亞理論只是洛夫洛克先生對於科學的貢獻之一。20世紀60年代在NASA工作期間，他發明了一種探索地球外生命的方式；70年代，他發現並量化了大氣中的氟利昂，這最終催生了對有害化學物質的使用禁令。1974年他被提名為英國皇家學會成員，以表彰他在生物學、化學和物理學方面的卓越貢獻隨後他最著名的蓋亞理論才開始普及（蓋亞一詞來源於古希臘的大地女神）。
To coincide with his 100th birthday, he has published a slim book on artificial intelligence (AI), written with Bryan Appleyard, a journalist. It is mind-stretching stuff. Mr Lovelock thinks the world is leaving the Anthropocene(ie, the current geological age, when human activity has a dominant impact on the planet), for the Novacene, in which 「cyborgs」 (AI systems) will play the central role.
一百歲生辰當天，他和記者布賴恩·阿普爾亞德合著出版了一本關於人工智慧的簡易手冊。這本書觀點新穎。洛夫洛克先生認為，世界正在由人類時代（目前人類主宰地球的時代）向新星世過渡，那時「電子人」（人工智慧系統）會成為地球的主宰。
註：Anthropocene --- "人類世或稱人類紀"一詞是荷蘭大氣化學家、諾貝爾獎獲得者P·克魯岑(CRUTZEN)提出，是從地質學詞彙借用而來，作為地質學時代系統中最新的一個分期的概念。作為人類活動幹涉自然環境和改變自然環境,成為一項地質營力的表徵，一個人類成為重要的、時常佔主導地位的環境因素的地質時代。
This is the next step in natural selection, he argues, because cyborgs can reproduce and evolve. They can think thousands of times faster than humans: they are as cleverer than people as people are than plants. Don’t panic, Mr Lovelock counsels, terrifying as this sounds. Cyborgs will have an incentive to conserve humans rather than wipe them out, since they will need life-forms to help cool the planet for their own survival—though mortals may be relegated to the status of pets and play-things. Cyborgs may 「exhibit collections of live humans」, he writes, just as today people 「go to Kew Gardens [in London] to watch the plants」.
他認為這是自然選擇法則的下一步，因為電子人能夠繁衍和進化。他們的思考速度比人類快數千倍：他們比人類聰明，就好比人類比植物聰明得多。洛夫洛克先生說，儘管聽起來很可怕，但不要恐慌，。電子人更願意與人類共處而不是消滅人類，因為它們在地球上生存，需要別的生物來幫助降溫——不過，到時候人類可能會淪落為電子人的寵物和玩偶。他在書中寫到，電子人可能會舉辦 「人類藏品展」，就像如今人類舉辦的「英國皇家植物園觀賞」一樣。
In the end, ai systems may save humankind as well as themselves. Besides climate change, Mr Lovelock fears other natural ways that Gaia—the principle that maintains the balance in the planet’s climate— could be destroyed, such as a severe volcanic eruption. Keeping the planet cool will make it more resilient to such threats, he contends; so, as well as preserving organic life, the cyborgs will probably enact other kinds of geoengineering that lower Earth’s temperature. Hence the Novacene is to be welcomed, not feared. 「Whatever harm we have done to the Earth, we have, just in time, redeemed ourselves by acting simultaneously as parents and midwives to the cyborgs. They alone can guide Gaia through the astronomical crises now imminent,」 Mr Lovelock writes.
最終，人工智慧大概率會在拯救人類的同時拯救自身。除了氣候變化，洛夫洛克先生擔心維繫地球氣候平衡的「蓋亞」準則可能會被其他自然災害摧毀，比如嚴重的火山爆發。他認為，保持低溫，能讓地球在遭遇威脅以後，儘快自我修復；因此，電子人在保護有機生命的同時，也有可能會實施其它地質工程使地球降溫。因此新星世將大受歡迎，而非讓人恐懼。 「無論人類將如何破壞地球環境，我們已經通過發明電子人來獲得救贖。。只有他們能夠引導蓋亞度過迫在眉睫的天文危機」， 洛夫洛克先生寫到。
As a thinker, he defies categorisation. He adamantly favours nuclear energy and rejects the Green movement as utopian. He considers work on autonomous weapons to be as foolish as it is deadly. He attributes his originality to a decision to abandon academia for independent research, which allowed his curiosity to roam. In 「Novacene」, his most impassioned argument is that humans are cursed by language because it forces causal, linear thinking at the expense of intuition, which is a truer way to understand the reality of the world.
作為思想家，他敢於打破分類壁壘。他堅定地支持核能，反對不切實際的綠色運動。他認為，研究自主武器的想法極為愚蠢，無異於自尋死路。他把自己的創新思維歸因於遠離學術界，並開展獨立研究，這讓他的好奇心自由馳騁。在《新星世》中他最激昂的觀點認為，人類被語言詛咒，因為語言摒棄了直覺，強推因果和邏輯思維，而直覺才是真正理解世界本質的方式。
He expands on this point on his seaside patio. Most of his own inventions came from intuition, he reflects on a warm summer day, not from following the logical steps from known science. A statue of Gaia stares back at him blankly from his garden. But it gets hot, and Mr Lovelock goes inside to escape the sun.
他坐在海邊的露臺上，闡述了這個觀點。在一個溫暖的夏日，他回想到，自己大部分的創造，都來源於直覺而不是在現有理論的基礎上進行邏輯推導。花園裡，蓋亞的雕像茫然地回望著他。天氣漸熱，洛夫洛克先生踱步屋內，任室外太陽高懸。
翻譯組：
Frank，男，小碩，經濟學人的死侍
Helga，女，筆譯民工，經濟學人愛好者
校核組：
Alex，男，工科研究生，文學與科學愛好者，經濟學人忠實讀者
Helen，女，坐標武漢，職業翻譯，翻碩已畢業英語二筆二口，愛好陶笛洞簫古詩詞