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When I was a child, I, too, read Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, and it forced you to confront the question:
小时候 我也读过艾萨克·阿西莫夫的《基地》系列小说 它迫使你面对这样一个问题:
Where will we be 50,000 years from now?
五万年后我们会在哪里?
Now, remember, science fiction, when I was a kid, was just shoot 'em up cowboy movies in outer space.
记住 小时候 科幻小说对我而言就是在太空中拍摄的牛仔电影
That's all it was.
那就是我当时对科幻小说的认知
However, Isaac Asimov forced you to come to grips with the fact that we're going to be exhausting the known laws of physics pretty soon.
然而 艾萨克·阿西莫夫迫使你面对这样一个事实:我们很快就会用尽所有已知的物理定律
We have a very good grasp of the electromagnetic, the strong, the weak forces, gravity, but beyond that lies the unified field theory;
我们很好地掌握了电磁、强、弱力、重力 但除此之外还有统一场论;
the theory that eluded Einstein for the last 30 years of his life, the theory that I work on professionally -- that's my day job;
爱因斯坦在他生命最后的30年里一直没能找到这个理论 它也是我的研究领域——是我的日常工作;
I work on something called string theory, which we think is the theory of everything,
我研究一种叫做弦理论的东西 我们认为它也是万物理论
and this theory could dominate our destiny in the coming millennia.
这一理论可能在未来的千年里主宰我们的命运
Now, this means, of course, starships.
当然了 这意味着星际飞船
Already, NASA has something called the 100 Year Starship program, very ambitious, however, a lot of it's still theoretical.
NASA已经有了一个叫做“百年星舰计划”的项目 非常有野心 但很多还只停留在理论阶段
We don't know for sure what it would take to go to the stars.
我们不确定要怎样才能到达这些星球
Stephen Hawking, my colleague, the late Stephen Hawking, talked about shooting computer chips,
我的同事史蒂芬·霍金 已故的史蒂芬·霍金 曾经提过发射电脑芯片
tiny computer chips boosted by laser beams to 20% the speed of light, capable of reaching Alpha Centauri in 20 years time.
由激光束驱动的微型计算机芯片的速度达到了光速的20% 能够在20年内到达半人马座阿尔法星
But then, of course, we want to go beyond that.
但是 当然了 我们不甘于止步于此
One day, we're going to have fusion rockets, anti-matter rockets, rockets that can take us to the nearby stars, not just computer chips, but people.
总有一天 还会有聚变火箭 反物质火箭 能把我们带到附近星球的火箭 不仅能带电脑芯片 还能带人类
And then beyond that, who knows?
但在那之后 谁知道还会发生什么呢?
Maybe our destiny really does lie in outer space.
也许我们的命运确实在外太空
Remember that on the earth, 99.9% of all species eventually go extinct.
记住 地球上99.9%的生命最终都会灭绝
Extinction is the norm.
灭绝是常态
We think of Mother Nature as being warm and cuddly, and for the most part, she is.
我们认为自然母亲是温暖和蔼的 多数情况下她确实是这样
But sometimes, the savagery of Mother Nature is revealed.
但有时候 自然母亲的野性也会显露无遗
And if you don't believe me, dig underneath your feet.
如果你不相信 那就挖一挖你脚下的泥土
Right under your feet, right now, are the bones, the bones of all the different organisms,
现在 就在你的脚下 埋着各种白骨 各种不同生物的白骨
of fossils, the 99.9% that were doomed by the laws of nature.
还有化石 99.9%被自然法则所终结
And the laws of physics also doom the entire planet Earth.
物理定律也会毁了整个地球
And that's why I say, given the fact that Mother Nature and the laws of physics have a death warrant for humanity,
所以我才说 考虑到自然母亲和物理定律给人类判了死刑
that ultimately our destiny will be in outer space.
最终我们的命运将会在外太空
