Humanity should be wary of seeking out contact with alien civilizations, Stephen Hawking has warned once again.
史蒂芬·霍金再次警告说,人类应当对接触地外文明的行为保持警惕。
In 2010, the famed astrophysicist said that intelligent aliens may be rapacious marauders, roaming the cosmos in search of resources to plunder and planets to conquer and colonize. He reiterates that basic concern in "Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places," a new documentary streaming now on the CuriosityStream video service.
早在 2010 年,这位著名的天体物理学家就曾表示,外星智慧生物很可能是一群贪婪的掠夺者,他们在宇宙中穿梭,掠夺资源、征服行星,并进行殖民。视频网站 CuriosityStream 正在播出一部名为“史蒂芬·霍金钟爱之地”的新纪录片,在该片中,霍金重申了上述担忧。
"One day, we might receive a signal from a planet like this," Hawking says in the documentary, referring to a potentially habitable alien world known as Gliese 832c. "But we should be wary of answering back. Meeting an advanced civilization could be like Native Americans encountering Columbus. That didn't turn out so well."
“也许有一天,我们会接收到来自这样一颗行星的智慧信号。”在片中,当提及一颗名为 Gliese 832c 的行星时,霍金如是说;该行星具有可供生物生存的潜在环境。“但我们应当保持警惕,是否要做出回应。以现今人类的科技水平去贸然接触高等文明,其结局很可能如同美洲土著遭遇哥伦布一样。结果呢,并不怎么样。”
For what it's worth, some other astronomers believe Hawking's caution is unwarranted. Any alien civilization advanced enough to come to Earth would surely already know of humans' existence via the radio and TV signals that humanity has been sending out into space since 1900 or so, this line of thinking goes.
不管怎样,其他一些天文学家则认为霍金是杞人忧天。他们认为,人类自二十世纪以来就不断向太空发送各种无线电信号,因此,任何足够发达的外星文明必然早已察觉到人类的存在,才会造访地球的。
The alien musings are just a small part of "Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places." The 26-minute documentary show the scientist zooming through the cosmos on a souped-up CGI spaceship called the "S.S. Hawking," making five separate stops.
对外星生命的思考仅仅是这部纪录片的一小部分。在这部 26 分钟的纪录片中,霍金乘坐一艘名为 S.S.Hawking 的电脑特效飞船在宇宙中穿梭,中途停留了五个地方。
Hawking observes the Big Bang that created the universe, visits the monster black hole at the center of the Milky Way, journeys to Gliese 832c and tours Saturn in Earth's own solar system. Then, he makes a final stop in Santa Barbara, California, which Hawking calls "my home away from home."
霍金观察了产生宇宙的大爆炸;造访了位于银河系中心的巨大黑洞;到达了 Gliese 832c 行星,以及太阳系内的土星。最终,他停留在了加利福尼亚州的圣塔芭芭拉,他称这里是他的“家外之家”。
"In 1974, Caltech offered me a job in California," the Englishman Hawking says in the documentary. "I jumped at the opportunity. In the sun with my young family, it was a world away from the gray skies of Cambridge. I've traveled the globe, but I've never found anywhere quite like this."
“在 1974 年,加州理工学院给我提供了工作。”霍金,这位英国人,在纪录片中说道。“能有这样一个机会,我真的太高兴了。在这里,我和家人沐浴着阳光;相比之下,剑桥那终日阴沉的天空,仿佛就是另一个世界。我曾游历世界,但我最爱这里。”