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A lot of people think that somehow gaining knowledge about the world and how the world works detracts from its mystery, detracts from its beauty.
许多人认为，不知何故，获取关于世界和世界运行方式的知识会削弱它的神秘性，削弱它的美。
Ignorance is bliss: quite the opposite.
无知是福：恰恰相反。
The more we understand, the more we can appreciate, the more we can find wonder; whereas remaining in ignorance, that's just darkness, that's just confusion.
我们了解得越多，欣赏得越多，就越能发现奇迹；而继续无知，只会是黑暗，和迷茫。
Knowledge, understanding, enlightenment are always better than ignorance.
知识、理解、开悟总是比无知好。
My name's Jim Al-Khalili. I'm a professor of physics at the University of Surrey.
我叫吉姆·阿勒哈利利。是萨里大学的物理学教授。
My most recent book is called "The World According to Physics."
我最新的一本书叫《物理学中的世界》。
I tend to think of our knowledge of the Universe and of reality like an island.
我倾向于认为我们对宇宙和现实的认识就像一座孤岛。
The interior of the island is the well-established science that we know very well.
这个岛的内部是我们非常了解的久负盛名的科学。
The shoreline around the island, that's the limits of our understanding, and beyond it, is the ocean of the unknown.
岛屿周围的海岸线，是我们认知的极限，在它之外，是未知的海洋。
Of course, we don't know whether that ocean goes on forever.
当然，我们不知道这片海洋是否会永远存在。
As we gain in our knowledge and our understanding, the island is growing in size.
随着我们的知识和理解的增加，这个岛的面积也在扩大。
So we're reaching out.
所以我们在向外延展。
We can take a paddle out into the water to see some of the mysteries that we're trying to tackle now that we still don't understand.
我们可以划船下水，去看看我们正在努力解决的一些还不明白的谜团。
But we don't know how much further our understanding needs to go.
但我们不知道我们的理解还需要走多远。
There are certain questions that we have always asked about ourselves, about the world, that transcend science.
有一些我们一直在问的关于我们自己、关于世界的问题，这些问题超越了科学。
They're certainly the big questions in science today, but they've been questions we've been asking for millennia.
它们当然是当今科学中的大问题，但它们是我们几千年来一直在问的问题。
They may be questions that we'll never find answers to.
这些问题我们可能永远也找不到答案。
But that is the nature of humanity, the nature of humankind; that we want the answers to some of these deep questions.
但这是人性的本质，人类的本性；我们想要知道这些深层次问题的答案。
There's this notion that somehow scientists have this sterile, clinical, logical, rational view of the world that leaves no room for mystery and awe and magic and wonder.
有一种观念认为，不知何故，科学家对世界有一种刻板的、冷淡的、逻辑的、理性的观点，不带任何神秘、敬畏、魔法和奇迹色彩。
On the contrary, everything I learn about how the world is tells me it's full of magic and wonder.
相反，我所学到的关于这个世界的一切都告诉我，它充满了魔力和奇迹。
The idea that Newton discovered that the invisible force pulling the apple down to the ground is exactly the same force keeping the moon in orbit around the Earth is utterly profound; it's utterly awe-inspiring.
牛顿发现，将苹果拉到地面的无形力量与保持月球绕地球轨道运行的力量完全相同，这一想法非常深刻；让人敬畏。
I remember, as a student, sitting in a lecture being told about the equations of electromagnetism; the professor wrote down equations on the board.
我记得，上学的时候，我在一堂课上听关于电磁学方程式的讲解；教授在黑板上写下了方程式。
He went through lines of algebra and arrived at a new equation, and in that equation was a number.
他板书了几行代数线，得出了一个新的方程式，方程式中有一个数字。
And he said, "And that is the speed of light. And that tells you that light is an electromagnetic wave."
他说：“这就是光速。这说明光是一种电磁波。”
I remember sitting there, and, you know, even as I'm telling you this now, I have that same shiver going down my spine.
我记得当时坐在那里，就像现在告诉大家的时候一样，后背一阵颤抖。
There's wonder wherever we look.
无论在哪个领域，都会有奇迹。
It's the opposite of sterile, rational, cold, analytical thinking.
它与刻板、理性、冷酷、分析性的思维完全相反。
It's often said that the more we know about the workings of the Universe, the more we don't know.
人们常说，我们对宇宙的运作了解得越多，我们就越不懂。
So our growing understanding really tells us about our growing ignorance.
所以，我们增长的见识反而让我们知道了自己的无知。
That is not to say that we haven't come a long way.
这并不是说我们知道的还不够多。
We do know a lot about the building blocks of matter, about the nature of space and time.
我们知道了物质的组成部分，以及空间和时间的本质。
We now know how many elements there are that make up the world. We have the periodic table of elements.
我们知道了组成世界的元素有多少。我们有元素周期表。
We now know why those elements are classified the way they are; because of the way electrons arrange themselves around atoms.
我们知道了为什么这些元素是这样分类的；是根据电子在原子周围的排列方式。
The rest you could argue is down in the fine nitty-gritty detail.
你可能会说，其余的都是非常细致的细节。
And it may well be that some of the ideas we have today, turn out to be wrong.
事实是，我们今天的一些想法很可能是错误的。
Ten, twenty years from now, I probably wouldn't be saying something too different to what I'm saying today.
十年、二十年后，我再说的话可能跟今天说的有很大不同。
But 100 years from now, and certainly 1,000 years from now, I may look back on the Jim of the early 21st century and think that I was just as naive as the medieval scholars who thought the sun orbited the Earth.
但100年后，当然还有1000年后，我可能会回看21世纪初的吉姆，觉得自己跟中世纪以为太阳绕着地球转的学者一样天真。
I think a lot of scientists are realizing that having this silo mentality of having expertise in one field to address some of the big questions, simply isn't enough.
我认为很多科学家都意识到，仅仅拥有某一领域的专业知识来解决一些重大问题是不够的。
We're getting ever more interdisciplinary.
我们越来越跨学科。
I'm a physicist, so I would argue that physics is, of course, the best way of learning about the world.
我是一名物理学家，所以我当然认为物理是了解世界的最好方式。
It's an arrogant view, and I think it's not exactly true.
这是一种傲慢的观点，我认为这并不完全正确。
It's not going to address questions, like complex human behavior in society, or psychology or the workings of the human brain, but it addresses these fundamental questions: What everything is made of, how everything works.
它解决不了问题，比如复杂的人类社会行为、心理学或人脑的工作原理，但它解决了这些基本问题：一切都是由什么组成的，一切是如何运作的。
We don't know whether we will ever one day know everything about the nature of reality.
我们不知道有一天我们是否能了解关于现实本质的一切。
And in a way, that's nice, that's exciting.
在某种程度上，这很好，很让人兴奋。
It's frustrating, yet beautiful, that we may never have all the answers.
我们可能永远得不到所有的答案，这令人沮丧，但也很美好。
There's this wonderful quote by Douglas Adams:
道格拉斯·亚当斯有一句很棒的话：
"I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day."
“我对理解的敬畏胜过对无知的敬畏。”
