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In principle, what we are is just a big collection of elementary particles.
本质上来讲，我们都只是基本粒子的大集合。
And yes, it's really complicated, and no one in their right mind would try to describe a human being in terms of those elementary particles.
没错，它非常复杂，没有一个心智正常的人会想用粒子去描述人类。
But particle physicists have collected elementary particles in what's called the standard model of particle physics.
但粒子物理学家在所谓的粒子物理标准模型中收集了基本粒子。
And those particles for all we currently know, make up everything around us, the entire universe, including us.
就我们目前所知，这些粒子构成了我们周围的一切，构成了整个宇宙，包括我们在内。
Now, a lot of people seem to be a little bit uncomfortable with this.
很多人听到这个说法可能会有点不舒服。
They're wondering, isn't there something more about me?
他们会想，难道我就没有其他东西了吗？
Am I not a little bit more than just those fundamental particles?
难道我就只是一些基本粒子吗？
Where's my consciousness come from? Whatever happened to my soul?
我的意识从何而来？我的灵魂又是怎么回事？
Personally, I don't think that to describe our observations, our experience of us thinking requires anything more than particle physics.
就我个人而言，我认为要描述我们的观察，我们的思考，只需要粒子物理就够了。
I'm happy to leave the understanding of consciousness to neurobiologists or whatever those fields are called.
我很乐意让神经生物学家或其他领域的人去研究我们对意识的理解。
But I also don't think that we need to add anything to the fundamental laws of nature that we have collected in physics.
但我觉得我们也不需要给我们在物理学中发现的基本自然定律增加任何东西。
I think it's sufficient. But a lot of people have difficulty with that.
我认为它们已经足够了。但很多人对此并不认可。
They want there to be something else, this thing that they call the soul.
他们还想要其他东西，一些他们称之为灵魂的东西。
So one possible route that you can take is what's called dualism that just says we have all those fundamental particles and atoms and gravity and interactions and all that kind of stuff.
所以你可以选择二元论，即一方面，我们是基本粒子、原子构成的，重力和相互作用等也存在。
And on the other side, we have the soul.
另一方面，我们有灵魂。
And it just lives in an entirely non-physical realm.
但它只生活在一个完全非物质的领域里。
And this is where I reside in some sense.
从某种意义上说，那里就是我居住的地方。
And this is perfectly fine.
这完全没问题。
It's compatible with all we know, so long as this soul does not interact with the physical side.
它与我们所知的一切都兼容，只要这个灵魂不与物质方面互动。
Because once it starts interacting with it they would have to be part of our theories in the foundations of physics.
因为一旦灵魂开始与物质相互作用，它就必须变成我们物理学基础理论的一部分。
So for all we currently know from the foundations of physics, everything that isn't in the standard model of particle physics plus gravity is emergent from those particles and the forces between them.
基于目前我们对物理学基础的认知，所有存在于粒子物理和重力的标准模型以外的东西，都源于这些粒子和它们之间的力。
And by emergent, I just mean that it can be reduced to the properties of those fundamental particles like the color of a metal or something like this.
我说的源于，是指它可以被简化为那些基本粒子的性质，比如金属的颜色等。
And this is something that is known under the word reductionism.
这种想法叫做简化论。
There's no observation that we have ever made that contradicts this idea of reductionism, that fundamentally everything is made of and everything derives from the properties of those fundamental particles.
目前还没有观察到与这种简化论相矛盾的观点，从根本上说，一切都是由基本粒子组成的，一切都源于那些基本粒子的性质。
But the properties of collective assemblies of particles that in principle you could calculate.
但是粒子集合的性质原则上是可以计算的。
In most cases, we cannot.
在大多数情况下，我们算不出来。
There are certainly no particle physicists who can calculate what your eye color will be if you give them the properties of all the particles in your body.
当然，如果你告诉粒子物理学家你体内所有粒子的性质，他们也无法算出你的眼睛会是什么颜色。
But in principle, you know it should be possible.
但你应该知道，原则上这是可能的。
If you had a big enough computer you would be able to calculate it.
如果你有一台足够大的计算机，你就能算出来。
So on some level you could say that, yeah we are really just constituted of all those elementary particles and all that we can do comes about from the interaction of those particles, even though that might be an entirely useless description of us.
所以在某种程度上，你可以说，是的，我们确实只是由基本粒子组成的，我们所能做的一切都来自于这些粒子的相互作用，虽然这种描述对我们毫无用处。
It's nevertheless correct.
但它却是正确的。
But I think that actually we're much more than that on a different level.
但我认为，从另一个角度来讲，我们又远不止是粒子。
You could say we're somewhat less than that.
你可以说我们在某种程度上还不如粒子。
By which I mean that what's important about us is not the particles that we are made of.
我想说的是，构成我们的粒子并不重要。
It's what those particles can do.
这些粒子能做到的事才重要。
And that's what's contained in the information of how those particles are put together.
那才是这些粒子组合在一起所蕴含的信息。
That they make up a human body.
它们组成了一个人体。
Someone who can walk and talk and think and write books or fly to the moon.
一个会走路、会说话、会思考、会写书或能飞上月球的人。
Where does this come from?
我们为什么能做到这些事？
Well, it comes from the way that those atoms are arranged.
是因为体内原子的排列方式。
And I actually think that this is a very hopeful message because it means that in principle it should be possible to upload your identity and actually not just your thinking apparatus but your entire body to a computer because there's nothing that stands in the way.
其实，我觉得这个信息给我们带来了希望，因为它意味着原则上我们可以把自己上传到电脑上，不光是我们的思维器官，还包括我们的整个身体，毕竟这么做没有任何阻碍。
All this information about the configuration of the atoms in your body, you can formulate it in mathematics and put it onto a computer.
我们体内所有关于原子配置的信息，都可以用数学表达出来，然后放到计算机上。
