Hello and welcome to SciShow. Our goal here is to excitedly and enthusiastically share

哈囉 歡迎來到科學秀 我們的目標是興奮且熱情的把

the marvelous peculiarity of the world and give people the opportunity to know more about

世界的不可思議分享出去 然後讓人們有機會深入了解

themselves and their universe.

他們自己還有這個宇宙

Recently, we were talking to some people at Google about this goal and they were like,

我們最近在跟Google的人談論這個目標 然後他們說

“What if, like, we gave you the most asked questions in the world?”

"我們告訴你世界上被問過最多次的問題 覺得怎麼樣"

That seemed like a really good idea to us, so they did that. And then after filtering

那聽起來是個很棒的點子 所以我們實行了 過濾掉所有

out the ones about Kim Kardashian, we were left with a list of ten of the most googled

有關Kim Kardashian的搜尋紀錄之後 我們得到了十個被google最多次的

scientific questions ever. This is the World's Most Asked Questions.

科學問題 這是世界上最常被問到的問題

Answering questions is what science is all about, and we love it. So let’s start out

回答問題就是科學的本質 我們喜歡 好的 我們就

with the first one: What is the meaning of life?

從第一個問題開始吧: 生命的意義是什麼

Yeah, it doesn’t necessarily sound like a question for SciShow, but it kinda depends

對 它聽起來不太像科學秀會出現的問題 但它取決於

on your definition of “meaning” and your definition of “life.”

你對"意義"和"生命"的定義

The person asking is probably wondering what the purpose of THEIR life is...which I’m

問這個問題的人可能是在思考個人生命的目的 而我不會

not going to weigh in on. And probably, Google isn't the place to look for that answer.

著重在這點上 也有可能Google不是個可以找到答案的地方

But the purpose of life itself? That's actually a question that science has come a good long

但生命本身的目的呢? 這其實是科學家們花了很多時間

way to understanding.

想要了解的的問題

The biggest idea in understanding the history of life on earth, and probably everywhere,

瞭解地球的生命歷史時 或者是所有地方的生命歷史

if there is life elsewhere, is evolution.

如果別的地方也有生命的話 最重要的就是演化

Once upon a time, one thing made a copy of itself...creating a kind of immortality for

很久很久以前 有一個東西複製了自己 創造了一種不死之身

that thing. Though, of course, not really, because the thing died. But the instructions

當然不算不死啦 因為那個東西還是死了 但是用來創造他自己的指示

for making it were passed on.

被傳了下來

Because the second thing had the instructions, it was able to make more of the things in

因為他複製出的二號也有那個指示 所以二號可以製造出更多

the image of the first thing. The things themselves kept dying, but the instructions lived on...and

一模一樣的自己 那些小東西接連死去 但指示不斷的被保留下來

there we have the bizarre and occasionally upsetting meaning of life, biologically...to

於是我們得到了奇特的生命意義 就生物方面而言

pass on the instructions for creating more life.

把指示傳遞下去 以創造更多生命

Those instructions, these days, are DNA, or, for some simple organisms, RNA -- molecules

那些指示就是今天的DNA 或是簡單生物的RNA

that contain segments that code for different proteins, and those proteins do the majority

那些小分子包含了不同蛋白質的代號 而那些蛋白質

of the constructing of the actual organism.

是構成生物的主角

In a weird way, the life of an individual organism is just a system for keeping the

有點怪異的 一個小個體的一生 就是不斷傳遞基因的

genes goin'.

系統

Genes that don’t contribute to that task, or especially if they interfere with it, won’t

不這麼做的基因 特別是妨礙整個過程的基因 不會被

get passed because the organism will die before it has a chance to do any breeding.

傳遞下去 因為那個小個體會在繁殖之前死去

And there we have the primary mechanism of evolution.

而這就是演化的主要機制

So, yeah, in a somewhat gritty sense, the biological meaning of life is to live long

所以呢 粗糙的說 "生命"的生物意義就是 要活得夠久

enough to pass your genes on to the next generation. So, basically...don’t die...and have sex.

才可以把自己的基因傳到下一代 基本上就是... 不要死 然後要交配

But simultaneously, there is a much more pleasant way of saying that. The meaning of life is

但也有更好的說法 生命的意義就是

to create life. To perpetuate life. To sustain and grow this marvelous and astouding complexity

去創造生命 讓生命成為永恆 把這驚人的複雜性保留下來

that is unique in the known universe.

在已知的宇宙中 這是獨特的

As for the meaning of your own life...that’s up to you to figure out.

至於你自己的人生意義 該由你自己決定

Leading up to this project, we did a little SciShow viewer survey where we asked you,

在這次的計畫中 我們對科學秀的觀眾們做了一個小小的調查

our viewers, a bunch of questions, including whether you felt like you knew roughly what

問了各位一些問題 包括你們是否找到了

you were doing here on earth. In other words, whether you had some idea of the meaning of

自己的生命目標 也就是說 你們對自己生命的意義有沒有一些想法

your life. And the results of our very unscientific analysis of this survey were fascinating.

這個很不科學的分析 有一些迷人的結果

A full two thirds of you feel like you know roughly what you’re doing here on earth,

三分之二的觀眾們已經為自己的人生找到了目標

but those who didn’t were were substantially more likely to suffer from chronic hiccups...so

而尚未找到目標的人們 多半被長期的打嗝困擾著 所以

either knowing your place in the world decreases your likelihood of getting hiccups...or getting

了解自己在世界上的角色可能會減少你打嗝的機率 或者是

hiccups increases the chance that you will feel aimless. Or possibly there’s some completely

打嗝讓你更可能找不到目標 也有可能是一些完全不同的因素

different effect going on, or our completely non-scientific survey is not actually very

影響了你 更有可能是因為我們不科學的調查不適合

good at predicting things.

預測一些東西

People who had some idea of their purpose were also more likely to have beards, be religious,

找到人生目標的人們也更可能有鬍子 對宗教很虔誠

and have fallen in love.

或是已經墜入愛河

And people who didn’t feel like they knew what their purpose was were 26% more likely

而沒有目標的人們有26%的可能會覺得靛色

to hold violet as their favorite color of the rainbow. So that’s just WEIRD!

是自己在彩虹裡面最喜歡的顏色 這真的很奇怪

Of all the fascinating questions in the world, what question do you most want answered? Let

世界上所有吸引人的問題當中 你最希望哪個被回答? 在

us know on Facebook or Twitter or in the comments down below, and we will answer the best questions

Facebook或Twitter的留言中告訴我們 我們會在月底的影片中

in a new video at the end of the month. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #WMAQ and stay tuned

回答最棒的問題 別忘了#WMAQ 並且持續關注

for more questions answered here on SciShow.

科學秀的問題與解答