Name: 為什麼人類有自我毀滅的傾向？ (Why Humanity Destroyed Itself)
Uploaded: 2017-04-04T22:00:00.000Z
Duration: 5 min 24 s

One day, if human civilisation ever wipes itself out,

aliens or one of our successors will cast an eye on our ruined planet,

外星人或是繼承我們的物種將會審視我們這顆毀滅的星球

and ask themselves what ever happened to homo sapiens.

Their answer might look a little like this.

The root cause won’t be the specific catastrophe,

根本的原因可能不是什麼大災難、

conflict or devastation that eradicates us;

衝突或是足以滅絕人類的毀滅性活動

the problem will begin with the architecture of the human brain.

問題可能出在於人類腦袋的結構

This tool will be remembered for being, in part, deeply impressive,

這個器官會記得一部份印象深刻的的記憶

capable of extraordinary computations and combinations.

擁有傑出的計算和統合能力的神經

a particular part of the mind where our most dazzling thoughts unfolded

was known to neuroscientists as the neocortex;

a part that in humans was many times larger than that found in any other species.

這部分也比所有發現物種的新皮層還要大好幾倍

This is what helped the hugely clever ape to produce

The Magic Flute, Anna Karenina, Concorde and civilisation.

魔笛音樂劇、劇本 安娜·卡列尼娜、協和號飛機和文明

However, our alien friends will also note

然而，我們的外星朋友也會注意到

that the human mind contained another component,

very influential but far less impressive,

很有影響力卻不那麼重要的組件

(an aggressive lustful impulsive section of machinery),

（結構中好鬥好色又衝動的區域）

跟土狼和嚙齒類動物有著很多相同之處

with what might be found in a hyena or a small rodent.

人類有三個主要的因素以自我毀滅

Humans were always on the verge of developing violent hatreds of foreigners

人類總是會發展出對於外族的暴力仇恨

and manifested strong ongoing tendencies to slaughter strangers in vast numbers.

還有極力傾向殺掉龐大數量的外地人

They could never reliably see the humanity

他們在同族的所有成員中永遠看不到人性

Secondly, homo sapiens was fatefully prone to short-term thinking.

其次，人類註定短視近利的思考

it could only imagine the near-term future, a few years at best,

人類也只能想像近程的未來，幾年就已經夠好了

viewing the long-term as a chimerical and unreal state.

遠程的未來則是空想和不切實際的領域

Its immediate impulses were left uncontained

and worked to destroy its individual and collective future.

Lastly, homo sapiens had an especially keen fondness for wishful thinking.

最後一項，人類超級喜歡癡心妄想

Though capable of immense intellectual achievement,

it couldn’t bear to submit its ideas to rational scrutiny,

it preferred to act rather than think and daydream rather than plan.

喜歡先做後想，先做白日夢再來計畫

it preferred, in most cases, to not to use it.

It had a narcotic desire for distraction and fantasy.

對於娛樂和幻想有著癡心的渴望

For many generations, these three flaws were more or less endured.

幾個世代以來，這三個缺陷有增有減

Certain institutions were invented to attenuate them:

人類發明了幾個機構來減緩缺陷

the law, sound government, education, philosophy, science.

法律、政府、教育、哲學、科學

Humans did keep wiping out swathes of their fellows,

人類持續將同類中的缺陷遮蔽掉

but they didn’t scupper the species as a whole.

但他們並沒有視種族為一個整體

was the increasing yet untrammelled power of the neocortex.

是腦中新皮層增加無上限的力量

This mighty tool eventually managed to capture fire, contain the elements,

這個強大的工具最後掌控了火源，包括了多種元素

and give homo sapiens a godlike power over the planet,

給人類神力般的力量掌控這個星球

still operated with reflexes as serene and gentle as those of a hyena.

則仍然維持平靜和善有如獵狗的本能

The cost of its mistakes grew ever larger,

its powers became uncontained while its wisdom remained intermittent and fragile.

這股力量變得沒有包容力，而人類的智慧則變得片段式且脆弱的

Eventually, its might outpaced its capacity for self-control;

最後，人類可能超過了自己自治的能力

There was one thing that might have saved humanity: love.

有一個東西或許可以拯救人類: 愛

And three varieties of love in particular:

the capacity to see the other as like oneself

and worthy of the same mercy and charity.

第二項，是對於未出世生命的愛

the concern for those who do not yet exist

but whose lives one is shaping in the selfish present.

and square up to uncomfortable facts of all kinds.

We don’t need to be aliens of the future to understand all this.

我們不需要變成未來的外星人來理解這些東西

We can see the disaster scenario only too well right now.

我們現在就可以看到那個災難的情結

The fate of civilisation lies ultimately not in the law courts,

人類文明的命運最終並不取決在法院內

at the ballot box or in the corridors of governments.

the most short-term, selfish and violent of our impulses

最短期內，我們自私和暴力的衝動

active in the dense folds of organic matter between our ears;

活躍於我們兩耳之間的細密皺摺中

it lies in learning how relentlessly to try to compensate

但那也仰賴我們如何不斷學習去彌補

for the flawed architecture of the human mind.