The short answer is “yes”, but we also should ponder what is meant by “advanced”. Oftentimes, when people say an extraterrestrial life form may be more advanced, they mean simply that aliens might have cooler gadgets. However, we need to consider the possibility that the reason we haven’t come across extraterrestrial life is that it is more advanced than us on a far more fundamental level.

簡短的回答是 “是的”，但我們也應(yīng)該思考一下什么是 “先進(jìn)”。通常，當(dāng)人們說外星生命可能更先進(jìn)時，他們的意思僅僅是外星人可能有更酷的小玩意兒。然而，我們需要考慮這樣一種可能性，那就是我們之所以沒有遇到外星生命，是因為它們在更根本的層面上比我們先進(jìn)得多。

Consider the amoeba.

想想變形蟲。


It is a simple unicellular organism that can divide, absorb nutrients, regulate its internal chemistry and die. However, it has no nervous system, no vision and only a limited range of functions for interacting with its environment.

它是一種簡單的單細(xì)胞生物，可以分裂、吸收營養(yǎng)、調(diào)節(jié)內(nèi)部化學(xué)成分和死亡。但是，它沒有神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)，沒有視覺，與環(huán)境互動的功能也很有限。

Now consider the grasshopper.

現(xiàn)在來看看蚱蜢。


A grasshopper is almost unimaginably advanced compared to the amoeba. It has specialized organs. It has a nervous system. With a brain even! It has eyes; it can see. It can mate with other members of the same species. A grasshopper can experience and interact with its environment in a way that would be completely unimaginable for an amoeba.

與變形蟲相比，蚱蜢的先進(jìn)程度幾乎難以想象。它有專門的器官、有神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)，甚至還有大腦！它有眼睛，能看見事物。它可以與同類進(jìn)行交配。蚱蜢能以變形蟲完全無法想象的方式體驗環(huán)境并與之互動。

Now consider the human.

現(xiàn)在來看看人類。


We are tremendously more advanced than grasshoppers. Our brains are infinitely more complex. Grasshoppers have no neural capacity to do what humans can do, which is to engage in abstract thought, enjoy art and music, make memories, solve multi-step problems, radically transform our environment, or create and use complex tools. It’s possible, even likely, that grasshoppers are on some level aware of humans — but there is no way for a grasshopper to comprehend what humans really are, much less to interact with us on our level.

我們比蚱蜢先進(jìn)得多。我們的大腦無限復(fù)雜。蚱蜢的神經(jīng)能力無法做到進(jìn)行抽象思維、欣賞藝術(shù)和音樂、記憶、解決復(fù)雜問題、從根本上改變我們的環(huán)境，或者創(chuàng)作和使用復(fù)雜的工具這些人類所能做到的事情。蚱蜢有可能，甚至很有可能在某種程度上意識到人類的存在，但蚱蜢無法理解人類到底是什么，更不用說在我們的層面上與我們互動了。

Is there another level though? Is it possible there is another organism, another entity, which is as advanced over us as we’re advanced over grasshoppers? We think of ourselves as an intelligent species and the pinnacle of how complex a life form can get. But if we were wrong about this … how could we even know?

那么是否還有另一個層次呢？有沒有可能存在另一種比我們先進(jìn)的生物或獨(dú)立存在體，就像我們比蚱蜢先進(jìn)一樣？我們認(rèn)為自己是一個有智慧的物種，是生命形式復(fù)雜程度的頂峰。但如果我們錯了，我們又怎么會知道呢？
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://m.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處


There is a 1998 animated comedy Antz, which illustrates this point nicely. (Yeah, did you know Wody Allen voiced a character in an animated film? Stallone is in it, too.)

1998 年有一部喜劇動畫片《螞蟻雄兵》很好地說明了這一點(diǎn)。(是啊，你知道 Wody Allen 在動畫片中為一個角色配音嗎？Stallone也在里面）。


The movie is, not surprisingly, about a colony of ants. These ants have real civilization with a complex, well-organized society. They work, they rest, they fight for power and control. They are an intelligent species who believe themselves, as one character puts it, “the lords of the Earth”. They have capacity for abstract thought, and a tendency to ponder existential matters. But: despite the fact that these ants constantly bump into humans and man-made things, they simply lack the ability to understand what it is they encounter. At the end of the movie, it is revealed that the ant colony exists beneath an overfilled garbage can in the middle of Central Park — one of the most densely populated urban environments on the planet. And yet, the ants are completely unaware of us, our society and our civilization, except for the dimmest observations (food wrap is “some kind of force field”; light concentrated through a magnifying glass is “this is so beautiful”; pretty much everything else is “what the hell is this”).

毫不奇怪，這部電影講述的是一個螞蟻群落的故事。這些螞蟻擁有真正的文明，社會結(jié)構(gòu)復(fù)雜，組織嚴(yán)密。它們工作、休息、爭奪權(quán)力和控制權(quán)。它們是智慧的物種，正如其中一個角色所說，它們認(rèn)為自己是 “地球的主宰”。他們有抽象思維能力，傾向于思考存在的問題。但是：盡管這些螞蟻不斷地撞擊人類和人造物品，它們卻根本沒有能力理解它們所遇到的是什么。在影片的結(jié)尾，螞蟻群落被揭示存在于中央公園中央一個裝滿垃圾的垃圾桶下面，這是地球上人口最稠密的城市環(huán)境之一。然而，螞蟻完全不了解我們、我們的社會和我們的文明，除了最朦朧的觀察（食物包裝是 “某種力場”；通過放大鏡聚光是 “這太美了”；幾乎所有其他東西都是 “這到底是什么”）。

This is the scary “point” of the movie: the ants are us. It is quite possible we too are sitting in the middle of someone’s garbage heap, unable to comprehend an advanced civilization and an infinitely complex society all around us, our brain power only sufficient to come up with terms like “dark energy” and “dark matter” for things that, for a more advanced organism, are perhaps obvious and mundane; “l(fā)ords of the Earth” lacking the neural capacity to comprehend that society’s thoughts and culture, or indeed to even take notice of it.

這就是這部電影的可怕之處：螞蟻就是我們。 我們很可能也處在別人的垃圾堆里，無法理解我們周圍的先進(jìn)文明和無限復(fù)雜的社會。我們的腦力只夠想出像 “暗能量 ”和 “暗物質(zhì) ”這樣的術(shù)語，而對于更高級的生物體來說，這些東西也許是顯而易見的、平凡無奇的；“地球領(lǐng)主 ”的神經(jīng)能力不足以理解那個社會的思想和文化，甚至無法注意到它。

We think of ourselves as not only an intelligent species, but the intelligent species. Plenty of scientists believe we are alone in the universe, simply because no one has dropped in for a chat. But the scary possibility is that perhaps there’s chatter all around us; we just can’t register the signals.

我們認(rèn)為自己不僅是智慧物種，還是最聰明的物種。許多科學(xué)家認(rèn)為，我們在宇宙中是孤獨(dú)的，因為沒有人過來和我們聊天。但一個可怕的可能性是，也許我們周圍到處都在聊天，只是我們無法接收到信號。