2010年7月18日 星期日

【轉貼】我的世界觀-史蒂芬霍金凡事皆有可能

我的世界觀-史蒂芬霍金凡事皆有可能|投資理財|財經|中時理財
我的世界觀-史蒂芬霍金凡事皆有可能

* 2010-07-17
* 工商時報
* 【essie 湯】

 “I believe things can't make themselves impossible. If they could then there'd be nothing to stop the whole universe from descending into chaos.”

 -Stephen W. Hawking

 是先有雞,還是先有蛋呢?宇宙有開端嗎?如果有的話,在那之前發生過什麼?宇宙從何處來,又往何處去呢?

 這些亙古未解的謎團,讓英國物理學家史蒂芬.霍金(Stephen W. Hawking)用一生心力不斷思索探尋。他對宇宙和萬物的研究,往往深具突破性,把許多乍聽像是不可能且難以想像的事物,賦予合理而深入的解釋,霍金也被世人譽為繼愛因斯坦之後最傑出的理論物理學家。

 霍金最著名的一本著作,是於1988年出版的《時間簡史》(A Brief History of Time)。此書解釋宇宙(the Universe)、黑洞(Black Holes)和大爆炸(Big Bang)等天文物理學理論,刷新人類的視野,該書堪稱是當今全球最暢銷的科普著作之一,但也因為書中內容艱澀難懂,被西方媒體戲稱為「讀不了的暢銷書」(a unreadable best-seller)。

 霍金認為,我們一生中被教授的「常識」(common sense),往往只是「偏見」(bias)的代名詞,他不時勇於提出驚人的理論,顛覆所謂的「不可能」(impossibility)。近期他就相繼提出了外星人存在的可能性,以及人類可以製造時光機回到過去的話題,都在全球引起轟動和話題。

 ●以下節錄英國《時代雜誌》(The Times UK)針對霍金的外星人存在論點所做的報導:

 Stephen Hawking thinks alien civilizations may well exist and warns that if we Earthlings know what's good for us, we'll stop trying to contact them.

 Hawking's Discovery Channel documentary hypothesizes some very strange looking reptilian and aquatic creatures. Such scenes are speculative, but Hawking uses them to lead on to a serious point that a few life forms could be intelligent and pose a threat. Hawking believes that contact with such a species could be devastating for humanity.

 He suggests that aliens might simply raid Earth for its resources and then move on, “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach.”

 He concludes that trying to make contact with alien races is “a little too risky”. He said, “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans.”

 ●關於「時光旅行」(Time Travel),霍金則撰寫了一篇長文,探討如何建造一艘接近光速的太空船,讓人們得以進入未來。(全文請見http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1269288/STEPHEN-HAWKING-How-build-time-machine.html)

 “Time flows like a river and it seems as if each of us is carried relentlessly along by time's current. But time is like a river in another way. It flows at different speeds in different places and that is the key to travelling into the future…The satellites make satellite navigation possible. But they also reveal that time runs faster in space than it does down on Earth…And this startling reality is what opens the door to the possibility of time travel to the future.”

 “There's a cosmic speed limit, 186,000 miles per second, also known as the speed of light…Imagine a track that goes right around Earth, a track for a superfast train…When the power is turned on, they (staff on the train) accelerate from zero to 60,000mph in a fraction of a second. Increase the power and the particles go faster and faster, until they're whizzing around the tunnel 11,000 times a second, which is almost the speed of light. But just like the train, they never quite reach that ultimate speed. They can only get to 99.99 percent of the limit. When that happens, they too start to travel in time.”

 “It really is that simple. If we want to travel into the future, we just need to go fast. Really fast. And I think the only way we're ever likely to do that is by going into space. The fastest manned vehicle in history was Apollo 10. It reached 25,000mph. But to travel in time we'll have to go more than 2,000 times faster. And to do that we'd need a much bigger ship, a truly enormous machine. The ship would have to be big enough to carry a huge amount of fuel, enough to accelerate it to nearly the speed of light. Getting to just beneath the cosmic speed limit would require six whole years at full power.”

 霍金的學術成就和專業領域廣受矚目,但更為人動容的是,他克服先天的運動神經元疾病,更證明了「凡事皆有可能」(Nothing is impossible)的「霍金精神」。他在求學期間發現得到「肌萎縮側索硬化症」(amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS)、俗稱「漸凍人」的疾病。ALS會侵襲腦部和脊髓的神經細胞,導致肌肉無力,說話、吞嚥及呼吸困難,最終全身癱瘓。當時醫生宣布他只剩3年的生命,但他打破了死亡預言存活下來,而且即使全身癱瘓,不能發音,他還是用一台特製的電腦聲音合成器,和幾個稍能活動的手指,緩慢地用簡單拼音來操縱合成器,藉以表達思想,完成一系列關於大爆炸和黑洞的驚人理論,對量子物理作出了巨大的貢獻。霍金的成就,不僅代表了人類思想的奇蹟,也是人文精神的勝利。

 “Although there was a cloud hanging over my future, I found, to my surprise, that I was enjoying life in the present more than before…I have been lucky that my condition has progressed more slowly than is often the case. But it shows that one need not lose hope.”

 【名詞解釋】

 「肌萎縮側索硬化症」(ALS)Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as “Lou Gehrig's Disease,“ is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.


2010年7月16日 星期五

【轉貼】《我在.燈在》漸凍人陳宏分享體悟

想買陳宏新書的人請洽漸凍人協會0228201357

《我在.燈在》漸凍人陳宏分享體悟|藝文新聞|中時電子報
《我在.燈在》漸凍人陳宏分享體悟

* 2010-06-26
* 中國時報
* 【林佩怡/台北報導】

 漸凍人陳宏即使行動不便,又無法言語,卻有過人意志力,透過眨眼寫書,十年來出版七本書,培養許多死忠讀者,成為他們的「心靈導師」。陳宏昨日發表新書《我在.燈在》,由於身體退化,已不太能眨眼,新書可能成為「封筆之作」,現場氣氛溫馨又感傷。


 陳宏曾在大華晚報、中國郵報服務,罹患漸凍人(肌萎縮性脊髓側索硬化症)後,身體逐漸不能動,無法言語,只能靠眨眼,和妻子劉學慧以注音板溝通,一字字完成著作,把生病後的體悟與讀者分享。

 陳宏新書發表會昨在台北市聯合醫院忠孝院區舉辦,總統馬英九特地致賀電,副總統蕭萬長、台北市長郝龍斌等人親自到場。蕭萬長把紀念獎章獻給「戰凍勇士」陳宏,躺在病床上的陳宏,透過溝通板,花了十幾分鐘,對蕭萬長表達出「萬世長青」四個字。

 蕭萬長致詞時表示,陳宏健康時,以攝影等專長奉獻社會,生病後,雖然身體行動不變,但精神和活力驚人,他的故事是最好的生命教育。

 一個不能說話,身體不能動的人,卻透過眨眼寫下近廿萬字等七本佳作,陳宏曾獲頒「全球熱愛生命獎章」、「全球生命文學創作獎」等,九十六年榮登金氏世界紀錄,成為世界上用眼書寫,出版最多字的人。

 藝人關穎也出席活動,呼籲各界捐款六二一元加入「見動之友」,推動生命教育,郝龍斌也捐出六萬兩千一百元給漸凍人協會,號召大家一起關懷漸凍人。


2010年7月10日 星期六

【轉貼】「漸凍人」陳宏 眨眼拼13萬字新書

「漸凍人」陳宏 眨眼拼13萬字新書
「漸凍人」陳宏 眨眼拼13萬字新書

全身肌肉癱瘓的作家陳宏,臥病在床11年,全身上下只剩「眼皮」可以轉動,他的妻子不眠不休,長期用拼音的方式,紀錄陳宏的文字,協助他拼出13萬字,集結成冊。上午陳宏的新書再度發表了,副總統蕭萬長親自到場致贈獎牌,陳宏在現場用眨眼拼音,拼出了「萬世長青」4個字,當作回禮。

陳宏妻子:「3,是3嗎?有眨眼了。」

一個注音眨一次眼,漸凍人陳宏,接受副總統蕭萬長頒獎紀念,心理也有話要說,奮力眨眼了10分鐘,把字拼出來了。副總統蕭萬長:「(他拼)萬世長青。」

連拼4個字都如此費力,更遑論陳宏和疾病搏鬥11年,用這樣眨眼的方式,拼出13萬字,連出了8本書,勇奪世界金氏紀錄。

幕後功臣全是她,結髮30多年的妻子。陳宏妻子林小姐:「他之前就曾經開玩笑,說每天都是螞蟻搬大象,就說親人就是螞蟻,要搬他這個大象。」

不過這種創作方式,卻也有可能畫下句點,因為陳宏連眼皮,都受到病魔的侵襲。林小姐:「要幫他的說話和寫字(紀錄),都變得非常非常困難。」記者:「所以可能成為絶響?」林小姐:「嗯。」

還沒被病魔擊倒,用意志力再推新書,政壇上蕭萬長、郝龍斌都到場,更有無數病友,一大早就坐在會場,捧著書本,要親眼看看曾經大力鼓舞他們的陳宏。

翻開封面的這一句,「肉體會消逝,文字和精神會留下」,替陳宏的奮鬥人生,下了最好的注解。