評(píng)論
打印
There are thousands of really large asteroids out here.
太空中有成千上萬巨大的小行星
Some are over 10 miles long. The size of Manhattan.
有些長(zhǎng)達(dá)十余英里，大小堪比曼哈頓
An asteroid this size
每一億年左右
hits the Earth every 100 million years or so.
就會(huì)有一顆這般大小的小行星撞上地球
The last one struck the Earth 65 million years ago,
最近的一次撞擊發(fā)生在六千五百萬年前
and probably was responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs.
很可能正是恐龍滅絕的原因
We don't know when the next asteroid will strike,
我們不知道下一顆小行星會(huì)在何時(shí)襲來
but if it was big enough it could sterilize our planet.
不過如果它足夠巨大，就可能毀滅地球
That would be the end of the 5 billion year long story of life on Earth.
那將是地球上五十億年生命長(zhǎng)河的終結(jié)
but even if we avoid such a natural catastrophe,
但即使我們幸免于這一自然災(zāi)難
we could all too easily end up destroying ourselves.
我們也可能輕易毀滅于自己之手
In the last 10 thousand years,
在最近的一萬年里
humans have come to dominate the planet.
人類在地球上占據(jù)統(tǒng)治地位
We are so successful,
我們非常成功
that it's tempting to think we are evolution's grand prize.
以至于認(rèn)為自己是進(jìn)化史上最璀璨的成就
But I believe intelligence is probably overrated.
但我想我們對(duì)自身智慧的評(píng)價(jià)過高了
It's not necessarily a good thing for a species' survival.
這對(duì)于一個(gè)物種的生存并不是一件好事
Bacteria have managed without it
細(xì)菌在缺乏智慧的情況下
for over three billion years.
存在了超過三十億年
Intelligence, at least in our case, leads to technology.
對(duì)人類而言，智慧至少會(huì)帶來技術(shù)發(fā)展
And there many ways technology could wipe us out.
而技術(shù)卻有很多毀滅我們的途徑
The most obvious, of course, the threat from nuclear weapons.
最顯而易見的就是核武器帶來的威脅
Even if the risk of a nuclear war happening in one year is miniscule,
雖說今后一年內(nèi)發(fā)生核戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的幾率很低
say only one in a million,
只有百萬分之一的可能
if we run those odds over 100,000 years,
但如果將范圍擴(kuò)大至十萬年
the chance of catastrophe falls to one in ten.
幾率將會(huì)大幅提高至十分之一
Personally I worry that even this might be overoptimistic.
個(gè)人認(rèn)為，這個(gè)幾率也有些過于樂觀了
Although we are clever enough to have designed such weapons,
即使人類的智慧足以設(shè)計(jì)出這樣的武器
I'm not sure we are clever enough not to use them.
但我不認(rèn)為人類擁有足夠的智慧不使用它們
As time marches relentlessly into the future,
隨著時(shí)間延續(xù)到未來
the universe has other surprises in store.
宇宙還為我們準(zhǔn)備了更多驚喜
There are some powerful things out there.
宇宙中還有更為強(qiáng)大的東西
Some of which could destroy the Earth without any help from us.
有些無需我們推波助瀾，就能輕易毀滅地球
