評論
打印
Are we humans alone in the universe? Or is there intelligent life on other planets? These questions are not new. What is new, however, is the scientific attempt to discover whether or not other planets beyond our own have given birth to advanced civilizations. In the following articles, the authors desribes the scientific means now available for investigating thispossibility and discusses how probable it is that we are not alone in the universe.
我們人類在宇宙中是不是獨一無二的？抑或說在別的行星上是否存在具有高度智慧的生命？這些問題都不是新的。新卻是新在試圖利用科學去發現我們以外的其他行星上是否產生了發達的文明世界。在這篇文章中，作者描述了目前可供調查這一可能性之用的科學手段，還討論了在多大程度上我們在宇宙中可能不是獨一無二。
The Quest for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
搜尋外星人
Carl Sagan
卡爾·薩根
Through all of our history we have pondered the stars and mused whether humanity is unique or if, somewhere else in the dark of the night sky, there are other beings who contemplateand wonder as we do, fellow thinkers in the cosmos. Such beings might view themselves and the universe differently. Somewhere else there might be very exotic biologies and technologiesand societies. In a cosmic setting vast and old beyond ordinary human understanding, we are a little lonely; and we ponder the ultimate significance, if any, of our tiny but exquisiteblue planet.
在人類歷史的整個進程中，我們始終在思考著星星，沉思冥想人類是否是獨一無二的，在漆黑夜空的某個地方，是否存在著別的像我們一樣愛沉思和產生好奇感的生物——宇宙間的、跟我們相同的思考者。這些生物也許對自身以及對宇宙持有不同看法。在別處可能存在著十分奇特的生物、技術和社會。處在這么一種超越人類想像的浩瀚無垠和時代久遠的宇宙空間里，我們略感寂寞，我們尋思著我們這顆小小的卻又是精致的蔚藍色行星可能有的最終含義。
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence is the search for a generally acceptable cosmic context for the human species. In the deepest sense, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is a search for ourselves.
搜尋外星人，就是搜尋可以被廣為接受的人類生存的宇宙環境。從根本上說，搜尋外星人就是搜尋人類自己。
