Richard Phillips Feynman, 1918-1988), a Jewish American physicist, a professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology, and a Nobel Prize in Physics winner in 1965.
Fehman graduated from MIT in 1939, and obtained a doctorate in theoretical physics from Princeton University in 1942. He immediately joined the American Atomic Bomb Research Project Group and participated in the secret development of the "Manhattan Project" of the atomic bomb project. He was 24 years old at the time.
Feynman proposed the Feynman diagram , Feynman rules and calculation methods for re-regulation. This is an indispensable tool for studying quantum electrodynamics and particle physics. He is considered to be the wisest theoretical physicist after Einstein , and is also the first person to propose the concept of "nanometer".
This article is a speech by Feynman at the American Academy of Sciences. It is easy to understand, objective, rational and exciting.
Translator Li Chenjian is a Ph.D., Purdue University, and a professor at the School of Life Sciences, Peking University. The translator said: The manuscript of
was translated in Florence and was the most unforgettable moment in my life.
1 Nearly twenty years ago, my wife Xu Yang and I translated Feynman's book with full enjoyment, and the last article of the book was this speech . At that time, we didn't have laptops, and we kept carrying Feynman's books and notebooks in our backpacks for two years, wherever we went, wherever we wrote. After I finished a collaboration in Heidelberg, Germany, I traveled to Italy to Florence, a place where the cultural and historical collection of Renaissance is gathered. On the hill across the river in Florence, Michelangelo's third " David " quietly overlooks the city with the courage of the century. There was a cafe under the sculpture's feet, so I sat down and rested, took out Feynman's book, and planned to translate some before continuing to travel. But after I wrote a few paragraphs, I couldn't stop at all, and Feynman was almost right in front of me. Throughout the afternoon, I finished the whole chapter in one go. At the end, it was already dusk; Florence under the golden sunset suddenly became like a tide. Sunset, Florence, David, Feynman, there are probably not many more exciting moments in the world/almost religious sacred moments.
20 years later, it still makes a lot of noise. Share with you.
The value of science
article | Feynman
translation | Li Chenjian
When I was young, I thought science would benefit everyone.科学显然很有用，也是很有益的。 In World War II , I participated in the manufacturing of the atomic bomb. The development of science led to the emergence of the atomic bomb, which was obviously an extremely serious event: it represented the destruction of mankind. After the war, I was worried about the atomic bomb. I didn’t know what the future would be, nor was I sure that humans would definitely survive. Naturally, a question will be raised like this: Does science contain evil elements? This question can also be asked in this way: When we see that science can also bring disasters, what is the value of the scientific cause that I love so much and have been working hard for throughout my life? This is a question I cannot avoid. You can see this article "The Value of Science" as what I thought and realized when exploring this issue. —— Richard Feynman
Sometimes, people have suggested to me that scientists should pay more attention to social issues, especially the impact of science on society. It seems quite common to believe that as long as scientists pay attention to complex social issues rather than burrowing in scientific research on branches and ends all day long, great success will naturally come.
I think we scientists are very concerned about these social issues, but we don’t just regard them as our own full-time.The reason is that we are puzzled to understand these social problems that are thousands of times more complicated than scientific research, and there is no magic medicine.
I think when a scientist thinks about non-scientific issues, he is as ignorant as everyone; when he wants to express his opinions on non-scientific issues, he is as naive as all laymen. Today's speech "The Value of Science" is not aimed at a scientific topic, but value judgment; in this way, what I will talk about below is probably superficial.
The first point of the value of science is well known. Scientific knowledge enables people to make many products and do many careers. Of course, when people use science to do good deeds, the credit is not only attributed to science itself, but also to guiding our moral choices. Scientific knowledge gives people the ability to do good or evil, but it does not come with instructions for use. This ability is obviously valuable, although good or bad depends on how it is used.
在一次去夏威夷的路途中，我学会了一种方法来表达上述问题——一个佛堂的主持向游客们谈及佛学，最后他说他的临别赠言将使游客们永不忘却（我是真的从未忘却）。 This gift is a proverb in the Buddhist scriptures: " Everyone holds a key to open the door to heaven, and this key can also open the door to hell. "
In this way, what is the value of the key to open the door to heaven? If we cannot tell whether a door leads to heaven or hell, then the key in our hand is a dangerous thing.
But this key does have its value - without it, we cannot open the door to heaven; without it, even if we distinguish between heaven and hell, we are still helpless. Inferred in this way, although scientific knowledge may be misused to cause disasters, its ability to have a huge impact is itself a value.
Another value of science is to provide the enjoyment of wisdom and thinking. This kind of enjoyment can be obtained by some people from reading, learning, and thinking, while others need to be satisfied by real in-depth research. The importance of this kind of wisdom and thinking enjoyment is often overlooked, especially those who chatter and teach us scientists that we should take on social responsibilities.
Of course I am not saying that personal enjoyment in wisdom thinking is the entire value of science. However, if the ultimate goal of our social progress is to allow all kinds of people to enjoy what they want to do, then the enjoyment of scientists' thinking and knowledge is equally important as other things.
Another scientific value that cannot be underestimated is that it has changed people's concept of the world. Due to the development of science, we can imagine endless and wonderful things today, thousands of times richer and more bizarre than the imagination of poets and dreamers. The imagination and variety of nature are much more wise than that of humans.比如吧，诗人想象巨大的海龟驮着大象到海里旅行；而科学给了我们一幅图画——天宇中一个巨大的球在旋转；在它的表面，人们被神奇的引力吸住，并附着它在旋转。
I often think of these wonderful things, which people used to be unimaginable, but now scientific knowledge makes us imaginable.
Once upon a time, I stood on the beach by the sea and fell into deep thought:
The ebb and flow of tides cannot be counted and the molecules are each running alone, far apart but closely related. The white waves are rising and falling. The ancient eyes of no creatures have not yet appeared year after year. Now, for whom and why? In a dead planet, life is never happy for. The sun is dispersed. The energy is shot towards the boundless universe. The waves are shining. The ocean is shining. The molecules are repeating unchanged. Suddenly, new combinations are born. They will copy themselves. This shows a new scene. The bigger and bigger, more complex creatures. DNA, ProteinTheir dance is more magical and leaps out of the ocean toward the land. Standing cognitive atom . The material with curiosity is facing the ocean. A curious person is curious about me-a universe. Atoms in a universe.
. Such excitement, aura and mystery appear again and again when we study problems. The progress of knowledge always brings deeper and more wonderful mystery, attracting us to explore further. Sometimes the results of exploration are disappointing, but what does it matter? We always drill deep with enthusiasm and confidence, discovering unimaginable wonders and the deeper and more wonderful mystery that comes with it. Isn’t this the most exciting exploration?
It is true that people who have no scientific research experience probably will not have this kind of similar religious feeling. The poet cannot write it, nor can the artist describe this wonderful feeling. I was puzzled - weren't they excited by the universe we discovered? Singers can’t sing the magical beauty brought by science, and science is still accepted in lectures, not in poetry and songs. This shows that we have not entered a scientific era. One of the reasons for this kind of silent song is that people must know how to read the score of this kind of music before they can sing. For example, a scientific paper says, "The radiolabeled phosphorus in the mouse brain has been reduced by half in two weeks." What does this mean?
It means half of the phosphorus in the mouse brain (you and mine are no different from each other) is no longer the atoms from two weeks ago, and they have been replaced. Then I want to ask: "What are the conscious molecules? Are they false? These new molecules can carry the memories in my brain a year ago, but the molecules that occurred at that time have long been replaced! This discovery is like saying that my body is just a dance arrangement. The molecules enter my brain, dance a dance and leave; new molecules come in, or dance exactly the same dance as yesterday - they can remember it!"
Sometimes we read this from the newspaper: "Scientists believe that this discovery is very important for the treatment of tumors..." , this report only focuses on what is available to discover, and completely abandons its own meaning. And in fact how wonderful it is! Occasionally, children will realize those meanings; at this time, a scientist's seedling appears. It would be too late if we only taught them this when they were in college. We must start with children.
Now, let me talk about the third value of science - it is a little indirect, but not far-fetched. What scientists experience throughout their lives is ignorance, doubt, and uncertainty. This kind of experience is extremely important. When a scientist does not know the answer, he is ignorant; when he probably has guesses in his heart, he is uncertain; even if he is confident, he will always leave room for doubt. Acknowledging one's ignorance and leaving room for doubt are both essential for any development. Scientific knowledge itself is a collection of different levels of credibility: some are at all uncertain, some are relatively certain, but nothing is completely certain.
Scientists are accustomed to the above situations, and they naturally question because of uncertainty and admit that they are ignorant. But I don't think most people understand this. In history, science and authoritarian authority have fought repeatedly and fought repeatedly and gradually won the freedom we question. What a difficult and protracted battle that was! It finally allows us to ask questions, question, and be uncertain. We should never forget history and lose the freedom we have fought for through hardships. This is the responsibility of our scientists to society.
The great potential and small achievements of human beings are so sad that it reminds people of it. They always feel that human beings can be better. Our ancestors dreamed of the future in the nightmare; we (their future) saw that some of their dreams had come true, but most of them were still dreams, as they used to be.
Some people say that the lack of popularization of education is the reason why humans cannot move forward. But can education become popular and everyone can become Voltai ? The bad and the good can be taught as well; education also has the great ability to move good or evil.
Another dream is that full communication between countries will definitely increase mutual understanding. But communication tools can be manipulated. In this way, what is communicated can be either truth or lies. Communication also has the dual possibilities of moving towards good and evil.
Applied science can solve people's material needs, and medicine can control diseases - it seems that it is finally perfect, right? But many people are concentrating on creating terrifying poisons and bacteria to prepare for chemical and biological warfare.
Almost no one likes war, peace is the dream of mankind - people can realize their potential as much as possible. But maybe people in the future find that peace can be good or bad. Maybe people in peacetime are tired of having no challenges, so they drink hard all day long, and drunk people cannot realize their potential and achieve great achievements.
Peace is obviously a great force, like rigorousness, material development, communication, education, honesty and the dreams of ancestors. Compared with our ancestors, we have indeed improved and have more abilities. But what we can achieve is pale in comparison. What is the reason for
? Why can't we defeat ourselves?
Because we found that has great potential and power without the instructions on how to use them. For example, the more you know the material world, the more people feel that the world is really purposeless. Science does not guide doing good or doing evil.
Throughout history, people have been exploring the meaning of life. They thought: If there is a certain meaning and direction to guide people, their great potential will be fully realized. Therefore, there are many explanations and doctrines about the meaning of life. These individual doctrines have their own believers, and believers of a certain doctrine always look at the believers of the rest with fear. This fear comes from the incompatibility of beliefs, which leads to the original good starting point entering a dead end. In fact, it is precisely from these huge fallacies created by false beliefs in history that philosophical thinkers have slowly discovered the wonderful and infinite abilities of human beings. People dream of discovering a path.
So, what is the meaning of these? How do we solve the mystery of existence?
If we take all of it into consideration—not only what our ancestors know, but what they don’t know but what we know today—then I think we must admit frankly that we still know very little.
However, just as we admitted this, we began to find the way.
This is not a new concept, it is the concept of the rational era, and it is it that guides the ancestors to create the democratic system we enjoy today.It is precisely because we believe that no one knows how to manage the government that we have such a system to ensure that new ideas can be developed, tried to apply, and abandoned when necessary; newer ideas can be reincarnated in this way. This is a systematic method of trying to correct deviations. This systematic approach was established precisely because at the end of the 18th century, science had successfully proved its feasibility. At that time, people who are concerned about society have realized that being open-minded about various possibilities brings opportunities; doubt and discussion are the key to exploring the unknown, and if we want to solve problems that have not been solved before, we must open the door to the unknown in this way.
Humans are still in their initial stages, so it is no surprise that we encounter various problems. Fortunately, there are still thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to learn what we can learn, do what we can, explore better ways, and pass it on to the next generation. Our responsibility is to give future people a pair of hands without restraints and freedom. In the reckless and impulsive adolescence of humans, people often make huge mistakes and lead to long-term stagnation. If we think we have already had a clear answer to many questions, we, young and ignorant, will definitely make such mistakes. If we suppress criticism, avoid discussion, and declare loudly, "Behold, fellow citizens, this is the correct answer, mankind is saved!" We will inevitably limit mankind to the shackles of authority and existing imagination. This kind of mistake is common in history.
As scientists, we know that great progress comes from the recognition of ignorance and the freedom of thought. Then this is our responsibility - to promote the value of freedom of thought, to educate people not to fear doubt but to welcome it, discuss it, and to insist on having this freedom without compromise - this is our responsibility for the future for generations.
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