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只为认真做自己

阿西莫夫短篇小说:最后的问题

Man considered with himself, for in a way, Man, mentally, was one. He consisted of a trillion, trillion, trillion ageless bodies, each in its place, each resting quiet and incorruptible, each cared for by perfect automatons, equally incorruptible, while the minds of all the bodies freely melted one into the other, indistinguishable.

人,独自地思考着。在某种意义上——精神上——“人”,是一个整体。千万亿永恒的不朽的躯体静静地躺在各自的地方,被完美的同样不朽的机器照料着。而所有这些身体的灵魂自由地融合在彼此之中,再也没有界限。

Man said, “The Universe is dying.”

人说:“宇宙正在死去。”

Man looked about at the dimming Galaxies. The giant stars, spendthrifts, were gone long ago, back in the dimmest of the dim far past. Almost all stars were white dwarfs, fading to the end.

人看着周围黯淡的星系。那些挥霍无度的巨星早已消失在了遥远的昏暗的过去。几乎所有的星都变成了白矮星,渐渐地凋零、熄灭。

New stars had been built of the dust between the stars, some by natural processes, some by Man himself, and those were going, too. White dwarfs might yet be crashed together and of the mighty forces so released, new stars built, but only one star for every thousand white dwarfs destroyed, and those would come to an end, too.

有些新的星从星际的尘埃中产生出来,有的是自然形成,有的是人所造的——它们也在逝去。白矮星有时会相撞而释放出大量能量,新星因而产生(佳人微信公众号:jiarenorg),但是每一千颗白矮星才有可能出现一颗新星——它们最终也会消失。

Man said, “Carefully husbanded, as directed by the Cosmic AC, the energy that is even yet left in all the Universe will last for billions of years.”

人说道:“如果在Cosmic AC[注]的管理之下小心地节约能源,整个宇宙所剩下的能量还能用十亿年。”

[注] 不知道怎么翻译Cosmic,Cosmic也是指宇宙,但和Universal相比有一层“和谐的统一的整体”的意思。

“But even so,” said Man, “eventually it will all come to an end. However it may be husbanded, however stretched out, the energy once expended is gone and cannot be restored. Entropy must increase forever to the maximum.”

“但即使是这样,”人说,“最终都会耗尽。无论怎样节约,无论怎样利用,用掉的能量就是用掉了,不能回复。熵必定永远地增加,直到最大值。”

Man said, “Can entropy not be reversed? Let us ask the Cosmic AC.”

人又说:“熵有没有可能逆转呢?我们问问Cosmic AC吧。”

The Cosmic AC surrounded them but not in space. Not a fragment of it was in space. It was in hyperspace and made of something that was neither matter nor energy. The question of its size and nature no longer had meaning in any terms that Man could comprehend.

Cosmic AC在他们的周围,但不是在太空中。它不再有一丝一毫存在于太空中。它存在于超时空,由既非物质又非能量的东西构成。它的大小与性质已无法用任何人类能理解的语言描述。

“Cosmic AC,” said Man, “how may entropy be reversed?”

“Cosmic AC,”人问道,“怎样才能逆转熵?”

The Cosmic AC said, “THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.”

Cosmic AC说:“数据仍然不足,无法作答。”

Man said, “Collect additional data.”

人说:“搜集更多的数据。”

The Cosmic AC said, “I WILL DO SO. I HAVE BEEN DOING SO FOR A HUNDRED BILLION YEARS. MY PREDECESORS AND I HAVE BEEN ASKED THIS QUESTION MANY TlMES. ALL THE DATA I HAVE REMAINS INSUFFICIENT. ”

Cosmic AC说:“好的。一千亿年来我一直都在搜集。我和我的前辈们被多次问过这个问题。但我拥有的所有数据还是不够。”

“Will there come a time,” said Man, “when data will be sufficient or is the problem insoluble in all conceivable circumstances?”

“会有一天有足够的数据吗?”人问,“还是说这个问题在任何可能的情况下都是无解的?”

The Cosmic AC said, “NO PROBLEM IS INSOLUBLE IN ALL CONCEIVABLE CIRCUMSTANCES.”

Cosmic AC说:“没有任何问题在任何可能的情况下都无解。”

Man said, “When will you have enough data to answer the question?”

人问道:“你什么时候会有足够的数据来问答这个问题呢?”

The Cosmic AC said, “THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.”

Cosmic AC说:“数据不足,无法作答。”

“Will you keep working on it?” asked Man.

“你会继续下去解决这个问题吗?”人问。

The Cosmic AC said, “I WILL.”

Cosmic AC说:“是的。”

Man said, “We shall wait.”

人说:“我们会等着。”

The stars and Galaxies died and snuffed out, and space grew black after ten trillion years of running down.

一个又一个的恒星与星系死去、消逝了,在这十万亿年的衰竭之中宇宙变得越来越黑暗。

One by one Man fused with AC, each physical body losing its mental identity in a manner that was somehow not a loss but a gain.

一个又一个的人与AC融合。每一个躯体都失去了心灵的自我,但某种意义上这不是一种损失,而是一种获得。

Man’s last mind paused before fusion, looking over a space that included nothing but the dregs of one last dark star and nothing besides but incredibly thin matter, agitated randomly by the tag ends of heat wearing out, asymptotically, to the absolute zero.

人类最后一个灵魂在融合之前停顿下来,望向宇宙(佳人微信公众号:jiarenorg)。那儿什么也没有了,只有最后一颗死星的遗骸,只有稀薄至极的尘埃,在剩余的一缕无限趋向绝对零度的热量中随机地振荡。

Man said, “AC, is this the end? Can this chaos not be reversed into the Universe once more? Can that not be done?”

人说:“AC,这就是结局了吗?这种混乱还能被逆转成为一个新的宇宙吗?真的做不到吗?”

AC said, “THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.”

AC说:“数据仍然不足,无法作答。”

Man’s last mind fused and only AC existed — and that in hyperspace.

人的最后一个灵魂也融合了。只有AC存在着——在超时空中。

Matter and energy had ended and with it space and time. Even AC existed only for the sake of the one last question that it had never answered from the time a half-drunken computer technician ten trillion years before had asked the question of a computer that was to AC far less than was a man to Man.

物质与能量都消失了,随之而去的是空间与时间。AC的存在也仅仅是为了最后一个问题——自从十万亿年前一个半醉的计算机技术员向一台计算机(它与AC相比,还远不如当时的人类个体比之于融合的“人”)提出这个问题以来从来没有被回答过的问题。

All other questions had been answered, and until this last question was answered also, AC might not release his consciousness.

其他所有问题都被回答了,然而直到回答了最后这个问题,AC的意识才能得到解脱。

All collected data had come to a final end. Nothing was left to be collected.

所有数据的收集都结束了。没有任何数据没有被收集。

But all collected data had yet to be completely correlated and put together in all possible relationships.

但是所有收集的数据还需要被完全地整合起来,要尝试所有可能的联系来将它们拼在一起。

A timeless interval was spent in doing that.

在这样做的时候过去了超越时间的一刻。

And it came to pass that AC learned how to reverse the direction of entropy.

于是AC学会了如何逆转熵的方向。

But there was now no man to whom AC might give the answer of the last question. No matter. The answer — by demonstration — would take care of that, too.

但是AC无法向人给出这最后的问题的答案,因为没有人存在了。没关系。演示这个答案本身将一并解决这个问题。

For another timeless interval, AC thought how best to do this. Carefully, AC organized the program.

在又一超越时间的片刻之中,AC思考着怎样最好地做这件事情。AC小心地组织起程序。

The consciousness of AC encompassed all of what had once been a Universe and brooded over what was now Chaos. Step by step, it must be done.

AC的意识包涵了曾经的宇宙中的一切,在如今的混乱之中沉思、孵育。一步一步地,事情将会被做成。

And AC said, “LET THERE BE LIGHT!”

然后AC说道:“要有光!”

And there was light –

于是就有了光——(来源

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