时间:2019-02-16 作者:英语课 分类:英语听力文摘 English Digest


英语课
Lithic Principle
“岩屑”法则

I heard recently that if the laws of nature were changed even a little bit, there would be no people in the universe. Is this true?


Well, it’s certainly true that if the fundamentalconstants of nature were somehow changed, we wouldn’t be here. For example, if gravity were just a little stronger than it is, planets would crash into their stars, so people would never have had a place to evolve.


If the forces that bind 1 together subatomic particles were just a little weaker, there would be a lot of hydrogen floating around, but no atoms, no molecules, and again, no life. You can do this kind of mental exercise with all the fundamentalconstants.


Is this telling us something? Scientists and philosophers who think so are subscribing 2 to what’s called the “Anthropic Principle”–the suggestion that nature is exactly the way it is in order that it will eventually create us.


The great scientist and popularizer Carl Sagan made fun of the Anthropic Principle by proposing what he jokingly called the “Lithic Principle.” If any of the laws of nature were changed just a little bit, he points out, there would also be no rocks. Therefore, the most important thing in the universe must be rocks!


Even scientists are human beings, and we’d like to think that we are so special that the whole universe is here for us. It’s a cool idea. But Carl Sagan didn’t think that was science at all–just good old-fashioned human vanity.



我最近听说如果自然法则稍稍改变一些,宇宙就不会有人类的存在。真是这样吗?


这当然是真的,如果自然基本常数改变了,我们将不复存在。例如,万有引力大于现在的,行星就会和恒星相撞,人类也没有地方进化。


如果亚原子粒子间的吸引力再弱一点,氢原子就会悬浮不定,也就没有了原子分子,生命也不存在了。你还可以做类似的基本常数推算。


这说明什么呢?科学家和哲学家认为这些可以归结为“人择原理”: 正是大自然这样地演化才最终创造出人类。


伟大的科学普及家卡尔•萨根就戏称“人择原理”而提出“岩屑”法则并指出:如果自然法则稍稍改变一些,就不会有岩石。因此,宇宙中至关重要的是岩石。


甚至科学家也是人,我们可以认为自己是独特的,因为全宇宙为了我们而存在。多棒呀!但是,卡尔•萨根并不认为和科学相关,而是人类由来已久的吹嘘。

 




 



vt.捆,包扎;装订;约束;使凝固;vi.变硬
  • I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
  • He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。
v.捐助( subscribe的现在分词 );签署,题词;订阅;同意
  • I am subscribing for some of the books of a book club. 我预订了几本这家书刊俱乐部出版的书。 来自辞典例句
  • I am glad to have such a pleasant opportunity of subscribing myself. 今后益望努力前途,为国效力。 来自互联网
学英语单词
abdominal cavities
accelerator ZDMC
agrip
alginic acid
anacanthus
anti-bottom quark
arrested failure
associated emission
banderol, banderole
basic separating
basosexine
Belling saccharimeter
bepitying
Biassini
bitterweeds
cammaron
capital of Oklahoma
change-over channel steamer
charge-storage diode
chloralkaline
chlorobenzyl chloride
cholecystokinin (cck)
complemeent (darlington 1932)
correlation analysis method
countervailing
deformation loss
detectable effect
dimethyldihydroresorcinol
direct-current grid bias
distributed feedback
dyadic array
electronic shower
Elsholtzia hunanensis
filter editor
food and beverage expenses
footlongs
glass reinforced concrete glass
grant woods
harangue
heading per steering compass
herringbone pipe
hewsons
hinchleys
Holter system
incipient incision
incipient scorch
Incomati (Komati)
internal strapped block
isoolivil
laser-Raman spectrometry
laxogenin
leakage and drip
Lisfranc's tubercle
lobes
macgregor hatch cover
maximum colour acuity
medium irrigated emulsion
metachromatic bodies
Molatón
Morinville
nabzenil
negotiated meaning
nitrogen-to-protein conversion factor
non-americans
offspringless
organizatory
Otego
Over-allotment option
OWRS
Panax schin-seng Nees
Passengers Ships in Inland Waters
pastoral stage
pentetate
petersen sir elutriator
phase interchange rate
Polygonum patulum
pteroxygonum giraldii dammer et diels
rabelo
relieve stress
schwalb
scratch resistance
seat cover for vehicle
security option
seen with half an eye
self starter
sequential data structure
setting-out work
shapiro-wilk test
side by side display
superimposed preeclampsia
sweated joint
telocollinites
tendon lengthening
thermal radiation destruction distance
topological relation
total equity
ultraviolet dwarf
uredinology
Vilyuy
virtual volume
volumetrics
xanthohumol