Somewhere out there in that vast universe

在浩瀚無垠的宇宙中

there must surely be countless other planets teeming with life,

必然有無數其他行星充滿生命，

but why don't we see any evidence of it?

但是，為什麼我們沒有找到任何的證據呢？

Well, this is the famous question asked by Enrico Fermi in 1950:

嗯，這就是 恩裡科 · 費米 在 1950 年提出那個著名的疑問:

"Where is everybody?"

"其他人在哪裡？"

Conspiracy theorists claim that UFOs are visiting all the time

陰謀論者宣稱, 其實一直都有幽浮(UFO)到地球來

and the reports are just being covered up,

只是所有的報告都被掩蓋掉了

but honestly, they aren't very convincing.

但坦白地說，這種說法不太有說服力。

But that leaves a real riddle.

所以這個疑問還是一直存在著.

In the past year, the Kepler space observatory has found

在過去一年，克卜勒太空望遠鏡已找到

hundreds of planets just around nearby stars,

鄰近我們的一些恆星週邊的數以百計的行星

and if you extrapolate that data,

如果用這些數據來推論

it looks like there could be half a trillions planets

應該有將近5000億個行星

just in our own galaxy.

光只算我們自己這個銀河系.

If any one in 10,000 has conditions

如果每一萬個行星中只有一個

that might support a form of life, that's still

能夠發展出某種的生命形態, 那就相當於

50 million possible life-harboring planets

有 5000 萬個行星可能有生命

right here in the Milky Way.

就在我們的銀河系裡

So here's the riddle.

所以這裡就是疑問所在了:

Our Earth didn't form until about 9 billion years after the Big Bang.

我們的地球一直到 "大霹靂" 的約 90 億年後才形成。

Countless other planets in our galaxy

在我們的銀河系中的許多其他行星

should have formed earlier and given life a chance to get underway

應該有可能形成得更早，並且有機會發展出生命

billions, or certainly many millions, of years

比地球的生命發生, 早個幾十億年,

earlier than happened on Earth.

或者是幾百萬年的時間.

If just a few of them had spawned intelligent life

如果其中有些發展出了具有智慧的生命形態

and started creating technologies,

並且開始創造各種科技

those technologies would have had millions of years

這些技術會有數百萬年的時間

to grow in complexity and power.

可以發展到很複雜, 很強大

On Earth,

在地球上，

we've seen how dramatically

我們已經看到科技的發展

technology can accelerate in just 100 years.

在短短 100 年間能達到如此驚人的地佈

In millions of years, an intelligent alien civilization

如果有數百萬年的時間，有智慧的外星文明

could easily have spread out across the galaxy,

應該很容易傳播到整個銀河系

perhaps creating giant energy-harvesting artifacts

也許創造出了巨大的能量收集工具

or fleets of colonizing spaceships

或是 殖民太空船的艦隊

or glorious works of art that fill the night sky.

或是 塞滿整個夜空的 發亮的藝術作品。

At the very least, you'd think they'd be revealing their presence,

至少，你會認為他們應該會有意或無意的

deliberately or otherwise,

藉著某種型態的電磁信號

through electromagnetic signals

暴露他們存在的事實

of one kind or another. And yet we see no convincing evidence of any of it.

然而，我們從未看到任何令人信服的證據。

Why?

這是為什麼呢？

Well, there are numerous possible answers,

嗯，有許多可能的答案，

some of them quite dark.

有些人想得比較灰暗。

Maybe a single, super-intelligent civilization

或許有一個單一的超級智慧文明

has indeed taken over the galaxy,

實質上接管了整個銀河系，

and has imposed strict radio silence

並且實行嚴格的無線電靜默管制

because it's paranoid of any potential competitors.

只為了不讓任何潛在的競爭對手出頭

It's just sitting there ready to obliterate

它只在那裡等待著殲滅

anything that becomes a threat.

所有可能變成威脅的文明

Or maybe they're not that intelligent,

或許他們沒有那麼高的智慧

or perhaps the evolution of an intelligence

又或許某種智慧生物的演進

capable of creating sophisticated technology

以經能夠創建尖端的技術

is far rarer than we've assumed.

比我們能猜想的還要稀奇許多

After all, it's only happened once on Earth in 4 billion years.

畢竟，智慧生命在40 億年間, 只在地球上發生了一次

Maybe even that was incredibly lucky.

這或許是難以置信的幸運狀況

Maybe we are the first such civilization in our galaxy.

或許我們是這個銀河系裡第一個發展出文明的。

Or perhaps civilization carries with it

也有可能文明發展的本身, 同時也帶著

the seeds of its own destruction

自我毀滅的種子

through the inability to control the technologies it creates.

因為對自己所發展出的技術失去了控制的能力。

But there are numerous more hopeful answers.

但還有許多更有希望的答案。

I mean, for a start, we're not looking that hard. And we're spending a pitiful amount of money on it.

比方說，我們找得還不夠認真。我們投入的經費少得可憐。

Only a tiny fraction of the stars in our galaxy

銀河系中恒星只有微不足道的一小部分

have really been looked at closely for signs of interesting signals.

真的被仔細觀察過, 看有沒有特殊的訊息徵象。

And perhaps we're not looking the right way.

也許我們沒有用對的方式來觀察

Maybe as civilizations develop,

也許隨著文明的發展，

they quickly discover communication technologies

外星人很快發展出新的通信技術

far more sophisticated and useful than electromagnetic waves.

比電磁波更複雜先進而且好用。

Maybe all the action takes place

也許所有的動靜, 都是發生於

inside the mysterious recently discovered dark matter,

最近才發現的神秘的 "暗物質"

or dark energy, that appear to account for most of the universe's mass.

或是 暗能量，這些佔有宇宙質量的大部分組成。

Or maybe we're looking at the wrong scale.

又或者，我們觀察的尺度不對

Perhaps intelligent civilizations come to realize

也許這些智慧文明已經了解到

that life is ultimately just complex patterns of information

生命的極致, 只是一些形式複雜的資訊

interacting with each other in a beautiful way,

以美麗的方式彼此間互動

and that that can happen more efficiently at a small scale.

而這樣的事情在更小的尺度可以更有效的進行

So, just as on Earth clunky stereo systems

就如同在地球上，笨重的立體音響

have shrunk to beautiful, tiny iPods, maybe intelligent life itself,

已經被縮小成美麗又精巧的 ipod，也許智慧生命本身，

in order to reduce its footprint on the environment,

為了減少它的環境足跡 (對環境的影響)

has turned itself microscopic,

所以已經演化成微小的型態

so the Solar System might be teeming with aliens, and we're just not noticing them.

如果真的是這樣，那太陽系可能一直充滿了外星人，只是我們沒有注意到他們。

Maybe the very ideas in our heads are a form of alien life.

也許在我們大腦中的許多念頭, 本身就是一種外星生命。

Well, okay, that's a crazy thought.

嗯，好吧，這想法太瘋狂了.

The aliens made me say it.

是外星人害我這樣說的.

But it is cool that ideas do seem to have a life all of their own

但這真的很酷, 想法本身就像是有生命的

and that they outlive their creators.

而且存活得比產生想法的人還久

Maybe biological life is just a passing phase.

也許生物型態的生命, 只是一個過渡型態。

Well, within the next 15 years,

在未來的 15 年裡

we could start seeing real spectroscopic information

我們將能開始觀察到五花八色的資訊

from promising nearby planets that will reveal just how life-ready they might be.

來自於鄰近的這些行星, 並發掘出這些行星有多少可能性發展出生命

And meanwhile SETI, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence,

在此同時, SETI計畫, (SETI 是搜尋外星智慧的縮寫)

is now releasing its data to the public

也持續提供資料給大眾

so that millions of citizen scientists, maybe including you,

讓數以百萬計的平民科學家參與，也許包括你在內

can bring the power of the crowd to join the search.

將群眾的能量帶入研究體系共同努力。

And here on Earth, amazing experiments are being done

在地球上，還有許多令人驚異的實驗在進行著

to try to create life from scratch,

嘗試從頭開始創造生命

life that might be very different from the DNA forms we know.

這種生命可能與我們熟知的 DNA 形態大不相同

All of this will help us understand

所有這一切都是為了要解答那個疑問:

whether the universe is teeming with life

宇宙是否充滿各種生命?

or whether, indeed, it's just us.

抑或是，真的只有我們而已

Either answer, in its own way,

不管答案是什麼，背後的道理

is awe-inspiring,

都會是令人驚歎的

because even if we are alone,

因為即使我們是唯一的

the fact that we think and dream and ask these questions

我們 思考, 夢想, 探究 這些問題的這檔子事

might yet turn out to be one of the most important facts about the universe.

有可能變成是關於宇宙的最重要的事情之一

And I have one more piece of good news for you.

我還有一個好消息要告訴你

The quest for knowledge and understanding never gets dull.

對於知識和理解的追尋, 是永遠不會變得枯燥乏味的

It doesn't. It's actually the opposite. The more you know,

不僅不會乏味, 相反的, 你知道得越多

the more amazing the world seems.

就會覺得這個世界越神奇

And it's the crazy possibilities, the unanswered questions,

而這些瘋狂的可能性, 未被解答的疑問,

that pull us forward. So stay curious.

就是我們前進的動力, 所以, 請繼續好奇下去.