10 Mind-Blowing Theories That Will Change Your Perception of the World(1)[1]

十個驚人的理論將改變你對這個世界的認知(一)

The reality is not as obvious and simple as we like to think

現實並非我們所想的那樣簡單明瞭

Some of the things that we accept as true and take at face value are notoriously wrong.

有些事情我們只去看它的表面就信以為真了，但實際上卻錯的離譜。

Scientists and philosophers have made every effort to change our common perceptions of it. The 10 examples below will show you what I mean.

許多科學家和哲學家都在努力改變我們一般對於現實的看法。以下十個例子將告訴你我說的是什麼意思。

 

1. Big Freeze

1、大凍結

Big Freeze is the theory of the final state that our universe is heading toward. The universe has a limited supply of energy. According to this theory, when that energy finally runs out, the universe will devolve into a frozen state. The thermal energy produced by the motion of the particles will gradually wear out, which means that eventually, this particle motion will slow down and, presumably, one day, everything will stop.

大凍結這個理論是指我們的宇宙正在朝著這個最終狀態前進。根據此一理論，由於宇宙的能量供應有限，所以當能量最終消耗殆盡的時候，宇宙將會進入一個凍結的狀態。由粒子運動所產生的熱能將會逐漸耗盡，也就是說，這種粒子運動最後會減慢，所以據推測，總有一天，一切都將停止運行。

 

2. Solipsism

2、唯我論

Solipsism is a philosophical theory, which asserts that nothing exists but the individual’s consciousness. At first, it seems silly, but if you think about it, it really is impossible to verify anything but your own consciousness.

唯我論是一種哲學理論，其主張除了個人的意識之外什麼都不存在。這種說法一開始聽起來似乎挺傻的，但若去仔細思考，確實是除了自己的意識之外，沒有辦法去證實其他事物的存在。

To check this out, take a moment to recall all the dreams that you have experienced in your life. Is it not possible that everything around you is nothing but an incredibly intricate dream? But, you may say, there are people and things around us that we cannot doubt because we can hear, see, smell, taste and feel them, right? Yes, and no. People who take LSD, for example, say that they can touch the most convincing hallucinations, but we do not claim that their visions are a “reality”. Your dreams can simulate sensations as well. After all, what you perceive is just a product of the information processing that takes place in different sections of your brain.

要確定這個說法是真是假，可以花一點時間去回想你這一生中所有做過的夢。周遭的一切難道就不可能只是一個超乎尋常、荒誕無稽的夢嗎？不過你可能會說，我們可以聽得到、看得到、聞得到、嚐得到和感受得到周圍的人事物啊，有什麼好懷疑的呢？是，也不是。例如，吸食LSD而產生幻覺的人會說他們的感覺非常真實，但我們卻不會認為他們所見的就是「現實」。你的夢也可以模擬出許多感覺。畢竟，你所感知到的只是資訊經過大腦不同部位處理過後的產物。

As a result, which parts of existence can we not doubt? Probably none. Each of us can only be sure of their own thoughts.

所以，所謂的存在，到底有幾分是我們能夠相信的呢？或許沒有。我們每個人能夠確定的就只有自己的想法而已。

 

3. Idealism

3、唯心論

George Berkeley, the father of Idealism, argued that everything exists as an idea in someone’s mind. Berkley discovered that some of his peers considered his theory to be stupid. The story goes that one of his opponents kicked a stone with his eyes closed and said, “I disprove it thus!”

唯心論之父喬治．柏克萊認為，周遭的一切都只是一個存在在某個人心中的想法而已。柏克萊發現他的一些同行認為他的理論很蠢。據說他的一個對手反駁這個理論的方法就是閉著眼睛踢了一塊石頭說：「我看你還怎麼辯！」

The idea was that if the stone really only existed in his imagination, he could not have kicked it with his eyes closed. The way Berkeley refuted this is hard to understand, especially in these days. He argued that there was an omnipotent and omnipresent God who was able to see everything simultaneously.

這個想法的出發點是，若這塊石頭真的只存在於他的想像之中，他就無法閉著眼睛踢到石頭。對此，柏克萊反駁的方式卻令人費解，特別是在當代。他辯說有一位無所不能、無所不在的上帝能夠同時看到一切事物的存在。

 

4. Plato and the Logos.

4、柏拉圖與邏各斯

Everybody has heard of Plato. He is one of the world’s most famous philosophers. Like all philosophers, he had a few things to say about the nature of reality. He argued that beyond our perceived reality, there lies a world of “perfect” forms. Everything that we see is just a shade, an imitation of how things truly are. To learn more about these ideas, read about Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, which is a sort of the ‘Matrix‘ in its ancient version.

每個人都聽說過柏拉圖。他是世界上最著名的哲學家之一。和所有的哲學家一樣，他對現實的本質也有所想法。他認為，除了我們所能感知的現實之外，還有一個「完美」理型的世界。我們所看到的一切都只是一個虛影，一個模仿事物真實面貌的影子。想了解更多有關這些概念的資訊，請參考柏拉圖的洞穴寓言，它可以算是一種古代版的《駭客任務》。

Plato argued that by studying philosophy, we have a chance of catching a glimpse of how things truly are and discovering the perfect forms of everything we perceive.

柏拉圖認為，通過研究哲學，我們才有機會一窺事物的真實面貌以及發現那些我們所看到的事物，他們各自完美的理型。

In addition to this stunning statement, Plato, being a monist, said that everything is made of a single substance. This means (according to him) that everything – from stars in the sky to the dust under your bed – consists of the same basic material, but in a different form. With the discovery of atoms and molecules, it has been proven true to an extent.

除了這個驚人的說法之外，身為一元論者的柏拉圖說，萬物是由單一的物質所構成的。意思是（根據他的說法），從天空中的星辰到床下的塵埃，所有的東西都是由相同的基本物質所構成，只是形式有所不同。而隨著原子與分子的發現，就某種程度上來說，這確實是真的。

 

5. Presentism.

5、現時論

Time is something that we perceive as a reality. Of course, we usually divide it into the past, present and future. Presentism argues that the past and the future are imagined concepts while only the present is real.

我們都將「時間」視為一個現實存在的概念。當然，一般都會將時間劃分為過去、現在與未來。現時論認為，過去與未來都是想像出來的概念，只有現在才是真的。

In other words, today’s breakfast and every word of this article will cease to exist after you finish reading it until you open it to read it again. The future is just as imaginary because the time cannot exist before and after it happened, as claimed by St. Augustine.

換句話說，今天的早餐和本文中的每一個字都將在你讀完它之後就不復存在，直到你再次打開它、閱讀它。未來也一樣虛幻，因為據聖奧古斯丁所稱，時間無法存在在它發生的時點之前與之後。