神奇的「宇宙日曆」

《宇宙時空之旅》(Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey) 第二集有提到了「宇宙日曆」的概念。

在最後一集，Neil deGrasse Tyson（奈爾·德葛拉司·泰森）念Carl Sagan（卡爾·薩根）的段子「Pale Blue Dot」（暗淡藍點）。對我來說可能是我聽過最深奧的段子

我們成功地（從外太空）拍到這張照片，細心再看，你會看見一個小點。就是這裡，就是我們的家，就是我們。在這點上每個你愛的人、每個你認識的人、每個你曾經聽過的人，以及每個曾經存在的人，都在那裡過完一生。這裡集合了一切的歡喜與苦難，數千個自信的宗教、意識形態以及經濟學說，每個獵人和搜尋者、每個英雄和懦夫、每個文明的創造者與毀滅者、每個國王與農夫、每對相戀中的年輕愛侶、每個充滿希望的孩子、每對父母、發明家和探險家，每個教授道德的老師、每個貪污政客、每個超級巨星、每個至高無上的領袖、每個人類歷史上的聖人與罪人，都住在這裡——一粒懸浮在陽光下的微塵。

地球是這個浩瀚宇宙劇院里的一個小小舞台。想想從那些將令們和皇帝們那裡溢出的血河，他們的光榮與勝利只為了讓他們成為了這一點上一小部分的短暫主宰。想想棲身在這點上一個角落的人正受著萬般苦楚，而在幾乎不能區分的同一點上的另外一個角落裡亦同時棲身了另一批人。他們有多時常發生誤解？他們有多渴望殺了對方？他們的敵意有多熱烈？

我們的裝模作樣，我們的自以為是，我們的錯覺以為自己在宇宙里的位置有多優越，都被這暗淡的光點所挑戰。我們的星球只是在這被漆黑包裹的宇宙里一粒孤單的微粒而已。我們是如此的不起眼——在這浩瀚之中，我們不會從任何地方得到提示去拯救我們自身。

一直有人說天文學是令人謙卑，同時也是一種塑造性格的學問。對我來說，希望沒有比這張從遠處拍攝我們微小世界的照片更好的示範，去展示人類自大的愚蠢。對我來說，這強調了我們應該更加親切和富同情心地去對待身邊的每一個人，同時更加保護和珍惜這暗淡藍點，這個我們目前所知唯一的家...

Look again at that dot. Thats here. Thats home. Thats us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home weve ever known.

-- Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

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