Humanity's Identity Crises——人类的身份危机

A major theme of this present century will be the pursuit of our collective identity.  We are on a search for who we are.

这个世纪的主题之一将是追寻我们的集体身份。我们正在寻找“我们是谁”的答案。

What does it mean to be a human? Can there be more than one kind of human? In fact, what exactly is a human?

作为人意味着什么？还有其他种类的人吗？事实上，究竟是什么是人？

 

On average science unveils a new invention every day, and almost without fail these days, that daily invention disrupts the notion of ourselves. Every day we are getting news that challenges our identity.

平均每天科学家都会推出一项新发明，这些日常发明会瓦解我们关于自己的观念，这一点难得有错。我们每天都会获知挑战我们身份的消息。

Stem cell therapy, genetic sequencing, artificial intelligence, operational robots, new animal clones, trans-species hybrids, brain implants, memory enhancing drugs, limb prosthetics, social networks -- each of these tools blurs the boundaries between us as individuals and among us as a species. Who are we and who do we want to be?

干细胞疗法、基因测序、人工智能、可控机器人、新的克隆动物、跨物种杂交、大脑植入、增强记忆的药物、肢体修复、社交网络——这其中每一件工具都模糊了我们作为个体与物种一员之间的界限。我们是谁，我们想要成为什么？

We get to play with answers to these questions online.

我们将在网上把玩这些问题的答案。

In Second Life, or in chat rooms, we can chose who we want to be, our gender, our genetics, even our species.

在《第二人生》游戏中，或是在聊天室里，我们能选择自己想成为的人、性别、特征甚至物种。

Technologies gives us the means to switch genders, inhabit new forms, modify our own bodies.

技术赋予了我们转换性别，采用新外形，修饰自身形体的方法。

 

At the same moment, we have the rise of hyper-realities. These are simulations so complex, convincing, and coherent that they have their own reality force.

与此同时，超现实正在兴起。这些模拟如此复杂、令人信服、逻辑一致，以至于超现实拥有了自身的现实力量。

 A fake so good, it is sold and bought as a fabulous fake. A Disneyland so enticing, that it spawns its own "fakes." There must be something there to fake.

一件冒牌货好到一定程度，就会作为一件绝佳的冒牌货被出售和购买。迪士尼乐园如此迷人，它会孕育自身的“冒牌货”。必须有东西以供假冒。

Or Photoshopped images so obviously unreal that they have their own reality. Synthetic materials more desirable than natural ones.

经过PS的图片明显不真实，但它们却拥有自己的实在性。人造材料要比天然材料更受人喜爱。

Originals inferior to their reproductions. Who cares what is real and what is memorex?

原件比不上再生物。谁关心什么是真实的，什么是数字复制品？

 

These hyper-realities launch questions such as whether a assault in virtual space counts as an actual violent assault or mere virtual assault.

这些超现实引出一些问题，如虚拟空间中的攻击是否应算作实际暴力攻击，还是仅仅是虚拟攻击。

How much of our real lives is mental? How much of reality is a consensual hallucination? Where do our minds end and outside begin? What if it -- everything outside of us -- is all mind?

我们的现实生活有多少是想象出来的？有多少是交感幻觉？我们的思维会在哪里终结，外部世界从哪里开始？假如它们——我们之外的一切事情——都是想象的呢？

 

The faster and greater our lives become mediated -- the more time we spend communicating through technology -- the more urgent this question of "what is real" becomes.

我们的生活变得间接的速度越快，规模越大——我们通过技术沟通的时间越多，回答“什么是真实”这个问题就变得越迫切。

How do we tell the difference, if any, between realities and simulations? How do these redefine humans?

我们如何能分辨真实和模拟之间的区别（如果有的话）呢？这些区别会如何重新定义人类？

 

I get much satisfaction from the free-thinking, nearly insane investigations by the legendary science fiction author Philip K. Dick.

我从传奇科幻作家菲利普·K·狄克自由思考、几近疯狂的调查中获慰良多。

I am a big fan of Dick. His large body of work is now in ascendence because the two themes he nurtured are the two themes our culture will nurture in the next 100 years: What is a human and what is the nature of not-human, or reality.

我是狄克的铁杆粉丝，其作品现在如日中天，因为他作品的两大主题正是未来一百年我们文化发展的主题，即，人是什么？非人或现实的本质是什么？

In an amazing (and amazingly weird) address Dick gave in 1978, he lays out his themes:

在狄克于1978年发表的一次令人惊叹（也非常诡异）的谈话中，他列出了自己的主题：

       The two basic topics which fascinate me are "What is reality?" and "What constitutes the authentic human being?" Over the twenty-seven years in which I have published novels and stories I have investigated these two interrelated topics over and over again. I consider them important topics. What are we? What is it which surrounds us, that we call the not-me, or the empirical or phenomenal world?

        让我着迷的两个基本主题是“什么是现实？”以及“什么构成了真正的人类？”在过去27年间我所发表小说和故事，一次又一次地研究这两个互相关联的主题。我认为它们是重要的主题我们是什么？围绕我们的，被我们称之为非我或经验或现象世界的是什么？

 

Dick's themes are becoming our themes. The question of "Who are we?," "What is reality?" will move from the edges of science fiction and into the center of our culture.

狄克的主题正在变成我们的主题。“我们是谁？”、“什么是现实”这些问题将从科幻作品边缘转移到我们文化的中心。

 I can imagine these questions occupying the front seat of our societal consciousness.

我能想象，这些问题将会占据社会意识的前沿阵地。

The question of human identity will be the headlined in USA TODAY and CNN. They will be addressed by Supreme Court. They will be the topic of dinner conversations.

人类身份的问题将成为《今日美国》和CNN的头条。最高法院将讨论这些问题。它们将成为茶余饭后的话题。

 

In a few decades when the realities the Dick only dreamed of become concrete, when we have daily experience with better AI, with grown up genetically modified babies, with mind enhancement drugs that work, with routine virtual realities, with always-on social hive minds, the conundrums that Dick wrestled with will be our conundrums.

几十年内，当狄克的想象成为现实，当我们每天都能好更好的人工智能打交道，当基因修正的孩子长大，当思维增强药物奏效，当虚拟现实变得寻常，当社会蜂巢思想永运在线时，狄克试图解决的难题将成为我们的难题。

Think The Matrix, but on the 11 o'clock news. There will be senators and business men and solid Republicans saying, " Dude, what if reality is really another level? What if being a human is a choice?"

想想11点新闻上“黑客帝国”般的场景吧。参议员、商人和坚定的共和党人会说：“伙计，假如现实其实是另一层呢？假如变成人只是一种选择呢？”

 

We can expect great uncertainty about our species identity and the nature of what we should count as real. It will be an anxious time.

可以预料，关于我们的物种身份以及我们该把什么当作真实的本质会产生很大的不确定性。这将是一个焦灼的时刻。

This deep anxiety and uncertainty will breed many weird cults and strange beliefs -- as it did within Philip K. Dick (just read that address!).

深刻的焦虑和不确定性会滋生多种诡异的小众文化和奇怪的信仰——就像其对菲利普·K·狄克产生的影响一样。（再读读他的谈话！）

There will be psychosis and wars built on the uncertainty of what is a human. The abortion war and the war over slavery are only two hints of the degree to which this question can provoke mortal conflict.

对人是什么的不确定性将会导致精神变态和战争。堕胎战争和奴隶制战争只是这个问题能引发世间纷争的两个例子。

 

Yet even those who escape the violence -- the mass of ordinary citizens and net surfers -- will be pressed by a blanket of unresolved doubt.

即便是那些能逃避暴力的人——普罗大众和网民——也将面临一个悬而未决的疑问。

Who am I? Can there be more than one species of human? Can a robot be a child of God? Is slavery among intelligent machines acceptable?

我是谁？人的种类只有一种吗？机器人能成为上帝的孩子吗？对智能机器的奴役是否可被接受？

Should we extend the circle of empathy beyond animals and living things to made things? If it hurts, is it real?

我们是否应该把同情心由动物和生物扩大至所有造物？如果它能造成伤害，它是不是真实的？

 

You know how it is when a friend gets consumed by these unanswerable questions? They may flip out, or become paralyzed by the unrelenting weight.

当你的一位朋友遇到这些无法作答的问题时，你知道会发生什么？他们也许会失控，也许会在这些问题的重压下失神。

Now image a whole world waylaid by these Dickian obsessions. An entire species afflicted with an identity crises. It's coming.

现在，想象一下被这些狄克式问题伏击的世界吧：所有物种都受到身份危机的折磨。这个时间即将到来。