史蒂芬·弗莱 | 我们如何知道真假？

How do we know what's true? 

我们如何知道真假？

Ever since human beings have been capable of thought, we have asked big questions about how the world around us works.

自从人类有了思考能力以来，我们就对周围的世界是如何运作的提出了疑问。

Some people have thought that there is another reality beyond the one we can perceive through our normal senses, a supernatural world where there might be ghosts and goblins, gods and demons.

有些人认为，还有另一个现实超越了可以通过我们正常感官感知到的现实，一个超自然世界，那里可能有鬼魂，妖精，众神和恶魔。

They have thought that knowledge can come from this source, from supernatural revelations, prophetic visions or divinely inspired books.

他们认为，知识可能来源于超自然启示，先见之明，或者神启之书。

Others have thought that the way to learn is by observing the world around us carefully and in detail, forming ideas about why things behave as they do, testing those ideas through experiments, refining them in the light of experience, then testing them again.

另一些人则认为，学习的方法是小心细致地观察我们周围的世界，形成关于事物为何按其行为表现的想法，通过实验测试这些想法，根据经验再加以完善，然后重新测试。

Out of all the various methods that people have tried to use, to find out how the world works, observation, experimentation and the testing of theories against evidence has the best track record.

在人们发现世界如何运作的所有测试方法中，观察，实验以及证据对照理论检验等方法创下最好的记录。

Prophets have predicted the end of the world on many occasions, but we are still here. Ancient holy books contain a description of the universe which has turned out to be totally inaccurate.

预言家曾多次预言世界末日，但我们依然安然无恙，古代圣贤之书对宇宙的描述被证明是完全错误的。

If asked to choose between taking a medicine prescribed by a doctor whose methods are based on experiment and one who has selected medicine for you based on his visions, you will probably not choose the medicine from the vision.

如果要求您在两个开药的医生间作选择，一个医生开药是基于临床实验，另一个医生开药是则是凭感觉，您可能不会选择那个凭感觉开药的医生。

We may never know everything, but the testing of theories against evidence has proved itself again and again to be a reliable way to gain any knowledge about how the world around us works.

我们可能永远无法知晓所有事物，但是证据对照理论检验已经一次又一次被证明是了解我们周围世界如何运作的可靠方式。

Through science we have cured deadly diseases, created amazing technologies and learn things about the universe that fill us with wonder. When we want to know what's true and what is false, there is no better method.

通过科学，我们治愈了致命的疾病，创造出了惊人的科技，还了解了宇宙中让我们充满惊奇的知识。当我们想知道什么是真，什么是假时，并没有更好的办法。