Jim Holt: Why does the universe exist?
吉姆•霍尔特: 宇宙为何会存在?
Why is there something rather than nothing? In his book "Why Does the World Exist?" Jim Holt dares to ask. Full bio
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the contingency of their existence,
name-dropping in this talk,
something rather than nothing,
at about the same time,
there something rather than nothing,
“为何有物存在,而不是一切皆空”的问题,
materials to fashion a world out of.
I'm going to mime my visuals,
所以我会模拟地演示一下。
and you don't believe in God,
你就不信造物主,
it's not a good argument.
因为本体论不是很严谨。
is just a whole lot of nothing.
空即是色,色即是空。
consistent sets of laws.
called "The Elegant Universe."
we see around us, I think. (Laughter)
seem to be amazingly improbable,
都是以极低的概率来到这个世界,
of genetically possible humans,
number of alleles and so forth,
(译者注:这两个数分别是10的100次方,和10的googol次方)
humans that have existed
most elegant possible reality?
in the fullest possible reality?
“无限可能”的现实中呢?
puzzle, the mystery of existence,
这个谜题,这个“存在”的谜题,
我也不在乎。
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jim Holt - Writer and philosopherWhy is there something rather than nothing? In his book "Why Does the World Exist?" Jim Holt dares to ask.
Why you should listen
In his 2012 book Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story, Jim Holt creates a narrative out of one of the biggest questions we can ask -- and how modern scientists and philosophers are asking it. Can answers be found in many-worlds theory, in quantum mechanics, in a theology? Traveling around North America and Europe, he talks to physicists, including David Deutsch; philosophers, including Richard Swinburne; and the novelist John Updike. Why? Because as he tells Vanity Fair, "To me it’s the most sublime and awesome question in all of philosophy and all of human inquiry."
A longtime contributor to the New York Times, Slate and the New Yorker, Holt has written on string theory, time, infinity, numbers, humor, logic, truth and bullshit, among other topics. Holt studied mathematics at the University of Virginia, and was a faculty fellow in the philosophy department at Columbia. He is now at work on a book about free will, weakness of will, self-knowledge and happiness.
Jim Holt | Speaker | TED.com