fbpx

暗淡藍點

相關文章

Dr Who
Dr Whohttps://drwhohk.wordpress.com/
行差踏錯,半隻腳踩進了醫療行列; 不務正業,應乖乖讀書卻天花龍鳳。

小島學堂除左教授醫學知識,亦都著重醫生嘅心理質素,所以我地嘅課程係包括左醫學人文教育 (Medical Humanities)。課程五花八門,試過透過基本瑜咖、戲劇、新詩、電影之類去令我地體驗醫學「柔弱」嘅一面。其中一堂,學生每人獲發一張畫紙,叫我地畫出自己最想嘅嘢。我到今時今日仲記得我畫左啲咩。

1977年,美國太空總署發射太空探測器「航行者一號 (Voyager 1)」。探測器上面載住一隻「金唱片」,紀錄左一堆音樂、人類錄音、同埋唔同嘅相片,希望如果有朝一日有任何生命截取到呢一隻唱片,佢都可以從中理解到人類同埋地球。

已故美國天文學家卡爾・薩根 (Carl Sagan) 就提出左利用「航行者一號」嘅相機為太陽系影一幅合照。1990 年,美國太空總署將探測器慢慢掉頭,為太陽系影咗史上第一張「全家幅」,亦即係插圖呢一幅相。大家放大睇下,見唔見到粒淺藍色嘅點點?就係最上橙色光束中間嘅一小粒點?唔好懷疑自己,無錯,就係個一點。

根據太空總署嘅數據,呢一幅相有 64 萬像素,呢粒藍點只係佔左其中 0.12 像素。

而呢一點,就係地球。

薩根為美國一間大學演講嘅時候,為呢幅後世叫做「暗淡藍點 (Pale Blue Dot)」嘅相片寫左一篇演辭。Dr Who 唔係讀文學,唔識用字修辭,但係呢一篇演辭係我覺得世界上最漂亮嘅一段文字。第一段係咁講:

[請接受我自己唔完美嘅翻譯,下附英文原文]

「我地成功影到呢一張相,而如果你細心一睇,你會見到一粒小藍點。呢點就係我地身處嘅呢一到,係我地嘅家。每一個你曾經聽講過嘅人、每一個曾經生存過嘅人,就係呢一點上面渡過佢嘅生命。人類有過嘅快樂同埋爭扎、成千上萬嘅宗教信仰思維同埋觀念、每一個獵人同埋征服者、每一個英雄同埋懦夫、每一個創造者同埋破壞者、每一個君主同埋平民、每一對沐浴愛河嘅情侶、每一對父母,每一個發明家同埋探險家,每一個導師、每一個腐敗嘅政客、每一個萬世巨星、每一個偉大領袖、每一個聖人同埋罪人,都只係生存係呢一粒懸浮係一束陽光中嘅塵粒上面。」

我當時就係將呢一張相畫左出黎。

每一次我望住呢一粒一像素都唔夠嘅藍點、呢一粒係電話上見到會以為係螢幕壞左嘅點、呢一粒用原子筆畫都已經太大粒嘅點,我都會提醒自己:

即使天下間最大嘅事,都只不過係呢一粒塵上面發生,有咩係捱唔過嘅?

“We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every 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 in 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 the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. 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. It is up to us. It’s been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, 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 and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

– Carl Sagan, Speech at Cornell University, October 13, 1994

前一篇文章
下一篇文章

留下一個答覆

請輸入你的評論!
請在這裡輸入你的名字

最新文章

由被判死無得食到頻頻外遊日食五餐 晚期大腸癌患者重...

醫學不斷進步,癌症亦由絕症變成可治的病症,例如患有晚期大腸癌的江女士,本來已被判「死刑」在寧養病房「等死」,最終在家人全力支持下找到一線生機。

相關文章