网帖翻译

The short answer is “yes”, but we also should ponder what is meant by “advanced”. Oftentimes, when people say an extraterrestrial life form may be more advanced, they mean simply that aliens might have cooler gadgets. However, we need to consider the possibility that the reason we haven’t come across extraterrestrial life is that it is more advanced than us on a far more fundamental level.

简短的回答是 “是的”，但我们也应该思考一下什么是 “先进”。通常，当人们说外星生命可能更先进时，他们的意思仅仅是外星人可能有更酷的小玩意儿。然而，我们需要考虑这样一种可能性，那就是我们之所以没有遇到外星生命，是因为它们在更根本的层面上比我们先进得多。

Consider the amoeba.

想想变形虫。

It is a simple unicellular organism that can divide, absorb nutrients, regulate its internal chemistry and die. However, it has no nervous system, no vision and only a limited range of functions for interacting with its environment.

它是一种简单的单细胞生物，可以分裂、吸收营养、调节内部化学成分和死亡。但是，它没有神经系统，没有视觉，与环境互动的功能也很有限。

Now consider the grasshopper.

现在来看看蚱蜢。

A grasshopper is almost unimaginably advanced compared to the amoeba. It has specialized organs. It has a nervous system. With a brain even! It has eyes; it can see. It can mate with other members of the same species. A grasshopper can experience and interact with its environment in a way that would be completely unimaginable for an amoeba.

与变形虫相比，蚱蜢的先进程度几乎难以想象。它有专门的器官、有神经系统，甚至还有大脑！它有眼睛，能看见事物。它可以与同类进行交配。蚱蜢能以变形虫完全无法想象的方式体验环境并与之互动。

Now consider the human.

现在来看看人类。

We are tremendously more advanced than grasshoppers. Our brains are infinitely more complex. Grasshoppers have no neural capacity to do what humans can do, which is to engage in abstract thought, enjoy art and music, make memories, solve multi-step problems, radically transform our environment, or create and use complex tools. It’s possible, even likely, that grasshoppers are on some level aware of humans — but there is no way for a grasshopper to comprehend what humans really are, much less to interact with us on our level.

我们比蚱蜢先进得多。我们的大脑无限复杂。蚱蜢的神经能力无法做到进行抽象思维、欣赏艺术和音乐、记忆、解决复杂问题、从根本上改变我们的环境，或者创作和使用复杂的工具这些人类所能做到的事情。蚱蜢有可能，甚至很有可能在某种程度上意识到人类的存在，但蚱蜢无法理解人类到底是什么，更不用说在我们的层面上与我们互动了。

Is there another level though? Is it possible there is another organism, another entity, which is as advanced over us as we’re advanced over grasshoppers? We think of ourselves as an intelligent species and the pinnacle of how complex a life form can get. But if we were wrong about this … how could we even know?

那么是否还有另一个层次呢？有没有可能存在另一种比我们先进的生物或独立存在体，就像我们比蚱蜢先进一样？我们认为自己是一个有智慧的物种，是生命形式复杂程度的顶峰。但如果我们错了，我们又怎么会知道呢？
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

There is a 1998 animated comedy Antz, which illustrates this point nicely. (Yeah, did you know Woody Allen voiced a character in an animated film? Stallone is in it, too.)

1998 年有一部喜剧动画片《蚂蚁雄兵》很好地说明了这一点。(是啊，你知道 Woody Allen 在动画片中为一个角色配音吗？Stallone也在里面）。

The movie is, not surprisingly, about a colony of ants. These ants have real civilization with a complex, well-organized society. They work, they rest, they fight for power and control. They are an intelligent species who believe themselves, as one character puts it, “the lords of the Earth”. They have capacity for abstract thought, and a tendency to ponder existential matters. But: despite the fact that these ants constantly bump into humans and man-made things, they simply lack the ability to understand what it is they encounter. At the end of the movie, it is revealed that the ant colony exists beneath an overfilled garbage can in the middle of Central Park — one of the most densely populated urban environments on the planet. And yet, the ants are completely unaware of us, our society and our civilization, except for the dimmest observations (food wrap is “some kind of force field”; light concentrated through a magnifying glass is “this is so beautiful”; pretty much everything else is “what the hell is this”).

毫不奇怪，这部电影讲述的是一个蚂蚁群落的故事。这些蚂蚁拥有真正的文明，社会结构复杂，组织严密。它们工作、休息、争夺权力和控制权。它们是智慧的物种，正如其中一个角色所说，它们认为自己是 “地球的主宰”。他们有抽象思维能力，倾向于思考存在的问题。但是：尽管这些蚂蚁不断地撞击人类和人造物品，它们却根本没有能力理解它们所遇到的是什么。在影片的结尾，蚂蚁群落被揭示存在于中央公园中央一个装满垃圾的垃圾桶下面，这是地球上人口最稠密的城市环境之一。然而，蚂蚁完全不了解我们、我们的社会和我们的文明，除了最朦胧的观察（食物包装是 “某种力场”；通过放大镜聚光是 “这太美了”；几乎所有其他东西都是 “这到底是什么”）。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

This is the scary “point” of the movie: the ants are us. It is quite possible we too are sitting in the middle of someone’s garbage heap, unable to comprehend an advanced civilization and an infinitely complex society all around us, our brain power only sufficient to come up with terms like “dark energy” and “dark matter” for things that, for a more advanced organism, are perhaps obvious and mundane; “lords of the Earth” lacking the neural capacity to comprehend that society’s thoughts and culture, or indeed to even take notice of it.

这就是这部电影的可怕之处：蚂蚁就是我们。 我们很可能也处在别人的垃圾堆里，无法理解我们周围的先进文明和无限复杂的社会。我们的脑力只够想出像 “暗能量 ”和 “暗物质 ”这样的术语，而对于更高级的生物体来说，这些东西也许是显而易见的、平凡无奇的；“地球领主 ”的神经能力不足以理解那个社会的思想和文化，甚至无法注意到它。

We think of ourselves as not only an intelligent species, but the intelligent species. Plenty of scientists believe we are alone in the universe, simply because no one has dropped in for a chat. But the scary possibility is that perhaps there’s chatter all around us; we just can’t register the signals.

我们认为自己不仅是智慧物种，还是最聪明的物种。许多科学家认为，我们在宇宙中是孤独的，因为没有人过来和我们聊天。但一个可怕的可能性是，也许我们周围到处都在聊天，只是我们无法接收到信号。