TED演讲:科学可以回答道德问题(2)

 　　And if we're more concerned about our fellow primates¹ than we are about insects, as indeed we are, 如果和昆虫做比较，我们比较关心我们自己的物种

　　it's because we think they're exposed to a greater range of potential happiness and suffering. 那是因为我们认为我们比昆虫能感受到更大程度的快乐或痛苦

　　Now, the crucial thing to notice here is that this is a factual claim: 其中的意义是这个说法是有实证的

　　This is something that we could be right or wrong about. 这中间是有对错的

　　And if we have misconstrued the relationship between biological complexity² and the possibilities of experience 如果我们在生物复杂性和知觉体验的关系上做出了错误的推估

　　well then we could be wrong about the inner lives of insects.  那代表我们有可能错估了昆虫的内心生活

　　And there's no notion, no version of human morality and human values that I've ever come across 但是我发觉从没有一种道德和价值观

　　that is not at some point reducible to a concern about conscious experience and its possible changes. 是和人类的感知体验和尝试改变这感知体验的可能性无关的

　　Even if you get your values from religion,  就算你的价值观来自宗教

　　even if you think that good and evil ultimately relate to conditions after death 就算你认为善恶和死后的结果有关联

　　either to an eternity³ of happiness with God or an eternity of suffering in hell 永远和神在快乐的国度里逍遥或是永远在地狱之火中燃烧

　　you are still concerned about consciousness and its changes.  这仍然两种不同的感知体验有关

　　And to say that such changes can persist after death is itself a factual claim, 认为这些体验会一直持续到死后的世界也是在追求一种实证

　　which, of course, may or may not be true.  虽然谁也不知道死后的世界会如何

　　Now, to speak about the conditions of well-being⁴ in this life, for human beings, 谈到幸福生活的基础，身为人类，在此生

　　we know that there is a continuum of such facts.  我们知道有些事实一直存在

　　We know that it's possible to live in a failed state,  我们知道你有可能会住在一个失序的国家

　　where everything that can go wrong does go wrong -- where mothers cannot feed their children, 所有东西都有可能出错，母亲无法喂养她们的孩子

　　where strangers cannot find the basis for peaceful collaboration⁵, where people are murdered indiscriminately. 人们找不到一个能保障和平的共识，人们被不分青红地谋杀

1 primates   

primate的复数

参考例句：

• Primates are alert, inquisitive animals. 灵长目动物是机灵、好奇的动物。
• Consciousness or cerebration has been said to have emerged in the evolution of higher primates. 据说意识或思考在较高级灵长类的进化中已出现。

2 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

3 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。

4 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

5 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。