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科学的节日在哪里?

已有 4750 次阅读 2010-6-5 09:04 |个人分类:随想|系统分类:科普集锦

 
 
今天是世界环境日;而这些天纽约有个“世界科学节”(http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/ )。
 
“科学节”似乎不像“世界日”有约定的日期,它大概源自一些科学年会,如BAAS和AAAS的年会。当年会从专家论坛走向公众时,会议就成了节日——假如运动员都关了门比赛,一定不会有奥运会和世界杯;科学没有世界杯和奥运会,大概就是因为它没有向公众开放。
 
科学节的节目很多,著名的Templeton基金会赞助了三个“软科学”的:  
1. The Limits of Understanding.  
2. The Future of Thinking.  
3. Faith and Science. 
在中国科学的节目单里,大概看不到这样的节目,它们更像哲学家和社会学家的饭碗。从康德的纯粹理性批判到哥德尔的不完全定理,似乎都在回答第一个问题。第二个问题可以问得更具体一点儿:机器能思考吗?有本小说《剑桥五重奏》就讲这个故事(John L. Casti, The Cambridge Quintet: A Work Of Scientific Speculation)。所谓“五重奏”,主角是倡导“第三文化”的斯诺、数学家图灵、语言哲学家维特根斯坦、量子物理学家薛定谔和遗传学家霍尔丹。
 
第三个问题也是我们的科学不谈的,但当我们面临终极问题时,似乎不得不面对它。例如物理学追求起源时,就难免与它“纠结”。我们听爱因斯坦说过,“没有宗教的科学是跛子”。他讲过一段很有名的话(好像在《自述》里,原文是德文,英文也不错,中文就免了):  
a person who is religiously enlightened appears to me to be one who has, to the best of his ability, liberated himself from the fetters of his selfish desires and is preoccupied with thoughts, feelings, and aspirations to which he clings because of their superpersonal value. It seems to me that what is important is the force of this superpersonal content and the depth of the conviction concerning its overpowering meaningfulness, regardless of whether any attempt is made to unite this content with a divine Being, for otherwise it would not be possible to count Buddha and Spinoza as religious personalities. Accordingly, a religious person is devout in the sense that he has no doubt of the significance and loftiness of those superpersonal objects and goals which neither require nor are capable of rational foundation. They exist with the same necessity and matter-of-factness as he himself. In this sense religion is the age-old endeavor of mankind to become clearly and completely conscious of these values and goals and constantly to strengthen and extend their effect. If one conceives of religion and science according to these definitions then a conflict between them appears impossible. For science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be, and outside of its domain value judgments of all kinds remain necessary. Religion, on the other hand, deals only with evaluations of human thought and action: it cannot justifiably speak of facts and relationships between facts. According to this interpretation the well-known conflicts between religion and science in the past must all be ascribed to a misapprehension of the situation which has been described.  
其实,老爱也不信宗教的那种宗教,不信人格的上帝,而是信斯宾诺莎的上帝,也就是自然律,更亲切一点儿,就是对自然敬畏,对自然律充满宗教的感情。信仰,是喜欢的最高境界。我们没有创造高境界的科学,也许就是因为我们做科学的没有宗教感情,而只有利益驱动——说好听一些,是为满足国家需求。科学家没有信仰,科学就会沦为工具。
 
也有人认为科学与宗教是水火不容的,他们反对科学节出现这样的节目,说它是科学的耻辱——当伽利略将他的望远镜对准天空时,科学就不需要宗教了。但是,正如我在一个月前“感觉”的(http://www.sciencenet.cn/blog/user_content.aspx?id=320418 ),伽利略看到了什么,不是眼睛说的,而是信仰说的。
 
像这样的科学节我们本来也可以有的,因为我们也有科学年会。我参加过两次中国科协的年会,场面壮观,院士鸟集(借大科学家张衡《西京赋》的词儿:“瓌货方至,鸟集鳞萃”),官员影从,但在公众的影响似乎为零?如今骗子很多,公众却听不到“权威”的声音。我们的权威应该像骗子一样(没有丝毫贬义的!)地热情站出来宣扬科学,让公众学会有科学的信仰。否则,他们只好去相信有信仰的非科学了
 


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