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本文出自著名科普组织 “无神论者调查委员会”（Committee for Skeptical Inquiry，CSI ) 的官方刊物。CSI 的使命是促进科学探究、批判性调查，以及运用理性检验具有争议的非凡见解，创始人包括众多科学家、学者和科普作家，如卡尔·萨根、艾萨克·阿西莫夫、保罗·库尔茨、雷·海曼、詹姆斯·兰迪、马丁·加德纳、西德尼·胡克等。 翻译：牛牛 以下是安德鲁.弗兰克诺伊博士在山麓学院2016届毕业典礼上发表的演讲。他本人是该学院的天文学教授。弗兰克诺伊博士被卡耐基基金会的教学与教育促进及发展委员会评为2007加州年度教授。他也是怀疑论者调查委员会的成员。 今天，作为一个科学家和教育家，我想和你们谈谈，内容聚焦在一个主题上。 我希望你们在山麓学院度过的时光教会了你们新的技能，给了你们新的关于自然和历史的信息，并领略了新的人文艺术的乐趣。但我更希望你们和老师度过的这些年不是只有技能和信息。 我希望你们也学会了提问。正是思路清晰的提问使我们不断学习。有一个问题，我希望你们会继续问下去，这个问题我在课上特别鼓励学生们问，这个问题就是：“为什么我要信？” 当我告诉学生们他们体内的大部分原子是在大质量恒星的炽热中心的最后一次爆炸中“被构造”时，他们完全有理由提问：“为什么我要信？” 当我告诉学生们天空中有成千上万的行星环绕着其他的恒星，而且一些已知的行星在某些重要方面和地球十分类似时，他们完全有理由提问：“为什么我要信？” 当我和学生们分享知识，告诉他们古老的火星更像地球，有着更厚的大气层，有着河流与湖泊，生命的起源可能就在那里时，他们完全有理由提问：“为什么我要信？” 在我的科学启蒙课里，我给出了证据、观察和实验，正是这些引导我们得出了以上的结论，学生们可以评估这些对结论的推导是否合理。 但我希望同学们在碰到话题不是科学时，可以继续提这个关键的问题：“为什么我要信？” 当这个国家重要职位的候选人嘲笑某一国籍或宗教的人时，我希望你可以问问他们和你自己：“为什么我要信？” 当一些鼓吹自己疗法包治百病的销售员找到你，向你兜售绝非严肃科学的顺势疗法或灵媒疗法时，我希望你花点时间问问他们和你自己：“为什么我要信？” 当煤矿产业的代言人试图说服你，气候变暖不是真的，由人类活动引发更是无从谈起时，我希望你问问他们和你自己：“为什么我要信？” 当热衷阴谋论的人告诉你，疫苗引发了自闭症，NASA伪造了人类登月，我希望你花点时间问问他们和你自己：“为什么我要信？” 问完这个问题后，请确认自己谨慎而全面地检查了证据。 同学们，你们在网络时代长大，只需动动指尖，全天候都有无穷无尽的信息。但很遗憾，这同样意味着，无论白天黑夜，动动指尖得来的可能都是错误的信息。 我希望高等教育帮助教会了你们仔细筛选检查大量的信息，你们能就此判断出统计严谨的实验和研究能说明什么以及不能说明什么，并考虑到谁将从危言耸听的说法里受益。换句话说，寻求真相。真相可以发光，照进我们文化的阴暗之处，点亮希望。 枪支游说团体出于自身利益做的一件重要的事情就是推动国会禁止疾控中心和国家卫生研究院收集枪支暴力流行病的事实，目前这种疾病正席卷我国。真相能使我们把注意力集中在这个真切的世界，而不是我们的幻想、偏见和错觉。 所以，我最想祝福你的就是：你生活的地基将是真相，你将用清晰的头脑守卫着它，你将会随时提问。祝福你从山麓学院毕业，走进我们这个充满挑战的世界。 原文： Today, I would like to speak to you, as a scientist and an educator, and focus on onetheme. I hope that your time at Foothill Collegeh as given you new skills, better information about nature and history, and new enjoyment of the humanities and the arts. But I hope your years with us havebeen about more than just skills and information. I hope you have also learned to askquestions. Because it is through clear-headed questioning that we keeplearning. And the one question I hope you will continue asking, the onequestion I especially encourage my students to ask in class, is: “Why should Ibelieve a word of this?” When I tell students that most of theatoms in their bodies were “constructed” for them in the hot centers and finalexplosions of massive stars, they have every right to ask, “Why should I believe a word of this?” When I tell my students that thousandsof planets surround the other stars we see in the sky and that a number ofthose planets are now known to resemble our own Earth in important ways, they have every right to ask, “Why should I believe a word of this?” When I share with my students that ancient Mars was much more like the Earth, with a thicker atmosphere, rivers,and lakes and could have been a site for the first stirrings of life, they have every right to ask, “Why should I believe a word of this?” In my introductory science courses, we give the evidence, the observations, and experiments that have led us to theseconclusions so that students can evaluate the steps that led us to them. But I hope our students will continueto ask that crucial question even when the topics turn away from science. When a candidate for high office inthis country makes derisive statements about people of one nationality or onereligion, I hope you can ask them and yourself, “Why should I believe a word ofthis?” When some snake-oil salesman is trying to sell you a medical cure that lies way outside the realm of serious medical knowledge, such as homeopathy or psychic surgery, I hope you will take a moment and ask them and yourself, “Why should I believe aword of this?” When some spokesman for the coalindustry is trying to convince you that global warming is not real and humanity’s role in it is not established, I hope you can ask them and yourself, “Why should I believe a word of this?” When a conspiracy-monger tells you thatvaccination causes autism or that NASA faked the landing on the moon, I hopeyou can ask them and yourself, “Why should I believe a word of this?” And after you have asked that question,be sure you examine the evidence carefully and thoroughly. Students, you have grown up in the Internet age and now have the full world ofinformation at your fingertips day and night. Unfortunately, that also meansthat you have the full world of misinformation at your fingertips day and night! What I hope your college education hashelped teach you is to sift and examine that vast store of informationcarefully, to find out what experiments and statistically valid studies haveshown and not shown, and to consider who stands to benefit from outrageousclaims. In other words, to look for facts. Facts can shine their light into thedark places of our culture and illuminate them. It’s no coincidence that one of the keythings the gun lobby got the Congress to do for them was to forbid the Centersfor Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health to gather facts aboutthe epidemic of gun violence that is washing over our country. Facts have a wayof focusing our attention on the real world and not our fantasies, prejudices,or delusions. So, what I most want to wish for you isthat you will have a fact-based life – a clear-headed, questioning life – as you make your way beyond Foothill College and into our challenging world. |
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