编者注：达尔文、爱因斯坦和霍金都毫不留情的戳穿基督教的谎言，揭示天堂本不存在。科学家的一针见血和教会的残忍杀害科学家一样是为了捍卫各自的利益，只是教会为了私利，而科学家为了正义。

宗教是生活的宗旨、生命的教育，绝非偶像崇拜。斋戒是净洁身心、防非止恶，素食也是最健康和吉祥的饮食。信仰是信因缘果报，戒慎虔诚爱地球。

原作者：
来源Stephen Hawking: \'There is no heaven; it\'s a fairy story\'
译者Lineker

Stephen Hawking dismisses belief in God in an exclusive interview with the Guardian. Photograph: Solar & Heliospheric Observatory/Discovery Channel

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/5/15/1305492457260/Stephen-Hawking-008.jpg

在《卫报》的一次独家专访中，斯蒂芬·霍金驳斥了对上帝的信仰。摄影：太阳和太阳风层探测器/发现频道

A belief that heaven or an afterlife awaits us is a "fairy story" for people afraid of death, Stephen Hawking has said.

斯蒂芬·霍金曾这样说过，相信天堂或来生在等着我们只不过是一出“神话”，因为人们害怕死亡。

In a dismissal that underlines his firm rejection of religious comforts, Britain's most eminent scientist said there was nothing beyond the moment when the brain flickers for the final time.

这样的驳斥表明了霍金对宗教抚慰的坚决抵制，这位英国最杰出的科学家认为，当大脑闪现出最后一丝灵光后，生命便会陷入虚无。

Hawking, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease at the age of 21, shares his thoughts on death, human purpose and our chance existence in an exclusive interview with the Guardian today.

这位21岁时就被诊断患上了运动神经元疾病的物理学家最近接受了《卫报》的独家专访，与读者们分享了他对死亡以及人类存在之目的和偶然性的看法。

The incurable illness was expected to kill Hawking within a few years of its symptoms arising, an outlook that turned the young scientist to Wagner, but ultimately led him to enjoy life more, he has said, despite the cloud hanging over his future.

随着病情的日趋严重，很多人认为这种目前还无法治愈的疾病会在几年内终结霍金的生命，这种观点甚至使这位年轻的科学家迷上了瓦格纳的音乐，但最终，霍金战胜了病魔，他说自己比以前更会享受生活，虽然未来还笼罩在未知的阴云之中。

"I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first," he said.

“这四十九年来，我一直活在英年早逝的传闻之中。死亡我并不畏惧，但急着赴死也并非是我的本意。我还有很多事情没有完成，”他说。

"I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark," he added.

“我认为大脑就如同一台电脑，零件失灵它也就停止工作了。对于陷入停滞的电脑来说，天堂或来生是不存在的；它们只是为害怕闭眼的人所预备的一出神话而已，”他补充说。

Hawking's latest comments go beyond those laid out in his 2010 book, The Grand Design, in which he asserted that there is no need for a creator to explain the existence of the universe. The book provoked a backlash from some religious leaders, including the chief rabbi, Lord Sacks, who accused Hawking of committing an "elementary fallacy" of logic.

霍金最近关于宗教的其他评论在他2010年出版的新书《伟大设计》（The Grand Design）中都能找到，在这本书中，霍金断言，解释宇宙的存在并不需要虚构什么造物主。《伟大设计》一书激起了某些宗教领袖的强烈不满，例如首席拉比萨克斯勋爵（Lord Sacks）就斥责霍金犯了一个逻辑上的“基本谬误”。

The 69-year-old physicist fell seriously ill after a lecture tour in the US in 2009 and was taken to Addenbrookes hospital in an episode that sparked grave concerns for his health. He has since returned to his Cambridge department as director of research.

自2009年在美国举行了巡回演讲之后，这位现年六十九岁的物理学家就大病了一场，其间被送到阿登布鲁克医院（Addenbrookes hospital）进行救治的消息还引发了公众对其健康的严重关注。最近，霍金已经以研究主任的身份重返剑桥了。

The physicist's remarks draw a stark line between the use of God as a metaphor and the belief in an omniscient creator whose hands guide the workings of the cosmos.

霍金的言论将隐喻的上帝和作为信仰的上帝完全区分了开来，在信众的眼中，上帝是无所不能的造物主，他主宰了宇宙的运作机制。

In his bestselling 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, Hawking drew on the device so beloved of Einstein, when he described what it would mean for scientists to develop a "theory of everything" – a set of equations that described every particle and force in the entire universe. "It would be the ultimate triumph of human reason – for then we should know the mind of God," he wrote.

在1988年出版的畅销书《时间简史》（A Brief History of Time）中，当写到“万有理论”对于科学家来说意味着什么时，霍金就耍了一回爱因斯坦最喜欢用的招数。“那将是人类理性的终极胜利——因为到那时，我们就能洞晓上帝的思维，”他在书中这样写到。

The book sold a reported 9 million copies and propelled the physicist to instant stardom. His fame has led to guest roles in The Simpsons, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Red Dwarf. One of his greatest achievements in physics is a theory that describes how black holes emit radiation.

这本书据说卖出了九百五本，霍金顿时成为了物理界的顶级巨星。冲天的名望让他在《辛普森一家》（The Simpsons）、《星际迷航：下一代》（Star Trek: The Next Generation）和《红矮星号》（Red Dwarf）中都过了一把客串瘾。而在老本行中，霍金亦建树颇多，他最伟大的成就便是理论描绘了黑洞如何释放辐射。

In the interview, Hawking rejected the notion of life beyond death and emphasised the need to fulfil our potential on Earth by making good use of our lives. In answer to a question on how we should live, he said, simply: "We should seek the greatest value of our action."

在这次访谈中，霍金还驳斥了死亡之后生命依然存在的理念，并强调这只不过是人类通过延续生命概念来满足潜在永生的需求罢了。在回答人类应该如何生活的问题时，他只是简单说了一句：“人类应当寻求行为的最高价值。”

In answering another, he wrote of the beauty of science, such as the exquisite double helix of DNA in biology, or the fundamental equations of physics.

在回答另一个问题时，霍金则回顾了科学之美，例如生物学中DNA精致的双螺旋结构，或物理学中的基本方程等。

Hawking responded to questions posed by the Guardian and a reader in advance of a lecture tomorrow at the Google Zeitgeist meeting in London, in which he will address the question: "Why are we here?"

对《卫报》所提出的问题，霍金都一一作了解答。此外，他还提前回答了一位读者提出的问题：人类存在的目的是什么？这个问题本来是预备拿到第二天在伦敦召开的Google Zeitgeist大会上进行讨论的。

In the talk, he will argue that tiny quantum fluctuations in the very early universe became the seeds from which galaxies, stars, and ultimately human life emerged. "Science predicts that many different kinds of universe will be spontaneously created out of nothing. It is a matter of chance which we are in," he said.

届时，霍金将论证一个终极问题，即早期宇宙中微小的量子涨落是如何成为后来形成星系、恒星以及人类的火种。“科学预言，从虚无中会同时诞生多种不同类型的宇宙。这是一个关乎人类存在的概率问题，”他说。

Hawking suggests that with modern space-based instruments, such as the European Space Agency's Planck mission, it may be possible to spot ancient fingerprints in the light left over from the earliest moments of the universe and work out how our own place in space came to be.

霍金暗示，随着诸如欧航局普朗克望远镜这种先进太空仪器的出现，人类有可能解读到最早期宇宙光线中的古老信息，并理解人类在宇宙中的地位是如何形成的。

His talk will focus on M-theory, a broad mathematical framework that encompasses string theory, which is regarded by many physicists as the best hope yet of developing a theory of everything.

M理论（M-theory）将会成为霍金演讲的中心议题，它是一个囊括了弦理论的大数学框架，很多物理学家将M理论视为推导出万有理论的希望寄托。

M-theory demands a universe with 11 dimensions, including a dimension of time and the three familiar spatial dimensions. The rest are curled up too small for us to see.

M理论利用11维定义宇宙，时间维和常见的三个空间维度也包括在这11维中间，其他维度由于卷曲而变得太小，因而无法被人类察觉。

Evidence in support of M-theory might also come from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Cern, the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva.

来自于日内瓦欧洲核子物理实验室大型强子对撞机（LHC）的证据也为M理论提供了实验支持。

One possibility predicted by M-theory is supersymmetry, an idea that says fundamental particles have heavy – and as yet undiscovered – twins, with curious names such as selectrons and squarks.

M理论预测了超对称性的存在，超对称性认为所有基本粒子都存在伴粒子，这些伴粒子的名称都很奇特，比如超对称电子（selectrons）和超对称夸克（squarks）等，但到目前为止，科学家们还没有发现这种超对称性伴粒子。

Confirmation of supersymmetry would be a shot in the arm for M-theory and help physicists explain how each forces at work in the universe arose from one super-force at the dawn of time.

如果能证实超对称性的确存在，那无异于为M理论注入了一针强心剂，物理学家们可以借此来解释宇宙诞生之初，各种作用力是如何从一种超级作用力里诞生的，

Another potential discovery at the LHC, that of the elusive Higgs boson, which is thought to give mass to elementary particles, might be less welcome to Hawking, who has a long-standing bet that the long-sought entity will never be found at the laboratory.

大型强子对撞机的另一个潜在发现即希格斯波色子（Higgs boson）的存在，一些物理学家认为正是这种神秘的粒子将质量赋予了基本粒子。但霍金并不认可这项理论，他甚至打赌说物理学家们永远也不可能在实验室中找到希格斯波色子。

Hawking will join other speakers at the London event, including the chancellor, George Osborne, and the Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

英国财政大臣乔治·奥斯本（George Osborne）和曾获得诺贝尔奖的经济学家约瑟夫·斯蒂格利茨（Joseph Stiglitz）也将在伦敦盛会上发表演说。

Science, truth and beauty: Hawking's answers

科学，真理之美：霍金给出的答案

What is the value in knowing "Why are we here?"

人类存在的目的是什么？探讨这个问题究竟价值何在？

The universe is governed by science. But science tells us that we can't solve the equations, directly in the abstract. We need to use the effective theory of Darwinian natural selection of those societies most likely to survive. We assign them higher value.

科学支配着宇宙。但科学以抽象的方式直接告知我们，人类无法解决某些终极问题。我们需要利用一些实用性的理论，如达尔文的进化选择论，来解释那些最有可能生存下来的生命体系。人类赋予它们以更高的价值。

You've said there is no reason to invoke God to light the blue touchpaper. Is our existence all down to luck?

你曾经说过，祈求上帝点亮他的蓝色火种并推动宇宙运行是缺乏理性的表现。人类的存在只能被归结为侥幸吗？

Science predicts that many different kinds of universe will be spontaneously created out of nothing. It is a matter of chance which we are in.

科学预言，从虚无中会同时诞生多种不同类型的宇宙。这是一个关乎人类存在的概率问题

So here we are. What should we do?

于是人类诞生了。我们该如何掌控自己的命运呢？

We should seek the greatest value of our action.

人类应当寻求行为的最高价值。

You had a health scare and spent time in hospital in 2009. What, if anything, do you fear about death?

2009年的时候，你的健康出了点问题，而且还住了院。冒昧问一句，你对死亡恐惧吗？

I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first. I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.

这四十九年来，我一直活在英年早逝的传闻之中。死亡我并不畏惧，但急着赴死也并非是我的本意。我还有很多事情没有完成。我认为大脑就如同一台电脑，零件失灵它也就停止工作了。对于陷入停滞的电脑来说，天堂或来生是不存在的；它们只是为害怕闭眼的人所预备的一出神话而已。

What are the things you find most beautiful in science?

你认为科学最美丽的地方在哪里？

Science is beautiful when it makes simple explanations of phenomena or connections between different observations. Examples include the double helix in biology, and the fundamental equations of physics."

科学之美在于它能对现象或不同观测结果之间的联系作出最简洁的解释。最经典的例子莫过于生物学中的双螺旋结构和物理学中的基本方程。