摘要:生物學(xué)上，人被分類為人科人屬人種，是一種高級(jí)動(dòng)物。精神層面上，人被描述為能夠使用各種靈魂的概念，在宗教中這些靈魂被認(rèn)為與神圣的力量或存在有關(guān)。文化人類學(xué)上，人被定義為能夠使用語(yǔ)言、具有復(fù)雜的社會(huì)組織與科技發(fā)展的生物，尤其是能夠建立團(tuán)體與機(jī)構(gòu)來(lái)達(dá)到互相支持與協(xié)助的目的。

　　人類對(duì)長(zhǎng)生不老的癡迷 For ever and ever

　　Immortality

　　For ever and ever

　　人類對(duì)長(zhǎng)生不老的癡迷

　　Four narratives and an actuary

　　四個(gè)說(shuō)法和一個(gè)精算師

　　Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How It Drives Civilisation. By Stephen Cave. Crown; 320 pages; . Biteback Publishing; ￡20. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk

　　《長(zhǎng)生不老：對(duì)永生的追求及其如何推動(dòng)人類文明》作者：斯蒂芬?？ǚ?，皇冠出版社。

倘若人類真能再活五百年

　　IMMORTALITY is an age-old obsession. Plenty of literature deals with the subject, from the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamish to the poems of Homer and the writings of the Old Testament. The quest to live for ever has motivated medieval alchemists, modern techno-Utopians and mystics through the centuries。

　　長(zhǎng)生不老是人類世世代代所癡迷的目標(biāo)。從蘇美爾的吉爾伽美什史詩(shī)到荷馬史詩(shī)，再到舊約故事，數(shù)不清的文學(xué)作品觸及到這個(gè)主題。從中世紀(jì)的煉金術(shù)士到現(xiàn)代的科幻烏托邦主義者和神秘主義者，千百年來(lái)人們孜孜不倦地追求著永生。

　　In his survey of the subject, Stephen Cave, a British philosopher, argues that man’s various tales of immortality can be boiled down into four basic “narratives”. The first is the simplest, in theory at least: do what the medieval alchemists never managed and discover an elixir to simply avoid dying. The second concerns resurrection, or coming back to life after dying, a belief found in all three of the Abrahamic religions. The idea of an immaterial soul that can persist through death dates back, in a formal form, at least to Plato, and forms Mr Cave’s third narrative. His fourth narrative deals with immortality through achievement, by becoming so famous that one’s name lives on through the ages。

　　英國(guó)哲學(xué)家史蒂芬?？ǚ蛟趯?duì)這個(gè)主題的研究中，把人們關(guān)于永生的觀念概括為四個(gè)基本的“說(shuō)法”。第一個(gè)，也是最簡(jiǎn)單的(至少在理論上)：找到中世紀(jì)煉金術(shù)士們從未找到的一種神藥，從而避免死亡。第二個(gè)是再生，即在死后又恢復(fù)生命，這是所有三個(gè)亞伯拉罕系宗教(____、猶太教和伊斯蘭教)所共有的信仰。第三個(gè)“說(shuō)法”是關(guān)于非物質(zhì)的靈魂不死的理念，這種理念的正式形態(tài)，至少可以追溯到柏拉圖。第四個(gè)，是通過(guò)個(gè)人成就獲得永生，即，一個(gè)人可以使自己變得非常有名，以至于人們將世代記住他的名字。

　　For the aspiring undying, Mr Cave unfortunately concludes that immortality is a mirage. But his demolition project is fascinating in its own right. The section on the soul is an able attack on the related doctrines of “vitalism”， the soul and mind-body dualism—the intuitive and still widely held body of ideas that hold that living creatures are animated by some sort of supernatural spark, and that an individual’s personality or consciousness can survive death. The chapters on resurrection will interest Christians, as Mr Cave examines how the literal recreation, by God, of dead people’s bodies remains the doctrine of most branches of Christianity. The idea of one’s soul, as opposed to one’s body, ending up in heaven or hell is a subsequent embellishment。

　　談到那令人神往的永生，很不幸，卡夫先生的結(jié)論是，長(zhǎng)生不老只是一種幻想。不過(guò)，他摧毀這種幻想的論證過(guò)程還是很精彩的。在關(guān)于靈魂的章節(jié)里，作者對(duì)與永生相關(guān)的“活力論”信條作了有力的抨擊。活力論是一種靈魂(及心靈)與肉體的二元論，這種理念很直觀，并且仍然被廣為接受。它認(rèn)為，生物是被某種超自然的力量所激活的，個(gè)人的特性和知覺在死后仍然存在。書中關(guān)于復(fù)活的章節(jié)肯定會(huì)使_們感興趣，卡夫先生在其中討論了上帝使死人復(fù)活的故事，解釋了為什么復(fù)活到現(xiàn)在仍然是大多數(shù)____派的信條。在接下來(lái)的章節(jié)中，卡夫涉及到人的靈魂上天堂或入地獄的話題。

　　If anything, readers might want more of Mr Cave’s crisp conversational prose. There could be more on living longer; Mr Cave barely has time to give even the briefest overview of the emerging science of life extension, which has allowed researchers to lengthen the lifespans of mice by a third or more in the lab。

　　卡夫先生的文體清新，像對(duì)話式的散文。但讀者可能會(huì)覺得他應(yīng)當(dāng)涉及更多的話題。比如怎樣能夠更長(zhǎng)壽?？ǚ蛳壬踔翛](méi)有對(duì)新興的抗老醫(yī)學(xué)做簡(jiǎn)單的介紹，抗老醫(yī)學(xué)的研究者們已經(jīng)可以在實(shí)驗(yàn)室里把老鼠的壽命延長(zhǎng)三分之一甚至更多。

　　There are a few quibbles. Mr Cave’s repeated claim that the quest for immortality drives every human activity feels overdone. Others might dispute his definition of immortality itself. Mr Cave’s chief argument against the desirability of living for ever (even assuming it is possible) is the familiar one of boredom. As the uncountable billions of years tick away, the argument runs, even the most vivacious will come to realise that they have done everything there is to do, hundreds of times. With yet more billions of years looming ahead they will be struck down with a debilitating ennui。

　　對(duì)卡夫先生的書，我有幾點(diǎn)吹毛求疵的意見。例如，他反復(fù)強(qiáng)調(diào)，對(duì)永生的追求是人類所有行為的推動(dòng)力，這一點(diǎn)似乎言過(guò)其實(shí)了。另外，他對(duì)永生的定義本身可能也會(huì)引起爭(zhēng)議。再者，卡夫先生不贊成追求永生(假定能夠?qū)崿F(xiàn))的主要論點(diǎn)，仍然是常見的“永生會(huì)造成厭倦”的見解。這種見解認(rèn)為：在活過(guò)了算不清的數(shù)百萬(wàn)年之后，即便是最生動(dòng)活潑的人也終會(huì)意識(shí)到，世上所有能做的事都被做了幾百次了;如果再活數(shù)百萬(wàn)年的話，只會(huì)越來(lái)越無(wú)聊了。

　　That argument only applies if these notional immortals are also invincible, and therefore impervious to accident. But that is an odd definition, and not one that crops up very often, especially in scientific research into ageing. The holy grail there is simply to arrest the ageing process. Indeed, Mr Cave quotes an actuary who has estimated that the average “medical immortal” would persist for around 6,000 years before dying in a plane accident or a car crash or the like. And besides, boredom seems to be a non-problem: after all, if an immortal does ever get truly bored of his vastly extended life, there would be nothing to prevent him from ending it。

　　然而，這種見解能夠成立的前提是：這些假想的長(zhǎng)生不老者同時(shí)也是刀槍不入者，因而不會(huì)被任何事故所損傷。但這種前提是難以成立的，特別是與研究老化的科學(xué)成果相悖。這種科學(xué)的目的僅僅是延緩老化。確實(shí)，卡夫先生引用了一位精算師的估算結(jié)果：即使在醫(yī)學(xué)意義上能夠長(zhǎng)生不老的人，平均壽命大約也只有六千年，因?yàn)樗麄円步K會(huì)由于飛機(jī)失事或汽車事故而死去。此外，厭倦看起來(lái)不是什么問(wèn)題：假如一個(gè)長(zhǎng)生不老的人實(shí)在由于活得太長(zhǎng)而厭倦了，他隨時(shí)可以結(jié)束自己的生命嘛。