科學對死後世界的10種解釋(下)

We Are Conscious after Death, It Is Not Clear How Long This Consciousness Lasts

5.如果人死後有意識，意識能持續多久還是未知

Assuming that the brain truly can live on after the death of the body, the next question is, how long can the brain function after death? The answer to that question makes a huge difference in many areas that are currently considered to be pseudo-science.

很多人相信我們的意識或靈魂在死後仍然繼續存在，有時以妖魔鬼怪的形式出現。

The belief in ghosts and spirits is one of the most common paranormal beliefs. The belief is spread around the world, regardless of education or religion. People from all walks of life claim not only claim to have seen or feel the presence of someone who is known to be dead but truly believe that this is the case. Of course, the belief of ghosts and spirits has been capitalized on by media and Hollywood. But, the legend of a dead person's spirit remaining among the living is an incredibly old one. If it was possible that consciousness, whatever it is, could continue even after the heart stops beating and the brain stops functioning, then the idea of ghosts is not as far-fetched as it once was.

假設大腦在人死後仍然可以運作，下一個問題就是，死後大腦究竟可以運作多久？不同領域對這一問題的解答相差甚遠，目前都被認爲是僞科學。對鬼魂的信仰是最普遍的超自然信仰之一。這種信仰遍佈全球，不論教育程度和宗教信仰。各行各業的人們不僅聲稱曾看到或感覺逝者的存在，而且相信確有此事。當然，對鬼魂的信仰已經被媒體和好萊塢採用。但是，死者存在靈魂一說是難以置信的舊傳聞。如果意識在心跳停止跳動、大腦停止運作時仍然存在，無論它是什麼，鬼魂的觀點都不會像以前那麼牽強。

Live On Through Your Genes

4.依靠基因繼續生存

Thinking about life after death is not limited purely to consciousness. People's traits and personalities can live on long after they die through their genes. Genetic science, one of the harder sciences of the biological set and it is somewhat easier to experiment with than psychiatry or neuroscience because it does not require scientists to rely so much on people being truthful.

對死後生命的思考並不僅侷限於意識。人類通過基因可以在死後保持他們的特點和個性。基因科學是生物科學最難的部分，但因爲科學家不需要誠實的實驗對象，相比精神病學和神經科學更容易進行實驗。

Many people know that their physical traits and abilities are often passed on to their children through their genes. Hair color, eye color, height and weight are all things that are established partly through the heredity of genes. But it is not just physical features that live on through these genes. Some studies suggest that the trauma you experience can be passed on through your genes as well. Recent studies have suggested that Holocaust survivors' genetics were affected by the indescribable trauma they suffered during the Second World War. A new study was released by researchers at Mount Sinai hospital in New York. The study looked at the genetics of 32 Jewish men and women who had either experienced torture at a concentration camp or who had to go into hiding during WWII. If it is true, the process of passing on trauma through genes is called epigenetic inheritance. This is the idea that your lifestyle can go on to affect the genetic disposition of any children you have. It can even potentially be passed on to grandchildren. Epigenetic inheritance is very controversial within science but it has been studied in many areas. One study suggested that Dutch women who gave birth to girls during the famine that came at the end of WWII saw that these babies would grow up to have a higher than average risk of schizophrenia. Although the details have not yet been determined, the idea does not sound preposterous. Accounts that deal with the survivors of the Armenian death marches in 1915 would suggest that not only were the traumas encountered suffered by those who lived through it, but subsequent generations of the survivors families would find that they suffered some of the same fears as their parents and grandparents did while living through the genocide during World War I.

許多人知道他們的生理特徵和能力往往會通過基因遺傳給他們的孩子。頭髮顏色、眼睛顏色、身高和體重都通過基因，將一部分遺傳給孩子。但不僅是生理特徵的延續依靠這些基因。一些研究表明，你所經歷的創傷也可以通過基因遺傳。最近的研究表明，二戰期間，難以形容的創傷會影響大屠殺倖存者的遺傳構成。紐約西奈山醫院的研究人員發表了一項新的研究。該研究調查了32個猶太男女的基因，其中有些人經歷了集中營的酷刑，有些人在二戰期間躲躲藏藏。如果基因確實可以傳遞創傷，那麼這一遺傳過程被稱爲表觀遺傳。也就是說，你的生活方式可能通過遺傳影響你孩子的性格，甚至可以遺傳給孫子。表觀遺傳在科學界內備受爭議，但許多領域對此進行了研究。一項研究表明，荷蘭女性在二戰末期饑荒期間所生的女孩，長大後患有精神分裂的風險高於平均值。儘管細節尚未證明，但這個結論聽起來並不荒唐。關於1915年亞美尼亞大屠殺的倖存者報告顯示，不僅是倖存者們經歷了創傷，而且他們隨後的幾代家庭也承受着與父母和祖父母在一戰種族滅絕中所經歷的相同的恐懼。

Debate Between Nature and Nurture Has Not Yet Been Solved

3.先天與後天之爭尚未解決

The debate about the use of genetics in determining patterns in human behaviors has not been solved. Charles Darwin says that human behavior is the result of evolutionary processes that were created over time to help humans survive and adapt to new conditions. There is scientific evidence for his claims and he is known as the father of the debate on human nature.

關於遺傳決定人類行爲模式的辯論一直沒有得到解決。查爾斯·達爾文說，人類行爲是進化過程的結果，隨着時間的推移，進化幫助人類生存並適應新的條件。因爲有科學證據支持了他的主張，因此他成爲公認的人性辯論之父。

Then, the glory years of psychiatry came along. Sigmund Freud, a definitive thinker at the time, said that human behavior is the product of nurture. His famous argument suggested that personalities, traits and behaviors were created in spite of and because of the way that children are treated by their parents, or their absentee parents. The debate has raged on over the years and each side makes valid points, some of which can be validated scientifically. The importance of this debate does not necessarily lie in who is right and who is wrong. Instead, it is important that humans note that there are patterns in behavior. Whether someone is alcoholic because they were surrounded by alcoholic parents or because there is a predisposition in their genes, what scientists do know is that behaviors have a way of living on through children and grandchildren. Whether a person has children of their own or adopts non-biological children, something of them will be passed on to their children and live on long after they are dead. If you think that you can drink because you're Irish or that you are loud because you are Italian then you have bought into a cultural norm that persists through either nature or nurture or perhaps even a combination of the two.

此後，精神病學一直在進步。西格蒙德·弗洛伊德是當時的權威思想家，他認爲人類行爲是後天的產物。他的著名的觀點是個性、性格特質和行爲由父母對待孩子的方式所決定。這些年來這場辯論一直持續，雙方各持有力的觀點，其中一些可以經過科學驗證。這場辯論的重要性並不在於誰對誰錯。相反，人類必須注意，行爲有模式。無論是受酗酒的父母影響而成爲酒鬼，還是由於他們的基因中存在酗酒的傾向，科學家所知道的是，行爲可以通過子女和孫輩繼續延續。一個人無論是有自己的孩子還是領養了孩子，他們身上的一些特質將會傳給孩子，並在他們死後得以延續。如果你認爲你很能喝酒，因爲你是愛爾蘭人，你嗓門洪亮，因爲你是意大利人，那麼你認可這是一種文化規範，這種文化規範來自於先天或後天，或者是兩者結合。

e Is No Proof That There Is Life after Death

2.沒有證據證明死後還有生命

One of the biggest reasons that science has not prepared itself to truly explore the phenomenon of life after death is because there is no proof that there is life after death. There is no proof that the soul exists and there is no proof regarding the parameters of consciousness. Because there is no conclusive proof, many people walk away from it scientifically because they believe it to be fruitless.

科學界還沒有做好準備真正探究死後的生命現象，其中最大的一個原因是尚沒有證據證明它。無法證明靈魂的存在，也沒有與意識有關的證據。按照科學的方法，沒有確鑿的證據，又覺得出不了成果，所以很多人不願涉足這一領域。

e Is No Proof That There Is No Life after Death

1.沒有證據證明死後沒有生命

But at the end of the day, even though there is no proof of life after death, there is no proof that there is not life after death either. The entire concept is a mysterious subject. So many psychological signs point to the idea that there may be life after we pass on but none of these pass onto the physical.

但是到頭來，雖然沒有證據表明死後還有生命，但也沒有證據表明死後沒有生命。這整個概念就是個神祕的課題。有那麼多心理跡象表明，我們去世後可能會有生命，但是這些跡象又不是實實在在的。

The intense desire to find out what happens to people after they die is one that has gone for as long as the world has had written sources. For thousands of years, people have been asking the same questions about the afterlife. Religion has created all kinds of different possibilities. The monotheistic Abrahamic religions have one idea while pagan traditions have more than one. Regardless of the belief system in place, one thing is clear: it is a subject that everyone wants to be better informed in. If the conscious exists, the drive to discover the keys to death and life are possibly a reflection of the potential to live on after we die. Some psychologists would say that this fear is the fear of the unknown but this is a superficial stance to take on the matter. It is possible to assume that these driving forces come from a knowledge somewhere within consciousness that people do live on after they die. Either way, if this is not true, no one can prove it.

人們探知死後生活的強烈慾望來源已久，世界上早有書面記載。幾千年來，人們一直在追問關於來世的同樣問題。宗教創造了各種各樣的可能性。亞伯拉罕一神論的諸教只有一種觀點，而異教傳統則不止一種。無論信仰體系怎樣改變，有一點很明確：這是每個人都想了解的主題。如果意識存在的話，當我們死後，想探究生死之謎的內驅力可能會讓我們認爲人死後有可能繼續存在。一些心理學家說這種恐懼來源於人們對未知的害怕，但這是一種膚淺的觀點。可以假設這些驅動力來自於意識某處的一種想法，即人死後還會存在。不管怎麼樣，如果這不是真的，也沒有人可以證明。

審校：趙倩 來源：前十網