In “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald and then a movie starring Brad Pitt, a man ages backward: He is born an old man, regresses over the years and dies an infant. 《本杰明·巴顿奇事》是菲茨杰拉德所创作的小说,随后被翻拍成布拉德·皮特主演的电影,在这个故事里有个男人的年龄是倒退的:他生来是个老人,随后一直逆生长直至以婴儿状态死去。 This is not typically seen in regular life. The question is, why not? 这在日常生活中并不常见,但问题是,为什么不呢? In what amounts to a technological triumph for the aspiring Benjamin Buttons of the virtual world, a team of quantum physicists reported earlier this year that they had succeeded in creating a computer algorithm that acts like the Fountain of Youth. 今年早些时候,一组量子物理学家报告称,他们成功地创造出了一种电脑算法,其功能就像不老泉一样。这对希望实现虚拟世界中的本杰明•巴顿的人来说,在技术上是一场胜利。 Using an IBM quantum computer, they managed to undo the aging of a single, simulated elementary particle by one millionth of a second. But it was a Pyrrhic victory at best, requiring manipulations so unlikely to occur naturally that it only reinforced the notion that we are helplessly trapped in the flow of time. 利用IBM量子计算机,他们成功地将单个模拟的基本粒子的老化过程倒退了百万分之一秒。但这充其量是一场代价巨大的胜利,需要的操作基本不可能自然发生,这只会强化这样一种观念:我们被牢牢困在时间的洪流中,没救。 |