自4月12日英國著名理論物理學家史蒂芬·霍金開通個人微博后，得到了廣大網(wǎng)友的積極支持和響應。截至4月28日，微博粉絲數(shù)已突破350萬人。大家紛紛留言，向他提出許多有趣的問題。
今天上午，針對其中一位網(wǎng)友的問題，霍金特意發(fā)微博回答了這位網(wǎng)友的提問。
微博原文如下：
謝謝你們大家留下的出彩的評論和問題！我很感激通過這樣的機會和微博上的朋友們交流。
評論里的一個問題：
“中國古代有個哲學家叫莊子。'昔者莊周夢為蝴蝶'，夢醒后，莊周不知是他夢為蝴蝶，還是蝴蝶夢為莊周?；艚鸾淌?，請問我們?nèi)绾沃牢覀兪巧钤趬衾镞€是真實存在？”
謝謝你的問題！莊周夢蝶 ——也許是因為他是個熱愛自由的人。換做我的話，我也許會夢到宇宙，然后困惑是否宇宙也夢到了我。來回答你的問題：“我們?nèi)绾沃牢覀兪巧钤趬衾镞€是真實存在？” —— well, 我們不知道，也許也無法知道！這個問題至少要等到我們開始深刻地了解意識和宇宙時才可知。我們必須要孜孜不倦地探索關于存在的基本命題，只有這樣，我們也許才會知道蝴蝶(或宇宙)是真實存在，還是只存在于我們的夢里。
- SH
Thank you for all of your fascinating comments and questions! I appreciate the opportunity to correspond with my friends on Weibo。
A question from the comments:
"There is a story about an ancient Chinese philosopher, Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi dreamt of becoming a butterfly. And he wondered if he was a man who dreamt of being a butterfly or a butterfly that dreamt of being a man. Prof. Hawking, how do we know if we are living in our dreams or reality?”
Thank you for your question! Zhuangzi dreamt of being a butterfly - perhaps because he was a man who loved freedom. I might dream of the universe and then wonder if the universe dreamt of me. To answer your question how do we know if we are living in our dreams or reality - well, we just don't and perhaps can't! At least not until we start to understand more about consciousness and the universe. We must keep striving for an understanding of the fundamental questions of existence. And then perhaps we will know whether the butterfly - and the universe - are real or just in our dreams. -SH