弗蘭克·維爾切克
弗蘭克·維爾切克是麻省理工學院物理學教授、量子色動力學的奠基人之一。因在夸克粒子理論（強作用）方面所取得的成就，他在2004年獲得了諾貝爾物理學獎
讓我們做一次有趣的腦力練習：嘗試換個角度，甚至不是人類的角度，來看看這個世界。
It’s fun exercise to stretch your mind by looking at things from different points of view-and not just other human points of view.
我們和我們的動物朋友共同擁有這個物理世界，但每種動物只能感知世界的某些方面。在這個意義上，我們其實生活在不同的世界裡，這也可算是一種平行宇宙。狗的宇宙充滿了各種微妙而充滿誘惑力的氣味；蝙蝠的宇宙裡用回射超聲波的模式來解讀空間；蜘蛛工程師製造了一個比自身大很多的網，這是個巨大的觸感器，通過它的振動可以準確定位被困的獵物。
We share the physical world with our animal friends, but each species perceives only certain aspects of it. We are left to inhabit, in effect, different worlds, or parallel universes. A dog's universe is full of exquisitely diverse, tempting smells; a bat's universe encodes space in patterns of echoing ultrasound; and a spider's web is a gigantic sense organ, much larger than the spider-engineer that made it, whose vibration patterns disclose the positions of trapped prey.
我們人類可以看到許多動物看不到的東西，當然它們也能感知很多我們感受不到的現實。但是我們可以科學地探索動物的感知，用想象重建它們。大腦是終極的感受器，它讓我們盡情地瞭解現實世界。
Humans see many things that those creatures don't, but they can sense aspects of reality to which we are numb. We can, however, explore those experiences scientifically and recreate them imaginatively. The mind is the ultimate sense organ, letting us sample reality in every way thinkable.
我們特別有興趣去探索一種“神秘的”動物感知覺：它和我們自己的感知足夠相似，這樣我們也許可以憑直覺去理解它；同時它與我們的感知又有相當的差異，足以激發我們的好奇，放飛我們的思緒。例如，螳螂蝦的視覺就是這樣一種“神秘的視覺”。
That means exploring, with special interest, the "uncanny zone" of sensory experiences close enough to our own that we feel we might be able to embrace them intuitively, but different enough to inspire wonder. Consider, for example, the visual world of a mantis shrimp.
螳螂蝦廣泛分佈於各種水體，是非常成功的甲殼類動物。目前已知螳螂蝦大約有四百多個不同的種類，有的只有幾英寸長，有的則超過一英尺。
Mantis shrimp are very successful crustaceans, widely dispersed in waters around the world. Around 400 species are known, ranging in length from a few inches to a foot or more.
螳螂蝦也是非常殘暴的小生物。他們用倒刺和錘節殺死並吃掉比它們大的獵物。儘管螳螂蝦很常見，但研究起來卻很困難，因為它們善於隱藏，性情兇猛。即使小螳螂蝦也能擊穿普通水箱的玻璃壁-這對科學家的經費預算來說可不是個好消息，當然對螳螂蝦本身會有更大的傷害。
Mantis shrimp are also ferocious little creatures. They make their living spearing, clubbing and eating prey that are often bigger than they are. Although mantis shrimp are common, they are reclusive and feisty, making them difficult to study. Even a small mantis shrimp can and will club its way through the glass walls of a normal aquarium— bad for a scientist's budget and worse for the shrimp.
雖然關於螳螂蝦還有很多未知的東西，但我們已經知道，它們有非常神奇的視覺系統。
While much about the mantis shrimp remains mysterious, we do know that they have amazing visual systems.
正常人的視覺是三色的-我們有三種顏色感受器，分別處理可見光的不同頻段。它們通常被稱為紅色、綠色和藍色感受器，但實際上每個感受器接收的頻段都能覆蓋一個區間，並且這三個區間是有重疊的。這樣一來，只要能恰當地組合三種感受器，我們就能得到任何可感知的顏色。彩色打印機也是基於這個原理，除黑色墨盒以外，通常配備三種顏色的墨盒；計算機顯示屏也採用三種發光元件計算機向你展示的萬紫千紅其實只是三種顏色不同強度的組合。你的眼睛能分辨三維顏色空間裡的幾百萬種不同的顏色。
Human vision is normally trichromatic—which is to say that we have three different kinds of color receptors, each of which samples different parts of the visible spectrum. They are often called the red, green and blue receptors, but their sensitivity is actually spread out and overlapping. As a result, we can match any perceived color by taking appropriate mixtures of just those three. This is the basis of color printing, which usually uses three colored inks (plus black), and of computer displays, which use just three kinds of lighting elements. When your computer offers you "millions of colors," it means that it can provide many alternative mixtures of three intensities, and you can discriminate among millions of distinct regions (i.e., perceived colors) within that three-dimensional space.
許多鳥類、爬行動物以及昆蟲有四種顏色感受器。有些可能有五種，比如鴿子。但螳螂蝦讓所有的動物都相形見絀-它們有16種顏色感受器，甚至能看到紫外光譜和光的極化。
Reptiles and insects have four different kinds of color receptors. Several, including pigeons, seem to have five. But mantis shrimp put us all to shame: They have up to 16 color receptors. Their vision's sensitivity also extends into the ultraviolet spectrum and picks up on light's polarization.
那麼，螳螂蝦眼中的世界是怎樣的？是不是充滿了絢爛的花火和繽紛的彩虹，一覽無餘盡收眼底？
So what is it like to be a mantis shrimp? Does the world seem ripe for conquest, full of sparkles and rainbows?
我猜確實有那麼一點。就像雄性孔雀誇張而美麗的尾屏或者愛爾蘭駝鹿誇張而威武的鹿角，螳螂蝦誇張的視覺能力也可能和性展示有關。即使對於人類來說，許多螳螂蝦看起來也異常五彩斑斕。真是無法想象它們相互看起來是什麼樣。
I imagine there's a bit of that. The extravagant color sense of mantis , like the extravagant tails of male peacocks or the extravagant antlers of Irish elk, could well be tied up with sexual display. Many varieties of mantis shrimp look spectacularly colorful even to us humans. It's mind-boggling to imagine what they see in each other.
另外一方面，螳螂蝦的腦實在很小。知覺並不只是獲取信息，更重要的是如何處理信息。人類綜合三個顏色通道傳來的信號，可以清楚地分辨三維顏色空間裡的各種顏色。螳螂蝦能夠感知一個16維的顏色空間，但它們可能不怎麼“綜合”信息。所以，它們的視功能儘管異 於人類、陣容豪華，卻不見得比我們的視覺更豐富。
On the other hand, the mantis shrimp has a very small brain indeed. Perception is a matter of processing information, not just of acquiring it. Humans, by combining messages from their three color channels, home in on points in a three-dimensional color space. Mantis shrimp can sample color space in 16 dimensions, but they probably don't do much combining. So their perception, while spectacular and different, isn't simply richer than ours.
現代技術將為人類或機器人開啟嶄新的由儀器協助的觀看方式。充滿想象的腦力拓展則會為我們帶來實際的智力進步。
Modern technologies can open up new, device-aided ways of seeing for humans or helper robots. Imaginative mind-stretching prepares us for practical mind-expansion.
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