ARRIVAL

如果給我三天時間，我將洞見人類所有的未來…

本文最初發表於我和妻子的微信公眾號: 人面魚Fisage, 有增改。

神秘的外星飛船降臨地球，天才語言學家路易斯(Louise Banks)前往現場，與地外文明第一次親密接觸，她如何克服語言文明溝通的障礙，破解外星人的語言之密呢?

1. 假如妳能洞見未來

從人類遙遠的太初年代開始, “先知”一詞，總是最為神秘、最俱有魔幻魅力的身份: 從古希臘德爾菲聖殿(Delphi, Δελφοί)的阿波羅神喻(oracle), 不被相信的女先知“卡珊德拉(Cassandra, Κασσάνδρα [1])”, 埃及法老金字塔墓穴壁畫中修長的眼睛，希伯來卡巴拉(Kabbalah, קַבָּלָה)智慧/生命之樹(Etz haChayim, עץ החיים), 溝通神鬼、遊歷天國地獄的薩滿(shaman, [2]), 基督教和伊斯蘭教的帶來神祗意志的先知們，一直到近代的諾查丹瑪斯(Nostradamus, [3]), 先知，如果不是被視若瘋子、狂人或異端，就是不被信任或橫加指責的騙子和神棍 — 但是，假若自然界的動物們都具備一定預知未來危險的能力，為甚麼我們族群中的最為敏感的某些人不會擁有某種可以直接觸及未來的能力呢? 他們可以是藝術家，可以是詩人，可以是科學家，也可以是宗教信徒，因為，他們乃是“種族的觸角(the antennae of the race, Ezra Pound, [4])”。

那麼，假如洞見未來並不是某些特定“選民”的超能力，假如妳同樣擁有這樣的能力，妳會怎麼使用它? 妳會不會因此而感到困擾，進而畏懼它們? 如果妳看見了妳不願意歷經的故事或者關於妳親愛的人之不幸，妳還有沒有勇氣告訴他們?–成為一隻人人嫌惡、不被理解、歌頌災厄的烏鴉是多麼痛苦的事情······

2. 時間，空間的第四緯度

電影以非常規的敘述開始，不同時間軸的畫面視頻以蒙太奇的手法並置、混合在一起，如同宿醉過後膠著的清晨，夢魘驚醒剎那之恍惚，迷幻樂和LSD濃霧裏扭曲卻可以觸碰光線的瞬間，我們分不清現實和夢境，過去與未來，當下可感知的和想像中不可知的間隙，我們依賴先後順序和理智的大腦無法分辨“時間”，這最為神秘而存在，悄悄主宰我們一言一行的神祗，在混沌和無序中把願望、期待、念想和真實混為一體。

那麼，到底什麼是時間?

我們現當代物理學和科學得以建立的基礎是線性時間(linear time), 我們所有關於時間和空間的表述和推論都是基於它們可以被確定的零起點-原點(zero-point/origin), 我們所歷經的時間，我們的所處的空間，無論對於族群還是個體，都是由一系列可以被定位的坐標所描畫，我們所發明的計量方法，借助於參照物(frame of reference), 可以非常精確清晰地表述和記錄空間的變化位移。雖然根據愛因斯坦(Albert Einstein)的相對論(Theory of Relativity), 時間也是空間的一個緯度，但是，到目前為止，我們人類還沒有找到任何一個在空間坐標體系裏標示時間的方法，我們對於時間的理解，可以說是不斷的“綿延(durée)”, 博格森(Henri Bergson)對此有最為精辟的描述和定義，不管我們建立了多少時間的刻度、單位及度量衡，對於我們的心理，時間，仍是不可丈量，不可復述。– 畢竟，脫離人類的感知，談論任何冰冷的數字和空洞的概念都沒有任何意義，我們藉以認識世界和確立與之關係的理論及體系，如果缺乏主體的存在，都不會成立 — 所以, “人生如夢”、“宛若昨日”都是我們對於時間這最為神秘而不可捕捉，又時時刻刻在左右我們每一瞬間的存在之描述。

同時，假若時間是空間的另一個維度，既然我們可以通過坐標回溯空間上的任一位移，那麼我們同樣應該也可以回溯到“過去”的任一時刻，我們也可以跳躍到“未來”的某一瞬間。時間同樣也應俱有空間的非線性(non-linear)、非同一性(non-identical)和非特定性(non-specific): 我們不但可以處於時間之流的不同分支，也可以同時處於不同的時間節點，還可以不屬於某個特定的時間/空間之領域。

可是···可是，唯目所見，一切，不過都是時間流逝的痕跡，不過，都是人類無法企及的時間女神裙裾淡淡的馨香，芳蹤渺渺，仙子何處追尋? 她不停地留下啟示、隱語和暗號，卻從不讓我們瞥見其本尊真顏，佳人之面雖氤氳動人，卻永遠隱於晦暝不清的迷霧中······

3. 語言的決定妳的思維、世界和文明

設想一種完全不同的文明和語言該是什麼體驗?

我們所有對於異族文明語言的理解都是基於人類的共同概念，我們從未脫離人類自身去認識自我，更沒有以地外文明的身份去理解自己。電影設想了一個俱有完全不同思考方式、語言結構及文明基礎的地外族群嘗試理解人類的可能，第一次親密接觸的可能，還有傳授知識和科技的可能。兩個沒有任何交集的文明，就像是兩個全不相關的圓環，那麼如何找到初始交流溝通的起點才是關鍵。電影裏女主角使用了最為原始的語言認知方法: 指物。

當妳開始使用一種語言的時候，這種語言就已經開始在影響、改變和塑造妳的思想，進而改變妳周遭的世界，決定妳的命運。對於族群而言，創造並選擇一種語言，就是選擇一條文明的發展道路。當我們開始命名，區分萬物的時候，我們就已經在建立一種獨特的思維圖譜和模型，我們選擇命名某些物體，選擇不命名某些物體，我們用語言解釋物體之間的關係以及我們和萬物之間的關係，從那一刻開始，我們就已經畫下我們文明道路的草圖。人類之所以認為時間是不可追溯且不可穿越，其緣由在於我們的語言限定了我們對於時間的線性理解。電影裏異星文明生物的體系語言決定了它們對於時間的理解是一個閉合的環，沒有開始，也沒有結束，如同河流的循環，萬水終歸大海，又通過蒸發和降雨落回大地，週而復始。任何一個學習它們語言的智慧生命體都會相應地取得俘獲未來零星片段的能力–它們正是通過這個能力得知人類這個原始、落後又弱小的種族有可能在未來拯救它們的族群。– 甚至，影片中女主角之所以可以拯救地球，也是依靠一個來自未來的神秘電話號碼:

時間，為甚麼不可以是一條首尾相交的銜尾蛇(ouroboros, οὐροβόρος)?

外星智慧生命的語言結構，不但是無窮無盡、大小不一的圓環，其上附著的信息，也是各種形態不同、又相互關聯的圓環及圓點。這種循環反覆又相互包含的語義構架，決定了其語言具有豐富交互意義及多種解釋可能、非單一的特質–這是一種介於秩序和混亂之間並可以根據相互間語境而進一步解釋的語義，可以稱之為“混沌語義(chaotic semantic)”, 這種架構的語義，其單位面積內的信息含量, “熵(entropy)”, 極為豐碩–這類似於預言對於未來的體現: 我們所預見的，都不過是可能未來的某些非連續零碎片段，它們有可能相互矛盾，可能相互補充，可能相互印證，也可能相互無關，它們各自包含在不同的時間刻度和維度裏，處於時間之河不同的支流裏，同源重疊又相互包容，相互引申又各自反證，這不正符合時間綿延和黏連的特性麼?

也許，我們可以設想人類文明擁有完全不同的發展路徑，如果我們文明的起始語言乃是魔法咒語、諸神之喻和機械術語，那麼我們的文明難道不可以是魔法與鍊金文明、神性文明和蒸汽朋克文明麼?

或者，更進一步，任何依賴於第三方媒介的思想交流，都是原始而落後的。任何通過圖像、象形文字和抽象語言等載體(loader)進行的溝通都只是最初級層次的交流。而比這更優越和高級的交流有可能是直接通過神念、意識、腦波和心靈感應交換思想，排除語言等第三方媒介的交流或許更為高效且沒有歧義及誤解?

4. 妳有沒有勇氣領受未來，即便它是如此地殘酷無情又冷峻

如果，妳有洞見未來的能力，那麼妳有沒有勇氣深深領受未來? 女主角洞見未來女兒必將死於不可治癒的疾病卻仍然選擇懷孕並生下她，而不是逃避或者“射殺帶來壞消息的人”。很多時候，妳所看到的未來將是不可阻擋也不可避免的，無論妳做什麼樣的努力，妳都無法改變，在那個時候，妳還會希望自己擁有這樣的能力嗎? 如果妳的至親將面臨不可抗拒的災難、死亡和困厄，妳是選擇做一只埋頭沙丘的鴕鳥，還是直面真相，迎風破空的鯤鵬?

5. 未知是否比已知更吸引人

當外星語被人類徹底解析、理解、掌握並普及後，必然會出現大量俱有預言能力的人，那麼，我們是不是可以利用這個能力改變很多事情，避免很多錯誤，還是和其它被餽贈予人類的禮物一樣，終究無法避免被濫用的命運?

如果人人都俱有窺探未來的能力，那麼在漫長時間長河盡頭隱藏的那些畫面和秘密，是否對我們還有吸引力?明天的天氣不符預報，是不是會給我們的人生增加很多不可預期的驚喜與快樂? 不知道將來會遇上什麼讓人心動的異性，是不是將給我們的情感旅途平添了很多浪漫和色彩? 未知的魅力讓每一天看起來都是份神秘的禮物，不到時間不拆封的失望與不期而至的快樂是不是也是人生眾多美好的一部分? 面對命運，輕輕睜大妳無辜、清澈而黝黑的瞳仁，無知無覺地坦然領受並淡然處之，不懷抱過度的期許，也不哀怨生活的不公，是不是，也是一種妙雅平和之靜美?

註釋:

[1]. 卡珊德拉(Cassandra, Κασσάνδρα), 古希臘特洛伊公主，阿波羅女祭祀，預言不被人相信。

[2]. 薩滿(Shaman)，薩滿教的祭祀，具有控制天氣、預言、解夢及占星等能力。

[3]. 諾查丹瑪斯(Michel de Nostredame, Nostradamus)，法國猶太裔預言家，著有《百詩集(Les
Prophéties)》。

[4]. 艾茲拉·龐德(Ezra Pound)，二十世紀美國著名詩人、文學家，意象主義代表人物。

EN

ARRIVAL
on truth of time

If I had three days, I will foresee all the future of human being…

This article was first published on WeChat official account: 人面魚Fisage, co-authored by me and my wife, it has been revised since then.

1. If You can Foresee the Future

From the very ancient times of human being, the word “prophet” has been standing for the most mysterious, the most magic and the most charming status: from the Apollo’s oracles from ancient Greek Delphi(Δελφοί) temples, the distrust prophetess Cassandra(Κασσάνδρα, [1]), the long, vivid eyes on the mural paintings of Pharaohs’ tombs in pyramids of ancient Egypt, the Tree of Wisdom/Life(Etz haChayim, עץ החיים) of Hebrew Kabbalah(קַבָּלָה), the shamans [2] communicating with gods and ghosts and wandering among heavens and hells, the prophets bearing the wills of Christian and Islamic God, and Nostradamus [3] of modern era. “Prophet”, if not regarded as lunatic, crazy men or heresies, is equal to “liars” or “psychics” to be untrusted and to be blamed.— But if some certain animals in wild do have some certain abilities to scent dangers in advance, why couldn’t those most sensitive members of our races have the same abilities to touch the hands of future? They may be artists, may be poets, may be scientists or even zealots of religions. That is because, they are the “antennae of the race(Ezra Pound [4])”.

Then, if the ability to foresee the future is not the “super-talent” of some chosen people, if you have the same ability, what would you do with it? Will you be puzzled and confused, or even be afraid of it? If you foresee the unwanted stories or some misfortunes of your beloved ones, will you still have the courage to tell them?— To be a misunderstood crow singing the songs of disasters and calamities yet disgusted by all other people is certainly a pain and agony.

2. Time, the Forth Dimension of Space

The film told the story with unusual beginning, footages from different timelines were juxtaposed and mixed together in montages, like the muddy morning after a drunken night, the deadly faint moments after sudden awaken from a nightmare, the very instances when you can touch the splendid lights in the psychedelic music and thick smog arouse from LSD, we can not tell the differences between reality and dreams, the past and the future, in the gap between those that can be felt and those imaginative that can not be sensed, our brains, the organ living upon orders and rations, can not distinguish the “Time”, the most mysterious existence, the God silently ruling every word and action of us, mixes wishes, yearnings, missings and truths into chaos and disorders.

Then, what is “TIME” in the hell?

The very foundation of modern physics and sciences is the linear time, all our expressions and inferences of time and space are based on the preconfigured zero-point/origin. All the time we have experienced, all the spaces we have occupied, no matter to the entire race or any single individual, are all described and expressed by series of the pre-defined coordinates. All the metrologies we have invented, by frame of reference, can be utilized to tell and record the very precise movements in Space. According to Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, Time is another dimension of Space, but we, as human being, haven’t found any feasible methodologies to mark the Time in any known coordinate systems of Space. All our understanding of time, can be said like an endless “durée (duration)”, as Henri Bergson has described and defined precisely and clearly. No matter how many scales, units or metrologies for Time, for human psychology, Time itself, still can not be measured, can not be recalled — after all, talking any cold numbers, figures or hollow concepts without any human cognitions or sensations has no meanings. All the theories and systems by which we can recognize and define the relationships between us and the world will not be valid without the existence of the subjects — Just like the old sayings, “the life is a dream” and “it was just like yesterday” are the common descriptions we have yielded for Time, the most mysterious, the most un-chaseable existence dominating every single flash moment of us ubiquitously all the time.

At the same time, if the Time indeed is another dimension of Space, if we can trace back to any position in Space with help of coordinate systems, then we should be able to trace back to any specific moment in the “Past” or jump to any single moment of “Future”. Time should inherit the same attributes of Space like any non-linear, non-identical and non-specific beings: we can coexist in different clades or branches in the Time Rivers, coexist at different points of Time and not belong to any specific area/layer of Time/Space.

But…but, all we have seen, all in all, are just some traces and tracks of the flowing Time, all in all, are just some vain and faded perfumes from Goddess Time’s edges of skirts, which we can never touch. The beautiful and elegant phantoms of the Fairy are faint and far away, where can we find the Goddess? She has left the prophets, argots and ciphers on her way, yet never letting us catch a glimpse of her real visage, the face and physiognomy of the beauty is so touching, moving yet blurry, though hidden in the obscure, unclear and mysterious fogs forever…

3. Languages Determine Your Thoughts, Your World and Your Civilization

What would be an experience of imagining a language and civilization completely different from mankind?

All our understanding of the alien languages and civilizations are based on the common, collective concepts and ideas of our human being. We have never recognized ourselves as non-mankind, neither have understood ourselves as any extraterrestrial civilizations. The film imagined a kind of possible extraterrestrial civilizations, with totally different ways of thinking, different syntaxes of languages and different foundation of cultures/civilizations, trying to understand human being, the possibilities of first contact, and the possibilities of imparting knowledges and technologies. Two different cultures without any clues of inter-cultural/civilization intersections, like two circles without any contacts, the key is trying to find a common origin/foundation to start communication. The main female character chose a most primitive cognitive method for languages: pointing to the object(指物).

From the very moment when you start to use a language, the language has started to influence, to change and to form your thoughts, your way of thinking, altering the world surrounding yourself and determining your destiny. As for a race or ethic group, to create and choose a language is to choose a developing route of a certain civilization. When we start to name and differentiate the objects, we have established a unique map and model for our minds. We choose to name something or not, we use languages to explain the relationships among different objects and the relationships between us and the surrounding objects, from that moment on, we have drawn the sketches for the route of our civilizations. The reason why humankind regards that Time could never be traced or traversed is that our languages have preconfigured the linear comprehension of Time. In the film, the extraterrestrial civilization’s syntaxes and structures of language have decided that the Time is a close circle in their understanding: no start, no finish, just as the circulation of rivers, all water will flow into the ocean in the end, then falling back onto the earth by evaporating and raining, and that’s a never-ending circle. All the creatures learning their languages will earn the ability to capture and prey some pieces of visions of the future — the ability that the alien life utilize to learn that human, this primitive, backward yet faint, weak race may save their race and civilization one day in the far away future. — Even the main female character saved the world by a mysterious telephone number from the future:

Time, why can’t it be a ouroboros(οὐροβόρος) holding its own tail in the mouth?

The linguistic syntax and structure of the alien life is based on endless, multiple circles with different sizes. All those carried informations are also some different circles and points relating to each other. This kind of semantic architecture with endless recycling and repeating meanings containing references in each other determines that this language has some infinite, abundant interactive significations with multiple possibilities of self-interpretations and non-single qualities — this is a unique kind of semantic meanings lingering between order and chaos while still getting further explanations in the contexts of each other. We can call it “Chaotic Semantic(渾沌語意)”. In its semantic architecture, the information value in each unit area, the “entropy” of the information, is immense. Just like the representation of prophets for the future: all we can foresee are just some series of non-linear footages of some possible future, they may be contrary to each other, may be supplement to each other, may get references from each other, or even may be not relevant to each other. They are all contained in their own relative different Time Scales and Dimensions, in their different clades and branches of Time Rivers, all coming from the same origins and containing each other, earning their extended significations or making contrary proofs with each other. Don’t all mentioned above match the enduring and sticking quality of Time itself?

Perhaps, we can imagine human civilization has some different developing routes. If the initial languages of our civilization are the magic spells, the prophecy of gods and deities or the mechanical terms, why can’t our civilizations become Civilization of Magic and Alchemy, Civilization of Gods and Deities or even Civilization of Steam Punk?

Further more, any communications of thoughts relying on any third party media are backward and primitive. Any communications relying on loaders like images, ideography or abstract languages are the most elementary forms of communications. There are more advanced ways of communications like minds, conscience, brain waves or telepathy to exchange thoughts and ideas. Maybe those communications without any third party media like languages will be much more effective without any possible misunderstandings or ambiguities?

4. Do You Have the Courage to Receive the Future
if It would be so Cruel or Rigid?

If you have the power to foresee the future, do you have the courage to receive it? The main female character have foreseen that her daughter would certainly die of some unrecoverable, incurable, inevitable, deadly disease but still chose to be pregnant and gave birth to her. No escape or avoidance, she did not shoot “the messenger bearing the bad news”. Sometimes, what you have seen will be unstoppable and unavoidable, no matter how hard you may try, you will never change that. At that time, do you still want to have this kind of ability? If your beloved ones will suffer from some irresistible disasters, death or difficulties, do you want to choose to be a ostrich burying your head into the sand or to be a Kunpeng(鯤鵬, [5]) facing the truth and flying onto the cold, fierce hurricanes and blizzards in the sky?

5. Will the Knowns be More Interesting than the Unknowns?

When the extraterrestrial language is analyzed, understood, mastered and popularized, there certainly will be appearing many men with the abilities to foretell the future. Can we use this abilities to change many things and avoid many mistakes? Or can it never escape the fate to be abused like many other gifts and presents granted to mankind?

If everyone has the power to foresee the future, can all the scenes and secrets hidden in the end of long river of Time still be attractive to us? If the weather is not like that in the forecast, can it bring some much more unexpected surprises and happiness to our lives? If we don’t know which charming male or female you may encounter in the future, would it add much more romantic colours to our journey of emotions? The unknowns make everyday be a magical and mysterious gift, aren’t the disappointment of unpacking the gifts at certain time and the unexpected joy one of the beauties in our lives? Facing your destiny, open your innocent, crystal-clear yet black pupils, receiving and accepting them in calm, without excessive yearning, without complaining the equality in your life, isn’t it a kind of elegant, charming and quiet beauty?

NOTES:

[1]. Cassandra(Κασσάνδρα), Princess of Troy, Priestess of Apollo, cursed to utter true prophecies.

[2]. Shaman, priest of Shamanism, they have power to control the weather, foresee future,
explain dreams and ability of astrology etc.

[3]. Michel de Nostredame(Nostradamus), French prophet, famous for his poetic book, “Les Prophéties“.

[4]. Ezra Pound, American poet and critic, famous for Imagism movement.

[5]. Kunpeng(鯤鵬), a gigantic bird in ancient Chinese mythology.

聲明: 本篇音樂來自“細胞(CELL)”的《華輪海特項目(FAHRENHEIT PROJECT, Part 4)》第六首“音響最深之夜(Audio Deepest Night)”, #inre011, Ultimae Records(2003), 亨利·博格森及阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦照片來自國際網路，部分詞條解釋來自維基百科(Wikipedia), 其它文字、翻譯及圖片均為原創，請勿用於商業用途，謝謝!