Bertrand Russell

　　December 30, 1954

　　Here, then, is the problem which I present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable： Shall we put an end to the human race1 or shall mankind renounce war？ People will not face this alternative because it is so difficult to abolish war. The abolition of war will demand distasteful limitations of national sovereignty. But what perhaps impedes understanding of the situation more than anything else is that the term 'mankind' feels vague and abstract. People scarcely realize in imagination that the danger is to themselves and their children and their grandchildren, and not only to a dimly apprehended humanity' And so they hope that perhaps war may be allowed to continue provided modern weapons are prohibited. I am afraid this hope is illusory. Whatever agreements not to use hydrogen bombs had been reached in time of peace, they would no longer be considered binding in time of war, and both sides would set to work to manufacture hydrogen bombs as soon as war broke out, for if one side manufactured the bombs and the other did not, the side that manufactured them would inevitably be victorious……

　　As geological time is reckoned, Man has so far existed only for a very short period one million years at the most. What he has achieved, especially during the last 6,000 years, is something utterly new in the history of the Cosmos, so far at least as we are acquainted with it. For countless ages the sun rose and set, the moon waxed and waned, the stars shone in the night, but it was only with the coming of Man that these things were understood. In the great world of astronomy and in the little world of the atom, Man has unveiled secrets which might have been thought undiscoverable. In art and literature and religion, some men have shown a sublimity of feeling which makes the species worth preserving. Is all this to end in trivial horror because so few are able to think of Man rather than of this or that group of men？ Is our race so destitute of wisdom, so incapable of impartial love, so blind even to the simplest dictates of self-preservation, that the last proof of its silly cleverness is to be the extermination of all life on our planet？ - for it will be not only men who will perish, but also the animals, whom no one can accuse of communism or anticommunism.

　　I cannot believe that this is to be the end. I would have men forget their quarrels for a moment and reflect that, if they will allow themselves to survive, there is every reason to expect the triumphs of the future to exceed immeasurably the triumphs of the past. There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels？ I appeal, as a human being to human beings： remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise； if you cannot, nothing lies before you but universal death.

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　　我們該選擇死亡嗎？

　　伯特蘭?羅素

　　1954年12月30日

　　這里，我要向你提起一個(gè)直率的、令人不快而又無法回避的問題：我們該消滅人類，還是人類該拋棄戰(zhàn)爭？人們不愿面對這個(gè)抉擇，因?yàn)橄麥鐟?zhàn)爭太難了。消滅戰(zhàn)爭要求限制國家主權(quán)，這令人反感。然而“人類”這個(gè)專門名詞給人們的感覺是模糊、抽象的，它可能比任何其他東西都更容易妨礙認(rèn)識(shí)這種形勢。人們幾乎沒有用自己的想象力去認(rèn)識(shí)這種危險(xiǎn)不僅指向他們所模模糊糊理解的人類，而且指向他們自己和他們的子子孫孫。于是他們相信只要禁止使用現(xiàn)代武器，也許可以允許戰(zhàn)爭繼續(xù)下去。恐怕這個(gè)愿望只是幻想。任何不使用氫彈的協(xié)定是在和平時(shí)期達(dá)成的，在戰(zhàn)爭時(shí)期這種協(xié)定就被認(rèn)為是沒有約束力的，一旦戰(zhàn)爭爆發(fā)，雙方就會(huì)著手制造氫彈，因?yàn)槿绻环街圃鞖鋸椂硪环讲辉斓脑挘鞖鋸椀囊环奖厝粫?huì)取勝……

　　按照地質(zhì)年代來計(jì)算，人類到目前為止只存在了一個(gè)極短的時(shí)期――最多100萬年。在至少就我們所了解的宇宙而言，人類在特別是最近6000年里所達(dá)到的認(rèn)識(shí)，在宇宙史上是一些全新的東西。太陽升升落落，月亮盈盈虧虧，夜空星光閃爍，無數(shù)歲月就這樣過去了，只是到人類出現(xiàn)以后，這些才被理解。在天文學(xué)的宏觀世界和原子的微觀世界，人類揭示了原先可能認(rèn)為無法提示的秘密。在藝術(shù)、文學(xué)和宗教領(lǐng)域里，一些人顯示了一種崇高的感情，它使人們懂得人類是值得保全的。難道因?yàn)楹苌儆腥四芸紤]整個(gè)人類多于這個(gè)或那個(gè)人群，這一切就會(huì)在毫無價(jià)值的恐怖行動(dòng)中結(jié)束嗎？人類是否如此缺少智慧，如此缺少無私的愛，如此盲目，甚至連自我保存的最簡單命令都聽不見，以致要用滅絕地球上的所有生命來最后證明它那缺乏理智的小聰明？――因?yàn)椴获v人會(huì)被消滅，而且動(dòng)物也會(huì)被消滅，沒有人能指責(zé)它們是共產(chǎn)主義或反共產(chǎn)主義。

　　我無法相信結(jié)局會(huì)是這樣。人們?nèi)绻胱屪约荷嫦氯ィ麄兙蛻?yīng)暫時(shí)忘掉爭吵，進(jìn)行反省，人們有千萬條理由期待未來的成就極大地超過以往的成就，如果讓我們選擇，那么擂在我們面前的有幸福、知識(shí)和智慧的持續(xù)增長。我們能因?yàn)闊o法忘掉爭吵而舍此去選擇死亡嗎？作為一個(gè)人，我向所有的人呼吁：記住你們的人性，忘掉其余的一切。如果你們能這樣做，通向一個(gè)新的天堂的路就暢通無阻；如果你們做不到這一點(diǎn)，擺在你們面前的就只有全世界的毀滅。

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