​阅读系列 | 刘慈欣:科幻巨匠直面AI挑战,灵感源于科技前沿



科幻大师刘慈欣不仅预见人工智能将深刻改变人类生活,更警示科幻写作也可能被AI颠覆。作为《三体》作者,他凭借卓越想象力将中国科幻推向世界舞台。面对AI浪潮,刘慈欣坦言科技发展为创作提供无尽灵感,同时也不无担忧地表示科幻作家或面临被AI取代的风险。


刘慈欣,这位科幻界的巨匠,以其深邃的想象力和对科技前沿的敏锐洞察,为我们描绘了一个又一个震撼人心的未来世界。如今,随着人工智能技术的飞速发展,刘慈欣再次站在了科技浪潮的前沿,思考着AI对人类社会和科幻创作的深远影响。他坚信,科技将继续改变我们的生活,而科幻作家则有责任去探讨这些变化背后的意义和价值。


Science fiction writer Liu Cixin is ready to see AI change human lifestyles and even human society in general. He may explore the subject of the recent AI onslaught in his own sci-fi works, but predicts that sci-fi writing could also be overturned, even taken over, by AI.

科幻作家刘慈欣已对人工智能带来的变革做好了准备,预见它将重塑人类的生活方式乃至整个社会的面貌。他或许会在其作品中探讨这一近期备受关注的话题,但亦警示科幻写作也可能面临人工智能的颠覆,甚至取而代之的境地。

Enjoying high prestige as a leading science fiction writer - even before his landmark win of the Hugo Award for the novelThe Three-Body Problem - Liu has been widely seen as a trendsetter in the Chinese sci-fi scene.

作为科幻界的翘楚,刘慈欣早已声名远扬。在他凭借《三体》摘得雨果奖之前,便已被公认为中国科幻小说的领军人物。

Some say Liu "single-handedly" lifted Chinese sci-fi to a world-class level. This is not without basis, as seen from the novel's high-profile global readership, which includes Barack Obama, and the popularity of Netflix's latest adaptation ofThe Three-Body Problem trilogy. In fact, Liu's works had won a number of awards in China since the 1990s, but it was his Hugo Award win - the first win for an Asian writer - that made his novels and the sci-fi genre household names in China.

有人赞誉刘慈欣以“一己之力”将中国科幻推向了国际舞台,这并非空穴来风。从他的作品在全球拥有包括奥巴马在内的高知名度读者群,到Netflix最新改编的《三体》三部曲的热播,都证明了这一点。事实上,自20世纪90年代以来,刘慈欣的作品便在中国屡获殊荣,但正是他获得的雨果奖——首位亚洲作家获此殊荣——让他的小说和科幻流派在中国家喻户晓。

Chinese sci-fi became even more popular after Liu'sThe Wandering Earth was made into a sci-fi movie in 2019.

2019年,《流浪地球》的电影化更是让中国科幻小说风头无两。

The popularity of sci-fi reached a new milestone when the World Science Fiction Convention was for the first time held in China - in Chengdu, Sichuan Province - in 2023.

到了2023年,世界科幻大会首次在中国四川成都举办,标志着科幻普及达到了新的高度。

In a country where traditional swordsman novels and immortal fantasy had long dominated the reading and TV scenes, and sci-fi films in cinemas used to be almost exclusively Hollywood productions, Chinese sci-fi may not have ascended so quickly to "mainstream" status, on par with the other genres, without Liu and his works.

长期以来,传统的仙侠小说和奇幻作品在中国阅读市场及电视荧屏上占据主导地位,科幻电影也多为好莱坞出品。然而,如果没有刘慈欣及其作品,中国科幻或许不会如此迅速地步入“主流”,与其他文学类型并驾齐驱。

On a typical day, Liu writes and attends to other tasks during the daytime, while his evenings are reserved for reading and watching movies and TV shows. Writing, he said, is not just a job for him but a passion and has become a form of spiritual solace.

在人工智能的新时代里,刘慈欣保持着旺盛的创作灵感。他白天忙于写作和其他工作,夜晚则沉浸在书籍与影视作品中。对他而言,写作不仅是一种职业,更是一种热爱,是心灵的慰藉。

Liu admitted that he doesn't have many other interests. He enjoys activities like sports, traveling, and watching movies, but wouldn't necessarily call them hobbies. Looking ahead, Liu revealed that he has been working on new projects but has yet to produce much with which he is satisfied. He expressed his desire to write novels that are different from previous works.

刘慈欣坦言,自己并没有太多特别的爱好。他享受运动、旅游和观影的乐趣,但并未将其视为严格的爱好。展望未来,他透露自己正在创作新的项目,但尚未有令他完全满意的作品问世。他期待能够创作出与以往截然不同的新作。

When asked about how he comes up with such unimaginable future technologies and ideas in his works, Liu said the rapid development of technology and the mysteries of nature revealed by cutting-edge technology have been endless sources of inspiration about the future and the universe. He noted that the future technologies in science fiction are based on modern technology and are extensions of it.

当被问及如何构思那些令人惊叹的未来科技和奇思妙想时,刘慈欣表示,科技的飞速进步和尖端技术揭示的自然奥秘,是他关于未来与宇宙的无穷灵感之源。他指出,科幻小说中的未来技术是基于现代科技的延伸。

As AI-generated content has increasingly become a major trend in society, Liu also began pondering the topic after seeing the significant development of AI over the past few years and its gradual integration into the lives of ordinary people.

随着人工智能生成的内容逐渐成为社会趋势,刘慈欣也开始关注这一话题。他观察到人工智能在过去几年的迅猛发展,并逐渐融入人们的日常生活。

The AI onslaught has already started to change the world, including Liu's life. He said he does use generative AI, but not extensively yet. However, he said this may change. If AI ­continues to develop at its current speed and trend, it may greatly intervene in the creation of sci-fi literature, bringing about significant changes.

他坦言自己确实在使用生成式人工智能,但尚未广泛应用。然而,他预测这种情况可能会发生改变。若人工智能按照当前的速度和趋势继续发展,它可能会深度介入科幻文学创作,带来颠覆性的变革。

Liu said AI will have a profound impact on humanity in both the short and long term. In the short term, AI will replace human work in many fields, requiring society to adapt to the situation. In the long term, the intelligence of AI may approach or even surpass that of humans, leading to profound effects on human lifestyles, social forms, and ways of understanding the world. He hopes his future works can explore this theme, but acknowledges that as a sci-fi writer, he may also be replaced by AI, leaving whether he will have the opportunity to do so uncertain.

刘慈欣认为,无论短期还是长期,人工智能都将对人类产生深远影响。短期内,它将在多个领域取代人类的工作,需要社会去适应。而从长远来看,人工智能的智能可能会接近甚至超越人类,从而对人类的生活方式、社会形态和认知方式产生巨大影响。他希望未来的作品能够探讨这一主题,但也坦承作为科幻作家,自己也可能被人工智能所取代,未来尚不确定。

Indeed, Liu's sparks of inspiration come from the development of modern technology and its impact on humanity, like the cosmic images revealed by modern science. For Liu, he doesn't have a specific method to stimulate the generation of ideas, and so considering the goings-on of today, AI seeping into people's lives could be the perfect subject.

实际上,刘慈欣的灵感源于现代科技的发展及其对人类的深远影响,正如现代科学所揭示的宇宙图景一般。他并没有特定的方法去激发创意,但当前正在发生的事情——如人工智能的渗透——为他提供了完美的主题。

Liu shared that he has also been inspired by great authors like Arthur C. Clarke, who had a significant influence on him. For more contemporary authors, Liu recommended US writer Andy Weir. He praised Weir's works such as The Martian for their richly imaginative stories founded on technology.

刘慈欣还分享道,Arthur C. Clarke等伟大作家给予了他很多灵感,对他产生了深远的影响。至于当代作家,他推荐了美国作家Andy Weir,并称赞其《火星救援》等作品科技基础扎实,故事想象力丰富。

编辑 | ETTBL商务英语翻译

翻译|Romola

来源|Global Times

声明|配图取自网络,仅供学习分享使用,侵删