2018克拉克獎獲獎感言

  先生們、女士們，晚上好，

  很榮幸獲得Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society Award。

  這個獎項是對想像力的獎勵，而想像力是人類所擁有的一種似乎只應屬於神的能力，它存在的意義也遠超出我們的想像。有歷史學家說過，人類之所以能夠超越地球上的其它物種建立文明，主要是因為他們能夠在自己的大腦中創造出現實中不存在的東西。在未來，當人工智慧擁有超過人類的智力時，想像力也許是我們對於它們所擁有的唯一優勢。

  科幻小說是基於想像力的文學，而最早給我留下深刻印象的是Arthur. Clarke的作品。除了Jules Verne和George Wells外， Clarke的作品是最早進入中國的西方現代科幻小說。在上世紀八十年代初，中國出版了他的《2001:A Space Odyssey》和《Rendezvous With Rama》。當時文革剛剛結束，舊的生活和信仰已經崩塌，新的還沒有建立起來，我和其他年輕人一樣，心中一片迷茫。這兩本書第一次激活了我想像力，思想豁然開闊許多，有小溪流進大海的感覺。讀完《2001:A Space Odyssey》的那天深夜，我走出家門仰望星空，那時的中國的天空還沒有太多的污染，能夠看到銀河，在我的眼中，星空與過去完全不一樣了，我第一次對宇宙的宏大與神秘產生了敬畏感，這是一種宗教般的感覺。而後來讀到的《Rendezvous With Rama》,也讓我驚嘆如何可以用想像力構造一個栩栩如生的想像世界。正是Clarke帶給我的這些感受，讓我後來成為一名科幻作家。

  現在，三十多年過去了，我漸漸發現，我們這一代在上世紀六十年代出生於中國的人，很可能是人類歷史上最幸運的人，因為之前沒有任何一代人，像我們這樣目睹周圍的世界發生了如此巨大的變化，我們現在生活的世界，與我們童年的世界已經完全是兩個不同的世界，而這種變化還在加速發生著。中國是一個充滿著未來感的國度，中國的未來可能充滿著挑戰和危機，但從來沒有像現在這樣具有吸引力，這就給科幻小說提供了肥沃的土壤，使其在中國受到了空前的關注，作為一個在六十年代出生在中國的科幻小說家，則是幸運中的幸運。

  我最初創作科幻小說的目的，是為了逃離平淡的生活，用想像力去接觸那些我永遠無法到達的神奇時空。但後來我發現，周圍的世界變得越來越像科幻小說了，這種進程還在飛快地加速，未來像盛夏的大雨，在我們還不及撐開傘時就撲面而來。同時我也沮喪地發現，當科幻變為現實時，沒人會感到神奇，它們很快會成為生活中的一部分。所以我只有讓想像力前進到更為遙遠的時間和空間中去尋找科幻的神奇，科幻小說將以越來越快的速度變成平淡生活的一部分，作為一名科幻作家，我想我們的責任就是在事情變的平淡之前把它們寫出來。

  但另一方面，世界卻向著與Clarke的預言相反的方向發展。在《2001:A Space Odyssey》中，在已經過去的2001年，人類已經在太空中建立起壯麗的城市，在月球上建立起永久性的殖民地，巨大的核動力飛船已經航行到土星。而在現實中的2018年，再也沒有人登上月球，人類在太空中航行的最遠的距離，也就是途經我所在的城市的高速列車兩個小時的里程。與此同時，信息技術卻以超乎想像的速度發展，網絡覆蓋了整個世界，在IT所營造的越來越舒適的安樂窩中，人們對太空漸漸失去了興趣，相對於充滿艱險的真實的太空探索，他們更願意在VR中體驗虛擬的太空。這像有一句話說的：「說好的星辰大海，你卻只給了我FACEBOOK。」（註：這句話應該有英語的原文，但我查不到。）

  這樣的現實也反映在科幻小說中，Clarke對太空的瑰麗想像已經漸漸遠去，人們的目光從星空收回，現在的科幻小說，更多地想像人類在網絡烏托邦或反烏托邦中的生活，更多地關注現實中所遇到的各種問題，科幻的想像力由Clarke的廣闊和深遠，變成Cyberpunk的狹窄和內向。

  記住全網最快小説站𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚡𝚒𝚊𝚋𝚊.𝚌𝚘𝚖

  作為科幻作家，我一直在努力延續著Clarke的想像，我相信，無垠的太空仍然是人類想像力最好的去向和歸宿，我一直在描寫宇宙的宏大神奇，描寫星際探險，描寫遙遠世界中的生命和文明，儘管在現在的科幻作家中，這樣會顯得有些幼稚，甚至顯得跟不上時代。正如Clarke的墓志銘：「他從未長大，但從未停止成長」。

  與人們常有的誤解不同，科幻小說並不是在預測未來，它只是把未來的各種可能性排列出來，就像一堆想像力的鵝卵石，擺在那裡供人們欣賞和把玩。這無數個可能的未來哪一個會成為現實，科幻小說並不能告訴我們，這不是它的任務，也超出了它的能力。

  但有一點可以確定：從長遠的時間尺度來看，在這無數可能的未來中，不管地球達到了怎樣的繁榮，那些沒有太空航行的未來都是暗淡的。

  我期待有那麼一天，像那些曾經描寫過資訊時代的科幻小說一樣，描寫太空航行的科幻小說也變的平淡無奇了，那時的火星和小行星帶都是乏味的地方，有無數的人在那裡謀生；木星和它眾多的衛星已成為旅遊勝地，阻止人們去那裡的唯一障礙就是昂貴的價格。

  但即使在這個時候，宇宙仍是一個大的無法想像的存在，距我們最近的恆星仍然遙不可及。浩瀚的星空永遠能夠承載我們無窮的想像力。

  謝謝大家。

  Ladies and Gentlemen,

  Good evening!

  It’s my great honor to receive the Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society. Thank you.

  This award is a reward for imagination, a capability that should have been exclusive to God but we, as human beings, luckily have. And the meaning of the existence of imagination is far beyond our imagination. A historian used to say that the main reason why human beings have been able to surpass other species on earth and build civilizations is that we are able to create something in our heads that does not exist in reality. In the future, when artificial intelligence becomes smarter than us, imagination may be the only advantage we have over AI.

  Science fiction is a literary genre based on imagination. And the first sci-fi works the impressed me were those by Arthur C. Clarke. Together with Jules Verne and George Wells, Arthur Clarke was among the first Western modern sci-fi writers to enter China. In the early 1980s, the two novels 2001: A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous With Rama were published in my country. At that time, the Cultural Revolution just came to an end. While the old life and faith had collapsed, the new ones had not yet been established. Like other young people, I felt lost during that period. These two books, for the first time, however, brought my imagination to life. My mind opened up like never before. I felt like a narrow stream finally embracing the sea. At midnight when I finished reading 2001: A Space Odyssey, I walked out of the house and stared at the starry sky. I was able to see the galaxy, thanks to the unpolluted sky of China back then. That night, in my eyes, the starry sky looked nothing like before. For the first time in my life, I was awed by the magnitude and mystery of our universe. That feeling was religious. Later on, Rendezvous With Rama stunned me by showing how imagination could build a lifelike, fantastic world. It was Arthur Clarke who brought me such feelings, and that brought me here as a sci-fi writer.

  Today, more than 30 years later, it gradually dawns on me that people like me, who were born in the 1960s in China, are probably the luckiest people in human history. No generation is like us, no generation has been able to witness such tremendous changes in the world around us. The world we are living in today is completely different from that of our childhood. And such changes are taking place with even greater speed. China is a highly futuristic country. It is true that the future of China may be full of challenges and risks, but never has this country been so attractive like today. This reality provides fertile soil for the growth of science fiction, which is enjoying unprecedented attention in the country. As a sci-fi author who was born in the 1960s in China, I’m the luckiest from the luckiest generation.

  I started writing sci-fi because I decided to escape the dull life, and to reach out, with imagination, to the mysterious time and space that I could never truly reach. But then I realized that the world around me became more and more like science fiction, and this process is speeding up. Future is like a pouring rain. It falls right on us even before we have time to open an umbrella. Meanwhile, when sci-fi becomes reality, it won’t be hailed as magical any more, and that frustrates me. Sci-fi will soon become part of our lives. The only thing I can do, is to push my imagination further to even more distant time and space to hunt for the mysteries of sci-fi. As a sci-fi author, I think my job is to write things down before they get really boring.

  This being said, the world is moving in the direction opposite to Clarke’s predictions. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, in the year of 2001, which has already passed, human beings have built magnificent cities in space, and established permanent colonies on the moon, and huge nuclear-powered spacecraft have sailed to Saturn. However, today, in 2018, the walk on the moon has become a distant memory. And the farthest reach of our manned space flights is just as long as the two-hour mileage of a high-speed train passing through my city. At the same time, information technology is developing at an unimaginable speed. The entire world is connected via the Internet and people have gradually lost their interest in space, as they find themselves increasingly comfortable in the space created by IT. Instead of an exploration of the real space, which is full of real difficulties, people now just prefer to experiencing virtual space through VR. Just like someone said,「You promised me Mars colonies, instead, I got Facebook.」

  This reality is also reflected in science fiction. Arthur Clarke’s magnificent imagination about space has gradually faded away. People have taken back their eyes from the stars. In the sci-fi works today, there are more imagination about how we live in cyber utopia or dystopia. Writers focus more on various problems we encounter in reality. The imagination of science fiction is abandoning the vastness and profoundness that Arthur Clarke once opened up, instead people are now embracing the narrowness and introversion of cyberpunk.

  As a sci-fi writer, I have been striving to continue Arthur Clarke’s imagination. I believe that the boundless space is still the best direction and destination for human imagination. I have always been portraying the magnitude and mysteries of the universe, interstellar expeditions, and the lives and civilizations happening in distant worlds, even if for today’s sci-fi writers, this may seem childish or even outdated. It says on Arthur Clarke’s epitaph,「He never grew up, but he never stopped growing.」

  Many people misunderstand sci-fi as trying to predict the future, but this is not true. It just makes a list of possibilities of what may happen in the future, like displaying a pile of cobblestones of imagination for people to see and play with. Science fiction can never tell which possible future will actually become the real future. This is not its job. It’s also beyond its capabilities.

  But one thing is certain: in the long run, for all these countless possible futures, any future without space travel is gloomy, no matter how prosperous our own planet becomes.

  I look forward to the day when, like the sci-fi works writing about the age of information, those about space travel finally become the ordinary. By then, Mars and the asteroid belts will be boring places and countless people are building a home over there. Jupiter and its many satellites will be tourist attractions. The only obstacle preventing people from going there for good, will be the high price.

  But even at that time, the universe is still something so big that even our wildest imagination fails to catch its edge. And even the closest star remains out of our reach. The vast ocean of stars can always carry our infinite imagination.

  Thank you all.