首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Douglas Adams, the late lamented author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, dreamed up many comic creations. One of his gre
Douglas Adams, the late lamented author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, dreamed up many comic creations. One of his gre
admin
2015-07-27
48
问题
Douglas Adams, the late lamented author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, dreamed up many comic creations. One of his greatest was the Babel fish. This interstellar ichthyoid neatly disposed of a problem all science-fiction authors have: how to let alien species talk to one another. It did so by acting as a mind-reader that translated thoughts between different races and cultures. Universal communication did not, unfortunately, lead to universal harmony. As Adams put it, "The poor Babel fish has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation."
For the moment, mind-reading is still science fiction. But that may not be true for much longer. Several lines of inquiry are converging on the idea that the neurological activity of the brain can be decoded directly, and people’s thoughts revealed without being spoken.
Just imagine the potential benefits. Such a development would allow both the fit and the disabled to operate machines merely by choosing what they want those machines to do. It would permit the profoundly handicapped — those paralysed by conditions such as motor-neuron disease and cerebral palsy — to communicate more easily than is now possible even with the text-based speech engines used by the likes of Stephen Hawking. It might unlock the mental prisons of people apparently in comas, who nevertheless show some signs of neural activity. For the able-bodied, it could allow workers to dictate documents silently to computers simply by thinking about what they want to say. The most profound implication, however, is that it would abolish the ability to lie.
Who could object to that? You shall not bear false witness. Tell the truth, and shame the Devil. Transparency, management-speak for honesty, is put forward as the answer to most of today’s ills. But the truth of the matter — honestly — is that this would lead to disaster, for lying is at the heart of civilisation.
People are not the only creatures who lie. Species from squids to chimpanzees have been caught doing it from time to time. But only Homo sapiens has turned lying into an art. Call it diplomacy, public relations or simple good manners: lying is one of the things that makes the world go round.
The occasional untruth makes domestic life possible ("Of course your bum doesn’t look big in that."), is essential in the office ("Don’t worry, everybody’s behind you on this one."), and forms a crucial part of parenting ("It didn’t matter that you forgot your words and your costume fell off. You were wonderful."). Politics might be more entertaining without lies — "The prime minister has my full support" would be translated as, "If that half-wit persists in this insane course we’ll all be out on our ears" — but a party system would be hard to sustain without the semblance of loyalty that dishonesty permits.
The truly scary prospect, however, is the effect mind-reading would have on relations between the state and the individual. In a world in which the authorities could divine people’s thoughts, speaking truth to power would no longer be brave: it would be unavoidable.
Information technology already means that physical privacy has become a scarce commodity. Websites track your interests and purchases. Mobile phones give away your location. Video cameras record what you are up to. Lose mental privacy as well, and there really will be nowhere to hide.
From the first two paragraphs, we know that mind-readers
选项
A、only exist in comedies.
B、might soon become real.
C、would not be able to speak.
D、should be trained neurologists.
答案
B
解析
事实细节题。文章首段提到道格拉斯创作了很多喜剧角色,其中巴别鱼会读心术,这并不能说明读心术者只存在于喜剧中,排除[A]。第二段指出读心术暂时还只存在于科幻作品中,但不久的将来就不见得如此了。接着用一系列的研究说明了这一点。因此可以得知,mind-reads有可能不久就会变成事实,[B]是答案。[C]无从推断;从前两段也无法推断将来的读心术者一定都是经过训练的神经学家,排除[D]。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/UQYYFFFM
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Thiswasthecapital’smostanxiousweeksinceSeptember11th.OnMondaythegovernmentissuedaredalertthatterroristattac
Thequestionofwhetherwarisinevitableisonewhichhasconcernedmanygreatwriters.Beforeconsideringthequestion,itwi
______markstheturningpointofAmericanCivilWar.
Theclassicsemantictriangleortriangleofsignificancemainlyillustratestheviewof
Anovertimpactofmodeminformationsystemsconcernstheindividual’sstandardandstyleofliving.Informationsystemsaffect
Anovertimpactofmodeminformationsystemsconcernstheindividual’sstandardandstyleofliving.Informationsystemsaffect
That"behindthethinmarblefrontwereconcreteandsteel"suggeststhat______.Theauthor’sattitudetothecafeis______.
HowoftendidtheHeadofGovernmentoftheCommonwealthusuallymeetforexchangeofideas?
TheRomansremainedincontrolofBritainfornearly400yearsandtheypulledoutin______.
Thereiswidespreadconsensusamongscholarsthatsecondlanguageacquisition(MB1SLA)emergedasadistinctfieldofresearchfro
随机试题
王某所在单位派其出国考察,在办理出国手续时才发现5年前申领的护照已经过期,王某遂通过其在公安局出入境管理处工作的好友张某补办了延期手续。请根据《行政许可法》的规定分析下列问题:公安部门对王某已经过期的护照应当如何处理?
气割前的装备工作有哪些?
WhatdowemeanbyaperfectEnglishpronunciation?Inone【C1】______thereareasmanydifferentkindsofEnglishastherearesp
(2007年第103题)下列选项中,提示骨肿瘤为恶性的X线表现是
流行性出血热的典型临床表现为
B细胞分化成熟的场所是
患者,男,45岁。因突然呕血入院。10年前患乙肝,因肝功能损害曾多次住院治疗。近感腹胀、乏力。查体:脾大、腹水。应首先考虑的是
申请专利的发明创造,在申请日前6个月内,(),不丧失新颖性。
胡某为某有限责任公司的股东,持有该公司12%的表决权。胡某与公司的另外两个股东经常有矛盾,已有两年未开公司股东会,公司经营管理出现严重困难,胡某与其他股东多次协商未果。根据公司法律制度的规定,胡某可以采取的解决措施有()。
TheEarth’sdailyclock,measuredinasinglerevolution,istwenty-fourhours.Thehumanclock,【C1】______,isactuallyaboutt
最新回复
(
0
)