Another debatable question arises when one contemplates the whole biosphere, the conjoined life of the earth. How could it have turned out to possess such stability and coherence, resembling as it does a sort of enormous developing embryo, with nothing but chance events to determine its emergence? Lovelock and Margulis, facing this problem, have proposed the Gaia Hypothesis, which is, in brief, that the earth is itself a form of life, "a complex entity involving the Earth's biosphere, atmosphere, oceans and soil; the totality constituting a feedback or cybernetic system which seeks an optimal physical and chemical environment for life on this planet." Lovelock postulates, in addition, that "the physical and chemical condition of the surface of the Earth, of the atmosphere, and of the oceans has been an is activelymade fit and comfortable by the presence of life itself."
当我们把整个生物圈，即地球上连在一起的整个生命加以仔细考虑时，就会出现另外一个可争论的问题。在只有偶然事件起决定作用的情况下，地球生物圈怎么会像一种巨大的发育着的胚胎一样，具有如此的稳定性和一致性呢？面对这一问题，洛夫洛克和马古利斯提出了盖亚假说。简言之，这个假说认为，地球本身是一种生命形式，“一个复杂的统一体，它包括地球生物圈、大气层、海洋和土壤；其总和构成一个反馈或控制系统，这个系统为地球上的生命寻求最佳的物理和化学环境。”洛夫洛克还假定，“生命本身的存在一直而且现在仍然积极在使地球表面、大气层和海洋的物理及化学条件变得适宜和舒服。”
This notion is beginning to stir up a few signs of storm, and if it catches on, as I think it will, we will soon find the biological community split into fuming factions, one side saying that the evolved biosphere displays evidences of design and purpose, the other decrying such heresy. I believe that students should learn as much as they can about the argument.
一些迹象表明这一见解已开始激起风暴。如果这一见解流行起来——我认为会这样的——我们不久就会见到生物学界分裂为怒气冲冲的两派，一派说，生物圈的进化显示出是有计划有意图地进行的，而另一派则诋毁这种异端邪说。我认为学生应该尽可能多地了解这一争论。
One more current battle involving the unknown is between sociobiologists and antisociobiologists, and it is a marvel for students to behold. To observe, in open-mouthed astonishment, onegroup of highly intelligent, beautifully trained, knowledgeable, and imaginative scientists maintaining that all behavior, animal and human, is governed exclusively by genes, and another group of equally talented scientists asserting that all behaviors is set and determined by the environment or by culture, is an educational experience that no college student should be allowed to miss. The essential lesson to be learned has nothing to do with the relative validity of the facts underlying the argument. It is the argument itself that is the education: we do not yet know enough to settle such questions.
目前正在进行的也是牵涉到未知世界的另一场论战，是在社会生物学家和反社会生物学家之间进行的。这是一个可使学生大开眼界的绝妙事例。一群极其聪明的、受过良好训练的、知识渊博、富于想像的科学家坚持认为，一切行为，不管是动物的还是人类的，都完全是由基因支配的，而另一群同样才气横溢的科学家则断言，一切行为都是由环境或文化所决定的。这场会使人看得目瞪口呆的争论，很有教育意义，任何一个大学生都不应该错过观看的机会。这里要学的至关重要的一课，与论据相对说来是否可靠并无关系。争论本身才是教育意义之所在：迄今为止，我们的知识还不足以解决这样的一些问题。
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