Nullius in Verba（不轻信人言）Nullius in Verba
Naval： The Beginning of Infinity（《无穷的开始》）并不是一本容易读的书。多伊奇是写给其他物理学家和哲学家看的。他有一个自己敬重、也敬重他的同行圈子，他必须站在他们的水准上去写作。
我想理解书中的原理，以便亲自去印证或反驳它们。我喜爱皇家学会那句古老的箴言 Nullius in Verba，它的意思是"勿轻信人言"。换句话说，凡事要自己弄明白。这是认识任何事物的唯一途径。
为此，我一边读这本书，一边读相关的博客文章。后来我遇到了布雷特·霍尔，开始听他的播客 ToKCast，全称是"知识论播客"（Theory of Knowledge-Cast）。我请他来到本播客，一起讨论《无穷的开始》中的思想。
布雷特，听你的播客帮我厘清了许多原理。我很想深入探讨这些思想的深度、清晰度、广度与重要性。希望这能让某个听众变得更聪明。
Brett Hall： 你好，纳瓦尔，很高兴来到这里。你提到了《无穷的开始》中许多有趣的方面，这本书已经成了我真正的热爱。和许多进入科学领域的人一样，我在上学时想："嗯，我想当一名天文学家，所以我要上大学读物理学学位，然后再读天文学学位，最后成为一名专业天文学家。"
有一天，我在书店里拿起戴维·多伊奇的 The Fabric of Reality（《真实世界的脉络》）开始读。第一章描述的正是我想在人生中实现的东西。它把我大学学业和整体人生观所关乎的东西用语言表达了出来。
多伊奇说，古代哲学家们认为自己能够理解整个世界。但随着时间推移，现代科学让这件事看起来像是一个不可能完成的计划。你不可能理解关于现实的一切。要知道的东西太多了。
你怎么可能知道一切？
Naval: The Beginning of Infinity is not an easy book to read. Deutsch wrote it for other physicists and philosophers. He has a certain peer group that he respects, and that respects him, and he has to meet them at their level.
I wanted to understand the principles in the book so I could confirm or refute them for myself. I love the old motto from the Royal Society, “Nullius in Verba,” which means, “Take no one’s word for it.” In other words, figure it out yourself. That’s the only way to know anything.
To do that, I was reading the book and started reading blog posts on it. Eventually I came across Brett Hall and started listening to his podcast, ToKCast, which stands for the “Theory of Knowledge-Cast.” I’ve brought him on this podcast to discuss the ideas in The Beginning of Infinity.
Brett, listening to your podcast helped me clarify a lot of these principles. I would love to explore the depth, clarity, reach, and importance of these ideas. Then hopefully someone out there can become smarter by it.
Brett Hall: Hello Naval, it’s great to be here. You’ve raised so many interesting aspects of The Beginning of Infinity, which has become a real passion of mine. Like a lot of people who enter science, when I was at school I thought, “Well, I want to be an astronomer, so I’ll go to a university and do a physics degree, then do an astronomy degree, and then become a professional astronomer.”
One day I picked up David Deutsch’s The Fabric of Reality in a bookstore and started reading it. The first chapter described what I was trying to achieve in my life. It was putting into words what I felt my university studies and my general outlook on life was about.
Deutsch says that the ancient philosophers thought they could get an understanding of the entire world. As time passed, though, modern science made it seem as though this was an impossible project. There’s no way you could understand everything about reality. There’s too much to know.
How could you possibly know everything?