In November 2013, at Shenzhen Poly Theatre, Ma Huateng, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Tencent, defined the forum with "no competition, no business, only the future" at the first Tencent WE Conference.
As one of the audience members, it was difficult for me to imagine that 8 years later, the 9th Tencent Science WE Conference changed from a scientific and technological theme to a focus on pure basic science, the guests on the stage and the audience group under the stage were changing, and the physical stage was changed to online VR panoramic live broadcast, becoming a "bridge" between top scientists and the public. "WE" has also evolved from "Way to Evolve" to "WE" and "Future", focusing on the common problems faced by "we" and expanding the boundaries of more people's cognition.
From Yao Zhizhi, one of the layers of the foundation of modern cryptography and winner of the Turing Award, Pu Muming, head of the Chinese Brain Computer Program and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wang Yifang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who led the team to measure the oscillation mode of the "ghost neutrino", Shi Luping, a professor at Tsinghua University who led the team to release the world's first heterogeneous fusion brain chip "Tianji Movement", to Pan Jianwei, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who created the world's first quantum science experimental satellite "Mozi", and then to Li Tiefeng, a "post-85" professor who appeared at the WE Conference this year...
The WE Conference has witnessed the 8 years of rapid development of China's science and technology, the 8 years of talents in China's scientific and technological circles, and the 8 years of more attention and enthusiasm for basic scientific research from all walks of life, and has also become a door for ordinary people to enter science and explore the future, so that more people can look up to the stars.
Li Tiefeng, a professor of the "post-85s" and winner of the Science Exploration Prize, presented the first Chinese soft robotic fish to dive into the Mariana Trench at the WE Conference.
Sooner or later, the sky that has been looked up will become the ground under your feet
After the first WE Conference, Ma Huateng never appeared on the STAGE of the WE Conference, but became a loyal audience.
From the early focus on the breakthrough of the technology circle to pay more attention to the basic science behind the technology, the Tencent WE Conference has not stopped changing, but has always insisted on "not talking about business, only looking at the future".
At the 2016 WE conference, Peter Diamandis, co-founder of Singularity University, said: "Think more courageously, think bigger, don't build the next app that shares pictures, but solve the next biggest problem in the world."
Year after year, the WE conference explores more and more problems, more and more "looking up at the stars", and guest specifications often break the "ceiling", allowing more ordinary people to connect with top scientists who are psychologically distant.
In 2017, 75-year-old Stephen Hawking "appeared" at the WE conference for the first time after Tencent's third invitation. He said at the time: "Humans, as independent species, have existed for about two million years. Our civilization began about 10,000 years ago, and its development has been steadily accelerating. If humanity wants to continue for the next million years, we must boldly move forward and reach beyond the reach of others! ”
This year, "Cyberpunk", a high school student born in a small city in Guizhou, was 18 years old and watched Hawking's video speech at the WE conference remotely for the first time. In 2019, he was already a college student in Beijing, and he finally arrived at the WE conference site, separated from the scientists by more than ten meters, and recorded 25 pages on the spot. He wrote a letter to the WE Conference, making a wish that he would be able to share it at the conference in 2030. "In 2030, I should have graduated with a Ph.D., enough to be on the stage of the WE Conference, right?"
"Cyberpunk" message to Tencent Science WE Conference in 2019.
He also wrote: "I am not yet a scientist, but I am moving towards this goal. I don't know if I'll be able to get there, but I hope it's a wonderful story that inspires more 'stupid kids' like me to dream about themselves. ”
In 2018, after the death of Stephen Hawking, his words were widely circulated: Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet.
"We insist on holding WE continuously, that is, to let more people look up at the sky, because the sky that has been looked up will sooner or later become the ground under their feet." Such scientific beliefs are crucial, especially for teenagers. Li Hang, general manager of the marketing and public relations department of Tencent Group, said that the WE conference invited nearly 80 of the world's top scientific researchers to the stage to share the most cutting-edge achievements in the fields of astronomy, life science, biology, materials science and other fields, with a total of nearly 80 million people attending the conference through online and offline means, and a large part of the audience was teenagers.
Scientists relay and light up the world with the light of science
In recent years, the "circle of friends" of scientists at the WE Conference has become more and more extensive.
Professor Roger Penrose worked with Stephen Hawking to develop the Penrose-Hawking singularity theorem.
This year, Roger Penrose, a 90-year-old Nobel laureate in physics, attended the WE conference, becoming the oldest speaker in the history of the WE conference and having a half-hour conversation with Zhou Enzheng, a 17-year-old student at Shenzhen Middle School. Eun Jung's school has opened courses on relativity and quantum physics, and he has raised "hardcore" questions about the theory of cosmic cycles, planck scales, Hawking points, etc., which have been clearly answered by Professor Penrose.
Why did the WE Conference impress Professor Penrose? His assistant said that friends in his circle or scientists he recognized, such as Stephen Hawking, Kip Thorne (winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics), steven Weinberg (winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics), had all appeared on the WE stage, so he was willing to accept the INVITATION to the WE conference.
Brian Green said Carl Sagan inspired his curiosity as a science-loving teenager.
Brian Greene, a professor at Columbia University and a popular science writer, is one of the leading figures and a famous popular science writer at the forefront of theoretical physics, "String Theory". In the fourth season of The Big Bang Theory, he appeared as "Dr. Glay", comparing the Heisenberg uncertainty principle of quantum physics to the Chinese restaurant ordering method. As a guest speaker at the 2019 WE Conference, he said in an interview with the media in Beijing that astronomer and science expert Carl Sagan has done a lot of popular science work, inspiring his curiosity as a science-loving teenager.
"Whether in the United States or other countries, scientists have now reached the obvious conclusion: if the public does not have enthusiasm for science, scientific research funding can not be discussed; if the public does not care about science, there is no willingness to build large scientific instruments; if the public does not love science, there will be no next generation of latecomers who study science and engineering and explore the frontiers of science." Brian Green said that the scientific community needs to use the light of science to light up the world and guide people to explore the true knowledge of the world.
Li Hang said: "Many of the world's top scientists have embarked on the path of science because they were close to the masters at a very young age. We hope that through the Tencent Science WE Conference, the Youth Science Conference, and the Master Lecture Hall for Children, we will create more opportunities for children to contact scientists, plant a scientific seed for them in their youth, and stimulate their scientific dreams. ”
The spirit of science is more important than scientific knowledge
Brain burning is the most common summary of many viewers and journalists after watching the WE Conference.
The white staircase where Professor Penrose is located is the famous "Penrose Staircase", the four staircases are connected at all four corners, but each staircase is upward and can be extended infinitely.
Although this year's WE conference is the same as online live broadcast in 2020, it has created the first VR panoramic live broadcast of WeChat video number, realizing the naked-eye 360 ° panoramic visual effects, allowing the audience to "immerse" science fiction scenes such as space, the deep sea and even the Penrose Ladder with scientists. The project team also applied AR technology to make hand drawings into 3D visual effects, disassembled and recombined Roger Penrose's manuscripts and hand-draws, so that the audience could better understand the content of the speech.
These scientific knowledge that makes people look up at the stars is important, but the scientific spirit and enthusiasm conveyed by scientists are more impressive, and may also affect the audience more permanently.
Professor Genzer's speech at this year's WE Conference condensed his 40 years of research.
What shocked netizens the most was reinhard Genzel, the first astrophysicist to appear at this year's WE conference, who spent half his life studying a star with an orbital cycle of 16 years, and this star did not even have a name, only a number "S2", but revealed the darkest secret of the center of the Galaxy, winning him the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics.
What shocks about the "Transparent Black Forest" is: What if they find a black hole? What if that star is going to come again in a longer time? What if that initial assumption is wrong? "In the face of the universe and black holes, which are too far away to be touched, but can only observe or even assume and infer, they are still firm, focused, persistent, and not lost."
Professor Genzel seemed to give the answer in his speech: "For science, the hypothesis is just the beginning, and we need to test or overturn the hypothesis through experiments... Nature has been so good to us that we can't always hope to make a discovery in cosmic exploration. We can't do research through equipment like we do in a lab, but the reality is that nature does give us some stars. ”
Wang Chaoyang said that we must have the courage and perseverance to walk the road that no one has walked, and do not care too much about the thoughts and opinions of other people.
Wang Chaoyang, a member of the National Academy of Inventors and a professor at Pennsylvania State University, also shared in his speech at this year's WE conference: "As a scientist, you must have the courage and perseverance to walk the road that no one has taken, and don't care too much about the ideas and opinions of others, because innovation is always lonely." Second, simplicity is beauty. The discovery that generally has use value must be exquisite and simple. Third, honest energy. Before we make scientific discoveries and technological inventions, or even before we think independently about the work of others, we must first remember that energy is conserved. ”
Adhering to and promoting the spirit of science is considered to be the most meaningful value of the WE Conference, and it is also an important practice of Tencent's mission of "science and technology for good".
Li Hang said: "The cutting-edge scientific knowledge shared at the WE conference is indeed not understood by everyone, but whether it is understood or not is not the fundamental essence of the conference. Compared with scientific knowledge, the scientific enthusiasm and scientific spirit of the annual WE Conference are more important. The WE Conference has been held for 9 consecutive years, even during the epidemic, and it is because this scientific enthusiasm must not be cooled in the middle. ”
He said: "Making science the new fashion requires a long time. Helping popular science education, carrying forward the spirit of science, and improving the basic scientific literacy of our people is a great cause that has been achieved for a long time. The WE Conference has been held for 9 years, but it is still a small step in the long march, and we will spare no effort and stick to it for a long time. ”
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[Reporter] Ma Fang
【Photo】 Tencent Science WE Conference public number, live broadcast screenshot
【Author】 Ma Fang
【Source】 Southern Press Media Group South + client
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