January 8, 2022, marks the 80th anniversary of Stephen Hawking's birth. Although the general public knows very little about Hawking's scientific achievements, the legendary physicist's pure love for the universe and the spirit of fearless persistence still touched and encouraged many people who respected and yearned for science.
Hunan Science and Technology Publishing House presents a copy of "Love is Life: Steven Hawking's 80th Birthday Commemorative Set" to the readers of "Return to Simplicity", go to "Return to Simplicity", click "In View" and publish your impressions to the message area, as of 12:00 noon on January 15, 2022, we will choose a wonderful message and give away the set. Go to "Back to Park" and click on the mini program at the end of the article or "Read the original article" to purchase this set.
Written by | Ge Zhi
Hawking, who was born on Galileo's death, died on Einstein's birthday. As the pride of the British, Hawking's ashes were placed in Westminster Abbey in London. Coincidence with Galileo and Einstein in time, and neighbors with Newton and Darwin in space - it seems that Hawking is really a destined master of time and space.
When it comes to Hawking, it is widely known that these three things must be: the disabled, the theoretical hero, and the science popularization bull. As long as any one of them is missing, he may not be widely known. For example, Penrose and Weinberg only have the latter two, and their popularity is much worse - this is actually due to the irrationality of society and the market. Hawking is probably the only scientist alive to date to live into the 21st century and known to women and children around the world. He was the prototype of the protagonist of the award-winning film, and he also made a cameo appearance in the TV series, and he even entered the game in a wheelchair. Not to mention his popular science classic "A Brief History of Time", which has been selling well for more than 30 years and has endured for a long time, so that many books have followed the title of "Brief History", and most of them are not clumsy imitations, and some have even become classics, such as "A Brief History of All Things", "A Brief History of Mankind", and "A Brief History of Information". So some people lament that Hawking is both an outcast and a darling.
Just a year before his death (2017), Hawking visited Oxford University and left this precious historical photograph (below) with Wiles (the solver of Fermat's Last Theorem) and Penrose. All three of them were the wisest men of our time: Hawking left a place for Westminster Abbey, Wiles had a building named after him, and Penrose had floor tiles named after himself.
From left to right: Andrew John Wiles, Hawking, Roger Penrose
2022 is also a relatively important year for Hawking fans: Hawking's 80th birthday. On this occasion, as the exclusive Chinese unit that promotes Hawking and is deeply recognized by Hawking, Hunan Science and Technology Publishing House published "Love is Life: Steven Hawking's 80th Birthday Commemorative Set". I thought that Hawking's January 8th birthday will definitely have a lot of activities, the only slight regret is that this birthday is often the day when many students review the exam or even are in the process of exams.
This article does not specifically talk about Hawking's specific scientific contributions, there are many articles in this regard, nor does it discuss the specific content and style of his popular science works, but to take this commemorative moment to talk about the changes in the image of science and scientists (especially in China) since modern times, which have a direct and close relationship with the changes in values (the main indexators of scientists mentioned in this article and natural scientists mainly physicists).
The Chinese people understand Hawking's process
I vividly remember the first time I saw the "First Push Series" in bookstores in the early 1990s, including A Brief History of Time, with a black cover and red protective cover, which was particularly striking on the shelves. In fact, before that, there were three translations such as "A Concise History of Time" published by Tsinghua University Press, but they were all quiet, and the version of Hunan Science and Technology Publishing House finally became a hit. Since then, I've been following the First Push series. Classic science and popular science will not become obsolete, and the vitality of the first promotion series of books is long-lasting. Originally, I saw one copy and bought one, but later met Mr. Wu Wei of the publishing house, and I often received books from Mr. Wu (including constantly updated series of books, and there are also books that are not in the series, such as "Love is Life"). In addition, because of my work relationship, I also had a dealing with Mr. Wu Zhongchao, the translator of "A Brief History of Time" and a student of Hawking. They all happen to be surnamed Wu, reminiscent of the coincidence that Hawking and others proposed a quantum universe born out of "nothing".
"A Brief History of Time", Hunan Science and Technology Publishing House, 1992 edition 丨 Author courtesy of the author
Hawking has been to China three times, of which the second time he came to the International Congress of Mathematicians in 2002, his reputation in the hearts of the Chinese people reached its peak (I had already signed up to participate, but for some reason I could not make the trip, several friends went to the conference, and I had the honor of meeting Hawking and Nash). Although Hawking's most interesting feature is his disability, he is widely recognized by the Chinese people from "A Brief History of Time". When he first came to China in 1985, A Brief History of Time had not yet been published, and the itinerary was almost silent. But when he came to China for the second time, "A Brief History of Time" has been a bestseller in the world for a long time, and Hawking has long been famous all over the world. However, we must also see that the status of science and scientists in the hearts of the Chinese people was still quite high in 1985, and when Hawking came to China twice, it was slightly lower (this is also an inevitable process, in the 1980s, shortly after the end of the "Cultural Revolution", everyone paid more attention to spirit and ideals, and later people paid more attention to material, I believe that things must be reversed, so they will not go on indefinitely). This can also be explained as a kind of "ahead" effect: today's rise in the status of science and scientists has hawking's contributions (scientific enlightenment should start from dolls, many of the people who listened to Hawking's speeches in those years were primary and secondary school students, and now many of them have become the backbone of society). Of course, it must also be seen that to maintain this position, it requires the joint efforts of everyone, and it is obviously unrealistic and even absurd to hope for Hawking alone.
Chinese's feelings for science and even scientists are indeed extremely complicated. In ancient times, there were few scientific concepts or theories, mainly practical techniques. Since the beginning of modern times, the status of science and scientists has been like a roller coaster. During the Qing Dynasty, many people did not look down on science and technology at all. During the May Fourth period, the country was in trouble, the status of science became very high, and after a few decades, it took a sharp turn for the worse, and many scientists were criticized as "reactionary authorities" and "white specialists" (of course, the military industry was still valued). Then came the "spring of science", scientists were elevated to a very high position, Chen Jingrun is the first (and probably the only one that many people have heard of) mathematicians of our generation. And then, there was a decline. In the 1980s, when schools talked about ideals, almost everyone wanted to be a scientist, and after 2000, less than 20% of them. Only recently, due to the progress of quantum physics and artificial intelligence, which has received strong support from business leaders and governments, the status of science in people's hearts has risen.
The West has also had ups and downs in its approach to science, but the cycles are long and different from ours — at least in ancient times. Ancient Greece can be called the first civilization to raise the banner of science, mainly the role of Thales, Pythagoras, Plato and others (other ancient civilizations, even if they have science and technology, the vast majority of them have long been lost or entered the museum, but the ancient Greek ideas, including science, are not - this is jaspers said "Axial Age" - not only at that time very famous, but still deeply affect people's ideas), but later Rome and medieval Europe are the world of another people, Ideas and ideas are inherently different, and it is normal that they do not want to see science. Then came the Renaissance, Plato's doctrine was "reborn", Platonism was of course a very large ideological system, the main point of view is a kind of elitist statecraft, scientists are typical elite, so the status of science is unprecedentedly high, but also produced scientism. Until the 20th century, due to a series of reasons such as environmental pollution, science and technology, especially scientism, were impacted. From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance to the modern and even postmodern, Western civilization has basically not broken, so strictly speaking, their attitude toward science has only changed twice, and our civilization has never been broken, and the mainstream attitude toward science and scientists has changed three times (subdivided five times) in just over a hundred years.
Of course, all transitions tend to be maximized by the amplitude of the first and second, and the amplitude after that is relatively small. The critique of science and technology in Western cultures in recent decades is far from (and should not be) what science and scientists are: the Nobel Prize is still true, and no scientist has been doomed by Bruno. We too, from the spring of science in the 1980s, to the later snubbing of science and scientists, and now the recovery, after all, is not a big ups and downs, in the language of stocks, is a slight decline (so our last three times under the rough division can actually be merged into one). Of the five subdivision transitions, I myself have experienced three.
Here are some of the characteristics of these changes in a little detail.
A brief history of star scientists
History tends to move from one extreme to the other and then slowly returns to normality; when it reaches the other, it still cannot completely eliminate the effects of the former. For example, at the end of the 1970s, China's scientists suddenly changed from stinky old nine to fragrant food, and the status was rebounded, but as the saying goes, the ignorant are fearless, and the blind self-confidence left over from the past has been exposed. Some people claimed to have solved some conjectures, while others claimed that Einstein and Chen Jingrun were wrong (although they would no longer be suppressed politically, but there were still some scientific "criticisms of their mistakes"), and there were many who disturbed Chen Jingrun. Even until the 1980s, the biographies of scientists were stuffed with the names of a large number of modern Chinese scientists, alongside Newton, Darwin, and so on. The Soviet Union also had this "problem" – I went through the biographies of scientists they wrote, and at least half of the scientists in their own country.
Folk scientists only know a few concepts that modern science is most familiar with, and among the living scientists, they only know "star scientists". In China, star scientists probably appeared in the 1980s, that is, when I was in primary and secondary school, which was the need and necessity of the times. In today's incomparably developed communications and media, through their own propaganda and other people's packaging, so that their words and deeds (whether related to their own line) are well known to the public, is the star scientist, it is a unique phenomenon of the era in which we are in a massive amount of information.
China's first star scientist should be Chen Jingrun (Yang Zhenning, who re-admitted to China, is today's star scientist). Chen Jingrun is in two eras, the latter era is a period of transformation, the transformation is fundamental, but still leaves the imprint of the previous era. People describe Chen Jingrun as having an "ugly duckling" experience. In foreign countries, Hawking is not the first star scientist, Feynman can also be regarded, and even Einstein has begun to have the taste of star scientists. The star scientist himself is at least an outstanding scientist, there is no goods in the stomach, and he can only deceive people who do not understand science by blind blowing, and he cannot deceive the connoisseurs.
I have to admit that in the huge amount of information, star scientists play a role in pointing the direction (for example, when I see a new work by a familiar scientist, I will not hesitate to buy it), and even encourage students to embark on the road of scientific research. Hawking's achievements are no less than Chen Jingrun's, and the degree of disability is even greater than that of Zhang Haidi (Chen Jingrun's health is not good), and it is strange that he has not become an international star scientist. Biologists such as Dawkins and Wilson are all star scientists, and Hawking is the most famous and typical one. When the vast majority of celebrities die, they generally die and have left the public eye for a long time, so everyone will not feel much when they see the report, Hawking's situation is more special, because his disability is strong, so his departure is not like an ordinary death, but a symbolic, inspirational spirit of the disappearance, causing many people to touch the heart.
However, it is also as a star scientist's brother that Hawking is often compared, and some new and old issues are discussed: one is Hawking's comparison with other science masters; one is the comparison of practical technology and theories that currently seem useless; and there is also the comparison between stars and scientists. I call them the "Three Comparisons." This section describes the first two comparisons, with the last one placed in the latter section.
Historically, scientists have generally been divided into three categories (or three levels) that exhibit an inclusion relationship:
Public scientists, that is, Newton, Darwin, Einstein and other figures written into primary and secondary school language textbooks, no more than ten, these people not only created the direction of the discipline, but also created the era, the influence far beyond the scope of science, and culture, religion and so on. Today, public scientists are essentially "extinct."
Great scientists, public scientists are also among them, in addition, such as Lavoisier, Kepler, Maxwell, Gauss, Bohr, etc., the intelligence is not lower than that of public scientists, because it has greatly promoted the progress of science, enjoy a prominent position, but the influence is basically not beyond the scope of science, and the popularity is significantly reduced. Great scientists are also very rare today.
Outstanding scientists, in fact, also include the above two categories, mainly the general Nobel Laureates, Fields Medal winners or academicians of famous universities, doctoral supervisors, etc., the wisdom may not be lower than the above two categories, but due to historical opportunities and other factors, there is no opportunity to discover new mineral deposits, can only work hard to excavate, make in-depth results. Less media attention.
In addition, to measure a scientist, there is a comprehensive evaluation of direct influence, derivative influence, and individual academic ability. Euclid and Newton had a higher direct influence than Darwin (based on what was learned in school). Darwin's derivative influence is very large, obviously surpassing Euler and Gauss, but in terms of personal academic skills, Gauss and Euler should be no less than any other person.
Hawking's achievements in theoretical physics were first-rate, but that's not to say he could match Einstein. Einstein and Newton were fortunate to be in the period of the scientific revolution. Therefore, it is not particularly appropriate to compare Hawking with them, and Hawking should be compared with the scientists of his contemporaries. Contemporaries of scientists and even contemporaries of theoretical physicists, there are many achievements are not under Hawking, not to mention Nobel Prize, Fields Medal winners, even those young visiting scholars are not "vegetarian". But the media will not favor them, they have nothing "legendary" to speak of.
Hawking's life's words and deeds and legends are fully in line with his characteristics as a star scientist. As for his remarks on artificial intelligence, the greenhouse effect, etc., it is a halo effect. Hawking's warnings in this regard are not particularly insightful, but celebrities speak with their own media, and there are even many words that others say on his head.
As for theory and practice, no simple comparison can be made. For example, nuclear magnetic resonance technology, this technology has won several Nobel Prizes, you say important or not? Is medicine important or Hawking's theory important? Obviously, at least for now, we can do without Hawking's theory, but not without medicine! But on the other hand, medicine mainly solves the problem of human life and health, but people live not only to live healthily, people have many spiritual pursuits. The cosmology of Hawking and others has stimulated human imagination and curiosity to the greatest extent, and has far-reaching significance for improving human insight and spirituality, which is something that nuclear magnetic resonance technology cannot do, after all, no invention or discovery can bear all the value.
Meiya: Higher than cultural consumption
Today, there are certainly not many people bothering Hawking.
Compared with Chen Jingrun, what is Hawking's position in people's minds? My answer is that, of course, it is much higher than Chen Jingrun in the era of intellectuals in the "stinky old nine", but it may not be better than Chen Jingrun in the "science spring".
However, this is progress.
When Hawking became popular in China, it was when the Chinese market economy began to develop, and the main body that accepted him was the post-65 to post-90s, and they did not have such concepts as criticizing and overthrowing in their minds. In addition, the one or two generations since the beginning of 65 have a better education, so there are few people who are eager to try hawking. In contrast, claiming to prove the Goldbach conjecture or the success of the three equal angles, inventing perpetual motion machines, etc. are too much, making big jokes and not knowing it.
Hawking's bestseller "took the lead." It is undeniable that Hawking's ability to leave a name in history is mainly due to his achievements, followed by inspirational spirit, and finally popular science books, but in the minds of ordinary people, this order is just the opposite: first read popular science books, then understand his disability, and finally achieve (most people do not know).
But this does not mean that Hawking can become a role model for everyone like Chen Jingrun (although this role model has a negative effect - ignoring the gap and producing civil science), however, this shows that society has begun to leave the other extreme, which is precisely a kind of progress.
Since free society is based on consumption, although it is much better than "criticizing" and "overthrowing", from the perspective of consumption, it is unlikely to respect the object of consumption too much (modern people are narcissistic!). ）。 But Hawking has achievements there! As a result, some people have coined the term "mesmerizing", which is the opposite of kitsch. Of course, today, consumption is always the foundation, and since other scientists have no possibility of being consumed, they have lost the basis of being collectively mesmerized (but it is still possible to be respected by a few).
The concept of "cultural consumption" is not unfamiliar to everyone, and Yu Dan is a typical one. Hawking's situation is different, he is a real scholar, but "A Brief History of Time" takes a completely market route. Hawking's fame and influence and income are far beyond those of scientists who are no less than his, but I don't think others are jealous. Hawking made science more interesting, what's so bad about it? How big Hawking's achievements are, and time determines the most just, which can also be regarded as a kind of "historical determinism".
Although Hawking is not a god worshipped by people, he is also a star scientist who is collectively charming, and compared with Chen Jingrun, everyone respects that he is not under Hawking, but he is often too disrespectful to his profession. At this time, someone jumped out and said, why is it Meiya? I don't know anything but I'm there! To understand Hawking's theory yourself is to have the greatest respect for Hawking. That being said, at least today, the gap between Hawking's academic level and the general public is difficult to change. After achieving the "spiritual common prosperity" and achieving a high degree of development of artificial intelligence and biotechnology, there is definitely no way at present. In this respect, the mesmerizing of those who do not understand physics but like a brief history of time and think that Hawking is as great as Einstein is understandable.
The readability of "A Brief History of Time" is still relatively strong, in contrast, the scientific meta-classic series is really impossible to read, but this book also sells very well. I'm not 100% in favor of the phrase "to buy a book is to read." Under the premise of economic ability, you can buy a little book that you can't understand and put it at home, which is Meiya. You can say that Meiya is a kind of vanity, but also a kind of cultural consumption in a broad sense, but on the other hand, it is much better than criticizing and fighting, and Meiya at least admits that the gap between herself and experts is a little higher than pure cultural consumption.
When we criticize and knock down a person, we must adopt a downward posture; the spring of science "rebounds" - almost right angled upwards; cultural consumption, which is basically in a heads-up posture; and Meiya, with a little angle of upward looking. People's attitude towards the great scientist is generally more and more correct, but it is still lacking.
However, we can only go to the step of Meiya now! Hawking's departure, like Bolt's departure from the track and field, will be a bit silent in the tech world for a long time, unless there is another revolutionary breakthrough or a legend.
In fact, there has always been a confrontation between the Academic School and the market in the West. No matter how much "Harry Potter" sold, Rowling estimated that she would have won the Nobel Prize in her life, if she could have won it earlier. The problem is that this opposition seems to maintain a relatively good tension. Because our country has been poor for thousands of years, once it is opened, many ideas and concepts are immature, so there will be more extreme mentalities such as cynicism and kitsch on the other. After Chen Jingrun became widely known, there were also two extreme voices, one was to lift him up to heaven, saying that he studied hard and won glory for the country; the other was to laugh at him for being stupid, not understanding life, and only studying useless mathematical problems. The situation is much better now, everyone is more tolerant, and almost no one is staring at Hawking's theory and asking "what is the use?"
What is particularly interesting is that the values of the big bull of science have infected some entrepreneurs who seem to have completely opposite views, such as Kazuo Inamori, Run Run Shaw, Zuckerberg, Milner, Jack Ma, Ma Huateng, Ren Zhengfei, etc., who do not hesitate to pay a lot of money to appoint and reward scientists, including Hawking. This reflects the vision and insight of entrepreneurs, who also see the flaws in the market – it is difficult to evaluate original scientific achievements. One might argue that those entrepreneurs reward scientists with the hope that more scientific achievements will be better translated into commercial value, but don't forget that there are many awards for purely theoretical research.
In fact, the reverence or neglect of science and scientists, as well as the contradiction between academia and the market, all originate from the West. China has no scientists in the traditional sense, some are skilled craftsmen, and it is impossible to be respected; in addition, there is no mature market. So in this sense, scientists are not as good as stars, some people are not satisfied, for specific individuals is a lack of rationality, but for society as a whole is not meaningless. For people who are far from the market and do not get benefits, complaining is inevitable, and it is a little abnormal not to complain. If a person complains intellectually and can accept it intellectually, it is not impossible, but it is a little strange.
Fortunately, the market did not completely engulf academic and cultural people, but maintained the necessary tension and gave them the space to survive. However, in general, the power of the market is still too large (the market's "tide-making" entrepreneurs reward pure theoretical scientists, which seems to be contrary to the laws of the market), and the effect of people's efforts is still not enough. If the market dominates the world and the materialization is seriously involved, then Hawking can only be consumed by culture. Meiya may be seen as the result of the conflict and integration of market and spiritual and cultural values.
How far is Hawking fever from the general attention of basic science?
Hawking has been hot for nearly 30 years, but does Hawking really show that basic science is valued?
The more reasonable answer is: not very good, but heat is better than not hot, meiya is better than not mesmerizing, better than pure cultural consumption. If you want to look to the future, you must recognize meiya's shortcomings.
After Hawking's death, let's see who jumped out to mourn publicly: the business world, the technology world, the media, but the math and physics worlds? Relative silence. Hawking is simply seen as one of the preeminent physicists of our time. In a country like China, which once flourished in worship, it is more likely to cause everyone's "madness". In Europe and the United States, even the Nobel Laureates usually do not have many people to take care of it, and they are praised as soon as they arrive in China. However, I think this is because China currently has too few Nobel Prizes, and it will become more and more rational in the future.
For now, we still need star scientists – if anything better than nothing. Many of the world's inventors are obscure compared to those who play tricks and write, but they may be more important, and we must always be grateful while enjoying the convenience of life. We need Hawking, and we need thousands of healthy Hawkings and more publicity.
If Einstein is the representative of modern scientists, then Hawking is the representative of contemporary scientists, postmodern scientists. The post-60s and post-70s generation always feel that Einstein really has ideas, but the world is only focused on accepting his scientific achievements in the end, and does not pay much attention to his social ideals, which must have a profound reason. Perhaps Einstein's values sat on the "last train" of Platonism (at least he knew he couldn't be a politician)? Plato's situation today is somewhat similar to Confucius's, and people have invited him down from the altar, and even denied him to a certain extent, on the other hand, his influence is actually not small, and may not even disappear. Specifically, it is widely believed that the world wars of the 20th century were a decisive battle around which, including elitism, followed by the world's entry into postmodernism. Science and technology are still developed, but Platonism has fallen out of favor. Maybe it will be another 50, 100 years before we can see what this profound change really means, of which artificial intelligence is the biggest variable.
When I first learned that Hawking cared about artificial intelligence in his later years, I think many people will have such a question for the first time: artificial intelligence is not Hawking's profession, hawking does not have to rely on artificial intelligence to rub heat, so what is Hawking for? Perhaps such an answer is more appropriate: Hawking is a scholar who cares about the future and destiny of mankind. I think it is very appropriate to use one word to describe it, that is, "cultural self-awareness", which is a gene that has always been implicit in the way of thinking of great scientists of every era.
I also believe that this time is different – scientists and basic science are valued again, but it must not be what we were in the 1980s, nor in any era in the past. Although Meiya is still deficient, what is the better state than it? I really can't think of this, and I can only leave it to the future to answer. Really, when I think about the future, because I don't know anything, there's always an indescribable feeling: a little confused, but full of anticipation.