One book per week
Let's read and live a full life
People are born with a fear of the unknown. For new things, most people will subconsciously deny it when they do not understand, although questioning is one of the scientific spirits, but speculation is more important scientific spirit. To eliminate ignorance and fallacy, we must bridge the knowledge gap between scientists and the public and ensure that everyone is on the same platform and in the same language. Therefore, on the topic of life, we must have a unified understanding and understanding.
21 Reading
On April 19, 2022, Yin Ye, CEO of BGI Group and author of the "Code of Life" series, and Yu Minhong, founder of New Oriental, conducted a live broadcast on Douyin to discuss issues such as emotions, genes, reading, career choices, scientific innovation, death, and free will.
On April 19, 2022, Yu Minhong, founder of New Oriental, and Yin Ye, CEO of Huada Group and author of the "Code of Life" series, conducted a live broadcast of Lianmai on Douyin.
01
About emotion regulation
Yu Minhong: You said that emotions can change genes, so be happy, stay away from scum, stay away from broken things. So how do we stay in good mood? How do I adjust my body to good condition?
Yin Ye: In fact, the best way to improve immunity is not to eat health care products, but to do three things, the first is to sleep well, the second is appropriate exercise, and the last one is to stay happy.
These few things sound simple, but in fact they are still very difficult. For example, sleep should be regular.
The second is to develop the habit of exercising, sometimes you don't want to exercise, it is precisely when you need to exercise, people have to fight against their own laziness.
The last one is to maintain a positive attitude even if you encounter any problems. If you feel a shadow in front of you, turn back, because there is sunlight in the back, and you will turn the direction over.
Yu Minhong: When everyone is facing great pressure, the ability to build happy emotions or the opportunity to release their own stress is very small, in the face of such a state, from the perspective of regulating people's physical condition, what kind of advice do you give to everyone?
Yin Ye: First of all, people are social animals. Except for some philosophers and scientists who may need to find this peace in the natural sciences or in their own flow, which can be isolated, the vast majority of people have to be solved. If you particularly want to live alone, please bring a pet with you.
I have talked about pro-life, I hope that there is a life to reflect my life is also beautiful, and I also feel the beauty of life in the process of taking care of others.
If this is not the case, I recommend that everyone should still live in a big family, even if everyone may not be physically spatially together, but they can still get spiritual comfort through communication at a spatial distance. At the same time, keep hopeful even when things are difficult.
In fact, many people are not afraid of death, but afraid of living, and then think about it to a large extent, on the one hand, we have to always be close to positive energy, on the other hand, we also have to find some lofty things for ourselves to do, such as reading books.
02
About reading and learning
Yu Minhong: It is particularly important for people to be enthusiastic about life, it can resist you a hundred negative emotions, a thousand negative emotions, because as long as you still have thoughts about the future, as long as you are enthusiastic about what you are doing in front of you, as long as you still have confidence in the people around you or trust, I think no matter how difficult life is, it is enough to get through.
When I'm reading a book, I actually feel like I'm already communicating with people, and although the book isn't alive, it's actually talking to you, and you're thinking and talking to it, and you can confirm that you're right.
If I say that I don't know what I'm reading, I feel like a mentor and friend giving me a lecture, but I actually feel a kind of happiness in connecting my brain to other people's brains.
Reading this thing has a positive effect on a person's mind. But now many people connect with the world through virtual means, and people seem to be more and more trapped in the middle of the virtual world in the future, slowly disconnected from the real world, in this case, how do you think people and people should get along?
Yin Ye: Now the circle of connections is larger, but in fact, according to the "Dunbar number" law, people have a stable social limit of about 150 people in their lifetime. In the workplace, there are about ten people connected, and the average efficient manager connects almost seven people. In the process, how can we enhance real-world empathy in a virtual world?
We will look for a state of flow in the book, which from a biological point of view, is to make a connection between some neurons that we were not good at before, to produce some new synapses, and to make us understand a new field of content. Archimedes said "Eureka" when he learned about the law of buoyancy in the bathtub, which is actually "I know.".
In fact, when we read a lot of books, we also pat our thighs, which is the case! In fact, it is true that we do not necessarily have to interact with the real world to improve empathy, but it must be that the level of contact with the thing is high enough.
Technology will always progress, and our technology today is obviously unimaginable compared to 30 years ago, but I firmly believe that people in 20 years will feel old when they watch today's live connection. Maybe you're already connected in a virtual world by shaking hands and dancing.
What I want to say is that in the process of climbing the natural sciences, we must use a lot of humanities to water. Because humanity without technology may be ignorant, but technology without humanity must be dangerous.
Yu Minhong: You are actually a particularly positive, optimistic, positive person, how can you maintain such a positive and optimistic attitude in you? I believe that you will also encounter all kinds of troubles in your life, or confusion, or loss, what kind of method do you regulate yourself?
Yin Ye: I really rely on reading books to mediate, I am happy, I read books, I am sad, I also read books. If you give me three or four hours to read three or five books, that's a very happy moment for me, no matter what the content of that writing is, but I can find a lot of power in it.
Rationality is the ultimate sensibility. That is to say, if you do what you want to do the most in your heart to the extreme, it becomes rational.
So it's still what I just said, as long as I have a shadow in front of me, I know that I have a shadow, because there is light coming from behind, so I can definitely see the light in one direction.
Since I can't handle this matter today, I can't handle this customer, I may also be scolded by the boss, or I may make the people around me feel sad, or I have made a date because of a very important matter, but he can't stop me from pursuing the freedom to be happy.
It's actually you've closed yourself off yourself, so what to do? When I encounter troubles and things that I can't suppress in my heart, I also know that I can't solve it for the time being, and I can only calm my mood when I read a book, otherwise I can't calm down at all.
Yu Minhong: How can you sit down and read for hours?
Yin Ye: One thing is very important, I rarely read a book into several times, and then the thick book is read at once, this thinking will be continuous, and vice versa, it is also the most efficient.
Today, I just have to open this book and I will finish it. What do you mean? It is that I understand that I have to complete the definite action at a certain time, and the efficiency of reading the book will be particularly concentrated.
And we all know that when there is a mutual touch relationship with the author or with the text, reading a book can be read very quickly. Of course, I want to emphasize a point here, because I basically read my professional books, and if you say that I read a different book, I don't have this skill.
In fact, in the middle of any field, if you are interested, read any book, and the book will be dragged, and you continue to dig deeper, like digging a well, until finally you can dig through it, until the real spring comes out.
Many people let me talk about reading habits, I will generally say that you first improve the speed of reading, if you read two pages of books a day, don't waste this time, you must read well without seeking much understanding.
We have all learned this before, not to seek much solution is to read it first, be sure to read the speed of reading, and then turn the daily reading into your positive energy feedback, strengthen your nerve circuits, and then you will have an endorphin reward stimulation every day when you read, and you will be happier and happier when you read.
Yu Minhong: Very right, if you can read a book at a relatively fast speed, you will have a sense of accomplishment. The sense of accomplishment and the heart have both a complete view of the book and a new concept of accepting some new ideas, while also allowing you to feel a sense of inner comfort.
I found that when you give a speech, a lot of ancient poetry is also handy, you are not only proficient in science and biology, but also have a deep foundation in humanities, how do you do it?
Yin Ye: Knowledge actually has no liberal arts, the two of us have not exchanged books, but the habit is a high degree of convergence, which is called convergence evolution in biology, that is to say, we all help ourselves to evolve in the same way.
In fact, before the age of 38, I read more books in my major, but after the age of 38, I did read philosophy books, including some literature books. Because I think the path these sages have traveled in the past can give me a lot of insights and touches.
Yu Minhong: Does this mean that your thinking height or thinking mode cuts to another level, because if you only read professional books, the depth and breadth you can dig in the end is limited.
After reaching a certain level of professionalism, when you rise to the philosophical level and look back at the profession you are engaged in, you can get some new insights and feelings, or in a sense, your life realm or view of life has entered another level.
Some physicists have begun to study religion, is this an expression of concern for the ultimate fate of man?
Yin Ye: Yes, in fact, we are all the same, that is, the larger your circle of knowledge, the more you know, and conversely, the more you don't know, so reading books will not make us omniscient and omnipotent.
The only function of reading is to make me not afraid of the unknown, and when faced with the unknown, you have the ability to make up for your unknown.
Recently, there is a book called "Brain Biography", which has a key sentence written in it, "I don't know anything about the brain", you can't just read professional books, just read professional books, you really see a bookcase.
We have a very important word in logic or in mathematics called orthogonal information, such as north-south east-west which is called orthogonal information, because these two directions are not in the same direction at all. So the more orthogonal information, the more certain we will be about that thing, because it's determined again.
So we sometimes try a whole new field, so that our three views (worldview, values, outlook on life) can produce a more determined, then this steadfastness itself does not mean that we can do everything.
On the other hand, I admit that I am small, and I admit that I want to attain an equality with all beings, with all things, to solve the confusion of my life.
In this sense, we humans are religious, that is, we believe that there is a god (i.e., regularity) that rises three feet. Whether it's Einstein or Newton, we're the same. No matter how smart you are, there are things you don't know outside the boundaries, so in this process you will understand that the more you know, the more you will regurgitate.
But what to do? We may have to negotiate with ourselves again, we may not need to know, but as long as I enter an inch I have nearly an inch of surprise, I talk more about a paragraph of confidence, in this process you become a self-comparison with yourself, I only compare with yesterday, this is a good state of self-consistency.
How do we get self-consistency with the outside world?
I often say that to explore the grandeur of heaven and earth, you can feel the humility of human beings, really go to the mountains to see the trees that are tens of meters high, climb a very high mountain, and experience the natural feeling of "the heavens and the earth have great beauty without words" between the mountains and the sea. Then you will understand that all beings are equal, and then there will be a view of transcendence from birth and death.
Yu Minhong: When a person can put himself at ease, not above everything, nor inferior to the dust, he sees himself as useless, not even just the relationship between people.
The relationship between people is first of all an equal relationship, followed by a relationship of humility between each other, a relationship of help between each other, and a relationship of peaceful coexistence between each other.
But the point you just said is even more profound, in addition to the relationship between people, man and the biological world, man and nature, man and plants and living things, respect for life and the relationship of equality between each other, in fact, is also the root of enlightenment for us.
When you go to the top of nature and you find that all the creatures and plants in the middle of nature can bring you the comfort of the heart, you know that the world is not for you, but also for you, God has prepared for you everything that can heal your spiritual wounds, the key is whether you are willing to accept this feeling, right?
Yin Ye: Agree, many people say how do you grasp the future? I said, in fact, to grasp the present is to grasp the future, the future is unpredictable, but the future is today's points, so how you live today, how you live this life, this moment is free.
03
About dopamine and endorphins
Yu Minhong: From a scientific point of view, how can a person get rid of his inner complaints, or the feeling of unfairness and indignation?
Many people always attribute the unhappiness of their lives to some external reason, whether it is an organization or an individual, always feel that others have made him have a bad life, but in fact, in most cases, he can't get along with himself, how can he let himself get by?
Yin Ye:
First, we need to develop positive habits.
In the past few years, people around me, including my family, have felt that my temper is better than before, and now I will take a deep breath when I am angry, that is to say, to find some special actions for myself.
The second is to turn it back from some of our definite actions.
jogging
Running can produce a lot of endorphins, serotonin, in fact, they give themselves antidepressants, just run by yourself, but many people say that I am too late to run, there is not so much time. Then quickly do large doses of anaerobic, such as iron, push-ups, bare hands, jump rope, and after a minute the world will change.
Listen to music
Second, you can also pick a piece of music you particularly like at this point, put the sound very large, and the concert helps you tune your brain waves from disorder to normal.
Grinning teeth
The last one is particularly simple, opening my mouth in front of the mirror, revealing eight teeth, and then looking at it for three seconds, because I can't see my teeth when I speak, so I would be happy to be able to see my own teeth.
We must have our own way of liberation and keep ourselves away from these small emotions. These small emotions may bring a bad habit to yourself, and the harm to others can also be huge.
Yu Minhong: Those who usually maintain optimism, or positive energy, most of the time they are regulated by themselves, and they are not born like this.
You see I ride horses in the summer, I run on the prairie, I ski in the winter, this kind of thing gives you positive feedback, and it will definitely partially affect your endocrine, affect your genes, affect your brain circuitry, because you taste the sweetness of positive feedback. So, you're constantly looking for that kind of positive feedback.
I think if a person has the ability to look for positive feedback, the person is basically on the path to success.
Yin Ye: We only have two options: the first is called dopamine stimulation, which is stimulating feedback, such as gambling. Because this reward is a stimulus, there must be a greater reward to induce him to produce a large amount of dopamine, so the appropriate amount of dopamine is OK, more than that is poison, a poison that can seduce your soul, this can not be taken.
And what we're talking about just now is endorphin rewards, endorphin rewards achievement, it's not a dose problem, it's accomplishing something, you feel a kind of inner peace.
So these two hormones, although they are both neurotransmitters, belong to the two of our most common, but how do you use them, whether you live in the world of dopamine or in the world of endorphin rewards. Masters have learned to live in a world where they reward their achievements, and it has a material basis.
Yu Minhong: Dopamine is something that looks for stimulation, but does not necessarily have a sense of accomplishment. Endorphins are when you put in the effort that brings a sense of accomplishment and pleasure.
Yin Ye: Yes, if dopamine is low, you will be depressed, but after dopamine is high, you will enter a state of obsession, so many of our antidepressants and psychotropic drugs are adjusted around dopamine.
The human brain or intestine itself has the ability to secrete a large number of this neurotransmitter, as long as we find a state that applies to us, we can solve our physical and mental problems with half the effort.
04
About career choices
Yu Minhong: In your speech, you said that if a college student wants to choose a company after graduation, he must choose a work unit with lofty ambitions. What's the logic behind yours?
Yin Ye: I often ask my colleagues or other friends: Is it easy to do small things, or is it easy to do big things?
Many people say that it is easy to do small things, I am wrong, it is easy to do big things, and it is easy to do things big enough. Because doing big things has great gains and great achievements, high people and cattle people naturally come.
To a large extent, when people feel that they can decide on themselves, they must find something that matches your fate in this life.
When the so-called human stars shine, the luckiest thing is to find your mission in life when you are young and powerful. Just like you feel like I want to help more people study abroad, like I want to make life sciences known to more people, in that sense, I think this is a more critical part.
It's easy to do big things, you must aim high, and when you are 20 years old, you have to follow the right people, so that you have the opportunity to do these things at the age of 30.
Yu Minhong: In fact, it is not easy to do big things, at least it is as difficult to do small things as to do big things. But doing big things at least reflects your two abilities:
First, your evaluation of yourself and your expectations of yourself are very great.
After the expectations are high, you will unconsciously pay more effort. In fact, just like you climb a mountain, you climb the Fragrant Mountain, you know that it is more than 500 meters high, the strength you prepare is definitely not enough, but you have to climb Mount Tai more than 1500 meters high, the dry food you prepare and the strength you prepare will definitely be saved in advance.
Second, when you want to do big things, the collaborators, comrades-in-arms, or leaders you meet around you must all be people who do big things.
Because you can't do big things and find a person who does small things, so unconsciously you learn things from others, that is to say, Han Xin and Zhang Liang can only play their strengths if they follow Liu Bang, and their strengths under Xiang Yu cannot be played.
So it's not that it's easy to do big things, but because you have a lofty heart, the things you make itself make you feel that it's worth it.
Because you choose a larger platform, the person who plays together on this platform, his own level and standard is very high, so you have to go to them to align, probably this is the state.
05
About scientific innovation
Yu Minhong: You said, "What is the essence of human progress?" It's the next generation that doesn't listen much to the previous generation. Each generation is subverting the previous generation, and this is the inheritance of genes. Does this mean that parents and teachers should be more tolerant of disobedient children?
Yin Ye: I very much agree with that. To call for scientific and technological innovation now, especially scientific innovation, is to negate the previous science. Science does not only fight ignorance, science also fights science. A new scientific theory must be a summary, induction or even subversion of past science.
Therefore, obedient children are most likely unable to do scientific innovation. That is to say, the state cannot promote innovation, but at the same time, our education to negate everyone's different ideas, in fact, these two methodologies are not matched.
Today, we have to re-generalize, or to find out what kind of obedience and what kind of disobedience, we have to divide a point. In fact, many disobedient views, it eventually made technology a big step forward, otherwise how can it break the barriers of the past, or even this kind of prison.
So in this sense, for example, the parting of the apes is also because we and our original common ancestors did have several different mutations, which made our brains get bigger and bigger, and we eventually became human.
In this sense, human beings actually continue from generation to generation, and do not listen much to the words of the previous generation. Without listening to generations, we are getting better and better.
06
About death
Yu Minhong: When we humans pay more attention to the material world and pay more attention to material desires, or this inner desire, in fact, the heart is always hollowed out. But human beings have not paid attention to the ultimate problem of a person living in this world, and this ultimate problem is that sooner or later, people will face life, old age, illness and death.
So the question I want to ask is, when human beings face life, old age, illness and death, and then look back at the shortness of life, what kind of posture should a person take to reconcile with himself, and to reconcile with the world, so that he can live a more fulfilling life?
Yin Ye: There is a sentence in the "Death Poetry Society", and I was very shocked after reading it at that time, that is, I don't want to feel that I have not lived until I die.
In a way, Musk's recent statement is also very profound, the universe will eventually fall silent, will consume all the energy, and then stop itself.
In a way, each of us must die. But each of us is born to die. There is a basic view for people in the social sciences that death is a procedure, and without death, every birth is a tragedy.
Because of death, we human beings have begun to experience the meaning of life between this kind of life and death, between these seven passions and six desires.
So for me, the length of life is important, but I am more concerned about the breadth, abundance, depth, and temperature of life. In other words, we say "Taishang Li De, followed by meritorious service, followed by speech", that is, what should we leave for the world?
True death is not leaving the world, but no one remembers you anymore.
Think about it in turn, are Confucius, Su Shi, And Li Bai dead? No, when they were alive, they had the status of today's jianghu, he was reborn with his own context. So in that sense, we actually have an obligation to spread some positive energy to stay in the world.
Yu Minhong: I would like to ask a question, some people think that sooner or later the universe will explode again, and eventually the earth will be gone, and our human civilization will eventually disappear. Or for me, what happened on this earth when my life was lost? Whether it is possible for me personally to be mentioned is meaningless, and if I am for such a virtual thing, it is not so affordable for me, and it is not enough to support my life.
Yin Ye: In fact, this is to live or to eat. I often talk to others sometimes, since eating ends up with poop, why not eat poop directly? So this process is not interesting to encounter this kind of leverage.
What is its essence? Its essence lies in the fact that although this universe will return to nothingness and will go to the end of death, it will still not delay my purpose in this life.
Because the only purpose of life is the scenery of the journey, everything you have experienced is your whole life.
Even if the universe has no energy, the information is still there, and the bearer of information does not need energy. We don't yet know the information between matter and energy, the way in which it will permanently reside in the so-called real space, but I believe that it should be there, because life always has to be good.
07
About free will and decision
Yu Minhong: I recently read some psychology books, and the middle of the psychology books discusses the issue of free will or free consciousness.
Experiments in psychology have said that the so-called free will is not decided by yourself, because when your free will is reflected in the middle of the brain, it seems that there is already some kind of reaction on some instrument. But I've been thinking to myself, if I'm going to do a live broadcast with you tonight, isn't it my own decision? Did God set it up decades ago? In principle, it is impossible, if I want to eat this dish tonight, I will do this dish, if I am not controlled by free will, am I a doll in God's hand?
From your research, do you think that people's free will and free consciousness exist, and to what extent does this free consciousness and free consciousness control our destiny?
Yin Ye: First of all, I tend to be human beings with this consciousness, and I tend to prefer an answer that makes me feel better because I can't falsify it.
Second, the thing I can be sure of is that human beings have the right to self-veto, which means that I don't want to do anything today, you can kill me, I won't do it.
Conversely, since I can have the right to deny, I believe that I should have many options when affirming this matter, but in the process, I want to avoid myself from deceiving myself. I think this is everyone's attitude towards practice.
At the end of the day, it's that none of us want to be slaves to fate, and we still believe that fate should be in our own hands.
Yu Minhong: When a person makes a decision that is more important to his life, how can he avoid cheating himself?
Yin Ye: I think it depends on what this decision is decided, and some questions can only be asked in your heart. Some questions can indeed be thought through.
In my understanding, there are several kinds of people in each of us in this life, the first of which is the so-called high person, who can show you a way, and then there must be a noble person who can help you.
Of course, there must also be enemies that can help you progress, and there must be villains. In fact, to a large extent, we are all achieved by villains. In this sense, it is the so-called king of the teacher, the overlord of the friend, and the death of the disciple.
When we encounter particularly difficult things in our lives, it is very crucial to have teachers or senior people who can consult.
That is to say, in order to avoid encountering some problems that you can't see through, you usually have to reserve some people who you can treat him as a teacher, and then let him give you a lot of pertinent advice. This person may not be a relative, sometimes the relationship may be more distant, the so-called bystander Qing, he may give you a suggestion, will make you more like a spring breeze or refreshing.
Yu Minhong: For example, as the leader of an enterprise, if you are surrounded by flattering subordinates or villains, and no one can give you really calm advice and criticism, the enterprise may fall into some kind of danger.
Yin Ye: This is certain, because many people live in a cocoon of information created by themselves.
Yu Minhong: But as an ordinary person, I like to listen to good words and like others to obey. So how do I make a self-judgment so that any decisions I make are not deceived by myself?
Yin Ye: It's very difficult, Confucius has only done whatever he wants when he is 70 years old, and we are still far from Confucius today, so to some extent, any choice we make today must have an element of error. The key lies in people, in fact, no matter whether it is right or wrong, since you have done it, don't regret it.
People never regret what they have done, only because they have not done anything.
So when you are young, no matter what kind of choice you make, as long as it is not harmful, you will do it, and in this process, eat a long and wise, the sooner you fail, the sooner you succeed.
But the wisest people do not mean to prove what failure is through their own failure, in fact, failure is not the mother of success, success is the mother of success, looking at the failure of others, watching the lessons of others and avoiding their own failures, that is: the sergeant hears the way, acts diligently; the sergeant hears the way, half-believes; the corporal hears the way, laughs. Not smiling is not enough.
Yu Minhong: Yes, what you just said is especially true for young people. I feel like for my age, making any decision has to be more cautious and careful, and even needs to give myself a longer cooling-off period.
But for young people, there is no need to be like us, but to say that what you feel want to pursue, whether it is a person or a career, you should chase first, as long as you don't lose your life, you chase better than not chase.
Back, you don't chase back, leaving regrets, but after chasing you, you are at most a failure, and the failure itself does not have much negative impact on your future life.
Source丨On April 19, 2022, Yu Minhong, founder of New Oriental, and Yin Ye, CEO of Huada Group and author of the "Code of Life" series, conducted a live broadcast of Lianmai on Douyin. Reprinted from: Noteman; ID: Notesman
Editor 丨 Chen Si Intern Huang Jingshan
Book donation benefits
The book tells a lot of life science knowledge that is closely related to our lives, the topic is very interesting, there are many vivid and lively cases, supplemented by unique style text and accurate and exquisite illustrations, which is very suitable for showing the principles and knowledge of genetics, molecular biology, genomics, synthetic biology and other life science fields. In addition, there is no shortage of scientific interpretations of the industry's updated trends in the book, allowing readers to have a deeper understanding of life sciences.
This is a set of popular science books for the whole family to read together, and may you find new fun and direction in the world of life sciences.
The Code of Life set
Author: Yin Ye
Publisher: CITIC Publishing Group
Now, 21 Jun for everyone's welfare, free books!
How to get it?
Leave a message below this weekend reading, the top 2 readers who get the number of likes (the number of likes needs to be no less than 50) will receive a free book, at the same time, 21 Jun will select some readers who leave messages outside the top two, and also give away a free copy of the "Life Code" set.
In order to provide readers with more opportunities, the same reader can only win 1 prize every four consecutive book donation activities (the same WeChat ID, mobile phone number, and address are all regarded as the same reader)
We will contact the winning partner in the message area of this article ~ the small partner who got the gift book remember to leave your address according to the time, and the time is not waiting for Oh~
21 Jun
Friends, what do you think about the past and future of life sciences?
Come and talk to us.~