Imagination saves the world
"Why don't our schools always produce outstanding talents?" This is the famous "Qian Xuesen's Question".
"Although ancient China made many important contributions to the development of human science and technology, why did the scientific and industrial revolution not take place in modern China?" This is the famous Needham Mystery.
In recent years, when I edit books, I have collected a large number of first-hand cases of national strength and quality competitions around the world, the most shocking of which is that the International Evaluation Organization's survey of 21 countries around the world shows that Chinese children rank first in computing ability, but their creativity and imagination are at the bottom! Through the history of the major inventions that have affected mankind since the 20th century, we regret to find that none of the patents belong to the Chinese.
During the financial crisis, Friedman, an international relations columnist for The New York Times, believed that despite the terrible situation, the national strength of the United States has not declined if measured by imagination and innovation.
The famous god of war, Napoleon, once said that "imagination rules the world", this sentence is like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, directly hitting the truth, wrapping our hearts into our hearts, thinking about such questions - is our education to cultivate machines that only learn or living people with imagination and innovation?
China does not lack imagination, but lacks the cultivation of imagination. There are many reasons for this phenomenon, among which the weakness of science fiction reading cannot be ignored! Because it has both elements of science and fantasy, and the latter is more important than the former, Einstein pointed out that imagination is more important than knowledge, "because knowledge is limited, and imagination encapsulates everything in the world and drives progress." At the same time, science fiction is not only literature, it is also the embodiment of a nation's innovative power. In today's rapid depletion of energy and resources, the ability to innovate is the key to affecting the future development of a country and a nation. From the epoch-making significance of "2001 Space Odyssey" to the global pursuit of "Gravity" and "Interstellar", the footsteps of science fiction have become more and more extensive. The film's blockbuster in China shows that Chinese is also chasing the pace of the world, and Chinese readers and audiences also love science fiction works. However, in fact, our own science fiction works have not kept up with the appreciation requirements of readers and audiences.
With this in mind, I began to consciously investigate. As I thought, almost all employees who repeatedly showed creativity at work had the experience of reading science fiction as teenagers. At the same time, many professionals who are fascinated by science fiction blockbusters will show different creativity at work! People who are indifferent to science fiction, or even disgusted, are more likely to be mechanically rigid in their work, lack innovative ability, and even become obstacles to the development of others and enterprises! Although these are only some probabilistic events, the role of science fiction reading in enhancing imagination and innovation can still be seen from this.
This made me more convinced that science fiction books are something that must be done, and that it needs to be done vigorously. Yang Zhenning, an honorary visiting professor at Tsinghua University, once pointed out at the most difficult time for Chinese science fiction publishing that China should vigorously develop science fiction publishing, which is different from the United States... The United States can be said to be the country with the largest amount of science fiction published and read in the world.
In the survey, I also found that even readers who like science fiction very much read foreign science fiction works, and they complain that there are too few domestic original science fiction and the content is too unimaginative! It is hard to dig out some classic science fiction works from decades ago, and now that you look at it, those things that were once incredible are now basically realized.
For this reason, we are very anxious: there are very few original science fiction deeply rooted in Chinese culture, especially in the context of modern Chinese culture!
The new economic era is a society led by innovation, which inevitably needs the guidance and pursuit of the field of science fiction culture, and in the next 3 to 5 years, the world will inevitably set off a new science fiction culture frenzy led by China.