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In the history of world thought, there is a very special and mysterious period.
During this period, many civilizations located near the 30th parallel of the Earth's north latitude,
A group of sages full of spirituality and wisdom emerged in a concentrated manner.
They seem to have come together and entered the world with some kind of mission.
Their ideas laid the foundation for the direction of human civilization for the next few thousand years.
It still affects the world to this day.
This period is around the 5th century BC.
So why did the messengers of civilization suddenly come to the world 2500 years ago?
Is all this really just a coincidence of history?
Or is there a bigger mystery behind it?
Today we're going to talk about the Axis Age.
father
One day in 571 BC, the village of Qurenli (qurenli village) in Chuguo County (present-day Luyi, Henan)
One of the families was shrouded in purple qi, which attracted many villagers to watch.
Purple yard, purple-black ridge, purple-green smoke willow, purple-gray leaves,
Even the rising sun turned purple-red. In a sense of auspiciousness,
There was a crisp cry of a baby in the courtyard, and a baby boy fell to the ground.
He is Lao Tzu.
Lao Tzu, surnamed Li Ming'er, has many different legends about his birth.
It is said that his mother Li Shi had difficulty giving birth to him when she was dying,
Directly raised the knife to cut his stomach, and left a last word,
I hope that this child will be able to benefit Cangsheng in the future.
That is to say, Lao Tzu did not have a father, and his mother was pregnant with heaven.
One day his mother was washing clothes by the river when she saw a plum floating upstream.
Because of the hot weather, he ate the plums and became pregnant,
Lao Tzu had the surname "Li".
Some people also say that Lao Tzu was born with white eyebrows and white hair,
That's why his mother named him "Lao Tzu.".
There are various legends, but one thing is more recognized by the current academic community,
That is, Lao Tzu was born in the Chu state around 570 BC during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
According to the Chronicle of Lao Tzu Han Fei Lie,
Lao Tzu once served as an envoy of the Zhou Dynasty,
This position is equivalent to the director of today's National Library.
Since 551 BC, there have been wars between Wu and Chu,
Wu Jun hit Ku County, the chu state, Lao Tzu's hometown,
That is, the area around Luyi in Henan today,
From time to time, the war harassed the old man who was deposing at home.
Under the persuasion of his disciples and family, Lao Tzu came to Peidi to avoid chaos and retreat.
At that time, Lao Tzu had broken with Zhou Li,
Realized that there is a unified world view based on "nothing".
In the years that followed, Lao Tzu witnessed the conquest of the princes and the destruction of lives.
Knowing that the decline of the Zhou Dynasty will be an inevitable trend,
So he drove the green bull and planned to go west out of Hangu Pass and go into hiding.
The guan ling who guarded the pass was named Yin Xi, and he was not a generalist.
In the Biography of the Immortals, it is recorded that Yin Xi stood above the city pass,
I felt the purple qi slowly drifting from the east.
I was overjoyed to know that there were sages coming.
This is also the origin of the idiom "purple qi comes from the east".
Sure enough, not long after, Lao Tzu rode the green sacred bull to the pass.
Yin Xi sincerely worshipped Lao Tzu as his teacher and wanted to obtain the wisdom texts of monasticism.
Lao Tzu, however, had no intention of taking disciples.
However, he still stayed in Hanguguan for 7 days.
Wrote down two 5,000-word Taoist and Moral Scriptures,
Handed over to Yin Xi, this is the "Tao Te Ching" that has been handed down to this day.
The Tao Te Ching and the I Ching and the Analects
It is considered to be the three most far-reaching works of thought on Chinese.
Lao Tzu left behind the five thousand words of the Tao Te Ching and then drifted away,
The history books stop abruptly here, and as for Lao Tzu after he left the Hangu Pass in the west,
Where it went has also become a mystery that has always plagued historians.
As the founder of Taoist thought, Lao Tzu advocated the rule of inaction.
The strategy of doing nothing and doing nothing, retreating as advancing, and fighting without controversy.
Emphasizes a cosmology that conforms to nature and unites heaven and man. The core of Taoist thought is the "Tao",
Think that the Tao is the source of the universe, it is everywhere, all-encompassing,
He is the biochemical agent of everything in the world.
Hundreds of years later, Zhang Daoling Zhang Tianshi on the basis of Taoist thought,
Absorbing the concepts of immortal alchemy and folk ghost worship, Taoism was founded.
Although Taoism and Taoist thought are not equal,
However, Lao Tzu is still revered as the ancestor of Taoism and is called "Taishang Laojun".
Confucius
When Lao Tzu was about 20 years old, that is, in 551 BC, the Lu kingdom of Zōuyi,
Today's Qufu, Shandong, qū fù, another baby boy fell to the ground.
He lost his father at the age of 3, his mother at the age of 17, and was abandoned by his wife in middle age.
In his later years, he lost his only son, and the white-haired man sent the black-haired man,
His life can be described as a collection of various tragedies, but he was sanctified against the attack,
He was Confucius, the founder of the Confucian school.
According to legend, Confucius had more than 3,000 disciples, and was known as "the saint of heaven and the master of all ages".
The Confucianism he founded occupied the mainstream position of Chinese thought after the Han Dynasty.
It has had a profound impact on every generation in the future.
The "ritualism" in Confucianism describes a monarch who is courteous, brotherly, and cooperative.
An ideal society of conjugal harmony. Although Confucius advocated teaching without class,
However, it also emphasizes that there is a distinction between the noble and the inferior, the distinction between the superior and the inferior, and the order of the elder and the young among the various social roles.
It can be said that Confucianism created a set for the feudal ruling class
A complete theory and ideological system of governing the country is a powerful tool for the feudal monarch to stabilize the people's hearts and minds and social order.
Confucius himself was also appointed as the Grand Sikou of the State of Lu at the age of 50.
That is to say, as the grand priest, he exercised the duties of the prime minister.
But four years later, in a political struggle, he was secretly calculated and dismissed.
After that, Confucius began a 13-year journey around the world.
Travel with the disciples and give lectures. Until the last five years of his life,
He returned to the Kingdom of Lu and died in 479 BC.
In historical materials such as "Shi Ji", "Zhuangzi", "Li Ji" and so on
There are records of Confucius greeting Lao Tzu many times,
The first time was when Confucius was 17 years old, and the last time was when Confucius was 51 years old.
During the last question, Confucius asked Lao Tzu what the "Heavenly Dao" was.
According to the Book of Zhuangzi. The "Fortune of Heaven" records that Confucius listened to Lao Tzu's words,
Trance, three whole days, without a word.
Confucius's disciples asked him what was wrong, and Confucius said: Birds, I know they are good at flying;
Fish, I know they swim well; Beasts, I know they're good at running.
For beasts that are good at running, they can be caught by weaving nets;
For fish that are good at swimming, they can be caught with a hook;
For birds that are good at flying, they can be shot with arrows.
But Dragon, I don't know what to do.
It rides the wind, rides on the clouds, and soars into the sky.
The Lao Tzu I met was probably this feeling.
It is said that it was that greeting that made Confucius have the feeling of "fifty knowledge of the Mandate of Heaven".
Confucius and Lao Tzu ranked 5th and 73rd respectively in 100 Celebrities Who Influenced World History.
The one who preceded Confucius was none other than the founder of Buddhism, the ancient Indian thinker, the philosopher, and the Buddha Shakyamuni.
Sakyamuni
Shakyamuni Buddha's original name was Gautama. Siddhartha,
he was the crown prince of the ancient Indian state of Kapi píra, born in 563 BC,
He is 8 years younger than Lao Tzu and 12 years older than Confucius.
The Kapilavan kingdom was a small, wealthy state in the late Vedic period of ancient India.
Located in present-day Nepal, the people were shakyas.
Siddhartha's father was king of the Kapilava kingdom, King Jingdi,
Her mother, Lady Maya, came from the neighboring kingdom of Ramaga.
After marrying Lady Maya, king Jingnian did not have children for many years.
One day, Mrs. Maya had a strange dream.
She dreamed of a white elephant with six ivory wings flying in the sky.
Wherever the white elephant went, all the people on the earth threw themselves on the ground and worshipped.
Just then, the white elephant suddenly leapt and flew into Madame Maya's body.
Since then, Mrs. Maya has become pregnant.
After the pregnancy, Mrs. Maya was haunted by that dream,
So he invited the Brahmin high priest Azuta immortals to interpret the dream.
After hearing the dream described by Lady Mahāmayyah, Azuma was overjoyed and sad.
Then he told the King of Pure Rice that the lady must be pregnant with a boy,
And if this boy becomes a monk in the future, he will surely achieve the supreme path,
Become a saint worshipped by all.
But unfortunately, I don't have much life.
There was no chance to wait until the prince had attained enlightenment and listened to his teachings.
Soon, the day of Lady Maya's coming,
There is a tradition in India that women go back to their mother's house to give birth,
Lady Maya, accompanied by the palace people, set off for ramaga.
A group of people passed the Lumby Píni Garden, and Mrs. Maya got out of the car to rest,
When she reached out to pick a carefree branch, prince Siddhartha was born.
However, seven days after Siddhartha's birth, Lady Maya died.
King Jingnian also married Lady Maya's sister, so Siddhartha was raised by his aunt.
He was gifted from an early age, and by the age of 12 he had mastered the highest level of learning in India at that time.
At the age of 16, he married his cousin Jerudra and gave birth to a son, Rahu.
But the Pure Rice King remembered the prophecy of the immortal Azuta. The King of Pure Rice, on the son of Siddhartha,
If the son really embarks on the path of cultivation, who will inherit the country in the future.
So the King of Pure Rice has not allowed Prince Siddhartha to leave the palace,
He was also not allowed to come into contact with any religion.
In this way, Siddhartha lived in the imperial city until the age of 29.
When the King of Pure Rice saw that Siddhartha had married and had children, he slowly put his heart at ease,
Promised him that he could go out of the palace once in a while.
The turning point in Siddhartha's life also occurred this year.
On this day he went out hunting with his guards,
At the east gate of the Imperial City, I saw an old man with a weak body and a hunched back.
I can't help but think: Is aging a fate that everyone can't escape?
Then another day, when Siddhartha passed through the southern gate of the imperial city,
Seeing a patient with a withered face, dying, and moaning constantly,
And sighed: Is it also inevitable that disease is also unavoidable?
Later, Siddhartha met a funeral procession at the West City Gate,
The accompanying relatives cried.
Only then did he understand that a person's life must go through birth.
The process of disease, aging, death,
It seems to be the shackles of fate that are difficult to get rid of.
At the same time Siddhartha also felt very painful, and he couldn't help but think,
How can we get out of this cycle of suffering?
Until another time, he saw a monk at the north gate,
The look was peaceful and joyful, as if the heart was full of joy.
That night, he secretly left the palace and made up his mind to embark on the path of cultivation.
Henceforth Siddhartha should be called Shakyamuni.
Shakya is the name of the race. Muni means saint.
Shakyamuni began by following the mainstream ascetic practice of ancient India.
Eat only one hemp and one wheat a day, refuse the temptation of matter and flesh,
Self-control, self-honing, wanting to pass the torture of the flesh,
to induce the awakening of consciousness.
However, Shakyamuni went through six years of asceticism in the mountains, and his face was dirty,
The hungry bones are as thin as wood, to the brink of collapse,
But there is still no enlightenment of any truth.
One day, Shakyamuni fainted from hunger at the edge of the woods.
Fortunately, she was saved by a shepherd girl. The shepherdess fed him with milk and cheese.
After being saved, Shakyamuni realized,
This kind of asceticism that tortured the body was not the same as that of the person who was in the palace
Are there two extremes?
Since life in the palace did not allow itself to realize the truth,
Then how can asceticism possibly realize the truth?
Shakyamuni, who had figured it out, walked to a Bodhi tree,
Sit down slowly, facing east, and swear to heaven:
Without bodhichitta, not with this seat!
After seven days and seven nights of meditation, Shakyamuni finally became enlightened and enlightened.
Shakyamuni believed that all beings are suffering, and the root of suffering comes from greed, anger, and delusion.
Everyone has desires, and if they ask for something, they have nothing to gain, and if they ask for it, they are suffering.
Shakyamuni taught all beings not to do evil,
All good is practiced, evil is broken and good is repaired, and fate naturally changes.
Buddhism, founded by him, now has more than 500 million adherents around the world.
Together with Christianity and Islam, it is known as the three major religions of the world.
Shakyamuni attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at the age of 35 and then promoted the Dharma for 45 years.
At the age of 80, he manifested nirvana in the city of Nashi.
Just over a decade after Shakyamuni Nirvana, in 470 BC,
The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates was born into a family of ordinary carvers in Athens, Greece.
Socrates
One evening in June 399 BC,
An old man in his seventies in athenian prison was about to be executed.
He was calm and self-assured, and after persuading his relatives to leave, he talked with a few friends.
Until the jailer brought a glass of poisonous juice.
He took the cup and drank it all, and then lay down,
Smiling at a friend, he once ate one of his neighbor's chickens.
I haven't given him any money yet, so I asked him to repay it, and when I was done, I serenely closed my eyes and went to sleep.
This old man was the great philosopher Socrates.
In the history of Western civilization, the deaths of two people still make people sigh to this day.
One is Jesus who was crucified in Jerusalem,
The other is Socrates, who voluntarily drank poisoned wine to death.
Socrates was born during the golden age of Athens under Pericles,
Dying during the decay of Athens, he witnessed the process of Greek society's transformation from prosperity to decline.
In the face of calamity and decline of the motherland,
Socrates tried to save all this with philosophical thought.
He is equivalent to the Concho of the West,
Not only because he, like Confucius, ushered in a new era of thought,
It is also because they have not left any handwritten writings.
Socrates' ideas were also preserved through the accounts of his disciples.
He and his student Plato, as well as Plato's student Aristotle, were known as the "Three Sages of Ancient Greece".
Historians of philosophy now generally agree that Socrates was a watershed in ancient Greek philosophy.
Before Socrates, ancient Greek philosophy mainly studied what the nature of the world was,
The question of what constitutes it is also known as "natural philosophy".
But Socrates thought at the time that studying these issues would have little practical significance in saving the country.
He once said: My friend is not a tree outside the city, but a person inside the city.
It is precisely out of this concern for the destiny of the country and the people that
Socrates began to study human beings themselves, to study the ethical problems of human beings,
What is justice and what is injustice; What is bravery and what is cowardice;
What is honesty and what is hypocrisy. He changed the philosophical focus of the question,
Shift people's focus from explaining the world and explaining nature to explaining human beings.
Socrates was also hailed as "the first man to pull philosophy down from heaven and place it in the city of mankind."
Socrates also emphasized that the soul is different from the body, that the body dies, but that the soul is immortal and eternal.
Death is nothing but the return of the soul to the gods and the truth, and there is nothing to fear.
Fate has given you and me life and death, and when we are born, we will try to live, and when we die, we will face it calmly.
Only the soul that pursues purity and continuous upward mobility can achieve true happiness.
Socrates, while awakening people's hearts, also exposed the meanness of human nature,
It aroused the hatred of some people, and eventually was accused of flouting traditional religions,
He was sentenced to death for bringing in new gods, corrupting youth, and opposing democracy.
He refused the offers of friends and students to beg for forgiveness and to flee.
He would rather die than go against his beliefs, drink poisoned wine, and die at the age of 70.
In the history of ancient Greek philosophy, Socrates is also considered to be the first person to die in defense of truth.
Lao Tzu's birthplace henan, Confucius's birthplace Shandong, Shakyamuni's birthplace Nepal,
There is also Athens, Greece, where Socrates was born, located around 30 degrees north latitude,
These sages were also born around the 5th century BC.
Not only that, from the 8th century BC to the 5th century BC,
The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, located at 31 degrees north latitude, also saw the emergence of the "Prophetic Movement."
The Prophets were a group of people of the Jewish nation with extraordinary energy and wisdom.
They are considered to be people who can receive and communicate God's revelation and are intermediaries between God and man.
The early prophets had a prominent feature,
That is the fearless criticism of unfair and immoral behavior in society.
They dared to lash out at the corruption and depravity of the king and denounced people for deviating from God's teachings.
The late prophets believed that the Israelites were destroyed and reduced to a foreign land.
It was because evil deeds angered God, and God punished them by the hand of the Gentiles.
When they are converted, it will also be the day when they return to their homeland and rebuild the temple.
Isaiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Joel, Malachi, etc. are all representatives of the prophetic movement.
He is also an important author of the Bible.
Why did China, ancient India, Israel and Greece, these major civilizations in the same period,
Invariably, major ideological breakthroughs have been made and an overall leap in human nature has been achieved?
For this mysterious phenomenon, there is still no unified and clear answer in the academic community.
German philosopher Karl Jaspers
In his book The Origin and Purpose of History, published in 1949,
The period from 800 BC to 200 BC,
In particular, around 500 BC, it is known as the "Axial Age" of human civilization.
In the Axial Age, great spiritual teachers appeared in various civilizations,
People began to face the world in a rational and moral way.
What is even more wonderful is that the spiritual teachers of various civilizations, as if they had met and discussed together.
Their ideas have commonalities and different emphases.
From different perspectives, we have explored the world, the universe, society and life
。 For example, the ancient Greek civilization was more concerned with the relationship between man and the natural order.
They later developed highly developed science and logic.
Ancient Indian civilization was more concerned with the relationship between man and the supersensory world.
Therefore, ancient India has also become the birthplace of Buddhism.
Chinese civilization, on the other hand, considers more about the relationship between people.
This is an important feature of Confucianism.
It is worth mentioning that Chinese civilization not only gave birth to Confucianism and Taoism in the Axial Era.
It also produced the Fajia, the Mojia, the Yin-Yangjia, the Famous Family, the Miscellaneous Family,
Farmers, novelists, zonghengists, soldiers, doctors, and so on.
These schools of thought and scholarship are now collectively known as the "Hundred Sons and Hundred Schools."
Representatives of the Hundred Sons and Hundred Families,
For example, Guan Zhong, Xun Zi, and Han Feizi of the Fa,
Mozi of the Mo family, Laozi, Zhuangzi and Liezi of the Taoist family,
Su Qin, Zhang Yi, and Ghost Guzi of the Zongheng family were all born in the Axis Era.
Many of the thoughts of the Hundred Sons and Hundred Schools still shine today
。 Confucian "benevolent government", "forgiveness", "do not do to others what you do not want";
Taoist dialectics; Mojia's scientific thought; Military thought of the soldiers, etc.;
The art of lobbying and argumentation of the Zongheng family;
Even the famous masters known as "sophistry" have pioneered the field of logic in the history of Chinese philosophy.
In the Axial Age for hundreds of years, the human mind seems to have suddenly opened up,
The level of intelligence and thinking suddenly increased by more than one level.
Sociologists believe that all the philosophical ideas of mankind later,
All are derived from the thinkers of the Axial Age.
Is it true that the development of civilization has a set of preset procedures?
Is there an invisible hand behind the scenes operating everything?
At a certain trigger point, a group of smart people rushed to be born?
Axis Age
Jaspers, the proposer of the concept of the "Axial Age", argues that
Sages from all over the world appeared around the 5th century BC,
It's not really that there's an invisible hand operating so mysteriously behind the scenes.
It is because human beings are of the same intellect.
People all over the world, all from the same ancient ancestral tribe,
The starting point is all the same.
With the passage of time, the development of different civilizations has undergone a quantitative accumulation,
In a similar period, we suddenly ushered in a qualitative leap forward together.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the ancient sages and wise men appeared on the front and back feet of the major civilizations.
In fact, in the development of human civilization, there are many similar "coincidence" events,
For example, two scientists who have never been in contact before have proposed or discovered a certain theory at the same time.
Darwin and Wallace are examples. Wallace, like Darwin, was an English polymath
。 Compared with Darwin's 5-year journey around the world, Wallace's scientific expedition experience is no less impressive.
He has been exploring the Amazon basin for 4 years and observing and collecting data in the Malay Archipelago for 7 years.
In 1858, Wallace wrote a letter to Darwin, systematically expressing his views on the origin of species.
He also asked Darwin to give the letter to sir Charles Ryle, a famous British geologist.
Darwin was astonished to see the letter, and he discovered wallace's evolutionary mechanism based on natural selection.
It is very similar to the point of view in the book "The Origin of Species" that I am writing.
But even so, Darwin gave Wallace's letter to Ryle,
And said to Ryle: I have never seen a more shocking coincidence.
Darwin once wanted to burn the manuscript of his book On the Origin of Species,
Lest the world think he is a plagiarist. But in the end Ryle persuaded Darwin,
Let him co-sign the paper with Wallace.
On 1 July 1858, the Linnaean Society of London was published by Darwin and Wallace
Co-authored papers on the origin of species,
Their doctrine of natural selection is also known as the Darwin-Wallace doctrine.
At the end of the 17th century, Newton and Leibniz respectively claimed to have founded calculus.
It has sparked a heated debate in academia. Until long after the two died,
It was finally cleared.
The investigation confirmed that Newton and Leibniz had invented calculus independently,
No one has referred to anyone's derivation process.
In terms of invention time, Newton predates Leibniz.
But in terms of publication time, Leibniz preceded Newton.
There are many similar examples. Then the "Axial Age" around the 5th century BC,
Could it also be a burst of the human collective subconscious?
However, another group of scholars has a different view from Jaspers.
They believe that the emergence of the Axial Age is the result of the so-called "heroes of the times".
In the Axial Age, civilizations around the world were in turbulent times of population migration and dynastic change.
At that time, China was in the Spring and Autumn Warring States period when the princes were divided and divided.
The war is chaotic, the people are not clothed, and the people are not happy. And in the Greek city-states,
The Athenian democracy that was once proud has declined, and greeks are often caught up in internal conflicts.
Externally, there were occasional intrusions from powerful Persian enemies. Ancient India is not much better,
That's when the caste system and hierarchical oppression are starting to play a role.
The Untouchables can only hope for an afterlife to change this predicament.
The Jews were even worse off, solomon's temple was destroyed, the nation was destroyed, and the family was forced to leave their homeland.
None of the various civilizational entities of the world in the Axial Age can enjoy long-term peace.
In the midst of the war, a group of people began to look up at the stars and ask about the ultimate meaning of life.
They constantly reflect, since life is so difficult, what is the meaning of living?
Should we be at the mercy of fate?
How can we be freed from suffering and death?
This group of people longs to transcend reality, to transcend nature,
Explore the truth of the universe and seek the essence of life.
So the spiritual teachers who emerged in the Axial Age, both Western and Eastern,
It is invariably said that man must renounce arrogance, greed, violence and ruthlessness,
Emphasize the importance of the spiritual world. Confucius proposed, "Do not do to others what you do not want."
Mozi proposed "simultaneous love". In Plato's Republic,
A group of unenlightened humans imprisoned in dark caves,
After being released, coming out of the cave, and seeing the light of truth,
Didn't stay outside the cave to enjoy the sunshine and the new world alone,
Instead, go back to the dark hole to help the other partners.
After Shakyamuni attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, he did not choose to attain nirvana immediately.
After the rebirth of the world of Elysium, but the return to the earthly reincarnation, it is said that 45 years, universal sentient beings.
It is no exaggeration to say that
It was the sages of the Axial Age who pushed the spiritual world of mankind into a period of unprecedented prosperity.
Later, with the establishment of the unified empire of various civilizations, the rulers maintained stability in order to maintain political power.
A system of thought armed to the teeth is needed, and people's spiritual world is increasingly shackled.
The upper classes are satisfied with the status quo, and the lower classes are powerless to speak out even if they are dissatisfied with reality.
Born in sorrow and died in comfort, more than 2,000 years after the Axial Age,
People's spiritual world has degenerated from a hundred schools of thought all the way to a thousand horses.
The famous British cultural scholar Karen. Armstrong Karen Armstrong
In her book The Age of Axials, she says,
If the Age of Axials is the age of spiritual genius,
So we are now living in an era of scientific and technological genius,
But at the same time, our spirit is also sinking in the "golden age".
Behind many of the dilemmas we face today lie deeper spiritual crises.
Although we live in a peaceful and prosperous world with little risk,
But the fear of risk has reached an unprecedented level,
This means that we no longer have the courage to face loneliness and death.
In 1968, the American animal behaviorist John M. Karl Macro
The famous rat utopia experiment was conducted.
For 4 males, 4 females, and 8 mice, a utopian world with no worries.
At first, the experimental rats lived happily in this artificial paradise,
It multiplied rapidly and increased dramatically.
By day 315 of the experiment, there were already 620 rats in the Utopia base.
Plenty of water and food, suitable temperatures, and tunnels for rats to move,
All this provides them with perfect living conditions.
But as time went on, strange things happened.
The experimenters observed that rats would bite each other frantically for no reason.
Female rats have decreased fecundity and can even bite their own cubs to death.
Same-sex sexual intercourse occurs between some male rats.
And then later, the social behavior disappeared completely,
Male rats no longer defend their territory and no longer mate with females.
It seems healthy, but the brain no longer processes anything,
Even if the rats are put into a new environment and given them new stimulation, they cannot be restored.
Calkhon refers to this series of anomalies in experimental mice as "behavioral sinking."
The last mouse was born on day 600 of the experiment. On day 1588, the experiment was over and the entire population was on the verge of extinction.
Writer Wang Xiaobo once said,
We live in a time of the best from and from the worst.
The advancement of science and technology has brought a convenient life,
At the same time, it also surrounds us with "everything can be entertained".
Our small living space is like a fence in a rat utopia experiment,
Everyone in this space has a pacifier.
This pacifier could be a game, it could be a variety show,
It could also be a ubiquitous short video.
When time is spent on entertainment, people forget to think,
Over time, you will lose the ability to think independently.
The Axial Age is undoubtedly an era of stars,
But don't forget that these were also wars and turbulent times.
As Karen Armstrong said,
Unless we can produce spiritual change today in parallel with the technological development of mankind,
Otherwise, it may never be able to escape the cycle of history.
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