On why China's chips are lagging behind, the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently threw out an argument: the root cause is that China's basic research is too backward. This statement sounds very reasonable at first glance, but it is actually specious, and under the grip of the name of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, it is very misleading to the public, and it must be refuted and clarified.
Judging from the sources of information released, the first to throw out this statement was the 96-year-old academician He Zuoxiu. He said in his own media on February 11: "If Yu Min and I jointly developed the theory of the hydrogen bomb, we started from the first principle and really understood the various possible physical factors in the hydrogen bomb." ...... The so-called chip problem is only more complicated in theory than the hydrogen bomb theory. There must be more basic theoretical problems. I think the Dutch got it right. And Huawei doesn't necessarily really understand. Most likely, it will be used just to use. So the Dutch say, tell you, and don't necessarily really get it out!!! ——To be more specific, Huawei does not understand the important role of theoretical research! ”
If you think that this is just He Zuoxiu's personal opinion as a retired old man, you are very wrong, because Li Shushen, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and president of the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with another researcher from the Institute of Semiconductors of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, published a long article in the "Chinese Academy of Sciences" on February 16, which also talked about the backwardness of basic theory. The article not only attributed the backwardness of basic research to the root cause of China's chip backwardness, but also pessimistically believed that after the chip war, "the United States has screwed out the 'lighthouse', and we have entered the 'dark forest'."
Since He Zuoxiu mentioned hydrogen bombs, we might as well start with "two bombs and one satellite". So let me ask you, what are the key factors for the success of the "two bombs and one satellite"? How did Zuo Xiu say that he attaches great importance to basic theory? Of course, the underlying theory must be studied, but it is not a key factor. So what are the key factors? It is a sincere heart to serve the country and a firm will to win, which is summarized by later generations as the spirit of "two bombs and one satellite".
He Zuoxiu, who juxtaposes himself with Yu Min, regards the importance of basic theory as the root of the success of the hydrogen bomb, and Yu Min himself does not think so. In fact, Yu Min's initial research and interest were nuclear theory, not hydrogen bomb making. But when the state entrusted him with the task of developing a hydrogen bomb, he immediately decided to "change careers", he said, despite being "poor and white" in terms of knowledge reserves, because patriotism trumped interest, and as long as the country needed it, it should go all out.
At that time, the basic theory on the hydrogen bomb was also backward, but what Yu Min did was not to complain and accuse, but to face the difficulties and make up for what was missing.
When Qian Xuesen first returned to China, Chen Geng, who was then the director of the Kazakh military industry, asked him whether it was okay to Chinese build missiles, and his answer was very simple: "Can't foreigners do it Chinese do it, Chinese they are shorter than them?" ”。
In fact, at that time, China was not only backward in basic research, but in fact everything was backward, including basic living conditions, and sometimes even the food of scientists could not be guaranteed. The only thing that does not lag behind, the only thing that is ahead and developed, is the heart of serving the country, that is, high fighting spirit and belief in victory.
In tradition, this spirit and will is called "sincerity", and it is believed that this is the determining factor of human behavior, so the core of Chinese traditional knowledge and scholarship is to cultivate people's "sincerity" as the core, that is, to cultivate the mind and cultivate virtue as the core. The specific path is the first four of the "eight items" of the "University": "Qualities, knowledge, sincerity, and righteousness." ”
If the sincerity to develop the hydrogen bomb is lacking, and the atomic bomb is mechanically and passively regarded as a technical problem, then not only the basic theory, but also each link can be taken out separately and become a difficult problem. In this way, the development of the hydrogen bomb faces countless problems, which make people look up to the mountains and cannot be overcome. And once Yu Min has the sincerity to develop a hydrogen bomb, all problems are not problems, and can be overcome one by one and systematically.
That is to say, with sincerity, the problem of any technical link is not an independent problem, and if sincerity is missing, the problem of any technical link will also become an independent problem.
To illustrate what exactly is "sincerity"? "University" gives a few very popular examples. "University" said that "sincerity" means "not deceiving yourself", which is the truest feeling and willingness from one's own heart. Then two examples are given: "Like a foul smell, like a good lust", just like you smell the smell and disgust, and see a beautiful girl and like it.
Later, another example is given: "Those who do not learn to adopt children first and then marry". Young mothers have not learned how to raise their children, but they are very competent in the role of mothers and raise their children well, because they are all "sincere" who truly love their children. This sincerity creates intrinsic motivation to take the initiative to learn a variety of specific parenting theories and techniques.
On the other hand, a professional old nanny who lacks the sincerity of her mother must have more knowledge and skills in raising children than a young mother, and if a child is completely brought up by her, it is certainly not as healthy and sunny as that brought by her own child.
A normal young mother, after giving birth to a child, will not complain loudly that my basic theory of parenting is backward, and I must learn and improve first. For her, any technical difficulties in parenting are not independent problems, not independent problems. Only babysitters who raise other people's children will treat these issues as independent problems and problems.
Therefore, the spirit of "two bombs and one satellite" is sincerity, that is, to truly take the development of such a country as two bombs and one satellite as her own business, just like a young mother treats a newborn baby from her womb.
And this sincerity of the spirit of "two bombs and one satellite" is obviously generally lacking in the Chinese Academy of Sciences today. He Zuoxiu, Li Shushen and others' theory of backwardness in basic theory and basic theoretical determinism fully illustrate this point. When the United States was fighting a chip war against China, when China urgently needed an atomic bomb as badly needed a lithography machine, they did not pat their chests and say "what foreigners can do Chinese can't do it" like Qian Xuesen in those years, and instead of saying "as long as the motherland needs it, I will go all out" like Yu Min, they accuse and complain about the backwardness of basic research and ridicule better colleagues.
Obviously, today's scientists no longer treat the needs of the country like a young mother with her newborn baby, but more like a seasoned nanny who treats her employer's child. For now, raising your own children is your sincere purpose, and for professional nannies, raising children is just a means of livelihood, a career, a business.
Therefore, for scientists in the Chinese Academy of Sciences system, the root cause of China's chip backwardness is not the backwardness of basic theory, but the lack of sincerity to take the needs of the country for their own needs. What they need to solve is not the basic theory, but "qualities, knowledge, sincerity, and righteousness". Through cultivation of the mind, the lost sincerity is recovered. That is, Mencius said, "please rest assured", the heart is lost, lost, and needs to be searched.
Then some people say that now the country is in urgent need of lithography machines, and the chip war is fighting, so let them cultivate their minds and cultivate their sex, can they still catch up? It really can't catch up. In fact, the Chinese Academy of Sciences' plan to improve basic capabilities cannot catch up. What the country needs is a lithography machine, not some basic capability. Just as the country needed the atomic bomb, not the basic capabilities of the atomic bomb.
So what to do? "Loss of courtesy and seeking the wilderness" is unreliable within the system, and can only be sought from outside the system. Didn't Huawei outside the system come up with chips? After being cut off, he was working hard to engage in chip manufacturing and lithography machines. They didn't complain to anyone that basic competence didn't work. Why is it from the reckless Huawei line, but not from the Chinese Academy of Sciences? The answer is that Huawei has sincerity, while Lenovo does not.
Finally, let's revisit the middle school text "There are two monks in Shu's contempt":
There are two monks in Shu, one poor and the other rich. The poor say to the rich: "What is the South Sea of my desire?" The rich man said, "Why should the son go?" "One bottle and one bowl is enough." The rich man said: "I have wanted to buy a boat for several years, but I can't do it." What a thing! "The more next year, the poor will return from the South China Sea, to tell the rich, and the rich will be ashamed.