"Professor, run! When is it, you're still sitting and reading, and your heart is too big, right?! ”
Professor Akira sat on a park bench, looked down and read a book, and asked nonchalantly, "Run?" Why run? ”
"Isn't that clear? That huge alien mothership appeared on top of our brains overnight, and who knows if they will use force! Everyone has evacuated into cover, so come with me! ”
The professor bowed his head and flipped through a page of the book, continuing to read calmly. "There's no way they're going to use force."
"Why are you so sure?"
"It's up to them to come here."
"You can't be scared, are you? There is no logic to what you say! ”
The professor slowly raised his head, looked at Qin Zi in front of him, lifted his glasses, and said, "Young man, do you know? Some scholars believe that there is actually only one thing that happened in human history, and that is the Industrial Revolution. ”
Qin Zi was stunned when he heard this, and stood in place with a puzzled face.
"From the Neolithic period until the Industrial Revolution, human GDP per capita (gross domestic product) has not increased substantially, why? Because before the introduction of the steam engine, the main labor force was nothing more than people and livestock, but this was too inefficient. The professor bowed his head and turned a page of the book, and continued to say softly, "The low efficiency is low in the conversion of food energy, the chemical energy in the food is transformed into the mechanical energy of muscles through eating and digestion, the conversion rate is too low, although people and livestock are produced, but also consumed, coupled with the limitations of other conditions, the value that can be accumulated in traditional societies is always limited." ”
Qin Zi threw his arm in a hurry. "What the hell are you trying to say?!"
The professor lowered his head and turned another page of the book, and said slowly: "Because the accumulated value of human society is limited, all human beings often engage in a cruel stock game, and everyone wants to eat more and take more, which has led us to do a lot of cruel things to the same kind, and also gave birth to a lot of cruel culture, until the Industrial Revolution." ”
"What happened to the Industrial Revolution?" Qin Zi looked at the alien mothership in the sky and jumped to his feet in a hurry.
"After the Industrial Revolution, we began to use fossil energy on a large scale, no longer relying on the long and inefficient food chain in the past to transfer and convert energy, and the total value created by the entire human society has increased," the professor said. ”
Qin Zi pulled his hair and shouted, "So what?!" ”
The professor said unhurriedly: "So the cruel stock game of human beings has weakened, and we have instead begun to pursue the collective increment of the whole species. Of course, this is a long process of coexistence and transformation, with retrogression and twists and turns. However, with the passage of time, there is no doubt that the phenomenon of violence in human society has been greatly reduced, and even in the 20th century, when two world wars broke out, the number of violent incidents was statistically much lower than in ancient times. Professor Stephen Pinker discusses this in detail in "Good Angels in Human Nature", you can take a look. ”
Qin Zi spoke with a crying tone: "What do you say have to do with the alien mothership?" ”
The professor continued to flip through the book and said, "Young man, do you know what is most important to a civilization that pursues incrementality? It is a restraint from violence. ”
Qin Zi was almost so anxious that he turned his back on his anger and shouted, "Where is this?!" ”
The professor put down the book, his face grim. "An inevitable choice for a civilization to improve efficiency is a refined social division of labor, but this needs to be based on the restraint of violence. When the society completes the industrial revolution and no longer relies on humans and animals to provide labor, professional knowledge and skills have become an important factor in improving social productivity, which is especially prominent in the delicate and detailed social division of labor. Think about it, if a species is not able to effectively restrain its violent tendencies, then there will be a huge repulsion brewing within its society, and its members will attack and reject each other, and it will collapse on its own before it has developed enough technology, which is not uncommon in human history. ”
At this, the professor's expression became even more awe-inspiring. "In essence, to indulge in violence is to put the brakes on the development of the productive forces, and to make it impossible to talk about a precise social division of labor. A fragmented civilization is not only unable to effectively integrate resources, but may also fall back into a cruel stock game, where individuals squeeze and drag each other down, and so on, and never become a big thing. ”
Qin Zi froze in place, speechless.
The professor continued to frown and flipped through the book, saying, "The reason why human beings are still trapped on this small earth is that many people think that the problem lies here. He pointed to his temple, "But in my opinion, part of the problem is here." The professor tapped his fingertips on his chest again, "Our hearts are cold and rough, we consume damage from each other, and we don't coalesce into a synergistic whole, so we can't give birth to the advanced technology needed across the stars. ”
Qin Zi looked up at the mothership, and then looked down at the professor.
The professor patted the vacant seat beside him and motioned for Qin Zi to sit down. "This alien mothership comes from a distant planet beyond our human cognition, and their technology must be far more advanced than ours, and such advanced technology must be the result of the common pursuit of increment by the whole species, so they must match the values of peace and restraint, which is the inevitable development of social biology. Guided by such values, they will never use force against our inferior civilization. The professor said with a firm look in his eyes, "Cruel values do not breed advanced technology, and in the final analysis, love for peace is actually a value that liberates the productive forces, and I am very sure of this." ”
Qin Zi's legs trembled, and he sat down beside the professor suspiciously. "Professor, you are a scientist, and I admire you, but a scientist may not always be right."
The professor put his hand on Qin Zi's shoulder and said, "This is not science, but a lower philosophy, values are to technology what operating systems are to software." What would you think if you were an ornithologist driving a jeep to the rainforest to watch birds, and suddenly you met a member of a cannibal tribe who knelt in front of your car and begged you not to eat him? ”
Qin Zi said in surprise, "How could I eat him?!" ”
The professor said, "What do you think about that cannibal tribe who sees you driving a jeep and carrying all sorts of things with him that he can't understand, so he thinks that you must be stronger than him and might kill him and eat him?" ”
Qin Zi spread his hands and said, "He is completely unfounded!" I am a civilized person and do not eat people! ”
The professor smiled and continued to look down at the book. "You're a member of that cannibal tribe now, and the one floating in the sky is a jeep."
Qin Zi relaxed a little and asked, "Then why did they suddenly appear to scare us?" ”
"It was probably an accident, and I'm sure they'll be gone in a while," the professor said. ”
At this time, a faint blue light lit up on the periphery of the mothership, magnificent and ethereal, and the entire city seemed to be shrouded in a fog.
Qin Zi's lips trembled, and tears rolled in his eyes. "Professor, what if you're wrong?"
The professor flipped through the book and laughed: "Then I'd rather die." ”
"Boom!" With a thunderclap, the alien mothership made a sound barrier-breaking explosion, and disappeared at the end of the sky in an instant. The clouds were blown into a huge white circle, leaving a spectacular trail in the sky. Qin Zi's hair in the wind was messy, and his eye circles were red. "Professor, the peace-loving values you just said are really right!" With that, his tears flowed.
The professor closed the book, slowly raised his head, looked at the distant sky of the mothership, and muttered, "I hope that humanity can visit them one day, as long as we as a species can remember where the increment came from." ”
Author: Hesenburg. From Reader Magazine, Issue 10, 2024. Those shining days, there are "Readers" to witness with you.