Zeng Hongyi's well-intentioned meal to investigate the origin of the astronomical telescope, the purpose is to arouse Du Duhu, Zhu Changzuo and others to be surprised and admired by the development and progress of Western science and technology, so far it seems that the effect is not bad, at least Du Duhu showed a regretful attitude towards Galileo's death, and also admired the efficacy of the Galileo astronomical telescope.

If he didn't want to discuss with the adult bureaucrats about the scientific principles and techniques that must be profound, why did Hongyi arrange it like this? In fact, popularizing "esoteric scientific principles" and "complex scientific and technological processes" and promoting a very "fresh scientific consciousness" for Chinese are two completely different concepts.

Hongyi believes that for the former, you can't expect officials at all levels who have not even learned the "Pythagorean theorem" since childhood to figure it out, just as it is difficult to popularize the latest technologies in various contemporary fields, such as quantum physics, nanofabrication, organic fermentation, and genome sequencing for the elderly in their seventies and eighties. The lack of basic knowledge of bureaucrats at all levels, who specialize in human affairs and sophistication, determines that this process will be very long and arduous.

But for the latter, this kind of "scientific awareness" can be promoted anytime, anywhere, imperceptibly - "I don't know any specific science and technology, but I know the extreme importance of science and technology!" "In time, if one or two adults in the Qing bureaucracy had this kind of awareness, it would have been a great and earth-shaking achievement!

Because, in Hongyi's understanding, the concept of "science" is very complicated. For thousands of years, philosophers and scientists have often tried to give it an adequate essentialist definition, but without success. Therefore, in his own understanding, Hongyi simply abandoned the practice of defining essence, and instead adopted the "structure theory", which was broadly divided into four parts: "scientific thought", "scientific theory", "science and technology" and "scientific consciousness".

The so-called "scientific thought" can almost be compared with the philosophy of science, for example, in the pre-Qin era of China, there were yin and yang, five elements, the universe theory, and so on. Ancient Greece also had a variety of understandings of the nature of the world at about the same time. The specific ideas of the East and the West are different. But they are all the earliest parts of human beings involved in "science".

The so-called "scientific theory" is a scientific explanation and systematic explanation, but in fact it is only a specific elaboration based on scientific thought. About this, I have to admit. Ancient China has lagged behind ancient Greece, the "source of modern Western science" since the pre-Qin era. Most of the pre-Qin scholars were content to expound their scientific ideas. But it stopped at building its support system. That is, scientific theories. And the ancient Greek scholars, from Homer to Plato to Aristotle, all took the trouble to explain their thoughts. A complete set of theoretical systems was constructed.

As for "science and technology," it goes without saying that this was the strong point of ancient China, which was far ahead of its contemporaries in the West until the seventeenth century. The reason for this is that it is based on pragmatism. In other words, it is precisely because our ancestors did not attach much importance to the construction of the theoretical system, so they "seized the opportunity" and focused on the breakthrough at the level of technology, which won the "starting advantage" for the two thousand years before the rise of modern Western science and technology, and led all the way.

As for "scientific awareness", it should be a comprehensive evaluation and cognition of the importance and role of the previous three. It's actually a matter of attitude.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

To use a misapt analogy: two barbarians, "Ancient China" and "Ancient West", are engaged in a 10,000-meter race. Note, however, that the rules of the race do not say whether to walk or run. As soon as the starting gun sounded, both us and our opponents instantly understood the most basic truth - whoever reaches the finish line first will win [clear scientific thought]! So, we immediately set off and strode forward barefoot! The opponent behind him was a little sluggish, but he also walked, but from time to time he looked up and looked down to think [at that time, we and the opponent didn't know that there was such a move as "running".

The opponent behind him was not much different from us at first, but he would often stop to observe his hands and feet, as if he was theorizing how to make his body more coordinated. And we who are ahead have long found that it is good to throw off our arms and take a big stride, so that we can walk fast and coordinated. But as for why coordination, how large the arm is thrown, and how big the step size is the most labor-saving and efficient, these have not been deeply considered. Because we are already thinking about what we will harvest along the way, how to eat and how to sleep, and then picking wild fruits while walking, the physical strength replenishment is very timely, and the gap with the opponent is gradually widened.

After nearly two thousand years, we have learned many skills in clothing, food, housing and transportation on the way. As a result, we were more comfortable, walking and stopping during the competition, and learning to recite poems, paint, and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

When the game was in the second half of the 17th century, suddenly, a dark shadow flashed next to us, and it instantly overtook us! When you look closely, it turns out to be an opponent who is two thousand years behind! I saw that he was not walking, but he could leave the ground with both feet at the same time, and his arms were bent and clamped tightly, and he was very fast! But what kind of technique is this? We don't know! Fortunately, after 2,000 years, we learned to "race walk" at the beginning, and we used the place where we competed that year, so we will race walk! Unfortunately, the speed of the race walk still can't keep up with the rhythm of the opponent.

"Hey, what are you doing?" We shouted at the front.

"I'm running!" The opponent turned around, shouted haughtily, and then dropped many obstacles, and disappeared in sight.

"Run?" The first time we heard this new word, we hurriedly learned to "run" in Handan, and after two or three hundred years of self-exploration, as well as the memories of the "running" action we just observed, we staggered and stumbled "jogging" - sure enough, the speed was much faster! However, in the past two or three hundred years, the Westerners in front of us have deliberately laid a lot of obstacles, so that we have to carefully avoid them, which greatly affects the speed.

It turned out that Westerners have been studying the movement structure of their bodies, and finally exchanged time for the maturity of the theory, and on the day of the sudden enlightenment, they studied a whole set of technical movements, and even shoes! We, on the other hand, are content to "walk" very skillfully, focusing on living better and dressing better.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

It is precisely on the basis of this understanding of "scientific thought", "scientific theory", "science and technology" and "scientific consciousness" and "four-in-one" that Hongyi decided to face the difficulties and start with scientific consciousness. Because, Hongyi has his own understanding!

In later generations, many people sighed: "The ancient West, Euclid's geometry, Apollonius's conic curves, and the physical research of Archimedes and others are still things that students in the whole world have to learn, but what was there in the same period of the Celestial Empire?" Ancient Greece was also much stronger than the Celestial Empire in terms of literature, and at the same time in sports (the Olympic movement), public activities (opera houses), and politics (Pericles and others carried out democratic-democratic reforms to achieve democratic-sovereign politics), when did my Celestial Empire ever have? ”

This kind of thinking is actually very extreme, because there are still many things to think about. If we talk about "scientific thought" and "science and technology," the ancient Chinese people can still match one or two with the West. In particular, the level of "science and technology" in ancient China has always been at the leading level in the world, and the four major inventions are needless to say.

However, if we talk about the contributions of "scientific theory" and "scientific consciousness", we must admit that China has been on the periphery of the world in both ancient and modern times, and it is an indisputable fact that the Western-centric phenomenon is in the scientific community. Many people think that this is due to the fact that "the current world dominated by the West, which is why the influence of Western scientific theories is so great", which is really a reversal of cause and effect. The correct one should be: "Because the West grasped scientific theories earlier and possessed a clear "scientific consciousness", this occupied the opportunity of the times, so that it can become the dominant world today."

The "science" that China is really backward behind is precisely in terms of "scientific thought" and "scientific consciousness". Although it is very reluctant to define it in this way, we must admit that there was no real "science" in ancient China. The ancients cannot be blamed at all, after all, historical opportunity is a very unpredictable thing, and people still cannot judge whether history is accidental or inevitable.

Hongyi personally prefers the latter when it comes to scientific issues - inevitably! Because soil and air are needed for "scientific theory" and "scientific consciousness" to take root and sprout, the loess of the Yellow River Basin, which symbolizes agricultural civilization, is not suitable soil, and the highly centralized feudal system is not suitable air. The term "small country and widow people" used in high school history in ancient Greek city-states seems to be dejorative, but in fact it has become one of the prerequisites for the birth of scientific thought and consciousness - because small countries and widows cannot give birth to absolute authority, and cannot produce supreme "official-oriented thinking and consciousness", but is conducive to the germination of "scientific thought and consciousness".

This can also explain the uproar in the academic community around the false proposition of "should academicians retire". In contemporary China, the scientific community is still using the bureaucratic system to lead academic research, and the results can be imagined!

(Chapter to be continued)

"A limerick poem? Hidden Head

Reading literature and reading history is only a long breath

I was saying that there was an opportunity back then

The layout is a long-cherished wish

It's hard to come and go

Get up and spend a hundred years

Point out the suffering and diseases of the world

The edge of the town was razed to the sea

Wen'an Wuding happy teardrops (to be continued......)