Academician Ding also looked back when he heard their conversation.

He sighed softly: "Don't you think it's a little ridiculous, a little powerless?" These days, we're always talking about how to fix the technical problems left by our predecessors. But there are bigger hidden dangers around us, and they are social and humanistic hidden dangers. ”

"Such hidden dangers are hidden in our civilization, I don't know how many. Racial contradictions, ideological conflicts, any small problem can lead to a big problem. Even if the decision-makers knew, they didn't know how to solve the problem......"

"Do you know how much we pay to develop space? We can't stop developing because of some hidden dangers. ”

It's hard to predict what will happen in the next tens of thousands of years.

But what can be done? Without these people, how long will Europa's development be extended?

Many people on the planet may never know that there are people who are quietly paying for their good days.

Zhang Yuan sighed deeply and nodded.

Human beings are limited in their gaze, and they only have their own life. From the perspective of informatics, the vast majority of political policies are laid out according to the "greedy algorithm", that is, the local optimal solution in the current state.

Future interests should give way to immediate interests.

Wanting to lay out thousands of years, tens of thousands of years, is really beyond the limit of human wisdom.

He wasn't going to be sentimental about it. Even if he himself is the decision-maker, he can only choose this way.

Since it exists, it must have its rationality.

The more complex and developed the civilization, the less power the individual will seem, even if he is the head of a coalition government, what can he do? For today's society, various forces are mutually restricted, and there are many things that cannot be changed by one person.

Talking about this, Senior Brother Zhao suddenly said: "Regarding the future development, in the New Civilization School, there is an esoteric and complex discipline that is still in the dream so far, called New Civilization Historiography, I don't know if you have heard of it. ”

"Historiography of the New Civilization? History discipline? It wasn't the first time Zhang Yuan had heard of this term, but he didn't know much, and his ears were pricked up curiously.

Zhao Qingfeng smiled, "This discipline is very complicated, if it is explained in one sentence, it is to find the global optimal solution of civilization, not a simple greedy algorithm that takes one step at a time." ”

"Let me give you an example, the development of civilization and the process of personal growth are very similar."

In ancient times, due to the poor living environment, a teenager would be pulled to work as long as he had a little strength. While it satisfies the needs of the present for survival, it also stifles the interests of the future. This cultivation method is called the "local optimal solution strategy", that is, only the present is considered, and the future is not considered.

In the modern environment, a teenager will receive compulsory education. Education seems to have no immediate benefits, just pure giving. However, the knowledge learned will only exert greater social value when a person grows up and becomes an adult.

A person's lifespan is only a short 100 years, and there are a large number of samples, it is not difficult to make overall planning and find a relatively good solution in the meaning of life.

But what about a civilization?

Civilization is a collective of all populations, itself has a super high degree of complexity, and its life span is thousands of years, completely beyond the life span of a single human being, how to plan as a whole?

But that's what the historiography of the new civilization wants to study.

"In the early stage of the development of civilization, the population was sparse, the technology was backward, and there was a risk of dying at every turn. Equivalent to the infancy of human beings. ”

"Baby, you know, right? The worldview and values are not yet mature. Therefore, a civilization is also the most malleable in the early stage of development. ”

"What about us...... Inherited a large inheritance. Zhang Yuan said with a smile, "Is it that kind of rich second-generation baby?" ”

"You're right." Senior Brother Zhao's expression became serious: "Although we have a deeper heritage, which is equivalent to the second generation of the rich, it does not mean that we can squander it indiscriminately. ”

"What do you think is the most important thing for a civilization?"

"Technology, of course!" Zhang Yuan replied immediately.

Senior Brother Zhao smiled and made an expression of "I knew you would say that".

Immediately afterward, he shook his head again: "Technology is equivalent to the external power of civilization. You know the external skills, right? As long as you are willing to put in the effort, you can quickly achieve it. ”

Zhang Yuan frowned and said, "Quick? Technology is not so easy to ......"

"Quick success here refers to small success, some simple technology, if it is not limited to patents, other countries want to imitate, it should not be difficult, right?"

"Okay......" Zhang Yuan accepted this statement for the time being.

"For a civilization, what is more important is actually internal strength, including the human environment, political system, popular ideology, etc., these things need to be cultivated slowly, and it is basically impossible to achieve it quickly."

"These internal forces actually determine the upper limit of the development of science and technology, which is the key research content of the historiography of the new civilization."

Zhang Yuan has always been not very interested in politics, but he has been influenced by various cultural courses in college, and he knows a little.

For example, in some countries in South America and Africa, the ideology of the people is biased towards pleasure, and they pay attention to being satisfied when they are full. Under this relatively lazy ideology, it is naturally difficult for the whole country to develop, and it can only be used as a source of raw materials.

In the East Asian cultural circle, the people have a strong sense of distress and are willing to fight for a better tomorrow, and even for the happiness of the next generation, they can endure some hardships themselves.

Therefore, in this humanistic environment, it is inevitable that these countries will come to the forefront of the world.

So, why are there very different human environments?

"The historiography of the new civilization you are talking about should be biased towards the liberal arts, right?"

"Nope! You are wrong, the ultimate essence of it is math! ”

"Huh?!" Zhang Yuan's eyes widened in surprise, a little unclear.

Senior Brother Zhao smiled, "...... According to the viewpoint of the historiography of the new civilization, the inherent history of the entire civilization is divided into a large number of key nodes, each of which contains the major historical accidents that occurred at that time. The history of the previous node will have a certain impact on the next node and the entire network. ”

"You can think of it as a neural network."

This idea is very intuitive, and Zhang Yuan can easily understand it.

"At the beginning of civilization, when there were few critical nodes, the final output of the network was easy to change, that is, a single great man could have a very huge impact on it."

"But as the population base increases, information and culture increase, there are more and more network nodes, and the impact of a single genius on the entire network will become smaller and smaller."