Brian Appleyard, a well-known British science columnist, has this passage in his book "Understanding the Now-Science and the Soul of Modern Man": "In 1609, Galileo Galileo looked at the moon through a telescope. This moment was so significant to the world that it was compared to the birth of Jesus. For, as in Bethlehem, since this moment, The impossible becomes possible in human life." Appleyard thus divides science into pre-Galilean science, or "wisdom," and modern science from 1609 onwards.The former science is based on reasoning, the latter on observation and experiment.After such division, the science we take for granted is only 400 years old.

But humans have experienced rapid development in these 400 years. We have steam engines, ships, telephones, telegraphs, airplanes, rockets, televisions, computers, and the Internet. We also have the theory of gravitational fields, the periodic table of elements, quantum mechanics, and the theory of relativity. The most fundamental objects in nature" superstrings.The industrial revolution, agricultural revolution, and information revolution have brought about unimaginable changes in human social life. Humans have transformed nature, and they have also transformed themselves.Looking back on all this, humanity has every reason to be proud.Because, like God, human beings also have their own "Genesis".People say that if there is science, there will be science.Science is good and it works.

However, it is written in "Genesis" that "by the seventh day, God's work of creation had been completed, and on the seventh day he rested from all his work and rested."However, the work of human beings has not been completed, and today, 400 years later, they still cannot rest in peace. Just as there is light, there must be shadow. While discovering, inventing, creating, and possessing all of the above, people also get atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs, nuclear leaks, acid rain, greenhouse effects, ozone layer holes, and various risks that accompany science and technology.

Man once thought that he had found the only way to the kingdom of freedom. He will take a scientific spaceship, get rid of all shackles, and re-establish his position in the universe.But in the twentieth century when science exploded, human beings finally began to reflect: Science works, but is it the truth? For this reason, we edited this set of "Science and Human Translation Series", and released them in separate volumes one after another.Among them, there is a criticism of the worship of information, a search for the origin of life, an analysis of the risks caused by technology, and an outlook on the latest scientific developments and research directions in the world.Mathematicians use game theory to prove that complete democracy is actually impossible; physicists propose a new superstring theory, which attempts to describe all forces, all elementary particles of matter, and space-time in a unified manner. After quantum mechanics and relativity, it becomes the "first An important symbol of the three revolutions in physics"... "Yi Cong" brings together physicists, mathematicians, biologists, astronomers, philosophers, anthropologists, ethicists... since the second half of this century, especially It is to break through the gap between natural science and social science at the end of this century, and to think deeply about science, a tool that determines the destiny of mankind.Through this series of books, we expect readers to have a more comprehensive understanding of the current status, future, and positive and negative effects of science, and to better understand, master, and utilize science.

China Translation and Publishing Corporation February 1997