Chapter 16 4.b Get rid of the limitations of experience

In addition to "trial and error", "observation", and "reading", "thinking", to be precise, "thinking correctly", is the main means of acquiring real knowledge.Human beings have been able to think without words.However, limited to the amount of known knowledge, it is difficult for human beings to think correctly. For example, it is easy to imagine that in ancient times, people's understanding of causality would of course be very limited.And all real-life experiences are making them realize that "everything must have a cause and effect".When people see the branches and leaves on the trees being blown by the wind, they can certainly understand that the wind is the cause of the branches and leaves fluttering.But they don't know that "the fluidity of the air becomes the wind" that people have learned from textbooks when they were in elementary school.So, naturally, they think, "There must be some force that makes the wind, but what is it?" Without any "reasonable explanation," they then think, "It can only be the power of God." --Because, "everything must have a cause and effect".They can't imagine that there is such a thing as "without any purpose" in this world.In fact, as of today, there is a vast majority of people in the entire human group who still firmly believe that "everything must have a cause and effect", and take this understanding as the basis for understanding everything.

Thomas Sowell once lamented the greatness of Darwin, saying, "Darwin is not only a biological science, but also a landmark in the history of human thought development"7.The reason why Darwin is great is that he is almost the first person who has the perfect ability to "think correctly" with a time span spanning millions of years and completely get rid of the limitations of "individual perception"; As a result, countless people have been able to "stand on the shoulders of giants" and establish and improve a systematic thinking method that breaks through the limitations of individual human beings - "Scientific Methods".

On November 24, 1859, after twenty years of careful preparation, Darwin published.The first edition of 1,250 copies sold out in a day.However, this does not mean that Darwin "won" and religion "failed" In the 43rd year after Darwin's death and the 66th year after his publication, that is, in 1925, a middle school teacher in Tennessee, John Scopes, was brought into court for explaining Darwin's theory of evolution in class. He was pushed to the trial stage and was fined $90 in the end-this is the famous "The Scopes Case" (The Scopes Case, also called "monkey trial")8 in history.

Although the decision in the "Ape Lawsuit" was limited to Tennessee, it wasn't until 1968 that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled under the First Amendment that evolution could be taught in schools because it was science. In 1987, a case from Louisiana revived the controversy.Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to require schools to allow the teaching of creation at the same time as the theory of evolution is taught. In 1999, the Kansas State Board of Education voted to remove evolution as a test subject from standardized testing.Some experts believe that this is a very effective way to prevent teachers from teaching evolution, because students do not have to be tested on evolution.

A textbook in Alabama printed this statement: "Evolution is a theory believed by some scientists, not a fact." In Minnesota, a teacher who believed creationism to be a solid science was dissuaded for voicing criticism of evolution in class.The teacher took the school to court. On December 20, 2005, the United States District Court of Pennsylvania made a ruling that the theory of "intelligent design" that organisms are designed by some kind of highly intelligent designer is a religious concept, and teaching this theory in public school science classes violates the law. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Most articles on this topic always start from the premise that religion and science are opposed to each other, and try to use these events to prove the greatness and evil of religion.Regarding religion itself, I have my own understanding and views, but even if I am a so-called "person without belief", I will not oppose "freedom of belief"; at the same time, I should not and cannot force anyone Give up your faith. In fact, religion and science are not necessarily opposites.If religion and science are completely opposed, then there is no way to rationally explain the fact that Copernicus, Galileo, Darwin, Newton and many other giants all had firm religious beliefs.In fact, until today, there is no doubt that there are many scientists on this earth who still have strong religious beliefs-although it is difficult for us to obtain an exact percentage statistics.

Like science, religion is also a tool that people use to "think" and "explain" the world, but in terms of explaining the physical world (for example, the origin of life, the mechanism of celestial bodies), modern science has gradually replaced religion.Today's religious influence is still huge, but the focus of religion has shifted to another aspect that needs it more-the spiritual world (perhaps it should be equivalent to the "spiritual civilization" we often refer to). In the ongoing debate between "evolution" and "creationism" (and its variant "intelligent design", aka "divine design") to this day, both sides of the debate are convinced of their views of.And the really crucial difference is that Darwin's supporters, if they did stand up for it when they understood it, were people who had the ability to use the power of the mind to free themselves from the limitations of their own perception.Darwin's opponents are those whose mental power has not yet developed enough to be used to get rid of the limitations of their own perception. They cannot correctly understand and fully use the new thinking tool--scientific methodology--to think about problems, and they do not even Realize that you reject science for precisely this reason.

Today, contrary to the creationist view, there are no reports in serious scientific journals denying evolution.In the mid-1990s, George W. Gilchrist of the University of Washington in the United States surveyed thousands of journals listed in the original literature, looking for articles on "divine design" or creation theory.He searched hundreds of thousands of scientific reports and found not a single report on creation.Later, Barbara Forrest of Southeastern Lewis University and Lawrence M. Krauss of Case Western Reserve University independently conducted the same investigation for several years, but the results were also fruitless.It can be said that all serious scientists today should believe in and be able to understand the theory of evolution, although they may also have serious religious beliefs.

We know that each of us is full of fear, and all fear actually stems from our fear of the unknown.Fear, then, is constant, because we can never know everything.Thomas Sowell's analogy is particularly ingenious.He said that in the vast and infinite unknown space, our "knowledge" is just like the planets in it, and the gaps between the planets are many times larger than those planets themselves.Therefore, we need "faith", "hope", "love", "miracles", and even the silent "strange power and chaos"10, etc., which are called "necessary fiction" by scholars. Things to fill these gaps to feel at ease.

Therefore, it is meaningless to discuss "what was Einstein's religious belief" or "whether Einstein had religious belief" that many people are keen to discuss.Because, even Einstein felt fear or awe.Because he, like all people, has to face the unknown—even though he knows much more than all other people of his contemporaries, but what he knows is compared with everything unknown to him. , is just a water molecule in the ocean.So it is not surprising that he had faith; and if he had faith, it was certainly not the gods of those who reject science. What would human beings be like if they couldn't read, record, express, or think?The following story is widely circulated11:

Five monkeys were kept in a cage with a bunch of bananas hanging from it.The experimenters prepared boiling water. Once a monkey touched a banana, boiling water would be poured on that monkey immediately.First, there was a monkey who wanted to take a banana and was scalded by boiling water. After that, each monkey found that it was the same after several attempts.So monkeys no longer try to get bananas. Then the experimenter replaced one of the monkeys with a new one.The new monkey saw the banana and of course wanted to get it right away.As a result, before the scientist watered it, the other four monkeys beat up the new monkey.After the new monkey was beaten a few times, he no longer tried to get the bananas-for fear of being beaten again. After that, the experimenter replaced another monkey and replaced it with another new monkey.When the new monkey saw the banana, he couldn't wait to take it. Of course, everything was the same as before, and what awaited him was a violent beating from the other four monkeys.So the new monkey didn't dare to touch the banana. The most interesting thing is that the monkey who was beaten last time took the heaviest shot this time. (Other monkeys may be out of love, this monkey must be out of revenge - because) although it has not been irrigated with boiling water. Eventually, the original five monkeys in the cage were all replaced.The five monkeys now don't know the existence of boiling water. They only know one thing - anyone who dares to touch the bunch of bananas will be beaten violently. (Their behavior has nothing to do with love, it's all about revenge!) The story is said to illustrate how the tradition came to be.In fact, this experiment only partially explains how certain ridiculous traditions come into being.Many traditions that seem unreasonable today were indeed correct or were the closest to being correct.What this story really allows us to see is how important language and writing and logical thinking are to the correct dissemination of knowledge.Leaving aside the veracity of this story for the time being, let us continue to think about it: if the monkeys could talk, then there would be no need to beat them.If the monkeys can write, no matter how many times they are changed, the new monkeys will not have to be beaten -- let alone be beaten innocently.If the monkeys were able to use logic completely, perhaps they would eventually figure out a way to avoid the boiling water and eat the bananas, and might even feel contempt for those who did the experiments. When it comes to the importance of words, I can't help spending more space, risking being considered too wordy, and inserting another example.The following is a clip of the movie. This short clip has been watched countless times, and it gives me goosebumps every time. Edmond Dantes, who was trapped in the prison, finally saw Father Faria who had been digging for six years but unfortunately found another cell. Later, Father Faria asked Edmond to help him dig a tunnel: In return for you help, I offer something priceless... - My freedom?Edmund's eyes lit up suddenly. Freedom can be taken away. Priest Faria was quite disdainful, and continued: As you well know, I offer knowledge, everything I have learned, I will teach you economics, mathematics, philosophy, science… Edmund suddenly discovered something worthy of his excitement: ... to read and write? Priest Leah was stunned for a moment, and felt helpless when he realized that he was an illiterate guy: ... of course. Edmund couldn't refuse at all: When do we start? Since there is no sufficiently sophisticated language, and no written words to use, it is impossible for those monkeys to communicate and discuss effectively.It is unlikely, then, that monkeys would have had the chance to develop full logical thinking, let alone "think scientifically."Therefore, it was impossible for the monkeys to figure out the relationship between bananas and boiling water in the end. They just came to a conclusion--bananas cannot be touched--as for why they cannot be touched, they were completely misinterpreted.What a dangerous idea and practice to only look at the result without looking into the cause, or to misinterpret the cause?As the saying goes, "empiricism kills people." Speaking of this, we have already touched on the biggest obstacle in all learning processes, or in the process of knowledge transfer - the limitation of "empiricism".All people are more or less empiricists, because, as mentioned earlier - the most basic means for all people to acquire knowledge is through "experience".Empiricism is applicable to a certain level, and its important value cannot be completely denied.But at the same time, we must recognize the fundamental limitations of "empiricism". First, individual experience is limited.A particularly illustrative example is the so-called "Photic sneeze reflex".We now know that this is a genetically inherited trait and that approximately 17% to 35% of people have this "symptom".The most plausible theory is that the sensations of the eyes and nose are innervated by the same trigeminal nerve, so that the sneezing is caused by the confusion of defensive responses to strong stimuli.Specifically, the nasal cavity mistakenly thinks that the strong sunlight entering from the eyes is a stimulus to itself, so it wants to expel the foreign body in the form of sneezing.Aristotle mentioned this phenomenon in the thirty-third volume of his "Problems", but Aristotle could not explain it correctly even though he had experienced it at that time. People who read Aristotle's text have at least a 65% chance of not being able to use their own experience to understand the phenomenon recorded in that paragraph of text. In 1798, English chemist John Dalton published his famous "Extraordinary facts relating to the vision of colours".Since then, scientists have begun to study the phenomenon of "color blindness" and make a more comprehensive and scientific explanation for it.From the statistical data, at least 3% of people have obstacles in color recognition.However, it is easy to think that before this time, the color-blind person could not get any understanding from others, and the most he could get was ridicule. At other times, the inability to break through the limited experience of one's own self to understand the surroundings and others always leads to amazing disaster. On December 1, 2004, Chinese officials released the "White Paper on Homosexuality" for the first time, stating that there are currently more than 10 million gay men in China who are sexually active.In some open western countries, about 5 to 7 men admit that they are gay or have homosexual tendencies.Women are slightly lower than this figure.According to the world-recognized data, that is, the homosexual population accounts for 2% to 5% of the total population, the total number of homosexuals in mainland China exceeds 40 million.And this ratio is relatively constant, the homosexual population does not decrease or increase due to social suppression or relaxation, only the difference between concealment and exposure. Homosexuality doesn't just exist today, nor has it never happened in history.Nor is there any evidence that the proportion of the gay population is increasing.However, it is hard to imagine the tragedy caused by the fact that most people cannot break through the limitations of self-experience.In Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Oman, catching same-sex sex is punishable by death; Pakistan is sentenced to two years to life imprisonment, plus whipping; Malaysia can be sentenced to up to 20 years; the United Arab Emirates 14 years; Seven years in Bangladesh; three to five years in Libya; two months to two years in Algaria; but there are no relevant penalties in Egypt, Indonesia and Iraq.In some countries, detailed regulations such as "two people of the same sex lying naked together, can be whipped 99 times", "a man and a man kiss, can be whipped 60 times" and so on. Homosexuality is considered a crime in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Yemen and other countries.Not long ago, a teenager in Cairo was sentenced to 17 years in prison, including 2 years of forced labor, for logging on to a gay website and publishing his personal information.Iran has publicly executed two teenagers for having same-sex sex.Since Iran came to power in 1979, more than 4,000 gays and lesbians have been executed. "We in Iran are not like your country, we don't have homosexuality," Ahmadinejad said at Columbia University in the United States in 2006 when asked about the country's recent execution of two gay men. "In Iran, we don't have this phenomenon," he continued. "I don't know who said we have this situation." The remark drew laughter and boos from the audience of about 700. Second, groups have limited experience.The limitation of group experience stems from the limited lifespan of human beings.There is currently no conclusive evidence that any creature belonging to humans can live longer than 200 years.However, even as long as 200 years, it is really insignificant in terms of knowledge accumulation and digestion.From the third century BC Greek philosopher Aristarchus conjectured that the sun should be the center of the world to Copernicus put forward the heliocentric theory, about 1800 years passed; from Aristotle recorded in the thirty-third volume of "Problems" It has been more than 2,300 years since scientists put forward a relatively credible explanation for "strong light may cause sneezing". The real reason why Darwin's theory of evolution is only a scientific theory that a few people really understand and firmly believe today is that it is a knowledge that cannot be obtained only through personal experience, and even the experience of the entire human group cannot cover it .Who among humans has the ability to experience first-hand the evolution from our common ancestor with monkeys to the present day?If anyone can actually go through the whole process, he can see that some of his relatives are still monkeys today, while others slowly become gorillas, and some of the gorillas' relatives slowly become chimpanzees. , some of the relatives of chimpanzees later became orangutans; Woolen cloth. People tend to be fearful when faced with knowledge that they cannot experience firsthand, because people are afraid of the unknown.Crowds, on the other hand, often behave as madness in the face of knowledge they cannot experience.There is a very incisive saying, "Many times, people's kindness comes from weakness, while their cruelty comes from fear." Copernicus knew this very well, so he dared to officially publish the "Heliocentric Theory" when he was dying. Celestial Motion Theory".Bruno, a supporter of Copernicus, was a little tender, or acted a little braver, and was burned to death in the end. Finally, there is not only knowledge that cannot be gained through individual or group experience, but also knowledge that is contrary to existing experience.We often say that "experience is precious". However, at some point, the so-called "experience" is just a stumbling block on our progress, or even a gap that we can encounter when we make progress. When people understand new knowledge, they often rely on past experience.Therefore, in pedagogy, "analogy" is one of the most respected teaching methods by many scholars and experts.The elementary school teacher used boiled eggs to compare the structure of the earth, so that the elementary school students suddenly understood the knowledge that they could not personally experience-who has the ability to drill into the center of the earth to see it?The middle school teacher used the structure of the solar system as an analogy to the internal structure of the atom, so that the middle school students suddenly understood the knowledge that they could not personally experience-for a long period of time, not every school may have enough field ions to observe the internal structure of the atom microscopic.What is even more amazing is that this time the middle school students rely on a knowledge experience that cannot be obtained through individual experience - the structure of the solar system. However, the premise of using analogy to understand new or unknown knowledge is that this knowledge is close to or similar to an "existing experience".However, to some extent, sometimes even the magical tool of "analog" is powerless, because there are always times when the knowledge we face and try to understand is contrary to the existing experience. A little observation shows that almost all major "communication barriers" in everyday life are essentially the result of the communicators' inability to make the other understand knowledge or information that is contrary to their experience.It is not an exaggeration to say that almost all the books on "communication skills" in bookstores and libraries currently provide solutions that do not really speak to the point.This transfer of knowledge and information cannot be easily and thoroughly resolved simply by "considering issues from the other side's standpoint".Although "considering issues from the standpoint of the other side" is indeed a very useful and difficult skill to master, when we face (or "back to" may be more accurate) "problems that cannot be considered by both sides" when?While we may not even know what the problem is at such times, it is almost certain that such problems not only do exist, but are often critical. Clinton's wife Hillary observed such a phenomenon, "The so-called good leaders can take people where they want to go; the so-called excellent leaders can take people where they should go but they didn't expect to go This kind of thinking and expression shows that Hillary not only has an extraordinary IQ (it is said to be over 147), but also has strong mental strength, strong enough to understand those "excellent leaders". In my opinion, the crux of all educational failures is also based on the same reason.When exploring the unknown and seeking the truth, almost all difficulties come from how to correctly understand knowledge that "may even be contrary to existing experience".From this perspective, the religions of the past are no longer capable of taking on this responsibility, and must give way to the methods and means that a few people have mastered, are using, and are improving—science.On the subject of scientific method, which is far beyond the scope of my article, my suggestion is that all students should seriously read at least three books on the history of science and scientific method separately. From this point of view, human beings may be one of the most embarrassing species on earth: long-term evolution has made human beings develop to the height they are today, but at the moment of birth, each human being actually stands on almost the same level as other animals. From the starting point, the mind has to evolve from scratch.In the following life, it will take a long time to acquire the ability to use words through tedious learning and repeated practice (some people can use multiple languages ​​through hard work).Only with the ability to read can we get rid of various limitations and gain more knowledge through reading.Then you have to learn logic and think about problems through scientific methods, and then you may grow up (or simply use "evolution" as an analogy) to become a real person-of course there must be a considerable proportion, definitely more than half of them In fact, "human beings" have only evolved to less than half of the level on this road, and then they are self-righteous. People who see through the essence will be extremely disappointed and even despaired if they are a little weaker about education.Because, obviously, some people didn't evolve completely, but they were selected to become teachers.Can't imagine a picture like this: A big monkey is "teaching" a group of young monkeys hard-it would be better if a gorilla was teaching a group of young monkeys.Can you imagine what kind of cruel and unimaginable tribulations those little monkeys who finally evolved into adults have to go through along the way? ! This analogy seems too harsh, and it is very difficult to accept.But I have to admit that this analogy is not only vivid and accurate, but also without any intention of offending anyone.Of course, it is estimated that no one intends to be seated according to the number. It is said that God made people speak different languages ​​because God prevented the ancient Babylonians from building the Tower of Babel.In fact, the language barrier is never "insurmountable", at most it is "insurmountable".More than 700 years ago, Marco Polo learned the most elusive and easy to forget on the earth without Kingsoft PowerWord, the "Ebbinghaus Memory Law Curve", and neither "reverse" nor "crazy". , Difficult to learn (elusive) language - Chinese.Today, there are more and more people on the earth who master multiple languages. However, another obstacle to the construction of the Babel has finally emerged--the limitation of "empiricism" that many "people" may not be able to get rid of in their entire lives. At this turning point, "analogy" still has magical power.The most critical first step is to remember and understand the above examples, and then keep in mind that there is indeed "knowledge contrary to existing experience" in this world.Then turn this sentence into existing experience and use it to compare the unknown.After that, a lot of time and energy must be invested in learning and mastering "scientific methodology", struggling to evolve into a real human being.Of course, it must be reiterated that everyone has the right to give up evolution.