Chapter 33 Humanity is undergoing a scientific revolution

You mentioned the scientific revolution and the scientific society in many places above, what exactly do you mean?Can you go into a little more detail. I proposed the scientific revolution and the scientific society from two perspectives: (1) In 1776, Watt completed the invention of the steam engine, setting off an earth-shaking industrial revolution.Since then, thousands of years of agricultural society gave way to industrial society. In the middle of the 20th century, the new scientific and technological revolution centered on microelectronics technology sounded the death knell of industrial society.The first person who discovered that the hundreds of years of industrial society had come to an end was the American sociologist Dennis Bell. He had a premonition that a brand new society had been born on the matrix of industrial society, but he could not make an accurate generalization of this new society. , it is proposed that human beings have entered a "post-industrial society".Later, the futurist Toffler said that after the agricultural wave and the industrial wave, human beings are now in the "third wave", which has played a huge role in the popularization of science, but has not added any new scientific content.Then futurist Naisbitt summed up the ten new trends in the development of human society, and proposed that this is an "information revolution" and that the future will be an "information society", which was almost a conclusion for a while.

In the 1980s, the above views were all the rage in Chinese academic circles and society.I was working in Shanghai at the time, and I had studied this issue, put forward the views of the Chinese people, wrote an article "What Revolution is Human Being Facing", and put forward the "scientific revolution" and "scientific society" for the first time.Obviously, there is still no conclusion on this issue in the West. Later, various formulations such as "new economic era" and "knowledge economy era" have caused a wave of waves in Chinese academic circles. I have been paying attention to this issue and thinking about it. a question.Chinese people cannot keep following foreigners.

(2) Later I went to work in Beijing.The central government proposes to study the laws of modernization, not only the laws of building socialism with Chinese characteristics and the laws of socialist construction, but also the common laws of the development of human society.Therefore, I further studied this question seriously, what kind of revolution is humanity facing?What kind of society will replace industrial society?This has strategic guiding significance for the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics.The results of my research were written into a long paper (which can also become a separate booklet), namely "On the Scientific Industrial Revolution", which was later received in my collection.

Indeed, the question of the times is the most important.In the past, we learned and believed in the education of Marxism. There are five social forms in the history of social development: primitive society, slave society, feudal society, capitalist society and socialism (communist society). The era of revolution is precisely when all roads of capitalism lead Rome to the era of socialism.This is about social science, which focuses on production relations.The new scientific and technological revolution you are talking about is natural science, which reflects the great changes in productivity.Back then, Watt's invention of the steam engine caused a qualitative leap in the entire productivity, and the technological revolution led to an industrial revolution and even a profound revolution in the entire mode of production.But people at the time did not know that a fundamental revolution had taken place. More than 100 years later, people looked back to history and identified it as the "Industrial Revolution".The Industrial Revolution introduced humans into industrial society.What exactly is a revolution now?What society will humans be introduced into?Perhaps the practice is not sufficient now, and it will be many years before an accurate judgment can be made.

Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth.However, if we can make a judgment earlier, we can advance this revolution more consciously and better build a new society for the future of mankind.From the "post-industrial society" started in the United States to the "knowledge economy era" proposed by the United Nations, valuable explorations have been made.Chinese academic circles should make their own efforts.We can achieve more correct results than them under the guidance of the advanced theory of Marxism.Information and knowledge are both products and are becoming increasingly important products and strategic resources in human society. However, the fundamental problem is the production method of these products.

Marxism teaches us that the nature of a society is not judged by the product but by the mode of production by which the product is produced.From steam engines to internal combustion engines, generators and electric motors are all products, we cannot therefore call the industrial revolution in 1776 a steam engine revolution or a power engine revolution.The production of steam engines and other power machines, as well as the production methods of producing industrial products powered by them-the large machine factory, that is, industry, is the most accurate name for that revolution. The industrial revolution and industrial society have been recognized by mankind.

Therefore, the current revolution should not be named information revolution and knowledge revolution by products; the future society should not be named information society or knowledge society, but should be named by the production method of producing information and knowledge, that is, the industry that produces information and knowledge name.Information and knowledge are the products of scientific research. In the 20th century, scientific research was increasingly industrialized, and the "scientific research industry" was born, but the name is too complicated. I created a simplified term to call it scientific industry.Then, the revolution that mankind is undergoing now is a scientific revolution that is more profound and magnificent than the industrial revolution of that year. It is a brand-new science and industry society.

Makes sense and is convincing.So where is the new science and industry society?What are its basic characteristics that are different from industrial society? The basic characteristics of a scientific society are as follows: (1) Scientific industry, that is, scientific research has become the leading industry of society.Scientific labor is an unprecedentedly advanced complex labor for human beings. The leading products produced are knowledge and information, which constitute the strategic resources and leading wealth of the new society. (2) Mental workers with intellectuals as the main body are the main laborers in society and become the main creators of new social wealth.

(3) The main form of scientific labor will be that specified in the "Communist Manifesto": free men united labor.On the basis of the full and free development of everyone, the full and free development of all people is realized.All human beings are completely liberated, and people become real people, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his worth", thus achieving an unprecedented unity of efficiency and fairness, creating unprecedented productivity, social wealth and civilization. (4) Global network informatization and information mobility greatly shorten the time for human communication and expand the space for human communication.It is not only a great achievement of the science industry, but also continuously promotes the further comprehensive development of the science industry and the science industry society.

(5) Economic globalization with global market, global enterprises and global informatization as symbolic elements.Economy is the foundation, and economic globalization will further promote the democratization of international relations, jointly promote the prosperity and progress of human civilization, and realize world harmony and permanent peace. (6) The way of life and activities of human beings will also be completely new.Lifelong learning based on information networking and mobility will replace school-based education for teenagers in industrial society; the motivations for traditional marriage (mutual assistance in production and survival, family continuation and expansion, sexual needs, etc.) disappear, and thus the traditional family predicted by Marx will die out; information will be fully symmetrical And the publicized electronic network democracy will realize the demise of political parties and party political democracy predicted by Marx; advantage in terms of a society, thereby ushering in a new era of women running society, and so on and so forth.

(7) Just as the agricultural society corresponds to the era of feudalism, and the industrial society corresponds to the era of capitalism, the scientific and industrial society will be a truly new era of socialism. It's very interesting that you mentioned the science and industry society.Maybe I won’t be visiting you in your office then, maybe you’re in Paris for a seminar on the future of humanity and I’m lying on the beach in Hawaii talking to you. Why is the Human Future Discussion Conference held in Paris?It can be discussed globally on the Internet!The changes in the way of life are endless, and it is still difficult to predict and estimate them one by one, but the most important thing is the mode of production.It is necessary to greatly develop high-level popular education to cultivate laborers who can engage in scientific work; it is necessary to greatly develop scientific research and strive to industrialize it.Only in this way can we create the basic conditions for the scientific production mode, and now we can appreciate the great strategic significance of the Party Central Committee's proposal of "rejuvenating the country through science and education". "Rejuvenating the country through science and education" is essentially to consciously promote the revolution in science and industry. Mankind has entered the era of scientific and industrial revolution, but in today's China, the industrial revolution has not yet been completed. 62% of the population is agricultural population, generally in the stage of agricultural society, industrialization is still far away! To say that China is an industrial society is probably not qualified.In the 21st century, the task for the Chinese people to complete the industrial revolution and the scientific revolution at the same time is really too arduous!It is too difficult for the Communist Party of China to lead the Chinese people to accomplish these two historical missions!The people of the whole country must closely unite around the Communist Party, unite as one, and work hard. The Communist Party of China must strive for success, constantly advance with the times, reform with determination, and build itself into a modern party that will always stand at the forefront of the times. In your opinion, how should the Communist Party reform itself in order to become a modern party that stands at the forefront of the times?This is the most concerned issue of the people of the whole country. The cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics is a cause of reform and innovation.In order to stand at the forefront of the times and lead the people to continuously create new prospects for the development of the socialist cause, the party must strengthen its own construction with the spirit of reform and innovation.The development and changes of world conditions, national conditions, and party conditions have determined that it is both important and urgent to strengthen party building with the spirit of reform and innovation.If we want to focus on strengthening our ideals and beliefs and innovating the party's operating mechanism, we must strive to: (1) Establish a new scientific and democratic mechanism, let go of the old and absorb the new, and ensure that the Communist Party members are all outstanding members of the Chinese nation and the elite of the Chinese nation.Strictly prevent bad people, bad villains and mediocre elements from mixing into the party. (2) To establish a new scientific and democratic mechanism, to select party committees at all levels and to recommend leading groups of governments at all levels, all of whom are talents with a corresponding level of both ability and political integrity.Strictly prevent corrupt elements and sycophants from mixing into the leadership group. (3) Establish a new scientific and democratic mechanism to ensure that the decision-making of leading collectives at all levels is basically correct, and the most important thing is to conform to the historical direction of building an industrial society and a scientific society. Each mechanism requires a lot of operational design.It is necessary to organize expert research, gather the wisdom of the party, and gradually improve it in practice. You talked about electronic network democracy earlier, and now you have emphasized the party's science and democracy construction. Could you talk about China's democracy construction? I have promised you, today is an informal free talk among friends.You can ask any question, I promise to answer any question.As for whether it is right or wrong, please forgive me if you are satisfied or not, the level is limited.