Chapter 31 postscript

This book deals with the big topics of life and death, man and nature.A scholar who is well-versed in ancient and modern philosophy must have a lot to say about it.But the translator is an ordinary reader, at best an enthusiastic reader, who has absolutely no power to judge it.Here, I only write the following translation postscript based on what I have learned about the author, which may make readers who are willing to read it feel that it is a waste of time. Physician, biologist, professor, administrator, poet, and prose writer Lewis Thomas was born in 1913 in a family of small-town doctors on the outskirts of New York City, educated at Princeton University and Harvard Medical School, and served as an intern after graduation , and possibly a brief residency in World War II.During the postwar boom, he moved to and directed several teaching, research, and medical institutions, including the University of Minnesota School of Medicine and NYU Bellevue Medical Center.After several years as dean of the Yale School of Medicine, he took over as director of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute in New York City.He is a member of the American Academy of Sciences.

Thomas wrote the book, it seems, by accident. In 1970, when Thomas was the dean of the Yale School of Medicine, he was invited to give a "tone-setting speech" at a symposium on inflammation, and his relaxed and humorous general talks were recorded.Somehow, a draft of the speech reached the editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine.The editor-in-chief was Thomas's younger brother and friend from his internship. He liked this article and ordered Thomas to write a series of short articles for his monthly magazine. to not fix.Thomas was talented in writing, but it was a pity that he devoted most of his life to research, so he had to put aside his beautiful words and write those rigid academic papers.When he got this opportunity, he was naturally happy to obey his orders, and wrote six articles in a row. He was about to stop writing, but he couldn't stop.Enthusiastic readers and critics wanted him to keep writing the column, so he wrote it for four years.At this time, publishers are scrambling to get publications. The editor-in-chief of The Viking Press had the most favorable conditions, and he was allowed to complete the book without modification.And so, we were lucky enough to come across this brilliant booklet.

It is no accident that Thomas wrote a book.To use an old Chinese saying, this old man is a poet.He had published poetry while in medical school.When he was an intern, encouraged by his colleagues, he often wrote poems and earned royalties. Besides donating blood, he used them to subsidize the insufficient daily expenses.Judging from some of the poems that can be seen, there are obviously traces of Keats, but on top of the beautiful and pathetic, some irreverence is added. An article published in the "Atlantic Monthly" in 1941 was about the future thermonuclear war, and he wrote about his concern and compassion for the future of mankind.For some reason, after Pearl Harbor, Thomas shelved his poems, together with Fan Aling, and devoted himself to serious scientific research.

We can appreciate these articles as poems.Its unrestrained and unrestrained philosophical thinking, its implicit and haunting structure, and the endless aftertaste between the lines make people feel that they are reading poetry without rhyme.However, if we learn a little about the serious research behind these beautiful essays, it seems that we can appreciate the vision and insights in these unique and fascinating essays with more respect.Thomas has studied a wide range of fields in his life, and has written more than 200 academic papers, involving neurology, immunology, endotoxin, embryology, odorology, and pathology and pharmacology of various diseases.There are even more subjects that he has seriously dabbled in.He even studied comparative linguistics and Chinese etymology with great interest.Most of the chapters in the book come from his own direct research results.There are also some chapters that are written with emotion and intention.For example, the second article was written when mankind successfully landed on the moon for the first time. Faced with people's vigilance against "lunar bacteria", it revealed the essence of human chauvinism deep in this attitude; I feel that some scientists exaggerated artificial intelligence at that time; there are several articles about the health care system and scientific planning, but the author's thoughtful consideration of social issues in these aspects.Thomas served as a health official in New York City and was appointed to the President's Science Advisory Council in 1967. In 1968, the White House ordered a committee to study the research needs of the current American health care system in light of rising medical costs.Thomas led a group that worked for a year and concluded that we couldn't afford "halfway technology."To reduce medical expenses, it is necessary to break through this "half-handed technology" and truly understand ourselves and diseases. This requires the government to allocate more funds to "risky" basic research.The panel's report was put on hold because of the Vietnam War.Later, during the Nixon administration, even the Science Advisory Board itself was abolished for opposing the anti-ballistic missile program and the supersonic aircraft program.These articles upheld the views of the time; a few years later, in 1978, the author reiterated these claims in an article in the Wall Street Journal.From this we can see Thomas' persistent concern for these social issues.

The articles in this book seem to be mixed from the title, but in fact they have a common theme.Generally speaking, they are eulogizing life, contrary to the pessimistic view of the future of the world since the apocalypse of the Bible, and contrary to Darwinism and social Darwinism that have been dominant for a whole century.Thomas is optimistic about the future of nature, or at least the biosphere.He saw that the way of all living beings in nature tends to be union, cooperation, and harmony, rather than competition and killing of the strong.He talked about music, smell, language, bacteria, insects and other planets, but they all talked about one theme: to achieve the harmony of life through communication and cooperation.The reason why Thomas's books are widely popular may be because they give people positive inspiration and strength.

The complex content and unrestrained writing style make it difficult for me to translate this small book.Thanks to my American colleague Dr. Jessie Chambers (Jessie Chambers) who gave me a lot of language help, and my classmate Xu Peijun who carefully reviewed the translation, I was able to avoid many mistakes.When writing this postscript today, I can't help but remember the kindness of scholars and the admonitions of my friends.Committed to this, with Shen Yuanhuai.