The "most powerful brain" can hold the whole world, top scientists also talk about saving marriages, dangerous paradoxes and Oppenheimer
"This is a world-wide winners' forum where we have the honor to communicate face-to-face again after the epidemic. I think offline is much better than online." On the 6th, after the opening of the 6th World's Top Scientists Forum held at the Lingang Center in Shanghai, China, Serge Aroche, Nobel Prize winner in physics and emeritus professor at the Collège de France, lamented this. This year, more than 100 top overseas scientists from 25 countries and regions, including 27 Nobel Prize winners, and more than 40 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a total of more than 300 global scientists gathered at the permanent site of the Tingke Forum.
The reason why top scientists are top may not be limited to academic research. A reporter from Jiefang Daily and Shangguan News observed that from Oppenheimer, saving marriages to dangerous paradoxes, the topics raised during their forums always had unintended reverberations, because these "most powerful brains" care about the entire human race and pretend to be The whole world is here precisely for the forum theme of "Reshaping World Resilience".
[Dangerous Paradox: Useless but Useful, Ignorance is Fearless]
How can humans rebuild the world's resilience during the epidemic? A new vaccine for the new coronavirus was indeed developed in less than a year. However, basic research related to mRNA vaccines has been conducted for more than 30 years. The two scientists who just won this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine were awarded this award precisely because of their basic research.
At the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where Einstein, Oppenheimer, and other great scientists worked, its founder, Abraham Flexner, wrote a book called "The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge." As the book says: "Scientists, regardless of gender and age, are fully or partially separated from the torrent of daily life and the torrent of the world, and are committed to the pursuit of beauty, expanding knowledge, curing diseases, and alleviating human suffering." However, As a quantum scientist, Serge Aroche asked: "Isn't it a very strange fact that at the same time there are fanatics in the world who are causing pain, ugliness and difficulty?"
Aroush highlights the existence of a dangerous paradox: “When I was young I could not imagine innovations like the Internet, laptops, GPS, MRI, smartphones, etc., that were achieved in just one generation. , has profoundly changed our way of life; but some people take all of this for granted. It is in the comfort zone gained without understanding science that many people begin to doubt science and even attack science.”
For example, the COVID-19 crisis has also shown the irrational development of "anti-vaccination", and there is a sense that the ignorant are fearless. Science is under attack from the proliferation of disinformation and fake news spread on social networks, leading individuals and groups to gather in virtual communities to reinforce each other's harmful ideas. Another example is the denialist reaction among scientists when they draw attention to global warming and its potentially catastrophic consequences.
According to Arrosh, an effective response is to cultivate critical thinking in young people through science education and explain to them what rational skepticism is, as opposed to the irrational skepticism and distrust of conspiracy theory proponents. .
As the founder of Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, Dean of the New York Academy of Sciences and former president of the University of California, Berkeley, Du Ningkai also believes, “We must unite through organizations such as the Association of Top Scientists in the World to deal with those who try to undermine trust in science. "
[Stop quarreling, save your marriage, and save humanity]
Top scientists pursue truth and are forthright and honest. In a public speech, Martin Herman, winner of the 2015 Turing Award and emeritus professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University, revealed a personal relationship history. He said, "I experienced a moment when my marriage was on the verge of breaking up 45 years ago. Fortunately, through hard work, my wife and I not only saved our marriage, but we hardly had any quarrels in the next 20 years. It's unimaginable, Doesn’t mean it’s impossible, although the two are often conflated.”
Interestingly, the couple also co-authored a book, talking about how their family is happy and harmonious, "I attribute this credit to my wife. If there is a Turing Award in the field of interpersonal relationships, I believe that I My wife will definitely win.”
As the famous Russell-Einstein Manifesto has this passage: If we are willing, happiness, knowledge and progress are constantly before you. Can we not forget the quarrel and accept death? The road lies ahead, and if you fail to do so, you will face death and threats at every turn.
From interpersonal relationships that no longer quarrel to international relations, this professor "worries about the world first." As a leader in cryptography, he believes that network security has greatly improved people's lives, but unless the way countries compete with each other changes, the interconnectedness between people may threaten their own survival.
Today, a number of emerging threats must be taken into account, both as dangers and as opportunities. Whether it is network technology, artificial intelligence, or genetic engineering, scientific and technological progress is all positive progress. Even addressing climate change and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, it also brings some opportunities to mankind in terms of technology.
So the fundamental problem is not climate change or nuclear weapons. All these threats have a common fundamental problem, which is that the current behavior of humans is more like irresponsible adolescent behavior towards the sacred power given by technology. "Human beings are like a 16-year-old boy who just got his driver's license and somehow managed to drive a 500-horsepower Ferrari sports car. We will either grow quickly or destroy ourselves." But Herman said, "I still believe that humans will grow quickly. By growing into mature adults, we can build a better and more peaceful world and leave it to future generations.”
When talking about the biographical film "Oppenheimer" about the father of the atomic bomb, Professor Du Ningkai bluntly said that whether it is the new coronavirus epidemic or climate change, these major issues are inseparable from international scientific and technological cooperation, allowing science to respond to the common challenges facing mankind and prevent "Oppenheimer's tragedy" is happening again.
