"Jellyfish and Snail" - Life lies in making mistakes
I initially chose to read "The Jellyfish and the Snail" because I was attracted by its name. I thought it would be very interesting, but it did not disappoint me. As a scientific book, it does not focus on scientific theory, but uses a scientific perspective to examine current problems in the scientific community, society, and ethical life and death, as well as the author's own thinking.
"Jellyfish and Snail" is divided into short stories. The story and theme of each section are different and never repeated, showing the author's broad thinking and the height and depth of his thoughts.
Since the content of this book is too much and the stories are too complicated, I chose to talk about my feelings after reading it by dividing the stories into stories like the author did. But it is impossible for me to cover all chapters, so I just choose some chapters that interest me.
In the first section, the author discusses the issues of life and self. I think that everyone in the contemporary era seems to be promoting individuality and how unique they are. In particular, I am afraid that I will be "lost to everyone", but all of us live dependent on others. Of course, it is not only us humans, but also other living creatures, all of which are interconnected without a single link. At this time, your mind can think like this: first think of an animal, then think of the creatures related to it, then add the environment, and then expand infinitely, everything will become prosperous and form a complete earth world.
The second section of the Tucson Zoo discusses the relationship between the whole and the parts, expressing the author’s curiosity about the world, its inhabitants and his relationship with them. Emotional connection and the most primitive attribute of human beings is not altruism. I have to admire the author's whimsy. If I were between otters and beavers, I would only be so cute by them that the blood tank would be empty. Indeed, in contemporary times, our scientific research is becoming more and more detailed, down to atoms, quarks, and cells, and we often forget the role of the whole. It is precisely because the parts are connected that ants can think. Attachment and emotion are the most primitive memories from ancestors carried in genes.
The third article is called "The Youngest and Smartest Around Us". The author broadens his mind to the universe and thinks about whether there is life on other planets. I think there are aliens. They may look weird like the Klingons in "Star Trek", or they may exist in a way that we cannot perceive. They may not need water or air, and they may have completely different They have the same living habits, culture, and language, just like what was depicted in "The Three-Body Problem". They are high-dimensional creatures, and their thoughts are transparent. When people stand on a high mountain, they feel small. When they stand in the universe, they feel lonely. They feel lucky and proud of our civilization. We can think, we have words, we can know ourselves, we can explore, and we can expand. After all, our journey is the stars and the sea.
The fourth article is about witchcraft in medicine. This is a hot issue nowadays, especially when we are tortured by health rumors in our circle of friends. when. In this article, the author proposes that medicine has been accompanied by "witchcraft" from the beginning. This witchcraft refers to pseudo-medicine and also refers to groups who use medicine to achieve their goals regardless of the truth. We are particularly easy to believe rumors, especially when the rumors are disguised as science and hold the banner of caring for us and protecting us, we can easily lose judgment and be controlled by them. We should always adhere to scientific judgment and treat these pseudosciences with a realistic spirit.
The fifth article is called Brilliant Mistakes. The author puts forward an interesting point of view. Our contemporary biological world of various shapes and colors is the result of the accumulation of mistakes made by DNA one by one. Yes, when we talk about the inheritance of life, we usually feel that nothing can be wrong. For example, X and Y are the key to determining gender. Your life is created by the accurate gene transmission of your ancestors for many, many generations. . But when we return to the initial state of life, we will find that it is mistakes that created organic matter and life since then. And usually scientific discoveries and inventions are deviated from the original intention of the researcher, and they are usually accidental.
So pay attention next time when you make a mistake, maybe a miracle like life will happen.
The sixth article is about a pond. It is actually about the goldfish in the pond. It praises the tenacity of life and expresses the deliberate intervention of human beings in the evolution process of other life. Disdainful. We humans like to tame animals, such as dogs, lions, horses and other animals. We like them to act according to our ideas and behave in ways that please us. We praise animals that understand people for their spirituality, and we treat animals that disobey us with wildness. Commensurate. As everyone knows, every animal has its own splendor. If it is a leopard, it should gallop through the wilderness and tear apart the invaders. If it is a rat, it should drill holes to avoid predators. But now it is the other way around. Leopards are kept in captivity in zoos waiting to be fed. , mice are called cute things because they are so tall. This is really a bad consequence of human interference in the processes of other living beings!
In the chapter on self, the author discusses the situation of multiple selves. He believes that not only schizophrenia patients have multiple selves, but also normal people, but we Unlike schizophrenics, our selves emerge sequentially and can be conditioned through rewards or mild threats of punishment. Indeed, in our youth we are sensitive, restless, adventurous and fragile, in our middle age we are steady, cautious, strong and progressive, and in our old age we become like children again. Then wouldn't they appear collectively, of course, during the exchange period of growth, when making important decisions, or when one is alone. Because at this time we must talk to ourselves and understand our true thoughts in order to grow better.
The health care system has written about the excessive worry about health problems across the country. Each of us is rushing for our own health, as if our individuals themselves are very fragile, all the time Need to pay attention. We jog, eat a balanced diet, and protect the environment because we are not confident at all about our body’s defense mechanism. For example, we talk about cancer now, as if this is carcinogenic and that is carcinogenic, and the entire society is studying how to live better. Even though we live long, we still fantasize about eternal life. In fact, slow and natural death is also a sign of health. However, people have never been able to accept death, even though we all know that it will come one day.
In the chapter on the creation of asexual humans, the author criticizes cloning technology and proposes that "the way of heaven likes change but does not like residence." It is true that differences make up this world. In our world, there are yellow people, black people, and white people. People of different skin colors can love each other better. Han people, Indian people, mountain people and other different ethnic groups have splendid cultures. Everyone grows up in different places. Environment and experiencing different stories lead to a colorful life. If cloning is used to create identical people, it changes the diversity and violates ethics. I have always thought that the birth of a life must go through the union of men and women, and the growth of a life must be done by an individual with his or her unique self. Experience, the life of a clone is based on the life of others. Let’s imagine that when someone tells you that you are a clone, your mission is to extend the life of your host. Your life does not start from scratch. It starts at the age of fifty-five, and you don't have much time left. How will you react and how will you feel?
In this chapter on univocal words and mixed words, we explore how modern English derives from ancient Indo-European, Sanskrit, Persian, Greek, Latin and other languages. There are inextricable connections between new words and old words, but there are also many mistakes. I will use this theme to talk about the evolution of some Chinese words. Chinese characters are pictographic characters, many of which come from the people's production activities at that time. People described this scene. For example, "jiao" can be divided into two parts. The left part is filial piety, which means children, and the right part is the anti-text, which comes from "洴" means holding a stick in the hand, which means hitting. When combined, it means an old man holding a stick to teach children. This word also reflects the ancient Chinese education method "a filial son emerges from a stick". The concept of "a strict master produces a good disciple".
The author's combing of the evolution of English words made me understand more about the differences between nations and the colorfulness of culture. The language of any nation expresses the history of the nation and carries the story of the nation.
In the chapter on the dangers of science, the author refutes those who think science is arrogant. The author believes that pretending to be able to live in ignorance is called Danger. With the development of science, we humans have begun to play the role of gods. We have surpassed the ball that "God" drew for us, recombinant DNA, and hybridized different species. So people have begun to worry, thinking that humans should not know everything. This will Bringing disaster to us, this concern is particularly prominent in disaster movies, such as zombies, dinosaurs, and virus invasion. In fact, knowledge has no boundaries. The meaning of our existence is to constantly explore the unknown. What we know now is just the tip of the iceberg of the entire unknown world. The more we know, the more ignorant we will find. The world of science is like the world of the ocean, the deeper it becomes, the more beautiful it becomes.
In the chapter on Xuanchou, the author has a touch of Chinese metaphysics. In this chapter, the author allows his thoughts to swim in this vast world. We modern people have cars and closed windows when we go out. We have computers and TVs at home and close the windows. We rarely have time to get close to nature. Now the screen is full of information, and our heads are filled with information. It is filled with all kinds of entertainment information. The author writes about the scenes he saw and the things he thought about during meditation, conveying to us how to replace real sorrow with "mysterious sorrow", to get close to nature and to calm down through meditation.
The author of "Jellyfish and Snail" is a scientist, but his science is not boring at all. He wrote popular biological science into beautiful prose. He is engaged in biology. But it is not limited to biology, social sciences, ethical issues, history and culture, computer science, human cognition and other issues. He has covered them all and elaborated on many very interesting views. He made me feel that knowledge is quite attractive, and a person with profound knowledge and profound thoughts is also quite attractive, and it also made me want to become such a person.
All in all, I read this book with no regrets.