Author: 胡翌霖

Returning from Military Training

Life & Notes2005.09.01
Returning from Military Training
Military training is hard; military training is, after all, about going there to suffer, so if you don’t feel it’s grueling, something’s wrong. Military training tests not physical fitness, but willpower. On that score I’m really fine, but once it’s over, there’s still the feeling of being suddenly relieved, so I might as well let out a shout: One, two, three, four, Giant Dragon Third Company, striving for glory at the front, well-trained, leading in everything, one, two, three, four, one-two-three—four!
everyday life
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2005年9月1日
Feynman: Poets Always Say That Scientists Cannot See the Beauty of the Planets—

History of Science & Scholarship2005.08.11
Feynman: Poets Always Say That Scientists Cannot See the Beauty of the Planets—
Poets always say that scientists cannot see the beauty of the stars—stars are, in the eyes of scientists, merely a mass of gathered gaseous atoms. Nothing is “merely” anything. I can see the stars in the desert night sky, and I can feel them too. But do I see them less than others, or more? The vast sky stirs my imagination—gazing up at this turning dome of heaven, with my small eyes I can catch the light that was emitted a million years ago…… or I can observe these stars through the big eye on Mount Palomar (the telescope), which can gather together the light emitted from the same source…
book reading science notes physics
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2005年8月11日
Compiled Q&A for Philosophy Department Freshmen

Life & Notes2005.08.07
Compiled Q&A for Philosophy Department Freshmen
Recently I’ve been talking with many younger classmates, both on the forum and on QQ, and have accumulated a number of Q&As on different topics. I’m now organizing and listing part of them here for more students to refer to. What follows includes a great deal of my own subjective opinion; my subjective opinion is for reference only, so keep it in mind and don’t take it too seriously. Q: What courses does the Philosophy Department require? A: In the first semester, the required courses are two major courses: Introduction to Philosophy (2 credits) and Mathematical Logic (4 credits). In addition, you can choose either Classical Chinese or Advanced Mathematics,…
philosophy everyday life China
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2005年8月7日
TV science education is a stronghold for spreading pseudoscience!

Life & Notes2005.08.01
TV science education is a stronghold for spreading pseudoscience!
After patiently observing CCTV for a few days, I found that the science-and-education programs are indeed a breeding ground for pseudoscience! Easter Island stone statues, wild men, Atlantis, UFOs, alien abductions, crop circles… they’ve aired almost every one of those classic, famous pseudoscientific cases. 《Approaching Science》 is basically “Entering Pseudoscience”; “Exploration · Discovery” is 50% pseudoscience; “Mystery Tracking” is 100% pseudoscience—utterly irresponsible pure pseudoscience! Even the programs that are not openly promoting pseudoscience never show the slightest trace of, or even an implied, promotion of the scientific spirit; everything is spreading pseudoscience! The popularity of pseudoscience in modern society: the media must bear 90% of the responsibility! If you want…
everyday life scientific spirit popularization
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2005年8月1日
The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind [Fr.] Gustave Le Bon / by

Culture & Public Commentary2005.07.31
The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind [Fr.] Gustave Le Bon / by
《Crowds: A Study of the Popular Mind》[Fr.] Gustave Le Bon / author, Feng Keli / translator, Zhongyang Bianyi Press, 2004.1 This book, written in 1895, was judged by Freud to be “a truly great work” and “an exquisitely detailed description of the collective mentality”; the great American social psychologist Allport went even further, calling it the most “influential” work in the field of psychology to date. And yet this book has also drawn an enormous amount of controversy and refutation. Clearly, it is a book full of prejudice, but that cannot erase its profound insights and far-reaching influence. Le Bon points out that once an individual enters a group, his…
book reading notes politics human nature
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2005年7月31日
Constellations, Easter Island, and the Predicament of Popular Science

History of Science & Scholarship2005.07.31
Constellations, Easter Island, and the Predicament of Popular Science
Constellations, Easter Island, and the Dilemma of Popular Science On the train back to Shanghai during the holidays, I was chatting with a few young people in the neighboring seats. When the topic turned to constellations, one older brother said he was “the worst of all the zodiac signs.” It turned out he, like me, was a Scorpio… Alas, being born at that time, what can I do about it? In fact, I’ve always said I have very little interest in constellations. For someone as broadly interested as I am, “not interested” is basically equivalent to “dislike.” But to say I dislike constellations would not be accurate. Since childhood I…
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2005年7月31日
The Demon-Haunted World [U.S.] Carl Sagan / author

生活与随记2005.07.31
The Demon-Haunted World [U.S.] Carl Sagan / author
《The Demon-Haunted World—Science as a Candle in the Dark》[U.S.] by Carl Sagan / translated by Li Daguang Jilin People’s Publishing House, January 1998 If, among the basket of popular-science classics I recommend, you only have the patience to read one book, then read Carl Sagan’s The Demon-Haunted World—Science as a Candle in the Dark! This is not a book that popularizes “scientific knowledge”; it has nothing to do with profound relativity theory or quantum theory. What it deals with is the topic of “the scientific spirit.” Half of Americans don’t know that the Earth goes around the sun once a year; the public’s scientific literacy is worse than you might…
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2005年7月31日
Perpetual Motion Machines and the Goldbach Conjecture / by Tian Song

History of Science & Scholarship2005.07.31
Perpetual Motion Machines and the Goldbach Conjecture / by Tian Song
《Perpetual Motion Machines and Goldbach’s Conjecture》By Tian Song, Shanghai Science and Technology Press, 2003.11 The most striking manifestation of the current public lack of scientific literacy is how readily people “believe” things; the core of the scientific spirit lies in “doubt”! But I often do not like to bring up this word, because advocating a spirit of “doubt” often leads to misunderstandings. For example, the abuse of doubt. Tian Song’s little book *Perpetual Motion Machines and Goldbach’s Conjecture: Science in the Jianghu* offers many other forms of misunderstanding the scientific spirit—namely, pseudoscience. The prevalence of pseudoscience is also closely related to the direction of public opinion in society. Society has…
book reading notes scientific spirit Copernicus
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2005年7月31日
A Short History of Nearly Everything [U.S.] Bill Bryson / by

History of Science & Scholarship2005.07.31
A Short History of Nearly Everything [U.S.] Bill Bryson / by
[American] Bill Bryson, author; translated by Yan Weiming and Chen Yong; Jieli Publishing House, 2005.2 I’ve just finished reading A Short History of Nearly Everything. As a popular science book that is both lively and entertaining, it is certainly well worth recommending. The Chinese translation has an impressive lineup of consultants: Xu Zhihong, Gan Zizhao, and He Zuoxiu; and of reviewers: Wu Guosheng, Liu Huajie, and Zhang Butian. Just seeing these familiar names is reason enough to buy a copy. However, both translators are literature scholars and translators from foreign-language institutes, rather than, like many of the translators in the First Push series, people with a scientific background. In the…
book reading science notes Wu Guosheng
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2005年7月31日
A Letter to First-Year Philosophy Students

生活与随记2005.07.31
A Letter to First-Year Philosophy Students
I. Learning Since my own academic performance is not very good (the only two specialized courses in my first semester were both class firsts, but my GPA was not so great), I may not have much confidence when it comes to talking about studying. Still, college study cannot be measured by GPA alone. GPA is certainly important, but I hope everyone will not become too fixated on grades. A. Reading College study, especially study in the philosophy department, is very different from middle school study. It is not something you can do well simply by listening carefully in class, taking good notes, and doing lots of exercises. Hard work of…
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2005年7月31日