1840Indian rebirth

In fact, before starting this book, my idea was to let the protagonist become the "cargo" on an African slave ship, set foot on American soil as a black slave, and then unfold the story.

Compared with the Indians, this is obviously easier to write about, because the Indian society is a semi-closed primitive society and lacks intersection with the histories we are familiar with. We know very little about the Indians, and history itself does not pay much attention to them.

Black slaves were deeply integrated into the American society at that time, with richer backgrounds and conflicts, and the information was relatively easy to find. For this reason, I have thought of many interesting contents.

However, considering that the black protagonist may cause more controversy, the protagonist of this book finally became Indians, a nation that has no controversy or sense of existence for us.

Now it seems that this choice is quite wise...otherwise when a certain news came out some time ago, the comment section of this book might have been flooded.

There are gains and losses. With the change of the protagonist's identity, many of the originally planned plots have naturally been scrapped.

Let’s just write about Indians, but as I kept writing, a more interesting subject that may be more suitable for Indians popped up in my mind.

Moreover, no one has ever written about this subject, and there seems to be no similar subject matter. For this reason, I often think about it, and I want to try to write about this subject.

So when I wrote this book, my mentality may be like that of a person who is getting married. I look at my current partner and wonder if I have made the wrong choice. Looking at someone outside, I think this may be better... In short, that's it.

Not ideal.

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Although this book has avoided the "black protagonist" setting, there are still some controversies, some of which I want to talk about here.

I had some arguments with a reader before, and I haven't paid attention to the comment area recently. Moreover, the length of replies in the comment area is limited, and sometimes they are deleted by the system. I will express my main opinions here.

The reader’s point of view was to the effect: “If China has no problems, why are the West targeting China? Is China special?”

I say China is indeed special.

He said that even if you are special, it doesn't matter. The law will not punish your crimes just because you are special. Then there are some commonplace common sense arguments, such as universal values.

I was a little speechless when I saw this. After all, if you put the West in a position equivalent to law, then whenever there is a conflict with the West, the fault will naturally lie with China. This subconscious concept that the West is the standard is really scary.

Let’s talk about why China is special.

First of all, the special thing is the size.

Regardless of whether it is chaff or gold and jade, as long as it is piled up enough, it will become a black hole, and as long as it is divided enough, it will become a quantum.

Volume itself is a kind of structure, and it may be the most important structure. The difference in volume is naturally the difference that cannot be ignored.

And for two thousand years or more, we have been the largest country in the world.

A Khan once defined a small country this way: If a country's territory is not as large as China, then it is a small country; if its territory is larger than China, but its population is not as large as China, then it is still a small country.

To a certain extent, this cannot be considered a joke. China is indeed too huge. It seems that it has broken through some kind of "critical mass", but it has existed stably for a long time and has become an extremely strange existence.

Of course, special is relative.

If the West is regarded as "normal", China is "extremely special"; and if China is regarded as "normal", the West is "extremely special".

Therefore, strictly speaking, thinking that China is special and that China is a civilization disguised as a country are still Western-centric views.

From the standpoint of "Oriental Centrism", we can say that the West is special, alternative, and abnormal. Western countries are a group of territories and companies disguised as countries. Only China is a serious country. What China looks like

This is what a normal country should be like, and Chinese values ​​​​are universal values.

Which one is closer to the truth, Western-centrism or Eastern-centrism? Of course it is the latter. At least the East has a larger population. The developed countries in Europe and the United States together have a population of only 1.12 billion, which is still less than China. According to the democratic principle of the minority obeying the majority,

We are the standard, and our values ​​are the universal values.

If we look at the world, we are no longer the majority, but the West is even less so.

In short, no matter what, Western values ​​are not universal values, let alone golden rules.

The conflict between Western countries and China is not so much about "the majority of normal people against the minority of abnormal people" as it is about "the minority of abnormal people rebelling against the majority of normal people."

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There are also some arguments about patriotism.

In the process of arguing with people, I found that almost everyone is patriotic, but the motherland they identify is different. The physical motherland is distinct, but the spiritual motherland is different. A certain degree of separation between psychological identity and real belonging is actually a normal state.

For example, everyone says they love China, some people love ancient China, some people love contemporary China, and some people love China that does not exist.

I once loved ancient China passionately. At that time, I was both an emperor and a public intellectual... Some people think that these two attributes are contradictory to each other, but they are actually unified. The former thinks that ancient China is awesome, and the latter thinks that foreign countries are awesome.

Well, what they have in common is that they think New China is not good enough.

Later, I felt that the identification of the country is the real key. When it comes to patriotism, everyone is so self-proclaimed. No matter what he did or said, no matter how unpatriotic he seemed to others, he could justify himself.

When you come back and say you are patriotic, making excuses is a great talent of human beings.

For example, it is common to emphasize class interests and internal contradictions in order to downplay the objectively existing national interests, and talk about transferring conflicts to the outside world... In fact, internal contradictions and external contradictions can be transformed into each other. There are people inside who export conflicts to the outside world, and there are also people outside.

People export conflicts inward. You can't have your cake and eat it too, you always have to choose one.

Another example is the similar ridicule of "playing the Marx and Engels card". Marx and Engels' thought is science, and one of the characteristics of science is neutrality. It can be used by us to attack the enemy, and it can also be used by the enemy to attack us. Mastering

Anyone can use it, and all science and technology are like this. Some people ridicule the saying that "Sleeping King plays the Ma&En card", as if Ma&En is not science, but metaphysics.

Back to the topic, what is China?

What I identify is, first of all, the visible and tangible China, a group of real contemporary Chinese people, the majority of Chinese people in the legal sense. This is the flesh of China.

Then there is an invisible and intangible China, which is the spirit of China, such as Magnolia’s secularism and collectivism.

After thinking about this, patriotism becomes a combination of emotion and rationality, which is self-evident and leaves no room for doubt or hesitation.

Of course... these are just briefly mentioned, and it is not easy to talk about more in-depth things here. The above mentioned may no longer be appropriate and may be deleted (the review editor will be merciful).

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The acquiescence to the West as the standard is terrible, but so is the contempt for the West.

I praised "Elements of Geometry" in my book, but some people expressed disdain for it.

Hundreds of years ago, the Chinese people's attitude toward "Elements of Geometry" was either fanatical admiration or contemptuous neglect. Most people thought it was a strange technique and heresy, but Xu Guangqi "understood it and was greatly shocked."

”, he fell into despair and simply converted to Catholicism.

To this day, many people's attitudes seem to have not improved, and they are still wandering between conversion and contempt.

Of course, this is nothing to be ashamed of. As the birthplace of modern science, the situation in the West is not necessarily better than ours, and it is far from universally understanding science.

It is even possible that the West, which originated modern science, will be reduced to the fringes of science in the future and lose what they were most proud of. This is not surprising. Stories such as the tortoise and the hare, and making wedding dresses for others are told every day.

is happening. In fact, I think this is a high probability event. Western civilization originated science, but the secular, pragmatic, and collectivist Eastern civilization is the ultimate destination of science.

If it really happens, it will undoubtedly be the most exciting ntr in history.

Today we can look at "Elements of Geometry" rationally. There is no need to belittle ourselves because of "Elements of Geometry", but we should not ignore it and say "haha" with contempt.

The significance of "Elements" does not lie in the theorems and inferences at the junior high school level, but in the model it created - starting from a few undoubted basic facts and obtaining a complete theoretical system through rigorous logical reasoning.

This model was unprecedented, and people discovered a way to obtain the truth, or to have a useful argument.

As an aside, I sometimes wonder whether this pattern was born out of quarrels? After all, Greece has frequent foreign exchanges, a complex cultural environment, and lacks a common language. Daily life should be full of all kinds of arguments. People must have different opinions on it.

There is a great need to win a quarrel. If you want to quarrel in an environment that lacks a common language, resorting to undoubted basic facts and logic is undoubtedly the most effective way.

Persuasiveness. The Greeks developed this habit in various debates, constantly digging for basic facts, and finally successfully dug to the bottom in the geometric field where it is easiest to dig to the bottom, and found the treasure of reason. If this is true, then this reality and

Superiority really doesn't matter. It can only show the benefits of extensive communication, and this benefit is only one-time. After all, science does not need to be born a second time.

From Euclidean geometry, we can get a glimpse of the essence of science, or its synonyms to a certain extent - talking about facts and logic.

People often equate certain non-scientific things with science, saying things like "xxx and science are two different systems, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, so don't criticize each other."

However, science is about facts and logic, so the so-called systems other than science are systems that do not talk about facts or systems that do not talk about logic? What can be called a system that does not talk about facts, logic or even neither?

"System"?

Science is the basic criterion for our understanding of the world, and may be the only rope leading to the ultimate truth. The so-called "systems other than science" or "scientific flaws" are as meaningless as "the world outside the universe".

Science is the true universal, the only universal, and the main line of human civilization.

This is also the reason why I wrote a lot of science-related content in this book. Some readers think that the protagonist going to Europe to publish papers is not doing his job, but I think there is no more correct job than science. Novels about time travel and history should write more about science and technology, otherwise

Traveling through history is a gimmick.

In short, we should understand and respect science as much as possible, especially the mature natural sciences. Instead of treating science as so-called "Western learning" and treating it with prejudice and contempt.

Didn’t the teacher also say that we should learn more from the natural sciences?

In the natural sciences, counter-intuitive and counter-emotional things abound. Things that look beautiful may be ugly, and conclusions that seem to be natural may be wildly wrong. There are so many scientists who have been slapped in the face by nature. Learn more about the process of these slaps.

, it will not be easy to be incited and coerced.

If you find a person who likes to talk about Dyson spheres, nuclear fusion, economic development, military politics...such topics, no matter how nonsense he talks, he is probably not a public knowledge.

On the contrary, those guys who say nothing about reality and science, and talk only about morality, emotion, and human nature, who sometimes purify their souls, often sublimate their souls, and talk about mysteries, even if they are not specimen-level public intellectuals of the Tomb Sect, are somewhat involved.

Got used to it.

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Of course, some people go to the other extreme - only talking about reality and not talking about morality at all.

This is another issue I often argue with people.

In the process of development, the protagonist of this book pursues morality such as fairness and justice, which includes both interest considerations and purely personal concepts.

Some believe this to be an act of Mary.

First of all, what I want to say is that morality is not a false thing, not only for individuals, but also for countries.

For the country, interests come first. This sentence is certainly true, and is often used to oppose remarks that personify and moralize the country.

However, many people also believe in black and white that the country is completely immoral, and even think that morality is a complete illusion and disguise. This is obviously wrong.

The country, or any large organization with a high degree of division of labor, certainly puts interests first, but morality is also an important factor and will greatly affect its behavior and destiny.

The collapse of the former Soviet Union and the chronic problems in governance are certainly the primary factors, but the abandonment of ideas and the collapse of the image cannot be ignored.

Don't talk about modern countries, even feudal groups also pay attention to "righteousness" and "results from teachers".

In fact, during my research, I unexpectedly discovered that not all the colonists did bad things, but some also did good things, such as taking the initiative to treat aboriginal patients.

We can completely think of morality as a special interest, and the pursuit of it is by no means illusory.

Especially for vulnerable groups like Indians, it is necessary to promote morality. After all, if the disadvantaged groups themselves disdain equality and justice, the oppressors will certainly have no scruples.

In fact, anyone may become the oppressed party at some point, and everyone will inevitably turn to morality for help. In this case, we should respect it.

When you are bullied, you will bring out your morality to defend yourself. When you are not bullied, you will throw your morality aside and even spit a few times. I don’t know how to describe this kind of behavior... I can only say that even if you are acting, you should act more seriously.

, perform a complete set.

Secondly, the morality pursued by the protagonist is not high, at least according to today's standards.

For example, when one of his tribe raped a white woman, he did not save the victim, but shot her. This behavior may not be "decisive enough to kill," but it cannot be called the Holy Mother anyway, right?

Of course, what really makes me feel outrageous is that someone, I don’t know what the look is, actually sees the protagonist as saving a white woman and taking him with him...

I know that some people read books through "quantum wave speed reading and brainstorming", but this is the first time I have seen such an outrageous situation. For this reason, I had to repeatedly emphasize the protagonist's "atrocities" in the original text to avoid being labeled as the Virgin.

hat.

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There are also some doubts about "feasibility", that is, they think that the protagonist's pursuit of those morals in the 19th century is unrealistic, and even all the protagonist's goals are unrealistic.

I think it is still possible because the prerequisites are quite sufficient.

The protagonist is set to be strong enough, or even too strong. He is a prophetic, knowledgeable, and very good at teaching. A physics teacher with a certain level of awareness has gained unparalleled energy and mobility after time travel, and he also has a "natural leader"

Appearance, physique.

Putting aside advanced knowledge, in reality there is only one person out of ten who possesses other qualities.

In addition, there are perfect indigenous partners who are basically impossible to exist in real history like Rainy Day. Can they really not completely transform the tribe and the world?

The heroic view of history is not advisable, but this is a general situation, and time-travelers are not a general situation.

As far as time travel is concerned, a situation that does not exist in the real world, the heroic view of history is advisable. Of course, people who transcend the laws of physics can also transcend the laws of history.

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Some people may say, do you still consider these things when writing a web article?

If it were other themes, such as Warcraft and Marvel, I might not think so much about it, but I always believe that historical web writing is different from web writing on other subjects.

Traveling through the past, comparing history, transforming the old world... the large number of such novels is an amazing phenomenon. To be honest, it is one of the manifestations of the majestic vitality of New China.

Prior to this, no novel had presented such a high concentration of historical materialism on such a large scale.

Although it is also filled with a lot of shoddy, simple repetition and even reverse content, its significance is by no means just for entertainment. I believe that people in the future will give this type of novel a fair and dazzling evaluation.

This is why I have always wanted to write historical articles, even though I know that two-dimensional fandom is more profitable and easier to write.

Facts have proved that it is indeed not easy to write a historical article seriously.

■About updates

At the end of the chat, I haven’t updated it for a long time, so I will explain it here.

The reason for the slow update is that on the one hand, the book is not ideal, the results are not ideal, and the writing is not satisfactory.

However, the more critical reason is that there are more important things to deal with in reality, and they are indeed very important things.

So in the next quite long period of time, maybe a year or two, I may not have much time to spend on the Internet...I will just update it as it happens.

As for eunuchs being unfinished, it is impossible for eunuchs to be unfinished... that's for sure. In fact, most of the online serials of this length are unfinished, at least there is almost no book that is recognized as "not unfinished"

.

As for how unfinished it is, you can take a guess. If you guess correctly, you can scratch off the following redemption code and receive a time-travel ticket.

Redeem code:■■■■■■■

In addition, I may write about black people and another Indian theme that comes to mind. Anyway, I don’t have much time to spend on it anyway, so I’ll just give it a try. When I have time in the future, I may do more research.