Chinese entertainment for engineering students

"You seemed to have said you wanted to make a movie just now. Is it true?" Well, after drinking a lot, Zeng Yandong finally brought the topic back.

"What, are you interested? Want to get involved?" The classmate in the dormitory will soon be a senior. Although he will not graduate soon, he still faces the choice of internship unit.

At this time, Shuimu University is a five-year system. Every student must study for five years before graduating. The last year is an internship period, which is more than twice as long as that of ordinary universities.

However, this characteristic also means that college students need to carefully choose their internship unit in their final year. Most students will find laboratories on campus for internships, but some thoughtful students will choose enterprises in society.

"You haven't said anything yet. How do I know if I should get involved, but the things you do are usually very interesting, and I am indeed interested." Zeng Yandong took another sip of beer and answered affirmatively.

His face has already turned red. Although he hasn't drunk enough, he doesn't have much capacity anymore. You can see that he no longer needs others to persuade him to drink.

"Okay, I want to make a science fiction story, and make it according to the standards of the ugly country." Wang Xu nodded and took a big sip of wine. He was still very early to get drunk. Today, Zhou Feng will pay to drink more. It doesn't matter.

"Ugly country standards, how much does that cost?" Zhou Feng interrupted. Even if he didn't like movies, he knew that the cost of Hollywood science fiction movies was astonishing.

"Of course it would be expensive if it was made by Ugly Chinese, but we can make it cheaper. In fact, the main thing is not how good the film is, but that I want to explore a new way." Wang Xu sighed with emotion. It is not difficult to make a movie, after all, he has the skills There it is.

But movies are industrialized, and this is not a project that can be completed by one person, especially science fiction movies that require a lot of special effects.

He chose to talk about this here instead of in Diying. He also wanted to see if he could attract the interest of his brothers and join this project.

Just ask, can a movie be a scientific research project?

"You have to tell me what you want to shoot." As for interest, maybe Hu Ershui is more interested in this project. Who makes him like watching movies.

Well, maybe he likes watching movies with girls, but what does it matter.

"Do you think our world is real?" Wang Xu took a sip of wine and said mysteriously.

"What kind of question do you have? Of course it's true." The person who spoke was Zhan Wenbo. He didn't talk much today and seemed to have little interest in this topic.

"How do you prove that everything we live in is real? Have you ever heard of the brain in a vat?" Wang Xu remained mysterious and said in a confused voice.

"What are you talking about? I drank too much just now and fell asleep?" Uncle Qiang also interrupted. He had drunk too much and was already awake now.

"You're actually awake. If you can't drink, just drink less.

Wang Xu just said that he wanted to make a movie, asking whether the world we live in is real, and what about brains. "Boss Zhan showed his responsibility as a boss and briefly conveyed it to Uncle Qiang.

"Have you ever heard of a brain in a vat?" Wang Xu saw that Uncle Qiang was fine and continued the topic.

"I think I've heard of it, but I don't know where I saw it.

That is to say, a brain is soaked in a nutrient solution, and all electrical signals are simulated to it by a supercomputer. Then how does the brain know whether it is in a tank or a skull. "

Uncle Qiang answered the call, and it was obvious that he had really woken up.

"Well, it's such an environment. A thought experiment mentioned by American philosopher Hilary Putnam in his book "Reason, Truth, and History." Wang Xu gave a detailed explanation, his tone was It's like Baidu Encyclopedia.

This is how it is these days, all kinds of philosophy books are very attractive, and they are simply a first-rate show of pretentiousness.

In later generations, people who are too lazy to read can read brief reviews, but no one will write brief reviews for you now, not to mention it is an obscure and difficult philosophy.

So what should ordinary people who want to show off do? Most people's method is actually to just read "country name + title + book title + author's full name". After memorizing this combination, and then listening to others say it a few times, they can claim that they have read it.

Then when filling the cup, the long list is enough to overwhelm most people, especially some niche philosophy books, which are simply detrimental.

Although Wang Xu would not fill the cup in such a low way, he lived in this era and was accustomed to this habit of reading.

The first thing you should do when reading a book is to remember the title, which country it is from, who wrote it, what the person does, and what his full name is.

Although it is not intentional, it is obviously effective. You can see that several classmates are already shocked. Haha, it is cool.

"Pretend again, I'll fine you a drink, but it sounds scary." Several classmates started teasing Wang Xu and ordered him to drink a fine. This was also customary. It's okay to lie to outsiders, but if you pretend to be in front of your own people, you're really looking for a beating.

"Okay, okay, I'll punish myself with a drink. You guys, you don't like learning and you look down on it." Wang Xu shook his head while eating food and drinking.

"Haha, I'm giving you an advantage. Let's talk about it in detail." Boss Zhan finally found a topic he was interested in and asked enthusiastically.

"Hypothesis..." Wang Xu stopped joking and explained this thought experiment in detail.

The thought experiment of the brain in a vat became very famous in later generations and is known to almost everyone on the Internet.

This is because many science fiction movies are developed and deduced from this basis, so it has been repeatedly introduced and explained in various popular science articles and videos.

But at this moment, this thought experiment, like this book, is not well-known in China. After all, this philosopher is not well-known in China, but he is actually famous in Chou Country.

Moreover, this thought experiment contains too many scientific and engineering ideas, such as brains, electrical signals, nutrient solutions, supercomputers and so on.

Even though these few words are enough to block 90% of the literary youth in this era.

Most of the literary youth are not majoring in science and engineering. The strange terms make these people look a little confused, so no one pays attention to it.

This is true for an experiment, not to mention the entire book. This book was translated quite early, but not many people read it. It was published after one edition.

Almost 20 years later, the Matrix trilogy became famous in China, and then it was republished and reprinted.

Thanks to the expansion of enrollment, a large number of science and engineering students appeared, and this book ushered in its spring in China.

However, Wang Xu's classmates were obviously understandable. After Wang Xu's explanation, they understood the ingenuity of this thought experiment.

Wang Xu didn't quite understand the philosopher's thoughts, but that didn't stop him from using this experiment to tell a story.

"2020, Imperial City, programmer..." Wang Xu looked at several brothers. Zhou Feng was eating duck with an indifferent expression. Okay, it's just him.

"Zhou Feng is living a boring 996 life." Wang Xu continued to slowly tell a new story with a magnetic voice.

"Wait a minute, what is 996?" Uncle Qiang interrupted.

"It's from nine in the morning to nine in the evening, six days a week." Wang Xu explained, a little angry that the atmosphere he was brewing was interrupted.

"Why isn't it 8 o'clock in the morning? Isn't six days normal? Why do you use a special term to emphasize it?" Uncle Qiang looked confused, what's going on?

"..." Wang Xu was speechless.

Well, there is indeed no such word in this era. Overtime seems to be nothing to people in this era. Ordinary people work from 8 am to 5 pm, six days a week.

For those who work outside, there is no guarantee of what time they will work. In factories, 12-hour arrangements seem to be the norm.

Not to mention that in the laboratory, it was common to stay up all night three times a week. Two big projects made the entire campus feel busy.

"Well, it's about to be changed to five days. There will be action next year. Don't go out and talk nonsense." Wang Xu made a silent gesture.

"That is to say, I have been working overtime, right? Private company?" Zhou Feng was immediately interested when he heard that the protagonist was him. As a vicious capitalist, he still understood the current working conditions of the factory.

"Absolutely, a listed company, a very large one, a trust." Wang Xu explained casually, OK, just by asking these questions, he knew that the story could not be told smoothly.

"Will we have such a trust in the future? Don't drag others with you if you want to die. You will probably be killed before the film is even made." Zeng Yandong complained casually.

The reform has just been finalized, and no one knows what the future will bring. It is difficult for people to imagine that there will be private super monopolies in the future. Therefore, Wang Xu's first sentence triggered a big discussion.

"It's hard to say whether the development of capital is based on people's good wishes." Zhan Wenbo immediately expressed his worries about the future.

"At least it won't be that fast. In 2020, I think you said 2050 is about the same. Your science fiction is too unimaginative. You can only imagine more than 20 years later." Zhou Feng looked disdainful and did not think about imagination and years. Is it relevant?

"Come on, after more than 20 years, you can figure it out? It's still 2050, and China will probably be second in the world by then." Zeng Yandong seemed to have discovered a new world, and the topic was irresistibly deflected in another direction.

Okay, this is the drinking party, let's do whatever we like, why can't we chat? Wang Xu looked at the sky and drank a glass of beer silently.

"Second in the world, it should be about the same. We have developed quite quickly in the past two years."

"It's not like others won't develop. Just look at yourself and not others. Just look for the sword." Boss Zhan immediately started arguing. These few sat together. In fact, no one has a fixed point of view. Today you argue with him, and tomorrow he will argue with you.

The main theme is lively and fun.

To be precise, Wang Xu's roommates are basically centrists, those who occasionally lean to the right, sometimes to the left, and who put pragmatism first.

In later generations, such people will be placed in the category of refined egoism. Anyway, no one will pay attention to what you have really done. But fortunately, these students will generally not express their opinions on the Internet in the future. If they refine their own opinions, everything will be fine.

As for the experts on the Internet, there are actually problems with expressing opinions across industries. If you are not an expert in that industry, you deserve to be criticized.

Later, the Chinese Academy of Sciences banned its professors from speaking in unrelated fields. They were probably tired of being scolded, so they just stopped talking.

This era is the most daring era, so people who come from this era have the urge to say something if they don’t like it. The early days of the Internet were indeed relatively peaceful, with few resources, and they were quite modest. They talked nonsense on it. , just treat it as nonsense in front of friends.

You see, the first big Vs on Weibo were all big talkers, they said everything, they only regarded netizens as friends, how could they have thought of so many things that could be criticized.

Later people only set up their own characters and were run by professional people, so that everyone looked like a saint. It was safe, but it was really boring.

In later generations, almost all speech on the Internet is for profit. Those normal people who came from that era of speaking freely naturally shut up to avoid unnecessary disasters.

"As long as we are faster than them, it will be fine. You see, our growth last year was 13, and their growth rate is only single digits."

"The base is huge, and what data we have, do you believe it? Just listen. Don't always live on the seven o'clock news."

"If you don't believe him, who can you believe? It's good to see that the people around you are developing well."

"Small-scale sample, survivor bias, you can't just look around us. Shuimuna is rare in the country. This is not thanks to Wang Xu."

"The factories at my home are also pretty good. Their development last year should have been pretty good. It's not just my family, but most of them are pretty good."

"Your family owes it to Wang Xu."

"It seems that I have been expelled from China. Thanks to me, China's production value is also good." Wang Xu was very dissatisfied. He was a little special, but not so special that the GDP was listed separately.

Alas, it seems that this story can no longer be told. I might as well write it down later and send it to the Science Fiction World to see if it can be published and maybe win some prize.

The story is of course "The Matrix", which is the most suitable novel to copy from a time perspective. However, Wang Xu wanted to change the background and plot, which was a big project.

"The Matrix" is one of the few Hollywood movies that Wang Xu feels makes sense scientifically and logically. The fights are lively and fierce, and the special effects are adequate. Wang Xu has evaluated the existing technical means and should be able to reproduce it in China.

But the underlying logic of this film is actually a kind of fatalism, with a strong flavor of a weird mix of Western religion and Buddhism. The entire film is a religious sacrifice and redemption packaged in love.

Fatalism and computer theory are a very good match because both are established programs.

For example, the love between Trinity and Neo, you say how real it can be, the two of them have only met a few times in total, and you say they are so in love that a kiss can activate Neo's power, isn't this the procedure.

But the problem is, you are a program in the matrix, but when you come out, why are you still a program? I'd rather give Neo a shot in the arm to wake him up. Although it's a stretch, at least anyone can give him this shot.

Written in this way, how should I put it, it conforms to Western logic and is more in line with the Western concept of love. Most Chinese people will be fooled by the special effects. It feels and looks very good, and the box office exploded.

But subtly, you will slowly and slowly accept the value of fatalism, the kind of love that often leads to death, and the logic that only a savior can save the world. This is disgusting.

What's more, you can make a box office hit with Keanu Reeves, but if you try a Chinese protagonist, you will probably have to entertain yourself. How can a Chinese save the world? He can be a mute bodyguard and a wretched lock. The craftsman is pretty much the same.

Okay, no more excuses. In fact, the main reason is that Wang Xu dislikes the savior, or the lone hero kind.

In Ugly Country, that is political correctness. If you look at the various so-called heroes in comics, most of them are like this. One person defeats the enemy, and basically everyone else, except for one woman, is holding them back.

But in China, if nothing else, many of these heroes have to be imprisoned for a few years first.

After liberation, the Chinese people believed in their hearts that "there has never been a savior." Before that, they believed that "the kings, princes, generals, and ministers all have their own kind."

That was more than 2,000 years ago, when Jesus was still in his mother's womb, the Chinese people had already begun to awaken.

Wang Xu felt awkward every time he heard about nobility, royal family, princess and the like. That kind of thing based on blood is not a Chinese tradition.

After all, according to Huaxia, they were almost all one family 5,000 years ago.

If a person is great, that person should be great, not his bloodline.

However, for China now, due to the great cultural impact of the West, the establishment of China's self-confidence requires a foundation of soft and hard strength. Since Wang Xu plans to make a blockbuster, he cannot continue to promote universal values. Isn't this a wedding dress for others?

——

(See you tomorrow)