On April 19th, at the theme activity of "Innovation inheriting the meaning of Life" jointly organized by CITIC Publishing, Douyin Great Learning, Shanghai Library, etc., Liang Jianzhang, co-founder and chairman of the board of directors of Ctrip Group and population economist, gave an annual public lecture on innovationism with his new book "Innovationism". The following is the speech content of the opening session of "Innovation".

What is the meaning of lifeExtrajuicymegawayspragmatic?

This is an eternal topic, the topic itself is not innovative, the answer is innovative, that is: the meaning of life lies in innovation and inheritance. You can check on ChatGPT, if you find out what vitality is, or what is innovationism? There doesn't seem to be the same description yet, so this formulation should be interesting and innovative.

Moreover, in recent years, more and more people are thinking about this topic, because the society is rich, we have more leisure time and wealth. What should we do with our leisure resources? How to pursue something more meaningful? This is a matter of concern to everyone. Especially now many young people are also concerned about what kind of meaning of life they should pursue in the new technological and economic environment.

We can see that the development of technology is getting faster and faster, which has affected the human level, such as the hottest artificial intelligence technology. Will it replace all jobs? With it, what are humans going to do? You will find that human beings still have to do innovative work, innovative work can not be done by artificial intelligence.

And VR technology, can it replace the real world, can people live in the virtual world can get the same sense of satisfaction? The answer is: these may not replace our human pursuit of innovation and inheritance, so I think "the meaning of life lies in innovation and inheritance."

This book is mainly about philosophy, of course, from an economic point of view, whether for individuals, businesses, or countries, "innovation" is already a core activity, or the most important factor for success and making money. More and more people are engaged in innovative work, and more and more people regard innovation as their core competitiveness. However, this book is not mainly about this level, but at the meaning level, innovation should also become an important value and pursuit.

What is innovation? The innovation I am talking about is still relatively broad, including the basic theory of science and technology, which is the core, technological innovation, including new processes, new products, new materials, and even new business models, organizational forms, as well as cultural and artistic innovation. In addition, there is genetic innovation, we think that giving birth is also a kind of innovation.

Why also talk about inheritance at the same time? Inheritance and innovation are actually symbiotic. First of all, inheritance is the yardstick of innovation. Is innovation successful and influential? It depends on how many people are influenced by you, or how many people pass on to you. If it is a completely uninherited innovation, no one uses it, and no one is affected, it must be unsuccessful and of little value. Therefore, inheritance is not only the measure of the success of innovation, but also the result of innovation.

Secondly, innovation and inheritance also complement each other, if a thing is no innovative inheritance, in fact, it is a simple copy, this is not meaningful, such a society will gradually solidify.

"only innovation, no inheritance", this will not work. In terms of meaning, we should pay attention not only to innovation, but also to inheritance. Because innovation has a lot of risks, if the human race is destroyed, we say that it is only for the benefit of one generation, regardless of long-term inheritance, innovation may be short-term, and there is no sustainable concept in it, so innovation and inheritance are put together, taking into account both the need for continuous innovation and interesting results as well as sustainability.

We just said that innovation also covers the meaning of genetic innovation, that is, offspring, most advanced creatures are bisexual reproduction, in fact, it is the offspring of the combination of parents' genes, which is not only innovation, but also inheritance. New children and new combinations are innovation, not only inheritance, but also innovation.

Innovationism should be said to be a new philosophy and values, under which the meaning or mission of life is to pursue the long-term prosperity of human civilization through the inheritance of innovation.

Why innovation and inheritance? Because innovation and inheritance contribute to the edifice of human knowledge and genes, the reason why human civilization is today, on the one hand, is that we have billions of people, if we borrow the analogy of the current era of artificial intelligence, it is equivalent to a hardware base with billions of computing power. At the same time, it also has software facilities, software is the accumulation of our human science and technology, culture and art development, software + hardware has achieved today's civilization. One of the two is indispensable. If we don't have so much population and computing power, we can't undertake so much knowledge at all.

What does it mean to pursue the long-term prosperity of human civilization? We hope that our civilization will continue. Specifically, what is long-term prosperity? It means not only a long time, but also a wide space, a large number, and one that can not be ignored, that is, it has to be very interesting. We have to keep having new things, and to do that requires innovation. If it is only replication, there is no innovation, then we say that bacteria have a wide space and a long time, but that is not interesting, so the significance of our human beings to achieve advanced civilization and long-term prosperity lies in a wide range of space, a long time and a large number of people. and be interesting.

And innovation and inheritance are not only software, science and art, but also cover future generations. In fact, such a pursuit of value can be used to guide thinking in many aspects. the second half of the book is mainly about its application, including its application to personal life, business management, and national policies. including population policy, innovation policy, education policy and so on, all of which can be considered by the yardstick of innovation and inheritance, or such a value orientation, we will draw some interesting conclusions.

What is the tendency of this value? It puts more emphasis on learning, enterprising, rational and communicative philosophy of life. In terms of enterprise management, it represents a culture of more equality, relaxation, cooperation and social corporate responsibility, and represents a more open, inclusive and child-friendly national policy in the national policy.

Second, innovation model

This model, which I first introduced in my last book, has been mentioned many times in this book, and it can also deduce the values of innovationism. As far as the society is concerned, the more the connection between the population and the population, the higher the collision and frequency of ideas, and the more vigorous the innovation. This is the formula of innovation: population × population capacity × internal and external traffic.

Looking at this model, we know that in terms of national policy, there are two most important elements, one is population, the other is openness. China's population used to be an advantage, but the future population is not so optimistic. In the last two years, we have had a lot less children than we did less than a decade ago. 20 years later, when these children are going to become innovators, China's innovation may be greatly discounted, which is a problem that we need to solve.

Why do we need to rise to a meaningful level, not just an economic point of view? From an economic point of view, we should also solve the population problem as soon as possible, because this situation will affect today's young people.ExtrajuicymegawayspragmaticWhen they are in their fifties and sixties, they may be directly affected. For people like me who are now in their 50s, it doesn't have much impact.

Therefore, if we want to face this problem squarely, we need to transcend ourselves and this generation, so that the whole society can reach a consensus and take the long-term prosperity of human civilization as the goal. We are not just living a generation. But to achieve the goal of long-term inheritance of human civilization and Chinese civilization, it is necessary to create conditions for young people and provide reproductive benefits. With so much wealth now, as long as a small part of society is used to help young people solve the problem of high reproductive pressure and high cost, we can solve such a problem, but only if we rise to a meaningful level.

Talk about the characteristics of the values of innovationism. If we answer the question of the meaning of life, there will be a variety of answers, of course, this is only one of the answers, everyone has their own understanding of the meaning of life. Philosophers in history also have good answers to the meaning of life, for example, the meaning of life lies in the pursuit of fame, wealth and pleasure, which is understandable, the pursuit of affection or love, the pursuit of contribution to society, virtue, and the pursuit of self-realization, all of which have been discussed by everyone. So why didn't philosophers of the past talk about innovation? The possible reason is that they live in a very slow era of innovation, a philosopher may not have seen much innovation in his decades of life, and many ruling classes do not like innovation and stability, and some philosophies are against innovation and pursue stability.

Innovation is the highest satisfaction of spiritual needs, or psychological satisfaction, following the familiar theory of Maslow's level of needs, only after the basic needs are met will we pursue higher-level needs. So innovation is really difficult, but there is also a higher sense of achievement. Innovation is beyond, we are talking about the values of innovation and inheritance, is the pursuit of the long-term prosperity of human civilization, it transcends itself, beyond this generation, and even the concept of time and space, so it is actually the highest pursuit.

If a value is to become a universal value, it must pass such a test that everyone pursues such a value, is it good for society? If everyone pursues to be admitted to Qingbei, it is obviously not a good thing, because it is a zero-sum game. Is the pursuit of wealth a zero-sum game? In the past, land represented zero-sum games. In an industrial society, the pursuit of wealth is not a zero-sum game, because the possibilities of innovation are unlimited, and innovation is a policy game, what you create will be used for reference by other innovators, and innovation can be passed on one after another.

Therefore, we say that innovation is a kind of value, which can pass the universal test, can be extended from personal values to a population, can also be extended to a country, between countries is not a zero-sum game, but promote each other, including China and the United States, should not be regarded as a zero-sum game.

Finally, there is sustainability, or self-consistency. The reason why philosophical issues such as innovationism can be discussed today is that our ancestors left such an edifice of genes and knowledge. if we want our future generations to discuss the same values in many years' time, what is this value? The answer I can think of is that the values they discuss should still revolve around how to maintain the long-term prosperity of our intellectual and genetic edifice, which is the only eternal value that I can think of.

Third, AI will not evolve towards a path that is more and more like people.

After the big model came out last year, of course, the field of technology was shocked, but the philosopher should be the most shocked, because it proved, or represented, that it was just a matter of time, that is, artificial intelligence or machines could simulate some activities in the human brain. Machines can use digital neurons to simulate the human brain, or silicon-based can simulate all carbon-based human brain activity.

This is also natural from a materialistic point of view, and the human brain is a chemical product. But it is shocking enough for us to see that there is something that can simulate the human brain. In fact, this is also a shock on the philosophical level, because the ability of artificial intelligence is still far from the human brain, such as its energy consumption and versatility. But it's only a matter of time.

Another shock to me is that ChatGPT is uncertain and unexplainable, very much like human beings. That is to say, something with a skill may inevitably lead to uncertainty or unexplainability, and if something is completely certain and predictable, we don't think it is intelligent. Intelligence can also be interpreted as creativity, and human creativity is symbiotic with uncertainty and unpredictability.

I don't think AI will evolve in a path that is more and more like human beings, because the difference between humans and machines is that they are self-aware and emotional, which requires training and tens of thousands of years of evolutionary training. How to train it? The difference between human beings and non-living things is that the essence of life is to fear death. If you want to train AI as real life, you have to train AI to fear death. And AI will not have the same human feelings of fear of death, or ethics.

In addition, although AI can simulate the human brain in theory, it is different from the human brain, because human beings will not train in this direction. Our innovative activities are uncertain and unpredictable, AI skills are also uncertain and unpredictable, two uncertain things to perform an uncertain thing, the important thing is that this AI is different from us, this risk is too big. So why the work of innovation must still be dominated by human beings, because it is impossible to give it to AI.

Since AI is smarter than humans, what's wrong with letting AI replace our offspring? There is a point of view, no problem, we do not care about risk, we let AI do everything, even if it completely replaces our offspring, our offspring will be all silicon-based and AI in a few years' time, although AI is not born by us, it is also created by us, and it is also our offspring. Is that true? I don't think so, because the risk is great from the point of view of long-term inheritance. It is indeed smarter. Can it reproduce? Or are these algorithms fixed there forever? If AI has offspring, is it unisexual or bisexual? Does AI have a male or female?

Why do you say this? because bisexual reproduction is both innovation and inheritance, and it is of great significance in evolution. After hundreds of millions of years of evolution, life can resist all kinds of changes and viruses, both innovative and inheritable, and it has its robustness for a reason. If we reproduce unisexually now, it may be killed by a virus. If it doesn't die, how can the new AI replace it? If human beings do not die and live forever, is it good for innovation and solidified?

So let AI to replace our future generations, to achieve the long-term prosperity of human or intelligent life, is now completely unsure, the risk is very high, and should not be the goal we pursue. The conclusion is that AI is too risky to innovate and we can't let it replace our offspring.

There is also a risk that our young people will indulge in virtual universes and meta-universes rather than exploring the real world. The virtual universe is far less complex than the real universe, and the logic is not self-consistent. It is meaningless to innovate in a logically inconsistent system, just like proving geometric theorems in a logically inconsistent geometric system. Moreover, the virtual universe can create happiness and satisfaction at too low cost, simulate emotion and fake innovation, so we should be on guard against it and keep exploring the real universe.

Human beings must leave something for themselves to do, all the spiritual needs, we must leave one for ourselves to do, otherwise what do we do? If we want to pursue the highest meaning, the highest spirit and the satisfaction of needs, isn't that innovation? Whether in terms of fun or sense of meaning, human beings will leave innovative activities to themselves. The conclusion is that human beings will not let AI innovate actively, human beings will keep the fun of innovation to themselves, and AI will develop in the direction of human complementarity, which is far more than human beings in some ways, but it is not like human beings.

Fourth, lie flat is very happy, but innovation is more advanced

Finally, let's talk about travel, including space travel. The long-term prosperity of human civilization includes the expansion of space, which is as important as the inheritance of time, such as the discovery of new continents, which has greatly enhanced our ability to innovate in history, as well as in space exploration in the future. Spatial expansion also promotes inheritance because it spreads risks and civilizations of multiple planets can withstand the risk of destruction of one planet. So we still need to develop travel technology, including space travel.

Among the new technologies, space travel is probably the most difficult, while longevity technology and artificial intelligence are relatively easy. Why? Because space travel is limited by the speed of light, the cost is high and life-threatening, the economic benefits are not obvious, and it requires a huge investment regardless of return for a long time. There is a Fermi paradox, why do we have no aliens now? It is possible that aliens have not yet developed the technology of space travel, or it has been replaced by artificial intelligence, or it has become a virtual world, or eternal life, these technologies have the potential to subvert the development of long-term human civilization.

But space technology can indeed promote the long-term development of human civilization. The problem is that it is too difficult. Therefore, we must look at the meaning of the pursuit of human civilization in order to pursue space travel, which is the pursuit of the long-term prosperity of mankind and space.

Back to reality, having a baby is actually like putting a satellite. After it is released, it will send you some messages from time to time, saying, "take some money." Giving birth is also a matter of high cost, no return, life-threatening, insignificant economic benefits, long-term returns and huge investment. These things really need to talk about values and meaning.

I hope that through this book, we can have a comprehensive thinking about the meaning of life. If we regard innovation and inheritance as the meaning and pursuit of life, it will be a higher pursuit, more fulfilling, scientific, inclusive and sustainable, which represents a more active, active communication and rational philosophy. as well as a culture of equality, relaxation and cooperation, it also means more open, inclusive and fertility-friendly national policies.

Although it is said that the more advanced pursuit is the pursuit of transcending oneself, innovationism will not win, and the culture of innovation and inheritance will not automatically become the mainstream. Because it is easier to lie flat, it is also very happy to lie flat, and it is also very easy and happy in the end. For example, giving birth to children is actually hard work for individuals, and personal benefits account for the small part, but the long-term benefits of society and civilization account for the majority.

In front of everyone's personal interests, the importance of innovation and inheritance is not enough. Therefore, we need to promote such a social consensus that appears in a small portion of the overall social resources to support innovation and inheritance and promote our goal of achieving the long-term prosperity of human civilization.

Sina stated: all the minutes of the meeting are arranged in shorthand on the spot and have not been reviewed by the speaker. The publication of this article on Sina for the purpose of conveying more information does not mean agreeing with its views or confirming its description.