We must continuously take the initiative to upgrade ourselves. 我们必须不断主动提升自己。
If you bought a computer, only to find out the manufacturer did not provide detailed instructions upon opening the package, wouldn’t you feel slightly overwhelmed? Moreover, if you discovered that the manufacturer was not responsible for regularly updating the operating system, wouldn’t you feel like you were about to go insane?
如果你买了一台电脑，打开包装后才发现制造商没有提供详细说明，你会不会感到有点不知所措？此外，如果您发现制造商不负责定期更新操作系统，您会不会觉得自己快要疯了？
Think about it, we ourselves are just like this computer. Our “manufacturer” (our parents) did not provide us with detailed instructions and are not responsible for regularly upgrading our operating system— even if unintentionally.
想想看，我们自己就像这台电脑一样。我们的“制造商”（我们的父母）没有向我们提供详细的说明，也不负责定期升级我们的操作系统——即使是无意的。
This is a somewhat startling analogy.
这是一个有点令人吃惊的类比。
After years of observation, I have found that everyone’s brain actually has its own operating system, just like a computer! Everyone has their own input-output system (IO system) and a set of operating mechanisms.
经过多年的观察，我发现每个人的大脑其实都有自己的操作系统，就像电脑一样！每个人都有自己的输入输出系统（IO系统）和一套操作机制。
People are very different from each other, just like computers are different from one another. Some people have a more powerful central processor (brain), some have a larger memory capacity (ability to remember), some have more hard disk space (notes and books), some have a better display (appearance), some have a more efficient printer (writing ability), some have a network card (communication ability) and can connect to the internet, while others cannot. Some people have a wider bandwidth (communication efficiency), some have a smaller bandwidth. Some people are on the internet (open), others are in a local network (closed)…
人与人之间有很大的不同，就像计算机彼此之间是不同的。有的人有更强大的中央处理器（大脑），有的人有更大的记忆容量（记忆能力），有的人有更多的硬盘空间（笔记和书籍），有的人有更好的显示（外观），有的人有更高效的打印机（写字能力），有的人有网卡（通信能力）可以连接互联网，而其他人则不能。有些人的带宽（通信效率）更宽，有些人的带宽更小。有些人在互联网上（开放），有些人在本地网络（封闭）……
There is no perfect operating system in this world. Every operating system has its own limitations, and even if it has advantages, it cannot completely eliminate bugs (troubles in life, unintentional errors, etc.). In the world of computers, operating systems evolve step by step. Bugs need to be constantly eliminated. Even if old bugs are eliminated, new bugs always appear, and one must find a way to deal with each one. Of course, there are also methodologies where some bugs can be tolerated for the moment and then eliminated later, and some bugs disappear automatically during the upgrade of the operating system… But in any case, we must find ways to deal with those bugs, right?
这个世界上没有完美的操作系统。每个操作系统都有自己的局限性，即使它有优势，也无法完全消除错误（生活中的麻烦、无意的错误等）。在计算机世界中，操作系统是一步一步发展的。错误需要不断消除。即使消除了旧的错误，新的错误也总是会出现，必须找到一种方法来处理每一个错误。当然，也有一些方法可以暂时容忍一些错误，然后稍后消除，而一些错误在操作系统升级过程中会自动消失……但无论如何，我们必须找到处理这些错误的方法，对吧？
Every computer we use today is complete. Every “smartphone” we hold in our hands at any moment is also complete. They all have complete components, processors, input and output devices, memory, hard disks, and networking devices.
我们今天使用的每台计算机都是完整的。我们随时握在手中的每一部“智能手机”也是完整的。它们都有完整的组件、处理器、输入和输出设备、内存、硬盘和网络设备。
Now look at people. Many people have outdated processors, incomplete input and output devices, memory so small that it’s unusable, and some even have no hard disk… As for the networking device, it’s really poor, so poor that it’s even worse than having none, because even if they are connected to the internet, complete lack of communication protocols renders it completely unusable!
现在看看人。许多人的处理器过时，输入和输出设备不完整，内存太小以至于无法使用，有些人甚至没有硬盘……至于网络设备，它真的很差，差到比没有还要糟糕，因为即使它们连接到互联网，完全缺乏通信协议也使其完全无法使用！
Most importantly, and somewhat amusingly, is the fact that:
最重要的是，有点有趣的是，事实是：
The operating systems of the vast majority of people never get updated!
绝大多数人的操作系统永远不会更新！
Never! 从不！
The operating systems most people use are actually from two thousand years ago. For example, they naturally and unquestionably believe in the ancient principle of “seeing is believing,” not understanding the use and judgment methods of “indirect evidence”… Another example is that many people have never effectively upgraded their operating system after graduating from high school, so they don’t understand important concepts such as “double-blind testing,” “sample validity,” and don’t understand the indispensability of these concepts. Thus, they regard “my illness was cured by traditional Chinese medicine” as an “irrefutable argument”… Or, to this day, there are many Ph.D. and master’s degree holders who believe that if their child is not a boy, then there must be a problem with the woman…
大多数人使用的操作系统实际上是两千年前的。比如，他们自然而然地、毫无疑问地相信“眼见为实”的古老原则，不理解“间接证据”的使用和判断方法……再比如，很多人高中毕业后，就没有对操作系统进行过有效的升级，所以不懂“双盲测试”、“样本效度”等重要概念，不理解这些概念的不可或缺性。因此，他们认为“我的病是用中医治好的”是“无可辩驳的论点”……或者，直到今天，仍有许多博士和硕士学位持有者认为，如果他们的孩子不是男孩，那么女人一定有问题……
The main characteristics of a rough and primitive operating system are: the worse it is, the more consistent it is, full of loopholes but still able to continue running, and most importantly: it has no automatic upgrade mechanism.
粗糙而原始的操作系统的主要特征是：越糟糕，越一致，漏洞百出，但仍然能够继续运行，最重要的是：它没有自动升级机制。
Think about it: compared to Windows constantly patching, compared to Mac OS’s important major upgrade every year, compared to Ubuntu’s stable upgrade every half year, aren’t most people very, very behind? Don’t you think it’s very, very helpless?
想一想：比起 Windows 不断打补丁，比起 Mac OS 每年重要的重大升级，比起 Ubuntu 每半年稳定升级一次，是不是大部分人非常非常落后？你不觉得这很很无助吗？
It seems that we must, and can only, autonomously and continuously update our own operating system… Otherwise, what’s the difference between us and those obsolete computers? Maybe even worse than them! Because at least they don’t have the consciousness to feel sad about being scrapped…
看来我们必须而且只能自主地、不断地更新我们自己的操作系统……否则，我们和那些过时的计算机有什么区别？也许比他们更糟糕！因为至少他们没有意识为被报废而感到难过……
In more cases, people are accustomed to comparing the CPU (Central Processing Unit) on a computer to the brain of a person. However, I often reverse this comparison and liken my own brain to the CPU on a computer.
CPU ≈ Brain vs. Brain ≈ CPU
In the first comparison, it is assumed that people are familiar with the concept of “brain,” and the “CPU” needs to be explained:
CPU ≈ Brain
In the second comparison, it is assumed that people are familiar with the concept of “CPU,” and the “brain” needs to be explained:
Brain ≈ CPU
So, when I tend to use the second comparison, my “brain” is the object that I want to study and explain. This is a fundamental difference.
Our brain is like the CPU on a computer — this is actually a particularly effective yet strange analogy.
It is effective in that we can learn many excellent concepts and methodologies from computers; strange in that this analogy is something we ourselves have invented. Of course, upon closer examination, computers have been invented and continually researched and improved by an extremely small proportion of people within our human population — perhaps less than one in a million. In other words:
What we can learn from computers is, in fact, the thinking and methodologies of a very small number of very intelligent people.
We will see many exciting examples later.
However, people are not computers after all. Present-day computers still cannot upgrade their hardware like upgrading their operating systems, so people have an advantage in this regard:
We can even proactively upgrade our own hardware…
In fact, our bodies not only can be upgraded, but the space for improvement is actually quite astonishing — although there may be a limit.
When I was very young, my father bought me a guitar. During the time when I learned fingerpicking, I was really surprised that my fingers could change from being so clumsy to becoming so dexterous. Another time, when chatting with a table tennis expert friend, I said, “The ball is so small, and when I watch you play, I often can’t see the ball at all.” They said, “In fact, it’s the same for everyone. At first, you often can’t see the ball at all, but after playing for a while, you can see it, to the point where it seems like you’re watching it in slow motion. And after some time, it feels like you don’t even need to watch the ball, and you can hit it without thinking…” Based on my current understanding, during playing the guitar, a part of my body’s “hardware” (fingers) got upgraded, and during playing table tennis, my friend’s “hardware” (eyes and arms) also got upgraded… In fact, all sports are essentially about upgrading “hardware.” Mastering the use of tools is also a way of “upgrading” hardware. A more common example is that many people, after learning to drive for a while, will experience that the steering wheel seems to have become an integral part of their body, and they can use it with the same ease as using their hands and feet, “at will.”
在我很小的时候，我父亲给我买了一把吉他。在我学习手指弹奏的那段时间里，我真的很惊讶我的手指可以从如此笨拙变成如此灵巧。还有一次，我和一位乒乓球专家朋友聊天时，说：“球太小了，看你打球的时候，经常根本看不见球。他们说：“事实上，每个人都是一样的。一开始，你经常根本看不到球，但玩了一会儿后，你可以看到它，以至于你似乎在慢动作中观看它。而且过了一段时间，感觉你甚至不需要看球，你可以不假思索地击球……”根据我现在的理解，在弹吉他的过程中，我身体的一部分“硬件”（手指）得到了升级，而在打乒乓球的过程中，我朋友的“硬件”（眼睛和手臂）也得到了升级……事实上，所有的运动本质上都是关于升级“硬件”的。掌握工具的使用也是“升级”硬件的一种方式。一个更常见的例子是，很多人在学习开车一段时间后，会体验到方向盘似乎已经成为他们身体不可或缺的一部分，他们可以像使用手脚一样轻松地使用它，“随意”。
Around the age of 30, I upgraded my body altogether: I started going to the gym, and within a year, I transformed from someone who was once thin and weak, then later chubby, into someone with a strong and muscular build. In fact, the cost was very low, just over 4,000 RMB for the annual gym membership, and around 2,000 RMB a month for the instructor. Weight training or aerobic exercise, the most crucial aspect of the whole process is safety. Once injured, you might have to refrain from exercising for a month or two, or in severe cases, it might lead to permanent damage. I know quite a few overweight people who ended up injuring their knee joints from running, which made it almost impossible for them to exercise through running again. So, a good instructor is essential. Even though it may seem like you are just chatting with them after paying, in reality, their seemingly casual reminders and the shout they make before you reach your limit in every set, are far more valuable than those two hundred bucks.
大约在30岁时，我完全升级了我的身体：我开始去健身房，不到一年，我就从一个曾经瘦弱的人变成了一个后来胖乎乎的人，变成了一个强壮而肌肉发达的人。事实上，费用非常低，每年的健身房会员只有4000多元人民币，教练每月大约2000元人民币。举重训练或有氧运动，整个过程中最关键的方面是安全。一旦受伤，您可能不得不在一两个月内避免运动，或者在严重的情况下，可能会导致永久性损伤。我认识不少超重的人，他们最终因跑步而受伤了膝关节，这使得他们几乎不可能再次通过跑步来锻炼。因此，一个好的教练是必不可少的。尽管看起来你只是在付款后和他们聊天，但实际上，他们看似不经意的提醒和他们在你每一套达到极限之前发出的呐喊，都比那两百美元更有价值。
You see, people are like this, not only can the operating system be upgraded, but even the hardware can be upgraded… Is there any reason not to upgrade? I guess that many people’s fundamental reason for not upgrading their “hardware” for a long time is simply that they “haven’t thought about it.”
你看，人就是这样，不仅操作系统可以升级，连硬件都可以升级……有什么理由不升级吗？我猜很多人之所以长期不升级“硬件”，根本原因很简单，就是“没想过”。
Originally posted 2024-04-05 12:08:19.