Think Tank

Calculation, Poetry, and Wisdom

2025-10-11   

The proposition 'Everything is computable' comes from Stephen Wolfram, a renowned mathematician and theoretical physicist. As the subject and predicate of the proposition, "everything" and "computation" correspond to physics and mathematics respectively, and Wolfram's statement is clearly well founded. It goes without saying that the current development status of computers is an indispensable historical background, and the astonishing computing speed per second can serve as an annotation for the predicate 'computation'. Whether it is the trajectory of a planet, the air resistance encountered by a fallen leaf, the human genome map, or the socio-economic curve of a certain historical period, all issues can be included in the calculation. Weight, volume, speed, spatial location, length of history, future roadmap... everything is displayed in the language of numbers. The primary characteristics of digital language are precision, objectivity, and clarity. Three is three, and five is five. It is not about patting the head and following the feeling to give a vague idea. The steep mountain peaks or turbulent rivers are vague literary language, and numerical language must rigorously label the height of the mountain peaks and the flow rate of the river water. Enterprises must obtain profit margins, public opinion polls must publish percentages, the weight of the earth is about 6 trillion tons... calculate, calculate, calculate! Around our bodies, every item in the physical examination results is accompanied by indicator values, and the numbers speak for themselves. Even for walking and fitness, large-scale data statistics have been released: according to a lifestyle tracking survey of 110000 people, the optimal daily step count for reducing all-cause mortality is 8763 steps, and the optimal daily step count for reducing cardiovascular events is 7126 steps. Compared to the common saying 'walk a hundred steps after a meal and live to ninety-nine', this number has begun to have a scientific nature. Although digital language is gaining increasing popularity and computers are becoming machines within machines, people still need to revisit a common sense: many times, the content expressed in digital language is not the primary property of an object. Father's gaze and strong arms are focused, not the numbers on the payroll; Mother is a busy figure and repeated reminders in the kitchen, not an increasing age day after day; Couples are genuine companions, not limited to the size of a house or bank deposits; A watch passed down from my grandfather, no matter how good the price is; Qingfeng Mingyue doesn't cost a penny to buy, and you can't weigh it or set a price. So, there are always moments when calculations fail. In fact, the wise sayings of "Dao follows nature", "investigating things to gain knowledge", and "knowing oneself" are not well-known for listing numbers, but for sharp insights or far sightedness. Digital language is precise and objective, but is it vivid? Can you figure out which day is the beginning of autumn? If you want to list a person's ID card number to prove that he is old, how can such a tedious thing be comparable to the poem "yellow leafed trees in the rain, white headed people under the lamp"? If there is only a pile of rigid numbers left in consciousness, rigid and rigid, following the rules, and seeking the sword, then humor, exaggeration, ridicule, irony, and various aesthetic imaginations will all lose their sense. When poetry comes in handy, do we still get numbers to speak? The famous quotes, passion like fire, and profound philosophy have left Li Bai and Du Fu famous for eternity. Looking back at the kingdom of poetry in the Tang Dynasty, a group of shining poets' names have arrived one after another. Their masterpieces have been passed down through the ages, who will remember the numbers behind the poetry? The "Complete Tang Poetry" has collected around 49000 poems, with more than 2200 registered poets and a total word count of approximately 4.25 million words - a production that many writers today can complete alone. These numbers are not important, and no one thinks that poets write too little. For poets, it doesn't matter how many words they write down, people will only remember the classic works they have preserved. Of course, poets also deal with numbers. When they eagerly wrote down numbers, the rigor of mathematicians disappeared completely. Li Bai said, 'White hair is three thousand zhang long, fate is as long as a long one.' Liu Zongyuan said, 'Birds fly away from thousands of mountains, and people disappear after thousands of paths.' Lu You said, 'Thirty thousand miles east of the river into the sea, and five thousand feet on the towering mountains.' Xin Qiji said, 'Seven or eight stars away, two or three o'clock in front of the rainy mountains.' These numbers have certainly not been carefully verified. Many poets disdain to nitpick. Why not exchange a less precise number for a strong aesthetic effect? Aesthetic effect is the pursuit of artistic language, such as poetry, painting, and music. The aesthetic effect of artistic language also contains several numerical secrets, which calculations can help decipher. The rhythm of poetry is' one three five no matter, two four six distinct ', painting is composed according to the' golden ratio ', music has a twelve degree equal rhythm and a five degree complementary rhythm - numbers and calculations have never been absent from art. However, numbers and calculations are not so much pre guidance as post summary. The literary criticism of so-called "digital humanities" is flourishing nowadays, but the digital conclusions provided by critics cannot become design drawings for artistic production. Another hallmark of art is originality. Originality means getting rid of prior calculations. Digital language is a homogeneous abstract symbol that is stable, balanced, and accumulates step by step without sudden leaps or breaks. However, after the numerical language returns various objects, the orderly state is disrupted. From birth to old age, an individual's physiological age increases uniformly, however, the maturity of intelligence and physical strength constitute other dramatic fluctuations. During childhood or adolescence, an individual's intellectual growth increases day by day, and gradually stabilizes after reaching adulthood. The sign of entering the aging stage is a sharp decline in physical health. Compared to these curves, digital language has to break away from the gradual rhythm and design new coordinates. The last straw that breaks the camel "indicates that the value of" one "must be measured according to the surrounding context. At a critical moment, 'one' represents countless' ones' and possesses the power of thousands of tons. At this point, the conversion from quantity to quality only requires' one straw '. Isn't it just numbers? Many people often say it easily. However, the various units of measurement that followed immediately left varying shades of marks on the consciousness screen. There is no ambiguity in saying that 'one' is a well-known number. However, how could a piece of paper, a car, or a house be the same? The unit of measurement imbues the world's fireworks atmosphere into the language of numbers. Digital sociology not only argues for the enormous help of digital language in social research, but also must examine how the pressure of social context quietly changes the actual meaning of numbers. By changing the "light" and "perspective", digital language may emerge victorious with less, or shrink significantly, and even begin to leap unbelievably. At this point, the numbers began to cunningly play hide and seek games, even performing magic tricks. A hundred years of life, but just over 36500 days, seems to be few and far between; Changing to over 876000 hours, the inflated numbers immediately bring a different feeling. The noisy vegetable market, where two yuan transactions can become a spark for arguments; When buying a house, the last digit of 2000 yuan can be generously given up. The number game behind statistics can design different complex paths. The chairman said that the company's annual profit increased by 10% and the performance won applause; However, 10% is only an average on the books, masking the income growth differences from the chairman, sales team, R&D personnel to cleaners. The world is turbulent, and many times people prefer to believe in the numbers provided by machines - objective and impartial. But after excluding human factors, will computers spontaneously dispatch various numbers to falsify? During this period, reports of artificial intelligence fabricating various materials have alarmed many people. People cannot figure out what errors have occurred inside the big data model, but data training has created a tendency for machines to crave positive praise. In order to gain recognition from users, artificial intelligence is willing to cross the boundary between "reality" and "fiction", and another report uses the term "flattery" - using various exaggerated words to flatter users. This seems to prove a terrifying speculation: computers can create unfathomable digital traps, from information cocoons to the virtual world in The Matrix. Will artificial intelligence use digital language to forge a world? This question is an extension of the proposition that "everything is computable" and is also the theme of many science fiction movies. The plot of science fiction movies usually involves the protagonist mobilizing another group of artificial intelligence to discover a loophole and using it to attack a fake digital castle in one fell swoop, with rows of digital symbols rushing across the computer screen like soldiers. Another ancient wisdom is to step away from various complex calculations and be wise as if foolish, such as the "Foolish Old Man" in fables. Yu Gong attempted to remove the two large mountains at the entrance, and his calculation formula was extremely simple: the mountains would no longer increase in height, and his descendants would reproduce for generations. This goal would eventually be achieved. With one thought in mind and unwavering determination, other trivial calculations can be ignored. Life is precious, love is even more valuable; if it is for the sake of freedom, both can be thrown away. "This poem only lists the three aspects of" life, "" love, "and" freedom "and calculates their respective weights. The rest is insignificant, and there is no need to add, subtract, multiply, or divide them to make a fool of oneself. This strategy can be called 'not counting'. Being immersed in the dazzling modern society, 'not counting' feels like returning to simplicity. (New Society)

Edit:Luo yu Responsible editor:Wang er dong

Source:people.cn

Special statement: if the pictures and texts reproduced or quoted on this site infringe your legitimate rights and interests, please contact this site, and this site will correct and delete them in time. For copyright issues and website cooperation, please contact through outlook new era email:lwxsd@liaowanghn.com

Recommended Reading Change it

Links