Chapter 292 The Only Path to Choose (VIII)
"Comrades, the size of buoyancy has nothing to do with the density of the immersed object. Buoyancy is only related to the density and volume of the displaced medium." While Huo Chong was lecturing, he was flipping a piece of metal up and down with his left hand and a piece of wood with his right hand.
Gao Pang and others sat at the back of the classroom, staring at what Huo Chong was holding.
Huo Chong went on to say: "What is science and what is technology? That's the difference. China had the strongest shipbuilding technology in the world a long time ago. However, as soon as the maritime ban was imposed, no one built ships for decades. Without the inheritance of the shipbuilding masters, the shipbuilding technology plummeted. In my personal opinion, what we have is shipbuilding technology, not an entire scientific system related to ships. Buoyancy is the scientific basis of all shipbuilding, and fluid mechanics is the scientific basis of ship navigation. If science is mastered, even if no ship is launched, it will not necessarily destroy the research and development of shipbuilding. Do you think you understand?"
The people present were all senior cadres, many of whom had only learned junior high school physics. However, Huo Chong did not dare to have high hopes for these guys, after all, the knowledge base of junior high school was still too weak for scientific research.
In the usual silence , Weber raised his hand. Huo Chong asked this old scholar who had joined not long ago to ask questions. Weber stood up and asked, "My lord, I saw that you wrote about liquid in your lecture notes, but you said medium here. What is the difference?"
Huo Chong was delighted. Weber was very sensitive to words. Although he had only been in Linzi for six days, he was able to notice the small details that Huo Chong had deliberately made based on his personal characteristics.
Let Weber sit down, Huo Chong asked the others, "Besides Weber, is there anyone else who can see this problem? If you have, raise your hands."
Only two people raised their hands, while the others were mostly confused, with a few frowning. Huo Chong said this on purpose, so he asked everyone, "We are surrounded by air, and air is also a medium. Since we have displaced the medium, relative buoyancy will naturally occur. What do you think about this?"
"Can we use this buoyancy to float?" Kong Bugeng answered louder.
There was laughter from the audience. It seemed that the local people in Shandong had not yet established the concept of science. At least, they had heard the name of science and learned the explanation of what science is, but it did not mean that they had an understanding of science, let alone directly made science a part of themselves.
Huo Chong was not in a hurry. Instead, he used the buoyancy formula that had been mentioned to calculate the buoyancy formula needed to make a manned Kongming lantern.
Huo Chong then asked, "Even if we only weigh 100 kilograms, why do we need to calculate what can be loaded with 300 kilograms of objects? What do you think?"
Gao Pang couldn't help but answer first: "Commander-in-chief, I thought that since we need to connect people to the Kongming lantern, we need a lot of equipment. At least 200 kilograms of these 300 kilograms are for equipment."
After he finished speaking, Gao Pang heard a sigh from the people around him. It seemed that everyone understood what he said. Feeling happy and proud, Gao Pang did not continue. But he heard Qian Qing answer: "Sir, this 200-jin equipment is technology, and the algorithm for calculating this 300-jin load is science?"
Huo Chong slammed the table and said, "At this stage, I give you full marks for this answer. Of course, this is only at this stage."
Qian Qing smiled slightly and stopped talking.
Huo Chong also likes to see his disciples take the lead. After all, if Qian Qing becomes the King of Qi, she must have something more attractive to follow. The ability to see the world correctly is one of the qualities that attracts people to follow.
Too much is as bad as too little. Just helping Qian Qing a little is enough. Huo Chong continued to ask: "The part about science and technology ends here for now. Comrades, what do you think I will ask next, and what will be the perfect answer?"
I thought this air-to-air problem would cause a lot of trouble, but unexpectedly Kong Bugeng spoke up immediately, "What technology should we use next? If we talk about technology, what technology is the best?"
Huo Chong praised: "This is a perfect answer."
While praising Kong Bugeng, Huo Chong was actually very surprised by Kong Bugeng's talent for logic. This guy could understand the difference between metaphysics and science, and could distinguish the role of genius intuition in promoting logic. And he actually had such intuition. It was really interesting.
Originally, Huo Chong talked about shipbuilding with the senior management, not to teach them how to build ships. Now that his goal had been achieved, Huo Chong simply led these guys to understand the theory and technical design of building hot air balloons to fly into the sky.
After that, they were assigned a task based on this. With Shandong's existing strength, they were to build a manned hot air balloon and fly it.
Prepare materials, make equipment, select personnel. The senior executives are experienced and work very fast.
Four days later, a silk hot air balloon was ready. The only surprise was that Weber was going to take part in the flight. Huo Chong only asked, "Do you know that falling from such a high altitude will either kill you or injure you?"
"Know."
"Why do you still want to go?"
"I can't help it. I just want to go."
"Will you regret it?" This is what Huo Chong cares about.
"We'll talk about it when something goes wrong." Weber answered readily.
Huo Chong said no more, but just reminded: "Be careful and safe."
The pilots were busy with their own work, and there were more people watching the flying. Not only the top executives, but also many middle executives were called in. The officers and soldiers of the Guards Corps strictly guarded every place, and thousands of people witnessed this first performance of flying from the ground.
Of course, this time cannot be wasted. The monitors and study committee members of each class took advantage of their free time to learn what "science, democracy, equality, and progress" meant. In particular, they had to explain what "liberation" meant by these four words.
Everyone was listening to the class and would turn their heads to look at the hot air balloon from time to time. In order to save time, two high racks were erected side by side, and the net bag outside the hot air balloon was hung on the middle beam, and the hot air balloon silk inflation gas connected to the net bag was hung together.
A large alcohol blowtorch was spraying hot air into the hot air balloon. As the hot air balloon's sphere gradually expanded, the group of middle and senior cadres who were listening to the lecture could no longer sit still. They all stood up and turned to the three hot air balloons.
It was no use no matter how the class monitor and the study committee member shouted a few times, in the end they could only let everyone watch together.
After more than an hour of inflation, the crowd suddenly burst into exclamations, "It's floating! It's really floating!"
The people in the back row couldn't see clearly, so they squeezed to the front. The queue immediately became chaotic. Qian Qing, the commander-in-chief, frowned and shouted, "Blow the whistle, assemble!"
A sharp whistle sounded, and most of the cadres had served in the army, and those who had not served in the army had also received formation training. Even though they were very reluctant, they still gathered at the call.
Soon, a group of people brought their own small stools to the observation area around the venue and sat down according to their classes, sitting in an orderly manner like elementary school students reading a science report.
Huo Chong also knew that these people couldn't sit still, so he gestured to Qian Qing. Qian Qing first called the class leaders and discipline committee members over, and after giving the order, the discipline committee members of each class ran back to their respective class formations, allowing those who didn't want to sit down to stand behind the bench seating area. But they were not allowed to run to the back of other classes.
From a distance, Huo Chong found the formation changes very interesting. Under the same discipline, the women were seen sitting together in the middle front seats and talking.
Some of the more stable men sat in the front seats, pointing and talking loudly about the hot air balloon that was in the take-off posture.
The more impatient guys stood in the open space behind the seats and formed several groups. Some of them were not necessarily unable to sit down, but the rule was that smoking was not allowed while sitting, so the old smokers gathered in a group and puffed out clouds of smoke.
The people in the Organization Department watched the people coming and going in silence. Huo Chong didn't know how the courses and training in the Organization Department were going. If they had learned the introduction to human behavior, they should have written down these behaviors and had some relevant descriptions and records of each person's personality.
The hot air balloon was lifted up to a height of more than one meter, and the ropes connecting the hot air balloon frame and the main sling were tightened. The wooden frames on both sides of the hot air balloon began to tilt slowly to the sides, and finally were laid flat on the ground.
The sandbags on the basket were thrown down one by one, and the rope was gradually lengthened. The hot air balloon slowly but non-stop rose into the air.
Everyone below stood up and witnessed the manned hot air balloon gradually rising into the sky. Exclamations and cheers rose one after another. The voices of thousands of people were not as fierce as a tsunami, but they also felt like pine waves.
"It's flying ! It's really flying!" Miss Luo beside Huo Chong couldn't help but shout and walked forward.
However, his wife was pulling Huo Chong's arm at this time, so Huo Chong could only pull his wife back with his hand, "It's the same if you watch from here."
Being pulled by Huo Chong, Miss Luo stopped and turned around excitedly and said to Huo Chong: "It's clearer in front."
"That's an illusion. If you want to see it more clearly, wait until the baby is born and then we can ride in a hot air balloon ourselves. Only then can we see it clearly."
Miss Luo asked in surprise: "Really?"
Huo Chong nodded. Miss Luo hesitated, "Let's talk about it later."
"Okay. We'll talk later." Huo Chong replied. As soon as he finished speaking, Gao Pang and other scholars including Gong Yu rushed to Huo Chong. Gong Yu shouted in a somewhat inappropriate tone: "Sir, can this fly? Can it fly out?"
Huo Chong thought it was interesting. Originally, Gong Yu, who was about 30 years old, always had an indescribable sinister feeling. Seeing that the hot air balloon could really carry people into the sky, Gong Yu was filled with joy and excitement. What Huo Chong saw was actually a happy boy who was "middle-aged but still young".
In order to test Gong Yu's reaction, Huo Chong arranged the words, "This is a hot air balloon, not an airship. The technology is not available now, and for safety reasons, it cannot fly."
"When can we fly?" Gong Yu asked excitedly.
"Once you have the technical skills, you can fly." Huo Chong tried his best to choose his words carefully.
"Not now?" Gong Yu was a little disappointed.
"Human life is important. If you want to accumulate technology, sometimes you have to risk human life. Now there is no need to risk human life just for the sake of appearance."
The excitement on Gong Yu's face faded a lot, and judging from his expression, he seemed to be starting to think.
Another person rushed over to Huo Chong. It was Yang Wangfu. "Sir, sir, can you fly out and take a look?"
Half an hour later, the hot air balloon landed smoothly. Many people rushed up, but were immediately stopped outside the safety line by the guards.
Everyone jumped and danced, cheering. Huo Chong's plan to complete the teaching that day was ruined.
But there is no way to avoid the fact that you change your mind one day, and you have to attend all the classes the next day.
"The Tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. I proposed the word buoyancy to describe this natural law. This law did not come into existence after I described it. Rather, this law already existed before I described it. You must not confuse this logical relationship. This natural law existed first, and I used buoyancy to describe it. But buoyancy did not appear after I described it."
…Science has a clear definition. If the hypothesis proposed cannot be falsified, it cannot be called science…
...The object of scientific research has nothing to do with who proposed it. Just because I or someone else proposed it, it doesn’t mean it’s scientific. If someone proposed it, it’s not scientific...
…Why is science the foundation of our Han regime? Because science can promote productivity, and productivity can enhance our subjective initiative. What we want to do must be achieved through scientific and technological progress, rather than just dreaming about it…
…Why did the Qing Dynasty and the gentry system not talk about science? Because science is power. Everyone is equal before science. There is no distinction between high and low among those who master science. The Qing Dynasty and the gentry will never accept that everyone is equal. They are naturally against equality and naturally cannot allow us workers to master science. If we are capable, we will naturally not accept the Qing Dynasty and the gentry sitting on our heads and taking whatever they want. If we workers become powerful, the Qing Dynasty and the gentry will be finished…
...There is nothing strange about promoting modern education without worshipping a teacher. But we don’t do that. We want to promote modern education. ...
… If science, democracy, equality, and progress are not for liberation, but to give the oppressors greater power to oppress the working people, then it proves that the warriors who killed the evil spirits have become evil spirits, and our revolution has failed…
Even though there was a strong stimulation of flying into the sky, the course itself required the ability to understand, and trying to understand was difficult and painful. The atmosphere in the class still became a little dull.
The class was finally over, and Gong Yu and others came to see him again. Looking at their expressions, Huo Chong thought they might be here to say goodbye.
The IQ of people in this era is not a problem, and many of them are even very good. For example, Gao Pang's teacher Chen Mingtai, after watching Huo Chong organize salt production and discuss salt production and salt management, he quickly realized that Huo Chong would never accept the old model.
"Have you made up your mind about whether to stay or leave?" Huo Chong asked.
Through discussions with Chen Mingtai, Huo Chong realized that the management in Chen Mingtai's mind was very different from the management he was familiar with. In a sense, Chen Mingtai even helped Huo Chong abandon his fantasy. Having a high IQ does not mean that you can cooperate, nor does it mean that you can become a comrade.
Chen Mingtai understood Huo Chong's management model, so he refused to accept it. It seems that Chen Mingtai did not know what science and democracy were, but Huo Chong understood the truth that he should understand in the 21st century through his life in the Qing Dynasty.
In traditional Chinese politics, a small group of ruling classes dominated the fate of the entire country. Science and democracy were at best a gimmick, just like the famous phrase "competing with the people for profit", which was purely a rhetoric played by the ruling class.
If you truly believe in science and democracy, you must abandon the idea that individuals can dominate anything. Some people say that the people are the creators of history. Huo Chong hates the lumpen proletariat and would rather say that the working people are the creators of history.
The revolution of science and democracy is to liberate the broad masses of working people and overthrow all the mountains that oppress them. Not only will it allow the working people to rise up and become masters of their own destiny, but it will also liberate mankind and this species through joint efforts on such a large scale.
Overthrowing the oppressors is not the ultimate goal. Liberating humans from the limitations of their own bodies may be the destiny of human liberation in the future.
This kind of self-liberation is not the bullshit human completion described in countless European, American and Japanese literary works, or some superhuman playing with humans. If we have to talk about that future that Huo Chong is destined to not see, it will also be China's cultivation of immortals. Anyone who pursues this path will achieve the sublimation of the whole person.
... Huo Chong suddenly felt that he was thinking too far ahead. Then he realized that it was not because he was thinking too far ahead, but because Gong Yu, Zeng Jing, Kong Bugeng, Weber and others in front of him did not speak. They were silent and looked very confused and entangled.
Huo Chong pulled his thoughts back to the present, "You are all straightforward heroes, don't you have any idea about whether to leave or stay?"
Kong Bugeng waved his hands repeatedly, "My lord, we didn't want to leave in the first place. When you asked me this, I thought you wanted to drive us away. So I'm wondering what made you unhappy."
Huo Chong finally understood that "human sorrows and joys cannot be felt". As scholars, the four people in front of him were completely different from Chen Mingtai. Even if Chen Mingtai would not be buried with the Qing Dynasty, he had no intention of cooperating with Huo Chong.
Thinking of this, Huo Chong suddenly had a question. Are these four people staying here for their ideals or for a better future?
At least Zeng Jing could be roughly sure that he had an ideal for equal distribution of land. The other three were all talented people. Talented people who could deal with the landlords and gentry who were just trying to get by. How much interest did they have in liberation? Or how much interest did they have in gaining the power to oppress others through liberation?
Kong Bugeng stepped forward and said, "My lord, we came here to become your disciples. Your knowledge is earth-shattering and beyond imagination. It is truly a wake-up call and is truly admirable. This scientific method is almost the same as becoming an immortal or a Buddha. But we also know that if we become your disciples, we will inevitably be misunderstood. It's fine for others, but it's definitely not our intention to be misunderstood by you. That's why we hesitated. Please forgive me, my lord."
"You want to become my disciple, there's nothing strange about that. But we don't do that. We want to promote modern education. That means everyone has to learn. If you don't learn well, you can't become an official. So you're wrong. You have to study hard. You must study hard. If you don't study, get out."
