I spent some time thinking, and this title “Enemy of Time” was initially written after watching Luo Zhenyu’s 2016-2017 New Year speech. I only wanted to discuss the matter at hand, but as I wrote, my own thoughts went through several twists and turns, so I set it aside. Recently, the beloved magazine “Offline” suddenly announced its closure after the Spring Festival, and I lost a channel for exploring the unknown world. Beyond regret and sadness, I felt it even more necessary to sort out my feelings and thoughts.

I hope I can understand the following as clearly as possible:

  1. What is the so-called “contemporary world”
  2. What is the discourse of consumerism
  3. “Knowledge”
  4. “Action”
  5. Epilogue - returning to oneself

The audio combines a song written for my departed grandfather with the sounds of making tea and boiling water. The reason for doing this is that if the background “noise” can’t be removed, we might as well make that “noise” louder, and louder still. If interested, you might listen.

The Best and Worst of Times

For those who dare to observe with their hearts, every era is both the best of times and the worst of times. But no matter how much we shout, most people still feel that today is neither particularly good nor particularly bad. There are happy moments and moments of cursing in the streets. After laughing and crying, life continues as it should. If you ask them what they think of today’s world, they think for a moment and say “I’m fine, thank you! And you?”

I’m occasionally ashamed of what I said when I graduated from middle school: “It doesn’t matter whether you think I’m awesome or stupid, I just hope you can remember me first! If you remember me, my goal is achieved!”

Looking back at history, time often makes truth blurry, giving room for the judgment of right and wrong to fluctuate and change. The most arrogant kings could at most control the voices of two or three generations within their domain, but they couldn’t control the judgment of posterity. Those ancients who possessed great power in their time and still wanted to manipulate the perspective of future generations often appeared quite ridiculous, and might even end up with stories like “burning books and burying scholars.” But people living at that time, without some wisdom and cultivation, probably couldn’t laugh about it.

People always tend to remember those who go to extremes between major rights and wrongs. Because they have stories, and all of us living among rice, oil, salt, sauce, and vinegar need a good story, whether we admit it or not. Thus Gandhi with his “non-violent non-cooperation” is remembered, and “Bloody Mary” who killed heretics is also remembered. If your task is to leave a lasting legacy, then analyzing to this point, choosing to be an extreme person would naturally be more likely to help you achieve that goal.

Forget about posterity, let’s look at today. On the internet, extreme viewpoints often gain wider circulation. Those who like them naturally chase after them with jubilation, while those who dislike them respond with anger. Back and forth, this writing, this person, this matter suddenly becomes “famous.” Once “famous” to a certain degree, people entering this field must first take sides on this matter, first express whether they support or oppose, and only then can they continue speaking. At this point, this person can basically be considered “completely famous.”

The desire for fame and profit exists in everyone. “Fame” and “profit” have always been linked. It’s just that the internet has dramatically amplified this effect. In the Spring and Autumn period, the channels for spreading reputation were very limited. If you were too lazy to travel among states, you could only be a neighborhood committee opinion leader. If someone occasionally heard your views and suddenly had an epiphany, carrying water when carrying water, chopping wood when chopping wood, and living happily ever after - even so, unless he developed a faith that required a lifetime pilgrimage to you, it would be hard for him to make up his mind to find you and then deliver flour ground by his family to your hands. Material support was much easier than in the Spring and Autumn period just a few years ago, but at least it wasn’t one-click, until QR codes changed everything. Those who became “completely famous” thus became so-called “traffic portals,” thereby gaining commercial value and becoming darlings of capital.

Thus, it seemed overnight that a group of extreme opinion enthusiasts holding banners of truth and justice, glory and dreams began surfing with gritted teeth in capital’s red and blue oceans. Occasionally, one or two skilled masters emerged who were sophisticated, willing to compromise themselves, and capable of continuous crazy output, and capital would immediately greet them with smiles. Thus appeared before the world a series of uninhibited, free-spirited yet capital-beloved new-age successful people. Faced with phenomena never seen before, people had to invent new terms. Thus came stories of niche becoming mainstream, 2D invading 3D, and underdogs’ counterattack. Thus some exclaimed this was an era when internet celebrities became the darlings of the times. (Digressing, the existence of the two characters “internet celebrity” still proves the dominance of traditional television media - see the folk songs that became popular over the years for details.)

At this point, we can stop and compare ancient and modern times. Extreme opinion holders have existed since ancient times, and those pursuing fame and profit have been countless throughout history. It’s precisely today’s internet business model that perfectly combines the two, instantly exploding into a beautiful new world.

The Discourse of Consumerism

Is the problem with “money”?

Sorry, yes.

Today’s commonly understood interest is very difficult to trace back to its original meaning. Currency, which was meant to facilitate barter, has become a “system that’s been played out” today. In financially developed America, the ever-increasing national debt isn’t some policy issue, but a limitation of today’s monetary system itself. (I need to understand more in this area - please recommend good reading materials!)

Capital’s pursuit of profit has become a universally known righteous act. Investors expect growth that exceeds expectations! That is, growth alone isn’t enough - there must also be potential that exceeds expectations! Wait, doesn’t exceeding expectations just mean your own ability is insufficient and your expectations aren’t accurate enough? What kind of pathological logic is this? Understanding this makes today’s “explosive products” that come fast and go even faster not hard to understand. But you must understand, this is pathological, not normal.

Teams without funding need to show what capital likes to get investment. Teams with funding can completely use capital for investment, with profits likely far exceeding actual work, and risks possibly lower. If Renren had focused on making good products, I wouldn’t have the desire to write crawlers to grab all the blogs down now. If this team made cars, flashlights, or clothes, it would be fine - buy them and that’s it. At worst, if you don’t like them, pile them up to fill the house, then buy a bigger house. But if this team makes media, is professionally trained, and familiar with the complete process of scientific brainwashing, then it becomes more dangerous.

Manufacturers’ advertisements merely make you discover things you didn’t know you so desperately wanted, while media desperately trying to attract your eyeballs under capital support is stealing your life! They often use “free” as a pretense to make you a slave producing user data, then use more data and more advanced algorithms to further, more painlessly enslave more people.

I admit my views are not objective or comprehensive enough, and I hope I can acknowledge this with more sincere guilt. The Puritan commercial empire wasn’t built from nothing. Their spirit of continuous improvement and strict self-discipline deserves anyone’s admiration. “Crowdfunding” has given countless people the right to dream big, indeed providing a channel to transform feelings into courage, bringing games like “Shenmue 3” into reality. But at the same time, you should also have an ability - an ability to see “ugliness,” an ability to see just how ugly those people are when they obviously mix too much subjective good-evil and likes-dislikes into their words yet still hold high banners of “rationality,” “engineering thinking,” and “embracing the future,” smiling and saying “this is no problem!”

Being able to appreciate beauty and criticize ugliness - only then is there possibility of staying awake.

We all like money, beauty, fame, hearing stories, and novel interesting things. Human nature - there’s nothing wrong with this. The premise is that we must acknowledge we have these attributes. When loving money, we can see that we haven’t treated money as a tool but simply like having more money, more possibilities; when seeing sweaty, graceful opposite-sex bodies at the gym, understanding we’re not attracted by someone’s unique aura; when others applaud and give likes, seeing that we feel especially happy because of this - although no one can see us at night, we still blush and feel embarrassed; when watching Hollywood movies, novels, TV shows, being attracted by content and moved to tears and laughter, understanding how much effort producers put into tricking us into this story; when unable to calm down, not wanting to pull down pants without bringing a phone to the toilet, understanding we can’t accept even five minutes of having nothing to do.

All of this, everything is fine. As long as I can see myself, as long as you can see yourself.

“Knowledge”

Seeing oneself is the first step and also the most crucial step.

When seeing these attributes in ourselves, we must understand that most of these attributes are like being written in DNA - they’re our factory settings. And our manual - “The Human Operating Guide” - has mostly been thoroughly read by predecessors. After you’ve also read this manual, you’ll see who’s using the techniques in this manual. Strip away the techniques and you’ll more easily see clearly who this person is and what they want to do. Seriously looking at yourself is reading this manual, is gaining knowledge. With some basic knowledge, we can avoid being deceived. The meaning lies here.

You first hold this guide in your hands, then let’s look back and examine today against this book.

Product manager is a very popular profession in recent years. They study how to quickly understand fields they’ve never been involved in before, learn technology while also studying learning methods themselves. They can joke with programmers about what the best programming language is, and they can find real needs that customers can’t articulate themselves while talking and laughing. From afar, this looks like a path of personal growth toward becoming a “perfect person.”

To develop products that can occupy the market, they began studying the mysteries of psychology, studying Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: physiological, safety, social, esteem, self-actualization. Initially, even making popsicles could make money. Later they discovered that sincere products made with careful attention were also lukewarm. The roundabout human analysis PowerPoint took three days and nights but still lacked confidence to submit to leadership. Until one day, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman flipped to the back of his “Human Operating Guide” and suddenly realized:

A good product must cater to one of the seven deadly sins of human nature: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, lust.

Wait a minute!

If so, then Father Thomas Aquinas and Dante must have both been product managers! They all understood user needs well! What unfortunate timing!

My friend, since you trust me so much and invest so much time reading to this point, I believe you must be intelligent. The same “seven deadly sins” - Dante wanted to lead people upward, but where do product managers growing up in a consumerist discourse environment want to lead people by studying these seven deadly sins so sleeplessly?

I don’t mean to compare this guide to a remote control. Knowledge in books is one thing; whether you can apply it practically and how to integrate it is another. But with some understanding of human nature, it’s like suddenly being able to see many buttons emerging from people around you. The more you understand, the more buttons you can press. And studying this guide yourself can help you gradually hide these buttons, thereby reducing others’ opportunities to manipulate you.

“Action”

Who’s familiar with this guide besides just product managers? Trump is smiling while holding one. Studying human nature leads to “knowledge,” but to implement “action,” one needs to learn to tell a good story.

Driven by commercial interests, Hollywood has gradually turned how to tell a good story into scientific steps with discoverable patterns.

You - lying in your comfort zone Need - dissatisfied, feeling something is missing Departure - leaving the comfort zone to try Exploration - constantly hitting walls, constantly adapting Goal - finally clarifying where you want to go Achievement - reaching the goal while paying a price Return - returning to the original starting point Change - the landscape hasn’t changed, but you have

Hollywood tells stories, game makers tell stories, politicians tell stories, business entrepreneurs tell stories. Hitler’s praise of the Aryan race was telling a story, the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was a story, the Odyssey was a story. Mohammed, Jesus Christ, Buddha, Laozi, Zhuangzi all told their own stories.

Why?

Because it works!

When there were no pen and paper, people couldn’t remember or pass down content that wasn’t in story form. Witches helped prophets further open their eyes, but to spread their thoughts and ideas, they had to package this knowledge into stories. Sometimes stories alone weren’t enough - poetry was best, not only pleasant to read but could be sung to make a living and attract devoted fans. Wandering minstrels were the media of that era. When pen and paper first appeared, they were extremely precious and could only be used by society’s upper class. Since the advent of printing, memory was no longer the primary factor. It didn’t matter how much or how long you wrote. When there were lengthy works like “In Search of Lost Time,” poetry as a relatively obscure information transmission mode gradually declined, while more accessible prose and novels became increasingly popular. In today’s era of various electronic screens, information transmission channels are no longer a problem, and formats include text, music, images, and video for any choice. We seem to have returned to that era without pen and paper - there’s too much information popping up constantly, and we can still only remember the one who tells stories best.

The ability to tell stories when used by those with ulterior motives is called “fooling people,” when used by Lu Xun it’s called “enlightening the people.” Like money, we might as well treat storytelling ability as a tool, as a hammer. Whether you swing the hammer to carve giant stones and build the Library of Alexandria or to rob and kill in the countryside depends entirely on personal will.

Epilogue

Van Gogh committed suicide, Haizi lay on train tracks.

The cessation of Offline magazine can hardly be compared to these, nor was its content the best possible. After subscribing, I didn’t read several issues immediately upon their release, but I know this wasn’t because the topics weren’t attractive enough, but because today’s me isn’t good enough yet.

Issue 34: “Useless Art” Issue 16: “Technology, Cognition and Jokes About Death”
Issue 9: “Anti-Technology Work and Life Philosophy” Issue 6: “Zen, Motorcycles and Technology Worship”

I haven’t read the final Issue 46: “Geek Kitchen: How to Fry a Good Spicy Chicken.” I haven’t finished Wang Xiaobo’s complete works either. I’m the kind of person who, when eating a hamburger, will grimace while finishing the bread first, then smile at the meat patty for five minutes before eating the meat bit by bit.

Life? I’m not in a hurry.

From a self-definitional perspective, I don’t consider myself someone who embraces the past. I have no unquestionable obsessions in my heart, or at least I hope I don’t.

Facing the future, I’m not too worried about developments that can be driven by money and interests. The phenomenon of tech companies working hard to accelerate data collection won’t stop no matter how much you sing its doom. I acknowledge that all technological development is built on countless people’s hard work. Moore’s Law is by no means a natural law - it’s all the result of human effort.

But from another perspective, does humanity as a whole need to draw a clear dividing line from nature? Currently, this line inevitably exists. On Google Maps, the difference between areas where humans gather and areas where humans are sparse is very obvious. Compared to uninhabited areas, cities look more like the Earth has fallen ill. But phenomena don’t represent essence; recognizing one’s shortcomings doesn’t mean one should throw up hands and admit inability to change. Based on humanity’s existing separation from nature, continuing toward separation with “no shame but pride” might not be the right path. Considering human greed both materially and spiritually, Moore’s Law still contains natural properties. And if humans can still have a little pride as human beings, it’s that they can see themselves and can change.

“Combat false information and excessive advertising - these are currently the most important factors harming our experience. Mobile Baidu, as our core platform for content distribution, whether it’s one-click transfer, two-click transfer, or three-click transfer, users think they’re using Baidu. So you must give them the same quality experience as Baidu. You must accept how users think. You can’t say you want to educate them that this isn’t Baidu’s - you can’t educate them out of it.” Li Yanhong said this to employees in an internal Baidu company letter.

We seem to have become accustomed to such rhetoric, so there are more products in this world developed using “The Human Operating Guide” with the seven deadly sins as theoretical basis, so there are more captivating entertainment stories that exist only to grab eyeballs and steal people’s lives. In commercial society, you’ve certainly seen those companies that, using their own valuation growth as justification and thinking of employees’ material welfare as justification, continuously develop various products that cater to human desires. On users’ path to moral degradation, they not only don’t persuade people to turn back from their lost ways, but continuously cheer them on. Under the same profit incentives, such “ugly” behaviors are not hard to see in both China and America. This is losing the “Way.”

Thus when the Way is lost, virtue appears; when virtue is lost, benevolence appears; when benevolence is lost, righteousness appears; when righteousness is lost, ritual appears. - Tao Te Ching, Chapter 38

Money is a tool, science and technology are tools, storytelling ability is also a tool. Making good use of these tools should not only be for those businessmen and dictators who have lost the “Way.”

Standing against “consumerism,” standing against “entertainment supremacy,” try to apply these tools! Learn these tools with the mindset of knowing your enemy, and use them better than the enemy. This is the way to do things.

Liang Wendao’s “One Thousand and One Nights” and Xu Zhiyuan’s “Solo Reading” are good examples. “Letters Alive” and “Chinese Poetry Conference” are good trends. Vote with money where you can, and the more direct to creators the better; where you can’t support with money yet, share and help spread the word.

Being born human, no one should treat anyone else as a fool. Starting from yourself, to not be foolish, at least first ensure you won’t be deceived. Constantly observe your own thoughts, and with some concept of human weaknesses, then you’ll know which of your weaknesses others have designs on. Then even shopping at supermarkets and looking at packaging can make you laugh; understanding storytelling methods means stripping away routines, seeing essence, understanding what purpose lies behind others telling me this story.

Seeing yourself, then being dissatisfied is completely fine - as long as people are alive, they can change!

Geniuses of the 1970s dragged audiences forward. Today’s geniuses wield “data science” as a weapon and are dragged downward by audiences.

  • “One Day World”’s Bu Niao Wan Ru Yi commenting on Miles Davis’s album “Bitches Brew”

Only after awakening can you possibly master yourself and make choices. As for upward or downward, this is your own choice.

Simply put, among the surging crowd, I want to be someone who advises everyone to slow down. I don’t need to build confidence for businessmen - I want to establish more dignity for slow people.

When you see red, don’t rush over immediately. Give yourself three seconds to think about whether you’re really a bull or not. It’s not too late to go after that.

When seeing someone who is content with poverty and finds joy in it (someone who has truly achieved “contentment” and “joy” with knowledge and awareness), if we don’t bow in respect, we should at least stop, silently admire them in our hearts, understand that our own cultivation is insufficient, we can’t calm our hearts or be still, so we haven’t obtained a lasting happiness that doesn’t make people worry about gain and loss.

Life has always had ups and downs. You’ve already bought a ticket to enter this play. I want to keep my eyes open with you and watch it through to the end with clear consciousness.