"I gave up programming and wrote a 1.3 million word hard science fiction."

【CSDN Editor's note 】 How can programmers write a hard core science fiction with sufficient theoretical basis ？ Twenty five years of employment IT veteran , At the same time, Bai Ding is also a popular science fiction author , Maybe we can give the answer . The representative works 《 Cloudball 》 It's not just a story about computer systems , Now it seems to be a model of the meta universe .《 New programmers 004》 Take us into baiding's other procedural life , To explore the new world built by programmers with pens .

author | He Miao         Coordinating editor | Zhang Hongyue

Produce | 《 New programmers 》 Editorial Office

How can programmers write a hard core science fiction with sufficient theoretical basis ？ Twenty five years of employment IT veteran , At the same time, Bai Ding is also a popular science fiction author , Maybe we can give the answer . The representative works 《 Cloudball 》 It's not just a story about computer systems , Now it seems to be a model of the meta universe . Let's enter baiding's other procedural life , To explore the new world built by programmers with pens .

Baiding , A twenty-five year veteran IT veteran , It is also the first generation to do finance IT System Engineer . From engineers of design institutes under the Ministry of Posts and telecommunications to vice presidents of many foreign-funded enterprises in China 、 The general manager , Then to the vice president of a listed company . He has achieved a lot under deep cultivation . Now? , Many people from hardcore science fiction 《 Cloudball 》 I began to know him again .

Baiding began to learn computer when he was in University , After graduating from the computer department of Tongji University , Became a software engineer . Write programs for more than 20 years , His love is undiminished , Once you start writing programs, you are very involved , In the absence of “996” Era , His working hours are far more than that . Bai Ding thinks that writing programs is very interesting , Is also very hard , Comparatively speaking, writing a book is more creative . Writing is also a little painful and unavoidable , For example, sometimes there is no inspiration . Until now, , Encounter such a state , Bai Ding's advice is to wait , Never “ To write a new word is to say sad ”. Many people had a writer's dream when they were young , Bai Ding liked reading and writing very much during college , At that time, he always dreamed of writing novels or other things .

2018 year , By chance, Bai Ding picked up his young dream again , Devote yourself to writing , Start creating 《 Cloudball 》.

《 Cloudball 》 What kind of story was told ？ some time , There is an Institute of earth evolution under a certain Academy of Sciences , People here are studying the evolution of the earth , Build a computer system . In the early days, it was a physical world , But because this system is built very well , Not only did it succeed in the evolution of the earth , And gave birth to life . meanwhile , In another Institute affiliated to the Academy of Sciences , You have found an independent carrier of human consciousness “ Consciousness field ”, This is a physical field . therefore , In a virtual world of computers , Gradually there are people , With other lives , Form the biosphere , There is also a field of consciousness . It was found that , People in the virtual world can generate consciousness with the help of quantum computers , All life has consciousness .《 Cloudball 》 This paper discusses the separability of human consciousness and body . In this environment , With the development of science and Technology , Internal and external conflicts continue , The story is full of ups and downs .

about 《 Cloudball 》, Bai Ding didn't have a complete writing plan at first , He has always believed that writing novels or other literary works , It's a process of accumulation , When experience enough , Naturally, there are many feelings in my heart , Writing is the process of naturally revealing these accumulations . have read 《 Cloudball 》 People will find out , It's not just a science fiction story , Also for many lives 、 social 、 history 、 The problem of philosophy is discussed .

This article is excerpted from 《 New programmers 004》

How do programmers see the relationship between consciousness and body ？

Zou Xin ：《 Cloudball 》 To some extent, it discusses the separability of human consciousness and body , Many psychology books also talk about self perception , The term is called Self-Cognition, Because of self perception , Human beings will think about whether they live in the real world . stay 《 Cloudball 》 In the virtual world , After virtual human has consciousness , Will you question your existence ？

Baiding ： The discovery of the field of consciousness involves a very old philosophical problem , Many philosophers or scientists have studied , That is the separability of consciousness and body . Is consciousness and body one or two ？ This is a long debated issue .《 Cloudball 》 It is set that consciousness and body can be separated . The embodiment of consciousness field needs a physical carrier , It can be life in the real world , It can also be a virtual life built by computer .《 Cloudball 》 Our computer system is divided into different computing units , Such a computing unit gradually evolved into a closed brain unit , Similar to the human brain ,《 Cloudball 》 The central consciousness field is bound to these brain units . The field of consciousness is bound to computer brain units or real brain tissue , The result is the same .

Zou Xin ： There is a classic philosophical paradox called “ Brain in the VAT ”, It assumes that a crazy scientist takes your brain out of your body , Put it in some kind of life sustaining liquid , And put electrodes into the brain , Connect to a computer that can generate images and sensory signals , This computer can simulate your whole experience of the world . In the real world , The sensory information we touch the world is actually processed by the brain , So are we able to detect whether we exist in a real world ？《 Cloudball 》 Is there such a discussion in ？

Baiding ： In theory ,《 Cloudball 》 and “ Brain in the VAT ” Not quite the same. ,“ Brain in the VAT ” Our brain exists in the real world , and 《 Cloudball 》 The consciousness field in is a kind of physical field , It depends on real brain or computer brain unit 、 There is . If you pay attention to the latest progress in biology or medicine , You will find that humans think “ My perception is real ” Not exactly . From a purely scientific point of view , Human perception can be said to be forged .

A simple example , There is no color in this world , But why can we see colorful ？ Science students should know ,“ colorful ” The reason behind this is that the frequencies of light waves are different . The brain does not directly transmit the frequency or wavelength of light to us , But the most primitive Raw Data（ Raw data ） Converted to a more understandable color . The existence of sound is similar , The raw data of sound comes from mechanical waves , But for human understanding , The brain turns it into sound , Because human beings can't feel Raw Data.

Whether to preset , It is an important difference between writing programs and writing novels

Zou Xin ： There is a saying in the literary and art circles , Once you create a character , He can do it by himself “ live ”. The art training method of improvisation also emphasizes that creators should not preset positions , Why is that ？

Baiding ： It is particularly important not to assume positions in the process of creation , This is very different from my previous programming . The development of the story is often not preset , But the program is preset from the beginning , Generally, programmers will know what they want to do in the early stage , What user needs should be met , Then write it out according to the overall design . But writing novels is not , Creators need to experience , What kind of story might happen to the protagonist in a certain scene . So once the work is created by the author , It is an independent existence , Different readers can understand different things .

《 Cloudball 》 After completion , Many online readers have communicated with me , Different people understand completely different things , It may even be the opposite . Because writing a program is a process of pursuing certainty , But writing novels and other literary works is objectively a very uncertain process . Everyone will map his imagination into his works , Readers will also map their life experience into the works in the process of reading , Therefore, their feelings may not be the same as what the author wants to express .

I refuse to be a contracted author , On the one hand, I don't want a deadline , On the other hand, I don't want to preset my position at the beginning of writing . Maybe the editor will suggest that I write according to the needs of readers , But I'm not willing to compromise . in my opinion , This is actually the embodiment of two different creative ideas .

Zou Xin ： Just like the American TV series we are familiar with 《 Game of thrones 》, The writer hasn't finished yet , The TV series is still in a hurry , The final creation deviated from the original intention of the writer, leading to the end of the TV series , It's a pity .

Baiding ：《 Game of thrones 》 After being filmed on TV , The author's brain has been disturbed . Just like when programmers write programs , Originally, it was written happily along the train of thought , Suddenly, several product managers came to give him advice , Soon you will be dizzy and unable to write . Writing novels is the same .

Sign and write without signing , In fact, it represents two different ways of creation , There is no difference between good and bad . One way of writing is from the story in the author's heart , Free development under the author's pen , What's more, the author expresses himself freely . Another way to write is to write for user needs , What users want to see , What the author creates .“ Marvel Universe ” I think it is a typical creation after studying user needs IP. This kind of commercialization is very strong IP Have a complete investigation and grasp of user needs , What will destroy enhanced user perception , They have a very in-depth study .

Zou Xin ： This reminds me of a sentence ：Designed by committee（ The design of the committee ）. I worked at Microsoft for many years , Their committee is very strong . Many Microsoft products are not necessarily strong in the early days , But rely on a strong committee to constantly study user needs 、 Improve the product , Let the product usually catch up with its competitors in the Third Edition . But there is also a weakness in the design of the committee , It will erase any other thoughts , Always exist only to meet the needs of most users .

Baiding ： In this regard, I also have deep feelings . I am here BEA Worked for many years , Responsible for the work from transaction middleware to application server , My colleagues and I were also the first to introduce them to China . service ToB Users for many years , I'm not committee Members of , But it is often necessary to feed back the needs of users to committee, And propose requirements to the engineer . In the process , On the one hand, we have promoted the R & D work of developers , On the other hand, it also fetters them . This is a double-edged sword .

Zou Xin ： Very understanding . I used to participate in the new version Windows Development work , We want to recommend users to use the latest version of the browser . A user in Japan said , I just promoted it in the company IE6 browser , I really don't want to change . I just understand , Users and engineers have different views on products . In the opinion of the Engineer , We have to use the latest technology , Users think I just use it as a tool , Everyone just trained , Various processes also fit , Don't just change , It's best not to move the interface . The core task of enterprises is to do their own production well , Instead of constantly upgrading others' software .

Baiding ： I had a big customer that I valued very much , To persuade them to upgrade the system , I have also done ideological work for a long time . Their system has been used for thirty years , The code hasn't changed for many years , Still use the old COBOL Written language . The customer thinks that although the system is very old , But I am clear about the possible problems of the system , How to deal with it is also very experienced , Now it is unknown what new problems will appear in the upgrade and how to deal with them . From a business point of view , The pursuit of stability is their demand . Different users have different needs , Different readers like different things .

Build desire , Is the first element to achieve the goal

Zou Xin ： People outside the engineering field will feel , Programming is amazing , Can create new things , What do you think of the mysterious programmer outside ？

Baiding ： I used to tell employees , Don't mystify your work . In fact, the job of a programmer may only be 5% The part of is very exciting ,95% My work is actually going step by step .

Zou Xin ： Watts, one of the founders of software engineering · Humphrey concluded , The software field can be divided into two aspects ： On the one hand, it is the explosion of technological innovation ; On the other hand, it is unremitting engineering work , Including software improvements 、 Maintenance and testing, etc , This account 90% The above proportion . Step by step is also the performance of the industry becoming mature , For example, a patient needs surgery , He certainly hopes that his problems are common to doctors , It's not a complicated disease , It's best for the surgeon to do it step by step , There is no need to do high-risk innovative exploration . When different industries mature , Step by step is common . But you read novels , In particular, reading fictional novels is still looking forward to seeing the creative part . If you write a program 95% Step by step ,5% Need creativity , Do you think the proportion of creative writing novels is the same ？

Baiding ： Writing novels is different , The different part is the author's understanding of the world , Or related to emotion , Everyone has his own unique experience . Personally, I think the creativity of writing novels may only account for 30%,70% It is the expression of personal feelings . Some people may think novels , Science fiction in particular should 90% It's all creativity , But I think it's point literature , I don't like it very much . A book should be more about the author's feelings 、 idea , And the understanding of the world and society .

Zou Xin ： produce a novel 、 Writing programs may encounter another situation , Most of the time you are immersed in typing , The process is boring , How to overcome the boredom in this process ？

Baiding ： This mentality is very common , Whether writing novels 、 Write program , Or do any other work requires a major premise ： You have a strong desire for periodic results . Have a desire to support , Mental difficulties can be overcome .

Zou Xin ： Students tend to feel confused about the future . I used to teach as a foreign aid teacher , The amount of homework assigned to students is relatively large , There's a lot of demand , They will complain . When I want to teach them more in-depth basic knowledge , They also complain . Many people constantly find excuses to avoid difficult things . What do you think of this situation ？

Baiding ： I deeply understand what you said . I think I have strong learning ability , But I learned much more at work than I did at school . Why? ？ I have goals at work , But when I study, I don't have a specific goal , Lack of desire , Therefore, my learning effect is not good . I think for everyone , The first element of doing things is to build a certain desire .

Zou Xin ：CSDN Most users of the platform are programmers , The proportion of students in school is 30% about , Suppose you go back to college , Will you choose computer major ？ Will your learning methods change ？

Baiding ： I 1988 In, he was admitted to the computer department of Tongji University , At that time, the conditions were relatively poor . I wasted a lot of time in College , Because it's hard for me to establish a strong desire to learn , A weak sense of purpose . If you go to college again , I will definitely find ways to participate in more specific things , Help me build a sense of purpose , Build your desire , The learning effect should be much better .

I think the computer industry has a great fun , You can clearly perceive that in the process of writing the program , Its process is very clear , The stimulation feedback cycle is also relatively short . I'm afraid to do things that take a long time to see feedback , If you have to persist in doing something for ten years, you may see great feedback , And there was little other feedback during this period , It's terrible for me . And writing programs , Even if it says login 、 Register these simple programs , I can still get a sense of achievement quickly , This is important .

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