Wang Xiaolie was sitting in the study, with the afternoon sun shining in through the window and shining on him. A cup of hot tea next to you, cozy and warm.
When he has nothing to do, Wang Xiaolie likes to sit in the house and bask in the sun. Be alone and think about something.
From the time Ye Mengde brought Zhao Gou's edict, it wasn't until today that Wang Xiaolie finally came out of it and was able to face it calmly. This is not to say that it will be the same in the past, but this matter will always affect Wang Xiaolie's mood, and thus affect the handling of things.
How to face it? Just do your own thing well and leave the rest to God. It sounds passive, but that's how it is. Apart from God’s will, what else can be trusted?
People always think that God's will is illusory and illusory. But sometimes, it's so real.
Our world is not deterministic, but probabilistic. This question caused heated debate among countless physicists when quantum mechanics was first proposed. Of course, in the end people discovered that the world is indeed probabilistic. Although most of our scientific knowledge is based on determinism.
In other words, our scientific theorems, laws, etc. are not truth, but only approximations to the reality of the world. For example, we know that the earth rotates around the sun, but how it rotates is unknown. The orbits, periods, etc. we calculate are all approximations. Even everything around us is an approximation. As small as the weight of a weight, how long a step is, as large as how the earth moves in the universe and how the universe evolves, they are all approximations.
This approximation is related to the fact that human knowledge is limited but the universe is infinite. For example, the weight of a weight depends on where the decimal point is when we calculate it. The weight of the weight is actually an irrational number. We just assume it is a rational number to give a value.
This is true in nature, and even more so in human society. When physics has proven that nature is a probabilistic world, it is no longer so shocking to think that human society is probabilistic.
Expressing the weight of a weight using numbers can only be approximate. This is the limitation of human understanding of nature. However, the weight of the weight is actually determined because the weight is there.
The traditional Chinese thought on Tao is probably similar to this. For a weight, Western civilization believes that the number indicating the weight is real. The weight does not match this because there is an error in the weight manufacturing. Taoism believes that numbers are not real, but the weight of weights is real and unique.
This difference in thinking affects every aspect. We can't feel it, we just haven't reached the level of things.
Knowing that human society is probabilistic, many things take it for granted. For example, just because you have strict control over something, don't think that it will definitely not happen. It is normal for it to happen. But just because it’s normal doesn’t mean you can’t ignore it when it appears in large numbers.
Something simpler. If you meet an old man who falls down on the street, should you help him or not? Some people are afraid of trouble, or are indifferent by nature, so it is normal not to support them. But among the people who came to help me, they didn’t think about what they would do if I was blackmailed. Even if someone does get blackmailed, the probability is very small and can be ignored. When a large number of elderly people fall and passers-by are afraid to help them, there is a problem. When a large number of people refuse to help, and those who do help also have to think about what to do if they are blackmailed, something is definitely wrong.
At this time, the government must consider where the problem lies and how to solve it, and cannot ignore it. There is a big problem in this society, and the government has no reason to ignore it. Otherwise, why do the people need government?
Understanding social issues from the perspective of probability will reveal another side of society. It is the meaning of the government's existence to carry out targeted governance for problems that arise in a statistical sense. Wang Xiaolie often said that people in the government should be divided into officials and officials. How to distinguish between officials and officials? It is the responsibility of officials to deal with social problems mechanically. It is the official's duty to find problems statistically and solve them.
All officials must learn some statistics. This is not an additional requirement for officials, but a necessary requirement.
It is consistent with statistics and has statistical laws, rather than being mechanical and deterministic. This is the true face of the world. It is the responsibility of the government to conduct targeted statistical management, conduct statistical analysis, and then propose solutions.
Understanding this, Wang Xiaolie's view of society is very different, and of course his view of officials is also different.
Not being angry or delusional is not because of any religion or any great figure who said this is not good. But realize that this is wrong from the origin of the world. Therefore, Wang Xiaolie's way of handling things may not necessarily be in line with people's perceptions.
The Tao is not necessarily the Tao taught by Taoism, but the Tao followed by various doctrines. Taoism has it, Confucianism has it, Mohism has it, and even Legalism has it. What they are talking about may not be the same thing, but the meaning is similar.
Wherever the Tao is, even if there are tens of thousands of people, I will go there! The Tao here is not truth, nor anything similar, but the only existence and correctness of things. The mass of a weight, the length of a step, the evolution of all things in the universe, and why the universe exists like this are all their ways. Don’t let our understanding confuse your eyes. All understanding is the ladder to the Tao, not the Tao itself.
For example, if you write science fiction based on existing science, you should know that it will deepen people's understanding of science and popularize scientific principles, and you should not think that the future will really be like that. The future must not be like that, otherwise science will stagnate.
To solve social problems, theories summarized based on previous experiences only have reference value but no guiding significance. If you think you can guide your actions, you have made a fundamental mistake. The most important thing is to use statistics to describe the real world and govern according to statistical rules.
Wang Xiaolie once used some officials who failed to pass the Jinshi examination to record the world and their lives. In recent years, things have been busy, and it has only been implemented in a few areas such as Xiangyang, but has not been extended to other areas. This time when I go back, I should take this matter to a higher level.
We must first understand the world. How can we do without these people? If you only listen to the reports of officials and read the statements they make, you will definitely be deceived. Officials don’t even need to intentionally deceive, but just subconscious biases in their work, to be far from the truth.
It is easy to say where the Tao is, even if tens of thousands of people go there. But it is difficult to clearly understand Tao, know what Tao is, and how to do Tao. Confucius said: If you hear the Tao in the morning, you will die in the evening. This way is so easy.
Sima Guang once quoted the words of the Tao Te Ching and said: "The prime minister should use Dao to assist the king, without using examples?" He said this sentence is correct. The prime minister should originally assist the king with Dao, without using examples. However, Sima Guang didn't know what the Tao was at that time, and he did things in a mess.
To govern the world with Tao, we must first know what Tao is. Rather than just talking nonsense and having nothing to do with the true Tao. In Wang Xiaolie's previous life, science had developed to this point, allowing people to know that statistical methods could be used to understand society, analyze society, and govern society. Although these methods cannot tell people what Tao is, they can give people better means and get closer to Tao.
(End of chapter)
