The possibility of reviving traditional Chinese culture in Web3

Are Chinese people inferior to foreigners?

Most of the Hong Kong Web3 Carnival scenes are Chinese, and most of the lectures and activities are mainly Chinese.In fact, since 2013 when I entered the market, Chinese have always been an important participant in the blockchain field. At that time, there were roasted cats and Avalon mining machines, Bitcoin China, Huobi, etc., and the entire Bitcoin mining industry in China.It occupies half of the market in terms of exchanges.Today, although mining and exchanges have been banned, more Chinese developers, capitalists and investors continue to participate in this wave in various forms and are unwilling to fall behind.

But Chinese players often belittle themselves, “If you don’t play with Chinese projects, you should still invite foreigners to endorse things even if you are Chinese, or you may just pretend to be foreigners.

The prejudice against Chinese projects seems to be understandable, because Chinese projects are accustomed to cutting leeks and cheating many people.But when you think about it carefully, there are actually many “big cuts” in the West.Back then, there were Mt.gox’s Fatty, CSW who pretended to be Satoshi Nakamoto, and SBFs who cut FTX with Wall Street… They cut leeks much more cruel than Chinese bosses.They also run exchanges, including Yang Linke in front and Zhao Changpeng in the back, all of whom are relatively regular and decent. They also engage in forks. Wu Jihan bets with his whole family and his words and deeds are consistent, which is more decent than CSW.Even the “Sun Ce” who is often ridiculed by others has never committed a great sin. Compared with those Western Ceremonies, they can only feel inferior.

Of course, I don’t want to reverse the map cannon to bombard Westerners. In fact, many Chinese, foreigners, cut leeks. This is a phenomenon that the entire encryption movement must experience in this early stage.

Blockchain is a wild new world, a “borderless land” in the digital world.History has proved that chaos arose in the early stages of exploring and developing the New World, and stealing is rampant, which is a normal phenomenon.The so-called heroes appear in troubled times. If the order is not established too early if the relatively wild competition has not been experienced and the order is established, then this order may be a simple continuation of the old order.To push back, break the old world, and build a new world, chaos is a must.

In this unparalleled land, those who could make a fortune quickly in the early days were often not elegant gentlemen. Many pioneers who initially expanded territory in the Western Age of Discovery were frustrated, heretics, hooligans, pirates, criminals, etc.

Blockchain Chronicle

Speaking of this, I want to repeat my “New World Chronicle”.I think starting from the discovery of the Borderless Land, the development of the New World can be divided into the following five stages.

1. Exploration stage

The first stage began with Columbus and Satoshi Nakamoto, whose feat was the discovery of the New World—a rich and unlimited land.They don’t know what this continent can look like, but they know they are trying to get rid of the old order and find new ways out.

2. Pioneering stage

Some may be disappointed, but others may be even more excited when people discover that the New World is a brand new wilderness rather than a wealthy East.Because the New World is unknown, there are too many uncertainties.Therefore, businessmen who pursue certainty prefer to walk through the Cape of Good Hope and continue the traditional way of trading.Those who dare to pioneer in the New World often do not have tough resources or backgrounds in the old world. They value more “ownerless” environments than resources from the New World, which makes it easier for adventurers to start from scratch.

Therefore, the New World at this stage was chaotic and disorderly, and privateer rushing, and of course order began to be established spontaneously.

At this stage, gold rushers and rare treasure trade are mainstream, adventurers need to bring wealth back to the old continent to cash in, miners, minters and pyramid schemers can easily make money during this period, in short, given that most peopleI am too unfamiliar with the New World, so whoever is brave at this stage can make a fortune.

3. Colonial stage

The third is the colonial stage, and of course there is overlap between these stages.In the pioneering stage, I refer to the initial establishment of the wilderness to order, but the worldview and values of the pioneers are still centered on the old world. The economy of the new continent does not have its own system, but will eventually be fulfilled in the old continent.

But at the same time, there are also a group of people trying to build homes in the New World and focus their lives on the new world, including that they may spend most of their lives in the New World, and the benefits they earn can also be increasingly within the New World.cash.This type of person is no longer an adventurer, but a colonist.

There are two types of motivations for colonists. One is driven by commercial interests. After the initial stages have passed, it is no longer so profitable to simply pick up gold or rare treasures in the New World. It is necessary to establish a more stable and lasting business model, for example,Establish plantations or bases to provide stable output.These base areas always need someone to take care of for a long time, which requires a group of immigrants who are willing to live in the New World for a long time.The values of this group of people still belong to the old world. They rely on large institutions such as the East India Company, or today’s large capital such as Wall Street, to work for them and help capitalists seize and manage the wealth of the New World.But their own lives and work have gradually shifted to the new world, so they will also have the desire to take root in the new world.

There are also some colonists driven by faith, often frustrated people in the Old Continent, who try to escape the corrupt or solidified environment of the Old Continent and come to the new world to build a free home with ideals and beliefs.

As for the Age of Discovery, it corresponds to the Jesuits and Puritans. The Jesuits who believed in Catholicism felt the threat of Protestantism in the Old Continent and found it difficult to open up the situation, so they actively went to the East or the New Continent to spread doctrines; while the Puritans were disgusted with Catholicism and believed thatThe reform of the Anglican Church was not thorough, and Protestants were still persecuted, so they hoped to build an ideal home in the New World.

In the end, the Catholic Church achieved considerable results in South America, while the Mayflower, full of Puritans, took root in North America.

Corresponding to blockchain history, I think we are roughly in this colonial stage now.On the one hand, the old money in the old continent began to establish permanent institutions in the new world, trying to monopolize the profit output of the new world; on the other hand, there are more and more people who are dissatisfied in the old continent, with various ideals and beliefs.Devote yourself to the New World and try to build a spiritual home in the New World.

4. Revolution of independence

Then it’s time to revolutionize independently. With the increase of colonists on the New World and the fullness of the economic system, more and more people are not satisfied with the cash machines of old money in the old world, and they are still willing to be with the old world.Trade, but requires breaking away from the control of the Old World, so they will eventually establish an independent political system in the New World with a new system.The independence of the United States proves that the independence revolution is possible and progressive.Of course, this revolution is not necessarily successful. Whether the future of blockchain will always be controlled under the order of the old continent or to successfully form independence is still unresolved, and we need further efforts.I hope that the “network state” will definitely replace the “nation state” and become a new independent order.

5. Counterattack on the old continent

After the establishment of the new order, the thriving new world will eventually surpass the old continent and become the leader of the world order.On the other hand, the contradictions in the old continent are becoming increasingly intensified, and the old order collapses on its own, and even goes to a “world war”. Due to the independence of space and system, the new world survives and accelerates its development in the war, and is eventually re-established in reverse.The world’s order leads the world’s culture and economy.The old world will eventually be willing to transport gold to the new world, anchor money in the new world, and even ideas and systems will align with the new world. This is my ideal “bitcoin standard” era.

Belief

Since we are in this position of benchmarking the “May Flower”, what I want to focus on today is what kind of beliefs we can have.

In my article “The Three Great Crypto Renaissance”, I regard “faith” together with thought and power as the three important elements of human society.

It should be noted that faith does not necessarily resort to religion, religion is just a form of faith that carries.The belief I am talking about here is broad. Everyone has more or less some beliefs, and every society or culture must also contain the dimension of belief.

What is faith?In short, faith is something that provides transcendent meaning.

Pursuing “meaning” is a characteristic of human beings and an embodiment of “free will” – if your behavior is out of free will, it means that you are not doing it because of instinct or blind obedience, but are in your own trade-offs or planning.Actions taken.You do things that you think are meaningful, and this is the manifestation of your freedom.

In addition to the meaning of the game is internal, many actions have to resort to external things, such as working is for making money, making money is for buying a house, buying a house is for getting married, getting married is for having a baby, etc.We constantly place our lives in the next life.But everyone’s sustenance will encounter a desperate limit, that is, the finiteness of life – an individual’s life is limited, and so short.

Some people may be able to live a normal life without considering any transcendent pursuit, but human society as a whole cannot be maintained under the premise of completely excluding transcendent.In fact, transcending the dead is the eternal theme of human civilization and the driving force of thought and technology.Scientists may not believe in heaven or afterlife, but naming their names to a certain constant is the highest honor that most scientists will not reject.Literature and artists, craftsmen and engineers all hope that their works will remain in the world, and the most ordinary people often place their future on their children.

The pursuit of transcendence is the commonality of human civilization; and the specific way of placing transcendence reflects the differences in human civilization, and different eras and different cultures have different ways of pursuing it.

So in today’s information age, what else can we believe in?

The transcendence of reality

The transcendence I mentioned above refers to transcending individual human life, but it does not necessarily require transcending the human group and even the entire real world.However, in Western culture, what provides transcendent meaning is often a transcendent existence. The latter “transcendent” refers to something that transcends the real world and transcends actual experience.The other world, the doomsday judgment, the reincarnation of the soul, the six realms of reincarnation… What Western and Indian religions provide are these transcendent existences to satisfy people’s pursuit of transcendent meanings.

But there are some things that carry transcendent pursuits that are realistic in themselves, such as truth, goodness and beauty, dignity, justice, reputation behind their backs, etc.

As the saying goes, “Life is valuable, love is more valuable. If it is for freedom, both can be abandoned.” This poem talks about two meanings that transcend individual life: love and freedom.The same is true for Mencius’s saying “sacrificing one’s life for righteousness.”There are also scientists who compete for priority and naming rights, which is also a kind of “family name”.People with kindness and ambition also say, “Since ancient times, no one will die, but leave a loyal heart to shine in history.” This means treating historical books as the carrier of transcendent meaning.

This kind of way of placing transcendent pursuits in the real world exists in both Eastern and Western societies, but it is more prominent in traditional Chinese culture.

In short, the way to transcend the individual’s finiteness is to expand the narrow self to a higher level of self. In Western religions, this transcendent self is an immortal soul and the self in the transcendent world.Ontology.In Chinese culture, the direction of self-transcendence isMy body → the world”, ultimately, the real world that left my mark is regarded as a continuation of my individual life.