In this installment, the final installment in the Matrix series, let's discuss a little deeper. There are two most memorable characters in The Matrix movies, one is an architect and the other is a prophet. Neo worked hard in the second part, met the architect at the end, learned the details of the Matrix design, and that he was not the first savior, but a savior appeared every few years, leading mankind to rebel against the Matrix. Domination, the only way to ensure the existence of the matrix. The resistance of these humans is part of the operation of the Matrix, and their resistance is another form of cooperation in the operation of the Matrix. The role of the prophet has been carried through from the first to the third film of this series, and has become an important clue for the development of the plot, always guiding Neo to gradually discover his potential. Since these two roles are so important, what do they mean? In fact, the chat in the play has already told us that the architect represents balance, and the prophet represents imbalance, and the cooperation and conflict between the two constitute the main line of the Matrix worldview. The design of these two characters can be said to have very profound metaphors. They represent two forces or trends in the development of human civilization. The balance represented by the architect symbolizes a stable social structure, social system and authority; while the prophet represents The imbalance symbolizes social disorder, social change and resistance and criticism of authority. For any human civilization to exist for a long time, it must have stable social organizations and sources of authority. The social organizations in ancient China were clans and scholar-bureaucratic bureaucracies, which respectively represented the authority of patriarchal and imperial power. These two kinds of authority have been revised through several rounds. Confucian theories are integrated together. The social organization of ancient Greece and Rome was the city-state, and the source of authority was the National Assembly or the Senate. The social organization of medieval Europe was the manor or church of various feudal lords, and the source of authority was Christianity or ancient tribal traditions. However, if we look at human history, no matter what kind of human civilization is impossible to last forever, it will inevitably go through the process of "forming, staying, and breaking down", and will inevitably collapse and reshape. Why do we find that human society is as bound to die as the human body? Because human civilization, like the human body, is controlled by homeostatic mechanisms. The normal operation of the human body requires various vital signs indicators to be within a fixed range. The heart rate and blood pressure measured by our annual physical examination are such indicators. If the heart rate and blood pressure exceed the normal range, various diseases will be caused. lead to the death of living beings. The purpose of the existence of various organs of the human body, including the nervous system, is to ensure that the vital signs are stable within a fixed value range. The various activities of the body are also given the highest priority to ensure the stability of vital signs. For example, activities related to eating, drinking and sleeping account for most of people's daily life. This mechanism of maintaining the stability of vital signs is called homeostasis. A human civilization, just like the human body, also needs to maintain the stability of basic vital signs, such as good law and order (no looting everywhere), an economic organization and system that can obtain various resources for survival from the environment, and can resist various Natural disasters and the intrusion of other civilizations, etc. A human civilization has developed various cultures and systems to maintain the normal operation of society. Whether it is a clan in ancient China or a city-state in ancient Greece, it is the smallest unit for a group of people to survive together. These social organizations and social authority are the homeostatic mechanisms that maintain civilization. Ancient Chinese clans could ensure that a group of people could jointly carry out agricultural production, make some small-scale public investment in water conservancy facilities, and also invest in people with education qualifications in the family to take the imperial examinations, thereby obtaining political asylum, only the existence of the clan can Guarantee the stable existence of a small-scale farming community. After the Song Dynasty, a large number of clans had moved to the south, leaving only small farmers in the north without clans, the gap between the agricultural output and the results of the imperial examinations between the north and the south gradually widened, and even today the economic development of the south The levels are generally higher than those in the north. The gap between northern and southern China is not caused by geographical factors or policy factors, but by the amount of social organizations and social capital. This deep-seated gap is difficult to improve with some short-term policy support. The city-states of ancient Greece and ancient Rome were also the smallest unit for a group of people to maintain their survival. This group of people had their own social division of labor, but all city-state citizens had the obligation to join the army to defend society and serve as jurors in court. To vote in the citizens' assembly, they also have the right to participate in major decisions of the city-state, so the original meaning of the word politics in Western history was the affairs of the city-state. Regrettably, just as people are mortal, any social organization and its authority are bound to collapse and decline. Any social organization or system is invented to meet the needs of a specific group of people in a specific situation. Chinese clans were not created for commercial society, and the city-states of ancient Greece and ancient Rome could not adapt to a larger regional regime. requirements. With the passage of time and changes in the situation, many refugees from these great civilizations that once existed have been "destroyed". The social organization, social system and culture of human civilization are like dams on a river bank and human social life is like a river. How to raise and strengthen the embankment, as long as the river keeps changing the flow direction and speed, there will be a day when the embankment will burst. No matter how a social system or social organization adapts, there will inevitably be a day when it will exceed the scope of its adaptation. Hegel has a famous saying: "Everything that exists is rational." This is true. All systems and cultures that have existed in human society must be able to adapt to certain special circumstances and achieve homeostasis. However, this sentence is not complete, because there is another sentence Hegel did not say, "everything that exists will inevitably decline", and any system and culture will inevitably fail to achieve homeostasis, and then it can only decline. . Since any civilization is bound to decline, is there no difference between civilizations? This is not the case. The decline of a civilization is inevitable, but how a civilization declines and how to reshape it after it declines is the key. How a civilization declines and reshapes depends on the dissidents or marginalized groups of that civilization. The situation of dissidents in a civilization determines the outcome of civilization's decline and remodeling. Why do you say that? In a civilization, there are always some dissident elements that cannot adapt to the current system and culture. These dissident elements will always cause uncomfortable reactions from those who hold authority. Those who hold authority and those who follow the rules in society always regard this group of people as The urge to run over like a bedbug is not surprising, and it is also a necessity of human nature. However, due to the differences in systems, cultures and environments of different civilizations, these dissidents also have different situations. Some have no choice but to give up and return to the mainstream of society. Some are ignored or even ignored by society. Vitality can maintain a small group of its own. Many dissidents who have a chance of survival and a small world of their own have played an important role in the decline and remodeling of the original civilization, and have become the core force in creating a new society. The Christians in the ancient Roman Empire were such dissidents. They faced various pressures and persecutions, but they persevered with great sacrifice and courage, and instead became the decisive force in shaping the medieval society of Western Europe after the collapse of the Roman Empire. Buddhists in ancient China were also alerted by those in power as dissidents in the early days of entering China, so there would be three martial arts and one sect, but they became part of Chinese civilization by integrating into Chinese civilization, but they also lost forever like Christianity. An opportunity to reshape the decisive force of Chinese civilization. In the late Middle Ages in Europe, with the development of economy and the recovery of commerce, some people who were unwilling to be enslaved by feudal lords went to hide in some commercial markets. These new hiding places gradually developed into commercial cities. The people who hid in the cities developed a new civilization that was incompatible with the European medieval Christian civilization, and these small cities became the birthplace of the Renaissance and the capitalist system. In European history, the Catholic Church was once shocked by the impiety and mercenaryism of these small cities. The Pope has issued a decree on the whole of Venice many times (that is, on behalf of God, condemn you forever), while Venice and Genoa are small cities against the Pope. Laws don't care. It was these small cities that laid the foundations of the earliest capitalist economic system and modern political system. Some dissidents in Catholicism, such as Martin Luther, Calvin and others, challenged the authority of the Pope. They claimed to only believe in the Bible rather than the Pope and the Holy See, thus provoking the most tragic religious wars in European history. These dissidents founded the first joint-stock companies, stock and stock exchanges in the Netherlands, and even the first financial crisis (although this one was caused by tulips). It was precisely this group of dissidents who also became the stalwarts of immigration to develop the North American continent and later the American independence movement (look at the Mayflower Convention to know how early Protestantism had an impact on the United States). Even in the present post-industrial age, dissidents who defy authority will have the opportunity to create new business legends, Apple founder Steve Jobs and Internet age prophet Kevin. Kelly was once a rebel against mainstream American values. They all gave up their comfortable life in the United States and spent a few years on a spiritual journey to remote parts of Asia. vulgar grades. As I said earlier, if the old society gave dissidents a narrow space to develop their new culture, then when the old social system and culture were in crisis, the system and culture developed by these dissidents Culture may become a stepping stone for new social systems and cultures. Conversely, if there is no room for dissidents in the old society, and they are either forced to return to mainstream values or die, what will be the consequences? Just look at ancient China. Since Confucius killed Shaozhengmao, it has proved that ancient Chinese civilization lacked tolerance for dissidents. The unified imperial power was a great weapon to suppress dissidents. Dissidents either fled outside the jurisdiction of ancient Chinese civilization (such as a few ethnic areas), either indoctrinated or eliminated by the authorities. When Wang Yangming was chased and killed by Liu Jin, he could only have a chance if he escaped to Longchang, Guizhou, where ethnic minorities lived. Li Zhi, a famous thinker in the late Ming Dynasty, resisted the prevailing values at that time, and finally ended in a dead end. He wrote "Mingyi To Visit Records" to express his resistance. The emperor Huang Zongxi could only spend his life in the mountains and forests, and his ideas could not be accepted by society. This created a problem, when the unified empire of ancient China finally disintegrated because it could not resist various internal and external disturbances, because the original civilization did not have a small space for dissidents, so there was no new alternative to choose from. Social system and culture, the only feasible solution is to rebuild society according to the old system and culture. This is why ancient China constantly faced the collapse and reconstruction of civilization on the one hand, while maintaining a huge social system and cultural similarity on the other. Many people are proud of this to prove the continuity of ancient Chinese civilization. I just think that this is a manifestation of the lack of flexibility and creativity of a civilization, and a manifestation of the stagnation and endless cycle of the entire civilization. It is definitely not something to be proud of. Society, like human beings, is bound to die. The social system and culture that is always resurrected are like zombies that are always resurrected. They seem to be active, but they are actually dead. Simply repeating the story of yesterday is not a continuity. It's just a lack of novelty. Unlike some Chinese who are fascinated by the social system and cultural continuity of ancient China, some people in the West are always worried about the lack of dissidents who rebel against the existing system and culture. Herbert Marcuse's "One-dimensional "People" is a concern about the lack of dissidents in the modern post-industrial society. In recent years, an American university professor Wei Wei. Lian Deresiewicz wrote a book "Excellent Sheep" to criticize current universities and college students who are too eager for current success, and have no courage to resist and criticize existing social systems and cultures, as well as create new ones. creativity. I was deeply touched after reading this book, once all people in a society pursue a kind of rapid success under the current system, then the society will not only become introverted (more people chasing the same thing is introverted) Volume), and more importantly, this society will lose the seeds of institutional and cultural innovation and gradually lose its vitality. The core problem that Western civilization encounters now is in this book, which is the lack of leaders who can lead everyone out of the predicament to a new situation, and such leaders, like Steve Jobs, must have been a dissident who rebelled against the social system and culture. Dissidents in a civilization are the seeds prepared for a new civilization in the future. If these seeds can take root and grow gradually, then after the old civilization declines, a new civilization will emerge, opening up a new social system and culture. From this perspective, the resistance of these dissident molecules is also another form of cooperation to some extent. Once these seeds are smothered in the bud, then when the old civilization declines, it can only be reduced to desolation, or be conquered and used by foreign civilizations. No matter what kind of system and culture any civilization has, there will always be a day when there will be “nowhere to go”, but only a civilization that has a shred of vitality and can continue to grow can have the opportunity of “another village”. Cooperation. Once these seeds are smothered in the bud, then when the old civilization declines, it can only be reduced to desolation, or be conquered and used by foreign civilizations. No matter what kind of system and culture any civilization has, there will always be a day when there will be “nowhere to go”, but only a civilization that has a shred of vitality and can continue to grow can have the opportunity of “another village”. Cooperation. Once these seeds are smothered in the bud, then when the old civilization declines, it can only be reduced to desolation, or be conquered and used by foreign civilizations. No matter what kind of system and culture any civilization has, there will always be a day when there will be “nowhere to go”, but only a civilization that has a shred of vitality and can continue to grow can have the opportunity of “another village”.
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