陈凯博客： www.kaichenblog.blogspot.com

西方发现vs.东方发明
Discoveries from West vs. Inventions from East

价值一语： Words of Value:

God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose. Take which you please -- you can never have both. --- Ralph Waldo Emerson: Intellect

上苍给与了每一个人的头脑两种选择： 寻求真理或怠怡不前。 你可以任意选择其中之一。 但你绝没有可能同时选择两者。 --- Ralph Waldo Emerson: Intellect “智慧”

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By Kai Chen 陈凯 (Reprint 10/14/2011)

The concept of Discovery pre-conditions that there ARE such things as objectivity and absolutes by nature and God, while some inventions are only those events in which humans accidentally and incidentally manufacture certain contraptions or processes for themselves to use and manipulate. Inventions based on human subjectivity can be fake, phoney and false, yet last for a long time without being detected as such. Only creativities based, governed and predestined by the Law of Nature and God can be beneficial to humans, and thus can propel history forward .

The Chinese love to brag about their ancestors' Four Great Inventions: gun powder, compass, paper and printing. They are so proud of these incidental human inventions that they have become their own identity and obsession. So let's say the Chinese did invent four contraptions, IN 4,000 years. Big Deal! I have never heard Americans brag about their own thousands of inventions (recorded by Patent Bureau) each and every year nowadays.

Maybe instead of feeling proud, the Chinese should feel deep shame about their tiny amount of inventions throughout their entire 4,000 years of history. A child can do better nowadays in a few days.

Obsessing over inventions and manufacturing is a very telling sign that in a society with no faith in moral absolutes, no concept of objectivity, no sense of reality and no faith in God, everything is subjective for human invention and manipulation, even Truth itself. The entire Chinese history, if there is such thing as objective "Chinese history", shows us exactly just that. The fake, the phoney, the artificial, the arbitrary permeate the entire Chinese culture and society.

The Chinese invented gun power. But to burn and ignite it was not the intention of the inventor. It was made as a medicine to cure some skin disease. They had never discovered the chemical components in the gun powder and showed no such endeavor and even sightest interests to know and understand their accidental invention. Strange, yet logical, given the curse of Chinese written characters, Confucianism and despotism.

So the Chinese invented gun powder, but it was the West that discovered its usage and its chemical components to develop better alternatives. So the Chinese invented compass, but it was the West that discovered Gravity and Magnetic Fields and used it to explore the unknown. So the Chinese invented paper, but it is the West that discovered the abstract concept of Fiber and developed different kinds of fibers, using various materials. So the Chinese invented printing, but it is the West that discovered the benefit of individual freedom by spreading knowledge via schools and media....

Then here comes the undeniable truth: The Chinese have never DISCOVERED anything!!

Lies and non-truth can be manufactured and INVENTED, truth and facts cannot. Facts can only be observed and truth can only be DISCOVERED, for it is objective and absolute. It is by nature and God, NOT by humans. Only in a society where people believe in objectivity and God, there can be such thing as moral absolutes and scientific observation and understanding of truth. Now you understand why the Chinese have never discovered anything about truth. It is exactly because they have never believed that there IS anything true. To the Chinese, everything can be invented and manufactured by humans, though the society has only allowed the elite with power to do so, and they indeed have only invented methods to control and suppress individuals, nothing else. Great Wall, Forbidden City, a spiritually and intellectually castrated population and unquestionable Emperor's power are only some of these examples of inventions from the Chinese power elite.

It was people like Newton and Einstein who first DISCOVERED the truth in the physical world of the universe. And BASED on their discovery, humans have invented contraptions and processes to better their own lives. Without the concept of DISCOVERY, all human inventions can only be accidental and incidental, for they will never know their origin, potentials and consequences.

You wonder why the Orientals, the Chinese have never discovered any thing that is true. They have invented things before and they are manufacturing things today. But they have never DISCOVERED anything. It is strange to a lot of Chinese that America -- the most religious society, can be the most potent formenting ground for human scientific discovery and creativity. But they, as a faithless crowd, will never understand the simple truth: To seek truth, you have to BELIEVE that there is truth.

Truth can never be manufactured or invented by humans. Truth can only be discovered by humans who believe there is objectivity and God. And laws based on truth should always be observed by humans, if they ever want to progress.

I am still waiting for the Chinese and the Orientals to DISCOVER anything, and to observe the law of nature and God.