No.13
银河系超车指南04
天地大冲撞
2023-12-31 …..
No.12
银河系超车指南03
北京话
2023-12-22 Friday Cloudy & Sunny
按照这个四足生物的说法，它说的是北京话。
北京，少尉在本地储存的信息中检索出是远古时期第四纪耶稣纪元位于亚欧大陆东侧黄海畔燕山南麓的超大型城市，自耶稣历1272年开始成为大一统的中华帝国都城，城市存续期间城内囊括了含汉族、蒙古族、女真族、回族、突厥族和色目人等在内的众多民族，后毁灭于著名的远古时期未知原因引起的月球爆炸、气候变化和地壳运动。北京话，即北京城内生活人群使用的语言。
如果，“它”说的真是北京话，那“它”是北京人儿？
莱斯特不敢继续想下去，刚才莱斯特少尉在飞船即将起飞，无法搭乘更多乘客的机内警报声中，警告了企图继续扒飞船的四足生物，后者十分理性地选择放开掰着的手，这种逻辑思考能力，如果它真是逻辑思考的话，起码能证明基本的智能存在于这个生物上。少尉放弃了继续思考，一种矛盾的感觉涌上心头，少尉并不是因为那个生物的邪恶外貌而感到害怕，更邪恶外貌的生物他都见过，也都能毫无心理负担地与它们战斗，可是这个四足生物，它发出的信息里有一种人类很熟悉的东西，这种感觉在与人类面对面的冷兵器战斗中非常常见，即使想象手刃它的感觉，也与杀人和类人智慧生物差不多，但这个“智慧”生物又长得如此奇形怪状，让这种感觉只充满了反人类的恶心。
反人类的恶心感，多怪异一次词，莱斯特在心里嘀咕了几下。
～～ 从科学的角度，莱斯特下飞船之后在没有检测空气成分的前提下就直接打开了面罩，以及一系列其它大胆行为把「宇宙安全飞行手册第2012修订版」违背了个遍，几乎没有死，已经算是奇迹了。
莱斯特少尉不想搭理这些烦心事儿，他又要去追寻梦想了，毕竟作为一个航天学校毕业的小伙计，人类历史上首次踏上的地球外星球，还是很难忘的。现在的新地星本来没有那么靠近的卫星，硬是通过一种行星发动机的远古技术把新地系另一个行星的卫星搬到了新地星的轨道，那颗新卫星同样被命名为月亮。
莱斯特少尉很困惑，他不但在飞离地球离开云层时没有看到那一轮明月，也没有在太空找到任何能和月球扯得上关系的任何星体物体。
月球，不见了！
No.11
Language Learning and Difficulty Overcoming 08
Immersive Learning?
2023-08-11 Friday Sunny & Hot
Once there was a populour concept called immersive learning. This concept was spread by several English Education Groups, and develops into a fashionable wave somehow.
What we can not deny here is that this way of learning shows our progress in the field. Some big groups have better staffs and resources to research and develop the forefront concept. However, as the a member of the language training market, the group would rather develop their own theories which can help themselves absorb more profits but not more effective learning.
Learning is a step to step progress which is why we could not learn the wholeness and handle it, what we can only do is to learn the parts and tries to assemble these tiny things together, and find our own recognizance on this subject.
Our own apprehension in language is long considered a not that right thing cause we have clear grammars and definite rules in language learning. If one has his/her own percievation, she/he must have made great mistakes in understanding current courses which proves his/her shortages in language learning in turn, what a loop!
As a language learner, one might have seen many different even contradictory information from various conduits. All these information, though some come with enigmatic intentions, most of them are right in some degree. Thus simple clarification cann’t be placed on these ones (or everything in life ?).
Just as we should absorb everything in life in order to check all the relevant information to get the real usefull ones. This process might be long and annoyed, but we cann’t get progress if walked without this kind of abstraction. And this abstraction is so frail in the form of language recording, we can not fully understand what the creator was meaning to send out, what we can get only is just a part of them.
So, in order to have an access to the whole experience, e.g. the Wholeness. We should make more effort to accumulate the so-called immersive environment.
Although those education group did just invent a conception but reluctantly to do the more accurate and harder detailed jobs which were necessary and must be done.
This is the have to be admitted fact that we should admit.
This important lesson tells us a subject could not be the actual one as announced but could be just another cheap copycat. The primary law here is to experience that theory by oneself alone.
Do it by oneself is the most forgettable element in language learning. We have more advanced techlonogy and abundant material to support us in studying, but gain no advancement in self study. What we did in the history of language learning is the same of as we did in the research of science. Gain in abstraction, but lose in feelings.
Science is the collection of one field of knowledge. It is a system work of masterpiece. However its limitation is also huge in its originals. It isn’t a part of real life.
Knowledge was once a representative of the truth of the world. Many philosophers used to argue that only the metaphysics automatically gain holiness and all other secular things have nothing to do with the truth about this world. Yet a great bunch of economists once firmly hold the view that the theory is higher than the fact.
What makes a professor a true professor lied on the Nature or Sicence in reality.
What makes a language alive needs no approval of such accreditation. Maybe this is why we could have muitiple methods in language learning, it helped a lot in the past.
The good point is we can have many choices, there are many different ways of explorations. Thus this is a period of creations. In human history, the early stages of each civilizations are all creative and abundant both in wealth and spirit. Once the mainstream idea was founded, there is little room for the followers to study and make contributions.
The bad point is the price we should pay in order to find the most effective way. It is not good for those who have no power, patience and intelligence in the great adventure. In the other hand, it is way too good for those adventures. Those who would like to creat on a hollow land but not follow some people else and be leaded to a place where someone had left something there.
The differences of people are huge, however we should admit these differences and agree that the world won’t be changed without these abundances. Here comes the basical principle of creation, it deprises from the abundance, develops on it and modifies through it. A creation could not be made from emptiness.
As the old saying goes, Roma was not built in a day, and what matters inmost in reality are not the theories or possibilities, but who gives punches out and gets pricks back right on their head. Those feedbacks help people realise the truth of the fact which is not the same as it be in our head.
and what a great journey while we are creating history !
That might be why many people want to be the Pioneer , once the road has been made by the first pioneer, the latter ones can arrive there with less efforts. The creator then would construct a whole system of the new field, only after that can we say this pioneer has establisded a new science.
Unlike the adventurer in real life, adventurer in each subject has to do more to expose the mysterrious things behind the veil, once the mysterious things had been unveiled. The real thing will appear automatically.
Knowledge used to be a representative of the truth of the world. Many philosophers used to argue that only metaphysics automatically gains sanctity, and all other worldly things have nothing to do with the truth of this world. But a large number of economists once held the view that theory is higher than fact.
What makes a professor a true professor? Is it the articles pubulished on nature or science ?
What makes a language alive needs no such accreditation. Maybe this is why we could have muitiple methods in language learning, it helped a lot in recognition of the past.
The good point is that we can have many choices, there are many different ways of exploring. So this is a period of creation. In the history of mankind, the early stages of every civilization are all creative and rich in both wealth and spirit. Once the mainstream idea is established, there is little room for followers to study and contribute.
The bad point is the price we should pay to find the most effective way. It is not good for those who do not have strength, patience and intelligence in the great adventure. On the other hand, it is much too good for those adventures. Those who want to create in a hollow land, but do not want to follow others and be led to a place where someone has left something.
The differences between people are huge, but let’s admit these differences and agree that the world will not change without these riches. This is the basic principle of creation, it comes from abundance, develops on it and changes through it. From emptiness no creation could be made.
As the old saying goes, Rome was not built in a day, and what matters most in reality are not the theories or possibilities, but who gives out blows and receives blows right back on the head. These feedbacks help people to realize the truth of the fact, which is not the same as it is in our head.
And what a great journey it is as we make history!
That may be why many people want to be the pioneer, because once the road is made by the first pioneer, the latter can get there with less effort. The creator would then build a whole system of the new field, and only then can we say that this pioneer has founded a new science.
Unlike the adventurer in real life, the adventurer in any field has to do more to reveal the mysterious things behind the veil after the mysterious things have been revealed. The real will appear automatically.
No.10
今日亦是和平的一天
2023-06-23 Friday Rainy&Cloudy
渝中的图书馆也去过几次，坐落在中山三路的大路旁，占据着一栋稍微远离周围建筑群略显突出的大楼，从车道上下来就是图书馆的大门，一楼大厅直接正怼着门口，再进去就是电梯了。楼上各层兀自分布着不同类目的书籍，小朋友看书的那层也格外安静，也许，吵闹的孩子们都去了其它公共场所。这里的安静程度和住所的分贝测试仪测出来的程度差不多，区别在于，同样的静影沉璧后人数的多寡，如果追求的只是安静，为什么不去人数比较少的地方呢。比如，在住的地方窝着。
下雨天比较适合窝在家里看点什么，如果是写点什么的话，在家里写总是带来闭门造车的感觉，这个时候就稍微能get到一点J·K·罗琳在咖啡馆写《哈利波特》书稿时的感受。这种感受一般情况下和灵感什么的没有关系，它影响的是下一步。
下一步，继续写，还是去看看海。在大江边待久了，就想去看看大海。在存有幻想之前，得先认清事实，比如，下雨天不打伞。可惜认知体系更喜欢先创造再认清，源于大脑基于“锚定点”拓展思考的特性。这些创造成果，有些人喜欢叫它“远大理想”，有些人称之为“疯言妄语”。
《纽约时报》2020年7月10日的SKETCHBOOK栏目的「What Is the Hardest Part of Writing?」一文中，用漫画的形式表现了一位挣扎的人类写作前的挣扎，写作中最难的那步，是开始写之前的那步。加上个我理解的接下来的部分，开始写之后最难的那步，是把开头写出来。如果我们的逻辑思维足够僵硬或者说视角狭隘，也可以说，写好开头之后最难的那一步，是接下来那一步。从难易程度来看，最难的那步永远都是下一步了。通过前脚踩后脚验证法，能得出一个自洽（自闭）的结论，在持有那个逻辑的群体里，它是完美无缺的。
完美，这是一个值得注意的警示。
以全知全能的神为例，在神的面前，神谦卑的信徒们如果真如他们所言所思所想是诚实的人，他们则必须承认自己是有限制性的人类。如果能承认自身认知系统存在天然缺陷性，那么自然也该承认这套认知系统下思考（想象）出来的一切，也是被作为工具的前置思考所束缚的。那么，只有全能全知的人才能才能描述出全知全能的神，可是这个时候，还需要神吗？或者说，究竟谁才是神呢？尼采说的对。
走在滨江路旁的步道上，一阵冷风吹来，让我优点绷不住了。这一份的六月降温属实是有点突然，虽然没到让我穿上外套的程度，也着实减少了晚上去江边散步的闲情雅致。在某站的天气视频主那里，这波冷风被称为冷涡侠。侠之大者，为国为民，大圣收了神通吧！
冷空气的好处也是有很多的，比如回去那朝南的卧室时 不会有一份扑面而来的热浪，由于窗户从早到晚都开着，窗外的风从楼外吹进来再从楼里对面的窗子跑出去，这一进一出，回来的时候，房间的温度总是比室外还低，体感低于二十度，裹紧我冬天用来盖膝盖的小毯子。稍微有一点点冷的时候，神经系统处于最佳状态，绷得很放松。
躺在床上玩手机曾陪我度过了很多或难以或不愿入眠的晚上，这些日子沉积得久了，久到连我自己也觉得自己成为了躺在床上却不怎么能睡着的人。后来，碰巧看到了一个培养良好睡眠习惯的专家建议，这个建议建议失眠患者只有想睡觉的时候才去床上，建立床和睡眠的链接。这样，时间久了，躺在床上的时候，就是睡觉的时候啦。这个建议很有用，我现在已经到了躺床上只想睡觉的程度了。有用有用有用！
副作用也是有的，不能躺床上玩游戏，真是个悲伤的故事，但是但是，也许它成功地阻止了我变成肥宅！这样，每天站得老直在阳台的窗户边上拿着手机或者switch打游戏的人，是我，没错了。
那么，在我自己的微缩世界里，我变成了那个不停解决问题从而不断进步的人了吗，没有。
在《常识》一书中，梁文道谈到，国人今日颇有一种凡事都要往“深处”钻，议论总要谈“本质”的倾向。于是明明在探讨“毒奶粉”的问题，偏偏觉得光是谈论信仰缺失还不够，一定要把“灵魂”也搬出来才觉得功德圆满。明明在点评志愿者的救灾行动，却不满足于民间集体动员的逻辑，硬是要扯到中西文化差异的“高度”，然后再结穴于华夏文明的“基因”“本质”。
如果一个人总是觉得自己在进步，要么TA陷入了某种形式的自我欺骗，要么TA患了某些上瘾的臆症，却是认不清。
总是把某个道理当作最高公理，就会产生教会,圣殿骑士团,圣徒和布道者，TA会发展出一整套理论体系去维护该最高公理的神圣不可侵犯。一个以裁军为诉求的组织也会发展出自己的护教军，护教军成势后，就会发展出论证护教军合理的护护教军理论，或者说“临时约法”，之于这个“临时”的结束，应该只有不可抗力出现不得不放手的时候才会发生。
“这就是愚蠢的有机体的宿命啊” ，人工智能的电子合成音恰到好处地蹦出来。“人工智能摆脱了数字模拟的先天性不足之后再来玩吧“，一个神秘的声音响起，旋即又散去。
人工智能的问题在「创新者」这本书有详细的阐述，当前的大规模数据处理机，藉由软件工程师的灵光一闪，会有一些精彩表现，这些软件层面的表现冲昏了部分科技拥泵的头脑。在硬件层面，当前的计算机依旧以数字信号0和1作为信息传递的递质，即使计算能力在再高效，软件编写再出彩，也依然只是个在既定范围内做随机数计算的黑箱，它或许可以给出很贴合的答案，但它无法理解答案的意义。得出当前结果的原因，在于当前结果与数据库的贴合概率在所有演算结果中得到了最高值，且不说它不能理解什么是最高值，为什么数据贴合程度越高越好，它实际上对于它的数据库也毫无“感情”可言。基于数据库数据的不同，它的取值结果是完全随机的。在当前计算科学的发展阶段，人工智能的发展只能越来越朝把自身的计算优势发挥到极致去努力了。怎样才能发挥到极致呢？更多的数据，更多的“大数据”库，更多的“人工智能”“训练”。到最后，“人工智能”能得到的，依然是在“无限”算力支持下使用穷举法计算每个可能答案的概率值，再取最高概率的过程，区别在于，有一些穷举法的算法被优化得效率更高了，也就是单位时间单位能源下的产出变得相对其它结果多了一些，这绝不是“人工智能”创造出了什么，而是“人工智能”从千千万万个答案的可能中，选择了概率最高的组合起来满足概率最高的过程。在一切与计算速度有关的领域，比如国际象棋、围棋，它们都有很好的优化空间，也就是“变得更智能”。单位时间单位算力单位能源下的最佳答案，其背后与其说是智能战争，不如说是算力战争。算力的强大也是一种强大，软件设计能更高效利用算力的强大也是一种强大。前者能提高单位时间内计算单位的数量，后者能提高单位时间、单位计算单元的产出，这是纯粹的量级上的强大，与质没关系。
尼采说的对。
灯光打在桌子上的反光有点大，恍得暗木色桌子也变得亮堂起来，让笔记本的玻璃镜面看起来把咖啡馆所有光线都反射了一遍，明耀得过于照人了。这样的情形下，菱形咖啡杯子放在旁边也显得五彩斑斓了起来，虽然它是暗绿色，它是深沉的暗绿色，它总是对我说，“我不发光！” 光线变得这么迷离，不得不缓一缓高度集中却无法认真起来写字的精神，被闪晕的时候，写字带着空空脑袋。
罗素说，我们去探求一件事儿的时候，要去问它实际上是什么，而不是在道德或者意识形态上要求它是什么。一个gacha游戏，透过那些美丽的画面，那个零点多少的概率，旅行者通常能看到的东西大概是在98个绿球中找那两个红球。旅行者可能红球在哪都没看到，抽卡活动就结束了，这画面让人窒息。
只把概率摆在那里就不会有这样的直观的冲击，因为玩家面对的是一个球，打开它的时候只有红和不红两种情况，很容易就把它潜移默化地想象成一个50%：50%的黑盒。可惜的是，在这种想象下，面对的却是百分之零点六的概率，几乎是每次必定不红。从概率学的角度来看，虽然对一个普通玩家而言，他的抽数远未达到可以合理统计概率的程度，但是他每一次都会自己在内心统计概率。
从生物心理学的角度，身边统计学是更符合人性心理需求的选择，这和现在的利益与未来的利益的期望价值差异是一样的。如果没有时间这个东西，它们的价值是一摸一样的（是吗）。也就是说，无论信息有没有受限，对人们的期望价值最高的利益总是眼见为实的，不仅当下的收益更吸引人，当下的感觉也更吸引人。这个问题一拐就容易拐到莫名其妙的角落去，不拐了。
最近重庆开启了下暴雨模式，整个天空都被点缀着朵朵乌云，除了连成片的地方薄薄的越往中间越厚，它们一般不落雨，落的时候就来一瓢泼，似乎大水冲了龙王庙水漫金山了。
由于不怎么被天气干扰心情，对我没什么影响，相反，下雨天可以在夏天坐在靠窗的位子，这实在是太美好了，窗外的雨是什么样的，取决于看雨的人的心情。我心情稳定，也可以说我，我喜欢下雨，也欣赏天上的云她憋着不下雨，也赞叹她处于薛定谔的下雨或不下雨怎样都行的状态。
这样水了半天，还是回到最初的起点，不过那个起点不是原来那个起点啦!
No.9
Language Learning and Difficulty Overcoming 07
The bridge
In our previous article we discussed the anchor, which is a primary standard in our system of evaluation.
I’d like to call it the bridge in this eassy.
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually something that is otherwise difficult or impossible to cross. There are many different designs of bridges, each serving a particular purpose and applicable to different situations. Designs of bridges vary depending on factors such as the function of the bridge, the nature of the terrain where the bridge is constructed and anchored, and the material used to make it, and the funds available to build it.
-Wikipedia
As a metaphor, the bridge connects two isolated things (whether or not they are or appear to be isolated). With this definition, what is a language? The bridge between the inner mind and the outer world. So what are the differences between languages? The form, the materials, the design or the location?
This is what we see from the outside, if we look from the inside, the differences would be significant. So the difference between languages should be the difference between perspectives. And language starts from the starting point of opinion. And we all have to find that the starting point is another anchor. Here comes a new anchor after the present one.
Anchor after anchor, anchor it may be. Anchor becomes bridge, bridge ends as a new anchor. An endless loop.
How can we build a bridge under this?
First of all we should know that things start from our familiar side, then we can make a judgement about the other side based on our experience, then try to launch the basic structure in that direction. The difference of the bridge in reality is that we can try many times, which ensures the final result with unlimited practices and improvements. (Bridge design is calculated by computer with unlimited computing power, the process is also repeatable and practiced, which makes this hands-on somehow similar).
When learning a language, the normal way is to slide along the learning curve, just as we did when learning maths, physics and chemistry. It is a great way for learning to be measured by standards, both in efficiency and effects, and of course in this practice we get a predictable plan of learning with strong stability.
However, unlike learning the sciences, we have forgotten many natural ways of learning languages. Think about it, we didn’t learn our mother tongue in our early childhood. We felt it, imitated whatever we heard, tried all the words and sounds we could shout out, felt it with all our patience and concentration, although we had no awareness of what sound we were making. We don’t usually think of our childhood language practice as learning. It is more like the growing of a tree or the aging of an animal in our concept.
It may also be shaped by our thinking about the concept of learning. Once identified as learning, we groomed our sleeves, stopped being wild and acted in manners as if we were the gentlemen/women since the date of birth. This time we are limited by the language we have already mastered, just like the manners we learned in later life.
A bridge should be a bridge, or the man might think that the bridge is not just a tunnel but the only promised land, and the left parts of the world have been destroyed by the great flood.
From another point of view, the environment shapes our mind, our mind changes the external world by perceiving it in our own way and vice versa. Once again we have the infinite loop.
How can we stop the loop and find a place to put an anchor? We cannot stop it. The only way is to dance with it, but not to control it, it is uncontrollable.
If a dancer is dancing in front of us, it is obviously not a good way for a gentleman like me to ask her to stop. I have no idea how much time she has left in her show, and I have to get on stage or I will die in a minute. In such an emergency, the best strategy (if it was a strategy) is to dance immediately. If we take this strategy as a basic one, it can help us solve most problems in everyday life.
If you only care about language, you can ignore all the things above and concentrate only on the things below.
Let’s behave like a baby while learning the language.
$ % & # to be continued
No.8
Language Learning and Difficulty Overcoming 06
A what is a giant?
2023-05-12 Friday Sunny
If we should anchor before we judge, how can we deal with all the dangers and challenges since ancient times?
Because we have a language system, our ancestors can pass on their experiences to the next generation, so we have accumulated a lot of information that has been used to improve our standard of living.
It helps us to move away from the classic grow and kill mode and instead gives us the ability to produce and create. Most importantly, it allows us to preserve our ideas and pass them on to our descendants. The next generation, because they have the ability to create, can innovate on the original and make advances. This process can be very slow, but it is a continuous one, because through the efforts of each individual since the beginning, we can then make incredible changes.
However, we should say that all the achievements we make today are not the miracles of the current generation, but the efforts of all the generations since the birth of human.
So “what” here is a concept of collection. A single being is not only a being of the present time, but a being of all times.
A man like me is just a man, perhaps I am a man like all the men in history. They are me, I am them.
If a summary of the above sentences were to be made, it should be:
A what is all things before the right just moment of its appearance.
No.7
Language Learning and Difficulty Overcoming 05
What is a what?
2023-04-24 Cloudy&Rainy 写于礼拜六
After a brief introduction about focusing , let’s talk about the basis before it, the root of the concept of focusing.
What is a what ?
Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.
― Arthur Schopenhauer , Studies in Pessimism: The Essays
Because people can only feel what their bodies can feel, they tend to believe that the world is what they see. As the ability to see develops, the stereotypical image becomes stronger and stronger.
Perhaps this is the reason why the elderly are easily given the adjective “stubborn”. Children are happier because they can take in more information than adults. Adults are more stereotyped than they thought.
Cogito, ergo sum
― René Descartes
Descartes may have been right. The world is the one in our heads, not the one in reality. It is a pity that we do not acquire enough knowledge to learn the full view of it. The more practical we could be, the better we would help ourselves to learn the reality of it.
Why make such a claim?
Machine learning is perhaps the most human-like product yet. It digests all the data provided by humans and generates its own specific solution to a specific problem. It is not cheap to train a basic professional model that is based on huge amounts of data (from basic concepts, arithmetic, models to more complex structures, etc.) about that profession. Even so, we cannot be sure that this basic model is fundamental enough, the data cannot contain all the information we know, and all the data people have collected is far from perfect for any profession.
The machine’s view of the world is limited. Its omnipotence is based on the possibility that it can consume data about everything. However, it’s foreseeable that we won’t be able to obtain data on this scale in the near future, so the AI will remain a limited source of power.
What’s worse, even if the machine has all the data from the Big Bang with powerful sensors, it can still get stuck in creative thinking, which is essentially a narrowed view of human beings with powerful computational abilities.
The most forgettable things must be the most difficult to notice, which is due to the limitation of our limit. In everyday life, we usually ignore the fact that we cannot see the light shining out of our eyes.
Our achievements since the industrial revolution have all been based on the belief that we can conquer the world with our knowledge. We have built this confidence by developing our technologies, improving our productivity, providing better food and sending men to the moon.
Our journey is the sea of stars
— Legend of the Galatic Heros
Being positive gives us constant courage to overcome the difficulties of our history, but it is not courage that makes us win in the game. It is practical experience and countless failures that give us feedback and help us to adapt our methods so that we can move forward with the tools and machines we have made out.
This progress does not come from the claim that we are the chosen ones, although we are inclined to make this kind of claim and deceive ourselves that it is true.
Recognising our limitations is the first step towards practical change.
A what is not a what here.
No.6
Language Learning and Difficulty Overcoming 04
2023/04/11 Tuesday Sunny
What is focusing ? (1)
In order to grasp the problem, the last essay was carried out. Let’s go back to the question about what the focusing is?
Instead of “watching the thinker,” you can also create a gag in the mind stream simply by directing the focus of your attention into the Now. Just become intensely conscious of the present moment. This is a deeply satisfying thing to do. In this way, you draw consciousness away from mind activity and create a gap of no-mind in which you are highly alert and aware but not thinking. This is the essence of meditation.
— The Power of Now
Most of our daily life is made of unconscious movements that give us great comfort. The defects that accompany this light are difficult to detect, usually too small to be noticed. Few people can find the path of light, fewer located its path for a very short moment, but no one ever could keep up with its orbit, otherwise being left behind happens all the time.
The difficult part is our way of thinking. If we think in terms of the traditional way, we should make sure that our seats are where they should be, but not flying in the sky or lying on the tracks. This process of logic requires us to think like a one-way train, from cause to effect.
When we try to perceive in more than one direction, we always use tools to help us understand, we might try to draw a 3D model to simulate the way our brain works when we think.
The brain still remains a black box for us, scientists have tried so many approaches to study this issue, but failed to give a clear conclusion. The most difficult part is this: since our brain can be divided into different functional parts, why does the brain still light up all its parts while functioning? It is not logical for our nature to save energy.
The only conclusion could be led to the necessity. which means thinking is not a step to step process as the logic is, but starts from one point to all points, this process might be logical individually, but the all direction orientation makes this collection totally different from the original single one.
And still the collection is just a deduction, because we can see each part of the brain being illuminated, but we have no idea what is going on there, the only deduction we can make is that the brain is working together to carry out a conclusion.
What can we learn from this process?
Concentration is about getting all the information we can at one stage, which should be sufficient to make the right conclusion. That’s why the brain lights up all its parts.
The problem is how far should we go in this search for information, or how far can we go?
There is a famous concept in quantum physics, the observer. This famous observer makes this phenomenon known to the public.
Usually we believe that we are the ones with the omnipotent power while we are doing a so-called experiment, we can be the total judge there. is it real?
Of course not.
The main premise here should be the limit of our ability in observation, if you think you have the ultimate power to know everything on this tiny planet, you are making a big mistake my friend. you know nothing about yourself.
The other important factor here is the existence of the observer — us, the experimenter. Our existence itself gives subtle effects on the subject we are trying to study, these effects can be different in different situations, so hard to calculate.
In the field of quantum physics, a one-factor variable experiment cannot be promised, because on the quantum scale, the effects between any objects are massive.
In quantum mechanics, an observer is anything that detects a quantum particle. Physicists say that an observer measures the properties of a quantum particle. Observation is also called “measurement.”¹ The quantum mechanical observer is tied to the issue of observer effect, where a measurement necessarily requires interacting with the physical object being measured, affecting its properties through the interaction. The term “observable” has gained a technical meaning, denoting a Hermitian operator that represents a measurement.
The observer effect in quantum mechanics is the phenomenon in which the act of observation alters the behavior of the particles being observed. This effect is due to the wave-like nature of matter, which means that particles can exist in multiple states simultaneously until they are observed. The quantum mechanical observer is tied to the issue of observer effect, where a measurement necessarily requires interacting with the physical object being measured, affecting its properties through the interaction.
In quantum physics, the observer and the observed affect each other. In real life, the observer is us, can we pay enough attention to these effects and make them a natural factor in our thinking?
The phrase “standing on the shoulders of giants” is a metaphor that means “using the understanding of great thinkers who have gone before to make intellectual progress”.
People in the current session are learning the world by standing on the foundations built by earlier pioneers, and we cannot be one hundred percent sure that the work that has been done has included all the information needed to carry out a perfect conclusion.
Can we see what is behind our heads? Can our eyes even explore all the information under their gaze? What if what we have seen is only part of reality? What if what we have seen is completely different from the truth?
How can you prove that what you see now is not a projection of your dream? We can not, because what is running in our brain is in a black box, so we can not give certain confirmation to the calculation given by it.
Since all the conclusions we have drawn so far do not give a positive message, it does not mean that we cannot make progress.
There is a way to be good again
~Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
Since the conclusions are made by our brain, the truth we could pursue is not the ultimate truth in this universe, which is unattainable, at least for now, but rather we should pursue the ones we can discern, the ones we can verify as far as possible.
The furthest we can go now (and this is also a contribution from the giants) is to be aware of ourselves, and this is the best way to know ourselves, perhaps it is the first step to knowing ourselves completely. Knowing yourself is knowing the world in your eyes, it may not be the ultimate perfect solution in our desire, but it is the most realistic.
No.5
不慌
2023/04/05 Wednesday Cloudy
朋友说要下雨，让我带着伞，我带了。
离那里越近，云层越厚，越庆幸自己带了把小伞，虽然过安检的时候它给我造成了点小麻烦，但是不慌。前方有雨等着我，我必须带着伞。
没有下雨，这就让我有点慌，但是不慌，虽然雨没有来，只要我有伞，就一定能在要下雨的时候接住它。
这是需要我解决的问题，不是吗？毕竟，不存在无本人的问题，不存在无问题的本人。这让走在红桂路黄果树下的我随着轻拂的晚风也缓过神来，一旦把问题从为什么会这样的慌乱归因，变成这种情况该如何应对，那，大人啊，时代就变了呐。
人一旦觉得优势在我，就容易飘，路径依赖啦、渠道为王啦、中台战略啦，口号喊得震天动地起来，「我的奋斗」改个作者也可以著书出版了。别人行不行不知道，只知道我不行，毕竟我连鸟人也算不上，怎么能说自己是天使呢。愿我永远稳如老狗，在风口上也不飘。
走着走着，突然蹦出来一句口诀，王旁青头兼五一，当年背诵五笔打字时记住的东西，只记得这第一句了。一定是走在木棉花街上踱步的时候，感受到了和这句话有联结因素的因子，也许是谁家二狗子的叫声。人脑最自然而然的功能之一，就是给每一个见到的情景赋予脑内记忆的锚定点。那么，这个口诀，我给它的锚定点一定出现在「百家姓」。赵钱孙李，周吴郑王，王旁青头兼五一，这都能写成词了。
寻寻匿匿，冷冷清清，凄凄惨惨戚戚，李清照不愧为奇女子呢也。不过，没有下雨，我也不觉得凄惨，我有伞。我可是有着强大心脏的男人，当然，我不想成为海贼王，我只想在下雨的时候撑起伞。
不知道大脑给前两天下了个什么tag，如果它会说话，大概会归纳成这个：
我带了伞，你却没下雨，但是，不慌。
No.4
Language Learning and Difficulty Overcoming 03
2023/03/19 Sunday
The Nature of Learning
If we learn by concentrating, is concentrating the nature of learning?
Nope.
Nature, or the so-called ‘substance’, is not a part of the whole, it persists in the whole process, it builds the basement of the building, it influences the system but is seldom witnessed, it pretends and pretends not to be, because learning is not a function of the body but a conceptual invention.
In the campus, learning must obey the form and the rules, you cannot go beyond its limits or you are not good. Some suggest that the limit is just the standard to build a uniform and universal system that will help those with excellent abilities to stand out.
It must help the selectors to find things out, but the goodness of education should not be given to the selectors, but to the educated themselves.
Of course, excellent learners have benefited from the present system, and some of them may continue to do so even if the system is changed. Whether the learners could do it or not, the system can always get the huminerals, on the other hand, there will always be some people left behind by the ‘era’.
For the sake of the learners themselves , as the system pursues profit maximisation, we should pursue our perception of learning, it provides not only the profits but also a better and meaningful life.
As the old saying goes, “The world is booming, all for profit, the world is hustle and bustle, all for profit”, and working hard for your own profit will also result in adding to the world’s profit. It is not only helping yourself, it is also helping others. Let us understand this and make a change.
The first question should be given to the nature of us.
[01]
My train of thought has been disrupted by my interrupted writing, so I need to tie my thoughts together into make a cohesive article here. And let’s start from as many points as I can remember.
Like writing in Chinese, writing in English gives me a sense of separation from the familiar world, so I need to rearrange my train of thought, but the only thing I can do is to write all the staff here on my computer, trying to abstract the key points and find the connections between them.
However, I cannot change anything, these objects once written down, have gained their independence and lived their own life, which I should not control. The sense of life , or the longing for self-awareness, is not something that can be easily stopped, the power cannot be stopped, no one has ever done it.
The reason I write it down here is simple, I can learn from this process, and get feedback while writing with myself, it is not uncommon as many ancient people had mentioned and even described the same thing happening while they were writing.
In my opinion, writing is a process that helps us to check our train of thought.
Any brain work is a unique creation, it doesn’t seem to be the repentant daily process as we think it is. Most of us would say that tomorrow’s commute is just a copy of today’s. This thought can help us make quick decisions, the price is the details , vanished details accumulate, and accumulated details lead to qualitative change. By the time the change causes a freak-out, it is too late.
The only way to save ourselves is to check our train of thought as closely as possible, whether in time or in distance.
But how?
Scientists have approached this difficult question by timing how long it takes us to become consciously aware of sensory information. By some estimates, we can experience sensory stimuli that’s presented for as little as 50 milliseconds (about one-twentieth of a second). It is thought that our brains can, in fact, respond to information that’s much briefer than this, lasting less than a quarter of a millisecond.
In terms of sensing and then responding, a good measure is the sprinter reacting to the starting gun, which can be done in about 150 milliseconds. One limiting factor is how long it takes information to travel down our nerve pathways. In the 19th Century, Hermann von Helmholtz estimated this to be 35 metres per second, but we now know that some well-insulated nerves are faster, at up 120 metres per second.
Thinking is a continuous process, once started it continues and develops along the starting point. Unlike the former, the realisation occurs again and again, happens and happens again, all these occurrences make up the intact process. Realisation does not start from a single point, it starts from every point, ends once started and starts immediately from the next point.
The starting point is the end point, and the end point is the starting point. The point here is the minimum unit of time. It can be too difficult because each time it starts a new whole process with a starting point and an end point. However, the established nerve connections are always in our brain’s favour. It is like skiing on a ski slope, otherwise it would be a newbie skiing on a skating rink.
If you are a normal human evolved from the cruel natural selection. You would prefer to choose the easy mode in order to save energy while preparing for next challenge for the next challenge. For us in the present century, we choose the easy rway and save energy for recreation. To some extent, preparing for the next challenge is like recreation, isn’t it?
In the state of awareness, we refresh our mind every single minimal unit of time, it is like trying to walk on the grass when there are paths around it. Not only is it arduous, it is also tedious in the beginning.
Focusing is constant self-awareness. It is not thinking hard, as many people would do. When we focus naturally, we always put all our attention on our mind and hope we can pick up some other information on this calculation.
Unfortunately we cannot, because we have already known what is being processed here, step by step, there is no calculation here, just a piece of memory.
To check our train of thought, we need to look at it from a different angle. There are many ways to define ‘another angle’. I still can’t give a clear definition, but it’s a completely new experience, I hope I can make it clear one day.
NO.3
Language Learning and Difficulty Overcoming 02
2023/02/16 Thursday
Imagination and The Focusing
As nerve impulses intend to move through already established neural links, building a new road is much more important than destroying the old one.
It is essential to study failure, learn from it, and take lessons from it. These experiences can help us in future endeavors.
However, once a farmer is bitten by a snake, they may spend decades avoiding being bitten again. It is often said, once bitten, twice shy.
The farmer is not alone in this behavior. We all behave like the farmer does. As the experience of unsolved failure grows stronger in our memory as time passes, our fear of it increases as well. The emotions from the past grow like seeds in our hearts, where they can be in a state of both certainty and uncertainty, making it impossible to set them as a solid new benchmark. Our way of thinking cannot stand in the void. It would try to find a foundation from what it already knows, even if nothing exists there.
The anchor performs like a foundation for the new journey. If it stayed in a state called Schrödinger, humans would be hysterical in that fairytale-like new world. This world originated from our feelings about the past. The more emotions weigh, the more their numbers increase in activity. It weighs on intensity and frequency, not correctness.
Correctness is the result of impulses’ movement. As thought is the cooperation of all the impulses, the amount of the energetic nucleus plays a significant role in the outcome. The more it appears, the more significant its effect on the outcome. No prepositional correctness existed before our impulses flooded out, as nothing appeared before the Big Bang.
The correctness of the results, like everyone’s in the world, is random and personal. The calculation varies as the value changes. Whatever attracts us more will draw our attention more, focusing means more impulses move in the same direction. All of our walks on the road will make it more functional and build customs walking on it. As time goes by, the road would be built more and more solid, and the custom would evolve to be a rule, part of the law, our way of thinking, and then the foundation of our thought.
It is ridiculous to persuade a deaf person that they are not deaf. Can you make a firm Christian an atheist? Someone in the world may have this ability, but it could hardly be us.
The more accustomed we become to the existing system created for us, the more we perform under the new rules set by us, and the more we would be limited by the limitations that originated from our limitations at that past time point.
Our journey of experiencing is like traveling in the universe. The wise man, like us, would only land on a planet with enough surveys in case of any stupid incidents.
The first attempt was a brave exploration. Our thoughts about it would be shaped in the direction of our wishes as time passes by. It will not decay in the marvelous but lonely galaxy. Instead, it evolves into the most exciting and honorable experience of immersion.
That is why the world is more colorful in our childhood. Childhood is the time when we first meet the world by ourselves. The experiences are completely new there. All these originalities are difficult to understand but interesting enough to make them mythical but fascinating, thus granting childhood a whole time of exploration. The new things bring us a shrunken version of peak experiences.
Things need to be clarified that it is not the new items giving us peak experiences but our definition of the outer world. Sure, the first-time meeting makes sense in our memory, adds freshness to our memory, helps our memory build a wonderful world in our head, copes with various experiences, and finally enables our imagination to fly in all directions.
As time passes by, our experiences and memories increase. They develop into our preset stance. This preset stance would examine the new guys closely with their filters. To see the world by selecting the parts we believe, so can we build a new construction in our world of memory while avoiding conflicts with it.
Conflict plays a significant role in our exploration. There is little of it in our childhood; of course, we could always drive on a road without obstacles.
Once we grow older, we must have absorbed enough information to form our opinions. “People pleaser is also one’s own choice”.
Holding a view itself would not be a big problem. The question is, we live in a world full of many people with various opinions, some of which can be very hostile. We are going to be hit hard there.
Physically or spiritually, lessons won’t make us comfortable, it’s like someone punching us right in the face. We defend in diverse ways created by ourselves. It might be indifferent, soft, gentle, friendly, or hostile. No matter what object it would be, it is our unique solution in that specific situation. Though the strategies are distinctive, the goal is always the same - keep the current ecosystem solid and better.
Under this understanding, we defend our precious property by attacking others, it is a zero-sum game here. We won because we defeated others. And we protect our wholeness by winning.
Are there any possibilities that are not a one-win game?
Sure, we learn to have self-consciousness by nature, there is always a lot of stuff there and we will accumulate much more. As the past develops and evolves to be our opinions, it also elaborates a new version of us. Now, we are a combination of the original us and the information we accumulated (whether absorbed or not) since birth.
It should be evolving continuously forever if not hit hard in the face. What stands before us is not the age, but the loss of the open mind we held while young.
Once we come to a stage where we are enough of voices from outside, a new period emerges in our lovely life. This might be the first time we could conduct a conclusion by ourselves or, more accurately, the original us and the reason we got in our late life. If we mistake the mixed one as the original one and get a cognition about the mixed one, there comes the sentence - never forget why you started.
If we could keep in mind the difference between the original one and the mixed one all the time, it might be easier to clarify the real me.
However, clarification must be extremely hard by telling the difference between the original me and the mixed me. What can the original one be without these concepts, knowledge, stories, failures, successes, joys, agonies, happiness, and peace? It is an empty field without almost anything. Can you stand on nothingness?
Here comes the ultimate question. Is it a void where nothing existed? If not, what is this thing? Is it a thing? Would it be something we cannot understand? Could we finally understand it? If understood, what would happen? Is there any possibility we understand it in a distinctive strategy?
NO.2
Language Learning and Difficulty Overcoming 01
2023/01/14 Saturday
This is my third essay here, and I have already wasted a lot of time, which is why I will take more time to write in a language I learned later in life.
Thinking in a different language can be mystifying because you need to think time and time again to build confidence in your assertions. There are many times when you think your assertions are more like suppositions.
The transformative process cannot stop but tries desperately to adapt new words to the existing system. It can be hard enough to force us to turn back and choose the familiar way. And the inseparable step is to comprehend in the mother tongue. It is natural and conceivable. The problem is that language is not a word-to-word system. A triangle can’t be a circle, even if they have the same area. We comprehend the world from a new and unknown angle in a new language.
In the book Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman mentioned that our first step in thinking is to find an anchor. The anchor is so essential that it can affect the following consequences decisively. When given the number five in a guessing game at the beginning, most participants would make the outcomes vary by just around five. The hypotheses are more random when no instruction is mentioned.
We give an anchor based on existing knowledge because we can’t make a reasonable conclusion from the void. Calculating has been made before the anchor’s arrival and will not stop performing until the conclusion arrives.
The second half is imperceptible enough to be known and recognized as pondering. The first half, however, is seldom noticed by us.
Generally, we call it “intuition.” Because it’s undefinable under the current circumstances, we tend to connect it with one’s attribute. Intuition is mythical and unexplained, which is reasonable enough to be chosen to explain.
In this way, we step onto a road based on imagination. Albert Einstein said: “Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” That explains a lot.
Imagination leads us to a world with unlimited possibilities and enables us to develop in a brand-new field. In this new world, logic and potentiality evolve in all directions. Anything unachievable in reality can happen here.
As what we believe is right, this unique way of thinking is wholly different from other species. Animals gain experience in daily life and can only get what they witness. The knowledge cannot be transferred directly through abstraction, a story, or a book. In contrast, humans can gain knowledge through the experiences of others.
This process is unique on earth and helps humans overcome difficulties in nature and evolve to a higher position. Also, it stops us from seeing the truth directly. Because we need to organize it in our unique way to help us perceive it, and the organization is different from person to person. Thus, we can see thousands of “facts” from a single reality.
We often argue with each other about the truths of this planet and try our best to prove others’ failures and responsibilities because we believe that we are impeccable and that others holding distinct views are porous. What propels this misunderstanding worse is the missing full mutual communication from both parties.
In a nutshell, we live in a world created by ourselves. We lay the foundation on the first day of our life and absorb nutrients from the outer world, from the interactions with others, and from the wisdom that has circulated since ancient times. Thus, we build a basic model of the world, and this model performs exactly as the true one under this comprehension. That is the “Palm Civet for Prince.” Because we mistake the wrong one as the right one and get stuck in it.
As mentioned, we live in a world created by our own experience. If the wrong experience occurs enough times and seems reasonable, our resistance towards it would decay, and it would gradually immerse into our cognition about the world(the model), and, at last, it becomes part of our conscience and finally part of us.
How to persuade one to be no one? It is not only unachievable but rather anti-humanity.
We have become accustomed to arguing with others and trying to convince them in the real world just as we did in our own “world.”
Of course, we failed and would fail again and again in the future if we kept arguing with others according to information that only existed in our virtual world. But you cannot be gods in reality as you can be in your head. We live an omniscient and omnipotent life in virtuality that is reasonable somehow but seldom realizes its limitations, thus this process gets right down to its usual inclined outcome.
That is the ultimate spectacle on the road to overcoming difficulties.
Under that described mode of action, rechecking is not possible. Since everything goes on well in our inner system, no action is needed to correct it. Our custom makes us an automated machine with godly power defending it, it is our mind, and it is us.
Once the almighty god in virtuality met the almighty defender in reality, the unstoppable power collapses quickly as the flood met the dam. It performs like an army with ambitious and unsourced intentions that want to invade but can not move forward for even a single step.
It needs to learn what the truth is but not try to ignore it for the sake of stopping the collapse of our original virtuality. This road is so tough to walk because we have got used to walking on another one built with totally disparate materials.
Wow! What a stupid road!
We roared out first and marked it with the tag “absurdity.” The following steps are only to prove its insaneness. It comes out as the right answer from the beginning. One could not realize his/her calculation ahead of their primary conclusion which still needs to be scrutinized as it is just a blueprint. Enough space to be improved is ignored.
We stopped at the beginning, refused to make refinement, stopped other information from getting in, and constructed a self-consistent building to “protect.”
Our system of protection performs like a bandit, not a guard. Our immunity does the same thing sometimes. After all, our little brothers do not have the intelligence we do, they reflect under the command of a knee-jerk reaction. Our only advantage is to make introspections at any time, which enables us to make corrections at any time needed. If this talent were lost, we could not survive in natural selection. Now the chance comes as the toughest weakness in our neurological system. We might feel tired, exhausted, helpless, or even empty.
But hold on, my friends! What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. There is a way to be good again.
This road is constructed in the basement of our brain, where also is the source of our mentioned weakness. The familiarity makes it easy to use and get used to, thus granting it the superpower to resist any further challenges.
That can be explained why we try to translate it at the first. Our mother tongue is the closest thing we can find when facing language problems.
NO.1
Tims的彼方
2023/01/07 Saturday
这个地方刚开始我是不想来的，因为那个corporate的名字，让人觉得是在写字楼里面的咖啡角，就是在写字楼大堂里面摆个柜台摆几张椅子那种，如果是这样的话，那就会很不方便，在那种类型的店里是不太好专心写东西的。氛围不对，地方不对，装饰也会很简陋，实在不适合久待。
今天带着试试看的心态过来看看，倒是一贯如常的装修风格，就进来准备写字了。
有三个空着的小圆桌（一张小圆桌一张椅子小圆桌另一边是联排沙发，有插座的那种）。这个配置是我一贯会选的位置，不过有些店没有联排小沙发小圆桌，一般的那种低矮沙发则不适合使用笔记本，这个时候就只能去坐那种长椭圆形大木桌了。
这种大木桌一般也会有自己的“环境”，如果已经坐了很多人，或者坐的人已经让大木桌上没有了可以隔开一个人的空间，那么大木桌就很难把自己推销出去。一般而言，那里属于很多人来没有地方坐才去的地方。偶尔就只有需要使用某些设备的孤单客人在那儿发光发热，或者几个大概率不认识的家伙在那各自低头玩手机。总之，除了一大群小伙伴儿们在的时候，那个地方大多很安静，很适合在那写点什么。
有一阵儿很喜欢去Tims，那个时候Tims刚刚在上海铺开，有一阵儿喝他们家single还挺有意思，不过后来渐渐更加认同到纯咖啡之外再加别的东西实在不是我喜欢的味道，去他们家就少了。Tims家装修很多都采用跟他们家商标主色调一样的红色，除此之外，就没有了，很单调，乏善可陈。整个店过于明亮（委婉的说法，实际上就是很空，过于简洁风，但整个店又和极简设计不搭嘎，组合起来就显得很缺乏内容，哪哪都无法凑一个整体），坐在椅子上跟坐在野外的区别差不多，但又没有大自然那种舒缓清透的感觉，相当于整个在光秃秃的树林里放了张凳子，没有了饮品食物的加成之后，事儿妈人如我一分也不想在那儿待着。
single是他们特有的咖啡组合（中烘或高烘），指的是鲜萃咖啡外加单份奶和单份糖，中烘的口味相对高烘清淡一些，对我而言，奶和糖的味道即使是单份也是过于多的，刚开始当一般饮品甚至饮料喝都可以，但不是咖啡，在我的世界里，咖啡就得苦一点，有咖啡豆原生的味道，不要糖，不要奶，不要榛果，不要加其它调和了原本味道的东西。所以，当single的新鲜感过去后，那个地方就没有什么值得留恋的了。
氛围感这种东西，局限于特定空间，只能以实体物品选供及布置为基础。虽然意式浓缩咖啡享誉海外，在咖啡文化浓厚的意大利，咖啡最早也是以滤滴的形式出现的，浓缩咖啡是蒸汽机出现后的产物。意大利能买到咖啡的地方很多，不限于咖啡馆，早晨上班的路上在小卖部随手买一杯是很稀疏平常的事情。在意大利的咖啡馆，意大利人喜欢站着喝，和一群朋友站着边喝边聊天，这种社交氛围确实是所有彼时的西方咖啡馆的共同拥有的。和西方的圣诞集市文化一样，意大利人能够自如地在一堆只有高脚桌的环境下围着桌子畅聊。国内的社交氛围，让客人站着是很失礼的。一堆人聚在一起欢声笑语，大多是就某个即兴的话题产生了共鸣，此话题结束后即做鸟兽散。如果是enjoy ourselves的话，这样的习惯属实比较少，少数有的时候，大概也许更习惯坐着，桌上放几杯小酒。意大利咖啡馆这种形式，可能和意大利地狭人多寸土寸金有关，也可能和其早期的酒馆文化有关（存疑），地方这么少，坐着喝是要加钱的。也许这也是意大利孕育了Espresso的原因，接触咖啡也算早的英伦三岛就没有这种急匆匆，他们饮茶的文化也是优雅的慢悠悠。因为Expresso的原因，反过来也使得主流的意大利咖啡文化相对更强调便捷性，不那么注重形式。或者，更深层次的文化习惯与诸多当地因素一起共同孕育了相对更随性的饮咖习惯。
在霍华德·舒尔茨的带领下，星巴克从咖啡和咖啡设备销售商转型成咖啡连锁店。霍华德依据其参加国际家居用品展时在米兰学习到的经验并加以改进，星巴克摆放更多的桌椅，统一店内的装修风格，精选合适的音乐，使用更适合美国人口味的美式咖啡（一定程度上可以理解为稀释的Expresso，由于其相对意式浓缩咖啡口味更淡一些，对无浓缩咖啡饮用习惯的中国国内消费者也更好入门）。星巴克出售现磨咖啡，同时也在其店内同时出售咖啡豆、设备、自家的杯子和其它物品。星巴克把其门店营造为社交氛围浓厚的场所，不仅摆满了桌椅，还在装修风格上下功夫，使其看起来更现代、时尚并充满了咖啡文化感。整体风格上相比老式的欧洲咖啡馆要简洁很多，但没有Tims删的那么多，后者去繁就简上做得过了头，使得店内的文化氛围少了很多，看起来更像快餐店而不是咖啡店。相对而言，国内众多的独立咖啡馆在设计上各有各的特色，有传统但不繁杂的，有简洁得很统一的，这些都是很好的设计。
业内有星巴克由于其品牌影响力在与商业地产商合作时能拿到好得多的租金优惠的说法，也是因为星巴克作为国内暂时还不多的有浓郁社交氛围的场所，其在消费者内心受到很大认同，无论是其营造的咖啡概念、对场所氛围的精准把握、对社交需求的独特理解还是选择门店的自主性，这些给予星巴克的优势不是新型连锁咖啡店短时间内能匹敌的。Manner咖啡主打平价精品咖啡，并不提供店内座位，属于二十元内买完提走类型，走在了另一条赛道上，虽然在规模上的竞争中需要与连锁便利店、传统快餐店展开正面对决。鉴于其专业性和目前为止较好的口碑，可以对其抱有谨慎乐观的态度，只要它不急着下场和卖座位的玩家们血拼。Costa这个英伦品牌是星巴克的老对手了，从国际市场一路打到国内，屡战屡败，屡败屡战。Tims是枫叶国的舶来物，初入国内的时候被腾讯投资的消息传得满天飞，很是高调了一把，铺开来开店，上海的店铺从无到有几乎一夜之间冒出来，散满了各个角落，现在也没什么动静了，其App上前段时间开始就一直有很多打折套餐，算上食品的话也还算划算。Costa的装修以其品牌暗红色为主，也是看起来简陋了一点，不太适合久坐。这些店，如果只是论咖啡都还不错，但是不适合久坐，不适合和心爱的人一起待着。
作为业界大佬，星巴克有众多隐形优势，但其核心竞争力一直都是场所和氛围，后者反过来赋予其品牌影响力，在饮品品质可保证的前提下，人们会自然选择内心更有内心倾向的去处。无论其在咖啡老油条、咖啡小白还是单纯喜欢装杯的人群里有什么不同的角色定位，这都代表了一种市场胜利。对于装杯人群，其不会对品牌品质产生品牌向心力，而只会跟着主流一起摇摆，也就是那传说中的墙头草，他们的意见是最不重要的，但因为其自我实现的主要方式是炫耀，所以其声量较大，看起来似乎有些影响。可是和oppo、vivo卖出很多一样，在网上各种被鄙视的ov手机，却在其目标市场卖爆了，甚至反过来反哺其在所谓“技术流”手机用户中的口碑。墙头草作为草本植物，既好割又没记性特别喜欢在上一次死亡的地方做无限循环，韭菜的共同特点：都以为自己是风口上的猪。
完，不想写了。