XiaoHu

Must-read

Revisado: 04-26-25

What strikes me the most in this book is the death and desolation of such an unimaginable magnitude caused by the Taiping war. In a relatively short period of 14 years, about 10 to 30 percent of the whole populations in China were wiped out (compared to 2% at an approximately same period of US civil war---the deadliest war in US history). A range of estimates puts death and unborn toll at least 30 million to possibly 100 millions or even more, which was about 1/3 of the population at the time. Cannibalism was common. Market was judged not by money value but by the price fluctuation of human flesh sold on the market. This led me to think about the answer to a critical question about the Chinese political system: why the country's populations have tendency to endorse an authoritarian system, and why the democratic values-- such separation of powers and decentralized political structure-- have never really taken a deep root in the country? Maybe people believe that a tightly-controlled system at least could keep them alive. Maybe the leader does not want to give up the power because that means death to them (The emperor's force, led by Zeng Guofan, killed every individual family member of the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan of Taiping, including women and children at the end). Avoid of death is part of Chinese psych.

Stephen R. Platt is an excellent writer and historian.

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A sober warning to humanity

Revisado: 03-02-25

The core argument (and insight) of the book is this: Homo sapients reached to the top of the evolutionary food chain through employing information to create myths, fantasies, and stories (think of the Bible as an example), in order to form large-scale collaborations (the Nexus) in competitions. These narratives-- or "inter-subjective realities" as called by the author--are also the basis of religions, corporations, money, nations etc ("we fight for the sovereignty of our nation"). He argues that the Computer and AI can do the same thing, and perhaps better and faster than humans, and as a result, harm humans and even replace them in the evolutionary process. Humans need to impose regulations over AI development in order to prevent this AI Nexus moment. Of course, a lot have to happen for humans to lose control over AI, but there is certainly a possibility, however small, that this could happen. Then the real question is: how much of chance do we humans really want to take for this to happen? 5%, 1%? for human extinction

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His own perspective

Revisado: 05-23-24

Much of the material used in the book was from the author's interviews with former officials, many of them in the Trump administration (2016-2020). Some of the information is useful. Nevertheless, a lot of the information is largely speculative, put together by the author to create a narrative that seems logical but in reality can be subject to various explanations. To frame the US-China/Russia conflict as big-country competition is convenient but narrowly-minded and backward thinking. The US victory over the Soviet in the Cold War is not because it had more nuclear warheads but because it had better ideas. The current conflict on face is about the power, but in essence, it is about different ideas of governance. Whoever has the better ideas will win. The Trump team saw the US/China fight as a power struggle on trade and jobs. Biden sees it as ideological. Biden is right.

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It is just not that easy

Revisado: 04-28-24

The book aims to prepare the high achievers for the transition to a more mundane life. It includes some good advices based on the latest research such as the adoption of teaching, mentoring, and studying history as topics for transition. However, the book's overall idea of a career (or even life) reset is perhaps unrealistic or even ill-advised for many. The idea that a reset, plus some simple exercises, can solve your happiness issue is an illusion. The transformation is much more about a shift of a person's psychological state (or consciousness) than the change of external circumstances like jobs, schedules, or work habits. An enlightened person remains enlightened regardless of what he or she does. It is never about what you do but always about how you do it. Read the book and take on the journey, but also realise that the path is much more difficult than what is suggested in this book. Read James Hollis if you want more psychological insights on how to do this ("Finding meaning in the second half of your life", among many), or read Eknath Easwaran, Eckhart Tolle, or Allan Watts if you want a more Eastern way of solution.

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Not what you think

Revisado: 02-03-24

This is a not a popular science book as it is proclaimed. Read the last chapter first, it says that much new materials presented here are hypotheses. There are bits of information that are good and the writing is accessible. But presentations are not always easy and sometime it gets into reading math formulas, which is very hard for a listener. The chapter that really got me wanting to listen to the book on "time does not exist" is really superficial. Not recommended/

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Foundation for learning modern physics

Revisado: 01-27-24

Alan Watts used to say that anyone who wants to have a belief system must have a view of metaphysics. Such metaphysical view for a person with a scientific mind must start with the science of physical reality--physics, In this sense, this course provides a good start of that foundation. One thing I realise is that from the classic Newtonian world, to Einstein's relativity, and to the Quantum physics, the world of scientific view becomes more and more mystical and weird. That is to say, contradictory to human experience. Newton's gravity is pretty straightforward and feels real (objective). Then came Einstein's relativity, that in order for the law of physics to apply for any observer of uniform motion, to bend time and space (and the speed of light becomes more constant than time and space). The quantum world, with the wave-particle duality and quantum entanglement and etc,, shows an even more weird reality that directly contradicts human experiences or senses. Could we ever trust our direct experiences or senses to represent the physical world?

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Great work on state/society relationship

Revisado: 01-06-24

In his two volumes of political order, Francis Fukuyama convincingly lays out three conditions for prosperity: a strong state, the rule of law, and democratic accountability. This book can be seen as a further specification on how the latter two conditions reinforce the first condition to develop a strong but "shackled" state that provides laws and order and basic public services but also is subject to the will of the society (the people). Great work

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Comprehensive and insightful

Revisado: 07-05-23

Though the focus of the coverage is on individual leadership, it thoroughly explains the rise of separatists in the republics and inactions of the Soviet state in crisis. Well worth of the time in listening. The book provides a comprehensive historical narrative on the collapse of the Soviet Union from 1989 to 1991, with a focus on leadership failures of Gorbachev but also Yeltsin who undermined the former Soviet leader in every way possible. Different readers could draw different reading experiences and lessons, a sign of a good comprehensive coverage. My strong impression from the reading is on the critical role of various Soviet republics' nationalism in the collapse--the national separatism starting from Lithuania ,Estonia, Latvia eventually to Ukraine and Georgia and other republics, and importantly Russia under Yeltsin. But perhaps more important is the failure of Gorbachev, intensionally or unintentionally, to use the state institutions (the party, KGB, and Army) to save the union. Gorbachev's half-baked efforts to save the union is in stark contrast with Yeltsin's blatant acts to put Russia away from it.

The Soviet Union had a strong state but failing economy. The state could have been used in improving the economy, through market-oriented reforms, like what China did in the same period. Nevertheless, though Gorbachev didn't intentionally go out to dismantle the state's institutions, his acts largely rendered it in inaction, leading to the leadership failure in boosting the economy, and later collapse of the state under Yeltsin and rise of the Oligarch which eventually led to the rise of Putin and restoration of the authoritarian rule. The strong dose of national separatism and inaction of the state, made possible by Gorbachev's leadership vision and personality, were the root cause of the collapse.

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The Coverage on China is unique and important

Revisado: 07-31-22

Imagine that Japan, instead attacking Pearl Harbour, invaded the Soviet Union from the east in 1941 in a joint effort with the Nazi attacking in the west. The Soviet very likely would have fallen if this had happened and the world could have been very different today. But why Japan didn't attack Soviet in 1941, even after Hitler’s repeated requests? Instead Japan signed a neutrality treaty with the Soviet in 1941. The book argues that the reason was Soviet's victory over Japan in the battle of Khalkhin Gol (or Nomonhan) in 1939 in Mongolia/Manchukuo border. Japan's defeat directly contributed to its decision in 1941 not to engage in Soviet, but finish the war in China first. The China war between 1937 to 1945 had pinned down about 1 million Japanese troops which could have been used elsewhere in the pacific, and that is the important role of Chinese national army (the nationalists not the communists), which for long, its contribution to the alliance victory has been marginalized. In the Chinese battlefield, the author indicates that the Chinese communists, under Mao Zedong, collaborated secretly with the Japanese, according to British intelligence, so Japan could focus its war effort on the nationalists.

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A defense of liberalism

Revisado: 05-21-22

The author defends liberal traditions believed to be the human destiny in his "The End of History and the Last Man" published 30 years ago in 1992 at the eve of collapse of the Soviet empire. It lays out a strong argument of liberalism against the attack from the far right-- mainly Neoliberalism on economics, white nationalists on politics, and Evangelical conservatives on culture. It also presents a critique on the critical theory that has served as the intellectual foundation for identity politics of the progressive left challenging the liberal order's failures to protect equality. Though the threats to liberal democracies are from both the far right and extreme left, the threats from the former are clearly more immediate and direct. An example is Trump's and his hard-core nationalism followers' challenge of the very heart of the liberal principles of equality, diversity, and tolerance. The book is full of information and references, useful for both students of politics and the general audience. The title emulates Sigmund Freud's classics "Civilization and Its Discontents".

The idea in the book that Eastern spirituality, tied by the author to the movement of individual actualization in the west, somehow contributes to extremity of self identity is misunderstanding if not completely nonsense. Cultivating consciousness in the eastern philosophical tradition is for achieving a non-self (no Ego) which, to a large extent, can contribute to collectiveness and public spirit.

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