The first realm is the unity of man and sword. Sword is man and man is sword; In the hand inch grass, is also the sharp weapon.

Second realm: no sword in hand, sword in heart; Although he is unarmed, he can kill the enemy with his sword Qi.

The third realm (the highest realm): no sword in hand, no sword in heart, is to tolerate everything with a big mind, that is not to kill, that is peace.

When applied to scientific research, the "three realms of sword technique" are as follows:

The first realm: to write: scientific research is thesis;

The second realm: statement without writing: the thesis is in the heart;

The third realm: do not state or do: there is no scientific research paper in hand, and there is no scientific research paper in heart.

Of course, I understand that what blogger Qin said about "Wuzhao" is not really Wuzhao, but new, hot, tough and unique moves at a higher level. But I think that's exactly the problem. Because there is no distinction between high and low, nor between high and low in science; There are only two kinds of scientific tricks that are useful or useless. Science needs to be concise, with one saying one and two saying two; Don't beat around the bush or make a fuss about science. The best way to solve the problem is to solve the problem, no matter whether they are existing or newly invented.

Everyone is equal in front of science, which is the greatest charm of science. A scientific problem is the same no matter what method is used or who is responsible for solving it. There are many reasons why Chinese civilization did not produce science (Needham's question), but the most important factor is culture. The gene of Chinese culture is embedded in the blood of each of our Chinese children: filial piety to our parents and devotion to our country. Hierarchy, like air, is so natural to us. I have conducted detailed and in-depth quantitative research on the hierarchy (useful for stock trading, belonging to the category of Social Psychology). For example, by changing 155 people from a two-tier structure with a single leader to a four tier hierarchical structure with a group of five people, the penetration speed of decrees has been increased by 10 times (see the paper "L. X. Wang," hierarchical fuzzy opinion networks: top-down for social organizations and bottom-up for election, "IEEE Trans. On fuzzy systems, Vol. 28, No. 7, pp. 1265-1275, two thousand and twenty https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8957283 ”）。

Therefore, the hierarchical structure is very useful in managing a society (state, company, army, etc.), which can greatly improve the efficiency of the implementation of government decrees. The same is true of engineering projects, because people in engineering projects already know how to do it and can give correct instructions. War is even more like this: gallop on the battlefield, fight bravely against the enemy, and strive for glorious victory against the sun. However, for scientific innovation, the hierarchical structure is not applicable. Because, before a scientific problem is solved, no one knows the right way to solve it. Only when this scientific problem is solved and people look back will they know that the correct way is this. In other words, the reason why hierarchical structure is not suitable for scientific innovation is that the hierarchical structure must have a correct "decree" passed down, and there is no such a correct "decree" to solve scientific problems before they are solved. For example, if you want to win the Nobel Prize, you can't get it by the decree of "go get the Nobel Prize.".

The major basic and original scientific research achievements are made by outstanding scientists ("the scientists of heaven and earth realm": "the four realms of scientific research" http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-2999994-1284567.html ）Through the deep thinking of individual brain, not through leading others. Newton led others to do the law of gravitation, Einstein led others to do his theory of relativity. All these great scientists have made these great scientific contributions by thinking and meditating with their own brains and finally making a sudden appearance. Einstein had a lot of scientific research assistants, not only did not come out, Einstein was second, even Einstein was 100th.

Needham's question is of course important, but what is more important is that the hierarchical structure gene of Chinese culture still has a profound and decisive impact on China's scientific research system and culture, as well as on every researcher's thoughts and actions. As a whole, we do not clearly realize the essential difference between scientific innovation and social management: scientific innovation needs flat architecture, while social management can adopt hierarchical architecture. The charm of culture lies in that it unconsciously influences many key decisions of people. For example, if you are a tutor, you should lead graduate students to do scientific research; Everyone is like this, generation after generation, no problem.

Is there really no problem leading others to realize their own scientific cause? The hierarchical scientific research structure and the corresponding scientific culture have a great harm to the individual scientists, the national and human scientific undertakings. These injuries include at least the following seven aspects:

1. It misleads the growth of scientists. The growth of scientists needs a process of accumulation. They need to constantly accumulate experience and knowledge, and constantly improve themselves in the long-term first-line work. Today, with more and more professional knowledge and interdisciplinary research, scientists must live, learn and be old. Only in this way can we become excellent scientists and walk out of our brilliant scientific life.

2. Leading to the lack of basic original scientific research results. The basic and original scientific research achievements need to be completed by scientists in the environment of meditation. Leading others to do scientific research is bound to be burdened with chores, unable to devote themselves to the front line of scientific research. Most of the achievements of scientific research in Colleges and universities in our country are completed by graduate students in the first line. It needs a process of learning and accumulation for postgraduates to enter scientific research for the first time. It is difficult for them to make basic and original first-class achievements all at once.

3. It provides space for academic misconduct such as fraud and plagiarism. Due to leading others to do scientific research, they are not in the front line and do not know the details of the research, so they are unable to detect and stop academic misconduct such as fraud and plagiarism in time. After the publication of the paper, when other colleagues find that the paper is plagiarized, it is difficult for them to say anything, because their name is among the authors, and they are often the most important corresponding author or the first author. On the other hand, as a leader, the downward pressure of scientific research tasks will also induce the following researchers to take the risk to complete the scientific research indicators under the pressure of basic survival needs such as keeping their jobs and getting their degrees.

4. It restricts the space for young scholars to stand out. Young people are active and energetic, which is a good time to make pioneering achievements. The long-term hierarchical structure of scientific research limits the scope of young people's exploration and is not conducive to young people's making pioneering achievements. In the western university system, doctoral students and tutors are one-to-one research partnership. Students do scientific research in order to reach the level of doctoral degree, not to work for tutors. The tutor's job is to guide and assist students to grow into excellent researchers.

5. The internal volume of scientific research team has been increased. Leading others to do scientific research will form a natural hierarchical structure. The more you go up, the less you have to step on others. This leads to internal friction. Western universities adopt a flat structure. Whether you are a new assistant professor or a senior professor, you are all equal and independent individuals in the scientific research system. In this way, we can avoid the problem of infidelity, so that researchers can focus their time and energy on the scientific problems themselves rather than on the colleagues around them.

6. It leads to the wrong evaluation index of "only funds". Leading others to do scientific research, scientific research funding has become a necessity. However, funding is the input of scientific research activities, not the output of scientific research activities. Scientific research depends on the quality of the output, not on how much money has been invested“ Only funds "put the scientific research purpose before the horse, forming a wrong guidance.

7. It wastes the precious resources of the country. The amount of scientific research funds invested in China is very large, but the basic and original achievements obtained are very few, which has been "stuck" by others for a long time. There is a deep causal relationship between the low utility of scientific research funds and the hierarchical structure of scientific research. Because of the hierarchical culture and structure, many scientists with great scientific talent have stepped into leading positions and left the front line of scientific research, and lost the opportunity and ability to make fundamental and original contributions on the road of science.

Therefore, a profound reflection on the negative impact of traditional hierarchical culture on scientific development, the implementation of a flat structure in line with the development law of scientific innovation, and the return of scientists to the laboratory are important aspects to promote the development of basic original scientific research in China. Chinese people are smart and diligent. If we can improve ourselves in reflection, we will surely usher in a colorful spring of science.