That's That

Published: 2017-01-28

Preface

This is the first post on my personal blog, presented in the form of an "editor's note." I will first briefly introduce the site's content layout and product positioning. In subsequent sections I will, based on my life experiences, explain from a higher vantage the value this product should deliver, as well as my expectations and vision for it. Overall it will likely read more like a casual essay.

A gentle narrative

The idea to write a blog probably sprouted about a year ago. At first I simply wanted, like some predecessors, to write technical posts and publish them on platforms such as CSDN — a way to review and deepen existing knowledge and to prepare for future career development. As my technical experience and perspective grew, and with the lingering university-era impulse to "comment on the world and write with passion," I kept thinking and finally decided to build my own website. Only by having my own site could I fully express a personalized voice and naturally establish a consistent style in how content is organized.

The process was fairly long. I'm originally a backend engineer, so a year ago I knew very little about web technologies. From building technical knowledge and choosing tools to setting up the system and later UI design, plus several iterations of ideas and a few written articles, I spent nearly half of my spare time over the past year on this. Gradually, I wanted to treat this website as a complete product and do it seriously. This stems from how I interpret the phrase "personal blog." The noun "blog" denotes a content-product form: different authors produce posts with different tastes and styles, resulting in a diverse landscape. Putting a single author's posts together presents a unified set of values and conveys the author's traits and level of thought — that is the blog's expressive force. Therefore the adjective "personal" is the soul of the product. That is why the words "independent personality" appear in the site's header.

There is also a prominent timer in the site's header. It does not record the site's creation date; rather, it counts from the day I began serious, systematic programming study and decided to make it my livelihood. On the day the site launched it should read 1 year, 10 months, and 23 days. My profession has had a deeper impact on my life than this site, and I wanted to create a sense of urgency to motivate my future self.

I originally wanted this product to bring together a group of like-minded friends — people who share a common attitude toward life and the world. What drove me to do all this may be a rather negative force: loneliness. "Everyone is lonely," and Zhang Xiaolong's success with WeChat powerfully illustrates that. Besides daily communication with acquaintances, one way to overcome loneliness is public expression or what we call sharing. Sharing is a deeper form of communication: it can build a broader circle for the collision of ideas and souls, and for the exchange of knowledge and skills. Finding such companions is arguably one of life's greatest pleasures.

Among the personal blogs I've seen, the one I admire most and the one most aligned with my approach isRuan Yifeng's Web LogHis blog has been read by many in the tech community, and when you view the full scope of his personal site you'll be struck by the breadth of his interests and the depth of his craft. Below is a screenshot of the page — take a look at the category column on the right and consider your impressions...

I like this online appraisal of him:

He has a broad knowledge base, a curious and research-oriented mind toward many things, and a yearning for beauty and emotion.

My impression is that he is modest, restrained, and elegant; reading his articles feels comfortable and grounded. He is an interesting and substantive person you can both see and relate to. His blog is the direction I will persistently strive toward.

By contrast, on my blog I only present the technical and business topics I am most interested in, limited by my personal capacity. The idea of writing about business started back in college — I have long loved economics and management and once had a "finance dream," though I ultimately entered the IT industry. In this respect I may be the opposite of Ruan: before joining Alibaba in 2014 he studied finance and treated IT as a hobby. I still very much enjoy my current profession, partly because of warnings from experienced people like him:

In this country, if you want to avoid lying, avoid doing harm, and be treated fairly, you might only be able to go into programming.

Another reason is interest. Programming is one of the few professions — like law or medicine — that requires continuous learning. To progress you must keep recharging. I enjoy the process of exploring, trying, and validating; it brings surprises and interest to otherwise monotonous work.

A group of people

As I mentioned earlier, through this blog I want to bring together a group of like-minded people. I'll state the conclusion first, then explain. I hope my blog can gather people who share certain traits: bold and interesting, valuing knowledge and self-driven effort, and opposed to "loser" culture.

Bold and interesting

First, what does "bold and interesting" mean? Many people in childhood clearly know what they love to do, but as they grow up they become accustomed to choosing what they should do over what they love. Their world becomes filled with the useful and expected, squeezing out the seemingly useless things they actually enjoy. They might say they simply don't have time for their interests. Look at the children around us: no matter how heavy their homework, they still find time to play with LEGO or listen to stories. Why can't adults do the same? Gu Dian, author of The Walls in Our Mind, once commented:

Uninteresting people (those uninterested in anything) are often not incompetent, but rather lacking in courage.

For various reasons many people cannot work in their preferred jobs, but after doing what they must and bearing responsibilities, they should still leave some time and space for what they love. In Dead Poets Society, Keating said:

Yes, medicine, law, business, engineering — these are noble pursuits that can sustain a life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love — these are what make life worth living.

What you are willing to do may be where your talent lies. You may think it's wasting time, but life is worth experiencing precisely because of such beautiful seeming waste.

Valuing knowledge

Have you ever seen a high school senior tear up textbooks and toss them out the window in a fit of release after the college entrance exam? It makes you wonder how that education could "ignite a flame," and how many sparks were extinguished by such brutal approaches. I won't debate education here; I only want to point out that society has produced too many people who resent and denigrate knowledge.

Can knowledge really change destiny? Can it reduce social inequality and increase mobility? For some people, yes. For each of us as individuals, beyond its pragmatic benefits, knowledge enriches life experience and broadens the mind. The greater significance of knowledge lies not in specific content or practical skills but in a way of thinking and an attitude toward life. It is not an accessory — it becomes part of you.

Self-driven effort

I once read a story: a woman who had graduated a few years earlier argued with a restaurant owner because her beef noodle soup had a few fewer slices of meat, and she ended up crying. She didn't cry over the meat but because, as she said, "this is not the life I want." After struggling for a few years after graduation, who expects to still be arguing over a few pieces of meat in a bowl?

I want to explain this behavior with an economics concept. Economics uses 'opportunity cost' to describe the maximum value of what you give up to get something else. For example, on the weekend you can play games or read and study. If you choose to study, the pleasure you would have gained from gaming is your opportunity cost. People are rational; under given conditions they choose what they believe maximizes their utility. If gaming gives you more immediate pleasure than studying, you'll choose to game. But utility-maximizing choices are not always value-maximizing choices, and they may not minimize opportunity cost. That's why, even after making life choices, the woman expressed denial of her current state and past experience through tears.

A person's level or character can be judged by their choices. If you lose your temper at a manager over a few overtime sessions, your future is worth only those overtime paychecks; if you beat a child because an inexpensive vase broke, your child's curiosity is worth only that vase. Conversely, if you forgo pleasure and indulgence and persist in effort and improvement, the value of your pursuit and hunger for success will exceed the dopamine of pure hedonistic pleasure.

To gauge someone, look at what makes them angry and whom they choose to confront. Someone with a mountain of work has no time to fret about whether a lunch has more meat or not. The woman in the example may have had a world limited to a house and a man, with no larger concerns like social interaction or work tasks to divert her attention, causing a sense of disconnection from society.

Only continuous effort and progress can push life's trivialities aside and immerse you in the positive feedback of self-driven struggle. I like this sentence:

You must be rich within to free yourself from these superficial similarities of life.

Opposing "loser" culture

The discussion of "loser" culture begins with the internet industry I inhabit. After several rounds of rapid growth, the industry inevitably accumulated some bubbles and diluted elements, resulting in uneven skill levels and self-awareness among practitioners. Lowering entry barriers attracted some unqualified people and dragged down the industry's overall level — a contrast that is especially noticeable compared with other mature, intelligence-driven industries like finance.

Similar to the hippie movement in the U.S., after material abundance many life problems surfaced. The entanglement of boredom and rising social responsibility confused young people. Some turned to the Western-derived degenerate product — "loser" culture — and through self-deprecation normalized pessimistic and passive lifestyles as pressure release without guilt. Self-mocking as 'losers' might be a joke, but if taken seriously, this powerful negative field not only creates psychological barriers to personal development but also damages societal culture. Therefore, I firmly oppose "loser" culture.

These are the people I hope to gather. Finally, I want to say that regardless of how society chooses or what the outcome is, this is the kind of group we are.