"Science and technology" is not exactly "technology"



 "Science and technology" in the literature is a fixed phrase, where science comes before technology. However, many people regard them as the same thing, and in practice they often turn their positions upside down.

  Science, more specifically, natural science, refers to the general category of disciplines that uses observation, experiment, simulation, and analysis to study various things and phenomena in nature and explore their principles. The purpose is to understand the world; what is discussed in this article Within the scope, it also includes mathematics. Technology, on the other hand, is the integration of means, forms, methods and processes to solve various problems. It generates new things on the basis of existing things, or changes the performance and functions of existing things, with the purpose of serving human society.

  Between the two, science provides the foundation and support for the development of technology, while technological progress constantly proposes new topics for scientific research, which in turn encourages scientific development. The famous Chinese scientist Qian Xuesen (1911-2009) believed that there is a bridge between science and technology, and that is engineering science.

  The progress of science has always been driven by human curiosity trying to understand the fundamental principles of the world, rather than the need for human survival. Many scientific discoveries are accidental events that have never been predicted before or have never been planned to be realized, and they are often not useful in the short term. Such examples can be picked up. Number theory in mathematics has a history of more than 3,000 years, but it has been regarded as the most useless subject of mathematics before it became a modern means of confidentiality of information. Einstein's esoteric theory of relativity is only used today in the global positioning system GPS. The discovery of the double helix structure of DNA originated from James Watson and Francis Crick's curious exploration of genetic genes, and this theory later had a revolutionary impact on life sciences and bioengineering.

  Obviously, we should not adopt the same approach to the promotion of scientific development and technological development; in particular, we should not simply transfer the ideas and measures of technology development to pave the way for the development of science, nor should we simply apply the development of management technology. Policies and methods to manage scientific development. However, what is common in academic departments today is that decision makers use "technical management thinking" to guide and govern scientific development, believing that through centralized planning, huge funding, and quick promotion, they can stimulate the rapid development of basic science and immediately blossom. result. What is more common is that the various evaluation systems and indicators without exception require scientific research results to have immediate social effects, or to provide new products to the market soon. As a result, many basic scientific researches are labelled as "useless" and fail to receive the attention and support they deserve.

  It is useful to review the management experience of scientific and technological development here. Helmut Schwarz, Chairman of the Alexander Humboldt Foundation, recently stated: “Most disruptive discoveries in scientific research are not planned beforehand. On the contrary, they all suddenly appear in the corner like naughty goblins, because they are all It is scientists who are enthusiastic about discoveries and inventions caused by unknown things. Therefore, selecting outstanding researchers and giving them academic freedom and sufficient funding is the key to the success of an academic institution."

  It is worth pointing out that the commonly used word "science and technology" in Chinese is shorthand for "science and technology", but it often leads to a misunderstanding that science and technology are regarded as the same thing, and many people have to do with them. The same analytical deduction. In China's long history, this has always been a problem that has been improperly explained and handled. Numerous events and facts show that this wrong concept is probably the main reason why modern science has not been produced in China. In fact, the progress of ancient China focused on various technologies with practical value, but they did not evolve modern scientific knowledge and basic theories. For example, the well-known invention of gunpowder did not lead to the creation of modern chemistry, the application of the compass did not lead to the electromagnetic theory of modern physics, the famous Chinese remainder theorem in mathematics did not establish modern number theory, and so on.

  China has made many advanced technological inventions and improvements in ancient times, but it has not allowed itself to become a country that created a modern natural science system. This fact has long puzzled Chinese scientists and technicians. It goes without saying that only when the root cause of the problem is truly understood and resolved can China hope to quickly enter the forefront of the world's modern science and technology fields. (Chen Guanrong, Chair Professor of the City University of Hong Kong and Director of the Center for Chaos and Complex Networks)

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