Preface: Why explore?

Written by Shan Zhiqiang. Selected from the preface of the 2012 issue 3 of "China National Geographic". The Potala Palace is covered with a rainbow. This magical photo was taken from the Lalu Wetland on the western outskirts of the Lhasa River. In order to better show this magic, the photographer deliberately placed the Potala Palace in the lower right corner of the picture, leaving the remaining large space for a beautiful rainbow rising from behind the Potala Palace. The rainbow is like an oracle, illuminating the Potala Palace and Maburi Mountain where it is located, but dimming the Beishan Mountain behind it. From the picture, the Potala Palace is very far away and very small, while the rainbow is very close and very large. Its proportions are exactly opposite to those seen with the naked eye. This is a real thing, but it is a scene that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Our photographer cleverly used a telephoto lens to pull a rainbow rising in the distance behind the Potala Palace. Faced with this scene, we can ask this question: The scene in front of us is caused by a long lens, and people at the scene cannot see this scene. So, is this scene real? If seeing is the standard, then this image is false. But if our human eyes are structured like a telephoto lens, is this image real? Photography/Galen Rowell/cWhen an explorer encounters a snowy peak, the scene is actually very ceremonial. I remember an explorer said that the reason why he likes exploring is to leave footprints where no human has set foot before. place. Another explorer said that what attracted him to exploration was that he could fill in the blank spaces on the map. In fact, what these explorers talked about were phenomena, and they did not say what the driving force of exploration was. Why does leaving footprints in a place where no human has ever been before, or in other words, appearing in a place where no human has been before, has such a charm that people are willing to work hard and even sacrifice their lives for it? Appearing in a place where no human has ever appeared is actually a place that has never been seen by humans, and now you are seeing it for the first time. Seeing an unseen world for the first time is what explorers seek. Once in Shihua Cave, a cave in Fangshan District, Beijing, several people and I went down to the seventh underground floor. We rowed a rubber boat across a lake and landed on the shore. With the help of the flashlight, I saw what was in front of me. There is nothing strange about the cave hall, but on the sixth floor we just left, there is a hall filled with strange stalactites, stalagmites and other deposits, making the hall look like a palace in a fairy tale. In comparison, here It's just an ordinary house. Suddenly, the guide said: "No one has ever been here before." This sentence was very magical. I thought of the words of the explorer mentioned earlier: leave footprints where no human has set foot before. Because of the guide's words, everything in front of me seemed to have completely changed, from being ordinary to being dazzling. I suddenly felt that this place was more charming than the fairy tale-like hall on the sixth floor, because although that hall was as glorious as a palace, someone had been there, and although this place was plain, no one had ever been there. I began to carefully examine everything in front of me: In the light of the headlight, there was a white cylindrical stalagmite. It was as warm and moist as Hetian jade, and it was also faintly shiny. It turned out that there was a thin layer of water film coming from above. The nipples of stalactites are constantly dripping. If you listen carefully, you can hear the "tick-tick-tick" dripping sound. This kind of stalagmite is so common and can be seen in caves everywhere. But now it becomes extraordinary, because this is the first time it meets people, the first time human eyes see it. A flash of joy flashed through my heart. The first light in life Some people may think that the scene in the picture is ordinary, but it is not. A cave explorer encounters a waterfall and stalactites in a cave. This scene is actually like a ritual: the explorer is actually "delivering" the landscape on behalf of humans. Before that, it had been shrouded in darkness for tens of millions of years. We don't know what its shape, color, etc. are. But since it met explorers, it was born with the image of pure white color, pouring water columns and hard stalactites. For the first time, explorers knocked on their doors and used their headlamps to drive away the darkness that had shrouded them for millions of years. Many creatures in the cave feel the light for the first time in their lives. In return, they also vividly present their residence: a magnificent palace in the cave that can never be seen on the ground to the explorers who first arrive here. It was a silent but great moment. Photography/Li Jin Now that I think of these, I begin to reflect on their meaning. What's the significance of a stalagmite being seen for the first time? Why does it make me happy? Some people may say: Before you saw it, it had been there for tens of millions of years. Yes, I admit that I am not a believer in the solipsist G. Berkeley in the history of philosophy. He actually believed that when people do not perceive an object, that object does not exist. But I'm confused by this question: Is this what it looks like when I don't see it? This question can be put another way: What form does an object or a landscape take when humans do not see it? We have no way of knowing how nature, or the world, exists before people see it. For example, a snow peak, what is its shape? What's the color like? ...Some people said: "It was the same as when we saw her later." I think this view cannot withstand analysis.

This view is not experience, but based on this reasoning: since I first saw that snow peak, if I see her again later, she still looks the same. Therefore, before humans have never seen her, , she should be the same as she is after we see her. But there are problems with this kind of reasoning. The problem lies in the fact that he sets some premises such as the sun does not change, the air does not change, and more importantly, people do not change. If these premises change, for example, you change, your The structure of the eyes has changed, and the appearance of Xuefeng will definitely change. It will definitely not be what you saw before. Therefore, it is a mystery what Xuefeng was like before humans came into contact with her. If an eagle hovers above her, the snowy peaks in the eagle's eyes may look one way; if a pika once looks towards her, the snowy peaks in the pika's eyes may look another way. This again involves adventure. What did a snowy peak look like before explorers came along? When the explorer first appears in front of this snowy peak, it is a very important moment. Because the explorer represents the entire human race at this time, because his physical structure and cultural background are consistent with ours (of course, if he is color blind, he cannot represent humanity). When an explorer encounters a snow peak, the scene is actually very ceremonial: the moment the explorer's eyes come into contact with the snow peak, the snow peak gains shape and color. At this time, the eternal mystery of "what Xuefeng was like before humans came into contact with her" suddenly slipped away. In the words of a philosopher: "Existence disappears, and beings appear." The explorer, on behalf of mankind, "shapes" and "gives color" to a snowy peak, turning existence into beings, turning mysteries into common sense, and letting the hidden It was revealed, and at this point, this snow peak is no longer mysterious. The greatest honor and pleasure of a mountaineer is to climb a virgin peak. In fact, the real virgin peak is not a peak that no one has climbed, but a peak that explorers have never seen. Any peak that an explorer has encountered is not considered a virgin peak. . I remembered the story of the Seven Fairies. The fairy who was taking a bath got dressed after being looked at by the cowherd boy. Most of the world we see is fairies in clothes. Only explorers go to the place closest to the fairies, which is the borderline between gods and humans. But fairies are fairies after all. The moment the explorers are about to see her, , and put on clothes. Therefore, the "risk" in the word "explorer" can be understood as "almost seeing the secret." This is what I understand to be the source of happiness for explorers, and it is also the inner driving force for explorers to run into hardships without fear of sacrifice. What kind of knower there is, what kind of world there is. When the explorer, the representative of mankind, has not arrived in front of a snow peak, what does the snow peak look like? In other words, what was the world like before humans appeared? When talking about the topic of ecological protection, people oppose anthropocentrism and hope that people can consider issues from the perspective of animals. But when it comes to what the world is, anthropocentrism has never been questioned. When philosophers in the past talked about what the world is, they mostly talked about the world as seen by humans. What philosophers say about "what the world is" actually means "what the world is to people". On this issue, it is absolutely anthropocentric. From Socrates' "man is the measure of all things" to Heidegger's "the world is a fourfold combination of heaven, earth, God and man", where is the place for animals? Once when I was resting by a glacier at the foot of Shishapangma Peak, I saw an eagle hovering in the clouds and mist. It broke through the clouds and mist, soaring over the top of the snow-capped mountains that sparkled like diamonds. Suddenly, it stopped, and then it dived almost vertically. I guessed it had found its prey. But at this moment, I was thinking: What does this snow peak look like in the eyes of an eagle? What kind of world does it see? What is the prey in its eyes? In my eyes, Shishapangma peak towers high in the clouds, and its snowy peak is a combination of several peaks. From one angle, the snowy peak looks like a pyramid, and from another angle, it looks like a sleeping beauty. The snow on the snow peaks is dazzlingly white. I am guessing, what is the shape and color of the snow peaks in the eyes of an eagle? The eagle's eyes are very magical. When it swoops down to catch prey, it can always focus accurately, otherwise it will not catch the prey. The eagle moves freely in its world, and it has a whole set of ways to deal with the world. Who can see the beautiful scenery on the mountain first? Before the explorers came to the snow-capped peaks, eagles had already appreciated the scenery here. Moreover, they will constantly switch flight directions to enjoy the snow-capped mountains from different angles, and even overlook the tops of the snow-capped mountains from high places. The snow-capped mountains in their eyes must be very different from those seen by explorers and us ordinary people. It should be said that they are the masters of the snow-capped mountains, or at least frequent visitors. Humans only send their representatives, explorers and mountaineers, to meet the snow-capped mountains and retrieve a world that is completely different from the world in the eyes of falcons. Isn't the world in the eyes of an eagle the same world? This world is completely different from the world in human eyes, but can we say that the world of eagles is unreal? Obviously not. The world in its eyes and the world in human eyes are equivalent in so-called authenticity, so two worlds appear. In fact, there are as many worlds as there are perceivers of life, and the patterns of the world are infinite. For example, a color-blind person has a world of his own, and no one is qualified to say that the real world is the world in his eyes. The question "What is the world?" can only be discussed among a group of creatures with the same physiological structure and the same culture. Once in Zhangjiajie, we were walking in the forest at night, and fireflies were twinkling in the forest. They look very happy, as if they are dancing, playing or gathering.

I was wondering, what does the world look like through the eyes of fireflies? Once again, in a cave in Sarawak, Malaysia, at dusk, the bats in the cave swarmed out, like a black smoke, curling out of the cave. In the morning, they returned like this. What is the night world of bats like? "Night" is our human concept, but it is exactly the "day" of bats. In recent years, some scientists have begun to pay attention to the world through the eyes of animals, and they have discovered many interesting phenomena. For example, a fish's eyes are like a wide-angle lens. In the fish's eyes, the world becomes a sphere, and the distance between various things becomes closer. Pigeons' eyes, for example, can distinguish millions of different colors. Birds have many more cones in their eyes than humans do, and they are also considered to be the best animals on earth at distinguishing colors. It is conceivable that the world seen by birds is much richer in color than the world seen by humans. The horse's field of vision is also extremely broad, but because the horse's eyes are located on both sides of the head, it cannot see the area between the two eyes, which is directly in front of the eyes, so the horse always lowers its head when walking. If we have a horse's field of vision, have you ever had this experience: when you want to "tease" a horse from behind, you are clearly standing behind it, but you are kicked very accurately by its hind legs. foot? Why? This is because its eyes can visually see to the back. Like herbivores such as cattle and sheep, horses have eyes on both sides of their skulls, but they protrude slightly outward. It is said to have the largest eyes and the widest field of view of any mammal on land - up to 360 degrees. When it is running on the vast grassland, its eyes do not have to "look left and right" like humans, and it can observe the presence of enemies and predators in all directions, and it can see what is behind it without turning around. If humans can have the vision of a horse, what kind of scenery will we see when we walk on the grassland again? Primroses in the eyes of bees Because of the different eye structures, different creatures will see completely different visual effects even if they face the same thing. This photo shows the visual comparison between the eyes of a human and a bee facing the same primrose. The primrose with fresh stamens and bright yellow petals seen by human eyes, in the eyes of bees, turns into a primrose with dark stamens and particularly eye-catching stamens. This is the result of the selection of light by the bee's eyes. Flowers of different colors will reflect different ranges and intensities of ultraviolet rays, which the human eye cannot identify, but bees are very good at it. It selects the flowers it loves by identifying these ultraviolet rays. But another question arises, which one of the primroses seen by humans and bees is real? Photography/Zhang Chao The world is the same as the medium. I have a colleague who always likes to view the world under a microscope, and has a whole set of ways to take pictures of what he sees under the microscope. I have seen his photos of sand from all over the world. It turns out that the sand in each place is different, and each grain of sand is also different. Some of the components of the sand are the remains of corals, some are tiny shells, some are mica, and some are glass. ...It is truly "one world is one grain of sand, one bodhi is one flower". This is a world brought to us by the medium of the microscope. “The medium is the message”, this is the view put forward by Canadian communication scientist McLuhan. This subverts the popular view in the past: in the past, it was believed that the media is a communication tool and only a means to achieve an end. Not really. The media will eventually become guest-oriented, and it will bring us a new world. What kind of media you use will determine what kind of world you will see. The media is the creator of the world. Of course, the "media" here is broad. Newspapers, radio, and television are media. Electric lights, mobile phones, computers, cars, and cameras can also be understood as media. Take the medium of a camera, for example. When you use it, it creates a new world for you. Different lenses such as wide-angle, standard, telephoto, and macro allow you to see different worlds. Our eyes are actually a standard lens, but a standard lens is just a type of camera lens. Telephoto lenses can compress the distant world and nearby objects together, making the distance between them appear shorter. I see many amazing images created by telephoto lenses. One night, photographer Lu Linglong took a very beautiful photo on the Zhaxika grassland in Shiqu County, Sichuan: several white-rumped deer standing on the hillside, with a bright full moon behind them. In fact, to the human eye, the white-rumped deer are white. The deer are still far away from the moon, but the telephoto lens superimposes several white-rumped deer on the moon, making them look like they are looking out from the moon. This is the difference between a telephoto lens and the human eye. If our human eyes could be like telephoto lenses, the world we see could also look like this. Nocturnal animals that rely on hearing and smelling activities. On a bright moonlit night, the photographer encountered several white-rumped deer in Shiqu County, Sichuan. Although they are not typical nocturnal animals, they are also accustomed to living in low light. Most animals that appear at night have sensitive senses of smell and hearing, although their eyes cannot distinguish colors. The way they perceive the world is incomprehensible to humans. For example, in the world of bats, the world is made up of various radar signals; while in the eyes of cats and dogs, the world is based on smell. Photography/Lu Linglong Air, water, glass, etc. are all media. In fact, the more important media than these is the sun. Plato has a famous metaphor in "The Republic": comparing humans to prisoners in a cave.

First, the prisoner in the cave couldn't turn his head. The world he thought he saw was actually just a shadow. It was the firelight behind that cast the shadows of the people and objects moving on the stage onto the cave wall. Later, the prisoner in the cave released his chains. He turned around and saw the fire behind him and the people and objects moving on the stage. But the world he saw at this time was still not real until he walked out of the cave and saw everything under the sun. Plato believed that only then did he see the real world. The fire is an artificial thing, and the light emitted by the fire is artificial light. The world illuminated by artificial light is unreal, and only the world illuminated by the sun is real. I think anyone who has been to a tourist cave would agree with Plato. Under the management of some lay people, some flashing lights are often placed in the cave, making the scenery in the cave look weird. When you walk out of the cave, you have a feeling of returning to the human world. Thanks to the invention of the electric light, night in the city has become like day. Now a new concept has emerged - light pollution. Although this concept was first proposed by astronomers because the proliferation of artificial light prevented them from observing the starry sky, this concept has now been expanded to all levels, and the proliferation of artificial light should arouse vigilance and resistance. Why don’t we consider sunlight but just artificial light as light pollution? My understanding is this: First of all, from the beginning of human development to the present, the world we see is a world presented under the illumination of the sun. One of the important reasons why we can communicate about the world and gain universal knowledge is that we have a different sun. This is the only standard by which humans measure all things. But artificial light is different from the sun. It is different and multifarious, and the world presented by it is naturally messy. If left to be messy, it will destroy our common understanding of the world. Furthermore, human eyes evolved from sunlight. What impact will artificial light have on the eyes? This is worthy of attention. X-rays that "see" all things Almost everyone has the experience of going to the hospital to take X-rays. This is an electromagnetic wave with short wavelength, high frequency, and can distinguish materials with different densities. It can use huge penetration It has the ability to "see through" many opaque substances and see scenes that are invisible to the human eye. Under its illumination, the originally brightly colored flowers with lush foliage suddenly lost their fresh life and became as static as a picture (above photo by Heinz Wuchner). If the flowers have a different kind of beauty because of this, when the human body is exposed to X-rays, only skeleton-like bones are left (photo below/Astapkovich Vlandimir). If God gave us all a pair of X-ray eyes, we would see such a world. After talking about the sun, let’s talk about the medium that spreads sunlight. The atmosphere we are in is called the troposphere, and the propagation of light in it is scattered by air, water vapor, dust, etc., so what we see is such a world. If you reach the upper stratosphere dozens of kilometers away, where the air is thin, everything will change. If it is in the higher ionized layer, smaller ions are distributed in the space. For example, the space where astronauts move is located in the ionized layer. The earth they see is blue, but the sky is black. I have not studied what everything will look like outside the atmosphere, nor have I looked up information on this aspect, but I am certain that it will be different from what we see on earth. Finally, what I want to say is that what the world is depends on at least the following factors: First, who is the knower? Second, what is the light source? Third, what is the medium? As long as one of these factors changes, the world will look different. Does it make sense for us to analyze it like this? At least it can eliminate our arrogance in thinking we have mastered the world and understand the real world. It can allow us to face the world humbly and with awe, admitting that besides my world, there are other people's worlds and even other living things. The world in my eyes. We can never grasp the mysteries of the world, and every time we think we have the chance to win, the secrets are already gone.