What Did Mozi Do?
It's better to do something and then regret it than to regret it later.
This description may not be entirely accurate, because even Grandmaster must adhere to certain bottom lines and know what to do and what not to do. However, within the bounds of principle, such a policy of action is indeed followed: boldly experimenting and carefully verifying.
Murong Qing added, "The duties of Grandmaster are different now than before. He no longer needs to oversee everything and command everything; he only needs to defend against external enemies and eliminate internal troubles. But this doesn't mean that becoming Grandmaster only requires meeting these two requirements. I think this is just the bottom line, the minimum standard. Yu Shuying might be able to do these two things, but she is still far from meeting everyone's expectations. As Grandmaster, why must he fight alone? Wouldn't it be better if he had many like-minded people?"
Si Ming slammed his hand on the table, excitedly saying, "That's right, that's it! The minimum standard, that's exactly what I wanted to say! Although she meets the Grandmaster's conditions, it doesn't mean she's the best candidate. So what we need to do next is make her fail completely, taste defeat, understand her shortcomings, and thus make changes."
Murong Qing blinked and suggested, "Actually, there's an even better way."
What method?
"Why not just bring in someone more suitable to be the Grandmaster?"
"Yes, that's one way to think about it, but where am I supposed to find candidates?"
Si Ming's gaze shifted and fixed on Murong Qing. He remembered that her master was also a member of the Heaven's Will Palace and had the qualification to recommend Grandmaster Candidate. Murong Qing was impeccable in terms of both character and talent and potential. Perhaps she lacked some flexibility in her personality, but she was just right for the position of Grandmaster of the Arbitrator.
It's like searching high and low without finding it, only to have it come to you effortlessly; it was far away yet right before your eyes!
Just as Si Ming was about to speak up and encourage him, Murong Qing spoke first.
"Why don't you just strive to become Grandmaster? That way, you can make Yu realize his shortcomings, and you can also personally avenge him. It's beneficial both publicly and privately. There's no better way."
"Uh... I'll do it myself?"
Si Ming was dumbfounded. He hadn't expected that after going around in circles, he would still find himself in a predicament.
He suddenly remembered a popular saying on the internet from his past life, "If you're so good, then you do it!"
Chapter 214 What is Mozi?
"Let me think it over."
Si Ming didn't readily agree. Although it would be very satisfying to personally teach Yu Shuying, it would be too impulsive to gamble his future just to vent his anger.
In his previous life, he was just a civil servant who drifted through life in a low-level government office, occasionally writing novels to earn some extra money. Overall, he was just an ordinary commoner. Asking him to compete for a position similar to the president of the country is simply asking the impossible.
After seeing Murong Qing off, he lay alone in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.
Murong Qing's words were like a flame falling on a haystack, burning him with an itch that he couldn't extinguish no matter how hard he tried.
"What are you thinking? You have neither the ability nor the responsibility, so why are you aiming too high and doing things beyond your capabilities?"
Si Ming repeatedly tried to convince himself to see the truth, not to be a fool, and not to take on a task beyond his capabilities. But that lingering thought, like a tenacious weed, took root and sprouted in his mind, impossible to eradicate no matter how hard he tried.
"Perhaps I can take a step back and not see becoming Grandmaster as my goal, but as a dream. If I think about it that way, it becomes much easier and not so unacceptable."
Goals are meant to be put into action and strive to achieve; failure is a setback in life.
But dreams don't matter. Even if you fail, it's not a setback, not even a blow. Who has ever realized their childhood dream?
It's a pity if dreams come true, but it's not a big deal if they don't.
Having dreams is a good thing; a person without dreams is no different from a salted fish. However, having dreams doesn't mean you have to realize them. Just looking at them from afar is also a valid attitude towards life.
"It's settled then! Becoming Grandmaster is my dream, but defeating Yu Shuying and outshining her is my goal. This will be the guiding principle for my future actions."
Si Ming rolled out of bed. After setting his goal, he felt full of energy and was so excited that he couldn't sleep.
He paced back and forth in the room, then picked up a notebook and began to write down his thoughts and solutions as he pondered.
After finishing these tasks, he turned his attention to the pile of books left behind by Murong Qing.
"Forget it, I'll just finish reading the remaining two-thirds, just to kill time, since I can't sleep anyway."
He continued to read about Mozi's theories and doctrines, and what he found shocked him— Mozi was far more powerful than he had imagined.
Mozi was not only a philosopher, logician, and craftsman with exceptional skills, but also a scientist, mathematician, and physicist.
In philosophy, Mozi believed that human knowledge can be divided into three sources: knowledge gained through hearing, knowledge gained through explanation, and knowledge gained through personal experience.
Leaving aside the concepts of "hearing" and "saying," which were present in the concepts of other philosophers, Mozi uniquely emphasized and valued "personal knowledge." This refers to knowledge gained through personal experience. He believed that judging the existence or non-existence of things should not be based on personal conjecture but on what others have seen and heard. He required Mohist to delve into the grassroots to understand the real needs of ordinary people, rather than engaging in lofty discussions all day long.
In modern terms, this means "seeking truth from facts" and "no right to speak without investigation."
In logic, Mozi established the ancient China logical thought system, summarizing the logical method of thinking as "to imitate the nature of all things, to discuss the analogy of various words, to use names to represent reality, to use words to express meaning, to use explanations to find the cause, to use categories to determine, and to use categories to give," which is equivalent to analogy in modern logic and is an important method of reasoning.
In addition, Mozi summarized various methods of reasoning, such as hypothetical statements, direct statements, selective statements, deduction, and induction, thus forming Mozi's dialectics into a well-organized and systematic system.
Later, this logical system was adopted by the School of School of Names, who regarded it as the standard and incorporated it into their own doctrines. This was another victory for Mozi, besides the Lu School, in defeating someone else in their area of expertise.
In science, Mozi proposed his own view of space and time. In the Mohist Canon, he explained that space is a concept that is inseparable from time, and that "Yu" is "Yu Xi", which is the area in which objects move.
After defining spacetime, Mozi further discussed whether spacetime is finite or infinite. Based on his theory of spacetime, he established his own theory of motion, unifying and linking time, space, and the motion of objects, and arguing that pure motion apart from spacetime does not exist.
In mathematics, Mozi proposed the definitions of "times", "equal length", "center", "circle" and "square" in the "Mohist Canon I", summarized and explained the concept of place value system, and proposed the principle of limit approximation (PS: Interestingly, in Ancient Greece at the same time, the famous philosopher Zeno proposed Zeno's Paradox, also known as the Tortoise Paradox, which is that a person can never catch up with a tortoise. This problem can be explained by the principle of limit approximation).
In mechanics, Mozi proposed that force is the cause of the accelerated motion of objects, that is, "Force is the reason why force is exerted." Later, in the "Mohist Canon I", he pointed out that force is equivalent to gravity, that is, "force is called weight", separating gravity from weight and believing that gravity and weight are not the same concept - this step was very close to the discovery of gravity.
Unfortunately, the environment at the time did not provide the corresponding physical foundation, nor was there a scientific atmosphere. In addition, as Grandmaster, Mozi could not concentrate on academic research, so the apple called "gravity" did not fall on his head.
In addition, he proposed the idea that "stopping is due to prolonged resistance; without prolonged resistance, an object will continue to move indefinitely." He believed that the cessation of an object's motion is due to the action of resistance, and that without resistance, an object would continue to move indefinitely.
Mozi proposed the law of levers, summarized the formula of lever arm, conducted optical experiments on pinhole imaging, studied plane mirrors and concave and convex mirrors, and derived the basic theory of geometric optics.
Mozi's craftsmanship was superb; even Gongshu Ban, revered as the Gongshu Ban of craftsmen in the story of "showing off one's skill before an expert," admitted his inferiority. The Mozi also records offensive and defensive equipment such as "cloud ladders," "suspended gates," "bellows," "carriages," and "light chariots."