Colorful Technology Encyclopedia. Volume 4, People and Intelligence

Author: Guo Muyi
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-10-01
Features: This is a color-illustrated encyclopedia of science and technology designed for a broad audience. It attempts to paint a panoramic picture of the natural world and the world of human-made objects from the perspective of contemporary science, providing readers with a comprehensive overview of modern scientific and technological knowledge. This volume focuses on the chapter "Humans and Intelligence," starting from the human body system, it describes in an accessible manner the current understanding of the human body and human intelligence, as well as related technological achievements, showcasing the main products and history of human scientific and technological inventions.
This is a color-illustrated encyclopedia of science and technology designed for the general public with basic education, attempting to paint a panoramic picture of the natural world and the world of human-made objects from the perspective of contemporary science, providing readers with a comprehensive overview of modern scientific and technological knowledge. It is well known that as human civilization has developed to this day, science and technology have become highly advanced and closely integrated. The development of a nation, the progress of society, and the lives of its people all depend on the advancement of science and technology, as well as the public's understanding and mastery of it. History has proven that science and technology are an ever-updating, dynamic knowledge system, a comprehensive and interconnected cultural knowledge framework, and a treasure trove of human knowledge that can be transformed into powerful practical forces. The extent to which a nation or a people draw strength from this knowledge treasure depends on the depth and breadth of understanding and mastery of this knowledge system by its members, as well as the speed and degree of knowledge updates through this information system.
To understand and master science and technology, one needs to have a certain depth and breadth of knowledge about the scientific and technological knowledge system, meaning a fundamental understanding of its essence after grasping its overall outline. At the same time, it is necessary to develop a knowledge structure that matches this system to enable timely knowledge updates. Only in this way can one acquire the ability to use basic scientific perspectives to understand various phenomena in nature and related scientific and technological issues in society, and make corresponding decisions, thereby becoming a scientifically literate person.
Given the vastness and depth of the scientific and technological knowledge system, and its continuous renewal and expansion, no one, even the most gifted individual, can master every aspect of it in a lifetime. However, modern society requires every worker to have a certain level of scientific literacy and demands that every citizen have a general understanding of this vast knowledge system. This general understanding serves as the foundation for comprehending science (understanding its perspectives, methods, and spirit) and for learning (gathering more information and updating knowledge). Only with this general understanding can one achieve correct and deeper comprehension. Without this basic grasp of the outline, one may see only the trees and miss the forest, making it difficult to establish scientific perspectives, methods, and spirit when addressing problems.
Therefore, there is a need for books that introduce the general overview of scientific and technological knowledge to the public, and it is best if such introductions are encyclopedic—providing concise summaries of knowledge while also serving as reading and reference materials. This is the original intention of the editorial board and the publisher in compiling this illustrated encyclopedia.
As early as 90 years ago, a group of young scholars in China recognized that "science does not refer to a single chemistry, physics, or biology," and that "introducing science without starting from the fundamentals is like encountering a rare flower on the road, picking its branches and leaves while leaving its roots behind—without this, the flower cannot thrive and continue to grow" (as stated by Ren Hongjun). To this end, they founded the Science magazine in 1915, beginning a systematic effort to disseminate science as a complete knowledge system in China. To further advance this cause, they also collaborated to translate the English-language, science-overview work The Outline of Science, a four-volume set titled The Outline of Science, published between 1923 and 1924 by the Commercial Press. The publication of this science-overview work played a significant role in science dissemination and guidance in China, where school science education was still weak at the time, helping many aspiring young people understand the basics and overview of science, making up an important lesson in their lives.
After Science was revived in 1985, the editorial board and editorial team increasingly appreciated the foresight of their predecessors in founding Science and translating The Outline of Science, starting from the fundamentals to "introduce science." They realized that to draw on the essence of advanced modern scientific culture and improve the scientific and cultural literacy of all workers, serious efforts were still needed to introduce the general overview of science and technology. This led to the editorial team of Science magazine proposing the compilation of this book, the publisher of Science—Shanghai Scientific and Technical Publishers—selecting this topic, which was later included in the national key book planning for the "Nineth Five-Year Plan" and the "Tenth Five-Year Plan." This also led to the collaboration in publishing between Shanghai Scientific and Technical Publishers and Shanghai Science and Technology Education Press, as well as the active participation of many editors and authors from both Science and the two publishers. After nearly a decade of joint efforts from all parties, this illustrated encyclopedia has finally been published.
To facilitate reading and comprehension, the arrangement of this encyclopedia breaks away from traditional disciplinary systems. The book is divided into five volumes: Volume I, The Universe; Volume II, The Earth; Volume III, Life; Volume IV, Humans and Intelligence; Volume V, Machines and Technology. The first four volumes describe the current understanding of contemporary science regarding the material world, the Earth system, the life system, and the human body system, along with related technological achievements. The final volume focuses on showcasing the main products and history of human scientific and technological inventions.
To provide an accessible and in-depth description starting from real-world objects, the selection of entries in each volume is based on objective objects (natural or human-made) that humans have discovered, rather than purely theoretical abstract concepts. The content of each entry is presented in two ways: explanatory text and illustrative diagrams, with the aim of making them complementary and visually engaging. The themes of the entries are described in an interdisciplinary, comprehensive, and exploratory manner, and important theoretical concepts are also introduced and explained as necessary. These design choices and efforts are made with the hope of helping readers outline the basic contours of modern scientific and technological boundaries.
However, it is not an easy task to outline these contours comprehensively and make them easily understandable to the general public. For example, to determine the content of all entries in line with the original intent of compiling this encyclopedia, it is necessary to clarify what constitutes the knowledge structure of scientific literacy, especially the knowledge structure of scientific literacy for contemporary Chinese citizens. This requires specialized research. Additionally, to illustrate each theme with colorful diagrams requires a deep understanding of scientific content as well as good artistic creativity, which are often difficult to combine in scholars and editors involved in the compilation.
Therefore, this completed compilation undoubtedly has many shortcomings, and it is hoped that the broad readership and all relevant parties will provide valuable feedback and suggestions after reading it to improve the work.
With the goal of improving the scientific literacy of the public in mind, disseminating the scientific and technological knowledge system "starting from the fundamentals" is a long and arduous task. The compilers sincerely hope that the publication of this illustrated encyclopedia will contribute to this effort, and that it will have the opportunity to further improve the compilation level and better serve the readers after incorporating feedback and suggestions!