My take on Occupy Central

中文鏈接：「佔中如何收科」

It’s human nature to react emotionally rather than rationally whenever there’s some kind of mass disorder. The Occupy Central movement, misplaced in Admiralty, is of course no exception.

A friend has a valid point: Most if not all student movements have underlying reasons that we should not simply shrug off. So, what’s Occupy Central about, and what could be the extreme outcomes?

Underlying Frustrations

Hong Kong craves the reset button for a few reasons. Education (both at school AND home) is a key one. Having popularised the university degree in the 1990s, everyone feels entitled to a better job. Ironically, quantity has achieved the opposite. We now have many graduates aspiring to be managers, but stuck with making telephone sales calls. Today’s mainland China has many more poor kids. But they have dreams and hopes to soon become nouveau riches. Most of them are (relatively relatively) happy and self-driven. On the other hand, Hong Kong’s social permeability has dropped significantly. Poor kids feel stuck. Middle class ones growing up without having learnt to tie shoe laces feel their enormous sense of entitlement denied. They’re unhappy. 

佔中如何收科？

English link: [My take on Occupy Central]

當很多人被佔中騎劫了情緒之際，我想嘗試分析佔中之目的為何？而“最佳”和最壞的後果會是甚麼。

背後原因

佔中運動背後的外來因素量暫且不提，一群市民洶湧上街必定也有其內在原因。我認為（學校和家庭）教育可能是其中一個。港英撤走前把大學教育普及化，人人有學位，皆大歡喜。誰知學士太多，變成了社會問題。戴了四方帽，高不成低不就，造成了一代人的納悶。五六十年代的香港，像今天的大陸，肚子不餓，但不過份富裕的人，做人特別起勁。但今天的香港，不愁衣食，以為拿著文憑可以做經理，結果要電話推銷，心理不平衡可以想像。

Superstition in Science

「繁體版鏈接：科學迷信」

Two erudite correspondents have been engaged in a thought provoking e-mail debate over the merits of science. They both have taught science subjects at university level. One thinks science the most elegant approach to universal wisdom. The other regards it yet another grand human illusion.

I actually agree with both and, paradoxically, don’t think they have much disagreement in their passionately divergent viewpoints. Perhaps they’ve set aside a huge swathe of worldly commonality to expostulate over a philosophical posture? Academics and intellectuals love to do that you know.

There are ample examples how applied science and technology have improved the lives of many over the past century. Science could have been indisputably beneficial, had we not overused and misused it (once again!), rendering it destructive — self-destructive — to humans.

科學迷信

English link: [Superstition in Science]

兩位“筆友”，最近經電郵激烈辯論 “科學迷信” 這議題。一位認為科學是探索宇宙最高智慧的優雅手段。另一位認為科學無非人類又一偉大幻覺，與最終 “現實” 拉不上關係。兩位都是僑居海外的教授級學者，都曾經在大學教理工科。我覺得他們兩位的論點精辟， 而且分歧不大，只不過抓住了一兩個原則上的分叉，爭論一番而已。老九們，不論香臭，都有這份嗜好！

科學技術本身，當然可以載舟，可以覆舟。“實用科技”於過往一兩個世紀，的確曾經造福不少。但不知收手，直至好事變壞，是人類慣性。我們現在面對科技發達帶來的負面後果，事實上十分嚴峻，而且越來越難收科。