Monday, May 15, 2006

The Truth is Out There.... Or really?

Any X-File fan will recognize this tag line -- The truth is out there. However, I just came to a conclusion that there is no real truth in this world. All that we have is opinion. We may have some so called "evidence" to support our views, but in the end we still need to count on our judgement and decide what we want to believe. THERE IS NO TRUTH.

Just take Bible and Da Vince Code for example. Which book is telling the truth? For me, the question is irrelevant. Does it MATTER? We have no way of knowing the answer anyway. No one knows exactly what happened 2,000 years ago. Even with so called "prove" or "historical evidence", those are made or written by men, people just like you and me who are biased and subjective regardless how hard we try not to (sometimes people don't even try). On top of it, people will still believe whatever they like to believe, with or without any evidence whatsoever. The discussion will never end. EVIDENCE or FACT carry no importance here. What really matters is which book is more popular and can outsell the other one.

For years, I was trying to argue with people that God does not exist. There has been absolutely NO solid scientific evidence in this physical world to prove the existence of such divine concept. However, people continue to believe in this absurb concept, an invisible man who has all the power and loves you, your dogs, and everyone else but he just won't stop you from a heart attack or a fatel car accident. In US, the people believe in the concept of God outnumber those who don't approximately by 4:1. Bible is the all time best seller. It is arguably the most successful literature piece ever written by men. Arguing about evidences and facts are fruitless. It will not change a thing. It won’t get you anywhere.

What we really need is simply another best seller, something like Da Vince Code, to compete agaisnt Bible. It doesn’t matter if the book is historically accurate. As long as people are buying it, reading it, talking about it, and believing it, I will say it is accurate. The only weapon we have is best sellers like Da Vince Code.

The same thing goes with any other types of history. No one can clearly remember what they ate 5 days ago, let alone what happened 500 years ago. All we have is our less than perfect memory when it comes to what happened in the past. History is always written by the winners, an extremely sujective group of people. Losers’ view will never be presented as their version will never outsell the other side. Therefore, for any historical arguments, facts and evidences are also having a small impact.

Let's take Nan King Massacre for example, it is utterly useless to argue with Japanese right-wingers by presenting facts. People will believe what they WANT to believe. In fact, we don't need to persuade those right-wingers at all (we will never be able to anyway), and we just need to sell our version of the history to third parties, such as Americans, British, German, and etc,. How do do so? Once again, not by facts. All we need to do is the have a best seller, either a book or a movie that tells people the version of history we prefer. Mass media and pop culture allows you to reach millions, or even billions, in a rapid fashion. For example, the movie Schindler's List is 1,00o times more powerful than any discovery of so-called "hard evidence" regarding what German did against Jews. Schindler's List is such a great movie that it creates its own version of history. I, for one, believe in that version. For the same reason, all we need are best sellers!!!! Either books, or movies, or music, or anything!!! Cultural influence is the only way to go. That’s why I believe the so called "boycotting Japanese products" movement is childish and will achieve nothing. The easiest way to combat Japanese right-wingers is to raise enough money and ask Steven Spielberg to direct a movie called “Nan King massacre”. This is the easiest and most efficient way to end the arguement once for all. Oh, we do need to have a good screen writer to come up the script. :-D

哈哈,果然不出俺所料

汉芯作假啊。。。。没有悬念了。。。不过很奇怪的就是当事人居然没有任何刑事责任。。这可是赤裸裸的诈骗国有资产啊。。。很奇怪。。同样搞骗局的韩国科学家可是锒铛入狱了。。。

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上海交大通报“汉芯”系列芯片涉嫌造假的调查结论与处理意见
陈进被上海交大解除有关职务
国家有关部委决定追缴相应拨款和经费

  新华网上海5月12日电 上海交通大学12日向新华社记者通报了“汉芯”系列芯片涉嫌造假的调查结论与处理意见。调查显示,陈进在负责研制“汉芯”系列芯片过程中存在严重的造假和欺骗行为,以虚假科研成果欺骗了鉴定专家、上海交大、研究团队、地方政府和中央有关部委,欺骗了媒体和公众。上海交大决定,撤销陈进上海交大微电子学院院长职务;撤销陈进的教授职务任职资格,解除其教授聘用合同。科技部根据专家调查组的调查结论和国家科技计划管理有关规定,已决定终止陈进负责的科研项目的执行,追缴相关经费,取消陈进以后承担国家科技计划课题的资格;教育部决定撤销陈进“长江学者”称号,取消其享受政府特殊津贴的资格,追缴相应拨款;国家发展改革委决定终止陈进负责的高技术产业化项目的执行,追缴相关经费。
2005年12月,上海交大接到对微电子学院院长、汉芯科技有限公司总经理陈进等人涉嫌造假的举报后十分重视,立即对有关情况进行了初步调查。考虑到问题的严肃性和复杂性,上海交大随即请求国家权威部门对事件进行深入全面调查。
2006年1月28日,科技部、教育部和上海市政府成立专家调查组并开始工作。在其后两个多月的时间里,专家调查组本着客观公正、尊重科学、实事求是的精神,针对举报人对“汉芯”事件的举报内容,采取与举报人、当事人和相关人员面谈、现场查验技术文档、分析对比有关技术资料、查验芯片演示系统和调阅相关音像资料等方式方法,对“汉芯”系列一至四号芯片的设计过程和性能指标等进行了全面调查与核实。日前,科技部和教育部向上海交大转交了专家调查组的调查结论。
据调查,陈进负责的汉芯团队所研制的“汉芯一号”,是一款208只管脚封装的数字信号处理器(DSP)芯片,由于其结构简单,不能单独实现指纹识别和MP3播放等复杂演示功能。为了在上海市举办的新闻发布会上能够达到所需的宣传效果,陈进等预先安排在“汉芯一号”演示系统中使用了印有“汉芯”标识、具有144只管脚的芯片,而不是提供鉴定的208只管脚的“汉芯一号”芯片,调查表明,当时汉芯公司并没有研制出任何144只管脚的芯片,存在造假欺骗行为。
“汉芯二号”是受某公司委托定制的DSP软核,汉芯公司完成了设计实现,但核心技术不为其所有。“汉芯三号”是对“汉芯二号”的简单扩充,技术上与“汉芯二号”来源相同,由于缺乏必要的外围接口,不能独立实现复杂的应用,芯片实际情况与汉芯公司宣称的“已经达到国际高端的DSP设计水平”的说法不符,夸大了事实。“汉芯四号”是一款使用了其他公司中央处理器的单核系统芯片(SoC),不包含汉芯DSP核,与汉芯公司向有关部委提交的项目文件中关于“汉芯四号”是双核芯片的陈述不符,存在夸大欺骗行为。
根据上述调查结论,上海交大认为,陈进等人的行为完全背离了科技工作者、教育工作者基本的诚信操守和行为准则,严重违反了上海交大的校纪校规,违反了国家的有关规章制度,造成了极其恶劣的影响。为严肃学术规范、维护学术声誉,上海交大按照学校有关规定和程序,经研究决定:撤销陈进上海交大微电子学院院长职务;撤销陈进的教授职务任职资格,解除其教授聘用合同。
接有关部门通知,科技部根据专家调查组的调查结论和国家科技计划管理有关规定,已决定终止陈进负责的科研项目的执行,追缴相关经费,取消陈进以后承担国家科技计划课题的资格;教育部决定撤销陈进“长江学者”称号,取消其享受政府特殊津贴的资格,追缴相应拨款;国家发展改革委决定终止陈进负责的高技术产业化项目的执行,追缴相关经费。上海交大表示将坚决支持并将严格执行国家有关部委的决定。
上海交大表示,学校历来倡导求真务实的科学精神,反对任何形式的学术造假行为。今后,将进一步加强科研管理和对科技经费使用的监管,组织全体教职员工、科研人员深入学习“八荣八耻”社会主义荣辱观,树立诚信意识,加强学风和道德建设,大力弘扬创新进取、淡泊名利、脚踏实地、潜心科研的良好风尚,努力为国家的科技事业发展做出更大的贡献。(完)