mankind at the crossroad between Paradise and Hell
Human beings were born together, and the whole mankind turns out to be one entity. It is just the world formed by mankind that has split mankind. What a foolish world! What a deceptive world! What a terrible world!
– Binstoc
Today，we are in a extremely precarious situation!!
After the cold war，what awaited mankind was not a peace all over the world, but instead, we have entered an even more dangerous age. While enjoying the happy moments brought about by high technology, we are also faced with numerous fatal disasters caused by mankind itself! The nuclear terror lasting for more than four decades has not disappeared, but on the contrary, the situation is getting harder and harder to control. Today，the nuclear weapons held by mankind are enough to destroy mankind a dozen of times or more! The monster made by mankind itself that is powerful enough to destroy mankind itself, was only used once right after its birth, and then, it seemed to have been “put on the shelf” and the world has calmed down. However, in fact, such things as nuclear contest, nuclear deterrent, nuclear terror, nuclear pollution, nuclear smuggle, nuclear accidents and so on，have never stopped! On December 19, 1998，Great Britain’s Economist weekly published an article, which held that the probability of a nuclear war is quite great in the coming 50 years. Along with the spreading of nuclear technology，making a nuclear bomb is no longer a very hard thing. According to a story published in America, an American college student designed a practical nuclear bomb in a homework. A 12-year-old German boy built a “minitype nuclear power plant” in the cellar of his home. Today, even poor countries such as India, Pakistan and North Korea have already made or been able to make their own nuclear weapons. Some countries seem to stay away from nuclear weapons，but have the ability to make them completely. For example, Japan can make a nuclear weapon just within a week. As we know，the more nuclear countries there are, the greater the likelihood of a nuclear war will be, and the harder for us to control the whole situation. When everyone is at swords’ points, even if no one provokes a nuclear war intentionally, a nuclear accident might be triggered by a wrong judgment by any party! For instance, a computer program error triggered the Early Warning System，which nearly led to pressing of the button of the nuclear-armed missile. If the button had been pressed, millions of people might have been killed and even the whole mankind might have been destroyed hence! Such an “accidental firing” is not rare at all!
Today, terrorism has become more rampant and ruthless, as it defies any moral and any rule，never gives a thought to prevention from hurting the innocent, and is all-pervasive in this globalized age! In the past，if someone said the Pentagon would be bombed and the World Trade Building would be razed to the ground, it would be certainly considered as nonsense. But the nonsense has become reality, turning into the earth-shaking 9.11 event. After the “9.11”, people have been thinking：What more else is impossible? Terrorists have already been regarded by us as evil，and once the evil kisses the fiend “nuclear”, what will happen? Information has shown that terrorists are very interested in the making of the atomic bomb. Moreover, nuclear smuggle, and spreading of nuclear matter and nuclear technology, has made it much easier to make a nuclear bomb, and they might start a nuclear explosion even without nuclear weapon. For example, if you use the same way as the “9.11” to bomb the nuclear arsenal, you may trigger an unprecedented nuclear explosion，putting mankind into a fatal nuclear disaster.
Mankind cannot afford a fatal nuclear disaster，even if it is once! What we have mentioned is just the nuclear weapon. Along with the fast development of high technology, biological weapons, chemical weapons, laser weapons, potential energy weapons, electronic weapons… all of them are making contributions to the perdition of mankind! In making weapons destroying mankind itself, we are really going at a tremendous pace! Scientist Hawking is not too afraid of the “9.11”, but after the panic caused by the anthrax bacterium, he thinks, only this will signify the greater disaster for mankind. What is more terrible than the nuke is the biological weapon, as it is more convenient to make, its price is much lower, it is called a “weapon of the poor”，and it is more suitable for mankind’s “suicide”. As the story goes，setting up a biological laboratory now only takes about three or four hundred Chinese dollars (RMB)，and this cost can be reduced continually.
British scientists are trying to make a “super virus” using human gene mixed with a virus very similar to the common cold virus. Such a virus has an extremely great power, and is very inconspicuous. You can never know who is attacking, when the attack began, and how powerful the attack is.
Scientists say, only 20g virus might “get rid of” all the 6 billion people of the world! If Shoko Asahara had put 20g toxic heat virus in the subway of Tokyo instead of the toxic gas, mankind would have perished!
Needless to say, the “gift” brought about by the flying development of technology is the unprecedented rise of efficiency in mankind’s self-killing. The atomic bomb has raised the efficiency of self-killing to such a degree that it can wipe out all people in an instant, and the biological weapon has further raised this power, with a great drop in cost as well.
Technological theurgy may be used for destroying ourselves：Either through a nuclear war to wipe out all human beings instantly, or through unscrupulous use of atomic technology to destroy our own homestead，or through the use of a virus to poison our own heredity and cause it to degenerate…
I do not know how to describe mankind’s “wisdom”: While mastering all kinds of skills and methods to improve our own living conditions greatly, we have been vying with each other madly in inventing all kinds of means to destroy ourselves at one stroke!
Someone takes the earth as a ship sailing in space. All earthmen are taking this ship together. This seems to be very fine, but it is a “drunkards’ ship”. Many passengers on the ship are drunkards or madmen，some are shooting each other，some are digging holes on the ship, some are steering the ship madly toward a reef… On such a ship, there are all kinds of hidden crises, and disasters may occur at any moment. Isn’t it the picture of the human world? There are great shadows of war，there are bloodcurdling dark clouds, there are ruinous ecological damages… Everything is so terrible, so hard to predict, and so hard to control!
The root of all such crises can be generalized into two principal aspects：mis-use of high technology, and self-killing of mankind. Those are the root causes of mankind’s “going down directly to Hell”. All disastrous consequences can find answers from these two aspects.
To change such a terrible situation，mankind’s only hope lies in making the right choice. The right choice can only be：Let high technology serve high humanity，and integrate with high humanity harmoniously；Meanwhile, turn the mutual intriguing and mutual killing of mankind into working together in sincere cooperation! All these will depend on a new culture!
Only by the new culture can we turn science and technology into the most humane science and technology，and turn inhumane and lowly humane high technology into high technology with high humanity. Becoming immortal together is the greatest pursuance with high humanity. The ideal to become immortal together contains a spirit of high humanity，sparkles with the splendor of high humanity, and gives people the greatest and most profound ultimate care. Only from the standpoint of highest respect of humanity can we have such an ideal. It means a pursuit of active evolution of mankind, that is, face the deepest tribulation and tragedy of mankind as is shown in the normal process of birth, aging, disease and death，and apply the magical power of science and technology to the pursuit of the truly greatest happiness and interest of mankind. In the present 21st century，we must turn high technology from the orientation of killing and annihilating human life to the orientation of prolonging and upgrading human life, and turn the economic center from the traditional “basic necessities of life” to more profound humanity areas such as “birth, aging, disease and death”. The real way out for the high technology in the 21st century is to attain such high humanity goals as “rejuvenation”, “living forever”, “omniscience and omnipotence”, “daylong ecstasy” and so on, namely, to become “gods”. It is also the real way out for mankind.
Only by the new culture can we turn mankind’s situation of mutual distrust and mutual killing into a prospect of walking hand in hand and helping each other towards the same goal! Everything in the human world centers around the interest. “There is no eternal friend，nor eternal enemy, but only eternal interest”. That is a steadfast truth remaining unchanged through all ages. Just because of interest，we may see such things in international relations：Two parties with fierce hatred to each other suddenly shake hands and make up, whereas two parties in complete rapport turn hostile to each other in an instant. Everything can be changed, and the cause of change is just “interest”. Today，human beings have not built up a common interest and a common goal，and nor have they become aware of their common interest and common goal. With the new culture，the whole mankind will be able to realize the common interest and common goal, that is, becoming “gods”. It is also the longest (even eternal) common interest and common goal of mankind. Then, this “spaceship” of ours will have a clear course，not be dizzy and giddy like a drunkard, but will ride the wind and cleave the waves forward until the Paradise!
Binstoc said sadly but also hopefully: “Human beings were born together, and the whole mankind turns out to be one entity. It is just the world formed by mankind that has split mankind. What a foolish world! What a deceptive world! What a terrible world!” To change the extremely foolish, deceptive and terrible world resulting from “splitting of mankind”, and to re-unite mankind as a whole, we must rely on the birth of a new culture that represents an interest higher than the national interest or the interest of an ethnic group, that is, mankind’s interest. Once the god-becoming ideal representing the common interest and common ideal of the whole mankind becomes the common ideal of the whole mankind, and once the god-becoming culture becomes the common culture of all human beings, then, mankind will come together easily, cooperate closely with each other and live in harmony forever, and self-killing tragedies will no long occur!
Today’s mankind is just at the crossroad between Paradise and Hell. On the one hand, it is beset with crises; but on the other hand, it is full of hope, too! Once mankind changes the use of the magical power of high technology from evil purposes to good purposes, all great ideals of mankind may come true! All the goals mentioned in this book, such as optimization of birth through technology, optimization of education through technology, optimization of body through technology, longevity in a straight way or in a tortuous way, perfection of the body preserving technology and perfection of the mind preserving technology… may be attained completely!
The key to the realization of the great ideal of mankind’s leaping into gods just lies in its Archimedean lever：high technology and mankind’s great union. If we do not rely on high technology，all such ideals as eternal life, daylong ecstasy, omniscience and omnipotence, supreme kindness and supreme beauty, will be pure illusions, without possibility to come true at all. Becoming “god” is the attractive and mysterious “other shore” while high technology and great union of mankind are the bridges or ships for reaching the other shore stably and efficiently.
So long as we can humanize high technology and build a great union for all mankind, we human beings may “go straight up to Paradise”, leaping into gods, so that everybody may live forever and keep happy forever；Meanwhile, only by humanization of high technology and great union of all mankind can we avoid “going down straight to Hell”, escaping from the perdition of the earth and mankind.
The greatest horror and greatest interest will certainly urge mankind to make the correct choice as soon as possible. Of course，it depends on mankind’s understanding of such a greatest horror and interest, depending on the degree of awareness of them. Hence，the most important and valuable work of a truly conscientious and far-sighted thinker, statesman or entrepreneur is to help the present mankind become aware of the greatest horror and greatest interest of its own, and find out the way to overcome the greatest horror and realize the greatest interest. The Second Declaration is just meant to make a contribution in this respect.
There are two groups of futurologists: the optimist and the pessimistic. These two groups of people just stand on their own side, quarrel with each other, and no one can convince the other. Wang Meng (famous Chinese writer) said, “I am a profound pessimist”, “The so-called profound pessimists mean those who know all the weak points of mankind，also know all the heavy burdens of our nation, knowing all the problems in our culture…” I am also a profound pessimist，but at the same time, a profound optimist as well. For I not only know all the weak points of mankind and all sorts of problems in our culture, but also know all the strong points of mankind and all kinds of resources in our culture, know how to get rid of mankind’s weak points, solve the problems in our culture, set up a whole set of new culture that may result in the birth of a new mankind and new world. Hence, I am optimistic，profoundly optimistic. To be accurate, I am an integrator of profound pessimism and profound optimism.
If mankind keeps on walking on the old road without change, it will “go straight down to Hell”；If mankind can awake to make a revolution, changing onto the new road, seeking the leap into gods, it will “go straight up to Heaven”!
Now，we are faced with a great choice between mankind’s total perdition and total happiness.
Mankind’s ideal to leap into immortals may both avoid mankind’s perdition and bring the highest happiness to mankind. Mankind’s pursuance of leap into gods is based on mankind’s deepest common interest，and accompanied by the loftiest functions, such as leading to great harmony and peace in the human world and controlling mankind’s future.
Hence，we are pessimistic about mankind, but at the same time, we are optimistic about mankind all the more.
Mankind will gradually become aware that its greatest mistake is neglecting itself and neglecting its own life.
The 21st century will be a century for mankind to care about itself，value its own life，and strive for the greatest freedom — limitless freedom of life!
Once mankind is clearly aware that becoming “gods” is the greatest interest and highest ideal that mankind should seek in deed, it will signify an unprecedentedly great awakening. And hence it will start up the great project of re-creation of world culture, the great project of re-creation of world politics and the great project of re-creation of world economy, in short, the project of re-creation of the whole world. Only in this way can we avoid mankind’s “going down straight to Hell”，and ensure mankind’s “going up straight to Heaven”.
[...] Broadband TV News wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptmankind at the crossroad between Paradise and Hell Human beings were born together, and the whole mankind turns out to be one entity. It is just the world formed by mankind that has split mankind. What a foolish world! What a deceptive world! What a terrible world! – Binstoc Today?we are in a extremely precarious situation!! After the cold war?what awaited mankind was not a peace all over the world, but instead, we have entered an even more dangerous age. While enjoying the happy moments br [...]