Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 412 I'm teaching you how to be a good person!
Zhang Chao looked in the direction of the voice in surprise and found that it was the boss of an e-commerce platform - this platform once occupied more than 70% of the market share in China. Compared with it, other platforms are "others".

But it took Taobao only two years to reverse the ratio. Of course, this does not prevent him from sitting on the stage now. After all, with the continuous expansion of online shopping, even the scale of "others" is not small.

What's more, they have high aspirations and have never looked down on the homegrown normal school students.

Zhang Chao was not angry, but said in a very soothing tone: "I am just a novelist. Everyone makes more money than me and their companies are bigger than mine. I don't even know anything about business. I just want to be a hands-off boss...

How can I teach you seniors how to do things?"

Zhang Chao's words made the atmosphere a little more harmonious. Many people on the stage looked at each other and thought that this guy was not as tough as the legend said.

Especially the "big boss" who raised the question, he seemed a little complacent.

But Zhang Chao's subsequent words froze the smiles on everyone's faces: "I can't teach you how to do things, but I can teach you how to be a human being!"

If "I'm not interested in money" is just a joking statement and most people would just smile knowingly after hearing it; then this sentence is so offensive that even the best-mannered Xiao Ma Ge's face changed.

The "big boss" who had just raised the question could not help but shouted: "This is ridiculous, you are offending all of us!"

Because he was in such a hurry, he didn't even take the microphone, and his original voice sounded harsh and weird in the empty venue.

The host Xiao Sa's face turned pale. You know, if such a large meeting ends in an unpleasant situation, he, as the host, would be held responsible.

So he quickly tried to smooth things over, forcing a smile that was uglier than crying and said, "This sentence is even more outrageous - I guess Teacher Zhang Chao is joking with everyone again.

I mean, your sense of humor..."

Zhang Chao picked up the microphone and interrupted Xiao Sa: "I'm not joking this time. I'm telling the truth."

Xiao Sa's face was not only pale at this moment, but also began to turn red. He could only utter a meaningless "oh" from his mouth, and then he didn't know what to say next.

Zhang Chao didn't let him be embarrassed for too long and immediately drew everyone's attention to himself.

He said slowly, "I said I am a writer, everyone should have no objection to this, right?"

Of course no one is crazy enough to deny it and say "You're not!"

Zhang Chao continued: "One of the missions of writers is to provide a worldview for humanity through stories. People living in this world are like children walking in the dark, always trying to find a lamp. Writers are those who hold lanterns and tell stories.

When the grandmother tells her grandson "The Wolf is Coming", isn't she teaching him that honesty is the bottom line of life?

When a mother holds her child and says "Cinderella", she is actually quietly planting the seeds of good and evil. These invisible and intangible things are the worldview.

Even if it's a ghost story made up by Uncle Wang at the village head while drunk, saying that there was a white shadow swaying in the cemetery on the back mountain in the middle of the night, the people listening to the story would draw a map in their minds - don't go to the back mountain after dark.

In the crudest TV dramas, the routine of good guys being saved and bad guys suffering, isn't it telling the audience that hard work will be rewarded, and evil deeds will eventually lead to bitter consequences?

A good writer is like a house builder, using stories to build a framework for understanding the world; an ordinary writer is at least like a flashlight, illuminating a path to follow.

Even if the story is crooked, as long as someone listens to it, they will suddenly remember a sentence in the story on some lost night - oh, so this is what the world is like.

So I would like to ask everyone here, whose spiritual world was formed without the participation of literary works at all?"

After saying this, Zhang Chao paused and looked around the audience.

Some people saw his gaze and looked back at him calmly; some people saw his gaze and lowered their eyes or turned their heads away.

Zhang Chao then continued, "Providing a worldview for mankind is just about teaching people how to be human. I am just explaining my job, why would anyone find it offensive?"

Now everyone was speechless, and the "big boss" was even more speechless. He turned his head away angrily and didn't look at Zhang Chao.

Zhang Chao said: "Writers speak through their works. I think I have said enough in my novels about whether the Internet can make life better in the future, so there is no need to repeat it here.

What interests me more is the 'performance' that everyone has put on here today - please allow me to use this word to describe what everyone has just said.

I have no doubt about the sincerity of those who said these words, nor do I question your character. I can even say sincerely that it is precisely because the vast majority of Internet people have such sincerity and good intentions that we will definitely become the country with the most developed Internet economy in the world.

We will break through all kinds of shackles in the Internet era and truly "fly like a dragon in the sky."

Most of you here will have huge wealth that you can hardly imagine today - Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, someone here will be on par with them one day. "

Zhang Chao's words made people's blood boil. Bill Gates, Buffett, who are they?
In 2008, the assets of China's richest man were approximately 200 billion RMB, while the total wealth of Bill Gates and Buffett exceeded 600 billion US dollars. The two are not on the same level at all.

Zhang Chao said that a wealthy man as rich as the two of them would be born here, which felt even more sci-fi than the novels he wrote.

Xiao Sa came to his senses at this time and said to Zhang Chao: "It seems that Teacher Zhang Chao has confidence in us, so why did he say 'distrust' before?"

Zhang Chao glanced at Xiao Sa and replied, "My confidence in the Internet making life better comes from my understanding of the revolutionary nature of the technology itself; my distrust comes from my doubts about people's ability to resist human weaknesses.

This may be my instinct as a writer.”

Xiao Sa was helpless, thinking that you are a writer and you are right, but why can't you say something kind to promote unity? Such a conference is originally a place for bragging, who would be a good person to "speak the truth" in such a place?

But Zhang Chao has already opened his mouth, how can most people shut it off?
Zhang Chao continued, "When we spoke just now, everyone seemed like a group of prophets standing on the top of a mountain overlooking the world, weaving a blueprint of 'connectivity', 'openness' and 'inclusiveness' with idealistic words.

These words will only reinforce the public's romantic imagination of the nature of the Internet, and they will overestimate the neutrality of technology. It's like a group of people who have just built a new house standing at the door and calling out to their neighbors, "Come on, our house is bright and fair, and anyone can come in and live!"

But later when I came in, I found that the so-called "shared hall" had actually locked up the best rooms for myself. We now think that the Internet is a panacea that can automatically eliminate the unfairness in the world, but we don't realize that we are creating new unfairness.

Taking what you just said, I would like to ask -

When people say that online shopping platforms make it easy to do business, can they prevent the service fees and promotion costs of the platforms from exceeding the costs of physical stores in the future?

When it is said that social platforms can 'bridge the geographic divide', can they prevent such recommendations from evolving into a battle for user attention in the future?

When it comes to using algorithms to "connect life stories," can it be possible in the future to prevent cancer patients from seeing medical advertisements that are prioritized through bidding?
When we ask every company to "invest 1% of its profits into network security," can we avoid using users' security data as a bargaining chip in negotiations with other companies in the future?
……

I won’t list more.”

Zhang Chao’s words immediately aroused dissatisfaction among all the guests on the stage, but each had his own dissatisfaction - the guests who were "called out by name" thought that Zhang Chao was exaggerating and asked how their company could possibly do such a thing?

The guests who were not "called out" were even more dissatisfied. These people were all smart, their brains worked faster than each other, and they immediately found something wrong -

You mean that only the companies you just listed have a "future", what about us?

Also, why does the "future" you mentioned sound so "delicious"?

So immediately a mobile browser founder said: "I advise you to list them!"

Zhang Chao glanced at him and did not answer directly. Instead, he changed to a relaxed tone and said, "In fact, the principle here is very simple. Let me tell you two stories.

The first story is about a woodcutter who found a sharp axe at the foot of a mountain. The axe could easily chop down the hardest trees and even break stones. So he excitedly told the villagers that this weapon could be used to build wooden houses for every household in the village.

But when people asked if they could lend them their axe, the woodcutter gripped the axe handle even tighter.

These words made half of the people on the stage look unhappy. They certainly understood the hidden meaning of this fable - when Internet companies claim to "break the information island", they are actually using the axe of data to chop the foundation of traditional industries, but they firmly hold the ownership of the axe in their hands.

Xiao Sa couldn't stand it anymore. He just wanted to finish Zhang Chao's speech as soon as possible, so he asked directly: "What about the second story?"

Zhang Chao said slowly, "Once upon a time, there was a river with a wobbly suspension bridge on it. Only one person could cross the bridge at a time, which was very inefficient. One day, a man came and said he could build a new bridge for everyone, and everyone could cross the bridge for free."

Xiao Sa said: "This...isn't this a good thing?"

Zhang Chao said: "Of course it's a good thing. But he has two conditions - the first is to burn down the original suspension bridge; the second is that people can cross for free, but luggage is not free, and even the clothes on the body must be taken off and weighed.

Of course, he only mentioned the first condition before the bridge was built; he mentioned the second condition after the bridge was built. "

Xiao Sa: "...So, what you want to say is..."

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "Do you really have to make everything clear to me?

In fact, what I want to say in the first story is that humans are always inventing new tools to solve problems, but human problems have not decreased, because the speed of human nature updating is much slower than the speed of tool updating.

Don't regard anyone as a savior, thinking that the Internet can automatically solve all social problems. When you say "let data flow like water", does the water flow to your own reservoir? When you say you want to "eliminate middlemen", do you end up becoming the biggest middleman?

When people say they want to "reshape social networking," do they also want to reshape the way ads are delivered? When people say they want to "protect privacy," does that mean that user privacy itself has become one of their products?

It’s like the casino owner saying, ‘I’m here to help you get rich,’ but the dealer never loses.”

Xiao Sa's face no longer had a smile that was uglier than crying. He was left with a look of despair. But since the conversation had come to this point, he couldn't help but continue asking, "What about the second story?"

Zhang Chao still smiled brightly and said, "The second story is even simpler - there is no free lunch in the world. Free things are often the most expensive. When building a new bridge, don't let people burn down the old one.

The Internet has indeed made life more convenient, but this convenience comes at a price—not just money, but also our privacy, choice, and bargaining power. Since no one is willing to break this window paper, I will be the kid who says "The king is naked."

I have said that I believe in everyone's sincerity now. But as long as the technology is advanced enough, the business will naturally produce various economic and social benefits. But the facts also tell us that when a company becomes a giant, technology becomes a rope that binds people. "

When Zhang Chao said this, the scene fell into a long silence. Whether it was the "big guys" on the stage, the "little guys" in the audience, or the reporters and the audience, they all began to think for themselves.

Zhang Chao is really ruthless. You have to know that he owns two major social media platforms, Weibo and WeChat. Although their scale is far smaller than Penguin's 8 million, they are already considered the most competitive challengers to Penguin's dominance in social media.

You have to know that unlike Penguin, the users of Weibo and WeChat are too young, elite, and have strong purchasing power. This is a piece of fat meat that everyone in the Internet market wants to bite off.

After Zhang Chao said this today, does that mean his "Chaotide Culture" will no longer be doing these businesses in the future?
Or is this another attempt to market your own product? This track is too niche, I can’t keep up, I can’t keep up…

Xiao Sa could only continue to complete his work as a host at this time: "Teacher Zhang Chao's words are indeed thought-provoking, but as you said yourself, the future of China's Internet must be bright!"

Zhang Chao said: "Of course. I am not saying this today to deny the value of the Internet or to question your character. Instead, I want to remind everyone that when we are forging the key to the new world, we should not let it become shackles to lock others.

The woodcutter in the first story will eventually find that the tightly gripped axe handle will cause blisters on his hands and he will no longer be able to hold the axe; the bridge builder in the second story will sooner or later see that a new ferry will appear on the river, and travelers will even build a new bridge themselves.

I said earlier that the writer's mission is to hold up a lantern and tell stories; your responsibility is similar, which is to make the torch of technology illuminate the road ahead without burning those who walk under it. "

After Zhang Chao finished speaking, there was a deafening applause from the audience.

(End of this chapter)