[月] 2020-07-20 庚子年五月三十

So apparently people are storing code and seeds, amongst other things, in vaults in Svalbard, Norway, above the Arctic Circle. Meanwhile, a 'backup' of Wikipedia is planned to be sent to Mars. The rationale is 'insurance' against 'civilizational collapse' or simply a useful record for future people, including scientists, historians, scholars, and the like. It seems depressing to consider an event such as the possible collapse of modern civilization, but, perhaps such resources would be a great aid if such an event occurred. Knowledge, especially possibly 'rare' pre-collapse knowledge in the event of such a scenario, would be worth more than gold... One only has to look back to the collapse as occurred in medieval Europe after the loss of the Roman Empire's western half, to observe the great worth attached to any bit of prior knowledge.

據說有Github編碼存庫，在挪威斯瓦爾巴。還有斯瓦爾巴全球種子庫。然有維基百科之檔案，要往火星射。理念就是，若是「現代文明」被毀滅了，將來人們，以及學士者，可利用這些相關記載的知識，資源，來「從新啟動」社會知識的認證。雖然這樣想，很悲憂，若是有了這樣的歷史方向，應該會為未來人類使得了極大的幫助了。這種情況間就是，知識比黃金還貴重⋯⋯就看中世紀歐洲，羅馬帝國西部滅亡時，就知道知識有多麼珍貴。

It seems historians have attributed the medieval European Renaissance 'rebirth' of knowledge to a few factors, namely, firstly that the monasteries were centers for the preservation of knowledge, and perhaps more importantly, the preservation of 'classical knowledge' by the late Eastern Roman Empire (the 'Byzantine' Empire centered at Constantinople), and subsequently the preservation, translation, and advancement of knowledge during the Islamic Golden Ages. Presumably scholars would have fled Constantinople (today's Istanbul, Turkey) after the capture of the city by the Ottoman Empire. It's also become a sort of common historiography to say that 'the [Catholic] Church saved the knowledge of Europe' due to the role of the monasteries, especially during the early ages of the medieval era in Europe (the so-called 'Dark ages').

歷史學家好像對中世紀歐洲「文藝復興」有幾種原因解釋。其一，是天主教僧院間保留的知識。更重要就是晚期以君士坦丁堡為都城的東羅馬帝國（亦稱「拜占庭帝國」）和中世紀阿拉伯及伊斯蘭黃金時代傳寫、發展學術的。當奧斯曼帝國入君士坦丁堡都城時，許多學士者多逃離到義大利半島了。歷史書裡也常會寫「天主教堂救了歐洲的知識傳統」，因僧院的保留文件重要性，尤其在早期中世紀。

There's also a dissenting, or rather, a differently-focused school of thought that focuses on so-called 'Dark Ages' (not just the medieval European one) as moments of tenuous rebirth. Presumably, such a 'reset' allows a re-analysis, tabula rasa, of society's prior model. And was Europe 'better' after the medieval ages? It took a long time, but arguably, at least asking a modern European today, one would probably receive an answer that "life is better today" even when compared to the 'Golden Age' of the Roman Empire. For one, Roman slavery is abolished. The heavy aristocratic-peasant divide, and the heavy landowner vs. non-landowning divide perhaps contributed to the political instability of the western Roman Empire, as perhaps did currency inflation (ironically as a result perhaps of '大秦' having a trade imbalance with Han dynasty (漢朝) China?)... Even so, perhaps you argue, how was the medieval age better, with its serfdom? History is a long process...

另有學家認為，歷史間所謂的「黑暗時代」（不僅是中世紀歐洲的）並非缺有值得的看望的，而其可以實屬於一種文明「復興」的起源點。這一階段如社會模型從「白板」重新規劃，民眾以新眼界去理解社會，如此改進社會。歐洲在後期可以說是比中世紀更加「好」嗎？很久以後，問現代歐洲人，可能大部分會說「現時更好」，比「黃金時代羅馬帝國」過的都好。封建制度「貴族」、「封王」和「小農」差異，地主階級與無產階級差異（階級矛盾），使後期西羅馬帝國不穩定。也有說是貿易不平衡與貨幣貶值造成的，「大秦」和「大漢朝」貿易造成的⋯⋯可能看官會問到，那麼中世紀農奴制真比羅馬帝國時期奴隸制好嗎？當然，歷史過程是很長的⋯⋯

This is an issue faced by many surviving 'classical civilizations' today. One would argue, that obstensibly they are weighed down by the baggage of their past: past values, past social structures, and past culture. Is the past a source of strength and wisdom, or of weakness and dilapidation? Arguably, it is both. Ancient knowledge is not without profound truths and experiences, yet at the same time, it bears criticisms for the faults of ancient civilizations. Is it necessary to put 'modernity' and the 'ancient' and 'traditional' in opposition?

今世人間，所謂「文明古國」都在考驗一種問題：過去、古老的價值觀、社會模型、文化，是一種虛弱，還是一種智利？可能雙面分析都含有真實。古文化、知識當然有一定的真理、經驗，但同會因前期社會缺點而被批評。「現代」與「古老」、「傳統」的一定就要對立嗎？

Perhaps such an event as 'civilizational collapse', though unfortunate, would offer the opportunity many years from now for a better society. Though it could take centuries or even millenia for such efforts to bear fruit, the wisdom of the perspectives gained in the aftermath would be invaluable, even if sowed in great chaos...

也許這種「文明崩潰」，雖然感到很悲哀，在歷史遠視裡未來社會可更加改進的。既是災禍使得的，百年、千年之過，人類共同經驗、智利，是無比的。

Sorry to go into such a dark topic for merely the third blog post here... :/

抱歉，第三條內容寫的那麼陰暗⋯⋯