Cleaning digital archives feels like beachcombing at twilight – countless shards of memories wash ashore with each wave, their edges softened by time’s tides. We kneel to collect these cognitive mollusks, knowing most will crumble at a touch, yet still hoping to find one whorled chamber intact enough to whisper forgotten thoughts.
The library is about to close. I’ll use these twenty minutes to document some peculiar/naive thoughts.
Earlier at Berkeley’s physics department, I met a senior from an affluent European family – the type who transferred from Stanford to Berkeley out of ennui. While some classmates and I were collecting plastics along the California coast, social media showed her cruising around Oceania… This isn’t judgment, but rather contemplation about how the Pacific connected us all – free spirits of various backgrounds worldwide, bound by shared challenges between our continents: plastics, acid rain, warming climates, and the natural contradictions we inherit.
Walking through San Francisco yesterday reminded me of a statistic heard months ago: in the Bay Area, the number of millionaires nearly equals that of the homeless.
This paints a peculiar portrait of our modern civilization.
Responsibly, this is all I can articulate.
These reflections emerge from evaluating my extracurricular science outreach work. Fundamentally, they stem from questioning: How should we perceive the relationship between scientific knowledge, natural laws, and human existence?
Is science merely cocktail party chatter? A social label to forge or sever connections? When did I start viewing this – the sole truth I once pursued through sleepless nights – in such terms? When did comfort make me forget science’s true challenges and power?
I recall transformative energies from a century ago that still shape us today. There exists stark contrast between humanity’s revolutionary potential and our material limitations.
Guiding social transformation through physics – even through science fiction – may prove contentious. If I solely emphasize individual insignificance to all who respect or inquire about my work, my voice might inadvertently aid those who intellectualize elitism, eroding our species’ unity and creativity.
Yet every person can contribute meaningfully. This conviction forms the bedrock of any hopeful future.
“Humankind is capable of greatness.”
Yourong Frank Wang 