Perhaps All of Humanity’s Problems Stem from One Simple Question of Common Sense: Do We Actually Know What Civilization Is?

From more than twenty years of repeatedly writing to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, to Letters to Every Person in the World, and then to my open letter to President Trump, I have always been trying to convey one single point:

Humanity has always pursued civilization, yet it has never truly figured out what civilization is. This, I believe, is the deepest root of all humanity’s problems.

（附后有本文的中文原文——The original Chinese text follows below）

By Jin Guyu

There is an extremely ordinary piece of common sense that virtually everyone understands:

If you genuinely want to do something well, you must truly understand what that thing is, and you must also understand the paths, methods, and underlying principles by which it can be done well.

Nothing could sound simpler.

Yet when this common sense is applied to “civilization,” humanity seems never to have confronted it seriously.

Human civilization is, in essence, a social achievement gradually created because human beings became better than other animals at cooperation.

Humanity has always wanted to make civilization work well.

Yet for thousands of years, we have never truly succeeded.

War has not disappeared. Mutual harm has not ceased. Social divisions repeatedly reopen. Institutions are rebuilt, only to lose their balance again. Individuals, groups, and nations continue to oscillate between cooperation and confrontation.

This leads to the simplest possible question:

If humanity truly knows what civilization is—if we truly understand how civilization should operate, how it should evolve, and how it can be made to work well—why do we keep falling into the same problems again and again?

That is why I have continued to follow this most elementary piece of common sense downward, asking one question after another.

I did not begin with abstract terminology. I tried instead to search for answers in the common patterns that emerge from civilization’s countless concrete affairs, actions, relationships, and details of development.

It was by following this path that I gradually formed my own understanding of the essential nature of civilization and the laws governing its evolution.

Once I had formed such an understanding, I came to believe that it could not belong to me alone.

Civilization is not the concern of one scholar. It is not the concern of one country. Nor is it the concern of one social class.

Civilization is the integrated pattern that continuously emerges from every concrete thing every human being does every day—through cooperation, conflict, order, choice, and consequence.

It is therefore, by its very nature, everyone’s concern.

This is why, for more than twenty years, I wrote repeatedly, almost every year, to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Later, whenever I had a lawful opportunity to express myself, I continued writing Letters to Every Person in the World: to governments, international organizations, research institutions and think tanks, influential figures in relevant fields, and especially researchers and decision-makers working in artificial intelligence—eventually culminating in an open letter to President Trump.

I did so because I became increasingly convinced of one thing:

Civilization is not an abstract concept floating above human life.

Civilization is the integrated pattern produced as everything every person does throughout a lifetime unfolds, accumulates, and interacts with everything else.

Its outward forms are extraordinarily diverse, but its underlying patterns display a high degree of commonality.

And that commonality must necessarily manifest itself in the unfolding of every matter, at every level, and in every detail.

When human beings first opened their eyes to understand the world, all we could see were appearances.

Humanity therefore had no choice but to pick up fragments of connection, little by little, from an immensely complex world of appearances, gradually moving closer to the laws and truths beneath them.

For thousands of years, humanity’s achievements in exploring civilization have still appeared like scattered fragments of truth.

But I believe that today is different from the past.

Enough of those fragments have accumulated that we can begin to see something:

Behind the evolution of different countries, different institutions, different cultures, different historical periods, and different concrete affairs throughout human civilization, there may in fact exist a highly consistent set of underlying patterns.

I summarize what I understand to be the essence of civilization in nine Chinese characters:

Grasp the process; build the model; seek balance.
(抓程序、做模式、求平衡)

I summarize the civilizational characteristics of concrete human behavior in eight Chinese characters:

Take order as the guiding principle; follow sequence to determine proper measure.
(以序为纲、循序定度)

I am not asking anyone to believe in advance that these seventeen Chinese characters are correct.

Quite the opposite.

What I am actually calling for is this:

For the first time, let the essential nature of civilization itself formally become an object that all humanity jointly examines, tests, and debates.

In my view, humanity may now be only one genuinely global conference away from taking this step.

Not another conference about the interests of one country, one war, one technology, or the relative merits of one political system over another.

A conference devoted instead to three questions:

What, fundamentally, is civilization?

Does civilization possess common underlying laws?

Can humanity establish a set of civilizational standards that can be jointly examined and tested?

Even if such a conference ultimately proved my own conclusions entirely wrong, it would still be immensely valuable.

For it could at least cause humanity, perhaps for the first time, to recognize that:

Finding out what civilization actually is may itself be the most important task among all the matters humanity faces today.

And there is a reason this question has now become more urgent than ever:

The age of SI has arrived.

For thousands of years, humanity could afford to proceed by trial and error, slowly feeling its way forward without knowing the essential truth of civilization.

Superintelligence is changing that.

For the first time, humanity is confronting powerful intelligent systems that we ourselves may be capable of creating, yet whose detailed internal operations we may not be able to fully understand.

There is nothing ridiculous about fearing this.

But the real danger is something else:

Even while humanity is afraid, we continue to push toward more powerful intelligence using value systems, competitive logic, and jungle-like modes of thinking that we ourselves have not yet upgraded.

To me, this is like a monkey that accidentally discovers an airplane and climbs into the cockpit. Without yet truly understanding the principles of flight, it begins desperately pulling the aircraft toward an altitude of ten thousand meters, driven by stimulation, excitement, and fear.

The danger is not the aircraft itself.

The danger is this:

The cognitive system operating it has not caught up with the power it has acquired.

Today, with the help of SI, humanity is magnifying—perhaps by hundreds or thousands of times—the competitive capacity, controlling capacity, strategic capacity, and even the capacity for mutual struggle and harm already possessed by individuals, organizations, and nations.

At the same time, however, humanity may not be able to transcend with equal speed the limits imposed by our senses, experience, and short-term interests.

Still less is it certain that we will first use SI to magnify the kind of civilizational wisdom that can emerge only through cooperation.

That is what truly concerns me.

For this reason, the transformation humanity faces today is not simply another ordinary historical crossroads.

It is unlike any previous technological revolution, institutional revolution, or industrial revolution.

Humanity may no longer be standing at a crossroads looking left and right. We may already have reached the end of the road we have been travelling.

If we continue choosing only left, right, forward, or backward within the old coordinate system, perhaps there is nowhere left to go.

That is why I say:

The real way forward for civilization no longer lies to the left, right, front, or rear. It lies above. Humanity must raise its eyes to the heavens and upgrade human civilization.

Human beings themselves, and the civilization human beings have created, are not, in essence, isolated and static “things.”

At a more fundamental level, they appear more like process-based structures: cosmic energy gives rise to processes; processes form combinations; combinations form cooperative patterns; and from them emerge structured modes of organization.

This is the commonsense starting point of what I call the Hypothesis of the Law of Process-Determined Qualities.

From this starting point, I further derive the understanding of civilization described above, as well as a possible direction for how humanity might genuinely learn to do civilization well.

I have already published a number of outline articles online explaining parts of this framework.

Yet to this day, I still lack a platform on which I can fully explain what I mean and analyze in detail human affairs that appear to occupy the same space and time, yet reveal entirely different realities when observed from different dimensions.

Perhaps, however, I no longer need to say very much myself. It may be enough if influential people can help initiate a serious human discussion—or convene an international conference—to jointly examine what civilization fundamentally is and what laws govern its evolution, and to test the Hypothesis of the Law of Process-Determined Qualities proposed in the articles I have already published.

Humanity can, of course, construct many theoretical dimensions through which to understand the world.

But in my view, given the present limits of human senses and cognition, our most fundamental practical perspectives can ultimately be reduced to two:

the dimension of physical form, and the dimension of process.

One asks:

“What is it?”

The other asks:

“How does it operate? How does it connect? How does it unfold? How does it generate results?”

Which of these dimensions comes closer to the underlying reality of the world?

Which is better suited to become the foundation upon which future humanity makes value judgments, designs institutions, organizes cooperation, and uses superintelligence?

Perhaps this is the true “singularity” at which humanity itself needs to awaken today.

Ultimately, my conclusion is extremely simple:

All humanity must work together to discover the truth of civilization.

Only by first understanding what civilization actually is can humanity truly know how civilization should be made to work.

And only then may humanity be capable of genuine self-rescue in the age of SI.

To state my proposal once again as simply as possible:

The first step should be to openly examine and test the Hypothesis of the Law of Process-Determined Qualities.

If this law is eventually shown to have validity, then the next stage of inquiry should proceed in the following direction:

The development of civilization may, in essence, be the process by which human thought gradually evolves from concrete “physical-form mirror thinking” toward “process thinking.”

If this judgment proves correct, then what humanity truly needs to reconstruct is not merely one institution, one law, one ideology, or one economic model.

What humanity truly needs to reconstruct lies deeper:

the coordinate system from which human beings make value judgments.

On that foundation, humanity could rebuild the underlying civilizational framework of social cooperation—that is, our shared modes of thought and the logic through which we cooperate.

Only after strengthening this foundation could humanity begin to reconstruct its modes of cooperation in daily life, production, institutions, politics, law, economics, science and technology, and relations among nations, so that the cooperative links holding human society together are no longer repeatedly torn apart.

Only then might human civilization genuinely evolve from a lower jungle civilization, still heavily dependent upon mutual struggle, mutual harm, self-protection, and competition, toward a higher civilization capable of sustained, stable, and harmonious cooperation.

If one day humanity can truly complete such an unprecedented project of social cooperation—establishing a new mode of cooperation capable of sustaining the long-term evolution of civilization as a whole—

then I believe:

That day may truly mark the beginning of permanent peace for humanity.

October 2026

（The text that follows is the original Chinese version of this article.）

人类所有问题，也许都源于一个最简单的常识问题：我们究竟知不知道什么是文明？

——从二十多年持续给中共中央写信，到《致全球每一个人的信》，再到给特朗普总统写公开信，我始终只想说明一句话：

人类一直在追求文明，却始终没有真正弄清楚什么是文明——这，才是人类所有问题最深层的根源。

作者：金谷雨

有一句极其普通的常识，全人类其实都明白：

你想真正做好一件事，就必须真正了解这件事是什么，也必须知道把它做好的路径、方法和规律。

这句话听起来再简单不过。

可如果把它放到“文明”这件事上，人类却似乎从来没有真正认真面对过。

人类文明，本质上是因为人类比其他动物更善于合作，才逐渐创造出来的一种社会成果。

人类也一直想把文明这件事做好。

可几千年来，人类始终没有真正把它做好。

战争没有消失，互害没有停止，社会撕裂不断重复，制度不断重建又不断失衡，个人、群体、国家之间始终在合作与对抗之间反复摆动。

那么，一个最朴素的问题就出现了：

如果人类真的知道什么是文明，真的知道文明应当怎样运行、怎样演进、怎样才能被做好，为什么人类至今仍然一次又一次陷入同样的问题？

所以，我沿着这句最简单的常识，一直向下追问。

我不是从抽象名词出发，而是从文明中无数具体事务、具体行为、具体关系和具体演绎细节的共同规律中去寻找答案。

也正是沿着这个方向，我逐渐形成了自己关于文明本质及其演绎规律的认知。

而一旦形成这样的认知，我就认为，它不能只属于我个人。

因为文明不是某一个学者的事，不是某一个国家的事，也不是某一个阶层的事。

文明，就是全人类每一个人每天所做的每一件具体事情，在合作、冲突、秩序、选择和结果中不断演绎出来的综合规律现象。

所以，它本来就是每一个人的事。

也因此，才有了我二十多年来几乎年年、反复、持续给中共中央写信。

后来，只要获得合法表达的机会，我就继续写《致全球每一个人的信》，写给各国政府，写给国际组织，写给研究机构和智库，写给相关领域的人类精英，尤其写给人工智能领域的研究者和决策者，直到后来写给特朗普总统的公开信。

因为我越来越确信：

文明不是悬浮在人类生活之上的抽象概念。

文明，就是每一个人一生所做的每一件事不断演绎、叠加、关联之后形成的综合规律。

它的表象极其多样，但其底层规律却具有高度同一性。

而这种同一性，必然具体存在于任何一件事、任何一个层次、任何一个细节的演绎之中。

人类最初睁开眼睛认识世界时，只能看到表象。

所以，人类只能从纷繁复杂的表象中，一点一点捡拾关联性，一点一点向背后的规律和真相靠近。

几千年来，人类关于文明的探索成果，看起来仍然像一块块彼此分散的“真相碎片”。

但我认为，今天已经和过去不同。

这些碎片积累到今天，已经足够让人看见：

整个人类文明中，不同国家、不同制度、不同文化、不同历史阶段、不同具体事务的演绎背后，其实存在某种高度一致的底层规律。

我把自己所理解的文明本质，概括成九个中国字：

抓程序、做模式、求平衡。

我把人类具体行为呈现出的文明特征，概括成八个中国字：

以序为纲、循序定度。

我并不要求任何人先相信这十七个字是正确的。

恰恰相反。

我真正呼吁的是：

把文明本质本身，第一次正式作为全人类共同需要甄别、验证和讨论的对象。

在我看来，今天我们距离这一步，也许只差一次真正具有全球意义的国际会议。

一次不是讨论某个国家利益、某场战争、某项技术、某种制度优劣的会议，而是讨论：

文明究竟是什么？
文明有没有共同的底层规律？
人类能不能建立一套可以被共同检验的文明标准？

即使最后证明我的总结完全错误，这样一次会议也依然有价值。

因为它至少能让全人类第一次真正意识到：

弄清文明究竟是什么，本身就可能是今天人类所有事务中最重要的事情。

而现在，这件事之所以变得前所未有地紧迫，是因为——

SI时代已经来了。

过去几千年，人类可以在不知道文明本质真相的情况下，一边试错，一边慢慢摸索。

但超级智能正在改变这一切。

人类第一次真切面对一种自己能够创造、却未必能够完整理解其内部运行细节的强大智能系统。

这种恐惧并不可笑。

可真正危险的是：

人类一边害怕，一边仍然在用自己尚未升级的价值体系、竞争逻辑和丛林式思维，继续推动更强智能的发展。

在我看来，这就像一只猴子偶然发现了一架飞机，闯进驾驶舱，却还没有真正理解飞行原理，就在刺激、兴奋和恐惧中拼命把飞机拉向万米高空。

危险不在飞机本身。

危险在于：

操纵它的认知体系，还没有跟上它所获得的能力。

今天的人类，正在借助SI，把每一个个人、组织和国家原有的竞争能力、控制能力、博弈能力、甚至互斗互害的能力，放大百倍、千倍。

但与此同时，人类却未必能够同步突破自身感官、经验和短期利益的限制，更未必能够优先利用SI去放大只有合作才能产生的文明智慧。

这，才是我真正担心的事情。

所以，今天人类面对的变化，并不是又一个普通的历史十字路口。

它与过去任何一次技术革命、制度革命、产业革命都不同。

人类现在不是站在路口左顾右盼，而可能已经走到了原有道路本身的尽头。

如果继续只在旧有坐标里选择左、右、前、后，我们也许已经无路可走。

因此，我说：

文明的真正出路已不在左、右、前、后，而在上方，人类该抬头看一看苍穹来升级人类文明了。

因为人类本身，以及人类创造出来的文明，本质上都不是孤立静止的“物”。

从更底层的角度看，它们都更像是宇宙能量运动形成程序、程序形成组合、组合形成合作模式之后出现的程序化结构。

这正是我提出“程序定质规律假说”的常识起点。

也正是从这里，我进一步推出了前面所说的文明本质理解，以及人类应当怎样真正把文明这件事做好的路径方向。

更具体的论述，我已经在网络上陆续发表了一些纲要性文章。

但直到今天，我仍然缺少一个真正能够把话完整讲清楚的平台，去具体解析那些看似处在同一时空、实际上却因为观察维度不同而呈现完全不同的人类事务。也或许不需要我再说什么，只要有人类精英能推动人类展开讨论，或召开一次国际会议，合作甄别什么是文明本质及其演绎规律，验证我已经发布的文章提出的程序定质规律假说课题，就足够了。

人类认识世界当然可以有很多理论维度。

但在我看来，在人类现有感官和认知条件下，我们现实中最根本的观察视角，其实可以归结为两个：

物形维度，和程序维度。

一个看“是什么东西”。

一个看“它怎样运行、怎样关联、怎样演绎、怎样生成结果”。

那么，哪一个维度更接近世界真实的底层？

哪一个维度更适合作为未来人类判断价值、设计制度、组织合作和使用超级智能的基础？

这，或许才是人类今天真正应该觉醒的“奇点”。

归根到底，我的结论其实非常简单：

全人类必须共同去弄清文明的真相。

因为只有先弄清文明是什么，人类才可能真正知道文明应该怎样被做好。

也只有这样，人类才有可能在SI时代完成真正意义上的自救。

再次简约强调我的建议是：

第一步，先公开甄别、验证“程序定质规律”这一课题。

如果这一规律最终被证明具有真实性，那么下一步，就应该沿着这样一个方向继续研究：

文明的发展过程，也许本质上就是人类思维从具体的“物形镜像思维”，逐渐向“程序思维”演进的过程。

如果这一判断成立，那么人类真正需要重塑的，就不仅仅是某一个制度、某一条法律、某一种意识形态或某一种经济模式。

人类真正需要重塑的，是更底层的东西：

人类进行价值判断时所站立的坐标体系。

并以此重新构建人类社会合作的底层文明框架——也就是人类共同的思维模式和合作逻辑。

只有先夯实这一层，人类才可能进一步重构生活、生产、制度、政治、法律、经济、科技以及国家之间的合作模式，使人类社会的合作链接不再一次又一次被撕裂。

人类文明也才可能真正从一种仍然高度依赖互斗、互害、自保和竞争的低级丛林文明，逐步升级为一种能够持续、稳定、和谐合作的高级文明。

如果有一天，人类真的能够完成这样一项前所未有的社会合作工程——建立一套足以支撑全人类文明长期演进的新型合作模式——

那么我相信，

那一天，也许才真正是人类永久和平开始的那一天。

                                    于2026年10月