Think independently, that is to say, on the one hand, we should inherit the achievements of our predecessors, on the other hand, we should not be bound by them. If a person does not accept the achievements of his predecessors and is self-righteous, he will certainly take a detour. It is likely that he worked hard for a long time and thought that he had made any new discovery, but this so-called new discovery was discovered by others decades ago and the result was in vain. Sometimes it even gets us into trouble. For example, today some people try to divide any angle with compasses and rulers through limited steps, and engage in perpetual motion in physics. This is an example. These ideas have long been proved to be against science. The great scientist who has always been the best at creating is also the best at absorbing the achievements of his predecessors. Newton said that he made great achievements in science because he stood on the shoulders of giants and created on the basis of previous scientific achievements. In our life, we can often see young people who are good at learning with an open mind, and their progress in learning is often much faster than others. Generally speaking, accepting the achievements of predecessors is easy to bring some constraints to your thinking. Only by accepting the achievements of our predecessors and thinking independently will we not be led by our predecessors. We can put forward and solve some problems that have not been considered by our predecessors, and we can develop, supplement or even abandon our predecessors' conclusions, including some methods that have been studied. In fact, we should not only surpass our predecessors, but also need our independent thinking. Today, we must catch up with and surpass some advanced countries in scientific research. If we have no original spirit, if we just follow the footsteps of others, we will always be one step behind others. If you want to catch up with others, you must be original.
Independent thinking must be combined with the spirit of seeking truth from facts. People engaged in scientific research should dare to get rid of superstitions, emancipate their minds and broaden their thinking. If they dare not think, how can they make new inventions? However, the beautiful idea in science must be combined with the spirit of seeking truth from facts in research work before it can become a reality. As far as flying into the universe is concerned, there are many romantic fantasies in China's early novels, poems and legends. But only a hundred years ago, Russian scientist Chiokovsky thought of using rockets to "go to heaven", and later people also experienced a lot of hard research. Only by solving a series of problems such as the power of rockets in the sky can the beautiful fantasy of the sky finally become a reality. In scientific research, what is valuable is not only the courage to imagine, but also the ability to gradually turn ideas into reality in a down-to-earth manner.
Cultivating independent thinking ability requires conscious and regular exercise. We should be willing to use our brains and think about problems. For example, the newspaper published the news that the Soviet Union would launch a rocket into the Pacific Ocean. Those of us who study mathematics might as well calculate where the rocket was launched, how far it is, how high the accuracy is, and so on. According to the launch zone announced by the Soviet Union at four o'clock. We often think about problems, some of which may not be of much use at that time. However, it helps us to develop good thinking habits. Scientific discovery is the result of long-term hard thinking, and each step seems not difficult, but it is the result of accumulation step by step. Whether we often think about problems in peacetime or not, we will clearly see the difference when solving major problems in scientific research. To solve any major scientific problems, we must break through many difficulties. For a person who usually pays attention to thinking, because he has already thought about some problems, it is likely that only a few big barriers need to be broken. Such people can spend less time than others when they start their research, or they may see farther and think deeper and more thoroughly than others.
There are two reasons that prevent us from thinking about problems often: one is fear of difficulties, and the other is that it is easy to see many problems. People who are afraid of difficulties feel difficulties first and then think about them, so naturally they don't think about them. People who look at problems tend to think that many problems are not worth thinking about, which puts an end to the possibility of in-depth research and discovery of new problems. In fact, many problems are superficial. But after careful study, it is often not the case. Even if the problem is simple and easy, we are willing to use our brains to think about it, and sometimes new discoveries will be made. I can give you the most common example in daily life: for example, a family of nine eats half a gallon of oil every day. How much oil does the whole family eat in a month? This kind of question is so simple that even primary school students can calculate it. And the average person's algorithm is about (9×0.5×30)÷ 16=8 kg 7 Liang. But if you think about it again, you will find that there is a better calculation method: thirty days a day is one kilogram less than one or two, and nine people are nine kilograms less than nine ounces. Isn't this much simpler? Obviously, we should not be too narrow-minded, otherwise, we will miss many valuable things.