Cover News Reporter Zhang Jie Character: Wang Jinkang "Golden Panda" cartoon unit judge, famous science fiction writer, honorary president of Beijing Yuanyu Science Fiction Future Technology Research Institute, director of China Science Popularization Writers Association Science

Cover news reporter Zhang Jie

Wang Jinkang was born in Nanyang, Henan in 1948. Since the publication of his debut novel "Adam Returns" in 1993, he won the China Science Fiction Galaxy Award that year and has won the award 15 times since then. So far, he has published nearly 100 short stories and more than 20 novels. His representative works include the novels "Humanoid", "Ant Life", "Cross" and "Be With Me", and the short story collections "On behalf of Heaven" and "The Last Love" "Song of Life", "Seven Shells", "Leopard", etc. Wang Jinkang's science fiction works have a solid scientific foundation, profound philosophical thoughts, and magnificent imagination. The style is desolate, melancholy, and cold, and are widely welcomed by readers. He has become an outstanding representative of domestic science fiction writers and is known as the "thinker of Chinese science fiction." ", together with Liu Cixin, Han Song, and He Xi, are known as the "Four Masters of Science Fiction".

Wang Jinkang's science fiction works break through the limitations of genre literature and have pure literary characteristics, attracting the attention of the mainstream literary world. In May 2019, Wang Jinkang's full-length science fiction novel "Cosmic Crystal Egg" was published in "People's Literature". This is the first time that "People's Literature" has published a full-length science fiction novel in its 70-year history. Also in 2019, Wang Jinkang won the "Lifetime Achievement Award" of the Galaxy Award, China's highest science fiction award. The award speech stated: "He is a giant of Chinese science fiction, marking the arrival of an era of great changes in science fiction. He used it like rafters. He uses a huge pen to build the majestic land of Chinese science fiction, composes songs about life about human beings, nature and the universe, and gives it profound humanistic connotations based on fantastic imagination. He is the thinker of Chinese science fiction and a role model for all science fiction writers. ." On March 29, 2024, the "2024 Hugo Award", one of the world's highest international awards in the field of science fiction, announced the shortlist. Wang Jinkang was shortlisted for his classic work "Mercury Sowing" and received widespread attention. In August 2024, the purely literary magazine "Chinese Writers" published Wang Jinkang's science fiction novel "Three Layers of Traveling Songs".

In 2019, Wang Jinkang (right) and Yang Xiao won the "Lifetime Achievement Award" of the China Science Fiction Galaxy Award in Chengdu (picture provided by the organizer)

In addition to his sci-fi identity, Wang Jinkang is a senior engineer. When he was a student, Wang Jinkang was a standard science and engineering boy. He never thought about developing in literature, especially science fiction literature. He studied engineering at university and became a mechanical manufacturing design engineer after graduation. His entry into the world of science fiction literature was purely accidental - his young son asked him to tell him bedtime stories. He then made up a science fiction story and his son liked it. It happened to be a holiday and he had some free time, so Wang Jinkang turned this oral science fiction story into writing. When he saw the magazine "Science Fiction World" on a street stall, he copied the magazine's address and sent it to him, and he started on the road of science fiction literature.

Wang Jinkang said that although he broke into the science fiction literary world by accident, accidents are also inevitable. Although he is a "science and engineering man", he has been very passionate about literature since he was a child. He also read a lot of modern British and American literature and Russian literature during college, and he also practiced literary writing seriously. The road is prepared. Another inevitable factor is his love and awe for nature. “Nature naturally has deep mechanisms, which are very simple, beautiful, and universal, and will make us sincerely feel a sense of pious awe."The science fiction literature circle he accidentally broke into perfectly combines Wang Jinkang's love for literature and his awe for science (including scientific and technological knowledge reserves).

Wang Jinkang's works

Compared with other types of literary forms, science fiction novels focus on The unknown and the future predict the reality that mankind will face, issue early warnings for the choices that are about to be made, and directly present the various consequences of choices, thereby expressing people's worries and expectations in his works. Wang Jinkang has always paid attention to the development of human science and technology. In his writings, he has both a vision for the future development of science and technology and a vigilance against the alienation of science and technology. Wang Jinkang once mentioned a very vivid statement, " One characteristic of science fiction writers is that they like to stand on tiptoe and look ahead. Writing science fiction requires a certain breadth of knowledge accumulation, but this knowledge does not need to be too deep, it is enough to serve as a stepping stone. We stood on the bricks, stood on tiptoes and looked up as hard as we could, as far as we could see. And many scientists who study deeply may forget to look up. This can be regarded as the industry instinct and advantage of science fiction. "

On August 26, a cover news reporter interviewed Wang Jinkang exclusively on his way to Chengdu by high-speed rail.

Wang Jinkang (picture provided by me)

Cover News : Science fiction and technology are inseparable. Your science fiction works have inspired many people in the scientific and technological circles. What do you think of the benefits of Internet technology to human beings? In your opinion, when human beings can better harness the positive power of Internet technology, What aspects should be paid attention to?

Wang Jinkang: I have always regarded Internet technology as a part of pan-artificial intelligence. Needless to say, the benefits it brings are the expansion of human "physical ability" in the past thousands of years. , and pan-artificial intelligence is an extension of human "intelligence". It is a century-old breakthrough comparable to human use of fire, and subsequent changes will be even more profound. Its development is clearly showing signs of being out of control, which requires vigilance.

cover news: is coming to Chengdu to participate in the 2024 China Internet Civilization Conference and attend activities related to Internet technology and civilization. How do you understand "Internet Civilization"? This concept?

Wang Jinkang’s works

Cover news: A sub-forum of this conference will discuss artificial intelligence. The development of artificial intelligence in the past two years has been strong. It has penetrated into human writing, from application-oriented articles to creative articles, and even novels, scripts, and papers. How do you view this situation?

Wang Jinkang: Writing is only a small part of artificial intelligence. Application. In the long run, it can write any works by human writers, but there is a prerequisite - it should be able to live in human society and have vivid first-hand life experiences , otherwise it will not be able to create literature. classic.

cover news: In your personal observation, prediction and judgment, which field will the next hot spot in China's science fiction literary creation be? Many people say that it is probably related to Internet technology. What do you think of this view?

Wang Jinkang: is true, Internet technology will be the next hot spot in science fiction creation, but it is more appropriate to expand "Internet technology" into "pan-artificial intelligence". Because artificial intelligence is already changing and reshaping human beings themselves, the depth and breadth of this field is unmatched by any other themes (such as space themes, environmental themes).

Cover News: In your opinion, what is the mutual influence between Internet technology and science fiction literature? As Internet technology continues to iteratively develop and penetrate into people's lives and work, will science fiction literature undergo major changes?

Wang Jinkang: The most realistic small impact of right now is: how to eliminate the interference of big model writing in literary awards, just like eliminating the interference of doping in sports competitions. Liu Cixin once joked that our generation of science fiction writers is very lucky because we are the last generation of writers whose "innocence" is not suspected.

Cover news: With the development of Internet technology, are there higher requirements for science fiction writers to write excellent works? What advice would you give to young authors who want to make a breakthrough in science fiction writing?

Wang Jinkang: The development of Internet technology has greatly facilitated the creation of science fiction, mainly broadening the author's horizons and providing an amazing wealth of information. I still remember that when I first searched for specific and accurate information on the Internet, it was a great feeling! From that point on, the bulk of the excerpt cards I did in my readings were essentially eliminated. But everything has pros and cons. The prosperity of the Internet has also fragmented knowledge and the author's time, which is not conducive to the author's in-depth thinking. While young authors enjoy the convenience of the Internet, they must also keep a certain distance from it mentally.

Cover news: As the director of the Science Fiction Creation Research Base of the China Science Popularization Writers Association, what are your views on the value and significance of science popularization?

Wang Jinkang: Popular science and science fiction are a pair of allies, both of which are of great merit. Science popularization and science fiction have the same thing, that is, they are passionate advocates of science; they are also different, that is, science popularization puts the correctness of spreading knowledge first. It is true that there are not many popular popular science works in China that have become popular, but there have also been excellent works such as Cao Tianyuan's "Quantum History" and Wang Liming's "God's Scalpel". I believe there will be more excellent popular science works in the future.