Pain Is For Evolution

This article was originally published on January 9, 2017, as a New Year's speech to PreAngel partners. It explores five core ideas: cognitive model, choice and bravery, patience and perseverance, negentropy and vitality, and the role of pain in evolution.

The Chinese version was first published on WeChat public account.

This article is addressed to all startup partners in the PreAngel department. I encourage all founders within the PA department to forward it to their employees. Consider it my 2017 New Year's speech. In this article, I want to share five core ideas, hoping that all members of our extended family will cultivate a higher level of awareness in 2017, continuously iterate, constantly evolve, and achieve more exciting life experiences for themselves.

1. Cognitive Model

From the moment we are born, we are sentenced to "suspended death." We are all a species "born toward death," with life spans unlikely to exceed 120 years – a fundamental equality for everyone.

In terms of life length, the difference between people is not substantial, perhaps up to 100 times (1 year vs. 100 years), and in most cases, it's only about 20% (60 years old vs. 80 years old). However, when comparing people's achievements, these differences can be tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of times. It's quite common for friends and classmates to have life achievement disparities of several or dozens of times.

So, what precisely accounts for this significant difference in life achievement?

In my six years of investing, I have encountered countless investors and entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, whose achievements vary widely. While it's challenging to distill a minimalist formula like E=mC² to calculate or predict future achievements, I have nonetheless identified some essential differences. These differences fundamentally determine the extent of a person's life achievements.

The biggest difference among people lies in their "cognitive model"!

I've discussed the cognitive model in detail in my article, "People who get up at five o'clock to sell breakfast are the most diligent, so why don't the capitalists invest?". I encourage you to revisit it. The cognitive model isn't built in a day, nor is it static. I believe that genes, acquired education, family influence, social environment, and national culture all play dominant roles in its formation, particularly before an individual matures (mainly before the age of 16). These early influences represent the uncontrollable "luck" factor, shaping a person's trajectory with little subjective input (excluding a few precocious individuals who wake up early).

However, if a person is "lucky" enough to realize the crucial impact of the "cognitive model" on their life after the age of 16, they can then consciously guide themselves into a Cognitive Virtuous Cycle. Through consistent reading, deep thinking, deliberate practice, cultivating valuable friendships, seeking out true masters, and improving by 1% every day, one can achieve a 38-fold improvement in a single year. If we consider ten years an era, then anyone who enters this "cognitive virtuous cycle" within ten years can achieve great accomplishments, creating a vast gap with peers they started with – a gap that might be ten, a hundred, or even a thousand times greater.

If you didn't grasp the importance of cognitive models at 16 and have drifted along until today, then today is your lucky day. From this moment on, you must confront your "cognitive model." No longer can you allow it to wander randomly; you must consciously manage it, refine it, and steer it towards a virtuous cycle, making progress every single day.

• Start by reading: delve into classic books and engage in deep thought.
• Start with your work: execute your tasks exceptionally well, at all costs.

The virtuous cycle of cognition is a massive upward "whirlpool." Once you propel yourself into this vortex, its spiraling power will carry you towards the peak of your life. Commit to a year of self-upgrade. During this year, refrain from complaining about work or life, do not give up easily, disregard all gains and losses, and dedicate all your energy to cognitive upgrades. Let's defer all unpleasantness and dissatisfaction to the year's end. Tolerate everything, calmly accept everything, and embrace everything!

The enormous disparities in life achievements aren't due to one individual being physically stronger than others. Rather, it's about leveraging potential energy – ten, a hundred, or even a thousand times more potential energy. It is potential energy that drives human success. Individuals merely become the "trendsetters" of an era, standing on the cusp of the storm and serving as "carriers" of that achievement, much like every human soul requires a physical shell as a "carrier." The achievements of every era require several individuals to be "carriers" and enjoy the associated honor. I've previously discussed the importance of potential energy in detail in "Without potential energy, we will accomplish nothing"; I highly recommend you read it again.

2. Choice and Bravery

If you enter a virtuous cycle of cognition, I can assure you that after one year, your cognitive level will be significantly enhanced. At that point, you'll need to re-examine your life and plan your future based on your new understanding.

Throughout our lives, we encounter a myriad of choices: from what to eat for breakfast or wear when going out, to more significant decisions like choosing a college major, whether to study abroad, who to marry, when to have children, what career path to pursue, or whether to start a business.

Life is the superposition of countless choices.

• If you had chosen to enter the real estate industry in 2000 and persevered, you would have amassed substantial wealth.
• If you had joined the then little-known Alibaba in 1999 and stayed, you would undoubtedly be a renowned figure on the internet today.
• If you had begun diligently saving to buy a house in 2000, you would likely be a super landlord.
• If you had bought Tencent’s new shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2004 and held them, you would be a stock market legend.
• If you had purchased a large amount of Bitcoin when it was less than one dollar and held it until today, you might be the wealthiest person in Bitcoin (like Li Xiaolai).

Only by choosing the right direction can you take advantage of the momentum. Direction is more important than hard work.

Looking back, everyone is a strategist like Zhuge Liang. Looking forward, what most people see are not opportunities, but fear.

After tens of thousands of years of evolution, we've retained a "risk aversion" instinct for species reproduction. Consequently, many people see trends but fail to act, primarily due to a lack of bravery. This is because all choices inherently involve risks and opportunity costs.

Even what is now recognized as "the safest investment method in the past fifteen years – real estate speculation" required immense courage fifteen years ago. Most of us simply gritted our teeth, took out loans to buy homes for living, and accidentally became beneficiaries. The appreciation of house prices often far exceeded our accumulated surplus from years of work. Many working-class individuals' salary and bonus surpluses over the past 15 years might not exceed 5 million in cash, yet their homes often vastly surpass this value. It's not that we didn't think about it, it's that we didn't truly understand it. Ultimately, this points back to cognitive models. Our early family education and social environment didn't instill a correct concept of "financial management," nor did we truly care about macroeconomics or national events; we simply muddled along, focusing solely on the present. Thus, we missed perhaps the only historical opportunity to ten-fold our wealth without much thought.

We cannot be entirely blamed. Family education and social environment shaped our early cognitive models. We didn't realize the historical significance of that wave of potential energy, and we missed it magnificently.

If we missed out on real estate, what other options do we have?

The biggest choice left to young people today is certainly not the "iron rice bowl," because history has proven that no such thing truly exists. Instead, it should be to "join the entrepreneurial wave." Choose the right direction and the right leader (or become the leader yourself).

Choose the right direction or follow the right boss!

What is entrepreneurship? Broadly understood, it means your future income is not determined by a calculable "salary + bonus" with an easily visible ceiling. Instead, it's determined by non-calculable "shares or options" where no ceiling is in sight, and risks and opportunities coexist. This is entrepreneurship.

Whether in the United States, China, Southeast Asia, or Africa, future wealth leaders will continue to emerge, but the era of working as an "emperor" is gone forever. Wealth leaders must come from those who "choose the right direction or follow the right boss" within the new economy.

Choice is important, and a good choice has two key elements:

1. Cognitive level
2. Bravery

Not being brave enough is the main reason why many "highly educated people work for lowly educated people" in this era. At a certain level of cognition, everyone can perceive similar "potential energy," and our judgments on direction will largely align. But why do our achievement differences remain so vast? Because we see not only trends but also risks. What if it fails?

The fear and aversion to this "what if" leads 99% of people to choose "the next best thing."

Essentially, there are two types of bravery: one is the blind "newborn calf not afraid of tigers"; the other is "boldness that starts with subtlety." Therefore, I am not advocating blind betting. I still hope that everyone can elevate their cognitive level and professional ability through continuous and deliberate practice. Based on your professionalism and precision, you can make more accurate judgments about the future, and then invest your money or time (life). This is the approach:

"Others laugh at me for being crazy, but I laugh at others because they can’t see through it."

Because you firmly believe the Earth is round, you are willing to dedicate your life to proving it. In the eyes of others, this is a risk, a point of no return. Yet, deep down, you know this is merely a trip around the world.

Of course, if you follow the right leader, whose cognitive level far exceeds most people in this era, you can indeed "follow him bravely and blindly." This kind of "choice" is always far superior to your "judgment with two swords," and this method is more suitable for most people. After all, truly far-sighted individuals are rare in any era. Those who firmly followed Ren Zhengfei and Ma Huateng from the beginning have achieved financial freedom.

Dear friends of PA, good choices require a high level of cognition, and brave action is also required!

3. Patience and Perseverance

After enhancing your awareness and making a brave choice, you must be prepared to "be a friend of time" and relish the rewards of compound interest. As Einstein famously said: "Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world!"

Tencent, China's highest market value company today, was once so small in its early days that no one was optimistic about it. Even in its tenth year of operation, its performance was merely that of an ordinary internet company. Its true rise arguably began with two pivotal events around 2011:

• The 3Q War
• WeChat's release

The 3Q battle with Qihoo 360 forced Tencent to transition from a closed platform to an open ecosystem, unleashing tenfold its potential. We owe thanks to 360 for this, but more importantly, it was a testament to Ma Huateng’s iteration of self-awareness. He understood how to reflect and absorb nutritious energy from the environment.

"What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger."

The release of WeChat allowed Tencent to shed the perception of catering to "low-age and low-end users" in the eyes of investors, enabling it to penetrate high-income and high-end demographics. User value subsequently propelled corporate value. WeChat's success within Tencent is also attributed to Ma Huateng's appreciation for talent (acquiring Foxmail for Zhang Xiaolong in 2005 and establishing the Tencent Research Institute for him), as well as its internal "horse racing" mechanism, where different teams worked simultaneously on the same direction, fostering internal competition.

I believe almost no one in 1998 could have predicted Tencent's current stature. Even South African MIH, which gained HK$700 billion from Tencent stock, did not base its investment on accurate predictions. Tencent's present success is the result of step-by-step iteration and evolution. During this period, Tencent's senior executives came and went in waves. Those who joined early and voluntarily left before 2011 surely couldn't have anticipated such rapid growth and stock price trajectory—a dark horse that all investors dream of. Tencent, listed in 2004, delivered a 250-fold return to secondary market investors within 12 years. How many people held their shares from start to finish? Of course, Tencent is at its peak today, and its stock price is high yet still strong. I cannot predict what the future holds.

This journey not only tests your courage but also your patience and perseverance!

If we are to join a startup and achieve great accomplishments (including wealth accumulation) within fifteen years, then we must be prepared for a long-distance race. The grander the undertaking, the longer the preparation time required. Without sufficient patience and perseverance, cognitive level and courage will only lead to endless pain and regret. Consider Wayne, Apple's earliest co-founder, who sold his 10% shares to Steve Jobs for $800. Today, he lives on relief funds, while those shares are now worth over $500 billion. We admire Apple and envy its success, but we cannot truly fathom the regret in his heart, the feeling that:

"There was once a true love in front of me, but I didn't have the pain to cherish..."

In other words, if you are unaware of the critical significance of patience and perseverance in achieving a great cause, then your cognitive model has certainly not entered a positive cycle. The cognitive model is a decision-making algorithm, and a decision-making algorithm guides action. Action requires courage to initiate, and patience and perseverance to persist.

Otherwise, you won't see the sun the day after tomorrow.

I hope all PA friends can never forget their original intention and finish what they start.

4. Negentropy and Vitality

The first law of thermodynamics speaks of "conservation of energy," a concept we all know.

The second law of thermodynamics, however, discusses the "law of entropy increase," which many people don't fully grasp.

Baidu's entry provides a comprehensive explanation. For brevity, I'll offer a simple one: The word "entropy" here represents the "degree of chaos." The literal meaning of the law of entropy increase is that, in the absence of external energy input, the degree of chaos of a system only increases but does not decrease. This law originated from Rudolph Clausius, who discovered:

When there is no external intervention, temperature always flows from high to low; it is impossible for it to flow from low to high. This demonstrates that in natural processes, the total chaos (i.e., "entropy") of an isolated system will not decrease.

To illustrate, if a drop of ink is added to a glass of water, the ink will soon disperse evenly throughout the water, eventually moving towards equilibrium (entropic death). This process signifies an increase in "chaos (entropy)"; without external interference, the ink scattered in the water will not spontaneously re-gather in one place (a decrease in the degree of chaos). It's said that the second law of thermodynamics is unique among physical laws for being irreversible in time. That is, when the arrow of time moves backward, the law becomes invalid. Water that was thrown out will not return by itself; a chaotic house will not become orderly by itself; a broken mirror will not reassemble itself.

Some time ago, an article titled "[Document No. 3 of 2017 issued by Ren Zhengfei: Huawei's Entropy - How to Use Money to Transform Greed into Motivation]" circulated, which is worth searching for and reading. It illustrates how Huawei's management integrates the law of entropy increase.

Human beings are biological organizations within the universe. If people do not breathe, eat, and drink water, the human body cannot maintain life (order) and will move towards chaos (entropy increase), heading towards death. If you don't supply energy (nutrients) to your brain, you will become progressively duller, which is also a manifestation of entropy increase. This energy (nutrition) encompasses two things: physical energy from three meals a day, and spiritual nutrition from external information, reading, or social interaction. These energies and nutrients continuously shape our brain structure, making our 100 billion brain neurons more orderly (entropy decreases). An increasingly orderly brain neuron structure implies that our cognitive level is constantly improving.

Negentropy means vitality! The speed at which negative entropy increases also signifies the intensity of vitality.

An enterprise is also an organization and a system, and this system will also follow the law of entropy increase. In other words, without the intervention of external forces (energy, information, funds, etc.), enterprises will become increasingly chaotic and disorderly (entropy increases). Only by introducing external forces can the enterprise system maintain a certain order and develop towards negentropy. Such an enterprise will possess vitality, and this viable enterprise structure is a "dissipative structure."

A dissipative structure is an open system far from equilibrium (entropic death). Through constant exchange of matter and energy with the outside world, negative entropy is generated in the dissipation process. The entropy flow changes from the original disordered state to an ordered state. This new ordered structure is a dissipative structure.

Conversely, if a company or country isolates itself and operates behind closed doors, it will become increasingly chaotic and disorderly. To develop, it must embrace openness, cooperation, and exchange energy with the outside world. The entry and exit of energy and matter form a dissipative system, transforming it into an open organization within the larger ecology. The value of this organization is positively correlated with the amount and frequency of energy and matter exchanged with other entities in that ecology.

• If a human organ constantly exchanges energy (blood, etc.) with other organs, then this organ is useful and alive.
• If an organ has no energy exchange with other body parts, it implies that this organ is useless and will be eliminated by human evolution.

A closed enterprise will be ignored or eliminated by the entire ecosystem. A closed individual will also be ignored or eliminated by the human collective.

Whether we are human beings or corporate organizations, we must engage in a positive "energy" exchange with the world. Absorbing energy from the outside world can make us more organized, smarter, and more energetic. It also allows us to find our value (positioning) within the ecosystem, ensuring we are not eliminated (or ignored) by it.

In the investment process, I've found that people are the biggest variable. With the development of enterprises and changes in the environment, entrepreneurs themselves are changing and pliable. The direction of change depends on their awareness of themselves, the environment, and opportunities. Therefore, I pay more attention to the Progress Acceleration of the entrepreneurial team, or their speed of energy exchange with the outside world, the speed of negative entropy growth. This directly indicates the vitality of the team.

I hope that our PA friends can actively and consciously push themselves into a virtuous cycle of "rapid increase in negative entropy." This virtuous cycle involves:

• Cultivating a positive and open attitude within yourself.
• Engaging with your external environment (friends, organizational culture and systems you work for, social atmosphere, etc.).
• Actively exchanging energy with the outside world: reading (absorbing energy), thinking (information processing), practicing (outputting energy).

Make your life full of vitality and enjoy the pleasant experience brought by every "negative entropy" increment. Day after day, we accumulate more and more achievements, pushing ourselves to a "negative entropy" climax at the end of each year, enjoying the broader vision and scenery offered by new heights in life.

You must understand that the increase in cognitive level and negative entropy has a network incremental effect, representing a typical exponential growth curve. Like a snowball rolling down a mountain, it may start small and slow, but the accumulated energy and rolling speed will gradually accelerate, eventually leading to a snowball effect that propels you to the pinnacle of life.

Dear friends of PA, think about Tencent's stock price chart, then look at the picture below again. Where are you now on the curve?

5. Pain and Evolution

Some time ago, in an article titled "The only meaning of life is pleasure? Is this the goal of artificial intelligence?", I raised a concept about whether robots (artificial intelligence) need emotions such as pain and terror:

...When you see a ferocious beast, your whole body trembles, and you instinctively want to run away. Fear fills your brain, overriding rational thinking, taken over by the amygdala in the back of your head, all for survival. But at this moment, is your "fear" truly necessary? As a robot with the highest level of artificial intelligence, when it encounters an enemy, does it need to feel fear? We can make this robot smart enough to handle any sudden crisis. We can predict various crisis management decision-making algorithms. However, there is no need to introduce "fear" in the design of this algorithm. As long as the program objectively and calmly assesses environmental parameters to determine whether to run or fight, it can simply execute the program directly. It can be very calm, rendering the feeling of terror unnecessary. If humans didn't have a sense of fear, many situations might be handled more reasonably...

When a robot vacuum cleaner is almost out of power, it automatically returns to its charging dock. It doesn't need to feel "hungry." If you attack it with a weapon, it will dodge (to avoid harming you), but it doesn't feel "fearful."

Many scientists believe that emotions like "fear" are by-products of "consciousness," and that the survival of intelligent creatures does not necessarily require "emotions." The artificial intelligence we are developing is likely to produce a form of self-awareness in the future that is distinct from humans – a kind of consciousness without "emotions."

Most robot characters in science fiction movies are highly intelligent beings devoid of "emotions," exhibiting extreme rationality and even coldness. But a "machine" without emotions will never truly feel like a "life," yet you cannot deny that its intelligence far exceeds that of humans in some dimensions.

For example, today's AlphaGo (or the ID: Master, which defeated all human Go masters on the Yicheng Go website) has surpassed humans in the field of Go.

If intelligent life doesn't need "emotions" to survive, then why have we humans retained various emotions such as sweetness, bitterness, and pain throughout the evolutionary process? Are they truly unnecessary?

There is no definitive answer to this question. Currently, human scientists have not been able to fully understand the nature of human consciousness. Therefore, the relationship between "emotion" and intelligent life remains a philosophical discussion.

Since this is a philosophical discussion, I can also share my views:

I believe there are many differences between humans and the animal kingdom. Language, imagination, self-awareness, and learning abilities far surpass those of other species. Strong learning ability is also considered a common trait of intelligent creatures. For example, the artificial intelligence we discuss today is inseparable from machine learning and deep learning capabilities. At the outset of intelligent life, it's a blank slate, but it can master language and acquire cognition through learning, subsequently developing deeper self-awareness. The richness of imagination also improves and progresses through continuous learning.

Learning ability is the foundation of other human abilities. A newborn baby, without any acquired learning, cannot master language, cannot improve cognition, and certainly cannot achieve the richness of imagination, let alone thinking and expression at the level of self-awareness.

Human progress benefits from learning, and learning progress benefits from memory. If there is no memory, how can we speak of learning? And "pain" is an instinct evolved by animals to "deepen memory." The more pain, the deeper the memory. If you remember it deeply, you will not fall in the same place twice; you will not make the same mistake again; you will not make stupid mistakes that lead to the extinction of species!

"Once bitten by a snake, you will be afraid of straw ropes for ten years."

This saying accurately conveys how, in the process of human evolution, "pain" helps us remember the danger of a "snake," enabling us to initiate escape and emergency measures the next time we encounter one.

Many animals possess emotions similar to humans, along with certain learning abilities and imagination. They even have simple language systems and superficial self-awareness. Thus, the emotional overlap between animals and humans is greater than between humans and machines. Animals also mark their enemies through painful experiences. The next time a similar scene reappears, they can escape in advance or take emergency measures.

Therefore, I personally feel that emotional perceptions like sweetness, bitterness, and pain are meaningful for the evolution of human animals. Their purpose is to "deepen episodic memory" so that it can be recalled through external stimulation in the future, simultaneously activating that emotion. This contributes to our progress and the evolution of the species.

No pain, no gain!

Everyone must have learned this sentence. Today, let's re-examine the philosophical meaning behind this English proverb: Pain allows us to instinctively deepen our memory. Every pain experience constitutes a cognitive iteration (upgrade), leaving a deep imprint on our neurons and cellular levels, preventing us from making the same mistakes in the future and facilitating our progress.

"Heaven is about to entrust this man with a great responsibility. He must first strain his mind, strain his muscles and bones, starve his body and skin, deplete his body, and mess up his movements. What you do is to move your heart and forbearance to gain what you can't do..." – Mencius

The philosophy behind this passage in "Mencius" profoundly reflects the practical significance of human emotions – "sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and painful" – for achieving great things. If you don't want to waste this life, and you desire to continuously improve your knowledge, make progress, and ultimately achieve something significant in your limited and singular life journey, then you must accept the severe tests that come with it. It's not easy to be a tide boy. You have to fall into the sea countless times; you may also be beaten to death in the whirlpool.

The bigger the wave, the more dangerous it is.

Great achievements and great leaders must endure tremendous trials and torture. All achievements come at a price. We cannot merely expect to enjoy achievements without accepting any form of pain (including being ignored, overlooked, beaten, suppressed, excluded...). Achievement and pain are almost twin brothers, always appearing together.

I recommend everyone read "The Biography of Tencent" recently penned by Wu Xiaobo. Combined with the Tencent stock price chart mentioned earlier, we can see that Tencent's journey to becoming China's number one market value company (with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in second place) was not solely planned by Ma Huateng himself, but quietly evolved in the face of adversity.

Tencent was very poor in its early days. Due to rapid user growth, server and bandwidth resources were heavily consumed. It borrowed and raised money everywhere, but no one understood its vision. Therefore, Tencent's evolution is an iteration of "if you are poor, think about changes." Countless attempts and imitations were made simply to find new profit growth points, otherwise, the company would perish. The 3Q battle, which caused Ma Huateng the most pain, suffering, and injury, ultimately became a turning point for Tencent to reach the peak of its market value.

From monopoly to the dissipative structure of an open ecology – only in this way can we achieve a great, evergreen foundation!

Everything seems destined, but it is accidental; Everything seems accidental, but it seems destined. Wonderful and wonderful, mysterious and mysterious.

Starting from 2017, I will practice my new understanding: to heavily invest in reliable, good businesses and good teams. I also suggest that PA friends "dedicate all your life to your dreams."

The "dream" here refers to your most important choice (direction or leadership). If you haven't yet identified it, please continue to iterate your cognition, continue to exchange energy with this environment, foster negative entropic growth, bravely engage in trial and error, and maintain appropriate persistence until you find the "dream" for which you are willing to sacrifice your entire life. Then, All in (bet all your wealth), and be ready to welcome all the trials (pains) that the times will bring to you in the future.

"What doesn't kill you will make you stronger."

The best evidence for this statement is the Jewish people and the State of Israel. If they had not been tortured for thousands of years, there would not be the Jewish elites all over the world today. The rise of this nation is worth learning from for all our entrepreneurs. Species and nations that die in pain will eventually be forgotten by history.

Dear friends of PA, don't die in pain, rise in pain. The more pain, the more progress!

Finally, thank you for choosing to invest in PA, or choosing to join a startup company in the PA department. I hope you will gain a meaningful life as a result, and no matter how painful or hard the road ahead is, I will walk with you.

Iterate and evolve together!

About the Author:

Leo Wang

• Entrepreneurship, Investment, Cultivation
• Founder of PreAngel Fund