Book: 20231223 to 20240418, "1984" by George Orwell

PART 1

20231223 - Chapter 1

20231223 - Chapter 2

Just like "Animal Farm", "1984" use "Time" and psychology as a powerful tool to describe the fictional world. This make it better than "The brave new world" and "Fahrenheit 451"

20231226 - Chapter 3

20231226 - Chapter 4

George Orwell didn't mention much the low productivity caused by unfair institutions.
When government officials are under great pressure and have indisputable power, they would try their best to avoid mistakes, and not be so interested in creating value. The result is GDP per capita may grow very slowly or even drop.
This is based on game theory. Together with compound effect, the whole country is doomed.

20231226 - Chapter 5

Comrade Ogilvy reminds me of "Lei Feng" from China. It's against our gene to sacrifice ourselves for long time to help others. So this kind of propaganda is destined to fail.

20240209 - Chapter 6

20240210 - Chapter 7

20240210 - Chapter 8

It's impossible to control so many people so closely. Unless there is not much worth monitoring, like those poor oligarchy countries today. To do that, most of the advanced technologies would be banned or be discarded, like what happened in North Korea.

What's the best option for Winston? Learn some useful skill, or run away.

PART 2

20240301 - Chapter 1

20240301 - Chapter 2

20240301 - Chapter 3

20240301 - Chapter 4

20240301 - Chapter 5

This kind of dating is impossible.

North Korea is the evidence.

The state in "1984" must be weak, and it would collapse in dozens of years.

However, the tricks are real. In short term, they work well. That's what is happening in oligarchy countries. Even AI of Google (Gemini 1.5) is doing that for political correctness.

AGI is much more powerful than Big Brother. But I don't think the AGI in oligarchy countries can compete with the AGIs in democracy countries.

20240319 - Chapter 6

20240319 - Chapter 7

They could lay bare in the utmost detail everything that you had done or said or thought; but the inner heart, whose workings were mysterious even to yourself, remained impregnable. p174
Our mind is weak when facing compound effect. Over time (generations), government can easily change our perception. For example, the caste system in India, or religion extremists.

20240321 - Chapter 8

20240321 - Chapter 9

Hypnosis cannot beat gene. Game theory and the law of Entropy should be everywhere.There is no way to solidify social structure.

Can we do that with the help of AGI? But, what's the point of that?

I am as clueless as the main character Winston regarding why the Party create such a society.

20240405 - Chapter 10

Finally, Winston get caught.

But it's hard to believe that an important Thought Police such as Mr Charrington spent so much time in the shop, waiting for some guest to rent the spare room at upper floor. He may have to wait for months to get one to bite the bait.

PART 3

20240406 - Chapter 1

20240406 - Chapter 2

So far I don't see why Big Brother wants to torture people.

This book was writen before 1949, so author didn't have much knowledge about modern psychology and game theory. There is no pure complexity can survive in nature. China CCP tried it a little bit in 1950s, then 40 million people died. When they tried to control people's thoughts, the whole industry almost collapsed. In 1980, after Mao's death, CCP decided to loose the mind control, then economy boomed.

Only fair institutions can encourage everyone study and work hard, which leads to creativity and wealth.

20240417 - Chapter 3

Love improves productivity.

When two tribes fight with each other, the one with love (people trust and support each other) is more likely to win. In the one full of hatre, every member waste a lot of energy to defense himself/herself.

Ultimately, a society in 1984 would be like ants. Ants are not the most powerful race in nature.

Most likely, a society similar to 1984 will lose all their knowledge in a few generations, and the birth rate will drop to zero, and the suicide rate will be extremely high.

The reason that Homo Sapiens can beat lions, is because they can accumulate knowledge for hundreds of years, and in the end invented gun. If people don't respect objective facts, then they will fall into traps full of superstitions.

20240418 - Chapter 4

20240418 - Chapter 5

20240418 - Chapter 6

Our mind is not shaped by decisive events or moments. It's formed by everyday study and work. It's decided by external data training/experiences.

We may change our mind by huge impact. But that's also based on years of previous experience, and need years of following up activities.

APPENDIX

20240418 - The Principles of Newspeak

Language is a tool which help projecting the real world to our mind. Poor or distorted language gives us incorrect projection of the world.

Then we get less capabilities to utilize external material and energy, then our life standards would drop a lot, until back to the hunting and gathering stage.

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