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“Payback” is a well–usedEnglish word that has both good (回報) andbad connotations (報復). Lesser known and usedis the phrase “pay it forward http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_it_forward” which is always used in a good sense (回報後代)– you repay agood deed done for you or to you by promising to do the same or similar forsomebody else in the future. In a larger sense it is how one generation of peoplerepays their inheritance by leaving a better world to the next generation. Itis a noble philosophical thought.

Lately Ihave been thinking about this phrase in several ways:

(i)             Becausein retirement I have more time to engage in thinking and reflection,  

(ii)           Inmy old age I want to do as much as I can before the end in grateful recognitionof all life have given me,  and

(iii)          Overthe past five years I have been writing blogs on ScienceNet, many appreciativereaders in their feedback comments thank me for whatever inspiration/advice Ihave given them.

As for (ii),I have made arrangements in my will as to what to do for “payback” to society forthe opportunities she has given me. For (iii), personally it is of courseunderstood that I desire no “payback” for giving advice or helping others. Thethought that I can be of benefit to other scholars is sufficient psychicrewards. And writing my blog on ScienceNet is also one way of paying back to mybirth country. But the concept of “pay it forward” has led me to think about thefollowing:

To every reader scholar who feel s/hehas benefited from my advice/writing on ScienceNet, I urge them to considerwhat each of them will be interested in “paying forward”. I am not talking ofgrandiose promises of serving mankind and/or China. Rather I am interested inspecific little things you are willing to pledge to do that can potentiallyshow results. You can write to me via the comment section so that everyone canread it or if you prefer, e-mail me separately and privately.

While I have my own proposal in this respect, it should bemore interesting and fruitful to use “crowd sourcing” to see what happens.There are no hidden agenda behind this. Readers can simply look upon thisrequest as a survey if they like.

When I first raised this proposal with some of my Chinesefriends, their reactions are mixed. Some think it is a good idea others morecynical tell me that I am in for a big disappointment. They think Chinese youthsare so self-centered these days that they have little time for or concept ofpayback or obligations to society. It is “grab what one can and the rest of theworld be damned”. I don’t know which is really true or the majority view. Thisrequest can thus also be view as a sample test.

(Note" I am arranging to get this article translated into Chinese so that it reaches a wider sample population. But please reply if you don't need the language help)

Pay it Forward （中文译稿）

      “Payback”是一个英语习语，有着褒义（回報）和贬义（報復）两种涵义。还有一个较为少见的短语是“pay it forwardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_it_forward”，经常用于褒义（回報後代）——回报施于你的善行，许诺在将来施相同或相似的善行于他人。在更广泛的意义上，则是一代人如何回报自己的“所获”，留给下一代更为美好的世界。这是一种高尚的哲学思维。近来，我从多个层面思考了这个问题：

  （i）退休后，我有了更多的时间来思考和反省

  （ii）在晚年，我想尽可能多地做些事，来感激生活一直以来对我的厚爱

  （iii）过去5年来，我一直在科学网上写博客，许多热心的读者留言感谢我给他们提供了灵感和建议。

   对于（ii），我已在遗嘱里作了安排，“payback”社会所给予我的机会。对于（iii），我个人并不期望接受我建议和帮助的人“payback”我。能够帮助别的学者已经是足够的精神酬劳了。此外，在科学网上写博客也是我回报祖国的一种方式。不过，“pay it forward”这个概念让我有了如下的考虑：

   阅读我博文的学者，如果觉得有一些收益，我鼓励你们考虑一下该做些什么来“paying forward”。我不是指服务人类或中国之类宏大的诺言。我的意思是你愿意承诺去做一些具体的、细小的事情，并可能收到成效。你可以给我留言，大家都可以看到；当然你也可以私下给我写邮件。

   虽然我有自己的提议，不过使用“众包”方式来看看发展情况，应该会更加有趣和有成效。这背后没有什么隐藏的动机，读者可以讲它看作一个简单的调查。

   当我首次向一些中国朋友提出这个提议时，他们的反应迥然不同。一些觉得这是个很好的主意，另一些则认为我将会失望而归。他们认为，现今的中国年轻人如此自我，他们对于回报社会及义务没有时间和观念。现实就是“摄取自己所需，让世界见鬼去吧”。我不知道大多数人的观点是怎样的。因此，这一请求也可以作为一个样本调查。

Note added on 8/16/2016 after 4 years: I have only received so far 7 public comments and one private comment. Apparently, my cynical friends are correct. Sad.