I am Si Liang, an eternal thinker. My name is my life. Love wisdom and pay the price for it.

I have contemplated countless times how I should spend my life—whether to become the protagonist of a story and go on adventures or become the author of novels and weave dreams?

In fact, I’ve done both. I’ve experienced at least three failed tech startups but will never give up. As my idol, Elon Musk, once said, entrepreneurship is like staring into the abyss while eating glass.

The long fan fiction novel I wrote, “Red Hood: Ashes to Dust,” was entirely to commemorate my first startup failure. I used writing to pull myself out of it and find hope.

The recurring theme in my novels is undying resolve—these four words can summarize my life philosophy.

My second favorite comic character is Batman, who represents the limits of human wisdom and will. When he was eight years old and witnessed his parents’ death, that inner child died then and there, leaving only Batman behind.

I am an INTJ. I once wondered if I, too, had killed my inner eternal child’s introverted feelings. But I discovered I had merely placed her behind high walls, protecting her well. Finding her again made me understand what I needed to do.

I’ve written code for over ten years, honing my thinking abilities and leaving an indelible mark in the computational universe. I’ve also written novels for over ten years, and now I’m dedicating all my energy to building the Computational Universe.

This is not just a story but a world.

IT Club

When did I start wanting to pursue tech entrepreneurship? It was during high school, when I was president of the IT club. While all my classmates were immersed in studying, I was already building websites and products.

I still remember asking other students then: “What is IT?” Quite a few students didn’t know.

This was the beginning of my connection with computers, and I still keep in touch with other IT club members today. Every tech entrepreneur’s original intention is to create great products and then change the world.

I didn’t know how rough the road ahead would be back then. My love for computers was mainly because of games. Could the world really be changed so easily?

No, it cannot be changed by anyone unworthy. And those who change the world inevitably pay an extremely high price. Life and death are just the beginning.

Study Philosophy at NYU

Later, I went to New York University with an “undeclared major.” I had severe adolescent anxiety about what kind of person I wanted to become, thinking about it over and over without result. The word “confusion” doesn’t even adequately describe how I dissected myself.

Back then, Chinese students studied economics and finance. I transferred to Stern Business School to study finance, then back to the College of Arts and Sciences for computer science, finally choosing philosophy—likely because I was starting a business and coding until sunrise every day, while philosophy only required reading books and writing papers to graduate.

I love Plato and ancient Greece. Philosophy is the love of wisdom, but thinking is inevitably painful. Loneliness is just one aspect of this pain. I am someone who, when I believe in something, will pursue it to the extreme.

According to my records, I wrote code for 7,483 hours, mostly during my senior year. So why did I create the fan economy website Ratafire? I knew I was also a creator, and I fell in love with a pianist.

I wanted to use Ratafire to create a golden age for creators and live in such an era. Of course, Ratafire was a complete failure. I remember interviewing an intern who said, “You’re not changing the world; it’s Patreon that is changing the world.”

I told myself I wouldn’t give up. I told myself countless times: you’re an INTJ; you have things you must do. If you don’t do them, no one else can. I really was giving myself pep talks. No matter what, don’t forget you’re an INTJ. Don’t let undying resolve fade away.

But if I could do it over, I wouldn’t let Ratafire’s failure drag me down for five years. I wouldn’t fall so deep into the shadow of failure that I might never emerge.

In the game Stellaris, if a fleet commander has the never surrender trait, he’ll fight to the death with his entire fleet. But sometimes, surviving might mean having another chance.

Undying Resolve

After Ratafire’s failure, I encountered the game Batman: Arkham Knight, whose protagonist is Red Hood, Jason Todd. His story made me realize what price one pays to be a hero—and that price is death.

I wept when listening to Jason’s recordings; his story penetrated my soul. To commemorate my startup failure, I wrote the long fan fiction “Red Hood: Ashes to Dust,” which remains a niche masterpiece.

One reader commented on this novel series: “That suffocating urgency and helplessness, like knowing the allegorical King Arthur, that African Che Guevara of the righteous nation, the spirit of the hero who crossed the canal in Egypt, is vividly embodied in the book.”

Red Hood can return from death; he’s even more stubborn than Batman. Walking alongside him also tempered my beliefs. I slowly began to emerge from Ratafire’s failure.

That my work isn’t mainstream is my curse. Someone said I’m a writer who doesn’t belong to this era. When I write what I believe in Asimov’s words, the struggle against ignorance will be victorious someday.

Then, I returned to China and founded two new companies, making AI social products and AI companion products. Both products failed, but my heart became more steady.

I no longer believe I must succeed young; rather, I must gradually accumulate. Though I no longer think myself omnipotent and incredibly strong, I cannot be defeated—all setbacks only make me stronger.

The Computational Universe

On January 22, 2021, I wrote the first note about the computational universe. A new worldview came into my world; once created, there’s no turning back. A person can only construct one fictional world in their lifetime.

But difficulties came again—my energy wasn’t entirely focused on the computational universe. I was still doing this and that, wanting to start a company, but it was all hot air. Going in circles, another three years passed. I only wrote the second book of the novel series, and the first book was still being rewritten.

Only now have I decided to focus, to focus extremely intensely on the Computational Universe.

Over the past 10 years, my career has been almost entirely pain points, from startup failure to startup failure, without even the chance to properly write my own novels and create worlds. Now, I finally know what’s most important to me work-wise: creating worlds.

I don’t want to be bothered by other people’s affairs anymore. I’ve declined all invitations to make AI films for others, including a director’s contract I didn’t sign. If I can’t create the sci-fi universe I want in the AI era, no other era will allow it.

I just want to be myself.

I most want to serve our core hardcore sci-fi fans—those with at least a bachelor’s degree, usually rational and introverted, who love gaming as the ninth art, strong worldbuilding, and high-intensity thinking. They suffer from the lack of sufficiently hardcore works in Chinese science fiction.

What I propose is a long-term path for Chinese science fiction. Through novels with strong worldbuilding and AI visualization, finding new paths for Chinese sci-fi.

I’m still an entrepreneur who wants to use technology to change the world. That eternal child hasn’t died.