I am not a historian, not a journalist, and not a famous writer. I am an ordinary Chinese software engineer born in the 1980s, living in Jinan, trying to keep up with mortgages, education, and the small anxieties that come with a changing world.

我不是历史学家，不是记者，也不是著名作家。我是一个普通的80后中国软件工程师，住在济南，努力应对房贷、教育以及这个变化世界带来的各种小焦虑。

But I have to write these pages.

但我必须写下这些文字。

The Earth Civilization 0.5 Chronicles is neither a grand world history nor a pure memoir. It is an attempt to record the transition from the late mechanical age to the digital era, and then to the AI era. As long as I am alive, I will continue to record. I hope that in the future, someone will take over this work and keep recording.

《地球文明0.5编年史》既不是宏大的世界史，也不是纯粹的回忆录。它试图记录从机械时代末期到数字时代，再到AI时代的过渡。只要我活着，我就会一直记录下去。我希望以后也会有人来接替这项工作，一直记录下去。

• Milestones (verifiable): a small set of checkable events each year (technology, science, culture) with dates and names whenever possible.
  里程碑（可验证）：每年选取少量可核查的事件（技术、科学、文化），尽可能标注日期和名称。
• Daily life (felt): the texture of ordinary life - appliances, communication, entertainment, school, work, family - and how big changes land on real people.
  日常生活（可感知）：普通生活的质感——家电、通讯、娱乐、学校、工作、家庭——以及大变革如何落到真实的人身上。

Why "0.5"? / 为什么是"0.5"？

0.5 means transition. It is not the ending of the old era, and not the final form of the new one. It is the messy middle state where both coexist:

0.5 意味着过渡。 它不是旧时代的终结，也不是新世界的最终形态。它是两者共存的混乱中间状态：

• The machines keep running, but information starts flowing.
  机器仍在运转，但信息开始流动。
• The family gathers around a TV, but a network quietly appears behind the screen.
  一家人围坐在电视机前，但屏幕背后悄然出现了网络。
• Experience travels by word of mouth, but knowledge becomes searchable and copyable.
  经验通过口耳相传，但知识变得可搜索、可复制。

Method: Milestones + Vignettes / 方法：里程碑 + 片段

These two threads calibrate each other. Milestones keep the direction correct; vignettes keep the temperature real. When I am not sure, I will say so, and I will mark items to verify.

这两条线索相互校准。里程碑确保方向正确；片段保持温度真实。当我不确定时，我会明说，并标注需要核实的内容。

Point of view / 视角

This chronicle begins in 1980 and continues forward as an ongoing record. It does not claim equal first-hand memory of every year. For the earlier period, the narrative relies more on family accounts and surviving traces of everyday life (photos, receipts, letters, objects). From 1985 onward, it gradually enters the range of my own lived experience.

这部编年史从1980年开始，并将作为一项持续性的记录不断写下去。它并不声称对其中每一年都拥有同等程度的第一手记忆。对于较早阶段的内容，叙述更多依赖于家庭讲述以及照片、票据、书信、实物等日常生活留下的痕迹；从1985年以后，这份记录也逐渐进入我个人亲历经验的范围。

Boundaries / 边界

• I avoid political positioning and focus on technology, culture, economy, and daily life.
  我避免政治立场，专注于技术、文化、经济和日常生活。
• I respect facts: key milestones should be checkable; uncertainty stays visible.
  我尊重事实：关键里程碑应该可核查；不确定性保持可见。
• I respect ordinary people: big changes always end up in specific families and jobs.
  我尊重普通人：大变革最终总是落在具体的家庭和工作岗位上。

Who am I? / 我是谁？

My name is Yang Yu. I was born in 1985 in a small county in Shandong, studied computer science, and worked as a software engineer in Jinan for more than a decade. If you remember your first radio, your first cassette tape, your first dial-up connection, or your first AI-written draft, I hope you will find a shadow of yourself here.

我叫杨宇，1985年出生在山东的一个小县城，学的是计算机，在济南做了十多年的软件工程师。如果你还记得你的第一台收音机、第一盘磁带、第一次拨号上网，或者第一篇AI写的草稿，我希望你能在这里找到自己的影子。