【推荐1】When we are little, we do all kinds of foolish things, sometimes unwillingly and sometimes premeditated. And parents’ next behavior is to punish us and make sure that we won't repeat that nonsense again.

Therefore, at an early age parents punish their children as follows: firstly, they don’t allow children to watch TV for a couple of days; secondly, parents don’t permit their children to go out and play with their friends; thirdly, children are given different tasks to do—they have to write something several times or they have to stay in the comer of the room, until parents decide to “free” them.

Moreover, when in their adolescence, children can receive other types of punishments. Most parents punish children by not giving them pocket money, which is the best form of punishment for them. Then, they forbid children to go out on weekends or return home after a certain hour. Not to forget the fact that parents also refuse to give them food, which means that children have to prepare meals alone as they have no other choice.

Sometimes, these forms of punishments have positive results and children won't repeat the bad things they have done. Anyway, if a child is used to doing nonsense things then all his or her parents' punishments will be of no importance to him or her. He or she will carry out the punishment and after a short period of time will commit another one.

【推荐2】Many leading AI researchers think that in a matter of decades, artificial intelligence will be able to do not merely some of our jobs, but all of our jobs, forever transforming life on the earth.

The reason why many people reject this as science fiction is that we’ve traditionally thought of intelligence as something mysterious that can only exist in biological organisms, especially humans. But such an idea is unscientific.

From my point of view as a physicist and AI researcher, intelligence is simply a certain kind of information-processing performed by elementary particles (粒子)moving around, and there is no law of physics that says one can’t build machines more intelligent than us in all ways. This suggests that we’ve only seen the tip of the intelligence iceberg and that there is an amazing potential to unlock the full intelligence that is potential in nature and use it to help humanity.

If we get it right, the upside is huge. Since everything we love about civilization is the product of intelligence, amplifying (扩大) our own intelligence with AI has the potential to solve tomorrow’s toughest problems. For example, why risk our loved ones dying in traffic accidents that self-driving cars could prevent or dying of cancers that AI might help us find cures for? Why not increase productivity through automation and use AI to accelerate our research and development of affordable sustainable energy?

I’m optimistic that we can develop rapidly with advanced AI as long as we win the race between the growing power of our technology and the knowledge with which we manage it. But this requires giving up our outdated concept of learning from mistakes. That helped us win the race with less powerful technology. We messed up with fire and then invented fire extinguishers, and we messed up with cars and then invented seat belts. However, it’s an awful idea for more powerful technologies, such as nuclear weapons or super intelligent AI—where even a single mistake is unacceptable and we need to get things right the first time.

【推荐3】There is some unwelcome news for students preparing for exams and officers putting in long hours-you don’t need that “refreshment break ( 恢复性休息)” as much as you may think.

Scientists have long assumed that willpower is a limited resource, which is why you feel the urge to have a rest, have a snack and come back to a task when you are feeling better. They argued that the only way to restore willpower is by recharging our bodies with rest, food or entertainment.

But psychologists have challenged this theory, saying weak willpower is all in your head. They found that a person’s mindset ( 心态) and personal beliefs about willpower determine how long and how well they’ll be able to work on a tough mental exercise. “If you think of willpower as something that’s limited, you’re more likely to be tired when you perform a difficult task ,”said Professor Veronika Job. “But if you think of willpower as something that is not easily depleted, you can :go on and on.

The researchers designed a series of four experiments to test the students’ beliefs about willpower. After a tiring task, those who believed or were led to believe that willpower is a limited resource performed worse on standard concentration tests than those who thought of willpower as something they had more control over. They also found that leading up to final exam week, students who believed the limited resource theory ate junk food 24 percent more often than those who believed they had more control in resisting temptations (诱惑).

Mr. Job said, “Students who may already have trouble studying are being told that their powers of concentration are limited, and they need to take frequent breaks. But a belief in willpower as a non-limited resource makes people stronger in their ability to work through challenges.”

The findings could help people who are batting with distractions or temptations: people trying to overcome addictions, and employees facing a tight deadline, etc. Willpower isn’t driven by a biologically based process as much as we used to think. The belief in it is what influences your behavior.