1 . “Woman reading book, under a night sky, dreamy atmosphere,” I type into Deep Dream Generator’s Text 2 Dream feature. In less than a minute, an image is returned to me showing what I’ve described.

Welcome to the world of AI image generation, where you can create what on the surface looks like top-rank artwork using just a few text prompts (提示). But closer examination shows oddities. The face of the woman in my image has very odd features, and appears to be holding multiple books. And, while there’s an initial thrill at seeing an image appear, there’s no creative satisfaction.

AI image generation could influence everything from film to graphic novels and more. Children’s illustrators were quick to raise concerns about the technology. They say AI-generated art is the exact opposite of what art is believed to be. Fundamentally, art is all about translating something that you feel internally into something that exists externally. Whatever form it takes, true art is about the creative process much more than it’s about the final piece. And simply pressing a button to generate an image is not a creative process.

Beyond creativity, there are deeper issues. To create images from prompts, AI generators rely on databases of already existing art and text. This could lead to the creation of images that are intentionally meant to imitate the style of other artists, without their agreement. There is an argument that AI generators work no differently to humans when it comes to being influenced by others’ work. However, a human artist is also adding emotion and nuance (细微差别) into the mix. AI doesn’t do the same — it can only copy.

The increasing use of AI will also lead to a devaluing (贬低) of the work of artists. There’s already a negative prejudice towards the creative industry. People will begin to think that their “work” is as excellent as that created by someone who has spent a career making art. It’s nonsense, of course. You can use your mobile phone to take a nice picture of your daughter, but you are no match for professionals.

2 . When given the choice, about 85% of people say they would not want to know about some negative event far in the future. Yet recently millions around the globe have downloaded FaceApp, which allows users to see how they might age in real life.

Many had fun with joking that they love the FaceApp old filter. Beneath the humor is a serious subject: How do we learn to relate to our future selves? It’s important that we try to because it could help strengthen the long-term decisions that we make. However, we often fail to make sacrifices for the grayer versions of ourselves.

More than half of the respondents in a recent survey of 2,800 Americans said they rarely or never thought about what their lives might be like 30 years from now. This isn’t surprising, since most of us are firmly rooted in the present and thinking about the distant future can seem like a distant priority (优先). My ongoing research might also offer an explanation: We tend to think about our future selves as if they are someone different from who we are today. In an effort to narrow these empathy (共情) gaps, my research workmates and I have tried to humanize people’s future selves in the same way others have tried to humanize charity receivers. Given that a photograph of one hungry child can spark emotional reactions, and cause viewers to donate, we have presented participants with vivid images of their distant selves.

That seems helpful. In a recently completed project in Mexico, we found that exposure to future self-images led more people to contribute to their pensions. Despite this research, I’m skeptical that the app users will suddenly increase their pension contributions and care about their health. The silly app isn’t paired with an immediate opportunity to change any of these things.

The lesson from FaceApp shouldn’t be that we need to marry hi-tech visuals with savings for retirement. The lesson, then, lakes the form of a question: What more can be done to urge us to think about, care for who we will one day become?

4 . When I mentioned to some friends that we all have accents, most of them proudly replied, “Well, I speak perfect English/Chinese/etc.” But this kind of misses the point.

More often than not, what we mean when we say someone “has an accent” is that their accent is different from the local one, or that pronunciations are different from our own. But this definition of accents is limiting and could give rise to prejudice. Funnily enough, in terms of the language study, every person speaks with an accent. It is the regular differences in how we produce sounds that define our accents. Even if you don’t hear it yourself, you speak with some sort of accent. In this sense, it’s pointless to point out that someone“has an accent“. We all do!

Every person speaks a dialect , too. In the field of language study, a dialect is a version of a language that is characterized by its variations of structure, phrases and words. For instance,“ You got eat or not? ”(meaning “Have you eaten?” ) is an acceptable and understood question in Singapore Oral English. The fact that this expression would cause a standard American English speaker to take pause doesn’t mean that Singapore Oral English is “wrong” or “ungrammatical”. The sentence is well-formed and clearly communicative, according to native Singapore English speakers’ solid system of grammar. Why should it be wrong just because it’s different?

We need to move beyond a narrow conception of accents and dialects — for the benefit of everyone.

Language differences like these provide insights into people’s cultural experiences and backgrounds. In a global age, the way one speaks is a distinct part of one’s identity. Most people would be happy to talk about the cultures behind their speech. We’d learn more about the world we live in and make friends along the way.

5 . Mobile phones are now everywhere. They are a(n) __________ way for us to keep in touch with friends and family. __________, it is important to know that there are __________ times when you should not be using your phone, the most important of these being __________.

There is no reason why you should feel the __________ to have your mobile phone during class. Aren’t you at school to __________?You should not be sending your friends text messages or taking phone calls __________ you are in class.

In America students would never be __________ to use their mobile phones during class. Anyone, who __________ the rule world be kicked out of class at once. It is OK to have your mobile phone with you, but you must ____________ to turn it off. It is very ____________ to hear a lot of tones and ringing during class.

As a(n) ____________ in China, I have to deal with students using mobile phones every day. I have told my class to turn off their phones, but many students do not ____________. The desire to be ____________ all the time seems to be stronger than the desire to learn.

It’s ____________ to understand why it is so tempting to have your phone on during class. It won’t ____________ anyone when you’re sending a short text message, will it? But you may ____________ be hurting yourself when you do this. Sending a text message also takes your ____________ away from what’s going on in class, so you may miss something ____________. The next time you ____________ to send a message in class you should think again.

7 . I major in Mechanical Engineering and Political Science. When someone hears what I study, I’m usually meant with two reactions. First up is a small smile with the word “overachiever” on the tip of their tongue. The second is a look of confusion, followed by an exaggerated(夸张的) “why?”. The short answer: I want to be a problem solver, and engineering teaches me how to become that type of person. In addition, I also want to be able to look at the bigger picture.

It’s the beginning of a new year, and a lot of first-years have plans for double or triple majors. However, as most of us quickly realize after that first fall semester, college is a lot! We are unavoidably forced to make choices—do we keep trying to make our double or triple majors work or do we completely switch gears? The thing I wished someone told me on day one is if you’re passionate about something, it’s not going to feel like work. Political Science can be challenging, but to me, it’s fun to read the Constitution(宪法) and see the impact each word has on our interpretation.

This may sound hard to accept, but if you are double or triple majoring because you think you’re in a race with your peers, you’re only running yourself into the ground. Don’t double or triple major if you are doing it for a mark on your resume(简历), because then your life will be a living hell for the next four years. What is going to make you impressive is the passion that you have—whether it be in your study, career, or something else your career and study will enable you to do.

Always think about your “why” when it comes to the schedule a double or triple major entails. Because at the end of the day, it’s going to be you doing the homework—so try to enjoy what you’re doing along the ride for what it’s worth.

8 . Is looking fashionable more important than being comfortable? Many people seem to think so, judging (判断) by the things they wear. But fashion is not everything. It is more important to be a healthy and good person.

People go to great lengths to be fashionable. Some people think they have to have a certain body type, so they go on extreme, unhealthy diets in order to change their bodies. In addition, many women wear uncomfortable fashions, such as high-heeled shoes that cause pain to their feet, and tight body shapers that limit blood flow. Men and women alike spend time and money on products that change their natural hair color or hairstyle. Some people even spend several hours a day in front of a mirror. Is fashion so important that people spend so much time and effort changing what they look like?

If the purpose of fashion is to make a person feel good, it does not make sense that he or she would go through so much discomfort to be fashionable. Fashion should not come first. People should put their health and positive image in the first place. What people wear does not say anything about their personalities. Instead of spending hours choosing a dress, perhaps you should call your friends and do something together, such as playing soccer or badminton. Instead of going on strict diets and forcing yourself to stay hungry, why not eat some healthy foods and then exercise? By doing these things, you can keep a healthy lifestyle and truly grow as a person.

9 . Self-driving cars have been backed by the hope that they will save lives by getting involved in fewer crashes with fewer injuries and deaths than human-driven cars. But so far, most comparisons between human-driven cars and automated vehicles have been unfair.

Crash statistics for human-driven cars are gathered from all sorts of driving situations, and on all types of roads. However, most of the data on self-driving cars’ safety have been recorded often in good weather and on highways, where the most important tasks are staying in the car’s own lane and not getting too close to the vehicle ahead. Automated cars are good at those tasks, but so are humans.

It is true that self-driving cars don’t get tired, angry, frustrated or drunk. But neither can they yet react to uncertain situations with the same skill or in anticipation of an attentive human driver, nor do they possess the foresight to avoid potential perils. They largely drive from moment to moment, rather than think ahead to possible events literally down the road.

To a self-driving car, a bus full of people might appear quite similar to an uninhabited cornfield. Indeed, deciding what action to take in an emergency is difficult for humans, but drivers will sacrifice themselves for the greater good of others. An automated system’s limited understanding of the world means it will almost never evaluate a situation in the same way as a human would do. And machines can’t be programed in advance to handle every imaginable set of events.

Some people may argue that the promise of simply reducing the number of injuries and deaths is enough to support driverless cars. But experience from aviation(航空) shows that as new automated systems are introduced, there is often an increase in the rate of disasters.

Therefore comparisons between humans and automated vehicles have to be performed carefully. To fairly evaluate how well driverless cars fulfill their promise of improved safety, it’s important to ensure the data presented actually provide a true comparison. After all, choosing to replace humans with automation has more effects than simply one-for-one exchanging.

10 . Life can bring us down from time to time. At some point, you may find yourself in what you will consider as your darkest hour. As you try to find your way out of that bad situation, you should try to remind yourself that there is still a reason to be grateful.

If you look at your situation now and compare it with someone else who is in much deeper trouble than you, I am sure that you’ll find something to be thankful for. We all have our share of problems. But complaining about them so much only makes us blind about the fact that there are the miracles that happen around us every day.

When all your needs are provided, then you should be content and happy. If you have a roof over your head, some decent(得体的) clothes to wear, enough food on the table, a comfortable place to sleep, clean water to drink and you are free to make your own choices, then you should be happy and grateful. Many people all around the world, especially those who are at war or those in very poor countries would give anything to be in your conditions.

Even if you lose all your money or possessions and your heart is broken for some reason, as long as you are still alive, then every material thing you have lost can be regained. If you have a few good friends who will be there to support or help you, then be glad because true friends are hard to find. As long as you have someone to love and someone to love you back, then you are a very fortunate person. Remember to be patient and trust that things will get better.