1 . If you want to tell the history of the whole world, a history that does not privilege one part of humanity, you cannot do it through texts alone, because only some of the world has ever had texts, while most of the world, for most of the time, has not. Writing is one of humanity’s later achievements, and until fairly recently even many literate (有文字的) societies recorded their concerns not only in writing but in things.

Ideally a history would bring together texts and objects, and some chapters of this book are able to do just that, but in many cases we simply can’t. The clearest example of this between literate and non-literate history is perhaps the first conflict, at Botany Bay, between Captain Cook’s voyage and the Australian Aboriginals. From the English side, we have scientific reports and the captain’s record of that terrible day. From the Australian side, we have only a wooden shield (盾) dropped by a man in flight after his first experience of gunshot. If we want to reconstruct what was actually going on that day, the shield must be questioned and interpreted as deeply and strictly as the written reports.

In addition to the problem of miscomprehension from both sides, there are victories accidentally or deliberately twisted, especially when only the victors know how to write. Those who are on the losing side often have only their things to tell their stories. The Caribbean Taino, the Australian Aboriginals, the African people of Benin and the Incas, all of whom appear in this book, can speak to us now of their past achievements most powerfully through the objects they made: a history told through things gives them back a voice. When we consider contact (联系) between literate and non-literate societies such as these, all our first-hand accounts are necessarily twisted, only one half of a dialogue. If we are to find the other half of that conversation, we have to read not just the texts, but the objects.

What does the author indicate by mentioning Captain Cook in paragraph 2?

3 . In many homes, dogs are beloved family pets. Dogs are now playing a role in educational environments, too. Since 2014, the New York City Department of Education has certified (认证) a Comfort Dog program. The program trains comfort dogs and their human handlers (训练师)for use in schools.

The Comfort Dog program began as a way to help students feel more involved in their classes and to reduce feelings of anxiety, fear, and isolation. At East Side Middle School (ESMS) in Manhattan, Bailey the comfort dog is now working with her human handler, Laurie Posner, the school psychologist.

“After a year and a half of virtual learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many kids have felt disconnected from their classmates. At ESMS, Bailey will be involved in social-emotional lessons throughout the school year. Also, Bailey is supposed to work on specific goals.” Posner said. Students who have had difficulty going from a virtual learning model back to an in-person setting can also join a small group with Bailey. “In addition to helping small groups, Bailey will have an open-door policy - anyone on campus who is having a hard day will be welcome to come and see Bailey anytime. Mr. Posner added. “You need somewhere to relax and just pet a dog, or talk to a dog, someone who is not going to judge you. That’s what she is for.”

Bailey went through intensive (加强的)training in order to become a comfort dog. Each dog must know basic instructions and pass a test conducted by human handlers to be suitable for a classroom setting. The dogs’ interactions with children, how they walk in hallways, respond to the ringing of school bells, and take treats from working staff are all tested.

Researchers are finding that having comfort dogs in school leads to a more positive school climate.

So far, Bailey is a hit at ESMS.

4 . The AIDA model is the foundation of modern marketing and advertising practice. It outlines the four basic steps used to persuade potentials to make a purchase. The first three steps lie in creating attention (A), decorating interest (I), and building desire (D) for the product, before the fourth step — the “call to action” (A) — tells them exactly how and where to buy. AIDA can channel the customer’s feelings through each stage toward reaching a sale.

Attracting the customer’s attention is the first challenge and this may be achieved by using an attracting phrase or picture. Once someone’s attention has been clutched, it must be turned into real interest. This is best done by providing a brief description of the product’s benefits to the consumer rather than simply listing the product’s main features or problem-solving claims.

Now, it is time to transform that interest into a desire for a product or service. This is where consumers need to believe their lives could be better by possessing the product. It could be a vital step towards turning a potential into a real customer.

“Call-to-action” is where all of the initial hard work pays off and leads to the action from a potential customer. For example, they might pick up the phone to discuss the idea of a trial of the services or, alternatively, they may just buy that product or service that has been promoted to them all along.

And AIDA is used to great effect in the movie industry. Movie studios begin their marketing campaigns months in advance. The campaigns develop by offering attractive flashes of the movie without giving too much away. Desire is inspired by the release of the full preview which is fully designed to show the exciting moments of the movie, from special effects to humorous lines of dialogue on the opening weekend. Advertisements in newspapers and on television focus on the movie’s release, inviting the consumer to go and buy a ticket.

5 . A machine can now not only beat you at chess, it can also outperform you in debate. Last week, in a public debate in San Francisco, a software program called Project Debater beat its human opponents, including Noa Ovadia, Israel’s former national debating champion.

Brilliant though it is, Project Debater has some weaknesses. It takes sentences from its library of documents and prebuilt arguments and strings them together. This can lead to the kinds of errors no human would make. Such wrinkles will no doubt be ironed out, yet they also point to a fundamental problem. As Kristian Hammond, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Northwestern University, put it: “There’s never a stage at which the system knows what it’s talking about.”

What Hammond is referring to is the question of meaning, and meaning is central to what distinguishes the least intelligent of humans from the most intelligent of machines. A computer works with symbols. Its program specifies a set of rules to transform one string of symbols into another. But it does not specify what those symbols mean. Indeed, to a computer, meaning is irrelevant. Humans, in thinking, talking, reading and writing, also work with symbols. But for humans, meaning is everything. When we communicate, we communicate meaning. What matters is not just the outside of a string of symbols, but the inside too, not just how they are arranged but what they mean.

Meaning emerges through a process of social interaction, not of computation, interaction that shapes the content of the symbols in our heads. The rules that assign meaning lie not just inside our heads, but also outside, in society, in social memory, social conventions and social relations. It is this that distinguishes humans from machines. And that’s why, however astonishing Project Debater may seem, the tradition that began with Socrates and Confucius will not end with artificial intelligence.

6 . The call for public engagement with the unthinkable is especially germane in this moment of still-uncontrolled pandemic and economic crises in the world's most technologically advanced nations. Not very long ago, it was also unthinkable that a virus would shut down nations and that safety nets would be proven so disastrously lacking in flexibility.

The international scholars’ warning letter doesn't say exactly what collapse will look like or when it might happen. Collapseology, the study of collapse, is more concerned with identifying trends and with them the dangers of everyday civilization. Among the signatories (签署者) of the warning was Bob Johnson, the originator of the “ecological footprint” concept, which measures the total amount of environmental input needed to maintain a given lifestyle. With the current footprint of humanity, “it seems that global collapse is certain to happen in some form, possibly within a decade, certainly within this century,” Johnson said in an email.