2 . Given the astonishing potential of AI to transform our lives, we all need to take action to deal with our AI-powered future, and this is where AI by Design: A Plan for Living with Artificial Intelligence comes in. This absorbing new book by Catriona Campbell is a practical roadmap addressing the challenges posed by the forthcoming AI revolution (变革).

In the wrong hands, such a book could prove as complicated to process as the computer code (代码) that powers AI but, thankfully, Campbell has more than two decades’ professional experience translating the heady into the understandable. She writes from the practical angle of a business person rather than as an academic, making for a guide which is highly accessible and informative and which, by the close, will make you feel almost as smart as AI.

As we soon come to learn from AI by Design, AI is already super-smart and will become more capable, moving from the current generation of “narrow-AI” to Artificial General Intelligence. From there, Campbell says, will come Artificial Dominant Intelligence. This is why Campbell has set out to raise awareness of AI and its future now-several decades before these developments are expected to take place. She says it is essential that we keep control of artificial intelligence, or risk being sidelined and perhaps even worse.

Campbell’s point is to wake up those responsible for AI-the technology companies and world leaders-so they are on the same page as all the experts currently developing it. She explains we are at a “tipping point” in history and must act now to prevent an extinction-level event for humanity. We need to consider how we want our future with Al to pan out. Such structured thinking, followed by global regulation, will enable us to achieve greatness rather than our downfall.

AI will affect us all, and if you only read one book on the subject, this is it.

4 . “When we think of curiosity, we often think of the need for immediate answers,” said Abby Hsiung, Ph. D. , a postdoctoral researcher at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences and lead author of a new research paper. “But we found that when people were more curious, they were actually more pleased to wait.”

“When we watch TV shows or football games, we’re watching that information develop over time, uncertain about how it’s all going to end,” said Hsiung. “I wanted to know if higher curiosity would push people to seek, or to avoid getting an immediate ‘spoiler’ (剧透).”

Hsiung drew inspiration from short cooking videos that are popular on social media. “These videos caught my attention because even though they’re so short, they manage to develop a description and suspense (悬念), so that you’re attracted and curious about how the pizza will all come together.” So Hsiung got out her digital paintbrush and made a lot of 30-second animated line drawing videos that, like the cooking videos, eventually ended up as something highly recognizable, like a hamburger or a dog.

More than 2,000 adults from across the U. S. then watched 25 of these short line drawing videos online. Participants in Hsiung’s study were asked along the way how curious they were, how they felt, and to guess what the drawing would become. Viewers also had a spoiler button to skip ahead to see the final drawing. Hsiung and her team were surprised to find that when people were curious, they refused to hit the spoiler button and kept watching the drawings unfold. It was when people were less curious that they tended to go for an instant answer.

The study also found that curiosity increased at different stages of watching these videos. “We saw higher curiosity during moments when it seemed like the drawing could turn into anything and also when participants were starting to really home in on a single answer,” said co-author Jia-Hou Poh, Ph. D. , a postdoctoral researcher at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences.

In my childhood, under the influence of my el der brother and my peers in the neighborhood, I tried a number of outdoor activities. Of course, I was not so taken by all of them. whether I was doing them for the first time or continuously. However, fate had its own plans in store. You never know when an outdoor activity will change my life.

The name of this activity is “fishing”. About ten years ago, I didn't really like the idea of sitting on the bank of a lake or river, spending long hours under the sun's ultraviolet rays, which can cause sunburns and skin damage, and anxiously anticipating some fish to be kind to take my bait(诱饵). In fact, I used to think of this outdoor activity as some kind of “hide-and-seek-game” that is popular with most young kids, except that it was much harder because I could see my “prey (猎物)” only after catching it.

However, all that changed when I paid a visit to my aunt in the countryside during a summer holiday. I was finally convinced by one of my cousins to accompany him to a nearby lake in order to do some fishing practice with him. In fact, he even assured me that fish would eat my baits. So I agreed and went to the lake expecting to catch some fish. Before throwing my fishing line into the water, my cousin did some tricks attaching some sort of food to my fishing pole.

Learning to fish in a river or lake can be challenging for the beginners like me. The act of dropping a line is easy, but being a successful fisher is hard. That's why they call it fishing but not catching But with practice and patience, it can become easier over time. Patience is essential in lake fishing. It may take some time to find the right spot or lure (鱼饵) that will attract fish.

My cousin had to repeatedly remind me to keep patient.

When we finally left the lake, I had caught three fish!

When I was a kid, my parents and I lived near the forest. They often told me that our family was a team that needed to work together for the household to function smoothly. There was always an abundance of work to do — cooking, cleaning, and walking dogs. I volunteered to walk our dog, Max, who had been adopted one month before. I never dared let this giant dog off the lead (牵狗绳), just in case he took off.

One morning, we were walking along in the forest when Max started pulling on the lead. At first, I was able to hold on despite the wet ground from a recent shower. But the more I tried to stop him pulling, the more it turned into a tug of war. And thanks to the slippery ground, I lost.

Pulling his lead, Max shot off like a bullet, leaving me screaming behind. I chased him but lost my footing and fell face-first into some mud. I stumbled (踉跄) to my feet, but looking ahead, I found him running back towards me. I thought he was going to stop and give me his “Sorry” look. But instead, the dog shot past me and returned after a while.

As soon as we got home, my mother immediately attended to Max with a warm towel and a doggy treat. I thought seeing me stumbling and covered in mud, I would also get a warm cup of tea and a motherly kiss. Instead, I got a very loud lecture about letting the dog loose in the forest.

I felt frustrated. It wasn’t fair that she didn’t understand how difficult it was to control Max. I fought back, “Stop lecturing me! Why is everything my fault?” With these words, I stormed into my bedroom and slammed the door shut.

In the evening, I heard my mother call Max and take him out. It wasn’t long before I heard my mother screaming and the door opening again.

I walked out of my room.

Dad stepped in, suggesting that we work together to train Max.

Spencer’s parents taught him basic first aid when he was young. One day, Spencer saw a boy     1     on the ground. The boy’s     2     was badly injured. Several people had stopped to help. Spencer used a cloth to     3     the bleeding and used his own T-shirt to make the boy s arm stable. Spencer showed someone how to apply pressure to the boy’s wounds and talked to him to keep him     4    . When the ambulance arrived, the medical workers     5     Spencer for his good work. If Spencer had not acted so quickly, the boy would have been in even greater     6    . By the next day, the whole school heard about what had happened. Spencer’s parents were very     7     of their son for his good work in the face of an emergency.