Jen reread a classical Chinese masterpiece 人间词话by王国维
Amazon:
《人间词话》是中国古典文学批评里程碑式的作品，集中体现了著名学者王国维的文学、美学思想，精义迭出。书中提出了具有完整的理论结构和丰富内容的“境界”说，向来极受学术界重视。
https://tinyurl.com/y7g2955f
The book's kindle edition is free on Amazon.
Discussion:
记得高考复习时语文卷子上有考王国维的试题，问人生三大境界是什么。原来这个出自《人间词话》。
人生三大境界
1. 昨夜西风凋敝树，独上高楼，望尽天涯路
a. 突然发现一个清晰的目标
2. 衣带渐宽终不悔，为伊消得人憔悴
a. 实现目标的奋斗过程
3. 众里寻他千百度，慕然回首，那人却在灯火阑珊处
a. 迷茫过程中，CONNECTING THE DOTS
Jen felt that the ancient Chinese wisdom could really applied to nowadays when pursuing your goal. Maybe some day we just suddenly realize what we want. A lot of the Chines poets stayed away from the imperial court due to various personal reasons. We may learn from them.
Classics worth reread.
Jen also finished a leadership book Power: Why Some People Have it and Others Don't
Goodreads:
In this crowning achievement, one of the greatest minds in management theory reveals how to succeed and wield power in the real world.
Over decades of consulting with corporations and teaching MBA students the nuances of organizational power, Jeffrey Pfeffer has watched numerous people suffer career reversals even as others prevail despite the odds.
Our most common mistake is not having a realistic understanding of what makes some people more successful than others. By believing that life is fair, we tend to subscribe to the just-world phenomenon, which leaves us unprepared for the challenges and competition of the real world.
https://tinyurl.com/y8lm4nxd
The book introduced ways to raise to the top of an organization from a manager position using case studies. The topics including personal branding, networking...
Janus continued to share the 2nd book of the Red Rising series Golden Son, voted to be 2015's Goodreads choice winner for science fiction.
Goodreads:
As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface of Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants. But the Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Darrow’s kind have been betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the Golds—and their only path to liberation is revolution. And so Darrow sacrifices himself in the name of the greater good for which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life. He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm so that he can destroy it from within.
https://tinyurl.com/y88v8ngt
Discussion: Janus really liked the fast paced and epic novel with ups and downs and flamboyant characters. Even it's a science fiction, it smelt of reality and was filled with life's lessons in line. The book contained various elements ruthlessness, loyalty, friendships, stupidity, betrayal, parental love... There were hardly any advanced vocabularies but throughout the book you could discover quotes that were enlightening.
Home isn’t where you’re from, it’s where you find light when all grows dark.
Home is not only a physical place but more of a comfort zone.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
万事研究不能只看表象，需要深入分析。或者是斩草需除根
I will die. You will die. We will all die and the universe will carry on without care. All that we have is that shout into the wind—how we live. How we go. And how we stand before we fall.
...
Wise men read books about history, Pliny. Strong men write them.
如何过一生
Rise too high, in mud you lie.
登高易跌
Friendships take minutes to make, moments to break, years to repair
This really applies to any relationships.
Janus is also in the process of reading Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Goodreads:
How will Artificial Intelligence affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our very sense of being human? The rise of AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology—and there’s nobody better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark, an MIT professor who’s helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial.
https://tinyurl.com/y939th9f
Discussion:
Intelligence is ultimately all about information and computation, not about flesh, blood or carbon atoms.
This really means one day we will be surpassed by machine intelligence. This can be a good or a bad thing really. Most people are worried about their job being replaced by AI. One part of the book described some job population can be automated so no humans are needed, unfortunately one of them is accounting. The author talked about guiding the next generation to do the jobs below:
*People related jobs
*Innovative solutions
*Work with changing environments
The author also mentioned that we could potentially use the help from a super AI to improve social living, a pretty vague goal. The author then blasted with a string of questions below to inspire us
Do you want there to be superintelligence? Do you want humans to still exist, be replaced, cyborgized and/or uploaded/simulated? Do you want humans or machines in control? Do you want AIs to be conscious or not? Do you want to maximize positive experiences, minimize suffering or leave this to sort itself out? Do you want life spreading into the cosmos? Do you want a civilization striving toward a greater purpose that you sympathize with, or are you OK with future life forms that appear content even if you view their goals as pointlessly banal?
AI experts already gathered to discuss/debate the answers to the questions above. Janus felt the largest benefit of thinking about future AI/automation is below.
Many people today fail to realize their full creative potential because they need to devote time and energy to less creative activities just to earn a living.
Other Related Medias:
The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies, similar book to this one
1984 talked about future life under surveillance by the AI and loses privacy and freedom.
Altered carbon, the Netflex series, painted a future where people can theoretically achieve life of eternity
铳梦, manga
Automation and the future of jobs, documentary
