NEURONNORUEN

Monday, January 11, 2016

Moss Landing and Monterey, 2015

Boston 2015

Fresh pond, Cambridge

Salem beach

Wellesley college, Wellesley

Harvard Square, Cambridge

Boston Harbor, Boston

Harvard Yard, Cambridge

Charles river, Boston

Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge

Fresh Pond, Cambridge

Cape cod, 2015

Sagamore bridge, Cape cod

The squealing pig, Provincetown

Lobster, Provincetown

Race point, Provincetown

Boston Harbor, Boston

Long point, Provincetown

Provincetown harbor

Chengde, 2015

Puning Temple

Putuo Zongcheng Temple

Slogan from 1970s in mountain resort

Chengde mountain resort

Chengde Snacks, crude Tofu

Chengde snacks, buckwheat noodles

The Great Wall in Jingshanling

Chengde

Sunday, January 10, 2016

"Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

What do you believe, fairy tales, God, creationism, evolutionism, liberalism, Buddhism, Islamism, Christianism, capitalism, communism, science, or singularity? In <Sapiens: A Brief History ofHumankind>, Yuval Noah Harari drew a big picture of human history from 2 million years ago till now. His main argument is that fictional ideas make human stand out from other organisms on the Earth. We continually pursue the basic question of who we are, and what we survive for; we conjure up enormous ideas, stories, and isms to survive and outperform other species, but to nowhere.

The story starts at the prehistory Sapiens migration out of Africa and expansion to every corner of the Earth, then goes through the cognitive revolution, agricultural revolution, and scientific and industrial revolution until the intelligence designs of today. One of the significant views of the author is that the agriculture revolution is a fraud that makes individual human suffers rather than enjoys. And he thinks farmers lived a miserable life compared to hunter-gathers; we moderns still have the physics of 2 millions years ago, yet we mainly live on carbohydrate foods (corn, rice, wheat), which get us the modern diseases—diabetes, obesities, dental caries, and atherosclerosis, a recent popular view that makes some people want to go back to the living style of hunter-gathers.

The author tried to tell his story with objectivity, and argue from different angles with underlying humors, which make the book an interesting pitch. In the meantime, you can feel the pessimistic tone that shadows the individual fate although the author tried to make the balance. Most times, we live in illusions and delusions, which make our life happy and meaningful, and humankind with astounding achievements. On the other hand, we feel empty and uneasy for our fate. This perplexity hangs over us all the time, and it is hard to believe the human society organized by fabricated ideas and isms has gone so far.

Friday, January 8, 2016

Book reading in 2015

I have no resolution for 2015, but I finished reading 16 books in total. Specifically, 1 novel and 15 non-novel. More specifically, 4 on psychology, 4 on skills, 3 on evolution, 2 on literature, and each on history, education, and cuisine. I gave 5 stars for 5 books, 4 stars for 9 books, and 3 stars for 2 books. The best book of 2015 reading is <2066> for fiction, and <Neanderthal Man: In search of Lost Genomes> for non-fiction. My goal for 2016 is 50 books, or 1 book every week.

人類簡史

關於人類的起源，時下有兩種假說—多中心起源說和單地起源說。佔主流的單地起源說認為，我們現代人的祖先是智人，十五萬年前它們佔領非洲，七萬年前（語言誕生）它們開始擴展到歐亞大陸，六萬年前它們佔領亞洲，四萬五千年前它們佔領澳洲，一萬六千年前它們擴展到北美洲，一萬兩千年前（農業誕生）它們佔領南美洲。在擴張遷移的過程中，它們遇到了自己的堂兄弟姊妹羅德西亞人，前人，海德堡人，尼安德特人，丹尼索娃人，和直立人，並跟它們進行了有限的交配（因為種屬差異，並不成功），然後發生了人類歷史上最早的種族滅絕。結果智人成了唯一存在的人類，而我們現代人仍然攜帶著少許異種的基因。接著在五百年前發生了科學革命，兩百年前發生了工業革命，直到目前的智能設計革命。

在《人類簡史》中，尤瓦爾-赫拉利根據最新的研究進展講述了一個與眾不同的人類史故事。他的主要觀點有：1）人類語言的產生是一場認知革命。人類的語言有別於動物的語言，在於虛構，它們描述交流虛構的事物：天堂，地獄，神怪，國家，法律，道德，民主，自由，革命，有限公司，巴比倫王國的漢摩拉比法典，美國的獨立宣言......這些虛構的東西激發了社會合作與經濟發展。2）發生在一萬兩千年前的農業革命是一個現在看來錯誤的決定，人類希望農耕生活能改變自己的勞苦命運，結果卻變得更加勞碌，並且不能自拔。「我想與眾不同是人類發展的驅動力，第一個發明種地的人一定會吸引更多的異性傳遞自己的基因。即使沒有農業這個奢侈陷阱，也會有別的奢侈陷阱等著有好奇心的人類去嘗試。人類是永遠不得安逸的。」3）商業，帝國，和宗教是推動全球化的主要原因。歷史是混亂的，偶然的，也是不可預測的，它有無數種可能。「我想人類走出非洲可能是想尋找更舒適的生活或逃離當地激烈的生存競爭，最後它們又回到自己設計的同一個屋簷下：一個商業系統，一個帝國，一個宗教，直到新的殖民地被發現。」4) 科學革命，工業革命加速推進全球化。全球化的結果是傳統家庭族群的瓦解和國家與市場的興旺以及個體發展的世界，和平增長，生態破壞。「一方面我們渴望個體的自由，另一方面我們憎惡國家與市場的壓迫，然而這兩者是互相滋生的。」5）幸福與否及生命的意義依賴於我們的主觀期望和錯覺而存在。6) 人工智能開始改變自然進化的歷史。人類不知道自己想要什麼，長生不老，合成人，超人，滅絕，一切皆有可能。