Hu Tianding posted on 2006-09-10 21:11:32 Latest Comments •mist 2006-09-11 21:41:26 [reply] May you be spared from grief and may things turn out as desired… •Zhang Wu 2006-09-11 22:40:35 [reply] Deepest condolences! Xiaogu, please accept my condolences and take care
阅读全文This essay was written in March 2002, when I was in tenth grade. I happened to find the original text on my computer and post it here for a look; the problem remains the problem. September 5, 2006 1．Introduction Where does consciousness reside? You may answer without hesitation: consciousness is a function of the human brain. But have you ever thought: which part of the human brain does consciousness reside in? How does the human brain produce consciousness? Will strong AI have consciousness? Can one “consciousness” reside in multiple brains; and how many consciousnesses might one brain possess? I cannot answer these questions very well; these are questions that even…
阅读全文Shanghai: Having grown used to living at Peking University, when I came back to Shanghai I felt that finding books was really not very convenient. Still, Shanghai is after all a big city, so there are quite a few bookstores. From my home it’s a very short walk to First Yaohan, and in the basement of First Yaohan there is the so-called “Oriental Book City,” advertised as the largest in Pudong. There are quite a lot of books, but the layout is too chaotic; as a general bookstore, it doesn’t have many academic books. On Fuzhou Road: Shanghai Book City is the most famous, but it is also a general…
阅读全文The original watch was running slow, so this time when I went home I needed to get a new one. I left the matter of buying a watch to my parents; after all, I don’t care much about style or anything like that, only that it would be better if it were more water-resistant—the previous watch had been tormented by me to the point that rust spots covered both the outside and the inside of it. Nowadays people like to check the time on their mobile phones. After all, almost everyone has one, and using it as a watch along the way is indeed convenient; watches, on the other hand,…
阅读全文Pluto has been demoted; now the solar system has become the eight major planets. This news counts as one of the most eye-catching science and technology news items of the past few days, but today I saw a rather interesting report: it said that Pluto’s demotion caused only limited shock in astronomy, yet stirred up quite a commotion in “astrology.” The ones most affected are probably us Scorpio folks, because it is said that Pluto is Scorpio’s “ruling planet.” I don’t know what exactly this ruling planet is supposed to do, but it does sound like the problem is indeed quite serious… Pluto being included among the major planets was…
阅读全文Whether in philosophy or in science, “popularization” is needed—that is to say, the public outside the field needs to be brought to some degree of understanding in some way. Most people would agree with this; the question is only—who should popularize, to whom should it be popularized, in what way, how should the effects of popularization be defined, and so on. In modern times, learning has become increasingly specialized, increasingly profound, and thus increasingly distant from the grasp of ordinary people. In such circumstances, “popularization” instead appears ever more important. But the current state of popularization is worrying. Looking at science popularization: in fact, modern times can be said to…
阅读全文For a long time I have always said that I had never truly gazed up at the brilliant starry sky—but then I suddenly remembered something: it turns out that, although it was only simulated, I really had once gazed upon a brilliant starry sky! I remember it was in fourth grade of primary school. At the time, I was in a cross-grade division of the Singapore Primary School Mathematics Olympiad and won third prize, which gave me the chance to visit Gezhi Middle School. Of course, this was Gezhi Middle School trying to recruit talent. The main guests were the fifth-graders who were about to choose a middle school, and…
阅读全文For some reason I suddenly thought of this question: what would a rainbow on the sea look like? Maybe it’s because I’ve been thinking about the sea a lot lately in my head (perhaps triggered by a netizen’s qmd, perhaps by an animated film I watched earlier, perhaps by some inner factor—I’m not sure), and then the day before yesterday I saw a pop-up QQ news item saying that a rainbow had appeared in downtown Beijing—that meteorological “spectacle” somehow brought them together in my mind. When people are bored, they sometimes close their eyes and imagine themselves placed in some beautiful scene; I suppose others do this too? Anyway, I…
阅读全文A true brave person will not regret the choices he made on his own; a coward, by contrast, is just the opposite: he finds it easier not to regret the choices someone else made for him, because in the end he can always dump the responsibility on somebody else. Weigh the options yourself, choose for yourself, decide for yourself, and bear it yourself. Listen appropriately to other people’s opinions, but never “seek help” from others, and even less should you depend on other people’s opinions. If the final result turns out as you wished, go thank those who selflessly offered you advice; if the final result is less than satisfactory,…
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