https://www.scmp.com/rss/317098/feed William Shiyuan Wang left China early to study in the United States. After receiving his PhD, he served for over 30 years as a professor at the University of California at Berkeley. He is currently chair professor of language and cognitive sciences at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com One of the first films I enjoyed in my youth was Disney’s Fantasia, especially the part with Mickey Mouse as the sorcerer’s apprentice. Its theme, based on a poem by Goethe from 1797 – that is, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing – stuck in my mind through the years. Mickey had learned enough from the sorcerer to command the broom to fetch water for him but did not know how to command it to stop. I am reminded of this story again as the world is being flooded by artificial intelligence... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3280081/can-we-curb-our-destructive-behaviour-ai-takes-control?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3280081/can-we-curb-our-destructive-behaviour-ai-takes-control?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Sep 2024 01:30:09 +0000 Some years back, an article in Nature caught my eye. Its title, "Most people are not WEIRD", makes good sense when it is clear that WEIRD stands for Western, educated, industrialised, rich, and democratic. The authors report that the bulk of knowledge that researchers have accumulated on human behaviour has been drawn from studies done on university students in North America and Europe. This is of course a minuscule and highly biased sample; it cannot represent all of humanity. Our ancestors... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/technology/article/1656979/not-so-weird-world-human-behavioural-wiring?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/technology/article/1656979/not-so-weird-world-human-behavioural-wiring?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Dec 2014 23:43:57 +0000