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Moral formation, as I will use that stuffy-sounding term here, comprises three things. First, helping people learn to restrain their selfishness. How do we keep our evolutionarily conferred egotism under control? Second, teaching basic social and ethical skills. How do you welcome a neighbor into your community? How do you disagree with someone constructively? And third, helping people find a purpose in life.
How America Got Mean
theatlantic.com
The title of this essay inverts the title of a book about economics by Donald Mackenzie, An Engine Not a Camera. The premise of that book is that economics theories are engines that produce (via policies and institutions) economic behaviors, but trick us into thinking they merely describe them. Modern AI has the reverse problem. It’s a camera that tricks us into thinking it’s an engine that “generates” rather than “sees” things. As an aside, this weird symmetry makes me suspect that economics and modern AI are true duals of some sort — maybe the way to get to AI with agency is to bolt on an economics theory.
A Camera, Not an Engine
studio.ribbonfarm.com
具体说来，新时代提出了什么要求？简而言之，就是用真正的诗体翻译莎士比亚的诗体剧文。这个任务，是朱生豪先生无法完成的。朱先生说过，他在翻译莎士比亚作品时，“当然预备全部用散文译出，否则将要了我的命”。1显然，朱先生也考虑过用诗体来翻译莎士比亚著作的问题，但是他的结论是：第一，靠单独一个人用诗体翻译《莎士比亚全集》是办不到的，会因此累死；第二，他用散文翻译也是不得已的办法，因为只有这样他才有可能在有生之年完成《莎士比亚全集》的翻译工作。
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