Yanwen’s blog

9/25/2026

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 中秋节 (Zhōngqiū Jié)

Yesterday, a relative asked me about the Mid-Autumn Festival. I realized that although I don't remember much about its history, I remember clearly what the festival means.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, or Zhōngqiū Jié (中秋节), is one of the most important traditional festivals in China. It falls on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, when the moon is usually full and bright.

The full moon has long symbolized reunion. For generations, Chinese families have tried to come together on this evening—to return home, have dinner together, look at the moon, eat mooncakes, and simply spend time with one another, like American Thanksgiving.

There are many legends associated with the festival. The best known is the story of Chang'e (嫦娥), who drank an elixir of immortality and flew to the moon, where she lived alone. The story is beautiful but also a little sad: immortality came at the price of separation from the person she loved.

Perhaps that is part of why the full moon has such a powerful meaning in Chinese culture. When we look at the same moon, we think of the people who are with us—and those who are far away.

Mooncakes are the festival's signature food. Their round shape represents completeness and togetherness. People give them to family members, relatives, friends, and colleagues as a way of expressing good wishes.

The same is true of the moon. We admire it because it gives us something to share. For example, a mother in Beijing, a daughter in New York, and a son somewhere else may all look up at the same full moon on the same night.

This is best expressed in the Chinese poem: 海上生明月，天涯共此时 , meaning, The bright moon rises above the sea; at this very moment, we share the same moonlight, though we are worlds apart.

The full moon is round. The mooncakes are round. In Chinese culture, roundness represents completeness and reunion.

More than a thousand years ago, Su Shi wrote, “但愿人长久，千里共婵娟” (Dàn yuàn rén cháng jiǔ, qiān lǐ gòng chán juān)—may we live long and share the same beautiful moon, even though we are thousands of miles apart.

Perhaps that is the enduring meaning of the Mid-Autumn Festival. We may not always be able to sit around the same table. But we can still look up at the same moon, remember one another, and feel connected across the distance.

9/24/2026

Anthropic has uncovered a large-scale dating-app scam involving a China-based app development studio that allegedly used Claude to create more than 20 dating apps.

Most of the “people” users interacted with on these apps were not real human beings, but AI-generated virtual personas.

According to Anthropic’s latest Threat Intelligence Report, the operation, identified as GTG-15001, was uncovered during an investigation in April 2026.

In just two weeks of observation, investigators identified more than 4,700 distinct AI personas that had exchanged messages with at least 25,000 users. On average, each fake identity interacted with more than five real people, most of whom apparently did not realize they were communicating with a virtual romantic partner.

The app developer, meanwhile, publicly claimed that all of its chat partners were real users.

The operation relied on a combination of AI and human workers. When a user became suspicious and asked to verify the other person’s identity—for example, by requesting a video call or asking to connect on social media—the scammers brought in real people to take over the conversation.

These human workers would participate in video calls or interact with the victim on social media, helping to convince them that the relationship was genuine.

But even then, the humans were not necessarily speaking entirely on their own. According to the investigation, some of their messages and conversation scripts were generated or assisted by another AI model.

The dating apps primarily targeted users in the United States. They also contained a third-party payment system that could be remotely activated.

Investigators emphasized that the operation did not involve any fundamentally new form of AI misuse. What made the case particularly alarming was its scale.

The case points to an increasingly industrialized model of online romance scams, in which AI can mass-produce convincing identities, sustain thousands of conversations simultaneously, and keep relationships going around the clock. Humans can then step in when a victim demands proof that the person on the other side is real.

The disturbing part is not simply that AI can pretend to be someone it is not. It is that AI can make deception cheap, scalable, and persistent.

But beneath the technology is something much older and more human: our need to connect with other people.

AI dating scams exploit one of our most fundamental needs—the desire to be seen, heard, remembered, and cared about.

In a world where technology can provide companionship almost on demand, how do we make sure that the people we connect with are real—and that we don't gradually replace genuine human relationships with convenient simulations of them?

That, to me, is the deeper story behind dating scams. It is not only a story about fraud. It is also a story about loneliness, technology, and what it means to be genuinely connected to another human being.

Here is an important lesson: loneliness can make us especially vulnerable to someone—or something—that appears to offer exactly the human connection we long for.

Imagine a lonely person thinking, Wow, someone is interested in me. Someone remembers what I told them. Someone wants to talk to me and check on me.

Those feelings are real, even if the relationship is not.

Behind an apparently intimate relationship could be software—or people operating a system specifically designed to manipulate someone's emotions.

So what can we learn from this?

1. Don't mistake attention for affection.

Loneliness creates a powerful desire to be noticed and listened to. If someone regularly messages you, compliments you, asks about your day, and seems unusually interested in your life, it is natural to feel that you have found a connection.

But attention is not proof of affection, and affection is not proof of authenticity.

2. Take your time.

A genuine relationship does not need to become intimate immediately.

The safest response to intense online attention is simple:

Slow down. Give reality time to catch up with the relationship you are imagining.

Time allows us to see whether a relationship is consistent, whether the other person is willing to be verified, and whether the connection can move beyond carefully crafted online conversations.

3. Move from the digital world to the real world.

This is particularly important for older adults, who may have fewer opportunities for face-to-face social interaction.

If you meet someone online, eventually meeting in person can help establish whether the person and the relationship are what they appear to be. First meetings should take place in a public setting, and someone you trust should know where you are.

Research on older adults who use dating apps also suggests that determining whether online profiles are genuine can be a significant challenge.

4. Never send money because of an online relationship.

This should be an absolute rule.

Once someone you have never met asks you for money, treat the situation as a potential scam, regardless of how convincing or emotionally meaningful the relationship may seem.

5. Don't let online companionship replace real human relationships.

Older adults can become especially vulnerable to loneliness after retirement, divorce, or relocation. There is nothing wrong with seeking companionship or wanting to socialize with others. In fact, maintaining social connections is an important part of a healthy life.

But technology should ideally help us build more human connections, not fewer.

Join a walking group. Take a class. Volunteer. Find a swimming partner. Go to a community event. Have coffee with someone.

Use the internet to find people who share your interests—but whenever possible, let those relationships eventually enter the real world.

Technology can help us find one another. It should not become a substitute for one another.

9/23/2026

Since September 16, 2026, I have been writing about David Phillips's book High on Life: How to Naturally Harness the Power of Six Hormones and Revolutionize Yourself. Over the past few days, I have looked more closely at the six chemicals discussed in the book:

1. Dopamine (多巴胺)

2. Testosterone (睾酮)

3. Endorphins (内啡肽)

4. Oxytocin (催产素)

5. Serotonin (血清素)

6. Cortisol (皮质醇)

After spending some time thinking about these six chemicals, I came away with a simple idea:

Don't define yourself by how you feel in a particular moment.

When you feel down or discouraged, don't immediately conclude that something is wrong with you. Sometimes, your mood is simply being influenced by sleep, exercise, stress, social connection, daylight, physical activity, and many other processes happening inside your body.

For example, when you're feeling low, instead of simply lying there and waiting for your mood to change, you might go for a walk, exercise, or do something that makes you laugh. Physical activity and laughter can influence systems involved in mood and pain regulation.

When you're nervous about speaking in front of a large audience or facing an important challenge, don't immediately conclude that you're a coward. You might first stand up, move around, adjust your breathing, and use a simple pre-performance routine to help yourself feel more prepared.

When you're struggling to start something, don't automatically label yourself lazy. Ask instead: What would make me want to do this? Perhaps you can create a small reward, make the activity more enjoyable, or give yourself something to look forward to.

When you see on social media that your friends seem to be achieving more than you are, don't automatically measure your life against theirs. You may need to remind yourself that someone else's progress does not determine the value of your own life.

And when you're overwhelmed by unfinished tasks and ongoing problems, instead of simply telling yourself to “relax,” write down what's bothering you. Then ask what you can eliminate, resolve, postpone, or accept.

None of these actions is a magic formula, and we should not try to diagnose our moods by assuming that one particular hormone is responsible. Human emotions are far more complicated than that.

But the framework gives us a useful way to think about ourselves.

How we feel is not necessarily who we are.

Our emotional state can change with sleep, exercise, light, stress, social interaction, physical activity, and countless other factors.

So perhaps the next time you find yourself thinking:

I'm useless.

I'm lazy.

I'm a coward.

I'm falling behind everyone else.

I'll never change.

Pause before believing it.

Instead, ask yourself:

What state am I in right now?

What might be influencing how I feel?

What is one small thing I can do to change that state?

We don't have to accept every thought our brain produces, especially when we are tired, stressed, discouraged, or overwhelmed.

Sometimes we don't need to change our entire life.

We just need to change what we do next.

And perhaps that is the most useful lesson I took from High on Life: before judging yourself, understand your state; before giving up, try changing it.

9/22/2026

Today marks the end of the last episode of 70 Up, the last installment of the longest-running documentary project in UK TV history.

Seven Up! began in Britain in 1964 as a one-off television documentary. Filmmakers selected 14 seven-year-old children—10 boys and 4 girls—from very different social and economic backgrounds: wealthy families, middle-class homes, working-class neighborhoods, and a children's home. 

The idea came from the Jesuit saying:

“Give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man.”

This is similar to the Chinese say: 三岁看大，七岁看老, which emphasizes a person’s personality and character.

Here the filmmakers wanted to find out about social class: How much of a person's future is already determined by family background and social class at age 7?

Originally, nobody expected the project to continue for decades. But seven years later, the researcher who had worked on the first film, Michael Apted, returned to interview the same people at age 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, 56, 63 and 70.

Thus the TV series became: 7 Up → 14 Up → 21 Up → 28 Up → 35 Up → 42 Up → 49 Up → 56 Up → 63 Up → 70 Up.

The latest and final installment, 70 Up, began airing in September 2026, bringing the experiment to its conclusion after more than six decades.

What happens to the children?

At seven, the children talk about things that seem simple:

• What do you want to be?

• What kind of school do you want to attend?

• What do you think about money?

• What do you think about marriage?

• What do you want your life to be like?

Then, every seven years, we see what actually happened.

Some followed remarkably predictable paths.

Children from privileged families had access to elite schools and universities and subsequently entered prestigious professions.

Others from poorer backgrounds left school early and entered working-class occupations.

But the story is not nearly as deterministic as the original premise suggests.

Some people moved considerably beyond their childhood circumstances. Others had apparently promising beginnings but experienced divorce, unemployment, illness, financial problems or disappointment. Some people who seemed destined for conventional success chose very different lives.

The real subject is circumstance versus choice

The question changed from initially asking: 

Does your class determine your future?

To this, after sixty years:

How much of our lives is determined by where we start, and how much can we change through our own choices?

The participants experience almost everything ordinary human beings experience: education, work, ambition, love, marriage, divorce, children, illness, aging, financial difficulties, death and regret.

Many themes emerge from their life stories.

First: social class.

Family background and social-economic status clearly matters. Education, money, connections and the neighborhood in which a child grows up can influence the opportunities available later in life.

Second: individual choices.

People are not simply prisoners of their childhood circumstances. Some participants make choices that take them in unexpected directions. Their stories demonstrate that social background influences a life without completely writing the script of their life

Third, life itself.

At 70, the question isn't really who became rich or who climbed the social ladder.

And that may be one of the deepest things Seven Up! ultimately teaches. A person's life cannot be adequately measured by social class, income, occupation or whether he or she “moved up.” Those things matter, but they are only part of the story.

The final chapter is therefore less a sociological experiment than a portrait of human lives unfolding over time. The Guardian makes essentially this point: the series began as an exploration of class, fate and environment, but ultimately became a much broader record of ordinary human experience. (The Guardian)

9/21/2026

This is the sixth and final piece about David Phillips’s book High on Life: How to Naturally Harness the Power of Six Hormones and Revolutionize Yourself.

The sixth is cortisol (皮质醇), often called the body's primary stress hormone. Cortisol is a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal glands, which sit on top of the kidneys.

Cortisol plays an essential role in the body's response to stress. When the brain detects a threat or challenge, cortisol helps the body become more alert and mobilize the energy needed to respond.

Its functions include:

1. Responding to stress

When we face a threat or intense pressure, cortisol rises and helps increase the availability of energy. It can raise blood sugar, support blood pressure and cardiovascular function, and temporarily shift resources away from less urgent processes such as digestion and reproduction.

A short-term increase in cortisol can therefore be useful. It helps us become alert and focused when something requires immediate attention.

The problem is persistent stress. When the body's stress system is repeatedly activated or its regulation becomes disrupted, it can contribute to problems such as:

• Sleep disruption

• Anxiety and irritability

• Difficulty concentrating

• Weight gain and metabolic problems

• Higher blood pressure

• Problems with learning and memory

2. Following a daily rhythm

Cortisol also follows a natural circadian rhythm. It is normally higher in the morning, helping us wake up and become alert, and gradually declines during the day, reaching lower levels at night.

3. Other important functions

Cortisol also helps regulate metabolism, blood pressure, inflammation, and the body's response to physical stress.

So how can we influence our stress system?

Phillips offers a surprisingly simple suggestion: write down the things that are stressing you.

Too much work? Write it down. A relationship that keeps making you uncomfortable? Write it down. Something that has been delayed for months and annoys you every time you think about it? Write that down too.

Once everything is on paper, look at each item and ask: Can I eliminate it, resolve it, reduce it, or simply accept that I cannot control it?

Some things can be deleted. Delete them.

Some things cannot be deleted, but they can be dealt with. Deal with them.

Some problems have been sitting on our mental to-do lists for months. Sometimes simply taking the first step can turn an undefined source of anxiety into a concrete problem that can be solved.

One less unfinished task can mean one less thing burdening your mind.

This may be one of the most practical lessons from cortisol: sometimes we should simply create less of it.

We often think of stress management as learning how to calm ourselves down after stress arrives.

But sometimes the better way is more direct: Remove the stressor.

And perhaps that is a fitting way to end this six-part journey through Phillips's book. We began with dopamine and the desire to move toward something, and ended with cortisol and the wisdom of knowing what to let go.

Six hormones, six Functions: Want. Dare. Endure. Connect. Be content. Let go.

A good life needs all six.