Yanwen’s blog

Last Friday 4/12, a friend of mine asked me to take a look at an essay by her teenager son. While I acknowledge his language proficiency, I let my friend know that her teenager son needs to explore more complex topics and delve deeper into ideas with some maturity.

I have worked with many high school seniors before and have written many times on the importance of writing. Here's the same topic on writing for my friend and others who wish to write better.

First of all, as the starting point, find the topic that you are passionate about or really interested in. For teenagers whose life experience is very limited, you can either read widely or explore different perspectives on daily events. See if you can look at familiar topics from unique angles and develop more nuanced and engaging writing.

Second, stay curious and open-minded as you go about your daily routine. Question assumptions and seek out diverse viewpoints. Take nothing for granted and let go of nothing unexamined and unquestioned.

Third, develop critical thinking skills. When you decide to write, you are not just a writer, you are also a thinker. The quality of your thinking directly determines that of your writing. Think about the ideas you encounter in your reading and events you see around you, develop your own opinions and perspectives. Be an independent thinker. Remember to always support your argument with evidence.

Finally, like all solid skills in life, writing is a journey of a thousand miles, that takes time and nothing less than serious dedication and perseverance. Write with a growth mindset, fear not of challenges and setbacks.

When I mentioned to my sister that I wanted to meet a childhood neighbor, she mentioned this term, 无效社交 (wú xiào shè jiāo), ineffective social activities, something that I should avoid at my age.

She said, once I went to a school reunion, one person tried to sell something to us. I think everyone goes there for some purpose. Young people go for networking or searching for relationships or more connections. They all come with intended purposes.

"Nowadays people don't go to gatherings if they see nothing to gain. At our age, people start shrinking their social circles, cutting off unnecessary social activities. You are the only one who still engage in 无效社交. See no one wants to come for your college classmate reunion this year, right?"

She is right. I can understand when people don't want to waste time on gatherings that don't lead to meaningful connections or for some reasons they lose interests in learning about each other. I myself particularly don't enjoy superficial conversations or one lacking in sincerity.

Also, I understand people's priorities change as they age. Older people may be more selective about gatherings they attend. They may prioritize high quality over quantity.

Still, I think it's important to remain open to new experiences and opportunities for learning even for seniors, to broaden perspectives by engaging new people and new activities. And more importantly, keep their curiosity. Why not?

Also, I think that social interactions can fulfill a variety of functions, including emotional support, companionship, belongingness, and recreation, even a hearty therapeutic laughter, that we so need in our senior years.

This book came into my possession recently, The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War by R.J. Gordon. 

Gordon divides into three periods the years from the end of the Civil War (1861- 1865) to 2015, the first two (1870-1970) witnessing the rise of American growth and the last one (1970-2015) the fall.

He attributes the rise of living standard to inventions like electricity, urban sanitation, modern inventions, and automobiles. The higher standard includes healthy foods with the passing of Pure Food and Drug Act (1906), modernized urban housing with lights, indoor plumbing, gas stove, heating and telephone, TV, refrigerator, and washing machine.

However, since 1970, American society has been going through a transformation, specifically from rise to fall with the widening gap between the rich and the poor, and the shrinking of the middle class. 

We are all familiar with what has been happening since 1970s -- globalization, technological advances, outsourcing of manufacturing jobs, the loss of well-paying, unionized jobs in many industries.

On the whole, the author is techno-pessimistic about the past-peak American society today. 

While American society may seem stagnant or over the hill since 1970s, it is still far advanced in the world in terms of living standards with safe food, clean water and air, modern housing, free public education, health care and decent social welfare. 

Therefore, it still has a strong appeal in the world, especially among Third World countries, and continues to draw people from around the world. 

The foundations laid prior to the 1970s have contributed to America's position as a global leader in various fields today.

That's why there are thousands of Chinese 润人润进美国 (rùn rén rùn jìn měi guó) run into America via southern border every day, together with other migrants from all over the world. 润 means run, 润人 means runner, 润进美国 means run into America. Hopefully they can realize their American dreams, whatever it may be.

A friend of mine went to a fully AI managed coffee shop in China -- no baristas, no cash checkout, just scan a QR code at the entrance, place your order and pay with mobile phone. The coffee machine offers 70 different flavors, averaging about 18-25 yuan each. You get it in less than a minute. The experience reminds me of the news about a robot-powered cafe chain across China back in 2018.

This surely represents a significant move toward automation and digitalization in service industry, offering affordable and efficient service for customers. A few things surface in my head.

First of all, I can see a huge job loss for baristas due to AI technologies. As more tasks become AI automated, there may be a reduced need for humans in many roles in service industry like restaurants and hospitals.

Secondly, the emergence of AI-managed coffee shops certainly pose challenges for traditional coffee chains, such as Starbucks. As consumers become accustomed to the convenience and efficiency of AI services, they may gravitate towards these innovative novelty, spelling out the decline of the established brand like Starbucks.

Finally, it's highly likely that AI-powered automation will lead to a proliferation of different service levels, catering to varying preferences and budgets. Customers may have the option to choose between a more affordable, efficient AI-managed service and a higher-priced, human-managed service.

If you are nostalgic for the pre-AI, pre-robotic traditional service with personal touch and human interactions, available are human-managed expensive services.

Here's a Chinese poem: 无边落木萧萧下，不尽长江滚滚来 (Wú biān luò mù xiāo xiāo xià, bù jìn cháng jiāng gǔn gǔn lái), meaning, just like the falling leaves and the flowing of river, so is the unstoppable trend of AI automation.

My sister and I went out for lunch yesterday. We talked about her plan to move to the United States so she would be closer to her son in her senior years. She has given him all the maternal love and care. It's natural for her to look for something reciprocal. But things could be more complicated than we thought.

This makes me think a lot about two kinds of love and care: (1) parental love for their tiny babies and (2) adult children for their senior parents.

The first type, parental love, exists in nature across nearly all species, humans, cats and dogs, perhaps driven by their instincts to care and protect their offsprings, ensuring their survival. It's natural, simple, irrational, unconditional, and rooted in biology. No social and cultural value added.

The second type of love, the reciprocal care of elderly parents by adult children, exists only in humans. We seldom heard of an adult cat taking care of its elderly parent. Is this type of love more a product of culture and society?

I think the second type of love is sustained in the contexts of cultural values and traditions with the concepts of filial piety, and also arising from the emotional bond between parent and child formed during the child's early stage of life.

Most importantly, it exists among adults and under the influence of the past. That's why the relationship between adult children and their elderly parents is more complex, rational, and involving more than obligations.

Biology is not enough. We have to transcend it to maintain a meaningful and sustainable relationship, that is, making sure it is based on genuine feelings of love, mutual respect, and care. And that must naturally emerges without a sense of duty or obligation.