Hello! My name is 蔡醒诗 or Xing Shi Cai in English.
(See here if you want to know how to say my name.)
Welcome to my new home on the Internet! (Here is my old home.)
I am a mathematician/computer scientist who is interested in probability, combinatorics,
experimental mathematics and programming.
In recent years I also got interested in applying AI to research and teaching.
Recently, I moved Kunshan, China for a position of
Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Duke Kunshan University.
On Virtue Ethics by Rosalind Hursthouse -- Chapter 09 Naturalism
A summary of Chapter 09 Naturalism.
This chapter is about the 2nd Plato’s requirements of virtue in the last chapter –
The virtues make their possessor a good human being.
Virtue ethics is a type of ethical naturalism, i.e., basing ethics on considerations of human nature, or on what is involved in being a good human.
The objective of such an approach is that an account of human nature may be too broad for making moral judgement, or too strong to the extend that it is just a restatement of our ethics. Gary Watson asks
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Lessons from Strangers Drowning by Larissa MacFarquhar
Strangers Drowning : Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Urge to Help by Larissa MacFarquhar is a deeply inspiring and thought-provoking book.
It is mostly a collection of profiles for do-gooders who go to extreme length to help strangers. To various extent, they all have chosen to save “drowning strangers” instead of their own family, which may be unsettling for many people. Thus the book also discusses attacks mounted against do-gooders throughout history.
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The Citizen's Guide to Climate Success by Mark Jaccard
This is a very informative and inspiring book on addressing climate change. It is written by Canadian economist Mark Jaccard, who has advised many regional and national governments on energy policies. The book is freely available online.
When people who care enough about humanity look into climate change, it is easy to feel despair. Popular books sounding alarms on climate emergency such as The Uninhabitable Earth and Our Final Warning tell us an apocalyptic future will come soon if there is no dramatic green house gases (GHG) emissions in the next ten years. However, decades after climate scientists have reached consensus on the causality between human activity and global temperature rising, we are still on a path of emitting more and more GHG. It is difficult to see how things can change in the very limited time left.
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A Song of McGill Ghetto
(The Ghetto is a neighbourhood next to McGill University where I had lived for many years. It is a bit messy, but also convenient, beautiful and lively.)
The shining building of lottery company.
Cherry trees blossom every May.
There are also other trees,
as well as buildings with symetry.
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Letter to a Young Friend --- The Course of the Universe
Note: I wrote this in May 2021. Things in the world seem to have taken another down turn. That’s why it is even more important that we focus on what is in our control.
Photo by Miriam Espacio from Pexels My dear friend,
Today, we had talked about COVID-19, wars, oppression and, of course, climate change. Naturally, you were saddened by our discussions. That makes me think if I can write something to cheer you up. Here are some ideas from Epictetus, an ancient-Roman philosopher – one of my favourite. Whenever I am upset, Epictetus has always been helpful. Hopefully he can also offer you some solace.
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Should you do a PhD in science?
Photo by ThisIsEngineering from Pexels The joke A friend sent me an article titled Is Science a Pyramid Scheme? posted on viXra, an e-print archive. The abstract is as follows –
A grievance expressed by some PhD students and Postdocs is that science works like a pyramid scheme: Young scientists are encouraged to invest into building scientific careers although the chances at remaining in science are extremely slim. … The super-prolific authors at the top of the pyramid … are usually heads of large institutes with many subgroups and large numbers of PhD students, while the bottom of the pyramid is populated by PhD students and Postdocs … A new index, the Ponzi factor, is proposed to quantify this phenomenon.
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Five Books of Peter Singer which Changed My Life
Peter Singer is an Australian moral philosopher, currently a professor at Princeton University. He has written 17 books by himself, several of which I read since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is not an exaggeration to say that some of these books have changed my life for better.
How Are We to Live? I am a mathematician, and a large part of my job is to write and publish research papers on mathematics. This was a child-dream of mine and I do like studying and solving mathematics problems. However, after publishing enough papers, I came to realize that despite the large effort I put into them, there are very few people who have read what I wrote. So, I had to ask myself, what is the point for all this, especially when the world is deeply in trouble?
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Nomadland (2020)
Last night, Nomadland won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress. It was directed by the Chloé Zhao and stars Frances McDormand. I watched the film earlier this year and thought it was a fine piece of art. It does not surprise me at all that Nomadland won this many accolades.
There are already numerous reviews praising the film. So, I will just mention a problem I have with the it. As a film which tries to be a realistic depiction of Americans nomads, i.e., those who are house-less and live in a van while travelling around the country, it has failed to be provocative. It makes you sympathetic for all the predicaments which nomads have to face everyday, while avoiding criticizing anyone for making their life so hard. For example, in one scene, Fern, the nomad played by McDormand, is invited by her sister, who lives in a middle-class suburb, to move in and settle down. Fern says no, and her sister thinks that it is because Fern finds a life on the road is much interesting. For me, that seems to tell the audience “Van-life is really hard but these people choose it themselves. So it is totally fine that we pretend that these people do not exist. Let them suffer.”
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The Remains of the Day (1989)
(Spoiler Alert. Don’t read this if you have not read the book.)
Last week, I finished a 1989 novel The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, which I found both captivating and thoughtful. A film adaption, staring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, is also worth watching.
The protagonist Stevens is a butler (a servant who manges a big house). From 1930s to 1950s, he works in a mansion in England, serving Lord Darlington, an influential British politician during the 30s. The main reason that I like the book is that the story of Stevens offers both great inspirations and stern warnings regarding how one should live a life.
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Flowers for Algernon (1966)
Flowers for Algernon is a classic science-fiction novel by Daniel Keyes published in 1966.
I finished reading it last week and was greatly impressed. The story is touching and the characters are likable. But most importantly, many issues raised by the book, such as how we should treat people with mental problems, are still quite important after more than half a century.
The main character, Charlie Gordon, is 32 years old with an IQ of only 68. He receives an experimental treatment which turns him into a genius. However, becoming smart does not always make Charlie happy as he expected. At some point, he asks
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