I watched the video "Drunk History - John Adams and Thomas Jefferson Had Beef" in [e3] and thought it told real events in American history in a very humorous and creative way. Although the video presents history in the voice of a drunken narrator, it is based on actual historical sources, particularly the political and personal conflicts between Adams and Jefferson. This form of dissemination of knowledge in an entertaining way reminds me of the many content creators on social media today, who use jokes, clips or re-enactment to talk about history and science to reach a large audience of young people. In my opinion, this also reflects the diversification of information dissemination methods today, and echoes the "how blogs and other online platforms change the way information is transmitted" discussed in this chapter.

In [e6], Wikipedia mentions that BBS were originally accessed via a dial-up connection, requiring users to dial a specific number with a modem in order to log into a system. This made me realize that early online social networking was actually very dependent on hardware devices, which is completely different from today's anytime, anywhere Internet state. And each BBS is almost an independent small community, with its own rules and culture, and the current unified platform of social media is very different.

I think this section is really interesting to talk about the origins of blogging, but the earliest blogs were actually like people keeping diaries on the Internet. It reminds me that I used to use blogging platforms like Tumblr to record my mood and share photos, although I didn't think it was a "blog" at the time, but in fact, it did things very similar to the early blogs. Reading this part made me realize that, in fact, people have always had the need to share their lives and ideas through the Internet, but the platform has changed from the initial blog to the current micro blog, little red book, friend circle and so on. Tools are changing, but people's desire to express and communicate has always been there, which is really very touching.

Seeing this section of BBS makes me think of some of the forums I used when I was a child, although I did not really use the earliest BBS system, but I am very familiar with the communication mode of Posting and reply. At that time, people don't respond immediately, but it takes a while for anyone to respond, and this rhythm makes people think more carefully about what they want to express. Compared to the rapid flow of information on social media today, I think the slower pace of communication in the past is actually more in-depth and easier to generate real discussion and reflection. And every time I brush the forum and see someone seriously reply to my posts, I will feel particularly valued, this feeling is now very rare.

This Wikipedia article on complex numbers not only introduces the basic definition of complex numbers, but also explains in detail how complex numbers are represented in polar coordinates, such as how to represent complex numbers in terms of modulus length and amplitude. In addition to its applications in mathematics, it also mentions that complex numbers have a wide range of applications in several fields such as circuit analysis, quantum mechanics, and signal processing.

This example gives me a good idea of what metadata is. I realized that I had been in a similar situation before when working with photo files. When I organize travel photos, the image is the primary data, and the time, location, and camera model are the metadata. I never realized this was metadata before, but it's actually very useful for categorizing and remembering things.

Zack Sharf's post surprised me when it turned out that 50 percent of the negative comments were from non-human users. Every time I see comments on the Internet, I always think it is the real reaction of the audience, but it is not so. A lot of it is organizational behavior with a specific intent. Maybe sometimes it's not that the book or the movie is bad, but that the public opinion is manipulated. This makes it difficult for me to trust some comments on the Internet in the future, and many things are still done by ourselves before we know the real answer.

I was shocked to see the example of Microsoft Tay. Originally a bot used to chat with netizens and learn languages, it turned bad because people constantly taught it to speak racist language. This makes me think that bots are just like children, and the environment in which they grow up will greatly affect their personality and values. If the bot does not have the ability to judge right from wrong, users and designers also have a greater responsibility to create a more civilized training environment.

I thought about my experience when I applied to college. At that time, to apply for better schools, people were desperately trying to improve their standardized scores, doing various activities, participating in many scientific research activities or competitions. Everyone was anxious, and I gradually felt like I was losing my way. I always think that everyone is so good, why my score is not higher than others. So, I began to slow down and do the things I like, such as photography, documentary shooting, doing public welfare and so on. At that time, I didn't compete too much with others, because it kept me consumed. But in the end, I also applied to the school I wanted to go to. This makes me understand the Taoist principle of doing nothing without doing something, which means that what we should do will unfold rhythmically, without competing with others. It isn’t means that you do not need to work hard, but do not be led by external pressure.

It is mentioned here that Confucian ethics emphasizes the cultivation of benevolence, filial piety and other moral qualities through etiquette and ritual, and ultimately achieve social harmony. I would like to add that Confucianism also attaches great importance to the process of "self-cultivation". Confucius wrote in the book University that ‘self-cultivation and family governance and world peace’. It means that a person's moral cultivation not only affects himself, but also affects the family, the country and even the whole society. This ethic from the individual to the big picture is still clearly visible today. For example, in public service, education, family relationships, we can see this influence from the inside out. When I was studying in high school in China, my teachers would often say that we go out of school to represent the image of the school, and we go abroad to represent the image of the country. This is to emphasize that the actions of individuals not only affect themselves, but also affect the larger group.