Yuval Noah Harari speaks at the forum in Beijing, July 7, 2017. [Photo by Jin Dan/chinadaily.com.cn] Young Israeli scholar of history Yuval Noah Harari made his debut appearance in China at a forum held in Beijing on Thursday. Harari, a 40-year-old writer who gained global recognition after his two books on humankind and humankind's future became best-sellers, also won hearts of audience in the capital. At the forum called XWorld, Harari delivered a speech on Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity, in which he reiterated his view presented in his two books, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, and Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. The most important scientific revolution of our era and the most important revolution of any kind in the 21st century is artificial intelligence, he said after greeting the crowd with ni hao, Chinese for hello. Harari added that artificial intelligence (AI) will turn out not only to be the greatest revolution in our age, but the greatest in the history of life. The authority to make both important and unimportant decisions on life has increasingly shifted to computers and AI, he said. Today, when you read books on devices, the books or devices are reading you. And on equipping AI with warmth and emotional intelligence, Harari said people need to solve the problems only once. He said technology is not deterministic, intelligence isn't consciousness. The development of AI will completely change the world. But what kind of society AI will help to create? When you - individuals, companies or governments - invest in the development of AI, you should be aware of its social, economic and political implications. His first book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind was published in Hebrew in 2011 and then in English in 2014. It has since been translated into about 30 languages, enjoying great readership in various countries. Although the tickets to the Beijing forum were expensive, that did not deter his fans' passion to see him in person and listen to his speech. About 1,500 audience members, including investors, entrepreneurs, scholars attended the event. silicone rubber bandstyvek wristbands ukprinted wristbandsrubber bracelets custom cheapcustom rubber braceletsdebossed wristband
Zhang Yungui, a doctor from the Yunnan AIDS Care Center, checks a patient. [ZOU HONG/CHINA DAILY] The southwestern province of Yunnan is launching an innovative HIV testing confirmation method to substantially reduce the waiting time for diagnosis and treatment. The latest approach, comprising four HIV rapid tests using different kits, is far more efficient in terms of time and cost than the current laboratory-based HIV confirmatory testing, according to Lu Lin, deputy director of the Yunnan Health and Family Planning Commission. In hard-to-reach mountainous areas of Yunnan, patients may wait more than two weeks for a final diagnosis due to the time taken for a sample to reach a designated confirmatory laboratory. Such laboratories are only available in large counties and cities. That (the long waiting time) increases the anxiety of those waiting and is more likely to lose track of the sufferer during this period, thus delaying the treatment, Lu said. In the long run, that would hamper the fight against the AIDS epidemic. With the new method, HIV diagnosis can be obtained in half an hour and with almost the same accuracy as laboratory-dependent confirmatory testing. Jia Manhong, assistant director of the provincial disease control and prevention center, said, The new testing approach is expected to become mainstream practice in the future. It can even be used in rural grassroots settings and reaches out to as many people as possible for testing, she said. Only by extending the HIV testing coverage can we detect more sufferers and give them timely treatment. This will serve as one of the crucial AIDS intervention tools to better curb the epidemic in general, she added. Since 2004, the province has reported an average of more than 10,000 HIV/AIDS cases each year, government statistics show. About 15 million HIV tests are carried out annually in the province, which now has the second-largest number of living patients - about 98,000 - of all provinces.
