Monday, April 7, 2025

MoneyGPT: AI and the Threat to the Global Economy

James Rickards
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“Essential reading” – Forbes

From the New York Times bestselling author of The New Great Depression and Currency Wars, a telling prediction for how AI will endanger global economic markets and security


In November 2022, OpenAI released GPT-4 in a chatbot form to the public. In just two months, it claimed 100 million users—the fastest app to ever reach this benchmark. Since then, AI has become an all-consuming topic, popping up on the news, in ads, on your messenger apps, and in conversations with friends and family. But as AI becomes ubiquitous and grows at an ever-increasing pace, what does it mean for the financial markets?

In MoneyGPT, Wall Street veteran and former advisor to the Department of Defense James Rickards paints a comprehensive picture of the danger AI poses to the global financial order, and the insidious ways in which AI will threaten national security. Rickards shows how, while AI is touted to increase efficiency and lower costs, its global implementation in the financial world will actually cause chaos, as selling begets selling and bank runs happen at lightning speed. AI further benefits malicious actors, Rickards argues, because without human empathy or instinct to intervene, threats like total nuclear war that once felt extreme are now more likely. And throughout all this, we must remain vigilant on the question of whose values will be promoted in the age of AI. As Rickards predicts, these systems will fail when we rely on them the most.

MoneyGPT shows that the danger is not that AI will malfunction, but that it will function exactly as intended. The peril is not in the algorithms, but in ourselves. And it’s up to us to intervene with old-fashioned human logic and common sense before it’s too late.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

弱勢者視角下的香港未來

羅金義
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香港自20世紀中後期以後,憑着優越的地理位置和開放的政策,逐步發展成為東方之珠、大都會、國際金融中心。這些美譽突顯了香港的繁華,成為了無數人的向往。然而,在這座燦爛輝煌的城市背後,也有着晦暗、貧困的一面,存在着不少弱勢社群。

香港有哪些「弱勢社群」?少數族裔、殘障人士、低收入貧窮戶、病弱長者、新移民家庭;又或是同性戀者、跨性別人士,以至相對於成年人的青少年。他們面對生活上各種各樣的困難及有形無形的歧視、面對融入社會的挑戰、面對惡劣的生活環境,以至氣候變化也給他們帶來額外的威脅。當我們說香港正面對種種的困境及挑戰,也就是生活在這裏的人的困境及挑戰;而這種困境,我們必須要從社會上弱勢社群的視覺去解讀,方可窺見問題的根本。

「享天下之利者,任天下之患」。香港在璀璨的背後,隱藏着許多社會問題。本書輯錄了十二篇文章,涉及貧弱、青年、少數族裔、社區發展等不同議題,逐一從弱勢社群視角分析詳述。到底弱勢者正面臨什麼困境,社會又該如何幫助他們,社會政策範式應予何種轉移?作為香港的一分子,作者期望讀者大眾都能關注正視這些議題。

(摘錄自 cityu.edu.hk/upress)


Monday, March 31, 2025

My Life in Medicine A Hong Kong Journey

Yuen Kwok-Yung
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From humble beginnings in Hong Kong, Yuen Kwok-Yung rose to international prominence as an academic, physician, and microbiologist. As an advisor to governments, he and colleagues made discoveries that helped the world cope in often controversial ways with unprecedented threats to public health, including the COVID-19 pandemic. In this compelling memoir, Dr. Yuen weaves personal stories with those from his extraordinary medical careers to take readers on an inspiring journey about perseverance, courage, faith, and the ongoing peril of infectious diseases.

(Excerpt from cosmosbooks.com.hk)

7天改不了社會

關志健
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在很多人心中,社會工作者都有一把公義的尺。尤其剛畢業的社工,充滿理想,矢志扶助弱勢社群,甚至期望改變社會面貌。然而人的改變,大多不是立竿見影;改變整個社會不同範疇的「有色眼鏡」,也殊不容易。

本書由1 0 0篇短小的文章組成,內容既涉及社會工作的基本概念、介入方法、服務使用者的需要,也有專業發展及持續學習等領域。作者透過書中生活化的例子和小故事,為讀者打開社會工作的大門,並領略到微小改變所帶來的力量。

(摘錄自 cityu.edu.hk/upress)


Monday, March 24, 2025

Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality

Venki Ramakrishnan
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*WINNER OF THE 2025 ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN PUBLISHERS PROSE AWARD FOR BEST BOOK ON BIOLOGY*

"Utterly fascinating." —Bill Bryson

"An incredible journey." —Siddhartha Mukherjee

A groundbreaking exploration of the science of longevity and mortality—from Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist Venki Ramakrishnan

The knowledge of death is so terrifying that we live most of our lives in denial of it. One of the most difficult moments of childhood must be when each of us first realizes that not only we but all our loved ones will die—and there is nothing we can do about it.

Or at least, there hasn’t been. Today, we are living through a revolution in biology. Giant strides are being made in understanding why we age—and why some species live longer than others. Could we eventually cheat disease and death and live for a very long time, possibly many times our current lifespan?

Venki Ramakrishnan, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and former president of the Royal Society, takes us on a riveting journey to the frontiers of biology, asking whether we must be mortal. Covering the recent breakthroughs in scientific research, he examines the cutting edge of efforts to extend lifespan by altering our physiology. But might death serve a necessary biological purpose? What are the social and ethical costs of attempting to live forever?

Why We Die is a narrative of uncommon insight and beauty from one of our leading public intellectuals.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

古典今情 : 跨越時空的經典閱讀與賞析

鄭吉雄
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落紅化作春泥,繁花重新綻放。人文丰采的新貌,印證古典精神的賡續;
舊土壤滋養靈根,新情懷得以孕育。血脈同源、新舊相接,文化綿延不絕。
放眼未來,運用新價值、新視野重新詮釋舊經典

古典為國學之本,無論深淺,都是千百年文化的沉澱,重要性自不待言,而當代讀者最需要的,是進入古典的途徑。本書精選中國傳統極具代表性的經典共十八種,敦聘香港各大學十八位前沿學者作解讀,俾引導讀者跨越時空,上下千載,掌握中國經典的精髓。他們如同領航人,拉近了讀者與莊嚴雋永的古典作品之間的距離。對於有興趣悠游於經典世界的讀者而言,這是一本既可親又可靠的入門讀本。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)