张颂文：你改下网名会不会好点
张颂文老师在线冲浪，劝网友@人类灭绝计划构思 改网名。
借（cèng）此（gè）机（rè）会（diǎn），我们就来看看人工智能会不会毁灭人类呢？
🤔️小作业：
1. What parallels does the article draw between A.I. risks and other global concerns?
A) A.I. risks are considered less significant than economic downturns.
B) A.I. risks are compared to other societal-scale risks.
C) A.I. risks are primarily associated with privacy violations.
D) A.I. risks are likened to the dangers of traditional computing systems.
A) Decreased interest in A.I. research.
B) Significant improvements in A.I. technology.
C) New regulations limiting A.I. advancements.
D) The stagnation of A.I. technology progress.
无注释原文：
How Could A.I. Destroy Humanity?
From: The New York Times, June 10, 2023
Last month, hundreds of well-known people in the world of artificial intelligence signed an open letter warning that A.I. could one day destroy humanity.
“Mitigating the risk of extinction from A.I. should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war,” the one-sentence statement said.
The letter was the latest in a series of ominous warnings about A.I. that have been notably light on details. Today's A.I. systems cannot destroy humanity. Some of them can barely add and subtract. So why are the people who know the most about A.I. so worried?
The scary scenario.
One day, the tech industry's Cassandras say, companies, governments or independent researchers could deploy powerful A.I. systems to handle everything from business to warfare. Those systems could do things that we do not want them to do. And if humans tried to interfere or shut them down, they could resist or even replicate themselves so they could keep operating.
“Today's systems are not anywhere close to posing an existential risk,” said Yoshua Bengio, a professor and A.I. researcher at the University of Montreal. “But in one, two, five years? There is too much uncertainty. That is the issue. We are not sure this won't pass some point where things get catastrophic.”
The worriers have often used a simple metaphor. If you ask a machine to create as many paper clips as possible, they say, it could get carried away and transform everything — including humanity — into paper clip factories.
How does that tie into the real world — or an imagined world not too many years in the future? Companies could give A.I. systems more and more autonomy and connect them to vital infrastructure, including power grids, stock markets and military weapons. From there, they could cause problems.
For many experts, this did not seem all that plausible until the last year or so, when companies like OpenAI demonstrated significant improvements in their technology. That showed what could be possible if A.I. continues to advance at such a rapid pace.
“A.I. will steadily be delegated, and could — as it becomes more autonomous — usurp decision making and thinking from current humans and human-run institutions,” said Anthony Aguirre, a cosmologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz and a founder of the Future of Life Institute, the organization behind one of two open letters.
“At some point, it would become clear that the big machine that is running society and the economy is not really under human control, nor can it be turned off, any more than the S&P 500 could be shut down,” he said.
Or so the theory goes. Other A.I. experts believe it is a ridiculous premise.
“Hypothetical is such a polite way of phrasing what I think of the existential risk talk,” said Oren Etzioni, the founding chief executive of the Allen Institute for AI, a research lab in Seattle.
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注：完整题目见本文开头；中文文本为机器翻译并非一一对应，仅供参考
含注释全文：
How Could A.I. Destroy Humanity? 人工智能真的能毁灭人类吗
From: The New York Times, June 10, 2023
Last month, hundreds of well-known people in the world of artificial intelligence signed an open letter warning that A.I. could one day destroy humanity.
上个月，人工智能界的数百名知名人士签署了一封公开信，警告AI有朝一日可能毁灭人类。
“Mitigating the risk of extinction from A.I. should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war,” the one-sentence statement said.
公开信只有一句话：“减轻人工智能灭绝人类风险，应该与大流行病和核战争等其他社会规模的风险一起成为全球优先事项。”
mitigate
mitigate /ˈmɪt.ɪ.ɡeɪt/ 表示“减轻，缓解，缓和”，英文解释为“to make a situation or the effects of something less unpleasant, harmful, or serious”举个🌰：Measures need to be taken to mitigate the environmental effects of burning more coal. 需要采取措施来减轻燃煤增加对环境造成的影响。
📍词根“mitig-”来自拉丁语“mitigare”，意味着“使柔和”，表示通过某种措施减轻不良影响或状况。近义词：alleviate（缓解），同根词：mitigation（缓解），常用短语：mitigate a problem（减轻问题）
extinction
extinction /ɪkˈstɪŋk.ʃən/ 表示“灭绝；绝种”，英文解释为“a situation in which something no longer exists”举个🌰：The extinction of the dinosaurs occurred millions of years ago. 恐龙灭绝于数百万年前。
pandemic
pandemic /pænˈdem.ɪk/ 1）作名词，表示“（全国或全球性）流行病；大流行病”，英文解释为“a disease that spreads over a whole country or the whole world”；
2）作形容词，表示“（疾病）大规模流行的，广泛蔓延的”，英文解释为“(of a disease) existing in almost all of an area or in almost all of a group of people, animals, or plants”举个🌰：In some parts of the world malaria is still pandemic. 在世界上一些地区疟疾仍在大规模流行。
对比：
📍epidemic表示“流行病”，英文解释为“a large number of cases of a particular disease happening at the same time in a particular community”，如：the outbreak of a flu epidemic 流感的爆发。
The letter was the latest in a series of ominous warnings about A.I. that have been notably light on details. Today's A.I. systems cannot destroy humanity. Some of them can barely add and subtract. So why are the people who know the most about A.I. so worried?
这是对人工智能做出不祥警告的一系列公开信中最新的一封，这些警告的特别突出之处是缺少细节。今天的AI系统不能毁灭人类。其中一些系统只能勉强做点加减法。那么，为什么这些最了解AI的人如此担心呢？
ominous
ominous /ˈɒm.ɪ.nəs/ 表示“恶兆的，不祥的，不吉利的”，英文解释为“suggesting that something unpleasant is likely to happen”如：ominous dark clouds 不祥的乌云，举个🌰：There was an ominous silence when I asked whether my contract was going to be renewed. 当我询问我的合同是否将续签时，回答我的是不祥的沉默。
notably
notably /ˈnəʊ.tə.bli/ 1）表示“格外地，特别地”，英文解释为“especially or most importantly”
2）表示“明显地；显然；值得注意地”，英文解释为“to an important degree, or in a way that can or should be noticed”
subtract
subtract /səbˈtrækt/ 表示“减，减去”，英文解释为“to remove a number from another number”举个🌰：Four subtracted from ten equals six. 10减去4等于6。
The scary scenario.
吓人的预测。
One day, the tech industry's Cassandras say, companies, governments or independent researchers could deploy powerful A.I. systems to handle everything from business to warfare. Those systems could do things that we do not want them to do. And if humans tried to interfere or shut them down, they could resist or even replicate themselves so they could keep operating.
科技行业的灾难预言者说，有朝一日，公司、政府或独立工作的研究人员能有效利用强大的人工智能系统，处理从商业到战争的所有事情。这些系统能做我们不想让它们做的事情。如果人类试图介入或将它们关掉，它们会抵抗，甚至会自我复制，以便继续运行下去。
deploy
deploy /dɪˈplɔɪ/ 1）表示“利用，调动（尤指想法、论据等）；有效运用；发挥…的作用”，英文解释为“to use something for a particular purpose, especially ideas, arguments etc”如：a job in which a variety of professional skills will be deployed 要用到多项专业技术的工作。
2）表示“部署，调度（士兵、军事装备等）”，英文解释为“to organize or move soldiers, military equipment etc so that they are in the right place and ready to be used”如：NATO's decision to deploy cruise missiles 北约要部署巡航导弹的决定。
warfare
warfare /ˈwɔː.feər/ 表示“战争；作战，交战”，英文解释为“the activity of fighting a war, often including the weapons and methods that are used”如：guerrilla/naval/nuclear warfare 游击战/海战/核大战。
interfere
interfere /ˌɪn.təˈfɪər/ 表示“干涉，干预”，英文解释为“to involve yourself in a situation when your involvement is not wanted or is not helpful”举个🌰：It's their problem and I'm not going to interfere. 那是他们的问题，我不想干预。
resist
resist /rɪˈzɪst/ 1）表示“抵制；阻挡；抗拒”，英文解释为“to refuse to accept or be changed by something”举个🌰：She resisted demands for her resignation. 她拒不答应她辞职的要求。
2）表示“按捺；忍住；拒受…的影响”，英文解释为“to stop yourself from doing something that you want to do”举个🌰：I can never resist temptation/chocolate/the urge to laugh. 我向来无法抗拒诱惑/我永远不可能抵挡巧克力的诱惑/我要是想笑，怎么也忍不住。
replicate
表示“使复现；重复；复制”，英文解释为“to make or do something again in exactly the same way”举个🌰：Researchers tried many times to replicate the original experiment. 研究者们作了很多次努力，试图重复这一实验。
“Today's systems are not anywhere close to posing an existential risk,” said Yoshua Bengio, a professor and A.I. researcher at the University of Montreal. “But in one, two, five years? There is too much uncertainty. That is the issue. We are not sure this won't pass some point where things get catastrophic.”
“今天的系统离构成生存威胁还差得很远，”蒙特利尔大学研究人工智能的教授约书亚·本吉奥说。“但一年、两年、五年后会怎样呢？有太多的不确定性。这就是问题所在。我们不能确定AI是否将在某个时刻变成灾难性的。”
pose
pose /pəʊz/ 摆pose这个词大家应该都比较熟悉，作名词，表示“（为拍照、画像等摆出的）样子，姿势”，英文解释为“a particular position in which a person stands, sits, etc. in order to be photographed, painted, etc.”
而pose作动词，1）表示“摆好姿势（拍照）”，英文解释为“to move into and stay in a particular position, in order to be photographed, painted, etc.”举个🌰：We all posed for our photographs next to the Statue of Liberty. 我们都在自由女神像边摆好了姿势拍照。
2）表示“造成，引起（尤指问题或困难）”，英文解释为“to cause something, especially a problem or difficulty”举个🌰：Nuclear weapons pose a threat to everyone. 核武器对所有的人都构成了威胁。
3）表示“（尤指在正式场合）提出（问题），质询”，英文解释为“to ask a question, especially in a formal situation such as a meeting”举个🌰：Can we go back to the question that LR posed earlier? 我们能否回到LR早先提出的那个问题上去？
catastrophic
catastrophic /ˌkætəˈstrɒfɪk/ 1）表示“灾难性的”，英文解释为“Something that is catastrophic involves or causes a sudden terrible disaster.”举个🌰：The water shortage is potentially catastrophic. 水资源的匮乏很可能是灾难性的。
2）表示“极糟的；失败的”，英文解释为“If you describe something as catastrophic, you mean that it is very bad or unsuccessful.”
The worriers have often used a simple metaphor. If you ask a machine to create as many paper clips as possible, they say, it could get carried away and transform everything — including humanity — into paper clip factories.
爱担忧的人常使用一个简单的比喻。他们说，如果你要求一台机器尽可能多地制造回形针，机器可能会忘乎所以，将所有的东西——包括人类——变成制造回形针的工厂。
metaphor
metaphor /ˈmet.ə.fɔːr/ 表示“暗喻；隐喻”，英文解释为“a word or phrase used to describe sb/sth else, in a way that is different from its normal use, in order to show that the two things have the same qualities and to make the description more powerful”如：a game of football used as a metaphor for the competitive struggle of life 用来喻指生活中的激烈斗争的一场足球比赛，举个🌰：Metaphor and simile are the most commonly used figures of speech in everyday language. 隐喻和明喻是日常语言中最常用的修辞手法。
paper clip
paper clip /ˈpeɪ.pə ˌklɪp/ 表示“纸夹，回形针，曲别针”，英文解释为“a small piece of bent wire used for holding pieces of paper together”
clip /klɪp/ 1）表示“（电影或电视节目的）剪辑，片断”，英文解释为“a short part of a film or television programme”举个🌰：I've seen a clip from the movie. 我看过这部电影的一个片断。
2）clip本身也可以表示“夹子；别针；回形针”，英文解释为“a small object usually made of metal or plastic, used for fastening things together or holding them in position”如：a paper/hair/tie clip 回形针/发夹/领带夹。
How does that tie into the real world — or an imagined world not too many years in the future? Companies could give A.I. systems more and more autonomy and connect them to vital infrastructure, including power grids, stock markets and military weapons. From there, they could cause problems.
这与现实世界（或想象中并不久远的未来世界）有什么关系？公司能赋予AI系统越来越多的自主性，将它们连接到重要基础设施（包括电网、股票市场、军事武器）中去。它们可能会从那里引发问题。
autonomy
autonomy /ɔːˈtɒn.ə.mi/ 1）表示“自治，自治权”，英文解释为“the right of an organization, country, or region to be independent and govern itself”
2）表示“自主，自主权”，英文解释为“the ability to make your own decisions without being controlled by anyone else”
infrastructure
infrastructure /ˈɪn.frəˌstrʌk.tʃər/ 表示“基础设施”，英文解释为“the basic systems and services, such as transport and power supplies, that a country or organization uses in order to work effectively”举个🌰：The war has badly damaged the country's infrastructure. 战争严重破坏了该国的基础设施。
grid
grid /ɡrɪd/ 作名词，1）表示“网格，方格；格栅，格子”，英文解释为“a pattern or structure made from horizontal and vertical lines crossing each other to form squares”举个🌰：A metal grid had been placed over the hole to prevent people from falling in. 在洞口铺了一个铁格栅，以免有人跌入。
2）表示“电力网，输电网”，英文解释为“a system of wires through which electricity is connected to different power stations across a region”如：the national grid 全国输电网。
For many experts, this did not seem all that plausible until the last year or so, when companies like OpenAI demonstrated significant improvements in their technology. That showed what could be possible if A.I. continues to advance at such a rapid pace.
对于许多专家来说，这种可能性直到差不多去年之前似乎还没有那么可信。去年，OpenAI等公司展示了在AI技术方面的重大进步，表明如果AI继续以如此快的速度向前发展的话，是存在这种可能性的。
plausible
plausibly /ˈplɔː.zə.bli/ 副词，plausible形容词，表示“有道理的；可信的；貌似真实的，貌似有理的”，英文解释为“in a way that is likely to be true, or is possible to believe”举个🌰：Her story sounded perfectly plausible. 她的说辞听起来言之有理。
demonstrate
demonstrate /ˈdem.ən.streɪt/ 表示“显示；表明”，英文解释为“to show or make make something clear”举个🌰：Research has demonstrated that babies can recognize their mother's voice very soon after birth. 研究表明，婴儿出生后很快就能辨识母亲的声音。
“A.I. will steadily be delegated, and could — as it becomes more autonomous — usurp decision making and thinking from current humans and human-run institutions,” said Anthony Aguirre, a cosmologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz and a founder of the Future of Life Institute, the organization behind one of two open letters.
“AI将逐渐获得授权，并随着变得更加自主，它可能篡夺目前人类和人类管理的机构的决策和思维，”加州大学圣克鲁兹分校的宇宙学家安东尼·阿吉雷说，他是与两封公开信有关的组织——生命未来研究所的创始人。
delegate
作名词，表示“（尤指会议的）代表”，英文解释为“a person chosen or elected by a group to speak, vote, etc. for them, especially at a meeting”
作动词，表示“（把…）委派（给…），（把…）委托（给…）；授权（给…）”，英文解释为“to give a particular job, duty, right, etc. to someone else so that they do it for you”举个🌰：As a boss you have to delegate (responsibilities to your staff). 你作为老板必须要分派工作。
📍政府工作报告中经常出现的简政放权就是：streamline administration and delegate power，
usurp
usurp /juːˈzɜːrp/ 表示“篡夺，夺取（权位）”，英文解释为“to take control of a position of power, especially without having the right to”举个🌰：Did she usurp his place in his mother's heart? 她夺取了他在他母亲心目中的地位吗？
cosmologist
cosmologist /kɒzˈmɒl.ə.dʒɪst/ 表示“宇宙论者，宇宙哲学家”，英文解释为“someone who studies the nature and origin of the universe”举个🌰：Cosmologists have used satellites and probes to help determine the age of the universe. 宇宙学家利用卫星和探测器来帮助确定宇宙的年龄。
“At some point, it would become clear that the big machine that is running society and the economy is not really under human control, nor can it be turned off, any more than the S&P 500 could be shut down,” he said.
“到了某个时候，人们会发现运行社会和经济的大型机器其实并不在人类的控制之下，也无法将它们关掉，就像无法关掉标准普尔500指数一样，”他说。
Or so the theory goes. Other A.I. experts believe it is a ridiculous premise.
或按照该理论的说法是这样的。其他人工智能专家认为，这是个荒谬的假定。
ridiculous
ridiculous /rɪˈdɪk.jə.ləs/ 表示“愚蠢的；荒唐的；可笑的”，英文解释为“stupid or unreasonable and deserving to be laughed at”举个🌰：Do I look ridiculous in this hat? 我戴这顶帽子看着很可笑吗？
premise
premise /ˈprem.ɪs/ 表示“前提；假定”，英文解释为“a statement or an idea that forms the basis for a reasonable line of argument”，如：the basic premise of her argument 她的论证的基本前提，a false premise 错误的前提。
“Hypotheticalis such a polite way of phrasing what I think of the existential risk talk,” said Oren Etzioni, the founding chief executive of the Allen Institute for AI, a research lab in Seattle.
“关于我对'生存威胁说'的看法，说它是'假定'已经非常礼貌了，”位于西雅图的研究实验室——艾伦人工智能研究所的创始首席执行官奥伦·埃齐奥尼说。
hypothetical
hypothetical /ˌhaɪ.pəˈθet.ɪ.kəl/ 作形容词，表示“假定的，假设的”，英文解释为“imagined or suggested but not necessarily real or true”如：a hypothetical example/situation 假设的例子/情况，作名词，表示“假设命题，假设陈述”。
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