In modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity （繁荣）. Others say that competition is bad; that it sets one person against another; that it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.

    I have taught many children who held the belief that their self-worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life-and-death affairs. In their single-minded pursuit（追求）of success, the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.

    However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture In modern society there is a great deal of argument which only values the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffer under competitive pressures from their parents or society. Teaching these young people, I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to seek failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: “I may have lost, but it doesn't matter because I really didn't try.” What is not usually admitted by them is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, that would mean a lot. Such a loss would be a measure of their worth. Clearly, this belief is the same as that of true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one's self-respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only when this basic and often troublesome fear begins to disappear(缓解) can we discover a new meaning in competition.

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    Scientists have found living organisms(有机体) that could be 50,000 years old recently. The organisms were found in a hot, but beautiful cave system in Naica, Mexico. These ancient life forms can be seen only with a microscope, which proves they are probably microbes(微生物).

    Penelope Boston leads the Astrobiology Institute at NASA, the space agency of the United States. These ancient organisms are able to exist by eating minerals such as iron and manganese. If the findings are confirmed, they will show how microbes can survive in extreme conditions.

    Researchers have been studying ancient microbes for nine years. Forty different kinds of microbes and some viruses were found in the underground area this time. The genetic(基因的) structures of these organisms are different from those of their nearest relatives –viruses. That is similar to that humans are genetically different from mushrooms growing in forest. The caves in Naica are 800 kilometers deep. Before the miners began working in the caves, the area was isolated from the surface and the outside world.

    Some of the caves are as big as the large religious centers built during Europe's Middle Ages. There are crystals(晶体) covering the walls. Scientists must wear special clothing to keep cool. And the clothing keeps the crystals safe from human germs or other damage. The researchers could only work for about 20 minutes at a time before they have to go to a room that is 28 degrees Celsius to cool down.

    NASA officials would not let Boston share her findings with scientific experts until the last week's announcement. So scientists could not say much about the findings. But Norine Noonan, a biologist at the University of South Florida, said she believed them. “Why are we surprised?” Noonan asked, “As a biologist, I would say life on Earth is extremely tough and versatile.” “What's more, these organisms are not the oldest life forms on Earth. Scientists published studies about living microbes that may be 500,000 years old several years ago,” she added.

    Someone sent me an email urging me to acquire a lot more resources, suggesting that I could do so much more good if I had an 8 or 9figure net income (净收入) instead of 6 like I've been doing for years. He claimed to have acquired a great deal of wealth himself and found it highly beneficial to fueling his path with a heart.

As I consider his suggestion, I find myself not having much clarity (清晰的思维) as to what I'd do with 1 million or 10 million more money flowing through my life. I put so much attention on creativity, fulfillment, exploration, relationships, etc. that I find it difficult to intelligently imagine how more financial resources could provide extra fuel for that, except in small ways or in ways that aren't particularly meaningful to me.

Lately I've been considering what it would be like to deliberately reduce my income for a while and see if I could live on much less, just for the experience. What if I capped my net personal income at $10,000 per year, for instance? That isn't such a big deal to me, though, since I already went through a period of low income like that during the 1990s, and I learned that I could still do what I love regardless of income.

I've never worked in a business environment — the only job I've ever had was working for $ 6/hour in a video game store while I was in college. So I've never seen how larger operations allocate resources. That's probably why I haven't pushed myself to acquire more. As I mentioned in my book Money and Your Path With a Heart, my main financial goal in life was to make money irrelevant in my life.

    I'm not interested in building an empire. What interests me is exploring personal growth and sharing what I learn along the way. In some ways I feel that acquiring and allocating more resources could become a big distraction. I'm already doing what I want to be doing, so why risk distracting myself to acquire more resources, especially when I lack the idea about how I should treat such resources? I like having freedom and flexibility, and I don't really see how more resources would meaningfully improve that.

    Tourism is often about seeking deeper emotional and personal connections with the world around us. Not all travel experiences, however, need to take place in the real world. With the evolution of virtual reality (VR) technology, tourism will increasingly become a combination of physical and virtual worlds. VR may even remove the need to travel entirely.

    But can a VR experience really equal a real world one? Many experts believe it can. Studies have shown that our brains have an inbuilt VR-like mechanism that enables us to live imagined experiences. Much of our waking life is spent thinking about either the past or the future. This is known as" mind wandering". During these events we're not paying attention to the current world around us. Instead, we're recalling memories, or creating and processing imagined futures.

    When engaged in mind wandering, our brains process these mental images using the same pathways used to receive inputs from the real world. So, the imagined past or future can create emotions and feelings similar to how we react to everyday life. VR can create these same feelings.

    While critics might argue that a virtual experience will never match reality, there are several ways VR tourism could make a positive contribution. Firstly it could help protect sensitive locations from over-tourism. In recent years famous sites such as Maya Bay in Thailand, and Cambodia's Angkor Wat Temples have had to limit the number of visitors because of their negative impact. These places are now producing their own VR experiences that will allow tourists to pass through virtual models of the sites.

    Virtual reality may also allow people back in time, to experience historical events, visit ancient cities, and even to walk among dinosaurs.

    Finally, in a world where many people suffer from stress and depression due to overwork, virtual tourism may provide a cheap and convenient way for people to take brief holidays to otherwise unreachable destinations and recharge their batteries, without ever leaving their homes.

    It sounds like science fiction but it's already happening. As virtual technology improves and as people continue to demand new and interesting experiences, expect more virtual tourism, both in combination with the real world and instead of it.

A clever technologist took steamboat inventions and turned them into the first commercial steamboat service.

Although Robert Fulton did not invent the steamboat, as is commonly believed, he played an important role in making steamboat travel a reality. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1765. As a young man, he set out to make his name as a portrait painter. His career took him to Europe and into the orbit of people with the power to support him politically and financially.

Fulton entered London society after he painted Benjamin Franklin's portrait. While abroad, Fulton left the arts for a career in shipbuilding. He was interested in the recently-invented steam engine, and thought it could be used to power ships. Fulton's vision was not original; many others had entered the field, and the unfortunate inventor John Fitch had built a working steamship already. But like Henry Ford, Fulton's talent lay not in the invention but in the product's application in the marketplace.

Fulton didn't focus entirely on the steamboat. In 1804, he tested the first submarine successfully, which he had built for the British Royal Navy. His invention would make him a celebrity upon his return to the United States two years later. Fulton's partner Robert Livingston obtained an exclusive license for steamboat services on New York's Hudson River. It was time for Fulton to deliver.

To build an efficient, reliable steamboat, Fulton used a special English steam engine. The ship's bottom was flat and its stern was square. The steamboat Clermont made its debut (首次亮相) on August 17, 1807, steaming up the river from New York to Albany, and it soon entered commercial services. The hilly terrain of New York made water transport faster than land transport, and Fulton's boat — formerly known as the "North River Steamboat" — was a hit. Within five years, Fulton would be running services on six major rivers plus the Chesapeake Bay, and bring in great profits.

Education in 2080 is distinctive from education in the 2020s. Until about 2035, the main function of education systems was to supply the economy with the next generation of workers. In 2080, the purpose of education is the well-being of society and all its members. To make this a bit more tangible(可感知的;有形的) for you, I would like to give an example of what a child's education looks like in 2080. Her name is Shemsy. Shemsy is 13, and she is confident and loves learning. 

Shemsy does not go to school in the morning because schools as you know them no longer exist. The institution was abolished as it was widely thought of as more like a prison or a factory than a creative learning environment. Schools have been replaced with "Learning Hubs" that are not restricted to certain ages. They are where intergenerational learning happens, in line with the belief that learning is a lifelong pursuit. 

Every year, Shemsy designs her learning journey for the year with a highly attentive "teacher-citizen". Shemsy is actively engaged in designing her education and has to propose projects she would like to be involved in to contribute to and serve her community. She also spends lots of time playing as the role of play in learning has finally been recognized as essential and core to our humanity. Shemsy works a lot collaboratively. Access to education is universal, and higher education institutions no longer differentiate themselves by how many people they reject yearly. Variability between students is expected and leveraged （利用） as young people teach one another and use their differences as a source of strength. Shemsy naturally explores what she is curious about at a pace she sets. She still has some classes to take that are mandatory for children globally: Being Human and the History of Humanity. 

We invite you to think about your vision for education in the year 2080, what does it look like, who does it serve, and how does it transform our societies?