Video recording bests written records? Video recording is more advantageous to written records in some ways. Video record is more accurate and convincing when documenting temporal but seminal events, such as the winning touchdown in the Big Bowl or the tournament of Roses Parade. Video record is also more appropriate in documenting such a event that moving images are the central part of it. A well-written report of hurricane, tornado or volcanic eruption is likely to be out-shined by the powerful nature of a video record. A diary entry is unlikely to outstrip to moving motions by “replaying” wedding reception, dance recital, or a surprise party. Moreover, a real estate brochure cannot inform the lighting, spaciousness and general ambiance of a property nearly as effectively as a video. However, in other ways written records surpass video recording. Certain legal processes is best supported by the written documentation, such as a contractual agreement, and incorporation, or the establishment of a trust. Also, written records provide the richness and dimension of information more effectively than the videos. Finally, video records are unable to present the statistical or other quantitative results. In sum, video recording and written records are important to us. While what we view through a camera lens provides us with only one dimension of our lives, written documentation will present us with logic and well-established ideas and thoughts.

Will dispute inhibit learning? I concede that under certain circumstances that dispute inhibits learning. For instance, we can look no further than the television set. Dispute manifests itself in rhetorical bouts and shouting matches. The combatants rarely find common grounds with others and acknowledge others’ merits. Dispute also inhibits learning when the debaters fail to agree on the fundamental presumptions which is necessary for discourse. For example, a paleontology student might find it impossible to communicate the theory of evolution with an individual whose religious system prevents the evolution from the beginning. A finance graduate may not deepen their insights into laizzse-faire system via debating with a socialist, who argues that centralized power should control all the economic activities. However, aside from these two forgoing provisos, discourse and debate help people to gain more knowledge, whether at personal, community or global level. At personal level, by listening to the rationale of the seemingly oppressive rules, teenagers would know that certain behaviors naturally carry undesirable results. By listening to the teenagers’ voice about autonomy, parents would find that effective parenting and control are two different things. At the community level, through dispassionate dialogue an environmental activist can understand the legitimate economic concerns of a factory owner who rely on revenues to sustain his business. Conversely, the factory owner might stand to understand the importance of public health and environment protection by realizing huge amount of resources are needed to deal with pollution. Finally, at the global level, by dispute and discourse, two countries might realize mutually beneficial agreement by striving to understand the other country’s legitimate concern for its national security, political sovereignty, the stability of its economy and currency.

Originality Originality does not necessarily mean thinking something that was never thought before. Rather, usually it refers to putting old ideas in new ways. For example, many musicians are presenting old songs with new instruments and new videos in the music industry. The quantum theory is based on Newtonian mechanics. The invention of the Internet was inspired from ARPNET initially applied by the army. Sometimes changing the way of thinking common things generates originality. Many people knew the power of steam but it was James Watt who created the stream engine to use that power. Fashion is created by refreshing the old styles with modern look. In conclusion, originality means putting old ideas in new ways rather than creating thinking something that was never thought before.

Truth Truth often starts with outrageously attacking upon the accepted wisdom of the era. The birth of truth often generates commotions. As we look back into the history, we would find many people faced trials when they discovered the truth. Copernicus and his adherents were convicted by the church when heliocentric theory was introduced and nobody believed theory of evolution until Darwin passed away. Copernicus and Darwin suffered distress because of two reasons. On the one hand, human nature makes truth undesirable because once truth is admitted, they have to ways of life and thinking. On the other hand, truth is suppressed by the authority. New ideas sometimes come up with turbulent upheaval. However, nowadays truth is accepted peacefully because people are becoming more open-minded. Thus, truth, though sometimes unpleasantly contradicts to the convention, will ends up with being widely accepted as far as it is well-grounded.

How to perform better in a PhD program There may be times that we choose to go to PhD programs. If there are several good advice offered by the PhD that may contribute to a successful pathway towards success. First of all, being prepared. Guo himself spent 2 years in MIT as a graduate student before he went to the CS PhD program. As he said in this book, 2 years of graduate training offered him with solid programming skills and enabled him to quickly adapt to the research environment. To most students who prepare applying for a graduate school, it is important for them to equip themselves with strong writing skills and substantial capabilities of summarizing materials from diverse sources. Moreover, the PhD applicants, whatever fields they are applying to, should be able to write decent, concise emails. In this book, Guo cold-mailed to several professors and gained decent outcomes. It is necessary for everybody to learn how to write e-mails which are polite and moreover, interesting enough for others to reply. Next, know when to exit. Guo spent his first and third year doing Klee projects. After failing for several times, realizing that he was probably not able to give out a decent paper, he exited. The decision was essentially important. It would be never possible for Guo to graduate if he continued with the Klee project. And, as for us, we should have to ability to assess ourselves when we do certain things. When we choose a course, we should have in mind whether we are able to achieve the course requirements. Furthermore, we should not limit this when choosing courses or doing projects. We should be able know what our long-term choices are and do things that pave pathways towards that goal.

It is hard to gain a PhD Many people think that graduating from a PhD program is mostly admirable, as those who graduated often put a “PhD” behind their names. However, the book, the PhD Grind, tells us the tough step of attaining a PhD title in the most famous universities in the United States. The hero, Guo, who is now an assistant professor, suffered great pain of graduating when he was pursuing a PhD of computer science in Stanford. Reading throughout the book, the most impressive part of the book is how few graduate students succeed when they do graduate projects. Guo himself spent more than 2 years on Klee but gained nothing. Neither did his partner, Peter, who later dropped out of the PhD program. From 2006 to 2012, there are only perhaps, two students managed to publish their paper on first-tie conferences. All other students failed to produce reasonable results despite their hard efforts. Some graduate students are lucky enough to produce good publications, while the most do not. Thus, studying PhD programs, especially in the field of natural sciences, is essentially a hard journey. We should be really careful when considering PhD programs, as it may mean several hard years’ torture without satisfying results.