By You-Sheng Li 11/2/2000, and edited 23/10/2010 A few months ago I attended a discussion at the central library of the city I live in. The topic was, “Live Alone, and Enjoy it.” About 10 people participated, and men and women were about equal in number. As you can imagine, all participants were middle-aged, and had lived alone for quite a while. What struck me was that all women talked about the hardship and loneliness of their spinster life even with tears and sobs, and their eyes fixed on the ground as if they were preparing to go to hell …

Written by: You-Sheng Li (2003, rewritten May 2010) Now it becomes crystal clear that the driving force behind human evolution is gene mutation. What is gene mutation? You can find a precise definition in any genetics textbook. But such a definition is only professional jargon which doesn’t make any sense to ordinary people who have a much broader view. Gene mutation is really the decay of our genetic material, DNA. It decays like a deserted city which eventually becomes ruined, not distinguishable from its natural surroundings. Gene mutation is part of the universal process, a process from order to chaos. …

By You-Sheng Li, 23/4/10 When I was a child, my father was a family physician. Occasionally he talked about dreams with his patients or neighbouring peasants. Having overheard their chat, I joined in one day, saying, “I dreamed of walking on the street but I was aware that I was dreaming. So I was looking for some kind of bed to go back to sleeping. It was a frustrating experience trying to find a bed in the streets of a village. I finally came to a large dark stone with a smoothly polished flat surface. I fell asleep or out …

Reviewed by You-Sheng Li 5/11/2009 In 2005, Victoria Hui published her book, War and State Formation in Ancient China and Early Modern Europe, which is regarded as a rare endeavor in the field of sinology and world politics. It represents an important contribution to social science and is valuable reading for those who are interested European and Chinese history. She compares ancient China from 656 to 221 BC with modern Europe from 1495 to 1815. She concentrates her analysis on the dynamics of interstate systems and state formation, aiming to answer the question: Why did China end with a united …

by You-Sheng Li (published in Humanist Perspective, Spring 2009, Issue 68, p34-36) In her book A History of God, the English author and former nun Karen Armstrong states, “When people began to devise their myths and worship their gods, they were not seeking a literal explanation for natural phenomena. The symbolic stories, cave paintings and carvings were an attempt to express their wonder and to link this pervasive mystery with their own lives; indeed, poets, artists and musicians are often impelled by a similar desire today……God was a product of the creative imagination, like the poetry and music that I …

By You-Sheng Li 20/03/09 What began as a reversal of the real estate market in the United States has spun out of control and ended as a full blown global crisis that humans have never faced before. There is almost a meltdown of the world’s financial and banking systems; trillions of dollars worth of assets have evaporated. Even some governments have collapsed, investors are devastated, and consumers terrified. According to the World Bank’s estimation, 53 million people will be pushed back into poverty, joining up to 155 million who now live on less than US$2 a day. There are three …

By You-Sheng Li Margaret Atwood is one of today’s most acclaimed novelists in Canada. Her imagination and mordant wit are impressive to all readers, and her examination of a woman’s shifting role in the modern world remains a major achievement in English literature. In one of her novels Cat’s Eye which is considered the most autobiographical one, Atwood conveys nihilism: she disdains all her characters and their lives with contempt but praises no one. It is a reflection of the nihilist trend in modern society, which is so widely spread and profoundly rooted in all walks of people that it …