When You Forget, I'll Remember, Chapter 1

Still in the doorway. Grandpa blinks, takes the small worn notebook out of his RIGHT cardigan pocket and glances into it, holding it close to his chest so the page faces him: the page is turned away from us, NOT readable, we see only the worn cover. Then he looks up, a little embarrassed, a sheepish half smile. Glasses on the cord at his chest, NOT on his face. The dim hallway behind him is the quiet area.

‹…Xiaoyu. Of course. Xiaoyu.›……小雨。对，小雨。

Xiaoyu on the landing holds her phone up in front of her in both hands; the screen faces her and we see its back, with its glow on her face. She reads a translation app off it, sounding out the words: cheeks pink, shy and trying hard, her eyes flicking up towards Grandpa off panel to the right. The stairwell wall behind her is plain and quiet.

‹Grandpa… hello. I… very happy… come.›外公……你好。我……很高兴……来。

My Chinese was a small child's Chinese.我的中文，是小小孩的中文。

Evening. Xiaoyu sits at the small square kitchen table on a video call with her mother; the phone stands propped on the table facing her, its back to us, its glow on her face, so we do NOT see the screen (Mama is heard, not seen). Xiaoyu's face is worried and hurt, voice low, shoulders hunched. Through the doorway behind her, small in the dim living room, Grandpa dozes in his armchair by the radio, head tipped, peaceful, asleep. The dark doorway around him is the quiet area. Only these two, nobody else.

Mum, he called me Huihui.‹妈，他叫我慧慧。›

The doctor says his memory will come and go.‹医生说，他的记性会时好时坏。›

I'll fly in for his eightieth. August the thirty-first.‹他八十大寿我一定飞回来。八月三十一号。›

I made a plan that night.那天晚上，我下了一个决心。

At his birthday I'll say something real to him. In Chinese. Before he forgets who I am.他生日那天，我要用中文跟他说真心话。趁他还记得我是谁。

Morning. On the landing the two front doors face each other. Grandpa's door is on the LEFT and Haoran's family's door on the RIGHT, as on the stairwell plate. Haoran, twelve, sits on the top step on the right, in front of his own door, with his sticker-covered laptop open on his knees, the screen facing him, its glow on his face, one wired earbud in; he looks absorbed and smug. A round robot vacuum, a plain flat grey disc with a bumper and no face, no eyes, bumps against his trainer. Xiaoyu steps out of Grandpa's door on the left, a black bin bag held by its knotted top, wary and curious. Standing, she would be half a head shorter than him; here he sits. The high window and bare wall above are the quiet area. No other people.

Chen Haoran. Next door. Twelve. Sure about everything.陈浩然。住隔壁。十二岁。什么都敢打包票。

Haoran looks up from his open laptop (its screen facing him, the sticker-covered lid towards us) and looks Xiaoyu up and down with a know-it-all grin, one eyebrow raised; he looks up and to the LEFT of the picture, where she stands off panel. His face sits in the middle of the panel, NOT in the top quarter. Plain stair wall behind him, the top quarter plain wall.

You're the granddaughter from Scotland? Grandpa Chen says your Chinese is bad.‹你就是从苏格兰来的外孙女？陈爷爷说你中文不好。›

Xiaoyu lifts her chin, stung but proud: lips pressed, cheeks a little red, eyes steady on him, looking down and to the RIGHT of the picture, where he sits off panel. The black bin bag hangs from her hand. Her face sits in the middle of the panel, NOT in the top quarter. The landing ceiling behind her is plain and quiet, the top quarter plain.

It's not bad. It's small.‹不是不好。是小。›

Haoran has stood up; he is half a head taller than Xiaoyu. He holds up his own phone (a black case, NOT Xiaoyu's sky-blue one) towards her like a magician showing a card, its screen facing her and its back to us, grinning, showing off. His laptop lies closed on the top step behind him. Xiaoyu crosses her arms, sceptical, with a flicker of hurt. The wall between and above them is the quiet area. No other people.

Doesn't matter. AI can talk for you. It's smarter than all of us anyway.‹没关系。AI 可以替你说。反正它比我们谁都聪明。›

Smarter than Grandpa?‹比我外公还聪明？›

Easy. My chess engine would crush him.‹那当然。我的下棋软件分分钟赢他。›

Haoran had never beaten Grandpa. Not once.浩然从来没赢过外公。一次都没有。

The park in summer: a calm lake with willows and a small arched stone bridge (the quiet area, upper right), and under the trees a short row of square stone chess tables. Grandpa sits at the near end table, centre right, the clearest figure, relaxed and content, a tea glass by his hand (a tall clear drinking glass of pale green tea with a few leaves floating in it). Xiaoyu and Haoran walk up the path behind him from the left, side by side; he is half a head taller than her. Uncle Wu, round and bald in a white vest, fan in hand, sits at the next table further back and slaps a piece down, playing old man 1 (thin, in a flat cap). At the far table old man 2 (grey hair, a towel on his shoulder) sits alone, small. No other people, NOT a crowd. Every board is a Western 8 by 8 board with Western pieces.

Riverside Park. Grandpa taught chess here for forty years.河边公园。外公在这里教了四十年棋。

Haoran's sticker-covered laptop sits open on the stone table beside a real Western 8 by 8 chessboard, its screen facing Haoran, its back to us, its glow on his face; he grins, cocky. Opposite him Uncle Wu frowns at the board, beads of sweat on his bald head, losing badly; his black king stands cornered on its square, every piece standing ON a square. Seated, Uncle Wu's head is a little higher than Haoran's. The willow shade behind them is the quiet area. No one else at the table.

‹Checkmate, Uncle Wu. Third time.›吴伯伯，将死了。第三盘了。

Uncle Wu flaps his straw-coloured palm-leaf fan, held by its handle, at the open silver laptop whose edge shows at the panel's bottom-LEFT corner (its screen facing away towards Haoran's seat, as in the panel before); he looks down to the left at it; his face sits in the middle of the panel, NOT in the top quarter; his face is scornful, lip curled, a loud

‹Pah. That's not clever. It just calculates.›呸。这算什么聪明，就会算。

Grandpa sips tea from a tall clear drinking glass of pale green tea with a few leaves floating in it, held in his big hand, eyes twinkling, amused and knowing. The edge of his Western chessboard shows in the foreground, pieces standing on squares. Glasses on the cord at his chest, NOT on his face. Willows and lake behind him are soft and quiet.

‹When I was young, we all said chess was the height of the human mind.›我年轻那会儿，都说下棋最考脑子。

Flashback, 1997, soft edges, the colours faded to warm sepia like an old photograph, so it reads as a memory. Seen only from behind, a man in a dark suit sits at a Western 8 by 8 chessboard on a stage, head in his hands; his face is NOT visible. Across the board an operator sits at a computer terminal, the terminal screen facing the operator, its glow only. Five or six audience heads as dark silhouettes in the dark, no faces. The dark stage above is the quiet area. No writing on banners or screens.

‹Then a computer called Deep Blue beat the world champion. Overnight, chess became "just calculating".›后来一台叫"深蓝"的电脑赢了世界冠军。一夜之间，大家又改口了：下棋嘛，不过是会算。

Uncle Wu (left, round, about Grandpa's shoulder height if they stood) laughs and wags a finger at Grandpa; Haoran stands behind between them and rolls his eyes; Grandpa (right) smiles calmly, amused. Everyone is warm and easy. A Western chessboard on the table, pieces on squares. Haoran's laptop is out of frame. The willow shade above is the quiet area. No other people.

THE AI EFFECT. Uncle Wu just did it. Once a machine can do something, people stop calling it clever. As Larry Tesler said, intelligence is whatever machines haven't done yet.AI 效应。吴伯伯刚才就是这样。机器一学会一件事，人们就不再说这件事聪明了。拉里·特斯勒说过，智能就是机器还没做到的事。

Xiaoyu tugs Grandpa's mid-grey cardigan sleeve (only his sleeve and big hand at the panel's RIGHT edge, his face out of frame; she looks right towards him), her face in the middle of the panel, NOT in the top quarter, struggling to find the Chinese: brow knitted, lips half open, earnest and a little embarrassed. Plain leafy shade behind her.

‹Grandpa… what is… clever?›外公……什么……是聪明？

Haoran answers first, scrolling his own phone (a black case), its screen facing him and its glow on his face, showing off, chin up, pleased with himself. Plain willow shade behind him.

Two scientists collected about seventy definitions. Nobody agrees.‹有两个科学家收集了大概七十种定义。谁也说服不了谁。›

Grandpa turns fully to Xiaoyu and speaks slowly, so she can follow, one finger raised straight up, NOT pointing at anything; his face patient, warm, teacherly. Xiaoyu stands beside him, her head a little above his while he sits, concentrating hard on every word. The Western chessboard on the table behind them. The lake behind is the quiet area. No one else.

‹If you ask me, clever is meeting something new and still finding a way.›要我说啊，碰上没见过的事，还能想出办法，这就叫聪明。

Haoran's two scientists, Legg and Hutter (2007), found most definitions share three ideas: an agent acting in a world, reaching goals, and coping with many situations, new ones too. Grandpa just named the third.浩然说的两位科学家，莱格和胡特（2007），发现大多数定义有三个共同点：在环境里行动的"主体"，要达成目标，能应付各种情况，包括没见过的。外公说的正是第三点。

Evening in the tiny kitchen. Grandpa (left) shuffles a worn deck of cards (plain red backs with a thin white border) with quick, practised hands, the deck kept as one neat stack, NOT scattered; his face is playful, with a sly pride. Xiaoyu (right) sits opposite him across the table, facing him, leaning in, curious; seated, her head reaches his shoulder. Glasses on the cord at his chest, NOT on his face. The lamp light pools on the table; the wall above is the quiet area. Only these two.

That evening Grandpa gave me a test of his own.那天晚上，外公也给我出了一道题。

‹A game from my village. You've never seen it. Let's see how fast you learn.›我们村里的玩法，你从没见过。看你多快能学会。

Evening (the same time as the panel before). Round one. Xiaoyu holds five cards in a hand fan, card faces towards her and the red backs to us; over the fan her face is lost and confused, in the middle of the panel, NOT in the top quarter. Grandpa's big hand (only his hand, coming in from the LEFT edge, where he sits) sweeps a trick of four cards towards himself across the table. Card faces show soft shapes only, no numbers or letters. Plain dim kitchen behind.

Round one. I had no idea what was going on.第一局。我完全看不懂。

Evening (the same time as the panel before). Round two. Xiaoyu frowns over her hand fan of cards (red backs to us), her face in the middle of the panel, NOT in the top quarter, concentrating, lips moving as she works it out, eyes narrowed. Plain dim wall behind her.

Round two. I started to see the rules.第二局。我慢慢看出了规矩。

Evening (the same time as the panel before). Round three. Xiaoyu's last card lies flat on the table where she slapped it down; both her arms are thrown up, empty-handed, her face triumphant, a huge grin. Grandpa laughs out loud and claps, delighted. The lamp above, the wall behind them quiet.

Round three. I won.第三局。我赢了。

‹Three rounds to learn it!›三局就学会了！

My chess engine needed a billion games to get that good.‹我的下棋软件练了十亿盘才这么厉害。›

SKILL IS NOT INTELLIGENCE. François Chollet (2019) says a program can be very good at something just because it practised a huge amount. Intelligence is how fast you learn something new from a little practice. Three rounds beats a billion games.技能不等于智能。弗朗索瓦·肖莱（2019）说，程序很厉害，可能只是因为练得极多。智能要看的，是练得很少时，学新东西有多快。三局学会，比练十亿盘更聪明。

The next evening, the same small kitchen table. Grandpa holds his cards in a hand fan, card faces towards him and the red backs to us, and looks at them puzzled and a little lost: brow creased, mouth slightly open. Glasses on the cord at his chest, NOT on his face. Dim plain wall behind him.

The next evening, our rematch. Grandpa stared at his cards.第二天晚上，我们再比一次。外公盯着手里的牌。

‹…How does this game go again?›……这牌……怎么玩来着？

Evening (the same time as the panel before). Xiaoyu goes still, her own cards lowered to the table, eyes wide on Grandpa, who is off panel to the LEFT: shock and fear she is trying to hide. Her face in the middle of the panel, NOT in the top quarter. Plain dark wall behind.

………

Evening (the same time as the panel before). Xiaoyu explains the rules with her hands and broken words, laying exactly four cards face up in a row on the table, fully clear of both their hands; her face is earnest and patient. Grandpa listens, nodding like a pupil, humble and attentive. Card faces show soft shapes only, no numbers or letters. The lamp light on the row of cards makes them the clearest thing.

‹This… big. This… small. Same colour… you take.›这个……大。这个……小。一样颜色……你拿。

Evening (the same time as the panel before). A few minutes later. Grandpa (left), having just laid his last card on the row, sweeps all the cards on the table towards himself with one big hand, with a sly grin. Xiaoyu (right) gapes, astonished, then half laughing. Card faces soft shapes only. The wall above them is the quiet area.

He'd forgotten the rules he taught me the day before. He still beat me. One piece of his cleverness was gone. The rest was all there.前一天教我的规则，他忘了。可他照样赢了我。他的聪明丢了一块，别的都还在。

John McCarthy, who named the field, said intelligence comes in "varying kinds and degrees", in people, many animals and some machines. Losing one kind does not switch off the others.给这个领域起名的约翰·麦卡锡说，智能有"不同的种类和程度"，人有，许多动物有，一些机器也有。丢了一种，别的不会跟着熄灭。

A narrow morning market street: vegetable crates and fish in tubs under cloth awnings, two puddles, one bicycle leaning on a wall. Grandpa walks easily down the middle with a string bag of eggs held by its handles in one hand; he steps round a puddle and, without breaking stride, catches a falling orange from the fruit stall with his free hand. The orange in his hand is the focal point. Xiaoyu follows a step behind, amazed, mouth open; she reaches his chest. Extras: 1. a stall-keeper woman in an apron behind the fruit stall, mid-ground; 2. an old man with a shopping trolley far down the street, small. No other people, NOT a crowd. The strip of sky above the awnings is the quiet area. Signs and awnings carry no writing.

Grandpa forgot names.外公会忘记名字。

Later that morning, back at Grandpa's flat after the market. In Grandpa's living room, Haoran's robot vacuum, a flat round grey disc with a bumper and no face, no eyes, is STUCK: it has climbed half onto a crumpled white sock at the edge of the sofa, its front tipped up, one side wheel lifted off the tiles and spinning in the air (small motion lines round that wheel). The robot and the sock are the clearest thing, in the CENTRE of the picture, whole and uncut, the sock clearly a sock (heel and toe), lying UNDER the robot, NOT in Haoran's hand. Haoran lies on his front on the far side of it, chin on his hands, glaring at the robot, cheeks puffed, NOT touching it. His one earbud is in his LEFT ear (on the viewer's right as he faces us), the other ear bare. The sofa's front edge shows only as a thin strip at the top; the wall above it is the quiet area.

Just one room to clean, and one sock beats it. Every time.‹就扫这么一间屋子，一只袜子，每次都能把它难住。›

Morning (the same time as the panel before). Grandpa's old hands: one holds the small blue-and-white teapot (the one from his kitchen tea tray) by its handle, the other steadies the lid, pouring a thin unbroken stream exactly into the third of three small blue-and-white cups on the round folding table. Exactly three cups, NOT more. Not one drop spilt. His face is out of frame above. Plain tabletop and soft shadow around the cups.

His hands still knew how to pour tea. Not a drop spilt.可他倒茶，手还是稳稳的，一滴都不洒。

Morning (the same time as the panel before). Haoran (left) sits on the floor holding the freed robot vacuum on his lap, a plain grey disc with no face; his face is grudging, admitting defeat. Xiaoyu (right) sits beside him holding a small blue-and-white tea cup in both hands, amused, a gentle smile. Sitting, his head is half a head higher than hers. The sofa back and the wall above are the quiet area.

Chess is easy for machines. Pouring tea and dodging socks is hard.‹下棋对机器容易。倒茶、绕开袜子，才难。›

MORAVEC'S PARADOX (1988). What adults find hard, like algebra and chess, came easily to computers. What a toddler does without thinking, like knowing a face, picking up a toy or crossing a messy room, turned out extremely hard. Evolution spent hundreds of millions of years on seeing and moving, so we don't notice we're doing them.莫拉维克悖论（1988）：大人觉得难的，比如代数和下棋，电脑反而容易；小娃娃想都不用想的，比如认脸、捡玩具、穿过乱糟糟的房间，电脑却极难。进化花了几亿年打磨看和动，所以我们做的时候根本察觉不到。

Night. Xiaoyu at the small desk in the narrow spare room with a fat dictionary open, a page of crossed-out characters drawn as scribble lines only, NOT readable, and an eraser worn to a stub. She pulls at her hair with both hands, frustrated, near tears. The desk lamp lights the page and her face; the dark window and wall behind are the quiet area.

Grandpa's eightieth was coming. That night I started writing my toast, in Chinese.外公的八十大寿快到了。那天晚上，我开始用中文写祝酒词。

Try one: the dictionary.第一次：查字典。

Night. We are inside Xiaoyu's room. Outside on the shared balcony, Haoran leans his forearms on the windowsill of her open window, head and shoulders in the frame, his own phone (black case) in his hand with its screen towards him; casual, a little teasing. The dark sky over the city lights is the quiet area.

Just ask the assistant. That's what it's for.‹问助手呗。它就是干这个的。›

Night, at her desk. Over Xiaoyu's shoulder (her faded sky-blue t-shirt, NOT pyjamas), close on her phone (sky-blue case, cracked corner) in her hand; her thumbs type. The screen shows a plain chat window of an assistant app: two rounded blocks of soft grey lines and a typing bar, no face, no mascot, no readable words. The rest of the panel is dark and quiet.

Try two: the assistant.第二次：问助手。

Write a toast for my grandpa's 80th birthday in Chinese. Exactly 80 characters.帮我写一段外公八十大寿的中文祝酒词，正好八十个字。

Xiaoyu's phone (sky-blue case at the edges): the screen fills with one neat tall block of soft grey lines, no readable words or characters. The phone edges and dark room around it are quiet.

Long life, wisdom, love. It would fit any grandpa.福寿、智慧、慈爱。哪个外公都能用。

敬爱的外公：福如东海长流水，寿比南山不老松。八十年风雨兼程，您用智慧和慈爱照亮全家。祝您身体健康，万事如意，笑口常开！（共80字）敬爱的外公：福如东海长流水，寿比南山不老松。八十年风雨兼程，您用智慧和慈爱照亮全家。祝您身体健康，万事如意，笑口常开！（共80字）

Night (the same time as the panel before). Xiaoyu holds her phone in one hand, screen facing her and its glow on her face, and counts on the fingers of her other hand, the fingers clearly apart: frowning, suspicious, a dawning

It says 80. I count 51.‹它说八十。我数了，五十一。›

It writes poems. It can't count.‹它会写诗，不会数数。›

Night. Xiaoyu stands right at the open window, close beside Haoran, seen from the side. She holds her phone the ordinary way anyone holds their own phone to read it: in one hand at chest height, her palm under its back, thumb on one long edge and fingers on the other, screen facing up towards her face; her elbow bent and close to her side. She tips it a little towards him, NOT holding it out at arm's length, NOT turning the screen away from herself. Both of them look down at the screen. Her face is unhappy and disappointed. Haoran, outside on the shared balcony, head and shoulders in the window frame, forearms on the sill, leans in to look at the screen, offhand, with a flicker of unease. The dark sky over the city is the quiet area.

And it doesn't know anything about him. Not the chess. Not the cards.‹而且它根本不认识外公。不知道他下棋，也不知道他打牌。›

Abilities can be wildly uneven. A system can write a poem and fail to count what it wrote. Intelligence is not one number, in machines or in people.能力可以极不均衡。一个系统能写诗，却数不对自己写了几个字。不管是机器还是人，智能都不是一个数字。

Next day. Xiaoyu stands at the wardrobe mirror holding the toast sheet in both hands; the sheet shows only faint pencil scribble lines, NOT readable. Her mouth carefully shapes the sounds: earnest, careful, a little anxious. Her reflection in the mirror matches her pose, reversed. The plain wall beside the wardrobe is the quiet area.

It was all I had.我手里只有这个。

‹Fú rú dōng hǎi cháng liú shuǐ…›福如东海长流水……

Daytime (the same time as the panel before). Haoran sits on the end of Xiaoyu's bed, impressed: eyebrows up, grinning, looking to the RIGHT of the picture, where she stands off panel. The fan and the window onto the balcony behind him are soft and quiet.

Perfect tones! Do you know what it means?‹声调全对！你知道什么意思吗？›

…Some of it.‹……懂一点。›

Daytime (the same time as the panel before). Haoran sits up on the bed and points at Xiaoyu as if he has solved a puzzle; the line of his finger ends exactly on her. His face is excited, eureka. Xiaoyu lowers the sheet, confused and a little wary; the sheet faces her, so we see only its plain back with faint marks showing through, NOT readable; standing while he sits, her head is higher than his. The wall above them is the quiet area.

You're the Chinese Room!‹你就是"中文屋"！›

The what?‹什么？›

A cutaway of a small closed room with no windows. Inside, a person sits at a desk with a huge rulebook, matching squiggly cards to cards in the book. A card slides in under the door on one side; the person slides an answer card out under the door on the other side, and that answer card is the clearest thing. Outside, two people read the answer card and nod, satisfied. The squiggles are plain shapes, NOT real writing. The blank wall above the room is the quiet area.

John Searle, 1980. A man who knows no Chinese sits in a room with a rulebook. Chinese questions in, perfect answers out.‹约翰·塞尔，一九八〇年。一个不懂中文的人坐在屋里，手边一本规则书。中文问题塞进来，完美的回答塞出去。›

Haoran, still on the end of the bed, counts the points on his fingers, serious now, the grin gone, looking to the RIGHT towards Xiaoyu off panel. Plain wall behind him.

Outside, everyone thinks he understands Chinese. Searle said following rules for symbols isn't understanding.‹外面的人都以为他懂中文。塞尔说，照规则摆弄符号，不等于理解。›

Daytime, the same afternoon as 10.2 to 11.2, daylight in the window. Xiaoyu looks down at the phone in her hand, its screen facing her; she is troubled, thoughtful. Haoran opens his mouth to answer, then closes it, unsure, caught out. The plain wall above them is the quiet area.

So does the assistant understand?‹那助手懂不懂？›

…People have argued about that for forty years.‹……这个，人们吵了四十年了。›

Night. Xiaoyu stands alone at the rail on the left, seen from behind, her face NOT visible, shoulders a little slumped, the toast sheet hanging from one hand; ahead of her the dark river and the city lights. At the right edge, the flat's window glows warm, nobody in it. The bare bulb is off, no glow. The dark sky is the quiet area.

I was saying words I didn't understand to a man who was losing words he'd always known.我说着自己都听不懂的话；听的人，正一点点忘掉他说了一辈子的话。

Which of us was in the room?我们俩，谁才在那间屋子里？

SEARLE'S CHINESE ROOM. So does the assistant understand? "Strong AI" says the right program truly has a mind. "Weak AI" says it is only a useful tool. Searle argued against strong AI. After more than forty years there is no consensus.塞尔的"中文屋"：那助手到底懂不懂？"强人工智能"认为，程序编对了就真有心智；"弱人工智能"认为，它只是好用的工具。塞尔反对强人工智能。吵了四十多年，至今没有定论。

Afternoon. Xiaoyu has let herself in with a key, a brown paper bag of peaches in her other hand; we see her back. Across the living room Grandpa rises from his armchair by the radio, gripping the back of the chair, staring at her as at a stranger: alarmed, frightened, defensive. Standing, she would reach his chest. Glasses on the cord at his chest. The glass cabinet and plain wall behind him are the quiet area. Only these two.

A few days later, I let myself in with a bag of peaches.过了几天，我拎着一袋桃子，自己开门进去。

‹Who are you? How did you get in?›你是谁？你怎么进来的？

Afternoon (the same time as the panel before). Xiaoyu frozen in the doorway, keys still in her hand, a brown paper bag of peaches on her wrist, mouth open, no words coming: shock and hurt. The front door behind her is plain and quiet.

‹I… I am… I'm…›我……我是……我……

Afternoon (the same time as the panel before). Xiaoyu's hands shake as she fumbles her phone out to open the translation app, the screen facing her and away from us; the brown paper bag slips from her wrist and three peaches tumble to the floor. Only her hands and the falling peaches; the floor is plain and quiet.

thud thud咚咚

Afternoon (the same time as the panel before). Grandpa, breathing hard, pulls the small notebook from his RIGHT cardigan pocket and flips through it with trembling fingers, holding it close to himself: the pages face him, turned away from us, NOT readable; we see only the worn cover and page edges. His face is frightened and desperately concentrating. Glasses on the cord at his chest, NOT on his face. Plain wall behind him.

Afternoon (the same time as the panel before). Grandpa's face crumples from fear into recognition and sorrow: eyes wet, brows lifting, mouth soft. The notebook is out of frame. Plain soft background.

‹…Xiaoyu.›……小雨。

Xiaoyu cries into Grandpa's cardigan; her head reaches his chest, her face half pressed against it, one wet eye and cheek visible. Two clear outlines, his and hers, NOT melted into one shape. He pats her head awkwardly with one big hand, his own eyes wet: sorrowful and ashamed. Exactly three peaches on the floor around their feet. The plain wall above them is the quiet area.

‹I'm sorry. I'm sorry. My head is a leaky bucket now.›对不起，对不起。外公这脑子，现在跟漏勺似的。

Haoran stands on the landing at Grandpa's half-open front door, having heard; beyond the door only a dim glimpse of the hallway, Grandpa and Xiaoyu NOT visible. He quietly steps back and does not go in: sober, uneasy, moved. The stairwell wall is the quiet area.

Evening. Haoran (left) and Xiaoyu (right) sit on the same stair step a little apart, one body's width of clear step between them, knees up; seated, his head is half a head higher. Her eyes are red, tired and sad; he looks at his hands, awkward. Dim light from the high window; the wall above them is the quiet area. No other people.

My grandma forgot things too. At the end.‹我奶奶后来也这样。到最后。›

…At the end?‹……最后？›

Evening (the same time as the panel before). Haoran looks down at his hands; his know-it-all face is gone, sad and honest, glasses slipping a little. Plain dim wall behind.

I keep saying AI beats everyone.‹我老说 AI 比谁都强。›

If machines are the clever ones, people forgetting hurts less.‹要是聪明的是机器，人忘事，也就没那么难受了。›

Evening (the same time as the panel before). Xiaoyu turns to the LEFT of the picture, to him, gentle and certain, eyes still red. Her face in the middle of the panel, NOT in the top quarter. Plain dim wall behind.

It still hurts.‹还是会难过的。›

Sunset. THE BRIDGE WORKS LIKE A REAL BRIDGE: it crosses a narrow arm of the lake from one grassy bank to the other; BOTH ends rest on dry land, each end meeting a paved path on the shore, and the water passes only under the single arch in the middle. NEITHER end goes down into the water. Grandpa, Xiaoyu and Haoran stand at the top of the arch, leaning on the rail on the side towards us, the water gold, willows black against the sky. Xiaoyu reaches Grandpa's chest; Haoran is half a head taller than her. Grandpa points down at the gold water below the bridge, his finger ending on the water; his face proud and remembering. Xiaoyu is curious, Haoran interested. The sky is the quiet area. No other people.

That weekend, Grandpa took us to the lake.那个周末，外公带我们去湖边。

‹This lake was dug by hand, the year your mother was born.›这个湖，是你妈妈出生那年，大家一锹一锹挖出来的。

Xiaoyu looks down at the water, puzzled, head tilted. Sunset sky behind her, plain and quiet.

‹A… made lake? Not real?›人……做的湖？不是真的？

Grandpa laughs out loud, one hand on the bridge rail, head back, delighted. Sunset sky behind him, plain and quiet.

‹Real water. Real fish. People made it.›水是真水，鱼也是真鱼。只不过是人工挖出来的。

Haoran leans on the rail with his own phone (black case) in hand, the sunset behind him; his face is thoughtful, pleased to explain. The sky is the quiet area.

That's the "artificial" in artificial intelligence. Made by people. Not fake.‹人工智能的"人工"，就是这个意思。人做的，不是假的。›

"Artificial" means made by people, as in an artificial lake. It is a real lake. McCarthy defined AI as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs.""人工"就是人造的意思，像人工湖。人工湖也是真湖。麦卡锡给人工智能下的定义是："制造智能机器、特别是智能计算机程序的科学与工程。"

Dusk. Haoran (left) and Xiaoyu (right) on a plain grey granite park bench with no back, like the stone chess tables; seated, he is half a head taller. Haoran draws a plain 2 by 2 grid of four boxes with a pen in a school exercise book with a plain bright yellow cover, NOT Grandpa's small worn dark red notebook; the grid has no words. His face is keen, teaching; Xiaoyu leans in, attentive and a little sceptical. The lake behind is the quiet area. No other people.

The big textbook sorts AI four ways.‹那本最有名的教科书，把人工智能分成四类。›

Russell and Norvig (2020). Most builders aim for the bottom right: an agent that acts to get the best expected result from what it knows.罗素和诺维格（2020）。大多数研究者瞄准右下角：造一个"主体"，根据自己知道的情况，挑预期结果最好的做法。

Dusk (the same time as the panel before). Xiaoyu looks up from the grid across the lake towards the chess tables, where Grandpa sits tiny in the distance, the only figure there, known by his white hair and grey cardigan; her look leads straight to him. Her face is tender and wistful. The calm lake between them is the quiet area.

Grandpa's not in any box.‹外公哪个格子都放不进去。›

Dusk (the same time as the panel before). Haoran taps the bottom-right box of the four-box grid, drawn in his school exercise book with the plain bright yellow cover, with his pen; the pen tip lands exactly on that box and is the clearest thing. His face is a wry half smile. No words in the grid.

Maybe that's good. Aim a machine a bit wrong, and it does the wrong thing perfectly.‹那也挺好。目标偏一点，机器就会把错事做得特别好。›

Dusk (the same time as page 15, on the same granite bench). Xiaoyu points at the phone (black case) in Haoran's hand (only his hand and phone at the panel's LEFT edge, where he sits); she looks left, her finger ends on the phone. Her face is curious, a little doubtful. Plain willow shade behind.

Is the assistant a robot?‹助手是机器人吗？›

Dusk (the same time as the panel before). Haoran laughs and shakes his head, amused, friendly. Plain willow shade behind.

No body. It's software, on computers far away.‹它没有身体。是软件，跑在很远的电脑上。›

A vast data centre hall: long rows of tall server racks under cool light, cables in trays overhead, one tiny technician far down the aisle for scale, seen from behind. Clean and quiet; the ceiling is the quiet area. No writing on the racks.

Most AI has no body. A chess program from 1997 and a chat assistant of today work in almost completely different ways. AI is a field, not one thing.大多数人工智能没有身体。一九九七年的下棋程序和今天的聊天助手，工作原理几乎完全不同。人工智能是一个领域，不是一样东西。

Back at the chess tables. Grandpa asks Haoran a question, leaning in, curious and keen. Haoran is pleased to be asked, explaining with an open hand. A Western chessboard between them, pieces on squares. Haoran's laptop is out of frame. The willows behind are the quiet area. No one else.

Tom Mitchell (1997): a program LEARNS if it gets measurably better at a task with experience. Nothing about understanding.汤姆·米切尔（1997）：程序做一件事，随经验做得越来越好，就叫"学习"。定义里一个字也没提理解。

‹Does your assistant learn?›你那个助手会学吗？

‹From examples. Like my spam filter.›靠例子学。就像我的垃圾邮件过滤器。

Grandpa smiles wryly, a sad joke under it. Xiaoyu grabs his big hand with both of hers, urgent and upset, searching for a word she doesn't have; standing while he sits, her head is a little above his. The lake behind is the quiet area.

‹Then I'm un-learning.›那我是在"倒着学"。

‹No. You're…›不，你是……

Haoran and Grandpa sit FACING EACH OTHER across the stone table, the Western 8 by 8 board set square between them, each one's own pieces in the two rows nearest him (Grandpa's cream pieces on his side, Haoran's dark brown pieces on his), every piece on its square. Haoran's laptop is shut and pushed to the table's far corner. Haoran sets the last pawns in place; his face is determined, nervous, a little humble. Grandpa is pleased, a sly

‹One game. No engine.›下一盘。不用引擎。

‹Finally.›早该这样了。

Mid-game. Seen from Haoran's side, so Grandpa's cream pieces are mostly nearest Grandpa and Haoran's dark brown pieces nearest us. Grandpa looks at the board, uncertain, one finger hovering above a piece, NOT touching it: lost, with a flicker of fear. Western pieces standing on squares. Glasses on the cord at his chest. Plain leafy shade behind.

‹…Whose move is it?›……该谁走了？

Haoran's hand hovers over his own piece; he could take an extra move. He pulls his hand back: temptation, then decency, a quiet firm face. Western pieces standing on squares. Plain leafy shade behind.

‹Yours, Grandpa Chen.›该您了，陈爷爷。

The mate. Grandpa and Haoran face each other across the board. Grandpa's hand lifts off the cream piece that gives checkmate with a quiet click, and Haoran's dark brown king is trapped on its square; a few taken pieces stand beside the board. Grandpa looks calm, quietly pleased. Haoran stares at the board, then bursts out laughing, hands in his hair. Xiaoyu cheers, fists up. Uncle Wu is out of frame. The board is the clearest thing; the willows above are the quiet area.

‹How did you see that? The engine would check millions of positions.›您怎么看出来的？引擎得算几百万种局面。

‹I checked three. And remembered sixty years.›我就看了三种。剩下的，靠六十年的棋。

Will machines ever be clever like Grandpa? At everything?‹机器会不会有一天像外公一样聪明？什么都会？›

That's called AGI. General intelligence. Some say chat assistants show early signs. Others say they're just very good narrow tools.‹那叫 AGI，通用人工智能。有人说聊天助手已经有点苗头了，也有人说它们只是特别厉害的专用工具。›

Haoran shrugs, honest for once, a small rueful smile. The dusk lake behind him is plain and quiet.

AGI: an imagined system that could learn every thinking task people can.AGI：想象中的系统，人能做的智力活它都能学会。

No agreed test. No agreed date. I used to act like I knew.‹没有公认的测试，也没有日期。我以前是装懂。›

Night. Xiaoyu folds the pencilled toast sheet from page 10 in half (faint pencil scribble lines, NOT readable) and puts it in the desk drawer; her face is calm, a small resolve. The desk lamp lights her hands; the dark window is the quiet area.

Try three.第三次。

Night (the same time as the panel before). Xiaoyu's hands turn the pages of Grandpa's old photo album. Three small faded old photos (soft sepia and pale colour, worn white borders) on the open spread, as soft simple shapes; in them Grandpa is a YOUNG man of about forty with thick BLACK hair, NOT grey: young Grandpa teaching children chess in the park; Grandpa holding a baby on the new lake's bank; and, clearest and in the middle, a little girl in pigtails, her mother, at the chess table. No captions or writing on the pages. The plain desk around the album is quiet.

外公，你教全公园的人下棋。你教我打牌。你忘了，我记得。外公，你教全公园的人下棋。你教我打牌。你忘了，我记得。

On the landing, Haoran reads her sheet of squared practice paper (white with a pale green grid of squares) with a pen in his hand, serious and careful, the pen tip on one spot of the sheet. The sheet shows scribble strokes only, NOT readable. The stairwell wall is the quiet area.

Two mistakes. Here, and here.‹两个错字。这里，还有这里。›

Haoran has just handed back her sheet of squared practice paper (white with a pale green grid of squares), sincere, firm and kind. Xiaoyu now holds it in BOTH her own hands at her chest, the way you hold a page to read it, its written side towards her so we see only its plain back; her thumbs on the front, her fingers behind. Haoran has let go: his near hand drops back towards his side, open and relaxed, NOT touching the sheet, NOT reaching across. Only she touches the sheet. Haoran wears his one wired earbud in his LEFT ear, on the far side of his head here, so the ear we see is bare. Xiaoyu nervous and grateful. He is half a head taller than her. The high window above is the quiet area. No other people.

I won't change anything else. It's yours.‹别的我不改了。这是你自己的。›

Late afternoon, warm low sun through the balcony door. Grandpa's 80th birthday in his small living room, exactly five people and NO other guests, NOT a crowd. Round the round folding table, left to right: Xiaoyu sitting by Grandpa on the left, nervous, her sheet of squared practice paper (white with a pale green grid of squares), folded, in her lap; Grandpa in the middle, seated, beaming, the focal point, with Mama, just off the plane, standing behind his chair hugging him round the shoulders, her face beside his, tired and tearful with happiness; Uncle Wu raising a glass, jolly; Haoran at the right, a little shy and pleased. On the table a few dishes, a plate of peach-shaped longevity buns and a bowl of long noodles in the middle, NOT crowded. The glass cabinet behind them; the plain wall above is the quiet area.

August the thirty-first.八月三十一号。

Mama, standing behind him, rests her right hand on his left shoulder; Grandpa reaches across his chest with his right hand and pats the back of her hand, an everyday gesture, both arms turning the way real arms can; he beams, delighted to know her at once. Mama leans down beside him, moved and relieved, eyes shining. Late afternoon (the same time as the panel before), warm low sunlight; the plain wall behind them is quiet.

‹Huihui! You came.›慧慧！你回来了。

Haoran hands Grandpa a small card with a simple drawing of a chess knight on it, no writing; only Grandpa's big hand reaches in at the panel's LEFT edge to take it; Haoran looks left. Haoran is a little shy and proud. Plain wall behind.

‹Did you know? The name "artificial intelligence" was first written in a proposal dated August 31, 1955. Same birthday.›您知道吗？"人工智能"这个名字，第一次写进一份计划书，日期是一九五五年八月三十一号。跟您同一天生日。

Xiaoyu stands up at the table with her sheet of squared practice paper (white with a pale green grid of squares), which shakes in her hands; the sheet faces her, only faint pencil marks showing through its back, NOT readable. Her face is nervous but brave, chin up. At the panel's edges only hands lowering glasses to the table, no other faces. The room goes quiet; the wall behind her is the quiet area.

‹Grandpa. My Chinese is small.›外公。我的中文很小。

Gentle laughter round the table. Uncle Wu chuckles warmly; Mama, seated now, covers her mouth, eyes shining with happy tears. The sunlit wall behind them is quiet.

‹You taught the whole park chess. You taught me cards in three rounds.›你教全公园的人下棋。你三局就教会我打牌。

Xiaoyu lowers her sheet of squared practice paper (white with a pale green grid), its written side towards her so we see only its plain back, and looks straight at Grandpa, off panel to the right, speaking without it now: steady, tender, brave. Plain wall behind.

‹Sometimes you forget. That's okay.›有时候你会忘。没关系。

Xiaoyu and Grandpa face to face across the corner of the round table. Her eyes are full but her voice is steady. Grandpa is very still: moved, listening with his whole face. Standing while he sits, her head is a little above his. The others are out of frame. The wall above is the quiet area.

‹When you forget, I'll remember. For both of us.›你忘了，我记得。我替我们两个人记。

Late afternoon (the same time as the panel before). Grandpa, still SEATED on his stool at the round table as in 20.4, silent, eyes wet, tender and a little shy, takes the small worn notebook from his RIGHT cardigan pocket and holds it out, closed, cover up, NOT open, towards Xiaoyu off panel to the LEFT, looking left. The notebook is the clearest thing. Plain wall behind.

The notebook open in Xiaoyu's hands, its pages fanned so several pages show: every page has the same few short lines at the top in an old man's careful hand, the same shape page after page, drawn as soft pencil scribble, NOT readable. Her fingers hold the covers at the edges, clear of the lines. The table around it is plain and quiet.

Zhou Xiaoyu. Granddaughter. Eleven. Likes cards. Learning Chinese. Very clever.

周小雨。外孙女。十一岁。喜欢打牌。在学中文。很聪明。周小雨。外孙女。十一岁。喜欢打牌。在学中文。很聪明。

Xiaoyu looks up from the notebook to the RIGHT, towards Grandpa off panel, tears running, a wobbling smile: overwhelmed, loved. The notebook's edge shows at the bottom of the panel, closed against her chest. Plain soft background.

He'd written me down. Every page. So he wouldn't lose me.他把我写下来了。每一页都写。这样就不会把我弄丢。

Grandpa leans towards Xiaoyu and speaks slowly and simply, so she can understand every word, the palm of his big hand resting on the back of her hand, which lies on the closed notebook; his face is tender, proud and clear. Xiaoyu is tearful, listening, beginning to smile. Glasses on the cord at his chest. The wall above them is the quiet area.

‹Your Chinese isn't small. It's new.›你的中文不小。是新的。

‹Meeting something new and finding a way. That's clever.›遇到新的东西，还能想出办法。这才叫聪明。

Late that night, on the balcony under the bare bulb, which glows and lights the board, Grandpa and Xiaoyu play chess on the folding table, sitting FACING EACH OTHER across it, the Western 8 by 8 board set square between them, each one's own pieces nearest them, mid-game, pieces standing on squares, their eyes on the board. Grandpa is calm and content; Xiaoyu relaxed and happily concentrating; seated, her head reaches his shoulder. Haoran sits on an upturned bucket between them a little back, chin in hand, peaceful; no laptop, NOT any screen. The river and the city lights behind; the dark sky is the quiet area. Only these three.

Night (the same time as the panel before). Haoran rests his chin on his hand, thoughtful, curious, open. The dark river behind him is quiet.

So what counts as clever?‹那到底什么才算聪明？›

Night (the same time as the panel before). Xiaoyu moves a piece, holding it by its top between thumb and finger and setting it down on a square, thinking, then smiles, quietly sure. The bulb light on her face; the dark sky behind is quiet.

Lots of kinds. Some you can measure. Some you can only notice.‹有很多种。有的能测出来，有的只能留心去看。›

The park at night: the man-made lake under the moon, the willows, the row of empty stone chess tables with their Western boards. Quiet. No people, NOT any figure. The night sky is the quiet area.

Machines got cleverer every year after that summer. So did the arguments about what clever means.那个夏天以后，机器一年比一年聪明。关于"什么是聪明"的争论，也一年比一年热闹。

I still have the notebook.那本小本子，我一直留着。

Next: Chapter 2. A Short History.下一章：第二章一段简史

What is true here

There is no single agreed definition of intelligence. Legg and Hutter collected about seventy and found three shared ideas: an agent in an environment, reaching goals, and coping with many situations, including new ones (Legg and Hutter, 2007a). Grandpa's answer is close to their own proposal, the ability to achieve goals across a wide range of environments (Legg and Hutter, 2007b).
Skill is not the same as intelligence. Chollet argues we should measure how efficiently a system learns new skills from little prior knowledge and experience (Chollet, 2019). Xiaoyu's three rounds of cards are his example.
John McCarthy coined the term "artificial intelligence" and defined AI as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs". He wrote that intelligence comes in varying kinds and degrees (McCarthy, 2007). The Dartmouth proposal that first used the name is dated 31 August 1955 (McCarthy and colleagues, 1955/2006).
Russell and Norvig sort definitions of AI by thinking or acting, and humanly or rationally, and adopt the rational agent. Its weak spot is a goal that is not quite what we want (Russell and Norvig, 2020).
Tom Mitchell's definition of learning says nothing about understanding (Mitchell, 1997).
Almost all AI is narrow. AGI has no agreed test or date, and experts disagree about whether today's chat assistants show signs of it. Melanie Mitchell describes fallacies that make the field overestimate progress (Mitchell, 2021).
Searle's Chinese Room (Searle, 1980) argues that following rules for symbols is not understanding. The debate has no consensus after more than forty years.
Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in 1997 (Campbell, Hoane and Hsu, 2002), and many people then called chess "just calculation". Tesler said his famous line was garbled. What he said was that intelligence is whatever machines haven't done yet (Tesler, n.d.; Hofstadter, 1979). This is the AI effect.
Moravec's paradox: what adults find hard can be easy for computers, and what toddlers do without thinking can be extremely hard (Moravec, 1988).
"Artificial" means made by people, not fake. Most AI has no body.
An assistant can write fluent text and still miscount. The toast on page 9 really has 51 characters, not the 80 it claims.

What is pretend

Bridge City, Xiaoyu, Grandpa Chen, Haoran, Uncle Wu, Mama, the card game and the assistant. Grandpa's memory is drawn from no one in particular, and the story makes no medical claim.

Part I, Chapter 1 of AI from First Principles (What is intelligence?), with every reference in full.

哪些是真的

智能没有一个公认的定义。莱格和胡特收集了大约七十种，发现有三个共同点：在环境里行动的主体、实现目标、应付各种情况，包括新情况（Legg and Hutter, 2007a）。外公的回答，和他们自己的提法很接近：在各种各样的环境里实现目标的能力（Legg and Hutter, 2007b）。
技能不等于智能。肖莱主张，应该衡量一个系统用很少的已有知识和经验，学会新本事的效率（Chollet, 2019）。小雨三局学会打牌，就是他举的那种例子。
约翰·麦卡锡创造了"人工智能"这个词，把它定义为"制造智能机器、特别是智能计算机程序的科学与工程"，并说智能有不同的种类和程度（McCarthy, 2007）。第一次使用这个名字的达特茅斯计划书，落款日期是1955年8月31日（McCarthy and colleagues, 1955/2006）。
罗素和诺维格按"思考还是行动""像人还是理性"给人工智能的定义分类，并选择了"理性主体"。它的弱点是目标给得不完全对（Russell and Norvig, 2020）。
汤姆·米切尔对"学习"的定义，完全不谈理解（Mitchell, 1997）。
几乎所有人工智能都是专用的。通用人工智能没有公认的测试和时间表，专家们对今天的聊天助手是否有它的苗头也意见不一。梅兰妮·米切尔指出了让这个领域高估进展的几种误区（Mitchell, 2021）。
塞尔的"中文屋"（Searle, 1980）认为，照规则摆弄符号不等于理解。争论了四十多年，至今没有定论。
1997年"深蓝"战胜了卡斯帕罗夫（Campbell, Hoane and Hsu, 2002），之后很多人说下棋"就是计算"。特斯勒说那句名言被传错了，他原话是"智能就是机器还没做到的事"（Tesler, n.d.; Hofstadter, 1979）。这就是"AI 效应"。
莫拉维克悖论：大人觉得难的事，电脑可能很容易；小娃娃想都不用想的事，电脑可能极难（Moravec, 1988）。
"人工"是人造的意思，不是假的。大多数人工智能没有身体。
助手能写出流畅的文字，却可能数错。第9页那段祝酒词实际是51个字，不是它说的80个。

哪些是虚构的

桥城、小雨、陈外公、浩然、吴伯伯、妈妈、那种牌的玩法和那个助手。外公的记性不取材于任何具体的人，故事不做任何医学上的说法。

延伸阅读

AI from First Principles 第一部分第一章（What is intelligence?），所有参考文献都在那里。

When You Forget, I'll Remember你忘了，我记得

What is true here

What is pretend

Read more

哪些是真的

哪些是虚构的

延伸阅读