From June 11 to July 8, the second season of the "Huayuan Bowen" series of reading clubs, themed "Intelligence and Media", was held successively in the school library of the School of Journalism and Communication at South China University of Technology. Professor Han Hongxing and Associate Professor Fu Jia from the Department of Brand Communication, Professor Li Xiaohua from the Department of Journalism and Communication, Professor Zhang Buzhong from the Department of Audiovisual Communication, and Professor Hu Bing from the Department of Internet Communication facilitated the club. Doctoral and master's students actively participated.

The eighth book club session was led by Liu Lixiang, a doctoral student from the class of 2024, with Professor Han Hongxing as the mentor. The session focused on Yuval Noah Harari's masterpiece, Above Homo Sapiens, and explored the philosophical and practical issues of human destiny in the age of artificial intelligence.

Above Homo Sapiens continues Harari's profound reflections on the course of human development, further exploring the enormous challenges and transformations that human society may face against the backdrop of rapid advancements in artificial intelligence and biotechnology. During the Q&A session, participating students engaged in a lively discussion on questions such as "Will artificial intelligence replace humans?" and "Do algorithms truly understand human emotions?" Professor Han Hongxing pointed out that although Harari is a historian, he provides us with profound warnings through a future-oriented perspective. He reminded everyone to be wary of the technological determinism trap brought about by algorithmic hegemony and to consider how to guide technological development based on humanistic values.

The ninth book club session was led by Wen Jinpeng, a doctoral student from the class of 2023, with Professor Li Xiaohua serving as the guide. The session focused on Kate Crawford's seminal work, Beyond Technology: Artificial Intelligence in Social Connections, exploring the complexities behind artificial intelligence and its comprehensive impact on human society and the global environment. Wen Jinpeng placed issues such as data and labor within a social framework, explaining the components of AI, its social impact, and environmental costs. During the Q&A session, the participants engaged in a lively discussion about the book's writing logic. Professor Li Xiaohua pointed out that the book incorporates numerous real-world cases and data analysis, critically examining problems in the development of AI, such as excessive resource consumption, environmental damage, and the creation of new inequalities and power asymmetries, providing valuable insights for academic writing.

The tenth book club session was led by Zhou Gaojian, a doctoral student from the class of 2024, with Professor Zhang Buzhong serving as the guide. Focusing on Speed  Culture: The Arrival of Immediacy, the session analyzed how "speed" has transformed from a physical phenomenon into the dominant cultural logic of modern society, extending further to immediacy, a sense of presence, and lifestyles. Zhou Gaojian believes this book has prompted cultural studies to expand from linguistic, visual, and meaning-based analyses to critical dimensions of rhythm, time perception, and technological structures, representing a significant expansion of traditional cultural studies. During the Q&A session, participants asked why "speed culture" is a cultural issue rather than simply a technological phenomenon. Professor Zhang Buzhong pointed out that speed culture refers to a cultural form with "fast" and "immediate" as its core values. It is not merely a phenomenon driven by technological progress, but rather a structural cultural logic. Speed culture reshapes our understanding of time, efficiency, communication, and interpersonal relationships, representing a shared cultural expectation structure across society.

The eleventh book club session was led by Xue Zhihui, a doctoral student from the class of 2024, with Associate Professor Fu Jia serving as the guide. The discussion focused on The Markets of Attention: How to Attract Audiences in the Digital Age, a book by James Webster, Professor of the NCAA (Northwestern University's School of Journalism and Communication). Professor Fu Jia began by explaining the psychological concept of "attention", providing a clear and concise overview of the cognitive basis of attention as a scarce resource. She then used modern life scenarios to illustrate how people use mobile media, such as the time spent scrolling through short videos and social media, and even the changes in their hand gestures when making phone calls, all of which profoundly reflect the distribution and competition for attention in the digital age. She reminded students to reflect on their own behavior in the digital environment. She particularly emphasized that although the book was published in 2014, more than a decade ago, its viewpoints and arguments demonstrate its forward-thinking insights and remain highly relevant to understanding the digital media ecosystem.

The 12th book club session focused on Professor Wu Guosheng's masterpiece, The Course of Science, a representative work by a renowned Chinese expert in the history of science. The lecture was given by postdoctoral researcher Liu Lu, with Professor Hu Bing serving as the introductory professor. During the lecture, the speaker began by outlining the book's grand structure of ten volumes and forty-six chapters, systematically tracing the development of science from its origins in ancient Eastern civilizations, through the nascent Greek spirit, the East-West comparison in the Middle Ages, to the establishment of the modern scientific paradigm and its integration with 20th-century high technology. The Course of Science is not only a macro-level overview of the development of science and technology, but also a cultural history revealing how humanity understands nature and constructs its worldview, guiding readers to reflect on the logic of scientific evolution and its underlying cultural significance within a historical context.

In the introduction, Professor Hu Bing emphasized that science is not merely a collection of methods and technologies, but a highly civilized cultural practice. It concerns not only understanding the world and transforming nature, but also the cultivation of humanity, personality, and spirit. The scientific spirit is embodied in the adherence to rationality, skepticism, empirical evidence, and logic, while the spirit of scientists emphasizes honesty, collaboration, responsibility, and the ethical character of dedication to truth. With the continuous evolution and differentiation of science, contemporary technology is exhibiting a strong trend of socialization and culturalization. Scientific knowledge production is deeply embedded in technological systems, industrial structures, and social values, forming a complex cultural whole. He called on young scholars to use a cultural perspective and historical wisdom to re-understand the profound relationship between science and society, knowledge and humanities, and to maintain the ability to be clear-headed and reflective in an uncertain future.

Thus concludes the second season of our college's "Huayuan Bowen" reading club series, themed "Intelligence and Media." The college will uphold the principle of "broadening horizons and stimulating vitality", continuously promoting the "Huayuan Bowen" reading club series, using books as a medium to expand academic perspectives and strengthen academic foundations.