Computers are increasingly competing against humans to see whether man or machine is smarter.
In the latest demonstration of artificial intelligence or AI, a computer went up against humans in live, public debates.
The debates – held this week in San Francisco – provided a new example of how computers are fast improving to think and sound more like humans.
The event was a demonstration of an AI system developed by major technology company IBM. It is called Project Debater.
IBM said it was the first time ever that an AI system has competed in a live, public debate with humans. Two separate debates were held between a computer and two human debaters.
The company preselected possible subjects for discussion, but said neither the computer nor the humans knew the chosen subject before the debate.
The discussions were set up in a similar way to most political debates. After preparing arguments, both sides got the chance to present a four-minute opening statement. Then came four-minute rebuttals, followed by closing statements.
In one debate, IBM’s computer battled Noa Ovadia, a former national debate champion for Israel. The debate was based on the following statement: “We should subsidize space exploration.”
The AI system made a case in favor of government-subsidized space research. The computer was represented at the event as a tall and thin black box, with a small screen in front that changed designs when speaking and listening. It spoke in a female voice.
"Thank you for the opportunity to speak today." 
The AI system pulled in evidence from its huge supply of information from newspapers, journals and other sources.
Ovadia took the opposite position, arguing that the government could better serve the people by providing financial assistance for programs other than space exploration.
"You are speaking at the extremely fast rate of 218 words per minute. There is no need to hurry."
Project Debater then launched its rebuttal speech. It argued that government spending on space would be “a very sound investment” because it would be great for the economy, technology, and society as a whole.
The rebuttal ended with the machine stating that “subsidizing space exploration is like investing in really good tires.” The AI system explained its reasoning. While no one really wants to spend money on tires, people decide to do so in the end because it is the best and safest decision.
Following closing statements from both sides, reporters and other attendees gave their opinions on the results. IBM reported that a majority of those who watched the debate said they believed Project Debater had improved their knowledge of the subject more than the human debater.
On the other hand, the human debater got praise for better communicating her ideas. IBM’s vice president of AI research, Dario Gil, told the Associated Press this was not that surprising. He said humans are generally better at “using more expressive language, more original language.”
Ovadia said her AI opponent showed surprising language ability in constructing sentences. She added that the computer was not only able to “get to the bottom” of her arguments, but also able to intelligently answer them.
"Thank you for listening."
Among several outside experts invited to attend was Chris Reed. He directs the Center for Argument Technology at the University of Dundee in Scotland. Reed said the computer effectively used a debating method that predicts an opponent’s argument and rebuts it before it is brought up.
The event included a second debate about whether technology should be used to help doctors treat patients living far away across the world.
An IBM research team based in Israel has been working on Project Debater for six years. It was launched after IBM’s Watson computer system beat two humans competing on the knowledge game show “Jeopardy” in 2011.
But IBM officials say Project Debater goes beyond its Watson technology to explore new AI territory. It is designed not only to process large amounts of data in an effort to outsmart an opponent. It can also help people create persuasive arguments and make well-informed decisions.
The company says Project Debater’s methods will eventually be offered in its IBM Cloud and IBM Watson businesses.
The debate came about a month after Google demonstrated how its AI system was able to make a haircut appointment in a very human-like way. Earlier in the year, AI- machines outperformed humans in a high-level reading test.
I’m Bryan Lynn.
 
Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from IBM, the Associated Press and other sources. Hai Do was the editor.
What are your thoughts on the new developments in computers getting better at competing directly with humans? Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.
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Quiz
 
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Words in This Story
 
artificial intelligence – n. ability of a machine to reproduce human behavior
rebuttal – n. statement that a claim or criticism is not true
subsidize – v. help pay for the costs for something
screen – n. flat surface on a computer on which pictures or words are shown
source – n. a person, book, etc., that gives information
original – adj. the first one made, not a copy
persuasive – adj. able to cause people to do or believe something
 (2018/06/21 07:03)

United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to end the process of separating children from families that have crossed into the country illegally.
The executive order marks a major change for the president and his administration. He and other officials had repeatedly said they had no choice but to separate families stopped at the border because of the law and a court decision.                                                                                                
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, the president and others had said that the only way to end the practice was for Congress to pass new legislation.
However, Democrats and some Republicans have said Trump could end the policy himself. Trump did just that.
The executive order says the government will prosecute everyone who crosses the border illegally. It also calls for providing or building structures that can hold parents and children together while their cases are considered in courts.
The order also directs the United States attorney general to seek a change to a court ruling known as the Flores settlement. The ruling bars the government from keeping children in detention for more than 20 days.
Zero tolerance policy
Wednesday’s executive order did not end the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. During the signing, Trump said, “the border is just as tough, but we want to keep families together.”
Before Wednesday, the zero-tolerance policy required adults to be sent to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, while children were sent to centers run by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Between May 5 and June 9, more than 2,300 children were separated from their families at the United States’ border with Mexico. The families are mostly from Central American countries. They crossed through Mexico to reach the U.S. border.
News reports in recent days in the U.S. have been filled with emotional images of young children at the border crying for their parents. The images have caused anger toward the practice and pressure on the Trump administration to change its policy.
I’m Ashley Thompson.
 
The Associated Press reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for Learning English, with additional materials. Hai Do was the editor. 
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Words in This Story
 
prosecute - v. to hold a trial against a person who is accused of a crime to see if that person is guilty
tolerance - n. willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own
tough - adj. strong and not easily broken or damaged
custody - n. the state of being kept in a prison or jail
 (2018/06/21 06:57)

Many Americans are expressing shock at the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the United States’ border with Mexico.
But throughout U.S. history, officials have taken such action. Here are some examples:
Slavery
Slave families were often separated in sale. Slave owners could sell slave children to anyone. Their parents had no legal rights to prevent their sale and could do little to stop them.
Some slave families attempted to escape. But all faced severe punishment, even death, if captured.
Last week, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions used the Christian holy book, the Bible, to defend the policy of forced separation.
He said, “I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order.”
That same passage was cited before the Civil War as a defense for separating slave children from their mothers.
Native American boarding schools
In the 1870s, the United States began a policy of forcible assimilation for Native Americans. The government ordered the removal of Native American children from their families and reservations. They were sent to boarding schools that many described as similar to prisons. The schools were established with the goal destroying all Indian tradition and nature within the child.
At about 150 Indian schools around the country, officials made Native American children cut their traditional long hair and banned them from speaking in their native language. The schools forced the children to accept Christianity and white customs.
Native American children returned home almost unrecognizable to their parents. Still, some children resisted by setting fires to buildings, running away or taking their own lives.
Others continued to speak their native language in secret. Some Navajo “code talkers” were students at the boarding schools as children. During World War II, they used a code based on their native language to send secret messages for the U.S. military. Indian boarding school policies remained in place through the 1960s.
Poverty
During the early 1900s, American states sometimes took children from poor families and placed them in orphanages.
Author Michael Katz wrote in his book “In the Shadow of the Poorhouse: A Social History Of Welfare In America” that this practice ended in the 1920s and 1930s.
However, Katz said, local and state officials continued to use poverty as a reason to take children away from Native American and African American  families. Sometimes the ordered separation came over concerns about a parent’s mental health.
The late civil rights activist Malcolm X described his experience of such treatment in a book about his life. He wrote that government workers took him and his siblings from his mother after the murder of their father.
He said he lived in several foster homes and boarding houses. He said his mother, without her children, had a psychological breakdown and was ordered to a mental health asylum.
Great Depression repatriation
During the Great Depression, California and Texas officials blamed Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans for the economic event. They forced between 500,000 and 1 million Mexicans and Mexican Americans to leave the U.S.
Francisco Balderrama co-wrote “Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s.” He said some families hid children with family members in the U.S. to prevent them from being sent from the country.
Many families felt they were being forced to separate from their children, who were U.S. citizens. “And many children,” Balderrama said, “never saw their parents again.”
Japanese internment camp
Former U.S. first lady Laura Bush criticized the current family separation policy in an opinion piece published by The Washington Post newspaper.
She compared the images of children in tent cities in the desert outside El Paso, Texas, to those in “internment camps for U.S. citizens and noncitizens of Japanese descent during World War II.”
In 1942, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an order forcing around 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry into internment camps around the country, including 30,000 children.
George Takei is an American actor who was sent to an internment camp at the age of five.
Takei wrote in Foreign Policy, “At least during the internment of Japanese-Americans, I and other children were not stripped from our parents. We were not pulled screaming from our mothers’ arms. We were not left to change the diapers of younger children by ourselves.”
I’m Jonathan Evans. And I’m Ashley Thompson.
 
The Associated Press reported this story. Hai Do adapted it for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.
Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.
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Words in This Story
 
cite - v. to write or say the words from a book, an author, etc.
ordain - v. to officially establish or order
assimilation - n. an action to cause a person or group to become part of a different society, country
code - n. a set of letters, numbers, symbols used to secretly send messages
orphanage - n. a place where children without parents can live and be cared for
practice - n. something that is done often or regularly
sibling - n. a brother or sister
foster - adj. used to describe a situation in which a child is cared for by someone other than his parents
psychological - adj. of or relating to the mind
strip - v. to remove
scream - v. to cry loudly because of pain or surprise
diaper - n. a piece of clothe or material fastened around a baby to hold body waste(2018/06/21 06:56)

 
The number of people who do yoga around the world has been growing steadily in the last 40 years. People in more than 180 countries will do the breathing and movement exercise on this year’s International Yoga Day. It is officially observed on June 21, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. This year’s guiding idea is “peace.”
The Daily Star newspaper, published in Bangladesh, reports that people in China have “yoga fever.” The report says the country will have the most people after India observing International Yoga Day. Public yoga events will be held in parks, vacation places and even at the Great Wall. 
The same report notes that in South Korea, sales of yoga mats and yoga towels have risen sharply this year.
In Vietnam, International Yoga Day has brought increased attention to the activity. The Economic Times reported that three years ago, 2,000 people there took part in yoga events on International Yoga Day. This year, more than 8,000 Vietnamese are expected to. 
Dung Tien Nguyen runs a yoga center in Vietnam. Dung told reporters that long years of war in Vietnam affected people’s physical and mental health. Dung said, yoga is helping them feel better.
The United Nations declared June 21 the International Day of Yoga four years ago. The prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, proposed the idea to the U.N. General Assembly. Modi noted that yoga was an ancient Indian tradition. He said the practice can unite mind and body, thought and action, people and nature.
Yoga has also been praised for improving balance, lowering blood pressure, increasing flexibility, and providing a sense of calm. The secretary-general of the U.N., Ban Ki-Moon, said, "Yoga is a sport that can contribute to development and peace. Yoga can even help people in emergency situations to find relief from stress.”
But yoga has also been criticized.
A study by Australian and American researchers found that 10 to 20 percent of people felt pain or worsened injuries after doing yoga regularly. However, nearly 75 percent said regular yoga helped them feel less pain.  
And researchers in Germany and England recently found that participating in yoga classes may make people think they are worthier than others.
Historically, yoga has aimed to limit the ego.
I’m Anna Mateo.
 
Kelly Jean Kelly wrote this report for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.
We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.
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Words in This Story
 
steadily - adv. happening or developing in a continuous way
flexibility - n. ability to bend
contribute - v. to help to cause something to happen
relief - n. a pleasant and relaxed feeling that someone has when something unpleasant stops or does not happen
stress - n. a state of mental tension and worry caused by problems in your life
ego - n. the opinion that you have about yourself(2018/06/21 06:55)

 
Relatives of the more than 190 people missing after a boat sank on Lake Toba in Sumatra have asked government officials for a bigger search.
The families also criticized the Indonesian government for ignoring unsafe conditions on passenger boats.
Disaster officials have raised the number of dead several times. Family members arrived at Lake Toba in northern Sumatra to seek information. But, there was no passenger list for the overcrowded wooden ferry.
Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi and the chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency, Muhammad Syaugi, spoke to reporters about the incident. The officials said the boat was built to hold 43 passengers, but was carrying about 200. It had only 45 life jackets designed to keep passengers from drowning.
Only 18 survivors were found within hours of the sinking on Monday. The boat sank in deep water half a kilometer from a popular island.
It is possible many victims are still inside the sunken ferry, said North Sumatra province police chief Paulus Waterpau.
“Many survivors told authorities that less than half of them had jumped into the water before the boat sank,” he told The Associated Press.
Suwarni had a 20-year-old son who was with his girlfriend on the ferry. She criticized the search and rescue operation as slow.
 “What kind of government is this that can’t protect their own people from unnecessary accidents?” she asked.
The search has involved 350 people but they have found few bodies. Syaugi said only four deaths were confirmed after three more bodies were found on Wednesday.
Syaugi defended the search effort, saying that the agency, police, military and other personnel have been working “all out” and non-stop. The search may continue for another 10 days.
Survivor Juwita Sumbayak said she had crossed the lake many times on the same boat. She said it was overcrowded on Monday because of the holiday for the end of the Muslim holy month.
The mother cried uncontrollably as she spoke to a reporter. She called out the names of her husband and children who she believes drowned inside the boat.
She said that about 20 minutes after the ferry left, high waves caused it to list to the right and take on water, which caused the passengers to panic. After it was hit by additional waves, it seemed to shake and then it capsized.
“Many passengers without a life jacket jumped into the deep lake, but others drowned with the boat,” she said. “I jumped, I cried with fear.” She saw many people in the water “but nobody can help.”
Another survivor, Riko Saputra, said that many motorcycles packed on one side of the boat caused it to list. He said he was in the water for about an hour before he was rescued. He believed he only survived by holding onto a helmet.
Cellphone video released earlier in the week by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency showed the crew of another ferry trying to rescue people in the waters shortly after the sinking.  But bad weather and rough waters held them back.
The disaster comes as tens of millions Indonesians return home for the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan.
Sumadi, the transport minister, said that all 40 ferry operators on Lake Toba are being suspended and examined by the government until they show they are following safety rules.
Lake Toba is popular with tourists on the island of Sumatra. The Indonesian government hopes to develop the area for increased tourism.
I’m Susan Shand.
 
The Associated Press reported this story. Susan Shand adapted the report for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor.
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Words in This Story
 
ferry – n. a boat used to take passengers to a place
drone – n a type of small aircraft that flies without a pilot
tourist – n. one who visits a place for pleasure
list –v. to lean to one side
panic – v. to become filled with fear
capsize – v. to turn so that the bottom is on top
helmet – n. a hard hat that is worn to protect your head —
 (2018/06/21 06:50)