Year: 2011

Introduction to the History, Philosophy, and Science Conference Handbook

Life & Notes2011.11.16
Introduction to the History, Philosophy, and Science Conference Handbook
This forum received strong support from students and teachers at various colleges and universities in the Beijing area, and the students took part with great enthusiasm. On behalf of the organizing committee, I would like to express our gratitude to all the students and teachers who participated in our forum in one way or another! Because of everyone’s enthusiastic support, we ultimately received as many as 80 submissions. But in the end only a little over twenty could be presented at the conference, and the remaining articles could not be printed in full either (only abstracts would be included). If we have disappointed the enthusiasm of the students who submitted…
philosophy everyday life science history of science
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2011年11月16日
Politics Is Dispute—Starting from the Smoke-Free Campus

Culture & Public Commentary2011.11.03
Politics Is Dispute—Starting from the Smoke-Free Campus
I don’t know when the sign “This campus is a smoke-free school” was first hung at Peking University’s gate. I once even saw security guards seriously stop people who were coming in with cigarettes in their mouths. Today, in the midst of the poisonous haze (November 1), I noticed this sign again, so I’ll jot down a few thoughts while I’m at it~ I don’t smoke, and I don’t like other people smoking around me. But I do not support a “smoke-free campus.” In particular, a “smoke-free Peking University” is even worse. Because a smoking ban runs counter to freedom. Smoking is harmful, and it affects other people’s physical and…
China culture freedom commentary
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2011年11月3日
Mathematics, Education, and Machines

AI & the Future of Technology2011.11.02
Mathematics, Education, and Machines
Today in discussion section, I listened to Brother Donglin’s report, and it felt wonderfully intriguing; some of my earlier scattered thoughts have become much clearer. What Brother Donglin discussed was the concept of “diagramming” in ancient Greek geometry. He pointed out that the geometrical constructions of the ancient Greeks cannot be understood as “construction” in the Kantian sense: the meaning of diagramming is not to provide some kind of “ontological proof.” Diagramming is undertaken for pedagogical and instructional purposes; the original meaning of “proof” is also a kind of showing, a process by which the teacher displays something to the student. “Geometrical diagramming, geometrical knowledge, and phronesis (practical knowledge, that…
philosophy technology science media
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2011年11月2日
What Is an “Eduroam-Free Address”?

Site Matters2011.11.01
What Is an “Eduroam-Free Address”?
Since the readers of my blog are mainly university teachers and students, I wanted to buy a domestic host. A host on a dedicated Education Network line is hard to find and not really necessary, but at the very least it must be a “free Education Network IP”; otherwise it’s no different from a foreign host. But based on my experience over this past year communicating with various IDC service providers, whether before-sales consultation or after-sales service, whether front-desk support or back-end technicians, whether IDC customer service or Taobao shop owners—after contacting maybe twenty or thirty people all told—not a single one actually knew what a free Education Network address…
technology education internet website
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2011年11月1日
Huaxia Mingwang’s hosting failure rate is too high…

Site Matters2011.10.31
Huaxia Mingwang’s hosting failure rate is too high…
Today Suixuan and the Forum on the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology were down again for most of the day, and the quality of customer service was also quite worrisome. After submitting a support ticket, the customer service staff who solve technical problems always respond only after the issue has been fixed, so I can hardly find out what exactly went wrong; as for the front-desk customer service on the web interface, they are often totally clueless, and even when I inquire about purchasing services, they respond slowly, with a poor attitude, and still know nothing about anything. What should one do if the host failure rate is…
China blog education internet
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2011年10月31日
Ye Men Gathering — Archived Old Essays

Life & Notes2011.10.30
Ye Men Gathering — Archived Old Essays
Today I went with Teacher Wu to attend Master Ye’s gathering. We went to a French restaurant in Sanlitun for a French meal; the portions were a bit small, but the steak was genuinely delicious. We sat at a Western-style long table, and there wasn’t much conversation during the meal. Besides the Wu school and Teacher Ye, I didn’t know anyone else either; I only introduced myself briefly together with Senior Brother Shengli and Senior Brother Han, the three of us third-generation disciples, to Teacher Ye while packing up, and I didn’t even give my name. I don’t know whether Teacher Ye still remembers me. Perhaps Teacher Ye still will…
philosophy everyday life
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2011年10月30日
Some Replies on the General History of Science BBS in the First Half of the Semester

Teaching & Courses2011.10.28
Some Replies on the General History of Science BBS in the First Half of the Semester
Before, I was busy cranking out papers and went several weeks without recording the students’ discussions. Today I’ve caught everything up in one go, and along the way I also pulled out some of my own replies; some of them may still be a bit interesting, though most of the views I’ve written about before too.. On Philolaus’s “Counter-Earth” People at the time believed that “ten” was the most perfect number, but with the Sun, Moon, gold, wood, water, fire, earth, and the Earth, that still only makes nine, so people guessed there must be another planet on the opposite side of the Earth, called the “counter-earth,” but has…
philosophy China history of science course
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2011年10月28日
Printing, Natural History, and the Birth of Modern Science

History of Science & Scholarship2011.10.24
Printing, Natural History, and the Birth of Modern Science
Introduction This article attempts to point out a certain connection among the three things named in the title—what is the relation between the invention of printing, the revival of natural history, and the birth of modern science? Is there perhaps some profound link among them, such that if we want to understand the essence of modern science and even “modernity,” we must begin by examining the influence of printing? Among these three matters, the date of printing’s appearance in Europe is the clearest: in the 1440s, Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany, invented movable-type printing. Whether or not Chinese printing indirectly influenced Gutenberg’s invention, the fact that the era of print in…
history of science scholarship media knowledge
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2011年10月24日
Notes on the keshizhe.net submission area (and adding a “replies visible only to the original poster” feature)

Site Matters2011.10.19
Notes on the keshizhe.net submission area (and adding a “replies visible only to the original poster” feature)
Why design a way of posting submitted papers for peer review like this? My original intention was to strengthen communication within the forum, because the purpose of our forum is exchange first and scholarship second; its primary significance is to enhance communication among students in the history of science, technology, and philosophy in the Beijing area. And if our communication is limited to those dozen or so session presentations on the final day, that is quite limited. I hope that academic exchange can already begin during the review process. Whether or not a submission is ultimately accepted as a session presentation, the student who submits it can still receive comments…
scholarship website conference review forum
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2011年10月19日
Beijing Region Graduate Student Forum on the History and Philosophy of Science Continues to Solicit Submissions~~

Life & Notes2011.10.15
Beijing Region Graduate Student Forum on the History and Philosophy of Science Continues to Solicit Submissions~~
The earlier published Call for Papers for the 2nd Beijing Graduate Student Academic Forum on History of Science, Technology, and Philosophy has already been revised in some respects. The revised portions are as follows: The forum will be held all day on Saturday, November 19, 2011, at the Sunshine Hall of Peking University’s Yingjie Exchange Center. In view of the fact that the chief aim of our forum is to strengthen mutual understanding among students from different specialties and directions within the field of history of science, technology, and philosophy, the conference will not have parallel sessions, but themes will be set at different time slots. This forum will award…
everyday life Peking University forum
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2011年10月15日