Year: 2016

Is It Worth Building a Super-Large Collider?

Culture & Public Commentary2016.09.07
Is It Worth Building a Super-Large Collider?
Recently, Mr. Yang Zhenning published an article opposing China’s construction of an ultra-large collider, turning the matter into a hot topic. The director of the High Energy Physics Institute, Wang Yifang, has already refuted Mr. Yang’s arguments point by point, so I’ll just offer a few casual comments on what the two of them have said. Mr. Yang Zhenning is a clear-headed man, and he has always tended to think about problems from the standpoint of ordinary people at the bottom. I remember that when he gave a lecture at Peking University and spoke about the comparison between Chinese education and American education, he said that what people commonly call…
China science commentary value
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2016年9月7日
Travel Notes from the Xichang Conference

History of Science & Scholarship2016.08.23
Travel Notes from the Xichang Conference
The once-a-year conference on phenomenological philosophy of technology was held again, this time in Xichang, from August 8 to 13. It ran for five days all told, and, under the auspices of China National Geographic magazine, it was a good deal of fun—and even better eating~ This time we stayed at a hotel right by Qionghai, absolutely the best setting of any conference I’ve attended. The buffet breakfast and buffet lunch were indeed at a five-star level. Unfortunately, the schedule for both the conference and the sightseeing was very tight, and I never managed to carve out a daytime stretch to wander by the lake. On the way home, I…
philosophy media phenomenology AI
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2016年8月23日
The knives are really starting to fly and cut people: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Technological Intentionality

AI & Scholarship2016.08.07
The knives are really starting to fly and cut people: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Technological Intentionality
This is a supplement to the previous post. I had originally wanted to make “technical intentionality” the core concept of this essay, but in the end I retreated before the difficulty and gave it up; still, because it had been brewing for so long, I feel I ought to say a few things about it. Seven years ago in Nanning, I attended my first phenomenology and philosophy of technology conference. There was one session that left a deep impression on me, and I wrote about it in my notes from that year as well: Professor Wu spoke about “the intentional structure in technology,” but Professor Jin disagreed with using the…
technology media phenomenology human nature
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2016年8月7日
The knife really is about to fly up and cut people: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Technical Intentionality

AI & Scholarship2016.08.07
The knife really is about to fly up and cut people: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Technical Intentionality
This is a supplement to the previous article. I had originally wanted to make “technical intentionality” the core concept of this piece, but in the end I backed away from it, knowing the difficulty. Still, because the idea had been brewing for so long, I always wanted to say a few words about it. Seven years ago, in Nanning, I attended my first phenomenology and philosophy of technology conference. There was one session that left a deep impression on me, and I also wrote about it in my notes from that year: Professor Wu spoke about “the intentional structure in technology,” while Professor Jin disagreed with such a use of…
technology media phenomenology human nature
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2016年8月7日
A Loose Phenomenological Discussion of “Artificial Intelligence”

AI & Scholarship2016.08.02
A Loose Phenomenological Discussion of “Artificial Intelligence”
This essay was prepared for this year’s conference on phenomenological philosophy of technology. It had been brewing for several months, but in the end I still failed to turn it into a complete paper, and handed in some essay-like prose instead. There were too many people attending this time, and Teacher Wu was not planning to have every participant present a paper; some papers would be included in the conference proceedings but not assigned a presentation, so I was even more willing to make do. The main reason I could not write the paper, of course, was that I simply did not have enough time; I had read the literature…
technology Heidegger phenomenology AI
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2016年8月2日
A “Transitional” Work — _Outmoded Wisdom_ (Afterword, Table of Contents, and Selected Images)

Life & Notes2016.07.24
A “Transitional” Work — _Outmoded Wisdom_ (Afterword, Table of Contents, and Selected Images)
Outdated Wisdom Postscript My second book is about to be published, Outdated Wisdom—Fifteen Lectures on the General History of Science. This book was written by revising the lecture notes from the “General History of Science” course I taught at BNU. The publication of this book had a certain amount of contingency. What was originally being prepared for Shanghai Education Press were actually two other books, The Extension of Man—An Introduction to the General History of Technology and Can Science Be Learned?—A History of Education in Science. At the time, the editor said it would be better to make a series, and hoped to add one more book. I happened to…
history of science Scientific Revolution Stiegler Mumford
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2016年7月24日
The “Layers” of the World—A Few Words on Pokemon GO and AR

AI & the Future of Technology2016.07.12
The “Layers” of the World—A Few Words on Pokemon GO and AR
Recently, the mobile game Pokemon GO has taken the world by storm (China is generally not included in “the world”), and it is worth noting that this should be an emblematic game: a classic application of AR (augmented reality, mixed reality) technology. From this game we can glimpse a possible image of the future world. Although the game’s effects are still very crude at present, it is not hard to imagine what it will become as the relevant technologies develop in the future (those lacking imagination can simply look up the promotional video for Pokemon GO, for example here). Researchers in philosophy of technology are well worth paying attention to…
technology culture commentary history of technology
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2016年7月12日
“Our” Magazine, “Shared” Youth — A Commemorative Essay on “Gongqingyuan”

Life & Notes2016.07.11
“Our” Magazine, “Shared” Youth — A Commemorative Essay on “Gongqingyuan”
During my undergraduate years, I once served as the editor-in-chief of Peking University’s Department of Philosophy magazine *Gongqingyuan*, and I put out Issue 40; at that time, it happened to be the 15th year of *Gongqingyuan*. Later, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary, it was said that a commemorative issue was to be made, and I was invited to write a little text. This year is the 25th anniversary, and another commemorative issue is being prepared, so I, this senior alumnus, was dug out again for an interview, and was also asked to write whatever I liked. When faced with requests from younger classmates, I generally never refuse, and…
philosophy everyday life education Peking University
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2016年7月11日
Results Obscure Process—”Science Literacy Benchmarks” and Melamine

Culture & Public Commentary2016.04.29
Results Obscure Process—”Science Literacy Benchmarks” and Melamine
Recently I took part in the commentary on the “Basic Standards for the Scientific Literacy of Chinese Citizens.” I was invited to write a piece for China Science Daily, and it was published together with interviews of many teachers; see here. Because of the word limit, I accidentally wrote too much, and when the article was published it was edited and cut. In fact, the cuts were quite well done: the key points were all retained, and the tone was made less aggressive. Still, I’ll post the unedited original here for reference~ The newly released “Basic Standards for the Scientific Literacy of Chinese Citizens” has stirred up a great…
China science history of science philosophy of science
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2016年4月29日
When Results Obscure Process — “Scientific Literacy Standards” and Melamine

Culture & Public Commentary2016.04.29
When Results Obscure Process — “Scientific Literacy Standards” and Melamine
Recently I participated in the commentary on the , and was invited to write a piece for *China Science Daily*, which was published together with interviews with many teachers; see here. Because of the word limit, I accidentally wrote too much. When the article was published, the editors cut and revised it; actually the revisions were quite good—they kept all the key points and reduced the aggressiveness. Still, I’ll post the unedited original here for reference~ The newly released has stirred up a great deal of controversy. Beyond simply laughing at it or picking holes in it, there has gradually also been some serious discussion by scientists and scholars…
China science history of science philosophy of science
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2016年4月29日