Year: 2019

Why Is Innovation an Economic Question? — An Analysis of the Concept of Innovation from the Perspective of the History of Science and Technology

AI & the Future of Technology2019.12.17
Why Is Innovation an Economic Question? — An Analysis of the Concept of Innovation from the Perspective of the History of Science and Technology
This piece was commissioned for Tsinghua University’s internal circle; the subtitle was a suggested theme, and the main title was chosen by me. At the time of publication, it was somewhat abridged (mainly with a few examples cut, which did not affect the overall argument), and some sentences were marked with emphasis, which I have restored here. These days we advocate “mass entrepreneurship and mass innovation,” and “innovation” seems to be everywhere; everyone admires innovation and pursues innovation. Whether at the level of the nation or at the level of industries and enterprises, “innovation” is indeed extremely important and certainly deserves everyone’s attention. But precisely for that reason, we need…
technology China innovation Industrial Revolution
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2019年12月17日
Is Philosophy of Technology Useful? — Applying Philosophy of Technology in Teaching the Philosophy of Technology Course

AI & the Future of Technology2019.12.14
Is Philosophy of Technology Useful? — Applying Philosophy of Technology in Teaching the Philosophy of Technology Course
This week’s Introduction to Philosophy of Technology class centered its discussion session on the “smart classroom.” Compared with last year, the discussion class was pushed back by a week, and before it we added one more lecture on Marcuse. That felt pretty good; many students were already able to think through the issue in terms of “critique of instrumental reason.” “Smart classroom” is a broad concept. In its most basic sense, it includes the application of technologies such as tablet computers, online platforms, and smart apps in classroom teaching, but it also includes the more alarming technologies of intelligent surveillance and sensing headbands. Broadly speaking, we usually would not oppose…
philosophy technology everyday life course
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2019年12月14日
From “Information Blocks” to “Blockchains”: Blockchain as a Completion of the Internet

Web3 & Bitcoin2019.10.27
From “Information Blocks” to “Blockchains”: Blockchain as a Completion of the Internet
A commissioned piece riding a hot topic for JieMian. I’m currently in Hefei attending the annual conference on Chinese history of science, and I wrote this last night on my bed after a full day of meetings, so it’s a bit rushed. Still, this counts as my first article that departs from Bitcoin and talks specifically about blockchain. In my view, the core application of blockchain is undoubtedly still currency; blockchain technology divorced from currency, or from currency in the broader sense (securities, etc.), is basically just a gimmick. But that does not stop us from indeed being able to seek a place for blockchain technology in the history of…
China Web3 Bitcoin history of technology
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2019年10月27日
Is an E-cigarette a Cigarette?

AI & the Future of Technology2019.10.05
Is an E-cigarette a Cigarette?
Commissioned by Jiemian, published in Jiemian Commentary, “Is e-cigarette smoke really smoke, yet another race between technology and regulation” Is e-cigarette smoke really smoke? At first glance, this question seems like nothing more than sophistry along the lines of “a white horse is not a horse,” but on closer thought, it is in fact a serious question. First, in terms of appearance, apart from the very early generation of e-cigarettes, which deliberately imitated the shape of cigarettes, today’s popular e-cigarettes are worlds apart from traditional cigarettes in outward form. Some look like USB flash drives, some like fountain pens, some like mice, some like hammers, some like flying saucers; in…
technology commentary Introduction to Philosophy of Technology law
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2019年10月5日
On the Swedish Climate Girl (The Decline of the Enlightenment Spirit)

Culture & Public Commentary2019.09.25
On the Swedish Climate Girl (The Decline of the Enlightenment Spirit)
This was originally just meant to be a casual Weibo post, but it grew longer, and since there were some sensitive words in it, I’m putting it here instead. I have a profound aversion to that Swedish climate girl (Greta Thunberg), not because of her views or position, but because of her age. Some things simply should not be done by minors; no matter how precocious you are, it still won’t do. For example, if you’re a genius girl, you can go to college early, you can publish a book early, but sorry, you cannot get married early, let alone trumpet your wonderful marriage to the whole world, even…
freedom commentary politics children
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2019年9月25日
On Backwardness and Getting Beaten

AI & the Future of Technology2019.09.10
On Backwardness and Getting Beaten
Wu Lao recently brought up again the idea that “being backward does not necessarily mean getting beaten,” which sparked controversy and even drew criticism from the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. This claim of Wu Lao’s is by no means a recent one. As early as his 1999 book *Thoughts on Modernization*, he included an article titled “Does Backwardness Mean Getting Beaten?” I read that book in high school, and it was one of the books I brought from Shanghai to Beijing when I entered university. (I remember that among my desk books at the time were several *First Push*…
technology culture Introduction to Philosophy of Technology modernity
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2019年9月10日
From Spirit Photography to Face-Swapping Apps: On the Popularization and Abuse of Technology

AI & the Future of Technology2019.09.01
From Spirit Photography to Face-Swapping Apps: On the Popularization and Abuse of Technology
Published in Jiemian Commentary: “From Soul Photography to Face-Swapping Apps: The History of Humanity’s Struggle with PS Technology” A face-swapping app called ZAO went viral overnight, triggering heated debate. Many people are worried about the popularization of face-swapping technology. Using AI to swap faces in videos is actually nothing new. In 2017, a user known as deepfakes began sharing pornographic videos that swapped the faces of the actors with those of film stars, drawing widespread attention. Later, the relevant program code was open-sourced and shared, the technology developed rapidly, and some derivative applications have long been easy for ordinary people to use. Face-swapping technology certainly has some legitimate uses….
technology commentary Introduction to Philosophy of Technology knowledge
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2019年9月1日
Kant on “Not Lying”

Philosophy & Thought2019.08.27
Kant on “Not Lying”
I’ve mostly read Kant through the *Critique of Pure Reason* and other parts related to metaphysics; I haven’t read much of the ethics. Of course, when studying general ethics, one does read some secondhand introductions, but they usually just give a brief account of the so-called “categorical imperative” and broadly classify Kant as a representative of so-called “deontology.” I don’t have a deep grasp of it, but it feels to me that these tedious summaries hardly show the force one senses in Kant’s texts. Kant’s “categorical imperative” is not really some ready-made fixed absolute dogma; rather, it points to a way of thinking, and in fact serves as a constraint…
philosophy freedom Kant responsibility
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2019年8月27日
Was There Confucianism in the Ancient West?

Culture & Public Commentary2019.08.25
Was There Confucianism in the Ancient West?
The recent atmosphere has me a little like a startled bird, so I’m continuing to use encrypted mode. This article really isn’t worth encrypting; in a couple of days I may quietly decrypt it. A teacher has recently been disciplined over remarks about the Four Great Inventions, and that is truly shocking. I don’t want to reopen here the warning against a culture of informing on others; I only want to talk about the academic question. What makes this incident even more frightening than before is that the remarks that led to the punishment were not a political issue, but an academic one. Even the official media could not stomach…
technology China culture history of science
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2019年8月25日
On the Amazon Fire and the Amazon Outage

Culture & Public Commentary2019.08.24
On the Amazon Fire and the Amazon Outage
Published in Jiemian Review, retitled “From the Amazon Fire to Amazon Cloud Service Failure: Human Fragility and Vanity” The fires in the Amazon rainforest have been burning for three weeks. The Brazilian government says they are beyond control. As for the cause of the fires, that is still unclear, and when they will finally go out will probably depend on the whim of Heaven; human beings say they are powerless. In the past two days, this fire has drawn widespread attention on Chinese social media, along with a great deal of alarmist talk. But many people have also learned for the first time how important the Amazon rainforest is—the so-called…
technology commentary environment nature
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2019年8月24日