Year: 2022

Why Is the Cat Version of “The God of Medicine” Wrong?

Culture & Public Commentary2022.05.07
Why Is the Cat Version of “The God of Medicine” Wrong?
This commissioned article was published in Science and Technology Daily (2022-05-05, p. 3, general section), with the title changed to “Why Was the ‘Cat Version of the Drug God’ Criminally Detained?” This was a change that deviated greatly from my original intent, and there were also some important alterations to the article’s content, especially the final paragraph. I understand why such rewriting happened, so I did not object further. My view is that the cat-version drug god did something wrong, but that does not mean the reason for detaining her is correct. I am not defending her detention; I am defending scientific research ethics and research norms. A few years…
science commentary law medicine
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2022年5月7日
From a Snail Shell to the Metaverse—An Evolutionary Theory of Technological “Organs”

AI & the Future of Technology2022.04.26
From a Snail Shell to the Metaverse—An Evolutionary Theory of Technological “Organs”
A lecture I gave a few months ago has been posted today, and I’m also putting up the original verbatim transcript here. In name, this lecture was about The Origin of Species, but it mainly talks about technology and evolution; in this respect, another lecture from back then is actually clearer: Humans and Technology in Evolution — Technology Also Needs “Biodiversity Reserves”. This time, “the metaverse” has been added. Recently there have also been many lectures about the metaverse, but their basic viewpoints do not go much beyond the series of articles I posted here earlier, so I won’t post them separately either. The theme I’m talking about today is…
technology Web3 history of technology Introduction to Philosophy of Technology
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2022年4月26日
The “Nonsense” that Scientifically Combats Scientific Nonsense — Preface to Recommending Exposing Data Nonsense

History of Science & Scholarship2022.04.07
The “Nonsense” that Scientifically Combats Scientific Nonsense — Preface to Recommending Exposing Data Nonsense
In the past I always wrote book reviews for newspapers; this time, for the first time, I was invited to write a recommendation foreword, which can be found in CITIC Publishing Group’s newly released Debunking Data Bullshit. Since it’s a recommendation and a bit of promotion, I suppose it can also be reposted here. One thing needs to be explained: when I received the advance copy, the tentative Chinese title was The Signal and the Noise of Science; by the time it was officially published, it had been changed to the current Debunking Data Bullshit. So when I wrote the recommendation, I started from the translated title, and the part…
book reading science philosophy of science book review
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2022年4月7日
Heavenly Endowment

Life & Notes2022.04.01
Heavenly Endowment
At 11:39 a.m. on April 1, 2022, a new life came squalling into the world. Yes, I have a daughter now~ I chose her name a few days earlier: Hu Tianyu. Don’t worry, I’m not suddenly going to turn into a shameless kid-showoff. Writing in the public sphere will not become excessively intimate. On the one hand, this post is a special commemoration; on the other, it is also an excuse to talk about certain general topics through my daughter’s name. Back in the day my grandfather gave me a name: “Tian Ding,” meaning roughly that my fate was decreed by Heaven. In the end, though, it was never used….
everyday life freedom Heidegger democracy
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2022年4月1日
The Science Museum in the Metaverse: Looking Ahead to the Future of Digital Collectibles

Web3 & Cypherpunks2022.03.31
The Science Museum in the Metaverse: Looking Ahead to the Future of Digital Collectibles
Recently I’ve had a few conversations about the possibility of combining NFTs with science museums, including people in blockchain circles and in the VR industry. I’m recording my thoughts here: The digitization of museums is nothing new; it’s been underway for many years, especially in many overseas museums, which long ago digitized most of their collections and made them public on the internet. Of course, digital exhibition halls and the like have also already been built in great numbers. Our own Tsinghua Science Museum is not behind the times either: every exhibition is turned into a “3D Digital Exhibition Hall”. But the current kind of digitization is basically still rather…
history of science education Web3 blockchain
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2022年3月31日
Creating Something Out of Nothing — How the Metaverse Inflates Big Bubbles

Web3 & Bitcoin2022.03.20
Creating Something Out of Nothing — How the Metaverse Inflates Big Bubbles
Recently there has been a milestone event in the NFT world, all initiated by the team behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Yuga Labs. First it acquired the IP of Cyberpunks and Meetbits—Cyberpunks was a pioneer of the NFT market, even one of its creators, while Meetbits was a derivative project of Cyberpunks. Then Yuga Labs launched Apecoin, part of which was airdropped to the holders of all ape-related NFTs (BAYC, MAYC, BAKC). One BAYC could receive a little over 10,000 apecoins. Apecoin is said to play a role in the metaverse project the team will build next. What exactly that role will be is still unclear, but the market…
technology Web3 value Bitcoin
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2022年3月20日
An Interview Transcript on Research Failure

History of Science & Scholarship2022.03.04
An Interview Transcript on Research Failure
In an earlier interview with China Science Daily, I answered quite a lot of questions, but when they compiled it into an article, they actually only quoted two of my sentences. Here I’m posting my original answers. 1. Someone once proposed that “failure refers to an action’s result deviating from the expected goal, or to the termination (interruption) of an action that has not achieved its intended value.” How do you understand “research failure”? The relationship between failure and success is dialectical. In your view, what kind of research counts as ‘failure’? Can “research failure” be divided into several types? How we define failure of course depends on how we…
science paper innovation scientific spirit
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2022年3月4日
The Metaverse: the “New Continent” of the Information World

Culture & Public Commentary2022.02.24
The Metaverse: the “New Continent” of the Information World
“Cyberspace is not a lawless place; cyberspace also has sovereignty”—of course, I am not going to discuss this sentence itself; let us assume it is valid. If cyberspace also has sovereignty, then what lies between sovereignties, and beyond the borders of sovereignty? In physical space, the border of sovereignty is the national border. Within a country’s boundaries, that country can legislate and enforce the law, can exercise jurisdiction and governance. Beyond the border, it may be another country exercising sovereignty. But is there a territory that lies outside the sovereign boundaries of any country? Of course, excluding disputed and contested territories. In ancient times, such territories certainly existed: they were…
Web3 internet blockchain innovation
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2022年2月24日
Are Houses in the Metaverse Sold by Square Meter?

Web3 & Bitcoin2022.02.11
Are Houses in the Metaverse Sold by Square Meter?
This article was commissioned by China Business Journal; see http://www.cb.com.cn/index/show/zl/cv/cv13457191859 or https://weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404735824251191808. It was published with slight revisions here, and I am posting the original text. Because of space constraints and because some things cannot be said too directly, it is still better to read it together with my earlier On VR IV, The Metaverse Is Hyperreality, and related essays. For some reason, a couple of days ago the domestic media once again recycled the news about metaverse property speculation, reporting that “in December 2021, a virtual plot of land on the metaverse platform Sandbox was sold for about 32 million yuan.” I looked up the news from last December…
culture technology Web3 internet
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2022年2月11日
Rebuilding the Threshold—Web3 Is Indeed a Kind of Regression into “Enclosure and Self-Exaltation,” but That May Not Necessarily Be a Bad Thing

Culture & Public Commentary2022.01.30
Rebuilding the Threshold—Web3 Is Indeed a Kind of Regression into “Enclosure and Self-Exaltation,” but That May Not Necessarily Be a Bad Thing
Yesterday, the floor price of the Bored Ape NFT broke through 100 Ether (ETH), and now it is 106.9 (one Ether is currently worth more than 2,500 U.S. dollars), which means a single Bored Ape is worth roughly one to two million yuan. “Floor price” refers to the cheapest ape you can buy right now if you rush in and make the purchase immediately. Because every ape looks different, and the rarity of their various attributes also differs, many people choose to buy at a higher price point; for example, Justin Bieber today spent 500 ETH to buy one. The full name of Bored Ape is “Bored Ape Yacht Club”…
culture Web3 blockchain decentralization
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2022年1月30日