Author: 胡翌霖

The Meaning of “Conflation”: How the Public Can Participate in Scientific Communication

Culture & Public Commentary2020.02.06
The Meaning of “Conflation”: How the Public Can Participate in Scientific Communication
The third essay written amid the epidemic. I’ll say it again: things are tense, so please be cautious about sharing this among friends. From science popularization to public understanding of science to science communication, people in philosophy of science and technology have been talking about this for at least twenty years. The most traditional “deficit model” has long been widely questioned, but to this day, science communication and its significance still have by no means truly taken root in people’s minds. Simply put, the “deficit model” says that scientists possess scientific knowledge while the public lacks scientific knowledge, so science popularization is nothing more than scientists, from a position of…
science philosophy of science commentary politics
阅读全文

2020年2月6日
Viruses: Nature’s Temper?

Culture & Public Commentary2020.02.04
Viruses: Nature’s Temper?
This is the second essay in my epidemic reflections; with tensions high these days, please be cautious in sharing it with friends. During the epidemic, every day I have seen many things that make one feel awful. What grieved me most, in fact, was the study on Shuanghuanglian released by the Shanghai branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Of course, as Teacher Tiansong says, one must “beware of scientists,” because scientists, like people in any trade, can be just as good or just as bad; but they wield powers greater than those of many other trades, while people in other trades are less…
culture technology science commentary
阅读全文

2020年2月4日
“Preventable and Controllable” — the “Flag” of the Technological Age

Culture & Public Commentary2020.01.26
“Preventable and Controllable” — the “Flag” of the Technological Age
The pneumonia epidemic is raging, and I didn’t go home for the New Year this year either. I’m just staying at home in a daze, which is a good excuse to write something. But I’m feeling restless, so before writing on other topics, I might as well first say a few things about this epidemic. Still, I should make it clear from the outset that anything I write here is utterly useless for the practical work on the front lines of epidemic prevention and control. I have neither the standing nor the ability to “offer advice and propose measures” for anyone. Of course, simply shouting a couple of slogans like…
China technology commentary Heidegger
阅读全文

2020年1月26日
Why Has “From One to Infinity” Remained Popular for 70 Years?

History of Science & Scholarship2020.01.18
Why Has “From One to Infinity” Remained Popular for 70 Years?
Published in China Science Daily (2020-01-02, Section 7, Book Review) Its Decades-Long Bestseller Status Was No Accident From One to Infinity is the famous popular-science classic by the renowned physicist Gamow. Published in 1947 and revised and republished in 1961, it was translated into Chinese in 1978 by Mr. Bao Yongning, and has already been wildly popular at home and abroad for decades. Gamow died in 1968, more than 50 years ago now, so this classic work has become a “public-domain book.” As a result, many new translations suddenly appeared on the market. In addition to the repeatedly reprinted Bao Yongning translation from Science Press, I have already found at…
book reading science history of science mathematics
阅读全文

2020年1月18日
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…
China technology innovation Industrial Revolution
阅读全文

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 everyday life technology course
阅读全文

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
阅读全文

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
阅读全文

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
阅读全文

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*…
culture technology Introduction to Philosophy of Technology modernity
阅读全文

2019年9月10日