Author: 胡翌霖

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…
culture China technology 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
My Qualification to Recruit PhD Students Was Revoked (with an Attached Record of Communication with Prospective Applicants)

History of Science & Scholarship2019.08.24
My Qualification to Recruit PhD Students Was Revoked (with an Attached Record of Communication with Prospective Applicants)
Today, just as doctoral applications were opening at Tsinghua University, I only learned of the bad news from a student’s reminder: Tsinghua University had suddenly changed its policy again and taken back the admissions rights of assistant professors and pre-tenure associate professors. In other words, at least for these next two years, I won’t be able to take students—unless I wait until I’ve slogged my way into a tenured position…… As for the policy change, I don’t want to comment too much. In fact, the overexpansion of doctoral admissions really is not a good thing, and there is reason to tighten it. But to announce the change only at this…
scholarship autobiography history of technology admissions
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2019年8月24日
Visiting for an Exchange at Jiangsu Province Qinghe Middle School (What Kind of “General Technology” Do Middle School Students Need?)

AI & the Future of Technology2019.08.23
Visiting for an Exchange at Jiangsu Province Qinghe Middle School (What Kind of “General Technology” Do Middle School Students Need?)
Giving a Lecture to Middle School Teachers and Students On August 17 and 18, I was invited to Jiangsu Province Qinghe High School to take part in an exchange. They had an experimental project in educational reform, aiming to add elements of the history of technology to the teaching of the high school course “General Technology.” Jiangsu Province Qinghe High School is in Huai’an; it is not some famous school, but I was still very interested in this topic. Of course, it was also quite rare for the teachers there to think of inviting me, so I was more than happy to go. At the time, the incoming freshmen were…
technology history of science education history of technology
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2019年8月23日
The Responsibility of Intellectuals

Enlightenment & the Spirit of Freedom2019.08.22
The Responsibility of Intellectuals
Note: This article may not be reproduced; it is for Suixuan readers only. This article was written out of a sudden impulse. I had originally meant to dash off two paragraphs in one go, but the more I wrote, the more awkward it felt; in the end, I not only wrecked the thing, I couldn’t keep going either. But since, before I knew it, I had written more than seven thousand characters, I might as well post it. For archive purposes only. Emotions or attitudes, like thoughts and speech, are part of each person’s “freedom.” I have the right to worry myself sick, and I also have the right…
philosophy culture autobiography public sphere
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2019年8月22日
Am I “One” or “Many”? — A Review of I Encompass All Things

AI & the Future of Technology2019.08.16
Am I “One” or “Many”? — A Review of I Encompass All Things
Published in *China Science Daily* (2019-08-16, Section 7, Book Review) “Who am I?” — this may be the oldest and most enduring great question in the history of human thought. Philosophers have poured their energies into it, and modern science has also advanced human self-understanding from different angles. Some say human beings are rational animals; some say they are political animals; some say they are tool-making animals… But in any case, few people would doubt this point: “I am one person.” The question “Who am I?” is immediately transformed into “What is a human being?”, thereby bypassing any inquiry into the “one.” No matter what I am, I am first…
philosophy book reading technology book review
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2019年8月16日
Course Summary for “A General History of Technology” (Second Year)

Teaching & Courses2019.07.13
Course Summary for “A General History of Technology” (Second Year)
The course “A General History of Technology” was already taught once last year, and I had already written a detailed course summary at the time (see here). This semester the second run has just ended, and one could say that the course has gradually entered the right track. At the end of the first year, 29 students had enrolled; this year, after withdrawals were deducted, there were 69 students. It has finally grown somewhat larger. I hope the students will tell ten people, ten people will tell a hundred, and that next year the number of enrollments will rise again~ Final Exam Let me begin with the final exam….
history of science scholarship course General History of Technology
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2019年7月13日
Technology and Garbage in a Race

AI & the Future of Technology2019.07.06
Technology and Garbage in a Race
Published in Jiemian Commentary, with the title changed to “A Prehistory of Garbage Sorting: Flush Toilets and the Disaster of Feces”; here I’ll still use the original title. Recently, Shanghai’s push for garbage sorting has attracted the attention of the whole country. Add to that China’s earlier saying no to foreign garbage, and it shows that the national government has finally resolved to tackle the garbage problem with real determination. In response to garbage sorting, some people feel there is no need to spend so much mental energy when throwing out trash: shouldn’t we just let the garbage collectors use their judgment carefully? We know that the trade of collecting…
China technology history commentary
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2019年7月6日