Author: 胡翌霖

On Shanzhai: On the Advantages of Being a Latecomer

AI & the Future of Technology2018.08.07
On Shanzhai: On the Advantages of Being a Latecomer
Recently, Pinduoduo, which bills itself as a platform for “consumption downgrading,” went public and stirred up plenty of controversy; I also said a few things on Weibo. It is not the case that anything with market demand is worth doing. For example, what is equally hard for city people to understand is that in China there are widespread customs such as abandoning baby girls and trafficking in people. Should there then be an app for human trafficking to serve them? If this app were hugely popular, should we then educate those city people who are thunderstruck that you just don’t understand China? Nonsense! Everyone knows that the lower strata of…
China technology scholarship commentary
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2018年8月7日
On Sexual Harassment

Culture & Public Commentary2018.08.01
On Sexual Harassment
Me too Movement Recently the Me too movement has swept into China, and that is an encouraging thing; I only hope it won’t die young. As for Me too, I mentioned it in passing on Weibo, but Weibo’s limitations make it hard to fully articulate a point of view. I hope my remarks will not be too hastily interpreted as a rejection of Me too. In fact, of course I welcome Me too with both hands; even though I have raised the need to be wary of a Chinese-style slippery slope, in fact, even if it really did develop into some kind of “overdone” state, that would still be better…
culture freedom commentary pluralism
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2018年8月1日
Course Summary for “A General History of Technology” (Student Comments and Summaries of Each Lecture)

AI & the Future of Technology2018.07.09
Course Summary for “A General History of Technology” (Student Comments and Summaries of Each Lecture)
The grades for the course have come out, and the first round of this course is now more or less a complete success. As for grading, I gave about half the students an A- or above, far exceeding the university’s recommended standard of 20%; I added an extra note and hope the university will approve it. At the same time, the number of students who failed because of plagiarism reached five, also beyond the recommended limit. But all of this was according to my own standards: giving high grades was not to curry favor with students, and failing students was not to make things difficult for them. My course also…
philosophy technology history of science scholarship
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2018年7月9日
On Plagiarism (A Zero Without Appeal and Unsparing Mockery)

History of Science & Scholarship2018.06.30
On Plagiarism (A Zero Without Appeal and Unsparing Mockery)
The deadline for submitting assignments for the History of Technology survey course has now passed. Although I had already previously talked about plagiarism, it still wasn’t enough, so I’m posting a special article here to explain the matter and to lay down rules for how I will deal with plagiarism in the future. This time there were 29 students in the course altogether. One student withdrew from the class (not taking the exam and not submitting the assignment), so the actual number was 28. Looking at their midterm assignments now, I found a total of 5 plagiarized pieces! That’s almost one-fifth! Of course, among them were 2 international students (though…
China scholarship course paper
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2018年6月30日
The Spirit of Science: Struggle or Harmony?

History of Science & Scholarship2018.06.20
The Spirit of Science: Struggle or Harmony?
This one was also commissioned, but it seems it was never published. It began because an editor at a newspaper or magazine wanted to put together a special issue on the scientific spirit and hoped to commission some related articles. The various keywords she gave included: tireless effort, fearless before power, daring to question, breaking through old prejudices, indifferent to fame and fortune, content with loneliness, even sacrifice of one’s life…… I disliked every single one of those words, so I proposed that these ideas were too cliché and too naïve. If we were going to talk about “the scientific spirit,” why not turn things around and talk about chasing…
science history of science scholarship scientific spirit
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2018年6月20日
Final Exam Paper for General History of Technology

Teaching & Courses2018.06.12
Final Exam Paper for General History of Technology
Notes As I said before, the final exam is “completely open-book,” and you may bring electronic devices to search the internet. The “attendance questions” are also my own new idea, something I wanted to try while the class size was still small. Why set attendance questions? I think students who take a course can roughly be divided into three broad types: first, those who are habitually diligent and honest, who will keep coming no matter whether the teacher’s lectures are good or bad; second, those who are habitually coasting, who will almost never come no matter whether the teacher’s lectures are good or bad; and third, those who are free-spirited…
scholarship course paper writing
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2018年6月12日
What Kind of Assignment Does the Teacher Hope to See? — Reflections on Assigning the “General History of Technology” Assignment

History of Science & Scholarship2018.05.29
What Kind of Assignment Does the Teacher Hope to See? — Reflections on Assigning the “General History of Technology” Assignment
After this article was posted, the blog inexplicably crashed, and had to be restored several times… The course “A General History of Technology” is about to end. Next week I will write a brief summary; for now, let me talk about the homework issue. The assessment format for this course is rather innovative, consisting of 40% midterm assignments + 60% final exam. As for the midterm assignment, I do not want to see students plagiarizing, or cobbling together a lousy paper and handing it in, so I proposed a flexible either-or scheme: students who are interested in, or capable of, writing a paper may still write a short essay of…
history of science scholarship course Scientific Revolution
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2018年5月29日
On VR (I): The Meaning of “Immersion”

AI & the Future of Technology2018.05.03
On VR (I): The Meaning of “Immersion”
Our reading group hasn’t read any books for several weeks now. Apart from the pause, for the past two weeks it has turned into a gaming activity; if this goes on any longer, the reading group is going to become a gaming group…… Last week I finally got the VR set up. Only three little friends came to the reading group, so it just happened to turn into a VR experience session. Of course, when we play games it is not only for amusement and pastime, but also a necessary practice for the history of science and philosophy of technology; this is by no means perfunctory or a joke. I…
technology media history of technology McLuhan
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2018年5月3日
On VR (I): The Meaning of “Immersion”

AI & the Future of Technology2018.05.03
On VR (I): The Meaning of “Immersion”
Our reading group hasn’t read for several weeks now; apart from being put on hold, for the past two weeks it has turned into a gaming activity. If this goes on, the reading group is going to turn into a game group… Last week I finally set up the VR, and since only three little comrades came to the reading group, it just happened to turn into a VR体验活动. Of course, when we play games it’s not just for amusement or pastime; it is also a necessary practice for the history of science and the philosophy of technology. This is by no means a pretext or a joke. I can,…
technology media history of technology McLuhan
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2018年5月3日
At what “time” do we need to “check the time”?

AI & the Future of Technology2018.04.30
At what “time” do we need to “check the time”?
This short essay is made up of some fragments from the fifth lecture of my course “A General History of Technology.” The full handout has not yet been整理出来, but today there happens to be a filming session that will deal with the relevant topic, so I’m extracting these parts first and jotting down a few lines at will. What is a clock? It is a kind of, or rather a class of, technical artifact. As a technical object, it of course has a specific function; so what is a clock for? The answer seems very simple: a clock is for “looking at time.” But on closer thought, this act of…
technology Industrial Revolution General History of Technology time
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2018年4月30日