分类：AI & the Future of Technology

The knife really is about to fly up and cut people: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Technical Intentionality

AI & Scholarship2016.08.07
The knife really is about to fly up and cut people: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Technical Intentionality
This is a supplement to the previous article. I had originally wanted to make “technical intentionality” the core concept of this piece, but in the end I backed away from it, knowing the difficulty. Still, because the idea had been brewing for so long, I always wanted to say a few words about it. Seven years ago, in Nanning, I attended my first phenomenology and philosophy of technology conference. There was one session that left a deep impression on me, and I also wrote about it in my notes from that year: Professor Wu spoke about “the intentional structure in technology,” while Professor Jin disagreed with such a use of…
technology media phenomenology human nature
阅读全文

2016年8月7日
A Loose Phenomenological Discussion of “Artificial Intelligence”

AI & Scholarship2016.08.02
A Loose Phenomenological Discussion of “Artificial Intelligence”
This essay was prepared for this year’s conference on phenomenological philosophy of technology. It had been brewing for several months, but in the end I still failed to turn it into a complete paper, and handed in some essay-like prose instead. There were too many people attending this time, and Teacher Wu was not planning to have every participant present a paper; some papers would be included in the conference proceedings but not assigned a presentation, so I was even more willing to make do. The main reason I could not write the paper, of course, was that I simply did not have enough time; I had read the literature…
technology Heidegger phenomenology AI
阅读全文

2016年8月2日
The “Layers” of the World—A Few Words on Pokemon GO and AR

AI & the Future of Technology2016.07.12
The “Layers” of the World—A Few Words on Pokemon GO and AR
Recently, the mobile game Pokemon GO has taken the world by storm (China is generally not included in “the world”), and it is worth noting that this should be an emblematic game: a classic application of AR (augmented reality, mixed reality) technology. From this game we can glimpse a possible image of the future world. Although the game’s effects are still very crude at present, it is not hard to imagine what it will become as the relevant technologies develop in the future (those lacking imagination can simply look up the promotional video for Pokemon GO, for example here). Researchers in philosophy of technology are well worth paying attention to…
culture technology commentary history of technology
阅读全文

2016年7月12日
The Self-Realization of Technology (Outline)

AI & the Future of Technology2016.04.18
The Self-Realization of Technology (Outline)
This year I’m definitely going to attend the phenomenology and philosophy of technology conference as well. This time I’m planning to ride the wave of fashion and write an article on artificial intelligence. I haven’t quite settled on the title yet—maybe I’ll call it “The Self-Realization of Technology—A Phenomenological Reflection on Artificial Intelligence”? The “self-realization” of technology somewhat echoes KK’s idea of “what technology wants”: people want self-realization, and so does technology. And “artificial intelligence” is precisely the process and result of this realization. My concern with artificial intelligence is obviously different from the philosophy-of-AI perspective usually discussed by analytic philosophers (though I will also try to touch on some…
technology media phenomenology AI
阅读全文

2016年4月18日
On Mirrors (I): The Construction of Interfaces

AI & the Future of Technology2016.04.09
On Mirrors (I): The Construction of Interfaces
I previously wrote On Garbage (1) and On the City (1); with that kind of momentum, this was clearly heading toward a series, yet after finishing “(1)” there was no follow-up. Thinking about it myself, I feel rather ashamed. In fact, I had already come up with the titles for Garbage 2 and 3—“Economy and Finance” and “Gestell and Absence”—but I just never got around to writing them (come on, hit me)…… In any case, my procrastination seems to have reached a terminal stage, and I need to find a way to treat it. The key to curing procrastination is to strengthen one’s ability to act, and to try to…
technology media Heidegger phenomenology
阅读全文

2016年4月9日
Why Fear Artificial Intelligence? — Some Musings on AlphaGo

AI & Scholarship2016.03.13
Why Fear Artificial Intelligence? — Some Musings on AlphaGo
AlphaGo’s Go battle with Lee Sedol is now underway, and artificial intelligence has won 3:0; two honor matches remain, but the outcome is basically beyond doubt already. Whatever the final score may be, the historical significance of this match is beyond question. The significance of this match is mainly symbolic. In fact, since AlphaGo already defeated the European Go champion last year, proving that its Go-playing strength had reached the level of a professional player, its total victory over humans was only a matter of time. Of course, we might also say that ever since Deep Blue dominated chess, the AI conquest of Go had only been a “matter of…
philosophy technology history of science commentary
阅读全文

2016年3月13日
On Cities (1): What Is a City?

AI & the Future of Technology2016.02.02
On Cities (1): What Is a City?
Mumford’s many specific views on the history of cities and urban planning may perhaps have become outdated, but his insights into the essence of the city and its meaning are something we cannot get around. Mumford has discussed what a city is from two angles. He pointed out that a city is “a special container for storing and transmitting information” and “the theater of social activity.” By way of comparison, we can look at how modern dictionaries explain the word city. The Oxford Dictionary, for example, says that a city is a large and important town; as for town, it refers to a place with many houses, shops/stores, etc. where…
technology modernity Mumford industry
阅读全文

2016年2月2日
On Garbage (1): From Discarded Things to Useless Things

AI & the Future of Technology2016.01.02
On Garbage (1): From Discarded Things to Useless Things
My postdoctoral research project at the time was to work on a history of garbage. I am ashamed to say that, although I have been collaborating with Professor Tian for more than a year, there has been little real progress under this topic, and whether I will ultimately be able to turn it into my exit report is somewhat worrying. One compromise would be to write the exit report on the history of technology or the philosophy of technology, while inserting discussions of garbage at appropriate points. My intention to study garbage was not a whim, nor did I think of this topic merely because I happened to collaborate with…
technology Heidegger value Scientific Revolution
阅读全文

2016年1月2日
What Does the Mobile Phone Have to Do with Cooking? — The One and the Many of Technology

AI & the Future of Technology2015.11.12
What Does the Mobile Phone Have to Do with Cooking? — The One and the Many of Technology
The previous post mentioned one of Wu’s core objections, namely, his view that science is singular, whereas technology is plural. At the time he gave an example: branches of science such as physics, chemistry, and biology ultimately promise that they can be reduced to a unified foundation, and therefore their historical development is also interconnected. But what about the relations among various technologies, such as between mobile phones and cooking technology? If various concrete technologies are mutually independent, then where does their unity in history come from? My brief reply at the time was this: the reason various technologies can be “unified” is that “life” is unified. And I also…
everyday life technology history of science media
阅读全文

2015年11月12日
The Structure of the Technological Revolution (Draft)

AI & the Future of Technology2015.11.10
The Structure of the Technological Revolution (Draft)
This is the article I presented at last week’s Wumen seminar. The article itself is very incomplete—not only has it not been finished in form, but the key problem is the lack of basic literature: in academia, the issues related to “technological revolution” seem to lack discussions worth citing. Of course, this gives reason to suspect that there may be problems with the very legitimacy of my topic; Teacher Wu also questioned it quite strongly. But I myself still think this question is legitimate, and that the concept of “technological revolution” is indeed worth probing in depth. My article itself merely makes a superficial correspondence with Kuhn; this correspondence is…
technology history of science philosophy of science Scientific Revolution
阅读全文

2015年11月10日