分类：Life & Notes

Freedom is the root, plurality is the end; one cannot sacrifice freedom in order to protect plurality

Enlightenment & the Spirit of Freedom2026.06.24
Freedom is the root, plurality is the end; one cannot sacrifice freedom in order to protect plurality
The Singapore government recently required YouTube, Facebook, and X to block 14 pieces of online content targeting the Indian community. Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs said these posts attacked the Indian community and undermined Singapore’s multiracial social model, and that the relevant content may have originated on Chinese platforms. The police issued directives to the platforms under the Online Criminal Harms Act, requiring them to bar Singapore users from accessing the relevant content. This incident has drawn attention not only because it involves racial issues, but also because it touches the core of Singapore’s mode of governance: in a modern city-state that places a high value on social harmony, multiracial…
freedom politics pluralism state
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2026年6月24日
The Street Is Not a Tourist Attraction—Afterword to I, My Singapore, My Street, My Walks

Life & Notes2025.11.19
The Street Is Not a Tourist Attraction—Afterword to I, My Singapore, My Street, My Walks
Thanks to the introduction by Unfinished Bookstore and the invitation from Teacher Ye Xiaozhong, I wrote a postscript for this reissued local Singapore book. 《My Singapore, My Street, My Walk》 Chen Zhirui, Ye Xiaozhong, Zhou Decheng / 𨑨迌 Publishing, ISBN: 9789819444915 This book brought together many literati and writers living in Singapore, inviting them to depict, from their personal perspectives, various streets or places in Singapore. The styles are diverse: essays, poems, as well as textual research and arguments. Like the city of Singapore itself, this anthology is multiple and mixed, each beauty prized in its own way. Although there are many differences in form and style, these pieces still…
culture book reading book review sociology
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2025年11月19日
Opening Remarks for the Brain-Computer Interface Forum: Interface or Port?

AI & the Future of Technology2025.11.01
Opening Remarks for the Brain-Computer Interface Forum: Interface or Port?
On November 1, 2025, I was invited back to Tsinghua to take part in the third event of the Science and Culture Week, “Me in the Interface: Brain-Computer Interfaces and the Future of Consciousness,” namely the roundtable discussion “Decoding ‘Me’: The Boundaries of Brain-Computer Interfaces and Consciousness.” I served as the academic moderator. In fact, this was probably the first time I had acted as a moderator at a relatively formal event, but I felt I did rather well: I managed both to slip in some of my own private agenda and to let the guests each give full play to their strengths. I am posting here the guiding remarks…
philosophy technology culture media
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2025年11月1日
In Memory of Master Xianglong

Life & Notes2022.06.09
In Memory of Master Xianglong
Teacher Zhang Xianglong passed away yesterday… I was fortunate, as an undergraduate, to sit in on his introductory philosophy course, and later I also had quite a bit of academic and personal contact with him. I always got used to calling him Master Xianglong, because he was the first person who made me feel what the bearing of a master was really like: truly bringing together Chinese, Western, and Indian thought, and making one feel the profundity and richness of thought. Although Master Xianglong’s thought leaned toward antiquity, his horizon was broad and he kept up with the cutting edge. He insisted on reading the latest technology magazines, and when…
philosophy everyday life China Confucianism
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2022年6月9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
In an increasingly impossible-to-take-seriously world, an earnest run-in with JD.com customer service

Life & Notes2021.09.16
In an increasingly impossible-to-take-seriously world, an earnest run-in with JD.com customer service
My most recent after-sales experience on JD was extremely poor. In fact, the matter was very simple: I returned the item, but they still shipped it; when it came time to refund me, they also wanted me to bear the shipping fee. After I filed a transaction dispute, JD did nothing, and the merchant impersonated JD customer service and called to say that a refund was possible. Right up until the end, JD still refused to give me a simple ruling, and instead defined my behavior as “refusal without reason.” To be a bit more detailed: I bought something, and when the expected delivery time had passed I saw that…
philosophy everyday life modernity responsibility
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2021年9月16日
In the Age of Technology, What Use Is Philosophy? — On “An Introduction to Philosophy of Technology”

AI & the Future of Technology2021.06.07
In the Age of Technology, What Use Is Philosophy? — On “An Introduction to Philosophy of Technology”
My new book, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Technology (Tsinghua Series in the History and Philosophy of Science), was published by the Commercial Press in May 2021. Come to think of it, this seems to be the first original book in the Tsinghua Series in the History and Philosophy of Science over its two phases; the others are either revised reprints of books long since published, or works based on a doctoral dissertation or an English-language monograph. This Introduction to the Philosophy of Technology was written entirely during my time in the Department of the History of Science at Tsinghua. This is my sixth book, and one of the…
philosophy technology history of science history of technology
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2021年6月7日
On “What Is Technology?”: An Interview with China Science Daily

Life & Notes2021.01.22
On “What Is Technology?”: An Interview with China Science Daily
Thanks to China Science Daily, which usually invites me to write book reviews; this time, since it was my own book, we simply did an interview. Zhang Wenjing did a very good job with both the interviewing and the editing—it’s just that the headline is a bit over the top (though there was nothing to be done about that). The finished piece can be found on ScienceNet; here I am posting my original written answers. First, could you talk about how the book What Is Technology came to be? In the opening sentence you say, “We are now in a ‘technological age.’” In a technological age, what is the background…
technology media history of technology knowledge
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2021年1月22日
Can This Really Count as a General History? — The Publication of Extension of Man: A General History of Technology

Life & Notes2020.06.09
Can This Really Count as a General History? — The Publication of Extension of Man: A General History of Technology
This year I have at least two new books coming out, and the first to appear is Shanghai Education Press’s 人的延伸——技术通史, or The Extension of Man: A General History of Technology. This book was part of a writing plan I signed at the same time back when Outdated Wisdom was published, but I dragged my feet for three years before it finally saw the light of day this year. This book is still transitional in nature. I am writing a more substantial monograph on the history of technology, and if all goes well I should finish it early next year. The reason I brought out this miniature version of the…
history of technology Introduction to Philosophy of Technology General History of Technology Liu Huajie
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2020年6月9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 history of technology autobiography admissions
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2019年8月24日