标签：market economy

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
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2019年12月17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
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2019年10月5日
Balancing Fairness and Efficiency—Can Smart Cities Solve Beijing’s “Hard Stations”?

Culture & Public Commentary2018.08.14
Balancing Fairness and Efficiency—Can Smart Cities Solve Beijing’s “Hard Stations”?
This article was a commissioned piece, published in the 7th edition of China Science Daily on August 13, 2018, with the title changed to Where Does Governing Beijing’s “Hard-to-Get-to” Stations Become Difficult?, with slight revisions. The original draft is reproduced below: Recently, both CCTV and People’s Daily reported that Beijing South Railway Station had become “Beijing’s hard-to-get-to station,” focusing on issues such as the prevalence of illegal taxis and the difficulty of hailing a cab, which sparked heated discussion. Those who took the high-speed rail had already arrived in Tianjin, while those dropping people off were still standing in line waiting for taxis. Such poor service conditions obviously do not…
China technology commentary public sphere
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2018年8月14日
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
Stock Market Musings: Freedom and Stability

Culture & Public Commentary2015.07.26
Stock Market Musings: Freedom and Stability
Recently China’s stock market has been wildly up and down. After an unprecedented “stock-market crash,” the central authorities have again stepped in with unprecedented force to maintain stability. The reason I thought of writing this article is not to play the prophet and predict market movements. On the one hand, I want to gather together some of my previous statements and thoughts; on the other hand, the stock market also has relations to political philosophy and natural philosophy. Besides, I believe this stock-market crash will have very far-reaching historical significance; in any case, it will become a landmark event. Although I have all along been promoting Bitcoin, and have always…
culture China freedom commentary
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2015年7月26日
Should Bitcoin Exchanges Have 100% Reserves?

Web3 & Cypherpunks2014.08.18
Should Bitcoin Exchanges Have 100% Reserves?
This piece was commissioned for the 8BTC special topic: http://www.8btc.com/caution-money After many quiet days, the recent plunge in Bitcoin has finally made the various communities lively again. Quite a few people have popped up to cry, curse, or else gloat for a bit; of course, there are also some calmer players who have come out to reflect on the issues, such as once again reexamining the question of whether exchanges should maintain 100% reserves. Markets rise and fall; that is perfectly normal. There is no need to make a fuss every time prices crash. Short-term coin speculators ought to welcome violent market fluctuations, while long-term hoarders need not care…
China freedom Web3 Bitcoin
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2014年8月18日
Nandu Media’s “Bitcoin” Special Feature Interview Questionnaire

Web3 & Bitcoin2013.12.23
Nandu Media’s “Bitcoin” Special Feature Interview Questionnaire
This interview came to me on November 21, and I finished writing it that very day. After that, Nandu.com spent a month putting together this special feature. Overall, they did a pretty good job; the altcoin list at the very bottom is a bit of an unnecessary embellishment. According to the reporter’s request, I waited a few days before reposting it. But in fact, back then I had never agreed to any copyright arrangement with them, nor had I received any fee or the like, so one might say the copyright to this piece still remains in my own hands~ 1、How did Bitcoin enter your world? Do you think…
China Web3 Bitcoin decentralization
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2013年12月23日
Why Doesn’t Bitcoin Fit Gresham’s Law (Bad Money Drives Out Good)?

Web3 & Bitcoin2013.11.06
Why Doesn’t Bitcoin Fit Gresham’s Law (Bad Money Drives Out Good)?
Many people who question Bitcoin focus on its so-called “deflationary” character: because the total supply of bitcoins is limited and tends to appreciate, people are inclined to hoard them rather than spend them, so liquidity is poor and Bitcoin cannot become a mainstream currency. There are also two dimensions to this issue: one is temporal, the other spatial. First, considering the prospect of future appreciation, we may use money as conservatively as possible and engage less in speculation and investment. In this sense, the weakening of so-called “liquidity” by Bitcoin is inevitable, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. In a series of earlier articles of mine (such as…
Web3 Bitcoin economy money
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2013年11月6日
Is Bitcoin Environmentally Friendly?

Web3 & Bitcoin2013.10.20
Is Bitcoin Environmentally Friendly?
This article is an original entry in the 2013 essay contest organized by Bitren and was first published on the Bitren forum, so it did not debut on my blog. At first I thought I stood no chance of winning any prize, so last night I casually posted it on the blog; unexpectedly, it still won the second-place grand prize. Because I reposted it half a day early (to Babbitt), I have voluntarily deducted 10% of the prize money as punishment, and here I would like to apologize to and thank the Bitren website. 1. Does Bitcoin waste resources? Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mechanism, that is, the so-called “mining,” is often criticized:…
technology Web3 value Bitcoin
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2013年10月20日
Bitcoin: The Disappearance of the State

Web3 & Bitcoin2013.05.09
Bitcoin: The Disappearance of the State
I’ve now written the third consecutive article about Bitcoin, and after this one I’ll more or less be wrapping things up for the time being. My spare cash has basically all been invested already, and I’ve now bid farewell to the infuriating Bitcoin China trading platform. I put one bitcoin into Mt.gox and started groping my way through the game of selling high and buying low; a few days later, one coin had become 0.98 coins… It’s a bit discouraging, really… Of course I’ll keep trying my hand at it, but I no longer dare to make any big moves. For now, the main thing is just to hold the…
media Web3 politics internet
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2013年5月9日