标签：possibility

In the Digital Age, How Do We Win the “Battle to Defend Childhood”

AI & Scholarship2025.06.01
In the Digital Age, How Do We Win the “Battle to Defend Childhood”
Published in China Science Daily (2025-05-30, p. 4, Culture). The original draft title was “How to Protect Childhood in the Digital Age”; this is a reprint of the published version. International Children’s Day on June 1 is approaching. The holiday was initiated by the Soviet Union, originally to commemorate the children persecuted in the Lidice massacre of June 1942; later it became “International Day for the Protection of Children,” aimed at protecting children’s rights to survival, health care, and education, and at opposing the hiring of child labor. As for the right to survival and the right to health care, adults ought to have those too. What is truly special…
culture book reading media education
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2025年6月1日
Accelerationism Is Not Liberatory Enough; Only by Combining It with Web3 Can AI’s Potential Be Unleashed

AI & Scholarship2024.04.21
Accelerationism Is Not Liberatory Enough; Only by Combining It with Web3 Can AI’s Potential Be Unleashed
Thanks to Wanxiang Blockchain, I was invited to attend the 2024 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival, and on April 6 I gave two talks, respectively at Sub-venue 2 and on the OpenAI Stage. Their titles were “Accelerationism Is Not Liberating Enough; Only by Combining It with Web3 Can AI’s Potential Be Released” and “The Possibility of Reviving Traditional Chinese Culture in Web3.” Since the lecture time was limited, I’ll expand a little here and organize the relevant content into an essay. Who Is Alignment Alignment to? My title, “Accelerationism Is Not Liberating Enough,” is aimed at “accelerationism.” But I am not trying to endorse “decelerationism” or “alignmentism,” so let me begin…
technology freedom Introduction to Philosophy of Technology blockchain
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2024年4月21日
Art: The Margin of Technology

AI & the Future of Technology2013.10.19
Art: The Margin of Technology
**Art: The Margin of Technology** **Explanation:** This was a philosophy of technology talk I was invited to give to the young artists at the West Five Arts Center. The original title was “Toys and Art: The Margin of Technology,” but in the actual talk I still mainly talked about technology and art; toys were only mentioned in passing. So now I’ve changed the title a bit. What I call “margin” could also be called “defect.” To speak of art as technology’s defect sounds somewhat offensive, so “margin” sounds more positive. A defect always means something that can be supplemented; hitting a wall always means there is room to turn back….
philosophy technology Aristotle Heidegger
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2013年10月19日
Equality or Freedom: On the Question of Attending School Outside One’s Hometown

Culture & Public Commentary2012.12.17
Equality or Freedom: On the Question of Attending School Outside One’s Hometown
Recently, the case of the non-Shanghai girl Zhan Haiter has drawn a lot of attention, especially because it happened in Shanghai, so I can’t help but offer a few comments as well. Of course, I support Zhan Haiter’s struggle, and I support every citizen’s open expression of his or her demands; but as for the content of those demands, I do not support it. This matter involves too many questions, all tangled together, making an already complicated issue even more complicated. So first we need to break down the questions involved. There are two big issues: one is education, the other is regionality. It should be noted that the problem…
culture China freedom commentary
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2012年12月17日
The Flush Toilet: City, Civilization, Modernity

AI & the Future of Technology2012.05.26
The Flush Toilet: City, Civilization, Modernity
Yesterday, Professor Jiang Jinsong came to Chengze Garden to give a talk titled “Observations and Reflections on the Flush Toilet,” and Professor Tian Song offered comments. Professor Jiang did not say very much, and Professor Tian’s comments were also rather hurried, but the discussion was still very lively. Indeed, the flush toilet can be counted as one of the greatest achievements of modern civilization. It is not only a device that makes “going to the bathroom” more convenient, but also a hub that helped assemble the whole modern urban way of life and the entire urban system. Professor Wu commented that Professor Jiang’s presentation should be divided into the issue…
technology value modernity human nature
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2012年5月26日
What Is Questioning? — On the Search for Possibility, Again

Philosophy & Thought2009.02.21
What Is Questioning? — On the Search for Possibility, Again
We often say that the core of philosophy is “questions,” and that philosophy’s mission is “to ask,” and so on, but what sort of activity is philosophical questioning, exactly? A question like “What’s for dinner tonight?” does not seem to be philosophy’s concern, so what, precisely, is philosophical questioning? I have touched on related topics in earlier essays. This article may not offer much that is new; perhaps it is just a review or a summary. First, people often talk about so-called “problem consciousness.” This term is used far too loosely, but what does it actually mean? In some places it is simply used as if it were identical with…
philosophy freedom pursuit reason
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2009年2月21日
The Joy of “Dissatisfaction”

Philosophy & Thought2008.10.12
The Joy of “Dissatisfaction”
In my philosophy, “love” is an extremely central concept. A detailed exposition of this concept has not yet been worked out; but to give a preliminary indication, one may say that before we get to the level of “overflow” and “outpouring,” that is, before speaking of “giving” or “offering oneself,” the most primitive and basic meaning of “love” is after all “desire” and “need,” and its root is “dissatisfaction.” What I want to talk about here is precisely this “dissatisfaction.” People usually regard “dissatisfaction” as a bad state, associating it with pain and resentment; correspondingly, “satisfaction” is seen as a good state, associated with comfort and happiness. Yet I say:…
philosophy pursuit emotion love
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2008年10月12日
The Search for “Possibility”

Philosophy & Thought2008.01.14
The Search for “Possibility”
The following statement may be regarded as a certain “translation” of Heidegger, though of course it cannot conform to Heidegger’s original intention. Traditional Western philosophy, or rather the entire history of Western thought, has taken as its main thread the “search for certainty.” Around this craving for certainty have unfolded philosophy’s pursuit of “being,” science’s pursuit of universal laws, ethics’ pursuit of clear rules, religion’s pursuit of immortal bliss, and so on. All learning seeks certainty, seeks what is fixed and unchanging. Originally, the search for certainty and the search for possibility were not necessarily in conflict. However, the search for certainty eventually expanded beyond measure, so much so that…
philosophy freedom Heidegger tradition
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2008年1月14日
Actuality and Possibility; and the Question of Academic Norms

Culture & Public Commentary2006.11.02
Actuality and Possibility; and the Question of Academic Norms
Yesterday’s dispute over globalization again flared up with ZW. In fact, the point at issue is the same as in last week’s and even earlier disputes: in the end, it all comes down to the use of words and concepts. Let me begin with the concrete issue: possibility and actuality. ZW pointed out that the “possibility” of a global government used by the student giving the report at the time was inappropriate, and that it might as well be changed to “actuality.” This is because the word “possibility,” in the context of analytic philosophy, refers to logical possibility—for example, that the sun will rise in the west tomorrow is logically…
philosophy culture scholarship pluralism
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2006年11月2日