标签：rumor

The “Nonsense” that Scientifically Combats Scientific Nonsense — Preface to Recommending Exposing Data Nonsense

History of Science & Scholarship2022.04.07
The “Nonsense” that Scientifically Combats Scientific Nonsense — Preface to Recommending Exposing Data Nonsense
In the past I always wrote book reviews for newspapers; this time, for the first time, I was invited to write a recommendation foreword, which can be found in CITIC Publishing Group’s newly released Debunking Data Bullshit. Since it’s a recommendation and a bit of promotion, I suppose it can also be reposted here. One thing needs to be explained: when I received the advance copy, the tentative Chinese title was The Signal and the Noise of Science; by the time it was officially published, it had been changed to the current Debunking Data Bullshit. So when I wrote the recommendation, I started from the translated title, and the part…
book reading science philosophy of science book review
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2022年4月7日
Freedom of Speech and Social Media

Culture & Public Commentary2021.01.11
Freedom of Speech and Social Media
This article was written spontaneously, as a stream-of-consciousness piece prompted by my own feelings; it is shared only on Suixuan, and please do not reprint it. Trump’s social media accounts being banned set off a discussion about freedom of speech. Aside from the arguments that have never reached consensus, today’s discussions of freedom of speech do in fact involve some new conditions that have only emerged in the past decade or so. This is the rise of large social media websites. They have carved out an autonomous space in the network world, and in many cases have replaced what used to be understood as public space. Whether, and how, the…
culture freedom media commentary
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2021年1月11日
Rumor: Seeking Rationality in an Absurd World

Culture & Public Commentary2020.02.18
Rumor: Seeking Rationality in an Absurd World
Here is another essay on the epidemic; if the previous one also counts as related, then this is the fifth. I still ask friends to circulate it cautiously. The rumors about the Wuhan Virus Institute are still continuing: some claim to be real-name whistleblowers accusing the director of secretly selling animals; others solemnly identify a certain graduate student as “Patient Zero.” These conspiracy theories are, of course, all rather crude and not worth refuting. But the significance of rumors does not lie in their own professionalism or accuracy, but in the public sentiment and popular will they reflect. The cruder a rumor is, the fact that it can still spread…
science commentary public sphere reason
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2020年2月18日
The Meaning of “Conflation”: How the Public Can Participate in Scientific Communication

Culture & Public Commentary2020.02.06
The Meaning of “Conflation”: How the Public Can Participate in Scientific Communication
The third essay written amid the epidemic. I’ll say it again: things are tense, so please be cautious about sharing this among friends. From science popularization to public understanding of science to science communication, people in philosophy of science and technology have been talking about this for at least twenty years. The most traditional “deficit model” has long been widely questioned, but to this day, science communication and its significance still have by no means truly taken root in people’s minds. Simply put, the “deficit model” says that scientists possess scientific knowledge while the public lacks scientific knowledge, so science popularization is nothing more than scientists, from a position of…
science philosophy of science commentary politics
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2020年2月6日
On the Bitcoin Ban Controversy

Web3 & Cypherpunks2014.03.28
On the Bitcoin Ban Controversy
This article was also submitted for Bitren’s March featured-post selection and won second prize, so the copyright belongs to Bitren and it may not be reprinted in commercial form. My own blog is non-profit, so I’m still posting it here. Commercial websites wishing to reprint it should contact Bitren; non-commercial websites should please indicate Bitren as the source: http://bbs.btcman.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=17364 —————————————— I previously submitted a piece for consideration that talked about the MtGox issue, thinking it was a timely contribution. I never imagined that before that matter had even finished playing out, it would already have been covered over by a new major event. Recently the rumor that China was banning…
China freedom Web3 Bitcoin
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2014年3月28日
Brazenly Shameless

Life & Notes2012.05.04
Brazenly Shameless
That’s right, they’ve come again to meddle in our internal affairs and put on a political performance. But how exactly is a person able to do that? If we hadn’t imposed so much “internal affairs” on a mere private citizen, how could he interfere? If we weren’t trying to ban him and block him, how could he possibly stage a show? And what exactly do you want him to apologize for? “Sorry, I punctured your fig leaf”?
everyday life politics sociology power
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2012年5月4日
The Spring and Autumn Annals Style or Scientific Research? — Is the Mission of the Media to Seek Truth?

Culture & Public Commentary2012.05.01
The Spring and Autumn Annals Style or Scientific Research? — Is the Mission of the Media to Seek Truth?
A few months ago Nagoya produced a mayor who, in the name of pursuing the truth, denied the Nanjing Massacre; Chinese people, unwilling to be outdone, produced Secretary Lin, who cast doubt on the Great Famine of Three Years. These two events are to some extent comparable, and the line of questioning is similar too: such huge numbers—how could that be? I’ve never heard of it… no one witnessed it… Yet compared with the injury done to public feeling, Secretary Lin’s case may be even more potent. After all, the Three-Year Disaster came just one generation after the Nanjing Massacre; many elderly people who personally experienced the Three-Year Disaster are…
culture China science media
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2012年5月1日
In Praise of “Rumors”

Culture & Public Commentary2012.04.15
In Praise of “Rumors”
Recently the word “rumor” has once again become a hot topic, and a full-scale “war” against “rumors” is plainly about to break out. At a time like this, it is all the more necessary to reflect on what “rumor” really means. On Weibo, I saw Sun Haifeng repost Deng Wenchu’s “Nine Theses on Rumor,” written several years ago, and applauded it enthusiastically (you can find it among some of the earliest posts on his blog, though it seems a few of the theses have been harmonized?). Later I read Kapferer’s Rumor: The World’s Oldest Media, and found it quite rewarding as well. So let me offer a few casual remarks…
book reading China tradition politics
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2012年4月15日
A Few Words on the “Salt Rumor”

Culture & Public Commentary2011.03.22
A Few Words on the “Salt Rumor”
After the earthquake, all kinds of rumors, big and small, were flying everywhere. The existence of the internet seems to have greatly strengthened the spread of rumors. Of course, we can also use the internet to conveniently search for more information and thereby dispel some shallow rumors, but most people probably do not use the internet that way. Compared with BBS forums and search engines, today’s SNS and microblogs seem more conducive to the spread of rumors, because BBS forums and search engines require a certain kind of active participation. Although posts on BBS forums can be reposted without restraint, browsing a BBS is after all an active act, and…
commentary internet sociology trust
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2011年3月22日
April Fool’s Day…

Life & Notes2007.04.01
April Fool’s Day…
Who can tell a lie that can really shock me? I remember that the mildest but most effective lie people used to tell all the time was: “Your shoelace is untied.” Even if the other person was on full guard, they would usually still look down once. A slightly sleazier but based on the same principle one is “Your zipper is down” (only works on guys). It triggers an instinctive reaction; no matter how alert you are, in general you still can’t help glancing down at it~ Legend has it that some Western TV station once broadcast fake news of a Martian invasion on April Fool’s Day, and the result…
everyday life rumor humor
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2007年4月1日