标签：technology

An Interview Transcript about Zhang Xiaoyu’s Technics and Civilization

Culture & Public Commentary2021.08.09
An Interview Transcript about Zhang Xiaoyu’s Technics and Civilization
Earlier, China Science Daily recommended Zhang Xiaoyu’s book Technology and Civilization, and interviewed me for a few comments. Today I suddenly remembered this, looked it up, and found that the interview had already been used. See China Science Daily (2021-06-17, Section 5, Culture Weekly). The published piece was assembled from excerpts of my written interview responses, integrated with the introduction to Zhang Xiaoyu’s book. Overall it was organized fairly well, but from the standpoint of my own expression, it was chopped up too much. Below I am posting my original answers, which are much richer in content and also more complete. Zhang Xiaoyu’s book is of course a good one,…
philosophy book reading China technology
阅读全文

2021年8月9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
阅读全文

2021年6月7日
A Few Recent Audio-Video Posts

History of Science & Scholarship2021.03.03
A Few Recent Audio-Video Posts
In general, for lectures, interviews, and the like, I’d prefer to wait until a written transcript comes out before reposting them to Suixuan. But recently some videos and audio recordings apparently won’t have written versions整理出来 by anyone, so I’m reposting them together here. 1. Reading Seminar of the General History of Science Curriculum Alliance, Mumford: A Guided Reading of Technics and Civilization (February 14, 2021) https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV12k4y1276t?p=40 This video talk is the one I most recommend. Mumford’s Technics and Civilization is extremely important, and my reading of it was also very carefully prepared. I tried to distill from Mumford’s thought a historiography of the history of technology as thought, opening up…
China technology book review history of technology
阅读全文

2021年3月3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
阅读全文

2021年1月22日
Bitcoin: Is There Little Time Left for Poor Students?

Web3 & Cypherpunks2021.01.08
Bitcoin: Is There Little Time Left for Poor Students?
“Bitcoin is just a chain-letter pyramid scheme. The state banned it long ago. This thing has no credit backing, nor is it legal tender, and the central bank strictly forbids financial institutions from participating. I myself bought some before, but luckily I came to my senses long ago and sold it all. Not only did I not make money, I even lost a bit—you tell me if that’s infuriating or not. I advise you not to touch it either. Don’t be a fool and end up as the sucker who takes the bag from the Americans; that stuff was all designed by them to rip off the Chinese.” —The above…
technology Web3 Bitcoin blockchain
阅读全文

2021年1月8日
Getting It Done in Advance — The Common Logic of Napier’s Bones and Logarithms

AI & the Future of Technology2020.11.05
Getting It Done in Advance — The Common Logic of Napier’s Bones and Logarithms
This is still written for the Science and Technology Museum, and the piece “Xiang: Made in Advance — Napier’s Rods and the Common Logic of Logarithms.” John Napier (1550–1617) was born into a prominent Scottish noble family. He inherited the family fortune and managed his own castle and estate. He ran his lands with a researcher’s attitude, conducting experiments and analyses on matters such as fertilizer. He was also a devout Protestant, and in order to push back against Catholicism he took an active part in the religious controversies of the time and wrote influential theological works. He was also a wizard: he carefully fed a magical black rooster, and…
technology history of science history mathematics
阅读全文

2020年11月5日
Who Is the “Computer”? — Starting from the Relationship Between Computer and Calculator.

AI & the Future of Technology2020.10.22
Who Is the “Computer”? — Starting from the Relationship Between Computer and Calculator.
This was a commissioned piece for our museum, Read the Exhibition | Hu Yilin: “The Name of ‘Computer’”—Starting from the Relationship between Computer and Calculator. The title I originally gave when I submitted it was later changed by me to “Who Is the Computer?”, but when it was published the original title remained. That’s basically the same thing. Nowadays we distinguish between “computer” and “calculator”: the former corresponds to the English Computer, meaning a general-purpose electronic computer, while the latter corresponds to the English Calculator, usually meaning a small tool designed specifically for arithmetic. Looking further back, we also call Pascal’s adding machine and similar calculating machines “calculators.” But in…
technology computer women
阅读全文

2020年10月22日
A Conversation with Teacher Wu at the Yejiaxuan Reading Salon

AI & the Future of Technology2020.10.11
A Conversation with Teacher Wu at the Yejiaxuan Reading Salon
Thanks to Teacher Wang Wei and Teacher Wu, I put together this conversation with Teacher Wu, and it felt a bit like Teacher Wu was checking my homework. I thought the conversation went rather well. Some of the issues it touched on, especially concerning historiographical concepts, I may have a chance to write about in more detail later. The following is the transcript, compiled by the salon’s official staff 整理的文字稿, and I made some revisions to it, though I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If you would like to reprint it, please contact 文素THU. Host Wang Wei: Good evening, distinguished guests, teachers, and students! I am Wang Wei, Executive Deputy Director…
philosophy technology history of science philosophy of science
阅读全文

2020年10月11日
In what sense is “basic science” the cause of “bottlenecking”?

AI & the Future of Technology2020.10.03
In what sense is “basic science” the cause of “bottlenecking”?
In that earlier interview transcript, what I posted as the “original draft” was in fact not the original draft either; the part about “basic theoretical research” was added only at the reporter’s prompting. As for the proposition that “the reason for the bottleneck is weak basic research,” I myself actually have reservations about it. Of course, I am willing to partly support this view, first because the official wording that “encourages free exploration and full exchange and debate” is indeed rare and valuable. Second, in a certain sense, this formulation is correct. But we have seen many completely wrong tendencies. For example, some people think that in order to break…
China technology history of science commentary
阅读全文

2020年10月3日
Is Digital Currency Beautiful? — A Review of *The New Currency War*

Web3 & Bitcoin2020.09.25
Is Digital Currency Beautiful? — A Review of *The New Currency War*
Published in China Science Daily (2020-09-24, page 7, book review). This book is actually not all that great; at first glance I thought it would be about Bitcoin, but it turns out the real topic is digital payments. Bitcoin is only mentioned in passing, and even then in a conspiratorial way. To be frank, if you can talk conspiracy theories about such a completely transparent open-source project, that only shows there is definitely something off with your intelligence. I would still write the review, on the one hand because it was commissioned, and on the other because, even with conspiracy theories mixed in, the problems this book wants to address…
book reading technology Bitcoin book review
阅读全文

2020年9月25日