Seminar co-hosted by the Department of Digital Arts and Creative Industries, the Centre for Film and Creative Industries, the Department of Chinese, and the Library.
Presentation 1 | Prof. CHEN Qiufan
Myths of the Silicon: How Technological Narratives Rewrite Reality
Silicon-based life has never become a biological fact, yet it already functions as a social myth. This talk examines five narratives: creation, the weightless cloud, disembodied intelligence, the neutral mirror, and human replacement. Together, they make concentrated capital, resource use, hidden labor, and value judgments appear to be inevitable outcomes of technological progress. By tracing AI from mines and power grids to data workers, users, and electronic waste, the talk proposes a different framework: judge silicon futures through their full metabolism, local participation, accountable institutions, and the right of affected people to question, refuse, and seek remedy.
Prof. CHEN Qiufan (Stanley CHAN) is a renowned Chinese writer, translator, and futurist. He serves as Deputy Director of the Science Fiction Literature Committee of the China Writers Association, as well as a board member of the China Science Writers Association, a visiting scholar at Yale University MacMillan Center (2023-2024), and a Berggruen Fellow. His major works include Ocean Break, Waste Tide, AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future (co-authored with Dr. Kai-Fu Lee), The Algorithm of Life, Zero Carbon China, and Mountain Songs and Sea Ballads, among more than ten published works that have been widely translated into over twenty languages.
Presentation 2 | Prof. WANG Pei
Best Friend or Cyber Mother? A Confucian Reflection on AI Companionship
AI companions designed to simulate romantic or friendly intimacy are rapidly expanding, but most critiques remain framed by Western liberal assumptions. I develop an alternative critique grounded in Confucian ethics. It begins by challenging the industry claim that AI companions offer a remedy for loneliness. Against this view, I argue that Confucianism values positive solitude as a condition of self-cultivation and a precondition for genuine friendship. I further argue that AI companions are better understood as cyber mothers, inviting dependency and regression rather than ethical development. On this basis, I also criticize Nobel prize winner Geoffrey Hinton’s proposal that future AGI should be designed to exhibit maternal love.
Prof. WANG Pei, Bella is an Assistant Professor at the School of Chinese, the University of Hong Kong. Wang specializes in Confucian ethics and comparative philosophy. She examines the intersection of traditional moral frameworks and contemporary technological dilemmas. She has been engaged with AI ethics since 2017 and is the author of Artificial Intimacy: A Confucian Ethics of AI, forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.
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