世界和计算性 · World, Computationality
Sep – Oct, 2025 · 汪洋 WANG Yang
写在前面
我们的世界被层层的技术调解，技术对生活的影响如此巨大它几乎要获得主体性。本课程将创作者（不管是艺术家还是设计师或者其他文化工作者）重新定位为一股重要的再定向力量 — 一定程度上获得一些对于技术的清醒以及转动方向盘的实在力。技术并非中立的工具；它是一种拥有自身历史、政治和社会影响力的强大媒介。为了让创作者承担起这一责任，创作者们必须首先理解技术的根本性质及其对我们的深远影响。
本课程分为两个部分。首先，我们将通过探究丰富的技术思想史来建立批判性的基础。我们将重温技术哲学和软件研究中的部分核心思想，超越简单的叙述，将技术视为我们人类体验中构成性的一部分，而非一系列不相关的工具。
其次，我们将通过"打开黑箱"的方式来回应当前的人工智能潮。通过使用TensorFlow和Keras等框架的实践方法，学生将从零开始构建一个非常基础的神经网络模型，揭示这些系统底层逻辑的工作原理。尽管这简单的模型与当今最大的模型相比显得原始，但其基本原理是相同的，这为艺术家提供了至关重要的清晰认知。
通过将批判性论述与动手实践相结合，本课程赋予艺术家一个全新的视角——使他们不仅能够认识自己在历史思想洪流中的位置，还能理解周遭变化的速率。有了这些知识，他们可以重塑自己与技术的关系，成为历史方向的主动塑造者，而非被动的乘客。
Our world is mediated layer upon layer by technology. The influence of technology on life is so immense that it almost acquires subjectivity of its own. This course repositions creators—whether artists, designers, or other cultural workers—as a vital re-orienting force, endowing them with a measure of lucidity about technology and a tangible capacity to grasp the steering wheel. Technology is not a neutral tool; it is a powerful medium with its own history, politics, and social influence. For creators to shoulder this responsibility, they must first understand the fundamental nature of technology and its far-reaching impact on us.
The course unfolds in two parts. First, we will build a critical foundation by delving into the rich intellectual history of technology. We will revisit key ideas in philosophy of technology and software studies, treating technology as a constitutive element of human experience rather than a collection of isolated tools.
Second, we will respond to the current wave of artificial intelligence by “opening the black box.” Through hands-on work with frameworks like TensorFlow and Keras, students will construct a very basic neural network model from scratch. This exercise exposes the underlying logic of these systems. While such a simple model may appear primitive compared to today’s largest systems, the core principles are the same—offering artists crucial clarity.
By combining critical discourse with practical making, the course provides artists with a fresh perspective: they can situate themselves within the flow of historical thought while also grasping the speed of the changes around them. With this knowledge, they can reshape their relationship to technology and become active shapers of history’s direction, rather than passive passengers.
Reading Materials
The Question Concerning Technology (1954) — Martin Heidegger
More Readings
- On the Sciences and Arts — Rousseau
- On the Idols — Francis Bacon
- Capitalism and the Modern Labor Process — Marx and Engels
- Science as a Vocation — Weber
- Nicomachean Ethics (selected) — Aristotle
- Technological Condition: Introduction — Scharff & Dusek
- Do Artifacts Have Politics? — Winner
- Phenomenology (video) — David Guignon
- Transcendental Idealism — Kant
- Phenomenological Approaches to Ethics and IT — SEP
- JODI Infrastructure
Week 1
Lesson 1: Course Introduction & Preview · Sep 9 · Tue · 1–2:30pm
开场课程，介绍整体目标、结构与方式。预览后续研讨与工作坊的安排，建立整体地图。
Scope, structure, and methods. What “World & Computationality” names; a quick tour of the seminars and workshops to form a navigable map.
Lesson 2: Lecture — Intellectual Background & Why Phenomenology · Sep 10 · Wed · 1–4pm
[理] 讲座 Lecture
在进入现象学之前补充思想史背景：从古希腊对 technē 的理解到近代科学革命，再到韦伯的理性化分析；简述社会建构派等批判路径，并提出问题：这些传统对当下技术的解释何处不敷？为何引入现象学的视角与方法？
From Greek technē through the scientific revolution to Weber; a brief on social constructionist critiques; posing the problem-space that motivates a phenomenological approach to technology.
In-class readings: Technological Condition: Introduction (Scharff & Dusek); Phenomenological Approaches to Ethics and IT (SEP); Nicomachean Ethics — Aristotle (selected); Phenomenology video — David Guignon
Lesson 3: Workshop — How Modern Computers Work & Programming Basics · Sep 11 · Thu · 1–4pm
- [理] Lecture: 现代计算机是如何运作的？ — CPU/GPU, memory/storage, compilers/interpreters, OS ↔ apps — a layered overview.
- [技] Workshop: 编程基础 Programming Basics — Hands-on Python to warm up core control flow and functions; minimal runnable programs as the runway for an upcoming RNN.
In-class reading: JODI Infrastructure
Lesson 4: Film Screening — Being in the World · Sep 12 · Fri · 1–3pm
[理] Film Screening
Tao Ruspoli 导演 (2010)。以 Hubert Dreyfus 的教学为背景，围绕海德格尔展开。A Dreyfus-inflected, Heideggerian documentary as a visceral gateway to phenomenology.
Week 2
Lesson 5: Seminar — The Question Concerning Technology · Sep 16 · Tue · 1–5pm
精读海德格尔 The Question Concerning Technology：Gestell（座架）与 unconcealment（揭示）的关键脉络。Close reading around Gestell and unconcealment; reframing technology within the ontological question.
Lesson 6: Workshop #1 — Environment & Basics of NN · Sep 18 · Thu · 1–4pm
[技] Workshop
简单介绍神经网络的原理；搭建运行环境。
Lesson 7: Seminar — Interface & Media Critique · Sep 19 · Fri · 1–4pm
[理] 研讨 Seminar
阅读Lev Manovich关于新媒体的定义性研究；Alexander Galloway对Manovich新媒体研究中过于偏重美学与形式框架的批判；以及许煜在《Art and Cosmotechnics》中对当今人工智能路线问题的批判性节选。
Readings in Lev Manovich’s foundational account of new media; Alexander Galloway’s critique of Manovich’s overreliance on aesthetic and formal frameworks; and selected passages from Yuk Hui’s Art and Cosmotechnics on the problem of the contemporary AI trajectory.
Readings: Review of The Language of New Media (Manovich); The Interface Effect — Introduction (Galloway); Art and Cosmotechnics — Yuk Hui
Week 3
Lesson 8: Essay Presentation — Mid-term Report · Sep 22 · Mon · 1–4pm
Lesson 9: Workshop #2 — Minimal RNN, End to End · Sep 26 · Fri · 1–4pm
[技] Workshop
从零构建极简 RNN，跑通训练与最小生成流程。
Lesson 10: Workshop #3 — Upgrading Simple RNN to LSTM · Sep 28 · Sun · 1–4pm
[技] Workshop
在极简 RNN 基础上引入 LSTM；比较门控机制与状态传播；结合 sampling 与 temperature 控制生成分布。
Week 4
Lesson 11: ChatBot Playtest, From RNN to Transformer, Commercial LLM API Call · Oct 9 · Thu · 1–4pm
Chatbot showcase.