The Chinese proverb, Three smelly coblers make one Juge Liang. corresponds well with the riddle-lie saying by Aristotle two thousand years earlier,     The whole is greater than the sum of the parts, despite the difference between East and West, the present and the past. Both point out that a system often possess “emergent property” not found in the constituent parts. The linear mathematics we usually rely upon here sadly fails, and must yield to simple “nonlinear mathematics” which in addition easily extend the domain of validity of the philosopher’s saying to all “quantitative changes.” But he never did raise the question of “qualitative change,” found in many physical phenomena, all chemical reactions and all life processes. These are also common of emergence. This talk is based on the speaker’s forthcoming general education book, Geyser from the Sea of Knowledge, which start from simple systems theory, attempts with plain language, primary school and high school mathematics, to give a birds-eye view of science, and briefly introduce the intriguing beauty of fractals, the revelations of chaos, the appearance and nesting of self-organizations, the evolution of Mother Nature, and the operational harmony of mass societies.

The past decade has witnessed the most serious global economic crisis in the last half century, causing great sufferings among the public. Income inequality has also been worsening in most countries in the last few decades. There is an urge from the public for economics and economists to provide more informed discussions or even an activist role in leading to more equitable and secure society. This talk discusses to what extent such an urge is justified and to what extent it is not. It ends with some reflections on some of the predictions John Maynard Keynes made in his talk “Economic Possibilities of Our Grandchildren”.

手機已是現代人的「第五肢」。它與公義有何關聯？「阿拉伯之春」以來，一種流行觀點認為，手機使社會運動所向披靡，因而是維護公義的有效利器。這種看法對嗎？有哪些偏頗、局限？特別當我們用更長的歷史眼光和更廣的全球視野來看這個問題？本次沙龍將較全面地梳理手機、社運與公義的關係，從13年前菲律賓「第二次人民力量」運動和12年前的韓國總統大選，到近年的「佔領華爾街」、中港兩地的勞工抗爭運動，以及斯諾登事件。原來社運不一定促進公義，手機也不一定推動進步。新技術手段終將達成怎樣結果？答案不在手機裡面，而在使用手機的你我ta。

奧威爾的《一九八四》(1984) 與赫胥黎的《美麗新世界》(Brave New World) 譽為二十世紀最重要的「反烏托邦」小說。半個多世紀前，兩位作家以驚人的想像力分別築構了兩個「未來」世界的圖像，雖然兩人立場不同，取材各異，但所描述的未來世界卻有一個共通點，就是充滿各式各樣的操控與宰制。奧威爾所描述的是人類被迫受到高度的政治壓迫，而赫胥黎所描繪的是人類甘願受到科技和娛樂的支配。有論者認為，可能成為現實的，是赫胥黎的預言，而不是奧威爾的預言。事實是否這樣？我們身處的世界到底愈來愈自由？還是愈來愈不自由？悲觀背後，兩位作者又有沒有為我們提供任何出路？藉著這個講座，希望跟大家分享這兩部書的智慧。

What is democracy? American philosopher John Dewey believes that democracy does not merely mean universal suffrage, but also a way of life which entails an experience of public life for communal growth. As such, education plays an important role in the humanities aspect. In addition to its instrumental function in transmitting professional knowledge, education should be oriented with public enlightenment activities to foster active participation of citizens in public affairs. An ideal form of democracy should be embodied in a form of reflexive social cooperation.  As civic education is being marginalized these days, reading Dewey’s Democracy and Education will enable us to understand the relationship between politics, education and community.

Is ‘God back’ or is ‘God brought back’? Why and for whom is God back? Or is God always presence? Time magazine named Pope Francis its Person of the Year (2013).  How is this to be interpreted? Does it mean religion is still significant to society? Does it express the western as well as international community’s expectation of what an authentic religion should be? Does it reflect the western media has a better vantage as well as a greater impact on global society? In this talk, I am going to use both the paradigm of secularization theory of private and public, and that of value rationality vs instrumental rationality to explore how ‘God is back’  is responding to the issues of justice and peace, and to discover an aura of hope.