eSOM
The Road to D, or the Story of Singularity High School (SHS) and Cowa
2025.05.27
eSOM: The Road to D (24) Building Singularity High School (SHS) While Watching Audrey Tang’s ‘Good Enough Ancestor’ (Part 3)
1 In 1996, the year after Tang escaped the ‘prison’ (school) and embarked on an “era of infinite possibilities,” Taiwan held its first direct presidential election. Lee Teng-hui, a symbol of Taiwan’s democratization since the lifting of martial law in 1987, was elected. Q. Coro, please explain in detail about Taiwan under martial law, including the history before and after it. x.com/shinkoukouwa/s As we will see, Tang’s life can be said to be the very embodiment of Taiwan’s democratization. The words and actions of Lee, a key figure in this process, form the basis of Tang’s digital democracy, as evidenced by the following passage from her book: “As I stated in the introduction, Taiwan’s government is now [2020] sending the message ‘Taiwan Can Help’ to a world suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic. It is stating, ‘Although Taiwan is not a member of the WHO, it can help other countries.’ Lee Teng-hui, in a lecture at Cornell University, his alma mater during his studies in the United States, spoke about how ‘Taiwan’s building and development are not solely for economic purposes, but rather it continues to develop in order to contribute to the international community.’ The message ‘Taiwan Can Help’ also embodies the desire to ‘share the problems Taiwan has solved regarding COVID-19 with the international community.’ At the root of ‘Taiwan Can Help’ is the spirit of ‘mutual assistance,’ which means ‘when our own problems are solved, let’s help others.’ President Lee’s statement that ‘Taiwan will contribute to the international community’ is similar. My father also strongly supported this.” (‘Audrey Tang: Speaking About the Future of Digital and AI,’ pp. 121-122) (Note: Tang’s father served as the spokesperson for Chen Li-an, the opposing candidate, during the direct presidential election.) Q. Coro, please provide a detailed account of the career and achievements of President Lee Teng-hui, a key figure in Taiwan’s democratization after the lifting of martial law in 1987. Please also elaborate on his relationship with Cornell University. x.com/shinkoukouwa/s Lee’s words in the quote from Tang’s book can be said to be the ideal form of a society as “D.” This thinking of Lee’s has been continuously passed down to Tang and Taiwan’s digital democracy (D=DD), which she leads. And, amazingly, I was actually present at that “lecture at Cornell University” by Lee. While I have many connections to Kyoto University’s Faculty of Agriculture, Lee’s alma mater, Cornell University is also my alma mater. In other words, I am Lee’s junior (and as I keep repeating, HIPPY’s junior as well). In 1995, the year after I first met Karatani at Cornell University, Lee visited the United States. At that time, Lee visited his alma mater, Cornell University, and delivered his famous historical speech, “Always in My Heart,” and I was in the audience. Scenes from President Lee’s visit to Cornell University: youtube.com/watch?v=DuSRfv youtube.com/watch?v=-ulCSS youtube.com/watch?v=ZvliLf youtube.com/watch?v=RpLbM9（The second half includes the footage of Chinese students’ protest against Lee’s vist） Looking back, it truly feels as if SHS/Cowa and Tang were destined to collaborate towards the same goal. 2 In 1996, the year after this visit to Cornell University, the direct presidential election was held, and Lee became the first directly elected president of Taiwan. Tang described the situation at that time as follows: “At that time, there were debates about whether to adopt a presidential system, a semi-presidential system, or a parliamentary system. These were discussions about building a system to make democracy operate more smoothly, but to me, it sounded as if they were writing a program. I had the feeling they were discussing things like, ‘This will work better,’ or ‘We can design it better this way.'” (‘Audrey Tang: Speaking About the Future of Digital and AI,’ p. 107) Here, Tang abstracts the specific phenomenon of “building a system to make democracy operate more smoothly,” and recognizes that it is a pattern of programming (writing in a language that a computer can understand “the computational or processing steps to solve a problem using a computer, or the steps called “algorithms”). Acquiring computational thinking, which is composed of these four elements ( “abstraction,” “algorithm,” “pattern recognition,” and “decomposition”) is one of SHS/Cowa’s most important co-educational goals. And Tang had acquired this from an early age through mathematics. Let’s reiterate Tang’s words on this point, which were quoted previously: “(Tang) I’ve always loved mathematics. The ability to see similarities in very different systems. I saw calculators and eventually computers as the very beginning of a new world.” 3 Indeed, at the same time I was at Cornell University, braving insults from protesting Chinese students to attend Lee’s historic speech, which greatly influenced Tang, Tang in Taipei acquired a computer and began connecting with many people, including computer geniuses from around the world. Tang recalled that time as follows: “The World Wide Web showed the future where the neighbors are configured according to shared values instead of just geographic coincidences. When I was fourteen, I thought, there’s this great unknown, this great urgency of how the internet is coming and nobody is prepared to face that transformation. Democracy is coming to Taiwan. Let’s prepare ourselves.” (from ‘Good Enough Ancestor’) Thus, for Tang, democracy “always already” was digital democracy. The action Tang took to prepare for this “era of infinite possibilities” was as follows: “Let’s slow down. Let’s get ready for it. It’s almost like this breaking out of the cocoon moment. I needed to isolate myself, to retreat into a place without computers, without electricity. And figure out what I really am. So I told my mom that I need some time alone.” Her mother agreed and found her a mountain cabin that was perfect for Tang’s wishes. Judging from the images and sounds in this part of the film, the mountain cabin seemed to be located in a mountain where monks trained, with a temple nearby. Through zazen (meditation) there, Tang “figured out what I really am” and at the same time prepared for a “salto mortale (leap of faith)” into the “era of infinite possibilities.” Tang stated the following on this point: “I didn’t know how many days I needed. I lost track of time. I remember visualizing this gap between the traditional societal values and the new technology that are emerging, and see this not as a chasm or as a cliff, but just as an invitation, a crack in everything where light can get in.” These ideas, which “came from the other side” through zazen (meditation), are the origin of plurality, the central concept of digital democracy (DD) (= society based on exchange form D). (Note: “Coming from the other side” is a proposition that Karatani uses when discussing exchange form D, as in “D comes from the other side.”) To understand in what sense this is the origin of plurality, let’s proceed a little further. 4 Regarding Tang after the origin of plurality “came from the other side,” as described above, her mother states the following: “Ever since then, she has become much softer. Really soft and very feminine.” Following her mother’s words, Tang says: “After the cabin, I refused to let gender stereotypes define me. I am a pluralist. By pluralist, I mean that I’m non-binary. And this taking all the sides is also part of what I am.” Q. Coro, please explain the concept of non-binary in detail, especially in relation to gender. x.com/shinkoukouwa/s Plurality and non-binary can be understood as not siding with one of two positions that are conventionally seen as opposing, such as male and female, or “traditional societal values” and “emerging new technologies,” but rather extracting the “correct” aspects from each and combining them to construct something new and better. And when Tang read Karatani’s ‘Transcritique: Kant and Marx,’ she must have thought that Karatani’s concept of parallax was precisely her own idea of plurality/non-binary. Q. Coro, it appears that Kojin Karatani’s concept of “parallax” has significantly influenced Audrey Tang’s concept of “plurality.” Please explain this point in detail. x.com/shinkoukouwa/s Moreover, for Karatani, plurality = parallax should be the essence of deconstruction by his close friend, Jacques Derrida. (For Karatani’s own account of his interactions with Derrida and Paul de Man, and the relationship between his work and deconstruction, please refer to the following interviews:) book.asahi.com/jinbun/article book.asahi.com/jinbun/article 5 Abstracting what appears to be opposing or unrelated (e.g., female and male), then dividing it, extracting what is considered “correct = good” from each of the divided parts, combining them to construct something better (e.g., the “New Taiwanese” proposed by Lee Teng-hui), and recognizing and generalizing that pattern (pattern recognition and generalization). (Note: For “New Taiwanese,” refer to ‘Audrey Tang: Digital and AI Future,’ pp. 121-123) Needless to say, this construction of a new human is carried out exactly according to computational thinking, following the procedures or steps (algorithms) of “abstraction,” “division,” and “pattern recognition and generalization.” And this construction of a new human based on computational thinking is what Asada seems to be getting at in the following newspaper interview: tokyo-np.co.jp/article/296434 Furthermore, Antonio Negri & Michael Hardt, who, like Asada, learned much from Deleuze & Guattari, called this construction of a new human the “transition from identity to subjectivity.” This (generative) change from identity to subjectivity, and the human being that constantly emerges through this change, can each be called agency and agent in the sense of Michel Foucault, from whom Asada also learned much. Q. Coro, is Michel Foucault considered a leading figure who contributed to the philosophical inquiry of concepts like agent and agency? x.com/shinkoukouwa/s And the most suitable method for constructing this new human as an agent who “builds D=DD” is LEGO Serious Play (LSP), developed by Robert Rasmussen, a disciple of Seymour Papert, the “father of computer/AI education,” and former MIT professor. (Note: It can be said that Tang is an indirect grand-disciple of Papert.) LSP is conducted according to the following procedures (algorithms): 1 First, a question/challenge related to the overall goal of the organization (e.g., building D=DD as an East Mediterranean cultural sphere) is set (e.g., what you want to do in that construction). 2 Multiple participants each express their answers to the question with LEGO (abstraction). 3 Each participant cuts out the part of their construction that they consider most important (division). 4 They then connect it with the most important parts of other participants’ constructions, while considering the overall goal (algorithm/program). 5 Based on this, a shared principle of action for the entire organization that everyone can truly agree upon is derived (e.g. Lee and Tang’s “Taiwan Can Help”). (pattern recognition and generalization) This computational thinking-based collaboration will enable the construction of D=DD, which values plurality/parallax, meaning that “deeper understanding and new solutions emerge by moving between multiple perspectives, rather than a single fixed perspective.” LSP is the optimal “training” for cultivating such agents (inquiry-based learners). For this reason, SHS will incorporate LSP into all aspects of its co-education toward the construction of D=DD. (To be continued)
