Notes on Carolyn Forche’s poems in the midst of our nation’s struggle to contain the pandemic.
Leave a CommentMonth: July 2020
Our scientific and technological experiments often began as what can be ex post as seen as bumbling comical attempts to understand things. The Far Side often poked fun at the brightest among us. Welcome Back, to The Far Side.
Leave a CommentTechnical essays often strive for simplicity and clarity. However, we should not confuse striving for clarity in arguments with desiring conclusive outcomes. Some concepts are inherently ambiguous. Some cultures and languages have created room for such ambiguity to thrive. Luis Frois, a 16th-century missionary in Japan, wrote in Topsy-turvy, that “We avoid vague expressions” while Japanese “set a high value on the ambiguous”. He wrote, “We write letters in great length, they write brief ones”. Maybe Frois was right. Perhaps he was wrong about his conclusion. Can we let this one be ambiguous? Ambiguity is not “known unknowns”. When I think of known unknowns, I think of unknowns that we can’t be sure about, but it is possible with more and…
Leave a CommentIn light of the recent conflicts, India has made a move to ban TikTok and Wechat and 57 other apps, made by firms that are all based in China. This ban is a big loss for ByteDance, as TikTok had surprisingly “cracked” the challenging mobile market in India. I explain the appeal of Tiktok in India. The issue with the Indian market typifies that challenges that face Chinese Internet firms that seek to go global.
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