Wave Philosophy in China
* Book: China and the Wireless Undertow: Media and Wave Philosophy. By Anna Greenspan. Technicities: Edinburgh University Press. 2023
URL = https://annagreenspan.com/china-and-the-wireless-undertow
Contextual Quote
How will civilisation keep time with the machines it has built?
"Every few centuries, civilisation rewires itself. Venkatesh Rao calls these rewiring phases world-machines—vast systems that take roughly four hundred years to assemble before turning on in a single generation. The first modernity machine, built between 1200 and 1600, ran on trade, gunpowder, and the printing press. Its successor, the post-modernity machine of 1600–2000, ran on finance, industry, and computation.
That second machine is flickering to a stop. Its replacements—AI systems, algorithmic markets, digital archives—already run faster than any political or cultural clock can regulate. The result is a civilisation that feels perpetually out of time.
We are writing now because the new world-machine has just been switched on. It is no longer enough to study energy, capital, or intelligence; what demands invention is temporal governance itself. The question for our century is simple: how will civilisation keep time with the machines it has built?"
- Chor Pharn [1]
Description
"A cybernetically informed future-orientation recognizes that the world that is ‘to come’ is not straight ahead. This talk, which is based on my new book China and the Wireless Undertow: Media and Wave Philosophy (Technicities: Edinburgh University Press. 2023), explores not just a change in the future, but rather a shift in the notion of the future as such.
The book uses the idea or figure of the wave to reimagine the relationship between China and wirelessness. It focuses on waves of various scales, from the long slow rhythms of techno-cultural history to the high-speed frequencies of electro-magnetic machines, and argues that now, in the fifth long cycle of techno-capitalist time, with the rollout of fifth-generation cellular networks, these two kinds of waves, which occupy radically different frequencies, converge. It is within this fifth wave concurrence that China’s geopolitical rise has become increasingly intermeshed with the infrastructure of our wireless world.
The relationship between China and wireless media is thus determined by the confluence of two distinct temporalities. One is described by a cyclic theory, which postulates the ongoing rise and fall of K-waves that governs the rhythms of planetary technological, economic and geopolitical change. The other is the high-speed, non-human frequencies of electromagnetic vibrations, which form the material substrate of wirelessness. Our immersive media environment is constituted by imperceptible electromagnetic waves; a cosmic force, that is highly technological but at the same time wholly natural.
Time Waves contends that the empirical, concrete and phenomenal wave-like patterns of techno-capitalist history as well the media environment of electromagnetic vibrations are the expression of a deeper, more intrinsic reality, which is characterized by continuous wave-like change.
This cosmo-ontology of the wave was rigorously articulated by certain figures of Chinese thought
- Xiong Shili 熊⼗⼒ (1885–1968),
Tan Sitong 譚嗣同 (1865– 98),
Mou - Zongsan 牟宗三 (1909–95) - who turned to Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian ideas in their encounter technological modernity. Wave philosophy draws on these thinkers to imagine the cultivation of a future sentient city, the non-human agent of wireless media, tuning itself to the waves.
Anna Greenspan is associate professor of global contemporary media, NYU Shanghai."
Discussion
A requested summary from DeepSeek:
In Anna Greenspan's "wave philosophy," three modern Chinese thinkers synthesize Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian ideas with technological modernity. Their shared foundation is the concept of ti-yong (體用, substance and function), where the "wave" serves as the dynamic expression (yong) of a deeper reality (ti).
Xiong Shili (熊⼗力, 1885–1968): The Dynamic Unity of Reality
Xiong Shili, a key figure in modern New Confucianism, was deeply influenced by Buddhist Yogacara philosophy. His central project was to rethink the ti-yong relationship.
Core Idea: "Function IS Reality": Xiong argued that the function (yong) is not separate from an unchanging reality (ti); the ceaseless, creative activity of the universe is the ultimate reality. He is known for the phrase "Ti and yong are one."
Key Concepts:
- Function as "Transformation" (bian): Reality is a constant process of change and creativity.
- Mind as Reality: The true mind of a sentient being is identical with this ultimate, dynamic reality.
Relevance to Wave Philosophy: Provides a model where the wave (yong) is not a secondary effect of the water (ti). The water is its wave-like activity, collapsing the distinction between the invisible medium and its visible motion.
Tan Sitong (譚嗣同, 1865–98): The Materiality of Connection
Tan Sitong, a reformist martyr, engaged with Western science to describe universal connection.
Core Idea: "Ether" (yitai 以太) as Universal Medium: Tan used "ether" (a hypothetical, all-pervading medium) as a scientific term to ground traditional concepts, arguing it is the fundamental substance connecting all things.
"Benevolence" (ren 仁) as the Driving Force: The ultimate principle is a moral force. Ether is the physical medium; ren is the dynamic, moral will that moves it, focusing on political ideals like equality and constant renewal.
Relevance to Wave Philosophy: Offers a material and ethical theory of the medium. The wireless wave is the fabric of the universe in action, physically connecting all things and carrying moral and political potential.
Mou Zongsan (牟宗三, 1885–1968): The Moral Metaphysics of the Infinite
Mou Zongsan, a systematic philosopher, reconstructed Confucian moral metaphysics in dialogue with Immanuel Kant.
Core Idea: "Intellectual Intuition": Contra Kant, Mou argued that the Confucian sage can attain a direct, creative perception of reality (intellectual intuition), a power typically reserved for God.
Reconciling the Finite and the Infinite: The finite human mind can grasp the "thing-in-itself," meaning morality is not just human rules but the structure of cosmic reality.
Relevance to Wave Philosophy: Provides a framework for cultivation and perception. A sentient city "tuning itself to the waves" engages in intellectual intuition – a direct, non-conceptual attunement to the deep, moral-substance (ti) of the wireless environment.
Summary Table
| Thinker | Primary Influence(s) | Central Concept(s) | Role in "Wave Philosophy" |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xiong Shili (熊⼗力, 1885–1968) |
Yogacara Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism | Ti-Yong Unity: Reality = Function as dynamic transformation | Provides the ontological framework: Waves are not secondary effects but the very essence of reality in motion. |
| Tan Sitong (譚嗣同, 1865–1898) |
Daoist Qi philosophy, Western science | Ether (Yitai) as universal medium; Ren (benevolence) as moral force | Offers a material and ethical theory of the medium as a connective, physical, and political force. |
| Mou Zongsan (牟宗三, 1909–1995) |
Neo-Confucianism, Kantian philosophy | Moral Metaphysics; Intellectual Intuition | Supplies a model for perception and agency: "Tuning in" is moral-intellectual attunement to fundamental reality. |
More information
* Video lecture: Anna Greenspan: China and the Wireless Undertow Media as Wave Philosophy. Hanart Forum.
URL = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ap6iSPjrmo
- Anna Greenspan's website, https://www.annagreenspan.com