Events

Divination Engines: A Talk with Xiaochang Li

Abstract: How and why did artificial intelligence--a field that was committed for so long to the explicit, formal representation of human perception, reason, and expertise--become narrowly redefined as a practice of large-scale statistical pattern recognition, one that prioritized effective prediction over explanatory power? One answer lies in the strange and enduring quest to endow machines with the capacity for language.

This talk draws from the new book, Divination Engines: Natural Language Processing, Artificial Intelligence, and the Making of Algorithmic Culture (University of Chicago Press 2026), which traces the long history speech and natural language processing from telephony to text mining and examines the far-reaching consequences of opening language to statistical interpretation.

Bio: Xiaochang Li is assistant professor in the Department of Communication at Stanford University, and affiliate faculty in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society and the Program in Modern Thought and Literature.

Fall 2026 Colloquium - Sangwoon Yoo

Hanbat National University, South Korea and Charles Babbage Institute

Title: Making East Asian Semiconductors in Cold War America: Migration, Knowledge Labor, and the Rise of MOS Technology

Abstract: How did East Asia emerge as the center of global semiconductor manufacturing despite the industry’s technological origins in the United States? Conventional explanations emphasize developmental states, industrial policy, technology transfer, or manufacturing labor within East Asia. This talk instead looks inside the American research system during the Cold War.

Focusing on metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) technology, I trace East Asian scientists and engineers who studied and worked in American universities and corporate laboratories before becoming important intermediaries in the semiconductor industries of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Their careers show that East Asian engineers were not simply recipients of American technology but participated directly in producing foundational semiconductor knowledge within the U.S. military-industrial-academic complex.

I argue that the familiar geographical division of labor between American innovation and East Asian manufacturing was preceded by, and developed alongside, an earlier division of knowledge labor within American research institutions themselves. Rather than treating “American invention” as a unified national achievement, this talk looks inside the production of that invention, focusing on forms of research labor that were essential yet often difficult to see in conventional accounts.

Fall 2026 Colloquium - James Lin

School of International Studies, University of Washington

Title: In the Global Vanguard: Agrarian Development and the Making of Modern Taiwan

Abstract: In just half a century, Taiwan transformed from an agricultural colony into an economic power, spurred by efforts of the authoritarian Republic of China government in land reform, farmers associations, and improved crop varieties. Yet overlooked is how Taiwan brought these practices to the developing world. In the Global Vanguard elucidates the history and impact of the “Taiwan model” of agrarian development by incorporating how Taiwanese experts took the country’s agrarian success and exported it throughout rural communities across Africa and Southeast Asia.

Driven by the global Cold War and challenges to the Republic of China’s legitimacy, Taiwanese agricultural technicians and scientists shared their practices, which they claimed were better suited for poor, tropical societies in the developing world. These development missions were portrayed in Taiwan as proof of the Republic of China’s modernity and were crucial to how the ruling government sought to hold onto its contested position in the international system and its rule by martial law at home. This talk will draw primarily upon chapters 3 and 7 of the book, exploring the history of agricultural science and technology in Taiwan and abroad, and their co-construction with authoritarianism, military power, and Cold War politics.

MOSAICS Symposium

CBI’s MOSAICS Initiative and Symposium are forums for this kind of sustained, critical and interdisciplinary engagement. For the MOSAICS Symposium we are seeking work from scholars and practitioners that draws from (and ideally cuts across) the arts, humanities, social sciences, information science, and community activism.

Submission deadline is May 29th, 2026.

Read the CFP

The Symposium will be held virtually on Thursday and Friday, October 15th and 16th, 2026.