Zhixiang Cheng

This article addresses the ongoing controversy over the biological significance of Fisher’s fundamental theorem of natural selection. The differences and commonality between the modern and traditional interpretations of the theorem are presented. I argue that both the traditional and modern assessments are implicitly guided by a bipartite, ‘laws of nature–world’ framework, which has constituted a hindrance to properly appreciating the biological significance of the theorem. Instead of approaching it as if it were a standalone empirical law of nature, we had better adopt a tripartite, ‘theory–model–world’ framework and consider the theorem as a product of a special kind of ideal ‘interpretative model’. By doing so, and by comparing the corresponding interpretative model with two other ones of different kinds, we could reach a better characterization of the significance of the theorem.

The bulletin board system (BBS) significantly changed the production and transmission of knowledge in China’s information technology (IT). Launched in 1991, Chinese FidoNet (CFido) provided a virtual space for hobbyists to explore technology-for-fun and aggregated many future Chinese digital entrepreneurs, enabling them to experiment with business models and pursue open-source software with Chinese characters. CFido’s short history (1991–1998) also encapsulates the fast-changing dynamic between knowledge and its social context. CFido participants first perceived the BBS as a utopian “pure land” where grassroots intellectuals could develop software and digital technologies, free from outside interests and interventions. Yet the beginning of government control of cyberspace, the boom of the IT industry and e-commerce, and the transition from the dial-up BBS to the Internet led the CFidoers to diverging positions about amateurs and ultimately brought CFido to an end.