Summary of Key Points
This article, through an interview with Professor Lu Ye from Fudan University, explores cultural phenomena such as "bean piecing" and knitting, which involve hands-on activities. It discusses how young people in a fast-paced society and the age of AI can regain their digital agency, connect with emotional communities, and understand the deeper significance of these hands-on practices for both individuals and society. Lu Ye believes that these activities are not just ways to relieve stress but also means to counteract the alienation caused by technology and affirm one's own existence. She views AI as a partner rather than an opponent; good collaboration with AI can also be considered a form of hands-on activity. Emotional communities connect atomized individuals through shared emotions, although there are limitations to these groups. Moreover, the real interactions in physical spaces cannot be replaced by online ones.
I. The Rise of Hands-On Activities: From Bean Piecing to Cooking – Remedies for Digital alienation in the Digital Age
When Lu Ye mentions "hands-on activities," she doesn't refer specifically to manual labor but to any activity that involves direct physical participation, such as bean piecing, knitting, playing sports, cooking, dancing in public squares, or even creating with AI. Why have these activities become so popular?
- Countering Digital Alienation: Bean piecing transforms digital pixels into physical beans. While machines can quickly replicate pixels, the act of piecing them together requires human effort, which draws you out of a passive state of using your phone and makes you feel in control.
- Low Barrier to Entry + Strong Social Interaction: The cost of bean piecing (beans and tools are not expensive), combined with online social platforms that bring like-minded people together (e.g., bean piecing bloggers on TikTok), leads to offline meetings that create a cycle of "online gathering → offline interaction → online sharing."
- Stress Relief and a Sense of Order: The repetitive action of arranging beans provides a sense of order in a fast-paced world, helping people reconnect with themselves and find moments of tranquility.
II. AI as a Partner, Not an Opponent: Collaborating with AI to Create Unique Value
Lu Ye doesn't think that the stronger AI becomes, the more people want to do things manually. However, she believes that AI and humans can work together to achieve things that were previously impossible:
- Emotional Comfort: A director used AI to create a VR image of a grandmother's only photo, allowing her grandfather with Alzheimer's disease to recognize her again—AI helped preserve memories.
- Creative Breakthroughs: Zhu Zhaohui, former editor of "Duku," used AI to create a documentary on extinct animals. By feeding data into the AI and refining the results, they discovered details about the extinct animals that had been forgotten. This is not AI replacing humans but humans guiding AI, resulting in something unique (neither factual nor purely artistic).
- The Importance of Human Guidance: Good collaboration with AI is about creating surprises, similar to waiting for an oil painting to dry or capturing a moment on the street.
III. Emotional Communities: Hands-On Activities Help Us Connect with Like-Minded People
Lu Ye's concept of "emotional communities" refers to groups formed online based on shared emotions, not necessarily shared educational backgrounds or opinions. For example, in bean piecing groups:
- Three Dimensions of Emotion: These activities help people detox from the digital world (escape fast pace), relieve stress (provide a sense of order), and engage in low-pressure social interactions (offline discussions about the work, online likes and sharing).
- Duality of these Communities: On one hand, they connect lonely individuals (if you feel stressed about employment, seeing others piecing beans can make you realize you're not alone); on the other hand, they can be exclusive (people outside the group may not understand the fun), but this exclusivity is not necessarily negative; it forms a "micro-community."
IV. The Meaning of Hands-On Activities: Not to Change the World, but to Reclaim Oneself
The value of hands-on activities, according to Lu Ye, is not about resisting society but about reclaiming one's digital agency in an uncertain world:
- What does agency mean? It means being in control of your own choices, rather than being led by algorithms. For example, when piecing beans, you can choose what to create, and that sense of control is a form of agency.
- Practical Benefits: These activities may not solve employment issues, but they provide emotional comfort and a sense of identity, making you feel valued. Even if it's just for personal enjoyment, they leave behind a personal narrative that is valuable to society—each person being seen can potentially influence the overall landscape.
V. The Power of Physical Spaces: Online Interaction Cannot Replace Real Connections
Lu Ye emphasizes the importance of attending physical events (such as film festivals or live houses):
- Personal Experience: She grew up in an era of cultural scarcity and was fascinated by real interactions, such as outdoor movies and artistic events from the 1980s.
- Irreplaceable Joy: Elements like movie posters in the rain at a festival, unexpected encounters with friends, and audience members arriving by bike create unique experiences that online platforms cannot replicate.
- Activating Public Spaces: She and her colleagues use live houses for academic gatherings or folk music events on campus to make public spaces more engaging—even when teachers act "crazy," it can be inspiring for students.
This article suggests that in the digital age, whether it's bean piecing or collaborating with AI, actively participating and taking action allows you to find your place in life, adding more meaning and reducing passivity and confusion.