Live long and prosper.
It’s true. We’re all hoping for that.
Why are you doing this hand signal?
OK. Thank you very, very much for giving us even more time than we were scheduled.
How would a nightmare in code look like?
We’re slowly wrapping up and asking questions we haven’t asked in the first couple of minutes. Your eldest grandparent I think is 103, 104 years old?
…Which we like. Could you give us a good tangible example of what you did or maybe doing right now?
Your recipe to deal with spreading misinformation and fake news is this “humor over rumor”…
In a way, you did hack the UN…
Yeah, great.
Yeah, that’s great. A little more follow up question on Facebook topic, the social media topic. Germany sees large elections in September and the campaigns are underway. How big a role does social media microtargeting play in your elections, or the setting of your political agenda?
Solar or cellular? You mean cells, body cells?
You listen to it while coding? You get around to coding these days much?
Speaking of music, I think it was curious that you by all styles of music were part of this extreme metal music, CHTHONIC. Are you a metal fan, except from knowing Freddy personally, is it something…?
You’re surrounded by improving technology all day and every day. Is there something - maybe an old school videogame or an old console or something - that you’re emotionally attached to?
Speaking of addiction: when you take the MRT in Taipei, nearly every single passenger is staring at their phone. Would you say such a thing as over-digitization?
OK. You, like a lot of programmers of your generation, like Edward Snowden for example, you grew up with the early vision of a completely free and libertarian Internet. Would you say up until now this dream wasn’t real?
But you’re not afraid of a physical annexation of Taiwan?
You left your part spontaneously at age 33. You quit your job at Apple to join the Sunflower Movement, saying, “I have to leave. Democracy needs me.” That quote..
Did you think, at Apple, you succeeded in bringing forward these…?
You’ve described gender identities has being similar to the myriad of languages in the world. Are there any other commonalities in how you view gender and how you view coding? In a sense that you can hack gender?
OK. So is it you chatting with maybe one friend online or…
Were there maybe specific people or, I don’t know, chat boards or something that specifically help with the second puberty, so to say?
Is there anything you, like, any specific moment or scene or thing that you experienced that impressed you the most?
But on the other hand, speaking about the virtual home, you had a phase in 2004 and 2005 where you couchsurfed the world.
And no matter where geographically you are.
Yeah.
Do you remember one specific videogame you recreated?
Yeah. OK, but still, it’s interesting to read about this. Is it true though, that you started to learn coding with a pen and paper? Because that’s counterintuitive for me to hear.
What impulses from citizens have impressed or surprised you the most? Is there anything that had real impact…
40 minutes? OK. Do you still do it?
Another specific thing about your work is that, that’s what we read, every Wednesday between 10:00 AM and 10:00 PM, you meet who booked a 20 minute slot online…
You did that yourself?
What did you initially think when the premier offered you the job of Digital Minister? Was there any reservations or conditions you had?
Yeah, political lyrics.
What words or lyrics did you remember? What did you say on the screen? What words or text were sampled?
We’re all in the home office as well.
Are you thinking about installing a lockdown?
Do you have an explanation for what could have happened?
Post pandemic. The numbers are rising again now, right? Why is that?
A few months ago, you even said in an interview, “We’ve long beaten corona.” However…
Now, at the beginning of the pandemic, Taiwan was lauded for its quick and digital response to the pandemic that led to very little COVID cases, without a national lockdown.
[laughs] That’s a good story. We could use that. At the beginning, maybe we come back to COVID…
She’s the…I don’t know if you can call it the equivalent to your role, but she’s the Digital Minister.
What you do is the opposite, right?
…to the state.
You once said that your approach is a reaction to China’s approach to make the citizens transparent…
Does it bother you? Do you think all of these things should also be transparent?
What would be a concrete example for this to make this a bit more tangible?
Maybe as a Digital Minister, could you try to give some context for readers at the beginning of this conversation, could you try to describe quite simply what exactly you do?
