Most of you will know that I recently moved, from Yuquan to Guangfu. A few streets, from one Taipei into another. For years I lived in Yuquan ( 玉泉里 ), on the southern edge of Dadaocheng ( 大稻埕 ). I now live in Guangfu ( 光復里 ), inside the old walls of Taipei City ( 臺北城 ). No river crossed, no hill climbed: only a few streets east. Yuquan is warehouses, hardware, spare parts, wholesalers and old family firms. Its streets still obey the Tamsui River ( 淡水河 ): goods arrive, change hands, acquire credit and move on. Guangfu is gates, government offices, public markets, hotels, bookshops, banks, schools and pork-chop rice served to people whose lunch break has an ending. Both belong to western Taipei ( 臺北西區 ); both are sold as "the old city". They are not old in the same way. Yuquan grew around goods and private capital; Guangfu around files, public authority and salaries. The map shows a short walk. The city shows a river port and a city gate, merchants and mandarins, inheri...
As Taiwan advances its proposed Artificial Intelligence Basic Act, the debate has largely focused on familiar themes: ethics, principles, and the need for “responsible AI”. These questions matter. But they are not the most consequential ones. The more important issue is economic rather than moral. It concerns how law structures expectations, how uncertainty is distributed, and how delay becomes a rational response when judgement is deferred. Taiwan’s AI legislation offers a revealing case study in the political economy of regulatory uncertainty — and in the costs of asking markets to decide first. At a symbolic level, the Basic Act marks a clear shift. Artificial intelligence is no longer treated merely as a technical input or an industrial productivity tool, but as an object of public governance. Its deployment is recognised as having implications for legal responsibility, administrative authority and decision-making frameworks. Yet symbol and structure are not the same. The law’s...