NTU Royal Palm Lecture No. 15: Academia Sinica President James C. Liao

Established in 2023, the NTU Royal Palm Lecture Series aims to invite distinguished global scholars and industry leaders to broaden the international horizons of our faculty and students. On March 6, 2026, Academia Sinica President James C. Liao speaks on the topic of “Future Society: The Development of Technology and Humanities from an Evolutionary Perspective,” exploring technological advancement, human values, and potential future societies through an evolutionary lens.

President Liao is an internationally renowned metabolic engineer and synthetic biologist. Recognized as a pioneer in his field, he has invented numerous artificial basic metabolic networks. Recently, he has focused on designing artificial carbon fixation systems, successfully creating the world's first "synthetic C2" plant—a natural anomaly that opens new avenues for carbon reduction, energy, and food security. In steering national scientific development, President Liao strives to bridge basic research with societal needs, exerting a profound influence in both academic research and public governance on critical issues such as climate change, energy, and quantum technology.

The lecture was hosted by NTU President Wen-Chang Chen. In his opening remarks, President Chen noted that President Liao is an outstanding NTU alumnus, graduating from the Department of Chemical Engineering in 1980. He has since been elected as a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the US National Academy of Engineering, the US National Academy of Inventors, Academia Sinica, and the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). President Chen emphasized the critical importance of the "future society" topic, particularly from the dual perspective of technology and humanities. He highlighted that without the guidance of humanistic literacy, technological development often unable to truly benefit humanity; thus, technology and humanities must advance in tandem to drive sustainable societal progress.

President Liao began his speech by mentioning while he has spoken on the topic of the future society several times, it continuously presents new dimensions as time progresses. Recent drastic shifts in the global landscape, including the rapid advancement of AI and international geopolitical conflicts, prompt a re-evaluation of our future trajectory. He pointed out that while humanity has constantly attempted to predict the future through historical experience or computational power, most predictions remain inaccurate. Regardless of computational strength, the future is fraught with uncertainty. For instance, Chaos Theory demonstrates how minuscule errors in complex systems can be exponentially amplified during calculation, making long-term predictions extremely difficult, if not impossible.

To understand the development of technology and society, President Liao suggested looking through the lens of “evolution.” Evolution exists not only in the biological realm but also profoundly impacts technology and human society. A classic example of "disruptive innovation" is Kodak, a former global photography leader that rapidly declined following the rise of digital photography. From an evolutionary perspective, new technologies act as invasive species; organizations failing to adapt quickly to changing environments and market demands risk being replaced.

He further noted that pivotal innovations in information technology—including personal computers, the Internet, smartphones, mRNA vaccines, GPS, and AI—have brought about most dramatic change to human society. Information technology has advanced at an exceptional pace because, unlike matter or energy, information is not bound by the laws of conservation and can be continuously created. Concurrently, its extremely short "generation time" allows technological evolution to outpace biological evolution significantly.

Discussing AI, President Liao stated that its rapid progress is closely tied to the concept of "artificial evolution." By open-sourcing to embrace "variations" and "invasive species," setting competitive goals, and utilizing methods like reinforcement learning, AI can complete numerous "generational turnovers" in a very short time. This evolutionary speed far exceeds biological or societal evolution. Conversely, medical and biotechnological fields cannot evolve this way, resulting in relatively slower technological evolution due to stringent ethical and regulatory considerations. He also shared achievements from the Academia Sinica team, such as designing a dual-cycle CO₂ fixation system in plants, which successfully enhanced plant growth and lipid synthesis efficiency, demonstrating how artificial design can occasionally surpass the limits of natural evolution.

With the integration of "Agentic AI" and robotics, future intelligent robots will possess a higher degree of autonomy, potentially even evolving independently. In such scenarios, human values become even more crucial. President Liao highlighted that the Golden Rule—"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"—is a spiritual value that distinguishes humans from machines. Consequently, humanities scholars play a vital role in guiding society in the AI era. Since the Renaissance, humanities scholars have primarily focused on "humans, the natural world, and their interactions." Moving forward, they must expand this focus to encompass "humans, AI machines, the natural world, and their interactions."

Throughout the lecture, President Liao encapsulated his observations and recommendations with the principles: "Base on logic, ride the trends, and respect human nature; seek evidence, filter noise, and prioritize research." He encouraged the academic community to focus on solving highly significant problems. Noting the recent visits of several Nobel Laureates to Taiwan, he urged the audience to learn from their experiences of challenging established knowledge, avoiding blind worship of academic authority, and elevating national scientific research standards so that more people can make rational judgments and take action in a rapidly changing era.

The lecture attracted an enthusiastic participation from NTU faculty and students. President Liao interacted with the attendees in real-time using Slido, leading to an energetic Q&A session. The vibrant interaction provided the NTU community with an inspiring lecture that seamlessly integrated technological insights with humanistic reflection.