Maruva Bay Main Storyline
Game
Storyline
Research
Character
Gallery
[Alex]
[Church woman]
[Debora]
[Landlord]
[Little girl]
[player]
[priest]
[Riley]
[Village Chief]
THE PERSON BEHIND THE PROJECTS
I am a student at Shenzhen College of International Education with a strong
interest in biology and the study of science in its broader social and cultural
contexts. My interest in biology has gradually grown into a curiosity about how
scientific knowledge is developed, communicated, and understood.
Through my work in synthetic biology, science education, and accessible
technology, I have encountered questions that extend beyond scientific methods
themselves. I have become interested in how public understanding, cultural
beliefs, and social institutions shape the way science is received and applied.
Alongside my scientific studies, I explore these questions through writing,
independent projects, and interactive storytelling. I enjoy bringing together ideas
from different disciplines and approaching familiar questions from new
perspectives. I hope to continue exploring the connections between scientific
inquiry and human experience, particularly through science and technology studies
and anthropology.
SELECTED PROJECTS
IGEM
Eyewear
John Locke Essay
From research to play
01 / RESEARCH BACKGROUND
Is Free Speech the
Enemy of Science?
John Locke essay
02 / GAME INTRODUCTION
Maruva Bay
An interactive story game
My essay asks whether free speech threatens science. A
common view holds that science depends on reliable
information, so open expression, which lets misinformation
and confusion spread, endangers progress. I argue the
opposite. Starting from Galileo's clash with the Catholic
Church, and drawing on Thomas Kuhn, Karl Popper and
Charles Sanders Peirce, I show that scientific knowledge
grows through criticism, disagreement and the revision of
established beliefs. Free speech allows competing paradigms
to emerge, and that competition is what lets science correct
itself; suppressing rival ideas is the deeper threat.
I do not treat free speech as an unconditional good. The
essay also weighs the problems of misinformation and of
communicating scientific claims to the public, and asks how
claims earn credibility, who may challenge accepted ideas,
and how institutions balance openness with responsibility.
Writing it was my first encounter with the philosophy of
science, and it changed how I see the subject: science is not
a collection of settled truths but an ongoing process of inquiry,
driven forward by reasoned debate.
The game grows out of my essay "Is Free Speech the Enemy
of Science?" Maruva Bay turns its questions into play: how
scientific claims earn trust, why suppressing or faking
information backfires, and why open, respectful debate is
what lets a community correct its beliefs. Scientific truth alone
is not enough; how it is shared decides whether it is accepted.
In the seaside town of Maruva Bay, children speak with a
strange whistle, and residents fill the hospitals with coughs no
one can explain. You lead a research team sent to find the
cause. Locals see the whistle as a blessing from the Tide
Spirit and the black spots on their walls as a sign of devotion.
They have distrusted outsiders since a government
renovation ten years ago saw many neighbors leave for good.
Investigate homes, test your hypotheses and revise them
when the evidence proves you wrong. Then decide how to
share what you know: argue in public, teach, build a working
example, borrow the language of the faith, or call in the
government to force change. Every choice shifts trust,
investigation and scientific awareness, leading to one of
twelve endings.
