Erik D. Reichle
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780195370669
- eISBN:
- 9780190853822
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780195370669.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Models and Architectures
This book describes computational models of reading, or models that simulate and explain the mental processes that support the reading of text. The book provides introductory chapters on both reading ...
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This book describes computational models of reading, or models that simulate and explain the mental processes that support the reading of text. The book provides introductory chapters on both reading research and computer models. The central chapters of the book then review what has been learned about reading from empirical research on four core reading processes: word identification, sentence processing, discourse representation, and how these three processes are coordinated with visual processing, attention, and eye-movement control. These central chapters also review an influential sample of computer models that have been developed to explain these key empirical findings, as well as comparative analyses of those models. The final chapter attempts to integrate this empirical and theoretical work by both describing a new comprehensive model of reading, Über-Reader, and reporting several simulations to illustrate how the model accounts for many of the basic phenomena related to reading.Less
This book describes computational models of reading, or models that simulate and explain the mental processes that support the reading of text. The book provides introductory chapters on both reading research and computer models. The central chapters of the book then review what has been learned about reading from empirical research on four core reading processes: word identification, sentence processing, discourse representation, and how these three processes are coordinated with visual processing, attention, and eye-movement control. These central chapters also review an influential sample of computer models that have been developed to explain these key empirical findings, as well as comparative analyses of those models. The final chapter attempts to integrate this empirical and theoretical work by both describing a new comprehensive model of reading, Über-Reader, and reporting several simulations to illustrate how the model accounts for many of the basic phenomena related to reading.
Louis E. Fenech
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197532843
- eISBN:
- 9780197532874
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197532843.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies, Sikhism
For Sikhs, the two most important delimited groups in the tradition are the Ten Sikh Gurus and the Cherished Five (the Panj Piare). Although there are many scholarly works on the first, the second ...
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For Sikhs, the two most important delimited groups in the tradition are the Ten Sikh Gurus and the Cherished Five (the Panj Piare). Although there are many scholarly works on the first, the second has none to date. The Cherished Five were five disciples brought together by Guru Gobind Singh to form the nucleus of the Sikh Khalsa in 1699, or so tradition claims. The story of the Five’s origin resounds with the most important values of the Sikh tradition: courage, selflessness, love, benevolence, compassion, and trust in the divine; its importance is underscored by the fact that the institution of the Cherished Five is recreated daily as it plays an essential role in the Sikh ritual universe, ushering new initiates into the Khalsa and casting out those who have violated Khalsa precepts. This text provides the first sustained study of the Five by tracing the history and the evolution of this institution from its origin in the later eighteenth century until today. In the process, it challenges much of the traditional narratives and accepted wisdom in regard to the Panj Piare, revolving in part around three elements with which the institution is regularly aligned in early manuscripts: caste, karma, and place.Less
For Sikhs, the two most important delimited groups in the tradition are the Ten Sikh Gurus and the Cherished Five (the Panj Piare). Although there are many scholarly works on the first, the second has none to date. The Cherished Five were five disciples brought together by Guru Gobind Singh to form the nucleus of the Sikh Khalsa in 1699, or so tradition claims. The story of the Five’s origin resounds with the most important values of the Sikh tradition: courage, selflessness, love, benevolence, compassion, and trust in the divine; its importance is underscored by the fact that the institution of the Cherished Five is recreated daily as it plays an essential role in the Sikh ritual universe, ushering new initiates into the Khalsa and casting out those who have violated Khalsa precepts. This text provides the first sustained study of the Five by tracing the history and the evolution of this institution from its origin in the later eighteenth century until today. In the process, it challenges much of the traditional narratives and accepted wisdom in regard to the Panj Piare, revolving in part around three elements with which the institution is regularly aligned in early manuscripts: caste, karma, and place.
Paul Schofield
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780190941758
- eISBN:
- 9780190941789
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190941758.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
Duty to self has not been taken seriously by contemporary moral and political philosophers, with many even denying the coherence of the notion. Morality and politics concern treatment of others, ...
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Duty to self has not been taken seriously by contemporary moral and political philosophers, with many even denying the coherence of the notion. Morality and politics concern treatment of others, according to common understanding, and so the very idea of a duty to oneself is thought to be mistaken. Against this, this book aims to vindicate the idea of duties owed by a person to herself, within both the moral and the political domains. Temporal divisions within a life, as well as between practical identities, enable an individual to relate to herself second-personally as she would to another, and thus to owe herself obligations. This book argues that such duties have implications for ethics, practical reasoning, and moral psychology. It also advances a new justification for paternalistic laws, which appeals to the notion of political self-duty.Less
Duty to self has not been taken seriously by contemporary moral and political philosophers, with many even denying the coherence of the notion. Morality and politics concern treatment of others, according to common understanding, and so the very idea of a duty to oneself is thought to be mistaken. Against this, this book aims to vindicate the idea of duties owed by a person to herself, within both the moral and the political domains. Temporal divisions within a life, as well as between practical identities, enable an individual to relate to herself second-personally as she would to another, and thus to owe herself obligations. This book argues that such duties have implications for ethics, practical reasoning, and moral psychology. It also advances a new justification for paternalistic laws, which appeals to the notion of political self-duty.
Stephen Skowronek, John A. Dearborn, and Desmond King
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197543085
- eISBN:
- 9780197543115
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197543085.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
As the nation’s chief executive, Donald Trump pitted himself repeatedly against the institutions and personnel of the executive branch. In the process, two once-obscure concepts came center stage in ...
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As the nation’s chief executive, Donald Trump pitted himself repeatedly against the institutions and personnel of the executive branch. In the process, two once-obscure concepts came center stage in an eerie face-off. On one side was the specter of a “Deep State” conspiracy – administrators threatening to thwart the will of the people and undercut the constitutional authority of the president they elected to lead them. On the other side was a raw personalization of presidential power, one that a theory of “the unitary executive” gussied up and allowed to run roughshod over reason and the rule of law. The Deep State and the unitary executive framed every major contest of the Trump presidency. Like phantom twins, they drew each other out and wrestled to light basic issues of governance long suppressed.
Though this conflict reached a fever pitch during the Trump presidency, it is not new. Stephen Skowronek, John A. Dearborn, and Desmond King trace the tensions between presidential power and the depth of the American state back through the decades and forward through the various settlements arrived at in previous eras. Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic is about the breakdown of settlements and the abiding vulnerabilities of a Constitution that gave scant attention to administrative power. Rather than simply dump on Trump, the authors provide a richly historical perspective on the conflicts that rocked his presidency, and they explain why, if left untamed, the phantom twins will continue to pull American government apart.Less
As the nation’s chief executive, Donald Trump pitted himself repeatedly against the institutions and personnel of the executive branch. In the process, two once-obscure concepts came center stage in an eerie face-off. On one side was the specter of a “Deep State” conspiracy – administrators threatening to thwart the will of the people and undercut the constitutional authority of the president they elected to lead them. On the other side was a raw personalization of presidential power, one that a theory of “the unitary executive” gussied up and allowed to run roughshod over reason and the rule of law. The Deep State and the unitary executive framed every major contest of the Trump presidency. Like phantom twins, they drew each other out and wrestled to light basic issues of governance long suppressed.
Though this conflict reached a fever pitch during the Trump presidency, it is not new. Stephen Skowronek, John A. Dearborn, and Desmond King trace the tensions between presidential power and the depth of the American state back through the decades and forward through the various settlements arrived at in previous eras. Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic is about the breakdown of settlements and the abiding vulnerabilities of a Constitution that gave scant attention to administrative power. Rather than simply dump on Trump, the authors provide a richly historical perspective on the conflicts that rocked his presidency, and they explain why, if left untamed, the phantom twins will continue to pull American government apart.
Simone Natale
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780190080365
- eISBN:
- 9780190080402
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190080365.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
Artificial intelligence (AI) is often discussed as something extraordinary, a dream—or a nightmare—that awakens metaphysical questions on human life. Yet far from a distant technology of the future, ...
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is often discussed as something extraordinary, a dream—or a nightmare—that awakens metaphysical questions on human life. Yet far from a distant technology of the future, the true power of AI lies in its subtle revolution of ordinary life. From voice assistants like Siri to natural language processors, AI technologies use cultural biases and modern psychology to fit specific characteristics of how users perceive and navigate the external world, thereby projecting the illusion of intelligence. Integrating media studies, science and technology studies, and social psychology, Deceitful Media examines the rise of artificial intelligence throughout history and exposes the very human fallacies behind this technology. Focusing specifically on communicative AIs, Natale argues that what we call “AI” is not a form of intelligence but rather a reflection of the human user. Using the term “banal deception,” he reveals that deception forms the basis of all human-computer interactions rooted in AI technologies, as technologies like voice assistants utilize the dynamics of projection and stereotyping as a means for aligning with our existing habits and social conventions. By exploiting the human instinct to connect, AI reveals our collective vulnerabilities to deception, showing that what machines are primarily changing is not other technology but ourselves as humans.
Deceitful Media illustrates how AI has continued a tradition of technologies that mobilize our liability to deception and shows that only by better understanding our vulnerabilities to deception can we become more sophisticated consumers of interactive media.Less
Artificial intelligence (AI) is often discussed as something extraordinary, a dream—or a nightmare—that awakens metaphysical questions on human life. Yet far from a distant technology of the future, the true power of AI lies in its subtle revolution of ordinary life. From voice assistants like Siri to natural language processors, AI technologies use cultural biases and modern psychology to fit specific characteristics of how users perceive and navigate the external world, thereby projecting the illusion of intelligence. Integrating media studies, science and technology studies, and social psychology, Deceitful Media examines the rise of artificial intelligence throughout history and exposes the very human fallacies behind this technology. Focusing specifically on communicative AIs, Natale argues that what we call “AI” is not a form of intelligence but rather a reflection of the human user. Using the term “banal deception,” he reveals that deception forms the basis of all human-computer interactions rooted in AI technologies, as technologies like voice assistants utilize the dynamics of projection and stereotyping as a means for aligning with our existing habits and social conventions. By exploiting the human instinct to connect, AI reveals our collective vulnerabilities to deception, showing that what machines are primarily changing is not other technology but ourselves as humans.
Deceitful Media illustrates how AI has continued a tradition of technologies that mobilize our liability to deception and shows that only by better understanding our vulnerabilities to deception can we become more sophisticated consumers of interactive media.
Séverine Autesserre
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197530351
- eISBN:
- 9780197541135
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197530351.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Conflict Politics and Policy
The Frontlines of Peace tells the stories of the ordinary yet extraordinary individuals and communities that have found effective ways to confront violence. Drawing on twenty years of work in ...
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The Frontlines of Peace tells the stories of the ordinary yet extraordinary individuals and communities that have found effective ways to confront violence. Drawing on twenty years of work in peacebuilding, including in-depth research in twelve conflict zones around the world as well as comparisons with social initiatives in North America and Europe, it shows that peace can grow in the most unlikely circumstances, with the help of the most unlikely heroes. The book opens our eyes to the well-intentioned but systematically flawed peace industry, shedding light on how typical aid interventions have been getting it wrong, and—more importantly—how a few of them have been getting it right. Contrary to what most politicians preach, resolving conflicts doesn’t require billions of dollars in aid or massive international involvement. Real, lasting peace requires giving the power over to ordinary citizens. There have been many successful examples of peacebuilding in the past few years, all involving innovative grassroots initiatives led by local people and at times supported by foreigners, often using methods shunned by the international elite. So, rather than focusing on handshakes between presidents, abstract peace agreements, and endless negotiations between governments and rebel leaders, The Frontlines of Peace details the concrete, everyday actions that make a difference on the ground. The implications are clear: We must radically change our approach if we hope to end violence from war, address conflicts in our communities, and build lasting peace around us—whether we live in Congo, the United States, or elsewhere.Less
The Frontlines of Peace tells the stories of the ordinary yet extraordinary individuals and communities that have found effective ways to confront violence. Drawing on twenty years of work in peacebuilding, including in-depth research in twelve conflict zones around the world as well as comparisons with social initiatives in North America and Europe, it shows that peace can grow in the most unlikely circumstances, with the help of the most unlikely heroes. The book opens our eyes to the well-intentioned but systematically flawed peace industry, shedding light on how typical aid interventions have been getting it wrong, and—more importantly—how a few of them have been getting it right. Contrary to what most politicians preach, resolving conflicts doesn’t require billions of dollars in aid or massive international involvement. Real, lasting peace requires giving the power over to ordinary citizens. There have been many successful examples of peacebuilding in the past few years, all involving innovative grassroots initiatives led by local people and at times supported by foreigners, often using methods shunned by the international elite. So, rather than focusing on handshakes between presidents, abstract peace agreements, and endless negotiations between governments and rebel leaders, The Frontlines of Peace details the concrete, everyday actions that make a difference on the ground. The implications are clear: We must radically change our approach if we hope to end violence from war, address conflicts in our communities, and build lasting peace around us—whether we live in Congo, the United States, or elsewhere.
Cass R. Sunstein
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197545119
- eISBN:
- 9780197548455
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197545119.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
Liars are causing devastating problems. They are endangering public health. They are threatening self-government. They are destroying the reputation of good people—and inflating the reputation of ...
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Liars are causing devastating problems. They are endangering public health. They are threatening self-government. They are destroying the reputation of good people—and inflating the reputation of people who are not so good. Nonetheless, most falsehoods ought not to be censored or regulated, even if they are lies. In general, free societies allow them. Public officials should not be allowed to act as the truth police. A key reason is that we cannot trust officials to separate truth from falsehood; their own judgments are unreliable, and their own biases get in the way. If officials are licensed to punish falsehoods, they will end up punishing dissent. The best response to falsehoods is usually to correct them, rather than to punish or censor them. But there is an exception to this proposition: governments should have the power to regulate the most harmful lies and falsehoods. False statements are not constitutionally protected if the government can show that they threaten to cause serious harm. Public officials should be able to restrict and punish lies and falsehoods that pose serious threats to public health and safety. To protect the democratic process, public officials should be able to restrict certain lies and falsehoods. They should be able to safeguard people’s reputations. Private institutions, including television networks, magazines, and newspapers, and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, should be doing much more to slow or stop the spread of lies and falsehoods.Less
Liars are causing devastating problems. They are endangering public health. They are threatening self-government. They are destroying the reputation of good people—and inflating the reputation of people who are not so good. Nonetheless, most falsehoods ought not to be censored or regulated, even if they are lies. In general, free societies allow them. Public officials should not be allowed to act as the truth police. A key reason is that we cannot trust officials to separate truth from falsehood; their own judgments are unreliable, and their own biases get in the way. If officials are licensed to punish falsehoods, they will end up punishing dissent. The best response to falsehoods is usually to correct them, rather than to punish or censor them. But there is an exception to this proposition: governments should have the power to regulate the most harmful lies and falsehoods. False statements are not constitutionally protected if the government can show that they threaten to cause serious harm. Public officials should be able to restrict and punish lies and falsehoods that pose serious threats to public health and safety. To protect the democratic process, public officials should be able to restrict certain lies and falsehoods. They should be able to safeguard people’s reputations. Private institutions, including television networks, magazines, and newspapers, and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, should be doing much more to slow or stop the spread of lies and falsehoods.
Ira Nadel
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780199846108
- eISBN:
- 9780197514450
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199846108.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
This account of Philip Roth traces the psychological and artistic origins of his creative life. It examines the major events of his career, while identifying a series of personal themes in his ...
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This account of Philip Roth traces the psychological and artistic origins of his creative life. It examines the major events of his career, while identifying a series of personal themes in his writing, from his relationship with Judaism to family, marriage, Eastern Europe, and America. It addresses his private challenges, from romance and health to surviving as a writer burdened with success. The book also reflects how living outside the United States, initially in Italy and then England, plus his visits to Eastern Europe and exposure to their oppressed writers, affected his writing. In particular, it primed him for a new engagement with American political and social history, resulting in a renewed determination to rewrite America through his American trilogy and The Plot Against America. Although chronology is the framework, this is a thematic reading of Roth’s life and career with attention to family, self-identity, and success. A set of contrasting angles form this approach, beginning with his prolonged sense of discontent yet public image of success, his search for sustained relationships but then decision to end them, his idealization of his parents but persistent undercurrent of criticism. Three overlapping issues provide the impetus for this reading: the aesthetic, the emotional, and the historical. The lasting importance of such themes as anger, betrayal, and failure has a vital role in understanding Roth’s character and work. So, too, does his sense of performance on and off the page.Less
This account of Philip Roth traces the psychological and artistic origins of his creative life. It examines the major events of his career, while identifying a series of personal themes in his writing, from his relationship with Judaism to family, marriage, Eastern Europe, and America. It addresses his private challenges, from romance and health to surviving as a writer burdened with success. The book also reflects how living outside the United States, initially in Italy and then England, plus his visits to Eastern Europe and exposure to their oppressed writers, affected his writing. In particular, it primed him for a new engagement with American political and social history, resulting in a renewed determination to rewrite America through his American trilogy and The Plot Against America. Although chronology is the framework, this is a thematic reading of Roth’s life and career with attention to family, self-identity, and success. A set of contrasting angles form this approach, beginning with his prolonged sense of discontent yet public image of success, his search for sustained relationships but then decision to end them, his idealization of his parents but persistent undercurrent of criticism. Three overlapping issues provide the impetus for this reading: the aesthetic, the emotional, and the historical. The lasting importance of such themes as anger, betrayal, and failure has a vital role in understanding Roth’s character and work. So, too, does his sense of performance on and off the page.
Melissa J. Homestead
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- December 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190652876
- eISBN:
- 9780190652906
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190652876.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature, Women's Literature
This book tells for the first time the story of the central relationship of novelist Willa Cather’s life, her nearly forty-year partnership with Edith Lewis. Cather has been described as a ...
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This book tells for the first time the story of the central relationship of novelist Willa Cather’s life, her nearly forty-year partnership with Edith Lewis. Cather has been described as a distinguished artist who turned her back on the crass commercialism of the early twentieth century and as a deeply private woman who strove to hide her sexuality, and Lewis has often been identified as her secretary. However, Lewis was a successful professional woman who edited popular magazines and wrote advertising copy at a major advertising agency and who, behind the scenes, edited Cather’s fiction. Recognizing Lewis’s role in Cather’s creative process changes how we understand Cather as an artist, while recovering their domestic partnership (which they did not seek to hide) provides a fresh perspective on lesbian life in the early twentieth century. Homestead reconstructs Cather and Lewis’s life together in Greenwich Village and on Park Avenue, their travels to the American Southwest that formed the basis of Cather’s novels The Professor’s House and Death Comes for the Archbishop, their summers as part of an all-woman resort community on Grand Manan Island, and Lewis’s magazine and advertising work as a context for her editorial collaboration with Cather. Homestead tells a human story of two women who chose to live in partnership and also explains how the Cold War panic over homosexuality caused biographers and critics to make Lewis and her central role in Cather’s life vanish even as she lived on alone for twenty-five years after her partner’s death.Less
This book tells for the first time the story of the central relationship of novelist Willa Cather’s life, her nearly forty-year partnership with Edith Lewis. Cather has been described as a distinguished artist who turned her back on the crass commercialism of the early twentieth century and as a deeply private woman who strove to hide her sexuality, and Lewis has often been identified as her secretary. However, Lewis was a successful professional woman who edited popular magazines and wrote advertising copy at a major advertising agency and who, behind the scenes, edited Cather’s fiction. Recognizing Lewis’s role in Cather’s creative process changes how we understand Cather as an artist, while recovering their domestic partnership (which they did not seek to hide) provides a fresh perspective on lesbian life in the early twentieth century. Homestead reconstructs Cather and Lewis’s life together in Greenwich Village and on Park Avenue, their travels to the American Southwest that formed the basis of Cather’s novels The Professor’s House and Death Comes for the Archbishop, their summers as part of an all-woman resort community on Grand Manan Island, and Lewis’s magazine and advertising work as a context for her editorial collaboration with Cather. Homestead tells a human story of two women who chose to live in partnership and also explains how the Cold War panic over homosexuality caused biographers and critics to make Lewis and her central role in Cather’s life vanish even as she lived on alone for twenty-five years after her partner’s death.
Vaclav Smil
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780190060664
- eISBN:
- 9780197548516
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190060664.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
The modern world was created through the combination and complex interactions of five grand transitions. First, the demographic transition changed the total numbers, dynamics, structure, and ...
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The modern world was created through the combination and complex interactions of five grand transitions. First, the demographic transition changed the total numbers, dynamics, structure, and residential pattern of populations. The agricultural and dietary transition led to the emergence of highly productive cropping and animal husbandry (subsidized by fossil energies and electricity), a change that eliminated famines, reduced malnutrition, and improved the health of populations but also resulted in enormous food waste and had many environmental consequences. The energy transition brought the world from traditional biomass fuels and human and animal labor to fossil fuel, ever more efficient electricity, lights, and motors, all of which transformed both agricultural and industrial production and enabled mass-scale mobility and instant communication. Economic transition has been marked by relatively high growth rates of total national and global product, by fundamental structural transformation (from farming to industries to services), and by an increasing share of humanity living in affluent societies, enjoying unprecedented quality of life. These transitions have made many intensifying demands on the environment, resulting in ecosystemic degradation, loss of biodiversity, pollution, and eventually change on the planetary level, with global warming being the most worrisome development. This book traces the genesis of these transitions, their interactions and complicated progress as well as their outcomes and impacts, explaining how the modern world was made—and then offers a forward-thinking examination of some key unfolding transitions and appraising their challenges and possible results.Less
The modern world was created through the combination and complex interactions of five grand transitions. First, the demographic transition changed the total numbers, dynamics, structure, and residential pattern of populations. The agricultural and dietary transition led to the emergence of highly productive cropping and animal husbandry (subsidized by fossil energies and electricity), a change that eliminated famines, reduced malnutrition, and improved the health of populations but also resulted in enormous food waste and had many environmental consequences. The energy transition brought the world from traditional biomass fuels and human and animal labor to fossil fuel, ever more efficient electricity, lights, and motors, all of which transformed both agricultural and industrial production and enabled mass-scale mobility and instant communication. Economic transition has been marked by relatively high growth rates of total national and global product, by fundamental structural transformation (from farming to industries to services), and by an increasing share of humanity living in affluent societies, enjoying unprecedented quality of life. These transitions have made many intensifying demands on the environment, resulting in ecosystemic degradation, loss of biodiversity, pollution, and eventually change on the planetary level, with global warming being the most worrisome development. This book traces the genesis of these transitions, their interactions and complicated progress as well as their outcomes and impacts, explaining how the modern world was made—and then offers a forward-thinking examination of some key unfolding transitions and appraising their challenges and possible results.