Henry Laycock
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199281718
- eISBN:
- 9780191603594
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199281718.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
The book seeks to resolve the so-called ‘problem of mass nouns’ — a problem which cannot be resolved on the basis of a conventional system of logic. It is not, for instance, possible to explicate ...
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The book seeks to resolve the so-called ‘problem of mass nouns’ — a problem which cannot be resolved on the basis of a conventional system of logic. It is not, for instance, possible to explicate assertions of the existence of air, oil, or water through the use of quantifiers and variables which take objectual values. The difficulty is attributable to the semantically distinctive status of non-count nouns — nouns which, although not plural, are nonetheless akin to plural nouns in being semantically non-singular. Such are the semantics of a non-singular noun, that there can be no such single thing or object as the thing of which the noun is true. However, standard approaches to understanding non-singular nouns tend to be reductive, construing them as singular expressions — expressions which, in the case of non-count nouns, are true of ‘parcels’ or ‘quantities’ of stuff, and in the case of plural nouns, are true of ‘plural entities’ or ‘sets’. It is argued that both approaches are equally misguided, that there are no distinctive objects in the extensions of non-singular nouns. With plural nouns, their extensions are identical with those of the corresponding singular expressions. With non-count nouns, because they are not plural, there can be no corresponding singular expressions. In consequence, there are no objects in the extensions of non-count nouns at all. In short, there are no such things as instances of stuff: the world of space and time contains not merely large numbers of discrete concrete things or individuals of diverse kinds, but also large amounts of sheer undifferentiated concrete stuff. Metaphysically, non-singular reference in general is an arbitrary modality of reference, ungrounded in the realities to which it is non-ideally or intransparently correlated.Less
The book seeks to resolve the so-called ‘problem of mass nouns’ — a problem which cannot be resolved on the basis of a conventional system of logic. It is not, for instance, possible to explicate assertions of the existence of air, oil, or water through the use of quantifiers and variables which take objectual values. The difficulty is attributable to the semantically distinctive status of non-count nouns — nouns which, although not plural, are nonetheless akin to plural nouns in being semantically non-singular. Such are the semantics of a non-singular noun, that there can be no such single thing or object as the thing of which the noun is true. However, standard approaches to understanding non-singular nouns tend to be reductive, construing them as singular expressions — expressions which, in the case of non-count nouns, are true of ‘parcels’ or ‘quantities’ of stuff, and in the case of plural nouns, are true of ‘plural entities’ or ‘sets’. It is argued that both approaches are equally misguided, that there are no distinctive objects in the extensions of non-singular nouns. With plural nouns, their extensions are identical with those of the corresponding singular expressions. With non-count nouns, because they are not plural, there can be no corresponding singular expressions. In consequence, there are no objects in the extensions of non-count nouns at all. In short, there are no such things as instances of stuff: the world of space and time contains not merely large numbers of discrete concrete things or individuals of diverse kinds, but also large amounts of sheer undifferentiated concrete stuff. Metaphysically, non-singular reference in general is an arbitrary modality of reference, ungrounded in the realities to which it is non-ideally or intransparently correlated.
Osamu Fujino
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198570615
- eISBN:
- 9780191717703
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198570615.003.0003
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Geometry / Topology
This chapter introduces, compares, and discusses several flavours of log terminal singularities of pairs, with motivation and counterexamples. The chapter contains a careful treatment of the ...
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This chapter introduces, compares, and discusses several flavours of log terminal singularities of pairs, with motivation and counterexamples. The chapter contains a careful treatment of the adjunction formula for dlt pairs.Less
This chapter introduces, compares, and discusses several flavours of log terminal singularities of pairs, with motivation and counterexamples. The chapter contains a careful treatment of the adjunction formula for dlt pairs.
Henry Laycock
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199281718
- eISBN:
- 9780191603594
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199281718.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
This chapter takes issue with the common assumption that referential expressions and definite descriptions involving ‘mass nouns’ are semantically singular, thereby designating so-called parcels of ...
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This chapter takes issue with the common assumption that referential expressions and definite descriptions involving ‘mass nouns’ are semantically singular, thereby designating so-called parcels of matter or individual instances of stuff. The trouble is that whereas count nouns are either singular or plural, the so-called mass nouns, because they are non-count, are semantically neither singular nor plural. Russell’s Theory of Descriptions as well as considerations on persistence, identity, and flux are invoked to reinforce this point.Less
This chapter takes issue with the common assumption that referential expressions and definite descriptions involving ‘mass nouns’ are semantically singular, thereby designating so-called parcels of matter or individual instances of stuff. The trouble is that whereas count nouns are either singular or plural, the so-called mass nouns, because they are non-count, are semantically neither singular nor plural. Russell’s Theory of Descriptions as well as considerations on persistence, identity, and flux are invoked to reinforce this point.
Kaare Strøm
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780198297840
- eISBN:
- 9780191602016
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019829784X.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Identifies three motivations for political delegation (capacity, competence, collective action problems) and discusses agency problems and mechanisms of accountability. An ideal-typical form of ...
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Identifies three motivations for political delegation (capacity, competence, collective action problems) and discusses agency problems and mechanisms of accountability. An ideal-typical form of parliamentary democracy is introduced to reveal that singularity and indirect delegation are key ingredients of delegation and accountability. Develops a delegation model that reveals more agency loss (policy slippage) in parliamentary democracy than in two versions of presidentialism. Parliamentary democracies use ex ante screening by cohesive political parties to protect against adverse selection. Delegation and accountability make parliamentary democracies more efficient, but frequently less transparent. Identifies the implications of different forms of parliamentarism, such as Westminster parliamentarism, pivotal parliamentarism, and constrained parliamentarism.Less
Identifies three motivations for political delegation (capacity, competence, collective action problems) and discusses agency problems and mechanisms of accountability. An ideal-typical form of parliamentary democracy is introduced to reveal that singularity and indirect delegation are key ingredients of delegation and accountability. Develops a delegation model that reveals more agency loss (policy slippage) in parliamentary democracy than in two versions of presidentialism. Parliamentary democracies use ex ante screening by cohesive political parties to protect against adverse selection. Delegation and accountability make parliamentary democracies more efficient, but frequently less transparent. Identifies the implications of different forms of parliamentarism, such as Westminster parliamentarism, pivotal parliamentarism, and constrained parliamentarism.
Charles D. Bailyn
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691148823
- eISBN:
- 9781400850563
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691148823.003.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, Particle Physics / Astrophysics / Cosmology
This introductory chapter provides a background of black holes. The term “black hole” is not defined in a technical way and is used in different contexts to mean different things. The phrase itself ...
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This introductory chapter provides a background of black holes. The term “black hole” is not defined in a technical way and is used in different contexts to mean different things. The phrase itself was popularized by the physicist John Archibald Wheeler to replace the cumbersome description “gravitationally completely collapsed object.” However, black holes are not just useful metaphors or remarkable constructs of theoretical physics; they actually exist. Over the past few decades, black holes have moved from theoretical exotica to a well-known and carefully studied class of astronomical objects. Extensive data archives reveal the properties of systems containing black holes, and many details of their behavior are known. In the current astronomical literature, the seemingly bizarre properties of black holes are now taken for granted and are used as a basis for understanding a wide variety of phenomena.Less
This introductory chapter provides a background of black holes. The term “black hole” is not defined in a technical way and is used in different contexts to mean different things. The phrase itself was popularized by the physicist John Archibald Wheeler to replace the cumbersome description “gravitationally completely collapsed object.” However, black holes are not just useful metaphors or remarkable constructs of theoretical physics; they actually exist. Over the past few decades, black holes have moved from theoretical exotica to a well-known and carefully studied class of astronomical objects. Extensive data archives reveal the properties of systems containing black holes, and many details of their behavior are known. In the current astronomical literature, the seemingly bizarre properties of black holes are now taken for granted and are used as a basis for understanding a wide variety of phenomena.
Charles P. Boyer and Krzysztof Galicki
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198564959
- eISBN:
- 9780191713712
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198564959.003.0010
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Geometry / Topology
This chapter is devoted to the geometry of links of isolated hypersurface singularities, as well as a review of the differential topology of homotopy spheres a la Kervaire and Milnor. The ...
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This chapter is devoted to the geometry of links of isolated hypersurface singularities, as well as a review of the differential topology of homotopy spheres a la Kervaire and Milnor. The differential topology of links is a beautiful piece of mathematics, and the chapter offers a hands-on ‘user's guide’ approach with much emphasis on the famous work of Brieskorn in determining the difieomorphism types of certain homotopy spheres. This includes a presentation of the well known Brieskorn graph theorem as well as the geometry of Brieskorn-Pham links. When the singularities arise from weighted homogeneous polynomials, the links have a natural Sasakian structure with either definite (positive or negative) or null basic first Chern class. Emphasis is given to the positive case which corresponds to having positive Ricci curvature.Less
This chapter is devoted to the geometry of links of isolated hypersurface singularities, as well as a review of the differential topology of homotopy spheres a la Kervaire and Milnor. The differential topology of links is a beautiful piece of mathematics, and the chapter offers a hands-on ‘user's guide’ approach with much emphasis on the famous work of Brieskorn in determining the difieomorphism types of certain homotopy spheres. This includes a presentation of the well known Brieskorn graph theorem as well as the geometry of Brieskorn-Pham links. When the singularities arise from weighted homogeneous polynomials, the links have a natural Sasakian structure with either definite (positive or negative) or null basic first Chern class. Emphasis is given to the positive case which corresponds to having positive Ricci curvature.
Charles P. Boyer and Krzysztof Galicki
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198564959
- eISBN:
- 9780191713712
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198564959.003.0011
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Geometry / Topology
This chapter describes Sasakian geometry in low dimensions. In dimension three there is a complete classification; dimension five is large enough to be interesting, yet small enough to hope for some ...
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This chapter describes Sasakian geometry in low dimensions. In dimension three there is a complete classification; dimension five is large enough to be interesting, yet small enough to hope for some partial classification. We concentrate on the simply connected case, as there we can rely on the Smale-Barden classification. In terms of Sasakian structures, the main focus is on the case of positive Sasakian structures. The chapter describes several remarkable theorems of Kollfiar showing how positivity severely restricts the topology, in particular the torsion of a manifold which admits a positive Sasakian structure. The method heavily depends on the algebraic geometry of log del Pezzo surfaces with cyclic Du Val singularities.Less
This chapter describes Sasakian geometry in low dimensions. In dimension three there is a complete classification; dimension five is large enough to be interesting, yet small enough to hope for some partial classification. We concentrate on the simply connected case, as there we can rely on the Smale-Barden classification. In terms of Sasakian structures, the main focus is on the case of positive Sasakian structures. The chapter describes several remarkable theorems of Kollfiar showing how positivity severely restricts the topology, in particular the torsion of a manifold which admits a positive Sasakian structure. The method heavily depends on the algebraic geometry of log del Pezzo surfaces with cyclic Du Val singularities.
Simon Scott
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198568360
- eISBN:
- 9780191594748
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198568360.003.0005
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Analysis
In this chapter details of the construction of the fundamental trace functionals on pseudodifferential operators are given. The approach to traces taken here is through an analysis of the singularity ...
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In this chapter details of the construction of the fundamental trace functionals on pseudodifferential operators are given. The approach to traces taken here is through an analysis of the singularity structure of the operator Schwartz kernel. This allows for a dual perspective on traces, viewed either from the microanalytic approach of pseudodifferential methods or from the approach favoured in applications in geometric analysis, differential geometry, and theoretical physics, of subtracting-off the singular part of the kernel. Regularized traces arise via subtracting-off from the Schwartz kernel the meromorphic continuation of homogeneous distributions defined by the pseudodifferential operator symbol, linking trace regularization methods with traditional distributional analysis. Exact formulae are computed for regularized trace functionals for log-classical pseudodifferential operators, allowing, in particular, precise formulae for the zeta determinant. The final part of the chapter analyses the principal multiplicative functional on the semiqroup of pseudodifferential operators.Less
In this chapter details of the construction of the fundamental trace functionals on pseudodifferential operators are given. The approach to traces taken here is through an analysis of the singularity structure of the operator Schwartz kernel. This allows for a dual perspective on traces, viewed either from the microanalytic approach of pseudodifferential methods or from the approach favoured in applications in geometric analysis, differential geometry, and theoretical physics, of subtracting-off the singular part of the kernel. Regularized traces arise via subtracting-off from the Schwartz kernel the meromorphic continuation of homogeneous distributions defined by the pseudodifferential operator symbol, linking trace regularization methods with traditional distributional analysis. Exact formulae are computed for regularized trace functionals for log-classical pseudodifferential operators, allowing, in particular, precise formulae for the zeta determinant. The final part of the chapter analyses the principal multiplicative functional on the semiqroup of pseudodifferential operators.
Birgit Schippers
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748640898
- eISBN:
- 9780748671830
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748640898.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy
Julia Kristeva's writings on the female subject and on feminist politics continue to trouble many of her readers; as yet, there exists no unified response to her ideas in contemporary feminism. Julia ...
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Julia Kristeva's writings on the female subject and on feminist politics continue to trouble many of her readers; as yet, there exists no unified response to her ideas in contemporary feminism. Julia Kristeva and Feminist Thought offers a novel and engaging appraisal of Kristeva's recent work that recuperates her significance for a feminist project. Drawing on her recent texts on revolt, female genius and freedom, the book provides a detailed assessment of the diverse feminist responses to Kristeva's key ideas, and it demonstrates how feminism's troubled relations with Kristeva can only be understood by attending to the plurality and heterogeneity of contemporary feminist positions. As the book suggests, any feminist appropriation of Kristeva's ideas requires a reading against the grain, as well as careful attention to their positioning along the fault-lines that run through contemporary feminism. While considering Kristeva's ambivalence about the importance of feminism, the book provides a sympathetic account of her radical philosophy of feminine heterogeneity, her concern with singularity and freedom, and the deeply ethical orientation of her work towards conditions of otherness. It argues that while conceptualising feminism in such a way can be profoundly unsettling, it also keeps feminism's plural and diverse theory and practice alive.Less
Julia Kristeva's writings on the female subject and on feminist politics continue to trouble many of her readers; as yet, there exists no unified response to her ideas in contemporary feminism. Julia Kristeva and Feminist Thought offers a novel and engaging appraisal of Kristeva's recent work that recuperates her significance for a feminist project. Drawing on her recent texts on revolt, female genius and freedom, the book provides a detailed assessment of the diverse feminist responses to Kristeva's key ideas, and it demonstrates how feminism's troubled relations with Kristeva can only be understood by attending to the plurality and heterogeneity of contemporary feminist positions. As the book suggests, any feminist appropriation of Kristeva's ideas requires a reading against the grain, as well as careful attention to their positioning along the fault-lines that run through contemporary feminism. While considering Kristeva's ambivalence about the importance of feminism, the book provides a sympathetic account of her radical philosophy of feminine heterogeneity, her concern with singularity and freedom, and the deeply ethical orientation of her work towards conditions of otherness. It argues that while conceptualising feminism in such a way can be profoundly unsettling, it also keeps feminism's plural and diverse theory and practice alive.
Andrew Ranicki
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198509240
- eISBN:
- 9780191708725
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198509240.003.0007
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Geometry / Topology
This chapter describes the algebraic and geometric intersection properties of submanifolds used to establish the one-one correspondence between algebraic and geometric surgeries below the middle ...
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This chapter describes the algebraic and geometric intersection properties of submanifolds used to establish the one-one correspondence between algebraic and geometric surgeries below the middle dimension. The Whitney immersion and embedding theorems are required for this purpose, and for analysing the obstructions in the middle dimension.Less
This chapter describes the algebraic and geometric intersection properties of submanifolds used to establish the one-one correspondence between algebraic and geometric surgeries below the middle dimension. The Whitney immersion and embedding theorems are required for this purpose, and for analysing the obstructions in the middle dimension.
David M. Paganin
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198567288
- eISBN:
- 9780191717963
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567288.003.0005
- Subject:
- Physics, Atomic, Laser, and Optical Physics
This chapter acquaints the reader with the nascent field of singular X-ray optics, dealing with the singularities of X-ray wave fields, particularly phase singularities (phase vortices). The concept ...
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This chapter acquaints the reader with the nascent field of singular X-ray optics, dealing with the singularities of X-ray wave fields, particularly phase singularities (phase vortices). The concept of a phase vortex is outlined, including its link to the notion of a nodal line. Using certain exact polynomial solutions to the d’Alembert wave equation, various aspects of vortex dynamics are treated, including vortex nucleation and annihilation, vortex stability and decay, and the interactions of phase vortices with the background X-ray field in which they are embedded. Several experimental means of creating X-ray vortices are considered: interference of three plane waves, synthetic holograms, spiral phase masks, and spontaneous vortex formation using random phase screens. Other types of singularity besides phase vortices are then considered, including domain walls and caustics. The chapter closes with a discussion of Berry’s notion of a singularity hierarchy, as it relates to the subject of coherent X-ray optics.Less
This chapter acquaints the reader with the nascent field of singular X-ray optics, dealing with the singularities of X-ray wave fields, particularly phase singularities (phase vortices). The concept of a phase vortex is outlined, including its link to the notion of a nodal line. Using certain exact polynomial solutions to the d’Alembert wave equation, various aspects of vortex dynamics are treated, including vortex nucleation and annihilation, vortex stability and decay, and the interactions of phase vortices with the background X-ray field in which they are embedded. Several experimental means of creating X-ray vortices are considered: interference of three plane waves, synthetic holograms, spiral phase masks, and spontaneous vortex formation using random phase screens. Other types of singularity besides phase vortices are then considered, including domain walls and caustics. The chapter closes with a discussion of Berry’s notion of a singularity hierarchy, as it relates to the subject of coherent X-ray optics.
Ned Schantz
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195335910
- eISBN:
- 9780199868902
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335910.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies, Women's Literature
This chapter considers how long-distance female networks emerge out of gothic claustrophobia to flourish in the fantasy space of epistolary suspension. As it reads Clarissa for its powerful ...
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This chapter considers how long-distance female networks emerge out of gothic claustrophobia to flourish in the fantasy space of epistolary suspension. As it reads Clarissa for its powerful commitment to speculation, alternatives emerge to the dominant story of female virtue as lethal singularity. That Richardson refused these alternatives becomes the key to a reading of Evelina in the shadow of Clarissa. Here epistolarity goes underground as an agoraphobic heroine seeks shelter from uninhabitable female standards.Less
This chapter considers how long-distance female networks emerge out of gothic claustrophobia to flourish in the fantasy space of epistolary suspension. As it reads Clarissa for its powerful commitment to speculation, alternatives emerge to the dominant story of female virtue as lethal singularity. That Richardson refused these alternatives becomes the key to a reading of Evelina in the shadow of Clarissa. Here epistolarity goes underground as an agoraphobic heroine seeks shelter from uninhabitable female standards.
Donna Jo Napoli and Rachel Sutton-Spence
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199732548
- eISBN:
- 9780199866359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199732548.003.0013
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Applied Linguistics and Pedagogy
This chapter offers evidence consistent with the proposal that sign languages preceded spoken languages in the evolution of language. Using conceptual integration theory, the authors argue that what ...
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This chapter offers evidence consistent with the proposal that sign languages preceded spoken languages in the evolution of language. Using conceptual integration theory, the authors argue that what may be considered “just a funny story in British Sign Language” contains the human singularities needed to create novel mappings and compressions between pre-existing conventional cognitive parts and conventionally structured cognitive parts that make up human language. While it is arguable that spoken language could do without analogy, framing, and the like (though it would be vastly impoverished), it is entirely impossible for sign language to do so. Thus the fact that these human singularities emerged at roughly the same time as language makes sense if the first human language was signed.Less
This chapter offers evidence consistent with the proposal that sign languages preceded spoken languages in the evolution of language. Using conceptual integration theory, the authors argue that what may be considered “just a funny story in British Sign Language” contains the human singularities needed to create novel mappings and compressions between pre-existing conventional cognitive parts and conventionally structured cognitive parts that make up human language. While it is arguable that spoken language could do without analogy, framing, and the like (though it would be vastly impoverished), it is entirely impossible for sign language to do so. Thus the fact that these human singularities emerged at roughly the same time as language makes sense if the first human language was signed.
Wendell Wallach and Colin Allen
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195374049
- eISBN:
- 9780199871889
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195374049.003.0013
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
The desirability of computers making moral decisions poses an array of future dangers that are difficult to anticipate but will, nevertheless, need to be monitored and managed. Public policy and ...
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The desirability of computers making moral decisions poses an array of future dangers that are difficult to anticipate but will, nevertheless, need to be monitored and managed. Public policy and mechanisms of social and business liability management will both play a role in the safety, direction, and speed in which artificial intelligent systems are developed. Fear is not likely to stop scientific research, but it is likely that various fears will slow it down. Mechanisms for distinguishing real dangers from speculation and hype fueled by science fiction are needed. This chapter surveys ways of addressing issues of rights and accountability for (ro)bots and touches on topics such as legal personhood, self‐replicating robots, the possibility of a “singularity” at which AI outstrips human intelligence, and the transhumanist movement that sees the future of humanity itself as an inevitable (and desirable) march toward cyborg beings.Less
The desirability of computers making moral decisions poses an array of future dangers that are difficult to anticipate but will, nevertheless, need to be monitored and managed. Public policy and mechanisms of social and business liability management will both play a role in the safety, direction, and speed in which artificial intelligent systems are developed. Fear is not likely to stop scientific research, but it is likely that various fears will slow it down. Mechanisms for distinguishing real dangers from speculation and hype fueled by science fiction are needed. This chapter surveys ways of addressing issues of rights and accountability for (ro)bots and touches on topics such as legal personhood, self‐replicating robots, the possibility of a “singularity” at which AI outstrips human intelligence, and the transhumanist movement that sees the future of humanity itself as an inevitable (and desirable) march toward cyborg beings.
PHILIPPE DESCOLA
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263945
- eISBN:
- 9780191734038
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263945.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter discusses the concepts of nature and culture. It reveals that Radcliffe-Brown had a poor opinion of the concept of culture; he neglected to consider that the concept of nature was no ...
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This chapter discusses the concepts of nature and culture. It reveals that Radcliffe-Brown had a poor opinion of the concept of culture; he neglected to consider that the concept of nature was no more concrete or directly observable than ‘culture’. The chapter shows that other civilisations were able to adopt a variety of ways to distribute qualities to beings in the world, thus resulting in forms of discontinuity and continuity between humans and non-humans. It stresses that people should treat the modern ontological grid — moral singularity versus physical universality — as one of several other formulae employed to describe the structures of the world.Less
This chapter discusses the concepts of nature and culture. It reveals that Radcliffe-Brown had a poor opinion of the concept of culture; he neglected to consider that the concept of nature was no more concrete or directly observable than ‘culture’. The chapter shows that other civilisations were able to adopt a variety of ways to distribute qualities to beings in the world, thus resulting in forms of discontinuity and continuity between humans and non-humans. It stresses that people should treat the modern ontological grid — moral singularity versus physical universality — as one of several other formulae employed to describe the structures of the world.
Miguel Alcubierre
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199205677
- eISBN:
- 9780191709371
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199205677.003.0006
- Subject:
- Physics, Theoretical, Computational, and Statistical Physics
This chapter considers the different issues associated with the numerical evolution of black hole spacetimes. These issues can be separated into three areas: 1) how to evolve black holes successfully ...
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This chapter considers the different issues associated with the numerical evolution of black hole spacetimes. These issues can be separated into three areas: 1) how to evolve black holes successfully and in particular how to deal with the presence of singularities; 2) how to locate the black hole horizons in a numerically generated spacetime; and 3) how to measure physical quantities such as mass and angular momentum associated with a black hole. Topics covered include isometries and throat adapted coordinates, static puncture evolution, singularity avoidance and slice stretching, black hole excision, moving punctures, apparent horizons, event horizons, and isolated and dynamical horizons.Less
This chapter considers the different issues associated with the numerical evolution of black hole spacetimes. These issues can be separated into three areas: 1) how to evolve black holes successfully and in particular how to deal with the presence of singularities; 2) how to locate the black hole horizons in a numerically generated spacetime; and 3) how to measure physical quantities such as mass and angular momentum associated with a black hole. Topics covered include isometries and throat adapted coordinates, static puncture evolution, singularity avoidance and slice stretching, black hole excision, moving punctures, apparent horizons, event horizons, and isolated and dynamical horizons.
Ann Jefferson
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199270842
- eISBN:
- 9780191710292
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199270842.003.0011
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
This chapter examines Schwob's account of biography as the basis for the literariness of literature. Biography's concerns with the unique and the individual — often in the form of incidental details ...
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This chapter examines Schwob's account of biography as the basis for the literariness of literature. Biography's concerns with the unique and the individual — often in the form of incidental details to be found in the record of a person's life — are, according to Schwob, precisely those of literature itself. Brevity is a concomitant necessity for the biographer. Schwob possessed considerable erudition of the kind usually associated with the biographical dictionary, but he exploits it to privilege the unique biographical detail. Like Nerval, his texts do not just borrow or reinvent the biographical genre, but may be read as reflections on the principles of biography. With Schwob literature and biography become one, and biography provides the means of defining the literariness of literature.Less
This chapter examines Schwob's account of biography as the basis for the literariness of literature. Biography's concerns with the unique and the individual — often in the form of incidental details to be found in the record of a person's life — are, according to Schwob, precisely those of literature itself. Brevity is a concomitant necessity for the biographer. Schwob possessed considerable erudition of the kind usually associated with the biographical dictionary, but he exploits it to privilege the unique biographical detail. Like Nerval, his texts do not just borrow or reinvent the biographical genre, but may be read as reflections on the principles of biography. With Schwob literature and biography become one, and biography provides the means of defining the literariness of literature.
Arlindo Oliveira
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262036030
- eISBN:
- 9780262338394
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262036030.001.0001
- Subject:
- Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
This book addresses the connections between computers, life, evolution, brains, and minds. Digital computers are recent and have changed our society. However, they represent just the latest way to ...
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This book addresses the connections between computers, life, evolution, brains, and minds. Digital computers are recent and have changed our society. However, they represent just the latest way to process information, using algorithms to create order out of chaos. Before computers, the job of processing information was done by living organisms, which are nothing more than complex information processing devices, shaped by billions of years of evolution. The most advanced of these information processing devices is the human brain. Brains enable humans to process information in a way unparalleled by any other species, living or extinct, or by any existing machine. They provide humans with intelligence, consciousness and, some believe, even with a soul. Brains also enabled humans to develop science and technology to a point where it is possible to design computers with a power comparable to that of the human brain. Machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies will one day make it possible to create intelligent machines and computational biology will one day enable us to model, simulate, and understand biological systems and even complete brains, with unprecedented levels of detail. From these efforts, new minds will eventually emerge, minds that will emanate from the execution of programs running in powerful computers. These digital minds may one day rival our own, become our partners, and replace humans in many tasks. They may usher in a technological singularity, may make humans obsolete or even a threatened species. They make us super-humans or demi-gods.Less
This book addresses the connections between computers, life, evolution, brains, and minds. Digital computers are recent and have changed our society. However, they represent just the latest way to process information, using algorithms to create order out of chaos. Before computers, the job of processing information was done by living organisms, which are nothing more than complex information processing devices, shaped by billions of years of evolution. The most advanced of these information processing devices is the human brain. Brains enable humans to process information in a way unparalleled by any other species, living or extinct, or by any existing machine. They provide humans with intelligence, consciousness and, some believe, even with a soul. Brains also enabled humans to develop science and technology to a point where it is possible to design computers with a power comparable to that of the human brain. Machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies will one day make it possible to create intelligent machines and computational biology will one day enable us to model, simulate, and understand biological systems and even complete brains, with unprecedented levels of detail. From these efforts, new minds will eventually emerge, minds that will emanate from the execution of programs running in powerful computers. These digital minds may one day rival our own, become our partners, and replace humans in many tasks. They may usher in a technological singularity, may make humans obsolete or even a threatened species. They make us super-humans or demi-gods.
Herman Philipse
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199697533
- eISBN:
- 9780191738470
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199697533.003.0012
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Inductive cosmological arguments are prima facie more promising for the natural theologian than deductive arguments, such as the Kalam cosmological argument, which is not sound. In the cosmological ...
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Inductive cosmological arguments are prima facie more promising for the natural theologian than deductive arguments, such as the Kalam cosmological argument, which is not sound. In the cosmological scenario of an infinitely old universe, however, there is no valid explanandum for the hypothesis of theism. The claim that theism might explain the infinite series of time-slices of the universe ‘as a whole’ is based upon a fallacy of ambiguity. There is no valid explanandum either for a synchronic cosmological argument. Finally, the argument from the Big Bang to God is problematic for a multitude of reasons. It cannot avoid the risk of God-of-the-gaps. It cannot satisfy the relevance condition, because the likelihood of the Big Bang singularity given theism is negligible (if it can be determined at all). Also, the prior probability of the Big Bang singularity cannot be small compared to that of God, for example (if it can be determined at all).Less
Inductive cosmological arguments are prima facie more promising for the natural theologian than deductive arguments, such as the Kalam cosmological argument, which is not sound. In the cosmological scenario of an infinitely old universe, however, there is no valid explanandum for the hypothesis of theism. The claim that theism might explain the infinite series of time-slices of the universe ‘as a whole’ is based upon a fallacy of ambiguity. There is no valid explanandum either for a synchronic cosmological argument. Finally, the argument from the Big Bang to God is problematic for a multitude of reasons. It cannot avoid the risk of God-of-the-gaps. It cannot satisfy the relevance condition, because the likelihood of the Big Bang singularity given theism is negligible (if it can be determined at all). Also, the prior probability of the Big Bang singularity cannot be small compared to that of God, for example (if it can be determined at all).
Michelle MacCarthy
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780824855604
- eISBN:
- 9780824872175
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824855604.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This book provides an anthropological analysis of the encounter between local residents and tourists in the Trobriand Islands, a place renowned in anthropology and represented in various media as ...
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This book provides an anthropological analysis of the encounter between local residents and tourists in the Trobriand Islands, a place renowned in anthropology and represented in various media as “culturally authentic.” Through an examination of four arenas of interaction between Trobriand Islanders and tourists (formal performances, informal village visits, souvenir shopping, and tourist photography), this monograph explores the relationship of tourism to the commoditization of culture. A critique of concepts of authenticity, tradition, primitivity, and cultural commodification shows how these notions, which have particular meanings as analytical concepts in anthropology, are appropriated and strategically deployed in the discourses of both Trobriand Islanders and tourists. These tropes are employed in ways that fit with prevailing metanarratives which each side holds about the other, and are reproduced both in individual narratives of tourists’ and Trobrianders’ experiences and in their interpretations (often misconstrued) of the lives of cultural others with whom they interact. I argue that cultural commodities in this type of tourism are conceived of as singularities, a special category whose commodity status is downplayed in order to generate an increased sense of authenticity and to perpetuate the myth of a “primitive” economy and way of life more generally. In touristic encounters, experience itself is a sort of commodity, but relationships (real or imagined) are central to investing these experiences with meaning and value. This analysis brings new understandings of the role and significance of authenticity in the anthropology of tourism, as well as how meaning and value are ascribed to the cultural products produced and consumed in the cultural tourism encounter.Less
This book provides an anthropological analysis of the encounter between local residents and tourists in the Trobriand Islands, a place renowned in anthropology and represented in various media as “culturally authentic.” Through an examination of four arenas of interaction between Trobriand Islanders and tourists (formal performances, informal village visits, souvenir shopping, and tourist photography), this monograph explores the relationship of tourism to the commoditization of culture. A critique of concepts of authenticity, tradition, primitivity, and cultural commodification shows how these notions, which have particular meanings as analytical concepts in anthropology, are appropriated and strategically deployed in the discourses of both Trobriand Islanders and tourists. These tropes are employed in ways that fit with prevailing metanarratives which each side holds about the other, and are reproduced both in individual narratives of tourists’ and Trobrianders’ experiences and in their interpretations (often misconstrued) of the lives of cultural others with whom they interact. I argue that cultural commodities in this type of tourism are conceived of as singularities, a special category whose commodity status is downplayed in order to generate an increased sense of authenticity and to perpetuate the myth of a “primitive” economy and way of life more generally. In touristic encounters, experience itself is a sort of commodity, but relationships (real or imagined) are central to investing these experiences with meaning and value. This analysis brings new understandings of the role and significance of authenticity in the anthropology of tourism, as well as how meaning and value are ascribed to the cultural products produced and consumed in the cultural tourism encounter.
