Toward a Theory of Intellectual Entertainment

Author(s):  
José I. Latorre ◽  
María T. Soto-Sanfiel

We reflect on the typical sequence of complex emotions associated with the process of scientific discovery. It is proposed that the same sequence is found to underlie many forms of media entertainment, albeit substantially scaled down. Hence, a distinct theory of intellectual entertainment is put forward. The seemingly timeless presence of multiple forms of intellectual entertainment finds its roots in a positive moral approval of the self of itself.

F1000Research ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Iorns ◽  
Christin Chong

Recent attempts at replicating highly-cited peer-reviewed studies demonstrate that the “reproducibility crisis” is indeed upon us. However, punitive measures against individuals committing research misconduct are neither sufficient nor useful because this is a systemic issue stemming from a lack of positive incentive. As an alternative approach, here we propose a system of checks and balances for the publishing process that involves 1) technical review of methodology by publishers, and 2) incentivizing direct replication of key experimental results. Together, these actions will help restore the self-correcting nature of scientific discovery.


Author(s):  
Dieter Bögenhold ◽  
Uwe Fachinger ◽  
René Leicht

For the past two decades the subject of entrepreneurship has been revived in public discourse and economic debate. The call for entrepreneurship tends to become a call for self-employment. The authors argue that the assumption that entrepreneurship means self-employment is not correct. In addition, they focus on a key issue that frequently surfaces in the debate — the wealth of the self-employed. Their conclusion is that attention must be drawn to the multiple forms of self-employed activities, some of which are far removed from those that are normally associated with the term ‘entrepreneurship’.


2019 ◽  
Vol 122 (1) ◽  
pp. 409-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sotaro Shibayama ◽  
Jian Wang

Abstract Originality has self-evident importance for science, but objectively measuring originality poses a formidable challenge. We conceptualise originality as the degree to which a scientific discovery provides subsequent studies with unique knowledge that is not available from previous studies. Accordingly, we operationalise a new measure of originality for individual scientific papers building on the network betweenness centrality concept. Specifically, we measure the originality of a paper based on the directed citation network between its references and the subsequent papers citing it. We demonstrate the validity of this measure using survey information. In particular, we find that the proposed measure is positively correlated with the self-assessed theoretical originality but not with the methodological originality. We also find that originality can be reliably measured with only a small number of subsequent citing papers, which lowers computational cost and contributes to practical utility. The measure also predicts future citations, further confirming its validity. We further characterise the measure to guide its future use.


Author(s):  
Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh

This chapter examines the ways in which the protracted Sahrawi refugee context has been represented by its political body, the Polisario Front, to its non-Sahrawi ‘audience’ in such a way as to assure continued political and humanitarian support. This chapter builds upon the recognition that the delivery of development aid is generally dependent on the capacity of the recipients to fulfil a set of non-economic conditionalities such as the creation of democratic political structures, the protection of human rights, and the promotion of gender equality. Refugees are expected to conform to the values of their sponsors. Conformity to these imposed values assuages them continued arrival of humanitarian supplies. However, such conditionalities do not necessarily lead to the modification of recipients’ socio-political structures as sponsors may expect. Rather, multiple forms of dependence on external aid and the broader political context have directly impacted the manners with which the recipients market themselves to their sponsors. In this chapter, the efforts of the Polisario Front in developing a particular representation of the Sahrawi ‘Self’ based upon the observations of its own observers form the focus of this chapter. It examines the strategies employed by the Front such as placing the Sahrawi refugee woman and solidarity movements as forefront representations of the refugee camps in order to secure external aid.


Transfers ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 99-116
Author(s):  
Tracey Reimann-Dawe

Between 1848 and 1914 a wave of German academic explorers traveled to Africa, enticed by the promise of geographical, anthropological and botanical discoveries. These Afrikareisende (African explorers) composed narrative accounts of their journeys, which at the time were the main channel for disseminating their experiences to the public. This article focuses on three works from the first three decades of German exploration of Africa prior to German unification in 1871. The common aim of scientific discovery unified Afrikareisende and their passage through foreign space. An inextricable feature of this scientific ideology is the connection to rational, linear time. This article demonstrates how the perception and relevance of time is employed to transfer knowledge of the Self and Other to a German readership. This knowledge reflects not only the explorers’ experience of their personal identity but also the tentative beginnings of a collective German identity as it is defined in colonial space.


2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 20-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margrit Shildrick

The field of human organ transplantation, and most particularly that of heart transplantation where the donor is always deceased, is one in which the rhetoric of hope leaves little room for any exploration or understanding of the more negative emotions and affects that recipients may experience. Where a donated heart is commonly referred to as the ‘gift of life’, both in lay discourse and by those engaged in transplantation procedures, how does this imbricate with the alternative clinical term of a ‘graft’? For recipients of donor organs, the experience of living on in the face of otherwise certain death is fraught with complex emotions, not only about the self and the now dead other, but the persistence of the other within the self. In contrast to our expectations of the feel-good narrative of the gift of life, recipients are often significantly troubled by the aftermath of the procedure, which may fundamentally challenge notions of personal identity, as well as having deep implications for our understanding of the relation between death and ‘staying alive’. Drawing on recent research into heart transplantation, I shall theorise the field through a reflection – drawing on both Mauss and Derrida – on the meaning of the gift, before moving on to consider whether a Deleuzian approach to both the assemblage and the ‘event’ of death might offer a more productive framework.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-179
Author(s):  
H.A.E. (Hub) Zwart

Abstract This paper substantiates why Jung’s psychology is still highly relevant for understanding science today. I explore how his methods and insights allow us to come to terms with the phenomenon of scientific discovery. After outlining core Jungian concepts and insights concerning science, I will focus on the relationship between alchemy and modern science. Also, I will highlight Jung’s understanding of scientific research as a practice of the self, directed at individuation (the integration of various aspects of the self into a coherent whole). Finally, I discuss the role of archetypes in the context of discovery of modern science. Whereas archetypal ideas may function as sources of insight and inspiration, the task for researchers is to come to terms with them, instead of being overwhelmed by them. Besides case studies discussed by Jung himself, I also present more recent examples, taken from molecular life sciences research and climate change research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Ji Ma

AbstractGiven the many types of suboptimality in perception, I ask how one should test for multiple forms of suboptimality at the same time – or, more generally, how one should compare process models that can differ in any or all of the multiple components. In analogy to factorial experimental design, I advocate for factorial model comparison.


2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucio Tonello ◽  
Luca Giacobbi ◽  
Alberto Pettenon ◽  
Alessandro Scuotto ◽  
Massimo Cocchi ◽  
...  

AbstractAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) subjects can present temporary behaviors of acute agitation and aggressiveness, named problem behaviors. They have been shown to be consistent with the self-organized criticality (SOC), a model wherein occasionally occurring “catastrophic events” are necessary in order to maintain a self-organized “critical equilibrium.” The SOC can represent the psychopathology network structures and additionally suggests that they can be considered as self-organized systems.


Author(s):  
M. Kessel ◽  
R. MacColl

The major protein of the blue-green algae is the biliprotein, C-phycocyanin (Amax = 620 nm), which is presumed to exist in the cell in the form of distinct aggregates called phycobilisomes. The self-assembly of C-phycocyanin from monomer to hexamer has been extensively studied, but the proposed next step in the assembly of a phycobilisome, the formation of 19s subunits, is completely unknown. We have used electron microscopy and analytical ultracentrifugation in combination with a method for rapid and gentle extraction of phycocyanin to study its subunit structure and assembly.To establish the existence of phycobilisomes, cells of P. boryanum in the log phase of growth, growing at a light intensity of 200 foot candles, were fixed in 2% glutaraldehyde in 0.1M cacodylate buffer, pH 7.0, for 3 hours at 4°C. The cells were post-fixed in 1% OsO4 in the same buffer overnight. Material was stained for 1 hour in uranyl acetate (1%), dehydrated and embedded in araldite and examined in thin sections.


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