1. Origins

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Erle C. Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Geologic Time ◽  
Earth History ◽  
Origin Stories ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Copernican Revolution ◽  
Overwhelming Evidence ◽  
Philosophical Questions ◽  
Different Origin

Overwhelming evidence now confirms that humans are changing Earth in unprecedented ways. With such evidence, the proposal to recognize the Anthropocene as a new interval of geologic time—the Anthropocene epoch—would seem without issue. Yet the opposite is true. The Anthropocene remains highly controversial even among Earth scientists. ‘Origins’ considers different origin stories—from the myths of ancient Greece to the First Copernican Revolution to Darwin’s origins of man. The significance of the Anthropocene resides in its role as a new lens through which age-old narratives and philosophical questions are being revisited and rewritten. It concludes that there are good reasons to accept that a new chapter of Earth history might indeed be unfolding, with humans playing a leading role.

scholarly journals Major features of protistan evolution: controversies, problems and a few answers

2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-80
Author(s):  
Jere H Lipps
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Early Earth ◽  
Huge Number ◽  
Geologic Time ◽  
Earth History ◽  
Important Development ◽  
Fossil Evidence

The major features of protist evolution are fraught with controversies, problems and few answers, especially in early Earth history. In general they are based on molecular data and fossil evidence that respectively provide a scaffold and details of eukaryotic phylogenetic and ecologic histories. 1. Their origin, inferred from molecular sequences, occurred very early (>;3Ga). They are a chimera of different symbiont-derived organelles, including possibly the nucleus. 2. The initial diversification of eukaryotes may have occurred early in geologic time. Six supergroups exist today, each with fossils known from the Proterozoic and Phanerozoic. 3. Sex, considered an important development, may have been inherited from bacteria. 4. Precambrian protists were largely pelagic cyst-bearing taxa, but benthic forms were probably quite diverse and abundant. 5. Protists gave rise to animals long before 600 Ma through the choanoflagellates, for which no fossil record exists. 6. Acritarchs and skeletonized protists radiated in the Cambrian (544-530 my). From then on, they radiated and became extinct at all the major events recorded in the metazoan fossil record. 7. Protists dominated major environments (shelves and reefs) starting with a significant radiation in the Ordovician, followed by extinctions and other radiations until most died out at the end of the Permian. 8. In the Mesozoic, new planktic protozoa and algae appeared and radiated in pelagic environments. 9. Modern protists are important at all trophic levels in the oceans and a huge number terrestrial, parasitic and symbiotic protists must have existed for much of geologic time as well. 10. The future of protists is likely in jeopardy, just like most reefal, benthic, and planktic metazoans. An urgent need to understand the role of protists in modern threatened oceans should be addressed soon.

Traditions of Genesis and the Luba Diaspora

1977 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 183-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Q. Reefe
Keyword(s):  
Central Africa ◽  
Early History ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Story Line ◽  
Origin Stories ◽  
West Central ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Function ◽  
Different Origin

Origin stories are an important genre of central African oral traditions. Historians have long been intrigued by these stories, for their plots tell of the beginnings of societies and of the founding of ruling dynasties. It has been possible to cross-check the information in the oral traditions of many of the societies of west central Africa against data in Portuguese written records dating to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These documents have helped to direct investigators towards the best assumptions to make when analyzing the oral traditions of west central African societies. However, writing the early history of the savanna societies in the very middle of central Africa (in southern Zaire and northern Zambia) has always been hampered by the absence of written documents which describe the area much before the early nineteenth century. Historians studying the early political history of these societies have been forced to link the events and characters of origin stories to each other without any anchor in written documentation.Recently, doubts have been raised about the nature and function of origin stories. It is no longer clear that the first step in studying the early history of central African savanna societies is to compare different origin stories with each other, as one would a group of written documents, in order to establish a consistent historical story-line or narrative. Rather, questions raised about the nature of origin stories have brought out the point that the first step in writing the early history of this area is to resolve methodological and historiographical issues, before the historical essence can be distilled from these tales.

scholarly journals On the Anthropocene formalization and the proposal by the Anthropocene Working Group

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
C. Soriano
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
Working Group ◽  
The Other ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Geologic Time ◽  
Earth History ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Geologic Time Scale

In the coming years the Anthropocene will be likely submitted to formalization by the Anthropocene Working Group as a chronostratigraphic unit of the Geologic Time Scale. This has generated an increasing debate among detractors and defenders of its formalization in general, and of the proposal by the Anthropocene Working Group in particular. Here, the main issues regarding the Geologic Time Scale and the rules to formalize units, the empirical data supporting the Anthropocene formalization and the critiques to formalize it are critically reviewed. The procedure to formalize the Anthropocene is not dissimilar from those of the other units of the Geologic Time Scale and has been essentially based on stratigraphic and geologic criteria. Following the recommendation of the Anthropocene Working Group and based on the empirical evidence on the Anthropocene as it is expressed in strata and, more important, on the immanent and structural link between the Anthropocene and the reproduction of capital, it is proposed to define Capitalian as a Stage of the Anthropocene Epoch. In this way, a truly comprehensive understanding of the Earth history is obtained, which comprises the ultimate causes of the ongoing planetary transformation and its stratatigraphic expression.

scholarly journals How Readers Shape the Content of an Encyclopedia: A Case Study Comparing the German Meyers Konversationslexikon (1885-1890) with Wikipedia (2002-2013)

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 569-591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Spree
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Production ◽  
The Other ◽  
Factual Information ◽  
Letters To The Editor ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
The One ◽  
Comparative Content ◽  
Philosophical Questions

How knowledge is negotiated between the makers of encyclopedias and their audiences remains an ongoing question in research on encyclopedias. A comparative content analysis of the published answers of letters to the editor of the German Meyers Konversationslexikon (Korrespondenzblatt) from 1885 and the discussion pages of the article potato of the German Wikipedia (2013) reveals continuities as well as changes in the communication between encyclopedia producers and their audiences. The main reasons why readers and editors communicate are the need for updated factual information, an exchange on editorial principles and the intellectual exchange of ideas on ideological and philosophical questions in relation to the encyclopedic content. Editors and readers attach a lot of importance to the process of verifying information through bibliographical references. Whereas, for the editors of Meyers Konversationslexikon the leading role of experts remains undisputed, Wikipedians work in a contradictory situation. They are on the one hand exposing knowledge production to a permanent process of negotiation, thereby challenging the role of experts, on the other hand relying strongly on bibliographical authorities. Whilst the reasons for the communication between readers and editors of Meyers Konversationslexikon and among Wikipedia contributors coincide, the understanding of the roles of readers and editors differ. The editors of the Korrespondenzblatt keep up a lecturing attitude. As opposed to this, administrators in Wikipedia want to encourage participation and strive to develop expertise among the participating contributors. Albeit power relations between administrators, regular authors, occasional authors and readers continue to exist they are comparatively flat and transient. Regardless of these differences, the comparison between Meyers Konversationslexikon and Wikipedia indicates that the sine qua non for activating an upwards spiral of quality improvement is that readers accept, learn and cultivate common rules – including how to deal with dissent – and identify with the product at least so far as that they report mistakes.

3. Geologic time

2018 ◽  
pp. 34-51
Author(s):  
Erle C. Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Time Scale ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Geologic Time ◽  
Earth History ◽  
Basic Understanding ◽  
Geologic Time Scale

If we are to understand the case both for and against recognizing the Anthropocene as an interval of geologic time, a basic understanding of the science of stratigraphy and how the Geologic Time Scale is established is essential. ‘Geologic time’ outlines the origins of stratigraphy and the publication of the Geologic Time Scale (GTS) that brought together the work of generations of stratigraphers within a single standardized geochronology of Earth history. It explains how the GTS is divided into different time intervals and considers the work of the Anthropocene Working Group whose task is to examine the case for recognizing the Anthropocene as a new interval of geologic time.

scholarly journals The ARPANET Into the Internet: A Tale of Two Networks

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noel Packard
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
Intelligence Community ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Working Relationship ◽  
Origin Stories ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Internet History ◽  
Different Origin

The Internet is a split civilian and military entity in physical and social construction. Investigating this split entity in all its manifestations is an important venture, but this study explores the split social construction of the ARPANET’s reported history. ARPANET/Internet literature shows a division between literature that does and does not include the history of the intelligence communities (IC) working relationship with the pre-privatized ARPANET. Two different genres of literature are discussed, charted in a Table and compared to aspects of the ARPANET’s known and reported developmental and privatization history. Different origin stories are discussed in a general way; then a pattern in the literature is explored, namely, how illegally and libelous spy data gathered in 1960s intelligence community (IC) operations and processed through the pre-privatized ARPANET, is acknowledged in indirect or secondhand ways, when ARPA demonstrated feasibility of the ARPANET ; while after pyritization the literature acknowledges IC spying through the commercialized Internet in firsthand and direct ways. The study examines how earlier and contemporary literature continues contesting the role that 1960s IC spy data played in demonstrating the feasibility of the ARPANET; a prerequisite test for the privatization of the ARPANET. Findings indicate ARPANET histories have excluded direct reporting about how ARPA and the IC demonstrated ARPANET’s feasibility prior to privatization. The conclusion is that understanding history about how ARPA and the IC demonstrated ARPANET’s feasibility, makes it easier to comprehend reports about how the Internet serves counterinsurgency purposes. The study confirms ongoing debates about the social construction of Internet history. 

Epistemology and Education: An Incomplete Guide to the Social-Epistemological Issues

Episteme ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harvey Siegel
Keyword(s):  
Social Epistemology ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
The Core ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
The Social ◽  
Core Areas ◽  
Parent Discipline ◽  
Knowledge Claims ◽  
Philosophical Questions

Recent work in epistemology has focused increasingly on the social dimensions of knowledge and inquiry. Education is one important social arena in which knowledge plays a leading role, and in which knowledge-claims are presented, analyzed, evaluated, and transmitted. Philosophers of education have long attended to the epistemological issues raised by the theory and practice of education (along with the moral, metaphysical, social-political, and mind/language issues so raised). While historically philosophical issues concerning education were treated alongside other philosophical issues, in recent times the former set of issues have been largely neglected by philosophers working in the core areas of the discipline. Interestingly, the rise of social epistemology has been accompanied by a renewed interest by mainstream philosophers in philosophical questions concerning education. Whether or not this accompaniment is accidental, or is legitimately explainable in terms of broad intellectual, philosophical, or social/political currents and movements, I will not endeavor to address here. The increasing respectability of and philosophical interest in both social epistemology and philosophy of education are in any case salutary developments, each signaling both a broadening of the set of interests and issues deemed legitimate by practitioners of the parent discipline, and an increased willingness to take seriously the philosophical problems raised by the ubiquitous social/communal effort to transmit/transform culture(s) by way of education.

Narratives of participatory governance: Social science and democracy in mark bevirʼs a theory of governance

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 372-388
Author(s):  
Amit Ron
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Participatory Governance ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
The Public ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Copernican Revolution

Mark Bevirʼs A Theory of Governance proposes a Copernican revolution in the way we understand the role of social science in public administration. Conventional accounts assign social science the role of instructing public administrators how to steer its machinery towards the public interest, based on social scienceʼs alleged ability to explain how people act and what they need. Bevir offers a vision of public administration in which ordinary people take a leading role by engaging in dialogues in which they articulate their needs. In this vision, the role of social science is to facilitate those public dialogues. This essay offers a sympathetic critical evaluation of Bevirʼs exploration of what it means to understand social science as a facilitator.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document