The logic of entrapment: Digital proletarians; digital fascism; symbiosis between a virus and autocracy

Maska ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (200s3) ◽  
pp. 98-108
Author(s):  
Miško Šuvaković
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Digital Art ◽  
Media Representation ◽  
Essential Difference ◽  
Possible World ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Artistic Interpretation ◽  
Transitional Forms ◽  
The Difference

Abstract This text was written on the occasion of the 200th issue of Maska magazine. My goal is to identify and interpret the time when the text is written and when the 200th issue of Maska will be published. I identified a situation of sociability at the time of the coronavirus pandemic and the dominance of digital/postdigital communications. I am interested in the difference between media representation, virus events and political-or-artistic interpretation of modern and transitional forms of human life. If we are talking about digital art/culture/society in relation to the technological turns from the mechanical to the analogue-electronic world, from the analogue to the digital world, from the digital world to the post-digital world, and from the post-digital world into a De Re media possible world, then we are facing a conflict between the dialectic of emancipation through the new and the differentiation of the production/and/consumption of the new in a time and space where the human being is becoming the product of its own product. It is important to index the contemporary antagonism between the ‘digital proletarian’ and ‘digital fascism’. Confronted with digital fascism, digital proletarians pursue a risky process of self-fulfilment and thereby liberation/emancipation in complex digital practices and their impacts on other forms of existence – in a critical and dialectic ontology. Therein lies the essential difference between the politics of functionalism and that of liberation.

scholarly journals Resistência e coexistência: da produção de mercadorias à valorização da vida

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-64
Author(s):  
Andréia Cordeiro Mecca ◽  
Miriã Martins de Brito
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Possible World ◽  
Buen Vivir ◽  
History Of Capitalism ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Human Labor ◽  
History Of ◽  
Good Living ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Life On Earth

Resumo O objetivo central deste ensaio foi discutir a diferença entre uma sociedade pautada na produção de mercadorias, que nega a fruição do ócio a favor do capital, e sociedades indígenas ameríndias, que valorizam a vida humana e dos demais seres. As raízes históricas do capitalismo foram base para reflexão de como a exploração do trabalho humano tornou-se o centro da busca por acumulação de riquezas. Depois abordamos visões de sociedades indígenas ameríndias que, desde uma filosofia ancestral em sintonia com a existência e a coexistência, respeitam a outrem e a Terra. Consideramos, com base na literatura escrita por indígenas, bem como de autores/as alinhados/as a referenciais suleados, a possibilidade de outro mundo possível, especialmente observando a filosofia do Bem-Viver, que aponta para a construção coletiva e harmônica de novas formas de viver, que valorizam e respeitam a diversidade, a natureza, a vida na Terra e da Terra.Palavras-chave: Bem-Viver. Ócio. Trabalho. Resistance and coexistence: from the production of goods to the revolution of life Abstract The purpose of this essay was to discuss the difference between a society based on the production of goods, which denies the enjoyment of leisure in favor of capital, and Amerindian indigenous societies, which value human life and that of other beings. The history of capitalism is the basis for reflecting on how the exploitation of human labor results in the accumulation of wealth. Then, we approach visions of indigenous Amerindian societies whose existence and coexistence respect each other and the Earth. We consider, based on the literature written by indigenous people, as well as authors aligned with southern references, another possible world, especially observing the philosophy of Good-Living and new ways of living, which value and respect diversity, nature, life on Earth and Earth.Keywords: Good-Living. Idleness. Job. Resistencia y coexistencia: desde la producción de mercaderías hasta la valoración de la vida Resumen El objetivo principal de este ensayo fue discutir la diferencia entre una sociedad basada en la producción de mercaderías, que niega el disfrute del ocio a favor del capital, y las sociedades indígenas amerindias, que valoran la vida humana y la de otros seres. Las raíces históricas del capitalismo fueron la base para reflexionar sobre cómo la explotación del trabajo humano se convirtió en el centro de la búsqueda de la acumulación de riquezas. Después nos acercamos a visiones de sociedades indígenas amerindias que, desde una filosofía ancestral en sintonía con la existencia y la coexistencia, respetan a otren y a la Tierra. Consideramos, a partir de la literatura escrita por indígenas, así como de autores/as alineados con referenciales sureñados, la posibilidad de otro mundo posible, especialmente observando la filosofía del Buen-Vivir, que apunta a la construcción colectiva y armónica de nuevas formas de vivir, que valoran y respetan la diversidad, la naturaleza, la vida en la Tierra y en la Tierra.Palabras clave: Buen-Vivir. Ocio. Trabajo.

The Status of Mind and Intellect in Digital Environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-143
Author(s):  
Elena I. Yaroslavtseva
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Cognitive Activity ◽  
Memory Loss ◽  
Natural Material ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Connection To Nature ◽  
Digital World ◽  
The Status ◽  
Natural Foundation ◽  
The Impact

The article examines the impact of digitalization on human life and intellectual experience. The development of computer technology demands an understanding of new aspects of human development and requires a capability to overcome not only external conditions but also ourselves. Entering a new level of development cannot imply a complete rejection of previous dispositions, but should be accompanied by reflection on personal experience and by the quest for new forms of interaction in society and with nature. Communicative and cognitive activity of a person has an ontological basis and relies on processes that actually evolve in nature. Therefore, the creation of new objects is always associated with the properties of natural material and gives rise to new points of support in the development of man. The more audacious his projects, the more important it is to preserve this connection to nature. It is always the human being who turns out to be the initiator who knows how to solve problems. The conformity of complex technical systems to nature is not only a goal but also a value of meaningful construction of development perspectives. The key to the nature orientation of the modern digital world is the human being himself, who keeps all the secrets of the culture of his natural development. Therefore, the proposed by the Russian philosopher V.S. Stepin post-non-classical approach, based on the principle of “human-sizedness,” is an important contribution to contemporary research because it draws attention to the “human – machine” communication, to the relationship between a person and technological systems he created. The article concludes that during digital transformation, a cultural conflict arises: in an effort to solve the problems of the future, a person equips his life with devices that are designed to support him, to expand his functionality, but at the same time, the boundaries of humanity become dissolved and the forms of human activity undergo simplification. Transhumanism engages society in the fight against fears of vulnerability and memory loss and ignores the flexibility and sustainability of natural foundation.

scholarly journals An experimental and theoretical investigation of diffusion in a two-phase alloy

1948 ◽  
Vol 192 (1031) ◽  
pp. 575-592 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Single Phase ◽  
Phase State ◽  
Theoretical Treatment ◽  
Research Association ◽  
Essential Difference ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
The Difference

The present paper describes an investigation of diffusion in the solid state. Previous experimental work has been confined to the case in which the free energy of a mixture is a minimum for the single-phase state, and diffusion decreases local differences of concentration. This may be called ‘diffusion downhill’. However, it is possible for the free energy to be a minimum for the two-phase state; diffusion may then increase differences of concentration; and so may be called ‘diffusion uphill’. Becker (1937) has proposed a simple theoretical treatment of these two types of diffusion in a binary alloy. The present paper describes an experimental test of this theory, using the unusual properties of the alloy Cu 4 FeNi 3 . This alloy is single phase above 800° C and two-phase at lower temperatures, both the phases being face-centred cubic; the essential difference between the two phases is their content of copper. On dissociating from one phase into two the alloy develops a series of intermediate structures showing striking X-ray patterns which are very sensitive to changes of structure. It was found possible to utilize these results for a quantitative study of diffusion ‘uphill’ and ‘downhill’ in the alloy. The experimental results, which can be expressed very simply, are in fair agreement with conclusions drawn from Becker’s theory. It was found that Fick’s equation, dc / dt = D d2c / dx2 , can, within the limits of error, be applied in all cases, with the modification that c denotes the difference of the measured copper concentration from its equilibrium value. The theory postulates that D is the product of two factors, of which one is D 0f the coefficient of diffusion that would be measured if the alloy were an ideal solid solution. The theory is able to calculate D/D 0 , if only in first approximation, and the experiments confirm this calculation. It was found that in most cases the speed of diffusion—‘uphill’ or ‘downhill’—has the order of magnitude of D 0 . * Now with British Electrical Research Association.

On the Proportion of Marriages at different Ages of the Sexes

1858 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 188-200
Author(s):  
Samuel Brown
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Progressive Increase ◽  
Natural Laws ◽  
Different Ages ◽  
Social Statistics ◽  
Moral Qualities ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Natural Decay

In a paper which was read before the Institute of Actuaries on the 31st May, 1852, “On the Uniform Action of the Human Will, as exhibited by its Mean Results in Social Statistics,” I drew attention to the remarkable regularity with which marriages are contracted in any country, and the very small limits of difference from the average number which appear from year to year. The observations made by M. Quetelet in Belgium, from 1825 to 1845, showed that the extreme difference in the total number of marriages was little more than half the difference of the extremes in the number of deaths in the same period. Such a conclusion seemed to imply that the subject was worthy of more research. If the law of mortality can be so accurately defined at different ages, that pecuniary interests, amounting to some hundreds of millions sterling, can be valued and adjusted with the greatest nicety, it is reasonable to conclude that the labour of a statistical inquiry into the proportion of marriages at different ages would be rewarded with the discovery of some equally defined law, since the variations from year to year in a given number of facts appear, from a large number of observations, to be even less than in the former case. It is true that, as human life must fail at some time, from the natural decay of the powers of life, every interval of age after man has once attained maturity may be expected, under ordinary circumstances, to show a steady and progressive increase in the liability to disease and death. On the other hand, it may be, argued that marriage is the exercise of the free will of man—that consequently, it does not depend on the age or period of life, but on the arbitrary exertion of those feelings or mental and moral qualities which are not subject to natural laws, or at least not to such laws as we are able to express numerically in the same manner we can the law of mortality in any given population. If we consider, however, marriage as, in one sense, the natural provision for the preservation or increase of the species, and the counteraction to the law of mortality by which the species would perish, we should not be surprised to find that, however imperceptibly to individuals, there is a tendency to obey some unknown law of nature which at the period of maturity would lead to the maximum of marriages, and gradually diminish with age in the same manner as the tendency to disease and death increases with age. The motives and caprices of individuals would only have the same effect on the general results which the different habits of individuals may have in increasing or diminishing the rate of mortality. Accordingly, M. Quetelet, in a comparison of the number of marriages in Belgium for each five years of age after 21, for both sexes, for a period of five years consecutively, showed that the average results in each period scarcely differed at all from year to year. The table is so remarkable, that I have reduced the proportion to 100 of the total marriages in each year, and present it to show the small differences which will then be seen to prevail.

scholarly journals GENETINIS DISKURSAS MEDIJŲ KULTŪROJE: GUNDYMAS PREKINIU NEMIRTINGUMU

Problemos ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 52-65
Author(s):  
Vytautas Rubavičius
Keyword(s):  
Genetically Modified Organisms ◽  
Private Property ◽  
World View ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Media Culture ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Proper Form ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Universe

Straipsnyje grindžiama nuomonė, jog postmodernybė yra iš modernybės kylantis kapitalizmo sistemos būvis, kuriam būdinga gyvybės suprekinimas ir suišteklinimas. Postmodernybę charakterizuoja populiariosios ir medijų kultūros išplitimas. Tos kultūros apima ne tik kultūros prekes, bet ir vartojimo būdus, įgūdžius ir jų lavinimą. Pastaruoju metu jos kuria nemirtingumo vaizdiniams bei nuojautoms palankią kultūrinę, intelektinę ir pasaulėvaizdinę terpę, kurioje struktūriškai įsitvirtina genetinis diskursas ir jo nustatomos žmogaus ir jo gyvenamo pasaulio aiškinimo gairės. Svarbus šio diskurso bruožas yra technologinis inžinerinis jo pobūdis, išryškėjęs susiejant nano ir biotechnologijas, kuriomis tikimasi įveikti gyvąją ir negyvąją gamtą skiriančią prarają, iš reikalingų atomų bei molekulių kuriant reikalingų ląstelių dalis ir klonuojant gyvas būtybes. Gyvybė suprekinama ir suišteklinama patentuojant gyvybės elementus – genus ir su jais susijusius procesus. Daroma išvada, jog visi genetikos, informatikos ir kitų mokslų laimėjimai, teikiantys žmogaus gyvenimo ilginimo galimybių, kurios palaiko gundančią nemirtingumo idėją, jau yra persmelkti prekinių santykių, tad ir pats nemirtingumas įmanomas tik kaip prekė. Aptariami kai kurie evoliuciniai ir religiniai techno sapiens sampratos aspektai. Detaliau gvildenamos dvi „nemirtingumo“ versijos: Z. Baumano, kuris nemirtingumo pažadą sieja su kompiuterinės technikos plėtra prasidėjus „Antrajai medijų erai“, ir J. Baudrillard’o, tegiančio, jog klonavimo technologijos „apgręžia“ evoliuciją ir žmogų gundo virusiniu ar vėžiniu belyčiu nemirtingumu.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: genetinis diskursas, klonavimas, medijų kultūra, nanobiotechnologijos, nemirtingumas, suprekinimas.Genetic Discourse in Media Culture: Temptation by Commodified ImmoralityVytautas Rubavičius   SummaryPostmodernity is maintained as a stage of the development of capitalism. The difference between modernity and postmodernity is explained in relation to the new sphere of commodification and resourcification, namely, that of life and of all natural living processes. Postmodern media culture, or popular culture, is peopled by signs of immortality and various kinds of immortals – cyborgs, clones, zombies, immortal human beings and others. Thus, culture accustoms a consumer to immortals and immortality which is concidered as the main goal of a human being and evolution. By nano-bio-technologies and genetic discourse this goal is made scientifically valid, thus reachable. Genetic discourse is becoming the fundamental world-view providing focal landmarks for the emerging future. Media culture supports the spreading of genetic discourse and facilitates its understanding. The temptation by immortality can be considered as a version of modernist ideology of human liberation from various natural, social and heavenly bonds. This liberation, and also secularization, is supported by a scientific genetic technological discourse which is becoming a stimulating factor of postmodern media production. The genetic explanation of the world is particularly handy for technological reflexivity: the entire world is as if encapsulated into human genes, which become the principle explaining the mystery of life, evolution and the future of humanity, thus rendering power to produce the human proper form and the future of people. All the possibilities stemming from the new genetic and biotech discoveries fell under the regulation of property relations by patenting, thus making “immortality” – as a temptation and brand – not only an exeptional commodity, but also a political tool and a commodifying force. As the relationships of private property have penetrated natural biogenetic diversity and, having turned it into a resource, the cognitive subject has reached the goal to secularise the Universe, which he has set for himself: only he as the owner and producer of genes lures people with the eternal shapes of the clones and their genetic information, which will be sustained in any location of the Universe. The temptation by “immortality” will become even stronger when the genetic code is mastered. The future of humanity is related to the mixed forms of life, trans-genic or otherwise genetically modified organisms and techno-human forms that will help to postpone, and later to conquer, death. Even thinkers with religious tendencies perceive the technological improvement of human beings as their evolution towards the techno sapiens and consider such a development as an advancement towards the Kingdom of God. The technologization of human beings is imagined in terms of their divination. Yet in this case the character of contemporary science secularising God and obliterating the perception of divinity is overlooked. Two versions of immortality are analyzed more closely – that of Z. Bauman, who links it with the development of computer technologies, and that of J. Baudrillard, who gives a warning that by cloning technologies humanity is trying to inverse the evolution and to return to the undifferentiated state of cells. The conclusion is drawn that regardless of how we understand ‘immortality,’ argue over its reality or unreality, all possibilities to prolong human life granted by genetics, informatics and other advances in science and technologies, which support the tempting idea of immortality, have already been penetrated by commodity relationships; therefore, “immortality” itself will be available only as a commodity.Keywords: cloning, commodification, genetic discourse, immortality, media culture, nano-bio-technologies.

Effect of Mind Mapping on Creative Thinking of Children in Scratch Visual Programming Education

2021 ◽  
pp. 073563312110533
Author(s):  
Yu-Sheng Su ◽  
Mingming Shao ◽  
Li Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Visual Programming ◽  
Mapping Method ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Mind Mapping ◽  
Digital World ◽  
The Difference

Scratch, a kind of visual programming software, has been widely used in instruction for primary school children. Scratch constructs a digital world for children to design, develop, and create coursework in which their creative thinking is fostered. Different instructional methods have been designed and implemented to stimulate children’s creative thinking skills through their coursework. This study investigated whether scaffolding construction with mind mapping promoted children’s creative thinking in a Scratch course. Two groups of 84 fifth-grade pupils participated in the study. The experimental group of 44 students adopted the scaffolding construction with mind mapping in the Scratch course, while the control group of 40 students did not use the mind mapping method. The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking-Figural (TTCT-F) and Torrance Creative Personality Self-Report Scale were used three times over the 16-week learning period. The results show that learning in the Scratch course promoted the children’s creative thinking. The difference between the two groups indicates that mind mapping was beneficial to improve the children’s creative thinking.

Prosumption

2018 ◽  
pp. 73-93
Author(s):  
George Ritzer
Keyword(s):  
New World ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Production And Consumption

While prosumption (the interrelated process of production and consumption) is a primal process and has always been ubiquitous, we have entered a revolutionary “new world” of prosumption in both the material, and especially the digital, world. Prosumption is conceived of as a continuum ranging from prosumption-as-production (usually thought of as “production”) to prosumption-as-consumption (usually seen as “consumption”). It is associated with a new stage of capitalism—prosumer capitalism—that has increasingly come to control the process and to exploit prosumers. Key to the new world of prosumer capitalism is a new, extreme, and more “magical” form of exploitation—“synergistically double exploitation.”

scholarly journals Underwater Network Management System in Internet of Underwater Things: Open Challenges, Benefits, and Feasible Solution

Electronics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 1142
Author(s):  
Delphin Raj K. M ◽  
Jinyoung Lee ◽  
Eunbi Ko ◽  
Soo-Young Shin ◽  
Jung-Il Namgung ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Network Management ◽  
Acoustic Communication ◽  
Management System ◽  
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Network Management System ◽  
Accounting Performance ◽  
Digital World ◽  
The Difference

As oceans cover the majority of the earth’s surface, it becomes inevitable in extending the concepts of Internet of Things (IoT) to ocean bodies, thereby tiling the way for a new drift in the digital world, the Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT). The primary objective of IoUT is the creation of a network of several smart interconnected undersea things, to digitally link water bodies by using devices such as autonomous underwater vehicles. Since the traditional ideas of IoT cannot be merely expanded to underwater, due to the difference in environmental characteristics, this puts forward a variety of challenges for scientists to work with IoUT, and one such challenge is the network management with IoUT. This paper gives an overview on (1) underwater network management systems (U-NMS) using acoustic communication in IoUT; (2) the challenges and benefits and use cases of U-NMS; (3) fault, configuration, accounting, performance, security and constrained management (FCAPSC) functionalities of U-NMS and (4) a comparison between network management system in IoT and U-NMS system in IoUT. Additionally, this paper shows the prototype design and implementation setup of U-NMS in a laboratory environment, using lightweight machine to machine (LWM2M) and acoustic communication technology for IoUT. This paper will contribute much to the profit of researchers and industry players in uncovering the critical areas of the Internet of Underwater Things.

scholarly journals COMPLEXITY AND INFORMATION-BASED ANALYSIS OF THE VARIATIONS OF THE SARS-COV-2 GENOME IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA)

Fractals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (07) ◽  
pp. 2150023
Author(s):  
HAMIDREZA NAMAZI ◽  
ONDREJ KREJCAR ◽  
ABDULHAMIT SUBASI
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Genomic Structure ◽  
The United States ◽  
Infected People ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Random Fluctuations ◽  
First Time

SARS-CoV-2 is a deadly virus that has affected human life since late 2019. Between all the countries that have reported the cases of patients with SARS-CoV-2 disease (COVID-19), the United States of America has the highest number of infected people and mortality rate. Since different states in the USA reported different numbers of patients and also death cases, analyzing the difference of SARS-CoV-2 between these states has great importance. Since the generated RNA walk from the SARS-CoV-2 genome includes complex random fluctuations that also contain information, in this study, we employ the complexity and information theories to investigate the variations of SARS-CoV-2 genome between different states in the USA for the first time. The results of our analysis showed that the fractal dimension and Shannon entropy of genome walk significantly change between different states. Based on these results, we can conclude that the SARS-CoV-2 genomic structure significantly changes between different states, which is resulted from the virus evolution. Therefore, developing a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 is very challenging since it should be able to fight various structures of the virus in different states.

scholarly journals The Rhetoric of Krishna versus the Counter-Rhetoric of Vyas: The Place of Commiseration in the Mahabharat

Humanities ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 154
Author(s):  
Bhushan Aryal
Keyword(s):  
Just War ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Hindu Tradition ◽  
Bhagavad Gita ◽  
The Status ◽  
Human Emotions ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Bhagavad Gītā

In the context of the mixed perception among scholars whether the Mahabharat is a pacifist or a militant text, this paper analyzes the rhetorical project of the epic to examine its position on violence. Highlighting the existence of two main arguments in the Mahabharat, this paper argues that the author has crafted a grand rhetorical project to question the dominant war ideology of the time that Krishna presents as the divine necessity. Historically, the emergence of Krishna—one of the major characters of the epic—as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu in Hindu tradition and the extraction and elevation of the Bhagavad Gita from the epic as an independent text have undermined the complexity of Vyas’ rhetoric. This paper places Krishna’s argument within the broad rhetorical scheme of the epic and demonstrates how Vyas has represented Krishna’s rhetoric of ‘just war’ only to illustrate its pitfalls. By directing his narrative lens to the devastating consequences of the war in the later parts of the epic, Vyas problematizes Krishna’s insistence on the need to suppress human emotions to attain a higher cognitive and ontological condition. What emerges is the difference between how Vyas and Krishna view the status of feeling: the scientist Krishna thinks that human emotions and individual lives are trivial, incidental instances in the cosmic game—something not worthy of a warrior’s concern; Vyas’ rhetoric, this paper argues, restores the significance of ordinary human emotions. It is a war—not human life and feeling—that arises as a futile enterprise in Vyas’ rhetoric.

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