scholarly journals On Thinking in the Anthropocene: A Sketch of a Proposal

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Baldissone
Keyword(s):  
Digital Information ◽  
Historical Evidence

The paper suggests, on the basis of paleoanthropological evidence, a hypothetical differentiation of human modes of thinking. Moreover, on the basis of historical evidence, it reconsiders the so-called passage from mythos to logos as a Greek rationalization of the shift between the technologies of speech and writing and their associated modes of thinking respectively. Finally, it relies on these considerations to construct digital information as an opportunity at once to redistribute the powers of writing and reconfigure thinking.

On-line image readout in CTEM

1994 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 400-401
Author(s):  
K.-H. Herrmann ◽  
W. D. Rau ◽  
R. Sikeler
Keyword(s):  
Primary Electron ◽  
Digital Information ◽  
Electron Hole ◽  
Detection Technology ◽  
Long Time ◽  
On Line ◽  
Electron Image ◽  
Optical Transfer ◽  
Detection Quantum Efficiency ◽  
Technical Solutions

Quantitative recording of electron patterns and their rapid conversion into digital information is an outstanding goal which the photoplate fails to solve satisfactorily. For a long time, LLL-TV cameras have been used for EM adjustment but due to their inferior pixel number they were never a real alternative to the photoplate. This situation has changed with the availability of scientific grade slow-scan charged coupled devices (CCD) with pixel numbers exceeding 106, photometric accuracy and, by Peltier cooling, both excellent storage and noise figures previously inaccessible in image detection technology. Again the electron image is converted into a photon image fed to the CCD by some light optical transfer link. Subsequently, some technical solutions are discussed using the detection quantum efficiency (DQE), resolution, pixel number and exposure range as figures of merit.A key quantity is the number of electron-hole pairs released in the CCD sensor by a single primary electron (PE) which can be estimated from the energy deposit ΔE in the scintillator,

Nasty and Brutish? an Empirical Assessment of the Violence Hypothesis

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Widerquist ◽  
Grant S. McCall
Keyword(s):  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Contemporary State ◽  
Empirical Assessment ◽  
Early States ◽  
Consensus View

This chapter empirically investigates two hypotheses often used to support the claim that virtually everyone is better off in state society than they could reasonably expect to be in any stateless environment. “The strong violence hypothesis” is the claim that violence in stateless societies is necessarily intolerable. “The weak violence hypothesis” is the claim that violence in stateless societies tends to be higher than in state society. Section 1 uses anthropological and historical evidence to examine violence in prehistoric stateless societies, early states, and contemporary states. Section 2 reviews evidence from modern stateless societies. Section 3 attempts to assemble anthropologists’ consensus view of violence in stateless societies. Section 4 evaluates the strong and weak hypotheses in light of this information, arguing that societies in which sovereignty is most absent maintain the ability to keep violence at tolerable levels. Although it is reasonable to suppose that stateless societies tend to have higher violence than contemporary state societies, some stateless societies have lower violence than some states. Because these findings reject 350 years of accumulated theory of sovereignty, Section 5 briefly discusses how bands are able to maintain peace without state-like institutions. Section 6 concludes.

Responsive Architecture and the Problem of Obsolescence

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Meagher
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Digital Information ◽  
Material Response ◽  
Responsive Architecture ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

Responsive architecture, a design field that has arisen in recent decades at the intersection of architecture and computer science, invokes a material response to digital information and implies the capacity of the building to respond dynamically to changing stimuli. The question I will address in the paper is whether it is possible for the responsive components of architecture to become a poetically expressive part of the building, and if so why this result has so rarely been achieved in contemporary and recent built work. The history of attitudes to- ward obsolescence in buildings is investigated as one explanation for the rarity of examples like the one considered here that successfully overcomes the rapid obsolescence of responsive components and makes these elements an integral part of the work of architecture. In conclusion I identify strategies for the design of responsive components as poetically expressive elements of architecture.

ACTION ON MATTER: THE HISTORY OF THE UNIQUELY AFRICAN TAMPER AND CONCAVE ANVIL POT-FORMING TECHNIQUE

2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy Sterner ◽  
Nicholas David
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
Weight Ratio ◽  
High Volume ◽  
Efficient Production ◽  
Arid Environments ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Culture History ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Diffusion

The publication, largely by ethnoarchaeologists, of new data on the tamper and concave anvil technique of pot-forming (TCA) permits a reassessment of this uniquely African technique, its toolkit, and its culture history. A survey, inspired by the technologie culturelle school, of its varied expressions in the southern Saharan, Sahelian and northern Sudan zones from Mali to Sudan and extending north into Egypt emphasises the potential of the technique for the efficient production of spherical water jars of high volume to weight ratio, much appreciated in arid environments. The technique is demanding and therefore practised for the most part by specialists. The origins and diffusion of the technique are assessed in the light of the ethnological, archaeological, linguistic, and historical evidence, and a four stage historical development is sketched.

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