scholarly journals Hopeful Extinctions? Tesla, Technological Solutionism and the Anthropocene

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-184
Author(s):  
Sy Taffel
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
The Other ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Geological Record ◽  
Sixth Mass Extinction ◽  
The One ◽  
Ecological Catastrophe

Over thirty years since Jean-Francois Lyotard declared the death of metanarratives, we currently find two apparently incompatible discourses that dominate imagined planetary futures. On the one hand, we encounter a metanarrative of technological progress has been fuelled by decades of advances in computational, networked, mobile and pervasive technologies. On the other, we find the apocalyptic discourse of the Anthropocene, whereby human activity is understood to be responsible for precipitating the sixth mass extinction of life in Earth’s geological record. This paper explores how the divergent futures of technological solutionism and ecological catastrophism encounter one another, focusing on Tesla as a case study where technological consumerism is posited as the solution to ecological catastrophe. Critically examining the materiality of digital technoculture challenges the immaterialist rhetoric of technological solutionism that permeates both neoliberal and leftist discourses of automation, whilst questioning the ‘we’ that is implicit in the problematic universalisation of Anthropocenic catastrophism, instead pointing to the deeply entrenched inequalities that perpetuate networked capitalism. Ultimately, the paper asks whether it is possible to move beyond bleak claims that we must simply “work within our disorientation and distress to negotiate life in human-damaged environments” (Tsing 2015: 131), to assemble the fragile hope that Goode and Godhe (2017) argue is necessary to move beyond capitalist realism. Hope suggests an optimism that sits uncomfortably with the reality of mass extinctions, however, the scale of the ecological crises means that we cannot afford the fatalism associated with losing hope.

From carbon to carbohydrates: Corporate strategies for biopolymer technology development

1969 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Avrath Chadha
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Renewable Resources ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
Corporate Strategies ◽  
The One

Since a few years the worldwide demand for biopolymers is increasing significantly. Many firms are trying to avoid the price spiral of fossil fuels by utilising renewable resources and simultaneously aim to contribute to the fight against climate change. Although market reports on biopolymer technology propose that with technological progress, economies of scale in manufacturing and hence lower costs the potential to substitute petrobased polymers by biopolymers will grow in the coming years, the extent of corporate strategies for industry-wide development of biopolymer technology are not well understood. This article evaluates the chances and risks of biopolymers by presenting results of a case study conducted with 10 German and Swiss firms active in the polymer industry. On the one hand the article demonstrates which importance biopolymers have gained meanwhile in the industry. On the other hand it also shows the different strategies firms apply in order to develop biopolymer technology successfully.

Interrelationships between municipal spatial policy strategy and airport operation and development. Lodz Airport case study

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-79
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Nikorowicz-Zatorska
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Spatial Management ◽  
The One ◽  
Surrounding Areas

Abstract The present paper focuses on spatial management regulations in order to carry out investment in the field of airport facilities. The construction, upgrades, and maintenance of airports falls within the area of responsibility of local authorities. This task poses a great challenge in terms of organisation and finances. On the one hand, an active airport is a municipal landmark and drives local economic, social and cultural development, and on the other, the scale of investment often exceeds the capabilities of local authorities. The immediate environment of the airport determines its final use and prosperity. The objective of the paper is to review legislation that affects airports and the surrounding communities. The process of urban planning in Lodz and surrounding areas will be presented as a background to the problem of land use management in the vicinity of the airport. This paper seeks to address the following questions: if and how airports have affected urban planning in Lodz, does the land use around the airport prevent the development of Lodz Airport, and how has the situation changed over the time? It can be assumed that as a result of lack of experience, land resources and size of investments on one hand and legislative dissonance and peculiar practices on the other, aviation infrastructure in Lodz is designed to meet temporary needs and is characterised by achieving short-term goals. Cyclical problems are solved in an intermittent manner and involve all the municipal resources, so there’s little left to secure long-term investments.

scholarly journals How emissions from cruise ships in the port of Naples changed in the COVID-19 lock down period

2021 ◽  
pp. 147509022110284
Author(s):  
Luigia Mocerino ◽  
Franco Quaranta
Keyword(s):  
Local Scale ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cruise Ships ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Transportation Sector ◽  
Reduction Of Emissions ◽  
The One ◽  
Global And Local

The scope of this work is to try to quantify the reduction of emissions due to COVID-19; an analysis covering the entire port of Naples will be presented. The explosion of the global pandemic from SARS-CoV-2 led to the adoption of local and global countermeasures aimed at containing contagions. The transportation sector, and in particular the passenger moving sector, was deeply affected; this almost total block of movements between regions and countries if, on the one hand, seriously slowed the economy, on the other, it drastically reduced the emissions on a global and local scale. In this work, the case study of the cruise ships berthed at the Maritime Station (Stazione Marittima) in the port of Naples is examined. The traffic of cruise ships during the lockdown and in the immediately following months was analysed and compared first with respect to the calendars scheduled for the same period and then with respect to the same months of 2019. The reduction in number of cruise ships and passengers were analysed and compared to the previous trends. The vessels collected, for 2019 and 2020 (both those that arrived and those that suffered the effects of the movement block) were subsequently characterized in terms of power and speed. Finally, an estimate of the emissions of NOX, SOX, CO2 produced and saved was carried out. The 2020 results will be compared with the hypothetical emissions that would have occurred in the absence of the lockdown and with those of the same period of the previous year.

Aesthetic values as an object of research: from an Aesthetic to Cultural studies’ generalization

2021 ◽  
pp. 36-41
Author(s):  
Lydia Lyashenko
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
The Other ◽  
Spiritual Values ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Scientific Analysis ◽  
The One ◽  
Aesthetic Values

The purpose of the article is to prove the expediency and scientific, methodological, conceptual, and categorical potential of Cultural studies as a science that may offer an updated perspective for the study of the problem of aesthetic values. Methodology. Methods of scientific analysis, comparison, and generalization during the elaboration of the source base and the method of systematization are used to determine the traditional and innovative directions of research of the problem of aesthetic values. Scientific novelty. The article considers the interdisciplinary and generalizing potential of Cultural studies on the example of the problem of study aesthetic values. The existing tendency to move the analysis of problems of humanities from separate sciences to the plane of interdisciplinary is emphasized. It was accented on the novelty and relevance of such interdisciplinary research within Cultural studies. Conclusions. The approach of Cultural studies offers an increase in the scale of generalization from aesthetic to actually global, which combines the experience of studying scientific problems in the traditional and extended areas. Given the fact that on the one hand, all material and spiritual values which surround man were born from culture, because culture is the cumulative result of productive human activity, and, on the other hand, culture absorbs them, being phenomenon generalized, interdisciplinary approach of Cultural studies is able to suggest an updated perspective on this problem on the border of traditional and non-traditional sciences and through the improvement of its conceptual and categorical apparatus to offer new ways to study.

“Network Process Re-Engineering” in a Home Textile Network

2011 ◽  
pp. 212-234
Author(s):  
Enrico Baraldi ◽  
Giancarlo Nadin
Keyword(s):  
Complex Network ◽  
The Other ◽  
Coercive Power ◽  
Business Network ◽  
Network Process ◽  
Change Projects ◽  
The One ◽  
Complex Coordination

This chapter relies on a case study featuring the business network around Stella, an Italian home textile manufacturer, to illustrate the challenging issue of engaging other firms into complex “Network Process Re-engineering” (NPR) projects. While the strict technological dimension of selecting, developing, and implementing ICT solutions is certainly very important and poses several challenges to this type of projects, this chapter focuses on other types of challenges, namely those pertaining to the nature and quality of relationships between the actors taking part in a NPR project. We stress the importance of the connection between the specific inter-organizational activities that need to be redesigned and coordinated in better ways, on the one hand, and the bonds existing among the actors, on the other hand. We suggest that very advanced and complex coordination tasks, entailing sensitive communication patterns, can be tackled only if supported by strong, integrative relationships characterized by high trust and commitment between the involved parties. We conclude by discussing how the pivotal firms or the “strategic centers” of a network can support and facilitate complex change projects like NPR by carefully combining different strategies, whereby they both exert coercive power and make concessions to their counterparts in the network.

e-Democracy and Community Networks

2011 ◽  
pp. 249-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Gross
Keyword(s):  
Technological Progress ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
Community Networks ◽  
Considerable Proportion ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Electronic Democracy ◽  
The One

Political systems and technology are interdependent and influence each other. On the one hand, political systems and political leaders aim at influencing technological development and benefiting from technological progress; on the other, technological development has a considerable proportion of its own dynamics and potential to influence society and political systems. This chapter particularly focuses on electronic democracy and virtual communities and accordingly discusses recent ideas and plans of political leaders, derives requirements for technology, presents systems and prototypes, and reports cases demonstrating how and what technology is really used.

scholarly journals Upscaling Statistical Patterns from Reduced Storage in Social and Life Science Big Datasets

Entropy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 1084
Author(s):  
Stefano Garlaschi ◽  
Anna Fochesato ◽  
Anna Tovo
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Life Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Random Samples ◽  
Global Statistics ◽  
The One ◽  
Entire Dataset ◽  
Input Amount

Recent technological and computational advances have enabled the collection of data at an unprecedented rate. On the one hand, the large amount of data suddenly available has opened up new opportunities for new data-driven research but, on the other hand, it has brought into light new obstacles and challenges related to storage and analysis limits. Here, we strengthen an upscaling approach borrowed from theoretical ecology that allows us to infer with small errors relevant patterns of a dataset in its entirety, although only a limited fraction of it has been analysed. In particular we show that, after reducing the input amount of information on the system under study, by applying our framework it is still possible to recover two statistical patterns of interest of the entire dataset. Tested against big ecological, human activity and genomics data, our framework was successful in the reconstruction of global statistics related to both the number of types and their abundances while starting from limited presence/absence information on small random samples of the datasets. These results pave the way for future applications of our procedure in different life science contexts, from social activities to natural ecosystems.

scholarly journals The Wooden Architecture Route as an Example of a Regional Tourism Product in Poland

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 5128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Zdon-Korzeniowska ◽  
Monika Noviello
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
The Other ◽  
Regional Tourism ◽  
Modern Economy ◽  
Tourism Product ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Historical Heritage ◽  
The One

In the modern economy, there is a significant increase in interest in tourism, both at the level of states, regions, communes and individual places. Tourism is seen primarily as an opportunity for economic development, but also for social development and activation of local communities. Well-managed tourism can become a way to preserve and protect the natural, cultural and historical heritage of specific places or regions by exploring and nurturing it. Heritage elements become, on the one hand, attractions around which unique tourism products are created, and on the other hand, a kind of distinguishing feature of a given place or region, based on which local communities build their identity and sense of belonging. The concept of creating regional tourism products could integrate these two factors, i.e., tourism and heritage. The article presents the concept of a regional tourist product on the example of the Wooden Architecture Route (case study).

scholarly journals Sets, lies, and analogy: a new methodological take

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Terzian
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Semantic Paradoxes ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Uniform Solution ◽  
The One ◽  
Graham Priest

Abstract The starting point of this paper is a claim defended most famously by Graham Priest: that given certain observed similarities between the set-theoretic and the semantic paradoxes, we should be looking for a ‘uniform solution’ to the members of both families. Despite its indisputable surface attractiveness, I argue that this claim hinges on a problematic reasoning move. This is seen most clearly, I suggest, when the claim and its underlying assumptions are examined by the lights of a novel, quite general and, I contend, promising take on inter-theoretic analogy. The ensuing discussion is intended to serve as both a possible case study and a first step towards the broader aim of the paper: namely, to initiate a wider conversation on the methodology of paradox-solving on the one hand, and the use of inter-theoretic analogies on the other.

‘But the Last Word Is Ours’: The Monopoly of Jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Light of the Investment Court System

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 1187-1220
Author(s):  
Francisco de Abreu Duarte
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
General Framework ◽  
External Action ◽  
The Other ◽  
Court System ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The One ◽  
The Eu

Abstract This article develops the concept of the monopoly of jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) through the analysis of the case study of the Investment Court System (ICS). By providing a general framework over the criteria that have been developed by the Court, the work sheds light on the controversial principle of autonomy of the European Union (EU) and its implications to the EU’s external action. The work intends to be both pragmatic and analytical. On the one hand, the criteria are extracted as operative tools from the jurisprudence of the CJEU and then used in the context of the validity of the ICS. This provides the reader with some definitive standards that can then be applied to future cases whenever a question concerning autonomy arises. On the other hand, the article questions the reasons behind the idea of the monopoly of jurisdiction of the CJEU, advancing a concept of autonomy of the EU as a claim for power and critiquing the legitimacy and coherence of its foundations. Both dimensions will hopefully help to provide some clarity over the meaning of autonomy and the monopoly of jurisdiction, while, at the same time, promoting a larger discussion on its impact on the external action of the EU.

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