As We Build our World We Build our Minds: The Causal Role of Technology in the Development and Evolution of Human Psychological Traits

<p>Do genes or environments have more of a role to play in the development of psychological traits? The nature versus nurture debate takes many forms and recent developmental systems arguments consider the roles of developmental resources to be inextricably linked. In this thesis I show that some elements of human culture, specifically technologies, play a privileged role in psychological development. Moreover, as we invent new technologies, we change the developmental environment for the present and subsequent generations, thereby causing evolution of the mind. I begin by outlining evidence, which shows that culture, and technology in particular, cause novel psychological traits to develop. Then I explain the evolutionary dynamics by which novel technologies and traits co-elaborate each other. The brain has evolved adaptations for plasticity and responds to environmental challenges in novel ways during development. I also show that brains often integrate with the material world, incorporating symbols, technologies and other artefacts as part of distributed information processing systems. Having demonstrated that technology has a causal role to play in cognitive development and function, I then move on to explain how we can distinguish among causal roles and thereby favour some causes over others in explanations of the development of traits. Beginning with Woodward’s analysis of three dimensions of biological causation, I build a concept space and incorporate a fourth dimension of causation. This modified four-dimensional concept space of causal roles allows us to categorize and distinguish the causal role of genetic and non-genetic developmental resources. It turns out that, with respect to some questions or effects we are interested in, genes are important, and with respect to many other effects or developmental outcomes, cultural technologies are more privileged causes. I illustrate the use of this causal analysis tool by explaining the development of critical thinking skills. I conclude by arguing that the privileged role of technology in psychological development may help to explain two problems in human prehistory. First, it helps to explain why there was a lag between Homo sapiens becoming anatomically modern and only later becoming behaviourally modern, and second, it helps to explain the mysterious extinction of the Neanderthals.</p>

As We Build our World We Build our Minds: The Causal Role of Technology in the Development and Evolution of Human Psychological Traits

<p>Do genes or environments have more of a role to play in the development of psychological traits? The nature versus nurture debate takes many forms and recent developmental systems arguments consider the roles of developmental resources to be inextricably linked. In this thesis I show that some elements of human culture, specifically technologies, play a privileged role in psychological development. Moreover, as we invent new technologies, we change the developmental environment for the present and subsequent generations, thereby causing evolution of the mind. I begin by outlining evidence, which shows that culture, and technology in particular, cause novel psychological traits to develop. Then I explain the evolutionary dynamics by which novel technologies and traits co-elaborate each other. The brain has evolved adaptations for plasticity and responds to environmental challenges in novel ways during development. I also show that brains often integrate with the material world, incorporating symbols, technologies and other artefacts as part of distributed information processing systems. Having demonstrated that technology has a causal role to play in cognitive development and function, I then move on to explain how we can distinguish among causal roles and thereby favour some causes over others in explanations of the development of traits. Beginning with Woodward’s analysis of three dimensions of biological causation, I build a concept space and incorporate a fourth dimension of causation. This modified four-dimensional concept space of causal roles allows us to categorize and distinguish the causal role of genetic and non-genetic developmental resources. It turns out that, with respect to some questions or effects we are interested in, genes are important, and with respect to many other effects or developmental outcomes, cultural technologies are more privileged causes. I illustrate the use of this causal analysis tool by explaining the development of critical thinking skills. I conclude by arguing that the privileged role of technology in psychological development may help to explain two problems in human prehistory. First, it helps to explain why there was a lag between Homo sapiens becoming anatomically modern and only later becoming behaviourally modern, and second, it helps to explain the mysterious extinction of the Neanderthals.</p>

SPACE-CENTRIC CONCEPT TO ANSWER TOMORROW SPACE CHALLENGE: A SMALL STEP FOR FUTURE SPACE LAW

Space activities have shown significant progress since they begin in the late '50s. Under current development, the U.S. with Artemis program and Luxembourg with its space mining program will enhance their outer space involvement. Most of those programs will elevate private sector involvement. Furthermore, the future space program will mainly intersect with the space environment as the primary consideration. It remains high-risk activities that could have catastrophic results if not regulated immediately. However, the current existing space law began obsolete because it was composed more than 50 years ago and too geocentric by putting the earth as the primary protection area. Consequently, existing space law could not govern future space programs properly, including protecting the space environment defense, Etc. Afterward, this paper will introduce the space-centric concept. Space-centric concepts create to answer future space challenges from legal perspectives. This concept emphasizes how future regulation and policy should cover all space objects equally, recalling outer space is vulnerable to such activities by humans, and how the best way to mitigate unforeseeable calamity on outer space.

Signal Conditioning Stage in S-Band Communication Subsystem for CubeSat Applications

This work presents the design, performance evaluation, manufacture, and characterization of an RF front-end signal conditioning chain on a substrate that achieves the best performance at S-band frequencies and complies with the dimensions of the international standard for CubeSat-type nanosatellites. In this development, the signal conditioning chains were carried out on the high-frequency substrates RO4350B, CuClad 250, and RT/duroid 5880, considering scattering parameters in a small-signal regime. Concerning the power output, after the filtering and amplifying stages, the conditioning chain delivered 2 watts at 2.25 GHz. Moreover, up to 40 dB gain was achieved, and a good impedance matching at −20 dB for both input and output ports was observed. The numerical simulations and experimental results showed that an RO4350B substrate allows the smallest design dimensions, and these comply with the dimensions of the CubeSat standard. The manufactured RF front-end signal conditioning chain on RO4350B requires an area of 95 mm2, and it is ready to be used in a proof-of-concept space mission in a CubeSat.

“Sasha Is Drawing a Rocket and Borya Is Drawing a Candy…”: Space Representation in Soviet Magazines for Children in the Late 1950s–1960s

На основе изучения содержания детских журналов «Веселые картинки» и «Мурзилка», выходивших в период конца 1950–1960-х гг. и ориентированных на дошкольников и младших школьников (примерно 5-12 лет), рассматривается, как репрезентировался «космос», под которым понимается образно-содержательный конструкт, включающий смысловое и символическое наполнение и визуализирующийся при помощи типичных космических атрибутов. Цель исследования – выявление сюжетов, способов и образов, использующихся советской пропагандой при обращении к юному читателю. Делается вывод о том, что «космос» – очень удачный идеологический и политический конструкт, содержательное и образное наполнение которого выстраивалось в соответствии с принятой в СССР воспитательной моделью. Детские журналы через свой контент о «космосе» пытались развивать в детях такие качества, как любовь к Родине, безоговорочная вера в ее успехи и достижения, прилежная учеба и трудолюбие. The aim of the article is to reveal the plots, methods and images Soviet propaganda used when addressing young readers in the representing of the concept “space” in children's magazines of the late 1950s–1960s. The author gives her definition of the term “space”, which up to now has not been clearly conceptualized. Thus, “space” is a figurative-meaningful construct with semantic and symbolic content, visualized using typical cosmic attributes. The key resources for the article are Soviet magazines Murzilkaand Vesyolye Kartinki for children from five to twelve years old. The main content of these magazines is color illustrations, short poems and stories. Looking through children’s magazines, the author first looked for visual markers of “space”: rockets, cosmonaut, spacesuit, moon, stars, etc. If they were absent, she carefully examined the meaning of the textual content of the page, if any. As a result, the text and visual materials were included in the total sample for analysis. The author systematized the materials based on the three grounds of the topic of space: storylines and heroes, methods of representation, visualization. There are three main characters most often found in children’s magazines: a child, the Moon, space. The plots around these characters have two main lines: (1) every Soviet child dreams of becoming a cosmonaut, but for this, s/he needs to study well and be hardworking; (2) only such a great country as the USSR could achieve success in conquering space. The most common way of representing “space” was color pictures and illustrations (cosmonauts at the May Day demonstration, a rocket is approaching the moon, etc.). Poems, riddles, fairy tales or short stories about space was the second popular way. Science notes about how a rocket takes off, how a cosmonaut feels in zero gravity, etc. were published. In addition, game formats were offered for children – to glue a rocket out of paper or draw a suit for a cosmonaut, etc. Children sent their own drawings about space to the magazines. Most often, the image of a rocket was used in space visualization. Portraits of cosmonauts (Gagarin, Titov, and Tereshkova) were also often used. The following conclusion has been made. Visual images, forms and ways of presenting “space” to children in the magazines Murzilka and Vesyolye Kartinki shows that “space” has become a successful ideological construct that reflects the basic principles in accordance with which the educational model was built in the USSR. Children’s magazines tried to develop in children such qualities as love for their country, unconditional faith in its successes and achievements, desire for good studies and hard work.

Methodological analysis of the personnel training pedagogical space in the agro-industrial complex

The agro-industrial complex is undergoing changes, experiencing personnel shortage. The article presents the experience of analyzing the pedagogical space state of agricultural personnel training using the general scientific concept "space". The concept "pedagogical space" is based on the concept "teacher". The whole society as a self-developing and self-learning system is "pedagogical space" in which in the modern world there is a process associated with the formation of spiritual and moral values, principles and professional qualities of the individual. The social space of the agro-industrial complex coincides with the pedagogical space of agricultural personnel training. In the article the practice of functioning of agro-industrial complex in Russia is discussed, which reveals the problems of workers: a personnel shortage, training programs backlog from requirements to the specialists competence, the reluctance of those, who received and are receiving agricultural education to work in rural areas. The authors draw attention to the fact that the agro-industrial complex problems are always associated with more general society problems. Their analysis, in turn, entails the need to refer to the society as a whole, which leads to the consideration of other society subsystems. Referring to the concept "space" allows to enhance the effect of analyzing the problem.

Espace et nombre : deux voies dans l’ontologie ?

In this paper, I pursue a dialogue initiated with the publication of Logiques des mondes on the basis of three main lines of questioning: 1. The first, most immediate one, is the meaning that should be given to the famous motto “mathematics = ontology”. Indeed, it is a different statement to claim that “mathematics is ontology”, as was promoted explicitely by Being and the event, and to say that set theory alone is ontology (as advanced by Logiques des mondes, as well as other contemporary texts). It seems that there is at this point an important inflection of the system, not thematized as such; is set theory a way of expressing ontology, i.e. mathematics, or is it ontology itself? 2. This leads to a broader questioning of the relationship, in mathematics, between expression and ontology, or “language” and “being”. Here I would like to point out that, contrary to what one might think, there is often an ambiguity between these two aspects not only in Badiou, but more generally in discussions of the philosophy of mathematics. If this distinction is relevant - and I will try to show why it should be - then one cannot conclude too quickly from the fact that mathematics has adopted a unified expression thanks to the language of set theory to the fact that the form of being it expresses is set-theoretic (or “pure multiple” in Badiou’s terminology); 3. Finally, I would like to delve into the fact that the set-theoretic language has precisely given rise to the thematization of two orientations which could be just as well coined “ontological” (but in a different sense, therefore, from that given to it by Badiou); the first is anchored in the concept of number, while the other is anchored in the concept space (later called “topological”). The fact that we have a language capable of describing them in a homogeneous fashion does not entail that we are dealing with a single domain of objects. I would like to show that this tension runs through contemporary mathematics, and consequently through Alain Badiou’s thinking more than he wants to admit. In fact, it is at the basis of various attempts proposed in mathematics to arrive at more satisfactory forms of unification than that provided by “sets” alone.

Challenge Theory: The Structure and Measurement of Risky Binary Choice Behavior

Challenge Theory (Shye & Haber 2015; 2020) has demonstrated that a newly devised challenge index (CI) attributable to every binary choice problem predicts the popularity of the bold option, the one of lower probability to gain a higher monetary outcome (in a gain problem); and the one of higher probability to lose a lower monetary outcome (in a loss problem). In this paper we show how Facet Theory structures the choice-behavior concept-space and yields rationalized measurements of gambling behavior. The data of this study consist of responses obtained from 126 student, specifying their preferences in 44 risky decision problems. A Faceted Smallest Space Analysis (SSA) of the 44 problems confirmed the hypothesis that the space of binary risky choice problems is partitionable by two binary axial facets: (a) Type of Problem (gain vs. loss); and (b) CI (Low vs. High). Four composite variables, representing the validated constructs: Gain, Loss, High-CI and Low-CI, were processed using Multiple Scaling by Partial Order Scalogram Analysis with base Coordinates (POSAC), leading to a meaningful and intuitively appealing interpretation of two necessary and sufficient gambling-behavior measurement scales.