The elements of General Relativity

This chapter is a survey of central ideas and equations in general relativity. The basic equations are written down with a view to seeing where we are heading in the book, and in order to present both the field theory and the geometric interpretation of gravity. The central role of the metric is introduced, and the equivalence principle is discussed. It is emphasized that spacetime interval is both a mathematical and a physical idea. It is explained how gravity works “behind the scenes” by modifying equations which otherwise look like familiar equations of electromagnetism. The sense in which acceleration is in some respects a relative and in some respects an absolute concept is explained. It is shown why the motion of matter, not just its mass, must influence gravitation. The stress-energy tensor is introduced and defined.

Probabilities and Epistemic Operations in the Logics of Quantum Computation

Quantum computation theory has inspired new forms of quantum logic, called quantum computational logics, where formulas are supposed to denote pieces of quantum information, while logical connectives are interpreted as special examples of quantum logical gates. The most natural semantics for these logics is a form of holistic semantics, where meanings behave in a contextual way. In this framework, the concept of quantum probability can assume different forms. We distinguish an absolute concept of probability, based on the idea of quantum truth, from a relative concept of probability (a form of transition-probability, connected with the notion of fidelity between quantum states). Quantum information has brought about some intriguing epistemic situations. A typical example is represented by teleportation-experiments. In some previous works we have studied a quantum version of the epistemic operations “to know”, “to believe”, “to understand”. In this article, we investigate another epistemic operation (which is informally used in a number of interesting quantum situations): the operation “being probabilistically informed”.

Freire and the Construction of New Critical Qualitative Inquiry

Paulo Freire's work is not limited to the field of education. It constitutes a structured project of social change. It is, thus, a political project, centered in, but not limited to, the educational field. Education, using the Freirean view, serves as a window for understanding society in all its dimensions and the social dynamics that support the construction of new knowledge. In this sense, education is an epiphenomenon, a reflection of the cultural, social, and political dimensions as lived by a society in a certain historical time. Knowledge acquisition is, therefore, a nonneutral stance. Truth is not untouched by politics, neither an absolute concept. By pursuing the truths underlining the political process of education, Freire aligns with qualitative research, whose tenets include a nonconformity with the supposedly established truths as given in the social fabric of the market ideology and the hegemonic in the contemporary sociopolitical arena.

Material culture and antihuman subjectivities in postmodernist literature

The relation between subject and object in contemporary societies is a key concern of much postmodernist literature, authors often denouncing the superfluous pervasiveness of material culture in our lives and our absurd dependence on the artificial systems of meaning that we project on the world of things.The antihumanism that is commonly identified with postmodern culture finds a congenial formulation in Postructuralist theories, which consider meaning not as an absolute concept, but always arising of a web of signs that interrelate; the key issue is that for most Postructuralist thinkers –among them Jean Baudrillard and his definition of the ‘hyperreal’– these codes on which culture is founded always precede the individual subject, annihilating all prospects of human agency.Postmodern authors like Thomas Pynchon, Don Delillo or William Gibson foster the debate on the nature of those underlying structures, and offer manifold portraits of these frail, commodified, and antihuman subjectivities that are very often the product of progress

KI AGENG SURYOMENTARAM’S PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS AND ITS RELEVANCE FOR POSTMODERNITY

<em><span>Postmodern society has related to the terms of relativism, it is kind of the rejection of certain universal forms (grand narrative). In this case, the uncertainty of ethic is being one of the problems of humanity that exist in postmodern society. It implies that there is no true moral principle. The accuracy of all moral principles are relatively accommodated to the concerned or selected individual environment. The difficulty is how to marry such values to respect for diversity. Some agreements on the principles of social justice are desirable. Human has to position themselves between ‘absolutism’ and ‘anything goes’. Ki Ageng Suryomentaram, one of the Javanese Philosophers, formulated a set of philosophical views called to deal with human life. It is not an absolute concept to follow. Neither is it a form of totalitarianism reconstruction. Yet, it can be included as one of what so called by Lyotard as a small narrative. So in postmodernism view, the concept of Ki Ageng Suryomentaram, be it about harmony or manungsa tanpa tenger (human without signs), mawas diri (self-cautiousness), and mulur mungkret (state of being developed and shrunk) can be regarded as knowledge that qualifies to be publicized. It fits to some degree into a postmodern society for creating a harmonious life. </span></em>

The monetization of global poverty: the concept of poverty in World Bank history, 1944–90

This article traces the history of the concept of poverty within the institutional framework of the World Bank, from its inception to its establishment of the dollar-a-day global poverty threshold. The Bank's evolving conceptualization of poverty and how it related to the development process affected the policies that were advanced to boost the productivity of underdeveloped countries. Internal and external influences and constraints conditioned the Bank's approach to poverty and its alleviation from the beginning, when poverty was conceived as a political issue beyond the scope of the Bank's mandate. Separating the political implications of poverty alleviation from the Bank's development agenda was tenuous, and by the 1970s a universal, absolute concept of poverty became the focal point of Bank operations. The eventual monetization of global poverty reflected the increasingly technical nature of the Bank's development work and its need for a practical yardstick by which to measure the success of its anti-poverty policies.

Collective Intelligence

Intelligence is taken here as the ability for attaining goals or for solving problems that put at work responsiveness of the solver to the situation where the goal or problem arises and use of its previous knowledge and experience. Let one notice that this definition means that intelligence or intelligent behavior is not an absolute concept in at least three ways: • Intelligence is relative to the goal or problem being solved. • Intelligence is relative to the situation where the goal arises. • Intelligence is relative to the knowledge and experience of the solver. Usually, intelligence is conceived as a property of individuals. In recent years, the recognizance has grown that this conception is too narrow. It makes sense and it is most useful to consider the intelligence of groups of individuals, whether small or very large. Such intelligence is still the intelligence of one entity— the group—but it is made of the ways individual intelligences are orchestrated or coordinate themselves. This being given, collective intelligence (CI) is defined here simply as the intelligence of entities constituted by several or many individuals. As taken, CI is about the intelligent behavior of entities which are conceived from the beginning as not being atomic.

Concepts of National Competitiveness

Today, many governments follow a strategy of national competitiveness for fostering economic development. However, there is no accepted theory of national competitiveness but just different concepts behind these policies. This article aims to provide an overview of the different concepts of national competitiveness, starting with a look at firm level competitiveness. The article distinguishes between four special concepts of national competitiveness and approaches of competitive advantage. It is argued that national competitiveness should be seen as a relative rather than an absolute concept that allows for a benchmarking of nations.