Speak, memory: the postphenomenological analysis of memory-making in the age of algorithmically powered social networks

This paper explores the productive role that social network platforms such as Facebook, play in the practice of memory-making. While such platforms facilitate interaction across distance and time, they also solidify human self-expression and memory-making by systematically confronting the users with their digital past. By relying on the framework of postphenomenology, the analysis will scrutinize the mediating role of the Memories feature of Facebook, powered by recurring algorithmic scheduling and devoid of meaningful context. More specifically, it will show how this technological infrastructure mediates the concepts of memory, control and space, evoking a specific interpretation of the values of time, remembering and forgetting. As such, apart from preserving memories, Facebook appears as their co-producer, guiding the users in determining the criteria for remembering and forgetting. The paper finishes with suggestions on how to critically appropriate the memory-making features of social network platforms that would both enable their informed use and account for their mediating role in co-shaping good memories.

La transformación del Ensanche Heredia en Soho. Ciudades creativas, gentrificación y promoción cultural en Málaga

The Director Plan of Art District - Soho Malaga (2011-2014) is an example of the assisted transformation of the neighborhood of Ensanche Heredia by the public administration of Malaga City Hall. The Ensanche’s conversion into Art District helped as a tool to create a city branding associated with the touristic and cultural consumption, stimulating by doing so themed public spaces and privatization process. With these cultural promotion policies, and by following the logics of creative industries, Malaga intends to put itself globally on the competitive map of touristic cities, fundamentally by urban interventions with a special focus on the productive role of the city’s culture. This way, the borough, advertised as a city of museums, with the production of Soho contributed to promoting the gentrification process that the center suffers, in which culture, understood as a strategic asset commodity, has a key role. El Plan Director del Barrio de las Artes - Soho Málaga (2011-2014) supuso un ejemplo de transformación asistida del barrio del Ensanche Heredia por parte de la gestión pública del Ayuntamiento de Málaga. Esta conversión del Ensanche en barrio de las artes contribuyó a la creación de una marca de ciudad ligada al consumo turístico y cultural, estimulándose de esta manera procesos de tematización y privatización del espacio público. Con estas políticas de promoción de la cultura, y siguiendo las premisas de la industria creativa, Málaga busca posicionarse globalmente en el mapa competitivo de las ciudades turísticas, principalmente por medio de intervenciones urbanas que priman el rol productivo de la cultura en la ciudad. De esta manera, la administración municipal, publicitándose como ciudad de los museos, terminó contribuyendo con la producción del Soho a los procesos de gentrificación que sufre el centro, en los que la cultura, entendida como un activo estratégico de mercado, toma un rol principal.

About the Role of the Hidden Text Equivalents in the Editions of the Poem “The Demon” by Mikhail Lermontov

The publication examines the role of the hidden text equivalents in the editions of the poem “The Demon” at the figurative, thematic, plot, compositional levels. In the editions of the poem “The Demon” by Lermontov there are various equivalents of the text: unrealized, unclaimed, having a variable character, replaced by previous and subsequent options, hidden. The listed types of text equivalents not only testify to the graphic features of Lermontov's verse, but also make it possible to identify encrypted information demonstrating the nature of the author's work in the poem, to emphasize their special productive role, indicating how “The Demon” gradually changed, how over time it turned from a romantic poem into a poetic story. This type of the text equivalents allows to emphasize the meaning of the fallen angel and the devil in love themes, the images of the main character, Tamara and the prince, to show how the plot of the poem gradually changed, to demonstrate the mirror structure of the composition, in particular, due to the motives of waiting, the kiss, death, the hand.

Adaptive Design, Contingency, and Ontological Principles for Limited Beings

Transcendental arguments are not popular in contemporary philosophy of science. They are typically seen as antinaturalistic and incapable of providing explanatory force in accounting for natural phenomena. However, when viewed as providing (certain types of) intelligibility to complicated concepts used in scientific reasoning, a concrete and productive role is recoverable for transcendental reasoning in philosophy of science. In this article I argue that the resources, and possibly the need, for such a role are available within a thoroughly naturalistic framework garnered from the work of Hasok Chang and William Wimsatt.

Biological identity and ‘restitution’ in Argentina. Further critical arguments

In this paper we will briefly explain the context in which the appropriation of 500 children occurred during the most recent Argentinian dictatorship, in order to analyze the political demand of identity restitution of these people. We will describe the phenomenon of restitution that took place thanks to the strategy of Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, and we will analyze both the role of genetics on the restitution as well as some criticisms to a notion of biological identity considered to emerge from it. We will situate those criticisms in the philosophical debate over personal identity. The main purpose of this paper is to offer two arguments against an alleged genetic notion of personal identity. Firstly, a theoretical argument presents reasons on the basis of contemporary biological knowledge and, secondly, a practical argument refers to the productive role of biotechnologies. Finally, we will discuss some problems that arise from the criticisms themselves in order to give reasons for a defense of the restitution demand.

The structure of Prunus avium L. crops and their importance for pollinating insects in seed orchards in Poland

The functioning of forests in Poland is often associated with a productive role and the production of wood-based raw materials, disregarding the need to protect forest environments. In practice, the approach to the protection of nature and animals, including insects in forest areas, has changed in recent decades. Many researchers still point to the need to protect the processes taking place in forest environments. Actions are being taken to reduce monocultures in forests and to increase the biodiversity of plants and animals living among crops. A good example described in this paper is the relationship between seed plantations and insects. These relationships may have a positive effect on the fruiting process and seed production in selected tree species. This paper presents an example of the relationship between wild bees and Prunus avium L. seed plantations as an example of a positive relationship in which humans as well as pollinating insects can benefit. The structure and size of Prunus cultivation in Poland are described and the hitherto harvest of seeds is analysed. The elements of the biology of the Prunus species, important for the process of pollination of flowers by insects are also indicated. The study also indicates ways to protect bees in the forest environment.

Over and Over, and Over Again: Tension, Repetition, and Catharsis in the Films of Wes Anderson

This article argues that Wes Anderson’s films repeat formal and thematic strategies in such a way that resists traditional auteurist analysis. By looking at Anderson’s recognizable style of image composition, his expansive paratext, and recurring thematic motifs, we can see a productive system of repetition operative both within and across his films. The value Anderson places on repetition opposes Peter Wollen’s structural auteurist framework, which values variation over repetition. Such opposition allows Anderson’s films to be taken up as a critique of this valuation, demonstrated through an analysis of the productive role of repetition in his work.

Black Boxes

Textbooks and other popular venues commonly present science as a progressive “brick-by-brick” accumulation of knowledge and facts. Despite its hallowed history and familiar ring, this depiction is nowadays rejected by most specialists. Then why are books and articles, written by these same experts, actively promoting such a distorted characterization? The short answer is that no better alternative is available. There currently are two competing models of the scientific enterprise: reductionism and antireductionism. Neither provides an accurate depiction of the productive interaction between knowledge and ignorance, supplanting the old metaphor of the “wall” of knowledge. This book explores an original conception of the nature and advancement of science. The proposed shift brings attention to a prominent, albeit often neglected, construct—the black box—which underlies a well-oiled technique for incorporating a productive role of ignorance and failure into the acquisition of empirical knowledge. What is a black box? How does it work? How is it constructed? How does one determine what to include and what to leave out? What role do boxes play in contemporary scientific practice? By detailing some fascinating episodes in the history of biology, psychology, and economics, Nathan revisits foundational questions about causation, explanation, emergence, and progress, showing how the insights of both reductionism and antireductionism can be reconciled into a fresh and exciting approach to science.

Sailing through the Strait

This chapter takes the reader back to where the book started: philosophy of science as metaphorically navigating between Scylla and Charybdis, between reductionism and antireductionism. At the outset, two related questions were raised. First, is it possible to steer clear of both hazards? Is there an alternative model of the nature and advancement of science that avoids the pitfalls of both stances and, in doing so, provides a fresh way of presenting science to an educated readership in a more realistic fashion? Second, how does science bring together the productive role of ignorance and the progressive growth of knowledge? The final chapter cashes out these two promissory notes. These problems have a common answer: black boxes. Specifically, the first four sections argue that the black-boxing strategy outlined throughout the book captures the advantages of both reductionism and antireductionism, while eschewing more troublesome implications. The final section addresses the interplay of ignorance and knowledge.