Collingridge Dilemma
The Collingridge dilemma is a methodological quandary in which efforts to influence or control the further development of technology face a double-bind problem: * An information problem: impacts cannot be easily predicted until the technology is extensively developed and widely used. * A power problem: control or change is difficult when the technology has become entrenched. The idea was coined by David Collingridge, The University of Aston, Technology Policy Unit, in his 1980 book ''The Social Control of Technology''. The dilemma is a basic point of reference in technology assessment debates. In "This Explains Everything," edited by John Brockman, technology critic Evgeny Morozov explains Collingridge's idea by quoting Collingridge himself: "When change is easy, the need for it cannot be foreseen; when the need for change is apparent, change has become expensive, difficult, and time-consuming.""This Explains Everything" (Harper Perennial, 2013, p.255, ) In "The Pacing Problem, th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Double Bind
A double bind is a dilemma in communication in which an individual (or group) receives two or more reciprocally conflicting messages. In some scenarios (e.g. within families or romantic relationships) this can be emotionally distressing, creating a situation in which a successful response to one message results in a failed response to the other (and vice versa), such that the person responding will automatically be perceived as in the wrong, no matter how they respond. This double bind prevents the person from either resolving the underlying dilemma or opting out of the situation. Double bind theory was first described by Gregory Bateson and his colleagues in the 1950s,Bateson, G., Jackson, D. D., Haley, J. & Weakland, J., 1956, Toward a theory of schizophrenia.''Behavioral Science'', Vol. 1, 251–264. in a theory on the origins of schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder. Double binds are often utilized as a form of control without open coercion—the use of confusio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George Mason University
George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was originally founded in 1949 as a Northern Virginia regional branch of the University of Virginia. Named after Founding Father of the United States George Mason in 1959, it became an independent university in 1972. The school has since grown into the largest public university in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Mason operates four campuses in Virginia ( Fairfax, Arlington, Front Royal, and Prince William), as well as a campus in Incheon, South Korea. The flagship campus is in Fairfax. The university is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Two professors were awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics during their time at George Mason University: James M. Buchanan in 1986 and Vernon L. Smith in 2002. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Environmental Degradation
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; and pollution. It is defined as any change or disturbance to the environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable. Environmental concerns can be defined as the negative effects of any human activity on the environment. The biological as well as the physical features of the environment are included. Some of the primary environmental challenges that are causing great worry are air pollution, water pollution, natural environment pollution, rubbish pollution, and so o Environmental degradation is one of the ten threats officially cautioned by the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, high-level PaneI on Threats, Challenges and Change of the United Nations. The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction defines environmental degra ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Max More
Max More (born Max T. O'Connor, January 1964, with name legally changed in 1990) is a philosopher and futurist who writes, speaks, and consults on advanced decision-making about emerging technologies. He is the current Ambassador and President Emeritus (as of February 2021) after serving almost nine and a half years as president and CEO of Alcor Life Extension Foundation. Born in Bristol, England, More has a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from St Anne's College, Oxford (1987). His 1995 University of Southern California doctoral dissertation ''The Diachronic Self: Identity, Continuity, and Transformation'' examined several issues that concern transhumanists, including the nature of death, and what it is about each individual that continues despite great change over time. In 1996, he married Natasha Vita-More, herself a pioneering transhumanist; the couple are close collaborators on transhumanist and life extension research. Founder of the Extropy Institute, M ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kevin Kelly (editor)
Kevin Kelly (born 1952) is the founding executive editor of ''Wired'' magazine, and a former editor/publisher of the ''Whole Earth Review''. He has also been a writer, photographer, conservationist, and student of Asian and digital culture. Life Kelly was born in Pennsylvania in 1952, and graduated from Westfield High School, Westfield, New Jersey, in 1970. Through his father, an executive for ''Time'' who used systems analysis in his work, Kelly developed an early interest in cybernetics. He attended the University of Rhode Island for one year, studying geology. Kelly has traveled extensively, backpacking in Asia. While travelling in the Middle East, he had a conversion experience and became a born-again Christian. He was raised Catholic. He lives in Pacifica, California, a small coastal town just south of San Francisco. He is married to the biochemist Gia-Miin Fuh and has three children: Kaileen, Ting, and Tywen. He regrets not having a fourth child. Among Kelly's per ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Precautionary Principle
The precautionary principle (or precautionary approach) is a broad epistemological, philosophical and legal approach to innovations with potential for causing harm when extensive scientific knowledge on the matter is lacking. It emphasizes caution, pausing and review before leaping into new innovations that may prove disastrous. Critics argue that it is vague, self-cancelling, unscientific and an obstacle to progress. In an engineering context, the precautionary principle manifests itself as the factor of safety, discussed in detail in the monograph of Elishakoff. It was apparently suggested, in civil engineering, by Belindorde Bélidor, Bernard Forest, La science des ingénieurs, dans la conduite des travaux de fortification et d'architecture civile, Paris: Chez Claude Jombert 1729 in 1729. Interrelation between safety factor and reliability is extensively studied by engineers and philosophers. The principle is often used by policy makers in situations where there is the poss ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Laws Of Disruption
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with pronouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of pronoun ''thee'') when followed by a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Larry Downes
Larry Downes (born March 1, 1959) is an Internet industry analyst and author on business strategies and information technology. Downes is best known for his first book, ''Unleashing the Killer App: Digital Strategies for Market Dominance'' (Harvard Business School 1998), which focuses on the potential of products and services for dramatically changing business. ''Unleashing the Killer App'' was a New York Times bestseller, sold over 200,000 copies, and was named by the ''Wall Street Journal'' one of the five most important books on business and the Internet ever published. Downes is also the author of ''The Strategy Machine: Building Your Business One Idea at a Time'' (HarperBusiness 2001) and ''The Laws of Disruption: Harnessing the New Forces that Govern Business and Life in the Digital Age'' (Basic Books 2009), and co-author or ''Big Bang Disruption: Strategy in the Age of Devastating Innovation'' (Portfolio 2014). His most recent book is ''Pivot to the Future'' (Public Affair ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mercatus Center
The Mercatus Center is an American libertarian, free-market-oriented non-profit think tank. Located at George Mason University and directed by the American economist Tyler Cowen, the Mercatus Center works with policy experts, lobbyists, and government officials to connect academic learning and real-world practice. Taking its name from the Latin word for ''market'', the center advocates free-market approaches to public policy. During the George W. Bush administration's campaign to reduce government regulation, ''The Wall Street Journal'' reported, "14 of the 23 rules the White House chose for its 'hit list' to eliminate or modify were Mercatus entries". According to the ''2017 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report'' (Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, University of Pennsylvania), Mercatus is number 39 in the "Top Think Tanks in the United States" and number 18 of the "Best University Affiliated Think Tanks". The Koch family has been a major financial supporter of the organi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Power (philosophy)
In social science and politics, power is the social production of an effect that determines the capacities, actions, beliefs, or conduct of actors. Power does not exclusively refer to the threat or use of force ( coercion) by one actor against another, but may also be exerted through diffuse means (such as institutions). Power may also take structural forms, as it orders actors in relation to one another (such as distinguishing between a master and a slave), and discursive forms, as categories and language may lend legitimacy to some behaviors and groups over others. The term ''authority'' is often used for power that is perceived as legitimate or socially approved by the social structure. Power can be seen as evil or unjust; however, power can also be seen as good and as something inherited or given for exercising humanistic objectives that will help, move, and empower others as well. Scholars have distinguished between soft power and hard power. Theories Five b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Adam Thierer
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as "mankind". tells of God's creation of the world and its creatures, including ''adam'', meaning humankind; in God forms "Adam", this time meaning a single male human, out of "the dust of the ground", places him in the Garden of Eden, and forms a woman, Eve, as his helpmate; in Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge and God condemns Adam to labour on the earth for his food and to return to it on his death; deals with the birth of Adam's sons, and lists his descendants from Seth to Noah. The Genesis creation myth was adopted by both Christianity and Islam, and the name of Adam accordingly appears in the Christian scriptures and in the Quran. He also features in subsequent folkloric and mystical elaborations in later Judais ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Technological Determinism
Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that assumes that a society's technology progresses by following its own internal logic of efficiency, while determining the development of the social structure and cultural values. The term is believed to have originated from Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929), an American sociologist and economist. The most radical technological determinist in the United States in the 20th century was most likely Clarence Ayres who was a follower of Thorstein Veblen and John Dewey. William Ogburn was also known for his radical technological determinism and his theory on cultural lag. The first major elaboration of a technological determinist view of socioeconomic development came from the German philosopher and economist Karl Marx, who argued that changes in technology, and specifically productive technology, are the primary influence on human social relations and organizational structure, and that social relations and cultural practices ultimatel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |