RSA Journal 31/2020
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
The Sci-Fi Optimist
COMMENT BOOKS & ARTS literature and science. Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864) is about scien- REX tific method and its misuses. Scientists Professor Lidenbrock and Axel enter Earth through an Icelandic crater and, after improbable adventures involving mastodons and underground oceans, are ejected through the Italian volcano Strom- boli. Lidenbrock ignores data that disturb his schema. Axel is a romantic who fails to examine observable facts. Yet the book probes scientific wonder: when Axel is lost and terrified in subterranean darkness, the reader experiences awe contemplating the complete absence of light. The French-language genre advanced significantly with the uncompromis- ing scientific approach of J.-H. Rosny Aîné — the pseudonym of the Belgian Joseph Henri Honoré Boex. In the 1910 Death of the Earth, Rosny’s vision of global environmental crisis is prescient. An imbalance created partly by humans turns Earth to desert. Targ, the last man, succumbs with Darwinian altruism. Real- izing that carbon-based life must perish Q&A Neal Stephenson so that the iron-based Ferromagnetics can inhabit the stricken planet, he invites them to take his blood. Rosny excised the anthropomorphic from science fiction. The sci-fi optimist The 1950s and 1960s saw an invasion Best-selling science-fiction writer Neal Stephenson’s works cover everything from cryptography of space-age Anglo-American sci-fi, to Sumerian mythology. Ahead of next year’s novel Seveneves, he talks about his influences, the quickly rejected by French critics. Its stagnation in material technologies, and Hieroglyph, the forthcoming science-fiction anthology main portal was Fiction, launched in 1953 that he kick-started to stimulate the next generation of engineers. -
Organisms and Human Bodies As Contagions in the Post-Apocalyptic State
CHAPTER 1 Organisms and Human Bodies as Contagions in the Post-Apocalyptic State Robert A. Booth n this chapter, I show how discourses of contagion and pollution not only imbue many post-apocalyptic cinema and television narratives but also mirror public discourse about immigration. Further, I examine the often- I 1 racialized immigrant in post-apocalyptic film and television that is, in essence, a discourse on insider–outsider social divisions and relationships of power. Finally, I elucidate the argument that post-apocalyptic film and television rein- force the primacy of centralized political authority, namely the State, and post- 9/11 post-apocalyptic film in particular reinforces the hegemony of the State. The post-apocalyptic subgenre of science fiction and/or horror has become popular fodder for cinema and television. As Susan Sontag notes, “the science fiction film . is concerned with the aesthetics of destruction, with the pecu- liar beauties to be found in wreaking havoc, making a mess. And it is in the imagery of destruction that the core of a good science fiction film lies.”2 Portrayals of the post-apocalypse often index or echo visual memories of terrible societal traumatic events of the past.3 With the experience of the social, political, economic, and emotional trauma of the 9/11 attacks, one might reasonably assume that Americans would acquire a distaste for graphic destructive violence. Certainly, after the attacks, filmmakers occasionally felt pressured to remove images of the Twin Towers or to change content that might evoke the tragedy, such as planes crashing into skyscrapers. However, post-apocalyptic genres remain ever popular in American television and cinema. -
Part One Living on Spaceship Earth
1 Part One Living on Spaceship Earth Energy for a Sustainable World: From the Oil Age to a Sun-Powered Future. Nicola Armaroli and Vincenzo Balzani © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim ISBN: 978-3-527-32540-5 3 1 The Energy Challenge “ Pay attention to the whispers, so you won ’ t have to listen to the screams. ” Cherokee Proverb 1.1 Our Spaceship Earth On Christmas Eve 1968, the astronauts of the Apollo 8 spacecraft, while in orbit around the Moon, had the astonishment to contemplate the Earthrise. William Anders, the crewmember who took what is considered one of the most infl uential photographs ever taken, commented: “ We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth ” [1] (Figure 1.1 ). The image taken by the Cassini Orbiter spacecraft on September 15, 2006, at a distance of 1.5 billion kilometers (930 million miles) shows the Earth as a pale blue dot in the cosmic dark (Figure 1.2 ). There is no evidence of being in a privi- leged position in the Universe, no sign of our imagined self - importance. There is no hint that we can receive help from somewhere, no suggestion about places to which our species could migrate. Like it or not, Earth is a spaceship. It ’ s the only home where we can live. Spaceship Earth moves at the speed of 29 km s − 1 , apparently without any destina- tion. It does not consume its own energy to travel, but it requires a huge amount of energy to make up for the needs of its 6.8 billion passengers who increase at a rate of 227 000 per day (the population of a medium - sized town), almost 83 million per year (the population of a large nation) [2] . -
Documenting Apollo on The
NASA HISTORY DIVISION Office of External Relations volume 27, number 1 Fourth Quarter 2009/First Quarter 2010 FROM HOMESPUN HISTORY: THE CHIEF DOCUMENTING APOLLO HISTORIAN ON THE WEB By David Woods, editor, The Apollo Flight Journal Bearsden, Scotland In 1994 I got access to the Internet via a 0.014 Mbps modem through my One aspect of my job that continues to amaze phone line. As happens with all who access the Web, I immediately gravi- and engage me is the sheer variety of the work tated towards the sites that interested me, and in my case, it was astronomy we do at NASA and in the NASA History and spaceflight. As soon as I stumbled upon Eric Jones’s burgeoning Division. As a former colleague used to say, Apollo Lunar Surface Journal (ALSJ), then hosted by the Los Alamos NASA is engaged not just in human space- National Laboratory, I almost shook with excitement. flight and aeronautics; its employees engage in virtually every engineering and natural Eric was trying to understand what had been learned about working on science discipline in some way and often at the Moon by closely studying the time that 12 Apollo astronauts had spent the cutting edge. This breadth of activities is, there. To achieve this, he took dusty, old transcripts of the air-to-ground of course, reflected in the history we record communication, corrected them, added commentary and, best of all, man- and preserve. Thus it shouldn’t be surprising aged to get most of the men who had explored the surface to sit with him that our books and monographs cover such a and add their recollections. -
Theoretical Approaches and Measurement Methods
2372-10 Joint ICTP-IAEA Workshop on Sustainable Energy Development: Pathways and Strategies after Rio+20 1 - 5 October 2012 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: THEORETICAL APPROACHES AND MEASUREMENT METHODS Fabio Eboli Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Venice Italy LECTURE I SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: THEORETICAL APPROACHES AND MEASUREMENT METHODS Fabio Eboli FEEM, CMCC ICTP Trieste, 2nd October 2012 OUTLINE Sustainable Development: Historical Background Definition and Main Issues Economy vs Environment Measuring Sustainability 1 Sustainable Development: Theoretical Approaches and Measurement Methods OUTLINE Sustainable Development: Historical Background Definition and Main Issues Economy vs Environment Measuring Sustainability 2 Sustainable Development: Theoretical Approaches and Measurement Methods HYSTORICAL BACKGROUND: THE ROOTS • 1972 = United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm (simultaneously => Limits to Growth) • 1983 = creation of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). Mission: to formulate ‘A global agenda for change’ • 1987 = Our Common Future => global interdependence and strong relationship between social, economic, cultural and environmental issues and global solutions. “The environment does not exist as a sphere separate from human actions, ambitions and needs, and therefore it should not be considered in isolation from human concerns“ 3 Sustainable Development: Theoretical Approaches and Measurement Methods RIO 1992: AGENDA 21 • 1992 = first UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) -
Favorite Movies
Favorites as of June 2011 Favorite Movies - 00s The Boondock Saints Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang Lord of War The Machinist The Prestige The Punisher Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle The Butterfly Effect Confessions of a Dangerous Mind The Ring We Were Soldiers Ghost World Snatch Memento Serendipity Shoot „Em Up Taken Rules of Attraction Resident Evil & (Apocalypse) American Psycho Favorite Movies - 90s Fight Club PI Election The Usual Suspects Reservoir Dogs The Player Gattaca True Romance Freeway Dogfight ----------------------------- Free Enterprise Groundhog Day Goodwill Hunting The Inner Circle Dark City From Dusk till Dawn Reality Bites Sixth Sense Chasing Amy Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Avalon/Liberty Heights American Beauty Go Something About Mary Office Space Oleanna Forrest Gump Wild Things Pulp Fiction Scream 1 & 2 Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels Favorites as of June 2011 Favorite Movies - 80s The Sure Thing Valley Girl Real Genius Terminator Baby Its You Breakfast Club 48 Hours Amadeus A Fish Called Wanda Jacob's Ladder -------------------- Repo Man Into the Night Die Hard Insignificance Field of Dreams Sixteen Candles One Crazy Summer Better Off Dead Weird Science The Empire Strikes Back Aliens Raiders of the Lost Ark/Temple of Doom Robocop The Hitcher The Manhattan Project Heartbreak Ridge Peggy Sue Got Married Favorites as of June 2011 Favorite Movies - Previous Citizen Kane (1941) Casablanca (1943) Dead of Night (1945) Its a Wonderful Life (1946) Curse of the Demon (1957) Touch of Evil (1958) Psycho (1960) David and Lisa -
The Ecological Economics of Boulding's Spaceship Earth
Institut für Regional- und Umweltwirtschaft Institute for the Environment and Regional Development Clive L. Spash The Ecological Economics of Boulding's Spaceship Earth SRE-Discussion 2013/02 2013 The Ecological Economics of Boulding’s Spaceship Earth1 Clive L. Spash Abstract The work of Kenneth Boulding is sometimes cited as being foundational to the understanding of how the economy interacts with the environment and particularly of relevance to ecological economists. The main reference made in this regard is to his seminal essay using the metaphor of planet Earth as a spaceship. In this paper that essay and related work is placed both within historical context of the environmental movement and developments in the thought on environment-economy interactions. The writing by Boulding in this area is critically reviewed and discussed in relationship to the work of his contemporaries, also regarded as important for the ecological economics community, such as Georegescu-Roegen, Herman Daly and K. William Kapp. This brings out the facts that Boulding did not pursue his environmental concerns, wrote little on the subject, had a techno-optimist tendency, disagreed with his contemporaries and preferred to develop an evolutionary economics approach. Finally, a sketch is offered of how the ideas in the Spaceship Earth essay relate to current understanding within social ecological economics. The essay itself, while offering many thought provoking insights within the context of its time, also has flaws both of accuracy and omission. The issues of power, social justice, institutional and social relationships are ones absent, but also ones which Boulding, near the end of his life, finally recognised as key to addressing the growing environmental crises. -
Silent Running (Naves Misteriosas) De Douglas Trumbull Versió Original En Anglès Subtitulada
Associació Cultural Granollers Dimarts Singulars Dimarts 8 de novembre / 20 hores 2016 Centre Cultural de Granollers Silent Running (Naves misteriosas) de Douglas Trumbull Versió original en anglès subtitulada Fitxa tècnica: Fitxa artística: Guió: Deric Washburn, Michael Cimino, Steve Bochco Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, Jesse Vint, Steven Brown, Música: Peter Schickele (cançons: Joan Baez) / Fotografia: Larry Whisenhunt, Cheryl Sparks, Mark Persons Charles F. Wheeler / Any: 1972 / Durada: 89 minuts SINOPSI. En una estació espacial, un científic (Bruce Dern) és el responsable de mantenir amb vida les últimes espècies botàniques de la Terra, però rep l’ordre de destruir-les. EL DIRECTOR. Douglas Trumbull (Los Angeles, 1942). Els primers treballs de Trumbull amb la NASA i el realitzador Con Pe- derson atreuen l’atenció d’Stanley Kubrick i el compromet per a la realització dels efectes especials de la seva pel·lícula 2001: A Space Odyssey (2001: Una odissea de l’espai). Entre altres tècniques que posa a punt per a la pel·lícula, Trumbull adapta l’Slit-scan (tècnica mecànica que permet obtenir animacions psicodèliques) per a aquesta pel·lícula. Llavors, el 1971, realitza el seu primer llargmetratge, la pel·lícula Silent Running, en la qual utilitzarà un cert nombre de tècniques visuals i mecàniques desenvolupades per a 2001, però que no havia utilitzat. Les crítiques aclamen Silent Running, però el públic no respon, per una mala publicitat. Al final dels anys 1970 Trumbull treballa en els efectes especials de pel·lícules com Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Encontres a la tercera fase, 1977) i Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). -
Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition
Tf Freewheel simply a tour « // o é Z oon" ‘ , c AUS Figas - 3 8 tion = ~ Conds : 8O man | S. | —§R Transhu : QO the Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition Science Slightly Over the Edge ED REGIS A VV Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. - Reading, Massachusetts Menlo Park, California New York Don Mills, Ontario Wokingham, England Amsterdam Bonn Sydney Singapore Tokyo Madrid San Juan Paris Seoul Milan Mexico City Taipei Acknowledgmentof permissions granted to reprint previously published material appears on page 301. Manyofthe designations used by manufacturers andsellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Addison-Wesley was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial capital letters (e.g., Silly Putty). .Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Regis, Edward, 1944— Great mambo chicken and the transhuman condition : science slightly over the edge / Ed Regis. p- cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-201-09258-1 ISBN 0-201-56751-2 (pbk.) 1. Science—Miscellanea. 2. Engineering—Miscellanea. 3. Forecasting—Miscellanea. I. Title. Q173.R44 1990 500—dc20 90-382 CIP Copyright © 1990 by Ed Regis All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. Text design by Joyce C. Weston Set in 11-point Galliard by DEKR Corporation, Woburn, MA - 12345678 9-MW-9594939291 Second printing, October 1990 First paperback printing, August 1991 For William Patrick Contents The Mania.. -
Neal Stephenson Rides Again Heaven Is in the Cloud in the Prolific Science-Fiction Writer’S New Tome
BOOKS & ARTS COMMENT Digital lives could allow us to construct our own reality. FICTION A digital god: Neal Stephenson rides again Heaven is in the Cloud in the prolific science-fiction writer’s new tome. Paul McEuen watches in wonder. eal Stephenson likes to blow things Fall starts with awry, and he dies. Almost. His body is up. In Seveneves (2015), for instance, Dodge preparing for medically kept alive, because his will stipu- the prolific science-fiction writer an unnamed routine lates that his brain be preserved until technol- Ndetonated the Moon, then played out how medical procedure. ogy is capable of regenerating it. This might humanity tried to save itself from extinc- As the morning not lead anywhere beyond a disembodied NEAL/GETTY LEON tion. In his new tome, Fall, the metaphori- unspools, he notices head on ice, joining the likes of psychologist cal explosion kills just one man. But this is a pair of books on James Bedford — were it not for the billions an individual sitting on a few billion dollars, Greek and Norse in Dodge’s bank account, managed by his and longing to escape the shackles of mortal- myths left behind executor and former employee Corvallis ity. The aftermath of the blast is thus just as by his grandniece, Fall; or, Dodge in Kawasaki. (Corvallis, from the Latin for powerful, and changes the fate of humanity Sophia. At his favour- Hell crow, denotes intelligence and inscrutability. just as profoundly. ite bakery, the owner NEAL STEPHENSON Names map characters in Fall; Stephenson The book’s billionaire protagonist is presents him with a William Morrow has a lot of balls in the air, so he gives you Richard ‘Dodge’ Forthrast, a tech-head in near-perfect apple. -
Science Fiction Films of the 1950S Bonnie Noonan Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected]
Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2003 "Science in skirts": representations of women in science in the "B" science fiction films of the 1950s Bonnie Noonan Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Noonan, Bonnie, ""Science in skirts": representations of women in science in the "B" science fiction films of the 1950s" (2003). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3653. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3653 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. “SCIENCE IN SKIRTS”: REPRESENTATIONS OF WOMEN IN SCIENCE IN THE “B” SCIENCE FICTION FILMS OF THE 1950S A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English By Bonnie Noonan B.G.S., University of New Orleans, 1984 M.A., University of New Orleans, 1991 May 2003 Copyright 2003 Bonnie Noonan All rights reserved ii This dissertation is “one small step” for my cousin Timm Madden iii Acknowledgements Thank you to my dissertation director Elsie Michie, who was as demanding as she was supportive. Thank you to my brilliant committee: Carl Freedman, John May, Gerilyn Tandberg, and Sharon Weltman. -
To Intercontinental to Interplanetary to Intersolar
Why Editorials? Why some, not all? In compiling the MMM Classics volumes, with precious few exceptions, editorials were not included. Why? Yes, some addressed temporary conditions, and are of no lasting interest. But indeed, many MMM editorials through the years have addressed concerns that remain pertinent today, if indeed they are not timeless. So we have taken another look and here reprint those “In Focus” editorials that, we think, speak to conditions and issues still very relevant today. These pieces represent the editor’s opinions alone, and have never been presented as the opin- ions or policies of the Lunar Reclamation Society, the National Space Society, the Artemis Society, or the Moon Society. There are none for the first year, as we didn’t start writing editorials until MMM #11. The Topics: The relation between the Moon and Mars in Manned Space Exploration Policy is clearly the num- ber one issue addressed. What we mean by “space” difers widely among “space proponents.” This is a critical issue. Space is more than the boundary layer of Earth, a place for space stations and satellites. This is a realm already part of Earth’s “econosphere” and will take care of itself. It is the endless fron- tier, beyond that needs our attention. The endless hiatus between Apollo 17 and what we all want to come next is a key topic. There is much we can do to make the next human lunar opening a stronger and more lasting one. Asteroids, promise and threat, are looked at and put in perspective with a nearer term threat: space debris, which could end up confining humans forever on our home world.