Prometheus and Gaia
Prometheus and Gaia

Author: Harrison Fluss

Publisher: Anthem Press

Published: 2022-02-01

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1839980206

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Prometheus and Gaia examines the ideological positions of Futurism and Eco-Pessimism. While these are rarely spoken about in mainstream discourse, they do have strong resonances in today’s popular politics and culture. In light of existential threats posed by climate change, disruptive technologies and economic crises, many have grown weary of the “small fixes” offered by mainstream policy-makers. Radical change thus appears necessary, as Futurism and Eco-Pessimism emerge as two fundamental challenges to the status quo. The Futurist claims that the current dynamism of technology is incompatible with human limitations, while the Eco-Pessimist sees the climate crisis as symptomatic of a broader human domination over nature. What these seemingly opposite currents have in common is a shared rejection of the human frame as grounding politics; each seeks to subordinate the human in favor of a wholly alien other, either in the form of an anarchic nature or a dynamic technology. To transcend this strange coincidence of opposites, Prometheus and Gaia makes the positive case for a humanism that is rationalist without being anthropocentric.

Anthem
Anthem

Author: Ayn Rand

Publisher: Ayn Rand Institute Press

Published: 2021-07-07

Total Pages: 84

ISBN-13: 0996010130

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About this Edition This 2021-2022 Digital Student Edition of Ayn Rand's Anthem was created for teachers and students receiving free novels from the Ayn Rand Institute, and includes a historic Q&A with Ayn Rand that cannot be found in any other edition of Anthem. In this Q&A from 1979, Rand responds to questions about Anthem sent to her by a high school classroom. About Anthem Anthem is Ayn Rand’s “hymn to man’s ego.” It is the story of one man’s rebellion against a totalitarian, collectivist society. Equality 7-2521 is a young man who yearns to understand “the Science of Things.” But he lives in a bleak, dystopian future where independent thought is a crime and where science and technology have regressed to primitive levels. All expressions of individualism have been suppressed in the world of Anthem; personal possessions are nonexistent, individual preferences are condemned as sinful and romantic love is forbidden. Obedience to the collective is so deeply ingrained that the very word “I” has been erased from the language. In pursuit of his quest for knowledge, Equality 7-2521 struggles to answer the questions that burn within him — questions that ultimately lead him to uncover the mystery behind his society’s downfall and to find the key to a future of freedom and progress. Anthem anticipates the theme of Rand’s first best seller, The Fountainhead, which she stated as “individualism versus collectivism, not in politics, but in man’s soul.”

Developing Intelligent Agent Systems
Developing Intelligent Agent Systems

Author: Lin Padgham

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2005-06-24

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0470861215

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Build your own intelligent agent system... Intelligent agent technology is a tool of modern computer science that can be used to engineer complex computer programmes that behave rationally in dynamic and changing environments. Applications range from small programmes that intelligently search the Web buying and selling goods via electronic commerce, to autonomous space probes. This powerful technology is not widely used, however, as developing intelligent agent software requires high levels of training and skill. The authors of this book have developed and tested a methodology and tools for developing intelligent agent systems. With this methodology (Prometheus) developers can start agent-oriented designs and implementations easily from scratch saving valuable time and resources. Developing Intelligent Agent Systems not only answers the questions “what are agents?” and “why are they useful?” but also the crucial question: “how do I design and build intelligent agent systems?” The book covers everything a practitioner needs to know to begin to effectively use this technology - including an introduction to the notion of agents, a description of the concepts involved, and a software engineering methodology. Read on for: a practical step-by-step introduction to designing and building intelligent agent systems. a full life-cycle methodology for developing intelligent agent systems covering specification, analysis, design and implementation of agents. PDT: Prometheus Design Tool – software support for the Prometheus design process. the example of an electronic bookstore to illustrate the design process throughout the book. Electronic resources including the Prometheus Design Tool (PDT), can be found at: http://www.cs.rmit.edu.au/agents/prometheus This book is aimed at industrial software developers, software engineers and at advanced undergraduate students. It assumes knowledge of basic software engineering but does not require knowledge of Artificial Intelligence or of mathematics. Familiarity with Java will help in reading the examples in chapter 10.

Global Green Shift
Global Green Shift

Author: John A. Mathews

Publisher: Anthem Press

Published: 2017-02

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1783086424

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The world that created modern industry, pioneered in the West, is in decline. It is being transformed by a global green shift, creating new industries based on clean energy, clean water and clean food – all produced in a safe, clean and sustainable way, in abundance, at low (and diminishing) cost and without making further inroads into nature. This twenty-first century world is being driven by newly emerging industrial giants like China and India – just as the twentieth-century infrastructure of oil, automobiles and highways was created by the United States. It is China and India that are feeling the worst effects of industrializing along conventional ‘business as usual’ lines, and which have the greatest incentive to drive their own green shift. But the old world order based on a linear economy and fossil fuels is resisting bitterly, and will not give up without a fight. John A. Mathews explains how these trends and counter-trends are creating a new world order where an industrial system based on the Ceres (Circular Economy and Renewable Energy System) is seeking to take over from the world of fossil fuels, and provide scope for Gaia to become her wild self again. The outcome of this struggle is far from determined. It is the central issue to be resolved in the twenty-first century.

Spiritual Titanism
Spiritual Titanism

Author: Nicholas F. Gier

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2012-03-27

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 0791492826

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This work in comparative philosophy uses the concept of Titanism to critique certain trends in both Eastern and Western philosophy. Titanism is an extreme form of humanism in which human beings take on divine attributes and prerogatives. The author finds the most explicit forms of spiritual Titanism in the Jaina, Samkhya, and Yoga traditions, where yogis claim powers and knowledge that in the West are only attributed to God. These philosophies are also radically dualistic, and liberation involves a complete transcendence of the body, society, and nature. Five types of spiritual Titanism are identified; and, in addition to this typology, a heuristic based on Nietzsche's three metamorphoses of camel, lion, and child is offered. The book determines that answers to spiritual Titanism begin not only with the Hindu Goddess religion, but also are found in Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism, especially Zen Buddhism and Confucianism.

The Classical Review
The Classical Review

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1904

Total Pages: 508

ISBN-13:

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This companion to the Classical Quarterly contains reviews of new work dealing with the literatures and civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome. Over 300 books are reviewed each year.

Crystals III
Crystals III

Author: Antonis Anastasiadis

Publisher: AKAKIA Publications

Published: 2018-03-08

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 1912322528

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The series "Crystal" starts from the beginning of the creation of the universe and permeates the entire human culture. It then reaches the present and will continue into the future, briefly following the evolution of human civilization. In the first book 'First Battle of the Titans: Vacuum-Otherworldly conflict"(13.85 to 5 billion years ago) we witnessed the beginning of the fictional series "Crystal", which started in a Greek provincial town. In this town an object with transcendent abilities was discovered. Studies on this object have shown great results and with this very object a cosmic journey began. In this cosmic journey we traveled back in time and witnessed the creation of the universe. In the second book "Second Battle of the Titans: Worldly-Supernatural conflict" (5 billion to 50 million years ago) we watched through the cosmic journey of Titanic forces contributing to the creation of our galaxy, our solar system, the creation and manufacturing of planet Earth, the emer-gence of life on Earth and its evolutionary path. Additionally, we also watched the clash of the Ti-tans' forces led by Saturn with otherworldly forces under the command of Heaven. In the third and fourth book, "Third battle of the Titans: Supernatural-Natural" Conflict (50 million years to 100,000 years ago) the Olympian gods dominate, led by Zeus. The evolution of life occurring on planet Earth, the dominance of mammals and human phylogenetic branch are present-ed in the form of epic duels and fights. The evolution of man arrives until Homo sapiens. Particular emphasis is given to the "human" and the evolutionary steps of humanization, from the primates to hominids (Hominoidea), then to the Australopithecines and then onto the "Homo". Continuing this magical journey through myth, metaphors, real events and real scientific knowledge, in the next books the reader will explore the universal culture from the creation of the universe until today.

Gaia Alchemy
Gaia Alchemy

Author: Stephan Harding

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2021-12-21

Total Pages: 453

ISBN-13: 1591434262

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• Examines how integrating important alchemical images with Gaian science can offer insights into our interconnectedness with Gaia • Looks at how the four components of the living earth--biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere--mesh with the four elements of alchemical theory and the four functions of consciousness as understood by depth psychology • Offers guided meditations and contemplative exercises to open your receptivity to messages from the biosphere and help you connect more deeply with Gaia During the scientific revolution, science and soul were drastically separated, propelling humanity into four centuries of scientific exploration based solely on empiricism and rationality. But, as scientist and ecologist Stephan Harding, Ph.D., demonstrates in detail, by reintegrating science with profound personal experiences of psyche and soul, we can reclaim our lost sacred wholeness and help heal ourselves and our planet. The book begins with compelling introductions to depth psychology, alchemy, and Gaia theory--the science of seeing the Earth as an intelligent, self-regulating system, a theory pioneered by the author’s mentor James Lovelock. Harding then explores how alchemy, as understood through the depth psychology of C. G. Jung, offers us powerful methods of reuniting rationality and intuition, science and soul. He examines the integration of important alchemical engravings, including those from L’Azoth des Philosophes and the Rosarium Philosophorum, with Gaian science. He shows how the seven key alchemical operations in the Azoth image can help us develop deeply transformative experiences and insights into our interconnectedness with Gaia. He then looks at how the four components of the living Earth--biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere--mesh not only with the four elements of alchemical theory but also with the four functions of consciousness from depth psychology. Woven throughout with the author’s own experiences of Gaia alchemy, the book also offers guided meditations and contemplative exercises to open your receptivity to messages from the biosphere and help you develop your own Gaian alchemical way of life, full of wonder and healing.

Gaia's Web
Gaia's Web

Author: Karen Bakker

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2024-04-16

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0262048752

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A riveting exploration of one of the most important dilemmas of our time: will digital technology accelerate environmental degradation, or could it play a role in ecological regeneration? At the uncanny edge of the scientific frontier, Gaia’s Web explores the promise and pitfalls the Digital Age holds for the future of our planet. Instead of the Internet of Things, environmental scientist and tech entrepreneur Karen Bakker asks, why not consider the Internet of Living Things? At the surprising and inspiring confluence of our digital and ecological futures, Bakker explores how the tools of the Digital Age could be mobilized to address our most pressing environmental challenges, from climate change to biodiversity loss. Interspersed with ten elegiac, enigmatic parables, each of which is based on an existing technology, Gaia’s Web evokes the conundrums we face as the World Wide Web intertwines with the Web of Life. A new generation of innovators is deploying digital technology to come to the aid of the planet, using spy satellites to track down environmental criminals, inviting animals to the Metaverse, and biohacking Frankenstein-like biobots as environmental sentinels. But will they end up doing more harm than good? In an engaging take on conservation technology, Bakker looks at the digital tech applications to environmental issues from predatory harvesting of environmental data to human bycatch and eco-surveillance capitalism. If we address these issues and mobilize digitally mediated forms of citizen science, she argues, digital tech could help reverse environmental harms and advance environmental sustainability. And in the process, Big Tech might be transformed for the better. With its uniquely broad scope—combining insights from computer science, ecology, engineering, environmental science, and environmental law—Gaia’s Web introduces profoundly novel ways of addressing our most pressing environmental challenges—mitigating climate change, protecting endangered species—and creating new possibilities for ecological justice by empowering nonhumans to participate in environmental regulation.