Would it be cool to see woolly mammoth alive one day? Disappeared species have always fascinated the human mind. A new discussion of using genomic technologies to reverse extinction and to help in conservation has been sparked. This volume studies the question philosophically. The collection consists of an introduction, epilogue and nine new articles written by philosophers. The intended readership consists of academic philosophers, ecologists and others interested in conservation biology.

In this consideration of religious and scientific beliefs, Keith Simpson offers a provocative challenge to Darwinian thinking through conversations with a close friend.

"An important tool for parenting and college preparation. Having taught on all levels of academia, I am convinced that it takes great wisdom to take complex and sophisticated issues and present them in a way that the non-expert can comprehend and evaluate. Simpson has done a masterful job of synthesizing, exposing, and presenting-in an understandable and engaging way for our evaluation-the embedded philosophies of Darwinism that intertwine our cultural thinking."
-David P. Ferreira, Ph.D.

"Keith Simpson provides an enjoyable and highly personal account of how respectful and well-informed interactions with atheists can change hearts and minds for the better."
-Casey Luskin, Discovery Institute

For much of the twentieth century, mainstream economists have treated human agents in their models as if they were rational beings of unbounded computational capacity - the notorious 'Homo Economicus' of much economic theory. However, the patent inadequacies of this understanding of human nature have become increasingly apparent, and economists have begun looking for more realistic models, incorporating the insights of evolutionary theory. The authors address the question of human nature in economics, examining not only some of the recent writing on this subject in evolutionary psychology and related disciplines, but also the ideas of important thinkers in the Western intellectual tradition. Beginning with the ancient Greeks and progressing to the modern day, the contributors explore the works of such thinkers as Augustine, Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, Alfred Marshall and Kenneth Boulding. Many of these works are placed in a Darwinian, evolutionary perspective, with the imperative that the study of human nature must be consistent with our understanding of human evolution, and should consider how human beings are moulded by cultural and institutional influences. Naturally, Darwin's own view of human nature is also explored, undermining the mistaken notion that Darwinism promotes human nature as greedy, uncooperative and self-seeking. This enlightening, original and highly readable work will be of great interest to professional economists and students, researchers and teachers of evolutionary economics.

If we are going to promote creativity as an ideal to strive toward, shouldn't we make sure we also instil ethical anticipation so our creative contributions produce a better world rather than chaos and waste? Creativity drives cultural development. We all, directly or indirectly, collaborate in the creation of culture, and we are jointly responsible for the way that culture develops. The goals and decisions we make as both creators and adopters pave pathways into the future for us all. Instead of merely reflecting on past events, Ethical Ripples of Creativity and Innovation educates for 'proflection'-through cases that present what-might-be scenarios for creative contributions that are emerging into mainstream culture, stimulating real-time thinking about creativity-in-action.. This book offers the opportunity to strengthen ethical anticipation by considering the possibilities streaming from current creative offerings that affect our bodies, emotions, selves, and social interactions.

Autonomous cars, drones, and electronic surveillance systems are examples of technologies that raise serious ethical issues. In this analytic investigation, Martin Peterson articulates and defends five moral principles for addressing ethical issues related to new and existing technologies: the cost-benefit principle, the precautionary principle, the sustainability principle, the autonomy principle, and the fairness principle. It is primarily the method developed by Peterson for articulating and analyzing the five principles that is novel. He argues that geometric concepts such as points, lines, and planes can be put to work for clarifying the structure and scope of these and other moral principles. This geometric account is based on the Aristotelian dictum that like cases should be treated alike, meaning that the degree of similarity between different cases can be represented as a distance in moral space. The more similar a pair of cases are from a moral point of view, the closer is their location in moral space. A case that lies closer in moral space to a paradigm case for some principle p than to any paradigm for any other principle should be analyzed by applying principle p. The book also presents empirical results from a series of experimental studies in which experts (philosophers) and laypeople (engineering students) have been asked to apply the geometric method to fifteen real-world cases. The empirical findings indicate that experts and laypeople do in fact apply geometrically construed moral principles in roughly, but not exactly, the manner advocates of the geometric method believe they ought to be applied.

For most professions, a code of ethics exists to promote positive behavior among practitioners in order to enrich others within the field as well as the communities they serve. Similar to the medical, law, and business fields, the engineering discipline also instills a code of ethical conduct. Contemporary Ethical Issues in Engineering highlights a modern approach to the topic of engineering ethics and the current moral dilemmas facing practitioners in the field. Focusing on key issues, theoretical foundations, and the best methods for promoting engineering ethics from the pre-practitioner to the managerial level, this timely publication is ideally designed for use by engineering students, active professionals, and academics, as well as researchers in all disciplines of engineering.

This book provides new critical and methodological approaches to digital humanities, intended to guide technical development as well as critical analysis. Informed by the history of technology and culture and new perspectives on modernity, Smithies grounds his claims in the engineered nature of computing devices and their complex entanglement with our communities, our scholarly traditions, and our sense of self. The distorting mentalite of the digital modern informs our attitudes to computers and computationally intensive research, leading scholars to reject articulations of meaning that admit the interdependence of humans and the complex socio-technological systems we are embedded in. By framing digital humanities with the digital modern, researchers can rebuild our relationship to technical development, and seek perspectives that unite practical and critical activity. This requires close attention to the cyber-infrastructures that inform our research, the software-intensive methods that are producing new knowledge, and the ethical issues implicit in the production of digital humanities tools and methods. The book will be of interest to anyone interested in the intersection of technology with humanities research, and the future of digital humanities.

This book explores how the design, construction, and use of robotics technology may affect today's legal systems and, more particularly, matters of responsibility and agency in criminal law, contractual obligations, and torts. By distinguishing between the behaviour of robots as tools of human interaction, and robots as proper agents in the legal arena, jurists will have to address a new generation of "hard cases." General disagreement may concern immunity in criminal law ("e.g.," the employment of robot soldiers in battle), personal accountability for certain robots in contracts ("e.g.," robo-traders), much as clauses of strict liability and negligence-based responsibility in extra-contractual obligations ("e.g.," service robots in tort law). Since robots are here to stay, the aim of the law should be to wisely govern our mutual relationships.

Managing identity through biometric technology has become a routine and ubiquitous practice in recent years. From border control and asylum regulation to the management of social services and medical records, various fields are increasingly deploying biometric systems as a means of identity verification and authentication. The scope and nature of these systems are raising a host of concerns regarding the intensification of surveillance practices and the reduction of identity to a series of bio-data and algorithms.By analysing biometric systems as a biopolitical practice within the domain of borders, immigration and citizenship management, this book interrogates what is at stake in the merging of the body and technology for security and governance purposes. It draws on a number of critical theories, philosophies and empirical examples, offering a multi-level and timely analysis of the socio-political and ethical implications of biometric identity systems.

For much of recorded history, China was a leading science and technology power. But just as the West rose, China turned in on itself, and missed the Industrial Revolution. The result was the 'Hundred Years of Humiliation', and a long struggle for a modern, yet distinctly Chinese, civilisational identity. Today, technological innovation has returned to the core of national pride and ambition. Since the 1980s, reforms have transformed China into the world's second largest economy and a major global power. Cyber space and other advanced technologies have become a battleground for international dominance; but today's world relies on global supply chains and interstate collaboration-at least, for now. Growing tension between the USA and China could result in the two superpowers decoupling their technology-with significant consequences for humanity's future. The Great Decoupling shows that this technology contest, and how it plays out, will shape the geopolitics of the twenty-first century.

This book aims to be a reference for researchers studying the promotion of scientific literacy in China, as well as a guide for those interested in promoting scientific awareness. It covers advances in science and technology, communication and popularization practice, and research (STCP) both in China and abroad. Theoretical issues are discussed, and important problemsin promoting scientific and technological awareness are identified (e.g.: basic principles, structures, channels of communication and current needs) This bookprovides a summary of the advances in STCP in China in recent years (especially after the issuing of the National Scientific Literacy Outline ) including STCP resource and capacity building, science popularization policies, practitioner development, infrastructure construction, and the development of the science popularization industry as a whole. At the same time, this book also reviews thedesign, organization, monitoring and evaluation of science and technology communication and popularization programs. It also highlights current STCP trends and developments in China and calls for a greater emphasis to be placed on research into promoting scientific literacy. It is hoped that this book will be useful to readers both in China and abroad by familiarizing them with the history and theory of STCP as well as its development over time. The 1st chapter briefly reviews the history of STCP. The 2nd through 5th chapters discuss the conceptual framework, basic structure, methods of communication, and current STCP needs. The 6th chapter introduces the principle content of programs aimed at improving Chinese citizens scientific literacy, while the 7th and 8th chapters analyze the resources, capacities and conditions that have been developed for STCP in China. The 9th chapter investigates the organization, monitoring and evaluation of science popularization practices, and the final chapter summarizes important STCP topics and trends in contemporary China.

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Albert Einstein and Max Born were great friends. Their letters span 40 years and two world wars. In them they argue about quantum theory, agree about Beethoven's heavenly violin and piano duets (that they played together when they met) and chat about their families. Equally important, the men commiserate over the tragic plight of European Jewry and discuss what part they should play in the tumultuous politics of the time.
Fascinating historically, The Born-Einstein Letters is also highly topical: scientists continue to struggle with quantum physics, their role in wartime and the public's misunderstanding. First published by Macmillan in 1971, this book is re-issued, with a substantial new preface by leading US physicists Kip Thorne and Diana Buchwald, as part of 2005's Relativity Centenary celebrations.

Technologies and Practices for Constructing Knowledge in Online Environments: Advancements in Learning discusses how aspects of technology can facilitate and provide advancements in e-collaborative knowledge construction. This reference collection gives an impression about scenarios of e-collaborative knowledge construction and the technology applied in these scenarios while focusing on technologies that enable collaborative knowledge construction processes and how they can be framed to support e-collaborative knowledge construction.

Science has development from a self-evident public good to being highly valued in other contexts for different reasons: strengthening the economic competitiveness and, especially in high-tech fields, as a financial investment for future gains. This has been accompanied by a shift from public to private funding with intellectual property rights gaining importance. But in contemporary democracies citizens have also begun to voice their concerns about science and technology related risks, demanding greater participation in decision-making and in the setting of research priorities. The book examines the legal issues and responses vis-A -vis these transformations of the nature of public science. It discusses their normative content as well as the inherent limitations of the law in meeting these challenges.

Emphasizing an interdisciplinary and international coverage of the functions and effects of science and technology in society and culture, Science, Technology, and Society contains over 130 A to Z signed articles written by major scholars and experts from academic and scientific institutions and institutes worldwide. Each article is accompanied by a selected bibliography. Other features include extensive cross referencing throughout, a directory of contributors, and an extensive topical index.

This book demonstrates principles of Ancestor Veneration Avatars (AVAs), by running avatars based on eleven deceased members of one family through ten highly diverse virtual worlds from the violent Defiance to the intellectual Uru: Myst Online, from the early EverQuest to the recent Elder Scrolls Online.

Darwin. Dawkins. Dennett. - This voluble triumvirate has gained oracular status for many scientists and laypersons in the contemporary world. But though the edifice of thought they have erected over and against tradition and faith has gained currency in today's nihilistic mind, it is now rapidly eroding in the serious world of ideas. But what of that heady amalgam of Science and Christianity first put together by Teilhard de Chardin, which struck the Catholic world like a whirlwind around the time of the Second Vatican Council and continues to the present day in the work of such Catholic evolutionists as John Haught and Kenneth R. Miller? What as a rule has rendered Catholics vulnerable to Teilhardian tenets-apart from the fact that these conform to the neo-humanist tendencies of our age-is that the theory is clad in scientific garb: in the modern world, where Science speaks, it appears even angels will listen. In Theistic Evolution, Wolfgang Smith shows himself to be that rare person thoroughly grounded in both science and theology, and what he proves through detailed and rigorous argument is that Teilhard de Chardin has in fact sold us a veritable science-fiction theology. This book, however, is much more than a masterful and indeed definitive refutation of theistic evolutionism: it is at the same time an incomparable introduction to long-forgotten metaphysical and theological truths. In language at once precise and lucid the author recalls teachings going back to the Greek and Latin Fathers, and explains their bearing on questions about the nature of God and man bungled at the hands of many contemporary scientists and theologians.

Digital Communities in a Networked Society: e-Commerce, e-Business and e-Government deals with the accelerating evolution in the computerization of society. This evolution, or should we call it a revolution, is dominantly driven by the Internet, and documented by the novelties introduced, year by year, by Information and Communication Technologies.
The book contains recent results of research and development in the areas of:
-E-government,
-Business models of e-applications,
-Innovative structures in the internet,
-Auctions and e-payment,
-Future aspects of communication,
-Internet and the web,
-Advanced platforms and grid computing,
-Cooperation and integration,
-Modeling and construction of e-services.

This volume provides an in-depth discussion on the central question - how can people express and survive dissent and disagreement in confined habitats in space? The discussion is an important one because it could be that the systems of inter-dependence required to survive in space are so strong that dissent becomes impossible. John Locke originally said that people have a right to use revolution to overthrow a despotic regime. But if revolution causes violence and damage that causes depressurisation with the risk of killing many people, is it even permissible to have a revolution? How then are people to express their liberty or dissatisfaction with their rulers? The emergence of structures of dissent and disagreement is an essential part of the construction of a framework of liberty in space (revolution is just the extreme example) and thus the topic deserves in-depth and immediate attention. Even today, the way in which we assemble organisations and corporations for the government and private exploration of space must take into account the need for mechanisms to allow people to express dissent.

Throughout the chapters, the authors take readers through the various uses of technology. They discuss archifact analysis, usability and cognitive engineering, as well as motivation and emotion in user interface design. The book also crucially introduces a new, holistic approach to designing human-technology interaction. The book is suitable for researchers, postgraduate and undergraduate students of cognitive and social psychology as well as all those who are interested in technological design and its societal impact.

"The complexity and tensions of industrial innovation processes are fleshed out through the analysis of an intriguing case study from the food industry. Drawing together insights from multiple disciplines, this book shows the controversial nature of innovation processes."--

It is during the nineteenth-century, the age of machinery, that we begin to witness a sustained exploration of the literal and discursive entanglements of minds, bodies, machines. This book explores the impact of technology upon conceptions of language, consciousness, human cognition, and the boundaries between materialist and esoteric sciences.

Societies survive in their environment and compete with each other depending on the technology they develop. Economic, military and political power are directly related to the available technology, while access to technology is key to the well-being of our societies at the individual, community and national level. The Robotics Divide analyzes how robotics will shape our societies in the twenty-first century; a time when industrial and service robotics, particularly for military and aerospace purposes, will become an essential technology. The book, written by experts in the field, focuses on the main technological trends in the field of robotics, and the impact that robotics will have on different facets of social life. By doing so, the authors aim to open the "black box" of a technology which, like any other, is designed, implemented and evaluated according to the economic and cultural patterns of a cosmopolitan society, as well as its relations of power. The Robotics Divide explores future developments in robotics technology and discusses the model of technological development and the implementation of robotics in this competitive market economy. Then the authors examine to what extent it is possible to determine the characteristic features of the robotic divide, namely in what ways the robotic divide differs from the digital divide, and how a model to integrate this technology can be developed without reproducing patterns of inequality and power that have characterized the advent of previous technologies. These issues - inequality, robotics and power - are of concern to robotics and advanced automation engineers, social scientists, economists and science policy experts alike.