Olli-Pekka Vainio, a leading expert in science and theology, explores questions concerning the place and significance of humans in the cosmos. Vainio introduces cosmology from a "state of the question" perspective, examining the history of the idea in dialogue with C. S. Lewis. This work, which is related to a NASA-funded project on astrobiology, ties into the ongoing debate on the relationship between Christian theism and scientific worldview and shows what the stakes are for religion and theology in the rise of modern science.

This collection of essays explores the interfaces between new information technologies and their impact on contemporary culture, and recent transformations in capitalist production. From a transnational frame, the essays investigate some of the key facets of contemporary global capitalism: the ascendance of finance capital, and the increasing importance of immaterial labor (understood here as a post-Fordist notion of work that privileges the art of communication, affect, and virtuosity). The contributors address these transformation by exploring their relation to new digital media (YouTube, MySpace, digital image and video technology, information networks, etc.) and various cultural forms including the Hispanic television talk show, indigenous video production, documentary film in Southern California, the Latin American stock market, German security surveillance, transnational videoconferencing, and Japanese tourists? use of visual images on cell phones. The authors argue that the seemingly radical newness and alleged immateriality of contemporary speculative capitalism, turns out to be less dramatically new and more grounded in colonial/racial histories of both material and immaterial exploitation than one might at first imagine. Similarly, human interaction with digital media and virtuality, ostensibly a double marker for the contemporary and economically privileged subject, in fact reveals itself in many cases as transgressive of racial, economic and historical categories.

Never before have we so needed a new literacy that will enable us to meaningfully participate in the rapidly evolving technologically mediated world. This collection offers a solid basis for defining this new technological literacy by bringing together theoretical work that ranges from philosophy, design, and pedagogy.

By the twentieth century, science had become so important that religious traditions had to respond to it. Emerging religions, still led by a living founder to guide them, responded with a clarity and focus that illuminates other larger, more established religions' understandings of science. The Hare Krishnas, the Unification Church, and Heaven's Gate each found distinct ways to incorporate major findings of modern American science, understanding it as central to their wider theological and social agendas. In tracing the development of these new religious movements' viewpoints on science during each movement's founding period, we can discern how their views on science were crafted over time. These NRMs shed light on how religious groups--new, old, alternative, or mainstream--could respond to the tremendous growth of power and prestige of science in late twentieth-century America.

In this engrossing book, Zeller carefully shows that religious groups had several methods of creatively responding to science, and that the often-assumed conflict-based model of "science vs. religion" must be replaced by a more nuanced understanding of how religions operate in our modern scientific world.

Should transhuman and posthuman persons ever be brought into existence? And if so, could they be generated in a good and loving way? This study explores how society may respond to the actual generation of new kinds of persons from ethical, philosophical, and theological perspectives. Contributors to this volume address a number of essential questions, including the ethical ramifications of generating new life, the relationships that generators may have with their creations, and how these creations may consider their generation. This collection's interdisciplinary approach traverses the philosophical writings of Aristotle, Aquinas, Kant, Nietzsche, and Heidegger, alongside theological considerations from Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. It invites academics, faith leaders, policy makers, and stakeholders to think through the ethical gamut of generating posthuman and transhuman persons.

The workshop provided an overview of the status and perspectives of Technology Assessment (TA) in the individual countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It also showed the complexity of creation of space for TA type activities in individual countries - for independent activity of both experts and the public based on individual responsibility. The book consists of the final version of the presented papers and new contributions initiated by the workshop. Moreover, the authors reflect the ideas and incentives sounded in the discussions. The book is addressed to researchers in the fields of social science, humanities, information technology and technology assessment in particular. It may also be of interest to policy-makers and the wider public concerned with the information society.

Biosociology is an emerging paradigm seeking to understand human behavior by integrating relevant insights from the natural sciences into traditional sociological thinking. Biosociology posits no ultimate causes of human behavior, rather it seeks to understand how biological factors interact with other factors to produce observed behavior. The book presents a brief introduction to biophysical systems that are important to the understanding of human behavior - genetics, neurophysiology, and the autonomic and endocrine systems. These systems are explored in the contexts of sociological importance, such as socialization, learning, gender roles, gender differences, sexuality, the family, deviance, and criminality.

China's economic and social progress toward modernization is one of the defining features of the last quarter of the 20th century. The emergence of China coincides with another development of equally important international implications--the revolution in information and telecommunication technology. But how compatible are the new China and the information age? The Chinese government intends to embrace market-oriented economic development while maintaining centralized control over politics, culture, and public discourse. The contradictions and tensions of this goal are especially acute in telecommunication and information technology markets, where the rest of the world is moving rapidly toward liberalization and globalization. Will China's economic reforms allow it to join the information revolution, or will its unique political structure keep it insulated from the main currents of global economic development? This volume is the first detailed examination of how China's reform process is playing out in the realm of information and telecommunications.

This book, comprising contributions presented at the XIX Edoardo Amaldi Conference, examines important aspects of international cooperation aimed at enhancing nuclear safety, security, safeguards (the "3S"), and non-proliferation, thereby assisting in the development and maintenance of the verification regime and progress toward a nuclear weapon-free world. The Conference served as a forum where eminent scientists, diplomats, and policymakers could compare national perspectives and update international collaborations. The book opens by addressing the political, institutional, and legal dimensions of the 3S and non-proliferation; current challenges are discussed and attempts made to identify possible solutions and future improvements. Subsequent sections consider scientific developments that can contribute to increased effectiveness in the implementation of international regimes, particularly in critical areas, technology foresight, and the ongoing evaluation of current capabilities. The closing sections discuss scientific and technical challenges to the effective implementation of the 3S approach and the role of international cooperation and scientific community actions in leading the world toward peace and security.

The series Religion and Society (RS) contributes to the exploration of religions as social systems- both in Western and non-Western societies; in particular, it examines religions in their differentiation from, and intersection with, other cultural systems, such as art, economy, law and politics. Due attention is given to paradigmatic case or comparative studies that exhibit a clear theoretical orientation with the empirical and historical data of religion and such aspects of religion as ritual, the religious imagination, constructions of tradition, iconography, or media. In addition, the formation of religious communities, their construction of identity, and their relation to society and the wider public are key issues of this series.

This book explores the ethical governance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML) in healthcare. AI/ML usage in healthcare as well as our daily lives is not new. However, the direct, and oftentimes long-term effects of current technologies, in addition to the onset of future innovations, have caused much debate about the safety of AI/ML. On the one hand, AI/ML has the potential to provide effective and efficient care to patients, and this sways the argument in favor of continuing to use AI/ML; but on the other hand, the dangers (including unforeseen future consequences of the further development of the technology) leads to vehement disagreement with further AI/ML usage. Due to its potential for beneficial outcomes, the book opts to push for ethical AI/ML to be developed and examines various areas in healthcare, such as big data analytics and clinical decision-making, to uncover and discuss the importance of developing ethical governance for AI/ML in this setting.

Organizational change is becoming increasingly complex, challenging and difficult to handle as technology advances. And there is a need to discuss how it can be both more effectively managed by large and small organizations, while at the same time the strategies for changes are based on ethical notions of democracy and participation. Redesigning Human Systems assists those interested in and responsible for the management of major change within organizations, and provides the theories and values that should be adhered to in order to achieve that change successfully and effectively.

Darwin provoked Jewish as well as Christian thinkers so that many felt obliged to establish oppositional, alternative, synthetic, or complimentary models relating Jewish religion to his theory of natural selection. This book examines a range of leading nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American progressive Jewish thinkers, with the primary focus being rabbis Kohler, Wise, Hirsch, Krauskopf, and Hahn, although many others are covered. Key themes include the widespread commitment to universal evolutionism, that is, the application of biological evolutionary theory to other realms (e.g. history, religion, cosmic), and the particular fascination with the evolution of ethical systems within human societies, bearing in mind mankind's bestial origins and the new challenges for understanding religious authority and revelation. It is argued that Reform Jewish discussions about the nature of God have been more profoundly shaped by engagement with evolutionary theory than has been recognized before, and that evolutionary thought provides the key framework for understanding Reform Judaism itself. The precise nature of Jewish Reform engagement with Christian proponents of theistic evolution are important, as are their interest in alternative evolutionists to Darwin, such as Spencer and Haeckel.

What role do texts play in religious practice? What is the relationship between these texts and cognition? Are some texts more successful because they are better adapted to our cognitive structures? Why is biblical interpretation necessary, and what is the cognitive process behind it? This book considers such questions, and fills the gap in research on religious texts and narratives in the cognitive science of religion. The study of ancient religions and biblical studies are dominated by textual evidence. However, the cognitive science of religion is lacking significant research on the language and textual interpretation of this literature. This book presents a systematic attempt to redefine the interpretation of religious texts in a cognitive framework, providing concrete textual analysis on a broad selection of biblical passages. It explores the ways that cognitive approaches to language and textual interpretation expand the disciplines of the cognitive science of religion and biblical studies. This book brings together methodology from the cognitive sciences, linguistics, philology, biblical studies, and religious studies, to offer a new perspective for biblical studies and cognitive sciences. It presents a renewed vision of textual interpretation - one that aligns hermeneutical reflection with our cognitive capacities.

APES or ANGELS?: A SummaryFor many readers this book will be a mind-altering experience. It has a thesis that is a challenge to the conventional thinking of most Christians and their counterparts, the secular humanists. It offends both for very good reasons. It speaks the truth about Darwin's views on human origins and race.Contrary to the beliefs of most academicians and educated readers, Darwin had two dangerous ideas instead of one. Daniel Dennett was perfectly right about the first, which was the notion that natural selection operated in a way that precluded explanatory intrusions from outside the natural world. In other words, metaphysics has no place in biological explanation. Things spiritual, like vitalism and finalism, are simply inapplicable to evolutionary biology. The second idea is rarely mentioned in politically correct America- that the human races are different in sometimes significant ways. Indeed, inequality is a normal condition of nature.Darwin's clash with Christianity is winding down because modern science is a foundation of western culture and it fully accepts the truth of natural selection and the evolution of life(including man). It is ironic that as the struggle with Christianity declines, a new struggle emerges- the battle over racial differences. Liberalism evolved into radical egalitarianism as it swept over America, creating an authoritarian political correctness that contradicts our Constitution. Modern genetics now threatens the liberal myth of human equality.These Darwinian conflicts are playing out amidst our culture wars, a battle that could transform us into another Brazil. Radical egalitarianism and multiculturalism are ideologies aimed at dismantling our great Anglo-European tradition. Forces of erosion are at work which may make our nation's greatness a faint memory.The battle with creationism is essentially over in Europe and it is winding down in the U.S. Science always wins fights over the facts of nature Eddies of ignorance will persist in American society where fundamentalism exists, but educated elites have long since agreed with Darwin.Liberal relativism erodes our standards of excellence and even undermines our Christian morality, a morality that seems closely connected to our moral instinct. With their power in academia liberals will submit to "white guilt" as they treat blacks as eternal victims, distorting reality to make outcomes equal. Darwin, however, may be vindicated on the matter of real racial differences, causing agony among idealistic liberals who must relinquish their lofty dreams.Scientific humanism has always touted critical thinking as a supreme goal of education, but it is threatened by the irrational side of liberalism that savors post-modern subjectivism. Today we see "diversity training" imposed on young people in a Stalinist manner. Propaganda and groupthink are current weapons of the PC martinets. In reading this survey of how Darwin came to his dangerous ideas, you may appreciate how important science and critical thinking are in a society gripped by wayward versions of liberalism. Both evolution by natural selection and racial differences are discussed in this book in order to illumine Darwin's two "dangerous" ideas-one that threatened Christianity and one that now threatens liberal humanism's egalitarian dream. Social scientists will be exposed as propagandists for radical egalitarianism rather than as true scientists. The movement to eliminate the word "race" is evidence of political motivation rather than scientific honesty. To examine the conflicts related to Darwinism the book includes a brief treatment of Darwin's life and works, the battle against creationism, the case against supernaturalism, a brief survey of human evolution, and a review of current issues bearing upon human nature and race.

This book highlights plasma science and technology-related research and development work at institutes and universities networked through Asian African Association for Plasma Training (AAAPT) which was established in 1988. The AAAPT, with 52 member institutes in 24 countries, promotes the initiation and intensification of plasma research and development through cooperation and technology sharing. With 13 chapters on fusion-relevant, laboratory and industrial plasmas for wide range of applications and basic research and a chapter on AAAPT network, it demonstrates how, with collaborations, high-quality, industrially relevant academic and scientific research on fusion, industrial and laboratory plasmas and plasma diagnostics can be successfully pursued in small research labs. These plasma sciences and technologies include pioneering breakthroughs and applications in (i) fusion relevant research in the quest for long-term, clean energy source development using high-temperature, high- density plasmas and (ii) multibillion-dollar, low-temperature, non-equilibrium and thermal industrial plasmas used in processing, synthesis and electronics.

Since its founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.

Sinceits founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.

An Introduction to Global Media for the Twenty-First Century provides a thorough introduction to the field of global media today. The book presents the key changes taking place as the global media landscape evolves, and the main theories of the field, that explain these developments. Tracing, first, the formative development of an international and global media landscape throughout the 20th century from the telegraph, television and film export, and transnational television to the Internet, the book then focuses on developments in the 21st century. This includes: the digitization of the global media and communications sector; the popularization of the Internet and digital infrastructure such as the smartphone and platforms; the emergence of global online media and services; the production and distribution of digital media content; and the exploitation of user data. Case studies illustrate key developments throughout the book. The book shows how the field is characterized by a continuity of critical concerns in relation to power, influence, and domination; media user empowerment and exploitation; and social and sustainable development and democratic conditions, as well as geopolitical shifts, in a global context.