Biomedical ethics is a burgeoning academic field with complex and far-reaching consequences. Whereas in Western secular bioethics this subject falls within larger ethical theories and applications (utilitarianism, deontology, teleology, and the like), Islamic biomedical ethics has yet to find its natural academic home in Islamic studies.
In this pioneering work, Abdulaziz Sachedina - a scholar with life-long academic training in Islamic law - relates classic Muslim religious values to the new ethical challenges that arise from medical research and practice. He depends on Muslim legal theory, but then looks deeper than juridical practice to search for the underlying reasons that determine the rightness or wrongness of a particular action. Drawing on the work of diverse Muslim theologians, he outlines a form of moral reasoning that can derive and produce decisions that underscore the spirit of the Shari'a. These decisions, he argues, still leave room to revisit earlier decisions and formulate new ones, which in turn need not be understood as absolute or final. After laying out this methodology, he applies it to a series of ethical questions surrounding the human life-cycle from birth to death, including such issues as abortion, euthanasia, and organ donation.
The implications of Sachedina's work are broad. His writing is unique in that it aims at conversing with Jewish and Christian ethics, moving beyond the Islamic fatwa literature to search for a common language of moral justification and legitimization among the followers of the Abrahamic traditions. He argues that Islamic theological ethics be organically connected with the legal tradition of Islam to enable it to sit in dialogue with secular and scripture-based bioethics in other faith communities. A breakthrough in Islamic bioethical studies, this volume is welcome and long-overdue reading for anyone interested in facing the difficult questions posed by modern medicine not only to the Muslim faithful but to the ethically-minded at large.

This book discusses three possible human enhancement paradigms and explores how each involves different values, uses of technology, and different degrees and kinds of ethical concerns. A new framework is advanced that promotes technological innovation that serves the improvement of the human condition in a respectful and sustainable way.

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 shows how Industry 4.0 is a strategic approach for integrating advanced control systems with Internet technology enabling communication between people, products and complex systems. It includes processes such as machining features, machining knowledge, execution control, operation planning, machine tool selection and cutting tool. This book focuses on different articles related to advanced technologies, and their integration to foster Industry 4.0, being useful for researchers as well as industrialists to refer and utilize the information in production control.

This volume breaks new ground by asking how our understandings of gender can be informed by exploring the socio-technical relations of ICTs in health care, and how far an appreciation of the ways in which gender works can inform and improve our understanding of how ICTs are being developed, implemented, and used in health care contexts.

Many online applications, especially in the financial industries, are running on blockchain technologies in a decentralized manner, without the use of an authoritative entity or a trusted third party. Such systems are only secured by cryptographic protocols and a consensus mechanism. As blockchain-based solutions will continue to revolutionize online applications in a growing digital market in the future, one needs to identify the principal opportunities and potential risks. Hence, it is unavoidable to learn the mathematical and cryptographic procedures behind blockchain technology in order to understand how such systems work and where the weak points are. Cryptographic Primitives in Blockchain Technology provides an introduction to the mathematical and cryptographic concepts behind blockchain technologies and shows how they are applied in blockchain-based systems. This includes an introduction to the general blockchain technology approaches that are used to build the so-called immutable ledgers, which are based on cryptographic signature schemes. As future quantum computers will break some of the current cryptographic primitive approaches, Andreas Bolfing considers their security and presents the current research results that estimate the impact on blockchain-based systems if some of the cryptographic primitive break. Based on the example of Bitcoin, he shows that weak cryptographic primitives pose a possible danger for the ledger, which can be overcome through the use of the so-called post-quantum cryptographic approaches.

What effect have innovations in digital technology had on the way we communicate and work, and what can we expect from the future? Following on from the hugely successful "e-Shock," Michael de Kare Silver analyses the developments in digital technology over the past decade, and how they have changed our lives both at home and in the workplace.

In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche attacks past philosophers for their alleged lack of critical sense and their blind acceptance of the Christian premises in their consideration of morality. The work attempts to moves "beyond good and evil" in the sense of leaving behind the traditional morality which Nietzsche subjects to a destructive critique in favor of what he regards as an affirmative approach that fearlessly confronts the perspectival nature of knowledge and the perilous condition of the modern individual.

Television had, until recently, a social and cultural purpose. In Britain, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, were committed to develop and maintain these purposes. With the enlargement of the range of choices for viewers by digital television and the provision of access to cable and satellite TV and the Internet, the role of the terrestrial television channels is being diluted. The authors examine these effects and consider what can be done to maintain the standards and quality of television at a time of unlimited competition.

This book highlights the contribution of language standardization to the economic rise of the West between 1600 and 1860. Previous studies have been unable to explain why during this period almost all industrial innovation was confined to small areas around the main cultural centers of three Western states - Britain, France, and the United states. This book argues that Western Europe and its offshoots were the only Eurasian societies able to apply typography cheaply to their writing systems. The emergence in the West of large networks of people able to communicate in standardized languages made possible the breakthroughs of the Industrial Revolution. Military byproducts of three "macro-innovations"- the steam engine, machine tools, and interchangeable parts - then constituted the West's toolbox for empire. The book will appeal to readers seeking to explain how the West attained its unprecedented advance over Asia in the nineteenth century, and why this lead has since proved temporary.

In this enlightening and provocative exploration, Dave Pruett sets out a revolutionary new understanding of our place in the universe, one that reconciles the rational demands of science with the deeper tugs of spirituality. Defining a moment in human self-awareness four centuries in the making, Reason and Wonder: A Copernican Revolution in Science and Spirit offers a way to move beyond the either/or choice of reason versus intuition-a dichotomy that ultimately leaves either the mind or the heart wanting. In doing so, it seeks to resolve an age-old conflict at the root of much human dysfunction, including today's global ecological crisis. An outgrowth of C. David Pruett's breakthrough undergraduate honors course, "From Black Elk to Black Holes: Shaping Myth for a New Millennium," Reason and Wonder embraces the insights of modern science and the wisdom of spiritual traditions to "re-enchant the universe." The new "myth of meaning" unfolds as the story of three successive "Copernican revolutions"-cosmological, biological, and spiritual-offers an expansive view of human potential as revolutionary as the work of Copernicus, Galilleo, and Darwin.

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.

View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction.

aAs more and more people use computers, the Internet and mobile phones, the study of their effects on our culture (and vice versa) becomes increasingly important. Framed as a ahow-to guide for those new to cyberstudiesa, Critical Cyberculture Studies goes some of the way to emphasising the importance and the diversity of this young academic field.a
--"M/C Reviews"

"As studies of the Internet and cyberculture begin to mature, it is a particularly important time for critical studies--critical of the subject matter, and critical of the emerging field itself. The consciously interdisciplinary approach of Critical Cyberculture Studies, and the depth and breadth of the contributions, make this an important foundational work for a new field of study. If only we had had a critical study of communication when the Gutenberg revolution was beginning!"
--Howard Rheingold, author of "The Virtual Community" and "Smart Mobs"

"This expansive book functions as both survey and call to action. Even as they map the shifting contours of an emergent field, the editors and contributors warn against the deadening force of disciplinarity. They encourage a nimble, flexible formulation of cyberculture studies, one that can keep pace with the rapid pulse of technological change and, more importantly, also address the injustices wrought of life in a networked age. Like the best traditions of cultural studies, they aim not just to describe our moment but to matter in the world."
--Tara McPherson, USC School of Cinema-Television

Starting in the early 1990s, journalists and scholars began responding to and trying to take account of newtechnologies and their impact on our lives. By the end of the decade, the full-fledged study of cyberculture had arrived. Today, there exists a large body of critical work on the subject, with cutting-edge studies probing beyond the mere existence of virtual communities and online identities to examine the social, cultural, and economic relationships that take place online.

Taking stock of the exciting work that is being done and positing what cyberculture's future might look like, Critical Cyberculture Studies brings together a diverse and multidisciplinary group of scholars from around the world to assess the state of the field. Opening with a historical overview of the field by its most prominent spokesperson, it goes on to highlight the interests and methodologies of a mobile and creative field, providing a much-needed how-to guide for those new to cyberstudies. The final two sections open up to explore issues of race, class, and gender and digital media's ties to capital and commerce--from the failure of dot-coms to free software and the hacking movement.

This flagship book is a must-read for anyone interested in the dynamic and increasingly crucial study of cyberculture and new technologies.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

An author on the cutting edge of today's theology and science discussions argues that creedal Christianity has much to contribute to the ongoing conversation. This book contains an intellectual history of theology's engagement with science during the modern period, critiques current approaches, and makes a constructive proposal for how a Christian theological vision of natural knowledge can be better pursued. The author explains that it is good both for religion and for science when Christians treat theology as their first truth discourse. Foreword by David Bentley Hart.

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.

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.