Open Access Zeitschriften des Universitätsverlages der Technischen Universität Chemnitz
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The Future of Humanity: An Anthropological Perspective on Body Optimisation and Transhumanism
Get PDFIn der Zeit schneller technologischer Entwicklungen verbreitet der Transhumanismus, der nach radikalen technologischen Transformationen des Menschen strebt, seine Ideen mit großer öffentlicher Aufmerksamkeit und Medienwirksamkeit. Obwohl die transhumanistischen Ideen auf die Zukunft gerichtet sind, beeinflussen sie, wie wir schon heute Menschen, Körper und Technik verstehen. Dieser Aufsatz untersucht das Menschenverständnis des Transhumanismus und geht der Frage nach, inwieweit dieser Ansätze für eine zeitgenössische Anthropologie der Körperoptimierung bietet. Der Aufsatz kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass das Menschenverständnis des Transhumanismus in vielerlei Hinsicht problematisch ist und sich daher nicht für die Weiterentwicklung einer zeitgemäßen Anthropologie eignet. Dennoch lassen sich aus diesen Problemen korrigierende Perspektiven für eine Anthropologie der zeitgenössischen Körper optimierung ableiten.In times of rapid technological progress, transhumanism, which strives for radical technological transformations of the human being, spreads its ideas with great publicity and media impact. Although these ideas are directed towards the future, they influence how we understand humans, bodies, and technology today. This article examines the anthropology of transhumanism and investigates the extent to which it offers approaches for the contemporary anthropology of body optimisation. The article comes to the conclusion that the understanding of the human being in transhumanism is problematic in many respects and therefore not suitable for the further development of a contemporary philosophical anthropology. Nevertheless, corrective perspectives for an anthropology of contemporary body optimisation can be derived from these problems
Körperoptimierung und Leibgebundenheit: Kulturelle und psychische Bedeutungen permanenter Grenzüberschreitung
Get PDFIn spätmodernen westlichen Gesellschaften folgen körperbezogene Verbesserungen zunehmend einer Logik permanenter Selbstüberschreitung, die in einem Widerspruch zu stehen scheint zur konstitutiven Begrenztheit leiblich-körperlichen Seins. Im vorliegenden Artikel wird anhand eines Fallbeispiels illustriert, wie die sich in der Leiberfahrung vermittelnde Unverfügbarkeit individuell gedeutet und psychisch verarbeitet wird und dabei auch in Beziehung gesetzt wird zu den kulturellen Bedeutungen und Praxen grenzenloser Steigerung. Dabei scheinen sich die Ausblendung und Verleugnung von Begrenztheit auch deshalb zu normalisieren, weil sie gleichermaßen kulturell legitimiert werden wie sie psychische Funktionen und affektive Qualitäten besitzen.In late-modern Western societies, body optimization increasingly follows a logic of permanent self-transgression, which seems to contradict the constitutive limitedness of human condition. In this article, a case study is used to illustrate how the unavailability that is conveyed in bodily experience is individually interpreted and psychologically processed, and how it is thereby also related to the cultural meanings and practices of limitless enhancement. Thus, the fading out and denial of limitedness also seems to become normalized insofar as they are just as culturally legitimized as they have psychological functions and affective qualities
(Selbst-)Optimierung in der Erwachsenenbildung: Bildungsfragen im Horizont des Lebenslangen Lernens
Get PDFIm Beitrag wird der Begriffseinsatz von „Optimierung“ und „Selbstoptimierung“ in der erziehungswissenschaftlichen Teildisziplin Erwachsenenbildung beleuchtet. Selbst wenn „Optimierung“ und „Selbstoptimierung“ begrifflich keine genuin erwachsenenbildungswissenschaftlichen Kategorien darstellen, sind gleichwohl diskursive Einsätze zu vernehmen, die vornehmlich auf eine bildungsökonomische affirmative Signifizierung verweisen. Eine Besonderheit stellt dabei der Selbstoptimierungsdiskurs dar, innerhalb dessen der Begriff der Selbstoptimierung zu einer Chiffre kritischer Auseinandersetzung mit den bildungsökonomischen Vereinnahmungen avanciert. Über die Selbstoptimierungsdiskurse werden – mehr oder weniger offen – Bezüge zum kritischen Bildungsdenken mitverhandelt, die es durch kategoriale Auseinandersetzungen zu explizieren und zu stärken gilt. Daher wird sich im Beitrag die Frage gestellt, welche Funktion die Diskurse um (Selbst-)Optimierung übernehmen und inwiefern diese innerhalb erwachsenenbildungswissenschaftlicher Auseinandersetzungen Fragen zu Bildung verschließen oder eben auch eröffnen. Das Potential der Erneuerung der Bildungsdiskussion innerhalb der Erwachsenenbildung in den Diskursen zur Selbstoptimierung aufzuspüren, begründet das Leitmotiv des Beitrags.This article examines the use of the terms “optimization” and “self-optimization” in the sub-discipline of adult education. Even if “optimization” and self-optimization” are not genuinely categories of adult education science, discursive uses can be observed that refer primarily to an affirmative signification in educational economics. A special feature is the discourse of self-optimization, within which the concept of self-optimization has become a cipher of critical confrontation with the appropriations of the economics of education. Through the discourse of self-optimization, references to critical educational thinking are negotiated – more or less openly – which need to be explicated and strengthened through categorical confrontations. Therefore, this article asks what function the discourses of (self-)optimization take on and to what extent do they close off or open up questions about education within adult education studies debates? The leitmotif of the article is to trace the potential of renewal of the educational discussion within adult education in the discourses on self-optimization
Public Sector Transformation in Mongolia: From Functional Management to Process-Based Management and its Impact on Small and Middle Business Development
No full textPublic organizations in Mongolia are under increasing pressure to modernize and deliver services effectively. Many attempt to adopt results-oriented and process-based approaches. However, instead of dividing their strategies and operations into a clear logical framework and levels, they often implement a hybrid system where functional structures are only partially combined with process-based elements. This creates confusion, overlapping responsibilities, and weak accountability. The consequences extend beyond the public sector. Because Mongolia’s small and middle businesses depend heavily on government planning, regulation, and support programs, the hybrid and inconsistent management practices of public organizations directly influence their growth and competitiveness. Moreover, since people and organizational culture change only slowly and inconsistently, the inefficiencies persist. The only sustainable solution is digital transformation, which embeds structured processes into technology platforms, ensures continuity independent of individual behavior, and aligns public and private sector actors toward transparent, efficient, and measurable results. This paper explores the transition from functional to process-based management in Mongolia’s public organizations, its influence on small and middle business development, and the critical role of digital transformation as the long-term enabler of effective change
Effects of ChatGPT Use on Academic Achievement
Get PDFThe rapid spread of AI tools such as ChatGPT in higher education has elicited interest in their effects on students\u27 learning outcomes. This study investigates students\u27 uses of ChatGPT in relation to university students\u27 academic achievement, and focuses on student engagement, personalized learning experience, and student retention/dropout as potential intervening roles. The study employed a quantitative questionnaire survey of 151 business and management undergraduates in March and April 2025. Respondents responded to a 5-point Likert-scale ordered structure questionnaire tapping 5 constructs: (1) AI use; (2) student engagement; (3) personalized learning experience; (4) student retention/dropout; and (5) academic achievement. Respondents\u27 reported use of ChatGPT clustered in two domains: (a) aiding in STEM-related coursework, research, and analysis, and exam prep; and (b) language learning and translation. In our structural model, ChatGPT use explained 69.3% of the variance in student retention/dropout (R² = .693). The latter, in turn, due to improved focus, persistence, and active engagement, explained 38.5% of the variance in learning motivation (R² = .385). Increased motivation, in turn, related positively to a number of dimensions of academic achievement—creativity and critical thinking, ethical awareness, and knowledge/analysis transfer. Respondents also reported the practical utility of AI tools, time savings, and ease of synthesizing information expeditiously across topics. Exploration analyses reflected low positive correlations between outcome and some national cultural value orientations (e.g., social responsibility awareness, respect for tradition, low uncertainty avoidance, in-group fidelity, long-term persistence, and caring for others). The results, in aggregate, show that students\u27 ChatGPT utilization can serve as a great supplementary resource to raise engagement and retention and have small but positive effects on academic achievement. The findings must be interpreted in terms of the study\u27s cross-sectional research design and limitations in terms of self-reports
Users\u27 Experiences of Using a Metacognition-Based Digital Automotive Fault Diagnosis Worksheet: a Mixed Methods Study
Get PDFMetacognition concept could help students for learning how to learn during their learning activities. An automotive fault diagnosis activity, as an activity in automotive vocational education, requires students to use their higher-order thinking to find the vehicle fault and repair it without having trial-and-error steps. A metacognition-based digital automotive fault diagnosis worksheet could help students scientifically with a metacognition concept by knowing their self-cognition and regulating it. This study aims to gain students\u27 perspectives after using the digital worksheet based on a metacognition concept for automotive fault diagnosis. Those perspectives are based on the worksheet\u27s strengths and weaknesses, so that several items that need to be revised could be determined afterward. A sequential model QUAN-QUAL of mixed methods was used in this study. A questionnaire for exploring the usability, ease of use, ease of learning, and satisfaction of the students was used in this quantitative study. A qualitative study would follow this to clarify the findings from the previous one about the strengths, the weaknesses, and the items that need to be revised by having a focus group interview. The data analysis technique for the quantitative study was descriptive quantitative; meanwhile, in the qualitative one, the thematic analysis was used to analyze the data from the focus group interview. The findings of this study stated that the levels of usability, ease of use, ease of learning, and students\u27 satisfaction with using the digital worksheet are at high levels. Students said that the strengths of the worksheet are: 1) coherent, 2) easy to understand, 3) easy to conclude, 4) easy to access whenever and wherever, 5) easy to learn, 6) detailed steps, 7) simple view, 8) interesting view, and 9) eye-catching. Then, the weaknesses are: 1) several instructional words are hard to be understood, 2) several instructions need to be clear about what students need to do, and 3) the taskbar color needs to be adjusted. Based on those weaknesses, several texts of the instructions need to be revised to make them easier to understand by students. Also, the taskbar color must be adjusted to make a comfortable view
A feasibility study for federated learning in the context of classification of biomarkers from optical coherence tomography (OCT) images
Get PDFRecent advancement in machine learning and deep learning requires centralized data for training. Federated Learning (FL) is a machine learning approach that deals with collaboratively training a model while keeping the training data decentralized. The introduction of FL reduces the privacy risk (data sharing) and the cost of memory usage from the traditional centralized approach. We developed a scalable baseline FL framework based on PyTorch, incorporated in a Docker container. We distributed our training data equally to our client servers and deployed the Docker container to train our models. This research paper focuses on creating a baseline FL workflow for OCT biomarkers classification to lower the risk inherent to centralized medical data. The best prediction accuracy (macro average F1-score) obtained from the FL approach (72.5%) is closer when compared to our centralized approach (73.6%)
Special Issue: “AI Based Applications in Engineering Sciences”
Get PDFArtificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the field of engineering science, reshaping the way we design, monitor, and optimize complex systems. From material discovery to security protocols and advanced image recognition, AI-driven technologies are opening unprecedented opportunities to solve persistent challenges. By combining data analytics, machine learning, and intelligent automation, AI is driving innovation in building materials, ensuring cybersecurity in digital infrastructures, and revolutionizing image processing applications
Sociosemiotics: Theories, Explorations, Perspectives
Get PDFIn diesem Aufsatz werden die theoretischen Annahmen der zeitgenössischen Semiotik beleuchtet, die das Fundament der Soziosemiotik als spezifische Strömung der Zeichenlehre bilden. Darüber hinaus wird ein Überblick über die wichtigsten Beiträge gegeben, die in den letzten zwanzig Jahren auf diesem Gebiet entstanden sind, beginnend mit der Veröffentlichung eines Schlüsseltextes für die Entwicklung der Soziosemiotik, Corpi sociali von Gianfranco Marrone (2001), der Gegenstand einer eingehenden Untersuchung sein wird. Am Ende des Aufsatzes wird eine Verbindung zwischen den Prinzipien der Soziosemiotik und der Ausrichtung der Anthropologien der Kollektive von Descola und Latour vorgeschlagen.This essay will shed light on the theoretical assumptions of contemporary semiotics that lay the foundations of sociosemiotics as a specific current of the theory of signification. It will also provide an overview of the main contributions produced in this field in the last twenty years, beginning with the publication of a key text for the development of sociosemiotics, Corpi sociali by Gianfranco Marrone (2001), which will be the subject of in-depth examination. At the end of the essay, a connection between the principles of sociosemiotics and the orientation of Descola’s and Latour’s anthropologies of collectives will be proposed
Einführung
Get PDFDie Einleitung des Sammelbandes gibt eine grundlegende Orientierung zum Thema Selbstoptimierung, welches nicht nur medienwissenschaftliche, sondern auch anthropologische Grundfragen berührt. Im Kontext digitaler Tracking-Technologien ist Selbstoptimierung ein hochaktuelles Thema, welches sich historisch und theoretisch in seinen Ambivalenzen interdisziplinär verorten lässt Dies wird insbesondere in Bezug auf Debatten zur Eugenik und zum Trans- und Posthumanismus deutlich. Die Einleitung skizziert eine heuristische Triangulierung des Themas zwischen Medienwissenschaft, Philosophie und Soziologie, betont aber auch die Relevanz traditioneller bildungs- und erziehungswissenschaftlicher Ansätze sowie neuer ökonomischer Anforderungen.The introduction to this anthology provides a basic orientation to the topic of self-optimization, which touches not only on fundamental questions of media studies but also anthropology. In the context of digital tracking technologies, self-optimization is a highly topical issue that can be located historically and theoretically in its ambivalences across disciplines. This becomes particularly clear in relation to debates on eugenics and trans- and posthumanism. The introduction outlines a heuristic triangulation of the topic between media studies, philosophy and sociology, but also emphasizes the relevance of traditional educational and pedagogical approaches as well as new economic requirements