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Individuals, collectives, and individuals in collectives: the in-eliminable role of dependence
Get PDFOur beliefs are inextricably shaped through communication with others. Furthermore, even conversation we conduct in pairs, may itself be taking place across a wider, connected, social network. Our communication, and with that our thoughts, are consequently typically those of individuals in collectives. This has fundamental consequences with respect to how these beliefs are shaped. This paper examines the role of dependence on our beliefs and seeks to demonstrate its importance with respect to key phenomena involving collectives that have been taken to indicate irrationality. The paper argues that (with the benefit of hindsight) these phenomena no longer seem surprising when one considers the multiple dependencies that govern information acquisition and evaluation of cognitive agents in their normal, that is, social context
Stimulus intensity modulates perceived tactile distance
Get PDFSeveral features of tactile stimuli modulate the perceived distance between touches. In particular, distances are perceived as farther apart when the time interval between them is longer, than when it is shorter. Such effects have been interpreted as a form of “psychological relativity”, analogous to Einstein’s conception of a 4-dimensional spacetime. We investigated whether similar effects occur for stimulus features other than time, specifically stimulus intensity. We hypothesised that perceived distance would be increased when the two stimuli differed in intensity, since they would then be farther apart in a multi-dimensional feature space. Participants made verbal estimates of the perceived distance between two touches on their left hand. Intensity was manipulated such that both stimuli could be intense, both could be light, or one could be intense and the other light. We found no evidence for change in perceived tactile distance when stimuli intensity mis-matched. In contrast, there were clear effects of average stimulus intensity on perceived distance. Intense stimuli were judged as farther apart than light stimuli, and mixed stimuli were intermediate. These results are consistent with theories of general magnitude representation, which argue that multiple dimensions of magnitude are dependent on a shared underlying representation of domain-general magnitude
An appetite for the system? A critical evaluation of the Dimbleby Report
No full textThis article offers a critical evaluation of the National Food Strategy for England – informally known as the Dimbleby Report – published in July 2021. The report offers a sophisticated analysis of the key problems of the food system in the UK, particularly in relation to dietary ill-health and environmental degradation. But I argue that it relies on contentious assumptions about the nature of the ‘food system’ and of the character of individual and collective food agency that limit the scope of the policy solutions it proposes. Specifically, it sets aside any serious consideration of the empowerment of citizens through the democratic reform of the food system as a means of redressing its harmful effects on health and the environment
The macroeconomic effects of public expenditure in research and development
Get PDFThis paper investigates the impact of public R&D on economic growth and the R&D investment carried out by the private sector. By applying an econometric technique based on the Local-Projection to a dataset of 15 OECD countries considered for the 1981-2017 period, our findings show that public spending in R&D is associated with higher fiscal multipliers than those obtained for other classes of public expenditure. In addition, our results show that this specific class of public expenditure can generate spillover effects within the economic system by producing a crowding-in effect on private investment in R&D
Engaging opacity: Spotify and the poeisis of algorithmic backends
No full textThe music streaming platform Spotify is sustained by a backends that goes largely unnoticed by users, from its algorithmic deign and energy consumption to the way streamed artists are paid (or not). Counter-intuitively, however, this chapter argues against an ethics of transparency and accountability regarding Spotify’s backend architecture. Drawing on recent work by Louise Amoore as well as Judith Butler’s reading of Spinozan ethics, opacity is fundamental to accountability. The partial knowability of Spotify’s history, design and capacities is thus the essence of what it means to find oneself always already in an environment of which it is partially constitutive. Far from advocating ignorance, a phenomenological approach grounds an ontological understanding of media backends that is agile, self-generative and above all ethical
Introduction
No full textBoook synopsis: Discover the stories of 100 women and men whose activities in the 19th century laid the foundations of modern China
Observers
No full textBoook synopsis: Discover the stories of 100 women and men whose activities in the 19th century laid the foundations of modern China
Non-places are robbing us of life
No full textAn opinion piece celebrating the work of Marc Auge, and specifically his book Non-places: an Anthropology of Supermodernit
The State of Digital Preservation: A Study of 7m DOIs
No full textA presentation at the Crossref annual meetin
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