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Keeping track of your trolleys: origins and destinations
No full textThis chapter presents a selective overview of the emergence of the trolley problem as a theoretical concern in moral philosophy. It does so by giving a snapshot of the problem as understood by three of the most influential contributors to discussions of that problem, namely Philippa Foot, Judith Jarvis Thomson and Frances Kamm. The chapter ends with a review of three criticisms that have been leveled at the trolley problem when considered as an instance of a certain way of thinking about moral philosophy. It does so by considering the arguments of one vocal critic of this way of thinking about moral philosophy, Barbara H. Fried.
Book synopsis: The Trolley Problem is one of the most intensively discussed and controversial puzzles in contemporary moral philosophy. Over the last half-century, it has also become something of a cultural phenomenon, having been the subject of scientific experiments, online polls, television programs, computer games, and several popular books. This volume offers newly written chapters on a range of topics including the formulation of the Trolley Problem and its standard variations; the evaluation of different forms of moral theory; the neuroscience and social psychology of moral behavior; and the application of thought experiments to moral dilemmas in real life. The chapters are written by leading experts on moral theory, applied philosophy, neuroscience, and social psychology, and include several authors who have set the terms of the ongoing debates. The volume will be valuable for students and scholars working on any aspect of the Trolley Problem and its intellectual significance
The pore conformation of lymphocyte perforin
Get PDFPerforin is a pore-forming protein that facilitates rapid killing of pathogen-infected or cancerous cells by the immune system. Perforin is released from cytotoxic lymphocytes, together with proapoptotic granzymes, to bind to a target cell membrane where it oligomerizes and forms pores. The pores allow granzyme entry, which rapidly triggers the apoptotic death of the target cell. Here, we present a 4-Å resolution cryo–electron microscopy structure of the perforin pore, revealing previously unidentified inter- and intramolecular interactions stabilizing the assembly. During pore formation, the helix-turn-helix motif moves away from the bend in the central β sheet to form an intermolecular contact. Cryo–electron tomography shows that prepores form on the membrane surface with minimal conformational changes. Our findings suggest the sequence of conformational changes underlying oligomerization and membrane insertion, and explain how several pathogenic mutations affect function
Cooperative amyloid fibre binding and disassembly by the Hsp70 disaggregase
Get PDFAlthough amyloid fibres are highly stable protein aggregates, a specific combination of human Hsp70 system chaperones can disassemble them, including fibres formed of α-synuclein, huntingtin, or Tau. Disaggregation requires the ATPase activity of the constitutively expressed Hsp70 family member, Hsc70, together with the J domain protein DNAJB1 and the nucleotide exchange factor Apg2. Clustering of Hsc70 on the fibrils appears to be necessary for disassembly. Here we use atomic force microscopy to show that segments of in vitro assembled α-synuclein fibrils are first coated with chaperones and then undergo bursts of rapid, unidirectional disassembly. Cryo-electron tomography and total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy reveal fibrils with regions of densely bound chaperones, preferentially at one end of the fibre. Sub-stoichiometric amounts of Apg2 relative to Hsc70 dramatically increase recruitment of Hsc70 to the fibres, creating localised active zones that then undergo rapid disassembly at a rate of ~ 4 subunits per second. The observed unidirectional bursts of Hsc70 loading and unravelling may be explained by differences between the two ends of the polar fibre structure
Protecting sticky consumers in essential markets
Get PDFThis paper studies regulatory policy interventions that are aimed at protecting sticky
consumers who are exposed to the risk of being taken advantage of. We model heterogeneous
consumer switching costs alongside asymmetric market shares. This setting encompasses many
markets in which established firms are challenged by new entrants. We identify circumstances
under which such interventions can be counterproductive: with regard to the stated consumer
protection objective and also with regard to the complementary aim to promote competition
Prisoners
No full textThe fundamental rights enjoyed by prisoners mirror to a large extent those enjoyed by all: many of those rights are absolute and non-derogable under international law , including freedom from torture and inhumane treatment. However, in practice, standards of protection for prisoners’ rights are low in much of the world and
even where mechanisms exist for enforcing their rights, they are often inaccessible
Animate Assembly
No full textANIMATE ASSEMBLY is concerned with how the animate and the inanimate are arranged toward each other, what kinds of engagements this allows for, and which ones it disables. The ASSEMBLY commissions contributors to produce entries for a speculative glossary of animation today, and takes shape through the dialogues and debates they prompt.
Animation today has proliferated into fields of 3D simulation and computational models, in contexts ranging from economic modelling and ecological activism to architectural and city design, medicine and surgery, educational formats and military training programmes. It has become a significant visualization tool for artists, cellular biologists, financial analysts and urban planners alike. Digital animations intervene in life processes at both the level of individual bodies, to prolong and destroy life, and at the vast scale of planetary phenomena. The political contexts and consequences of animation have changed so that digital animation is now deployed in human rights tribunals, global activism campaigns and speculative future visions. Under these conditions, life is enmeshed in animation in the vast network of software, infrastructure and labour, which require studies far beyond the more limited and specific animation of the past, much of which unfurled in cinemas or on TVs. The expanded critical role of digital animation requires a reconsideration of the political and ethical implications of the animated image and a reimagining of what it means to propose animation as constitutive of life, with all the ontological and experiential resonances of this phrase: animation as a form of life, as a modelling of life, as a site for life-impacting decisions.
The Animate Assembly research network will explore the implications of these new deployments of animation from three angles: Anime, Animism, Anima
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