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digest 2006-03-29 #001.txt
litsci-l-digest Wednesday, March 29 2006 Volume 01 : Number
148
In this issue:
Symposium in Switzerland and Workshop with E.O. Wilson at SHARE
(fwd)
Re: Interesting site for SLSA members
SUB 06 SLSA Creative Writers Read
SUB 06: The Prehistory of the Robot in Western Culture (2 panels)
Fwd: Super Cosmos Galley Online Now for a day or two only
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 12:31:52 +0200
From: Manuela.Rossini@unibas.ch
Subject: Symposium in Switzerland and Workshop with E.O. Wilson at SHARE
(fwd)
[forwarded from STS-CH - with best regards, Manuela Rossini]
"Consilience", defined by EO Wilson as "the interlocking of causal
explanation
across disciplines", is the starting point for the World Knowledge
Dialogue, a
global initiative towards a modern humanism to bridge the gap between
the
natural and the human/social sciences. We are delighted to announce that
a
selected group of personalities holding major positions in the academic,
scientific and economic fields will join this first international
symposium
taking place in the splendid Alpine resort of Crans Montana, Switzerland
on
September 14-16, 2006.
World class scientists from one scientific culture will put their
discoveries
into the perspective of the other and set the stage for
transdisciplinary
discussions around two main topics: the study of complex systems and the
understanding of the migration of modern humans. Keynote speakers who
will talk
about the relation between molecular/cellular brain function and human
consciousness include:
- - Gerald Edelman, Nobel laureate, Professor and Chairman of the
Department of
Neurobiology at The Scripps Research Institute
- Jean-Pierre Changeux, Balzan laureate, Professor & Chairman of the
Physiology of Truth and the Human Diversity, Department of Neurosciences
at the
Pasteur Institute.
A full program and registration information can be found at:
www.wkdialogue.org
. The participants will come from all corners of
the world. A group of 50 young scientists, recruited by
national/international
research agencies, will also be invited and given travel grants and
special
financial conditions for their participation. Members of the scientific
board
of the symposium include Werner Arber (University of Basel, Nobel Prize
Laureate), Dame Julia Higgins (Imperial College, London, Foreign
Secretary and
Vice President of the Royal Society), and Frank Wilczek (Professor of
Physics,
MIT, Nobel Prize Laureate).
A discussion with EO Wilson and Gerald Holton will jump-start the World
Knowledge Dialogue in the USA on April 3, 2006, at the Swiss House for
Advanced Research and Education SHARE in Cambridge MA.
If you are interested in participating in the World Knowledge Dialogue,
please
sign up for further updates on the web site www.wkdialogue.org
or contact us at wkd@shareboston.org. Please feel
free to forward this information to other leading personalities
interested in a
transdisciplinary science discourse who want to spearhead the World
Knowledge
Dialogue initiative!
Kind regards,
Pascal Marmier & Remo Steinmetz
World Knowledge Dialogue USA
SHARE Boston
420 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Fon +1 617 876 3076
Fax +1 617 876 3079
Email wkd@shareboston.org
www.shareboston.org
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http://www.law.duke.edu/sls
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 22:31:24 -0500
From: "Sidney Perkowitz"
Subject: Re: Interesting site for SLSA members
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
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Dear SLSA members,
I'm glad Doug Davis finds the lablit site so interesting. The woman
=
who runs it, Jennifer Rohn, is a scientist/writer/editor colleague who I
=
really value, and I'm glad to say that you can meet her at =
SLSA/Amsterdam. She'll be participating in my panel "Mad, Noble, or =
Simply Human?: Narratives of Scientists" along with me and Dene Grigar =
of Texas Woman's University.
Regards to all, Sidney
_________________
Sidney Perkowitz
Charles Howard Candler Professor of Physics
Physics Dep't., Emory University
400 Dowman Dr.
Atlanta, GA 30322
Reply email address: physp@emory.edu
Office: 404-727-4321
Cell: 404-374-1470
=20
=20
----- Original Message -----=20
From: Davis R. Douglas=20
To: litsci-l@duke.edu=20
Sent: Friday, March 24, 2006 2:13 PM
Subject: Interesting site for SLSA members
SLSA members,
=20
This isn't a paper proposal but rather an interesting site on =
literature edited by a virologist that I recently learned about from the
=
SFRA list. Check it out. =20
=20
LabLit.com http://www.lablit.com/=20
=20
As described on the site: LabLit.com is dedicated to real laboratory =
culture and to the portrayal and perceptions of that culture * science,
=
scientists and labs * in fiction, the media and across popular culture.
=
The site is intended for non-scientists as well as scientists, and the =
goal is to inform, entertain and surprise.
=20
Doug Davis
Assistant Professor of English
Division of Humanities
Gordon College
419 College Drive
Barnesville, GA 30204
770 358 5817 (office)
770 358 5140 (fax)
=20
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Please see the following URL for the LITSCI-L archive, Web resource
links and unsubscribing info:
http://www.law.duke.edu/sls
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 13:46:23 +0200
From: Laura Otis
Subject: SUB 06 SLSA Creative Writers Read
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I would like to propose a session for this year=92s conference in New=20
York in which the poets, novelists, playwrights, and story-writers of=20
SLSA read from their works. Many of us in SLSA are creators of=20
literature as well as analysts of it, and a session in which we read
as=20=
artists could illustrate new ways in which scientific and literary=20
thinking can grow together and stimulate each other=92s growth.
Creators=20=
of hypertexts and emerging cybernetic forms might also participate if=20
the room is sufficiently wired. Depending on the number of interested=20
people, this session could grow into a stream. If you would like to=20
read in this session, please contact
Laura Otis
otis@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
Many thanks to Victoria and Bruce for organizing this year=92s=20
conference. Since I have just joined the list-serve, please forgive
me=20=
if a session like this has already been proposed.=
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Times New RomanI would like to propose a
session for this year=92s conference in New York in which the poets,
novelists, playwrights, and story-writers of SLSA read from their
works. Many of us in SLSA are creators of literature as well as
analysts of it, and a session in which we read as artists could
illustrate new ways in which scientific and literary thinking can grow
together and stimulate each other=92s growth. Creators of hypertexts and
emerging cybernetic forms might also participate if the room is
sufficiently wired. Depending on the number of interested people, this
session could grow into a stream. If you would like to read in this
session, please contact
Laura Otis
=
0000,0000,FFFFotis@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
Many thanks to Victoria and Bruce for organizing this year=92s
conference. Since I have just joined the list-serve, please forgive me
if a session like this has already been proposed.=
- --Apple-Mail-1--30657504--
- -
+-+-+-+-+-+
Please see the following URL for the LITSCI-L archive, Web resource
links and unsubscribing info:
http://www.law.duke.edu/sls
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 09:35:49 -0500
From: Kevin LaGrandeur
Subject: SUB 06: The Prehistory of the Robot in Western Culture (2
panels)
2 PANEL PROPOSALS FOR SLSA 2006
*PANEL ABSTRACT (for both sessions)*:
Kevin LaGrandeur, Dept of English, NYIT, Panel Organizer and Chair
The robot was prefigured in various ways in Western culture well before
=
the
age of computers, or even the age of industry. There were some =
automatic
mechanisms designed in antiquity by proto-engineers such as Philon of
Byzantium, who is mentioned by Vitruvius in the 1st Century B.C.E. and =
by
Heron of Alexandria in around 50 C.E. as having made automatic theaters
=
with
puppets powered by water or steam. Heron himself is famous for his
treatises on hydraulic and steam-powered automata. But automata, =
especially
mechanical humanoids, became very popular in the Middle Ages with the =
advent
of clockwork. Artisans, particularly clockmakers, began to produce
marvelous automatic figurines, literature began to depict artificial =
humans
and animals, and scholarly treatises by natural philosophers even =
proclaimed
methods for creating living humanoids. In the Renaissance, all of these
trends increased, as real automata also began to appear in formal =
gardens
and at court for the amusement of the wealthy and powerful, and =
artificially
made humans and animals began to appear in the scientific and =
imaginative
literature of the time.
The presentations given as part of this panel will explore the various
aspects and implications of the proto-robots and artificial entities =
that
appear early in Western culture.
KEYWORDS: Early Modern Era--Robots=97Artificial
Servants=97Art=97Literature=97History=97Culture
**ABSTRACTS OF PROPOSED PRESENTATIONS*:*
**PANEL #1**
PRESENTER: Elly Truit, Department of the History of Science, Harvard
University, email: etruitt@fas.harvard.edu
=93Astrologers, Artificers, and Artisans: Automata and Their Makers at
=
the
Medieval Court=94
My presentation will investigate the representation of automaton-makers
=
in
courtly settings, both fictional and historical. These men were =
described in
romances as philosophers, wise men, magicians, and highly skilled; that
=
is,
in terms which cross the boundaries between theoretical knowledge, =
occult
knowledge, and artisanal knowledge. In historical court settings during
=
the
same period, natural philosophers were associated with philosophy and =
with
the occult sciences, such as alchemy and astrology. By investigating the
imaginary and material creation of courtly automata, as well as the men
responsible for their creation, this paper provides an important look =
into
the embodiments of knowledge, both real and imaginary, natural and
artificial.
PRESENTER: Scott Lightsey, Department of English, Georgia State =
University,
email: engsrl@langate.gsu.edu
=93From the Court to the Street: Early Automata in Performance=94
In order to live out the textual wonders of romances in their daily =
lives,
medieval elites commissioned fantastic automata to enhance the =
reputations
of their courts. These clockwork-driven automata and other mechanisms
circulated in a kind of economy of wonders, anticipating Renaissance
patterns of scientific exchange and functioning as an important aspect =
of
status negotiations among elites. But they also engaged civic =
environments,
where they were adapted by the crafts-classes for performative events =
such
as civic entries, moral dramas, and religious ceremonies. As such they
entered the public among lower artists and craftsmen, whose work was =
then
written back into genre texts by Chaucer, Mandeville, and other writers
engaged in reproducing the culture of romance. In these texts, automata
occupied a paradoxical social framing in which they represented the
preternatural mirabilia of romance, but operated as the politicized
machines.
PRESENTER: Jean-Louis Trudel, Department of History, University of =
Ottowa,
email: dd673@freenet.carleton.ca
=93Medieval Robots Before Clockwork: The Case of the French Romances=94
The thirteenth-century romances have long been identified as a =
springboard
of European literary interest in magical and mechanical marvels =
(Comparetti,
Spargo, Sherwood, Dubost). It is not always appreciated, however, to =
what
extent their authors integrated contemporaneous reports and speculations
about technological achievements witnessed in distant lands and in
Antiquity. Beyond some of the influential Heronian automata, other =
devices
are found that are noted in medieval fiction, chronicles, and Villard de
Honnecourt's notebook. Furthermore, it appears possible to trace, over
=
the
space of a few decades, the evolution of the robot motif as automatic
mechanisms morph from the more realistic portrayal of early texts =
(Tristan,
Eneas, Flor et Blancheflor) to the more and more purely fantastical
descriptions of the later Arthurian romances (Perlesvaux, Perceval, the
Continuations).
Even though chronological reconstructions are problematic, it =
seems
possible that literary marvels became more fantastical than mechanical =
just
as medieval craftsmen and their patrons began to invest (as at Hesdin) =
in
actual automatic mechanisms. Whether or not there was a causal link,
whether or not the authors of romances felt forced to outdo either their
predecessors or contemporary builders, both phenomena prefigured the =
even
greater vogue of automata after the advent of clockwork (jacquemarts, =
etc.).
PRESENTER: Scott Maisano, Department of English, University of
Massachusetts-Boston, email: Scott.Maisano@umb.edu
=93Milton avec Descartes: or, Natural-Born Cyborgs in the Garden of =
Eden.=94
In her recent work, In Our Image: Artificial Intelligence and the Human
Spirit, Noreen Herzfeld insists that =93as we human beings attempt to =
create
in our image through artificial intelligence, the imago Dei becomes an =
even
more important symbol.=94=A0 The imago Dei refers to a theological =
concept with
its roots in exegetical commentary on the Book of Genesis where humanity
=
is
said to have been created in the image of God.=A0 Herzfeld=92s argument
=
is
compelling but her decision to locate the origins of this spiritual
crisis=97the diminution of the =93soul=94 and it replacement by =
=93reason=94 as the
basis of our humanity=97in the recent speculations of authors such as =
Bill Joy
and Ray Kurzweil will feel a little shortsighted to her more secular
readers.=A0 After all, Rene Descartes insisted more than three hundred =
years
ago that =93machines=94 (by which he meant animals as well as artfully
constructed automata) possessed all the same capacities as humans, =
except
for the capacity to reason, which came via the pineal gland from the
immaterial soul.=A0 In this paper, I hope to show that in Paradise Lost
=
John
Milton sought, like Herzfeld after him, to rescue the imago Dei from the
narrow confines of a =93substantialist=94 interpretation which regards =
=93reason=94
as the defining characteristic of both God and humanity.=A0 =A0
**PANEL #2**
PRESENTER:=20
Kevin LaGrandeur, Department of English, New York Institute of =
Technology,
email: klagrand@nyit.edu
=93Early Modern Androids as Symbols of Intellectual Rebellion=94
The factual and fictional literature of the Renaissance contains =
references
to the creation of artificial humanoids--somewhat remarkable for an era
=
that
predates not only the era of cloning and robotics, but also the era of
industry. These figures range from images in fictional literature of
talking brass heads to discussions of the homunculus by Renaissance =
natural
philosophers and to Jewish legends of the golem. What would motivate all
these images of androids in a pre-technological age? I will examine =
this
question in light of Early Modern scientific ambition and social values
concerning such ambition. My working theory is that these images of the
artificial android represent fears about intellectual adventurousness =
and
about human arrogance concerning their natural dominion.
PRESENTER: Minsoo Kang, Department of History, University of =
Missouri-St.
Louis, email: kangmi@umsl.edu
=93Wonders of Natural Magic: The Automaton in the Transition from Magic
=
to
Science, 1533 =96 1622=94
In the Renaissance magus Cornelius Agrippa=92s seminal work on natural =
magic,
Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1533), one finds a list of wonders, or
various automata of both legendary and factual origins, used to =
illustrate
the efficacy of natural magic. The list, in modified forms, appears in
=
the
works of other Renaissance hermetic magicians, including John Dee and
Tomasso Campanella. What is surprising, however, is that it was also
transmitted into the works of early modern scientists, including John
Wilkins, Florentius Schuyl (author of the introduction to Descartes=92s
Treatise on Man), with a faint echo of it appearing even in the
Enclyclop=E9die, in the article =91automate.=92 What are we to make of
=
the same
group of marvelous objects appearing in works of both magic and science
=
=96
utilized to demonstrate the use and power of what used to be regarded as
antagonistic views on nature (i.e. the magical-animistic verses
rational-mechanistic). Using recent scholarship on the subject on =
natural
magic and early modern science, from the works of Frances Yates to those
=
of
Brian Copenhaver and Anthony Grafton that question the simplistic view =
of
this antagonism, I will show how the automaton serves as the perfect
symbolic object with which to observe the continuity, rather than a =
rupture,
in the transition from Renaissance naturalism to mechanistic thought.
PRESENTER: Carol Colatrella, Department of Literature, Technology and
Culture, Georgia Institute of Technology, email:
carol.colatrella@lcc.gatech.edu OR carolcolatrella@hotmail.com
=93Representing the Technological Past: Proto-Robots in Melville=92s =
=93The
Bell-Tower=94 and Piercy=92s _He, She, and It_=94
Although science fiction often writes a history of the future, Herman
Melville=92s =93The Bell-Tower=94 (1856) and a significant portion of =
Marge
Piercy=92s _He, She, and It_ (1991) turn instead to examining the early
Western roots of experimentation with robotics. Melville=92s Bannadonna
builds Talus, an automaton designed to strike hours on a public clock of
=
a
bell tower in early modern Italy. Piercy=92s novel compares the Golem in
seventeenth-century Prague to the futurist robot Yod in the
late-twenty-first century in what was once the northeastern United =
States.=20
Despite being technological marvels and objects of fascination for =
others,
these proto-robots destroy and do not survive their creators. These
creations have been all too successful at their respective assigned =
tasks of
keeping time and protecting threatened communities, while also desiring
=
to
break free from the domination of their masters. In this way, Melville =
and
Piercy historically delineate proto-robots as dangerous creations with
prospects exceeding human imagination, call into question the limits of
human creativity, and develop an ethics of robotics for a new class of
beings.
Submitted by:
Dr. Kevin LaGrandeur
Associate Professor of English
NYIT
ph: 516-686-7607
fax: 516-686-7760
=20
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 13:26:25 -0800
From: Jack Sarfatti
Subject: Fwd: Super Cosmos Galley Online Now for a day or two only
>
>>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> Only for a day or two you can download 9 meg file
>>>>
>>>> Uncorrected galley is at http://qedcorp.com/uri/galley.pdf
>>>>
>>>>> Galley corrections Super Cosmos ... by Jack Sarfatti
>>>>
>>>> SECOND REVISED EXPANDED EDITION
ERRATA to be corrected in printed version
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Mar 28, 2006, at 8:14 PM, Jack Sarfatti wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> p. 24
>>>>>
>>>>> Change "reaches" to "reach"
>>>>>
>>>>> i.e. "Does advanced intelligence reach back in time ..."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> p.142 of Galley
>>>>>
>>>>> Change
>>>>>
>>>>> Casimir Warp Drive? Not likely.
>>>>> The ratio of Casimir electrical attraction between the plates =20
>>>>> to the opposing simultaneous Casimir gravity repulsion is the =20
>>>>> area of the plates multiplied by the Compton wavelength of the =20
>>>>> plates divided by the Planck area multiplied by the separation =20
>>>>> of the plates. This is large compared to 1, i.e. the Casimir =20
>>>>> induced gravity repulsion is relatively weak in all practical =20
>>>>> devices. Note that the area of the plates divided by the =20
>>>>> Planck area is essentially the number of Bekenstein-Hawking =20
>>>>> BITS of the plates.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> To
>>>>>
>>>>> Casimir Warp Drive? Not likely.
>>>>> The ratio of Casimir electrical attraction between the plates =20
>>>>> to the opposing simultaneous Casimir gravity repulsion is the =20
>>>>> Planck area multiplied by the plate area divided by the fourth =20
>>>>> power of the plate separation. This is large compared to 1 in =20
>>>>> actual experiments, i.e. the Casimir induced gravity repulsion =20
>>>>> is relatively weak in all practical devices so far.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Notes added in final galley review.
>>>>>
>>>>> There have been unreplicated reports of large gravimagnetic =20
>>>>> fields in rotating superconducting rings in
http://xxx.lanl.gov/=20=
>>>>> ftp/gr-qc/papers/0603/0603033.pdf
>>>>> The gravimagnetic flux through the ring is changed presumably =20
>>>>> be changing the mechanical RPM of the ring and this induces a =20
>>>>> circulating gravielectric field around the ring in analogy with
=20=
>>>>> Faraday induction. The researchers report effects 20 powers of =20
>>>>> ten too large. That is still ten thousand times too weak to get
=20=
>>>>> up to 1 Earth g, but what=92s another 4 powers of ten. They are
=20=
>>>>> almost there. Well the gravimagnetic field scales as the Planck
=20=
>>>>> area that has a cube of the speed of light in its denominator. =20
>>>>> Also, we know that the speed of light slows down in a =20
>>>>> superconductor. This suggests a speed of light of only about 10
=20=
>>>>> cm/sec inside the superconductor. Getting it down to 0.1 cm/sec
=20=
>>>>> would be enough to nullify the Earth=92s 1 g field at its surface.
>>>>>
>>>>> Sterile right-handed massive neutrinos have been proposed as =20
>>>>> dark matter. Only left-handed neutrinos participate in the key =20
>>>>> weak force interactions. This is a plausible alternative to my =20
>>>>> theory that dark matter is negative zero point vacuum energy =20
>>>>> with positive pressure that clumps at small scales of a few =20
>>>>> hundred parsecs to look like w =3D 0 Cold Dark Matter (CDM). Time
=20=
>>>>> will tell which idea is right. They could both be wrong.
>>>>>
>>>>> p. 220 fix WIDE spacings between words third line from bottom
>>>>>
>>>>> The complete article can be found at
>>>>>
>>>>> p. 251 endnote ci
>>>>>
>>>>> Change
>>>>>
>>>>> [1] Dr. Eric Davis in STAIF 2006 has written on negative zero =20
>>>>> point energy in the Casimir effect. It is true that in the =20
>>>>> parallel plate configuration that the relative sizes of the ZPF
=20=
>>>>> stress-energy diagonal are -1, +1, +1, -3 so t
