September 23, 2013, 10:38 am, Christopher Pollmann,
Atomisation,
Border,
Boundary,
Clock,
Frontier,
Globalisation,
Individualisation,
Law,
Liquefaction,
Money,
New Forms of the Social,
Spatial concepts,
Time,
Topics.
The history of human communities in terms of their “border regime” can be considered tripartite. At first, societies saw themselves as unique, and their edges were the end of their world, surrounded by “barbarians”. Under the influence of ever-increasing trade and equalisation of human beings and populations on either side of the edges, the latter have been transformed into national boundaries. This second era is currently in transition to a third epoch, as the continuous globalisation of societies is going along with their atomisation and liquefaction.
As entrepreneurs of ourselves, we are more and more supposed to manage our solitary existence ourselves. Law, clock and money are a tempting basis for this, because they do not prescribe nor prohibit any activity, but simply – and all the more relentlessly – establish a framework for individual action. Their limits progressively supplement collective delineations of human life (birth and residence, gender, religion, profession, etc.).
Hans-Peter Schütt, valedictory on his KIT collegue Uwe Japp, 7/17/2013.
The consideration of the history of the Third Reich from an approach concerning waste industry dues not only touch aspects of National Socialist economic policy, but also essential elements of social policy. Besides government agencies, representatives from economy and sciences, also the general public is concerned with waste management, and thus mainly with the transformation of formerly unused waste products into exploitable raw resources. In the following, it is attempted to deserche the areas of the waste industry (collection, handling/transport, sorting, reutilisation, treatment, accumulation) in the context of general National Socialist structures. The main focus is on a selection of material flows in the light of the extraction of secondary raw resources. Finally, it is also examined to which extent the system of National Socialist waste management resulted from a systemically conditioned necessity, whether it was due to the specific circumstances of the time, or if its peculiarity can be considered as a characteristic of totalitarian political systems.
Mai 16, 2013, 3:11 pm, Silvia Woll,
Converging technologies,
Human enhancement,
Posthuman age,
Posthumanism,
Science Fiction,
Sociohistorical analysis,
Topics,
Transhumanism.
The essay gives a detailed and selective overview over the discussion of transhumanism and posthumanism, taking account of the most influential authors‘ impact on the movement. Their most important texts are bound to mark the scientific development of posthumanistic and transhumanistic concepts. Examples taken from literature, film and artistic performance show their impact in public, being both enriched by the scien-tific approach and guiding also the latter.
The European process of integration – from a housewife’s point of view.
The public has received substantial interpretation pursuant to its function as counterpart to the political development. Following the speaker’s projection, the parliament and the public sphere form an alliance. Literature has been understood all the time as its mediation and realization alike. What remains open, is the very question how the “focus of the public” (Ch.Taylor) is created and to be maintained. In four steps it is explained according to the primary hypothesis that human consciousness relies upon a polar foundation. The first introduces both parts of literary consciousness, the individual and the collective, in relation to truth capability. The second exhibits in an empirical sense the intricacies of polar consciousness as related to varieties of manifestation and peripeteian emphasis. The third relies upon poetological theory in order to explain how collective consciousness and the text are interconnected. Finally the fourth takes novel theory and interpretation (N.Miller) as point of departure for final application and overall summary.
März 11, 2013, 3:59 pm, Manfred Negele,
Community,
Mutuality,
New Forms of the Social,
Personal relationship,
Sociohistorical analysis,
Topics,
Virtual reality.
Nowadays technical devices are used for communication between humans. Communicating by using tech-nical devices effects the way people are co-existing. Does that convey the experience of community, does it maybe lead us to new forms of communities? Or as we rely on technology and the opportunities offered thereby, do we lose the possibility to find people sharing our lives? The article offers the chance to find points of reference framing these essential questions.
In this topic, intensifying the one of a Posthuman Age, we want to investigate new forms of the social which emerged since the onset of a so-called Internet age, and unfold in the present. Since the onset of that age, our basic understanding of what it means to be social has changed profoundly. To cite McLuhan, being a cultural animal first and foremost means to be a social one. And since the onset of that age, not just some new forms of communicating had evolved, but new ones of being social as such. Since that starting point, in both real and mythical terms a new era begun.
Februar 14, 2013, 10:16 am, Rolf-Jürgen Gleitsmann,
Evolution,
Haubergwirtschaft,
History of sustainability,
Siegerland,
Sociohistorical analysis,
Sustainability,
Sustainable growth,
Topics.
Authors Rolf-Jürgen Gleitsmann Institut für Geschichte/Technikgeschichte, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, E-Mail: rolf-juergen.gleitsmann-topp@kit.edu Fulltext Abstract English The age of industrial modernity is facing an existential crisis. The basis of its existence is threatened. Industrial production, based on the principle of division of labour, mass consumption and a structurally vital economic growth have passed the carrying capacity […]
This essay is supposed to answer the purpose of examining reflections about the technological development of war machinery between the end of the Franco-Prussian War and the beginning of the First World War. The use of technologically evolved weapons in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 and other wars in the aftermath were observed critically and led to various opinions about the form of war to be. These were expressed in contemporary literature like pamphlets, scientific papers and science fiction novels. These will be analysed for imprints of technophobia, technophilia or fascination with technology. As this paper will point out, all three elements can be found in the corpus of literature consulted for this topic. Besides reflections on already existing and only enhanced weapons like guns or cannons, also technology not yet used in war like ironclads or airplanes and its impacts on future war are covered in the works chosen for this essay.