Two Specialists in Cybernetics
Among the Romanian forerunners of cybernetics (i.e., Daniel Danielopolu, Paul Postelnicu), Stefan Odobleja is, undoubtedly, the most important. European recognition of his contribution to the foundations of cybernetics took place twenty years ago when his paper, "Diversity and Unit in Cybernetics" (presented at the Fourth Congress of Cybernetics and Systems in Amsterdam, August, 1978), was received with great acclaim. His work has been used by other Romanian scientists and philosophers like Constantin Noica, Mihai Draganescu, Alexandru Surdu, Georghe M. Stefan, Constantin Balaceanu, Mihai Golu, Pantelimon Golu,Victor Sahleanu, etc. Meanwhile, another scientist-philosopher, Norbert Wiener, reached conclusions similar to Odobleja's. It is interesting to note that two individuals who worked in and came from such diverse backgrounds and media, reached such similar conclusions within the interval of a decade.
Out of the Romanian forerunners of cybernetics (ex: Daniel Danielopolu, Paul Postelnicu), Stefan Odobleja is - undoubtedly - the most important. A European recognition of his indisputable contribution to the foundation of cybernetics took place 20 years ago. At that time his paper, entitled "Diversity and Unit in Cybernetics" was of a very successful. This paper was defended at the 4th Congress of Cybernetics and Systems, at Amsterdam, 21-25 August 1978 by Stefan Odobleja's emissary, engineer Stelian Bajureanu. This was his most enthusiastic admirer. Being ill, Stefan Odobleja could not be present that very important scientific manifestation. In Romania, doctor Stefan Odobleja's merits as a Romanian scientist's at the foundation of the generalized cybernetics were well - known at the academic level, at the same time with the publication of two collective works. These works are: "Romanian Forerunners of Cybernetics", published in 1979 and "Odobleja between Ampere and Wiener", published in 1981. The former work has a Preface also translated into English that is signed by Mihai Draganescu and the latter being entirely printed in English. The Romanian also known on an international plane has dedicated themselves, with a great consideration and competence, the work of this pioneer of cybernetics, who was Stefan Odobleja. These important scientists and philosophers are: Constantin Noica, Mihai Draganescu, Alexandru Surdu, Gheorghe M. Stefan, Constantin Balaceanu, Mihai Golu, Pantelimon Golu, Victor Sahleanu, etc.
It is interesting to notice how two scientists who were, at the same time, of science and philosophers (Stefan Odobleja and Norbert Wiener) arrived at very close conclusions in their subjects within a decade. They lived and worked on so for off meridians, originating from very different media.
Fromm, Erich. "Marx's Concept of Man." Marx's Concept of Man. Marxists.org, 1961. Web. 02 May
Warrick, Patricia S. "Science Fiction Images of Computers and Robots." The Cybernetic Imagination. N.p.: The MIT, 1980. 53-79. Rpt. in Contemporary Lieterary Criticism. Ed. Jean C. Stine. Vol. 26. Detroit: Gale, 1983. 53-56. Print.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a treatment for severe mental illness in which the brain is stimulated with a strong electrical current which induces a seizure. The seizure rearranges the brain's neurochemistry and results in an elevation of mood. This essay asks: Is ECT any safer and more effective in treating mood disorders than drug therapies? This treatment has a controversial history ever since it was first introduced in 1938. I intend to argue that electroconvulsive therapy is indeed a safe treatment of mental disorders when other treatments have failed. Due to the development of safer and less traumatic ways of administering ECT, the treatment has made a comeback, is greatly used, and proves to be effective.
Donna Haraway’s 1984 “A Cyborg Manifesto” is an enduring essay unceasingly analyzed, critiqued, and adored by scholars and students. The piece, in which Haraway uses the cyborg as a metaphor to scrutinize hegemonic problems and refuse the binary, claims that “the boundary between science fiction and social reality is an optical illusion.” In other words, like the cyborg who cannot distinguish whether it is a machine or an organism, in society there is no difference between male and female; rich and poor; black and white. There is only gray, and there are countless shades of it. “A Cyborg Manifesto” is an influential essay that has been relevant to the past and is still relevant to the present. Hence, it is no surprise that it has inspired
Wittgenstein, Ludwig; G. E. M. Anscombe, P.M.S. Hacker and Joachim Schulte (eds. and trans.). Philosophical Investigations. 4th edition, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.
- The Chiltern Society, 2011: Concerns Arising from the Geology and Hydrology of the ground underlying the High Speed (HS2) routes through the Chilterns. Available: http://www.chilternsociety.org.uk/hs2/paper02.php (Accessed: 1 December 2011).
...e to claim that objects that were created by humans, including robots, wire and metal structures and series of computer networks could and do possess qualia. Once people have reached the highest nirvana in the limits of consciousness and can create a consciousness device to measure its depths among classes of humans and non-humans, then functionalism can be shelved and rejected if it is the case that a robot does not contain qualia. Until then, however, functionalism needs to be carefully considered and not disregarded for its merits in the problem of mental states. Though for many, psychofunctionalism may be the more favorable choice because it is easier for people to consider themselves as the most intelligent beings and rulers of the universe rather than every collection of objects that satisfy the functional role to have consciousness on the same level as them.
Epilepsy is a condition characterized by recurrent seizures which are unprovoked by any immediately identifiable cause (Hopkins & Shorvon, 1995). It is also known as a seizure disorder. A wide range of links and risk factors are associated with the condition, but most of the time the cause is unknown. Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders, affecting approximately two and half million people in the US and about 50 million worldwide. Though seizures can occur at any age, epilepsy is most commonly seen in children and the elderly. Most respond well to treatment and can control their seizures, but for some it is a chronic illness. A clinical diagnosis is the first step to finding a potential cure for the disorder.
2. Asimov, Isaac, and Karen A. Frankel. ROBOTS: Machines in Man's Image. New York: Harmony Books, 1985. p 2.
Informative Speech Scientists Einstein and Heisenberg A. Introduction My Speech is about the scientists who had the main influence on our current time and have shaped our contemporary view of the world (Also called in Theology the "Zeitgeist"). I have chosen two of them who are in many ways just opposites. One is extremely famous and the other is almost unknown, except to specialists. The most famous is, of course, Albert Einstein.
I am very grateful for the opportunity of submitting this article which may be published just in 1998, the fiftieth memorial year since the publication of Wiener's book, Cybernetics.
In Conclusion William Gibson created a cyberpunk/ postmodernism tale that has blurred not only the physical state between mechanics and human anatomy, but has as well blurred the line between the natural and virtual world. He is making the reader contemplate how both software and hardware have influenced the natural world. Gibson’s fictional world would have not been possible without the existence of software and hardware, that is why the distinction between them is very crucial and play a different part within the text. Without these two things, the reader would not be able to comprehend and relate to Gibson’s view on how our society is interlocking with the advances of technology and the normality of today will no longer exist in the future.
The global industrialization in twentieth century rapidly shaped the human society in political, economical, cultural and other aspect. The idea of machine replacing human beings has been concerned by many scholars and scientists themselves. The definition of human being and the definition of machine ha s been challenged as they gradually become into a non-separated integration. We now have artificial limbs, man-made blood vessels and even micro-chips in our brains. In A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century, a well-known essay published in the late twentieth century, Donna Haraway developed the notion of Cyborg. She states that there is no actual boundary among “human”, “animal”, and “machine”. She defines cyborg as “a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction” (Weiss 117). Indeed, machine changed people’ life and it becomes a built-in object in human beings practically and ideologically. To Haraway, we are all cyborgs. On top of that, I consider that cyborg is the collaboration or replacement of one common ideology to the next one. As machine helps human to act and think faster and better, its replacement in our life causes physical, biological and ideological degeneration of human activities. We do not live with machine anymore, we live upon them. In other words, the artificial part in human’s body and mind becomes overwhelming to the natural/organic part. A lizard can still survive after it cuts its tail under special circumstance, just like a man can easily have a transplant of a limb, a lung even a heart. Brain death is considered to be the legal indicator of death in common . A man can live wit...
Haraway, Donna. `A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980's', Socialist Reivew, Vol. 15, No. 80, 1985
With the development of technology in the world, people are faced with many things they never saw and knew before. In this modern life, technology has affected a lot of people’s lives in many levels. Robots are considered as important products of technology. Robots were introduced by a writer, Karel Čapek, from the Czech word, robota, meaning “forced labor” or “serf”. Čapek used this word in his play, R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) which opened in Prague in January, 1921, a play in which an Englishman named Rossum mass-produced automata. The automata, robots, are meant to do the world’s work and to make a better life for humans; but in the end they rebel, wipe out humanity, and start a new race of intelligent life for the robots themselves (Asimov, 1984). Robot does not have a specific definition itself, every dictionary has a slightly different definition. “Deciding if a machine is or is not a robot is like trying to decide if a certain shade of greenish blue is truly blue or not blue,” said Carlo Bertocchini, the owner of RobotBooks.com. “Some people will call it blue while others will vote not blue,” (Branwyn, 2004). This essay will limit the meaning of robot as what defined in the Merriam Webster Dictionary (2004), robot is a machine that looks and acts like a human being, an efficient but insensitive person, a device that automatically performs especially repetitive tasks, and something guided by automatic controls. As the technology grows more modern each day, scientists and programmers are creating and improving the function of robots. Nevertheless, many people are still debating should robots be developed more and should robots be used in everyday life. I disagree that the further development of robots should be remain...