Western and Russian Traditions of Big History: A Philosophical Insight

Summary  Big History – an integral conception of the past since the Big Bang until today – is a novel subject of cross-disciplinary interest. The concept was construed in the 1980–1990s simultaneously in different countries, after relevant premises had matured in the sciences and humanities.Various versions and traditions of Big History are considered in the article. Particularly, most of the Western authors emphasize the idea of equilibrium, and thus reduce cosmic, biological, and social evolution to the mass-energy processes; the informational parameter involving all mental and spiritual aspects are seen as epiphenomena of material structures” complication that do not play their own role in evolution. In Russian tradition ascending to A. Bogdanov, E. Bauer, I. Prigogine, and E. Jantsch, sustainable non-equilibrium patterns are used. This implies attention to the pan-material sources and evolution of mental capacities and spiritual culture (as basic anti-entropy instruments) and humans” growing intervention in the material processes on Earth and outside it.The non-equilibrium approach in the context of modern control and self-organization theories, alters the portrayal of the past, and still more dramatically, estimation of the civilization’s potential perspectives.     

Risk-sensitive choice in humans as a function of an earnings budget

Risky choice in 3 adult humans was investigated across procedural manipulations designed to model energy-budget manipulations conducted with nonhumans. Subjects were presented with repeated choices between a fixed and a variable number of points. An energy budget was simulated by use of an earnings budget, defined as the number of points needed within a block of trials for points to be exchanged for money. During positive earnings-budget conditions, exclusive preference for the fixed option met the earnings requirement. During negative earnings-budget conditions, exclusive preference for the certain option did not meet the earnings requirement, but choice for the variable option met the requirement probabilistically. Choice was generally risk averse (the fixed option was preferred) when the earnings budget was positive and risk prone (the variable option was preferred) when the earnings budget was negative. Furthermore, choice was most risk prone during negative earnings-budget conditions in which the earnings requirement was most stringent. Local choice patterns were also frequently consistent with the predictions of a dynamic optimization model, indicating that choice was simultaneously sensitive to short-term choice contingencies, current point earnings, and the earnings requirement. Overall, these results show that the patterns of risky choice generated by energy-budget variables can also be produced by choice contingencies that do not involve immediate survival, and that risky choice in humans may be similar to that shown in nonhumans when choice is studied under analogous experimental conditions.     

无意识活动与静息态脑能量消耗

静息态脑活动的研究关注个体在清醒、静卧、闭眼时脑的活动情况,大量实验证明静息状态下大脑仍进行着持续不断的信息加工活动,并且消耗大量能量。本文在阐述无意识活动特性以及总结静息态脑能量消耗研究的基础上,提出用无意识活动解释静息态脑能量消耗的观点,强调在研究无意识活动的心理意义的同时,还要研究无意识活动的神经机制及其生理表现。     

Wilhelm Reich's self‐censorship after his arrest as an enemy alien: The chilling effect of an illegal imprisonment

After discussing Wilhelm Reich's place in psychoanalysis, the article explores his arrest as an ‘enemy alien’ in December 1941. Reich's emotional responses to his imprisonment (which was illegal and which lasted nearly a month) are explored. A number of scholars have suggested that many European radical psychoanalysts refrained from sharing their former political ideas once they emigrated to the United States. Following a brief discussion of this pattern of ‘silencing,’ it is argued that Reich's withholding certain documents from publication was due to a self‐imposed censorship, motivated in part by the fear of further governmental interference with his life and work. This fear, however, did not extend to his discussion of his newly developed theory of orgone energy.     

Real men are made,not born! Incidental exposure to energy drinks may promote men's tolerance of physical pain

The energy drink market has grown exponentially since the debut of Red Bull. Advertising of energy drinks tends to reinforce an emphasis on masculine identification. However, no previous study has addressed the symbolic effect of energy drinks on pain tolerance, that is, a particular masculine characteristic. We conducted a priming‐based experiment to show that energy drink primes elevated men's pain tolerance. Induced conformity to masculinity norms mediated the priming effect of energy drinks on pain tolerance. These findings suggest that mere reminders of masculinity‐related products can lead men to behave accordingly in seemingly irrelevant domains (i.e., pain tolerance). Besides distraction and placebo treatment, the connection between a symbolic masculinity prime and greater tolerance of pain may shed lights on an alternative route for pain control.     

Being engaged when resources are low: A multi-source study of selective optimization with compensation at work

This study examined self-regulation in the form of selective optimization with compensation (SOC) at work as a moderator of the relationships of job control (as a job resource) and feeling recovered and energized in the morning (as a personal energy resource) with self- and coworker-rated work engagement. SOC was hypothesized to offset low levels of job control and low levels of personal energy. Based on a sample of 405 public-service employees in Germany, including a multi-source subsample of 141 employees and their respective coworkers, the results showed that SOC use moderated the relationship between the level of personal energy and self-ratings as well as coworker ratings of work engagement such that SOC mitigated low levels of personal energy. SOC at work did not offset low job control. The results suggest that using SOC is particularly important when employees lack energy. SOC strategies should, therefore, be fostered by managers and organizations.     

Species of Realization and the Free Energy Principle

This paper examines, for the first time, the relationship between realization relations and the free energy principle in cognitive neuroscience. I argue, firstly, that the free energy principle has ramifications for the wide versus narrow realization distinction: if the free energy principle is correct, then organismic realizers are insufficient for realizing free energy minimization. I argue, secondly, that the free energy principle has implications for synchronic realization relations, because free energy minimization is realized in dynamical agent-environment couplings embedded at multiple time scales.     

Temperature dependence of the stacking fault energy of glide set-dissociated dislocations in Si

Recently, it was found that the dissociation distance of glide set dislocations introduced in Si just below the melting temperature by laser shock peening (LSP) is unusually wide (Iwata et al. J. Jpn Inst. Met. Materi.,79(2015),308–314). In order to distinguish whether or not this is to be attributed to uncorrelated motions of leading and trailing Shockley partials or the intrinsic temperature dependence of the stacking fault energy (SFE), dislocations introduced by LSP were annealed at 1350 °C, which should be high enough for the uncorrelated partials to assume the equilibrium correlated configuration. It was found that this unusual widening of a dissociated dislocation introduced by LSP is attributed to uncorrelated motions of Shockley partials. Following this conclusion, the temperature dependence of the intrinsic SFE of Si was determined on correlated dissociated dislocations up to near the melting temperature. The intrinsic SFE of Si shows only negligibly small temperature dependence from 400 °C up to near the melting temperature.     

Out of Sight,out of Mind? Controversy over Offshore Wind Energy in Norway's News Media

News media are important reference points for public sense-making of emerging technology. In Norway, offshore wind can be considered an emerging technology. Siting renewable energy technology offshore is commonly regarded as a solution to onshore implementation problems, as development happens ‘out of sight, out of mind’ of the public. However, does moving renewable energy technology offshore really prevent controversy? How is emerging offshore wind technology made comprehensible in Norwegian news media? The dominance of supporting actors and arguments in the Norwegian news media discourse on offshore wind energy technology and the high prevalence of the argument that offshore wind should be non-controversial due to its placement ‘out of sight’ suggest that the expectation that such technology will prevent controversy has been partly met. Still, the emerging technology has been accompanied by an evolving controversy, though with a different extent and focus than the controversy over onshore wind. Both supporting and opposing actors have made offshore wind energy technology comprehensible by employing economic, environmental and moral arguments. Economics has appeared as a privileged frame of interpretation used by both supporters and opponents. Environmental arguments have shifted their focus to biodiversity and global aspects such as sustainability and climate change, and lost their dominance relative to their role in onshore controversies.