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friday :: september 24, 2004
   
 
conference on biophotonics

3rd Alexander Gurwitsch Conference on Biophotons and Coherent Systems in Biology, Biophysics and Biotechnology (from September 27th to October 2nd, 2004, in Simferopol and Partenit, Crimea).

Alexander Gavrilovich Gurwitsch (1874-1954), one of the most outstanding biologists of XX century, was in 1918-1924 a Professor of Histology in Taurida University. Right there he made his most important discovery of an ultraweak photon emission from the living systems (which gave rise to the biophotonics) and submitted a first sketch of the morphogenetic field theory. The conference is adjusted to the 130 anniversary of Gurwitsch’s birthday and, at the same time, to the 100 anniversary of Academician Gleb Frank, a founder of the Institute of Biophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences. Attending in 1920-24 the lectures in Taurida University, Frank was one of the closest Gurwitsch’s students and made an important contribution to the biophotonics. >from *3rd Alexander Gurwitsch Conference*.

related context
>
the 're-discovery' of morphogenic fields.

imago
>
detector apparatus
for life-forms energetic connections

| permaLink

 
friday :: september 17, 2004
   
 
d-form + pd~convention04 + trans cultural mapping > reclaim the streams!

Think Tools for Revolution! At times the calendar is capricious & important events happen at the same time and in different places. Sometimes one has the intuition that there will be a before and an after to this chain of hidden coincidences.

This article explains and calls for the spontaneous fusion, vital & necessary , of these three events in Fortress Europe, in this autumn without leaves.

This non-coincidence will be from the 1st to the 3rd of october.

In Riga, Art+Communication: Trans Cultural Mapping, will exhibit the conclusions of the recent workshops from locative.net. The culmination of months of study under the umbrella of the european Trans Cultural Mapping program. A cocktail of Locative Media, Spectrum Ecology, Tactical Cartography and Endocolonisation. Art+Communicaction has the role of Thinktank in the triple event : where theory positions itself politically.

At the same time in the pd~convention04 (Graz) it is the first time that the kernel of the most revolutionary program in the 'free' market have gathered together. Pureč Data is a project of one of the most trash communities of free programming in history, a ballbreaking which will be retransmitted from Graz. A group of artist programmers will show what they have done in their caus - mainly, universities & hacklabs - these last few years. They are a trash community that play a sort of chinese go that propose the tools for the new strategy of netmedia.

"A celebration of our alternative culture" claims D-Form (Barcelona). D-Form is a sort of Akira that grows & grows. Its much more than a party and less than a revolution, but it is the beginning of a strategy of global resistence against an already failing Capital. They say that people are coming from all over Europe and beyond, the call of the Revolution has arrived !

The video and audio streams from the Think Repository of Riga, the Tool Kit of Graz & the Permanent Revolution of Barcelona are transmitted via gollum.artefacte.org, a tool for the new era.

The fusion of the three events has to be total because politics is everywhere, because the new form that culture is acquiring in the barcelona mercalab is dangerous and spreading. Because they communicate with gamepads, with sensors, with Pure Data, and because theres nowhere that the call has become so extensive, delocalised and urgent. Everybody is welcome !!! (thanxs pedro for the translation)

related context
>
fadaiat: a new kind of public space. june 18, 2004
> HighNoon: wsis? we seize! december 8, 2003
> pure-data beta rave. january 18, 2003

imago
>
the gollum insurrection

comments
1. Other coincident events, directly related to Fortress-Europe-: Encounter of the 'Red Dos Orillas' network in Tanger from 1 to the 3 of October. The strategies of communication and the relations will be dealt among other subjects with indymedia madiaq and therefore with the project al-jwarizmi - gollum... http://madiaq.indymedia.org/news/2004/09/9151.php
Red Dos Orillas: http://redasociativa.org/dosorillas
2. Interesting commentaries/critical to the concept of Fortress Europe, by Sandro Mezzadra, of the network Frassanito, of which also indymedia comprises narrow. Mezzadra/Fortress Europe [ spanish ]: http://madiaq.indymedia.org/news/2004/09/9147.php
Frassanito is a transeuropean network that thinks the migration like a social movement [ to see tb the previous article of Mezzadra ]. At the moment we are preparing events for ESF 14-17 of October and the year that enters. The 10-12 of September in London was a preparatory meeting: http://madiaq.indymedia.org/news/2004/08/8883.php Without a doubt, it would be interesting if we could advance in the alliances mig-cog... to connect the technological-mediatic encounter that comment with these more social and political others, of one more a more powerful and transforming way... Next horizon: The DASH meeting and Euromayday 2005
3. Madiaq is afraid for the kidnapping of indymedia. The threat floats in the Network... Brown hackers... seems that http://madiaq.indymedia.org could happen in the next hours... Greetings _ osfa

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Art+Communication: TRANS CULTURAL MAPPING
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/122662/index.php by tmc art. indymedia barcelona, september 23, 2004

--------------------

d-form: an alternative path
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/124270/index.php

We live in a society bombarded with information from a corporate media that seeks to shape our lives into consuming, working and self obsession. The value of community has been reduced to that of the services provided by local government. The streets reduced to pathways for oil driven vehicles and consumerism.
The vast majority of the community of Europe has been conquered and disempowered by an authoritarian structure dictated to by global elites. These global elites have control over our energy requirements, our natural resources, our food, our water, our air, our health. This absolute power means they are free to destroy and exploit indigenous peoples, nature, global climate and wage wars against our will.
So what use is information within this scale of global injustice? Because we are being fed mis-information our alternative culture has developed its own media. Information then becomes a real solution, but only if we know "how" to use it. For it is the deeds and not the words that have the power for change.
The information that will be provided @ deform is information for action, seeking solutions on local and global levels. Practical skills as a practical means to rid our lives of the global elites and offer the wider community the sliver of a chance of re-evolution.

The struggle remains to reclaim the future.

For any collectives wishing to participate, bring info, your skills, a prepared talk... please contact infozone (at) deform.org OR infozona (at) deform.org

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three events interface
http://riereta.net/tcm

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respect the culture!!!

| permaLink

 
friday :: september 10, 2004
   
 
revenge: neural basis of altruistic punishment

Human cooperation is so spectacularly different relative to cooperation in other species because humans exhibit unique patterns of altruism such as the altruistic punishment of norm violations that helps sustain cooperation enhancing social norms. Experimental evidence indicates that cooperation flourishes if altruistic punishment is possible, and breaks down if it is ruled out.

Altruistic punishment means that individuals punish unfair and non-cooperative behaviour although the punishment is costly for them and yields no material gain. This raises the big question of why individuals are willing to incur the cost of punishing norm violations.

A Swiss research team under the direction of Ernst Fehr (University of Zurich) studied this question by scanning subjects' brains with Positron Emission Tomography (PET) while subjects decided whether to punish a person who had previously abused their trust by violating a fairness norm. The study shows that a crucial part of the brain’s reward circuit – the caudate nucleus – is activated while subjects are deciding whether to punish. Previous research has shown that the caudate nucleus is also activated if subjects receive money, if they view beautiful faces or consume cocaine, or if individuals in love view pictures of their loved ones.

Feelings of reward associated with the punishment of norm violators may be an evolutionary adaptation that helped maintain group solidarity and cooperation in human societies. As a next step, the members of the Swiss team plan to study the neural basis of important moral emotions like guilt, shame, or gratitude. The scientists believe that their research will contribute to a better understanding of the force behind pro- and antisocial behavior. >from *Scientists from the University of Zurich have discovered the neural basis of altruistic punishment*. August 26, 2004

related context
>
others' intentions. march 5, 2004
> cooperation evolution: symbiotic organisms, social animals and inequity aversion. october 8, 2003
> revenge motivates tribal warfare. february 14, 2003
> human cooperation: biological basis revealed. july 19, 2002
> cooperation and affiliation: primary social behavior in primates. february 25, 2002
> vengeance rocket anniversary: first man-made object out of the earth. october 3, 2001

imago
>
the ballad of altruism

| permaLink

 
friday :: september 3, 2004
   
 
space architecture: space house on earth

An ESA-designed house that uses technology designed for space could become the basis of the new German Antarctic station, Neumayer-III. The new station has to meet stringent laws set up to protect the Antarctic environment, which is where the use of space technology comes in.

The idea of designing a 'SpaceHouse' for use on Earth was actually born five years ago, just after the large earthquake in Izmit, Turkey in 1999. "We started wondering whether some of our advanced technologies developed for space exploitation could provide completely earthquake-safe housing," says Fritz Gampe, Senior Technology Transfer Officer in ESA's Technology Transfer Programme (TTP).

"The initial objective was to use the same ultra-light CFRP (carbon-fibre-reinforced-plastic) composites that ESA uses onboard its spacecraft for large self-sustained structures, antennas and solar panels, to make a self-supporting lightweight shell-like structure able to withstand severe earthquakes. This approach is in sharp contrast to many contemporary design solutions that use ever more steel and concrete to withstand the induced forces."

The design that engineers and designers came up with is a sphere-like structure - one of the most stable self-sustained shapes. As it stands on legs it is isolated from any movements underneath it as it basically glides on top of the Earth. In its current design the SpaceHouse can withstand vibrations from earthquakes of up to 7 on the Richter scale, wind speeds of up to 220 km/h and up to 3 metres of flooding – specifications that came out of discussions with the insurance industry for a typical European location.

The house is designed to be autonomous. It uses energy-efficient solar power as well as advanced systems for recycling and cleaning water. Another idea, now on the drawing board, is to include a system to remove pathogenic particles in the sub-micron range from the air.

The technology used in the SpaceHouse design could also be of interest to the European housing market. "The construction sector is one of Europe's largest, employing 28% of Europeans with a turnover that is nearly 10% of GDP. Yet it cannot be said that this sector is one of the most technologically innovative, even if in recent years a multitude of new materials and processes have been used," says Fritz Gampe. "The fact that space habitats have to support life in hostile environments by relying on leading-edge technology means that the latter can also be a valuable source of innovation for the building sector back on Earth. Many of our space technologies have already provided original solutions to problems on Earth. New requirements for sustainable development mean that space technologies could also provide interesting and profitable solutions for the building sector." >from *Space Houses on Earth*. August 24, 2004

related context
>
space architecture after '2001' by constance adams
> first yuhangyuan in orbit: china's first manned spacecraft in orbit. october 20, 2003
> space art: mir campaign 2003. april 2, 2003
> iss, expedition 1. november 2, 2000

imago
>
let's start with an antartic station !

| permaLink

 





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