THE ELECTRONIC DOPPELGÄNGER

Author: RUDOLF STEINER
Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
ISBN: 1855845253
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 165

Book Description
‘Large temptations will emanate from these machine-animals, produced by people themselves, and it will be the task of a spiritual science that explores the cosmos to ensure all these temptations do not exert any damaging influence on human beings.’ In an increasingly digitised world, where both work and play are more and more taking place online and via screens, Rudolf Steiner’s dramatic statements from 1917 appear prophetic. Speaking of ‘intelligent machines’ that would appear in the future, Steiner presents a broad context that illustrates the multitude of challenges human beings will face. If humanity and the Earth are to continue to evolve together with the cosmos, and not be cut off from it entirely, we will need to work consciously and spiritually to create a counterweight to such phenomena. In the lectures gathered here, edited with commentary and notes by Andreas Neider, Rudolf Steiner addresses a topic that he was never to speak of again: the secret of the ‘geographical’ or the ‘ahrimanic’ doppelgänger. The human nervous system houses an entity that does not belong to its constitution, he states. This is an ahrimanic being which enters the body shortly before birth and leaves at death, providing the basis for all electrical currents that are needed to process and coordinate sense perceptions and react to them. Based on his spiritual research, Rudolf Steiner discusses this doppelgänger or ‘double’ in the wider context of historic occult events relating to ‘spirits of darkness’. Specific brotherhoods seek to keep such knowledge to themselves in order to exert power and spread materialism. But this knowledge is critical, says Steiner, if the geographical doppelgänger and its challenges are to be understood.

The Doppelganger

Author: Dimitris Vardoulakis
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 0823233006
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 517

Book Description
The Doppelgänger or Double presents literature as the "double" of philosophy. There are historical reasons for this. The genesis of the Doppelgänger is literature's response to the philosophical focus on subjectivity. The Doppelgänger was coined by the German author Jean Paul in 1796 as a critique of Idealism's assertion of subjective autonomy, individuality and human agency. This critique prefigures post-War extrapolations of the subject as decentred. From this perspective, the Doppelgänger has a "family resemblance" to current conceptualizations of subjectivity. It becomes the emblematic subject of modernity. This is the first significant study on the Doppelgänger's influence on philosophical thought. The Doppelgänger emerges as a hidden and unexplored element both in conceptions of subjectivity and in philosophy's relation to literature. Vardoulakis demonstrates this by employing the Doppelgänger to read literature philosophically and to read philosophy as literature. The Doppelgänger then appears instrumental in the self-conception of both literature and philosophy.

Doppelgänger

Author: Daša Drndic
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
ISBN: 0811228924
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 170

Book Description
Longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize 2019, a swift, biting novel from the late Croatian master, Dasa Drndic Two elderly people, Artur and Isabella, meet and have a passionate sexual encounter on New Year’s Eve. Details of the lives of Artur, a retired Yugoslav army captain, and Isabella, a Holocaust survivor, are revealed through police dossiers. As they fight loneliness and aging, they take comfort in small things: for Artur, a collection of 274 hats; for Isabella, a family of garden gnomes who live in her apartment. Later, we meet the ill-fated Pupi, who dreamed of becoming a sculptor but instead became a chemist and then a spy. As Eileen Battersby wrote, “As he stands, in the zoo, gazing at a pair of rhinos, in a city most likely present-day Belgrade, this battered Everyman feels very alone: ‘I would like to tell someone, anyone, I’d like to tell someone: I buried Mother today.’” Pupi sets out to correct his family’s crimes by returning silverware to its original Jewish owners through the help of an unlikely friend, a pawnbroker. Described by Dasa Drndic as “my ugly little book,” Doppelgänger was her personal favorite.

Cinema's Doppelgängers

Author: Doug Dibbern
Publisher: punctum books
ISBN: 1953035620
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 386

Book Description
Cinema's Doppelgängers is a counterfactual history of the cinema - or, perhaps, a work of speculative fiction in the guise of a scholarly history of film and movie guide. That is, it's a history of the movies written from an alternative unfolding of historical time - a world in which neither the Bolsheviks nor the Nazis came to power, and thus a world in which Sergei Eisenstein never made movies and German filmmakers like Fritz Lang never fled to Hollywood, a world in which the talkies were invented in 1936 rather than 1927, in which the French New Wave critics didn't become filmmakers, and in which Hitchcock never came to Hollywood. The book attempts, on the one hand, to explore and expand upon the intrinsically creative nature of all historical writing; like all works of fiction, its ultimate goal is to be a work of art in and of itself. But it also aims, on the other hand, to be a legitimate examination of the relationship between the economic and political organization of nations and film industries and the resulting aesthetics of film and thus of the dominant ideas and values of film scholarship and criticism. Doug Dibbern's first book, Hollywood Riots: Violent Crowds and Progressive Politics in American Film, won the 2016 Peter Rollins Prize. He has published scholarly essays on classical Hollywood filmmakers, film criticism for The Notebook at Mubi.com, and literary essays for journals like Chicago Quarterly Review and Hotel Amerika. He has a Ph.D. in Cinema Studies from New York University, where he teaches now in the Expository Writing Program.

Doppelgangers

Author: H. F. Heard
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504037790
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Book Description
“A remarkable tour de force” by the acclaimed author and philosopher—a classic science fiction “thriller with depth” for fans of 1984 and Brave New World (The New York Times). After the psychological revolution opened humankind’s minds to an all-new form of consciousness, society split in two. On the Earth’s surface rules Alpha, the benevolent, all-powerful dictator who’s constant ministrations have left his subjects undeniably happy and satisfied but also obedient and unquestioning. Below the surface lies the kingdom of the Mole—the gloomy domain of an even darker and crueler leader. Embittered by his lot underground, he leads his people on a revolt against their obsequious overhead counterparts. And their ultimate weapon is nearly ready—a man who has been genetically and psychologically molded to be a near-perfect double of the Alpha. A covert agent who, once in place, could change the fate of both civilizations—and humanity itself—forever. Both a brilliant examination of human identity, and a gripping science fiction narrative, Doppelgangers is a dystopian novel decades ahead of its time.

A Matter of Density

Author: N. Sukumar
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118431723
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 263

Book Description
The origins and significance of electron density in the chemical, biological, and materials sciences Electron density is one of the fundamental concepts underlying modern chemistry and one of the key determinants of molecular structure and stability. It is also the basic variable of density functional theory, which has made possible, in recent years, the application of the mathematical theory of quantum physics to chemical and biological systems. With an equal emphasis on computational and philosophical questions, A Matter of Density: Exploring the Electron Density Concept in the Chemical, Biological, and Materials Sciences addresses the foundations, analysis, and applications of this pivotal chemical concept. The first part of the book presents a coherent and logically connected treatment of the theoretical foundations of the electron density concept. Discussion includes the use of probabilities in statistical physics; the origins of quantum mechanics; the philosophical questions at the heart of quantum theory, like quantum entanglement; and methods for the experimental determination of electron density distributions. The remainder of the book deals with applications of the electron density concept in the chemical, biological, and materials sciences. Contributors offer insights on how a deep understanding of the origins of chemical reactivity can be gleaned from the concepts of density functional theory. Also discussed are the applications of electron density in molecular similarity analysis and electron density-derived molecular descriptors, such as electrostatic potentials and local ionization energies. This section concludes with some applications of modern density functional theory to surfaces and interfaces. An essential reference for students as well as quantum and computational chemists, physical chemists, and physicists, this book offers an unparalleled look at the development of the concept of electron density from its inception to its role in density functional theory, which led to the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

The Fantastic Other

Author: Brett Cooke
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004455019
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 297

Book Description
The Fantastic Other is a carefully assembled collection of essays on the increasingly significant question of alterity in modern fantasy, the ways in which the understanding and construction of the Other shapes both our art and our imagination. The collection takes a unique perspective, seeing alterity not merely as a social issue but as a biological one. Our fifteen essays cover the problems posed by the Other, which, after all, go well beyond the bounds of any single critical perspective. With this in mind, we have selected studies to show how insights from deconstruction, Marxism, feminism, and Freudian, Jungian and evolutionary psychology help us understand an issue so central to the act of reading.

The Coming Singularity

Author: Gary A. Freitas
Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
ISBN: 1638291624
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 243

Book Description
As we approach 2050, it is projected that human consciousness will encounter a superior intelligence for the very first time: artificial machine intelligence. It is important for us to understand the evolutionary impact of this event, but also that we are being altered from the inside out for the singularity to arise. Are we ready? Will we be adaptive? How will we change? The Coming Singularity explores the psychological impact of the changes coming our way and the many adaptations we will have to make. We are transitioning to a world of one degree of separation, with only the illusion of privacy, autonomy and anonymity. All of us are undergoing a transition to an electronic identity, one that can reach back and change the real you. The question going forward will be, who is the real you? A cluster of psychological symptoms are evolving from our technology interface––Identity Diffusion. Its key feature is the de-realization of life. Direct brain-to-technology interfaces will soon render our brains an open-source forum. We need to discuss who is in there and why! The impact of e-technology on human identity will be profound, but it is also a prerequisite for machine intelligence to arise. We need to discuss this. We humans reside in complex, dynamical networks. The goal of artificial intelligence will be to evolve and stabilize these networks. And we may not be the priority.

Divine Doppelgängers

Author: Collin Cornell
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 1646020936
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 279

Book Description
The Bible says that YHWH alone is God and that there is none like him—but texts and artwork from antiquity show that many gods looked very similar. In this volume, scholars of the Hebrew Bible and its historical contexts address the problem of YHWH’s ancient look-alikes, providing recommendations for how Jews and Christians can think theologically about this challenge. Sooner or later, whether in a religion class or a seminary course, students bump up against the fact that God—the biblical God—was one among other, comparable gods. The ancient world was full of gods, including great gods of conquering empires, dynastic gods of petty kingdoms, goddesses of fertility, and personal spirit guardians. And in various ways, these gods look like the biblical God. Like the God of the Bible, they, too, controlled the fates of nations, chose kings, bestowed fecundity and blessing, and cared for their individual human charges. They spoke and acted. They experienced wrath and delight. They inspired praise. All of this leaves Jews and Christians in a bind: how can they confess that the God named YHWH was (and is) the true and living God, in view of this God’s profound similarities to all these others? The essays in this volume address the theological challenge these parallels create, providing reflections on how Jews and Christians can keep faith in YHWH as God while acknowledging the reality of YHWH’s divine doppelgängers. It will be welcomed by undergraduates studying religion; seminarians and graduate students of Bible, theology, and the ancient world; and adult education classes.

Skullduggery

Author: Pete Hautman
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780399243783
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 200

Book Description
During a field trip in the local woods, Roni and Brian find the local archaeology professor, Andrew Dart, knocked unconscious in a cave, which leads them to investigate a land development scheme.