Non-biological Entities Research Articles

An ‘all-world ageing’ perspective and its wider ethics of care: An empirical illustration

Recent commentaries have proposed ‘all-world ageing’ as a new perspective for social scientific ageing research. It is based on the theoretical observation that the ageing process involves all forms of entities co-ageing relationally with each other, and with their surrounds. Its disciplinary implications hence being that what we categorize as ageing in social scientific ageing research should not be limited to human bodies, and that ageing non-humans should be brought under its purview. To empirically illustrate these theoretical and disciplinary assertions, and explore their implications, the current paper reports a study of how people co-age with non-humans they interact with in their daily lives. Sixteen people aged 66–90 were interviewed, ten of them also being observed at those times. The findings show some intricate and diverse relations that involve their co-ageing with varied biological entities and nature surrounds (such as plants, domestic animals and green spaces) and varied non-biological entities and non-nature surrounds (such as materials, technologies, accommodations, organizations and infrastructures). Meanwhile, important crosscutting themes – including lifespan, function and aesthetics – emerge as objectives of care, valued and exercised in broad terms. This empirical reconnaissance shows the potential for an all-world ageing perspective to engage diverse societal challenges and inform diverse areas of practice as part of a wider ethics of care. From it, a number of important considerations and undertakings arise for future scholarship.

Face Recognition System Using Local Features Fusion for Multi-Masks

Face recognition is a relatively novel research field, and its application is closely related to numerous other areas. Moreover, it is emerging as a critical research theme due to its broad range of applications. Thus, many face recognition methods use a variety of feature extraction approaches. Nonetheless, the issue continues to be challenging, particularly identifying non-biological entities. This paper proposes an extended descriptor for local features of an effectual facial recognition system using a local directional pattern operator. This technique combines the Frei-Chen and Robinson masks’ strengths by fusion of the directional features of LDP for these two masks; this elicits a robust feature extraction method for distinguishing faces. Experimental results using the Yale database show that the extended descriptor considerably improved recognition rate and better performance than traditional local feature descriptors.

Una cuestión de humanidad

La pregunta por el rasgo que permitiría distinguir a los seres humanos del resto de los animales ha desvelado a la humanidad desde hace milenios. Su capacidad para expresarse a través de las palabras, el uso de la razón, el ser autoconsciente de su finitud o su capacidad para producir y apreciar el arte han sido algunas de las facultades que, a lo largo de los siglos, vinieron a otorgarle a la humanidad una justificación para explicar su posición en el mundo. Con la llegada de la Inteligencia Artificial muchas de esas atribuciones vinieron a ser cuestionadas gracias a la capacidad que han mostrado los entes no biológicos para realizar, entre otras performances, obras artísticas y literarias. En el presente artículo nos dedicaremos a revisitar alguno de los tópicos que han permitido delinear los límites de lo humano para, a la luz de los últimos avances tecnológicos, interrogarnos sobre el vínculo que en nuestros días tienen entre sí la humanidad, la tecnología y la creación artística.

Thermometry of photosensitive and optically induced electrokinetics chips

Optically induced electrokinetics (OEK)-based technologies, which integrate the high-resolution dynamic addressability of optical tweezers and the high-throughput capability of electrokinetic forces, have been widely used to manipulate, assemble, and separate biological and non-biological entities in parallel on scales ranging from micrometers to nanometers. However, simultaneously introducing optical and electrical energy into an OEK chip may induce a problematic temperature increase, which poses the potential risk of exceeding physiological conditions and thus inducing variations in cell behavior or activity or even irreversible cell damage during bio-manipulation. Here, we systematically measure the temperature distribution and changes in an OEK chip arising from the projected images and applied alternating current (AC) voltage using an infrared camera. We have found that the average temperature of a projected area is influenced by the light color, total illumination area, ratio of lighted regions to the total controlled areas, and amplitude of the AC voltage. As an example, optically induced thermocapillary flow is triggered by the light image-induced temperature gradient on a photosensitive substrate to realize fluidic hydrogel patterning. Our studies show that the projected light pattern needs to be properly designed to satisfy specific application requirements, especially for applications related to cell manipulation and assembly.

Humanome Versus Microbiome: Games of Dominance and Pan-Biosurveillance in the Omics Universe.

Global governance of pathogens such as Ebola virus and infectious diseases is central to global health, and to innovation in systems medicine. Worrisomely, the gaps in human immunity and healthcare services combined with novel pathogens emerging by travel, biotechnological advances, or the rupture of the host-species barrier challenge infectious diseases' global governance. Such biorisks and biothreats may scale up to global catastrophic biological risks (GCBRs) spatiotemporally, either as individual or as collective risks. The scale and intensity of such threats challenge current thinking on surveillance, and calls for a move toward pan-biosurveillance. New multilayered, cross-sectoral, and adaptable strategies of prevention and intervention on GCBRs should be developed, considering human hosts in entirety, and in close relationship with other hosts (plants and animals). This also calls for the "Humanome," which we introduce in this study as the totality of human subjects plus any directly dependent biological or nonbiological entities (products, constructs, and interventions). Surveillance networks should be implemented by integrating communications, diagnostics, and robotics/aeronautics technologies. Suppression of pathogens must be enforced both before and during an epidemic outbreak, the former allowing more drastic measures before the pathogens harbor the host. We propose in this expert review that microbiome-level intervention might particularly prove as an effective solution in medical and environmental scales against traditional, currently emerging, and future infectious threats. We conclude with a discussion on the ways in which the humanome and microbiome contest and cooperate, and how this knowledge might usefully inform in addressing the GCBRs, bioterrorism, and associated threats in the pursuit of pan-biosurveillance.

Making the geologic with urban naturecultures: Life and nonlife on the Victorian Volcanic Plains grasslands of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

This paper emphasises the generative qualities of the Anthropocene to explore how the geological turn with its interplay of life and nonlife might prompt new urban natureculture imaginaries and practices. In order to work towards an otherwise ontology that blurs the distinction between life and nonlife I think with the above- and below-ground composition of the urban grasslands of Melbourne, Australia. I consider what it might mean to live urban life as a becoming-geologic agent and geologic subject by drawing on the work of Isabelle Stengers, Elizabeth Povinelli and Hugo Reinert. The paper explores the multiple geontologies of Melbourne’s grasslands to emphasise how entities are assembled and made to matter in quite divergent ways that lend power to some modes of urban existence and not others. It considers the possibilities of a postcolonising urban cosmopolitics of geologic conviviality where humans live in concert not just with lively nonhumans, but with inert, inhuman, inorganic, non-biological entities.

Robot Secured Wireless Authentication Using Look-Up Table Based Coding

Securing restricted areas is a major concern for sensitive institutes, like military or research labs. Most security measures rely on having some of the biometrics that human beings possess to identify the user and grant access permissions. Yet, with the wide spread of robotic systems and avatars, these entities need to be authenticated as well, since they might require access to such facilities, hence, the need to provide security measures that can handle non-biological entities with high levels of security and that is not vulnerable to hacking is becoming essential.In this research we propose a novel and unique system for encoding the passcode that is known only to the authorized user using a specially designed look-up table. The system’s hardware requires reconfiguring doors’ security modules to have Near Field Communication (NFC) initialized inside them, and have the Robot initialized with the same hardware, and a wireless controller for the NFC will be given to the operator. The hardware has low-cost, and is easy to use since it is considered as plug and play module. XBEE was adopted as a wireless communication module between the operator and the robot in order to wirelessly connect to an NFC chip that is installed (as plug and play) on any Robotic system.

Biological novelty in the anthropocene

It is well known that humans are creating new variants of organisms, ecosystems and landscapes. Here I argue that the degree of biological novelty generated by humans goes deeper than that. We use property rules to create exclusivity in cooperation among humans, and between humans and other biological entities, thus overcoming social dilemmas and breaking barriers to cooperation. This is leading to novel forms of cooperation. One of them is the human control, modification and replication of whole ecosystems. For the first time, there exist ecosystems with functional design, division of labor and unlimited heredity. We use mental representation and language as new mechanisms of inheritance and modification that apply to an increasing variety of biological and non-biological entities. As a result, the speed, depth and scale of biological innovation are unprecedented in the history of life.

Why We Should Care About Universal Biology

Our understanding of the universe has grown rapidly in recent decades. We’ve discovered evidence of water in nearby planets, discovered planets outside our solar system, mapped the genomes of thousands of organisms, and probed the very origins and limits of life. The scientific perspective of life-as-it-could-be has expanded in part by research in astrobiology, synthetic biology, and artificial life. In the face of such scientific developments, we argue there is an ever-growing need for universal biology, life-as-it-must-be, the multidisciplinary study of non-contingent aspects of life as guided by biological theory and constrained by the universe. We present three distinct but connected ways of universalizing biology—with respect to characterizing aspects of life everywhere, with respect to the explanatory scope of biological theory, and with respect to extending biological insights to the structure of nonbiological entities. For each of these, we sketch the theoretical goals and challenges, as well as give examples of current research that might be labeled universal biology.

ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION ACT AND OTHER RELATED ACTS

Environment is derived from the French word Environner, which means to encircle or surround. All the biological and non-biological entities surrounding us are included in environment. Environment is one subject that is actually global as well as local in nature. Issues like global biodiversity etc. which are going to affect the mankind as a whole are global in nature and for that we have to think and plan globally.

Noun and knowledge retrieval for biological and non-biological entities following right occipitotemporal lesions

We investigated the critical contribution of right ventral occipitotemporal cortex to knowledge of visual and functional-associative attributes of biological and non-biological entities and how this relates to category-specificity during confrontation naming. In a consecutive series of 7 patients with lesions confined to right ventral occipitotemporal cortex, we conducted an extensive assessment of oral generation of visual-sensory and functional-associative features in response to the names of biological and nonbiological entities. Subjects also performed a confrontation naming task for these categories. Our main novel finding related to a unique case with a small lesion confined to right medial fusiform gyrus who showed disproportionate naming impairment for nonbiological versus biological entities, specifically for tools. Generation of visual and functional-associative features was preserved for biological and non-biological entities. In two other cases, who had a relatively small posterior lesion restricted to primary visual and posterior fusiform cortex, retrieval of visual attributes was disproportionately impaired compared to functional-associative attributes, in particular for biological entities. However, these cases did not show a category-specific naming deficit. Two final cases with the largest lesions showed a classical dissociation between biological versus nonbiological entities during naming, with normal feature generation performance. This is the first lesion-based evidence of a critical contribution of the right medial fusiform cortex to tool naming. Second, dissociations along the dimension of attribute type during feature generation do not co-occur with category-specificity during naming in the current patient sample.

Artimetrics: Biometrics for Artificial Entities

Domestic and industrial robots, intelligent software agents, virtual-world avatars, and other artificial entities are being created and deployed in our society for various routine and hazardous tasks, as well as for entertainment and companionship. Over the past ten years or so, primarily in response to the growing security threats and financial fraud, it has become necessary to accurately authenticate the identities of human beings using biometrics. For similar reasons, it may become essential to determine the identities of nonbiological entities. Trust and security issues associated with the large-scale deployment of military soldier-robots [55], robot museum guides [22], software office assistants [24], human like biped robots [67], office robots [5], domestic and industrial androids [93], [76], bots [85], robots with humanlike faces [60], virtual-world avatars [109], and thousands of other man-made entities require the development of methods for a decentralized, affordable, automatic, fast, secure, reliable, and accurate means of authenticating these artificial agents. The approach has to be decentralized to allow authority-free authentication important for open-source and collaborative societies. To address these concerns, we proposed [117], [120], [119], [38] the concept of artimetricsa field of study that identifies, classifies, and authenticates robots, software, and virtual reality agents. In this article, unless otherwise qualified, the term robot refers to both embodied robots (industrial, mobile, tele, personal, military, and service) and virtual robots or avatars, focusing specifically on those that have a human morphology.

Testing van Huyssteen's Post-Foundationalist Approach to Human Origins

Abstract: Affirming that J. Wentzel van Huyssteen's post-foundationalist approach to theology is a helpful contribution to public theology and to the recovery of nature as an element of Christian theological discourse, this essay explores the coherence and fertility of van Huyssteen's understanding of human uniqueness for theological anthropology and soteriology. It discusses the implications of van Huyssteen's approach first in the context of some typical Christian understandings of human origins and the Fall, and next with reference to the questions “Who or what is being saved?” and “From what is it being saved?” The essay suggests that van Huyssteen's attention to paleoanthropology helpfully corrects the tendencies of some theological anthropologies and notes a point of possible coherence between his view of human uniqueness and that of a contemporary eco-feminist theologian. It proceeds to suggest four fertile areas for further theological re-examination and reconstruction of a less anthropocentric and more cosmic soteriology: first, a broadening of Christian understanding of that from which we are to be saved; second, a continuing critique of the legal metaphors of atonement prevalent in Western theology; third, a recovery and expansion of elements of Christian thought that address the salvation of all of creation; and fourth, an analysis of possible continuity of autonomy in creation, both between humans and other animals and between biological and non-biological entities.

Human Dignity and Transhumanism: Do Anthro-Technological Devices Have Moral Status?

In this paper, I focus on the concept of human dignity and critically assess whether such a concept, as used in the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, is indeed a useful tool for bioethical debates. However, I consider this concept within the context of the development of emerging technologies, that is, with a particular focus on transhumanism. The question I address is not whether attaching artificial limbs or enhancing particular traits or capacities would dehumanize or undignify persons but whether nonbiological entities introduced into or attached to the human body contribute to the “augmentation” of human dignity. First, I outline briefly how the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights uses the concept of dignity. Second, I look at the possibility of a universal bioethics in relation to the concept of human dignity. Third, I examine the concept of posthuman dignity and whether the concept of human dignity as construed in the declaration has any relevance to posthuman dignity.

Selective Release of DNA from the Surface of Indium−Tin Oxide Thin Electrode Films Using Thiol−Disulfide Exchange Chemistry

A new challenge in biointerfacial science is the development of dynamic surfaces with the ability to adjust and tune the chemical functionality at the interface between the biological and nonbiological entities. In this paper we describe fabrication of indium-tin oxide (ITO) electrodes and the design of a ligand that can be switched to enable selectively controlled interactions with DNA. Tailoring the surface composition of the ITO electrode to optimize its optical and electrical properties was also studied. The surface attachment chemistry investigated utilizes thiol-disulfide exchange chemistry. This chemistry involved the covalent attachment of a thiol-functionalized silane anchor to a hydroxyl-activated ITO electrode surface. Subsequent reaction with 2-(2-pyridinyldithio)ethanamine hydrochloride formed the disulfide bridge and provided the terminal amine group, which facilitates addition of a cross-linker. DNA was then covalently bound to the cross-linker, and hybridization with the complementary Cy3-labeled target DNA was achieved. Selective release of the attached DNA was demonstrated by both chemical and electrical reduction of the disulfide bond. The surface chemistry was then recycled, and rehybridization of the target DNA was achieved. The ability to control specific release of biomolecules has applications for the development of novel biosensor platforms and a range of medical devices.

Mapping Implied Body Actions in the Human Motor System

The human visual system is highly tuned to perceive actual motion as well as to extrapolate dynamic information from static pictures of objects or creatures captured in the middle of motion. Processing of implied motion activates higher-order visual areas that are also involved in processing biological motion. Imagery and observation of actual movements performed by others engenders selective activation of motor and premotor areas that are part of a mirror-neuron system matching action observation and execution. By using single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation, we found that the mere observation of static snapshots of hands suggesting a pincer grip action induced an increase in corticospinal excitability as compared with observation of resting, relaxed hands, or hands suggesting a completed action. This facilitatory effect was specific for the muscle that would be activated during actual execution of the observed action. We found no changes in responsiveness of the tested muscles during observation of nonbiological entities with (e.g., waterfalls) or without (e.g., icefalls) implied motion. Thus, extrapolation of motion information concerning human actions induced a selective activation of the motor system. This indicates that overlapping motor regions are engaged in the visual analysis of physical and implied body actions. The absence of motor evoked potential modulation during observation of end posture stimuli may indicate that the observation-execution matching system is preferentially activated by implied, ongoing but not yet completed actions.

Knowledge of visual attributes in the right hemisphere

Neurobiological theories of knowledge processing are biased toward the language-dominant (usually the left) hemisphere. Does the right hemisphere critically contribute to knowledge processing? J.A. is a left-hemisphere language-dominant individual who suffered a lesion confined to the right mid- and anterior fusiform gyrus. Although her language abilities are intact, she showed a partial loss of knowledge of the visual attributes of biological and nonbiological entities. This was observed regardless of the task performed: object discrimination, oral feature generation, forced-choice naming-to-definition or free-hand drawing. Functional-associative and nonvisual sensory attributes were spared. The same region that was lesioned in J.A. was activated in a functional magnetic resonance imaging study in 27 volunteers who retrieved semantic associations between concepts, but only if the concepts were represented as pictures and not as words. Therefore, right fusiform gyrus critically contributes to the conscious recollection of visual attributes of familiar entities.

Our Human-Machine Civilization

Diane Proudfoot's review ( Science 's Compass, 30 Apr., p. [745][1]) of my book The Age of Spiritual Machines (Viking, New York, 1999) ignores its salient arguments and instead mires the reader in obscure and misleading factual objections. For example, she says that Univac was installed in April 1951, and “not in 1950 as Kurzweil claims.” Actually, I made no such claim, but correctly stated that Univac was developed during 1950. Later (p. [320][2]), I cited 1951 as Univac's installation date. And Univac was installed in March, not April, 1951. If this all seems petty, then you have a good fix on the spirit of the review. Proudfoot says that Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus “says nothing about brains.” But Wittgenstein describes it as an examination of what humans can “know,” and it is generally accepted that the brain is the organ responsible for knowing. Proudfoot complains about anthropomorphizing, but there is no harm in using such terms; we routinely speak of the legs of a chair or the hands of a doll. It doesn't follow that it is our intent to endow these objects with human qualities. I clearly state that today's machines do not have the endearing qualities of humans—they are, after all, still a million times simpler, although this disparity is rapidly shrinking. She makes no comment on the book's specific theses, such as reverse engineering the human brain and harnessing its methods in increasingly powerful computational mediums. We are already able to replicate the detailed input-output response of extensive clusters of human neurons, and there is nothing to prevent these efforts from scaling up to the entire human brain. Instead, she drags out old anti-artificial-intelligence (AI) arguments: some early predictions were wrong (which I discuss); many AI projects have crashed (although I appreciate her acknowledgement that my projects are not among these). Proudfoot's arguments aside, nonbiological entities, which today have many narrowly focused skills, are going to vastly expand in the breadth, depth, and subtlety of their intelligence and creativity. My book discusses why this is inevitable, the nature of the technologies that will emerge, and the impact this will have on our human-machine civilization, a development no less important than the emergence of human intelligence some thousands of generations ago. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.284.5415.745 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.285.5426.320

Shades of Minds: Towards an Understanding of Complexities of Kinds of Minds

Minds are associated with human beings, and scholars are mainly engaged in understanding human minds. However, there are also possibilities of existence of minds of others such as animals, creatures and non-biological entities. The problem of the “other minds” is well known within the philosophy of mind. In this paper, I would like to engage in ontological and epistemological queries of kinds of minds from different perspectives including: evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and the science of complexity and information. I postulate four hypotheses for the existence of minds based on complexity and material properties, rather than relying on causal properties and a complex adaptive information processing system. I consider the essence of mind to be conscious experience instead of cognitive functions alone. I argue that a complex adaptive information processing system is a pre-requisite for a mind to exist, but not a sufficient condition.