Brave Sperm and Demure Eggs: Fallopian Gender Politics on YouTube

A narrative analysis of videos of human conception from medical and nonmedical sources aired in the democratic space of YouTube finds that stereotypical gender roles are consistently assigned to cellular behavior. Sperm are represented as little men and embodiments of hegemonic masculinity, with heroic sperm winning the egg prize after a competitive athletic contest fraught with peril. Eggs are represented as featureless planets floating in a murky void and are without agency or action. Almost every video is about the “journey” or “adventure” of the sperm; the egg has no adventure. These videos represent a view of a persistent gendered narrative of human fertilization that does not coalesce with emerging scientific narratives that appear to attempt to be more gender-neutral in accounts of conception. The imposition of gendered social scripts onto biology—even pop-culture biology—may work to obscure common understanding of the nature of gender and of humanity, as well as reveal vivid and enduring stereotypes

Astrobiology and astrophilosophy: subsuming or bifurcating diciplines?

Initially, astrobiology subsumed into philosophy. However, philosophy has increasingly subsumed into astrobiology concurrent with it steadily becoming an observational and experimental activity that mainly focuses on the link between life and the cosmos, rather than on extra-terrestrial life per se. However, the steadily increasing probability of locating such extra-terrestrial life and the questions this will lead to might require a refinement of astrobiology, with a bifurcation into astrobiology and astrophilosophy. There are many reasons for the emergence and necessity of astrobiology. One barely realized reason for its emergence, I will argue, is the dawning realization that biology, until now, has been under a geocentric limitation, which has unavoidably pervaded the perception of life. Additionally, as astrobiology can be said to be a long last movement away from this limitation, astrophilosophy represents a movement away from that limitation because philosophy has, strictly speaking, been restrained by the frames for one species, Homo sapiens. Thus, philosophy has, strictly speaking, been anthropomorphic. Thus, when philosophy, like astrobiology, incorporates the Copernican principle, assuming that terrestrial life, and the thinking of Homo sapiens, is not privileged in the universe, astrophilosophy emerges. Astrobiology and astrophilosophy are not competitors but are rather two distinct but complementary activities that address questions with their own well-defined methods and rigor while still informing each other in an inter-dependent manner. Astrophilosophy concerns questions that are philosophical in nature but are procured by an astrobiological perspective. By including scenarios procured by astrobiology, a number of questions regarding value, rights, communication and intelligence that could arise in the interaction between Homo sapiens and extra-terrestrial life can be addressed

I Call Alexa to the Stand : The Privacy Implications of Anthropomorphizing Virtual Assistants Accompanying Smart-Home Technology

This Note offers a solution to the unique privacy issues posed by the increasingly humanlike interactions users have with virtual assistants, such as Amazon\u27s Alexa, which accompany smart-home technology. These interactions almost certainly result in the users engaging in the cognitive phenomenon of anthropomorphism--more specifically, an assignment of agency. This is a phenomenon that has heretofore been ignored in the legal context, but both the rapidity of technological advancement and inadequacy of current applicable legal doctrine necessitate its consideration now. Since users view these anthropomorphized virtual assistants as persons rather than machines, the law should treat them as such. To accommodate this reality, either the courts or Congress should grant them legal personhood. This can be accomplished through the application of an objective test that is satisfied by the establishment of social and moral connections with these virtual assistants. Further, due to the paramount privacy concerns resulting from this technology\u27s use within the home, courts should establish a new privilege that protects the communications between users and their virtual assistants

Fantastic ecosemiosis: An analysis of Fantasy as nature-text in The Lord of the Rings

The study of communication between natural environment and humanity--ecosemiotics--often proves perplexing for ecosemioticians and environmental critics alike. For a field of study meant to bridge the gap between human and environmental sign systems, the question remains: how do we write about nature with a fundamentally anthropocentric sign system yet not alter conceptions or the reality of natural sign? Timo Maran offers nature writing as nature-text, but he severely restricts which readers may understand that nature-text based on their shared experience with the author\u27s subject. Because all literature mediates sign, however, no amount of shared experiences between author and reader will provide an exact translation of natural sign to the reader when filtered through an author and text. By acknowledging that readers cannot have a direct interaction with the natural environment through a text, ecosemiotic literary analysis may instead focus on fictional portrayals of environmental sign that empower and elevate the ontology of the natural environment. This thesis aims to elaborate on the applicability of ecosemiotics in literary analysis, especially in regards to fantasy literature. To that end, this thesis asserts that a close analysis of fantastic ecosemiosis --the sign systems developed for fantasy creatures representing a fantasy realm\u27s natural landscape--in J.R.R. Tolkien\u27s The Lord of the Rings illustrates the fantasy genre\u27s capacity for subverting human-centric perceptions of signs by substituting nature-centric perceptions of those signs in their place. Although the fantasy landscape does not exist in reality, fantasy realms like Middle-earth allow readers to connect with nature-like creatures that possess communicative abilities and complex social norms just like our natural environment. Thus, Fantasy authors like Tolkien may reform anthropocentric sign into nature-centric sign to convey environmentalist themes and signify the natural environment as independent, culturally complex, and worthy of humanity\u27s respect

Digital manufacturing: what are we able to print?

In a rational exercise, in the present paper it is extrapolated how the development of ICTs (information and communication technologies) and the incipient technological development of additive manufacturing has the potential to change our society. In the following, it is analyzing the evolution of man over physical matter and how this has shaped our society. The main milestones or key stages in history that have marked a transcendental change in the human-machine-environment relationship have been identified and consequently have led us to ask ourselves: What is next, how far are we, and what are we capable of printing? In an attempt to identify the current state of the art, highlighting the possibilities those additive technologies can offerPostprint (published version

Pedagogical Techniques Employed by the Science Television Show MythBusters

The long-running Discovery Channel science television show MythBusters has proven itself to be far more than just a source of weekly entertainment. The popular cable program employs an array of sophisticated pedagogical techniques to communicate scientific concepts to its audience. These techniques include: achieving active learning, accommodating different learning styles, avoiding jargon, employing repetition to ensure comprehension, anthropomorphizing physical phenomena, using captivating demonstrations, cultivating an enthusiastic disposition, and increasing intrinsic motivation to learn. In this content analysis, episodes from the show’s 10-year history were methodically examined for these instructional techniques. MythBusters represents an untapped source of pedagogical techniques educators at all levels may consider availing themselves of in their tireless effort to better reach their students. Science educators in particular may look to MythBusters for inspiration and guidance in how to incorporate these pedagogical techniques into their own teaching and help their students in the learning process