Artificial Intelligence (and Christianity) : Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How?

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Auctor in Fabula: Umberto Eco and the Intentio of Foucault\u27s Pendulum

Umberto Eco’s 1988 novel Foucault’s Pendulum weaves together a wide range of philosophical and literary threads. Many of these threads find their other ends in Eco’s nonfiction works, which focus primarily on the question of interpretation and the source of meaning. The novel, which follows three distinctly overinterpretive characters as they descend into ruin, has been read by some as a retraction or parody of Eco’s own position. However, if Foucault’s Pendulum is indeed polemical, it must be taken as an argument against the mindset which Eco has termed the “hermetic”. Through an examination of his larger theoretical body, including its themes and intellectual heritage, it will be seen that Eco preserves his philosophical consistency across his fictive and non-fictive work

The Morality of Head Transplant: Frankenstein's Allegory

In 1970 Robert J. White (1926-2010) tried to transplant the head of a Rhesus monkey into another monkey’s body. He was inspired by the work of a Russian scientist, Vladimir Demikhov (1916-1998), who had conducted similar experiments in dogs. Both Demikhov and White have been successful pioneers of organ transplantation, but their scientific attempts to transplant heads of mammals are often remembered as infamous. Both scientists encountered important difficulties in such experiments, including their incapacity to link the spinal cord, which ended up by creating quadriplegic animals. In 2013, neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero claimed his capacity and plan to carry out the first human head transplantation. According to Canavero, spinal linkage offers now the possibility of successfully transplanting the head and, by doing so, circunventing many of the somatic diseases afflicting human beings. In this article, we anticipate and discuss some ethical problems associated with the potential practice of human head transplants, and we consider how the possibility of a head transplant deals with our long-held metaphysical views on personal identity. Finally, we resolve for a moratorium of head transplants due to its lack of biomedical consensus

The Use of New Media and ICT by Social Movements in Contemporary Processes of Political Activism

El començament del segle XXI va ser testimoni del naixement de les xarxes socials, que van portar les comunicacions personals i socials a noves fites. Aquests nous mitjans de comunicació, recolzats per unes tecnologies de la informació i la comunicació en un canvi constant, van permetre la creació de noves esferes de discussió multidisciplinàries i multiculturals. En aquest context, l'ús dels nous mitjans per part dels moviments activistes polítics ha atret l'atenció de la comunitat acadèmica en els últims anys. Recentment, ha aparegut un nou actor en aquest camp: Catalunya. Aquesta regió autònoma d’Espanya ha estat testimoni de les majors manifestacions a Europa en els últims temps, amb centenars de milers de persones obstruint els carrers de les seves ciutats per demanar la independència de Catalunya. El nostre estudi se centra en les diverses teories dels moviments socials i l'activisme polític, en com es relacionen amb els nous mitjans de comunicació i les noves tecnologies, i en com s'apliquen al cas català, mentre es comparen les característiques de les protestes catalanes amb altres com la Primavera Àrab, la Revolució Egípcia, el moviment indignats 15-M, o les marxes Occupy Wall Street.El comienzo del siglo XXI fue testigo del nacimiento de las redes sociales, que llevaron las comunicaciones personales y sociales a nuevas metas. Estos nuevos medios de comunicación, respaldados por unas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación en constante cambio, permitieron la creación de nuevas esferas de discusión multidisciplinarias y multiculturales. En este contexto, el uso de los nuevos medios por parte de los movimientos activistas políticos ha atraído la atención de la comunidad académica en los últimos años. Recientemente, ha aparecido un nuevo actor en este campo: Cataluña. Esta región autónoma en España ha sido testigo de las mayores manifestaciones en Europa en los últimos tiempos, con cientos de miles de personas obstruyendo las calles de sus ciudades para pedir la independencia de Cataluña. Nuestro estudio se centra en las diversas teorías de los movimientos sociales y el activismo político, en como se inter-relación con los nuevos medios de comunicación y las nuevas tecnologías, y en cómo se aplican al caso catalán, mientras se comparan las características de las protestas catalanas con otras como la Primavera Árabe, la Revolución Egipcia, el movimiento indignados 15-M, o las marchas Occupy Wall Street.The beginning of the 21st century witnessed the birth of social networks, which took personal and social communications to new heights. These new means of communication, supported by ever-changing information and communication technologies, allowed for the creation of new, multidisciplinary and multicultural spheres of discussion. In this context, new media usage by political activist movements has attracted the attention of the academic community over recent years. Recently, a new actor has appeared in this field: Catalonia. This autonomous region in Spain has witnessed the biggest demonstrations in Europe in recent times, with hundreds of thousands clogging the streets calling for Catalan independence. Our study focuses on the various theories of social movements and political activism, how do these relate to new media and new technologies, and how these apply to the Catalan case, while comparing the characteristics of the Catalan protests to others such as the Arab Spring, the Egyptian Revolution, the 15-M Indignados movement, or the Occupy Wall Street marches

A personal account of Turing’s imprint on the development of computer science

The rst part of the XX century saw the development of the digital computer and the eld of computer science. In the present paper, we sketch our vision of that period and of the role that Alan Turing and some of his contemporary peers played in that development.Preprin

Gender Differences in Tackling Fake News: Different Degrees of Concern, but Same Problems

In the current media ecosystem, in which the traditional media coexists with new players who are able to produce information and spread it widely, there is growing concern about the increasing prominence of fake news. Despite some significant efforts to determine the effects of misinformation, the results are so far inconclusive. Previous research has sought to analyze how the public perceive the effects of disinformation. This article is set in this context, and its main objective is to investigate users’ perception of fake news, as well as identify the criteria on which their recognition strategies are based. The research pays particular attention to determining whether there are gender differences in the concern about the effects of fake news, the degree of difficulty in detecting fake news and the most common topics it covers. The results are based on the analysis of a representative survey of the Spanish population (N = 1,001) where participants were asked about their relationship with fake news and their competence in determining the veracity of the information, and their ability to identify false content were assessed. The findings show that men and women’s perception of difficulty in identifying fake news is similar, while women are more concerned than men about the pernicious effects of misinformation on society. Gender differences are also found in the topics of the false information received. A greater proportion of men receive false news on political issues, while women tend to more frequently receive fake news about celebrities

Local Technology to Enhance Data Privacy and Security in Educational Technology

In educational environments, technological adoption in the last 10 years has enabled a data-driven and decisionmaking paradigm in organizations. The integration of cloud services in schools and universities is a positive shift in the field of learning, but it also presents threats to all academic roles that need to be discussed in terms of protection, privacy, and confidentiality. Cloud storage brings the ubiquity of data to this technical transition and a delusive opportunity for cost savings. In many cases, this suggests that certain actors, beyond the control of schools and colleges, collect, handle and treat educational data on private servers and data centers. This privatization enables the manipulation of stored records, leaks, and unauthorized access. In this article, we expose the possibilities that open from the viewpoint of local technology adoption. We seek to reduce or even totally solve the detrimental effects of using cloud-based instructional and analytical technology, mixing or only using local technology. Technological methods that conform to this alternate viewpoint and new lines of study are also being suggested and created

Local technology to enhance data privacy and security in educational technology

In educational environments, technological adoption in the last 10 years has enabled a data-driven and decisionmaking paradigm in organizations. The integration of cloud services in schools and universities is a positive shift in the field of learning, but it also presents threats to all academic roles that need to be discussed in terms of protection, privacy, and confidentiality. Cloud storage brings the ubiquity of data to this technical transition and a delusive opportunity for cost savings. In many cases, this suggests that certain actors, beyond the control of schools and colleges, collect, handle and treat educational data on private servers and data centers. This privatization enables the manipulation of stored records, leaks, and unauthorized access. In this article, we expose the possibilities that open from the viewpoint of local technology adoption. We seek to reduce or even totally solve the detrimental effects of using cloud-based instructional and analytical technology, mixing or only using local technology. Technological methods that conform to this alternate viewpoint and new lines of study are also being suggested and created.The research that has given rise to these results has been carried out through funds from the Secretariat of Universities and Research of the Department of Business and Knowledge of the Generalitat de Catalunya and Ramon Llull University, with the project 2020-URLProj-058.Peer ReviewedObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::16 - Pau, Justícia i Institucions Sòlides::16.6 - Crear unes institucions eficaces, responsables i transparents a tots els nivellsObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::16 - Pau, Justícia i Institucions Sòlides::16.b - Promoure i aplicar lleis i polítiques no discriminatòries en favor del desenvolupament sostenibleObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::16 - Pau, Justícia i Institucions SòlidesPostprint (published version