9,027 research outputs found
Diffusion or War? Foucault as a Reader of Tarde
The objective of this chapter is to clarify the social theory underlying in Foucault’s
genealogy of power/knowledge thanks to a comparison with Tarde’s microsociology.
Nietzsche is often identified as the direct (and unique) predecessor of this genealogy, and
the habitual criticisms are worried about the intricate relations between Foucault and Marx.
These perspectives omit to point to another – and more direct – antecedent of Foucault`s
microphysics: the microsociology of Gabriel Tarde. Bio-power technologies must be read
as Tardian inventions that, by propagation, have reconfigured pre-existing social spaces,
building modern societies. We will see how the Tardean source in Foucault’s genealogy
sheds new clarity about the micro-socio-logic involved in it, enabling us to identify some of
its aporiae and to imagine some solutions in this respect as well
The statistical origins of quantum mechanics
It is shown that Schroedinger's equation may be derived from three
postulates. The first is a kind of statistical metamorphosis of classical
mechanics, a set of two relations which are obtained from the canonical
equations of particle mechanics by replacing all observables by statistical
averages. The second is a local conservation law of probability with a
probability current which takes the form of a gradient. The third is a
principle of maximal disorder as realized by the requirement of minimal Fisher
information. The rule for calculating expectation values is obtained from a
fourth postulate, the requirement of energy conservation in the mean. The fact
that all these basic relations of quantum theory may be derived from premises
which are statistical in character is interpreted as a strong argument in favor
of the statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics. The structures of
quantum theory and classical statistical theories are compared and some
fundamental differences are identified.Comment: slightly modified version, 24 pages, no figure
A Preliminar Evidence of Quantum Like Behavior in Measurements of Mental States
Experimental results presented in this paper supports the hypothesis on
quantum-like statistical behaviour of cognitive systems (at least human
beings). Our quantum-like approach gives the possibility to represent mental
states by Hilbert space vectors (complex amplitudes). Such a representation
induces huge reduction of information about a mental state. We realize an
approach that has no direct relation with reductionist quantum models and we
are not interested in statistical behavior of micro systems forming the macro
system of the brain. We describe only probabilistic features of cognitive
measurements. Our quantum-like approach describes statistics of measurements of
cognitive systems with the aim to ascertain if cognitive systems behave as
quantum-like systems where here quantum-like cognitive behavior means that
cognitive systems result to be very sensitive to changes of the context with
regard to the complex of the mental conditions
The Deep Lens Survey Transient Search I : Short Timescale and Astrometric Variability
We report on the methodology and first results from the Deep Lens Survey
transient search. We utilize image subtraction on survey data to yield all
sources of optical variability down to 24th magnitude. Images are analyzed
immediately after acquisition, at the telescope and in near-real time, to allow
for followup in the case of time-critical events. All classes of transients are
posted to the web upon detection. Our observing strategy allows sensitivity to
variability over several decades in timescale. The DLS is the first survey to
classify and report all types of photometric and astrometric variability
detected, including solar system objects, variable stars, supernovae, and short
timescale phenomena. Three unusual optical transient events were detected,
flaring on thousand-second timescales. All three events were seen in the B
passband, suggesting blue color indices for the phenomena. One event (OT
20020115) is determined to be from a flaring Galactic dwarf star of spectral
type dM4. From the remaining two events, we find an overall rate of \eta = 1.4
events deg-2 day-1 on thousand-second timescales, with a 95% confidence limit
of \eta < 4.3. One of these events (OT 20010326) originated from a compact
precursor in the field of galaxy cluster Abell 1836, and its nature is
uncertain. For the second (OT 20030305) we find strong evidence for an extended
extragalactic host. A dearth of such events in the R passband yields an upper
95% confidence limit on short timescale astronomical variability between 19.5 <
R < 23.4 of \eta_R < 5.2. We report also on our ensemble of astrometrically
variable objects, as well as an example of photometric variability with an
undetected precursor.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ.
Variability data available at http://dls.bell-labs.com/transients.htm
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