Garden cities and the English new towns: foundations for new community planning

The postwar new towns in England were initiated by the New Towns Act of 1946, a keystone in the reconstruction of Britain after the Second World War. Further and mostly smaller new town designations were to follow during the first half of the 1960s. It was the 1965 New Towns Act, however, which brought into existence some of the largest and most famous new towns of the postwar period. Today, over 2.6 million people live in over thirty new towns in the United Kingdom. The majority of the new towns and their citizens are in England, the most populous country in the United Kingdom

The English new towns since 1946: What are the lessons of their history for their future?

During the twentieth century, Britain was a leading pioneer of planned new communities, and at the forefront of the international dissemination of garden city and new town planning. Yet valuable lessons from British town planning are being ignored by current small-scale ‘garden villages’ and eco-towns in the United Kingdom. These are small-scale developments that reflect a lack of national and international vision, and the demise of a dynamic integrated planning culture, that has characterised the British state in recent years

Communication without consciousness: the theory of brain-sign

Despite developments in neuroscience, consciousness is unidentified in the brain. Moreover there is no scientific definition of what it is or does. This paper proposes that consciousness is not a scientific category. However, by ‘postulating’ consciousness as self-explanation, the brain can communicate with other brains in collective action. But the brain can generate a more plausible self-description as brain-sign. There are two foundational tenets. (1) Brain-sign arises from the brain’s interpretation of its causal orientation towards the world at each moment, and is ‘apparent’ as the world; and (2) It facilitates communication between brains about the world in collective action which is uncertain or imprecise. It is therefore grounded in the brain’s bio-physical operation. Signs are ubiquitous bio-physical states, but they are not causal for the hosting organism. The paper contrasts brain-sign with consciousness both as theory, and in empirical findings. Brain-sign is the source of all theories, including itself

From consciousness to brain-sign: a neurobiological reconstruction

It may seem obvious we are conscious for we are certain we see, feel and think, but there is no accepted scientific account of these mental states as a brain condition. And since most neuroscientists assume consciousness and its supposed powers without explaining it, science is brought into question. That consciousness does not exist is here explained. The alternative, the theory of brain-sign, is outlined. It eliminates the quasi-divine knowledge properties of seeing, feeling and thinking. Brain-sign is a means/mechanism enabling collective action between organisms. Brain-sign signifies the shared world of that action. Signs are intrinsically physical and biologically ubiquitous. Brain-signs are derived moment-by-moment from the causal orientation of each brain towards others and the world. Interactive behaviour which is not predetermined (as in passing a cup of coffee) is characteristic of vertebrate species. Causality lies in the electrochemical operation of the brain. But identifying the changing world by brain-signs binds the causal states of those interacting into one unified operation. Brain-signing creatures, including humans, have no ‘sense’ they function this way. The world appears as seen. The ‘sense of seeing’, however, is the brain’s communicative activity in joint behaviour. Similarly for ‘feeling’. Language causality results from the transmission of compression waves or electromagnetic radiation from one brain to another altering the other’s causal orientation. The ‘sense of understanding’ words is the communicative state. The brain understands nothing, knows nothing, believes nothing. By replacing the prescientific notion of consciousness, brain-sign can enable a scientific path for brain science

The world without knowledge: The Theory of Brain-Sign

This thesis proposes the theory of brain-sign should replace the theory of consciousness, and mind generally. Consciousness is first described, and it is evident there is neither a consistent account of it, nor an adequate rationale for its existence beyond its (tautological) self-endorsing characterisation as knowledge. This is the target of the critique. Human history and human self-appraisal have assumed knowledge as an (ontologically) intrinsic facet of human make-up, and human disciplines (of ‘thought’) have relied upon it. On the modern supposition that the universe is purely physical, it is widely assumed that science eventually will demonstrate that consciousness, and thus knowledge, are physical. But it is shown here (theoretically and empirically) that as theories of the physical universe, consciousness and thus knowledge are prescientific, incoherent and unmotivated. Nevertheless, there is a brain phenomenon requiring explanation. That explanation is given here by a new account: the theory of brain-sign. Brain-sign is developed as a scientific theory, i.e. directly from the physical universe, and with a fundamental biological role as the communication mechanism for (apposite) organisms in dynamic (i.e. uncertain or imprecise) collective operation. The grounding principle is that the brain is an action organ, not a knowledge organ. The detail and structure of brain-sign is expounded, and its success is contrasted with the inadequacy of consciousness. Humans, and other organisms, are placed in the physical world, and in the context of evolutionary theory. Thus brain-sign theory founds an approach to brain science, but with the result that human self-conception alters fundamentally, as does the relation between the organism and its disciplines, including science itself. Brain-sign theory shows why there ever was a theory of consciousness, or indeed a theory of anything. However, from the nature of our being in the world, it also demonstrates it cannot claim to be true

Popular gambling and English culture, c.1845 to 1961

The years 1853 to 1960 constituted a period of prohibition for off-course cash betting on horses. Despite this, and in the face of a vocal anti-gambling lobby, the working-class flutter flourished as the basis of a commercialised betting market. Over this period, gambling changed from the informal wagering between friends and associates which characterised pre-industrial society, to the commercialised forms, supplied by bookmakers and leisure entrepreneurs, in which, ostensibly, the punters were mere passive consumers. By 1939, the three most popular forms of gambling were off-course betting on horses, the football pools, and betting at greyhound tracks. Beyond this was a hinterland of friendly but competitive petty gaming with coins and cards, and on local sports, which remained relatively untouched by commercialisation. A study of popular gambling tells us much about the relationship of the state to working-class recreation, and about the nature of working-class recreation itself. The unifying theme of this thesis is that the predominant forms of betting which had developed by 1960 were a testament to the moderation and self-determination of working-class leisure. Betting had become central to a shared national culture which defined itself only apolitically in class terms, and more in terms of `sportsman' or punter versus `faddist'. Those who berated gambling were un-English. The law was ignored by those who enjoyed, as they saw it, a harmless flutter. The state eventually came round to this viewpoint

Virgo and the quest for gravitational waves

In the past ten years,several giant interferometers have been built around the world with the goal ofa first direct detection ofgravitational waves.The most sensitive detectors,2 interferometers for the US LIGO collaboration and the detector built by the Italo-French collaboration Virgo (fig.1) are approaching their design sensitivity. Scientific exploitation ofthese instruments is now starting ..

Gravitational Waves: opening a window on compact objects dynamics

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