The future of human nature: a symposium on the promises and challenges of the revolutions in genomics and computer science, April 10, 11, and 12, 2003

This repository item contains a single issue of the Pardee Conference Series, a publication series that began publishing in 2006 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. This was the Center's Symposium on the Promises and Challenges of the Revolutions in Genomics and Computer Science took place during April 10, 11, and 12, 2003. Co-organized by Charles DeLisi and Kenneth Lewes; sponsored by Boston University, the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future.This conference focused on scientific and technological advances in genetics, computer science, and their convergence during the next 35 to 250 years. In particular, it focused on directed evolution, the futures it allows, the shape of society in those futures, and the robustness of human nature against technological change at the level of individuals, groups, and societies. It is taken as a premise that biotechnology and computer science will mature and will reinforce one another. During the period of interest, human cloning, germ-line genetic engineering, and an array of reproductive technologies will become feasible and safe. Early in this period, we can reasonably expect the processing power of a laptop computer to exceed the collective processing power of every human brain on the planet; later in the period human/machine interfaces will begin to emerge. Whether such technologies will take hold is not known. But if they do, human evolution is likely to proceed at a greatly accelerated rate; human nature as we know it may change markedly, if it does not disappear altogether, and new intelligent species may well be created

The future of human nature: a symposium on the promises and challenges of the revolutions in genomics and computer science, April 10, 11, and 12, 2003

This repository item contains a single issue of the Pardee Conference Series, a publication series that began publishing in 2006 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. This was the Center's Symposium on the Promises and Challenges of the Revolutions in Genomics and Computer Science took place during April 10, 11, and 12, 2003. Co-organized by Charles DeLisi and Kenneth Lewes; sponsored by Boston University, the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future.This conference focused on scientific and technological advances in genetics, computer science, and their convergence during the next 35 to 250 years. In particular, it focused on directed evolution, the futures it allows, the shape of society in those futures, and the robustness of human nature against technological change at the level of individuals, groups, and societies. It is taken as a premise that biotechnology and computer science will mature and will reinforce one another. During the period of interest, human cloning, germ-line genetic engineering, and an array of reproductive technologies will become feasible and safe. Early in this period, we can reasonably expect the processing power of a laptop computer to exceed the collective processing power of every human brain on the planet; later in the period human/machine interfaces will begin to emerge. Whether such technologies will take hold is not known. But if they do, human evolution is likely to proceed at a greatly accelerated rate; human nature as we know it may change markedly, if it does not disappear altogether, and new intelligent species may well be created

The Psychoanalytic Theory of Male Homosexuality.

The psychoanalytic theory of male homosexuality is reviewed and criticized. Freud, despite certain cultural presuppositions, outlined the basic theory, emphasizing oedipal dynamics, which was confirmed and amplified by his immediate followers, who, however, stressed the connections between homosexuality and rather severe psychopathologies such as paranoia and schizophrenia. Nevertheless, this early group allowed for the possibility of outcomes of the Oedipus Complex alternative to the normative one of heterosexuality. They also maintained the importance of such consitutional factors as innate bisexuality and narcissistic object choices. In the 1930s and 1940s, the prominent interest in oral precursors of the Oedipus Complex exp and ed the analytic discourse on homosexuality, but also reinforced the notion of the intrinsic psychopathology of that condition. At about the time of World War II, psychoanalytic norms of health and normalcy became more conventional, so that the data presented by the Kinsey Report were, for the most part, rejected by analysts. After the War, the tendency of psychoanalysts to subscribe to American social norms increased, primarily among "revisionist" schools of psychoanalysis. Theoretically, such constitutional factors as narcissism and bisexuality were reformulated as defensive manoeuvres, a teleology for the Oedipus Complex in heterosexual genitality was posited, and rhetorically the character of homosexuals was vilified. This split in psychoanalysis became focused during the APA decision to delete homosexuality from the list of emotional disorders, which also began to consider such issues as the necessarily psychopathological condition of homosexual object choice and the appropriateness of curing that condition. A concluding chapter suggests that the limitations in the psychoanalytic theory of male homosexuality were due to an embourgeoisement of analytic norms, an innate gynaikophobic stance and a counter-transferential defense against homosexual trends in analysts themselves.Ph.D.Personality psychologyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/160553/1/8512455.pd

Institutions and individuals : Interaction and evolution

“The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Organization Studies, 28 (1) 2007, Copyright SAGE Publications Ltd, SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/ "The conceptualization of the relation between individual and structure is central to social science. After making some key definitions, this paper overviews some recent developments in the social theory of structure and agency, and makes a novel addition, based on a concept of habit derived from pragmatism and Veblenian institutional economics. Processes of habituation provide a mechanism of ‘reconstitutive downward causation’ where institutional circumstances may affect individual preferences. Finally, special characteristics of organizations are discussed, endorsing an evolutionary analytical approach that combines insights from both evolutionary economics and organization science.Peer reviewe

2 5/18/07 Donald A. Williams III Owls Head. ME

Subject: [Fwd: ublic comment on federal register of 4/30107 vol 72 #82 pg 21226]-------- Original Message------