Baudrillard on Simulations: an Exegesis and a Critique

This paper is an attempt to explain, apply, and ultimately to point to certain limitations of, Baudrillard’s idea that ours is the age of simulations. As the concept has not always been clearly discussed in the literature, early sections of the paper are devoted to describing the notion and providing some specific examples. How Baudrillard can claim that the age of simulations represents a new, qualitatively distinct, stage of society is also examined. Having articulated the basic idea, the paper goes on to try to show its power by utilizing it to analyze a typical contemporary phenomenon, Starbucks. Thus far the paper’s main aim has been to argue that simulation is indeed an illuminating concept. However, we next point to a serious dilemma which is certainly not resolved by Baudrillard himself. This problem is the fact that he leaves us, apparently, with no ability to ever see through simulations. In response to this difficulty, the final sections of this article try to show how it is actually possible to accept Baudrillard’s basic insight as to the existence and spread of simulations but also possess resources to detect them, thus resisting Baudrillard’s pessimistic conclusion that there is no viable alternative to either living in or producing a world of simulated things. In this section of the paper, a major additional focus is Baudrillard’s analysis of the first Gulf War.Baudrillard; Disney; Gulf War; Signs; Simulation; Starbucks; The Real

Records as phenomena: the nature and uses of medical records

In Chapter I, the approach taken to the study of records is introduced. Sociologists and historians treat records as only contingently true. However, they do not explicate the source of the contingency. They do not address the basic idea of records which makes the contingency possible. The notion that records are only contingently true stems from a conception of fact as a relation between record and event which parallels a conception of language as a relation of words to things. The event is supposed to produce the record but the record (and recorder) are not supposed to produce the event. Various practical problems with records stem from the need to produce this asymmetric record-event relationship. In Chapter II, an investigation is begun of how the record-event relationship is achieved. It is achieved by the action of "observation". Observation requires an observer's presence but it also requires that the observer's presence not make a difference to the event. If the observer's presence does not make a difference, his record can be analytically identical with the event and therefore the event can be known through the record. The observer's presence is supposed to rid speech of its opinionated character. By being present, the observer need not speak in an opinionated way. He can be a "witness" to the world which speaks for itself. .ua present witness, what the observer can know is time-bound and place-bound. He can know only the "present" time and the "present" place. Records are the kind of Speech observers produce about the present, speech which does not affect things but merely "notes" things. Given that observers can know only the present, records become necessary in order to grant permanence to an observer's kind of knowledge. In Chapter III, the observer-recorder's concept of the present is further investigated. The present in the sense that it can be known is not a moment in time; it is an appearing, self-disclosing thing. Recording, then, presupposes a particular definition of things: things are appearances. Because the event is thought to present itself, the observer need not contribute to it. To say that the observer can see only the present is not to limit the observer to the "physical". It is to limit the observer to anything which can present itself. Finally, it is suggested that the notion that observers can see only one thing at a time can be accounted for in terms of the grounds of observation. The observer sees just one thing at a time since his notion of a thing is analytically identical to his notion of a time. In Chapters IV and V, an attempt is made to apply the analysis of the grounds of records to problems involved in the use of records by hospital bureaucrats. Bureaucrats seeking to use records face a problem in that they were not present when the records were made (and the event happened) and therefore would seemingly have nothing that is not opinionated speech to say about the record. The bureaucrat's solutions to the problem involve putting his own speech at the service of the record just as the observer puts his speech at the service of the event. The first specific solution is discussed in Chapter IV: bureaucrats can subjugate their speech and know events indirectly by "relying" on observers, thereby achieving analytic identity with observers. Concern with reliability on the part of bureaucrats (and sociological methodologists) is explained in terms of the basic grounds of observation. It is shown in some detail that bureaucrats do in fact attempt to ensure that "reliable" records are produced. In Chapter V, the topic is shifted from reliability to completeness. Hospital administrators are concerned with the completeness of records rather than their accuracy. However, the concern with completeness i: not an example of goal displacement since, through the concern with com.leteness, bureaucrats manage to control their own speech, thus attaining the self-same lack of participation that observers attain. By evaluating records in terms of completeness, bureaucrats turn the record into an appearing thing, thus attaining a kind of presence with it. In the conclusion, two implications of our study for further work are developed. 1. Empirical analysis must be seen not simply as a method for finding'; out whether theories are correct since the very idea of beint empirical precludes even asking some ii portant theoretical questions. 2. Just as record-writing can be thought of as an idea which requires grounds, the speech of social theorists can be thought of as requiring a method. A brief attempt is made to "produce" the speech of Goffman and Garfinkel

Does the early frog catch the worm? Disentangling potential drivers of a parasite age–intensity relationship in tadpoles

The manner in which parasite intensity and aggregation varies with host age can provide insights into parasite dynamics and help identify potential means of controlling infections in humans and wildlife. A significant challenge is to distinguish among competing mechanistic hypotheses for the relationship between age and parasite intensity or aggregation. Because different mechanisms can generate similar relationships, testing among competing hypotheses can be difficult, particularly in wildlife hosts, and often requires a combination of experimental and model fitting approaches. We used field data, experiments, and model fitting to distinguish among ten plausible drivers of a curvilinear age–intensity relationship and increasing aggregation with host age for echinostome trematode infections of green frogs. We found little support for most of these proposed drivers but did find that the parsimonious explanation for the observed age–intensity relationship was seasonal exposure to echinostomes. The parsimonious explanation for the aggregated distribution of parasites in this host population was heterogeneity in exposure. A predictive model incorporating seasonal exposure indicated that tadpoles hatching early or late in the breeding season should have lower trematode burdens at metamorphosis, particularly with simulated warmer climates. Application of this multi-pronged approach (field surveys, lab experiments, and modeling) to additional parasite–host systems could lead to discovery of general patterns in the drivers of parasite age–intensity and age–distribution relationships

Considerations on Genre and Gender Conventions in Translating from Old English

The Old English poem The Wife's Lament is an extremely conventional and, at the same time, original text. It portrays a female character suffering for the absence of her loved one, through the framework of the so-called 'elegiac' style and a mainly heroic vocabulary. The traditional exile theme is, thus, interwoven with the uncommon motif of love sickness. While this appraisal of the poem is the most widely accepted one, disagreement still remains about the translation of some keywords, strictly related to the exile theme, such as sīþ or wræcsīþ. The aim of this paper is to examine diverging readings and glosses of the above mentioned 'exilic/elegiac' keywords, and to show that an accurate translation should not neglect a thorough appraisal of the text in its complexity and the association with related literary patterns and imagery in other poetic and prose texts

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Revisiting Role Theory: Roles and the Problem of the Self

This paper looks at some of the major texts in the history of role theory. The question that is asked is whether any of these works have been able to theorize the self adequately. It is suggested that neither Parsons nor Merton has any place for the self in their respective theories. While Goffman does make a space for the self, it is only a negative space. Even ethnomethodological theory cannot imagine a role player capable of self-expression. It is argued that a solution to the problem of how to conceive of self and role can be developed from some ideas present in the work of the philosopher Lawrence Blum. The concept of self as identity that can be extracted from his work can allow social theory to imagine actors who are simultaneously expressing their selves and fulfilling their roles. Affinities between this idea and some key concepts in theories of both (Alan) Blum and Peter McHugh and Charles Taylor are suggested.Identity; Moral Frameworks; Principles; Reflection; Role; Role-conflict; Role-Distance; Self

La rebuffade

Blum Alan F., Foss Daniel, McHugh Peter, Raffel Stanley. La rebuffade. In: Communications, 20, 1973. Le sociologique et le linguistique. pp. 225-245