“STARING INTO THE SINGULARITY” AND OTHER POSTHUMAN TALES: TRANSHUMANIST STORIES OF FUTURE CHANGE

ABSTRACT: In this article, I conduct a contextual analysis of transhumanist conceptions of posthuman futures. Focusing on cryonics, nanotechnology, and artificial superintelligence technological projects through a study of primarily American sources from the 1960s onward, I identify three distinct conceptualizations of the posthuman future: Promethean, spontaneous, and scalar. I argue that transhumanists envision posthumanity as resulting from a transition that involves both continuity and radical change. Although these three posthuman futures appear to share an interest in predicting a superior “cosmic” realization of human destiny, they involve distinct “liberal” conceptions of historical agency. These include the unlimited individual liberty of the technologized self, the knowledge‐ordering properties of the market, and the rational aggregation of individual interests over the long term. I locate these heterogeneous and partly conflicting conceptions of historical agency in the context of the postwar crisis and remaking of liberalism's future. I argue that transhumanist ideas about the transition toward a more‐than‐human or beyond‐human future are best understood as manifesting a wide range of attempts at thinking about horizons of unprecedented change within the terms of postwar liberal projects. Ultimately, transhumanist futures shed light on the multiplicity of political temporalities that are required for thinking and writing stories about unprecedented futures

Three examples where the specific surface area of snow increased over time

Snow on the ground impacts climate through its high albedo and affects atmospheric composition through its ability to adsorb chemical compounds. The quantification of these effects requires the knowledge of the specific surface area (SSA) of snow and its rate of change. All relevant studies indicate that snow SSA decreases over time. Here, we report for the first time three cases where the SSA of snow increased over time. These are (1) the transformation of a melt-freeze crust into depth hoar, producing an increase in SSA from 3.4 to 8.8m2 kg−1. (2) The mobilization of surface snow by wind, which reduced the size of snow crystals by sublimation and fragmented them. This formed a surface snow layer with a SSA of 61m2 kg−1 from layers whose SSAs were originally 42 and 50m2 kg−1. (3) The sieving of blowing snow by a snow layer, which allowed the smallest crystals to penetrate into open spaces in the snow, leading to an SSA increase from 32 to 61m2 kg−1. We discuss that other mechanisms for SSA increase are possible. Overall, SSA increases are probably not rare. They lead to enhanced uptake of chemical compounds and to increases in snow albedo, and their inclusion in relevant chemical and climate models deserves consideration

Variational analysis of drifter positions and model outputs for the reconstruction of surface currents in the central Adriatic during fall 2002

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 113 (2008): C04004, doi:10.1029/2007JC004148.In this paper we present an application of a variational method for the reconstruction of the velocity field in a coastal flow in the central Adriatic Sea, using in situ data from surface drifters and outputs from the ROMS circulation model. The variational approach, previously developed and tested for mesoscale open ocean flows, has been improved and adapted to account for inhomogeneities on boundary current dynamics over complex bathymetry and coastline and for weak Lagrangian persistence in coastal flows. The velocity reconstruction is performed using nine drifter trajectories over 45 d, and a hierarchy of indirect tests is introduced to evaluate the results as the real ocean state is not known. For internal consistency and impact of the analysis, three diagnostics characterizing the particle prediction and transport, in terms of residence times in various zones and export rates from the boundary current toward the interior, show that the reconstruction is quite effective. A qualitative comparison with sea color data from the MODIS satellite images shows that the reconstruction significantly improves the description of the boundary current with respect to the ROMS model first guess, capturing its main features and its exchanges with the interior when sampled by the drifters.Four of the authors are supported by the Office of Naval Research, V.T. and A.G. under grants N00014-05-1-0094 and N00014-05-1-0095, P.M.P. under grant N00014-03-1-0291, and S.C. under grant N00014-05-1-0730. CNR-ISMAR activity was partially supported by P.O.R. ‘‘CAINO’’ (Regione Puglia), VECTOR (Italian MIUR) project, and ECOOP (EU project)

Integration of Argo trajectories in the Mediterranean Forecasting System and impact on the regional analysis of the western Mediterranean circulation

The impact of Argo float trajectory assimilation on the quality of ocean analyses is studied by means of an operational oceanographic model implemented in the Mediterranean Sea and a 3D-Var assimilation scheme. For the first time, both Argo trajectories and vertical profiles of temperature and salinity (TS) together with satellite altimeter data of sea level anomaly (SLA) are assimilated to produce analyses for short-term forecasts. The study period covers 3 months during winter 2005 when four Argo trajectories were present in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. The scheme is first assessed computing the misfits between observations and model forecast and analysis. The misfit statistics appear improved for float trajectories, while they are not degraded for the other assimilated variables (TS profiles and SLA). This indicates that the trajectory integration is consistent with the other components of the assimilation system and provides new information on horizontal pressure gradients. Comparisons between analyses obtained with and without trajectory assimilation suggest that trajectory assimilation can have an impact on the description of boundary currents and their instabilities, as well as mesoscale activity at regional scales. Changes are depicted by intermediate water mass redistributions, mesoscale eddy relocations, and net transport modulations. These impacts are detailed and assessed considering historical and simultaneous in situ data sets. The results motivate the integration of Argo trajectories in the operational Mediterranean Forecasting System

Integration of ARGO trajectories in the Mediterranean Forecasting System and impact on the regional analysis of the Western Mediterranean circulation

The impact of ARGO float trajectory assimilation on the quality of ocean analyses is studied by means of an operational oceanographic model implemented in the Mediterranean Sea and a 3D-var assimilation scheme. For the first time, both ARGO trajectories and vertical profiles of temperature and salinity (TS) together with satellite altimeter data of sea level anomaly (SLA) are assimilated to produce analyses for short term forecasts. The study period covers three months during winter 2005 when four ARGO trajectories were present in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. The scheme is first assessed computing the misfits between observations and model forecast and analysis. The misfit statistics appear improved for float trajectories, while they are not degraded for the other assimilated variables (TS profiles and SLA). This indicates that the trajectory integration is consistent with the other components of the assimilation system, and provides new information on horizontal pressure gradients. Comparisons between analyses obtained with and without trajectory assimilation suggest that trajectory assimilation can impact on the description of boundary currents and their instabilities, as well as mesoscale activity at regional scales. Changes are depicted by intermediate water mass redistributions, mesoscale eddy relocations and net transport modulations. These impacts are detailed and assessed considering historical and simultaneous in-situ datasets. The results motivate the integration of ARGO trajectories in the operational Mediterranean Forecasting System

Integration of ARGO trajectories in the Mediterranean Forecasting System and impact on the regional analysis of the Western Mediterranean circulation

The impact of ARGO trajectory assimilation on the quality of ocean analyses is studied by means of an operational oceanographic model implemented in the Mediterranean Sea and a 3D-var assimilation scheme. For the first time, both ARGO trajectories and vertical profiles together with satellite data are assimilated to produce analyses for short term forecasts. The study period covers three months during winter 2005 when four ARGO trajectories were present in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. It is shown that their integration is consistent with the other components of the assimilation system, and it contributes to refine the model error structure with new information on horizontal pressure gradients. So the analysis benefits of a more accurate description of the boundary currents and their instabilities that drive the mesoscale activity of regional circulations. As a consequence, the trajectory assimilation remotely and significantly influences the basin scale circulation. Changes can be depicted by intermediate water mass redistributions, mesoscale eddy relocations or net transports modulations. These impacts are detailed and assessed considering historical and contemporary datasets. The obtained qualitative and quantitative agreements motivate the integration of ARGO trajectories in the operational Mediterranean Forecasting System

Clinical, biochemical and genetic spectrum of low alkaline phosphatase levels in adults

Background: Low serum levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) are a hallmark of hypophosphatasia. However, the clinical significance and the underlying genetics of low ALP in unselected populations are unclear. Methods: In order to clarify this issue, we performed a clinical, biochemical and genetic study of 42 individuals (age range 20–77 yr) with unexplained low ALP levels. Results: Nine hadmild hyperphosphatemia and three hadmild hypercalcemia. ALP levelswere inversely correlated with serum calcium (r = -0.38, p = 0.012), pyridoxal phosphate (PLP; r = -0.51, p = 0.001) and urine phosphoethanolamine (PEA; r = -0.49, p = 0.001). Although many subjects experienced minor complaints, such as mild musculoskeletal pain, none hadmajor health problems.Mutations in ALPL were found in 21 subjects (50%), including six novelmutations. All but one,were heterozygousmutations.Missensemutations were themost common (present in 18 subjects; 86%) and themajority were predicted to have a damaging effect on protein activity. The presence of amutated allelewas associated with tooth loss (48% versus 12%; p=0.04), slightly lower levels of serumALP (p=0.002), higher levels of PLP (p b 0.0001) and PEA (p b 0.0001), aswell asmildly increased serum phosphate (p=0.03). Ten individuals (24%) had PLP levels above the reference range; all carried a mutated allele. Conclusion: One-half of adult individuals with unexplained low serum ALP carried an ALPL mutation. Although the associated clinicalmanifestations are usuallymild, in approximately 50% of the cases, enzyme activity is lowenough to cause substrate accumulation and may predispose to defects in calcified tissues

The effect of hexose ratios on metabolite production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains obtained from the spontaneous fermentation of mezcal

Mezcal from Tamaulipas (Me´xico) is produced by spontaneous alcoholic fermentation using Agave spp. musts, which are rich in fructose. In this study eight Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolates obtained at the final stage of fermentation from a traditional mezcal winery were analysed in three semisynthetic media. Medium M1 had a sugar content of 100 g l-1 and a glucose/fructose (G/F) of 9:1. Medium M2 had a sugar content of 100 g l-1 and a G/F of 1:9. Medium M3 had a sugar content of 200 g l-1 and a G/F of 1:1. In the three types of media tested, the highest ethanol yield was obtained from the glucophilic strain LCBG-3Y5, while strain LCBG-3Y8 was highly resistant to ethanol and the most fructophilic of the mezcal strains. Strain LCBG-3Y5 produced more glycerol (4.4 g l-1) and acetic acid (1 g l-1) in M2 than in M1 (1.7 and 0.5 g l-1, respectively), and the ethanol yields were higher for all strains in M1 except for LCBG-3Y5, -3Y8 and the Fermichamp strain. In medium M3, only the Fermichamp strain was able to fully consume the 100 g of fructose l-1 but left a residual 32 g of glucose l-1. Regarding the hexose transporters, a high number of amino acid polymorphisms were found in the Hxt1p sequences. Strain LCBG-3Y8 exhibited eight unique amino acid changes, followed by the Fermichamp strain with three changes. In Hxt3p, we observed nine amino acid polymorphisms unique for the Fermichamp strain and five unique changes for the mezcal strains