Post modern identity : "in between" real and virtual

The article focus on the phenomena of the "radical change" (transformation) brought by new ICT technologies, associated with the information and communication revolution, both on the level of the collective: bringing disruptive changes within economic, social and cultural sphere, and on the level of the individual, evoking fundamental, yet subtle, changes within our psyche impacting our identity (ies). The multiple scientific discourses, when analyzing the impact of new technologies, usually focus on changes in the economic, social or cultural sphere, defining them within the context of its semantic field (resulting different explanatory models built around different theoretical concepts, together with the accompanying different methodology). The main hypothesis of the "radical change" (transformation) brought by new technologies, usually described in reference to new paradigm change, refers to constantly increasing impact (direct mediation) of ICT technologies in almost all spheres of our lives: social, economical and cultural, but hardly ever discuss the extremely subtle reconfiguration of our psychological space made under the influence of new technologies. As such the article focuses mainly the impact of new technologies upon the psyche and post-modern identity, trying to fully grasp and understand both the visible (direct) and the invisible (subtle) changes, from the perspective of psychological approach, with special reference to Jung’s analytical psychology. The core element (novelty) is the attempt to fully grasp (understand) the phenomena of moving (living) ‘in between’ real and virtual (identity/ environment), mainly from the point view (implications) of psychological as well as philosophical (ontological), not as in majority of cases (discourses) from the technological, economical, sociological perspective. Cultural anthropology evokes the concept of liminality to denominate the boundaries between two different states : functioning within the existing normative (institutional) governance and stepping outside or aside of it, meaning suspension of the existing norms and standards (and break in or pause within the existing culture). The post-modern individual is somehow forced to move ‘in between’ and experience two different environments simultaneously - the physical environment, embedded in real space and time continuum, where we live at the very moment and digital environment created by new technologies (virtual and/or digital space). As such this continuous transition from reality to virtuality evokes the characteristics (attributes) of the liminal experience. Critical analysis of the defined phenomena implies the need of interdisciplinary approach based on the comparative methodology, both from the point view of theoretical discourses as well as more empirical approach, based mainly on the interdisciplinary approach of Jungian Analytical Psychology, as the outlined theme moves ‘in between’ new technologies, culture (as well as economy or social science) and psychology

Simulacra and simulation : the impact of ICT upon "radical transformation" of culture

The article focus on the phenomena of the "radical change" (transformation) within culture brought by new ICT technologies, associated with the information and communication revolution, that have impacted not only the culture itself but also economic, social and political sphere, thus evoking the effect of synergy and convergence difficult to predict. Of course each era has its own revolutions and more or less radical changes, but the core of postmodern world we live is characterised mainly by the process of communication and culture directly mediated through digital technology, leading to the creation of new symbolic environment : virtual reality or real virtuality (often referred in terms of a third place "in between": real and virtual, human (homo sapiens) and technology (AI), individual and collective). Critical analysis of the defined phenomena implies the need of interdisciplinary approach based on the comparative methodology, both from the point view of theoretical discourses as well as more empirical approach, as the outlined theme moves "in between" new technologies (informational or new media sciences), economy, culture and social relations (economics, humanities and sociology), not to mentioned the growing interdependence and complexity within so called third wave of globalization (ICT revolution, demography and contemporary crisis). Taking into account that this phenomena is based on more and more interrelated and interdependent processes of "unintended consequences" as a result of inherent complexity of contemporary world, the first part of the article focus on the broader context of the assumed "radical change" (transformation) described by many scientific disciplines, bringing the interdisciplinary context necessary to understand this phenomena. Second part focus mainly of the impact of new technologies upon "radical transformation" of culture, trying to fully described and understand both the direct and in direct results, from the perspective of epistemological, axiological and institutional approach, necessary for more comprehensive analysis of the phenomena of "radical transformation" of culture. Third part is the endeavor of further reflection upon more or less direct result of this "radical transformation" of culture (culture of virtual reality or/and real virtuality), referring to Baudrillard's term of simulacra and simulation -the "precession of simulacra"-enhanced multiplication of signs and images reaching such an intensity, that only further exacerbated process of simulacrasation, thus blurring of the boundaries between the real, semiotic and symbolic, with no real verification possible. The core element (novelty) is the attempt to fully grasp this phenomena of "new culture emerging": by defining and understanding this process "in between" real and virtual (culture), not only as usual from the technological, but also from the cultural, sociological, economical, not to mention the philosophical (ontological) perspective

Creativity in creative economy critical analysis (of the rhetorics) of creativity from the point view of cultural political economy

One can’t notice that the contemporary creativity, like innovation, has become the word-key, contemporary mantra, which often referenced(misused) in public discourse, particularly strongly affects the social imagination (imaginaries) as well as reality at the beginning of the XXI century. Direct result of this unprecedented popularity is the growing interest in many scientific disciplines, each of which within its semantic field defines this concept in its own way (different context), which obviously leads to growing confusion or ambiguity (of terminology). What's more, within so called colloquial discourse we often have to deal with inaccuracy or inconsistency in building the discourse, absorbance of different meanings and ways of understanding the creativity, without taking into account the existing differences between them, which further obscures more than brightens the entire discourse and impede the agreement. Meanwhile, the meaning of the term of creativity, rarely, if ever, is subjected to broader (public) discussion or deeper reflection this article is the excerpt from broader my publication (polish monograph) upon the reflection on defining and understanding the concept of creativity [Kasza 2016] which basically relates to the on-going dispute between the culture, art, and economics in refers to different ways (contexts) of its defining or understanding. The fundamental in its essence dispute, that applies to both ideological issues (different values) as well as political ones (different interests)- is crucial not only for understanding the current mechanisms of creating values in postmodern culture, art, economy or management at the beginning of the XXI century, but also for future scenarios and/or their development strategies

Forth Industrial Revolution (4 IR) : digital disruption of cyber-physical systems

Article focus of the disruptive character of technological innovations brought by Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), withits unprecedented scale and scope, and exponential speed of incoming innovations, described from the point view of 'unintended consequences' (cross cutting impact of disruptive technologies across many sectors and aspects of human life). With integration of technology innovations emerging in number of fields including advanced robotics, pervasive computing, artificial intelligence, nano-and bio-technologies, additive and smart manufacturing, Forth Industrial Revolution introduce new ways in which technology becomes embedded not only within the society, economy and culture, but also within human body and mind (described by integration of technologies, collectively referred to as cyber-physical systems). At the forefront of digital transformation, based on cyber physical systems, stands Industry 4.0, referring to recent technological advances, where internet and supporting technologies (embedded systems) are serving as framework to integrate physical objects, human actors, intelligent machines, production lines and processes across organizational boundaries to form new kind of intelligent, networked value chain, called smart factory. Article presents broader context of 'disruptive changes (innovations)' accompanying 4IR, that embrace both economical perspective of 'broaderrestructuring' of modern economy and society (described in second part of the article as transition from second to third and forth industrial revolution), and technological perspective of computer and informational science with advances in pervasive computing, algorithms and artificial intelligence (described in third part of article with different stages of web development : web 1.0, web 2.0, web 3.0, web 4.0). What's more important, article presents hardly ever described in literature, psychological and philosophical perspective, more or less subtle reconfiguration made under the influence of these technologies, determining physical (body), psychological (mind) and philosophical aspect of human existence (the very idea of what it means to be the human), fully depicted in the conclusion of the article. The core element (novelty) is the attempt to bring full understanding and acknowledgment of disruptive innovations', that "change not only of the what and the how things are done, but also the who we are", moving beyond economical or technological perspective, to embrace also psychological and philosophical one

Immaterial labour : impact of ICT upon new modalities of labour in digital economy

The main focus of this article is the reflection upon the contemporary changes (paradigm shift) within labour modalities, both in the context of defining and understanding the contemporary concept of labour, as well as its modes of organisation within new dynamic environment of global ‘digital economy’. The starting point refers to the dynamics of ‘disruptive changes’ evoked by information communication revolution, that fundamentally change (transform) simultaneously: economic, social and cultural sphere, evoking the effect of interference (unintended consequences) difficult to predict. This results in paradigm change within analysis of the contemporary changes in labour modalities, transition from classical approach focused on the structural changes within the economy (described in terms of transition from fordist to postfordist modes of labour) to postmodern approach with new paradigm of immaterial labour (2.0) as a result of fundamental changes within technology (digital disruption). This article mainly focus on the emergence of new concepts of ‘immaterial work’ (Lazzarato; Hardt and Negri), ‘digital labour’ (Fuchs; Dyer-Witheford, Scholz) and ‘labour 2.0’ (Cote, Pybus), indicating fundamental changes within the nature of work itself, currently based on digital, social and intellectual competences (transition from physical work based on industrial processing of physical goods and services to digital and cognitive work, processing mainly immaterial goods : information, knowledge, symbols) and its consequences within economy, social relations and culture (contemporary lifestyle/ identity). To start with, first part of the article focus on the broader context of the assumed ‘radical change’, evoked by ITC revolution, described by many scientific disciplines in terms of ‘paradigm change’, bringing the interdisciplinary context necessary to understand this phenomena. Second describes new concept of ‘immaterial work’, fully discussed by M. Lazzarato (1996, 2004) Hardt and Negri (2000, 2004), and more recently by Fuchs (2010), Dyer-Witheford (2010), Scholz (2012), both in the context of defining and understanding notion of immaterial labour, as well as its modes of organisation within dynamic environment of global economy, bringing forth the transition from classical, stable modes of employment to more flexible forms of employment (flexicurity), mainly on the basis of the unstable employment model(s). Third part, brings the conclusion noted within second part, underlying (often unintended) consequences coming from the emergence of ‘immaterial work’, or (digital) ‘labour 2.0’, in form of increasing inequality and asymmetry (enormous disparities), in terms of accumulation of wealth (capital) and power (defined in terms of access to diverse social, cultural and digital experiences or required skills or qualifications), evoking the notion of ‘precarity’: symbol of fragile and precarious existence of constantly increasing number of the world's population (Neilson, Rossiter 2008)

In between the politicsand the political : analysis of political discourses from the point view of (cultural) political economy

Pojęcie postpolityki, które zdominowało współczesny dyskurs publiczny, zarówno praktyczno- -polityczny, jak i teoretyczny, pojawia się zasadniczo w dwóch kontekstach, pierwszy związany jest z rozdzieleniem władzy i polityki (usunięciem z dyskursu politycznego pojęcia polityczno ści), drugi – z procesem odideologizowania polityki (końca ideologii) na rzecz bardziej pragma tycznego lub konsensualnego podejścia do uprawiania polityki czy rozwiązywania konfl iktów społecznych. Niniejszy artykuł koncentruje się na podkreśleniu różnicy między postpolityką a politycznością, defi niowanych przez Carla Schmitta i Chantal Mouff e tak w odniesieniu do paradygmatów teoretycznych, jak i praktyczno-politycznych, oraz ich konsekwencji z punktu widzenia „kulturowej ekonomii politycznej” (Bob Jessop, Ngai Ling Sum).The concept of post-politics, that dominated the contemporary public discourse, both from prac- tical and theoretical approach, appears generally in two contexts, first related to the separation of power and politics (removal of the concept of the political from political discourse), second related to the process of moving away from the ideology (the end of ideology) in favour of a more pragmatic or/and consensual approach to politics or solving social conflict. The article focus in particular on the difference in between the post-politics and the political, within the context described by Carl Schmitt and Chantal Mouffe, both in refers to theoretical paradigm and practical politics, and its consequences from the point view of ‘cultural political economy’ (Bob Jessop, Ngai Ling Sum)

Culture management and a hegemony of economic discourse : case study: Studio Theatre in Warsaw

Usually when we talk about culture management, whether in the context of the object (reflection on what we manage in the sphere of culture: the definition of culture or/and culture goods), as well as in the context of the subject (reflection on the actors involved in this process, i.e. artists, intermediating institutions and receivers), we should be prepare for a certain ambivalence of contrasting discourses or narrations, both within theoretical scientific discourses (discrepancies between the humanities and economic) as well as pragmatic approach resulting from the individual experience of management in culture. Presented case study of the conflict in Studio Theatre in Warsaw is the perfect example, that illustrates in practice this collision (short circuit in refers to S. Žižek' favourite metaphor) of completely different paradigms, narration, or discourses, as well as individual values, expectations and experiences, which regardless of the attempts of exit from the impasse or negotiations on both side, is still escalating and rising in power. Evoked conflict, referring both to ideological issues (different values), as well as political (different interests), is at the same time personal conflict as well as substantive one: collision between artistic vision or management strategy for the artistic theatre (repertory’s theatre) and economic vision or management strategy of project theatre (event’s theatre). In refers to difference in epistemological and axiological assumptions, creation of a common space (conceptual, analytical and research) is of the particular importance, this requires a multidisciplinary approach/discourse (scientific, public, environmental), which takes into account relationships of both sides/disciplines/ environments, while assuming both: the critical approach or competition as well as common space and cooperation, underlying their mutual diffusion within the contemporary world of "liquid modernity"

Overlapping promoter targeting by Elk-1 and other divergent ETS-domain transcription factor family members

ETS-domain transcription factors play important roles in controlling gene expression in a variety of different contexts; however, these proteins bind to very similar sites and it is unclear how in vivo specificity is achieved. In silico analysis is unlikely to reveal specific targets for individual family members and direct experimental approaches are therefore required. Here, we take advantage of an inducible dominant-negative expression system to identify a group of novel target genes for the ETS-domain transcription factor Elk-1. Elk-1 is thought to mainly function through cooperation with a second transcription factor SRF, but the targets we identify are largely SRF-independent. Furthermore, we demonstrate that there is a high degree of overlapping, cell type-specific, target gene binding by Elk-1 and other ETS-domain transcription factors. Our results are therefore consistent with the notion that there is a high degree of functional redundancy in target gene regulation by ETS-domain transcription factors in addition to the specific target gene regulation that can be dictated through heterotypic interactions exemplified by the Elk-1-SRF complex