Our Common Extended Consciousness and the Readability of Things

The article consists of a general introduction and two main parts, the first relating to sensory, qualitative consciousness and the second to discursive, intentional consciousness. The general thesis of the first part can be formulated like this: Humans literally overlap in their infinite spatiotemporal field of consciousness, which is one and the same for all and is only oriented differently by each individual, namely egocentrically in each case. On the basis of this common extended consciousness we can talk to each other about things. In the second part, the thesis – inspired by the divergent picture theories of elementary sentences developed by the early Wittgenstein and then by Wilfrid Sellars – is argued that when we talk about things, we read them and translate them into verbal language. We read them as world-sided primordial tokens (1) of their names, (2) of phenomenal “this-such” representations of them, and (3) of various elementary sentences about them, thus treating them as objects, as Kantian intuitions and as token facts respectively. Incidentally, this result can serve to illuminate Heideg­ger’s thesis in his 1950 lecture on language that it is originally language that speaks – as the “ringing of silence” or “chiming of stillness” (“Geläut der Stille”) – and that humans have the call to speak back to language in talking to each other, i.e. to respond to the chiming of stillness

Transcranial Electric Stimulation Entrains Cortical Neuronal Populations in Rats

Low intensity electric fields have been suggested to affect the ongoing neuronal activity in vitro and in human studies. However, the physiological mechanism of how weak electrical fields affect and interact with intact brain activity is not well understood. We performed in vivo extracellular and intracellular recordings from the neocortex and hippocampus of anesthetized rats and extracellular recordings in behaving rats. Electric fields were generated by sinusoid patterns at slow frequency (0.8, 1.25 or 1.7 Hz) via electrodes placed on the surface of the skull or the dura. Transcranial electric stimulation (TES) reliably entrained neurons in widespread cortical areas, including the hippocampus. The percentage of TES phase-locked neurons increased with stimulus intensity and depended on the behavioral state of the animal. TES-induced voltage gradient, as low as 1 mV/mm at the recording sites, was sufficient to phase-bias neuronal spiking. Intracellular recordings showed that both spiking and subthreshold activity were under the combined influence of TES forced fields and network activity. We suggest that TES in chronic preparations may be used for experimental and therapeutic control of brain activity

Our Common Extended Consciousness and the Readability of Things

The article consists of a general introduction and two main parts, the first relating to sensory, qualitative consciousness and the second to discursive, intentional consciousness. The general thesis of the first part can be formulated like this: Humans literally overlap in their infinite spatiotemporal field of consciousness, which is one and the same for all and is only oriented differently by each individual, namely egocentrically in each case. On the basis of this common extended consciousness we can talk to each other about things. In the second part, the thesis – inspired by the divergent picture theories of elementary sentences developed by the early Wittgenstein and then by Wilfrid Sellars – is argued that when we talk about things, we read them and translate them into verbal language. We read them as world-sided primordial tokens (1) of their names, (2) of phenomenal “this-such” representations of them, and (3) of various elementary sentences about them, thus treating them as objects, as Kantian intuitions and as token facts respectively. Incidentally, this result can serve to illuminate Heideg­ger’s thesis in his 1950 lecture on language that it is originally language that speaks – as the “ringing of silence” or “chiming of stillness” (“Geläut der Stille”) – and that humans have the call to speak back to language in talking to each other, i.e. to respond to the chiming of stillness

Lossy Compression of Electron Diffraction Patterns for Ptychography via Change of Basis

Ptychography is a computational imaging technique that has risen in popularity in the x-ray and electron microscopy communities in the past half decade. One of the reasons for this success is the development of new high performance electron detectors with increased dynamic range and readout speed, both of which are necessary for a successful application of this technique. Despite the advances made in computing power, processing the recorded data remains a challenging task, and the growth in data rate has made the size of the resulting datasets a bottleneck for the whole process. Here we present an investigation into lossy compression methods for electron diffraction patterns that retain the necessary information for ptychographic reconstructions, yet lead to a decrease in data set size by three or four orders of magnitude. We apply several compression methods to both simulated and experimental data - all with promising results

Abwehr ausländischer Staatsfonds: Aktive Industriepolitik oder "neue Schutzzäune"?

Sollte das Engagement ausländischer Investoren, insbesondere Staatsfonds, in Deutschland kontrolliert werden? Roland Koch, Ministerpräsident des Landes Hessen, warnt vor möglichen staatlich gelenkten Investoren bzw. staatlich aufgelegten Fonds, die vermehrt strategisch agieren, um die Interessen ihrer Länder in für sie interessanten Märkten durchzusetzen. Seiner Meinung nach sollte Vorsorge getroffen werden, damit es nicht zu politisch motivierten Marktbeeinflussungen komme. Denkbar sei eine Anmeldepflicht größerer Transaktionen. Rainer Brüderle, FDP-Fraktion, dagegen, sieht bei einer Genehmigungspflicht bereits den "Abschied" vom freien Handel und betont, dass gerade die Deutschen von offenen Märkten und ausländischem Kapital profitieren. Auch Gunter Schall, BDI, ist der Ansicht, dass zur Aufrechterhaltung eines funktionsfähigen Marktes kartell- und wettbewerbsrechtliche Instrumente besser geeignet sind als Investitionsbeschränkungen. Allerdings erscheinen Ausnahmen in bestimmten Fällen gerechtfertigt. Diese Auffassung vertritt auch Justus Haucap, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Der beste Schutz vor politischer Einflussnahme sei der funktionierende Wettbewerb auf den Produktmärkten. Anton F. Börner, Bundesverband des deutschen Groß- und Außenhandels, fordert anstatt eines Schutzwalles gegen ausländische Investitionen Reformen zur Verbesserung des Standortes Deutschland. Das Land lebe von seinen offenen Grenzen und seiner liberalen Wirtschaftsordnung; Merkantilismus und Protektionismus "im Kleid nationaler Interessen gefährde die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit". Claus Matecki, DGB, plädiert dagegen für strikte Meldepflichten und eine Aufsichtsbehörde, die die Investitionen in strategisch relevanten Bereichen kontrollieren sollte. Den Regulierungsbedarf jedoch auf Staatsfonds zu beschränken, hält er für "ordnungspolitisch ehrenhaft, ökonomisch aber nicht stichhaltig".Direktinvestition, Auslandsinvestitionsrecht, Industriepolitik, Wettbewerb, Regulierung, Protektionismus, Deutschland