bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Apocalyptic Tradition in Early Mormonism
Authors: Blythe Christopher James
Published: July 2020

The first chapter presents Mormonism’s apocalyptic master narrative from September 1823 with Joseph Smith’s first apocalyptic-themed apparition, to the organization of a theocratic legislature that would govern the world in the coming millennium. Over this twenty-year period, a robust vision of the last days took shape. This vision included the gathering of the righteous to safety before the coming of end times destructions, warfare in the United States (both among citizens and against invading armies), the establishment of the New Jerusalem in Missouri, and the return of Jesus Christ. The chapter also examines how Latter-day Saints who were not part of the hierarchy responded to this narrative and thereby contributed to the apocalyptic worldview.
“Long Shall His Blood . . . Stain Illinois”
Authors: Blythe Christopher James
Published: July 2020

This chapter examines the place of martyrology and ritualized cursing in Mormon apocalypticism. With the assassinations of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith in 1844, the Saints came to believe that the United States had sealed its doom. John the Revelator’s image of martyrs pleading for God to avenge their murders became a prominent element in Mormon apocalypticism. The Mormons fled Nauvoo and eventually the nation itself in order to distance themselves from their persecutors, but also to escape the very land that had been primed for judgment. Before departing, through verbal, written, and other ritualized means, the Saints cursed those complicit in their persecution.
The Geography of Mormon Apocalyptic
Authors: Blythe Christopher James
Published: July 2020

This chapter documents how Latter-day Saints in the late 1840s and 1850s deployed the faith’s apocalyptic master narrative to make sense of the lands they colonized in the American West. Drawing on the apocalyptic geography of the Bible, Mormons came to believe they resided in the “wilderness” of the Book of Revelation where they would be protected from persecution. They recognized the region’s peaks as the mountain setting for Isaiah’s prophecies of a last days temple and an ensign to the nations. This chapter also examines how in the late nineteenth century Canada and Mexico would also be incorporated into the era’s apocalyptic geography.
The Judgments Begin
Authors: Blythe Christopher James
Published: July 2020

This chapter focuses on the Utah territorial period—a time marked by hostility between the Latter-day Saints and the federal government. Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century, Mormon visionaries deployed prophecies of Gentile invasions on the Saints, as well as judgments on the major cities of the nation. The assurance that God would intervene against their enemies’ aggressions offered catharsis to the anxieties brought on by the U.S. Army’s occupation of Utah during the 1850s, the Civil War, and federal enforcement of anti-polygamy laws—what became known as “the raid.” In addition to prophecies introduced among the laity, there was also, during this period, an emphasis on Joseph Smith’s prophecy of a future American civil war that circulated widely in Mormon and non-Mormon circles. Apocalypticism prospered as tensions festered between Mormons and the federal government.
Grassroots Stewardship
Authors: Chapin F Stuart
Published: July 2020

The book presents a novel strategy for addressing the major environmental and social problems of our time. It emphasizes transformative actions by individual citizens, both ordinary and extraordinary, rather than by government and other groups. It empowers a spectrum of solutions appropriate to people with varying interests, skills, political persuasions, and level of environmental and social commitment. The book draws on social and ecological theory to formulate a four-tiered stewardship strategy to transform communities, nations, and the planet. Key elements of this strategy are (1) individual actions that link people with nature and reduce human impacts on the planet, (2) effective communication to reduce political polarization and share solutions, (3) collaborations that integrate actions of multiple groups, and (4) political engagement to trigger needed transformations. The book builds on diverse visions and goals for the future of ecosystems and society: concern for future generations, a spiritual commitment to care for Creation and vulnerable people, a desire to sustain the best of nature and of cultures, and a concern about the security and well-being of communities, nations, and the world. This is not a book about what should be done. It is a book about what has been and can be done and a pragmatic strategy for tangible progress.
Linking People with Nature
Authors: Chapin F Stuart
Published: July 2020

This chapter describes how to shape the linkages between people and nature so that both may flourish. People shape nature through exploitation, impacts, and stewardship; and nature shapes people through ecosystem services—nature’s benefits to society. These benefits include provisioning services such as food, water, and fiber; regulating services that shape climate, clean our drinking water, and influence disturbance risk; and cultural services such as cultural identity, spiritual connections, and recreation. Two-thirds of Earth’s ecosystem services are being degraded or used unsustainably in the global aggregate, primarily because of land conversion to agriculture and climate change. More thoughtful resource consumption choices by society, slower population growth, and greater respect for nature would reduce these impacts. Building respect for nature often requires collaboration among groups with different views of nature.
Strengthening Democracy
Authors: Chapin F Stuart
Published: July 2020

Political action to foster social and political change, as described in this chapter, is the fourth and final element of the book’s four-tiered stewardship strategy. Stewardship that is politically astute can identify a spectrum of strategies to steer possible paths forward. Each strategy requires respectful dialogue that reframes debates across worldviews to identify and act on shared concerns rather than to reinforce blame. Collaboration with like-minded individuals within government and business often reduces barriers to progress. Active engagement in politics (informing, advising, participating, and voting) and in business (consumer action and socially responsible investment) can nudge politics and business toward stewardship. Sometimes, however, direct confrontation is more effective at precipitating transformational change. In this case, clear goals, identification of allies and of strategies to eliminate barriers, and a concrete plan to sustain successes increase the likelihood of successful transformation.
Earth Stewardship
Authors: Chapin F Stuart
Published: July 2020

This chapter addresses the interactions of individuals with government, business, and other institutions to build upon and support individual efforts. It emphasizes sustainable outcomes at regionally and globally significant scales. Global changes that threaten Earth’s ecosystems and society could be reversed through progress toward four key stewardship goals: reducing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, increasing the extent of forests and wetlands, sustaining ecosystem services, and reducing human population growth and unnecessary consumption. The US Declaration of Independence radically included “pursuit of happiness” as an inalienable right of all people. Since happiness is generally unrelated to consumption or wealth, society’s happiness and well-being can often be enhanced without increasing consumption. The chapter outlines five potential strategies by which government can complement the efforts of individuals to foster happiness. If people decide, individually and collectively, that the planet’s future habitability is important, they will know how to ensure a better life for their grandchildren.
Definition and Levels of Strategy
Authors: Fisher Greg , Wisneski John E. , Bakker Rene M.
Published: July 2020

This chapter defines strategy as a diagnosis that defines or explains a business challenge or opportunity, a decision or set of decisions for dealing with the challenge or opportunity, and a coherent set of actions to deliver on the decisions so as to create sustainable advantage and superior returns over rivals. In this chapter we also distinguish between three key levels of strategy: (1) corporate-level strategy, which is concerned with the selection of business areas in which the company should compete and with the development and coordination of that portfolio of businesses; (2) business-level strategy, which is about developing and sustaining a competitive advantage for a business delivering an identifiable set of products and/or services; (3) managerial-level strategic decision-making, which is concerned with identifying and dealing with a diverse range of immediate strategic challenges and opportunities confronting a business.
The 3Ds of Strategy
Authors: Fisher Greg , Wisneski John E. , Bakker Rene M.
Published: July 2020

This chapter unpacks the 3D framework that is central to the book’s tools-based approach. It begins by elaborating the diagnosis element, which entails using an analytical approach to understand a business challenge or to assess the nature of an opportunity confronting a business. Next, it describes the decide element, which entails using a structured, analytical approach to make reasoned, insightful, and logical choices about what will be done to overcome the key challenge or to seize on the opportunity. It ends with elaborating the deliver element, which entails designing solutions to integrate a policy or choice into a business and then taking coherent action to implement that solution. For each element the chapter discusses what the process looks like and what tools support it.
A Strategy Toolbox
Authors: Fisher Greg , Wisneski John E. , Bakker Rene M.
Published: July 2020

Effective strategists are expected to develop, refine, and use a conceptual toolbox made up of various different tools (concepts, frameworks, and theories) that enable them to make sense of and act on challenging situations and complex opportunities. This chapter briefly describes this toolbox analogy and why it is important for any manager to have such a toolbox. It also provides a heat map of all tools discussed in this book and maps them by their most prevalent use across the strategic management processes of diagnosing, deciding, and delivering. This heatmap highlights that some tools are used across multiple strategic management processes while others may be applicable to only one part of the process.
Five Forces
Authors: Fisher Greg , Wisneski John E. , Bakker Rene M.
Published: July 2020

A five-forces analysis provides a basis to evaluate and understand an industry and its broad set of participants including suppliers, customers, and competitors. It provides a means for managers to assess the major factors impacting an industry’s profit potential and may help highlight ways that a firm may increase its economic returns relative to the other industry participants. This chapter discusses the underlying theory, core idea, depiction, process, insight or value created, and risks and limitations of a five-forces analysis. Finally, the chapter describes the industry context confronting of Harley-Davidson and applies the steps of five-forces analysis to this case.
VRIO
Authors: Fisher Greg , Wisneski John E. , Bakker Rene M.
Published: July 2020

The purpose of VRIO analysis is to systematically identify resources and capabilities that may serve as a key source of competitive advantage. For a resource or capability to be the basis of a sustainable competitive advantage, it must be valuable (V), rare (R), and costly to imitate (I), and the firm must be organized (O) to capture the value from the resource or capability. This chapter discusses the underlying theory, core idea, depiction, process, insight or value created, and risks and limitations of VRIO analysis. Finally, the chapter continues the illustration of Harley-Davidson and applies the steps of VRIO analysis to this case.
Root-Cause Analysis
Authors: Fisher Greg , Wisneski John E. , Bakker Rene M.
Published: July 2020

A root-cause analysis is used to identify the initiating, or root, of a causal chain that leads to an observed undesirable outcome. It is useful in helping managers to focus their problem-solving efforts on providing remedies to issues that actually prevent the undesirable outcome from recurring. Failure to identify the root cause of a problem often leads to time spent on removing causal factors, which can alleviate the symptoms of a problem yet may not prevent recurrence with full certainty. This chapter discusses the underlying theory, core idea, depiction, process, insight or value created, and risks and limitations of root-cause analysis. The chapter also discusses the illustration of the DISH Network and applies the steps of root-cause analysis to this case.
S-Curve Analysis
Authors: Fisher Greg , Wisneski John E. , Bakker Rene M.
Published: July 2020

The purpose of an S-curve analysis is to understand and interpret the evolution of a market, product, or technology so as to make informed strategic decisions about where value may be created now and in the future. S-curves map out this evolution, from its relatively slow emergence, to the point where it begins to grow and growth accelerates, to the point where the market becomes saturated and growth begins to slow and even decline. This chapter discusses the underlying theory, core idea, depiction, process, insight or value created, and risks and limitations of S-curve analysis. The chapter also discusses the illustration of Spotify and applies the steps of S-curve analysis to this case.
Segmentation Analysis
Authors: Fisher Greg , Wisneski John E. , Bakker Rene M.
Published: July 2020

Segmentation analysis provides a means to understand and partition a broad consumer or business market into subgroups of consumers, such that a firm can effectively target specific sub-groups as segments with unique needs and wants rather than the market as a whole. Segments are created based on shared attributes of consumers or businesses such as shared needs, common interests, similar locations, common demographic profiles, etc. Segmenting a market allows a firm’s managers to understand and target segments that are most attractive for the firm. This chapter discusses the underlying theory, core idea, depiction, process, insight or value created, and risks and limitations of segmentation analysis. The chapter also continues the illustration of Harley-Davidson, and applies the steps of segmentation analysis to this case.
Market Entry Modes
Authors: Fisher Greg , Wisneski John E. , Bakker Rene M.
Published: July 2020

The purpose behind market entry modes is to provide insight into the options that a firm has when it wishes to expand into a new market. Many strategies seek to generate revenue growth, and much of the time that growth is sought in new markets. Seeking revenue growth from new markets may include pursuing new geographic markets, new product markets, new customer segments, or a combination of these. This chapter discusses the underlying theory, core idea, depiction, process, insight or value created, and risks and limitations of market entry modes. The chapter also continues the illustration of Starbucks and applies the steps of market entry modes to this case.
Conclusion
Authors: Fisher Greg , Wisneski John E. , Bakker Rene M.
Published: July 2020

This chapter returns to the high-level assumptions that motivated the writing of this book which include: (1) the field of strategy in the current day and age has become more relevant (not less); (2) strategic management should be practiced by more people (not fewer, and certainly not solely by those at the top of the organization; (3) strategy’s functional domain should be broadened (not narrowed); and (4) anyone with career ambition in the business world needs to become a strategist. It also discusses the option of combining multiple tools and offers advice on how this can be done. We note that there is no magic set of combinations that always works. Part of the learning experience in becoming a good strategist is learning when and how to apply certain tools in combination. As with many things in life, practice makes perfect. The chapter concludes with discussing the next frontier in strategic management.
Introduction
Authors: Gassman Mattias P.
Published: July 2020

Recent scholarship on Roman religion has emphasised the ‘secularity’ of late antique culture and treated Christian polemics (the main accounts of fourth-century polytheism) as exercises in constructing artificial boundaries between ‘pagans’ and ‘Christians’. Neither approach does justice to the dynamic interaction between Christian writers and traditional religious thought. Pagan, philosophical henotheism and the anti-Christian legislation of Decius, Valerian, and the Tetrarchs paralleled the common Christian division between ‘gentiles’ or ‘pagans’ and ‘Christians’. Christian thinkers, in turn, developed new ways of thinking and talking about ‘religion’ (using such terms as religio, superstitio, and secta) over the course of the fourth century. Religious polemic thus saw productive intellectual activity on religion, while ancient society was not religiously neutral: modern concepts of ‘secularity’ give too little room to the convictions of the devout pagans. This book offers a fine-grained account that reflects the complexities of both Christian and pagan ideas on traditional religion across the fourth century. To maintain its tight focus, it deals exclusively with the Western, Latin-speaking culture that has driven much modern scholarship on late antique paganism.
‘Like a Stream of Tullian Eloquence’
Authors: Gassman Mattias P.
Published: July 2020

Formerly professor of Latin in the court of the emperor Diocletian, Lactantius responded to the Tetrarchic ‘Great Persecution’ with the most extensive defence and exposition of Christianity written in Latin before Augustine’s City of God. His seven-book Divine Institutes, the last Christian apology written before Constantine’s rise to power, credited the invention of pagan cults to a historical King Jupiter. Building on this euhemeristic narrative, Lactantius reinterpreted the philosophical theories surveyed in Cicero’s On the Nature of the Gods to attack polytheism as an irrational display of empty religiosity. With the help of Christian cosmology and eschatology, he set the present sufferings of Christians in a grand historical context, predicting the final victory over paganism at the return of Christ, a few centuries after his own day. Lactantius later hailed the victories of Constantine and Licinius as a divine vindication of persecuted Christians. Nevertheless, he still expected pagan domination and persecution to continue until Christ’s return. His eschatology, not the experience of imperial politics, set his basic approach to paganism before and after the ‘Constantinian revolution’.
On the Error of Profane Religions
Authors: Gassman Mattias P.
Published: July 2020

In the mid-340s, Firmicus Maternus, a pagan astrologer turned Christian polemicist, became the first-known author to ask the emperors to abolish traditional cults. This chapter sets On the Error of Profane Religions in the context of Constantinian legislation and of the urban Roman religious milieu to which Firmicus had previously belonged. Often (and too quickly) dismissed as a self-serving work by an ill-tutored convert, Firmicus’ polemic aims not just to spur Constantine’s sons towards greater zeal but to end the Devil’s dominion over mankind. In the work’s first half, Firmicus targets the cults most popular in the city of Rome. Dismissing philosophical allegories, he argues that traditional rites teach their worshippers immorality. Juxtaposing Christian scripture and pagan ritual formulas in the work’s second half, he depicts polytheistic cults as a unified religious system counterfeited by the Devil from the Christian truth—a major departure from earlier polemicists’ conceptions of polytheism. Firmicus’ appeals to the emperors were rooted in the fundamental Christian conviction that idolatry would someday be abolished; that victory had, however, come much closer to realisation, in the years after Constantine’s endorsement of Christianity, than Lactantius had thought possible.
Confrontation
Authors: Mitchell George E. , Schmitz Hans Peter , Bruno-van Vijfeijken Tosca
Published: July 2020

Chapter 1 outlines how geopolitical shifts, increasing demands for accountability, and growing competition are driving the need for change within the TNGO sector. TNGOs are responding to these change drivers with specific initiatives intended to secure their future relevance and effectiveness, but their efforts are constrained by institutional and cultural legacies—forms and norms—that inhibit the sector’s ability to adapt. This chapter elaborates on these major change drivers and characterizes the obstacles to successful adaptation. It also identifies the types of TNGOs emphasized in this book, briefly describes general trends in the TNGO sector, overviews the main topics discussed throughout subsequent chapters, and describes the overall organization of the book.
Soul
Authors: Mitchell George E. , Schmitz Hans Peter , Bruno-van Vijfeijken Tosca
Published: July 2020

Chapter 2 identifies a disharmony between the “soul” and the “body” of the TNGO. Drawing on theoretical insights and cultural observations, the chapter examines the sources of the difficulties that many TNGOs have encountered in their attempts to adapt for the future. The chapter explains how the TNGO is embodied in a particular institutional form and is embedded in a particular normative context that together constitute an “architecture” that constrains the potential of TNGOs to successfully assume new roles. The analysis establishes an understanding of how legacy structures, beliefs, and practices limit the abilities of TNGOs to adapt to their changing external environment and realize their expanding aspirations.
Power
Authors: Mitchell George E. , Schmitz Hans Peter , Bruno-van Vijfeijken Tosca
Published: July 2020

Chapter 4 explains why and how TNGOs have become powerful advocates in global affairs. It argues that TNGOs were at the “right place at the right time” and benefited from favorable geopolitical conditions in previous decades. The chapter examines the nature of TNGO power historically and explains how TNGOs have exerted influence throughout various stages of the policy process, including issue emergence, agenda-setting, policy formation, and policy implementation. Even as TNGOs have largely benefited from professionalized activism and elite access, their power today may be plateauing, if not waning, because of a less favorable operating environment and the increasing incongruity between their contemporary ambitions and their legacy forms and norms. Such conditions suggest that the sector is likely to struggle to live up to its rhetoric of social transformation without significant changes.
Legitimacy
Authors: Mitchell George E. , Schmitz Hans Peter , Bruno-van Vijfeijken Tosca
Published: July 2020

Chapter 5 explores how the foundations for TNGO legitimacy have changed over time, creating imperatives for TNGOs to invest in new capabilities and adopt new practices. In the past, TNGOs derived legitimacy from their espoused principles, representational claims, elite expertise, demonstrated financial stewardship, commitment to charity, and patterns of conformity. More recently, TNGOs themselves have helped to bring about a shift toward new bases for legitimacy that focus on effectiveness, strategy, leadership, governance, transparency, and responsiveness. However, transitioning to the legitimacy practices of the future is complicated by the persistence of an antiquated architecture that still demands that TNGO conform to legacy expectations. Nevertheless, new approaches to enhancing legitimacy provide a wide range of opportunities that invite organizations to proactively align their aspirations with emerging stakeholder expectations.
Digital
Authors: Mitchell George E. , Schmitz Hans Peter , Bruno-van Vijfeijken Tosca
Published: July 2020

Chapter 6 examines an array of strategic options provided by digital tools, including broadcasting, analytics, convening, and distributed organizing. Such digital strategies can be deployed to broaden participation as a means of generating more inclusive activism and to deepen participation to intensify supporter engagement. Leveraging digital tools and shifting from staff-led to supporter-led activism can help TNGOs become more authentic, representative, and legitimate. But despite these opportunities, features of the legacy architecture make it difficult for TNGOs to invest in new technologies or accord them a major role in shaping programmatic strategies and organizational structures. Moreover, “going digital” carries its own inherent risks. For example TNGOs must be careful to avoid overemphasizing superficial metrics or underappreciating the need to complement digital strategies with other resources and capabilities.
Measurement
Authors: Mitchell George E. , Schmitz Hans Peter , Bruno-van Vijfeijken Tosca
Published: July 2020

Chapter 7 describes innovations in TNGO measurement and evaluation practices and considers the many internal and external challenges that organizations confront as they attempt to bring their measurement capabilities into better alignment with their rhetoric about achieving impact. An enhanced focus on assessing effectiveness and impact at the program and organizational levels requires not only strategic investments that are hard to make, but also broader cultural changes in how TNGOs and their staff think about organizational learning and their roles in bringing about social change. Despite being an area where many organizations still struggle, TNGOs will need to improve their measurement and evaluation capabilities to demonstrate their value and relevance and satisfy changing legitimacy expectations that increasingly emphasize data and results.
Jewish Mysticism and National Theology
Authors: Huss Boaz
Published: July 2020

Chapter 2 examines the formation of the concept of Jewish mysticism, the identification of Kabbalah and Hasidism as Jewish forms of mysticism, and the construction of an academic research field dedicated to what was defined as “Jewish mysticism.” It describes the application of the adjective mystical to Kabbalah by Christian scholars since the seventeenth century, the appearance of the term “Jewish mysticism” in the writings of German Romantic theologians in the early nineteenth century, and the adoption of the term by Jewish scholars in Europe and the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century. It further examines the “revelation” of Jewish mysticism by Martin Buber and the establishment of the research field dedicated to Jewish mysticism by Gershom Scholem and his pupils. The chapter discusses the ideological and theological contexts in which the category of mysticism was shaped in the nineteenth century and the processes that led to the establishment of Jewish mysticism—as a category and as an academic research field—in the framework of modern theological-national discourse and as part of the Zionist nation-building endeavor.
Our Free-Market Scientists
Authors: Blakely Jason
Published: July 2020

The 2008 economic recession is a primary example of popular social scientific authority helping manufacture a crisis. In the run-up to the recession a dominant, a vulgarized form of economic “science” taught millions of Americans that free-market policy was simply the objective, rational, and neutral way to build an economy. This chapter traces the rise of this popular form of economic authority and the way it pervaded political discourse through figures such as Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Steven Levitt. One of the key metaphors of this scientistic approach to economy was that markets functioned like spontaneous equilibrium machines. This chapter critically scrutinizes the school choice or voucher movement as a case study for the overextension of free-market economic authority in the restructuring of democratic life. The result has been increased inequality.
Sciences of Zero Tolerance
Authors: Blakely Jason
Published: July 2020

The Black Lives Matter movement has been partly inspired by the ability of citizens to capture on video shocking abuses of police authority against black men and disseminate them on the Internet. What few people realize is that the policing tactics of “zero tolerance” captured in these viral videos were inaugurated by popular claims to a social science of crime. This chapter delves into the scientism surrounding the zero-tolerance and law-and-order movement. Readers are introduced to the work of James Q. Wilson, Richard Herrnstein, and others. Tactics such as broken windows policing and racial profiling are shown to be part of a wider culture of scientism. Perceiving social and political reality in racial terms is also linked to pseudoscience.
Empire of Light
Authors: Blakely Jason
Published: July 2020

False claims to scientific authority were used to advance the American and British war on terror. In popular rhetoric, President George W. Bush borrowed (and distorted) one of the most influential theses of political science, the claim that democracies do not fight with one another. Bush also named prominent political scientists, including Francis Fukuyama—who claimed history had reached its culmination in liberal democracies—to prominent advisory positions in government. In addition, other prominent social scientists, such as Samuel Huntington, provided alternative social scientific justifications for the war on terror and later nationalistic public policy that relied on creating permanent outsider identities for Muslims and Latinos. Scientism helped American and British citizens imagine that their use of military violence was fully rational and objectively justified as the war on terror turned into the rise of ultranationalism.
Becoming a Digital Dictatorship
Authors: Pan Jennifer
Published: July 2020

The conclusion considers how China’s pursuit of political order through preemptive control changes in a digital context of rapidly growing data, computing power, and advances in machine learning (e.g., deep learning, artificial intelligence / “AI”). Digital advances help the Chinese government collect more information about the entire population, and to do so in ways that are less detectable. However, new digital technologies do not alter China’s goal of preemptive control or the predictive surveillance that underpins this goal. Digital technologies will likely enable the government to identify more potential threats, but because digital technologies will not eliminate error altogether and because there is always a tradeoff between precision and recall in machine classification systems, the dramatic expansion of available information may expand the number of people trapped in programs of preemptive control.
Introduction
Authors: McHughen Alan
Published: July 2020

This introduction provides an overview of some common questions and misconceptions about DNA, while discussing its physical structure, how it works, and its impact on daily life. Also covered are chromosomes, genes, genomics, and what makes DNA so unique. DNA has generated quite a bit of interest due to major news stories of the last few decades. DNA is nature’s rock star. And, like many human celebrities, DNA can be mysterious, charming, enigmatic, complex, powerful, skilled, and at times unpredictable, but always awesome. This book pulls back the curtain to expose the machinery operating the molecule of life, showing that DNA, far from being ethereal and mystical, is actually logical, rational, usually parsimonious, and occasionally unpredictable. But still marvelously awesome!
DNA 101
Authors: McHughen Alan
Published: July 2020

This chapter covers the basics of DNA in simple, but not simplistic, language, explaining the nuts and bolts—physically, chemically, and biologically—with a focus on how DNA works to store genetic information and pass it on to future generations. Much here is a review of high school biology, looking at cells, chromosomes, genes, DNA, RNA, and proteins. Also covered are the processes of mitosis and meiosis; chimeras, mosaics, and hybrids; and enzymes. We delve a bit deeper into DNA, revealing how it changes though mutations, explaining its connection to selection and evolution, and introducing gene and genome editing and new techniques.
Foundations
Authors: McHughen Alan
Published: July 2020

Chapter 2 reviews the historical foundations of DNA research and introduces the Human Genome Project, now a quarter century old. Why it was (and continues to be) so important to the genetic understanding of the origins, nature, and future of human beings is explored in this chapter. In addition to helping to address scientific and philosophical questions, the project and its diverse spinoff technologies have revolutionized many practical components of modern life. They have affected the development of personalized medicine, influenced criminal forensics, and brought the near-total elimination of paternity disputes. Also covered is the historical background of human inquiry into genetics, which provides the knowledge base underpinning the HGP.
DNA Tests for Genetic Genealogy
Authors: McHughen Alan
Published: July 2020

This chapter covers the different types of direct to consumer DNA tests for genealogy. They are technically similar but a bit different from those used for medical and health conditions, as genealogy tests focus on identifying “matches,” or relatives who’ve also tested based on shared SNPs or other similarities. Consumers can choose from autosomal DNA, Y-chromosome, and mtDNA tests, depending on their interests and research goals. Unlike the other tests, genealogy DNA tests compare your results with those of others and predict a relationship based on the amount of DNA you share. This adds an extra layer of complexity but is no less rewarding, and the findings can be no less surprising. Understanding how these tests work and what they show enables consumers to choose the specific ones that will be most helpful in compiling their genetic genealogy.
Genetic Engineering, GMOs, and Genome Editing
Authors: McHughen Alan
Published: July 2020

DNA is the very core of human existence. The thought of humans manipulating the DNA base sequence of a living thing can be unsettling, disturbing, and sometimes intensely controversial. What are some of the techniques and what are some of the purposes? And what are the concerns? Chapter 10 considers the most controversial use of DNA technology: genetic engineering. It also explores twenty-first century technologies recently developed beyond the “old-fashioned” genetic engineering methods of the 1970s and ’80s. These newer technologies, with curious names, will soon be responsible for putting new products on the market. Synthetic DNA and gene drive are recent additions raising both exciting new possibilities and, simultaneously, old fears. New genome editing technologies, with cool names such as CRISP-Cas9, RNAi, Zinc Finger, and Talens, alter the native DNA in the genome—hence genome editing—and thus forego the need to add DNA from other species or to synthesize entirely. This strategy, say proponents, should quiet the concerns raised from those worried about introducing “foreign” genes from different species. Are you ready?
Fighting Mother Nature?
Authors: McHughen Alan
Published: July 2020

This chapter explores how the human ability to understand and control life at the fundamental level of DNA might influence the Earth and its inhabitants. Humans are the first (and likely final) species capable of fighting Mother Nature and changing the face of the planet physically, chemically, and biologically. Early humans defaced the Earth when they gave up their Mother Nature’s assigned natural role as hunter-gatherer and settled into farming communities, tilling the earth and displacing the local flora and fauna with species chosen by humans for their sole benefit. Modern humans continue the practice of of betraying Mother Nature through activities that drive global climate changes and pollute the air, waters, and land. The questions of how or whether to use tools developed from the knowledge of DNA must be grounded in science but involve political processes to benefit the public good.
Handling De Re and A Posteriori Modal Claims
Authors: Thomasson Amie L.
Published: July 2020

This chapter aims to show how the modal normativist approach may accommodate the Kripkean idea that there are certain de re necessities (apparently attributing modal properties to individuals) and necessary truths that can only be known a posteriori. It begins by arguing, contrary to Putnam and others who defend purely causal theories of reference, that we do have reason to think that names and natural kind terms are governed by certain semantic rules, even if these rules are conditionalized and revisable. It goes on to show how the rules we need to accept in any case enable us to see even de re and a posteriori necessities as object-language reflections of semantic rules and their consequences. Modal normativists can thus account for de re and a posteriori necessities as long as they allow that the semantic rules may be conditionalized, schematic, and world-deferential.
Philosophy and Physics
Authors: Nicolaides Demetris
Published: July 2020

Philosophy is the escape from the darkness of superstition and ignorance, and the ascent into the world of light and knowledge. It is “the vision of truth,” or what the Greeks called “the gift of wonder.” Adding to such a gift is science, the systematic study of nature and the organization of acquired knowledge into timeless, universal, causal, testable laws that are derived from observation and rational consideration. A good scientific theory makes experimentally verifiable and falsifiable predictions, which must be tested by experiment. Science is evidence-based knowledge; it is not knowledge based on opinion or dogma. In the quest for truth about nature, science without (the wisdom of) philosophy is rational but (arguably) dull, and philosophy without (the empirical facts of) science is wise but (experimentally) unverified. The road to the truth is paved by science and philosophy, but certainly by other fields, too. The view is otherwise crude and muddled.
Cosmic Justice
Authors: Nicolaides Demetris
Published: July 2020

Anaximander thought water is a bad idea for a primary substance of the universe because it’s not neutral—it has an opposite, fire. And opposites destroy; they don’t generate one another. If everything in the universe were initially water, it would be impossible to have its opposite, fire, ever created because water destroys fire. Thus, quarks and leptons can’t be primary, for they have opposites, their antimatter versions, and as opposites, matter and antimatter annihilate, not generate, each other. Anaximander taught everything is generated from the apeiron: a timeless, neutral substance, encompassing the universe and constantly transforming into competing transient opposites, but with measure to preserve the cosmic justice—without absolute dominance by either opposite. In physics, it’s ubiquitous energy that’s constantly transforming into competing opposites—matter and antimatter—with measure. Curiously, however, matter (“water”) is more plentiful than antimatter (“fire”). Why? Nobody knows. Where’s the cosmic justice?
Numbers and Shapes
Authors: Nicolaides Demetris
Published: July 2020

Pythagoras initiated the mathematical analysis of nature, a cornerstone practice in modern physics. “Things are numbers” is the most significant Pythagorean doctrine. It signifies that the phenomena of nature are describable by equations and numbers. Therefore, nature is quantifiable and potentially knowable through the scientific method. The Pythagoreans quantified pleasing sounds of music, right-angled triangles, even the motion of the heavenly bodies. The “Copernican revolution” (heliocentricity) is traced back to Pythagorean cosmology. But, finally, Einstein’s relativity clarifies a popular misconception related to it: that “the earth revolves around the sun (heliocentricity) is correct,” and that “the sun revolves around the earth (geocentricism) is incorrect.” Plato was inspired by Pythagorean mathematics, but he replaced “things are numbers” with things are shapes, forms, Forms, a noetic description of nature known as the theory of “Forms.” The quantum-mechanical wave-functions—mathematical forms that describe microscopic particles—are the Platonic Forms of quarks and leptons.
The Changing Universe
Authors: Nicolaides Demetris
Published: July 2020

Everything is constantly changing, and nothing is ever the same, Heraclitus proposed, and in accordance with Logos, the intelligible eternal law of nature. Thus, everything is in a state of becoming (in the process of forming into something) instead of being (reaching or already being in an established final state beyond which no more change will take place). This means that things, permanent things, no longer exist—for they contradict his theory of constant change—only events and processes exist. His doctrine has found strong confirmation in modern physics, for, according to it, absolute restfulness and inactivity are impossibilities. Points in Einstein’s four-dimensional space-time continuum are events, and so are the quarks and leptons—for, unlike in deterministic Newtonian physics, matter in probabilistic quantum physics lost its permanence and identity because of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Moreover, all happenings, evidence suggests, are consistent with a single universal law.
The Unchanging Universe
Authors: Nicolaides Demetris
Published: July 2020

Heraclitus declares the being (that which exists, nature) but identifies it with becoming, but Parmenides declares just the Being; only what is, is, what is not, is not. All “follows” from that: change, he argues, is logically impossible and so what is, is one and unchangeable! This dazzling absolute monism is in daring disagreement with sense perception, but curiously it has found a well-known genius as a supporter. Emboldened by his theory of relativity, Einstein considers the universe as a four-dimensional “block” (a space-time continuum like a loaf of bread) which, remarkably, contains all moments of time (of past, present, and future) always, and where change is an illusion. He said, “For we convinced physicists, the distinction between past, present, and future is only an illusion, however persistent.” In the block universe, the past is not gone, it is present; and the future, like the present, is, well, present, too.
Paradoxes of Nature
Authors: Nicolaides Demetris
Published: July 2020

Parmenides’s insinuation of an unchanging universe is assertively supported by Zeno with various logical paradoxes that question the very nature of plurality, space, time, and the reality of apparent motion. The dichotomy is his most famous paradox. To begin a trip, say, from here to the door, a traveler must travel the first half of it, but before she does that she must travel half of the first half, and in fact half of that, ad infinitum. Since there will always exist a smaller first half to be traveled first, Zeno questions whether a traveler can ever even start a trip. Zeno’s analysis is logical; on the other hand, things everywhere appear to be moving. Hence, either Zeno’s reasoning is wrong or appearances are deceptive. Empowered by the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics, it will be argued that, at best, the phenomenon of motion is experimentally unverifiable!
Atoms of Matter and Energy
Authors: Nicolaides Demetris
Published: July 2020

Perhaps the greatest scientific achievement of antiquity, possibly of all time, was the realization of the atomic nature of matter. “There are but atoms and the void,” Democritus proposed. And he understood the great diversity of material objects as complex aggregations of uncuttable atoms, the building blocks of matter, moving in the void, the empty space between them. Leucippus invented the atomic theory, and Democritus, a true polymath and a prolific philosopher, developed it extensively. Uncuttable (the actual meaning of atom in Greek) are also the modern elementary particles of matter, the quarks and leptons, and although void is a controversial concept still, a kind of void is required to explain nature. Leucippus’s and Democritus’s notion of indivisible (atomic), discrete particles without substructure has endured and, according to modern physics, is still one of the most remarkable properties of nature. Could space and time have an atomic nature, too?
Atomic Connections
Authors: Nicolaides Demetris
Published: July 2020

Epicureanism has served as an intellectual bridge between ancient and modern science. Lucretius, a devoted Epicurean, composed a didactic poem about Epicurean philosophy that has “taken over the whole of Italy.” Epicureanism “was a significant trend in Hellenistic times.” “The echoes of this battle [between the atomists and their critics, e.g., the Aristotelians] were heard [sporadically] in medieval Europe, and it flared up again with great intensity in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.” Then, Epicureanism was revived when a copy of Lucretius’s poem resurfaced, inspiring various Renaissance philosophers, who had inspired the Enlightenment philosophers. Galileo cited Lucretius’s work to compare the Epicurean physics of falling bodies with Aristotle’s and his own. His book inspired Newton, an atomist himself, who in turn inspired Einstein, who had proven atomism theoretically, and who inspired everyone after him. Rightly then, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”
Epilogue
Authors: Nicolaides Demetris
Published: July 2020

Our quest for knowledge began with our evolution as a species 200,000 years ago. We hunted and gathered, painted on caves, told stories, domesticated animals and plants, wondered about nature, gave birth to civilization and religion, picked up writing, philosophized, and engaged in science. In fact, we keep on doing all these wonderful things and continue to learn more and more, but, why should we? A student of Euclid once asked, What would I earn if I learned geometry? If you should earn from what you learn, here is a coin, Euclid responded sardonically. But, really, why should we learn? Because we can, might be the best answer, but also because the journey of knowledge is infinitely interesting. Nonetheless, in front of the wisdom of the universe, we should remain always humble, for as many learned people have come to know (Democritus, Socrates, Russell), we might be wrong on just about everything.
Crafting Consensus
Authors: Baerg Nicole
Published: July 2020

This chapter introduces central bankers as “wordsmiths,” skilled users of words, who work together to construct and edit a monetary policy statement with an intention to drive the economy by shaping the public’s beliefs about the future. The chapter starts off showing that central bankers can be both relatively vague and relatively precise with the language that they use. Baerg highlights previous explanations on the benefits of delegating monetary policy to a monetary policy committee rather than to a single individual. Known benefits include better information aggregation and problem-solving. The author introduces the argument that monetary policy committees that have diverse policy preferences are more likely to be precise and illustrates, using examples from Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) transcript data, how policy makers bargain over the policy statement in ways similar to how they negotiate changes in interest rates. The chapter concludes with a brief overview of the structure of the manuscript.