bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Criminality at Work
Authors: Bogg Alan , Freedland Mark
Published: April 2020

This chapter develops a framework for understanding the lessons of a project of over three years’ duration, and to distil what has been learned in the course of the project. The project was undertaken in the conviction that the area of intersection between criminal law and labour law would be an interesting one to investigate, both for labour lawyers and for criminal lawyers. From this inquiry, the chapter considers some conclusions about the significance of ‘criminality at work’ which are more exact than, and sometimes different to, the text’s initial hypotheses. Thus, this chapter describes a voyage of discovery about the functions of criminal law in the sphere of labour or employment relations. It examines how these functions have shifted and been reconfigured during different historical periods, and how normative theories of the criminal law often diverge from the political uses to which the criminal law has been put by elected governments from time to time.
Workplace Welfare and State Coercion
Authors: Sullivan GR
Published: April 2020

This chapter explores the possibilities and the limits of a social democratic criminal law. It elucidates an important role for the criminal law in the social democratic state. The first is the positive and important role of regulatory criminalization, based upon strict liability, particularly in the spheres of minimum wage enforcement and workplace health and safety. Health and safety might also be protected through a corporate manslaughter offence. The second is the criminalization of modern slavery offences. The third is the potential role for criminal law to prohibit certain forms of occupation that create unacceptable risks to the health and safety of citizens, such as boxing or sex work. Overall, this chapter provides an important counterpoint to social democratic labour law, and it provides a compelling vision of what a legitimate social democratic criminal law might look like.
Where Criminal Law Meets Labour Law
Authors: Barnard Catherine , Butlin Sarah Fraser
Published: April 2020

This chapter provides a detailed examination of the politics of criminalization in four key areas: the enforcement of working time rights by the Health and Safety Executive, the enforcement of National Minimum Wage entitlements by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the enforcement role of the Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate, and the licensing regime administered by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority. It examines these diverse regimes through an enforcement lens. The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority regime provides for a system of licensing for ‘gangmasters’ in specific sectors of economic activity. The Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate statutory framework specifies that a failure of employment agencies to comply with the certain specified standards itself constitutes a criminal offence. The National Minimum Wage framework provides for a composite mechanism of civil and criminal enforcement. Finally, the various working time limits in the Working Time Regulations are enforced through criminal offences.
Licensing of Employing Entities and Criminalization
Authors: Davies ACL
Published: April 2020

This chapter examines the role of licensing regimes in the labour field. It focuses in particular on the ‘Gangmasters’ licensing regime, which is operative in the agricultural and food processing industries. This licensing regime is supported by a structure of criminal offences, some of which are very serious and provide for high maximum penalties of ten years’ imprisonment. The chapter notes the difficulties in providing a principled justification for criminalization of licensing requirements, given that non-compliance is only indirectly linked to the commission of serious wrongs against vulnerable workers. However, the chapter shows that this form of regulatory criminalization can be justified in principle. Furthermore, from a regulatory perspective, this chapter identifies some advantages of a licensing regime in promoting compliance with basic labour standards.
Modern Slavery, Domestic Work, and the Criminal Law
Authors: Herring Jonathan
Published: April 2020

This chapter provides a critical account of the political and regulatory consequences of modern slavery discourse. The criminalization of modern slavery frames the regulatory problem around evil wrongdoers, and slaving and trafficking as a manifestation of a (usually foreign) vice perpetrated by organized criminal gangs. This marginalizes the responsibility of states in maintaining labour law and migration regimes that create the structural conditions for exploitation and abuse. The chapter then traces the continuities with domestic abuse and the forms of abuse that are criminalized in the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA). It argues that modern slavery practices cannot be severed from a wider appreciation of patriarchal structures in society.
The Persistence of Criminal Law and Police in Collective Labour Relations
Authors: Bogg Alan , Ewing KD , Moretta Andrew
Published: April 2020

This chapter examines the role of criminal law and police power in regulating and restricting collective labour activities. In so doing, it challenges the dominant view that the historical development of collective labour law involved the progressive withdrawal of criminal law from trade union affairs. The chapter draws upon sociologically and historically based accounts of criminal law to examine the development of collective labour relations across different historical periods. It argues that a wider framing of criminal law interventions, to include discretionary ‘police’ measures, reveals a much more persistent presence for criminal law as a mode of repression and control. This has been most pronounced during periods of ‘emergency’, such as the general strike, wartime, and the miners’ strike during the mid-1980s. More recently, the chapter suggests that there has been a ‘normalization’ of emergency, with the radical trade unionist emerging as a new dangerous status that is the object of covert state surveillance and disciplinary control.
Accessory Liability for National Minimum Wage Violations in the Fissured Workplace
Authors: Bogg Alan , Davies Paul S
Published: April 2020

This chapter examines whether ‘accessory liability’ could provide a way of attributing criminal liability to lead companies in supply chains where those lead companies are not functioning as ‘employers’. For example, company X subcontracts a particular economic activity to company Y, and Y then employs workers to fulfil the requirements of its commercial contract with X. Accessory liability criminalizes those who intentionally assist or encourage the commission of principal offences, thereby extending the web of criminal liability beyond principal parties. This could provide a principled way of responding to enforcement problems in the ‘fissured workplace’. Furthermore, this would be consistent with the requirements of fair labelling and culpability in general criminal law, by avoiding the fictional attribution of ‘employer’ status to entities that are not employing.
Class Crimes
Authors: Tucker Eric , Fudge Judy
Published: April 2020

This chapter compares the historical development and use of criminal law at work in the United Kingdom and in Ontario, Canada. Specifically, it considers the use of the criminal law both in the master and servant regime as an instrument for disciplining the workforce and in factory legislation for protecting workers from unhealthy and unsafe working conditions, including exceedingly long hours work. Master and servant legislation that criminalized servant breaches of contract originated in the United Kingdom where it was widely used in the nineteenth century to discipline industrial workers. These laws were partially replicated in Ontario, where it had shallower roots and was used less aggressively. At the same time as the use of criminal law to enforce master and servant law was contested, legislatures in the United Kingdom and Ontario enacted protective factory acts limiting the length of the working day. However, these factory acts did not treat employer violations crimes; instead, they were treated as lesser ‘regulatory’ offences for which employers were rarely prosecuted.
Global Standard Setting in Internet Governance
Authors: Harcourt Alison , Christou George , Simpson Seamus
Published: April 2020

The standards development organization’s (SDO) role in Internet governance is notable given its central place in society. The bulk of decision-making for the Internet takes place in technical standards fora, such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which have no formal state or public sector body membership. Recent years have seen a significant degree of spill-over of highly politicized policy areas such as data protection, digital rights management, security, and bandwidth and spectrum to SDOs, policies which were formerly domains of the nation state. SDOs are grappling with the efficiency of cloud storage, limits of spectrum use, and autonomy and management of devices. Security questions abound as demonstrated by the Cambridge Analytica scandal and Snowden revelations. The book breaks new ground by exploring decision-making within SDOs. It provides an invaluable insight into a world, which, although highly technical, affects the way in which citizens live and work on a daily basis. The work stands out from existing literature on Internet governance, which focuses on international organizations such as the United Nations (UN), the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). As such, it adds significantly to the trajectory of research that explores the relationship between politics and protocols. It explains the interplay between different interests and whether civil society and other actors are able to defend and promote citizens’ rights within SDOs. As such, it contributes to knowledge about how the public interest is promoted.
Global Standard-setting in Internet Governance
Authors: Harcourt Alison , Christou George , Simpson Seamus
Published: April 2020

This introductory chapter charts the debate on and importance of global standard-setting for the Internet and for Internet governance more broadly. Despite being highly contested, the importance of standards-developing organizations (SDOs) for ensuring and maintaining the openness, interconnectivity, and security of the Internet are critical. Their utility is outlined before setting out the central guiding questions, and aims and objectives of the book, theoretically and empirically. The added value of the approach taken in relation to SDO decision-making is explicated. The chapter then details developments within SDOs to address the public interest. It concludes with the structure, argument, and logic of the remaining chapters, with explanation of the choice of case studies, namely privacy/security, mobile communications standards, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), and copyright. Each chapter in the book assesses the public interest in SDO decision-making and the mechanisms that have affected the direction of standards’ development.
Technical Standards, Dynamic Spectrum Access, and Competing Spectrum Policy Interests in the TV White Space Environment
Authors: Harcourt Alison , Christou George , Simpson Seamus
Published: April 2020

Digitization of the airwaves and the consequent ‘digital dividend’ led to the vacating of key parts of the spectrum, the main recipients of which were mobile broadband service providers. However, this has trained the focus of still unsatisfied demands of certain providers to a lesser-known part of the spectrum called TV white spaces. White spaces are spectrum buffer zones constructed to prevent interference between broadcasters. Historically, these spaces were occupied by providers of Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE) services, like wireless microphones and wireless in-ear monitor (IEM) systems, which were used mainly in large venues and productions (e.g. concerts halls, churches, schools, theatres, sports and political events). However, as white spaces were considered under-occupied, it led to pressure for them to be opened up to a wider range of users and lower power Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Initiatives to reform TVWS use, led by the United States and the United Kingdom, are underpinned by vital technical standards with the aim of introducing computer-mediated Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) to implement use of the wireless environment. The chapter highlights the contingent nature of technical standards-making in processes of TVWS development in that it shows how opportunities presented by technical standards are constrained by conflict when powerful incumbent interests from commercial, public service, and civil society quarters present opposition to such change.
Engineers and the Public Interest
Authors: Harcourt Alison , Christou George , Simpson Seamus
Published: April 2020

Although tracking via social media platforms is widely recognized, as demonstrated by the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal in 2018, other forms of tracking are less well known. Devices such as computers, cameras, and mobile phones can be identified by indicators such as screen size, software versions, and installed fonts. This is called ‘browser fingerprinting’. Commercial software can ‘fingerprint’ web browsers and analyse use without users’ knowledge, even when these users are aware enough to block browsing cookies and/or use virtual private networks (VPNs). This raised significant interest and concern from the engineering community which prompted a number of initiatives within standards-developing organizations (SDOs). This chapter covers case studies detailing work to mitigate the evasion of personal privacy in protocol development within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It demonstrates how SDO work is flanked and supported externally by academics, digital rights groups, and wider civil society organizations.
Introduction
Authors: Effingham Nikk
Published: April 2020

This is the Introduction to the book. It introduces the four parts of the book: a prolegomenon discussing different ways one might travel in time; a discussion of some of the paradoxes of time travel; a discussion of the most important paradox—the Grandfather Paradox—and its proposed resolutions; and finally, a discussion of what the world would be like were the chosen response to the Grandfather Paradox, ‘Impossability Theory’, true. This Introduction also includes a discussion about defining ‘time travel’ and why the chapter declines to offer an explicit definition.
The Self-Visitation Paradox
Authors: Effingham Nikk
Published: April 2020

If time travel is possible, you can come back and visit yourself. In such a case you would have incompatible properties (e.g. two different heights or weights), which is seemingly impossible. This chapter argues that it’s not impossible; rather, time travellers simply end up having incompatible properties. We can, and should, eschew sophisticated metaphysical theories to avoid this upshot, which is less worrisome than it might at first appear. The chapter ends by discussing whether the possibility of such self-visitation might nonetheless tell us something interesting about ontology (e.g. that perdurantism is true). The chapter argues that it does not.
The Bootstrapping Paradox
Authors: Effingham Nikk
Published: April 2020

Bootstrapped things are things which are, at least partially, responsible for their own existence. For instance, a bootstrapped object might be someone who was their own mother whilst bootstrapped knowledge might exist because someone uses a time machine to go back in time and tell themselves how to make that time machine. The Bootstrapping Paradox is this: time travel is possible; were time travel possible, bootstrapped entities would be possible; such entities are impossible. This chapter investigates the different types of bootstrapped entity (objects, information, and causal loops). It then argues that you can avoid the paradox by denying that time travel necessitates bootstrapped objects and, more importantly, that there are also no good reasons to think bootstrapped entities are impossible.
The Grandfather Paradox
Authors: Effingham Nikk
Published: April 2020

The Grandfather Paradox is as follows: time travel is possible; were time travel possible, I could go back in time and kill my grandfather before he met my grandmother; such an act of murder is impossible. Since we have a contradiction, we have to give up on one of the premises (with many presuming that we should give up on time travel’s possibility). This paradox is the focus of most of the book, so most of the chapter is spent explaining the details of the paradox and its different variations. Crucially, this chapter delivers a lengthy exposition of the most pressing version of the paradox; it is referred to frequently in the remainder of the book. The chapter ends by also sketching the proposed solutions that the rest of the book discusses.
Incapacity Theory
Authors: Effingham Nikk
Published: April 2020

We can solve the Grandfather Paradox by arguing that, when I go back to kill my grandfather, I lose the ability to kill him. Call this incapacity theory. I do not believe this theory is correct. This chapter argues that this is David Lewis’s view. His argument for it focuses on how we analyse the words ‘can’ and ‘could’. But if you take the Grandfather Paradox seriously, you should take contemporary advances in modality seriously and believe in impossible worlds and non-trivial counterpossibles. Once we do that, we can reconstruct a variant Grandfather Paradox which is immune to the incapacity theorist’s argument.
Probability
Authors: Effingham Nikk
Published: April 2020

How would probability work in a time travel scenario? This chapter offers answers for both the Ludovician and the non-Ludovician who believes the world is indexed. Given Ludovicianism (and impossability theory), metaphysical impossibilities can have a positive objective chance. Nevertheless, we should say our credence of these things coming about is zero. The chapter argues that the upshot of this is that we should never expect any time travel to happen. Indeed, the more likely it looks as if you can travel in time (and, e.g., build a working time machine), the more likely it is that some calamity affects you (or all of us!) to prevent that happening. At an indexed world, things work substantially differently. At an indexed world, credence and chance don’t come apart. The chapter argues that at an indexed world, we might expect time travel to occur.
Decision Theory
Authors: Effingham Nikk
Published: April 2020

Given Ludovicianism, strange things happen in time travel cases. Imagine my future self appears, dying of radiation sickness. Before dying, he (me?) reveals that a nuclear war will kill us all. Time cannot be changed, so war looks likely. But if you use excessive means (e.g. torture/hypnosis) to make me believe a war has taken place (when none had!), poison me with polonium, and send me back in time, we’d have a consistent scenario but everyone (expect myself) gets to live. Is it rational to use excessive means? This is a type of Newcomb case. The chapter argues that ‘one-boxers’ should use excessive means. ‘Two-boxers’ should also use excessive means, even though they should nevertheless two-box in standard Newcomb cases. The chapter ends with an Appendix about regular Newcomb cases, arguing that in ‘perfect predictor’ cases its reasoning means that the ‘two-boxer’ should instead select one-box.
The Tourist Paradox
Authors: Effingham Nikk
Published: April 2020

We may think that the lack of time travellers from the future is evidence that time travel is physically impossible. This is the ‘Tourist Paradox’. After the chapter introduces the paradox, and discusses some of the extant solutions, it argues that the best solution is that—given Ludovicianism—we should never expect there to be time travellers, no matter how high the objective chance of people travelling in time. The chapter argues that the upshot is that we are rationally obligated to avoid conducting any experiment that, even accidentally, brings about time travel. It ends by sketching how that might bear on how we conduct contemporary high-energy experiments.
Mix up your routine, as cicadas with prime number cycles
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Mix up your routine, as cicadas with prime number cycles” explains in non-technical terms how cicadas’ prime number life cycles—either thirteen or seventeen years, depending on the brood—serve as an evolutionary advantage that helps them minimize predator encounters. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to learn a lesson from cicadas’ prime number life cycles in their mathematical and life pursuits by mixing up their routines and surfacing at unusual intervals in order to thrive. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Grow in accessible directions, like Voronoi diagrams
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Grow in accessible directions, like Voronoi diagrams” offers an accessible introduction to the mathematics of Voronoi diagrams—a separation of a two-dimensional plane into regions known as “cells” based on “sites.” In a Voronoi diagram, any point inside a cell is closer to the site of its cell than the site of any other cell. The discussion includes numerous real-life examples of Voronoi diagrams—also known as a Voronoi tessellations—in nature and regional planning. The discussion is supplemented with numerous hand-drawn sketches to enhance understanding. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to draw inspiration from Voronoi diagrams by growing in accessible directions in mathematical and life pursuits. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Define success for yourself, given Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Define success for yourself, given Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem” explains different voting methods, including plurality voting, run-off voting, sequential run-off, Borda count, and dictatorship, and explains how Kenneth Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem proves that, in an election with three or more candidates, the only fair voting system is a dictatorship. That is, every voting method other than a dictatorship has a known problem with fairness. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to consider the many “candidates” for defining “success” in mathematical and life pursuits before letting their vote be the only vote in electing a personal definition of success. This way, Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem assures a fair outcome. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Reach for the stars, just like Katherine Johnson
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Reach for the stars, just like Katherine Johnson” tells the story of the mathematics and mathematician behind NASA’s 1961 Apollo spacecraft flown by astronaut John Glenn. When Glen grew concerned that NASA had switched to an inanimate computer for checking computations regarding re-entry into the atmosphere, he insisted that human computer and mathematician Katherine Johnson check the numbers. Johnson needed to consider drag, aerodynamic lift, vacuum perigee altitude, the spacecraft’s center of gravity, and more to ensure a safe reentry corridor. The discussion is illustrated with numerous hand-drawn sketches. Katherine Johnson, whose biography is summarized, was an African American woman who worked in NASA’s Research Flight Division at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to reach for literal and metaphorical stars in mathematical and life pursuits. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Find the right match, as with binary numbers and computers
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Find the right match, as with binary numbers and computers” offers a non-technical introduction to binary numbers—an alternative to decimal numbers that is well suited to computers. Readers learn how to covert a decimal number into a binary number and a binary number into a decimal number by way of numerous hand-drawn illustrations of turned-on and turned-off light bulbs. Readers also make sense of the humor behind the joke that states, “there are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary numbers and those who do not.” Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to work to arrive at a place where they gain facility with binary numbers as practice for gaining agility in searching for the right fit in mathematics and life. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Look all around, as Archimedes did in life
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Look all around, as Archimedes did in life” offers a range of tales about Archimedes doing mathematics in unusual places, including in the bathtub, under starry skies, and at the beach. Out in the world, he identified a method for computing the volume of an irregular shape, invented a parabolic death ray, explored properties of levers, and argued that a “very large number” is not the same as infinity. The discussion is illustrated with numerous hand-drawn sketches. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged draw inspiration from Archimedes by doing math wherever they are while going about their daily lives. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Look for beauty, because of Fibonacci numbers
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Look for beauty, because of Fibonacci numbers” explains how to use addition to construct an ordered list of numbers known as the Fibonacci numbers. The chapter explores several unexpected and lovely examples of these numbers in nature, including the numbers of clockwise and counterclockwise spirals in sunflowers, cacti, and pinecones. The discussion includes numerous photographs illustrating Fibonacci numbers in nature. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to accept the daily invitation to practice searching for and finding abundant mathematical beauty around them. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Pay attention to details, as Earth is an oblate spheroid
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Pay attention to details, as Earth is an oblate spheroid” explains that, due to gravitational and rotational forces, all planets in the solar system could more accurately be described as oblate spheroids—squashed spheres—rather than spheres. For example, the difference between Earth’s polar and equatorial diameters is small—approximately 26 miles—but present. Saturn’s moons, which have been described as tiny ravioli, are also not spherical. Many cosmologists believe not in an infinite universe but a doughnut-shaped universe. The discussion is illustrated with numerous hand-drawn sketches. In this chapter, mathematics students and enthusiasts learn some of the “why” behind these facts, in addition to fostering an appreciation for paying attention to the smallest details in mathematics and life. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Search for like-minded math friends, because of the Twin Prime Conjecture
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Search for like-minded math friends, because of the Twin Prime Conjecture” tells the story of a famous conjecture about prime numbers and the unknown mathematician, Yitang Zhang, who reported a significant breakthrough on the problem that earned him a MacArthur Fellowship. The Twin Prime Conjecture is a statement claiming that the number of prime number pairs that differ by two is infinite. Even though remote parts of the number line have a sparse distribution of primes, mathematicians suspect that the claim is true. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to draw inspiration from this story by searching for like-minded friends in their mathematical and life pursuits. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Abandon perfectionism, because of the Hairy Ball Theorem
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Abandon perfectionism, because of the Hairy Ball Theorem” explains the mathematics behind the Hairy Ball Theorem, including a basic introduction to topological equivalence, vectors, and continuous vector fields. The discussion is illustrated with numerous hand-drawn sketches. Readers will understand the meaning of mathematical sayings arising from the theorem, including, “you can’t comb a hairy ball,” “every cow has a cowlick,” and “there is always one place on Earth where the wind is not blowing.” Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to let the Hairy Ball Theorem serve as a reminder that perfection in mathematics and life is often an impossible goal and that it is often enough, maybe even desirable, to do one’s very best. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Design your own pattern, because of the Penrose Patterns
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Design your own pattern, because of the Penrose Patterns” explores translational, rotational, and reflective symmetry common in wallpaper patterns, along with symmetry of scale evident in Sir Roger Penrose’s famous Penrose Pattern. The chapter is illustrated with numerous examples of mathematical patterns and recounts stories surrounding Penrose’s discovery, including the time the multinational corporation Kleenex attempted to use the Penrose Pattern on its “quilted” toilet paper—a decision that was not received well by Penrose. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to design and treasure their own patterns in mathematics and life. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Keep it simple whenever possible, since 0.999…=1
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Keep it simple whenever possible, since 0.999…=1” presents and discusses a very short mathematical proof demonstrating the long-known result that 0.999…=1. The ellipsis in the number 0.999… indicates that this number repeats in an infinite decimal expansion. As such, this number is unwieldy to lug around, insert into equations, and even describe. However, the number 1 is not simply a good approximation for 0.999…., but rather the number 1 may be used in place of 0.999… without loss of information. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to keep their mathematical and life pursuits simple whenever possible. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Explore, on a Mobius strip
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Explore, on a Mobius strip” offers an introduction to the mathematical subfield of topology by way of numerous hand-drawn sketches and an accessible discussion of going for a “walk” on a one-sided, one-edged Mobius strip—also known as a Mobius band. The chapter provides directions for making a Mobius strip out of paper and examining its mathematical properties. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to explore more in both mathematics and life in order to expand their worldview. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Be okay with small steps, as the harmonic series grows without bound
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Be okay with small steps, as the harmonic series grows without bound” considers the question: if each term in the infinite sum represented a day or a fraction of a day you live, would you live forever? That is, does the harmonic series—an infinite sum in which you start with a 1 and then continue adding the reciprocals of increasingly positive integers—grow without bound? The discussion is illustrated with hand-drawn sketches. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to appreciate that small steps in mathematical and life pursuits may accumulate, leading to progress over time. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Work efficiently, like bacteriophages with icosahedral symmetry
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Work efficiently, like bacteriophages with icosahedral symmetry” explains in non-technical terms how an exceptionally small virus that infects bacteria uses its geometry to efficiently encode instructions for assembling the protein shell that stores its genetic material. Readers may cut out a template and construct a model of the bacteriophage’s icosahedron-shaped head. In addition, numerous hand-drawn sketches illustrate the mathematical symmetries of the bacteriophage’s replication. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to learn a lesson from the bacteriophage by economizing time and effort in mathematical and life pursuits. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Find balance, as in coding theory
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Find balance, as in coding theory” explains how mathematicians construct codes to transmit messages as accurately and efficiently as possible. Since “noise” may corrupt messages during transmission, a good code repeats some of the information in a sent message so that errors due to noise in the received message may be detected and (ideally) corrected. However, too much repetition increases not only the code word length but the transmission time—an undesirable outcome. Mathematician Claude Shannon proved that “optimal” codes with just the right balance between repetition in transmission and error detection exist. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to find a balance that is just right between repetition and forward momentum in mathematical and life pursuits. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem concerning book International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs). A solution is provided.
Update your understanding, with Bayesian statistics
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Update your understanding, with Bayesian statistics” provides an accessible introduction to Bayesian statistics, in which one begins with a belief, understanding, or prediction that is based on data and then, upon receiving new information, updates the prediction. Readers consider a Bayesian approach to hypothetical woman’s risk levels for breast cancer upon receiving notice of a positive mammogram. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to consider a Bayesian approach whenever they are in a position to manage uncertainty in mathematics or life. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Get disoriented, on a Klein bottle
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Get disoriented, on a Klein bottle” offers a basic introduction to a four-dimensional mathematical object known as a Klein bottle. The discussion is enhanced with numerous hand-drawn sketches. Although a Klein bottle appears to have an inside and an outside, it is an object with only one side and no edges. Readers will learn why a walk on a Klein bottle may turn them upside down. Klein bottles embody the art, science, seriousness, and even playfulness of mathematics. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to embrace a Klein-bottle-like disorientation in mathematical and life pursuits as a way of exposing themselves to new ideas. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Dignity and Shame
Authors: Killmister Suzy
Published: April 2020

This chapter focuses on personal and social dignity, exploring the source and scope of individuals’ moral claims against having their dignity violated, frustrated, or destroyed. For personal dignity, the grounds of such claims lie primarily in the import of self-respect, but these claims are constrained by the duties they would impose on others. For social dignity, the grounds of such claims lie primarily in the import of social standing, but depend on the individual being entitled to maintain that social standing. This framework sheds light on the wrongs of humiliating or degrading treatment, while avoiding the problematic implication that individuals can appeal to their dignity to protect bigoted behavior from sanction.
Human Dignity and Human Rights
Authors: Killmister Suzy
Published: April 2020

This chapter argues that human dignity should be understood as one more instantiation of status dignity. Accordingly, to have human dignity is to be a member of the human kind, where the human kind is a socially constructed category. This conception of human dignity is then integrated into an account of human rights, and it is shown that despite being socially constructed, human dignity can serve as the foundation of human rights. The chapter concludes by reflecting on the role of human rights practice in preventing the dehumanization of vulnerable people.
Introduction
Authors: Duncombe Matthew
Published: April 2020

The introduction draws some distinctions and uses them to articulate the scope, argument, and approach of this book. First, the chapter distinguishes: relatives (things that are related); relational properties (certain properties that related things have); and relations (items which do the relating). These distinctions delineate three approaches to ancient relativity that scholars have adopted: relativity does not involve relations; relativity is a matter of incomplete relational predicates; relations constitute relatives. Since the book focuses on this latter view, the chapter describes constitutive relativity in more detail. In particular, I identify some ‘formal features’ of constitutive relativity: exclusivity, reciprocity, aliorelativity, and existential symmetry. These are features that relatives have simply in virtue of being relatives, on the constitutive view.
Relativity and partition in Republic
Authors: Duncombe Matthew
Published: April 2020

In Republic IV, Socrates argues that the soul has three parts. Before arguing that the soul has three parts, Socrates argues that it has at least two parts. I call this the Partition Argument. This argument crucially involves relatives, but commentators have thought the partition argument falls to one of two objections. In this chapter, I argue that, once we understand that constitutive relativity is in play, neither objection is fatal. But this approach reveals a tension within constitutive relativity: some of the formal features may turn out to form an inconsistent set. The chapter ends with some reflections on how Plato articulates this tension in the Statesman and how one might respond.
Stoic relativity
Authors: Duncombe Matthew
Published: April 2020

This chapter focuses on our most comprehensive record of Stoic relativity. In his commentary on Aristotle’s Categories, Simplicius reports two sorts of Stoic relativity, and plots them in a taxonomy. The orthodox reading of Simplicius’ report faces philosophical and textual difficulties. Moreover, Simplicius’ taxonomy appears inconsistent. This chapter reads the report in light of constitutive relativity: some Stoic relatives are directly constituted by a relation while some are indirectly constituted by a relation. The chapter goes on to show how reading Stoic relatives in this light makes better sense of Simplicius’ report and also offers a new, less puzzling, account of Simplicius’ taxonomy.
Conclusion
Authors: Duncombe Matthew
Published: April 2020

The conclusion summarizes the results of the book, by returning to discuss three broad theses that the book has defended: that Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and Sextus share a broadly constitutive view of relativity; that the wider philosophical pictures of these thinkers affected how they precisely each understand constitutive relativity; and that how these thinkers viewed relativity, in turn, affects their wider philosophical positions. The conclusion also offers some reflections on the ancient and modern reception of ancient thinking about relativity. These reflections focus on relational inferences in Aristotle, Galen, De Morgan, and Russell. The conclusion briefly discusses the notorious objection that Aristotle’s logic cannot validate some obviously valid inferences involving relativity: the famous horses’ heads inference.
Demons and Devices
Authors: Truitt E. R.
Published: April 2020

Although no single term or even set of terms exists from the long medieval period to refer to objects that we might recognize as artificial intelligence, numerous examples, from artificial servants to elaborate optical devices, exist on a spectrum from augmented human perception to sentient machines. Because natural phenomena and causation were understood different from now, the possible paths to artificial intelligence included astral science, natural philosophy, demons, and natural magic. Yet although there were believed to be a number of ways to create artificial intelligence in this period, the uses to which it was put are fairly limited. Throughout this era, artificial intelligence appears in imaginative contexts to gain, consolidate, and exercise power. This sometimes took the form of maintaining class and gender hierarchies, but could also be used for military or political dominance, or to gain knowledge of the future that could be used to a person’s advantage.
The Android of Albertus Magnus
Authors: Kang Minsoo , Halliburton Ben
Published: April 2020

In medieval and early modern writings, there is a cluster of stories concerning an artificial construct in the shape of a human body or a head that is animated for the purpose of divination, associated with such figures as Gerbert of Aurillac, Robert Grosseteste, Albertus Magnus, and Roger Bacon. Among them, the Albertus legends have been retold numerous times in interesting variations that provide insight into the changing attitudes towards intellectual magic. Given the fact that the wondrous object is described as being able to converse and even reason, its nature as a kind of medieval AI has made it an object of interest in recent books on AI, robotics, and posthumanity. In this article, the major appearances of Albertus’s speaking statue/head story will be examined in detail to show that the explanation for the wonder moved from astrology to demonic agency, as well as to pure mechanics.
AI and Cyberpunk Networks
Authors: McFarlane Anna
Published: April 2020

Cyberpunk science fiction broke new ground in terms of AI representation; William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984), the ur-text of cyberpunk, introduced the term ‘cyberspace’, and this spatialized metaphor for data creates an environment that can be inhabited by AIs, rather than an idea of the AI being located in one ‘body’, or in one static place. This chapter explores the possibilities opened by this innovation and by cyberpunk’s continued interrogation of AI as a phenomenon that is dispersed throughout networks, particularly focusing on William Gibson, in the Afrofuturist movement through a reading of Samuel R. Delany’s Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand (1984), and on the work of writers who have been characterized as ‘post-cyberpunk’, such as Cory Doctorow, who shows how algorithms and artificial intelligences can have unexpected, international, and economic consequences.
The Fall and Rise of AI
Authors: Recchia Gabriel
Published: April 2020

By applying techniques used to understand large corpora within the digital humanities to a dataset of over 100,000 film subtitles ranging from the era of silent film to the present, this chapter presents a qualitative and quantitative overview of salient themes and trends in the way artificial intelligence is portrayed and discussed in twentieth- and twenty-first-century film. Examples are provided that demonstrate how combining the tools of traditional literary analysis with computational techniques for analysing large quantities of text can lead us to important texts, patterns, and nuanced insights that complement those derived from manual study alone.
Objective Bayesianism and Knowledge-First Epistemology
Authors: Comesaña Juan
Published: April 2020

This chapter distinguishes between subjective and objective versions of Bayesianism, arguing for the latter variety. The distinction is made in terms of constraints on ur-priors. Lewis’s “Principal Principle” is discussed as one such constraint. The Carnapian program of delineating a unique ur-prior in purely syntactical terms is presented, and rejected for familiar reasons. It is then argued that the failure of the Carnapian program does not entail the failure of Objective Bayesianism more generally. Ur-prior Conditionalization is introduced as a better alternative to Conditionalization. The chapter ends by presenting Factualism, the view that our evidence consists of what we know.
Experientialism
Authors: Comesaña Juan
Published: April 2020

This chapter introduces and defends Experientialism, the view according to which our evidence consists in those beliefs that are ultima facie justified by our experiences. Experientialism is contrasted with Factualism and Psychologism. It is argued that both Psychologism and Factualism undercount how much evidence we have. Against Factualism, it is argued that it violates a “same subject matter” constraint on evidence. Against Factualism, it is argued that it entails the prevalence of epistemic dilemmas. Experientialism is defended as having neither of the problems of the other two views. The objection that Experientialism is compatible with the existence of inconsistent evidence is considered. Finally, the objection that Experientialism has troubles accounting for the defeasibility of empirical justification is also considered.
Conclusion
Authors: Comesaña Juan
Published: April 2020

The main threads of the book are brought together and summarized.
Theories as Sets of Propositions
Authors: French Steven
Published: April 2020

In this chapter, the so-called ‘Syntactic Approach’ is outlined that takes theories to be sets of propositions. This account has come under fire for its perceived inadequacy in capturing various aspects of scientific practice. However, recent developments in this approach have indicated how it may have the resources to accommodate these features. These developments are presented and the nature of propositions themselves explored, as abstract entities and fictions. The former raises obvious concerns about ontological inflation, whereas the latter requires changes in how we talk about the practices of scientists. A more economical view is offered by eliminativism and thus this chapter lays the groundwork for discussion of these issues in the rest of the book.
Theories as Families of Models
Authors: French Steven
Published: April 2020

The alternative to the ‘Syntactic Approach’ is the Semantic Approach, according to which theories should be characterized in terms of families of models. The issue of the linguistic independence of this framework is discussed and it is suggested that this approach offers a ‘toolbox’ of resources that can be deployed to capture various features of scientific practice. One such tool is the notion of a ‘partial structure’ by which such models can be formally presented, together with the associated device of partial isomorphisms, as deployed elsewhere. A recent critique of this approach is also discussed in some detail and it is argued that this critique assumes that theories are things with well-defined identity conditions, which is precisely the claim that is denied here. The chapter concludes by noting van Fraassen’s point that the critique also ignores the representational function of these models, which leads into Chapter 3.