Ethics, regulation and the new artificial intelligence, part II: autonomy and liability

This is the second article in a two-part series on the social, ethical and public policy implications of the new artificial intelligence (AI). The first article briefly presented a neo-Durkheimian understanding of the social fears projected onto AI, before arguing that the common and enduring myth of an AI takeover arising from the autonomous decision-making capability of AI systems, most recently resurrected by Professor Kevin Warwick, is misplaced. That article went on to argue that, nevertheless, some genuine and practical issues in the accountability of AI systems that must be addressed. This second article, drawing further on the neo-Durkheimian theory, sets out a more detailed understanding of what it is for a system to be autonomous enough in its decision making to blur the boundary between tool and agent. The importance of this is that this blurring of categories is often the basis, the first article argued, of social fears.     

Making Feminist Sense out of ‘Charlie Wilson's War’

Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Mike Nichols's film about the womanizing Congressman who engineered black funds for the CIA's proxy war in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan, is historically misleading but highly instructive, because in packaging dominant American masculine identity and war politics as popular entertainment for post-9/11 audiences, it reveals the sexed and gendered ‘politics of the visual’ in global affairs. This intertextual study of ‘Charlie Wilson's war’ as movie, constructed history and legacy examines Wilson as a prime exhibit of a needy masculinity that, like the film's emasculated CIA, bulks itself up through surrogate military selves. It also analyses modes of the imaginary and specularity in brother-bonding with the mujahidin, tracks the proxy system's loops of masculine identity-and-war-making between Stateside and South Asia in the post-Vietnam 1980s and interrogates the dynamics of imperial ‘un-seeing’ in this campaign and its long aftermath. While US proxy wars proliferate worldwide, the lack of useable political memory about the ground truths of ‘Charlie's war’ continues to matter because America's second ‘good’ war in Afghanistan, bound to the first by gendered causal links, has re-empowered the forces that still menace women's rights and lives.     

Le bon,la brute et le migrant ? Le rôle négocié des acteurs religieux dans un dispositif policier d’enfermement des étrangers en Allemagne

Contrary to the French model, the German detention and deportation centre for irregular migrants that has been studied here does not allow for any third parties other than chaplains. However, their scope of action goes far beyond spiritual assistance and extends to the defence of detained aliens’ rights and political contestation of the confinement regime. The detention centre therefore brings together two professional groups, chaplains and police officers, whose goals are a priori irreconcilable. After explaining the origins of this unique juxtaposition, I will analyse here the impact of the presence of religious actors within the state confinement regime on the construction, by each group of actors, of its professional legitimacy and on the practices of assistance and control that go along with it.     

Tri et affectation des détenus en régime différencié

On the basis of a nonparticipant observation in a detention center, an explanation is formulated about how detainees are screened upon admission and then assigned to various forms of detention. Each form is characterized by the specific factors, controls and interactions that affect a set of decisions about disciplinary measures, work and the sentences of detainees. The circularity in this complex decision-making process affects, in turn, exchanges by reinforcing the interactional particularities of each form of detention. The interdependence between decision-making and interactions feeds back into the process so as to increase the confidence that corrections officers have in the initial screening and assignment of detainees.     

Brand Name Translation and the Target Culture

1 .Avoidance of cultural conflicts
During the translation of trademark brand names, if the translation is in contradiction with the culture of the target audience group, then alternative methods should be used. That is to strive to be vivid, crisp, imaginative and creative on the basis of being in line with the target culture. This is the organic unity of the text translation and cultural translation. Translation of the trademark brand name should be the ＂the artistic creation in translation＂ and the ＂re-creation＂ or ＂artistic creation＂ should be precisely defined as ＂the comparison of the two cultures＂. To translate the trademark and brand name, the translator should pay full attention to the taboos and preferences of different ethnic groups.     

IRELAND: DISTANCE EDUCATION IN AN EXPANDING DEMOCRACY

The recent and explosive development of the Irish economy has earned the Republic the popular accolade, CelticTiger . Enticed by government subsidies and tax incentives, foreign investors favour location in Ireland in order to penetrate the Single European Market (SEM). Commensurate with the demands of foreign investors for a fully developed infrastructure, the deregularization of the Irish Telecoms market (1998) has afforded new opportunities for the transformation of education and training in Ireland. This paper explores the democratizing potential of distance education within the Irish Republic. It focuses on awareness programmes and initiatives for the promotion of information technology (IT) access, and considers particular challenges in ensuring equal access to the benefits of new technologies, for all.     

Le SAT et l’accès aux études supérieures : le recrutement des élites américaines en question

James Conant developed the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in the 1930s in line with thought about the mobility of elites, a subject that many American as well as European intellectuals were discussing. This test, now used for the admission of high school graduates to universities, was to be a means for detecting talented youngsters and, in fine, producing a model of society. Nowadays, the SAT has a value as a means of effectively comparing students nationwide; but in practice, it serves to reproduce a certain social elite. Far from measuring pure intelligence disconnected from culture, it has turned into a commodity advantageous to certain social groups and ethnic communities.     

Destins professionnels des femmes ingénieures. Des retournements inattendus

In the late 1970s, a major change in techniques and a modification of the job structure opened the way for women to become engineers in the computer sciences. At the time, working conditions and policies for managing careers allowed them to benefit from ascending mobility, while still investing in family life. Given its strong growth, information technology soon became the main branch of the French economy with openings for women engineers. The downturn in employment during the 1990s and its management through “psychology-based” training arrangements restored the sexual division of labor, as women were forced out of “noble” positions in engineering and design or even out of the branch itself. These two recent trends — a feminization and then “defeminization” of reputedly “masculine” jobs — are analyzed.     

On Subtitle Translation

Under the background of increasingly frequent international cultural exchanges, the film subtitle translation attracts more and more attention. It helps the film appreciation across different cultures and promotes the culture transmission. In the film subtitle translation practice, a lot of efforts have been made. The status quo of film subtitle translation is fairish on the whole. But there are still several major problems hindering the development of film subtitle translation. Thus there is still a lot to do to improve it.     

The causes of terrorism

Abstract

Terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 and after intensified concerns about a global Jihad and other forms of terrorism, and renewed calls to better understand its causes or roots. There have been divergent views on this question, and terrorism has been argued to be caused by increased poverty, rapid urbanization, declining traditional authority, globalization, and so forth. These differences, reflecting philosophical, religious, political and other differences, are not merely academic; they can affect our understanding of both the threat and of responses to terrorism. This article provides an analytic framework for understanding the limits to understanding the causes of terrorism, identifying what can be known about causation and assessing counterterrorism implications.     

Social Change and Educational Technologies: By Invitation or Invasion

Abstract

This empirical research looks into the theoretical supposition that the social fabric can be shaped by educational technologies. It addresses the research question: how (and why) has the introduction of educational technologies into higher education institutions influenced the social configuration? This is answered through a qualitative case study of a Saudi state university, based on analysis of interviews, observations, and documents. Data analysis underpins the supposition of the study, demonstrating that the introduction of educational technologies into a university, for good or ill, deliberately or unintentionally, can engender changes in social structures, practices and relations. The recommendation for policy action, therefore, is that, given the technologically-shaped nature of society, the planning and development process of educational technologies should be more participatory, with all different categories of actors being involved and in turn able to express feelings, articulate needs, and negotiate interests. This process should be intended to arrive at a fuller understanding of these groups’ needs, thus overcoming what technologically constrains them and therefore ensuring that the technological shaping of society does not oppress the affected public.     

PROMOTING SCHOLARSHIP THROUGH DESIGN

How can new media positively transform scholarly practices? One possible way is for scholarly archives such as e-journals and digital libraries to better support the needs and practices of their users, instead of the publishing process. This article examines what it might mean to promote cognitive and social aspects of 'scholarship' through innovative archive design. Design requirements for supporting both scholarly tasks and scholarly communities are derived by analysing existing cognitive and social theories. A theoretical framework for guiding archive design is introduced: the contextually enriched document framework. This framework suggests that: document interfaces should enable practitioners to progressively enrich documents with important contextual information arising from social processes; and archive managers should engage in proactive practices to facilitate use and assist practitioners in realizing the benefits of the new technology. Both the design requirements and the framework are illustrated with examples from an existing electronic journal - The Journal of Interactive Media in Education .     

Land conflict in Nepal1

This paper examines the agrarian social relationships between peasant farmers and local feudal landlords. Using land conflict as a basis of analysis this paper explores the basic characteristics of a Nepalese power skewed rural society and its relation with land. A case study was conducted using key informants and semi-structured interviews, focus group discussion, questionnaire survey, and observation to examine the agrarian social relations. The paper highlights that reformative rules and regulations alone do not always govern the behaviour of powerful people in rural communities. Rather, context and time-specific, persistent local resistance movements force changes to their behaviour and associated power relations. The paper concludes that organized peasant movements could non-coercively change existing patron-client relations in agrarian society. Rural families and tenant farmers are able to establish their identity when they realize their strengths. Este papel examina las relaciones sociales agrarias entre campesinos y propietarios campesinos feudales locales. Usando el conflicto de la tierra como base del análisis, este papel explora las características básicas del poder asimétrico de la sociedad rural nepalés y su relación con la tierra. Se llevó a cabo un estudio de caso utilizando un informante clave y entrevistas semi-estructuradas, discusiones de un grupo muestra elegido y la inspección y observación de cuestionarios para examinar las relaciones agrarias sociales. El papel subraya que el comportamiento de la gente poderosa en la sociedad rural no siempre está gobernada sólo por las normas reformativas y por las reglas. Más bien, el contexto y los movimientos específicos y persistentes de resistencia local hacen cambiar su comportamiento y sus relaciones asociadas al poder. Se concluye que los movimientos campesinos organizados pueden cambiar sin coerción las relaciones existentes entre cliente y patrón en la sociedad agraria. Las familias rurales y los arrendatarios son capaces the establecer su identidad cuando se dan cuenta de sus fuerzas.     

La transition théâtrale dans l'ex-RDA : vers la recherche de nouvelles formes de régulation organisationnelle

Organized around a very dense set of public institutions, the theater world in the former German Democratic Republic has undergone major changes since reunification. New organizational models have come into being, often imported from West Germany, that jeopardize the foundations of theater practices in the East. In East Germany, people working in theater were strongly protected: homogeneous training, lifetime employment, the stability of forms of artistic cooperation, etc. Since reunification, a new division of labor and a new human resource management have been imposed in public theaters. The profession’s rules are changing as the itineraries of theater people are being individualized. The diversification of the theater world makes public institutions fragile. On the basis of field work in Saxony, questions are raised about how public theaters are being recomposed in the East. Attention is paid to individual and collective movements and to the movements of organizations.     

Introduction: Transnational Lesbian Cultures

This special issue examines the transnational shape and shaping of lesbian lives and cultures in and across China, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It uses the expression “transnational lesbian cultures” to suggest that despite sometimes radically different sociopolitical and cultural contexts, the lived experiences of same-sex desire and their emotional attachments create particular affinities between women who love women, affinities that reach across the distinct cultural and social contexts that shape them. The articles brought together explore lesbian subcultures, film, graphic novels, music, and online intimacies. They show that as a cultural and political signifier and as an analytical tool, lesbian troubles and complicates contemporary sexual politics, not least by revealing some of the gendered structures that shape debates about sexuality in a range of critical, cultural and political contexts. While the individual pieces cover a wide range of issues and concerns—which are often highly specific to the historical, cultural, and political contexts they discuss—together they tell a story about contemporary transnational lesbian culture: one that is marked by intricate links between norms and their effects and shaped by the efforts to resist denial, discrimination, and sometimes even active persecution.     

THE INFORMATION SOCIETY AS MEGA-MACHINE

Too often the history of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is wrenched out of the history of technology and presented as something altogether separate and therefore different, rendering previous analyses irrelevant. However, there are sufficient analytical tools to hand without the continual invention of new paradigms to understand the current stage of technological advance. To support this contention, in this article, the continuing relevance of Lewis Mumford is explored. Mumford's discussion of the megalopolis and the emergence of the invisible city as its most developed state make a direct link with the networked information society, establishing a link between the information society and Mumford'sanalysis of the previous history of technology.At the centre of Mumford'sdiscussion of this history is the dialectic interaction of authoritarian and democratic technics. Mumford's notion of technics stresses that technologies can not be divided from the social relations in which they appear. In the information society,this dialectical pair map onto the twin dynamics of enclosure and disclosure. The former dynamic represents the control of information through commodification and marketization, the latter the recognition of the empowering and emancipatory qualities of ICTs. Up until now,discussions of the information society have regarded only one or other dynamic as normal, whereas utilizing Mumford'sinsight, the contradictory character of the information society can be theorized without rendering the second dynamic abnormal. Thus, the article concludes that recourse to Mumford's ideas, to re-embed ICTs in the history of technology, allows a more nuanced and fruitful treatment of current developments in information society.     

Logiques professionnelles et logiques familiales : une articulation contrainte par la délocalisation de l'emploi

A survey of French wage-earners faced with the delocalization of their factory, which moved 200 kilometers away from their homes, sheds light on the contingencies of integrating life at work and at home. A typology is presented of how wage-earners balanced geographical and occupational factors so as to make choices. Certain decisions resulted from tensions between family and occupational interests whereas occupational and economic purposes prevailed in other cases without contradicting family attachments. Four types are discussed; for instance, job instability and mobility tend to reinforce affiliations having to do with housing, the family and the private sphere. Requirements for residential mobility thus increase social inequality between wage-earners, who are not all equipped alike for coping with occupational and family-related risks.     

La barrière et le plafond de vitrail. Analyser les carrières féminines dans les organisations religieuses

Research conducted mainly in the United States and France on how ordination works like a barrier to the feminization of religious staffs in various Christian and Jewish organizations has brought to light factors for distinguishing several cases: women either gain formal access to religious offices, or informally exercise religious duties, or are barred from religious offices. The second part of this article examines the level in these organizations where this barrier has been lifted, in particular the dissymmetries between men's and women's careers. Emphasis is laid on comparisons with other professions, since similar processes operate underneath the religious sphere's apparent differences, as reflected by the phrase “stained-glass ceiling”.     

Minimum wage violation in central and eastern Europe

This article analyses minimum wage violations over the period 2003–12 in ten central and eastern European countries which all have national statutory minimum wages. Using European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU‐SILC) data and the methodology proposed by Bhorat, Kanbur and Mayet (2013), the authors measure the incidence and depth of violation. In addition, they conduct regression analyses on individual, workplace and macro‐level determinants of non‐compliance. While the incidence of violation remains relatively low, the workers that minimum wage policies seek to protect appear to be the most likely to be affected by non‐compliance. Over time, higher minimum to average wage ratios are related to a higher incidence of violation.     

How to Sharpen Words: Mayakovsky’s Machines of Poetic Humour

Analysis of Mayakovsky’s prose writings of the mid-1920s on the craft of satire reveals that he understood it to be a scientific discipline subject to strict cause-and-effect relationships: if the satirical treatment of a theme — any theme — is correct, then the piece will produce ‘involuntary laughter’ (neproizvol’nyi smekh). As an example, he puts forward his 1923 poem ‘Schematic of Laughter’ (Skhema smekha) — a text he claims contains no comic ideas, but only the correct satirical sharpening of discourse. As a barebones inventory of comic devices, the poem is a perfect place to begin an examination of Mayakovsky’s poetics of humour. But it is not alone; in a note to the 1925 poem ‘Shallow Philosophy in Deep Places’ (Melkaia filosofiia na glubokikh mestakh), Mayakovsky explains that it too is a ‘skeleton poem’ (stikh-skelet), just like the ‘Schematic’, and another compendium of humorous devices. Together, then, these poems represent the purest and most concentrated expression of Mayakovsky’s understanding of the mechanics of poetic humour. Sustained close reading of both poems reveals that his humorous devices, ranging from formal to narrative, all serve to establish and then deceive expectations in the reader.