THE EMPIRE OF THE FUTURE

This rich collection analyzes science in the archives over the past several thousand years. The chapters work together to tell stories of ambitious attempts to provide timeless data for science, which will be used for generations to come—ranging from ancient astronomy to geology to life‐logging and the development of web search. They also demonstrate convincingly that archives are powerful forces across the sciences—every science discussed has an archival base—which partly determine what kind of general knowledge claims can be made by future generations: it is hard to read an archive askance. The collection works best as a series of individual chapters, though some work is done to indicate where they speak to one another. It is a pity that there was not more input from archivists themselves in the project: their noninclusion means that some archival issues (especially what goes on with data after it gets into the archive—how it gets cleaned up, changed, reorganized) are treated somewhat lightly. The collection does provide a very useful set of tools for thinking about scientific archives. It is also an excellent introduction to the peculiarities of scientific archives—one that reflects back on the use of archives in history in general.     

THE FUTURE OF TIBETAN CULTURE

This is a short presentation drawn from a Belgian experience by Philippe Paquet,reporter at La Libre Belgique,Brussels,Beijing,October 2006.     

PANEL ON NATIONALISM IN THE USSR: ENVIRONMENTAL AND TERRITORIAL ASPECTS

A panel of geographers, demographers, and political scientists discusses a broad range of issues related to the resurgence of nationalism in the USSR and its relationship to environmental protest and territorial disputes: the emergence of nationality politics; differential rates of nationality population growth and urbanization; various conceptions of (and levels of autonomy within) ethnic homelands; the spatial pattern of actual and potential territorial claims; linkages between environmentalism and nationalism (with an emphasis on the Baltic and Central Asian republics); parallels and differences between the USSR and other countries; and consequences of efforts to implement republic-level economic autonomy and khozraschet.     

THE FUTURE OF TIBETAN CULTURE

This is a short presentation drawn from a Belgian experience by Philippe Paquet,reporter at La Libre Belgique,Brussels,Beijing,October 2006.     

IMPROVING THE ADMINISTRATIVE-TERRITORIAL DIVISION OF THE USSR

An essay devoted to improving the present system of oblasts, krays, ASSRs, etc. (i.e., political administrative units) focuses on current imbalances among these units in terms of size, population, etc. and their spatial incompatibility with emerging territorial production complexes. Historical factors contributing to current problems in territorial administration are outlined. Among the general approaches to improving the administrative-territorial system advocated by the author are the granting of political-administrative status to territorial production complexes and their incorporation within the administrative-territorial hierarchy and greater recognition of socioeconomic and environmental characteristics in the formulation of regionalization schemes. Translated by Elliott B. Urdang, Providence, RI 02906 from: Territorial'naya organizatsiya obshchestva i problemy mezhnatsional'nykh otnosheniy: Materialy k IX s'yezdu Geograficheskogo Obshchestva SSSR. Leningrad: Geograficheskoye Obshchestvo SSSR, 1990, pp. 32-38.     

TWO CULTURES OF THE POSTHUMAN FUTURE

The posthuman has been looming large on the human horizon lately. Yet there is no shared understanding of what a posthuman future could possibly mean, and the tension between a technological‐scientific prospect of posthumanity and the critical posthumanist scholarship of the humanities is growing palpable. Whereas the former harbors a novel sense of historicity signaled by the expectation of an evental change to bring about the technological posthuman as a previously nonexistent and other‐than‐human central subject, the latter theorizes a postanthropocentric subjectivity of beings still human. In doing so, it extends the already familiar emancipatory concerns of the human world over the nonhuman, with special attention paid to the ecological other. Despite the occasional claims of critical posthumanism to bring humanities and technological‐scientific approaches to a shared platform, the prospect of technological beings of unparalleled power and the ecotopia of species equality do not fit together very well. In this article I argue that, in their present shape, technological posthumanity and critical posthumanism represent hardly reconcilable social imaginaries and two cultures of the posthuman future. My intervention is a plea for developing a more profound and mutual understanding of both. Instead of advocating particular agendas that nevertheless claim validity for the entirety of planetary life and the entire scholarly enterprise of knowledge‐production, we could invest more in efforts to come to grips with both social imaginaries and venture jointly into the creation of the conceptual tools of a new knowledge economy of understanding the rapidly changing world and our own (post)human prospects.     

TYPES OF URBANIZATION IN THE USSR

A typology of urbanization is developed for the 163 major civil divisions of the USSR on the basis of three factors: (a) an index of the level of urbanization (incorporating the percentage of urban population, the share of cities of 100,000 or more in urban population, an index of urban agglomerations, and a coefficient adjusting for the density of urban population); (b) the structural complexity of urbanization (which is treated as deriving either solely from the urban population percentage in the simplest case; or from the urban population percentage and the share of large cities in a two-element case, or additionally from the presence of urban agglomerations in the three-element case); (c) the dominance of any of the three structural elements. The typology yields 24 combinations of the three factors out of a theoretically possible total of 54 combinations, some combinations being represented only by one or two examples. The typology is conceptualized as a mobile system in which particular major civil divisions may advance to higher levels as urbanization processes continue.     

THE PERIODICITY OF DROUGHTS IN THE GRAIN-GROWING AREAS OF THE USSR

On the basis of a chronology of droughts in the grain-growing regions of the USSR, compiled from historical sources and the more recent period of instrumental observations, the author shows that the occurrence of drought may be regarded as a random process characterized as a quasi-stationary Poisson series of events. Most of the grain regions in the USSR follow this regularity. In the case of simultaneous drought throughout the principal grain zone of the USSR, comprising the European part and the Midland region (West Siberia and Kazakhstan), the sequence of events assumes a nonstationary character. Statistical parameters are developed for the time series of drought years and nondrought years, and are compared with extreme values in grain-yield fluctuations. Over the last 140 years, drought occurred in 76 years in at least one of the three major grain regions of the USSR (European part, West Siberia, Kazakhstan) while 64 years had no drought and corresponding normal or higher yields. A catastrophic drought affecting all three grain regions simultaneously is virtually (95%) certain to occur at least once in 20 years.     

THE WATER ASPECT OF THE GEOGRAPHY OF AGRICULTURE IN THE USSR

The long-term grain requirements of the growing Soviet population are calculated. On the basis of the relationship between water use and grain yields by natural soil zones of the USSR, the authors show that the amount of water needed per unit of output declines with a growth of productivity, especially in the non-chernozem zone of the Soviet Union. It is therefore concluded that greater water savings might be assured by expanding grain production in zones with an adequate supply of natural moisture rather than by the use of artificial irrigation of arid lands.     

THE HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY RESEARCH AGENDA

Substantial opportunities exist for social scientists, humanists practitioners, and other scholars to contribute to research on higher education policy. Not only is the university or college an interesting study objective itself but also with higher education in the United States and worldwide so immersed in public policy considerations, the relations between academe and government raise many political, economic and other Questions. Some issues currently on the research agenda are listed here. The consequences of higher education policy research are also considered.     

THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF MINERAL INDUSTRIES

A research design for the study of environmental pollution by mineral industries is proposed, with particular reference to oil and gas extraction in the Volga region. In evaluating the environmental impact, three basic stages need to be distinguished: the impact proper, the environmental reaction and the longer-term consequences for the environment and for human activity. Pollution by mineral industries involves aspects common to most such industries and specific aspects associated with a particular mineral industry. Impacts may be examined from a quantitative and qualitative point of view and in the space-time perspective. Various productive facilities of a mineral industry (production wells, strip mines, deep mines, spoil banks, pipelines, railroads, highways) may have specific impacts on particular environmental components (land, air, water, biological communities). The specific impacts of the oil industry and the coal industry are compared.     

THE ENVIRONMENTAL STABILITY OF ANCIENT CERAMICS

A series of corrosion experiments was carried out using identical samples of a ceramic of known composition, structure and density which were subjected to a variety of simulated soil solutions. The action of the solutions was monitored by measuring their pH as a function of time at 25 °C and 90 °C. Under all conditions the pH stabilized rapidly. Microscopic and electron microscopic studies showed the presence of reaction/alteration products that would account for the observed pH changes. The findings indicate that ancient ceramics that exhibit no physical deterioration will have below their surface a composition corresponding to the composition of the sherd at the time of its burial.     

PREDICTION OF TRANSPORT-ECONOMIC LINKAGES IN THE USSR

Possible changes in production patterns of basic Soviet industries and the resulting interregional linkages and freight flows are projected over the next 25 to 30 years. Interregional energy flows are expected to be limited largely to oil and gas as well as power transmission at extra high voltages. Steam-coal movements will be restricted to the limits of particular economic regions, and coking-coal movements will be reduced as a result of technological changes in the iron and steel industry (electric steels, direct conversion, peat-based metallurgy). In general, the share of semifinished and finished goods is expected to increase and that of raw materials and fuels to decline in interregional hauls. The likely new flow patterns are examined for the Soviet Union's principal transport corridors.     

THE LARGEST KARST CAVES AND SHAFTS OF THE USSR

Increased speleological activity in the last 20 years has led to the discovery of 5,000 karst caves and shafts, concentrated mainly in the Caucasus, the Crimea and the Gissar-Alay mountain system of Soviet Central Asia. The largest caves and deepest shafts of the USSR are identified, and their basic characteristics are listed. The author discusses the position of portals, the character of the watersheds feeding the undergound streams, the morphology of the cavities, the rate of flow of underground streams, the chemical composition of the water, and the mutual arrangement of karst cavities.