Hybrids of the Romantic: Frankenstein,Olimpia, and Artificial Life

Hybride der Romantik: Frankenstein, Olimpia und das künstliche Leben . Dieser Beitrag untersucht Vorstellungen über die Möglichkeit der Erzeugung künstlicher Lebewesen in der Zeit der Romantik und die damit verbundenen Ängste am Beispiel zweier fiktionaler Texte: Mary Shelleys Frankenstein und Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmanns Sandmann. Dr. Franksteins Monster und Dr. Spalanzanis Automat verkörpern – auf unterschiedliche Weise – die Möglichkeit einer Wendung wissenschaftlicher Produkte und insbesondere künstlicher Hybride ins Monströse. Ihre Geschichten thematisieren das Grauen, das vom drohenden Kontrollverlust ausgeht und als der modernen Wissenschaft innewohnende Gefahr selbst nach der Zerstörung der monströsen Kreaturen bestehen bleibt. Der Begriff des Unheimlichen, von Ernst Jentsch und Sigmund Freud mit Bezug auf Hoffmanns Sandmann formuliert und 1970 von dem japanischen Robotiker Masahiro Mori als Phänomen „des unheimlichen Tals“ (Uncanny Valley) weiterentwickelt, erlaubt weitere Einblicke in die Frage nach künstlichen Lebewesen und ihre Interaktion mit Menschen. Summary: Hybrids of the Romantic: Frankenstein, Olimpia, and Artificial Life . This essay analyzes fantasies and fears related to the possible creation of artificial humans in two influential pieces of Romantic literature, namely E.T.A. Hoffmann's Der Sandmann and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Both the automaton Olimpia and Dr. Frankenstein's monster are hybrid creatures. These dystopian figures represent the Romantic fear of the loss of control over the outcome of human endeavour, they symbolize the dangers immanent in modern science and technology. As hybrids, Olimpia and Frankenstein's monster are capable of breaking apparently unpenetrable boundaries, such as those between human and non-human, and between life and death. As such, these creatures become “unheimlich” (uncanny), a critical term developed by Ernst Jentsch and Sigmund Freud, who directly referred to Hoffmann's Sandman. The term “uncanny” was further developed by the Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori in the 1970s. Mori's investigation of human responses to androids (“Uncanny Valley”), shows the persistence of doubts and fears surrounding artificial humans far beyond the Romantic times, and opens new questions related to the issues of creation, reproduction, hybrids, hubris and gender.     

A methodology to identify a network of industrial parks in the Ave valley,Portugal

In recent decades in Europe, municipalities have promoted many poorly qualified and widespread industrial parks. These policies have caused various problems such as oversupply of industrial land, obsolescence and high vacancy rates. The future of these sites is uncertain and has become a key issue in planning. Nowadays, policies are focused on upgrading these sites and on implementing regional coordinated practices. This paper describes a methodological approach to identifying a subregional network of industrial parks in the Ave valley, Portugal. The network is based on the parks’ attractiveness and has the purpose of supporting planning policies in terms of upgrading and providing new sites. The approach was based on a multi-criteria analysis whereby the parks were ranked according to their attractiveness considering their coverage in terms of infrastructures, services and accessibility. Results show that the majority of the existing and planned parks, even if upgraded, will not be very attractive and will be limited to a municipal scale due to structural problems related to their location and poor coverage. Moreover, the paper also discusses the challenges in implementing this planning approach at a subregional level. Despite the specificities of the case study, this methodology could be adopted in similar studies.     

宜城市几处东周文化遗址调查简报

2006年12月,武汉大学历史地理研究所与宜城市博物馆联合在宜城境内开展进一步的田野考古调查,着重踏勘了分布在蛮河流域的东周秦汉遗址,探讨它们与楚国都城和楚文化的发展、演变关系,此次调查不但加深了对这一地区已知东周文化遗址的认识,同时还发现了几处新遗址。     

论黄河流域前期新石器文化的文化特征和时代特征

７０年代以来,在黄河流域陆续发现的几支前期新石器文化,曾在学术界引起热烈讨论。本文通过对每个文化的分布区域及文化特征的具体分析,阐明了它们相互之间的纵横关系,认为它们是各自相对独立的文化实体。     

安徽淮河流域西周时期文化试析

本文结合考古和古文字材料,对安徽淮河流域西周时期文化进行了深入的探讨,指出周文化势力在西周时已深入到淮河中游地区,其南界并未越过江淮分水岭一线。     

长江流域“原史时代”概论

自新石器时代末史前文明断裂至秦帝国建立被正式纳入以中原地区为主体的历史体系之前的这一时期,是长江流域历史或文明进程中一个独特的阶段,其特征与西方史学和考古界通行的"原史时代"概念吻合,因而建议将这一时期独立出来作为长江流域史前时代和历史时代之间的过渡阶段——"原史时代",并就长江流域"原史时代"的特征、分期及其对于长江流域自身历史和人类文明进程研究的学术意义进行了阐述。     

The Taliban,Public Space,and Terror in Pakistan

Two UK-based specialists on terrorism in Pakistan use empirical evidence to document and analyze the Pakistani Taliban's (Tehrik-e-Taliban) practice of targeting spaces of public interaction for terrorism intended to suppress expressions of public unity and restrict venues for open discussion. In tracing the rise of the Taliban in Pakistan, the authors review the country's history of state and civil society formation, its relations with Afghanistan, and U.S. and Western policy in the region. The authors present timely information and insights that enhance understanding of the recent surge in terrorist attacks on civilians in Pakistan and its ties to the eastward spread of conflict from neighboring Afghanistan.     

长江中游地区六朝隋唐青瓷分期研究

长江中游地区古为“蛮荒之地”,但自汉末三国以后,由于中原地区战乱频繁,经济衰退,全国经济重心逐渐南移。中游各地丰富的矿产资源,优越的地理条件,加上北方移民的大量涌入,使得这一地区迅速得到开发,到六朝隋唐时期,农业生产已有了显著的发展,手工业和商业均有了长足的进步。长江中游的矿冶、造船、纺织、制茶、制瓷等手工业在全国同样享有盛名。瓷器生产是与人们生活息息相关的一个重要手工业部门,它的兴衰可以从侧面反映封建社会的经济发展情况。建国以来,随着考古工作的展开,长江中游地区墓葬中出土了越来越多的瓷器,并发…     

Illuminating the Victorians

ABSTRACT

From the beginning of the twentieth century, Japanese roboticists have observed specific features in the physical designs of humanoid robots that cause users to react with either fear or affection. Analyzing the sources of these reactions, robotics egineers eliminated from robots those features that might trigger negative associations, and instead embedded their designs with cues to norms, theories, and cultural references valued by their society. By analyzing Nishimura Makoto’s building of an affable artificial human named Gakutensoku, Mori Masahiro’s discovery of the phenomenon of the ‘uncanny valley’, and Ishiguro Hiroshi’s current employment of cognitive, social, and psychological sciences to overcome the ‘uncanny’ impression of his robots, this essay claims that the development of the field of humanoid robotics in Japan was driven by concern with human emotion and cognition, and shaped by Japanese roboticists’ own associations with the social and intellectual environments of their time.     

新见三件“叔休”器及相关问题

本文通过研究追缴回来的三件"叔休器"和见于著录的五件"叔休器",判断目前所见所有"叔休器"均属同一器主。叔休可能为春秋早期管理当地盐业贸易的职官,身份地位均较重要。同时结合铭文内容等认为"叔休器"可能来源于淮河流域信阳一带的周代诸侯小国"冠"。冠、番、樊等可能是被淮河以外诸国称"繁"的不同小国,它们位于淮河流域信阳一带,在商周时期盐铜贸易环节发挥了重要作用,逐渐形成盐铜交易枢纽"繁阳"。