Tuesday, July 21, 2020

From 2013... . Hegelian-Marxist Pornology, Lack of Courage, and Babbling Theorizing

Pornodialectics: From Coming to Becoming. Bradley Tuck. One+One Issue 10. Feb 25 2013. https://www.academia.edu/3723924/

Introduction:

In March 2003, the University of Alabama hosted a debate between pornographer-multimedia star Ron Jeremy and new anti-pornography activist Susan B. Cole. Sounds controversial. Yet students were far from outraged that a porn star had been elevated to an expert panellist at a university event, even on a moderately conservative southern campus. Nor were any feminist activists on campus rallying to Cole’s side. Instead Jeremy was greeted with cheers from students dressed in t-shirts boasting “I love porn,” while Cole was booed and jeered at by the audience. Despite Cole’s careful insistence that she was not opposed to sex and wasn’t a member of the “sex police,” she was mocked for arguing that pornography exploits women. During the panel debate, which was mostly a forum for Jeremy to boast about the benefits of porn and “having a party,” students took the opportunity to ask Cole questions like, “what’s your fucking problem?”
        - Pamela Paul, Pornified p.113

[Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families. 2007. https://www.amazon.com/Pornified-Pornography-Transforming-Relationships-Families-ebook/dp/B003J5UIWI]

Last section:

16.   Pornodialectics demands that we challenge the means of production, the exploitation of the capitalist system and even capitalism itself. It opposes the oppressive and exploitative nature of the free-market to fairer and more participatory economics. It encourages the equality, health and self-determination of all those who work on it. It does not value any individual over another and encourages the economic equality of each of its members. We may say that the telos of pornodialectics is inherently communistic, we look forward to the genuinely universal emancipatory society, where the fruits of life and love are shared in common. We, therefore, follow in the footsteps of the great gay communists of the 70s. As Mario Mieli writes, “The struggle for communism today must find expression, among other things, in the negation of the heterosexual Norm that is based on the repression of Eros and is essential for maintaining the rule of capital over the species. The ‘perversions’, and homosexuality in particular, are a rebellion against the subjugation of sexuality by the established order, against the almost total enslavement of eroticism (repressed or repressively desublimated) to the ‘performance principle’, to production and reproduction (of labour-power).” 4 We must embark upon a two pronged process. A cultural challenge of the conservative, libertarian and heteronormative expectations and conventions through the creation of new values and practices, but integrated within newly arising economic and political demands. The opposition to subjugation, labour and exploitation must be conjoined with a new aspiration towards pleasure beyond the capitalistic dichotomy of work and leisure (consumerism). Pornodialectics challenges the means of production and the normative curtailment of man’s potential to re-open the process of man’s continual becoming.

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My comments: Why Bradley thinks he is so transgressive, dynamic, and post-modern? He says "The ‘perversions’, and homosexuality in particular, are a rebellion," but he doesn't have the courage to mention gay paederasty, which is more rebellious and confronts more directly "heterosexual Norm."

Bradley, you are ducking the big questions, the big fights, the great sexual traditions.

Are there means to help optimize the (science, technology, and enterprise) components of Earth System predictability research? Would a top-down Systems-of-Systems design & development approach help advance research?

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2020. Earth System Predictability Research and Development: Proceedings of a Workshop in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, Jul 2020. https://doi.org/10.17226/25861

Panelist Ruby Leung, Department of Energy Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, emphasized that model biases are limiting understanding of Earth system predictability and the ability to make predictions. [Jean-Francois] Lamarque agreed, pointing out that several of these biases have been present in climate models for decades, but the reasons for them are not well understood. Improving understanding of how to resolve these biases has not been a focus of climate model intercomparison efforts.

Increasing model resolution could be a game changer in how persistent model biases and improving predictability are addressed, said Leung, because it would allow simulation of subgrid-scale processes that are currently parameterized. Furthermore, fully representing subgrid moist convection processes could help address the lack of variability or chaotic behavior in the models that results in misrepresentation of the signal-to-noise ratio used to estimate predictability. Similarly, fully simulating mesoscale eddies could improve modeling of air-sea interactions that contribute to subseasonal-to-interannual predictability.

Multi-disciplinary teams of observationalists, modelers, software engineers, computational scientists, and data analysts are needed to make progress in Earth system modeling, said Lamarque.


NEW RESEARCH FRAMEWORK FOR PRACTICABLE EARTH SYSTEM PREDICTABILITY

Development of a national approach and strategy to knit together predictability-focused theoretical work with observational, modeling, and technology research is an imperative for advancing practicable prediction, said session chair Jenni Evans, The Pennsylvania State University. This session explored opportunities to break down compartmentalization of communities. By making convergent research the new normal, and developing and sustaining a creative workforce, a new foundation on the science and applications of Earth system predictability research can be created.

Duane Waliser, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, started off the session by suggesting the application of a more formal systems engineering approach (see Box 2), to break down the complexity of Earth system predictability into a coordinated and collaborative outcome-driven program. The need for a systems engineering approach stems from the sheer complexity of the questions and objectives being considered: Earth system science is complex, the technology and tools (including models and observations) are rapidly evolving, and the programmatic aspects of the enterprise (including civil, commercial and social) are challenging to optimally coordinate. Waliser argued that a system of systems (SoS) approach could be a way to judiciously integrate and evolve the underlying components to maximize value and societal impacts.

Waliser explained that the Earth system prediction enterprise could be roughly equated to a “collaborative” SoS (Box 2), one that has developed over the last 50 years on a somewhat ad-hoc basis. While this type of SoS tends to rely on a voluntary approach to coordination, it has yielded significant environmental forecast capabilities and decision support guidance. However, given the critical importance of Earth system prediction to the security and resilience of society, there may be reasons to consider moving to an SoS approach that would entail a more formal design and management process, in order to achieve future advances. Waliser posed the questions: “Are there means to help optimize the (science, technology, and enterprise) components? Would a top-down SoS design and development approach help advance Earth system predictability? Are there aspects of a systems engineering approach that would help to achieve an overall vision for Earth system prediction and the decision-support guidance it enables? Is there a need for a coordinating office or body that could direct effort and resources, one that takes into account the strengths and complementary elements of the various agencies and commercial enterprises that have a role and stake in contributing to this critical national capability?” To answer these questions, Waliser suggested assembling a team of systems engineering and Earth system prediction experts to assess the value of more formally engaging an SoS perspective to help guide the nation’s Earth systems predictability roadmap and prioritizations.

Panelist Paula Bontempi, NASA, highlighted the need for having a structure in place that integrates communities and avoids compartmentalization. Bontempi urged agencies to create opportunities that encourage disciplines, as well as scientists and managers, to work together towards common objectives. She said that one solution is to craft solicitations and competitions for federal research and development funding in ways that inspire the next generation to be creative in proposing ideas that break down compartmentalization.

Panelist Waleed Abdalati, NOAA/CIRES and University of Colorado at Boulder, reinforced the need to employ systems-level thinking. Abdalati spoke of the importance of a shared focus, shared vision, and shared strategy to empower agencies to prioritize a collective effort and move away from the sum of the parts approach for Earth systems predictability research. Abdalati said that agencies need to be liberated to do more than just play in the sandbox together; they need to build the sandbox together.

Panelist Chris Bretherton, University of Washington, reiterated the need for a coordinated interagency research agenda and identified other challenges to avoiding compartmentalization. To foster an environment of interdisciplinary research, it is important to have open, accessible, well-documented and publicized community models and data sets. An investment in software engineering is needed to make existing data and models as useful for interdisciplinary research as possible by lowering barriers to access. Furthermore, Bretherton advised clearly defining shared goals that naturally bring communities together.

Several panelists emphasized that achieving a new research framework to progress understanding of Earth system predictability requires an inspired next generation of scientists and engineers. Bretherton explained that students need to be educated on Earth system predictability as interdisciplinary research. According to Abdalati, to attract a talented workforce, a perception needs to prevail that this research is of utmost importance and is recognized and supported from leaders of all sectors of society.
Box 2: What is Systems Engineering? 
Systems engineering concentrates on understanding, designing, and managing complex systems, namely, systems of interworking components that synergistically work together to perform a useful function (e.g. spacecraft, robotics, software, manufacturing processes, communication systems, healthcare, defense, etc.). 
Systems engineering includes requirements development, logistics, team coordination, testing and evaluation, costs, reliability, work processes, optimization, risk management, and often the overlaps between technical and human systems. 
Systems of systems (SoS) can be defined by the degree to which it relies upon formal design and management processes: 
• Virtual SoS lack a central management authority and centrally recognized purpose but results in an emergent, useful behavior.
• Collaborative SoS involve voluntary actions by component systems to meet recognized central purposes.
• Acknowledged SoS have recognized central purposes, as well as a designated manager and resources, while component systems retain independence.
• Directed SoS entail an integrated SoS that is built and managed to meet specific purposes. 
Source: MITRE. 2014. Systems Engineering Guide: Collected Wisdom from MITRE’s Systems Engineering Experts. Bedford, MA: The MITRE Corporation.

All the 4 facets of justice sensitivity were moderately heritable (21%–33%) & the non-shared environmental factors accounted for the rest variations (67%–79%); sensitivity to others’ suffering is grounded upon genetic origin

Heritability of justice sensitivity. Wang,Yun 1,2,3 ; Luo,Yu 3,4 ; Wu, Shengtao 5 ; Zhou, Yuan. PsyChinaXiv, Jul 10 2020. http://psych.chinaxiv.org/abs/202007.00020

Abstract: Justice is one of fundamental principles in human evolution, and justice sensitivity, both from the proself perspective (e.g., as victim) and the prosocial perspective (e.g., as observer, beneficiary, and perpetrator), matters in mental wellness and social interaction. However, it remains unclear to what extent individual difference in justice sensitivity is influenced by genetic versus environmental factors. Using a sample with 244 twin pairs, the present research was an attempt to determine what extent genetic factor plays a role in the inter-individual difference of justice sensitivity as well as whether different facets of justice sensitivity, namely, proself and prosocial perspective, share common genetic basis. Results showed that (1) all the four facets of justice sensitivity were moderately heritable (21%–33%) and that the non-shared environmental factors accounted for the rest variations (67%–79%); (2) associations between the prosocial facets of justice sensitivity were driven by common genetics (rg: .50–.65) and non-shared environmental (re: .24–.65) influences, whereas no strong evidence supported a genetic correlation between proself and prosocial justice sensitivity. The current findings provide novel evidence that sensitivity to injustice, especially to others’ suffering, is fundamentally grounded upon genetic origin, thus shedding light on the nature and nurture aspects of justice behavior.

DOI:10.12074/202007.00020
Keywords: justice sensitivity; heritability; twin study; behavioral genetics



Children Are Not Losing Contact with Nature: They have less experience with traditional extensive farming activities, but have much more experience with nature, connected with recreational and field-trip activities

Are Children Actually Losing Contact with Nature, or Is It That Their Experiences Differ from Those of 120 years Ago? Petr Novotný et al. Environment and Behavior, July 1 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916520937457

Abstract: We compared the experience with nature of today’s children with data from the beginning of the 20th century to determine whether we can confirm a loss of experience and contribute to the description of changes in children’s relationship with nature. We used a questionnaire originally published in 1900 for this survey. Results from contemporary participants tested by ANOVA showed no difference in level of experience according to the age of the respondents. Comparing historical data with current data by a Z-test for proportions and Cohen’s h, we found a significant increase in contemporary children’s summary experiences. Although children of the 21st century have less experience with traditional extensive farming activities and biotechnologies, they have much more experience with nature, apparently connected with recreational and field-trip activities. We cannot confirm a decrease in experience among generations, on the contrary, we found a summary increase in experience.

Keywords: human-nature interactions, experience of nature, biophilia, historical comparison, nature-deficit disorder




From 2019... Resistance, Subversion, and the Absence of Religion in Traditional Societies

From 2019... Resistance, Subversion, and the Absence of Religion in Traditional Societies. June 2019. Benjamin Grant Purzycki, Richard Sosis. Jun 2019. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333618468

Description: How prevalent is religious doubt among the traditional, small-scale populations typically studied by anthropologists? Do traditional peoples resist religious mores? If so, how? Our chapter aims to answer these questions. We first consider the claim that some small-scale populations lack religion, or certain forms of religion, by examining several ethnographic case studies from around the world. We then discuss cases where populations incorporate subversion into religious traditions. We conclude by looking forward and recommending directions for future research on nonbelief and doubt among traditional populations.

Germany 2003-2017: Overall physical activity remained stable among youths in the past ten years, however, there is an ongoing trend towards organized forms of PA at the expense of unorganized sports and playing outside

The physical activity of children and adolescents in Germany 2003-2017: The MoMo-study. Steffen C. E. Schmidt ,Bastian Anedda,Alexander Burchartz,Doris Oriwol,Simon Kolb,Hagen Wäsche,Claudia Niessner,Alexander Woll. PLoS One, July 16, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236117

Abstract: With digitalization and virtual entertainment being the megatrends of the 21st century, there is reasonable concern about the role of physical activity (PA) in the daily life of children and adolescents. To identify risk-groups with insufficient PA and to guide interventions, continuous and representative tracking of PA is crucial. In this paper, representative PA data of children and adolescents from the Motorik-Modul (MoMo) baseline study (2003–2006, N = 4,528) is compared to those of Wave 2 (2014–2017, N = 3,708). Participants aged 4–17 were drawn out of 167 sample points in Germany and the data was weighted to ensure representativeness for Germany. Organized (sports clubs and schools) and unorganized (unorganized sports and playing outside) PA was measured by questionnaire and stratified by sex, age, and socioeconomic status. Contrary to common expectation, overall PA remained stable among youths in the past ten years, however, there is an ongoing trend towards organized forms of PA at the expense of unorganized sports and playing outside. Besides different trends in settings, there is inequality in PA distribution among socioeconomic status and gender, unequally pronounced in different settings.


4 Discussion

The MoMo Wave 2 data confirm the trend of decreasing unorganized PA and increasing organized PA among children and adolescents living in Germany. The results are consistent with the results of Wave 1 (2009–2012) data [8]. However, a slight overall increase in PA that has been found in the data from 2003 to 2012 [8] could not be confirmed. Additionally, a closer look at the settings and disadvantaged groups revealed significant, setting-specific socioeconomic inequalities in PA behavior that should be used to tailor target-group and setting-specific interventions.

4.1 Organized physical activity

Whereas time spent in curricular sports remained stable from 2003 to 2017, the overall time spent in extracurricular sports increased from 6.1 to 16.6 minutes per week. This finding verifies the trend we observed from Wave 1 data [8], evolving extracurricular activities to an important setting for organized PA in Germany. One reason for this development might be the extensive implementation of daytime schools in Germany in the last years. The fear of a "PA cannibalism" at the expense of PA in sports clubs with increasing PA in schools and other extracurricular activities [26] is not confirmed. However, this study shows evidence for a general PA cannibalism, but at the expense of unstructured PA. Boys reported slightly higher amounts of extracurricular PA in school compared to girls, especially at the age of 11 to 13, but mean differences between genders are small. Taking into account the apparent gender inequality in sports clubs, extracurricular sports could be used as a vehicle to promote PA among girls in the school setting.
Considering the 15-year trend from Baseline to Wave 2, an increase in participation rates from 53.5% to 60.0% and 89.4 to 99.1 minutes PA in sports clubs was observed. Official numbers from the DOSB also report relatively stable rates of sports club memberships during the 2000s and 2010s with rates peaking at 79.8% among 7-to-14-year-old boys and 61.1 among 7-to-14-year-old girls [10]. In sum, a total of 60.0% of children and adolescents living in Germany report to participate in PA in sports clubs (Table 1). Overall rates of participation in sports clubs peak as early as between the age of six to ten and then decline slowly until adulthood. This decline in PA participation during adulthood is also reported in Canadian studies [2728]. Studies with non-humans show that a decline in PA of up to 50% appears at the maturation from adolescence to adulthood in nearly every living being [29]. However, Farooq and colleagues stated in a recent study that PA declines as early as from the age of 7 years in western civilizations and that there was no evidence indicating a substantially smaller decline during childhood than during the transition between adolescence and adulthood [30]. Considering the overall average time spent with PA per week (Table 2) compared to PA participation rates, a decline is delayed to late adolescents, as training volumes increase with age which, in turn, compensate for drop-outs. However, sports clubs are still the most important setting for the PA of children and adolescents in Germany and become more important worldwide [31]. A critical question is how to foster the active participation of adults in sports clubs. Offering a broader range of sports, including new trend sports and sports-related activities, as well as age-appropriated forms of motivation and competition are just some of many possible examples for interventions in the setting sports club.

4.2 Unorganized physical activity & playing outside

Data from Wave 1 showed that in Germany, unorganized sports activity as well as playing outside decreased between 2003 and 2012. This decline could be confirmed by our recent Wave 2 data. Other international studies also reported a declining trend in active play [32]. Reviews state that active, unstructured play in developed countries is decreasing for various reasons, including increased screen time, safety concerns (e.g. traffic, stranger danger), emphasis on organized youth sports, and parental work [5]. Although studies show that PA, particularly unorganized activity, is an effective way to decrease obesity in children [33], active play is likely of light intensity and to date, still, the significance of light and/or incidental PA among children and adolescents, is widely unknown [5]. One promising approach in promoting unorganized PA such as playing outside or active commuting is to improve walkability [34]. Walkability is, in turn, linked to unorganized sports activity and outside play in children [34]. Even though, there is some evidence that active commuting is not, or even negatively linked to organized PA in children under 10 years of age [35]. However, it may be a source of unorganized PA for older children and adolescents, just because of the fact they cross and use playgrounds on their way [36].

4.3 Overall PA & socioeconomic inequalities

Our study shows that overall PA among children and adolescents in Germany did not decline significantly during the 2000s and 2010s, although this expectation was expressed in previous research [37]. Other national studies and previous research support this finding [78]. Referring to international PA recommendations [4] overall PA is on an unsatisfying level in Germany [38]. Nevertheless, the signaled crisis in childhood PA [56] did not get worse during the 2000s and 2010s in Germany and there is a lack of representative data from periods before 2000 to discuss earlier trends.
However, as our survey assessed mainly sports activity, shifts in light PA may have been unobserved in our study. A recent Norwegian study among a representative sample of 9-year-olds found, that the prevalence of children and adolescents meeting the Norwegian PA recommendations was similar in 2005–2006 and 2011–2012. Yet, their accelerometer data indicated that both children and adolescents substituted time spent in light PA for time spent sedentary [39].
The decrease of unorganized PA among children and adolescents since the beginning of this study is alarming and needs to be observed meticulously. It is yet unclear, whether the lack of unorganized PA can be compensated in organized settings with the expertise of trained instructors. Although, participants in sports clubs typically spend 40–50% of their time in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) [40] and intensities of PA during organized sports are relatively high compared to other settings [1441]. Current studies indicate that sports clubs become a more and more important source of PA all over the world [31] and sports club participants are more likely to meet PA recommendations (OR 2.4–6.4, [31]). The question of the pros and cons of a mainly structured and guided PA at the expense of unorganized playing outside becomes increasingly important and should be the focus of further experimental research.
Although there is not much change in the total amount of PA, previous research that focused on biological and environmental correlates [42], different settings [8], and socio-structural factors [43] revealed that there is social and environmental inequality in PA attendance and PA behavior in Germany. The SES has been identified as an important correlate of PA and a healthy lifestyle [534]. Socioeconomic disparities in health behavior have been found by numerous studies all over the world and account for a large amount of PA inequality [4446]. By analyzing different PA-relevant settings, the present study shows that these socioeconomic differences are not evenly pronounced in each setting. For example, there is no gender gap in curricular sports, and gender differences in extracurricular sports are small and age-dependent (Table 2). Adding the SES as a factor, our study shows that a prevalent gender gap in unorganized PA is mainly due to differences between gender among youths from families with low SES (Table 3) and can therefore not be generalized. In families with an intermediate SES, girls do even more unorganized PA compared to their male counterparts. The fact that different social groups participate in different types of settings provides the opportunity for target-group-specific interventions. An example would be the development of additional programs for extracurricular sports in schools utilizing cooperations between schools and sports clubs to reach out especially for girls from low SES families or girls with migration backgrounds. On the other hand, these setting-specific trends sharpen the scope of shifts in the importance of those settings. For example, the shift from unorganized PA to PA in sports clubs may leave boys from low SES families with lesser overall PA.
The large meta-analysis from Althoff et al. (2017) about PA data from smartphones found these inequalities in PA to be crucial for the prevalence of inactivity driven diseases such as overweight and obesity.

4.4 Strength and limitations

The present study is limited to its observational nature and we do not intend to infer causality from paralleled trends or significant correlations. The main goal of MoMo is to track and report PA and fitness of children and adolescents in a nationwide sample, and significant effort was put into collecting representative data from 167 sample points all over the country.
PA was assessed by self-reports. This method has various limitations including recall bias and social desirability. Measuring PA by objective methods such as accelerometers is more accurate in most types of PA, but is always limited to a short time interval, and unless a diary is added, the setting in which the PA took place is not captured. Since accelerometers capture any form of PA in a specific time frame, the correlation with self-reported habitual PA in specific settings is expected to be restricted, even when summarized. An accelerometer is also a very responsive tool towards socially desired behavior, and children drop it for some sports like swimming, martial arts, and sometimes even curricular sports in school. Using a questionnaire offered the chance to assess different types of exercise as well as other PA parameters like setting and sports club membership during a normal week, even when the person is, for example, on vacation or ill.

Mixed cyber aggressor-victims reported more social dominance and dating partners, and highly reactive cyber aggressor-victims reported more sexual partners, when compared to uninvolved peers

Social advantages and disadvantages associated with cyber aggression-victimization: A Latent Class Analysis. Kiana R. Lapierre, Andrew V. Dane. Computers in Human Behavior, July 20 2020, 106497, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106497

Highlights
• Evolutionary functions apply to cyber aggression and victimization.
• Empirical analyses show groups involved in both cyber aggression and victimization.
• Cyber aggressive-victim groups differ in frequency of reactive aggression.
• Cyber aggression-victimization is associated with social advantages.
• Highly reactive cyber aggression-victimization is linked to social disadvantages.

Abstract: This study examines cyber aggression and cyber victimization from an evolutionary perspective, extending the literature by: (1) employing Latent Class Analysis to identify cyber aggression-victimization status groups using proactive and reactive cyber aggression, and cyber victimization, as indicators; and (2) examining whether cyber aggression-victimization status groups experience social advantages and disadvantages similar to those in traditional aggression research. In this study, a three-class model best described adolescents’ cyber aggression and victimization; in the sample of 400 adolescents ages 12–18, 79.4% were uninvolved, 13.1% were mixed cyber aggressor-victims (moderate proactive and reactive cyber aggression, and cyber victimization), and 7.4% were highly reactive cyber aggressor-victims (moderate proactive cyber aggression and cyber victimization, but high reactive cyber aggression). These groups contrast with those found in empirical traditional aggression research as pure cyber aggressors and cyber victims were not identified. Consistent with evolutionary theory and aggression research that suggest it has adaptive functions, mixed cyber aggressor-victims reported more social dominance and dating partners, and highly reactive cyber aggressor-victims reported more sexual partners, when compared to uninvolved peers. However, highly reactive cyber aggressor-victims also reported more friendship anxiety and less implicit social power than the mixed and uninvolved group, consistent with traditional research suggesting that reactive aggression is more strongly linked to social disadvantages and less strongly linked to social advantages, than is proactive aggression. Although cyber aggression is a relatively new form of aggression, an evolutionary perspective can illuminate why it continues to be a social problem despite intervention efforts.

Keywords: Proactive cyber aggressionReactive cyber aggressionCyber victimizationEvolutionary perspective