Calamity Theory

Author : Joshua Schuster
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
ISBN 13 : 1452966583
Total Pages : 138 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Calamity Theory written by Joshua Schuster and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What are the implications of how we talk about apocalypse? A new philosophical field has emerged. “Existential risk” studies any real or hypothetical human extinction event in the near or distant future. This movement examines catastrophes ranging from runaway global warming to nuclear warfare to malevolent artificial intelligence, deploying a curious mix of utilitarian ethics, statistical risk analysis, and, controversially, a transhuman advocacy that would aim to supersede almost all extinction scenarios. The proponents of existential risk thinking, led by Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom, have seen their work gain immense popularity, attracting endorsement from Bill Gates and Elon Musk, millions of dollars, and millions of views. Calamity Theory is the first book to examine the rise of this thinking and its failures to acknowledge the ways some communities and lifeways are more at risk than others and what it implies about human extinction. Forerunners: Ideas First is a thought-in-process series of breakthrough digital publications. Written between fresh ideas and finished books, Forerunners draws on scholarly work initiated in notable blogs, social media, conference plenaries, journal articles, and the synergy of academic exchange. This is gray literature publishing: where intense thinking, change, and speculation take place in scholarship.

Author : Bryan S. Turner
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN 13 : 3110772361
Total Pages : 160 pages
Book Rating : 4.64/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book A Theory of Catastrophe written by Bryan S. Turner and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2023-05-08 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sociology has developed theories of social change in the fields of evolution, conflict and modernization, viewing modern society as essentially unstable and conflict driven. However, it has not seriously studied catastrophe. A Theory of Catastrophe develops a sociology of catastrophes, comparing natural, social and political causes and consequences, and the social theories that might offer explanations. A catastrophe is a general and systematic breakdown of social and political institutions resulting, among other things, in what we could call a catastrophe consciousness. The Greek ‘cata-strophe’ formed the conclusion to a dramatic sequence of strophes. The cata-strophe was the final act of a drama, namely its denouement. Catastrophic denouements are without hope: genocides, military occupations, plagues, famines and earthquakes. A Theory of Catastrophe analyzes Pompeii, the Black Death, colonial genocide in North America, WWI and the Spanish Flu, and Nazi Germany and finally this century: terrorism, new wars, climate change and pandemics. As a study of sociological theory, Bryan Turner discusses Spengler’s Decline of the West, Marxism as a theory of catastrophic capitalism, messianic movements, Weber on modernity, and risk society. He concludes by comparing optimism and pessimism, and the idea of inter-generational justice.

Author : David Etkin
Publisher : Butterworth-Heinemann
ISBN 13 : 0128003553
Total Pages : 387 pages
Book Rating : 4.58/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Disaster Theory written by David Etkin and published by Butterworth-Heinemann. This book was released on 2014-12-26 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disaster Theory: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Concepts and Causes offers the theoretical background needed to understand what disasters are and why they occur. Drawing on related disciplines, including sociology, risk theory, and seminal research on disasters and emergency management, Disaster Theory clearly lays out the conceptual framework of the emerging field of disaster studies. Tailored to the needs of advanced undergraduates and graduate students, this unique text also provides an ideal capstone for students who have already been introduced to the fundamentals of emergency management. Disaster Theory emphasizes the application of critical thinking in understanding disasters and their causes by synthesizing a wide range of information on theory and practice, including input from leading scholars in the field. Offers the first cohesive depiction of disaster theory Incorporates material from leading thinkers in the field, as well as student exercises and critical thinking questions, making this a rich resource for advanced courses Written from an international perspective and includes case studies of disasters and hazards from around the world for comparing the leading models of emergency response Challenges the reader to think critically about important questions in disaster management from various points of view

Author : K. Hewitt
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000698920
Total Pages : 334 pages
Book Rating : 4.23/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Interpretations of Calamity written by K. Hewitt and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-09-18 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1983, Interpretations of Calamity provides a provocative critique of the ‘dominant view’ of research into natural hazards. Throughout the world, there are now many people professionally engaged in the mitigation and control of risks & hazards, and the impact of continuing economic development will ensure that they are fully employed. There is a wealth of perspectives in the book, including weather and wheat yields in the Soviet Union and Canada, an historical view of underdevelopment and hazards in Ireland and the impact of a response to drought in southern Africa, the Sahel and the Great Plains of the USA. The book reflects the major themes of hazards in the context of economic development and social change. Most of the case studies are from the rural and agriculture scene. This book provides a unique view of the vital importance of food production and of the considerable, and sometimes calamitous, impact that frost, flood, storm and drought have on the wellbeing of millions of people and on the stability of the international economic system.

Author : Reidar Staupe-Delgado
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 100045679X
Total Pages : 180 pages
Book Rating : 4.90/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Disasters and Life in Anticipation of Slow Calamity written by Reidar Staupe-Delgado and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-09-27 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book provides insights into community narratives concerning life in the face of creeping calamities through a case study from the Colombian Andes. It sets out to make sense of the lived experience of disasters that are slowly unfolding as well disasters that have not yet occurred. This book explores what it means to live in anticipation of disaster and in anticipation of an uprooting of community, sense of self, and sense of belonging. It questions whether community resilience is a useful concept in the context of slow-onset geological hazards for which few viable solutions are available. The book forces us to think about how resettlement and displacement functions in the context of slow calamities, which presents distinct challenges, mainly related to lower political saliency than what is usually the case in emergencies. The book thus also has implications for how we think about the adverse impacts of climate change. By raising new questions on the nature of disasters and calamities and how we experience them, the book explores the challenges and tensions surrounding governance and governmentality. The interdisciplinary blend of practice-oriented and conceptual reflections will appeal to academics in postgraduate and postdoctoral research in social sciences, specifically, disaster research, geography, and research fields centred on natural hazards and disasters.

Author : Marisha Pessl
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101218800
Total Pages : 528 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Special Topics in Calamity Physics written by Marisha Pessl and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-08-03 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The mesmerizing New York Times bestseller by the author of Night Film Marisha Pessl’s dazzling debut sparked raves from critics and heralded the arrival of a vibrant new voice in American fiction. At the center of Special Topics in Calamity Physics is clever, deadpan Blue van Meer, who has a head full of literary, philosophical, scientific, and cinematic knowledge. But she could use some friends. Upon entering the elite St. Gallway School, she finds some—a clique of eccentrics known as the Bluebloods. One drowning and one hanging later, Blue finds herself puzzling out a byzantine murder mystery. Nabokov meets Donna Tartt (then invites the rest of the Western Canon to the party) in this novel—with visual aids drawn by the author—that has won over readers of all ages.

Author : Bruno Apolloni
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3540748199
Total Pages : 884 pages
Book Rating : 4.99/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems written by Bruno Apolloni and published by Springer. This book was released on 2007-09-12 with total page 884 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is part of a three-volume set that constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems, KES 2007. Coverage in this first volume includes artificial neural networks and connectionists systems, fuzzy and neuro-fuzzy systems, evolutionary computation, machine learning and classical AI, agent systems, and information engineering and applications in ubiquitous computing environments.

Author : Anahid Nersessian
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 022670131X
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.18/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Calamity Form written by Anahid Nersessian and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Romantic period in literature coincided with two of the most significant transformations in modern history: the Industrial Revolution and, with it, the inflection point of the Anthropocene. Literary critics have shown that much of Romantic poetry expresses an uncanny insight into both of these transformations, including the human and ecological costs of what we now call a carbon-based economy. But was art really capable of making sense of the emerging crisis-or of changing the future? In a superbly nuanced work of literary criticism, Anahid Nersessian shows that poets began to disqualify themselves from explaining the train of consequences that industry set in motion. Their form of knowledge-if knowledge it be-was of an order different from science or economics, and could not bear the burden of accounting for environmental calamity. Romanticism, Nersessian argues, is of the Anthropocene but not about it, and she cautions against investing its poetry with a straightforwardly testimonial power. In doing so, she models an approach to criticism that reads within what Charles Olson calls "the shapeful," emphasizing the role of rhetorical figures in fashioning the posture a poem takes on a historical question. While focusing on the Romantics, Nersessian also ranges back to the seventeenth century (e.g., the poetry of Andrew Marvell) and forward to examples of contemporary poetry and conceptual art (e.g., Derek Jarman's poetry, and installations by Agnes Denes and Helen Mirra). Within literary studies, this is a widely anticipated book by one of the most brilliant critics of her generation"--

Author : Dr. Imroz Mansuri
Publisher : RED'SHINE Publication. Pvt. Ltd
ISBN 13 : 1312712279
Total Pages : 148 pages
Book Rating : 4.70/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book THE RIPPLE EFFECT: HOW NATURAL DISASTERS IMPACT COMMODITIES AND COMPANIES written by Dr. Imroz Mansuri and published by RED'SHINE Publication. Pvt. Ltd. This book was released on with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book focuses on the impact of natural calamities on the production of cotton and sugar, which are essential for the Indian society. The study explores the relationship between shareholders return of listed cotton companies and cotton production, as well as between shareholders return of listed sugar companies and sugar production.

Author : Cass R. Sunstein
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 1479808482
Total Pages : 175 pages
Book Rating : 4.89/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Averting Catastrophe written by Cass R. Sunstein and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2021-04-27 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Best-selling author Cass R. Sunstein examines how to avoid worst-case scenarios The world is increasingly confronted with new challenges related to climate change, globalization, disease, and technology. Governments are faced with having to decide how much risk is worth taking, how much destruction and death can be tolerated, and how much money should be invested in the hopes of avoiding catastrophe. Lacking full information, should decision-makers focus on avoiding the most catastrophic outcomes? When should extreme measures be taken to prevent as much destruction as possible? Averting Catastrophe explores how governments ought to make decisions in times of imminent disaster. Cass R. Sunstein argues that using the “maximin rule,” which calls for choosing the approach that eliminates the worst of the worst-case scenarios, may be necessary when public officials lack important information, and when the worst-case scenario is too disastrous to contemplate. He underscores this argument by emphasizing the reality of “Knightian uncertainty,” found in circumstances in which it is not possible to assign probabilities to various outcomes. Sunstein brings foundational issues in decision theory in close contact with real problems in regulation, law, and daily life, and considers other potential future risks. At once an approachable introduction to decision-theory and a provocative argument for how governments ought to handle risk, Averting Catastrophe offers a definitive path forward in a world rife with uncertainty.