scholarly journals Vida fabricada

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Porcar ◽  
Juli Peretó
Keyword(s):  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Biological Complexity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Synthetic Life ◽  
Design And Manufacture ◽  
Rule Out

Since biology became secularised and the molecular scrutiny of life began, the possibility of artificially synthesising living cells in a laboratory became a tangible possibility. Contemporary synthetic biology aspires to design and manufacture new forms of life to obtain social and economic benefits. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that the creation of synthetic life forms may also bring scientific rewards in terms of a greater understanding of biological complexity, which we would not be able to access through analytical means. It is clear, therefore, that the term synthetic biology raises expectations, but it is no less true that it also causes concern. This article starts with a critique of the identification of cells as machines and discusses the current scope of synthetic biology and efforts to standardise it. We also outline some of the social implications of attempts to manufacture life.

scholarly journals Cell-free synthetic biology for in vitro prototype engineering

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 785-791 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon J. Moore ◽  
James T. MacDonald ◽  
Paul S. Freemont
Keyword(s):  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Mathematical Modelling ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Genetic Circuits ◽  
Precision Engineering ◽  
Medical Test ◽  
Iterative Design ◽  
Synthetic Life ◽  
Site Identification

Cell-free transcription–translation is an expanding field in synthetic biology as a rapid prototyping platform for blueprinting the design of synthetic biological devices. Exemplar efforts include translation of prototype designs into medical test kits for on-site identification of viruses (Zika and Ebola), while gene circuit cascades can be tested, debugged and re-designed within rapid turnover times. Coupled with mathematical modelling, this discipline lends itself towards the precision engineering of new synthetic life. The next stages of cell-free look set to unlock new microbial hosts that remain slow to engineer and unsuited to rapid iterative design cycles. It is hoped that the development of such systems will provide new tools to aid the transition from cell-free prototype designs to functioning synthetic genetic circuits and engineered natural product pathways in living cells.

The social implications of technology

1973 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 93
Author(s):  
J.D. Radford ◽  
D.B. Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Social Implications ◽  
The Social

Funerary Ritual

2019 ◽  
pp. 292-309
Author(s):  
Mireia López-Bertran
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Good Death ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Deceased Person ◽  
Funerary Rituals ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Common ◽  
Funerary Rites ◽  
Written Sources

This chapter explores the funerary rites in the Phoenician-Punic world from a comprehensive point of view, and it focuses on the common points arising from a large amount of data. The concern for burying their deceased and the belief in the soul’s afterlife show that the Phoenicians considered death as a transformation rather than as the end of a person’s life. Through our access to archaeological remains and written sources, we can reconstruct the existence of a meaningful burial program that was destined to provide a “good death” and afterlife. Funerary rituals, thus, are the actions or gestures to achieve this goal. The aim of this chapter is to explain the rites that family members undertook once someone died, in order to transform correctly the deceased person into an otherworldly being, the ancestor. The social implications of the data arising from burials are also briefly considered.

scholarly journals Artificial life and ‘nature’s purposes’: The question of behavioral autonomy

Human Affairs ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 587-596
Author(s):  
Elena Popa
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Life ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Behavioral Traits ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Autonomous Behavior ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Behavioral Autonomy ◽  
Synthetic Life ◽  
Biological Organisms

AbstractThis paper investigates the concept of behavioral autonomy in Artificial Life by drawing a parallel to the use of teleological notions in the study of biological life. Contrary to one of the leading assumptions in Artificial Life research, I argue that there is a significant difference in how autonomous behavior is understood in artificial and biological life forms: the former is underlain by human goals in a way that the latter is not. While behavioral traits can be explained in relation to evolutionary history in biological organisms, in synthetic life forms behavior depends on a design driven by a research agenda, further shaped by broader human goals. This point will be illustrated with a case study on a synthetic life form. Consequently, the putative epistemic benefit of reaching a better understanding of behavioral autonomy in biological organisms by synthesizing artificial life forms is subject to doubt: the autonomy observed in such artificial organisms may be a mere projection of human agency. Further questions arise in relation to the need to spell out the relevant human aims when addressing potential social or ethical implications of synthesizing artificial life forms.

The Social Implications of Science

1948 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-114
Author(s):  
Robert Weil
Keyword(s):  
Social Implications ◽  
The Social

scholarly journals Hedgerows and Enclosures in Rural Areas: Traditional vs. Modern Land Use in Mediterranean Mountains

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Fernando Allende Álvarez ◽  
Gillian Gómez-Mediavilla ◽  
Nieves López-Estébanez ◽  
Pedro Molina Holgado ◽  
Judith Ares Barajas
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Main Role ◽  
Land Uses ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mediterranean Mountains ◽  
Agroforestry Practices

The present paper highlights the importance of hedgerows and enclosures in the mountains of Central Spain. Now, these landscapes have suffered profound variations in terms of agroforestry practices, especially in the Mediterranean mountains where the characteristic multifunctional has largely been lost. The article analyzes land uses changes, dynamics, and their morphological features between the first half of the 20th Century (1956) and the second decade of the present time (2019). The paper was divided into three sections. First, the identification of land uses using orthophotograph and aerial photograph; after that the info was checked with fieldwork. Eleven categories were identified according to the dominant use and land use changes and size of land parcels were taken into consideration. Second, the configuration and the information collected through the type and intensity of change in land uses made it possible to recognise and quantify their distribution and trend between these two dates. Also, the kernel density algorithm available in the Arcgis 10.5 software was used to obtain density and changes in land parcels. Finally, an overview is given of the main role that this agroforestry plays due to the social, ecological, and economic benefits that they provide for allowing sustainable development.

‘An old and faithful servand’: A Pair of Early Seventeenth-Century Gauntlet Gloves given by King Charles I to Sir Henry Wardlaw

Costume ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
High Status ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Charles I ◽  
The Social ◽  
King Charles I ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
The University ◽  
Design And Manufacture ◽  
Private Collections

A pair of embroidered seventeenth-century gauntlet gloves, reputedly presented by King Charles I to his courtier Sir Henry Wardlaw, was donated to the University of St Andrews in 2001. This article sets out to uncover the truth behind this nearly four-hundred-year-old family legend by investigating Sir Henry’s royal connections and the social significance of the gauntlet gloves as a high-status, luxury clothing accessory. Based on the study of historic gloves in museum and private collections, it endeavours to date the gloves by discussing their design and manufacture within the context of seventeenth-century clothing fashion. This article also explores the symbolism behind the gauntlet gloves’ decorative scheme by unravelling some of the hidden messages that are conveyed about cultural, religious, political and technological developments and perspectives through seventeenth-century embroidery.

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