On Humanism and Transhumanism

The paper raises the problem, quite widely discussed not only in the frame of modern philosophizing, but in the whole complex of socio-humanitarian knowledge – the problem of the perspectives of the formation of the epoch of transhumanism. What is it - the epoch of transhumanism? What are the peculiar properties of it? And what are the specifics of that technological bias which would allow put it into practice? Is there a genetic bond between transhumanism and the sources of the traditional humanism? And why the majority of not only philosophers, but all humanitarians speak out against ‘the unprecedented advantages’ and ‘the good’ of transhumanism, considering its realization as the era of ‘dehumanization’ of a human being? These and similar questions worry millions of intellectuals all over the world. The author of this paper tries to give his answers. He analyses the definitions of humanism, given in two authoritative philosophical dictionaries. Then he reinforces his analysis with not only his own reasonings and extrapolations, but with the positions of three outstanding thinkers and famous humanists of Renaissance – Lorenzo Valla, Pico della Mirandola and Erasmus Roterodamus. However the author tries to consider the historical tradition not isolated but to link with the technological opportunity of its transformation into those perspectives of transhumanism. That’s why the author draws attention to a remarkable writer-philosopher Aldous Huxley with his anti-utopian novel ‘Brave New World’. The author concludes the paper with offering to the reader’s attention his author’s speculative model how it can be.

Cybersecurity: investing for competitive outcomes

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to help companies address the problem of ever-increasing cybersecurity investment that does not produce tangible business value – this is achieved by explaining the relationship between cybersecurity and competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach The impact of cybersecurity on competitive advantage was explored through a qualitative research study – the authors conducted an extensive literature review and conducted two rounds of semi-structured interviews with executives and security professionals from companies in four countries, from the financial, IT and security industries. Findings The analysis of the findings enabled the conceptualization of the Cybersecurity Competitive Advantage Model that explains how to build up cybersecurity dynamic capabilities to achieve long-term competitive advantage. Research limitations/implications The research presents the theorization of the model based on an extensive literature review, gathered information, insight from qualified respondents and the authors’ experience in the field. While we controlled for saturation and rigorously collected and analyzed the data, the inductive approach followed may limit the generalizability of the findings. Practical implications The proposed model helps explain to executives how to differentiate their company in a novel way and how to retain that competitive advantage; security professionals can use the model to organize cybersecurity and communicate to their superiors more effectively. Originality/value The presented model differs from existing literature, cybersecurity frameworks and industry standards by presenting a method of avoiding technological bias and for achieving competitive advantage.

A model for digital development of SMEs: an interaction-based approach

PurposeE-business maturity models have been widely used to guide the process of digital transformation of business. However, these models have been criticized for their predominantly technocentric approach, which is poorly suited for SMEs. The purpose of this paper is to produce a holistic, nonlinear e-business development model for SMEs that takes into account the interactions of the organization in the pursuit of its business objectives.Design/methodology/approachBased on the literature review, this paper proposes a nonlinear digital development model for SMEs that factors in the interactions between digital technologies and organizational processes. The model is applied to three cases using a qualitative research approach.FindingsThe analysis of the cases demonstrates how the model recognizes that SMEs have an agile and flexible operating structure and reduces the role of technology in order to refocus the entrepreneurs on the relationship among business goals, organizational capabilities and communication requirements.Practical implicationsThe proposed model helps the business owners to clarify and better understand what kind of interaction levels exist between the relevant actors in the pursuit of the firm's goals and to identify the best mix of digital and nondigital communication methods to support their work. It also assists policymakers to overcome technological bias when assessing the current state of play of e-business development in the SME universe and formulate actions that support the development of digitally oriented SMEs.Originality/valueThis paper proposes a novel, nonlinear, interaction-based development model for SMEs in order to complement previous technocentric models focusing mainly on a mechanist perspective of e-business maturity models.

Human stool preservation impacts taxonomic profiles in 16S rRNA gene-based metagenomics studies

Background: Microbiotas play critical roles in human health, yet in most cases scientists lack standardized and reproducible methods. To date, stool sample preservation remains a source of technological bias in metagenomic sequencing, despite newly developed storage solutions. Studying those biases will help in identifying the appropriate stool preservation approach to promote the implementation of standard operating procedure and improve comparability across multiple microbiome studies. Results: Here, we conducted a comparative study of 10 storage methods for human stool over a 15-day period of storage at fluctuating temperatures. We first compared the performance of each stabilizer with observed bacterial composition variation within the same specimen. Then, we identified the nature of the observed variations to determine which bacterial populations were more impacted by the stabilizer. We found that DNA stabilizers display various stabilizing efficacies and affect the recovered bacterial profiles. Furthermore, our results showed that the bias associated with the stabilizers can be linked to the phenotypical characteristics of the bacterial populations present in the studied samples. Conclusions: Although newly developed storage solutions have improved our capacity to stabilize stool microbial content over time, they are nevertheless not devoid of biases. We therefore recommend considering the nature of these technological biases before claiming whether some microbes are beneficial or even deleterious to human health.

Technological Bias and Its Influencing Factors in Sustainable Development of China’s Transportation

The bias of technological progress, particularly relating to energy saving and carbon emissions reduction, plays a significant role in the sustainable development of transportation, and has not yet received sufficient attention. The objectives of this paper were to examine the bias of technological change (BTC), input-biased technological change (IBTC), and output-biased technological change (OBTC), and their influencing factors in the sustainable development of China’s regional transportation industry from 2005 to 2017. A slack-based measure (SBM) Malmquist productivity index was adopted to measure the BTC, IBTC, and OBTC by decomposing green total factor productivity. The results revealed that: (1) Continuous technological bias progress and input-biased technological progress existed in China’s transportation development from 2005 to 2017, making an important contribution to green total factor productivity. The output-biased technological change was close to 1, indicating a slight impact on the sustainable development of the transportation industry; (2) The bias of technological progress in eastern regions was slightly greater than that in central regions, and obviously greater than that in western regions. Moreover, different provinces experienced different types of technological bias change, with four major types observed during the research period; (3) The input-biased technology of a majority of provinces tended to invest more capital relative to labor, using more capital comparing to energy, and consume more energy relative to labor, while the output-biased technology of most provinces tended to produce desirable outputs (value added in transportation) and reduce the byproduct of CO2 relatively; (4) Average years of education, green patents in transportation, industrial scale, and local government fiscal expenditure in transportation significantly contributed to promoting the bias of technological progress, which was inhibited by the R&D investment. This study provides further insight into the improvement of sustainable development for China’s transportation, thereby helping to guide the government to promote green-biased technological progress and optimize the allocation of resources.

A back-end view to climatic adaptation

PurposeThis study investigates the level of variance in the real time demand for bagged cement, induced in response to the climatic sequence of the humid tropics, to support best practice calls for a weather-responsive supply chain strategy.Design/methodology/approachData on the consumption of cement and site works for 100 ongoing building construction sites were gathered for a period of 12 months. The variance partitioning capabilities of the Ordinary Least Squares and Hierarchical Linear Modelling forms of regression analysis are comparatively used to evaluate the sensitivity of cement demand to the meteorological profile of wet-humid climateFindingsThe study outcome provides statistical evidence demonstrating that the meteorological profile of wet-humid climate induces a significantly high percentage of the variance in the real-time demand for bagged cement on construction sites. However, nested within this variance, are the fixed effects of the cement footprint of the building architecture inherent in the locality. Particularly, positive changes to reduce the wet trade composition of buildings or compensating changes in technological bias, are necessary to combat weather interference in the humid tropics.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings are exploratory, and not for the purposes of holistically forecasting cement demand, and can therefore only form part of a more comprehensive decision support system, bespoke to the study area.Practical implicationsThe study outcome provides a back-end view to climatic adaptation in wet humid settings, making a compelling case for localized climate-risk adaptive supply chain strategies and policies geared towards sustainability in cement usage.Originality/valueThe study delineates the confounding impact of weather, distinct from local building architecture and technological bias, thus creating a methodological platform for replication and comparative productivity studies in diverse geographical areas.

Typology and Solar Gain Analysis: Vernacular Courtyard Houses of Tabriz, Iran

The study presents the results of typological analysis and simulation modeling analysis of traditional courtyard residential houses in the cold semi-arid climate of Iran. The purpose of the research has been to analyze and evaluate traditional passive environmental strategies and their elements to provide implications for the design of sustainable residential buildings in contemporary time. Five existing traditional courtyard houses in the city of Tabriz, Iran, are used as case-studies to analyze the typology and the solar zoning conditions and to develop simulation models. The Ecotect simulation program is used to calculate the solar gains of the buildings and to analyze the effectiveness of the natural passive systems along with native design strategies in terms of potential solar gains of main and secondary living spaces. However, in the vernacular, not only the awareness of the climatic and topological considerations is important, but also the values, rituals, and beliefs that shape the design of the dwellings need to be considered. The research is based on the hypothesis that vernacular buildings (courtyard houses) of Iran have been environmentally sustainable structures. However, an important challenge of the study has been to avoid the technological bias and to consider the cultural and social aspects and embodiment of the studied houses, as well. The study also addresses the potential shortcomings that limit the reliability of Iranian vernacular architecture at present in order to arrive at a more holistic understanding of the sustainability of the vernacular architecture in the country.

Hybrid project management for sociotechnical digital transformation context

Goal: The path to implement Digital Transformation (DT) in modern industries is far from clear, particularly in Brazil. From the point of view of operations management, authors developed a Conceptual Framework (CF) to support DT implementation in Discrete Manufacturing Industries (DMI). The CF applies knowledge management, hybrid project management (HPM) and Sociotechnical values to implement DT, using New Product Development (NPD) as a ground. The work aims to depict the HPM approach of this CF. Design / Methodology / Approach: this is a qualitative research based on a systematic literature review carried out over a period of five years. It was performed in the Web of Science database, applying PRISMA flowchart, to evaluate which project management models, addressed in the literature, are more suitable for DT implementation projects in light of sociotechnical and innovation-shared-values approach. Results: A Hybrid “Stage-Gate – Agile - Design Thinking” project management model to support DT implementation in DMI. This is a preliminary proposal that can be explored in future empirical research. Limitations of the investigation: Some quality papers may have been left out due to the research methodology. Practical implications: The CF can be applied by professionals to support Digital Transformation while incorporating sociotechnical values and reducing the excessive technological bias in NPD projects. Originality/Value: The authors propose a new Digital Transformation (DT) approach, named Sociotechnical Digital Transformation (SDT) and an HPM to support DT in light of a Sociotechnical approach.