Good Mourning, Burma! * QRt by PRURITUS MIGRANS * CC-BY-NC-SA

The aim of space archaeology is to understand the interaction of technology and human behaviour in off-Earth environments. This paper presents the methodology and results of the first archaeological study focused on human habitation in outer space. The International Space Station (ISS) is the only extant, continuously-occupied location in space,…[Read more]

Space archaeology is defined as the study of “the material culture relevant to space exploration that is found on Earth and in outer space (i.e., exoatmospheric material) and that is clearly the result of human behavior” (Gorman & O’Leary 2013: 409). The aim of space archaeology is to understand the interaction of technology and human behav…[Read more]

ABSURDISTAN * QRt by PRURITUS MIGRANS * CC: BY-NC-SA

Hay en la Unión Europea, según los datos oficiales (nada aireados), muchos miles de muertos y muchos centenares de miles de enfermos por efectos negativos de las vacunas “de nueva tecnología” contra el Covid-19. No esperen oír esto en la tele ni leerlo en el periódico.

Spanish Abstract: Proponemos, en contraposición a la noción de ideología corriente en la crítica cultural y ejemplificada aquí por el libro de Teun A. van Dijk “Ideología: Un enfoque multidisciplinario” (Gedisa, 1999), una noción de ideología más interaccional, más dialógica y más unida a las situaciones efectivas en las que la ideología s…[Read more]

Comentamos algunos elementos de autoengendramienento en el poema épico anglosajón ´Beowulf´. El motivo del autoengendramiento literario emerge espontáneamente allí a partir de la naturaleza misma de la narración—o quizá más bien vemos la emergencia natural de la narración artística a partir de las prácticas sociales que dieron lugar a ella, práct…[Read more]

As neural language models begin to change aspects of everyday life, they understandably attract criticism. This position paper was commissioned for a roundtable at Princeton University, dedicated to one of the most influential critiques: “On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big?” by Emily M. Bender, Timnit Gebru,…[Read more]

Comentamos, con ocasión del libro de Ángel Rivera ‘Arqueología del lenguaje’, los principales conceptos de arqueología cognitiva y sus posibles desarrollos en relación en particular a las aportaciones de la lingüística cognitiva y la narratología.

Considerando o catálogo Lumière como experiência inaugural do cinema mundial, este artigo propõe uma leitura anarquívica de algumas de suas imagens. Diferenciando a operação do cinematógrafo como dispositivo cosmotécnico de arquivamento do mundo e aparelho cosmopoético de invenção de mundos, exploro as formas de inscrição da diferença no…[Read more]

“Thinking Fast and Slow” by Prof. Daniel Kahneman is an excellent book on behavioural economics that also makes a reader wonder about other ideas such as free will, priming and the role of language in his or her daily existence. This review is not meant as an easy read. It switches topics often to convey several ideas within a short essay.

My notes (taken c. 1990) on Geoffrey Leech’s ‘Principles of Pragmatics’ (London: Longman, 1983). Pagination on the left; my parenthetical comments in italics.

This chapter examines the rhetorical skills displayed by secondary (low–status)
characters in the extant tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. “Rhetorical
skills” are here broadly understood as the abilities required to have one’s voice heard and
one’s opinion taken into account. These speaking abilities contribute to the socio–pol…[Read more]

This book is a compendium of book reviews reflecting my “Creed of Life.” The fact is that my Creed of Life has been fashioned through these authors, as well as others not mentioned here, whose works were personally important to me and significant to my intellectual development. This list is continually being lengthened as authors, living or dea…[Read more]

In this book I contemplate the possibility of posthuman philosophy within the religious and theological schools of thought. In doing this, I do not focus on the traditional philosophical humanism which characterizes the scholastic and neo-scholastic approach within Western philosophy. Rather, I focus on a dehellenized philosophical way of thinking…[Read more]

A down-to-earth exposition of the work by Martin Janello on the Philosophy of Happiness. It introduces the fundamental notions that happiness is of existential importance for individuals and humanity – and that we each have it within our power to improve our lives and make this a better world in the process. It also spells out that our success in…[Read more]

El año de la pandemia no murieron cuatro millones de personas. Murieron casi 60 millones, de diversas causas, entre ellas un número indeterminado por Covid-19. Las grandes cifras engañan mucho, y más si están intervenidas y subvencionadas.

Reflections on Trevor Paglen’s (ab)use of the JAFFE dataset

English abstract: A vindication of the wide-ranging perspective of Herbert Spencer’s theories of cosmic evolutionism, as an intellectual enterprise far more ambitious and comprehensive than that of his contemporary Charles Darwin. (A retropost from 2011). _________________________________________________________________________________ Spanish…[Read more]

English abstract: A vindication of the wide-ranging perspective of Herbert Spencer’s theories of cosmic evolutionism, as an intellectual enterprise far more ambitious and comprehensive than that of his contemporary Charles Darwin. (A retropost from 2011). _________________________________________________________________________________ Spanish…[Read more]