Perhaps 20% of known animal species are haplodiploid: unfertilized haploid eggs developinto males and fertilized diploid eggs into females. Sex determination in such haplodiploid species does not rely on a difference in heteromorphic sex chromosome composition but the genetic basis has been elucidated in some hymenopteran insects (wasps, sawflies, ants, bees). In these species, the development into one sex or the others depends on an initial signal whether there is only one allele or two different alleles of a single gene, (...) thecomplementary sex determiner(csd), in the zygotic genome. The gene has been most‐recently identified in the honey bee and has been found to encode an arginine serine‐rich (SR) type protein. Heterozygosity generates an active protein that initiates female development while hemizygosity/homozygosity results in a non‐active CSD protein and default male development. I will discuss plausible models of how the molecular decision of male and female is made and implemented. Comparison to hierarchies of dipteran insects suggests that SR‐type protein has facilitated the differentiation of sex‐determining systems and hierarchies. BioEssays 26:1131–1139, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

This paper offers an analysis of Johannes Swammerdam’s researches on the brain of the honeybee (Apis mellifera), on the basis both of his published texts and of (1) an early, manuscript version of his treatise on bees (broadly intended) (1673), and (2) a hitherto unedited autograph of his, containing the earliest depiction and description of an insect brain (1673–1677). Through a reconstruction of the genesis of Swammerdam’s texts on bees, both the novelty and accuracy of his observations are (...) highlighted, as well as his reliance on a Cartesian physiology in the interpretation and rendering of the observed parts. (shrink)

The honeybee, Apis mellifera, has excited both literary and scientific interest since ancient times, and even modern entomological investigation has not entirely dispelled the mystery surrounding the corporate intelligence of the beehive. Yet this lingering mystique has not prevented the wholesale exploitation of the honeybee as pollinator of choice in present-day industrial agriculture. In the context of this industrialization of the apiary, honeybees around the world are succumbing to the condition known as “colony collapse disorder.” The consequent disappearance (...) of honeybees on a massive scale poses the question, what do honeybees mean to us? Is their loss a moral loss, and if so, is it merely a moral loss, or something more? Does the loss of honeybees portend further losses that will amount to the loss of the basic conditions for meaning, and hence for morality, per se? (shrink)

Eusociality is broadly defined as: colonies consisting of overlapping generations, cooperative brood care, and a reproductive division of labour where sterile (or non-reproductive) workers help the reproductive members. Colonies of many complex eusocial insect species (e.g. ants, bees, termites) exhibit traits, at the collective level, that are more analogous to biological individuals rather than to groups. Indeed, due to this, colonies of the most complex species are typically a unit of selection, which has led many authors to once again apply (...) the concept of the superorganism to eusocial insects. However, unlike W. M. Wheeler, who originally employed the concept from a physiological and evolutionary perspective, today the superorganism is typically understood only from an evolutionary perspective, using group selection. This is because of the widely held view that eusocial colonies are self-organized systems. According to this view, even the most complex eusocial systems can be explained by appealing to a set of local interactions between parts of an initially disordered system (i.e. self-organization), without the need of any hierarchical control. In this paper we challenge the presupposition that hierarchical control and regulation is not possible in complex eusocial colonies. Using a case study of honey bees (Apis mellifera), we develop an alternative to the self-organization approach, that focuses on the hierarchical nature of the organization of complex eusocial systems—that we refer to as the hierarchical-organizational approach. In addition, we will analyse how colonies of eusocial insects show a complex set of interactions between the different organisms that bring forth a new cohesive collective organization, and how in turn the constitutive entities of this collective organization are transformed in this process. This paper argues that an inter-identity (namely the superorganism) emerges at the collective level in complex eusocial colonies, such as honey bees, due to the hierarchically-organized network of interactions within the colony. (shrink)

Condorcet's jury theorem shows that when the members of a group have noisy but independent information about what is best for the group as a whole, majority decisions tend to outperform dictatorial ones. When voting is supplemented by communication, however, the resulting interdependencies between decision makers can strengthen or undermine this effect: they can facilitate information pooling, but also amplify errors. We consider an intriguing non-human case of independent information pooling combined with communication: the case of nest-site choice by honeybee (...) (Apis mellifera) swarms. It is empirically well documented that when there are different nest sites that vary in quality, the bees usually choose the best one. We develop a new agent-based model of the bees' decision process and show that its remarkable reliability stems from a particular interplay of independence and interdependence between the bees. (shrink)

The existence of DNA methylation in insects has been a controversial subject over a long period of time. The recently completed genome sequence of the honeybee Apis mellifera has revealed the first insect with a full complement of DNA methyltransferases.1 A parallel study demonstrated that these enzymes are catalytically active and that Apis genes can be methylated in specific patterns.2 These findings establish bees as a model to analyze the function of DNA methylation systems in invertebrate organisms (...) and might also be important to understand evolutionary aspects of DNA methylation in higher eukaryotes. BioEssays 29: 208–211, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Straipsnyje šiandien dominuojantis požiūris į kentėjimą kritiškai palyginamas su Husserlio bei Nietzsche‘s sampratomis. Mūsų dienomis dominuojanti kentėjimo samprata yra susijusi su esminiu klausimu: „ką privalau daryti, kad panaikinčiau kančią?“ Kentėjimas suprantamas kaip nepageidaujamas ir nereikalingas fenomenas. Kita vertus, huserliškoji perspektyva gimsta iš klausimo: „ką gali kentėjimas atskleisti apie pačią žmogaus būklę?“ genetinės fenomenologijos požiūriu kentėjimas yra suprantamas kaip atskleisties fenomenas. Pagaliau, Nietzsche‘s filosofijos kontekste, kentėjimo refleksija yra susijusi su pamatiniu rūpesčiu: „Ar tam tikras kentėjimo supratimas teigia gyvenimą, ar veikiau jis (...) turi būti suprastas kaip pastarojo neigimas?“ Šis požiūris kentėjimą interpretuoja kaip paslėpties fenomeną. Atlikta analizė leidžia padaryti dvi išvadas: 1) genetinė ir genealoginė perspektyvos esmingai apriboja šiandieną dominuojantį požiūrį į kentėjimą; 2) Nietzsche‘s ir Husserlio traktuotės oponuoja viena kitai ne menkiau, nei šiandieniniam požiūriui. Bent jau kentėjimo problematikos kontekste galime tarti, kad genealogija yra genetinės fenomenologijos nešvari sąžinė ir atvirkščiai.Esminiai žodžiai: kentėjimas, genetinė fenomenologija, genealogija, Husserlis, nietzsche.The following analysis brings the nowadaysdominant perspective on suffering into a critical confrontation with Husserl and Nietzsche. The nowadays-dominant view arises out of the question “what must I do in order to eliminate suffering?” It therefore interprets suffering as an unsettling and unnecessary phenomenon. By contrast, the Husserlian perspective asks: “what can suffering tell me about the human condition?” As a genetic theme, suffering is a revealing phenomenon. Finally, within the Nietzschean context, our understanding of suffering should spring from yet a different concern: “Does a particular perspective on suffering affirm life, or is it rather a rebellion against it?” This perspective identifies suffering as a concealing phenomenon. Two conclusions follow: 1) the genetic and genealogical reflections on suffering significantly limit the nowadays-dominant perspective; 2) the Nietzschean and the Husserlian perspectives are just as sharply opposed to each other as they are opposed to the contemporary view. Thus at least in the context of the problematic of suffering one can say that genealogy is the bad conscience of genetic phenomenology, and vice versa.Key words: suffering, genetic phenomenology, genealogy, Husserl, Nietzsche. (shrink)

O artigo apresenta resultados deestudo sobre Interfaces de Pro-gramação de Aplicações (API, nasigla em inglês) de visão compu-tacional e sua interpretação de re-presentações em bancos de ima-gens. A visão computacional é umcampo das ciências da computa-ção dedicado a desenvolver algo-ritmos e heurísticas para interpre-tar dados visuais, mas são aindaincipientes os métodos para suaaplicação ou investigação críticas.O estudo investigou três APIs devisão computacional por meio desua reapropriação na análise de16.000 imagens relacionadas abrasileiros, nigerianos, austríacose portugueses em dois dos maio-res bancos (...) de imagens do ociden-te. Identificamos que: a) cada APIapresenta diferentes modos deetiquetamento das imagens; b)bancos de imagens representamvisualidades nacionais com temasrecorrentes, mostrando-se úteispara descrever figurações típi-cas emergentes; c) APIs de visãocomputacional apresentam dife-rentes graus de sensibilidade emodos de tratamento de imagensculturalmente específicas. (shrink)

On the Intellectual Powers of Man Thomas Reid.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, governments have turned their attention to digital contact tracing. In many countries, public debate has focused on the risks this technology poses to privacy, with advocates and experts sounding alarm bells about surveillance and mission creep reminiscent of the post 9/11 era. Yet, when Apple and Google launched their contact tracing API in April 2020, some of the world’s leading privacy experts applauded this initiative for its privacy-preserving technical specifications. In an interesting twist, the tech (...) giants came to be portrayed as greater champions of privacy than some democratic governments. This article proposes to view the Apple/Google API in terms of a broader phenomenon whereby tech corporations are encroaching into ever new spheres of social life. From this perspective, the advantage these actors have accrued in the sphere of the production of digital goods provides them with access to the spheres of health and medicine, and more worrisome, to the sphere of politics. These sphere transgressions raise numerous risks that are not captured by the focus on privacy harms. Namely, a crowding out of essential spherical expertise, new dependencies on corporate actors for the delivery of essential, public goods, the shaping of public policy by non-representative, private actors and ultimately, the accumulation of decision-making power across multiple spheres. While privacy is certainly an important value, its centrality in the debate on digital contact tracing may blind us to these broader societal harms and unwittingly pave the way for ever more sphere transgressions. (shrink)

Tekste nagrinėjama vėlyvojo Schellingo Berlyno paskaitose formuluojama patyrimo samprata ir jos reikšmė svarstant mąstymo ir tikrovės santykį. Keliamas klausimas, kokiu mastu jo siūloma moderniosios patyrimo sampratos transformacija gali būti reikšminga užklausiant nūdienos filosofinio diskurso ateities perspektyvą Benjamino ir Agambeno įvardyto „patirties neprieinamumo“ kontekste. Mėginama parodyti, jog, užuot ieškojus patyrimo galimybės pagrindo imanentinėse ar transcendentalinėse subjekto apibrėžtyse, šelingiškoji alternatyva leidžia permąstyti patyrimą iš radikalios ateities perspektyvos. Atskleidžiant ontologinį patyrimo matmenį, jo sąsajas su laisvės klausimu ir paties mąstymo faktiškumo problema, atsiveria galimybė (...) ieškoti patyrimo vietos anapus subjekto–objekto perskyros, anapus betarpiškumo ar juslinio ir objektiško pažinimo. Tai leidžia persvarstyti patyrimo reikšmę metafizikai tiek pokantinės, tiek postidealistinės savimonės perspektyvoje. (shrink)

This article examines a brief mention of the Egyptian gods Apis and Serapis in the Aduersus nationes by Arnobius of Sicca. This reference is situated within the context of several traditions dealing with the origin and connections of both of these mythical figures transmitted with some variations until Late Antiquity. It is proposed that the Peloponnesian Apis is identified with the Egyptian Serapis through a tradition already attested in Classical Greek authors, though without it being possible to determine (...) which author is the specific reference for the Arnobian text. (shrink)

Politikoje I 2 Aristotelis pateikia kontroversišką teiginį, kad polis pagal prigimtį turi pirmumą prieš individą. Straipsnyje siekiama rekonstruoti šį teiginį. Pastarojo meto tyrimai siūlo du būdus suprasti prigimtinį pirmenybiškumą Aristotelio veikaluose. Jį galima interpretuoti kaip „egzistencinį pirmumą“ arba kaip „pirmumą būtyje“. Teigiama, kad pirmasis variantas kelia problemų; jis neatveria priimtinos šio teiginio skaitymo Politikoje I 2 perspektyvos. Antroji alternatyva teikia patikimą prieigą prie šios mįslės. Taip pat teigiama, kad šios siūlomos teiginio iš Politikos I 2 (1253a18–27) interpretacijos egzegetinis tikėtinumas dar (...) labiau išauga, jei atkreipiame dėmesį į tai, kad Aristoteliui polis yra tam tikra hilomorfinės visumos rūšis. (shrink)

Šis straipsnis pateikia rezultatus šaltinių tyrimo, atlikto nagrinėjant vokiečių filosofo bei švietėjo Johanno Heinricho Abichto (1762–1816) mokslinę bei dėstymo veiklą. 1804 m. Abichtas buvo priimtas dirbti Vilniaus universitete. Lietuvos, Lenkijos, Ukrainos ir Vokietijos archyvų tyrimas atskleidė nemažai Abichto akademinės bei dėstymo veiklos Vilniuje faktų, dauguma kurių yra iš laikotarpio, kuomet Jonas Sniadeckis (1756–1830) buvo Vilniaus imperatoriškojo universiteto rektoriumi. Šiame straipsnyje teigiama, kad būtent Abichtas bei jo mokslinė ir dėstymo veikla Vilniuje buvo tiesioginė priežastis Sniadeckiui 1814 m. publikuoti esė „Apie metafiziką“, (...) taip pat paskatinti visų vėlesniųjų Sniadeckio filosofinių raštų atsiradimą. (shrink)

Character education values are discovered in cultural activities and human interactions with God, others and themselves. This study aims to explore and describe the value of character education in the peraq api of Sasak community in Lombok. This article uses a qualitative research approach. The data collection techniques include observation, interviews and documentation. The data analysis used triangulation with the stages of identifying interview material, classifying, coding, taking emic and hermeneutical approaches. The results of the study elucidate that the procedures (...) and stages of the ritual begin from experimentation, which is considered and believed to have magical powers but does not conflict with religious values. The stages that are passed in carrying out the ritual include activities to prepare materials, process materials, fumigation, carry out rituals and give baby names. The character values comprised in the peraq api tradition are religious, ethical, responsible and environmental care character.Contribution: This research contributes to maintaining the values of character education in the Sasak society. (shrink)

Straipsnyje nagrinėjama keletas filosofijos istoriografijos metodų – racionaliosios rekonstrukcijos, kontekstualizmo ir komparatyvinis. Eksplikuojami racionaliosios rekonstrukcijos metodologijos elementai – praeities filosofinių ir loginių teorijų aprašymas šiuolaikine terminija, jų struktūravimas ir vertinimas remiantis šiuolaikinėmis problemomis bei jų sprendimo būdais. Pateikiama šios metodologijos taikymo Lietuvoje pavyzdžių. Trumpai aptariami ir įvertinami kai kurie reikšmingesni kontekstualistiniai tyrimai. Analizuojamas komparatyvistinės metodologijos taikymas Lietuvos filosofijos istoriografijoje. Teigiama, jog komparatyvisto A. Beinoriaus tyrimų objektas yra integrali visuma – skirtingos mąstymo tradicijos ir jų savybių palyginimas. Šias tradicijas konceptualiai sieja (...) sąmonės samprata. Ji, kaip bendramatiškumo pagrindas, yra ir integruojantis impulsas, probleminiu požiūriu sujungiantis įvairias mąstymo kryptis ar mąstytojus. (shrink)

Over recent years, the stakes and complexity of online content moderation have been steadily raised, swelling from concerns about personal conflict in smaller communities to worries about effects on public life and democracy. Because of the massive growth in online expressions, automated tools based on machine learning are increasingly used to moderate speech. While ‘design-based governance’ through complex algorithmic techniques has come under intense scrutiny, critical research covering algorithmic content moderation is still rare. To add to our understanding of concrete (...) instances of machine moderation, this article examines Perspective API, a system for the automated detection of ‘toxicity’ developed and run by the Google unit Jigsaw that can be used by websites to help moderate their forums and comment sections. The article proceeds in four steps. First, we present our methodological strategy and the empirical materials we were able to draw on, including interviews, documentation, and GitHub repositories. We then summarize our findings along five axes to identify the various threads Perspective API brings together to deliver a working product. The third section discusses two conflicting organizational logics within the project, paying attention to both critique and what can be learned from the specific case at hand. We conclude by arguing that the opposition between ‘human’ and ‘machine’ in speech moderation obscures the many ways these two come together in concrete systems, and suggest that the way forward requires proactive engagement with the design of technologies as well as the institutions they are embedded in. (shrink)