[info] [metaverse] FW: Sam Lehman-Wilzig - (S)urge to Virtu(re)ality

[Eugen Leitl]

----- Forwarded message from "Hughes, James J." <James.Hughes at trincoll.edu> -----

From: "Hughes, James J." <James.Hughes at trincoll.edu>
Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2008 12:09:30 -0500
To: For H+/technoprogressives in virtual worlds <metaverse at ieet.org>
Subject: [metaverse] FW: Sam Lehman-Wilzig - (S)urge to Virtu(re)ality
Reply-To: For H+/technoprogressives in virtual worlds <metaverse at ieet.org>

Yale Technology and Ethics Working Group
	
	Speaker: Sam Lehman-Wilzig, Professor, Dept of Political
Studies, Bar-Ilan University
	Topic:  Mind over Matter: Human History and the (S)urge to
Virtu(re)ality
	Date:  Wednesday -January 23rd
	Time: 4:15-5:45 workshop
	
	Presentation Outline:
	
	 1) Definitions of Virtuality: 
	A brief list of quite different, previous, scholarly definitions
of the term; my own taxonomy of virtuality.
	
	2) Pinning a Jellyfish to the Wall: Can Virtuality be Measured?
	Why we need to measure virtuality; measurement is dependent on
the definition of the phenomenon; some possibilities.
	
	3) Virtualities in Pre-Modern Human Society
	A brief but wide-ranging survey of manifestations of virtuality
throughout human history; can one discern an "evolutionary" process?
	
	4) Factors Behind the Modern Surge to Virtu(re)ality
	What lies behind the quantum leap in qualitative and
quantitative virtuality in the 19th & 20th centuries?
	
	5) Manifestations of Contemporary Virtuality 
	Some new expressions of virtuality - and several "old wines in
new bottles".
	
	6) Man-infestations of Contemporary Virtuality: Good, Bad or
just Ugly?
	Is virtuality inherent in the human condition? Is it
beneficial/harmful for humans? Is the answer a matter of degree, i.e. do
humans need a certain measure of "real reality"? 
	
	7) Future Possibilities: Homo Virtualis?
	What are some of the futuristic technologies that
promise/threaten to heighten our virtual life? Will the human being
ultimately become "homo virtualis"?
	
	Suggested Readings:
	
	1) A link to a few short essays that provides some historical
"background" and food for thought:
	a- http://www.transparencynow.com/history.htm
<http://www.transparencynow.com/history.htm> 
	b- http://www.transparencynow.com/lascaux.htm
<http://www.transparencynow.com/lascaux.htm> 
	c- http://www.transparencynow.com/introfry2.htm
<http://www.transparencynow.com/introfry2.htm> 
	The participants in our session are invited to read other essays
in this compilation that may interest them (in the box entitled "The Age
of Simulation"): http://www.transparencynow.com
<http://www.transparencynow.com> / 
	
	 
	2) A PDF (attached) of an introduction to a e-journal volume
dedicated to Virtuality. Your readers can easily Google relevant
articles referred to within this Intro, if they wish to read more
in-depth. 
	
	 
	3) A PDF (attached) of a book chapter that provides a more
academic and in-depth analysis of two possible definitions of, and
approaches to, Virtuality.  
	
	
	******
	
	
	Brief Bio: Prof. Sam Lehman-Wilzig was born in New York City
where he studied at CCNY (B.A. Political Science, 1971, summa cum
laude), moving to Harvard U where he completed his PhD in 1976
(Government). He has taught at Bar-Ilan University in Israel since 1977.
	
	He has served in the following capacities: Head of BIU's
Division of Journalism & Mass Communication Studies (1991-1996);
Chairman of the Israel Political Science Association (1997-1999);
Founder and Head of BIU's Public Communications Program within the Dept.
of Political Studies since 1994; Founder and Editor of PATUAKH, the
Hebrew-language academic journal of Media, Politics & Society; and
Chairman of the Political Studies Department (2004-present).
	
	He is an authority on Israeli media and election campaigns, as
well as new media. In the field of media studies he has written a
popular textbook: Handbook of Mass Communications, 1994 (Hebrew), and
authored several scholarly articles on new media, among them: "The Tower
of Babel vs the power of babble: Future political, economic, & cultural
consequences of synchronous, automated translation systems (SATS),",
"The Natural Life Cycle of New Media Evolution: Inter-Media Struggle for
Survival in the Internet Age,"; and "The End of the Traditional Printed
Newspaper: Factors of On-Line Journalism that Threaten Traditional,
Printed Journalism" [Hebrew].
	



_______________________________________________
metaverse mailing list
metaverse at ieet.org
http://www.transhumanism.org/mailman/listinfo/metaverse


----- End forwarded message -----
-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
______________________________________________________________
ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org
8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A  7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE