In a sense, all technology is biotechnology: machines interacting with human organisms. Technology is designed to overcome the frailties and limitations of human beings in a state of nature -- to make us faster, stronger, longer-lived, smarter, happier. And all technology raises questions about its real contribution to human welfare: are our lives really better for the existence of the automobile, television, nuclear power? These questions are ethical and political, as well as medical; and they even reach to the philosophical (...) and spiritual. On the whole, we seem pretty well adapted to our technology, at least on the face of it -- but there have always been doubts about whether the human soul thrives best in the oppressively technological world we have created for ourselves. (I am continually struck by how much time I have to spend fixing the machines that supposedly improve my life.). (shrink)

Ever since its first publication in 1992, The End of History and the Last Man has provoked controversy and debate. Francis Fukuyama's prescient analysis of religious fundamentalism, politics, scientific progress, ethical codes, and war is as essential for a world fighting fundamentalist terrorists as it was for the end of the Cold War. Now updated with a new afterword, The End of History and the Last Man is a modern classic.

Francis Fukuyama is one of the most significant political theorists of the past thirty years. Bursting into public awareness in 1989 with his provocative thesis about "the end of history," Fukuyama has made fascinating contributions to a wide range of subjects - the importance of trust in societies, the potential dangers of biotechnology, the development of political authority and the modern state, and most recently, the role of identity in politics. This book records a series of conversations with (...) Fukuyama in which he discusses his background and its role in shaping his thinking, the context and genesis of his major works, and his thoughts in light of the dramatic developments of the past decade, especially the rise of populism around the world. The result is a fascinating picture of a major intellectual. The book both provides an overview of Fukuyama's thought and reveals new insights into his best-known work. This book also allows readers to trace the themes which have animated Fukuyama's entire intellectual career. (shrink)

Francis Fukuyama's controversial new book, Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution, has elicited varied reactions, but like it or not, it seems likely to be influential. Here are three opinions. —Ed.

Pyridoxal 5′‐phosphate, the vitamin B6 derivative, acts as the coenzyme of many enzymes involved in amino acid metabolism. Exceptionally, this compound was found covalently bound to glycogen phosphorylase, the key enzyme in the regulation of glycogen metabolism. Although it is essential for the function of phosphorylase, its direct role has remained an enigma. We have recently found that the glucose moiety of pyridoxal (5′)diphospho (1)‐α‐D‐glucose, a conjugate of pyridoxal 5′‐phosphate and glucose 1‐phosphate through a pyrophosphate linkage, is transferred to the (...) nonreducing end of glycogen, forming a new α‐1,4‐glucosidic linkage. This finding emphasizes the importance of the direct phosphate‐phosphate interaction between the coenzyme and the substrate in the phosphorylase catalytic reaction. We have proposed a catalytic mechanism for phosphorylase in which the phosphate group of pyridoxal 5′‐phosphate acts as an electrophile to the phosphate group of glucose 1‐phosphate. This appears to represent the first instance of the direct involvement of a phosphate group in catalysis by enzymes. (shrink)

In the past thirty years, the United States has undergone a profound transformation in its social structure: Crime has increased, trust has declined, families have broken down, and individualism has triumphed over community. Has the Great Disruption of recent decades rent the fabric of American society irreparably? In this brilliant and sweeping work of social, economic, and moral analysis, Francis Fukuyama shows that even as the old order has broken apart, a new social order is already taking its place. (...) The Great Disruption forges a new model for understanding the Great Reconstruction that is under way. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic has put in the foreground the dramatic actuality of global and local inequalities, undermining neo-liberal, communitarian, democratic or cosmopolitan projects of collective id...

Alternative interpretations are proposed for the finding that market integration is positively related to fair behavior in experimental games. Market activities may produce market relevant concepts and stories that interpret experimental games as incidences of social exchange, and thus may enhance the relevance of (1) market-related preferences or (2) a decision heuristic designed for social exchange.

Clinical ethics support, including ethics consultation, has become established in the field of medical practice throughout the world. This practice has been regarded as useful, most notably in the UK and the USA, in solving ethical problems encountered by both medical practitioners and those who receive medical treatment. In Japan, however, few services are available to respond to everyday clinical ethical issues, although a variety of difficult ethical problems arise daily in the medical field: termination of life support, euthanasia and (...) questions about patient autonomy. In light of these conditions, a group of 17 volunteer educators and researchers from the area of biomedical ethics, including the authors, have formed the Clinical Ethics Support and Education Project, and began providing Japan’s first small team clinical ethics consultation service in October, 2006. Members include scholars of biomedical ethics, scholars of philosophy and ethics, legal professionals and legal scholars, nurses and doctors, consisting of five women and 12 men. Consultation teams, made up of a small number of members, were organised each time a request for consultation was received. Over approximately 15 months (October 2006–December 2007), the programme received 22 consultation requests from medical practitioners and medical institutions, and three from the families of patients. In this paper, we will discuss the status of our consultation service and examples of consultation cases we have handled. In addition, we will examine the process of evaluating small team clinical ethics consultation services, as well as the strengths and weakness of such programmes. (shrink)

This paper offers some ideas and methods of consensus building towards integration of values in flood control, environment, and landscape. These three factors sometimes oppose to each other in the process of construction of public infrastructure such as roadbuilding and river improvement. It is crucial to avoid or resolute conflicts between the government and the local people through project management with the consensus building process. In public works in Japan, flood control has been given priority over the environmental preservation and (...) the landscape conservation due to the perception that it is through flood control that the life and property of individuals are adequately protected. As a consequence, the landscape and the environment have been paid only lip‐service. In the case of the Ohashi River Project in Izumo region presented in this paper, however, the river repair process might entail a severe blow to the tourism industry and have a dramatic impact on the fishery resources of the region, which would be considered a major loss in terms of the urban development of the city. One of our concerns is thus to avoid any losses, through proper consideration of the relationship between the three crucial factors. In this paper, the author reports some ideas and methods that appear in “Basic Policy for the Development of the Area around Ohashi River” composed by the Matsue Review Committee on the Development of the Area around the Ohashi River, in which the author is involved as a committee member. The most important task of the Committee wasto search for the ideas and methods to harmonize the values of flood control, environment, and landscape. (shrink)

We consider minimal ranks of extenders associated with Shelah cardinals by introducing witnessing numbers. Using these numbers we shall investigate effects of Shelah cardinals above themselves. MSC: 03E55.

西田幾多郎の哲学は、単なる宗教体験の表現ではない合理的世界観である。その全貌を解読する時、われわれは、西田哲学が封印したもう一つの視点を発見する。そこであらわになるのは、驚くべき「時間」の真相―時間幻 想である。.