Imaginary Weapons

Imaginary Weapons
Author: Sharon Weinberger
Publisher: Nation Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2007-05-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9781568583297

The story of how a lunatic fringe science project became favored by Rumsfeld's Pentagon.

The Powerful Presence of the Past

The Powerful Presence of the Past
Author: Jacqueline Knörr
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 391
Release: 2010-10-25
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004190007

This book conceptualizes integration and conflict as interrelated dimensions of social interaction impacted by specific historical experiences. Contributions aim at a better understanding of the social mechanisms affecting processes of integration and conflict at the local, national and regional levels.

Understanding the imaginary war

Understanding the imaginary war
Author: Matthew Grant
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2016-09-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1526101335

This collection offers a fresh interpretation of the Cold War as an imaginary war, a conflict that had imaginations of nuclear devastation as one of its main battlegrounds. The book includes survey chapters and case studies on Western Europe, the USSR, Japan and the USA. Looking at various strands of intellectual debate and at different media, from documentary film to fiction, the chapters demonstrate the difficulties to make the unthinkable and unimaginable - nuclear apocalypse - imaginable. The book will be required reading for everyone who wants to understand the cultural dynamics of the Cold War through the angle of its core ingredient, nuclear weapons.

Jules & Rom

Jules & Rom
Author: Pete Mullineaux
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2021-03-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1800462514

In 2040 Kerry Tracker, a newly qualified teacher is appointed to oversee a US high school production of Romeo & Juliet: a tall order, the 10th grade kids in the cast previously caused an emotional meltdown in the android teacher originally assigned to the task. Moreover, the 15 year old rebel ringleader is the daughter of the man whose company supplies all the AI resources in the school. When a suspicious death takes place in the school and special agent Floyd Linton from Homeland Security pursues the investigation into what happened, the play’s story of young love and social division unfolds against a background of political intrigue as human beings and androids discover themselves through the process of putting on Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece.

The Imagineers of War

The Imagineers of War
Author: Sharon Weinberger
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 498
Release: 2018-02-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 0804169721

The definitive history of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon agency that has quietly shaped war and technology for nearly sixty years. Founded in 1958 in response to the launch of Sputnik, the agency’s original mission was to create “the unimagined weapons of the future.” Over the decades, DARPA has been responsible for countless inventions and technologies that extend well beyond military technology. Sharon Weinberger gives us a riveting account of DARPA’s successes and failures, its remarkable innovations, and its wild-eyed schemes. We see how the threat of nuclear Armageddon sparked investment in computer networking, leading to the Internet, as well as to a proposal to power a missile-destroying particle beam by draining the Great Lakes. We learn how DARPA was responsible during the Vietnam War for both Agent Orange and the development of the world’s first armed drones, and how after 9/11 the agency sparked a national controversy over surveillance with its data-mining research. And we see how DARPA’s success with self-driving cars was followed by disappointing contributions to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Weinberger has interviewed more than one hundred former Pentagon officials and scientists involved in DARPA’s projects—many of whom have never spoken publicly about their work with the agency—and pored over countless declassified records from archives around the country, documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, and exclusive materials provided by sources. The Imagineers of War is a compelling and groundbreaking history in which science, technology, and politics collide.

Gender Equity In The Early Years

Gender Equity In The Early Years
Author: Browne, Naima
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2004-03-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0335211526

Gender Equity in the Early Yearscritically evaluates the extent to which current early years policies, provision and practice promote and foster gender equity. It explores the rationale for the drive to employ more men in the early years field and examines the link made between ‘underachievement’ in boys and the ‘feminine’ nature of early years provision. It also looks at the underpinning philosophy and impact of the Foundation stage in early years provision. Taking into consideration recent research, this book considers the validity of the ‘scientific’ conclusions being drawn about the biological basis for gender differences. Children’s perceptions of ‘masculinities’ and ‘femininities’ are also under scrutiny as the author analyses their imaginative role play and storytelling in early years settings. The author also looks at the principles behind the pre-school provision in Reggio Emilia and focuses on the extent to which this approach fosters gender equity. This groundbreaking book is essential reading for professionals working with young children, students on early childhood education and early childhood studies courses and heads and deputies in nurseries and primary and nursery schools.

Final Frontiers

Final Frontiers
Author: Upamanyu Pablo Mukherjee
Publisher:
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2020
Genre: History
ISBN: 1789620287

This is the first sustained exploration of the relationship between post-colonial science fiction, Indian techno-scientific policies, and the non-aligned movement. It shows the critical role played by the science fiction genre in imagining alternative pathways for scientific and geo-political developments to those that dominate our lives now.

Arms Control And International Security

Arms Control And International Security
Author: Roman Kolkowicz
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 213
Release: 2019-08-27
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0429725566

Designed to introduce the reader to the critical issues of arms control and international security in the 1980s, this collection of provocative and challenging articles encourages a rethinking of conventional wisdom on strategic policy. The authors succinctly convey the tensions existing between those who would eliminate the weapons on which strategic deterrence has rested and those who see the Soviet nuclear buildup as a challenge that must be met with increased armaments. They reflect, as well, on the conceptual tension between eliminating nuclear weapons and answering the question of how defense can be managed in the nuclear era. Their contributions are at times compelling, at times frustrating, but at all times informative and of critical importance.

The Mirrors of Elangir

The Mirrors of Elangir
Author: Steven J Pemberton
Publisher: Steven J Pemberton
Total Pages: 394
Release: 2014-06-21
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

A hunt for a magical treasure that could pay a dowry - or win a war. Raltarn and his uncle are entrepreneurs, struggling to make an honest living - or failing that, any sort of living - as Raltarn scrapes together a dowry for his fiancée Shanu. Shanu's father, tired of waiting, gives Raltarn an ultimatum - double your fortune in three months or the wedding is off. While clearing junk from a dead man's house, Raltarn finds a magic mirror that can communicate instantaneously with an identical mirror over great distances. The pair could provide him with a dowry - and might give his country the edge it needs in the long war with its neighbour. When the other mirror proves to be thousands of miles away, across dangerous seas and unexplored lands, Raltarn and his uncle decide the risks are worth it, but they soon discover they are not the only ones who see the opportunity for power and profit...

Physics of Societal Issues

Physics of Societal Issues
Author: David Hafemeister
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 677
Release: 2013-12-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1461492726

This book provides the reader with essential tools needed to analyze complex societal issues and demonstrates the transition from physics to modern-day laws and treaties. This second edition features new equation-oriented material and extensive data sets drawing upon current information from experts in their fields. Problems to challenge the reader and extend discussion are presented on three timely issues: • National Security: Weapons, Offense, Defense, Verification, Nuclear Proliferation, Terrorism • Environment: Air/Water, Nuclear, Climate Change, EM Fields/Epidemiology • Energy: Current Energy Situation, Buildings, Solar Buildings, Renewable Energy, Enhanced End-Use Efficiency, Transportation, Economics Praise for the first edition: "This insight is needed in Congress and the Executive Branch. Hafemeister, a former Congressional fellow with wide Washington experience, has written a book for physicists, chemists and engineers who want to learn science and policy on weapons, energy, and the environment. Scientists who want to make a difference will want this book." Richard Scribner, first Director, Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow Program, AAAS "Hafemeister shows how much one can understand about nuclear weapons and missile issues through simple back-of-the-envelope calculations. He also provides compact explanations of the partially successful attempts that have been made over the past 60 years to control these weapons of mass destruction. Hopefully, Physics of Societal Issues will help interest a new generation of physicists in continuing this work." Frank von Hippel, Professor, Princeton, former Assistant Director, National Security, White House, OSTP "Energy policy must be quantitative. People who don't calculate economic tradeoffs often champion simplistic hardware. ‘The solution is more... nuclear power, or electric cars, or photovoltaics, etc.’ Some simple physics will show that the true solution matches supply and demand as an ‘integrated resource plan.’ Physics of Societal Issues is a good place to begin this journey." Arthur Rosenfeld, former California Energy Commissioner, Professor-emeritus, U. of California-Berkeley