4. Humanoid and android robots
Alan Winfield
in Robotics: A Very Short Introduction
We are fascinated with robots that look like us. There are good reasons why robots that need to work with people should look like them: so they can share human tools and workspaces and ...
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4. Semantic Information
Luciano Floridi
in Information: A Very Short Introduction
‘Semantic information’ gives a detailed description of several ways of describing semantic information, and outlines problems associated with these methodologies. Unlike the Mathematical ...
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Introduction
Frank A. J. L. James
in Michael Faraday: A Very Short Introduction
Michael Faraday's science addressed three key themes: research, communication, and application. These themes linked in various ways during his lifetime, although the relative amount of time ...
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6. Civil engineering: looking forward
David Muir Wood
in Civil Engineering: A Very Short Introduction
Civil engineering can look back on a history of finding successful solutions to all manner of problems in the infrastructure of modern society. But what of the future? ‘Civil engineering: ...
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3. Management and authority
John Hendry
in Management: A Very Short Introduction
‘Management and authority’ describes two different approaches to management. One approach is rational: the organization is seen as in some sense a machine, and the principal task of ...
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1. Ritualization
Barry Stephenson
in Ritual: A Very Short Introduction
‘Ritualization’ considers one of the cornerstones of ritual studies—ritualization. It begins with ethology, the study of animal behaviour and goes on to discuss ritualization theory and how ...
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3. Mathematical Information
Luciano Floridi
in Information: A Very Short Introduction
‘Mathematical information’ explores mathematical approaches to investigating information. The Mathematical Theory of Communication (MTC) is the most important of these approaches, and aims ...
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6. Risk communication
Baruch Fischhoff and John Kadvany
in Risk: A Very Short Introduction
‘Risk communication’ shows how risks are communicated between parties in society, and how effective risk communication is essential to society. Risk communications affect individuals' ...
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3. Multilingualism, myth, and controversies
John C. Maher
in Multilingualism: A Very Short Introduction
Analysing people’s beliefs about language is important for education and for our common understanding about how language works. ‘Multilingualism, myth, and controversies’ considers six ...
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2. Variation and change
John Edwards
in Sociolinguistics: A Very Short Introduction
Since, at base, sociolinguistics is about the linkages between language and society, inquiries into language variation are central. ‘Variation and change’ asks: Where change implies the ...
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7. Globalization and the rise of network governance
Stella Z. Theodoulou and Ravi K. Roy
in Public Administration: A Very Short Introduction
The forces of globalization are compelling public administrators to direct their attention increasingly towards transnational forms of governance. ‘Globalization and the rise of network ...
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4. Technological change
Alex Roland
in War and Technology: A Very Short Introduction
‘Technological change’ presents three perspectives on the nature of change in military technology: research and development, dual-use technologies, and military revolutions. World War II ...
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3. The immorality of an age
Patrick Gardiner
in Kierkegaard: A Very Short Introduction
Kierkegaard worried that because of the huge increase in knowledge, we had forgotten what it actually means to exist and the meaning of inwardness. ‘The immorality of an age’ looks at how ...
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6. Robotic futures
Alan Winfield
in Robotics: A Very Short Introduction
The story of robots is still unfolding. ‘Robotic futures’ looks to the future of robotic science in space exploration and other areas of everyday life. Would it be possible to build a ...
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7. Virtual work
Stephen Fineman
in Work: A Very Short Introduction
Information technologies penetrate almost all aspects of our lives. In developed societies many occupations are in some way virtualized. The traditional notion of ‘going to work’ has been ...
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Hermeneutics: A Very Short Introduction
Jens Zimmermann
Hermeneutics is the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation. As humans, we decipher the meaning of newspaper articles, books, legal matters, religious texts, political speeches, ...
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5. Signals for survival
Tristram D. Wyatt
in Animal Behaviour: A Very Short Introduction
Animals communicate in numerous ways. Usually, when animals communicate, the receiver of the communication responds by changing its behaviour. Communication can use any one or more of the ...
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8. Applying behaviour
Tristram D. Wyatt
in Animal Behaviour: A Very Short Introduction
Our behaviour as humans has profound effects on the lives of other animals. ‘Applying behaviour’ explores some of the ways that we can use an understanding of animal behaviour to reduce our ...
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8. Conclusion: the unity of human language
Stephen R. Anderson
in Languages: A Very Short Introduction
So how many languages are there in the world? The various notions of how to individuate them offer a fairly wide range of answers, none of which seems overwhelmingly correct. ‘The unity of ...
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Robotics: A Very Short Introduction
Alan Winfield
Robotics: A Very Short Introduction explains how it is that robotics can be both a success story and a disappointment, how robots can be both ordinary and remarkable, and looks ...
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