Complementarity

This paper replies to the first 36 commentaries on my target article on “Is human information processing conscious?” (Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1991, pp. 651-669). The target article focused largely on experimental studies of how consciousness relates to human information processing, tracing their relation from input through to output, while discussion of the implications of the findings both for cognitive psychology and philosophy of mind was relatively brief. The commentaries reversed this emphasis, and so, correspondingly, did the reply. The sequence of topics in the reply roughly follows that of the target article. The discussion begins with a reconsideration of the details of the empirical findings, whether they can be extrapolated to non-laboratory settings, and the extent to which one can rely on their use of subjective reports. This is followed by an in-depth discussion of what is meant by “conscious processing” and of how phenomenal consciousness relates to attentional processing. We then turn to broader philosophical and theoretical issues. I point out some of the reasons why I do not support epiphenomenalism, dualist-interactionism, or reductionism, and elaborate on how first- and third-person views of the mind can be regarded as complementary and mutually irreducible. I suggest how the relation of conscious experiences to their neural correlates can be understood in terms of a dual-aspect theory of information, and how this might be used to resolve some of the paradoxes surrounding the causal interactions of consciousness and brain. I also suggest that, viewed from a first-person perspective, consciousness gives purpose to existence, which allows a different way of viewing its role in evolution.

This article examines the conceptual, theoretical, and empirical evidence with respect to the impact of telecommunications on travel. The primary focus is on passenger travel, but goods movement is addressed briefly. I argue that although direct, short-term studies focusing on a single application (such as telecommuting) have often found substitution effects, such studies are likely to miss the more subtle, indirect, and longer-term complementarity effects that are typically observed in more comprehensive analyses. Overall, substitution, complementarity, modification, and neutrality within and across communication modes are all happening simultaneously. The net outcome of these partially counteracting effects, if current trends continue, is likely to be faster growth in telecommunications than in travel, resulting in an increasing share of interactions falling to telecommunications, but with continued growth in travel in absolute terms. The empirical evidence to date is quite limited in its ability to assess the extent of true causality between telecommunications and travel, and more research is needed in that area. At this point, what we can say with confidence is that the empirical evidence for net complementarity is substantial, although not definitive, and the empirical evidence for net substitution appears to be virtually nonexistent.

We investigate experimentally fundamental properties of coherent ghost imaging using spatially incoherent beams generated from a pseudo-thermal source. A complementarity between the coherence of the beams and the correlation between them is demonstrated by showing a complementarity between ghost diffraction and ordinary diffraction patterns. In order for the ghost imaging scheme to work it is therefore crucial to have incoherent beams. The visibility of the information is shown for the ghost image to become better as the object size relative to the speckle size is decreased, and therefore a remarkable tradeoff between resolution and visibility exists. The experimental conclusions are backed up by both theory and numerical simulations.

Questions have been raised on what role the knowledge provided by sustainability science actually plays in the transition to sustainability and what role it may play in the future. In this paper we investigate different approaches to sustainability transformation of food systems by analyzing the rationale behind transformative acts—the ground that the direct agents of change act upon—and how the type of rationale is connected to the role of research and how the agents of change are involved. To do this we employ Max Weber's distinction between instrumental rationality and value-rationality in social action. In particular, we compare two different approaches to the role of research in sustainability transformation: (1) Performance-based approaches that measure performance and set up sustainability indicator targets and benchmarks to motivate the agents in the food system to change; (2) Values-based approaches that aim at communicating and mediating sustainability values to enable coordinated and cooperative action to transform the food system. We identify their respective strengths and weaknesses based on a cross-case analysis of four cases, and propose that the two approaches, like Weber's two types of rationality, are complementary—because they are based on complementary observer stances—and that an optimal in-between approach therefore cannot be found. However, there are options for reflexive learning by observing one perspective—and its possible blind spots—from the vantage point of the other, so we suggest that new strategies for sustainability transformation can be found based on reflexive rationality as a third and distinct type of rationality.

The domain of applications of quantum mechanics (QM) is enormously successful. However, as diverse ontologies emerge from different interpretations of QM, it is difficult to find a satisfactory interpretation of the theory. This article presents a review of the main questions QM posed to theological discussion.  The question of quantum indeterminism is addressed with the aim to show that there is no unanimous answer to this point.  According to some interpretations of QM indeterminism is real, whereas for others indeterminism is only apparent. Given the plurality of interpretations and ontologies arising from QM, it is reasonable to discuss whether it makes sense to inquire into the theological implications of the quantum world. I suggest that future work could analyze whether this ontological-pluralist view is distinctive of how science objectifies reality, but is not necessarily present in other kinds of knowledge, such as metaphysics or theology.

This paper proposes an iterative method that can simulate mechanical systems featuring a large number of contacts and joints between rigid bodies. The numerical method behaves as a contractive mapping that converges to the solution of a cone complementarity problem by means of iterated fixed-point steps with separable projections onto convex manifolds. Since computational speed and robustness are important issues when dealing with a large number of frictional contacts, we have performed special algorithmic optimizations in order to translate the numerical scheme into a matrix-free algorithm with O(n) space complexity and easy implementation. A modified version, that can run on parallel computers is discussed. A multithreaded version of the method has been used to simulate systems with more than a million contacts with friction.

Although manufactured goods have come to make up the bulk of China’s fast expanding exports, the country’s competitiveness still lies in low-value-added products. Reflecting this, Chinese exports do not directly compete with Japanese exports; rather, they complement each other. China’s export structure also lags behind Asia’s newly industrializing economies (NIEs) and major members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Based on a comparison of the trade structures among Asian nations, we find that they are broadly in line with their respective levels of economic development. In short, there is no evidence showing that the flying-geese formation has been disrupted by the emergence of China. Even in China’s fast-growing IT-product sector, the country’s export competitiveness still lags far behind not only Japan, but also other Asian countries. There is a clear division of labor between Japan and China, with the former specializing in high-value-added products and the ...

Our understanding of the organization of the territories and the Neolithic societies of the north-western Mediterranean region remains incomplete because of the preference long accorded to caves and rock shelters in archaeological research, and because these sites are closely linked to one taxon, the sheep and goats. In the middle valley of the Rhône, comparison of the pastoral practices specific to cattle and to sheep and goats, in relation to cave as well as open-air occupations, enables definition of the relations that existed between the sites during the late phase of the Chassean culture. It is demonstrated that the different stages of the annual pastoral cycle were distributed among several sites, whether for sheep and goats or for cattle, and that the large open-air sites had distinct functions according to the species exploited. The discovery of a specialization of places and of practices (general for the caves, partial for the large open-air sites) then leads us to propose the existence of a specialization of individuals or at least small groups (shepherds and cattle herdsmen) as of the beginning of the fourth millennium BC in this region. These elements suggest that population movements of different kinds occurred in the Chassean period in the middle Rhône Valley.

This article presents a theory of social protection expansion in late-developing open economies based on actors' perceptions of complementarity. Drawing on recent theories of institutional change and political economic theories of welfare regimes, the article explains why in late-developing open economies, processes of liberalization often result in social welfare expansion. The explanation is based on the existence of institutional complementarity between the production regime and the social welfare regime. The article offers an agent-based theory of change according to which actors-state or market actors-are likely to promote welfare expansion amid their expectations of higher payoffs and/or improved performance of the liberalized economy. This theory challenges the more conventional Power Resource Theory, according to which welfare regimes are shaped primarily by the balance of power between workers and employers. To test the theory, the article analyzes the enactment of the unemployment insurance law in Israel (1972).