The rapid technological advancement of AI in the civilian sector is accompanied by accelerating attempts to apply this technology in the military sector. This study focuses on the argument that AI-equipped lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) pose a threat to human dignity. However, the precise meaning of why and how LAWS violate human dignity is not always clear because the concept of human dignity itself remains ambiguous. Drawing on philosophical research on this concept, this study distinguishes the multiple meanings of (...) dignity via five components—Agency, End-not-means, Uniqueness, Reciprocal respect, and Specialness—to organize existing dignity-based objections to LAWS. This study also extends the literature by providing empirical evidence of people’s attitudes toward LAWS, based on the results of a social survey conducted by the authors. This study concludes that attention must be directed toward the ontological distinction between humans and machines in advancing the ethical debate on LAWS. (shrink)

The intellectual foundation of early modern Japan was provided by Confucianism—a system of knowledge set forth in Chinese classical writings. In order to gain access to this knowledge, the Japanese applied reading markers to modify the original Chinese to fit the peculiarities of Japanese grammar and pronunciation. Confucian education started by having the children memorize these Japanese readings of the Chinese classics by endless recitation. This article will examine the significance of this study method in order to demonstrate the following: (...) 1. The recitation of the Chinese classics led to these texts being ‘incorporated’ into the body, where they become the ‘intellectual language’ of thought and speech. 2. This quality of ‘incorporation’ was appreciated because it fostered the unity of thought and behavior, leading to the formation of a strong-willed subject. 3. This idea of ‘incorporation’ stands in stark contrast to the modern conception of knowledge that stresses objectivity and transparency, and ignores the pedagogical significance of the body. (shrink)

The discovery of the signal peptides that direct proteins to localize at the nucleolus is described here. The nucleolar targeting signal termed the NOS consists of clustered basic amino acids organized such that a portion also functions as the nuclear transporting signal. Although a NOS has been identified within the regulatory genes of human retroviruses, HTLV‐I and HIV‐I, signals of similar function in cellular proteins – such as heat shock proteins – may be induced through the configurational change of protein (...) structure by heat or stress. (shrink)

Specular reflections and refractive distortions are complex image properties of solid transparent objects, but despite this complexity, we readily perceive the 3D shapes of these objects. We have found in past work that relevant sources of scene complexity have differential effects on 3D shape perception, with specular reflections increasing perceived thickness, and refractive distortions decreasing perceived thickness. In an object with both elements, such as glass, the two optical properties may complement each other to support reliable perception of 3D shape. (...) We investigated the relative dominance of specular reflection and refractive distortions in the perception of shape. Surprisingly, the ratio of specular reflection to refractive component was almost equal to that of ordinary glass and ice, which promote correct percepts of 3D shape. The results were also explained by the variance in local RMS contrast in stimulus images but may depend on overall luminance and contrast of the surrounding light field. (shrink)