The Russian Revolution of 1917 erupted on the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Karl Marx’s Capital. From the start, the October Revolution seemed both to confirm and contradict Marx’s analysis. He had envisioned a working-class-based socialist revolution breaking out in the developed capitalist countries of Western Europe. But the 1882 preface to the Communist Manifesto, written a year before his death, amended this by pointing to a revolution in Russia as a possible “signal for proletarian revolution in the West.”1 Yet although a worker-peasant revolution under Marxist leadership triumphed in Russia in 1917, Russia was still a largely underdeveloped country, and the revolutionary uprisings in Germany and Central Europe which followed were weak and easily extinguished.

Recently we proposed “quantum language”, which was not only characterized as the metaphysical and linguistic turn of quantum mechanics but also the linguistic turn of Descartes = Kant epistemology. And further we believe that quantum language is the only scientifically successful theory in dualistic idealism. If this turn is regarded as progress in the history of western philosophy (i.e., if “philosophical progress” is defined by “approaching to quantum language”), we should study the linguistic mind-body problem more than the epistemological mind-body problem. In this paper, we show that to solve the mind-body problem and to propose “measurement axiom” in quantum language are equivalent. Since our approach is always within dualistic idealism, we believe that our linguistic answer is the only true solution to the mind-body problema.

This article deals with the first detection of gravitational waves by the advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors on 14 September 2015, where the signal was generated by two stellar mass black holes with masses 36 M ⊙ and 29 M ⊙ that merged to form a 62 M ⊙ black hole, releasing 3 M ⊙ energy in gravitational waves, almost 1.3 billion years ago. We begin by providing a brief overview of gravitational waves, their sources and the gravitational wave detectors. We then describe in detail the first detection of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger. We then comment on the electromagnetic follow up of the detection event with various telescopes. Finally, we conclude with the discussion on the tests of gravity and fundamental physics with the first gravitational wave detection event.

Mereology is the theory of wholes and parts. The first formal mereology was developed by Husserl in his third Logical Investigation at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1916 Stanisław Lesnie ´ wski gave the first axiomatization of a classical extensional formal mereology. That same year, Alfred North Whitehead also gave a sketch of a mereology in “La théorie relationniste de l’espace”. It was developed in the perspective of a theory of space in which the concept of point is no longer considered as primitive, but is built in terms of the relations between objects. This project was then taken up and amplified in the wider perspective of the method of extensive abstraction presented in An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Natural Knowledge and The Concept of Nature. Afterwards, Whitehead added to what was first a theory of the part-whole relation some definitions of topological notions such as junction.

Recently we uploaded to the arxiv a paper entitled: Improving the Economic Complexity Index. There, we compared three metrics of the knowledge intensity of an economy, the original metric we published in 2009 (the Economic Complexity Index or ECI), a variation of the metric proposed in 2012, and a variation we called ECI+. It was brought to our attention that the definition of ECI+ was equivalent to the variation of the metric proposed in 2012. We have verified this claim, and found that while the equations are not exactly the same, they are similar enough to be our own oversight. More importantly, we now ask: how many variations of the original ECI work? In this paper we provide a simple unifying framework to explore multiple variations of ECI, including both the original 2009 ECI and the 2012 variation. We found that a large fraction of variations have a similar predictive power, indicating that the chance of finding a variation of ECI that works, after the seminal 2009 measure, are surprisingly high.

In part I of this analysis, the striking similarities of the declining oil production in the North Sea, Indonesia and Mexico were used to model the future maximum possible oil production per annum in all larger countries and regions of the planet from 2015 to 2050. In part II, the oil export and oil consumption patterns, that were established in recent decades, are combined with the consequences of the forecast declines in regional oil production that were developed in part I of this analysis. The results are quantitative predictions of the maximum possible region-by-region oil consumption during the next 20 years. The predictions indicate that several of the larger oil consuming and importing countries and regions will be confronted with the economic consequences of the onset of the world’s final oil supply crisis as early as 2020.

Unless we change direction, we are likely to wind up where we are headed. (Ancient Chinese proverb)

But Beijing has no intention to target Washington, and the conditions are immature for it to replace Washington in shaping the international order. Therefore, even if China is dissatisfied with the current international order, it will not replace the US in making new rules in Asia and the whole world. China is not rewriting the rules, but is attempting to have a higher status in rule-making. Therefore, there is enormous room for Beijing and Washington to negotiate and cooperate. The US can transfer some power to China so that the two countries can jointly shape the international order. In the meantime, China should clarify that it is an upholder of the current order. China is just trying to reform the rights granted to developing countries.

Gilberto Rojas / 10 ago 2017.- El presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, aseguró haber debatido el “tema Venezuela” junto a su gabinete de seguridad y haber tomado decisiones al respecto. “Es un día muy importante”, dijo Trump a los medios tras la reunión. El mundo estaría a la espera de los nuevos anuncios sobre […]

China opposes both nuclear proliferation and war in the Korean Peninsula. It will not encourage any side to stir up military conflict, and will firmly resist any side which wants to change the status quo of the areas where China’s interests are concerned. It is hoped that both Washington and Pyongyang can exercise restraint. The Korean Peninsula is where the strategic interests of all sides converge, and no side should try to be the absolute dominator of the region.