Although the biological bases of forgetting remain obscure, the consensus among cognitive psychologists emphasizes interference processes, rejecting decay in accounting for memory loss. In contrast to this view, recent advances in understanding the neurobiology of long-term memory maintenance lead us to propose that a brain-wide well-regulated decay process, occurring mostly during sleep, systematically removes selected memories. Down-regulation of this decay process can increase the life expectancy of a memory and may eventually prevent its loss. Memory interference usually (...) occurs during certain active processing phases, such as encoding and retrieval, and will be stronger in brain areas with minimal sensory integration and less pattern separation. In areas with efficient pattern separation, such as the hippocampus, interference-driven forgetting will be minimal, and, consequently, decay will cause most forgetting. (shrink)

The RNA-binding protein, UPF1, is best known for its central role in the nonsense-mediated RNA decay pathway. Feng et al. now report a new function for UPF1—it is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that specifically promotes the decay of a key pro-muscle transcription factor: MYOD. UPF1 achieves this through its RING-like domain, which confers ubiquitin E3 ligase activity. Feng et al. provide evidence that the ability of UPF1 to destabilize MYOD represses myogenesis. In the future, it will be important (...) to define other protein substrates of UPF1-driven ubiquitination and to determine whether this biochemical activity is responsible for some of UPF1's previously defined biological functions, including in development and stress responses. The exciting findings presented by Feng et al. open up the possibility that protein turnover and RNA turnover are coupled processes. The RNA-binding protein, UPF1, is best known for its central role in the nonsense-mediated RNA decay pathway. Here we discuss a new role for UPF1—it is directly involved in protein decay. This hidden talent raises the possibility that protein turnover and RNA turnover are coupled processes. (shrink)

When organizations solve collective action problems or realize values, they do so by means of institutions. These are commonly regarded as self-stabilizing. Yet, they can also be subject to endogenous processes of decay, or so we argue. We explain this in terms of psychological and cultural processes, which can change even if the formal structures remain unchanged. One key implication is that the extent to which norms, values, and ideals motivate individuals to comply with institutions is limited.

Universities, as core nodes within the self-organizing chain of civilization, serve as early indicators of societal decline when they fall into corruption. Modern universities, driven by money, prestige, power, and human greed, have gradually deviated from their essential missions of knowledge, virtue, and wisdom. This deviation has led to imbalances in academic ecosystems, erosion of elite virtue, institutional dysfunction, and the collapse of social trust. Lao-Yang Genesis Cosmology, combined with Laozi’s philosophy of “Dao Follows Nature” (Dao Fa Zi Ran), provides (...) a systematic framework for analyzing both the entropic increase of civilization and the corruption of universities. Through an in-depth analysis of manifestations of university corruption, the roots of greed, and the collapse of civilizational chains, this work proposes a path for civilizational redemption: suppressing greed, returning to truth, upholding virtue, and educating with a cosmic and sustainable civilization perspective, in order to revitalize both universities and civilization. Keywords University corruption; Civilizational decline; Greed; Laozi philosophy; Lao-Yang Genesis Cosmology; Self-organizing systems; Dao Follows Nature. (shrink)

The authors discuss sonic decay as a compositional, performative and installation practice. Building off of the recording of a six hour performance, Andrew Stanford and Ezra Teboul assembled a short eight minute audio response which comes in two separate files. In addition to online links to the pieces, this paper provides a description of the compositional process along with an analysis of the response’s content and format. It then relates those to the greater concepts of sonic materialism, sound objects, (...) and the parallax view, and places the piece in the context of relevant and contemporary sound-based art works. Sonic Decay was installed and performed at the 2014 International Žižek Studies Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. (shrink)

Contemporary nuclear physics accounts for radioactive decay and nuclear reactions through five independent theoretical frameworks, each with its own force carriers, coupling constants, and free parameters. Alpha decay is modeled via quantum mechanical tunneling through the Coulomb barrier. Beta decay is attributed to weak interaction mediated by W± bosons. Gamma decay is treated as electromagnetic radiation from excited nuclear states. Nuclear fission is described by the liquid drop model. Nuclear fusion is governed by strong force dynamics. (...) No unified derivation from a single axiomatic structure has been achieved within the Standard Model. -/- This paper derives all five phenomena from the axioms of Cognitional Mechanics (CM) and the algebraic structure of M₃(ℂ), the unique minimal noncommutative finite-dimensional C*-algebra, without free parameters. The central result is that all nuclear transitions are instances of spectral relaxation of the resonance coefficient κ toward the Iron Stability Attractor κ(Fe) = 6/13, established as the S4 closure node of the M₃(ℂ) automorphism structure. Alpha decay is derived as separation of the ⁴He Aut-invariant orbit unit. Beta decay is derived as SU(2)₁₂ isospin transition, with parity non-conservation following from the Tier structural non-alignment between the Tier-2 algebraic operation and the Tier-3 spatial symmetry. Gamma decay is derived as Cartan eigenvalue relaxation. -/- Nuclear fusion is derived as two-domain spectral convergence toward κ(Fe) = 6/13. Nuclear fission is derived from the condition δt(x)/t → −1, under which entropy monotonicity becomes unsatisfiable within a single M₃(ℂ) domain. The half-life is established as a Tier-3 dimensional quantity structurally excluded from Tier-2 derivation. The Iron Stability Theorem κ(Fe) = 6/13 unifies all nuclear transitions under a single algebraic fixed point. -/- Published on March 31, 2026 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19343077 -/- . (shrink)

In Social Decay and Transformation social and political critic Samuel Farber presents an analysis of social decline that has been missing from the contemporary scene: a view from the Left, one which draws from the ideas and traditions of the Enlightenment's left wing. Using a comparative approach to situate his theoretical conclusions in historical circumstances, Farber looks at the working class and temperance movements, civil rights rebellions and the Black Panthers, and the cultural revolutions of 1920s Russia and the (...) Bolsheviks. Providing carefully reasoned interrogations of contemporary thinkers such as James C. Scott and Robin D. G. Kelley, Farber clarifies the discussions on social decay currently taking place, adding an important voice of the Left to the current debate. (shrink)

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities have become increasingly prevalent in retail settings. In franchised organizations, franchisors typically design and coordinate these activities, leaving operational execution to franchisees. Meanwhile, franchisors may introduce new corporate-led CSR activities over time. Even though changes to CSR activities may refocus outlets’ attention on a CSR initiative, they may also disrupt an outlet’s ongoing CSR routines. Using a longitudinal, secondary dataset consisting of an eight-year panel for a national, franchised restaurant chain, we examine CSR performance dynamics (...) in the presence of two distinct types of CSR activities: an ongoing CSR routine and a distinct, temporary CSR campaign. We find that, when resuming the CSR routine after a temporary CSR campaign, outlets’ performance in CSR routines drops significantly (i.e., immediate decay), then improves gradually (i.e., protracted recovery). We also consider the moderating role of an outlet’s experience, finding that experience stabilizes these decay and recovery cycles. Our findings represent a first step in developing a longitudinal understanding of how a firm’s short-term CSR campaigns may impact ongoing CSR routines, thus contributing to the knowledge of CSR activity development and routinization. (shrink)

Egon von Schweidler, a colleague of Exner at the University of Vienna, interpreted Rutherford’s (1902) decay law as merely probabilistically – thereby allowing deviations for small sample sizes.

Dutch decline is usually studied as a topic in economic history: when did it really start, what shape did it take? In this article an attempt is made to show the actual awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the Dutch economy, in the terms used by participants in three public debates. The classical Dutch discourse of decay and decline evolved in response to national and international political reality. The Bickerse Beroerten debate of 1650 shows the conflict between neo-Roman (...) and neo-Athenian tendencies. Subsequently, the explanation of Dutch decline (the effect of luxury) by the Anglo-Dutch pamphleteer Bernard Mandeville is shown to be markedly different from his advice to the English (to allow luxury). Finally, the 1630s Dutch debate between Lieven de Beaufort and his critics represents the maturing of the Dutch vocabulary of decline, including its failure to take into account the organisational preconditions of modern society. (shrink)

In eleven sharp essays, the contributors to Decay attend to the processes and experiences of symbolic and material decay in a variety of sociopolitical contexts across the globe. They examine decay in its myriad manifestations--biological, physical, organizational, moral, political, personal, and social--and in its numerous contexts--colonialism and imperialism, governments and the state, racism, the environment, and infrastructure. The volume's topics are wide in scope, ranging from the discourse of social decay in contemporary Australian settler colonialism and (...) the ways infrastructures both create and experience decay to cultural decay in the aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil war and the relations between individual, institutional, and societal decay in an American high-security prison. By using decay as a problematic and expounding its mechanisms, conditions, and temporalities, the contributors provide nuanced and rigorous means to more fully grapple with the exigencies of the current sociopolitical moment. Contributors. Cameo Dalley, Peter D. Dwyer, Akhil Gupta, Ghassan Hage, Michael Herzfeld, Elise Klein, Bart Klem, Tamara Kohn, Michael Main, Fabio Mattioli, Debra McDougall, Monica Minnegal, Violeta Schubert. (shrink)

Why has the spread of fake news taken grip on society so quickly? Why has there been a significant increase in violence among those who disagree on issues? Why is it that increasingly our society is shutting down speech they disagree with rather than engage in civil debate? This book explores each of these issues and traces their connection to the same root cause: the decay of truth in education. It presents a compelling case that documents how educational institutions (...) and political institutions alike have abandoned truth as a primary virtue. In doing so, our society has waded deeply into an environment loaded with deceit, distraction, and delusion. The targets of this critique range across political, religious, and social groups as this is a societal-level outcome of the educational malaise towards truth. The book underscores topics of practical interest and considers real opportunities for each individual to take to help restore truth as a virtue in education and in society. (shrink)

This is neither a defense of nor an elegy for Stanford University. It is an autopsy report. The alienation of contemporary Stanford is not an isolated scandal that a public-relations office can absorb, but a pathological specimen of the wholesale collapse of the modern university as a civilizational institution. As the spiritual matrix of the Silicon Valley innovation myth, Stanford has, even while exporting disruptive technology to the world, long since been consumed from within by the very venture capital, techno-fetishism, (...) and geopolitical power it nurtured, fed, and allowed to grow unchecked — the matrix gave birth to a monster, and the monster reached back and gutted the matrix's own viscera, while the matrix still dresses up this self-cannibalization as "the spirit of innovation" in its alumni magazines and fundraising letters. -/- Drawing on Theo Baker's non-fiction investigation of Stanford's campus power structures and startup culture as empirical material, this book introduces the Lao-Yang Genesis Cosmology (LYGC) framework to derive systematically how the modern university degenerates from a "Wisdom Community" into a "Knowledge-Capitalization Machine" — a transformation that is not an accident but the sole, inevitable, and inescapable dynamical destination of a system that has lost its cosmic constraint. -/- Through the unconstrained expansion of the Desire Amplification Factor (DAF) against the systemic decay of the Cosmic Constraint Function (CCF), this book derives the Three-Level Greedy Positive-Feedback Model (3L-GFM) driving university degeneration, and exposes "Epistemic Mimicry" — a pathology sustained by the system to maintain false prosperity, one deeper than ordinary academic misconduct: the fraudster is no longer even lying to anyone; he is simply carrying out the post assigned to him by the system. American and Chinese universities exhibit capital-dominated and power-dominated alienation respectively — one kneeling toward Nasdaq, the other toward the organization department — but though the postures of kneeling differ, the angle at which the knees bend is identical; both are, in essence, civilizational collapse under Thermodynamic Drift. Facing the ontological end of the university's knowledge monopoly in the age of artificial intelligence (AI), this book argues that Stanford-style self-rescue predicaments stem from a Systemic Entropy Lock: a group of people who know exactly what is wrong, jointly guarding a body they all know has already rotted, yet none of whom dares to be the first to let go. The university's only way out lies in breaking the fate of the knowledge factory through the Four-Tier Verification Chain of "Dao-Based Education," achieving a civilizational return to the "Wisdom Community." . (shrink)

This is neither a defense of nor an elegy for Stanford University. It is an autopsy report. The alienation of contemporary Stanford is not an isolated scandal that a public-relations office can absorb, but a pathological specimen of the wholesale collapse of the modern university as a civilizational institution. As the spiritual matrix of the Silicon Valley innovation myth, Stanford has, even while exporting disruptive technology to the world, long since been consumed from within by the very venture capital, techno-fetishism, (...) and geopolitical power it nurtured, fed, and allowed to grow unchecked — the matrix gave birth to a monster, and the monster reached back and gutted the matrix's own viscera, while the matrix still dresses up this self-cannibalization as "the spirit of innovation" in its alumni magazines and fundraising letters. -/- Drawing on Theo Baker's non-fiction investigation of Stanford's campus power structures and startup culture as empirical material, this book introduces the Lao-Yang Genesis Cosmology (LYGC) framework to derive systematically how the modern university degenerates from a "Wisdom Community" into a "Knowledge-Capitalization Machine" — a transformation that is not an accident but the sole, inevitable, and inescapable dynamical destination of a system that has lost its cosmic constraint. -/- Through the unconstrained expansion of the Desire Amplification Factor (DAF) against the systemic decay of the Cosmic Constraint Function (CCF), this book derives the Three-Level Greedy Positive-Feedback Model (3L-GFM) driving university degeneration, and exposes "Epistemic Mimicry" — a pathology sustained by the system to maintain false prosperity, one deeper than ordinary academic misconduct: the fraudster is no longer even lying to anyone; he is simply carrying out the post assigned to him by the system. American and Chinese universities exhibit capital-dominated and power-dominated alienation respectively — one kneeling toward Nasdaq, the other toward the organization department — but though the postures of kneeling differ, the angle at which the knees bend is identical; both are, in essence, civilizational collapse under Thermodynamic Drift. Facing the ontological end of the university's knowledge monopoly in the age of artificial intelligence (AI), this book argues that Stanford-style self-rescue predicaments stem from a Systemic Entropy Lock: a group of people who know exactly what is wrong, jointly guarding a body they all know has already rotted, yet none of whom dares to be the first to let go. The university's only way out lies in breaking the fate of the knowledge factory through the Four-Tier Verification Chain of "Dao-Based Education," achieving a civilizational return to the "Wisdom Community." . (shrink)

We discuss in what sense the decay-scattering system is a minimal phenomenological theory for particle decay and resonance scattering.

In The Aesthetics of Decay, Dylan Trigg confronts the remnants from the fallout of post-industrialism and postmodernism. Through a considered analysis of memory, place, and nostalgia, Trigg argues that the decline of reason enables a critique of progress to emerge. In this ambitious work, Trigg aims to reassess the direction of progress by situating it in a spatial context. In doing so, he applies his critique of rationality to modern ruins. The derelict factory, abandoned asylum, and urban alleyway all (...) become allies in Trigg's attack on a fixed image of temporality and progress. The Aesthetics of Decay offers a model of post-rational aesthetics in which spatial order is challenged by an affirmative ethics of ruin. (shrink)

Nonsense‐mediated RNA decay (NMD) represents an established quality control checkpoint for gene expression that protects cells from consequences of gene mutations and errors during RNA biogenesis that lead to premature termination during translation. Characterization of NMD‐sensitive transcriptomes has revealed, however, that NMD targets not only aberrant transcripts but also a broad array of mRNA isoforms expressed from many endogenous genes. NMD is thus emerging as a master regulator that drives both fine and coarse adjustments in steady‐state RNA levels in (...) the cell. Importantly, while NMD activity is subject to autoregulation as a means to maintain homeostasis, modulation of the pathway by external cues provides a means to reprogram gene expression and drive important biological processes. Finally, the unanticipated observation that transcripts predicted to lack protein‐coding capacity are also sensitive to this translation‐dependent surveillance mechanism implicates NMD in regulating RNA function in new and diverse ways. (shrink)

In the paper, the role of a citizen, a public official, and an observer in the reproduction of bribery as a social norm are each analyzed. To make the analysis of this cellular-social form of corruption, three variables are incorporated: the agent’s perception of how widespread the corruption is, the agent’s available resources with which to act, and the role of moral values. Later, some scenarios of normalization and denormalization of corruption are explored, making different assumptions regarding the analysis and (...) assignment of agents to different roles in the interactions. What was found is that power relations among corrupt and non-corrupt agents are key for understanding the social reproduction of bribery, where inequality might facilitate the social reproduction of corruption. The role of the observer of the interaction of bribe-givers, bribe-takers, and bribe-resisting agents was also found to potentially tip the balance in the direction of normalization or denormalization of bribery. Hence, giving the observer tools to intervene in these interactions becomes essential to combat corruption. (shrink)

We study the deviations from the exponential decay law, both in quantum field theory (QFT) and quantum mechanics (QM), for an unstable particle which can decay in (at least) two decay channels. After a review of general properties of non-exponential decay in QFT and QM, we evaluate in both cases the decay probability that the unstable particle decays in a given channel in the time interval between t and t+dt. An important quantity is the ratio (...) of the probability of decay into the first and the second channel: this ratio is constant in the Breit-Wigner limit (in which the decay law is exponential) and equals the quantity Γ1/Γ2, where Γ1 and Γ2 are the respective tree-level decay widths. However, in the full treatment (both for QFT and QM) it is an oscillating function around the mean value Γ1/Γ2 and the deviations from this mean value can be sizable. Technically, we study the decay properties in QFT in the context of a superrenormalizable Lagrangian with scalar particles and in QM in the context of Lee Hamiltonians, which deliver formally analogous expressions to the QFT case. (shrink)

The moment when a person’s actual relationships fall short of desired relationships is commonly identified as the etiological moment of chronic loneliness, which can lead to physical and psychological effects like depression, worse recovery from illness and increased mortality. But, this etiology fails to explain the nature and severe impact of loneliness. Here, we use philosophical analysis and neuroscience to show that human beings develop and maintain our world-picture (our sense of what is true, important, and good) through joint attention (...) and action, motivated by friendship, in the Aristotelian sense of “other selves” who share a sense of the true and the good, and desire the good for each other as much as for themselves. The true etiological event of loneliness is the moment one’s world-picture becomes unshared. The pathogenesis is a resultant decay of our world-picture, with brain and behavior changes following as sequelae. (shrink)

The undeniable empirical success of the quantum field theories (QFTs) of the standard model of particle physics (SM) makes it tempting to articulate a scientific realist position duly localized to QFT. “Effective realism” has been widely discussed as a promising way to deliver a “selective” response to the pessimistic meta-induction that isolates and identifies the parts of our current theories likely to remain true of future physics. Effective realism may not be a single view, and its advocates acknowledge that it (...) needs further development. I argue that one way to precisify effective realism—call it ER—is too stringent because its selective strategy for responding to the pessimistic meta-induction commits only to “renormalizable” QFTs, like the SM. To make my case, I introduce Fermi’s beta-decay theory, a non-renormalizable theory with an impressive empirical track record that is too compelling for a realist to ignore. I then argue that there’s no context-independent way to interpret non-renormalizable theories, so any overhaul of ER in response to my objection must grapple with practical considerations for both choosing an appropriate selective strategy and choosing suitable realist commitments once a selective strategy is in place. While these considerations aren’t incompatible with realism, they push ER sympathizers to clarify whether their view remains viable as a form of selective realism. The considerations I raise for the interpretive relevance of non-renormalizable theories also highlight that these neglected theories merit further philosophical attention and analysis. (shrink)

Renaissance logician, philosopher, humanist, and teacher, Peter Ramus (1515-72) is best known for his attack on Aristotelian logic, his radical pedagogical theories, and his new interpretation for the canon of rhetoric. His work, published in Latin and translated into many languages, has influenced the study of Renaissance literature, rhetoric, education, logic, and--more recently--media studies. Considered the most important work of Walter Ong's career, Ramus, Method, and the Decay of Dialogue is an elegant review of the history of Ramist scholarship (...) and Ramus's quarrels with Aristotle. A key influence on Marshall McLuhan, with whom Ong enjoys the status of honorary guru among technophiles, this challenging study remains the most detailed account of Ramus's method ever published. Out of print for more than a decade, this book--with a new foreword by Adrian Johns--is a canonical text for enthusiasts of media, Renaissance literature, and intellectual history. (shrink)

Organizational participants learn that "getting ahead" in organizational life comes from dramatizing a fantasy about the organization's perfection. The fantasy is the return to narcissism, in which the organization and its highest participants are seen as the center of a loving world. Since the return to narcissism is impossible, orienting the organization to the dramatization of this fantasy means that the organization loses touch with reality. The result is organizational decay-a condition of systemic ineffectiveness. Organizational decay is illustrated (...) through the case of General Motors. Specific dimensions considered are: commitment to bad decisions; advancement of participants who detach themselves from reality and discouragement of reality-oriented participants who are committed to their work; creation of the organizational jungle; isolation of management; development of a hostile orientation to the environment; transposition of work and ritual; loss of creativity; dominance of the financial staff; development of cynicism or the loss of reality; and overcentralizatior. Organizational decay may be compared with the consequences of hubris. (shrink)

Mary Astell (1666-1731) relies on a Cartesian account of the self to argue that both men and women are essentially thinking things and, hence, that both should perfect their minds or intellects. In offering such an account of the self, Astell might seem to ignore the inescapable fact that we have bodies. I argue that Astell accommodates the self’s embodiment along two main dimensions. First, she tempers her sharp distinction between mind and body by insisting on their union. The mind (...) and body are united in such a way that they exert reciprocal causal influence and form a whole together. Second, she argues that the mind-body union is good, that the union has its own distinctive form of good or perfection, and that the mind should pursue this good alongside its own. (shrink)

Climate change and the failure of crops are significant but overlooked events in the history of heredity. Bad weather and dangerously low harvests provided momentum and urgency for answers to questions about how best to improve and acclimatize staple varieties. In the 1790s, a series of crop failures in Britain led to the popularization of and widespread debate over Thomas Andrew Knight’s suggestion that poor weather was in fact largely unconnected to the bad harvests. Rather, Knight argued, Britain’s older varieties—particularly (...) its fruit trees—were coming to the natural end of their lifespans. At a period when Britain was trying to maximize its agricultural land usage, Knight campaigned that his fellow farmers ought to set aside land and resources in order to cultivate new varieties—an expensive and time-consuming procedure—in order to avoid disaster. In this paper, I argue that Knight’s lifelong commitment to his position demonstrates the role played by changes in climate and weather on popular understandings of plant heredity. Further, drawing upon the historiography of Britain’s climate and agriculture, I show that despite reliable weather and good harvests, Knight’s campaign survived for several decades before the continued health of Britain’s trees was finally treated as sufficient evidence to dispense with Knight’s warnings. This case provides a means of thinking about the history of heredity as it is shaped and impacted by changes in climate and local conditions. (shrink)

If loneliness is a psychological state experienced by subjects, what does it mean to speak of things and places as exuding lonely atmospheres? In previous work (Osler et al. 2026), we argued that spaces seem lonely when they present “obsolete affordances”: action possibilities that remain unrealised due to material decay or an absence of human uptake. Here, we extend this framework to the digital realm. We argue that lonely atmospheres generated by dead game worlds, abandoned discussion forums, and forgotten (...) websites similarly arise via their obsolete affordances. We show that digital obsolescence presents a unique phenomenological profile: unlike material ruins, which can be physically repurposed or reclaimed by nature, abandoned digital environments cannot. Through a series of case studies, we unpack the character of digital affordances, their experienced obsolescence, and show how this analysis enriches broader discussions of affordances, affect, and atmospheres. (shrink)

Nonsense‐mediated RNA decay (NMD) is an evolutionary conserved system of RNA surveillance that detects and degrades RNA transcripts containing nonsense mutations. Given that these mutations arise at a relatively low frequency, are there any as yet unknown substrates of NMD in a wild‐type cell? With this question in mind, Mendell et al.1 have used a microarray assay to identify those human genes under NMD regulation. Their results show that, in human cells, NMD regulates hundreds of physiologic transcripts and not (...) just those containing nonsense mutations. Among the NMD targets are a number of non‐functional RNAs expressed from vestigial sequences derived from retroviral and transposable elements. These findings support the notion that NMD is a high profile post‐transcriptional mechanism micromanaging the activity of multiple gene batteries and suppressing the expression of genetic remnants. BioEssays 27:463–466, 2005. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

About 22 years ago, the physics world was briefly rocked by claims of evidence for a new “5 th force”, based on reanalysis of data from an early 20 th century experiment. Baron Roland von Eötvös, a Hungarian nobleman, had performed extensive measurements of the correlation between inertial mass and gravitational mass and published them in 1922. The lead article in the January 6, 1986 issue of Physical Review Letters had the unassuming title: "A Reanalysis of the Eötvös Experiment" by (...) Ephriam Fischbach, et al. Two days later the New York Times ran an article with the headline: "Hints of Fifth Force in Universe Challenge Galileo's Findings" describing the possible implications of Fischbach's work. (shrink)

Towards an Ontology of Decay: Speculative Metaphysics and the new Thermodynamic Sciences – There is a striking intellectual conservatism within contemporary metaphysics. Despite its claims to radical originality, contemporary philosophers tend to maintain, in one form or another, one of two classical ontological schemata: existence conceived of as either static and eternal or as dynamic and becoming. The tendency to maintain, albeit in novel forms, one of these two schemata is due, I argue, to a general scientific ignorance in (...) contemporary philosophy, even amidst those schools of thought most committed to robust forms of epistemological realism, like speculative realism. The central thesis and aim of this piece are to show how speculative realism might renounce its ignorance of the contemporary sciences and draw from the startling revolutions which have taken place therein in the last 150 years in order to overcome its tendency towards metaphysical conservatism and develop instead a truly new ontology: an ontology of decay. (shrink)