"Over the course of history, Fraser argues, human values have served primarily not as conservative influences that promote permanence, continuity, and balance - as commonly believed - but as revolutionary forces that, in the long run, promote change by generating and sustaining certain unresolvable conflicts."--BOOK JACKET.

This thirteenth volume in the interdisciplinary Study of Time series explores the way in which limits and constraints impact upon our understanding of time.

This book develops a novel approach to the issue of time's widespread but poorly understood influence on the study of international politics.

Explores how security communities think about time and how this shapes the politics of security in the information age.

Developments in Intelligent Agent Technologies and Multi-Agent Systems: Concepts and Applications discusses research on emerging technologies and systems based on agent and multi-agent paradigms across various fields of science, engineering and technology. This book is a collection of work that covers conceptual frameworks, case studies, and analysis while serving as a medium of communication among researchers from academia, industry and government.

Find the future now with 50 predictions in The Rough Guide to the Future. Wondering what's really in store for the human race? Nanotechnology and gene enhancements, solar power and carbon capture? Or oil shocks, water wars, food shortages, and mass extinction? The Rough Guide to the Future cuts a clear path through the jungle of scientific research and political debate, steering you around the prophets of doom and the utopian visionaries, to take you on a tour of the likeliest possibilities for the rest of this century - and beyond. It covers 50 predictions from the world's leading futurologists and chronicles predictions from the past along with visions of the future. You'll find out where we go from here with The Rough Guide to the Future.

There is widespread belief that the world's religions con- tradict each other. It follows that if one religion is true, the others must be false--an assumption that implies, and may actually create, religious strife. In Natural Religion, acclaimed poet, critic and essayist Frederick Turner sets out to show that the natural world offers grounds for stating that all religions are, in some respect, true. Through the ages, various ways have been proposed to resolve religious differences. Some argue for the destruction of all religions but one's own. Others substitute an abstract principle for the real ritual and moral practice of religion. Still others doubt all religious truth and, consequently, all truth. Others accept a kind of pluralistic relativism. This book explores syncretism, whereby all religions are seen as grasping the same strange and complex reality, but by very different means and handles. The idea that all religions are true raises a supervening question: if so, what must the real physical universe be like? Turner approaches these questions in terms of scientific inquiry. There is not enough room in space itself to fit in all theologies; but there may be enough room in time if new scientific descriptions of time's nature are to be believed. Turner argues that in the time-models of contemporary cosmological and evolutionary science all times may be connected and time may be infinitely branched and causally looped so that both forward-in-time and backward-in-time factors may be in operation in the same event. Thus, the fundamental substance of the universe may be information rather than matter or energy. The universe is more like a vast living organism than a vast machine. Turner argues that all existing religions can be shown to fit into this model, which in turn points to deeper implications of religious doctrines, languages and practices. There would be plenty of "room" in such a view of time for a tree of different yet linked religious w

This book presents an interdisciplinary approach to the question of how observer-participant perspectives are generated, what constrains them and how they may be modified. These questions are of vital importance and must be addressed in any discipline before formulating a hypothesis or designing a model about reality. Both epistemological questions about the nature of temporal nested structures and practical applications of our ability to contextualize are discussed. The resulting temporal observer-participant perspectives reflect approaches to the concept of simultaneity from the viewpoints of philosophers, logicians, cyberneticists and systems theorists, mathematicians, psychologists, medical practitioners, physicists, educationists, economists and musicologists. Although the main focus is on the cognitive sciences, as constraints to observer perspectives arise primarily from this field, the book will appeal to researchers of all disciplines and interested layman readers.

This twenty-seventh volume of Research in Organizational Behavior carries forward the tradition of high-level scholarship on a broad array of organizational topics. Like many previous volumes, this collection is truly interdisciplinary, with chapters ranging from personality and decision making in organizations, to interpersonal dynamics such as helping and group process, to organizational-level analyses of legitimization and change. Each of the essays is well-reasoned, thoughtful, and provocative-- proving, once again, that the field of organizational behavior is flourishing in both its depth and scope.*Interdisciplinary with a wide range of subjects discussed by experts in their fields*Addresses personality development, empowerment, creativity, dysfunctional groups, institutionalization, and more

Traditional valuation approaches are increasingly recognised as being insufficient to address the wicked valuation problems of the diverse peoples and groups that inhabit the globe from north, south, east to west. This book demonstrates the limitations of science and, in particular economics, as the foundation on which valuations are traditionally based. It demonstrates the importance of and provides justification for the personal, cultural values and norms which underpin our assessment of "value", and the fact that these vary across the world. In Wicked Valuations Michael McDermott develops a means of engaging with highly complex valuation problems. His autoethnography provides a lens to draw on knowledge and experience from his 40 years in land valuation in Africa and the Asia-Pacific, while documentary analysis is used to draw in the views of other valuation practitioners and scholars who are becoming increasingly aware of the need to develop ways to adapt land valuation processes to the complexity of our contemporary landscapes.