Search

This article explores the intersection between discourses with multiple meanings that relate to the cultural construction of elder identities in South Korea. The authors explore the experiences of elder patients at a free clinic to consider how government policy, attitudes among biomedical professionals, and elders themselves come into contact and influence the experiences of older Koreans within the national health care system. The study is ethnographic, using interview data to examine how the identities of elder Koreans are being shifted from "weak and in need of care" to "potentially problematic consumer" and how governmental policies both stimulate and respond to that shift. By focusing on the situational status of the elderly, this article is intended to represent the voices of some elderly, voices that can be submerged within the process of decision making related to public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores ideas expressed by older, rural Japanese to explain suicide among their age peers. It also looks at how older Japanese conceptualize residing with children and grandchildren in terms of dependency and stress. While the multigeneration household often is represented by both young and old in Japan as an ideal living situation for the elderly, many elders also see coresidence as a significant source of stress due to conflicting values held between generations. For many rural elderly, the stress associated with coresidence is viewed as being sufficiently severe to lead some of them to end their lives. Based on conversations held with elders in rural Japan, these themes are contextualized in terms of Japanese concepts of suicide. (Japan, suicide, aging, dependency, stress). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses issues on the veneration of ancestors and caregiving among women in Japan. Background on ritual behavior associated with shrine visitation and ancestor veneration; Research on well-being; Interpretation of dreams about the departed.

This article considers the Voyager records as a means to raise some implications related to the covert biases present in the content included. I argue that messages like the Golden Records have the potential to be understood as misleading and could pose an existential threat to humanity, depending on how they are interpreted by whomever might encounter them. The argument I develop here is based on a key problem in a fair number of attempts to message extraterrestrial intelligence (METI): The construction and transmission of such messages are all-too-often led by astronomers and engineers rather than diplomats or social scientists, who have expertise in inter-cultural communication. As a result, messages like the Voyager records can be naïve, biased, and misleading. And this puts humanity at risk, even if it is only a slight risk, because of the potential of such messages being interpreted incorrectly or as being intentionally deceptive. I conclude by arguing that space agencies need to develop review boards similar to the institutional review boards found at universities and hospitals as a means of controlling content including in any government-sponsored METI activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main principles of the Hippocratic oath, which has guided medical practice for 2500 years, is Primum non nocere (first, do no harm). This means, among other things, that when the stakes are high (a patient's life) and one has no idea what one should do, it is better to do nothing at all than risk a treatment that might make things worse. We argue for a similar approach to a face-to-face first contact scenario. In such a situation, the stakes are literally the highest imaginable (the survival of humanity, perhaps even the entire terrestrial ecosystem), and we have almost nothing to go on – we will know next to nothing about our alien interlocutors and can not rely on our evolved instincts or simplistic analogies from Earth's history to guide us appropriately. The smart approach, therefore, is one of extreme passivity and caution. In particular, we argue that an inviolate "prime directive" needs to be imposed on any crew of a mission beyond near Earth such that they will do nothing, even in self-defense, that might potentially be considered threatening. While such a passive approach will forego many opportunities, first contact should be viewed primarily as setting the stage for second contact, with the goal of establishing the alien presence and communicating our harmlessness – no more. In the grand scheme of things, even the loss of the human crew is a small price to pay for the safety of the Earth and all its inhabitants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the vigorous academic debate over the risks of the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and active Messaging ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (ETI) (METI), a significant factor has been largely overlooked. Specifically, the risk of merely detecting an alien signal from passive SETI activity is usually considered to be negligible. The history of international relations viewed through the lens of the realpolitik tradition of realist political thought suggests, however, that there is a measurable risk of conflict over the perceived benefit of monopoly access to ETI communication channels. This possibility needs to be considered when analyzing the potential risks and benefits of contact with ETI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first part of this series, we delve into the foundational aspects of "Message in a Bottle (MIAB)" (henceforth referred to as MIAB). This study builds upon the legacy of the Voyager Golden Records, launched aboard Voyager 1 and 2 in 1977, which aimed to communicate with intelligent species beyond our world. These records not only offer a snapshot of Earth and human civilization but also represent our desire to establish contact with advanced alien civilizations. Given the absence of mutually understood signs, symbols, and semiotic conventions, MIAB, like its predecessor, uses scientific methods to design an innovative means of communication that encapsulates the story of humanity. Our goal is to share our collective knowledge, emotions, innovations, and aspirations in a way that provides a universal, yet contextually relevant, understanding of human society, the evolution of life on Earth, and our hopes and concerns for the future. Through this time and space traveling capsule, we also strive to inspire and unify current and future generations to celebrate and safeguard our shared human experience. Plain Language Summary: This article is the first in a series about "Message in a Bottle" (or MIAB for short) in a cosmic ocean. One may envision MIAB as an initiative towards the creation of a modern version of the special records sent into space in 1977 on the Voyager spacecrafts. Those records were like a hello from Earth, hoping to reach any smart beings out there in the universe. Since we are presently unaware of how these beings might communicate or what symbols they would possibly understand, we need to get creative in how we share our story. MIAB is our way of showing who we are, what we've learned, how we feel, and what we dream of for the future. It's not just for beings in space; we hope it helps people now and in the future come together and value our shared journey on Earth. Key Points: We're crafting a message for a future space mission, hoping to reach and chat with smart life forms beyond EarthThe message gives a broad but detailed view of today's human society, our planet's life story, and the big challenges aheadThis project is a brave step in showcasing the full richness and depth of human life and experience [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, our goal is to provide researchers with a non-western perspective concerning the COVID-19 pandemic through a qualitative study of older adults living in Iwate, a prefecture in Japan that has only recently (27 July 2020) reported its first confirmed COVID-19 cases and which has experienced comparatively few cases since. Because they live in an environment with few COVID-19 cases, the individuals in this study provide an interesting perspective of the pandemic as it is unfolding in rural Japan and our focus here is on documenting the circumstances and ideas of elder residents of Iwate Prefecture to understand individual experiences of this population. Our intention here is to provide data and tentative analysis that may be useful in developing more complex cross-cultural studies related to the lived experience of COVID-19 among older people.